Perhaps the time is not yet ripe for passing
final judgment upon this matter. Certainly there were ugly-looking
incidents which appeared to indicate a close co-operation with the Germans.
There was, for example, the acknowledged fact that the Bolsheviki on
seizing the power of government immediately entered into negotiations with
the notorious "Parvus," whose role as an agent of the German Government is
now thoroughly established. "Parvus" is the pseudonym of one of the most
sinister figures in the history of the Socialist movement, Dr. Alexander
Helfandt. Born at Odessa, of German-Jewish descent, he studied in Germany
and in the early eighteen-nineties attained prominence as a prolific and
brilliant contributor to the German Socialist review, _Die Neue Zeit_. He
was early "exiled" from Russia, but it was suspected by a great many
Socialists that in reality his "exile" was simply a device to cover
employment in the Russian Secret Service as a spy and informer, for which
the prestige he had gained in Socialist circles was a valuable aid. When
the Revolution of 1905 broke out Helfandt returned to Russia under the
terms of the amnesty declared at that time. He at once joined the Leninist
section of the Social Democratic party, the Bolsheviki.
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