What we see now in Russia, and what we have been witnessing there for ten years can be characterized only by one word, and that word is "tragedy!" It is a world tragedy, and especially it is the tragedy of the population of Russia and at the same time also that of Bolshevism.

Ten years ago - on November 7, 1917 - the Bolshevist revolution broke out in Petrograd. Russia at that time was like a woman in the throes of childbirth. Many people thought that there a totally new social order was being born. Many whose thoughts were turned towards Russia even hoped to see there, through the smoke rising from the fires of the revolution, that wonderful apparition which the Russian poet Block had called "the Christ, adorned with a crown of white roses." And they 2expected that He, this Christ, would soon shed His blessing on man, flower and beast, on all that lives; and it seemed to them that this future glory would redeem all the horror, all the bloodshed of the revolution.

But now ten years have elapsed, and we see that the hopes aroused by the revolution have not been realized. It is not "the Christ adorned with a crown of white roses" who has come to the plains of Russia, but some monster the breath of which poisons the atmosphere and brings death to everything that grows on the face of the earth. The torrent of the Russian revolution has made a sharp turn and is flowing now not forward, but backward. All the old evils which seemed to have been entirely wiped out by the revolution are being resurrected at present.

And this is the tragedy of the Russian revolution. The good things promised by it never came to pass. It has turned out to be a great hoax. Instead 3of the building of a new world there is being pieced up out of debris the same old world that was there before the revolution. Instead of a free and happy life we still hear over the plains of Russia groans and curses. "He who was nothing" remains a nobody. All the bombastic slogans of the October rising (Note: The Bolshevist revolution started on October 25, according to the old Russian calendar. D. S.) have been turned inside out. The workers, who have been promised the ownership of the factories, walk about unemployed, or, if they are working, are being paid wages which do not enable them to get a decent living; the peasants, who were to get the land, have to pay very high taxes in order to be able to sow some grain on it without any interference from the authorities; and, if they fail to pay the tax accurately, the land and all their belongings are taken from them.

The October Revolution was aimed chiefly at the nobles, the rich, the capitalistic state. The future equality was the chief stimulating factor in all the phases of the revolution. But what do we see now? Is there any 4equality? Is the capitalistic system a thing of the past? Does not money play in Russia the same part which it plays in the capitalistic countries? Do those workers who are working in "their own factories" get the full product of their labor? Does not exploitation of labor flourish? Has not piece work been introduced? Are there no new classes of idlers existing in Russia? Are there no men there who live in palaces, drive automobiles and go to Southern France in order to restore their health? And are there no other men and women who do not visit some doctor in their neighborhood in case of sickness just because they have no money with which to pay the doctor?

Those are the questions one should think about on the decennary of the October Revolution in order to realize what a terrible tragedy this revolution is for the luckless toiling masses. These masses hoped that the revolution would bring them bread, but they got a stone instead...

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As there were lots of luckless toilers before, so there are lots of them now - toilers who have been cheated by the revolution or, rather, by those who had staged the latter.

We have said that the October Revolution has become a tragedy for the whole of humanity - and also for Bolshevism. This has to be understood literally. The victors in this revolution were the Bolsheviki - as separate individuals. The revolution really put them in an exalted position and put in their hands the knout (Note: A kind of whip. Pronounced k-noot. D. S.) and the sceptre. But as an idea Bolshevism did not gain anything from the revolution. And herein lies, perhaps, the only merit of the October Revolution. It has brought to light the fallacy of the teaching with which the heads of the workers have been stuffed during a half century. Now the workers are lost forever for Bolshevism. They will not swallow this kind of bait any more, for before their eyes they have a good lesson - the Russian Revolution.