New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-04-16
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War?
SOME LIGHT ON B0LSHEvISM
Movement Not Anarehistie, as So
Many Seem to Enthusiastically
10 Best Described as "con-
sistent Socialism"
Article KILL.
BY FRANZ


If ! 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 Europe-has been, and is,
XIII 1t; don't waste time examining 1t
1t isn't worth trying to understand no
good a come out Of 1t; 1t must be
Fought; 1t isn't entitled to a trial.
Realms of paper have beer used to as
sail 1t. Captains of industry and gov
eminent officials have We'd with each
other In making assault on II. Many
OF those who oppose bOlshevism are
indignant IL you ask them what it is
and why they oppose 1t. They charac-
terize 1t, attack 1t, resent 1t. Great
heat has been shown in discussing 1t,
without throwing any light on the sub
tect. Absurd lies have been told
about bOlshevism. Later these
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 1t is a good thing or a
bad thing, II is mt least a 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-
its. 1t cannot be howled down in
abuse.
BoIshevism Not Anarchy.
Those who lead the campaign
against 1t frequently and ~confusingly
define 1t 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 If we come to a fair and
open understanding of the bOlshevik
program. One of the great misfor-
tunes Is that we form opinions without
iatio iush " JuhSlithlo WIN
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
l~essness. Notwithstanding the fact that
this is the popular mlsconception Of
the term. Say anarchist" and the av-
erage man or m to whom you say
1t looks frightened. thinks of u bomb
thrower. q dynamiter. a flrebrand.
Such a man is not an anarchist he il
a terrorist, a criminal, a destruction
list, a murderer. Let US call a 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 indl-
viduallst. He Is In favor Of a free life
for the individual. He is opposed to
turning W. the individuals power to
the state. He argues that greut
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
erns least governs best. He isn't a
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 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 a IN
other until all law disappears. 1t Is
pure idealIsm-it Is a movement to-
perfection. 1t is the millennium
1t is poetry. Kipling wrote its con-
stitution when he wrote:
And only the Master shall praise US.
And only the Master shall blame.
III HO wv eDdll WoIh " Hb1tys l
And no one shall work for fame.
But each for the JOY of working,
Each In his separate star
draw the Thing as he sees IL
For the GOD of Things as They Are.
Merely . Beautiful Dream.
Few people will contend that this
theory is anything more than a beauti-
full dream. Probably the first and
greatest of the anarchists was the
great Greek philosopher Zeno. from
Crete, the founder of the stole philoso-
ply, who died go years b. C. 1t is
disturbing to find dynamfters called
anarchists, and in the same breath
hear included some of the greatest
that have ever trod the
earth. The very mention of the two
types in the same class gives respec-
to the totally ugly, d~epraved,
.gnorant, lawless criminal.
/ went to a standard authority for
| common-sense definition of bolshev-
SIN. / was in Prague on my way up
.oward the bolshevik front. | spent