Michael S. Farbman

“ Let it be granted that in the case of other countries this interpretation of the prevailing war enthusiasm is merely speculative. At any rate, in Russia there is no doubt that the war was a presentiment of great things to come. The people set out to war, yet it was not victory but a free life which loomed large in their eyes. ”

“ No sooner had the war-fever begun, than the threatening spirit of revolution subsided. All currents of thought melted into one boundless enthusiasm.
The war enthusiasm which has been manifested throughout the world during the last four years is a deeply interesting social phenomenon. The most striking thing is the fact that this war enthusiasm was universal, and appeared in the same form and to the same degree in the different countries. The war enthusiasm in Belgium and in this country is easy to understand. ”

“ The mutual interdependence between victory and reaction on the one hand, and defeat and Liberalism on the other, was only too clearly demonstrated during the first two years of war. This might well be expected to lead to defeatism, as it did in the Russo-Japanese war. But it is a most remarkable fact that defeatism never did appear in Russian progressive society during this war. There has been much talk about defeatism lately, and people have tried to accuse progressive Russia of being defeatist. Some publicists have not hesitated to represent Maxim Gorky as the head of the defeatist movement. ”

“ No doubt the chief element in this universal enthusiasm for war is to be explained by purely elementary fighting instincts and crowd psychology. But, apart from this general human or rather animal element, it had a great cause in the discontent of the world. The years before the war were a critical epoch not only in Russia but everywhere. ”

“ Unlike the traditional reactionary policy of Russia, which contented itself with a series of brutal and clumsy persecutions of all revolutionary activities—with banishments, executions, imprisonments, and other tortures—this new reaction was marked by a series of reforms aiming at a systematic strengthening of all counter-revolutionary forces. The greatest energy and determination were put into the agrarian reforms, whose central purpose was to increase the class of small landowners in the villages. ”

“ But, as a matter of fact, there was no defeatist movement in Russia. [2] Neither Maxim Gorky nor any other progressive Russian was defeatist—for the simple reason that the defeat of Russia would mean a victory of Germany and would thu9 strengthen the very source of Russian reaction. What was growing was not defeatism but the revolutionary spirit. It was becoming more and more evident that the Russian Government must be defeated, not by the enemy armies, but by the Russian people itself. ”

“ Unrest was growing and was assuming an openly political and revolutionary character. Under pressure from the left, Russian Liberalism also was evincing more boldness in its attitude to the Government. ”