D K a:6- UC-NRLF $B 3n 5D7 eg G3 olskevism Bi] an Exje-lUilness from lUisconsin ^C'X> Bij Lieutenanl A. W. KLIEFOTH for iKree i^ears Itlililanj Observer of the U. S. Etnbassi] at Petroqrad ^^ one ijear under the Cxar and huo q«aTt under the Kerenskq and Lenin and Troiskii reqinxes BOLSHEVISM By an Eye -Witness from Wisconsin ^3^'C'X9 By Lieutenant A. W, KLIE FOTH for three years Military Observer of the U. S. Embassy at Petrograd — one year under the Czar and two years under the Kerensky and Lenin and Trotsky regimes Copyright. 1920, by American Constitutional League of Wisconsin. Milwaukee. .}IFT FOREWORD Out of Darkest Russia come facts that make an American's blood run cold. The Soviet Socialist Republic that Lenin and Trotsky have set up in the name of Marxian socialism is an attempt to establish a human stock farm, with all the science that breeds cattle for the market, even up to the slaughter house and bloody shambles. Religion and the family, God and home, marriage and mother love, all are being wiped out. Freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assemblage, the right to organize and strike — all the great institutions of democracy — have disappeared. "Any worded opposition or criticism of the Soviet form of government constitutes a lie," is the decree, and all newspapers, institutions or any person guilty of stating a lie in Soviet Russia is guilty of treason, and treason means jail or death. 8 420221 f^OT^SfiE^iSia:T-BjcATiiEye- Witness. Lenin insists that the last wicked, capitalistic tool in the world is the family. It must go. Education is turned into a study of Karl Marx and Marxian socialism first, and then the process of prolecult, or self -education. Diplomas from universities are issued in thirty to sixty days after the communist begins to study law or medicine. Children are sent from their families to com- munist schools hundreds of miles away, and the records destroyed, to break the ties of relation- ship. The right of private property is torn out, root and branch, from the soul of the people. Work- men, moving from one town to another, may only take a change of garments. Every article owned or prized by a person must be left behind, to be used temporarily by the tenant of his former house. Economic value alone counts. Lenin says that those who have no social or economic value must be treated as a horse or a dog or a cow that has no economic value. No sentiment, no love. Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. no nobleness of thought, no high-minded purpose — everything reduced to a hard, materiahstic matter-of-fact, sordid basis — just as one would breed animals in a barn yard. Ambition must be treated as a cancer and cut out. The robbery of land and property and money has been literally carried out ; even the working- man's body is not his own, and he is the most disappointed man in all Russia. A hundred million peasants were told to help themselves to the lands of ten million who owned land. And then those who failed to get land in this grab were bidden to take it from those who had seized the land. The empty-handed, those who lost out, those who were kicked out became the "proletariat" in turn, and the Socialist Re- public urges them to seize the possessions of the ones who are temporarily on top. Religion of all kinds is spit upon. Even the communist schools spend hours in demonstrating to little children that religion is a myth and su- perstition and that God is a fiction as unreal as Santa Glaus. The Russian Socialist Republic is putting Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness, into practice in all its horrid reality the teachings that the Marxian Socialists have been preaching in parlor-Bolshevist meetings and on the soap- box for years. The Russian people, in their wild joy at the downfall of the Czar, tried to establish a Republic founded on the democratic principles of our United States Constitution. But Kerensky was no match for Lenin. The Bolshevists are but a small fraction of the two hundred millions of Russian people. Lenin said truly: "If ever I obtain five per cent of the militant proletariat of Russia, I will swing the revolution." Over night, the Reds captured the democratic government at Petrograd and installed the "Black Police" of the Czar to carry out their bloody program. Such are some of the facts related in Plankin- ton Hall, the Auditorium, Milwaukee, by Lieu- tenant Alfred W. Kliefoth, ex-attache to the American Embassy in Russia, in a speech under the auspices of the American Constitutional League of Wisconsin, by the ,.courtesy of The Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness, American Russian Chamber of Commerce of New York. Lieutenant Kliefoth is Wisconsin born and bred, a graduate of the University at Madison, receiving his degree of B. A. in 1913. For five years, and until a few months ago, he has been in the service of the State Department of the United States, and was clerk of the American Legation at Stockholm, Sweden; then Vice-Consul at Har- paranda, Sweden; later American control officer at Torneo, Finland; then Assistant Military Attache with the American Embassy at Petro- grad; and finally Military Observer with the Armies in Russia. The last three years have been the most im- portant in Russia's history. Lieutenant Kliefoth was not only there for months before the Czar was dethroned, but remained through Kerensky's rule and the dark days of Bolshevism until the fall of 1919. Because of his knowledge of five European languages, and his thorough understanding of socialism, he was able to get information where others failed, and was most valuable to the American government on Bolshevik territory. Bolshevism — By An Eye - Witness. As a living eye-witness to the workings of Bolshevism, with an intimate knowledge of con- ditions under