Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-05-08
ohaII ChaOS or Reconstruction
IN Europe Follow the Great
World War?
sumo LIGHT ON BOLSHEVlSM
movement Not hnarchistic. rs So
Many Seem to Think-Probaby
Is Best Described as Con
siStent Socialism"
Article XIII.
BY FRANK eOMERFORD.

BY FRANK eOMERFORD.
If ! were asked 10 name the prjpci-
PM cause for the growing unrest my
answer world be bolshcvism. The al
most universal attitude Of big business
toward Russian bolshcvism-an atti-
iud" adopted by most of The govern
m"ntS of Europe been, and is.
NIL II, don't waste time examining it ::
II Isn't worth trying To understand; no
good can come out of ii; II must bc
fought; it isn't entitled to trial.
Rcams 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 II. Many
of those who oppose boIShcvism are
indignant if you ask them what it is
ana why they oppose il. They Charac-
torizc it, attack it, resent II, Great
heat has been shown i'm discussing It,
without throwing any light on the sub
j"ct. Absurd lies have been told
about bolShcyiSm. Later these UHHcC-
cSSary and stupid lies have been cX-
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.
Weethcr bolShcvism IS right or
wrong. whether It is good thing or n
bad thing. it is at least definite po-
litiCal plan. capable of being examined,
measured, weighed and tested IT is
few of the things it has been called.
II is entitled to Il hearing on it's mcr-
iS. 1t cannot be howled down I'm
abuse.
Boishevism Not Anarchy.
Those who lead the campaign
against II frequently and confusingly
define it as anarchy. If 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 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, il due to this
naDfy. knurciry IL not criminal law.
lessness, Notwithstanding the fact that
this is the popular misconception OF
the term. Say anarchist" and the nv.
erage man or woman to whom you say
1t looks frightened. thinks of bomb
thrower, dynamiter, firebrand
Such a man is not an anarchist; he is
a terrorist, a criminal, a destruction
list. n 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-
yidualist He is in favor of free life
for the individual. He is opposed to
turning over the individuals power tC
the state. He argues that great
power delegated to government limits
the growth and freedom of the indi
vidual. 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
ems least governs best. He isn't
lavbreaker. He is law abOlisher. lie
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, oi
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 Il
pure idealism-it is movement to
ward perfection. II is the millennium
II is poetry. Kipling wrote It's 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 IL
For the God of Things as They Are.
Merely a Beautiful Dream.
Few people will contend that thu
theory is anything more than a beautl
fuI dream. Probably the first an'
greatest of the anarchists was th'
yreot Greek philosopher IenO from