struggles of the world the same brutality and the same faith that might is
right which made Prussian militarism the menace it was to civilization.

And just as the world of civilized mankind recognized Prussian militarism
as its deadly enemy, to be overcome at all costs, so, too, Bolshevism must
be overcome. And that can best be done, not by attempting to drown it in
blood, but by courageously and consistently setting ourselves to the task
of removing the social oppression, the poverty, and the servitude which
produce the desperation of soul that drives men to Bolshevism. The remedy
for Bolshevism is a sane and far-reaching program of constructive social
democracy.

POSTSCRIPTUM: A PERSONAL STATEMENT

This book is the fulfilment of a promise to a friend. Soon after my return
from Europe, in November, I spent part of a day in New York discussing
Bolshevism with two friends. One of these is a Russian Socialist, who has
lived many years in America, a citizen of the United States, and a man
whose erudition and fidelity to the working-class movement during many
years have long commanded my admiration and reverence. The other friend is
a native American, also a Socialist. A sincere Christian, he has identified
his faith in the religion of Jesus and his faith in democratic Socialism.
The two are not conflicting forces, or even separate ones, but merely
different and complementary aspects of the same faith. He is a man who is
universally loved and honored for his nobility of character and his
generous idealism. While in Europe I had spent much time consulting with
Russian friends in Paris, Rome, and other cities, and had collected a
considerable amount of authentic material relating to Bolshevism and the
Bolsheviki. I had not the slightest intention of using this material to
make a book; in fact, my plans contemplated a very different employment of
my time. But, in the course of the discussion, my American Socialist friend
asked me to "jot down" for him some of the things I had said, and,
especially, to write, in a letter, what I believed to be the psychology of
Bolshevism. This, in an unguarded moment, I undertook to do.

When I set out, a few days later, to redeem my promise, I found that, in
order to make things intelligible, it was absolutely necessary to explain
the historical backgrounds of the Russian revolutionary movement, to
describe the point of view of various persons and groups with some detail,
and to