Yet it is a fact that even the Russian peasants
in the mass are not Bolshevik by conviction. Bolshevism, now that its principles are thoroughly understood, turns out to be nothing but an autocracy " by the proletariat "—and not even by the proletariat, but by that part of the proletariat which believes in Bolshevism. All the bloody upheaval of the Revolution has occurred in order that a kind of inverted Tsarism might be enthroned. The sympathies of ordinary Englishmen may naturally incline to the support of the Cadets, who are the Whigs, the moderating party, of Russia ; but it is very difficult to fall in with the principle that the Allies have any right to recognize any particular party. It is nearly always convenient, of course, to recognize a de facto Government ; but frankly we do not know enough of the facts to say whether it is necessary to recognize the Bolsheviks, and nothing short of necessity would reconcile us to helping people who hold the Bolsheviks' peculiar views.
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