The Saint Paul globe., 1905-03-25
TOLSTOY SAYS DOWN
WITH ALL GOVERNMENT
Russian Author Thinks He Has a Rem
edy for Present Ills

LONDON = Count Tolstoy, in a
letter to the Times, says that he
regards not only the Russian gov
ernment but all governments as I'm
tricate institutions, sanctiied by ira
dition and custom for the purpose of
committing by violence and with i'm
punity the most dreadful social
crimes"
He therefore thinks the efforts of
those who wish to improve social life
should be directed to the liberation of
themselves from the governments
whose futility in these times is becom-
ing more and more obvious" This OBJ
ject could be attained only by the
unique means of religiously and moral
ly perfecting separate individuals.
The idea is prevalent that the evil
accomplished by the present partic-
ularly coarse, cruel, stupid and deceit
ful Russian government is due to the
fact that the Russian government is
Dot organized on the model of other
existing governments, (which are SINH
lar institutions for the commission OF
all kinds of crime against their peo-
pies" For the purpose of correcting
this the people had upheld all the
means at their disposal. imagining
that an alteration of the external
forms might alter the essence"
Such activity" Count Tolstoy says,
rs inexpedient and unreasonable in
that the people assert rights which
they do not have. Violent strife by
external hands by an insignificant
handful of men against a strong gov
ernment defending its life is only COM
ical from the view of possibility OF
success. and pitiful as regards the mis-
led individuals who participate in the
unequal strife. The Russian govern
ment has no right to claims which do
not appeal to the great mass of the
people. One hundred million of the
peasantry need nothing of these de-
mands, their one desire and eXpecta-
ton being the liberation of the land
from the law of property or common
ownership of land, matters which are
entirely ignored in liberal positions
and speeches and only Incidentally al
luded to in the revolutionary social
istic programme"
Concerning the representation de-
mands, Count Tolstoy says:
The people in great mass still be-
lieve in autocracy, both by reason of
inertia and because they think that
only through autocracy and through
the car can they attain this COM
munalization of land. The present ac-
tivity is pernicious because it distracts
the people from the moral perfecting of
separate individuals, whereby only can
be obtained the objects toward which
those who are fighting the government
are striving"
After denouncing the war, Count
Tolstoy concludes:
In America, France, Germany, ia
pan and England the pernicious char
acter of the governments is so marked
that those belonging to those nations
point to events in Russia and naively
imagine what is done in Russia is done
only in Russia, while they enjoy COM
plete freedom and need no improve
ment of their positions. But they live
in more hopeless state of slavery
the slavery of slaves. who do not know
they are slaves, and pride themselves
on their positions as slaves. The fact
is that every form of government is
in the essence a great and unneces-
sary evil. Therefore the aim of both
the Russians and all men should not
be to replace one form of government
with another, but to free themselves
from every government and abol-
ish it,.