.
That Germany would have been glad to pay for the performance of service so
valuable can hardly be doubted.

On his side, Lenine is far too astute a thinker to have failed to
understand that the German Government had its own selfish interests in view
when it arranged for his passage across Germany. But the fact that the
Allies would suffer, and that the Central Empires would gain some
advantage, was of no consequence to him. That was an unavoidable accident
and was purely incidental. His own purpose, to lead the revolutionary
movement into a new phase, in which he believed with fanatical
thoroughness, was the only thing that mattered in the least. If the
conditions had been reversed, and he could only have reached Russia by the
co-operation of the Allies, whose cause would be served, however
unintentionally, by his work, he would have felt exactly the same. On the
other hand, it was of the essence of his faith that his policy would lead
to the overthrow of all capitalist-imperialist governments, those of
Germany and her allies no less than those ranged on the other side. Germany
might reason that a revolutionary uprising led by Lenine would rid her of
one of her enemies and enable her to hurl larger forces against the foe on
the western front. At that reasoning Lenine would smile in derision,
thoroughly believing that any uprising he might bring about in Russia would
sweep westward and destroy the whole fabric of Austro-German
capitalist-imperialism. Lenine knew that he was being used by Germany, but
he believed that he, in turn, was using Germany. He was supremely confident
that he could outplay the German statesmen and military leaders.

It was a dangerous game that Lenine was playing, and he knew it, but the
stakes were high and worth the great risk involved. It was not necessary
for Germany to buy the service he could render to her; that service would
be an unavoidable accompaniment of his mission. He argued that his work
could, at the worst, give only temporary advantage to Germany. So far as
there is any evidence to show, Lenine has been personally incorruptible.
Holding lightly what he scornfully derides as "bourgeois morality," unmoral
rather than immoral, willing to use any and all means to achieve ends which
he sincerely believes to be the very highest and noblest that ever inspired
mankind, he would, doubtless, take German money if he saw that it would
help him to achieve his purposes. He would do so, howeve