The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1918-01-31
NEW YORK, BOSTON, TROY, LEVlN'S|
ALBANY & RUTLAND PAPERS " d y , 8 r

STA is so vast, because its population i!
so inarticulate, because communica
ton is so difficult, because the percent
age of illiteracy is so great, these tw,
men, with their relatively small fol
lowing, are able not only to speak il
the name Of Russia for the moment
but to rock TIE boat in which thu
precious freight of civilization is try
ing to make port.
Those who know Russia best anc
, who speak of it with most confidence
feel that for years, perhaps for gen
eratons to come, Russia as a political
entity has ceased to exist. There will
be Finland, a Courland, Lithuania
a Ukraine, a Caucasus, and other new
political units, but it may be long
time before there is another Russia.
Perhaps the powerful force of the
principle of federation may one day
exert itself upon these fragments Of
the Russia that was, and bring back
upon the map and intothe society Of
nations a new Russia that shall be a
free, democratic, federal state. May
Heaven speed that day!
For the moment those who are the
mouthpiece Of Russia are in virtual
alliance with autocracy against pro
gress. They arc not building up and
they cannot build up; they are tear
ing down. Not only are they tearing
down in Russia itself, but they are
calling upon the disconnected, the
restless, the unfortunate in other
lands to join them in the work of de-
struction. They would like to destroy
autocracy as it exists in Germany, in
Austria-Hungary and in Turkey, but
they would like to destroy free demo
cratic government as well. These
men are not democrats, they are not
republicans; they are social revolu-
tonaries bent on overturning every
thing that has hitherto made for prog
ress in the world. Their own acts in
Russia itself have quite equaled those
of the most autocratic and tyrannical
of Tsars. They have prosecuted and
threatened persecution. They have
robbed and beaten and imprisoned
those who ventured to differ from
them. They are animated not by
desire for freedom, but by an inten-
ton to establish the rule of class,
and that their own class, throughout
the world. Within few weeks Trot
sky declared, in public address, that
he was engaged in merciless and
decisive struggle against the Liberal
Party of Russia, and that he would
stop at nothing in the prosecution of |
class warfare. These are his words:
NO prison, but the guillotine, for our
enemies. 1t is not immoral for de-
nocracy to crush another class. That
S its right"
The man who spoke those words has
no conception of the word "democ-
.acy," or Of what democracy is. He
s wholly without belief in the equal
ty of men before the law, and in
he equality of opportunity for all
men and women. He believes in the
-ule of cruel, relentless exploiting
lass. In other words, he believes in
privilege and not in free government.
Men like Trotsky, both in Russia and
n other countries, speak much Of class
Consciousness. Class consciousness
md democracy are mutually exclusive.
lass consciousness is nothing but
Ugh sounding name for cooperative
elfishness, exercised in opposition to
he common good. The assumption Of
II those who preach and urge class
truggle is that men should not have
quail rights and equal opportunities,
ut that full rights and full oppcrtun-