New-York tribune., 1918-12-01
What of the
w United States?

The question as to the prospects of
United States now remains to be consid-
cred. At this writing the movement
seems to be gaining control of the Ger
man cities through the ascendency Of
the Spartacus wing of the Social Demo-
cratic party led by Karl Liebknecht. A
complete victory for Bolshevism in Aus
tria and Germany was predicted some
time ago by an Austrian press CORES
pondent, who studied on the ground the
rise and spread Of Bolshevism in Russia.
This observer told the writer that it was
almost certain that the movement would
sweep everything before it, not only in
the Teutonic countries, but also in Italy,
and would make large gains in France
and England. He based this prediction
largely on his knowledge of the spread
of the Bolshevist propaganda among the
soldiers of the Teutonic and Allied
armies. The American soldiers, by the
way, this informant thought, had thus
far been practically immune to the revo-
lutionary propaganda emanating from
Russia. This prediction suggests the
disquieting possibility of new align
ment in Europe, which might find the
United States in an alliance fighting
against the Socialist republics.
The prophecy has been made in some
quarters that the Bolshevist movement,
after sweeping through Europe, will
CnroQ6 raf11ro11v a opI ,tobl @>
United States. The grounds for this
belief appear to be the tendency of any
revolutionary movement to spread with
, wildfire rapidity at time like the pres
ent, when the restraining forces of con-
servative public opinion and established
social standards have been unsettled and
weakened through influences set in mo-
by the war; the insistence upon the
claims of labor, which, having won large
gains during the war period, will not
allow itself to be forced back to the old
level of wages, hours and conditions of
employment, but will rather press on for
new and larger concessions; the counter
resistance on the part of capital which
may be expected to demand the restora-
tlon OF terms of employment that will
offer larger margin for profit; and the
pressure of the increasing cost of living,
which must produce widespread discon-
tent and readiness to resort to revolu-
tlonary social panaceas for relief When
one considers these conditions and ten
dencles, the prospect of Bolshevist up
rising Of the United States might seem
hardly remote.
But there are other considerations bear
ing on this question, which, upon deeper
reflection, point to an opposite conclusion.
In the first place, the peculiar conditions
that produced the sudden rise and spread
Of Bolshevism in Russia are not present
in the United States. There the oppor-
tunlty for Bolshevism, as has been
pointed out, came through the collapse of
the monarchical system and the indus
trial organization which depended upon
it for support. The Workmen's Shop
Committees came into existence and were
able to assume the control of industries
IN which they were employed, because
the owners and managers of these in
dustries, as we'll as the government it.
self, had abdicated. Indeed, it may be
said that the success of the Boshevists in
this phase came about through the pres
sure OF economic necessity. No such con-
dition exists in this country. On the con-
trary, the organization of American in
dustry to-day probably rests upon a
firmer basis of efficiency and equity than
at any previous time in the national his
tory.
Eard Coino for