the Czar and Kerensky too, it would be hard to find any other American, who would be free to speak, to equal Lieutenant Kliefoth in authority and credibility. Strangely enough, "Soviet Russia," the official paper of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, in America, published while Lieuten- ant Kliefoth was in Milwaukee, the text of a speech delivered by Nikolai Lenin, the Premier of Bolshevist Russia, at Moscow, on "The Work in the Villages." Lenin corroborates so strik- ingly the facts related by Lieutenant Kliefoth that his stern admissions are referred to and quoted verbatim in their proper connection in the course of Lieutenant Kliefoth's speech. BOLSHEVISM. By Lieut. A. W. Kliefoth Military Attache of the United States Embassy at Petrograd for three years, one year under the regime of Czar Nicholas and two years under Kerensky and Lenin and Trotsky. It was in October, 1916, that I arrived in Petrograd, Russia. As a student of Wisconsin University, I had always been much interested in Russia, and when I was located in our legation in Stockholm, Sweden, I tried to influence our minister there to give me an opportunity to go to Russia, the great nation about which here we hear so much and about which we know and understand so little. During my four years in the university I had taken al- most every course of study offered to study conditions such as are present in Russia to-day. I took, for instance, all the courses in political economy, sociology, socialism, anarch- ism and all similar subjects, and so when I was in Stock- holm I thought perhaps I would understand some of the things that the Russians were doing and advocating. When I arrived in Russia, the Czar was still on his throne and the autocracy was such that I could not under- stand it, as I had come from a democratic country. It was cruel, mean and all the vile things you can think of. We had heard and read much of the strong autocracy, of the powerful bureaucracy of that government, but none of the descriptions that I had read actually equaled the things I saw there. So, when in March, 1917, the revolution broke out and the Czar was ousted and swept out of power and off his Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. throne, no one in Russia was happier than I was to see the downfall of this powerful autocracy. Every member of our embassy joined the revolutionists in celebrating the occa- sion, rejoicing that the Russian people had finally suc- ceeded in overthrowing this powerful autocracy. Consequently, we were all very much interested in the First Provisional Government of Russia, and the members of the Provisional Government were just as much interested in the Americans, and particularly in the American form of government. Almost daily their members came to our of- fices to consult our law books, our text-books on American institutions, and to ask us about the various forms of govern- ment and branches from the Supreme Court of the United States to the smallest municipality. Proud of the First Republic. We were all very proud of the first Republic of Russia and we felt it was a part of our life. We saw how the Russians were trying to copy our form of government, ac- cepting those parts and institutions that are successful in this country and rejecting other institutions which in their opinion were not successful. During all of these months I was in Petrograd, attached to the embassy, and it was my privilege to witness the struggle of this new Russia, of this first Provisional Republic. About four months later I was transferred to Finland, to a little border city on the frontier. Through this little place all foreigners entering or leaving Russia had to pass, and here it was that the American government, in conjunc- tion with the Allies, established an allied control and pass 10 Bolshevism — By An Eye - Witness, port office. Through it passed also all the exiles that wanted to return to Russia. Through it came all the exiles from the United States, France, England, and all European countries. The majority of these returning exiles had been away from Russia for many years. They were exiled by the Czar because they believed in democracy, and so when the First Provisional Government was established they all hurried back to Russia, to take an active part in the develop- ment of the new government. I had the opportunity to talk for hours with these returning exiles. Ninety-five per cent of them were loyal, patriotic Russians who were anxious to get back to Russia and take a part in the building up of the new democratic government that had just been established. The other five per cent were not loyal and patriotic Russians; they were also exiles, but exiles who were not included in the so-called political classes. But all were welcome to the regime of Kerensky. Appearance of Lenin. A certain group of these exiled Russians were living in Switzerland at that time. At the head of this group was a man who is now the president of all Russia Soviets — Lenin. He and his group asked the French, the English and Ameri- can governments for passports to return to Russia, but pass- ports were refused them, and wisely so. Suddenly the press of the world announced that the German Government had placed at his disposal two trains to pass through Germany and into Russia. We could not understand it. How could -the Government of Germany, an imperialistic government, extend these facilities to revo- lutionists? But Germany knew what she was doing, and 11 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. she was also very careful about it, too. The German Gov- ernment sealed the trains tightly so that Bolshevism could not leak out en route. In a short period of time Lenin and his force arrived at Torneo. We sent telegram after telegram to Kerensky and to our own embassy to use