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And yet coming to facts, the entire policy of the bourgeois Government consists in the firmly rooted hope that after the four years of war, it is enough to assemble in Paris, write a peace treaty and end the war; for the river to retire to its bed and for everything to return to the old status, with possibly some alterations in the front of the building, but the foundations to remain unaltered. Many believe this. There is no greater, more hopeless absurdity. Even supposing there were not one Communist in the world, even then that world, our whole sinful earth would have to undergo a thorough change after this four years' war.
Take, let us say, the Crimean war. It was child's play to this one, and yet it ended in this, that a radical change took place in Russia—the emancipation of the serfs. Now we cannot even imagine what an immense step that was to take.
Take again the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–71. That war, compared to the present or last one also was child's play, yet it resulted in the overthrow of a monarchy and the establishment of a republic. Yet what did the Franco-Prussian war amount to? It lasted about 9 months, only two countries were involved in it, and a lesser number of men took part in it on all its fronts than are fighting now on one of our fronts. Only forty odd years have elapsed since then, and here we have a world war, with
