Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-07-31
PROBLEMS FACING
STRICKEN WORLD
Shall Chaos o. Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War?
CLASH OF FACT AND THEORY
e.,;sIistjc Idea OF Conditions IN World
where All Men Are on an Equality
Takes No Thought, overlooks
Basic Fact in Mature.
Article XIV.
nv FRANK coMERFoRp

=
/ I'm November 10, 1917 the hoishe.
vtk government was born. On Dec 10.
( 1o17 rbe bolshevik government aboI,
tshpd private ownership Of land, de-
cIaring all real estate the property Of
tho state. on February 10. 1918. they
issued a decree declaring all stale
Ioans internal and foreign. NUT and
void confiscating all maritime enter
prispS 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
sialization Of land. all private prop
ertv in land is abolished and the en-,
fire land Is declared to be national
propprty. and is to be apportioned
among a@riculturists without any com
nensation 10 the former owners. IN the
measure of each ones ability to till
t."
The peasants of Russia seized the
land. They Willingly followed this
command of the new order hut thew
lid 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 We're
a1rofed land by the communal Mir.
The Mir held title TO the land and di-
vidod it by lot. The tenancy Of a farm
or on the land was uncertain under
the Mir system. The average length Of
the lease was about thirteen Years.
Then came new distribution Of the
Mir land. a new drawing. The peasant
was compelled TO move 10 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 it would probably
go TO another, and he in turn be shift
ed on a piece of land which had been
neglected and allowed TO deteriorate
Experience fired the peasant with one
thought. one ambition. to own his own
land. to. have "a permanent home,
something to WORK on and work for.
So at the outs t pf the program to
socialize the land he find the bolshe-
vik government attempting commun-
fstic prcesem-el treeiE antagonfstic
to the wishes tse peasants.
Led to Gt@raI Disorder.
Between the teages in Russia are
the great landd states, the propri'
etary land. These lands were the best
lands In the vicinity and were vel
cared '1r. When the order to seize
the land was given, the peasants turn
ed toward the proprietary lands. The
rillages fought with each other for the
possession and division of these
tempting estates. This was the begin
ming of general disorder, small civil
war.
The boishevik government attempt
ed to force its program abolishing al
private ownership of land. They jus
tilted the canfseation of land, thu
plan of land communism, by saying
that the earth belonged to the people
that private title to land was immora
and corrupt, that every man should
have all the land he could actually
work. and not an acre more. They ar
gued that if a man had more lant
than he could work, one of two thing
would happen; either he would allow
the land to remain idle. which would
be waste. or he would hire someone
to work it for him. They said the hire
man would he either a farm lahore
or q tenant; whichever relation n
bore to the owner Of the land, h,
would be compelled to turn over par
of his labor to the landowner. In ont
case Il would be called rent. while I
ne receives wages, the wages wouI,
represent something less than tn,
value of the hired mans crop. Thi
would be the profit taken by the land
owner. They called this exploiting tn
worker. Instead of this condition. the.
reasoned that the farm hand shoul,
work this land and keep the full prod
net for the state. In the plan of dis
tribution the state. the owner Of every
thing. promised an equal distribution
The holsheviks argued that their pIal
would make q better citizen out o
the hired man and give him an induce
mpnt 10 work. He was not to worl
for himself, but for the good of al
It was fine bit of ideaiism, but en-
tirely contrary to human nature. !
had to he worked out by human be
ings. Two things happened. One elias
of peasants worked the land OnI
enough to produce what they and thei
families needed. They reasoned. "Wh
should we work after our needs ar
suppied?" This natural attitude o
mind reduced production. The theor
which promised Increased production
in practice decreased production.
Refused to Share With State.
Another class Of peasants went ont
the land and worked hard and Pre-
fuced much. hut they refused to Civ
up the product of their labor to tn
state. They reasoned that the resul