The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-16
BOLSHEVISM.
(By w. B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor,)

Washington. .. c., May 14.-Bol-
shevism VIII secure no feothold among
the workers ~ the -Urited Staies
according tp the statement issued this
afternoon by William 3. Wilson, secre-
tary Of labor. Most Of the support of
this movement the secretary explains
in a letter to Jamc Wilson, president
of the International Association Of
Pattern Makers, comes from the mis-
taken belief that It is dem ocratic In
an extended argument Secretary Will
son quotes from IIenine's own speeches
to prove that the Bolshevik govern
ment is not even a dictatorship Of the
proletariat but absolutist in type like
czarism, The secretary's letter follows.
AT the dinner of the employees of
the Brooklyn navy yard given under
the auspices of tho metal trades de-
partment of the American Federation
Of Labor April 80. l made the state
ment trat had no fear of Bolshevism
socalled securing foothoid amongst
the workers of the United States, that
Bolshevism. as understood in Russia.
meant the dictatorship of the indivi-
dual or at most the few. with the
purpose of introducing compulsory
labor. goaded 10 higher speed by the
introduction. OF the Taylor system
under the direction of an individual
dictatorship, that did not believe
that any Of our people, inside or out
side OF the trade union movement.
whether conservatives or radicals,
would support o. advocate this kind of
government when they came TO know
what it was.
you have asked me for the source
of the Information that based my
statement upon. | am sending you
herewith some excerpts from a speech
made by Niholai Lenin. premier of the
Russian Soviet republic. in outlining
the objects Of The Bolshevists to the
Nation Soviet Moscow, April 1918.
az published by the Rand School of
Social Science for purposes of propa =
Ganda in this country, which fully
sustain the statements I made.
The average American mind in in =
terpreting the term dictatorship of the
proletariat' mas understood it to mean
the will OF ajority of the workers
imposed upon all the other members
OF society We have been almost
unanimous in resisting this theory.
From the beginning of time until the
creation OF the United States the
workers had been excluded from "A
voice in governmental affairs There
was perpetual struggle to remedy
which they acted was that every per-
son who had "a, obey the laws of a
country ought ~ have a voice in de-
termining what those laws should be.
They are still imbued with that prin-
ciple and consequently have bad no
kindly feeling for q dictatorship of
the proletariat,
But clearly his is not the prn-
ciple being pursued by the Russian
Bolshevisfs. They fear the will of the
majority just as much as Kaiser Will
helm, Emperor Carl. or Car Nicholas
did. and bodily declare the dictator
ship of the advanced class awakening
to new democracy. and this group
Is TO be the sole Judge of how the peo-
Pile shall live, what they shall do and
how they shall do it. IT sets up the
dictatorship on exactly the same plea
that every autocrat has used, that he
knows better what is good for the
people and how they should be treat
ed than they know themselves This
subjection' may resemble the mild
leading Of an orchestra conductor If
the proletariat IS submissive. good ma
tured and obedient, but it may take
the acute form OF q Dictatorship en-
forced with n merciless and Arm rule
and iron discipline against those who
less with regard to control
The Dictatorship.
but the dictatorship goes farther
than simply to tho most conscious van
guard the advanced class the class
conscious vanguard or the advanced
workers. as the group Is variously
termed. 1t sets up an individual die
tatorship with unlimited power, and
insists that -the-revufutfon demands
the absolute submission of the masses
to the single viii of those who direct
the abor processes. This single will
must be oheyed by obligatory labor
service. The worker IL no longer to
be permitted to quit work for reasons
that are sufIicient to himself He may
not like the placc. or have friends
somewhere else and desire to move.
bat ne cannot without permission Of
the dictator. He may dislike his work.
his manager. his foreman. his shop.
his wages. his hours Of labor. or the
conditions OF employment. but he must
net Q,kt bseasss Of tha msreilsGs