every effort possible to pre- vent Lenin and his force from entering Russia, but Kerensky himself finally replied that the First Provisional Govern- ment was a democratic government. Lenin the Great Promiser. That is how Lenin arrived in Petrograd. And it so happened that shortly afterward I was again transferred to Petrograd. There I had opportunity to observe Lenin in action. There I could hear Lenin speaking daily. I heard him say things such as this: "If ever I obtain five percent of the militant proletariat of Russia in a short time I will swing the revolution." In addition to statements such as this he had a policy — the Marxian socialist program. He had a peculiar Rus- sian program, which was called "A Platform of Promises," and the Russian newspapers at the time heralded him as the great "foreign agitator, the great foreign promiser." With much interest, the Russian people as well as we Americans went to listen to his theses and lectures on Marxian socialism. And then suddenly there came the coup d'etat, the capture of the government. I cannot begin to describe to you how, with the aid of promises, and how, with a war- weary people such as they were in Russia at that time, he 12 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. was able to establish himself in power. But on the same day that he came into power he immediately put in opera- tion all of those forms of autocracy that had prevailed under the Czar. You have all read in the newspapers of the famous "black police" of the Czar — the okhrana. All of these people, and all of the autocratic and bureau- cratic institutions which we had witnessed under tlie Czar were swept into power. All of the liberties which were given to the Russian people by the First Provisional Govern- ment of Russia — the freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assemblage, the right of the worker to organize and to strike — all of these great institutions of democracy disappeared on the day Lenin seized control of Russia.^ .^/,, -c-iy. ■■" ' • ^/ ' ■ A Lie Was Made Treason. He issued his famous decree which said that any news- paper, any institution, or any individual guilty of stating a lie in Soviet Russia was guilty of treason and was subject to be treated accordingly. His definition of a lie was this: "Any worded opposition or criticism of the Soviet forms of government constitutes a lie." And consequently, every newspaper, every individual, every institution, every or- ganization in the country was inunediately deprived of this power of public expression. But finally the newspapers were again able to word themselves so that they could comply with this edict and they were again able to appear. However, according to Lenin, an individual or an institution or organization that has no social value — this is according to the Soviet point of view — ^has no right to receive rations of food, fuel, and 18 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. so forth — the necessities of life. In that manner he was again ahle to control the newspapers. A Cruel and Brutal Despotism. The system of autocracy established by Lenin was one of cruel and brutal despotism. He established side by side with the autocracy, an actual operation of Marxian social- ism. For instance, before Lenin was in power he stated re- peatedly that the last wicked, capitalistic tool in the world is the family; but as Lenin and his force are the most clever propagandists in the world today, he did not put it before the people in such a direct way, but always in an indirect and underhanded manner. These doctrines when in actual operation in this indirect manner undermined the morale of the people and put into the minds of the work- ingman the belief that the family was the basic institution of capitalism which was keeping them in chains. Breaking Down the Family. This is how this thing works out; for instance, you are living in the city of Petrograd and you desire to go to Moscow or some other city to visit your mother, or your brother, or your wife who is very sick and desires to see you. You ask the Commissar in Petrograd for a permit to leave the city. He will ask you: "What is your reason for wanting to leave the city?" and you will tell him that you desire to see your wife who is very sick and de- sires to see you. The Commissar will answer: "Comrade, that is no reason to go to Moscow; your mother, your wife, or your daughter or sister is merely your fellow-citizeness 14 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. — a citizeness of the Soviet Republic, and the Soviet Repub- lic cannot afford to have you travel on the trains and use up fuel and incur such expenses for the Government." In this way they are undermining the institution of the family. To give another illustration of how the family is under- mined in Russia. The Commissar of Education has es- tablished two departments of education. One has taken con- trol of all the existing schools which they found when they came into power. The object is to convert these schools slowly to the idea of socialism. The second department is the system of schools established under communism, called the prolecult, or self-education. Last year the courses of study were only about thirty or sixty days in length, at the end of which time you received your diploma in law, or medicine, or whatever the study you desired. Studies in the Universities. Let me give you the courses of study that are given at the Petrograd university. For instance, "Physics is the science of irresistence encountered by the collective labor of human beings"; "Logic is the theory of the social co- ordination of ideas," and so forth. Then there are the communist schools, which correspond to the grade schools in this country. These communist schools are often established side by side with the old ex- isting institutions, so that if you go to Petrograd today and you are interested in education they will perhaps show you one of the old schools, but if you are a socialist from Milwaukee, or a communist, they will show you the communist schools. 