Michael S. Farbman

“ It is a deceitful move on the part of those who wish to conceal their own grave responsibility. Responsibility for the disaster is wholly borne by those who led the broken army into a frivolous adventure against the wishes, and contrary to the avowed policy, of the democracy. And even if the Bolsheviks had been responsible for the bad morale of the troops, the Government and the High Command knew that the troops were in such a dangerous mood and that the offensive was bound to lead to disaster. ”

“ I condemn it because revolutionary methods were altogether out of place in Russia after the Revolution. The Bolsheviks later on conquered the power in the Petrograd Soviet by purely constitutional means, and were then strong by the support of the workers. In July, being in a minority in the Soviet, they tried to make themselves strong by machine-guns. That is why the July rising was so disgusting and failed to inspire any confidence or enthusiasm for the Bolshevik policy. But to attempt to put the responsibility for the disaster at the front on the Bolsheviks is absolutely unjustifiable. ”

“ The responsibility for the consequent disaster rests on the Government and on all those who impelled them to this senseless and suicidal policy.
The disaster in Galicia unbound the conflicting- forces in Russia. The power of the moderate elements, who were responsible for the offensive, was fundamentally shaken. The counter-revolutionary forces came out into the open. For a short time there was a revived unity of the democracy in fighting against them, but soon the democracy underwent the final split which led to the Bolshevik revolution. ”