118 119 CURRENT AFFAIRS THE CLASS STRUGGLE President Wilson, as the English liberal supporters of the war were pleading with their rulers, to heed the call of the Kerensky government in distress begging at our doors for a word or sign that would enable it to say to the Russian people that its allies war aims were consistent with democratic principles and their intentions toward the peoples of the Central Empires in case of allied victory, honorable. And for six long and weary months the liberal supporters of the allied war lords met with rebuff after rebuff. In their desperation our liberals openly cursed the stupidity of allied diplomacy, which was playing into the hands of Germany by alienating the sympathies of the Russian people from the allied cause and at the same time strengthening the position of the German war lords with the German people.
But suddenly a change has come over allied diplomacy. The Bourbons who preside over the destinies of the allied nations have suddenly become seers and prophets harbingers of a new and bright future for the world and the inhabitants thereof. And our liberals, including some leading Socialists, are transported with joy at the miracle and shout in chorus: Behold, how the blind have seen the Light and the deaf have heard the voice of Reason, and those that were dumb so long have found their voice again. Verily, the Age of Miracles has not passed away.
man half the praise which President Wilson so gracefully bestowed upon Trotzky while the latter was busy discussing terms of peace with Baron von Kuehlmann in defiance of the Allies.
There is one drawback, however, upon successes thus won and recognition thus gained: What has been won by force can only be held by force. It would therefore be well for the real friends of a democratic peace not to rest on their oars as if the victory has been won already, but rather to gird their loins and prepare for the fight, so that victory may not be turned into disastrous defeat by over confidence. Let them take warning from the pitiful fate of the late lamented Reichstag Revolution, which our self same liberals heralded as a great democratic victory, and which has since been cast to the dogs at Brest Litowsk, being even denied a decent burial.
What has happened once may happen again. The allied diplomats who have been stupid so long may relapse into stupidity again should the miraculous effects of the compelling power be removed. The honey which they now use so lavishly may then turn into gall.
We must not put our faith in the commitments of statesmen.
Statesmen are notorious for the shortness of their memories, as is proven by the very declarations which our liberals are so vociferously acclaiming. Nay, more than that: statesmen are brazen faced, as is proven by these same declarations. So Mr.
Lloyd George has the effrontery to say, in speaking of the treaties of the European Allies with respect to the division of the war spoils: We are, and always have been perfectly ready to discuss them with our allies. This in face of the fact that stubborn refusal of Mr. Lloyd George and his immediate allies to listen to Russia demand for a revision of these treaties was one of the principal reasons for the downfall of the Kerensky government.
Nor must we get so over enthusiastic about President Wilson present enthusiasm for the Russian Revolution and its leaders as 10 forget the cold, hard facts of not so long past. The fact As is usual with the tribe, our liberals live by faith alone.
It is not in their nature, therefore, to inquire into the causes of such miraculous conversions, transforming babbling idiots into sages full of wisdom over night. Their not to ask the reason why.
To those, however, who are of inquiring turn of mind the incident is full of instruction. For one thing, it teaches a lesson in worldly wisdom: It proves conclusively that begging doesn pay. Trotzky has obtained more by his threatening attitude in two months than Kerensky could have begged in two years, or in two score years for that matter. It also proves that beggars are despised, while independence is ever respected and admired: The Kerensky government, with all that it did to keep the Russian people for the Allies, never elicited from any allied states