New-York tribune., 1919-05-03


wealth.
| Mr.. Spargo gives great prominence
to the Bolshevik attack, not only upon
democracy" but upon Socialism" r"
The SOCIALISM, to which he refers is,
of course, the moderate socialism"
which wrecked the Second Internation-
al and which dominated the recent
conference at Berne, where only the
social patriots who had backed their
perm ission, and under the watchful eye,
of the capitalist diplomats now SQUAD
bling over the loot in Paris. 1t is true
that Bolshevsm attacks this pseudo
socialism, which for the last decade
has operated through its representa-
tives in the legislatures of Europe to
"harmonize" capital and labor. Boil
shevsm teaches that these Socialists"
are indeed the most dangerous and i'm
placablc enemies Of the working class;
that they provide capitalism with its
most effective arguments against the
social revolution, and mislead the
workers, after the manner of Mr.. Spar
COS book; that in the moments when
the class-conscious proletariat rises IN
social revolution precisely as Socialist
thinkers have pronhnscd for half a cen
tury, these Socialists comrades Of
Ebert. Schiedemann and Tchaikovsky
associate themselves with the exploit
ers and impcralsts to turn the ma
chine guns against the workers.
The Sisson Documents
Pretending to intellectual honesty
and scientific impartiality, Mr.. Spargo
attempts to enlist the generosity of his
readers by ignoring, he says, "thee
newspaper stories of Bolshevlst crimes
and 'outrages' "-and the remarkable
of nj
notated by Mr.. Sisson."
He then proceeds to give examples
of these very "crimes" and "outrages."
Most of the evidence he takes from Of
fetal publications Of the Soviet gov
ernment--articles in which the Bolshe-
Wiki themselves protest against the in
evitable abuses of civil war. He then
hints what the Sisson documents openly
stated-that the Bolsheviki were paid
by Germany. His evidence for this ac
cusatlon rests on tale printed In the
German Majority Social Democratic
press, to the effect that a notorious
German agent named "Parvus" brought
to the Bolshevik committee at Stock
holm the congratulations Of the Ger
man Majority Social Democrats, that
these congratulations were transmitted
to Petrograd and that Scheidemann
told Haase that the Bolsheviki had in
vited "Parvus" to Stockholm. That
the Bolsheviki denied this Mr.. Spargo
admits. There is no further evidence.
Without actually saying so, in fact
Lenne was a police spy-because, for
sooth, Lenine once knew a police spy.
Then follows list of "some Of the
most corrupt criminals in Russia"
with whom Mr.. Spargo says the Boil
sheviki we're associated. Most of the
evidence of this he admits came from
a story published in Swiss newspaper.
The names he mentions are spelled
wrong and in almost every case the
past records and present functions as
cribed to these individuals by Mr.. Spar
go are in complete contradiction to
the facts.
And finally the accounts of the two
peasant congresses with which Mr..
Spargo closes the book are completely
misleading. l was in Russia at the
time and was present at the Second
Peasants Congress, which split into
two factions, the great ma ajority voting
finally to join the Soviet government
and small minority breaking off and
own, which soon dwindled into hand
full Of moderate Socialist" intellect
uaIs. This small minority Mr. Spargo
calls the Second Peasant Congress. He
then describes what he calls the Third
Congress of Workers and Peasants
Soviets, which consisted of the Cen
tral Executive Committee Of the Work
ers' Soviets-whieh was discharged
from Office at the time of the Bolshe
vik revolution by an overwhelming
majority of votes-and the old Execu-.
tive Committee of the Peasants
Soviets, which lost it's job at the end
of the Second Congress.
Practically at the same time that
this handful of discredited officials
and their political followers were
being dispersed by a squad Of Red
Guards the real Third Congress of
Workers and Peasants Soviets was
meeting, $500 strong, in joint session
at the Tauride Palace, and consoli-
dating in the name of the toiling
masses of all great Russia the Soviet
government as it exists to-day.
These two congresses" are there
fore impostures and characteristic of
the "history" with which the book is
filled
Mr.. Spargo sums up his indictment
Of the Bolsheviki as follows:
"The Bolshevik instruction was
precipitated by its leaders precisely
because they saw that the provision al
government was Loyalty and intell-
gently carrying out the programme of
the revolution in cOOperation with the