The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-02-26
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
In Europe Follow the Great
World War7
SOME LIGHT ON BoLsHEvlsm
Movement Not Anarehistie. az So
Many Seem to Think-ProbabIy
10 Best Described as "con-
sistent Socialism"
Article XIII.
BY FRANK coMeRFoRp.

BY FRANK coMERFoRD.
II were asked to name the princi-
pal cause for the growing unrest my
answer would be bolshevism. The al.
most universal attitude Of big business
toward Russian bolshevism-an atti-
tude adopted by most of the govern
ments of Europeans been, and is.
XIII 1t; don't waste time examining 1t
1t isn't worth trying to understand; no
good can come out Of 1t; 1t must be
fought; 1t isn't entitled to trial.
Reams Of paper have been used to as
sail 1t. Captains of industry and gov
eminent officials have We'd with each
other In making assault on 1t. Many
Of those who oppose bolshevism are
indignant If you ask them what 1t is
and why they oppose 1t. They charac-
terize 1t, attack 1t, resent 1t. Great
heat has been shown in discussing it,
without throwing any light on the sub
ject. Absurd lies have been told
about bolshevism. Later these unnec-
essary and stupid lies have been ex-
posed, with the result that suspicion
has been bred, unrest fed. The effect
upon the workers has been to increase
their hate for their employers and de-
stroy their already weakened faith in
government.
Whether bolshevism Is right or
wrong, whether it is good thing or Il
bad thing, it is at least n definite po-
liticai plan. capable of being examined,
measured, weighed and tested. 1t is
few of the things it has been called.
1t is entitled to a hearing on its mer-
Its. 1t cannot be howled down in
abuse.
Bolsheviem Not Anarchy.
Those who lead the campaign
against 1t frequently and confusingly
define 1t as anarchy. II there is one
thing that bolshevism is not, 1t is an
archy. Much controversy will be
avoided, many differences of opinion
dissolved II we come to a fair and
open understanding of the bolshevik
program. One Of the great misfor-
tunes is that we form opinions without
information, rush to judgments with
out understanding. then stubbornly
close our minds. Much Of the discord
and strife of life in big things. as well
as in little matters. is due to this
habit. Anarchy is not criminal law
lessness. Notwithstanding the fact that
this Is the popular misconception of
the term. Say anarchist" and the av-
erage man or woman to whom you say
it looks frightened, thinks of q bomb
thrower. dynamiter, firebrand.
Such a man is not an anarchist; he is
a terrorist, n criminal. 4 destruction
ist. a murderer. Let us call a spade
a spade and be sure we know what
spade Is, and we will understand each
other better.
Annrchism is an old and respectable
philosophy. The anarchist is an indl-
vidualist. He is in favor of free life
for the individual. He is opposed to
turning over the individuals power to
the state. He. argues that great
power delegated to government limits
the growth and freedom Of the indi-
viduai. He dreams Of an ideal state In
which human beings will be SO perfect
they need no law. His doctrine Is an
enlargement. an exaggeration of the
idea that the government which gov
erns least governs best. He isn't
lawbreaker. He is a law abolisher. He
reasons that when murder leaves the
human heart there will be no occasion
for laws against killing; that the
statute against murder is only printed
Words on the page Of law book. ut
terly and entirely without meaning, or
existence, to the man who 10 incapable
Of Killing his fellow man. He says
that we should develop our artistic
and moral sides and by evolution
gradually repeal one law after an
other until all law disappears. 1t is
pure idealism-it is a movement to-
ward perfection. It is the millennium
It is poetry. Kipling wrote Its con-
stitutiOn when he wrote:
And only the Master shall praise US.
And only the Master shall blame.
And no one shall work for money.
And no one shall work for fame.
But each for the Joy of working.
Each in his separate star
Shall draw the Thing as he sees II
For the God OF Things as They Are.
Mersly q Deautiful Dpam.
Few people will contend that this
theory is anything more than beauti-
full dream. Probably the first and
greatest of the anarchists was the
-..uA N-ooty phfJocophnr Zpnn from