Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-04-01
SOME LIGHT ON BOLSHEVlSM
Movement Not Anarchistic. IS So
Many Seem to Thjnk-Probab!y
Is Best Described as Con-
sistent Socialism,"
Article XIII.
BY FRANK COMERFORD.

most UnlFefSal attitude OF big business
toward Russian bolshevsn-an atti-
tude adopted by most Of the govern
mentS Of EurOpe-haS been, and is,
XIII it; don't waste time examining it !:
it isn't worth trying to understand; no
good can come out Of it; it must be
fought; it isn't entitled to trial.
Rean1s Of paper have been used to as
sail it. Captains Of industry and gov
eminent officials have Wed with each
other in making assault on it. Many
Of those who oppose bOlshevism are
indignant if you ask them what it is
and why they oppose it. They charac-
teriZe it, attack it, resent it. 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 bOISheVism is right or
wrong, whether it is a good thing or a
bad thing, it is at least Il definite pO-
litical 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-
it's. 1t cannot be hoWled down in
abuse
Boshevsm Not Anarchy
Those who lead the campaign
against it frequently and cOnfusinsly
define it as anarchy. If there is one
thing that bOISheviSm is not, it is an
archy. Much controversy will be
avoided, many differences Of opinion
dissolved if we come to a fair and
open understanding Of the bOlSheVlk
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
1AAA'
habit Anarchy is not criminal law
lessness, Notwithstanding the fact that
this is the popular miScOnceptlOn OF
the term Say anarchist" and the aV-
erage man or woman to whom you say
it looks frightened, thinks of a bomb
throWer, Il dynamiter, tirebrand.
Such q man is not an anarchist; he is
a terrorist, criminal, a destruction
list, q murderer. Let US call spade
q spade and be sure we know what a
spade is, and we will understand each
other better.
AnarchiSm is an old and respectable
philosophy. The anarchist is an indi-
viduaist 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-
Vidual. lie dreams Of an ideal state in
which human beings viii be SO perfect
they need no law. His doctrine is an
enlargement, IN eNaggeraliOn of the
idea that the government which gov
ems least governs best. He isn't q
IawbreaIirr. He is 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 a law book, ut
terly and entirely without meaning, or
existence, to the man who is 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 idcaljsm-it is a movement to-
ward perfection. 1t is the millennium
1t is poetry Nipling wrote its CON
stitution when he wrote:
And only the Master shall praise us,
And only the Master shah blame,
And no one shah 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 it
For the Cod Of Things as They Are