B_345_The-Rulers-of-Russia

In her book, From Liberty to Brest-Litovsk (Macmillan, 1919),
the Russian lady, Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, widow of the late
Dr. Harold Williams, for long Manchester Guardian correspondent
in Russia, describes the events of the first year of the Russian
Revolution. Mrs. Williams was a member of the last Duma and
speaks with the authority of an eye-witness and close observer.
On pages 297-299 of her work we read: "There are few Russians
among the Bolshevist wire-pullers, i.e., few men imbued with the
all-Russian culture and interests of the Russian people. None of
them have in any way been prominent in any stage of former
Russian life. .. . Besides obvious foreigners, Bolshevism recruited
many adherents from among emigres^ who had spent many years
abroad. Some of them had never been to Russia before. They
especially numbered a great many Jews. They spoke Russian
badly. The nation over which they had seized power was a stranger
to them, and besides, they behaved as invaders in a conquered
country. Throughout the Revolution generally and Bolshevism in
particular, the Jews occupied a very influential position. This
phenomenon is both curious and complex. But the fact remains
that such was the case in the primarily elected Soviet (the famous
trio—Lieber, Dahn, Gotz), and all the more so in the second one.
"In the Soviet Republic all the committees and commissaries
were filled with Jews. They often changed their Jewish names
for a Russian one — Trotsky-Bronstein, Kameneff-Rozenfeld,
Zinovieff-Apfelbaum, Stekloff-Nakhamkes, and so on. But such
a masquerade deceived no one, while the very pseudonyms of the
commissaries only emphasised the international or rather the alien
character of Bolshevist rule. . . . But, of course, there were
also Russians among the Bolsheviks—workmen, soldiers, peasants.
Oulianoff-Lenin is a Russian. Lunacharsky, Bonch-Bruevich,
Mme. Collontai, Chicherin—all these influential Bolshevist leaders
are Russian by origin. But that predominant class which very
rapidly crystallised around the Bolsheviks was mainly composed
of individuals alien to the Russian people. This fact is probably
useful to them to keep control over the masses, for Bolshevist
autocracy is founded upon their absolute contempt of the people
whom they rule. The most terrible trait of Bolshevism is its utter
unscrupulousness as to ways and means, and the blunt cruelty
of its leaders."
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