The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-08-25
WARNS j. S.
WAR FOES MENACE
RUSSIAN FREEDOM

thinkers in America, member of the
American commission tosRussia, has
come back, with aemessage that ought
to sink into the heart of every lover
of liberty and make every American
more firm in the resolve that.this ma
ton must win a victory for democracy
before the sword is sheathed. -.
Russell gave to the New York Times
of Aug. IL a comprehensive interview
concerning Russia. His discussion of
the effect of pacifist and pro-German
propaganda here upon the Russian
democracy is particularly worth study.
Russell maintains that every such ac-
tivity in America opens the way by
that much for the German soldiers to
march into the heart of Russia and
that one of the essentials of Russian
strength is unity in America to fight
solidly and vigorously for democracy.
Here are the two most important
questions asked of Russell and his an
swers to them:
Answers Questions.
"Are any of the resen$ments of the
Russian government against this or
that European nation growing out Of
the wars and the treaties and the ter
ritoria1 partitions, and so on, of the
nineteenth century still prevailing in
Russia, as a republic?
1.-THE whole outfit Of inherited ira
dition on this subject has gone to the
junk pile. Russia today is singularly
free from any of these old cob-webs
It cares nothing whatever about the
congress Of Vienna or the. treaty Of
Berlin. It cares about nothing, as a
matter of fact, except, the realization
of it's dreams. of. the cooperative
commonwealth. universal brotherhood,
and universal goodwill, and the main
reason why the element in favor Of
the war grows daily is because more
men perceive that these dreams can
neve be realized until the earth has
been freed from the menace Of Ger
man militarisnf and autocracy."
ITO come back to the matter Of
pernicious peace talk in the Ameri-
can congress. why is that any worse
the general cause Of all the allies
than is the demand Of Russia for
peace and no annexation" Mr.. Rus
sell was asked.
Relation of q. S.
"You must understand that the
United States stands in a relation to
Russia different from that of any
other country. The activity of Great
of obvious origin Russians also un-
derstand that, while France is fighting
for democracy. it is also fighting for
A1sace and Lorraine. Italy lis gener-
ally, although I know enormously,
viewed as fighting only for Trentino
and Trieste;" but the first proposition
that the Russians heard in regard to
the United States and the war was
that the United States had come in for
disinterested purposes.
"This thought made at first a pc
culiar appeal to many Russian al
TRUST. The German propaganda was
able to create some impression that
the United States was really as, selfish
and materialistic in its aims as any
other country, yet the fact remains
that the United States is essentially in
a better position in Russia than any
other country.
Now, then, when it is made to ap-
pear to the average. intelligent RUS
sian that the United States IS giving
up the war, he jumps at once to the
conclusion that there is nothing to
fight about and that the United States
will swiftly lead the rest of the allies
to conclude peace.
"Of course, this is utterly fatal to
the fighting spirit. Equally, of course,
1t is utterly preposterous because the
United States cannot by any possibility
back out of this war and Great Britain
and France have not the slightest in
tention of making peace until their
objects have been attained. So the net
result of the peace propaganda in Am
erica is to strike down the arm of
Russia and leave her unprotected
against sweeping German victory
that would leave the allies and the
United States in a most painful posi-
ton.
But the Americans ought to UNDER
stand that the real issue of this war
has nothing to do with commerce or
trade or territorial additions by any
nation. The real issue Of the war is
whether the world from this time forth
shall be democratic or autocratic. If
that can become the firm abiding faith
OF every American, and if it can be
impressed clearly from America to
Russia, Germany will never break
, through that line; democracy will
never fail in Russia and the freedom
and progress of the human race are
secured"