European
reformist socialists shouldered arms in July, 1914, and shot down their
comrades across the frontiers. European revolutionary socialists, led by
Lenin in Russia, Liebknecht in Germany and Jaures in France gained in
strength as the war proceeded. Liebknecht and Jaures were assassinated.
Lenin lived in exile until he went back to Russia and led the
revolutionary forces that liquidated Tsarism in the closing months of
1917.
For the first time in the history of western civilization, a proletarian
revolutionary force had established its authority over one of the most
extensive and populous nations on the planet. For the first time a
responsible government threatened to abandon the fundamental assumptions
and principles of western civilization. Could this new "subversive"
government survive in the merciless free-for-all in which western man
was engaged? Could it not only survive but build up a social system
which contradicted and condemned the underlying precepts of the West? In
a word, could socialism be built in one country, surrounded by civilized
monopoly capitalist powers?
Historical events have answered these questions in the affirmative. At
this writing the Soviet Government has survived continuously for more
than half a century. During that period it has transformed economically,
politically and culturally backward portions of Europe and Asia into one
of the most advanced areas on the planet.
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