Ebook: The Mind and Face of Bolshevism

THE MIND AND FACE OF BOLSHEVISM POSlItt Hit 1 ted An d ol the Revolution Ixwis laming u n tin L. md Lenin 39 affairs of world politics, bothered himself about whether the women workers m some factory or other had actually received the new aprons assigned to them The legend extols Lenin as the ruler of an immense empire, who, after sending a letter to some office under his authority, telephoned immediately himself to ask whether the document had arrived It was this capacity for being able to think of everything at once, never to let any course of action, once begun, out of his sight again, to put the world out of joint and at the same time worry over the most trifling needs of work-women, it was this capacity that gamed Lenm so many adherents. It is on account of this that, after his death, all his apparently uninteresting practical instructions were treated by the Bolsheviks as sacred words, as unforgettable utter ances. Thus Lenins note about the electrification of the villages by means of wind-mills is quoted in Russia like a text from, the Gospel. It is remembered at great festivals, and from it strength is drawn for fresh struggles Finally, Lenins influence on the multitude is also to be explained by the fact that he succeeded Kerenski, a professed rhetorician, who loved a well-sounding phrase above all else. He appeared exactly at the moment when Russia was tired of high-flown words and longed for terse dryness, for action and deeds. The Russian mind was at that moment involved m one of its most serious crises, and Lenin was then the right man, who proclaimed deeds and practical action as the one salvation, and himself set the example, Had Lenin appeared in a Western EuropeanState, his practical principles and civilizing schemes would perhaps have roused little attention, but m Russia, utterly behind the times in modern civilization, this gospel of utilitarianism must have seemed in truth a new religion. 5 But the uniqueness of Lenins methods and his ultimate success can only be measured if we consider how small and completely isolated his group of adherents still seemed in 1917. Even when Lenin was already the absolute monarch of Russia the Entente Press still regarded him as a bandit, and a German spy It was not till he was already deranged in body and soul, and had withdrawn from public life and was wasting away, a living corpse, in the qtiiet sanatorium at Gorki, that Europe began slowly to recognize the importance of this extraordinary man. To-day even opponents of his doctrine must number Lenin among the - strongest and most remarkable personalities in history. But fb greatness of his political work in its entirety can be really understood, only if it is Pint PttMt tfwd funr 193 IN ORK U Bfet t AH CHI8WICK PRE, CHAKIUS WHH HWWAM ANI IOOK COURT, CHANCRKY TANK, UWDON, CONTENTS CHAP PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . vii INTRODUCTION .... . xii NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF RUSSIAN NAMES . xvi I, THE COLLECTIVE MAN i II. LENIN . .... .27 III. THE PHILOSOPHY OF BOLSHEVISM 50 IV. BOLSHEVISM IN THE LIGHT OF SECTARIANISM .71 V. THE BOLSHEVIK MONUMENTAL STYLE ... 89 VI. THE PROPAGANDIST THEATRE 114 VII. THEATRICALIZED LIFE . . . .133 VIII. THE MECHANIZING OF POETRY .... 152 IX. BOLSHEVIK Music 175 X. THE REVOLUTIONIZING OF EVERYDAY LIFE . . .185 XL ILLITERACY AND THE NEW EDUCATION . . 223 XII THE REFORMATION OF THE BYZANTINE CHURCH . . 244 XIII. THE REBIRTH OFRUSSIAN MYSTICISM . 255 XIV. THE KATOKGATwm AND Now . . . .265 XV. THE ETHICS OF BOLSHEVISM 277 EPILOGUE. DOSTOEVSKIS VISION OF BOLSHEVISM ., 285 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....., . 291 INDEX 301 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE THE MASS ... . Frontispiece POSTER ... . Title-page THE GIANT TOYS OF THE COLLECTIVE MAN .... 2 MOSCOW . ... ... 3 BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF A HOLIDAY PROCESSION .... 6 THE MASS TAKES ITS EASE . .... 7 PROJECT FOR A COMMUNIST MASS FESTIVAL . IO BOLSHEVISM .... . ... II THE MECHANIZED INDIVIDUAL IS REDUCED TO A MERE COMPONENT PART .... . ...