The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-10-29
The Party of Destruction.

HC raw VI bCoh uStiOiI'
There has been difficulty in finding
a simple comprehensive name to COW
er as well those who approximately
study as those who advocate and
those who practice Unrest" in its
various forms. They grade from the
"Parlor Bolshevist" and the Social
list in Office (of whom, alas, we have
far too many through all kinds and
varieties:-Rand School Students, /.
w. WIS, Radicals, Direct Action Soc
ialists, Left Wing Socialists, Anarch-
lists and other. They have in common
one trait, aim, or major principle
howsoever they differ as to the de-
tails Of the procedure by which, or
the theory with which they would re-
place the existant Order. the present
form of Government. That principle
is destruction"
Destroy first, and then apply their
own pet theory whatever it be, is
their motto. They may therefore be
properly described as the Party of De-
struction and be properly referred to
as THE Destructives, in distinction
to those who desire to improve exist
ing affairs, to expand the resources of
the country, whose aims are construc-
tive and who seek to ameliorate hui
man conditions. Some few of the
Destructives" are enthusiasts who
genuinely believe that all mankind
can at stroke be made docile yet de-
termined, gentle yet courageous, UNI
selfish yet enterprising. Who think
that Man can cast off the fieshy en-
Velope and from thenceforth be only
spiritually minded and yet continue to
(though the latter imply contest as .,
constant attendant on all life) and
who also believe that that state of at
fairs can be brought about through
the medium of Matchmaking every
aspect of life. These are the one.
tenth OF one per cent.
They are the genuine Bolshevists,
as we have been taught the meaning
of that foreign word. There are
others-mostly the younger the less
experienced the less well read-who
are filled with "a noble unrest" and
who; not recognizing the particular
seat in themselves of the general i'm
pulse which stirs within them; do not
really consider Man at all but only
abstract ideas, and who believe that
wrong can cease and right can
triumph all at once, and that if need
be the whole world should be wrap
ped in flames TO accomplish that re-
suit. These also. whatever their SOC
ial standing, or lack thereof, are de
structives."
The patient labor of the "Construc-
tives' OF this world does not appeal
to their somewhat perfervid inspira-
tional impulses. But by far the
greater portion of those who are the
leading spirits among the "Destruc-
tives" are those who, to speak plain
ly, would advance their own material
interests by criminal methods. They
are persons who look to the "Disord-
er" which will attend the processes of
Destruction" to enable them to bene-
fit, to afford them opportunity to seize
either wealth or power, or both with
out working for them in a legitimate
way. The two first classes are their
dupes as are also the great body of
their followers. Taken together, how
ever all these classes constitute the
Destructive Party"
AS what they are, as "Destruc-
tives," should they be known and be
referred to. They would destroy
wealth, they would destroy savings,
they would destroy organized indus
try, they would destroy learning, they
would destroy government, they
would destroy law, they would de-
stroy all that is the result of past hui
man effort and experience, so also
they would destroy the family, they
would destroy society, they would de-
stroy all that is the result of applied
morality. They offer, when destruc-
ton is complete, some one, some an
other panacea. Each suggested cure,
however, rests on proposed elimina-
ton from the problem of the funda-
mental human traits and the adop.
ton of one or another theory already
in the past tested and found impos-
sible because of the existance of the
fundamental human traits.
They are the Destructives-th
Party of Destruction-so let them be
labeled that they may be known
American Defense Society.
Children Crv