The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-19
The Voice of the People

An analysis Of the trend Of revolutionary
thought and its methods is contained In the cur
rent issue of the Christian Science Monitor. The
editorial follows:
"Any person who has watched with care the
methods Of the revolutionary groups throughout
the world must have noticed that they are pro-
ceeding along comparatively common lines OF at
tack. One of these lines has for its object the
suborning of the military forces of every nation
and the police. To put it succinctly, as it was
put by one of the revolutionary leaders, to re-
preventative of this paper in great industrial
center of the United States, not long ago, Let us
once win over the soldiers and the police, and
then look outp It is perfectly easy to understand
the point of view, for a very slight knowledge
of history should be sufficient to convince any
person that SO long the discipline of the mill
tary services remains, the hopes of revolution
must be necessarily circumscribed. So long as
single regiment remained faithful to the king,
the revolutionary fury of st. Antoine was un-
able to burst its bounds. 1t only when the
bue-coated Gardes Franchises assumed the revo-
lutionary rosette that the guillotine became a
possibility, and it was when Murat, riding like
fury to the camp at Sablons, gained possession
of the artillery that Section Lepelletier had to
own it's defeat.
"It was Just the same when the French Ter
ror was repeated in the Russian Terror. The be-
ginning of the trouble was Kerensky's destruc-
ton of the morale of the army. When, finally,
the troops melted away from Korniloff there was
nothing left for Kerensky and Socialism but
flight before the Red Terror or death. It was
'93 repeated exactly over again in 1917, and the
historical student is interested In watching the
parallel of the denouement. All Of which makes
it abundantly clear why, from London to Bos-
ton, such desperate efforts have been made to
unionize the police forces and to denoralize the
military forces. 1t is all very well for the most
conservative of Labor leaders, like MIR. Gompers,
to explain that there is to be sort of union with
in union wherever the police unionized.
That is to say, that there is to be understand
ing that the strike is not to be resorted to, and
that the discipline of the force, the present
lines, is to be maintained. But does Mr. Gompers
seriously believe that of the police once un-
jonized it would be possible to draw such an arti-
fical line, and that it would not merely be mat
ter of time, and very short time at that, before
Mr.. Gompers compelled by the advanced sec
ton of his own party to make further demands
or before he gave place to those who would make
such demands with very little circumlocution
The French revolution, which began with Mira
beau and Necker passed into the hands of Dan
ton and Robespierre, and did not end until it hac
consumed most of its own children.
with the warning of France historically be-
fore them, and the very practical warning Of
Russia under their very eyes, the people of the
United States may estimate the attempts to un
ionize the police force at something approaching
their true value. The unionzing of the police
force is only a preliminary STEP in the words O.
the revolutionary leader already quoted, to thu
effort to demoraGze the army, the belief bein1
that when these barriers to revolution are throw
down, there will be nothing to prevent the in
coming of the tide. Nor is it necessary to e.
back hundred years to the Place de la Revolu
ton, or even three years to the Nevsky Prospekt