Show PROBLEMS FACING STRICKEN WORLD shall chaos or reconstruction in europe follow the great world war GRAVE MORAL ERROR forcible seizure of land understand able but to be regretted as making a precedent to justify dishonesty article by FRANK COMERFORD an examination ot russia the patient just before the treatment was started ceveale several finding which are necessary to complete the history and physical examination russia wan 78 per cent illiterate this means that nearly four fifths of the people in russia could not read or write it does not mean that they could not think there Is as great a difference between illiteracy and in as there Is beaw en illiteracy and ignorance I 1 have met many russian peasants who could not read or write who had good nathe minds genuine power of reasoning homespun thinkers the head of russia had not been trained but it was not empty there are many reasons for the illiteracy of the great majority of russian people the autocratic state was th principal conspirator against the russian people getting an education the autocrats knew that ignorance Is the greatest insurance against uprisings the greatest sedative to keep the slave from complaining the church in russia the orthodox church was used to keep the light from the people the czar was the little father the divine agent of god on earth and the unholy synod of the russian church bowed not before the christ but bent low before he czar they betrayed christ even as they betrayed the sons and daugh of men their own blood the russian peasants and religion their only solace the people of russia held firmly to their faith in god the rest and ease their faith gave them was the only comfort they had in moments of intense religious communion they were lifted out of and tor seconds forgot their burdens these seconds were long spaces of relief green spots in the endless desert waste of life how christ must have wept when he witnessed the holy synod the monkish rascals with their sacrilegious icons silencing the protests of souls throttling the cry for freedom by quoting in his name that those who suffered most here would be highest in heaven A blasphemy a corruption of the lowly one who used the word brotherhood to define equality and the fatherhood of god to ex press the justice that man owed to man it was agreed by and between the 1 synod and the azars czars that the russian worshipers of god must not know how to read or write his name bo it was that the orthodox church of russia used religion to insult god and hold his creatures in bondage it was the only great church in the world that did not provide prayer books for its members it was argued that if the people had prayer books they would learn to read and if they read the christ message on the sabbath they might read other strange and dangerous books on monday and tuesday and the other days of the week they might misuse their ability to read and read things like the american declaration of independence the churches of the byzantine painted the story of religion on the side of its walls they gave the people an education by the picture book method we use for children before they have reached the kindergarten age bolshevism officially launched the birth certificate of was issued on november 10 1917 the all russian congress of the councils of soldiers and peasants deputies decrees the form of the administration of the country OF THE ASSEMBLY the provisional workers and peasants government Is to be called the council of peoples commission ers the administration of the andl sidnal branches of state life Is to be entrusted to boards the composition of which Is to secure the carrying out of the program proclaimed by the congress in close contact with the organ Izat lons of workers sailors soldiers peasants and employees the government authority belongs to the board and chairmen of these commissioners that to the people 9 commissioners and the right of systematizing them belongs to the all russian congress of the councils of Work mens and peasants and soldiers delegate and its central Exec uthe committee the government of the czar was au to cratic not because it w as a bad government and misgoverned mis governed the people it was autocratic because the people did not have a voice in it A good that denied alie people a voice would be equally autocratic with the fall of the regime lenane and and their bolshevik followers did not bare time and it was not expedient or possible to f 4 f canvass the wish and will of the people at once so they issued the promise I 1 have quoted above the word 0 promise are printed in capital letters it was their moral obligation to keep this promise made to the people it was necessary to keep it it there was to be a genuinely free russia ho could anticipate and who would dare write out and put into operation ib plan of government without giving all of the people of russia a chance to pass upon the plan and help formulate it through their own chosen representatives this was the first promise the bol leaders made to the russians they broke it it has never been fulfilled in the constitution and decreed of the soviet government they have tried to explain excuse and condone this breach of promise fairly interpreted all they have said in de tense of this abuse of power this violation of trust Is in substance it was necessary to dissolve the conati duent assembly it might have interfered with our pi ins it might have jeopardized soviet government right did they have to think act and decide for the people any more thin the czar had in speeches and writings lenane and have since in a veiled way suggested that the peasants elected members of the middle class to represent them instead of peas ants hat of it if the peas ants mate mistakes they will learn and profit by their mistakes they cannot become independent until they get a chance to exercise independence man can get muscle by letting another fellow use the dumbbells the russians peasants workers and all churain beings and a government to be democratic must be as lincoln put it of the people for the people and by the people A government that Is afraid of the influx ence and power of three or four per cent of the people isn t able to alv e and it deserve to gladly obeyed lenane lenane issued his famous order peasants selye the land this com was obeyed with great enthusiasm they forgot all about freedom and the constitutional convention they understood whit land meant they had been taught that by being denied it they knew little about political phrases and framework the order to seize the land tore from the serfs their heaviest chains I 1 enlie became their liberator his was the voice that said seize the land probably the peasants would have done it anyway disorder and unrest had destroyed all respect for property rights property rights had a differ ent meaning in russia than elsewhere property rights meant the right to beat human beings to buy and sell serfs yet the fact that lenane had uttered the words made them reverence and respect him even aa a roan will be to one who has told him to be careful of a hole in the sidewalk notwithstanding the fact he has already seen it bolshevism started with great popularity this wag the secret of it of course the order to seize the land all land was based on the idea that the owners of land held title by and through their own wrongful con duct god had made the ground and sunshine and those who had taken title to it had only moved on and forced others off this Is the way the bol reasoned and from this point of view they were consistent from the worlds point of view it was con fis catlon it was dishonest many people believe that acquiring property Is frequently the result of industry and thrift in some cases the title to property Is based upon cunning scheming and force all of us know that there are some who are without any private property because they to squander their time dissipate their energy and live shiftless lives after all it Is a of opinion and from the point of view of the bolsheviks the order peasants seize the land may have been justified but when alia order was given the peasants seized it not tor the corn munley but to own it privately on this point there can be no difference of opinion among honest impartial fair minded men and when the peas ants seized the land to hold use and own it as their private property they were guilty of taking title by the very means others had taken the land and against whom they bad complained and cried thief I 1 the russian people have the power to think they realize that they have acquired property by the very methods they have always condemned in oth ars their natural selfishness may constrain them to keep this property the sufferings they have gone through may mitigate the offense but one effect was inevitable and that effect the most serious that could happen to a people on the threshold of a free fu ture I 1 refer to the weakening of their moral nature the making of a precedent justifying dishonesty I 1 have found the effects of this act on the patient russia in every subsequent symptom copyright amo petern lalon |