Early in May, 1917, I went to Russia, eager to see again, in the hour of her deliverance, a country in whose struggle for freedom I had, for a dozen years, been deeply interested. I went to Russia a socialist by conviction, an ardent sympathizer with revolution, having known personally some of the brave men and women who suffered imprisonment and exile after the failure of the uprising in 1905-06. I returned from Russia with the very clear conviction that the world will have to wait awhile before it can establish any cooperative millenniums, or before it can safely hand over the work of government to the man in the street. All my life I have been an admiring student of the French revolution, and I have fervently wished that I might have lived in the Paris of that time, to witness, even as a humble spectator, the downfall of autocracy and the birth of a people’s liberty. Well – I lived for three months in the capital of revolutionary Russia. I saw a revolution which presents close parallels with the French revolution both in men and events. I saw the downfall of autocracy and the birth of liberty much greater than the French ever aspired to. I saw the fondest dream of the socialists suddenly come true, and the dream turned out to be a nightmare such as I pray that this or any country may forever be spared. I saw a people delivered from one class tyranny deliberately hasten to establish another, quite as brutal and as unmindful of the common good as the old one. I saw these people, led out of groaning bondage, use their first liberty to oust the wise and courageous statesmen who had delivered them. I saw a working class which had been oppressed under czardom itself turn oppressor; an army that had been starved and betrayed use its freedom to starve and betray its own people. I saw elected delegates to the people’s councils turn into sneak thieves and looters. I saw law and order and decency and all regard for human life or human rights set aside, and I saw responsible statesmen in power allow all this to go on, allow their country to rush toward an abyss of ruin and shame because they were afraid to lose popularity with the mob... Rheta Childe Dorr Inside the Russian Revolution ISBN: xxx 159 pages

Read a sample About the author Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948) was an American journalist, author, and women's rights activist whose work helped shape public debates on social reform, labor conditions, and women's suffrage in the early twentieth century. Born Rheta Louise Child in Omaha, Nebraska, on 2 November 1866, she grew up in a period when professional opportunities for women were still limited. Determined to pursue a career in writing, she became a journalist and quickly gained recognition for her investigative reporting and social commentary. Dorr worked for several major newspapers and magazines, including the New York Evening Post. She was particularly interested in the conditions faced by working women and became a prominent advocate of women's suffrage. Her influential book What Eight Million Women Want (1910) argued for greater political and economic rights for women and helped popularize the suffrage movement in the United States. During the First World War, Dorr served as a war correspondent in Europe, reporting from Britain, France, Russia, and other countries affected by the conflict. Her articles and books provided American readers with first-hand accounts of wartime conditions and political developments. Although her political views evolved over time, she remained an active commentator on public affairs throughout her life. Rheta Childe Dorr died on 8 August 1948. Today she is remembered as a pioneering journalist, an advocate of women's rights, and one of the most influential female public intellectuals of her generation.