Show PROBLEMS FACING STRICKEN WORLD shall chaos or reconstruction in europe follow the great world war BOLSHEVIK RULE OF FORCE people are helpless while the army privileged keeps lenane in power by its bayonets freedom Is a thing forgotten article by FRANK COMERFORD the effort to socialize politics did not democratize politics it was not intended to lu practical operation it fulfilled its purpose it created a political autocracy the greatest power in russia today Is the red army without an army a minority government cannot exist force Is the strength and security of minority rule ba conets held the czar on ahli throne the same power holds the lanine trotsky government in au thorl ty aery inducement has been offered men to join the army and the navy this Is the best and almost the only job in llusala today the soldier and sailor Is at least guaranteed good food and a warm bunk lie escapes the danger of cold and stan atlon lulng conditions are better in the red array than la any other occupation 19 of article 3 of the constitution la interesting for bic purpose of defending the victory of the great peasants and workers revolution the russian socialist federal soviet republic lecog the duty of all citizens of the republic to come to the defense of their socialist fatherland and it therefore introduces universal military training the honor of defending the revolution with arms is accorded only to the workers and the non working elements are charged with the performance of otha r military duties only allowed firearms no one else in russia Is allow ed to have or carry arms this rule Is strictly enforced and searches have been made almost weekly in search of arms it Is a serious matter to have a firearm in russia if you are not a member of the army As a consequence the one armed force in russia today Is the red army this Is the backbone of the bolshevik govern ment the people are utterly help leeg As long as the army Is well fed warm and well clothed it will continue to be alie most popular occupation in russia carrying out the general plan of socializing the bolshevik government stripped army officers of rank in doing this they tried to live up to the constitution forbidding the bourgeoisie entering the army however this theory like many others did not work out in practice skill in military direction Is indispensable to an effective military machine facing civil war with the red army alone between the government and disaster lenane and found it expedient to turn their backs upon the constitution it was necessary to have trained men as officers and the bourgeoisie to whom they bad denied citizenship and the honor of defending the republic were called upon to advise the army albert rhyse williams Is a devoted friend of he was so enamored with the bolshevik movement that he offered to join the red army he has written a biography of lenane from which I 1 quote he lenane Len lne sent an automobile with red guards to the fortress of peter and paul to fetch part of the counterrevolutionary counter revolutionary staff in prison there gentlemen said lenane as the generals filed into his office 1 I have brought you here for expert advice petrograd Petro grad is in danger will ou be good enough to work out the military tactics tor its defense they assented generals denied better treatment here ire our forces resumed I 1 enlie indicating upon the map the location of the red troops munitions and reserves and here are our latest reports upon the number and dispose aloo of the enemy troops adv thing else the generals desire they will call tor they set to work and toward evening handed him the result of their deliberations now bald the generals ingratiatingly will tho premier be good enough to allow us more corn fordable for table quarters my exceeding regrets replied lenane some other time but not just now your quarters gentlemen may not be comfortable but they have the ferit of being pate the staff was returned to the fortress of peter and paul I 1 have given this excerpt from the life of lenane not because the incident Is important but because it allus the difference between bolshevik theory and practice I 1 am not ariti bising good sense in promptly abandoning the foolish theory he wrote in the constitution am trying to the and impracticability of the theory bolshevik breach of faith so in the very beginning of the ex called bolshevism its leaders broke their promise and treacherously struck down the peoples convention the constituent assembly evidence of their breach of faith Is found in the bolshevik birth certificate the first proclamation of the bolshevik govern ment second they commanded the peasants to seize the land and by so doing they gave sanction to dishonesty third they sent democratic methods and machinery to the scrap pile and built the soviet machine a plan of gov which robbed the people ot all gayln their own affairs fourth they founded their government on force the right of might fifth they delivered the power to a class of officeholders sixth they discriminated unjustly against the poor peasants seventh they dis franchised good russian men and women whose only fault was that they were thrifty and industrious eighth they destroyed freedom of speech and of the press anth they stand for revolution and blood instead of political action and e tenth last but of greatest moment the bolshevik government built its national bouse on the dangerous foundation of minority rule one evidence of the minority rule in bolshevik russia is found in the 1919 registration of voters in moscow and petrograd Petro grad it Is estimated that moscow has a population of almost a million and a half yet out of this great number only 13 COO voters registered petrograd Petro grad with a population of between COO and registered a little less than voters these two cities are admitted to be the strongholds strong holds of bolshevism the registration figures show that about one per cent of the people of moscow and petrograd Petro grad are sufficiently attached to bolshevism to register thought not destroyed bolshevism snuffed out the light in russia when it killed freedom it did not destroy thought it merely drove it into the darkness it has not con the manhood and womanhood of russia it has but disarmed them somewhere I 1 have heard or read that tolerance Is a quality of freedom that intolerance Is a symptom of despotism maybe I 1 am thinking of the greek conception the idea of plato surely tolerance Is no part of the bolshevik program in a letter addressed to the workers of europe and america dated january 21 1919 lenane wrote now no conscientious working man and no sincere socialist can fall to see what shameful treason against socialism was perpetrated by those who in line with the of russia with the Schelde manns ana suede bums of germany with the Renau dels of france and eldes of bel glum with the hendersons and webs in england and with gompers and co in americal Ameri caf supported their bourgeoisie in the war of 1914 1918 another paragraph from letter side by side with these cowardly bongers mongers who are stuffed with the prejudices of bourgeois democracy mo cracy side by side with these socialists cia lists who yesterday defended their governments and who today confine themselves to platon lc protest against military intervention tion in russia side by side with them we see in the allied coun tries an increase in the number of those who have chosen the communist road comrade lenane attacks samuel gompers the president of the american federation of labor and the labor movement of america for loyalty to our country in the hour of her greatest trial lenane brands evera soldier and sailor who offered his life to stop the kaiser and ahli prussian machine in the mad effort to conquer the world a supporter of the bourgeoisie lenane assails and condemns the manhood of the world that an the help cry of belgium when prussia was raping and murdering belgium in the front yard of europe what would have happened to russia it these brave men whom I 1 enlie now ass ills had not offered themselves russia would have been lashed to the keisers kaisers kai sers chariot christ chained to a krupp gun the first of all the bolsheviks will not go down in history as lenane the tolerant copyright 1920 western union |