e the adoption of the
good in countries not goaded into ferocity by despair.

Russia is a backward country, not yet ready for the methods of equal
co-operation which the West is seeking to substitute for arbitrary
power in politics and industry. In Russia, the methods of the
Bolsheviks are probably more or less unavoidable; at any rate, I am
not prepared to criticize them in their broad lines. But they are not
the methods appropriate to more advanced countries, and our Socialists
will be unnecessarily retrograde if they allow the prestige of the
Bolsheviks to lead them into slavish imitation. It will be a far less
excusable error in our reactionaries if, by their unteachableness,
they compel the adoption of violent methods. We have a heritage of
civilization and mutual tolerance which is important to ourselves and
to the world. Life in Russia has always been fierce and cruel, to a
far greater degree than with us, and out of the war has come a danger
that this fierceness and cruelty may become universal. I have hopes
that in England this may be avoided through the moderation of both
sides. But it is essential to a happy issue that melodrama should no
longer determine our views of the Bolsheviks: they are neither angels
to be worshipped nor devils to be exterminated, but merely bold and
able men attempting with great skill an almost impossible task.

PART II

BOLSHEVIK THEORY

I

THE MATERIALISTIC THEORY OF HISTORY

The materialistic conception of history, as it is called, is due to
Marx, and underlies the whole Communist philosophy. I do not mean, of
course, that a man could not be a Communist without accepting it, but
that in fact it is accepted by the Communist Party, and that it
profoundly influences their views as to politics and tactics. The name
does not convey at all accurately what is meant by the theory. It
means that all the mass-phenomena of history are determined by
economic motives. This view has no essential connection with
materialism in the philosophic sense. Materialism in the philosophic
sense may be defined as the theory that all apparently mental
occurrences either are really physical, or at any rate have purely
physical causes. Materialism in this sense also was preached by Marx,
and is accepted by all orthodox Marxians. The arguments for and
against it are long and complicated, and need not concern us, since,
in fact, its truth or falsehood has little or no bearing on politics.