17
Shiites
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
                                  H.G. Wells
Battles don't just take place between societies, they take place
between the groups within a social unit.  And ideology is what
galvanizes these groups for their struggle over turf and power.  In
1917, Russia was in serious trouble.  Russian citizens had entered the
First World War with tremendous enthusiasm.  Then they had bogged
down on the eastern front for years, losing battle after battle to the
Germans.  The demands of the war had strained the country's
infrastructure past endurance.  Transport and supply had broken
down.  Soldiers fought without bullets, went through the winters
without adequate clothing, and made it through each day with scarcely
enough to eat.  The faltering railroad system ceased bringing adequate
supplies of food to the cities.  In Petrograd and Moscow, citizens
waited at three A.M. in line for a scrap of bread, their faces literally
turning blue as the temperature dipped to minus 40.25
A frustrated mass of humanity was boiling with anger, anxious
to find someone to blame for its misfortunes, eager to uncover a
scapegoat.  The Bolshevik ideology gave them the perfect target for
their hostility.  Said Lenin, all these problems were the fault of the
propertied classes and the bourgeoisie. Why was Russia at war?
Because the propertied classes demanded it.  Why was Russia losing?
Because the propertied classes were sabotaging the efforts of the
soldiers.  Why were people starving?  Because the propertied classes
were hoarding all the food.26
The answer--destroy the propertied classes and, in the process,
take from them everything they had: their homes, their clothing, their
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