Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-08-23
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED
1T MUST BE RECKoNED WITH.

Every little while we are told that
Lenine has letl Moscow, that the
Bolsheyists are losing out in Russia,
only to see a few days later that the
Bolshevist army has regatned lost
ground Or taken new ground,
Bo,sheyist rule in Russia will be
crushed eventually, because the Rus
sian people are too ignorent to rule
themselves under any form of pop
ular government. But, even when
the collapse comes we should not min
imize the seriousness of the fact that
Lenine has turned loose in the world
a philosophy of government that Is
a direct challenge to dur form OF
government, and that thought viii
live long after Lenine is dead.
As explained in the Metropolitan
magazine the philosophy of the Lentne
government may be summarized in his
own words as reported by Raymond
Robins, journalist. and at that time
head Of the Red Cross in Russia:
"Our system will destroy yours be-
cause it will consist of social control
which recognizes the basic fact of
modern life. 1t recognizes the fact
that real power today is economic and
that the social control of today must
therefore be economic also. SO what
do we DO? Who will be our repre-
sentatives in our nationa, legislature,
in our national soviet, from the dis
trict of Baku, for instance?
THE district of Baku is oil? Oil
makes Baku. Oil rules Baku. Our
representatives from Baku will be
elected by the workers in the oil in
dustry. You say: Who are workers?
/ say. The men who manage and the
men who obey the orders of managers
the superintendents, the engineers,
the artisans, the manual laborers-
all the persons who are actually en-
gagged in the actual work of produc-
ton, by brain or hand-they are
work ers. Persons not so engaged
persons who are not at labor in the
oil industry. but who try to live off
it without labor, by speculation, by
royalties, by investment unaccom-
panied by any work of management or
10y any work of daily toil-they are
not workers. They may know some
thing about oil, or they may not. j
Usaully they do not. In any case, they
are not engaged in the actual produc-
ing of oil. our republic is produc
crs' republic.
"You will say that your republic
is a citizens republic. Very well,
say that man as producer is more i'm
portant than man as citizen, The
most important citizens in your oil
districts-who are they? Are they not
oil men? We will represent Baku as
oil.
Similarly we will represent the
Donetz coal basin as coal. The re-
representatives. from the Donetz basin
viii be representatives of the coal in
dustry Again, from the country dis
tricts, our representatives will be re-
personalities chosen by peasants who
grow crops. What is the real inter-
est of the country districts? 1t is not
store-keepng. 1t is not money-lend- |
ing 1t is agriculture. From our coun- |
try districts our soviets of peasants !
will send representatives chosen by |
agriculture to speak for agriculture.
This system is stronger than yours
because it admits reality. 1t seeks out |
the sources of daily human work.
value and, out of those sources, direct
ly, it creates the social control of the |
state. Our government will be an
economic social control for an econ
omic age. 1t will triumph because it |
speaks the spirit, and releases and !
uses the spirit, of the age that now is"
The French revolution is a de-
stroyer of feudalism on the continent
performed work of merit. Likewise
the Russian revolution has, no doubt,
an eliminating function to perform
within its area. But constructively |
the French revolution did not attain
its Immediate end, nor will the Rus
sian revolution. Such revolutions and |
the governments they attempt cam
not serve as models for higher civil
ization.
But the French revolution was the
erunner-drenched in blood as it
was-of a better government, because
of that bloodshed. The impractical
radicalism of the Russian revolution
will pass, but whatever of merit there
is in it will go forward until it is in
corporated as part of our future civil
ization.