108 THE CLASS STRUGGLE THE CLASS STRUGGLE 109 aims of the bourgeois liberals, the same as that which demoralized the proletarian movement in England and France. And so incompatible is this with the task of bringing about an actual and genuine democracy in Russia, that Jules Guesde demanded quite openly in his telegram: first victory, and only then the republic. In his own country, moreover, he practiced the same principle inasmuch as he betrayed the republic in favor of those who promised victory.
At the same time that these warnings by the official representatives of Socialism in the democratic countries are being addressed to the Russian proletariat, the government officialdom of England and France are carrying on an equally systematic campaign against the Russian revolution, against democratic demands which have been already set up and realized by the proletariat, and primarily against the demand for a republic and the real and complete elimination of the power of the Romanoffs.
The entire bourgeois press of England and France has been given free rein by the government to calumniate the Council of Workmen and Soldiers Delegates and the revolutionary army. They are trying by agitation to point the provisional government toward a counter revolutionary coup etat so as to set aside the rule of the man on the street, and thus place the destiny of the Russian revolution in the hands of the English embassy. They go so far as to threaten financial boycott, and set up the claim that the French creditors, who invested their money with, and participated in the plunder of the Romanoffs, have a right to interfere in this hour of destiny, in which the Russian people is to decide its future.
The government Socialists of France and of England have neither enough courage nor enough revolutionary consciousness to fight this reactionary activity; in fact, they tend moral support by their demonstrations, and do not even shrink from the insinuation that the Russian Social Democracy, after the manner of the Romanoff clique, is considering a separate peace with Germany against the French Republic.
Thus, while the Russian proletariat is straining every nerve to destroy the reactionary powers which it overthrew and save the country from the danger of counter revolution, its appeal for international unification to wage the common fight for the salvation of all nations from the bloody butchery, is purposely misinterpreted in a false way to the workingmen and soldiers of England and France. The western masses, hampered by martial law, are made antagonistic to the Russians by this insidious agitation. Comrades Brizon, Blanc and Raffin Dugens have protested in the French parliament against this despicable distortion of the truth.
Never has the revolutionary uprising of a people been so betrayed by those very elements from which it was justified in expecting sympathy and support.
The crowning act in this shameless campaign is the decision of the French parliamentary group of the Socialist Party to send three of its members, Lafont, Moutet and Marcel Cachin, to Russia to influence the Russian proletariat along lines of national sentiment.
The nature of this mission is amply characterized, according to newspaper reports, by the fact that it has the sanction of the Parliamentary Commission of Foreign Affairs, whose chairman is a typical representative of French plutocracy, Georges Leygues. And this mission is sanctioned, without any pretense at hiding its official nature from the Russian proletariat, by the representatives of a party whose program is the Social Revolution, and International Brotherhood.
It is no more than fair to mention, however, that the members Moutet and Lafont have on several occasions in the course of the war defended the interests of Russian emigration of the Russian Volunteers and of the Russian press in France against the ruling powers. But to avoid disturbing civil peace with the exploiting classes, they like the party majority, never even once protested in Parliament or in the public press against the despicable service that the French Republic rendered to Czarism in persecuting emigration and throttling the Socialist press.
Like the majority of the party, they too avoided a break with the government at any cost, whether in connection with the execution of the eleven Russian volunteers in France, or in the case of the brutal suppression with the assistance of the French authorities, of the uprising of the Russian expeditionary corps in Marseille. They did all they could to prevent the French proletariat from learning anything of these heroic deeds of the bourgeoisie for freedom and justice. And now that they bow down to the floor before the Russian revolution, the Russian proletariat is fully justified in reminding them that to the very last, they were silent accessories to the uninterrupted series of misdeeds that constituted the essence of Czarism.
As for Marcel Cachin, it may be of value to the Russian comrades to know that he already did similar service on an officially sanctioned mission, in going to Italy to paralyze the ag tion of our glorious comrades when they tried to prevent their government from forcing the Italian people into the world wide slaughter. The presence of this French Suedekum in the delegation and the absence of adherents of the minority, which really represent the majority in the party, speaks volumes, but does not give evidence of a very high regard for the Russian proletariat nor of a strong desire to come to an understanding with its representatives.
In stating these things, dear Comrade, we hardly consider it necessary to emphasize that this inspired campaign travels under a false cloak in labeling itself as the brotherhood of the French and English proletariat, which latter really desire peace no less than that of Russia and Germany.