16 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. When these children are ready to go to school, the first thing done is the selection of a school in another city for them by the state. The object of this is to get them away from the influence and affection of their mother and from the ties of the family. The day these children leave their home for school, the records showing the relationship to their parents are destroyed, and the children are sent to a school unknown to the parents, so that the parents will not know where the children are. They tell us they must sever the influence which the parents have over their children, otherwise they are not able to establish communism. Prolecult on Self-Education. In the schools, reading, writing and arithmetic and such things are not taught. In their places is the system of pro- lecult, or self -education, or education which a human being acquires through contact with labor. The so-called cul- tural education taught is simply the doctrines that are found in the text-books of Karl Marx. It is the effort and endeavor of their teachers at all times to instill a new culture into the children, to root out of their minds all their capitalistic views of society. For instance, in one of these schools where I was, at one time all the girls of the school were required to ex- change their dresses with each other at regular intervals. Otherwise they would soon attach a certain love to the garment and in that manner revive the instinct of property. So, to overcome the idea of property they resort to these kinds of ideas — to keep out of the minds of the children 16 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. the thought there is any economic value in the possession of property. In all of Soviet Russia there is no sentiment, no dreams ; everything is reduced to a working, practical sordid basis. When they said they would abolish private property they did abolish it. If a citizen wants to make a change of residence, the only property which he can take with him is one change of clothing; all his other possessions — his watch, his personal effects, to say nothing of furniture — belong in the house where he last lived, and that belongs to the communist government. The only thing he actually owns is one change of clothing. The Downfall of Private Property. You all know what happened to the private property in Russia. Before Lenin came into power he had promised the workingmen possession of everything, and that has all been carried into practice literally. Every workingman was anxious to own anything he could get hold of. On the day Bolshevism swept into control, the workingman actually controlled the factories. That is to say, in a certain factory where there were five hundred workingmen, those workingmen passed into pos- session of that factory — it became their own. After a few weeks, however, they started the process of elimination. They picked out their weaker brothers in these factories and eliminated them from the ownership of the property, and when this process was finished, the control of the factory was actually in the hands of about ten workingmen. Then the government realized that that was not a suc- cessful scheme and they recalled to the factory the experts, 17 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. die former owners and managers, and gave them large salaries to run the factories. These salaries were, of course, bribes, and hundreds of experts, so called, and former owners of the factories gladly went back in order to save as much as they could of their former holdings.* Workmen Most Disappointed. So the expropriation of property in Russia has actually been carried out and has proven a failure, and it is the workingmen of Russia who are today the most disappointed men in the world — they are the most dissatisfied class in the world. They believed that through the workingmen controlling the factories they would actually come into possession of a certain part of the factory, but the Bol- * Soviet economies are not necessary, we are being told — let everyone work for himself. But we say: no, if we shall not learn how to manage on the new forms, we shall never get out of poverty and darkness, and for the purpose of learning how to manage along the new lines, we have to hire the old specialists. How is this to be done? The same way we did with the Red Army. Those who will in any way violate the statutes of the Soviets, who will not submit to us, we will prosecute without mercy. And the majority of them we will force into submission and they will work in our interests, as we forced tens of thousands of officers, colonels and generals, who were used to work for the Czar. Here is a very difficult and complicated problem. It is necessary to have organization, discipline, consciousness of the workers, close contact with the peasants, the ability to explain to the peasants and show them that all abuses, all errors will be eliminated. We say this: people who possess knowledge of agriculture we must retain in our service, in the service of the communal economy, as with small private economy we shall not get out of darkness and poverty. And toward the specialists in rural economy we will act in the same way as we did toward the specialists in the Red Army. We will be beaten a hundred times, and the hundred-and-first time we will win. So we will be beaten a hundred times by the bourgeois specialists, landowners and capitalists, and the hundred-and-first time WE WILL BEAT THEM. For it is necessary that the work in the village should be conducted in a disciplined manner, like the work in the Red Army. — (Quotation from a speech of Nicolai Lenin, entitled "The Work in the Villages," delivered at Moscow, and reported in "Soviet Russia," the of&cial organ of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, under date of February 7, 1920.) 