Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States

美国总统排名

Bolshevik Revolution

By VOA Special English

...That event changed the war...and the history of the Twentieth Century. It was the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Its leader was Vladimir Lenin.

The Russian Revolution began in the spring of nineteen seventeen. The people of that country were tired of fighting Germany. And they were tired of their ruler, Czar Nicholas. The Czar was overthrown. A temporary government was established. It was headed by Alexander Kerenski.

President Woodrow Wilson sent a team of American officials to Russia to help Kerenski's new government. The officials urged Russia to remain in the war.

Under Kerenski, Russia did keep fighting. But it continued to suffer terrible losses. Many Russians demanded an end to the war.

Lenin saw this opposition as a way to gain control of the government. So he went to the city of Petrograd. There, he led the opposition to the war and to Kerenski. Night after night, he spoke to big crowds. "What do you get from war." He shouted. "Only wounds, hunger, and death!"

Lenin promised peace under Bolshevik Communism. Within a few months, he won control of the Petrograd Soviet. That was an organization of workers and soldiers. Another Bolshevik Communist, lLon Trotsky, controlled the Soviet in Moscow.

Kerenski's government continued to do badly in the war. More and more Russian soldiers lost hope. Many fled the army. Others stayed. But they refused to fight.

The end came in November, nineteen seventeen. Soldiers in Petrograd turned against Kerenski. Lenin ordered them to rebel. And he took control of the government within forty-eight hours. Russia was now a Communist nation.

As promised, Lenin called for peace. So Russia signed its own peace treaty with Germany. The treaty forced Russia to pay a high price for its part in the war. It had to give up a third of its farmland, half of its industry, and ninety percent of its coal mines. It also lost a third of its population. Still, it did not have real peace with Germany.

Political Power and Capital

最近在读美国政治史的时候想到这两个概念：政治权力和资本。

对于我这样的中国人来说，我承认这两个东西以前是分不清楚的，至少在我们的经验中是这样；但是我又很明显的感觉到美国的历史是分得很清楚的，至少他们在努力区分这两个东西。我以前把资本也误认为是一种权力，因为很多中国文人这样认为，他们的影响无处不在。但很显然，politician和capitalist有很大的差距，虽然这二者很容易勾结起来，就如我读到的美国内战后格兰特在总统任期内所发生的诸多政府不诚实行为。

研究政治权力的科学叫政治学，从事政治权力运作的人叫politician，洛克的《论公民政府》是美国的政治基础理论。政府的诚实性无疑是它的一条基本要素，因为政府权力本质上是一种接受公民信任而行使的统治权力。

研究资本运作的科学差不多就是经济学的主要内容，它的主要任务，在我看来就是解释何为“自由市场”。

阻止资本的垄断性运作，介入商业中的欺诈争议，是法治的目标，亦即政治权力的目标。因此清晰的区分政治权力和资本的法律也是防止政治权力腐败和保证自由市场的主要保障。