Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/329

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
322
DIPLOMACY AND THE WAR

made in Austria and Bohemia, but these efforts were fruitless on account of the disfavour of the local Government.

In May it seemed as if we were faced by the final catastrophe in consequence of the Roumanian advance, but the Council of the Four in Paris did not allow the Roumanian army to proceed for reasons which are unknown to me. The Soviet again gained time, and the Red Army re-established itself once more. They succeeded in beating the Czechs and continued their work of destruction.

The final death-blow was dealt to communism by itself because they staked their own existence presumably on account of internal difficulties on one card. They determined to penetrate the Roumanian line and join the armies of Lenin. This attack of the Red Army caused the defensive of the Roumanians and then the counter-ofifensive, under pressure of which the dictatorship of the proletariat collapsed. When the Roumanian army stood at the gates of Budapest, the leaders of the Communists gave in, in the hope that they could save their lives and the masses of the people. As the Social Democrats shared the responsibility for the Soviet régime with the Communists, the reaction was so great that a Government of the pure Social Democrats, who were in the minority, was absolutely impossible. The reign of terror of the Left parties had to give way to a far greater reaction than was intended.

At the moment we still live in the era of counter-