18 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. sheviks soon realized that if they permitted that, these same workingmen would all soon become capitalists. It was the same with the peasants. Before Lenin went into power he told the peasants that if they lived in a little village of 500 population and there was a surrounding acreage of say 100,000 acres, the thing for them to do was to take this 100,000 acres of land and divide it among themselves, and it would then become their property. Poor Peasants and Poorest Peasaints. And so when Lenin came into power, the peasants took the land and divided it among themselves. Naturally, those peasants who were the strongest physically got most of the property and a certain number who were not strong enough didn't get any of it. These people were called the "poor peasants," and Lenin told them the thing to do was to get after these rich, capitalistic peasants and take the land away from them, and if they could not do it, he would give them the Red Guard. He gave them the Red Guard and at the end of this process, this second division of the land, there were again some peasants without land, and so the same process was used again and with the aid of the Red Guard these peasants secured their land. And again there were a lot of peasants left in Russia without land, and these were called by Lenin the "poorest peasants," and then again the same process was put into operation, of seizing, by the aid of the Red Guard, land from the capitalistic peasants, and so on, everlasting strug- 18 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. gling and scrambling; so that this also has been tried and proved a failure.* Religion Is Being Rooted Out. Another principle put into operation in all of Russia, and which is now a brilliant success, is that they have been able to demonstrate to the workingmen of Russia that religion is the stronghold of capitalism. Let us take a look into its operation. It is not a theory but an actual practice, as everything in Russia today is reduced to practice. They have closed the churches of Rus- sia and all religious organizations. In a communistic school, for instance, I saw a communist commissar bring into the school room the skeleton of a Russian saint and at the same time the skele- ton of an ordinary human being. He asked these children to examine the skulls to see if they could discover any spiritual differences. When they couldn't, he used that as his argument against religion. In these indirect ways they have succeeded in undermining the religion of the Russian people. They closed the churches, and every clergyman and every priest and every man who is a member of a religious *But the peasant who exploits, who has a surplus of grain, and sells it to the starving population at profiteering prices, he is our enemy. The peasants do not at all understand that unbridled trading in grain is a crime against the state. The peasant is accustomed to consider this hlg right. He reasons this way: "I produced the grain, I worked on it, the grain is in my hands, and I have a right to trade with it." This is the reasoning of the peasant with the old habit of an owner. — (Quotation from a speech of Nicolai Lenin entitled "The Work in the Villages" de- livered at Moscow and reported in "Soviet Russia," the official organ of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, under date of February 7, 1»20.) 20 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. organization or a Russian church is classed as having no social value. Social Value Only Thing That Counts. Let me give you the communist definition of social value: "A man who is of no economic value to the Bol- shevik government has no social value." And Lenin says \o these priests and clergymen, if you have no social value, we will treat you as we would treat a horse or a dog or a cow, that has no economic value. In other words, you are not fit to live, and as we cannot shoot you, we merely say you have no social value, and from that minute you be- long in the last category o^ citizens, and a man in this category receives a limited amount of food. He receives only one-eighth of a pound a day of a very poor kind of bread, and he gets a very limited supply of fuel, and clothing, and so forth. That is what you get if you have no social value. In Russia today, a clergyman has no social value but under these conditions many will soon profess communism in order to belong to the first category and receive a ration of one pound of bread a day. In this manner they got control of the clergymen and the priests, as well as of all the counter revolutionists. Every Man Must Fight or Work. Another economic or Marxian principle of the program that has been put in operation in Russia is the control of the workingmen through the military organization which Trotsky has built up. There is no military organization in history more strongly intrenched than the organization known as the Red Army. The old imperial army of Rus- 21 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness, sia had no comparison with the strength and discipline and the power of the Red Army of Russia. And the reason for this is that every citizen of the so-called Soviet Repub- lic is either a member of the Red Army or a member of a labor battalion, and at the top is the War Department which controls all such organizations. Every workingman of Petrograd, for instance, would be a member either of the military organization or the communist or labor organization. A machinist in one of your