BOLSHEVISM, a political and economic theory that has received practical ap plication in Russia and to a limited ex tent in other countries. The word itself is Russian and as applied to a party means "Those who want more or most," i. e., the Extremists or Maximalists, who demand at once a complete overthrow of existing forms and the substitution of a new social order, as contrasted with the Minimalists, who, while demanding extensive reforms, are content to have these come gradually and as an evolu tion from present conditions. Russia offered the field, and the downfall of the Czar furnished the occasion, for putting the theory in practice. The collapse of the Czaristic regime threw the whole vast empire into a welter of confusion. A contest ensued at once for the posses sion of power. The conservative element sought to establish a republican form of government, and as a concession to the agrarian element, offered to divide among the peasants the former estates of the Czar and the Church. The more mod erate Socialists would have gone further in the matter of distribution, but thought the matter should be left with the Con stituent Assembly. The Bolshevist ele ment led by LENINE and TROTZKY (q. v.), declared for the taking of all the from their owners by the peasants at once, and urged a similar confiscation by the workmen of the factories in which they were employed. The latter pro gram had at least the merit of courage and sincerity. There was no mincing of terms, no veiling of the issues. Confis cation pure and simple was demanded. And since only the comparatively few were propertied and the millions had nothing, the program of Lenine had a powerful appeal.
The struggle for power by the various groups continued for months. The coun try was still in the war and that thought was still uppermost in the popular mind. The Provisional Government sought to continue loyal to the Allies, and later, when Kerensky assumed the reins of power, he endeavored to keep up the flag ging energies of the people. But all this time an unwearied propaganda was be ing maintained by the Bolshevist leaders that undermined the morale of the troops at the front and the people in the rear. The one idea of the Bolshevists was to secure the withdrawal of Russia from the war, in order that they might be able to put their social theories into practice. The steps by which they finally suc ceeded in doing this are told in detail elsewhere in this work. See RUSSIA and BREST-LITOVSK.
Having dissolved the Constituent As sembly and killed or otherwise silenced their opponents, the development of the Bolshevist program proceeded. A proc
lamation was issued Nov. 26, proclaim ing the abolition of class titles, distinc tions, and privileges. The corporate property of nobles, merchants, and citi zens must be put in possession of the state. All persons henceforth, no matter what had been their previous station, were to be known as citizens of the "Russian Republic." All church prop erty, lands, money, gold, silver, and pre cious stones were confiscated. It was forbidden to give religious instruction in the schools. All mines, forests, waters, and landed estates, with their live stock, buildings, and machinery were declared the common property of the people.
That changes so drastic could be car ried out without stout resistance on the part of those whose interests were men aced was impossible. There were in dividual and sectional revolts all over the former empire. But the Bolshevists, although a minority of the people, knew exactly what they wanted and were pre pared to go to any lengths to achieve it. A reign of terror was promptly inaugu rated, and excesses were perpetrated be fore which those of the French Revolu tion pale into insignificance. Men and women inimical to the ruling power were executed with barely the pretense of a trial. Women and children were held as hostages for the fidelity of men of their family who were at the time out of the government's reach, and vengeance was visited upon them unsparingly on occasion. Spies were everywhere, and no man dared to speak to his neighbor for fear of being denounced. In many cases, fiendish torture and mutilation were an accompaniment of the killings. The evidence on this point is appalling and irrefutable. Nor is the fact of terrorism denied by Lenine and his associates. It is defended by them as being a necessary incident of all revolutions, while the most revolting phases are either palliated or denied. Peters, himself, the former head of the All-Russian Extraordinary Com mission, has admitted that in the one year from November, 1918, to November, 1919, 4,444 executions took place through his order. Lenine, in several of his de crees, admits and justifies the existence of terrorism, which, however, he adds, came to an end on Jan. 22, 1920, the date set by the Soviet Government for the abolition of the death penalty. Any in tervention by Allied Governments, he de clares, would lead to a return of the policy of blood. Other admissions by official Bolshevist organs and pronounce• merits by leaders indicate how wide was the the Red Terror.