to-day. We can imagine a man unfolding to like-minded friends in the privacy of his own house some such plan of campaign as he suggests to them. But that anyone having conceived such a design should proceed to proclaim it from the housetops is a thing almost incredible. It argues an arrogant contempt for all possible opposition which, to those who know the real strength of "Communism" in this country, seems not far removed from insanity.
The workings of the mind of this half-crazed and inflated fanatic are important not only as largely dominating the movement but because they are typical of his even less gifted Bolshevists. Perhaps the greatest oratorical effort of his life was at the Second Congress of the Communist Internationale held at Moscow in July, 1920. There, in rapid succession, he made a whole string of utterly ignorant or consciously false statements about Germany, America, Japan and France—making these propositions the very foundation of the world policy of the Internationale and foreign policy of the Soviets. Here are a few of his remarks:
You know that the Versailles Treaty forced Germany and a whole series of conquered States, into conditions of absolute impossibility of economic existence, into conditions of complete absence of rights, of utter humiliation. … America, which profited most of all from the war, being converted into a rich country from a country that had a mass of debts. … Japan, which profited much by remaining outside the actual conflict, seizing the Asiatic continent. …
France's assets are three and one-quarter billions, while her liabilities are ten and a half; that is three times more. … This is the country which has lived