Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-25
BOLSHEVISM AS A GAME
TO DISCREDIT THE TREATY
Count Karolyi's Obvious Joy in the Buda'
pest Revolution Indicates That
He Is Playing II

|
A NEW brand of alleged Bolshevism
"A masks a tragcally familiar and un-
speakablv loathsom" species Of trickery
! in Budapest Doubtless there are thou
sands Of Hungarian peasants and work
men whose subscription to the wild doc
trines of Trotsky and L"nine is fanatl-
cally sincere. but Count Karolyi, who
proclaimed the revolution, never men,
toned the social injustices. real or fan
cied, from which the proletariat Of his
1 country may he suffering.
1t is the proposed establishment of
new boundary lines which arouses
Karolyi's ire. Screaming defiance at the
Paris conference. which purposes to
carry out the logical implications of the
surrender of The Central powers, he ex-
tends a welcome to frenzied visionaries,
who, if invested with enduring power,
could perhaps render impossible the
making of just peace.
Fortunately, the desiring Hungarian
statesman has been outspoken. The di-
plomacy of the defeated nations has
always lacked fnesse, but it has seldom
been cruder than in the current instance.
Karolyi "dcclared that it intends to re-
gard the delimination line (of Hungary
as the political frontier. AS provisional
president of the Hungarian peoples re-
public | turn against the Paris Peace
Conference and to the proletariat of the
world for justice and support"
In other words, all other ways of rem
dering the impending treaty negligible
having failed, the spokesman for one
partner nation in the conquered league
of iniquity calls for world upheaval.
Bolshevism-not the fake variety con-
cerned with the "soul-harrowing" theme
of national frontiers, but the real thing
dwelling upon a new social order-flat-
tiers itself that it will wipe the mundane
slate clean and begin afresh. Under
new deal all around, what would become
of the scraps of paper signed by the
Central powers last autumn? Naturally
they would be invalid, and it is becoming
increasingly evident that such invalidity
is the ideal of the guilty nations.
Innumerabe indications Of the pursuit
Of such policy in Germany, in Austria
and Hungary are now apparent. Facts
that may have seemed unrelated may be
linked in the light of the Budapest per-
formance into a chain of frantic con-
spiracy designed to strangle the Peace
Conference.
"Anything to escape the consequences
of wrongdoing' has been the spirit Of
these endeavors. 1t can be discerned
now in Germany's obstructonary tactics
regardin" her provisioning by the En-
tente. There have been intimatiOns that
even the Spartacan shambles in Berlin
were partly inspired by reactionaries
eager to adopt any ruse whereby the
Hun, even after his military abasement,
could go scot free,
| Nobody, of course, can deny that Karl
! Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg be-
! lieved in the mad doctrines for which
! they died. but it is equally deducible that
! the very names of these agitators were
put to handy use as bogies by the grace
less Junker factions. "The menace Of
! Bolshevism" is a phrase which has been
reiterated by the conspirators with the
express purpose of making the Paris
! COntefeeS snake IN Inelr DOOlS.
The release in Berlin yesterday of
| Radek, the Russian Bolshevist, is a sig
nificant index of how swiftly the tip from
| Budapest is being recognized. That such
! boldness was not manifested earlier,
that the Ebert Government adopted dras-
tic measures Of repression against the
Spartacans is easily eXplainable, for the
German leaders do not want volcanic
Lenineism if the Entente can be confuted
by any other agency. 1t is a last resort
for those plotting to discredit any just
efforts to reconstruct the world Alright.
That Karolyi saw no other way out
of his difficulty is clear from the exultant
tone of his valedictory. The retiring
Kerensky was crushed. He had battled
against Bolshevism and had failed. The
former provisional president" of Hun
gary obviously rejoices in his demotion.
The contrast in the situations is marked.
The Soviet supporters no doubt see in
it cherished chance to try the alleged
panacea for social injustice. They care
not at all how monstrous is the govern
mental bluff or how intense the Karolyi
resentment over provisional boundary
lines. The Hungarian Bolshevism, like
that of the Russian peasant, is born
of oppression and sustained by oppor-
tunity.
Hungry men cannot reason. Therein
lies the real "Bolshevist menace" in
Europe. 1t is folly to ignore its exist
ence, folly not to recognize its power
folly not to seek for the wisest and most
humane ways to exterminate the evil.