Page:Karl Marx The Man and His Work.pdf/46

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KARL MARX: THE MAN AND HIS WORK

duty which for the time being would tax the utmost revolutionary energies of the Communists. And that Germany was destined to be the next field of battle of the Communists, was to be found in another deduction made from a peculiar combination of historic facts. It was Marx's contention that if the achievements of the revolution were not to be eradicated by a counter-force, if the waves of the revolution were not to break on the shores of Russian despotism, then, he maintained, it would be absolutely imperative to concentrate all the revolutionary forces on the constitutional or republican development of Germany. A revolutionized Germany—revolutionized in the fullest democratic conception—he deduced, was bound to be the most massive bulwark of Democracy in Europe. And this deduction was strikingly verified by subsequent events. Not only did Russian despotism subsequently throw down and drown in seas of blood the heroic struggle of the Hungarians for independence; not only did 300,000 troops of the Russian despot shatter the revolution in Austria and save the Hapsburg dynasty; but the failure of the revolution in Germany—the failure to create that bulwark of Democracy—was bound to very materially affect the Russian people's struggle for liberty at a later date. During the Russian Revolution and after, particularly in the stormy years of 1905 to 1906, the German government viewed with open fear this gallant struggle of a people for constitutionalism, apprehending with anxiety the effect which a successful conclusion of this uprising would have upon the German people. It, therefore, sought to aid Russian despotism in every possible way to crush the revolt. In the capacity of henchman of the Czar this government, to the eternal shame of the German people, arrested thousands upon thousands of the flower of Russian Democracy in Germany; hounded thousands upon thousands of Russian students from the high-schools and universities; and, in true Russian fashion, searched houses and intimidated the people against the much-hated "reds." And for what purpose? Did the German govern-