Because the United States is in the midst of a communist social and economic revolution akin to the one that swept through Russia in the early 20th century (with the same interests fueling the tumult) there couldn’t be a more timely book to consider than Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution by the late academic historian Antony C. Sutton (1925-2002). It is among those rare works that convincingly disproves the well-worn thesis that Western finance capitalism and socialism were at odds. The title can be found in its entirety here, and below is the first chapter that provides a succinct overview.

Sutton is best known for Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development and America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones. Below is an interview with Sutton that was part of a promotional project for the book, The Romanov Royal Martyrs

THE ACTORS ON THE REVOLUTIONARY STAGE

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

The frontispiece in this book was drawn by cartoonist Robert Minor in 1911 for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Minor was a talented artist and writer who doubled as a Bolshevik revolutionary, got himself arrested in Russia in 1915 for alleged subversion, and was later bank-rolled by prominent Wall Street financiers. Minor’s cartoon portrays a bearded, beaming Karl Marx standing in Wall Street with Socialism tucked under his arm and accepting the congratulations of financial luminaries J.P. Morgan, Morgan partner George W. Perkins, a smug John D. Rockefeller, John D. Ryan of National City Bank, and Teddy Roosevelt — prominently identified by his famous teeth — in the background. Wall Street is decorated by Red flags. The cheering crowd and the airborne hats suggest that Karl Marx must have been a fairly popular sort of fellow in the New York financial district.