The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-17

Give the devil a finger and he
will take the whole hand" Many
inexperienced young revolutionists
were caught in the net of the cum
ming, hyprocritical agent of the
Okhrana under such circumstances.
They made the mistake of believing
that the ferocions enemy was
human" they were deceived by
the suave manners of the agent
and allowed themselves to be drawn
into discussions. For moment
the flame of hatred and contempt
for the enemy was extinguished.
That sealed their fate. 1t was the
first step in the moral collapse Of
the revolutionist.
Most often (even in the case OF
experienced revolutionists) evidence
was given with the best of inten-
lions. The revolutionist often gave
testimony, not in order to try to
clear himself, but, as he thought, in
the interest of the revolutionary
organizations. Some revolutionists
took the entire blame upon them
selves so as to clear the more
responsible leaders of the organi-
cation. But these tactics gave posi-
tive results only in those cases
where they were employed by ex-
perienced revolutionists. Generally
speaking the Okhrana knew very
well who its most dangerous enemy
was and it had sufficient means. at
its disposal to keep its hold on
him; it was not deceived by the
evasionS of the prisoner, but the
prisoners evidence was of immense
value to the Okhrana, because it
provided clues for completely I'M
earthing the revolutionary or
ganization, provided material for
the prosecution and for the liquida-
ton of the organization on '1agal
grounds"
For these reasons the Bolshevik
Party, during the Tsarist regime,
advised its members to refuse to
give evidence of any kind during
examination. In this the Party
was not only guided by its own
experience but also by that of the
preceding generation. 1t renlem-
bered the testament of that out
standing revolutionary organizer
and conspirator of the end Of the
'70's, a member of the Peoples
WHIP Party, Alexander Mikhailov,
who said: 81 ordain you, brothers,
to employ uniform method Of
giving evidence prior to the trial;
furthermore, recommend that YOU
refuse to make any statment under
examination, no matter how clear
the Remuneration, or the reports of
the Secret Service appear to be.
This will save you from many mis-
taxes
IT must be borne in mind that the
refusal to give evidence carried
with it heavy penalties, particularly
for the Bolshevik revolutionists.
Generally speaking, it was not easy
to be an active Bolsheyik under
illegal or semi-illegal conditions,
but it was doubly hard for. the
Bolshevik when he fell into the
hands of his enemies. But they
had to be prepared to take the
consequences of these tactics.
TORTURE
AS was said above, the Tsarist
Okhrana Strove to obtain evidence
from the arrested revolutionist by
every conceivable means. But they
did not always employ humane"
tactics and refined" manners. The
Okhrana usually employed thocs
tactics during the first stages OF
the examination in the hope of
Turing the prisoners into It's net.
But long experience taught the
Bolshevik to defeat these tactics.
Fewer and fewer victims were
caught on the hook of the Okhrana.
Then >$e agents of the Okhrana
showed their true colours. After
the Revolution of 1905 there were
very few friendly discussions"
with arrested Bolsheviks on the
teachings of Marx, or the tactics
of the Bolshevik and Menshevik
Parties, and on general political
questions.
Ito Be Continued