In the
movement to create a democratic government resting upon the basis of
universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage they saw a peril to their
scheme far more formidable than militarism or capitalism. It was for this
reason that they set themselves to the task of suppressing the Constituent
Assembly. Only political simpletons will seriously regard the Bolshevik
attempt to camouflage their motive by pretending that they determined to
crush the Constituent Assembly because its members were elected on a
register that was "obsolete" and therefore no longer truly represented the
people.
The German Spartacides, who were acting in full accord with the Russian
Bolsheviki, had not that miserable excuse. Yet they set out by force of
arms to _prevent any election being held_. In this they were quite
consistent; they wanted to set up a dictatorship, and they knew that the
overwhelming mass of the people wanted something very different. At a
dinner of the Inter-Collegiate Socialist Society in New York, in December,
1918, a spokesman for the German variety of Bolshevism blandly explained
that "Karl Liebknecht and his comrades know that they cannot hope to get a
majority, therefore they are determined that no elections shall be held.
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