The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1920-09-16
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
CLASH OF FACT AND THEORY
sociaIistic Idea Of Conditions in World
Where All Men Are on an Equality
Takes No Thought. OverIoot<s
Basic Fact in Nature.
Article XIV.
By FRANK coMERFoRo.

On November TO- 1917. the holshe
vik government was born. On Dec. 10
1917. the bolshevik government abol
ished private ownership of land. de
cIaring all real estate the property ri
the state. On February 10. 1918. they
issued a decree declaring all state
loans. internal and foreign. null and
void. coniseating all maritime enter
prises and all private banks to the
state. and Matchmaking foreign trade.
The constitution established the
communism of land in the following
words:
For the purpose Of attaining the so
cialization Of land, all private prop
erty In land is abolished and the en-
tire land IL declared to be national
property. end Is to be apportioned
among agriculfurists without any COM
pensation to the former owners. In the
measure OF each ones ability to till
It."
The peasants Of Russia seized the
land They willingly followed this
did not take the land as community
property. They are not communists
Their experience with communal land
owning had never satisfied them. Tn
der the old regime the peasants were
allotted land by the communal Mir.
The Mir held title TO the land and d.
vided It bv lot. The tenancy Of a farm
er on the land was uncertain under
the Mir system. The average length OF
fire lease was about thirteen years.
Then came a new distribution of the
Mir land. new drawing. The peasant
was compelled to move TO the new
strip of land allotted to him from the
drawing This plan took from the
peasant all inducement to put his best
into the land He had NO motive for
improving the land; It was not his.
At the next drawing 1t would probably
go to another. and he In turn be shift
ed on q piece of land which had been
neglected and allowed TO deteriorate
Experience fired the peasant with one
thought. one ambition. 70 own his own
land 70 have permanent home,
something to work on and work for.
So at the outset of the program to
socialize the land We find the boIshe--
vik government ATTEMPTING commun-
istic program completely antagonistic
to the wishes of the peasants.
Led to General Disorder.
Between the villages IN Russia are
the great landed estates. the propri-
lands In the vicinity and were well
cared ,r. When the order to seize
the land was given the peasants turn
ed toward the proprietary lands. The
villages fought with each other for the |
and division of these |
tempting estates. This was the begin
hing of general disorder. small civil |
war
The bolshevik government attempts |
NJ to force its program abolishing al |
tiled the confiscatiou OF land. the
plan Of land communism. by saying !,
hat the earth belonged to the people. |
hat private title to land was immoral |
md corrupt. that every man should
lave all the land he could actually
york. and not an acre more They ar
!ued that II man had more land
han he could work. one of two things
vould happen; either he would allow
he land to remain idle. which would
'e a waste. or he would hire someone
o work II for him. They said the hired
nan would be either a farm laborer
r a tenant; whichever relation he
ore ITO the owner Of the land. he
sould be compelled TO turn over part
his labor TO the landowner In one
e receives wages. the wages would
epresent something less than the
alue of the hired mans crop. This
,ould be the profit taken by the land
wner. They called this exploiting the
rorker. Instead of this condition they
easoned that the farm hand should
'ork this land and keep the full prod
ct for the state. In the plan of dis
'ibution the state. the owner of every
ling, promised an equal distribution
he bolsheviks argued that their plan
ould make better citizen out of
lie hired man and give him an induce
ent to work, He was not to work
'r himself. but for the good Of all.
was fine bit of idealism. but en-
rely contrary to human nature. II
I'D to be worked out by human he
gs. Two things happened. One class
peasants worked the land only
rough TO produce what they and their
miles needed. They reasoned. "why
lould we work after our needs are
lpplied?" This natural attitude of
ind reduced production The theory
hich promised Increased production.
practice decreased production.
Rsfvsed 10 shars With state.
Another class Of peasants went onto
z land and worked hard and pro-
ICED much, boz they refused to give
} tAe product e their labor to the {
~ TAaV rsasooo1 tat De rooult I