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1918

President Wilson delivers his “Fourteen Points” speech on January 8th, naming 14 points to be used as a guide for a peace settlement. The speech will do much to undermine German morale during the final months of the war.

William B. Thompson, who was in Petrograd from July until November last, has made a personal contribution of $1,000,000 to the Bolsheviki for the purpose of spreading their doctrine in Germany and Austria. (Washington Post, February 2, 1918)

World War I Ends. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapses. Germany faces long-term financial ruin under the treaty of VersaillesWilson is the first president to travel outside the U.S. office, leaving for the Versailles Peace Conference on December 4th. Enormous crowds gather wherever he goes, sobbing, cheering, and shouting his name.

“Dear Mr. President: I am in sympathy with the Soviet form of government as that best suited for the Russian people…” (Letter to President Woodrow Wilson (October 17, 1918) from William Lawrence Saunders, chairman, Ingersoll-Rand Corp.; director, American International Corp.; and deputy chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

Abram Givatovzo, cousin of Leon Trotskey, who was a private banker in Kiev before the Russian Revolution and in Stockholm after the revolution, represents the Soviets in currency transactions even though he is a professed antibolshevik.

Michael Gruzenberg, the chief Bolshevik agent in Scandinavia who under the alias of Alexander Gumberg is also a confidential adviser to the Chase National Bank in New York and later to Floyd Odium of Atlas Corporation. This dual role was known to and accepted by both the Soviets and his American employers. The Gruzenberg story is a case history of international revolution allied with international capitalism.

Despite many complaints of corruption and scandal in the U.S. Food Administration, no one was ever indicted. After the war, the partners of J. Henry Schroder Company found that they now owned most of Cuba’s sugar industry. One partner, M.E. Rionda, was president of Cuba Cane Corporation, and director of Manati Sugar CompanyAmerican British and Continental Corporation, and other firms. Baron Bruno von Schroder, senior partner of the firm, was a director of North British and Mercantile Insurance Company. His father, Baron Rudolph von Schroder of Hamburg, was a director of Sao Paulo Coffee Ltd., one of the largest Brazilian coffee companies, with F.C. Tiarks, also of the Schroder firm.

A group from 120 Broadway formed the American-Russian Industrial Syndicate Inc. to exploit Russian markets and the earlier support given the Bolsheviks. The financial backing for the new firm came from the Guggenheim Brothers, 120 Broadway, previously associated with William Boyce Thompson (Guggenheim controlled American Smelting and Refining, and the Kennecott and Utah copper companies); from Harry F. Sinclair, president of Sinclair Gulf Corp., also 120 Broadway; and from James G. White of J. G. White Engineering Corp. of 43 Exchange Place – the address of the American-Russian Industrial Syndicate.