New-York tribune., 1917-12-03

To the casual observer the stupendous
events now occurring in Russia come as
sunrise. These events are dangerous,
terrible" fantastic" or, on the other hand'
"benefcent," "hopcful." marking the dawn
u n new day" All depends upon the Oh
yerver's viewpoint. Western Europeans ana
Americans who anticipated the revolution
and hence are no. so startled at its pro-
rressive development, are the students OF
iistorv and OF the laws OF social develop
ment. To such the revolution - simply
necessity; that is all. revolution "
natural process. II is merely time Oh
fundamental and conspicuous social chahge'
We watch n tree put out its leaves and bios
SONS in the spring. We observe chIa
oassing through adolescence and are NOT az
all amazed. Neither shall we be amazed or
dismayed AZ social revolutions II we under
stand them By analyzing the laws which gov
ern their development
Causes OF Revolution
4 revolution Is the result Of a conflict OF
social classes. Society in every nation has
been composed, during historical times Oh
various economic strata. A social class ~
groun Of people who get their bread and
butter in the same way. Such group Is
naturally bound together by the strongest OF
all human ties. It lives common life. IL
works together If it works at all. IL has COM
mon or closely allied religious beliefs, moral
principles and artistic expressions. In times
Of danger the members of a social class, II
they are developed enough to have con-
sciousness Of class, draw together ana hgh'
against that danger. If the ruling class is
oyerthrown by another class IN the same ma
,ion. which, in turn, seizes the public power
and controls the state and the national prop
erty, we call the affair a revolution.
To understand the evolution OF the Rus'
sian revolution we must first consider II as
a part Of its immediate process. 1t 49, on
the one hand, simply the last revolution IN
Europe of the great middle class. This class
has always included, during the period OF us
revolution, the manufacturers, shopkeepers'
small farmers and the professional groups
who serve this small property-nolding Grass
In every nation it has revolted against the
Iand-holding aristocracy, represented, III
modern times, both within and without the
state by autocratic government. But the
Russian revolution has another and extreme
~ important phase. Smashing up through
the crust Of middle class property holding IN.
terests come the working classes OF city a"c
country. In the first place, the Russian rev.
olution has everything in common with lh'
Dutch revolution of 1919, the English revolu-
tions Of 1912 and 1859, the French Revoiu.
tion of 1889, and the German Revolution OF
1sls which last was still-born. But each one
of these movements had peculiar character
istics. Each drew it's life from peculiar
national form. Furthermore, and TINS IS
much more important, each great middle class
revolution. including the Russian, was per
meated within and marked without by the
general social life and conditions OF the age
in which it broke forth.
Result of Fifty Years. Preparation
This year of 1917, in which the Russian
revolution comes to complete victory, folloWs
fifty years of ardent and successful reVo-
iutionary propaganda among the wage-woFA-
ing class OF the western European nations
The Socialist philosophy has deeply perme
ated the mind not only of the workers OF
citv and country, but also the mind Of the
intellectual class So the Russian revolution
has received this powerful cross-current, re-
sulting in a more or less destructive whirI-
pool. The middle classes, the small prop
ertv-holdng classes, wished 10 have q per-
fectly respectable" revolution Ike that OF
1899 in England Their ideal was, quite gem
orally. a republic with a constitution Ike
that Of France or the United States. hany
of them would have been satisfied with a
constitutional monarchy such as that OF
croo, pritain or Itqlv This class in Rus
sia now very likely feels like boy VINO mas
saved some fine apples from the pigs only 20
have them eaten up by the hired man:
Let us refresh our minds as REGARDS Uhe