The Blockade (July 14,1919)
Last month the high-level economic conference in Paris passed a resolution to institute a blockade against Hungary, saying the blockade will last until the Hungarian
government 22 announces that it is willing to accept the will of the people. This should
be examined at two levels. First, the Allied countries are mistaken in thinking that the
21 In fact, Rosa Luxemburg was assassinated by right-wing officers on January 15, 1919, while under
arrest by the Socialist government following the failure of an insurrection.
22 “Extremist” (guoji) was the term commonly applied at this time, both in China and in Europe,
to the Bolsheviks. (In France, the newspapers spoke of “les Maximalistes.”) The idea behind this termi283