Bernard Pares
RUSSIA AND THE PEACE QTT TtFRNARD PARES To THE HONORABLE JOSEPH E. DAVEES Who opened that Door CONTENTS To My American Friends ix I On the Fear of Russia i II Russia and Communism 16 III Russia and Religion 34 IV Settlement of the Multinational Question 50 V The Resurgence of Russian Patriotism 68 VI The Russo-Polish Duel 86 VII Ukraine 102 VIII The Polish Question Today 1 14 IX The Gates of Leningrad 124 X Russia, Czechs and Balkans 135 XI Small Powers and Great 147 XII Russia, Turkey, Persia, India 1 56 XIII Russia and the Far East 168 XTV On the Russian Emigration 181 XV Russia and Germany 189 XVI German Designs on Russia 200 XVII Russia and England 207 XVIII Soviet Russia and England 220 vii Contents XIX Russia and America 234 XX The Russian Middle-West 249 XXI Study and Access 260 XXII How to Make a New War 271 XXIII Russia and the Peace 280 Index 287 V11J TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS PLEASE IMAGINE a young Englishman some fifty years ago, who was everywhere told by fellow countrymen that Russia was the natural enemy of his country. This came only from those who had never been there, but they were the vast majority. The very few who had been mostly solid British traders sturdily denied this they said there was no people with whom it was easier for us to get on than the Russians. I decided to go and find out. Perhaps Russia was not our enemy, perhaps she might even be a friend. From the out set, to remain entirely free in my judgment, I determined to be rigorously non-party, and I have never yet even voted in a political election. With this in mind, I went first to the other great coun tries of Europe, lived among their peoples, learned their languages, sometimes studied in their universities. My special study of them ran from Voltaire to the present time, a period full of wars and revolutions. With this background I went on to Russia for a year in 1898 and did the same. After pondering for some years over what I had seen and heard, I came again in 1904, but this time with plan and purpose. I traveled in a cart in various provinces my special interest was the peasants. I was just in time for the Japanese War and the great liberal movement which swept Russia directly after it. ix To My American Friends In 1906 was summoned the first Russian parliament the Duma, which was practically elected by universal male suf frage. I attended its sittings, and here I went into partner ship with a young American, Samuel N. Harper, son of the famous builder of the University of Chicago a partnership which, though our views were not necessarily identical, was to last for life. We lived, traveled, and studied together in town and country, and from then on always kept in closest touch. Together we went to see those who were playing any important part. With Russians the direct Approach is the right one. They are friendly and love to talk, and as their confidences were kept, anyone would tell us what he was out for, what he had done, and why. For a long time we recorded every conversation, for our own use, before we went to bed. When this direct partnership was no longer possible, I was concerned with work of many kinds for Anglo-Russian friendship and the promotion of study in my own country. The variety of my experiences will come out in this book. I lived through the last war on the Russian front and saw the first years of the Revolution. During the break in Anglo-Russian relations, I was busy organizing Russian studies in the University of London, and I made two extensive visits to the United States to establish close cooperation with colleagues here, speaking at many universities. I have since made four visits to the Soviet Unionthe last on the eve of the present war. In 1943 I lectured through Canada and the United States and I am now, for the second time, teaching in . an American university. In writing this book I To My American Friends have been greatly indebted to my colleagues here...
History,Russian History
Russia and the Peace