UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
N A V I G A T I O N D I G I T A L L I B R A R Y
Bookmark and Share



Repository: UIHistories Project: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 22 [PAGE 3]

Caption: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 22
This is a reduced-resolution page image for fast online browsing.


Jump to Page:
< Previous Page [Displaying Page 3 of 16] Next Page >
[VIEW ALL PAGE THUMBNAILS]




EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:



• *

• the rival governments, where the power invariably passed from the h nds of liberals to reactionaries and terminated in a military dicta- • hip> have served to reconcile Russians to the evils of Bolshevism nd created a disposition on the part of former enemies to cooperate with the Bolshevik leaders. (7) The Bolsheviki, on their side, have been growing more conciliatory in their methods and have been more and more making those concessions to the views and prejudices of other parties which suggest a hope of arriving at a workable settlement. (8) Whether owing to the program of the Bolshevik' or to the other difficulties with which the country has had to contend, the economic condition of Russia is precarious and may result in the early downfall oi the ruling party. Three political parties have been prominent in the history of the revolution. The Constitutional Democrats (Cadets), who continue to be so called though they have changed their official title to the Party of Popular Freedom, represent the views of the liberal professional and mercantile classes and believe in a representative, parliamentary form of government such as exists in the United States or England. More important are the two great Socialist parties, Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. The primary distinction between them is that the former views the problems of social reconstruction from the standpoint of the peasant's interests, the latter from that of the workingman's. But the cleavage within these parties is of greater significance than the difference between the parties as a who'e. They are both split

I

up into moderate and radical factions, each having a tendency to coalesce with the corresponding group in the other party. The moderate and radical wings of the Socialist Revolutionaries are designated as Right and Left respectively. In the Social Democratic party the moderates are known as the Mensheviki and the extremists as Bolsheviki. The Bolsheviki became closely allied with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, while their most determined opposition came from the Right Socialist Revolutionaries. The official name by which the Bolsheviki now prefer to call themselves is the Communists; it describes their ideal of government. At present the name of the Bolsheviki is closely linked m people's minds with the Soviets. The connection between them, however, is not a necessary one. The word Soviet meifhs a council and was a title adopted by the organizations of workmen and soldiers formed at the beginning of the revolution without any reference to Party distinctions. The Mensheviki at first formed a vastly preponderating majority in the Soviet9, but as the Holsheviki identified themselves more particularly with the interests of the workingmen ami m 1c 3