This is why when the axes of those heroic woodsmen, Lenine and Trotzky, were heard in the forest, many oppressed hearts thrilled with joy and hope, and in every country there was sharpening of hatchets.  The leading classes rose up against the common danger, all over Europe, in both opposing camps.  There was no negotiation needed for them to reach an agreement on this subject, for their instinct spoke loudly.  The fiercest enemies of Germany, through the organs of the bourgeoisie, tacitly gave a free hand to the Kaiser to strangle Russian liberty which struck at the root of that social injustice on which they all lived.  In the absurdity of their hatred, they could not conceal their delight when they saw Prussian Militarism—­that monster who afterwards turned on them—­avenge them on these daring rebels.  Naturally this only increased the admiration for these excommunicated defiers of the world, on the part of the down-trodden masses and the small number of independent spirits.

The pot began to boil with a vengeance, and to stop it the governments of Europe shut down the lid and sat on it.  The stupid class in control kept throwing fuel on the flame, and then wondered at the alarming rumblings.  This revolt of the elements was attributed to the wicked designs of some free speakers, to mysterious intrigues, to the enemy’s gold, to the pacifists; and none of them saw—­though a child would have known it—­that, if they wanted to prevent an explosion, the first thing to do was to put out the fire.  The god of all these powers was force; no matter what they were called, empires, or republics, it was the mailed fist, disguised, gloved but hard and sure of itself.  It became also, like a rising tide, the law of the oppressed, a dark struggle between two contrary pressures.  Where the metal had worn thin—­in Russia first—­the boiler had burst.  Where there were cracks in the cover—­as in neutral countries—­the hissing steam escaped, but a deceitful calm reigned over the countries at war, kept down by oppression.  To the oppressors this calm was reassuring; they were armed equally against the enemy or their own citizens.  The machine of war is double-ended, the cover strong, made of the best steel, and firmly screwed down; that, at least, cannot be torn off—­no, but suppose the whole thing blows up together!

Repressed, like everyone else, Clerambault saw rebellion gathering around him.  He understood it, thought it inevitable; but that was not a reason for loving it.  He did not believe in the Amor Fati.  It was enough to understand; the tyrant has no claim to be loved.

Clerambault’s young friends were not sparing of their ideas, and it surprised them to see how little warmth he showed towards the new idol from the North:  the rule of the proletariat.  They had no timorous scruples or half-measures, they meant to make the world happy in their way—­perhaps not in its own.  At one stroke they decreed the suppression of all liberties in opposition to theirs; the fallen middle classes were not to be allowed to meet, or to vote, or to have the freedom of the press.