economic ruin, Lenin turned to capitalism. Free initiative and open
competition in trade were again allowed. The socialization of
railroads, mills, and natural resources was halted. The arable land,
which under socialism had not grown enough food to support even the
peasants living upon it, was again cultivated under the wage system.
The capitalists and managing employers who were alive and still in
Russia, were gathered together and placed in charge of industry. The
laborers, who had been promised an eight- or six-hour day and complete
control of industry, were now forced by the bolshevist government to
work long hours under their former employers for practically no pay.
By 1919 the essential features of the capitalistic system had been
accepted by Lenin and Trotzky, the bolshevists continuing in power as
a despotic group which maintained authority over the laborers and the
employers by armed force. The theory that all except the laborers are
parasites had been exploded.

153. WAS SOCIALISM GIVEN A FAIR TRAIL IN RUSSIA?--To point out that an
experiment has failed is one thing; to prove that it has been
attempted under fair conditions is quite another. We cannot,
therefore, condemn the bolshevist experiment without some regard for
the conditions under which it was conducted.

Undoubtedly, the bolshevists had to contend against several important
difficulties. The majority of the Russian people are illiterate
peasants, who had had, at the time of the overthrow of the Czar in
1917, little or no training in self-government. In 1917, Russia was,
moreover, in a state of political demoralization, the result of three
years of war, concluded by a military debacle and a disorderly peace.
The suddenness with which socialism was introduced was also a factor
which handicapped the bolshevists.