PREFACE
THIS book is not an apologia for Russia or the Revolution. I do not intend to plead for Russia or to beg that she should be judged with mercy or that her conduct should be forgiven. Nor do I intend to blame anyone for Russia's misfortunes or to engage in controversy with the many severe and contemptuous critics of the Russian Revolution. But at this terrible hour when enemies and friends alike are blaming Russia for their misfortunes, when old and friendly ties are being displaced by new distrust and active hatred, I feel I must do my best to dispel the fundamental misunderstandings and calumnies. My sole intention is therefore to give a truthful and objective account of the Russian Revolution and what it stands for—so far at least as objective truth is accessible to one who is filled with enthusiasm for the Revolution, and is deeply convinced that the Revolution is not only a magnificent opportunity for the free development of the true genius of Russia, but also the greatest victory of the human spirit.
I do not pretend that everything in Russia is good and that the Revolution has to answer for no sins, nor do I intend to hide its failures or to be silent about them.
The time has come to speak about Russia, it may be with regret, but certainly without bitterness or passion.
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It will be for the future historian of the Great Russian Revolution to trace its beginnings. Such an historian will no doubt go back many decades into the past. He will begin its story at least from the date of the liberation of the Serfs in 1861 and will record the causal chain of events from that point.
We, as contemporaries of the Revolution, have another task, and are face to face with other and more actual problems. We are too near to the scene; we see the actors too clearly and ascribe to them a far greater rôle than will history. We are active to praise and to condemn. In short, we are at this stage unable to judge the Revolution historically.
