The World Significance of the Russian Revolution/Section 3
III. The Struggle in Russia.
The bewildering play and inter-play of forces which has finally enthrowned Lenin in the seat of power may well confuse the casual eye. How is it that Lenin, the neurotic son of a public official and the brother of an assassin, with a small executive consisting chiefly of alien or of Jew internationals,[1] is able to exercise despotic sway over a population (before the revolution) of 148 millions, of which at least 87% are peasants bitterly opposed to communism, and of the remainder consisting of industrial proletariat (less than 3% of the population) intelligentsia, and the parasitic Commissar and public executioner class, the latter class only (at most 2% of the whole) does not loath the régime?
The answer to the riddle can only be understood if we clearly distinguish between the attractiveness of the propaganda, decoy-cries and prospects of unbridled licence which hypnotised the masses on the initial "breaking-up" stage, and the bitter realization which came after their dupes had allowed their new masters to establish themselves in power. It is also necessary to distinguish the exotic ruling element from the exploited masses they use, and to trace its rise to power.
The Revolutionary outbreak in Russia in the year 1905 was the direct result of a revolutionary struggle of which the active participants on both sides were confined to an exceedingly small section of the total population, it was in fact a struggle between two sections of the educated classes. The latter consisted of a few million aristocrats, professional men, officials, merchants, journalists, agitators, and land-owners—a mere fraction in a population containing 145 millions of peasants. And within this fraction, the elements of discord on both sides of the struggle were a still more tiny fraction of the nation.
- ↑ There were practically speaking no Jews in North or Central Russia, since they had always been excluded from all parts of Russia except Russian Poland.