lation against the other, thrives on the revenge of the party which supports it not only in a centre, at a given point in the country, but throughout its territory. Moreover, it is a government which, precisely because hitherto all the attacks which it has had to withstand have come exclusively from the right and not from the left which may yet happen some day—has become, in the eyes of part of the elements it has assembled under its banner, the synonym and the symbol of The Revolution. These two facts explain, it seems to me, why it is that, in spite of the hatred accumulated amongst those whom it persecutes, wherever its power is overthrown, Bolshevism is reborn in the shape of popular insurrections. These circumstances also explain why every attempt to overthrow Bolshevism by means of revolt at given points or fixed centres—which is what has happened so far—has the effect only of aggravating anarchy, increasing the general disorder and the extreme confusion of the country; creating, that is to say, an artificial intensification, profitable to none, of the sufferings of the unhappy Russian people, AND ABSORBING, IN A DISORDERED AND AIMLESS CIVIL WAR, ENERGIES WHICH COMBINED MIGHT ALREADY PERHAPS HAVE BEEN TURNED VICTORIOUSLY against an enfeebled and increasingly powerless Germany. On the other hand, the Soviet Government is indirectly finding itself temporarily strengthened in actual proportion to the effort directed against it; for it is being driven, by the very force of circumstances, to increase its energy tenfold, in order to make head against both the external danger and the internal anarchy which, insensibly but steadily, were spreading in every direction. Thus, by that very necessity it is raising itself to the level of a GOVERNMENT—a revolutionary government without doubt, but no longer anarchically or helplessly so: really revolutionary in the classic, administrative sense.
I apologise, M. le Président, for having at such length detained your gracious attention, otherwise absorbed by such numerous and weighty affairs; but, being deprived of all means of direct communication with our ambassador, and mindful, moreover, of the kind benevolence with which you have been pleased to honour me in the past, I resolved, after long and repeated hesitation, to address myself to you, considering that it was my duty, in face of the events unfolding themselves before my eyes, to place these different facts and considerations before you for your, high deliberation in the interests of our dear and well-beloved France.
Accept, M. le Président, the offer of my deepest respect and whole-hearted devotion.
(Signed) RENÉ MARCHAND.
National Labour Press, Ltd., 8/9/10 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, London, E. C. 4.
