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to cleanse the world, remake it, purge it of the suffering ofthe past."Beat on the street the march of rebellion,Sweeping over the heads of the proud,We, the flood of a second deluge,Shall wash the world like a bursting cloud." 2In the ten years following 1918 the Marxist gospel ofworld revolution was a major problem in most parts of theworld, and the Communist International a major factorin Soviet foreign relations. Both have everywhereengendered fierce and continuous controversy. 'TheBolshevik peril' has been used in the most variousquarters, pre-eminently by the Nazis, not only now in1943. They and others have linked to it virulent anti-Semitism, on the ground that the Bolshevik Revolutionand all that has come out of it was the handiwork of a gangof international Jews. It is in fact true that Russian Jewsplayed a large part in Russian revolutionary movementsbefore 1917 and that a number of the most importantBolshevik leaders in the early days of the Revolution wereJews. It is equally true that during the last fifteen yearsJews have occupied very few of the chief positions in theSoviet hierarchy, and there can be no doubt that revolutionin Russia was not ' made' by the tiny minority ofJewish socialists of various brands.On the other flank, the hostility between Labour andSocialist bodies and Communists has been constant. Itwas mitigated after 1935, when the Communist Internationalwas preaching ' the united front' and favouringnational defence. But the change of policy in September1939 and the sabotage tactics of the Communist partiesin Allied or friendly countries down to June 1941 inevitablyre-aroused the bitterest feelings. Now (June 1943)the Communist International has been disbanded. Whatevermay be the immediate or far-reaching significance ofthis important step, it is likely that Marxist Communismas an article of re-export to other countries has been lessinfluential than the example of 'socialism in one country,'1 Mayakovsky (1893-1930), Our March (1917). I have quoted thetranslation in Mayakovsky and His Poetry, compiled by Herbert Marshall(Pilot Press, 1942).315

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