factories would be a member of the communist labor battalion number so-and-so, and when he receives his mobilization card he would not know whether he is being sent to the front or to the factory. In other words, he is conscripted. He is forced to work in the factory as he is forced to fight in the army. So you can readily see that the workingman of Russia has no liberties whatsoever, in fact less than he had when the Czar was ruling him. I noticed a peculiar feature of this system at work one day. I noticed some of these communist laborers go into the factory in the morning and punch a time card, and then go out, and later come in ag^in and punch their time card and go out again, and the same thing at night. When I asked one of the workingmen what the idea was, he said: "We must punch the time card in order to get our ration of bread." Workingman the Worst Sufferer. The workingman, as I have said, is the one that suffers the most of all in Russia. If the capitalists of the world were looking for the most autocratic system in order to es- tablish a control over the workingman, they would find no 22 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness, better, and efficient, and powerful machinery existing for that very purpose than that system which is known as the Soviet system. It is the most highly developed form of militarism that has been developed in history. A workingman loses the control not only over the actions of the state but over his own actions as well, and over the smallest and most per- sonal actions, such as his family, his religion, his food and even the clothing he wears. Workingmen's Bodies Not Their Own. The peasants and workingmen of Russia say that under the Czar they could not call their souls their own, but today they tell you that they cannot call their bodies their own — tliey belong to the soviet government, which controls their bodies, which tells them where and how they should live, what they must do and how they must do it, and so forth. Nationalization of Women. You have all read in the American newspapers articles about the nationalization of women in Russia. That is not a dream but is in actual practice. I don't know of my own knowledge of the existence of a national decree of this kind but there were such decrees of local Soviets. But the whole political philosophy of the control of the people by the Soviet of Russia naturally gives rise to the na- tionalization of women ; in other words, they are controlled just the same as everything else. I was married in Russia under the Soviets, and I know what actually happens, so I can speak from personal ex- perience. The marriage contract is simply a contract as 28 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. any other civil contract. You go to the bureau with the woman that you wish to marry and ask for a permit to be married, and you are issued a permit which allows you all the privileges of marital relations. The next day the hus- band, or the wife, can go back to the bureau and cancel the marriage contract, and the commissar in charge will do it willingly. Furthermore, the state willingly assumes the respons- ibility for the children. In fact, it always takes the re- sponsibility for the children, for it does not want the parents to have the responsibility, — they don't want the parents to bring up the children according to their own ideas of life but according to the communistic idea. Allied Blockade Not Responsible. The breakdown in industry and agriculture and condi- tions in Russia today is not due to the Allied blockade of Russia, Lenin and Trotsky will tell you that the famine in Russia is due to the Allied blockade, but it is not a fact. It is due to the system which they have been trying to put into operation in Russia and the system has been a failure.* *With a right distribution of bread all will be satisfied, and then we ■will be able to get out of all difficulties. And to have a correct distribu- tion, it is necessary that the peasants should assist in every way. Here there will be no indulgence on the part of the Soviets. The peasant must give the surplus of grain to the state in the form of a loan. At present we can give no commodities to the peasants, because we do not have them ; there is no coal, the railroads and the factories are stopping. To reconstruct the destroyed economy it is necessary that the peasant should, from the first, give his surplus products as a loan to the state. Only with such loans will we be able to get out of all difficulties. — (Quotation from a speech by Nicolai Lenin entitled "The Work in the Villages" delivered at Moscow and reported in "Soviet Russia," the official organ of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, under date of February 7, 1920.) 24 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. Therefore, they say, "The time has come that we must change the system, in other words submit to the allies; nevertheless, we must never cease to put into operation the principles of the Marxian socialism that we have tried out, even if we are forced to come to terms. We must continue our propaganda." World Wide Propaganda. The Bolshevik government has one of the most extensive and most powerful systems of propaganda the world has known. Every commissar I met was a propagandist. In every city and village of the Soviets you find the propaganda headquarters and bureaus. In these bureaus you find all these proclamations, these communist manifestos, printed in every language and dialect. Not only are they printed in every language but in all the different dialects in addition. We counted there one day sixty different Chinese dialects alone in which a cer- tain proclamation had been issued. So there is not a lan- guage or a dialect in the world that they have overlooked in which they have not already