f the countries concerned, and leave them
incapable of supplying Russian needs.

The supreme condition of success in a Communist revolution is that it
should not paralyse industry. If industry is paralysed, the evils
which exist in modern Russia, or others just as great, seem
practically unavoidable. There will be the problem of town and
country, there will be hunger, there will be fierceness and revolts
and military tyranny. All these things follow in a fatal sequence; and
the end of them is almost certain to be something quite different from
what genuine Communists desire.

If industry is to survive throughout a Communist revolution, a number
of conditions must be fulfilled which are not, at present, fulfilled
anywhere. Consider, for the sake of definiteness, what would happen if
a Communist revolution were to occur in England to-morrow. Immediately
America would place an embargo on all trade with us. The cotton
industry would collapse, leaving about five million of the most
productive portion of the population idle. The food supply would
become inadequate, and would fail disastrously if, as is to be
expected, the Navy were hostile or disorganized by the sabotage of the
officers. The result would be that, unless there were a
counter-revolution, about half the population would die within the
first twelve months. On such a basis it would evidently be impossible
to erect a successful Communist State.

What applies to England applies, in one form or another, to the
remaining countries of Europe. Italian and German Socialists are, many
of them, in a revolutionary frame of mind and could, if they chose,
raise formidable revolts. They are urged by Moscow to do so, but they
realize that, if they did, England and America would starve them.
France, for many reasons, dare not offend England and America beyond a
point. Thus, in every country except America, a successful Communist
revolution is impossible for economico-political reasons. America,
being self-contained and strong, would be capable, so far as material
conditions go, of achieving a successful revolution; but in America
the psychological conditions are as yet adverse. There is no other
civilized country where capitalism is so strong and revolutionary
Socialism so weak as in America. At the present moment, therefore,
though it is by no means impossible that Communist revolutions may
occur all over the Continent, it is nearly certain that they cannot be
successful in