XVIII.
THE III INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS.
The III International is the international political party of the general Communist movement. Beginning June 22nd, and ending July 14th of this year, it held its third Congress in Moscow. Close to 600 delegates were in attendance. They represented every important country in the world.
The Russians look upon the III International as the general staff of the world revolution and they made the holding of its congress an occasion for great celebrations throughout Russia. Military demonstrations, outdoor fetes, and many other kinds of mass outpourings took place all over the country. The congress itself was opened in the Moscow Opera House, one of the finest theatres in the world. A curious thing about this theatre is that the Czar in his day, little dreaming how handy it would come in for revolutionaries later on, had the place decorated throughout with rich red silk and plush curtains and furnishings. Red was a favorite color in Russia with the former rulers even as it is now with the workers. The opening ceremonies were elaborate, many notable international labor men making speeches. After these were finished a long musical program was put on. The artists, Shalyapin and others, are the best that Russia has, which means that they will compare favorably with any in the world.
The regular sessions of the congress were held in the Czar's palace, situated in the historic Kremlin. It is a magnificent building; wealth having been lavishly squandered in its construction and decoration. The sittings took place in the very throne room itself. This is a large hall literally overwhelmed with barbaric splendor. No changes had been made in it for the congress, except that a speakers' platform had been erected over the throne, and three small pictures of Marx, Lenin, and Zinoviev, hung at the far end of the hall. Glaring at these significant pictures was a great golden symbolical eye, placed high above the throne. That mystic and fascinating eye, designed and built in the days of the Czars, was indeed intended to
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