Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward полностью

Alas, it didn't work out that way. Influence they had, as we have seen, but the Bolsheviks never wavered in their views. After seizing control in the October coup d'etat, they did exactly what they claimed all along they would do. They signed a peace treaty with Germany and confiscated private property. They also began one of the world's greatest bloodbaths to eliminate their opposition. None of this could be blamed on the masqueraders, you understand. It was all the fault of Wilson and the other politicians at home who, by not following Thompson's recommendation to send U.S. tax dollars to the Bolsheviks, forced them into such drastic action. That, at least, is the accepted view.

In reality, a Bolshevik victory at that time was anything but certain, and there was little reason—beyond the support given by the New York financiers themselves—to believe they would

become the dominant voice of Russia. But, even if we grant the 1. Lincoln Steffens, The Letters of Lincoln Steffens (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1941), p. 396.

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assumption that these men were unusually astute political observers who were truly able to foresee the future course, we are still faced with serious obstacles, not the least of which are the thoughts and words of the masqueraders themselves. For example, in February of 1918, Arthur Bullard was in Russia as head of the Russian branch of the Committee on Public Information, which was the war-propaganda arm of the U.S. government. Bullard was aptly described by historian George Kennan as a "liberal socialist, free lance writer, and private eye of Colonel House."1 In his official capacity he had many occasions to consult with Raymond Robins and, in a report describing one of these conversations, Bullard wrote:

He [Robins] had one or two reservations—in particular, thatrecognition of the Bolsheviks was long overdue, that it should havebeen effected immediately, and that had the U.S. so recognized theBolsheviks, "I believe that we would now be in control of the surplusresources of Russia and have control officers at all points on thefrontier."2

WOLVES BEHIND THE MASK

The following year, the U.S. Senate conducted an investigation into the role played by prominent American citizens in supporting the Bolshevik's rise to power. One of the documents entered into the record was an early communique from Robins to Bruce

Lockhart. In it Robins said:

You will hear it said that I am an agent of Wall Street; that I am theservant of William B. Thompson to get Altai Copper for him; that Ihave already got 500,000 acres of the best timber land in Russia formyself; that I have already copped off the Trans-Siberian Railway; thatthey have given me a monopoly of the platinum in Russia; that thisexplains my working for the soviet.... You will hear that talk Now, Ido not think it is true, Commissioner, but let us assume it is true. Let usassume that I am here to capture Russia for Wall Street and Americanbusiness men. Let us assume that you are a British wolf and I arn anAmerican wolf, and that when this war is over we are going to eat eachother up for the Russian market; let us do so in perfectly frank, manfashion, but let us assume at the same time that we are fairly intelligent 1. George F. Kennan, The Decision to Intervene: Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920

(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958), pp. 190, 235.

2. Bullard ms, U.S. State Dept. Decimal File, 316-11-1265, March 19,1918.

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wolves, and that we know that if we do not hunt together in this hourthe German wolf will eat us both up.