printed their propaganda leaflets. Of course, these leaflets in the Chinese language or the Hindu language — we found there forty different dialects of the Hindu language — are of no good in Russia but are sent all over the world. Their literature and propaganda is spread all over the world, and that is why I feel safe in asserting that Lenin proposes to establish the communist system all over the world. I brought with me from Mos- cow proclamations printed in the English language ad- 25 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. dressed to the American workingmen in which they advise the American workingman of the dangers of American democracy. TTiey say that the ballot is the most clever system by which the American capitalists are able to control the workingman and that it has been invented for that purpose, and they advise them to back up their ballots with bullets. In other words, the Bolsheviks have realized that force is the only safe argument for their propaganda. Lenin's Program. I remember Lenin describing the various classes of people. He said at the top you have the militant capital- ist, then you have the large majority of the human race, the bourgeoise — the indifferent class. He said this second class is easily controlled by propaganda. The third class he said consists of the militant proletariat, those whose minds have not been poisoned by the capitalistic system of education. In other words, all the militant proletariat, the communistic workingmen, those he knows he can con- trol; the second class he can control by propaganda, and of course the first he controls by force. One thing I have noticed everywhere is that Lenin and Trotsky have no use for those .workingmen who can read or write. A workingman who knows how to read or write knows democracy and he cannot be converted to com- munism in Russia, and that is why they carefully advise the American workingmen to beware of the American school-houses, where they say the capitalists have their greatest strength. 26 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness, Why the Schools are Crowded. You will read, however, in the reports of Americans who have been in Russia that their schoolrooms are crowd- ed with children. That is a fact, but why are the school- rooms crowded? Any one who has been in Soviet Russia knows that the children of Russia can obtain their food only in the school-room. Every person in Russia is ra- tioned and can only obtain his food on his food card and the food cards are distributed to the children as well. These rations are given them from the school-room, and con- sequently the school-rooms are crowded — in fact over- crowded. I also have read recently in a report from an Ameri- can who had been in Russia for seven days, that the children in the school-rooms will fight among themselves to obtain the Bolshevik propaganda and the Bolshevik literature. This is a fact. But why do they do it? — they never tell you the why and wherefore of these things. I will tell you why. They do it for the same reason that I did it and every one else does in Russia, — to take home as fuel. A pound of paper is just as good fuel as a poimd of coal or wood, and fuel being a scarce commodi- ty, this answers the purpose. That is why children are "scrapping" for communist leaflets. Cities Steirving; Villages Have Plenty. The famine in Russia exists only in the cities, however. I have visited hundreds of villages and I have traveled everywhere, from one village to another, from one hut to another, and in no instance have I found any want or famine 27 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. among the peasants. However, in no case could I find a peasant that would sell, even for money, half a pound of potatoes or half a pound of bread. They raise just enough to feed themselves, for if they raise more, it is immedi- ately requisitioned by the government and it means they have nothing for their work, and where in the world will you find a workingman that will work for nothing?* Therefore, when you go to Petrograd you will find the most extreme starvation, and on the farms just five miles out of the city, you will find food and plenty of it. But the peasant, as I have said, will not give up the food. If there is any surplus, it is immediately requisitioned. There are more requisition committees in Russia than any other organization, in fact half of the Red Guards are on the requisition committees. Sovietism vs. Marxian Socialism. The so-called economic breakdown of Russia today is the result of trying to establish an untried system of econ- omy, which is known as Marxian socialism. All those thou- sands and thousands of Russian exiles who returned to Rus- sia and who were so hopeful for socialism, who thought and believed that socialism would be successful in Russia — they remained in Russia under the Bolshevik rule and they saw the results of it, and all these men that I know who saw Bolshevism in operation, are the most disappointed *Every peasant will agree that when a worker 1b djing from starva- tion, It is necessary to give him bread on credit; and yet when it comes to millions of workers and millions of peasants they do not understand it, and the peasant resorts again to the old form of exploitation. — (Quotation from a speech of Nicolai Lenin entitled "The Work in the Villages" de- livered at Moscow and reported in "Soviet Russia," the official organ of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, under date of February 7, 1920.) 