Weekly Nome industrial worker., 1919-04-19

military combination. The forces cf ittraction and repulsion which re- suited in the formation of the German ! Austrian and Russian empires would again dominate central Europe They would in one way or another pgo- luce a group of competing and sus- | )cious states which would resume l
 He old business of expressing mMor- ties, conscripting peoples and sub ordinating popular welfare to the in 9XoTable demands of military organ izaton and policy. The old empires were not accidents. They were born of the retarded national development | and the nor acute condition of inter- national disorder which prevailed in that region during the several cen turies when modern Europe was be- ing formed If their destruction is to be final, the economic and social de- Velopment of these peoples must be accelerated by the prevention or at least the Encouragement of central European disorder and insecurity. 4 military dictatorship in Russia would perpetuate this condition of interna- .;onal unrest. Any physical "order" which it was strong enough to inn pose on the Russian nation would be the outward and visible sign not of social order but of sheer moral vlo- lence.
 The policy of the western democ- racies in Russia should above every thing else seek to avoid military dictatorship and the renewal of Q highly centralized irresponsible ad- ministration. Russia is so huge and .he Russian people are so prolific that their neighbors will never be- safe and Europe will never settle down as long as they are organized in ! way which permits military and po- 'itical aggression. It IS hard to un- derstand the blindness of French and British statesmanship in th.s matter Every s.Eca the Russian revolution they have labored unceasingly to re establish strong government iii Russia-neaning thereby @ govern nent winch exercised complete con trol Of the resources and energies of the Russian people, just as the Amer
 can government during the war ex- arcised complete control over Ameri- can resources and energy. Such a
 government has not proved to be physically possible; and they should
 haze known enough of conditions in
 Russia to understand it's imposs.5ility.
 But if it were possible, it's immediate
 military advantages to an anti Ger
 man combination would have been outweighed by it's grave political dis advantages. A strong" Russian
 government would erect an impass- able barrier to any political orsani- ! zatinn of central I9urUDe, except one determined by preponderance or q
 balance of military forces. It would mean inevitably tae perpetuation or the revival in some form of German and Austrian Imperialism and under
 the new conditions the encourage ment of 8 Polish imperialism.
 French and British statesmen have done their best to destroy the most salutory aspect of the Russian revo- lutionary damocracy-.ts fear Of an authoritative centralized governmen and it's prafrence for a loose politica oraanization. Napoleon predicted that Europe would become republican or Cossack. Europe was saved dur
 ag the nineteenth century from be- coming Cossaek by the corruption and ineGiciancy of the Tsarist ba reaucracy. 1t is now becoming re publican, but We have to thank God fer this result rather than the polit- iCal leadership of the western democ- rao;es. They have tried to keep Rus sia cossach and to prevent it from becoming republican. They could never dismiss from their minds the analogy Of the French Revolution which resulted in the formation of a vigorous national democracy whose strength, although impaired by in- ternal disputes. was noumshed on the dogma of national ind.visibi!ity But ] Russian national democracy after the centralized French example might ne more dangerous to the peace Of Europe than Romanoff empire. Flu rope could tolerate a vigorous deyei- opmont of French nationalism be- cause the French were not numerous enough to over-run Europe. But any