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56

A short time before my arrival in Berlin a conference of Russian White Guards took place there. They were ex-merchants, bankers, the rag-tag of the bourgeoisie, lawyers, who are now there, because they are no longer wanted in Russia, etc. It is said that, there are some 200,000 of them in Berlin. They all regard themselves as "oppressed" since they can no longer stay in Petrograd as the exploiters of the workers. They called a conference and worked out "theses." It is very important that we acquaint ourselves with "theses," which we shall publish. The Berlin White Guards admit that the Soviet Government cannot be overthrown by sheer force of arms; the more white armies sent out the worse becomes the state of affairs. No, they must agitate. All these bankers are now rapidly reforming their ranks, and wish to become agitators. They say, we must agitate so as to emphasise the food question, the bread monopoly. We must appeal to the workers, and point out to them that the Bolsheviks have made slaves of them, that the workers are now forcibly chained to the factories; we must show the peasants that, horses are taken away from them, etc. If we had read the above without looking at the title of the appeal, without knowing who drew them up, we could easily have believed that, these "theses" had been worked out by the Mensheviks of Petrograd or Moscow—Martov, Dan and Co. In fact, they were put forward by Gutchkov, former Tsarist ministers, writers in the "Novoye Vremya," in fact all the White Guard rabble which has gathered in Berlin. We do not know who prompted them—Martov, Gutchkov, former or vice versa. But let us return to the debates in the Reichstag.

Comrade Koennen spoke on this question on behalf of the Left. Independents. He welcomed the presence of the representative of the Communist International on German territory, and expressed the hope that the time will soon come when no one in Germany will dare to attack a representative of the Communist International. In answer to the wild roar of the reactionary guns, Koennen retorted: "Your hoarse barking will not reach the feet of the man at whom you are barking." At these words an incredible uproar ensued in that respectable parliament. The Rights left the hall as a sign of protest. The