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“...conscious portion of the Russian
people was interested in the defeat of Czarism rather than its
victory, at least one could infer as much from published and
private utterances at the beginning of the war. It is true
there were exceptions, even notable exceptions such as Plech-
anoff, but that did not affect the general situation. Under
Czarism the work of the Socialist movement had to be con-
ducted largely_ underground" and had to be managed from
f^oreign countries. Moreover, Russia, because of its medieval
backwardness had not developed a numerous and powerful
bourgeoisie able to hypnotize and poison the working class
mind a process so successfully pursued In other countries.
On the other hand, Russia had developed a working class
rather numerous, although constituting but a small percent-
age of a total population largely peasant. Due to the rather
weak mind-poisoning power of the bourgeoisie on the one...”
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