New-York tribune., 1918-02-24
Bolsheuiki Meeting
On the East Side
By II. T. Sherwood

By II. +. Sheracood
~ YER en- the East Side wherever two
or three gathered together the sub
ject of discussion is Bo,shevsm Most
Of the inhabitants Of that section are Russian
by birth or ancestry Many families are rep
resented by in the American army.
They would like to see their young men
returned from the open air of the canton
ments and the trenches to the confined
quarters of the tenement homes. Bolshev-
ism, promising peace, has, therefore, inter-
osted them. The idealistic younger genera
zion is socalistic. 1t is interested in the
latest phase of the Russian social revolution
for this reason.
The time is Thursday night The scene
is the Manhattan Lyceum, in East Fourth
Street. The subject is the Russian revolu-
tior. Is Bolshevsm part Of the genuine
revolution? The protagonists are DR.. Anna
lnrerman and DR.. Alexander Trachtenberg.
The former is woman of the Jewish
intellectual type who wears her hair cropped
ahcut the napc Of her neck When speaking
she walks back and forth across the stage
! with hand in side pocket and the
other vigorously emphasizing her remarks.
She is in her thirties and can talk to
hostile audience. Having just returned from
Russia, where she went some months ago
t share in the social revolution, she can
argue from facts. She used them against
Boshevism.
Veteran
Dr.. Trachtcnberg, a veteran of the Russo
Japanese War is research director and IL
brarian of the Rand School OF Socialism.
He fought in the japanese war in order to
propagate social revolution among the Rus
sian soldiers. Receiving a collegiate educa-
ti"n in this country, he is a philosophical
Socialist His support of the Bolshevist
movement as a phase of social revolution
was heartily supported
The character OF the audience is itself il
luminatng There is not graybeard in
the hall There very few over thirty
years of age. Nearly al unmarried
yoirg men and women who argue fluent
~ about socialism in dogmatic II not phil
osophic fashion. None of the young women
have brought their knitting with them. There
Is nothing to suggest that the activities of the
Red Cross had appealed to them as yet. al
! though some Of them, doubtless. have broth
ers in the camps. The debate is III English
! The audience has passed through American
schools That it has prcconceived ideas in
favor of BolShevism is made manifest when .
DR.. Ingerman, out of her experience, argues
That Bolshevism is not truly part Of the
I
"The Bolshevki came and forced their
ideas upon the revolution by shooting
around" she says. against a chorus OF 'boos"
"'lne Bolsheviki have promised peace, land
and bread" she continues. Already three
months have passed away and they have
given nothing. Only in cities where they
have soldiers could they secure maorities.
Force, not ideas, is their argument. In the
elections one could not tell for whom he
rot persons. No knev for what ne was
Toting, except that 1t was peace. The
Bolshevik convention could not represent the
Russian Revolution, for it was formed IN
three days. It takes from eight to fifteen
days for travellers to reach Petrograd from
some parts of Russia and Siberia. The
trouble with the Russian Social Revolution
was that it would not accept power, would
not share it with the bourgeois, and the bout.
geos left it lying around in the street for
any one to pick up. The Bolshevk picked
it up" i
IN Outburst of Howls -,
These nterprc tations of Russian conditions I
arc anathema. She concluded her shars 1
the debate am.u a prolonged outburst
hows.
DE- Trachtenberg, on the other hand E
greeted with uproarious applause. A pniose
pAlral debater, he ignores certain we'll es !
Vapilshed facts and urges that although ne ~
Mehshevlk, or conservative, Socialist %
can support Bolshovism, because in the bst
tie OF ideas Trctzky has succeeded. Hn B
side has won After the manner Of az
mocracy therefore, MS idea, or policy, %.
comes the ruling enc and should be accspea
/ as truly part Of the Social Revolution E
"Breshkovshy," says ne "is now reactisn'
AIRY.
Stand by the Russian Revolution, because +
It viii help American socialism and inter
national socialism," he cries. IL say this, 81 &
though am Menshivik, and not Bolshe 3
vik"
The audience enjoys the tossing Of idess
back and forth 1t i. in its clement. 1t
not SO much interested in facts In ideas
and theories
And get. although one can win applause
! lcr bolshevism on the East Side, ose wno
penetrate deeply believe that they see ev'
! dences IN the subconscious life of its pcopie
th2' the enthusiasm Tor :nis swiftly develop N
ing phase OF socialism within the course o. B
lew weeks will be swallowed UP by tn. i
operation OF the great Jewish trait. love
I 1amily When it is discovered that Bolsne
VlK peace Will not return the sons from tas q
army 'here VIII be revulsion Of feeling -
! me part OF the more practical element wniea
WIZ master all other sentiments. In othe'
words, BoIshevlsm is philosophical abstrac'
.'on that interests but will not grow in tns
| imported Russian SOIL of the East Side.