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against it. At that time I myself was one of the first to share this error and even to push it to extreme, because, in my complete incomprehension of bolshevism (the living realisation of the Soviet idea), not only did I oppose the Church to Bolshevism, but horrified by the anarchy and the disorganization that I felt growing about me, I even went so far as to confound and compare Bolshevism, this anarchy and disorganization, with „socialism“ in general, and even to conceive the idea of a common moral action undertaken by all the Churches against the flood of revolutionary ideas! As though the defence and conservation of a social State which had made possible, and had continued for more than four years, a horrible massacre of humanity, for the sake of appetites and financial interests and which today appeared as the only, but also insurmountable obstacle towards the re-establishment of peace, fraternity and justice, could be compatible with any religion having the principles of Christ for its basis!
I introduce this subject here, however out of place it may be, in order to emphasize that, on this question as on all others, I disclaim none of my previous thoughts, ideas or emotions and that, on the contrary, they all form one uninterrupted chain; that it is quite impossible for me to pass over in silence any one of the stages through which I passed, so much were they all intimately allied.
In the meantime, political events hastened to determine themselves in a new direction. Our Embassy had, of course, abandoned its post but a new Consul-General, M. Grenard, had
