![](http://www.ushanka.us/blog/images/Obama_Cigar4.17.10.jpg)
We are reading The Forsaken
From page 74, discussing the departure of the American ambassador, William Bullitt, who left when he realized the true nature of the Communist enterprise:
William Bullitt was far from alone in realizing the truth of what was taking place around him. One of the American reporters, William Henry Chamberlin, left at the same time in the early summer of 1936. "I went to Russia," Chamberlin later wrote, "believing that the Soviet system might represent the most hopeful answer to the problems raised by the World War and the subsequent economic crisis. I left convinced that the absolutist Soviet state...is a power of darkness and of evil with few parallels in history...Murder is a habit, even more with states than with individuals." Perhaps it was not accurate to say that the Terror had begun then. In truth it had been in existence for many years. But Bullitt's departure did coincide with a vast expansion and acceleration of the process, as if what once had been mere habit had now been transformed into an overwhelming compulsion and an inexorable desire.
Chamberlin was lucky to leave. Moreover, he was lucky there was a place to escape to.
No comments:
Post a Comment