| Show I Are We Drunk or Sober W World orId Reels Says T Tolstoi S By COUNT LEON LEOJ TOLSTOI Prominent Russian Writer Son of the theS S Famous Novelist PARIS June 2 25 We Ve We were drunk in Europe in the few years yeats before the war we were drunker during the tho war Are we drunk again at this moment or have the days of sobriety come It Is is' is absolutely necessary to realIze realize realize real real- ize that the hour of awakening has sounded It Is our duty duly to look Jook at reality with a calm and sober eye I We must be sober We have no right either for ourselves or for mankind to lead the life we have been leading in the past and those who do so are In great danger After the war Europe found twenty million human lives wasted and I Ido Ido Inot do not know how many many millions of or animals destroyed If we had all this vital force living today there would be in Paris in France rance and In Europe Europea a different spirit and outlook on life lire Yet would there be Would there be another anid and a changed spirit Would there be only more people to circulate about S SI I I believe the general spirit would I be the same sante if It all these dead were living that the causes in th the cli changes ng s of life after aner the war have not been I unique In the facts and results of the war but in the tho cosmic conditions of ot the world which as everyone Imo knows knors Ts undergoes during certain ertain periods an enormous Influence as the spots of the sun increase or diminish or to 1 some other phenomena of or which we 1 I know little i But I want to believe that rather than war being the result of or cosmic causes it has been itself the cause of change In n our lives If It It It was this and we had been able to pre pre- war and by that save millions of I 1 j lives think how much better our ourI present life lire would be I With that calm and sobriety which is coming and which has already come and would have come even without a a. I war with progress directed not only toward a perfection of military tech- tech nic but employed everywhere for the development of p peaceful work worl we would have reached toda today a better stage of civilization and of or well being In our drunkenness in the drunken- drunken I I ness of our sentiments thoughts and actions we have destroyed such an amount of wealth which wealth which had been acquired after so many years of hard toil toil that that we e have fallen into a situation situation situation situ situ- so difficult that It will take a a. half century to correct and forget OPEN OUR EYES I It will be said that it is useless to speak of things that are past and cannot be undone that the war was inevitable perhaps necessary and even a good thing No Before the disaster produced by the war we should more than ever open our eyes to the monstrosities s of that scourge and do everything possible to avoid another such disaster in the future We should hould employ all our intellectual and material forces to do away with war I have ha spoken of the sobriety which is being manifested at this moment in all the countries America has not only e experienced the same return to sobriety but has literally become a a. sober nation S Europe has not followed the example example example ex ex- ex- ex ample of th the tho new world Europe does not wish to become dr dry She prefers to remain wet Certain measures have been taken against alcoholism In England Liquors have become more expensive in France There is still sUIl drink to be had in Ital Italy In Germany and even in Russia Which me one of these n nations is right however is Is' Is another question But It is not nat only this form of or sobriety ty that we must have We should first be sober in our thoughts In our ideas in all our opinions in inor or order ler to have real power to change the conditions of our lives so that they may way be better Now and then we take too much wine because we weare weare weare are already drunk with the life lite that Intoxicates us Wino Wine often us to to the miseries and and troubles of It makes us us calm it makes males our ourI I thoughts more sober and less ed cd It is Is a a. paradox but it Is true I Have we a true and correct opinion opinion ion on one of or the most important I problems of life the life the sex problem Study the Kreutzer Sonata which my father ather wrote and everything I which the characters say Perhaps the conclusions of that novel are ex ex- ex- ex as ideas Perhaps you jou will f find nd certain certai thoughts that are sive But if you read the book with witha a a. a sincere regard for the truth you ou I Will find that volume an inexhaustible inexhaustible I tible source of good counsel and advice advice ad- ad vice for the conduct of life The I Kreutzer Sonata will sober you up Accept a great part of its doctrine it will help you I Have you a a. correct and just opinion opinion I ion of bolshevism I ask this question question ques ques- tion lion at random Yes there are ques-I ques some of us who have but how man many millions mil mu- I lions are there who believe that the doctrines of Lenin are a revelation a a. salvation sal for humanity I For me there n never vel existed a greater great great- er fool in all the world than Karl Marx teacher and inspiration of the I bolshevists Mar lar must truly have been a savage German to have In Invented Invented invented In- In vented such a a. great and dangerous folly Dangerous because there are arc enough fools in this world who love loveto loveto loveto to follow that which the they are un unable unable unable un- un able to understand I have never been able to understand understand understand under under- under under- stand what was meant by the words socialism and society I know the individual I know the family the generation I 1 understand what Is meant by state church and school I 1 understand these and esteem them I recognize special societies In all the countries of th the world such as writers' writers societies societies of artists tailors of savants of laborers of farmers and workers of all kinds But what is means by the term society 1 do donot donot donot not know and never shall know One must be very drunk to speak of this abstract society which does not exist Isn't it in our thoughts then that we need to be sobered up Have we clear Ideas as to the work ahead of ofus ofus ofus us lave Have we a religion What is Is' Is it Can we live with it Are we anarchists anarchists anar anar- Or do 10 we believe in the state We Ve are entering on a new period we are growing more sober But we shall have to prepare to replace many of our old thoughts and ideas with Insure our new ones if we wo wish to happiness in the future |
