200 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
about in the quickest way. Miinzenberg's activities show how
successfully Moscow's emissaries can camouflage themselves
by substituting the "fight for Peace and against Fascism" for
the struggle on behalf of the Bolshevist world revolution. But
it also shows how easy it is for Moscow and its emissaries to
deal with non-Communist circles and how slight is these
circles' power of resistance.
This kind of oral propaganda is not confined to Moscow's
official spokesmen. The Kremlin has also succeeded in enrolling
numerous auxiliaries who have succumbed to the fascination
of Communist ideals. It is specially skilful in exploiting for its
oral propaganda a number of personal interests. Thus the
Kremlin has for years been spreading Communist principles
in various professional bodies, under the cloak of an appeal
to common professional interests.
For example, Moscow has been trying to induce certain
professional groups in Russia to attempt to exert propagandist
influence on their colleagues abroad. In March 1934 Izvestia
reported the fiftieth anniversary of the all-Russian theatrical
union. It pointed out that this was the oldest Russian union of
"stage-masters" and communicated to theatrical workers a
resolution of the union in which the following declaration was
addressed to their colleagues all over the world:
"The seventeenth Communist Congress has worked out a
concrete plan to prevent the exploitation of men by men and to
bring about the final dissolution of the remnants of capitalism
in economics and in human consciousness. . * . All lovers of
art are asked to watch the proletarian revolution and to join
their voices to that of the Communist party in their country in
order to support the latter's propaganda on behalf of the
Soviet power and of the revolutionary overcoming of the
crisis." e*We know," the appeal concludes, "that the way to a
rich and happy life is barred to-day by the ruins of the old
world which has been blown sky-high." The comrades all over
the world are then promised support in their fight. The passage