28 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. people in the world. They saw the workings of the system and had found it even worse than the Czar's rule, and everyone of them, with but few exceptions, was obliged to leave Russia and you will find them scattered all over the world. One of them visited Milwaukee a short time ago; Babuska Breshkovya, known as the Grandmother of the Revolution, who has spent more than thirty years of her life in jail for the cause. She is the most disappointed woman in the world today, because she has been obliged to admit that the system that has been put in operation in Russia is a failure and that the people that suffer most under it are not the rich but the working-class. She has seen the system in operation and has pronounced it a com- plete failure. Wsmt World Peace for Breathing Spell. The communist commissars or rulers of soviet Russia are therefore out for a world-peace. They want peace with the world. I remember Lenin and Trotsky telling the people that "the time will come when Soviet Russia must make its exit. However, that does not mean for a moment that the large system of propaganda which we have started must stop. We will continue with this right along; we must continue our untiring efforts in this direction as never before." Let me give you an excerpt from one of the typical speeches: "We are undertaking the move towards peace with a clear realization that in the course of time this peace will be profitable to us and not to our enemies. And, com- rades, it seems to me that this has been proved up to the hilt by our experience with the Brest-Litovsk peace. Sign- 29 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. ing such a peace with the Allies would not mean that we would for a second even stop building up our Red Army. It would only mean that we would put no trust whatever in the bit of paper which we should sign. We would con- tinue to build up our army — but at the same time we would allow our workmen and peasants to draw a few free breaths. We should be bound to accept these conditions in the full assurance that history is working for us and that every hour brings us nearer to the final ruin of our enemies, that we should use this breathing spell so obtained in order to gather our strength, in order that the mere continued existence of our Government would continue the grand scale propaganda which Soviet Russia has been carrying on for more than a year." World Revolution Uppermost Thought. Lenin never for a moment permits the idea of a world revolution to leave his mind. In all of his speeches he reminds his comrades that the idea of social revolution must dominate the people. In their speeches these words and expressions are continually employed: "World Revolution," "Overthrow of France," "Overthrow of Eng- land," "Overthrow of the United States," "International Revolution." The social revolution idea is the great driving force of communism today. Internationalism the Watchword. The political character of Russia is not a national one. The communists of Russia have nothing to do with national- ism, and that is why all of their government bureaus are called bureaus of the "International World Soviet"; and 80 Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. so the new money is not called Russian money but is called "International World Soviet Money of the Republic of Soviet Russia." When they are established in the United States they will have the same money only it will be called "the money of the Soviet of the United States." Their whole program is one of international socialism, and in the histories and the new text-books the nations of the world such as they exist today do not exist in their geographies. Their map is divided according to the uprisings of the workingmen. You can rest assured that Milwaukee has a big, bright red spot on their map. The program of the Bolsheviks in Russia has been much encouraged by a great many Americans who have been in Russia. I have in mind particularly one man who has been there as the head of our Red Cross, who has been called the unofficial representative of the American people. Lenin said one day, "We must not pay much attention to what Ambassador Francis says; we must listen only to Raymond Robbins, who has told us that the American government is favorable toward us and commends the soviet of Russia," preaching that the American people stand for communism, stand for sovietism, and that the American workingmen will force our government to recog- nize soviet Russia. The Fear of American Democracy. Nevertheless, Lenin and Trotsky are afraid of the American democratic institutions, and particularly of the American Constitution. You will see in their so-called n Bolshevism — By An Eye -Witness. "Rogue's Gallery of Capitalism" the American Constitution as the greatest tool of capitalism in the world, stating that when that has heen suppressed communism will be estab- lished throughout the world. Stand by the Constitution. So, if you don't want to see communism established and intrenched throughout the world, if you are against com- munism, against the soviet, and against the Bolshevik autocracy, you only have to stand by your Constitution, — by the Constitution of the United States. t9 Bolshevism means the destruction of all fam- ily ties; the breaking up of the home by nation- nlizing- all property and thus destroying all proprietary interest in the state and in the welfare of the coin inunity. In- other words the rule of Bolshevism means the return of soeiety to barbarism. Bolshevism is the very antithesis of dem- oeracy. Demoeniey means literally a rule by thti people. Lineoln has given the best definition of, n\ Democracy vvhen he said in his Gettysburg address:] H government "of tiie people, by the people, and for the peoph;." DAVU) a. FUANCIS. Aiitciiiivii Aiiihaxsiaflor to f'iifisiii.\ • • • It is a calamity, not alone for Russia, but foj the world at large, to permit Bolshevi^Jm to flourish and expand. M M V. . [J RES H KO V S K "\', The (JtattihnotJiff of the IfHssuiii. Htvolntion. 'di 42022 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY