Curiously enough, the precise manner in which the Bolsheviki have acted
against democracy was set forth, as far back as 1850, by a German, Johann
von Miquel, in a letter to Karl Marx. Miquel was born in Hanover, but his
ancestors were of French origin. He studied at Heidelberg and Goettingen,
and became associated with the Socialist movement of the period. He settled
down to the practice of law, however, and when Hanover was annexed by
Prussia he entered the Prussian parliament. After the "dismissal of the
pilot," Bismarck, he became Prussian Minister of Finance, holding that
position for ten years. Liebknecht referred to him as "my former _comrade
in communismo_ and present Chancellor _in re_." This Miquel, while he was
still a Socialist, in 1850 wrote to Marx as follows:

The workers' party may succeed against the upper middle class and
what remains of the feudal element, _but it will be attacked on
its flank by the democracy_. We can perhaps give an anti-bourgeois
tone to the Revolution for a little while, _we can destroy the
essential conditions of bourgeois production_; but we cannot
possibly put down the small tradesmen and shopkeeping class, the
petty bourgeoisie. My motto is to secure all we can get. We should
prevent the lower and middle class from _forming any organizations
for as long a time as possible_ after the first victory, and
especially oppose ourselves in serried ranks to the plan of
calling a Constitutional Assembly. Partial terrorism, local
anarchy, must replace for us what we lack in bulk.

What a remarkable anticipation of the Bolshevist methods of 1917-18 is thus
outlined in this letter, written sixty-seven years before the Bolshevik
_coup d'etat!_ How literally Lenine, Trotzky and Co. have followed Herr von
Miquel! They have desperately tried to "give an anti-bourgeois tone to the
Revolution," denouncing as bourgeois reactionaries the men and women whose
labors and sacrifices have made the Russian Socialist movement. They have
destroyed "the essential conditions" of bourgeois and of any other than the
most primitive production. They have set themselves in serried ranks in
opposition to "the plan of calling a Constitutional Assembly." They have
suppressed not only the organizations of the "lower and middle class," but
also those of a great part of the working class, thus going beyond Miquel.
Finally, to replace what they lack in bulk, they have reso