The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-20
THE FRAME WORK OF
 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA

and ability until 1t can develop these qualities in itself. In the meantime as the country prospers, all prosper alike; and during the time of transl-
 tlon, all suffer alike. It Is a question
 now far the people will be willing to sacrifice for the new order. But the
 Russians are pure Idealists and may
 go far
 When production of industry Is
 well established through the control
 or strong associations of the work ing people so that the disinherlted
 class cannot get a foothold among them again, the next task will be the
 development of personality, the cuI-
 Rlvalon of intelligence and the arts.
 Each man will be given 8 chance to
 develop his own gifts. The motive
 will be, not the money he will be able
 to earn, but the services he will be i able to give the state. Russia recog- nizes herself as backward It was this backwardness- that gave the old regime it's stronghold on the peo- ple. By monOpolizing the skill. and systematically preventing the work CTS from acquiring it, 1t was easy to keep the people down. Nothing
 but reEoluhon could have cleared
 away that black condition. But a rev
 olution does not revolutionize all the people at once; generations of neglect
 still remain to be banished by edu-
 cation. And this is the critical task
 of Russia
 Until the Russian people are cuI-
 ttvated to the standard Of the most
 highly trained people on earth. there
 is no intention of allowing anything
 to interfre with the social program.
 After that the people will be able
 to look after themselves. All the class pride and contempt and hatred in Russia was made possible by the ignorance and sunken condition of the workers. When they are made
 what they can be, contempt and hat red will vanish. They will be capable of self-government in the fullest sense. They will have the respect Of the world.
 This. in large lines, is the program We hear oG other things in between but most of them represent the special propaganda of factions; they are not included in the wide sweep of the Soviet social reform.
 As to Bolshevism breaking out in Ger parts Of the world. that is in 1 agreement with the wishes of the | Bolshevik government. There is q feeling that a completely sociaIized Russia would not be possible except in an at least partially socialized world. It is part of the present Rus- sian foreign policy to arouse the workers of the world to resist expIot- tation and also to gain a sympathetic 1 understanding of what Russia is now trying to accomplish. The approved means is education. It Is inaccurate to describe as Bolshevism any dis order that may occur. Wherever there is disorder without a program without a reason. it may be under stood as being disorder pure and simple. Not even the American Rev oluttOn was accom- mpIished without violence. and the United States aboI-
 ished slavery to the accompaniment of wide disorder.
 The foreign policy of the present
 Russian dictatorship of the people is fairly well known to the world. It believes that every people have the right to decide their own destiny. l. believes that any nation whose people l may be exploited has the right to change it's social system. It believes that the Russian republic, when firm ly established, ought to go to the as sistanCe of any people striving to throw off the yoke. It does not be- lieve in war as the world has known war. It declares that to light for ter rItory is plain theft and murder II denies just as strongly the imperial ism of capital international capital isTn) as the imperialism of politics Whether the present government of Russia will continue its policy of re-
 pudtadng the debts of the Cars regi- me, no man can say at this time
 Those debts were incurred without the advice or consent of the people
 and certainly the money was not used for the peoples benefit. The
 peasants claim that they did not
 borrow the money and therefore
 ought not be made to pay. But this
 Is position which may be difficult
 to maintain. For the sake of the ap pearances Of the case, and for the
 sake of retaining the friendship of
 the world. the debts of the Car may
 be paid when the people get to pro- ducing wealth sufficient for 1t. But of one thing the world may be cer- tain as long as the present ideal holds in Russia-there will be no exploitation allowed by foreign cap ital. That would only be permitting 1 the old system to gain another foot hold. And that exploitation will not | be attempted is the explicit promise 1 of President Wilson, speaking for the 1 Conference of Paris, in his invitation | to a Russo-AIlied meeting. President l Wilson is the only world leader who | has given a sign that he understands 1 what Russia's real ideal Is
 1 Not that Russia proposes to lock 1 herself away from the world. She | wishes to make a haven for all the
 working people Of the world. If her ideal succeeds, the workers of the | world will emigrate to Russia Very
 soon, if present conditions continue
 to gain ground, there will be oppor-
 tunities In Russia for skilled man.
 agers in every line of production
 But they will have to work for the
 Russian people, not for corporations If they wish to cast In their lot with
 the people, very well. If not, they
 will be employed at good salaries UT.
 til a generation Of workers arise who are competent to be managers
 Russia Is making an experiment. a
 notable experiment on q larger scale
 than was ever before attempted. You
 have seen scores of such experiments