The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1920-08-12
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction In
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
HUMAN NATURE VS.. IDEALISM
Communicate Theory Of Ownership Of
Land, Put to the Test In Russia,
Has Proved Dire Failure
In Practice.
Article XVI.
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.

Lie DOlSHeNlk government SelZeu III
dustry; the working men took over
the factories. It was part of the plan
OF communism. The promise was that
the secialization Of industry would in
crease production and free the work
ers from exploitation. The owners and
managers were driven from the plants.
These men were of the bourgeois class.
They had no place In the new scheme
Of things. They were tainted" with
success. They had intelligently and
efficiently built up their industries.
This was enough. The bolshevik gov
eminent denied them citizenship and
drove them from the enterprises they
had built.
Everything was to be owned In
common; private property of all kinds
had been abolished. The men who
worked In the factories or mills were
to be their own bosses.) They we're
part of the state, and the state owned
and operated everything. The gov
eminent Of the factory was to be by
committee, every man was the equal
Of every other man; orders were given
and orders taken with this thought in
mind. The result was insubordina-
ton. Every man was boss; all sys-
tenn banished; system made slaves
Down with system! The business
brains having been driven out, insub-
ordination having come In. produc-
ton declined until 1t almost ceased.
many workers gave up In disgust and
returned to their villages. The exodus
from Petrograd was marked. Prior
to 1915 Petrograd was city of nearly
100000. In 1913 its population had
shrunk to less than 100000. Fac
tories closed. Again the theory Of
communism, when put to the test,
failed.
Trotzky Had Remedy.
Trotzky, in confessing the failure of
the bolshevik program to successfully
socialize industry, charged 1t to the
sabotage of the intellectuals." BY
this he meant that the bolsheviks
drove the specialists, the technicians
and managers of industry, out of busi-
ness; that the working men, not hav-
ing the training for these places re-
quiring special skill and knowledge.
were unable efficiently and successfully
to carry on the business. Having
pointed out the cause of the failure,
he presented remedy. He Nuly said
that the intellectuals have the benefit
of special training, education and ex-
rortannn md fhof chnn0 md "a OF
filed with machines, material and
working men, cannot be run without
the skilled manager, the intelligent,
experienced foreman. But Trotzky
has not lost faith In the plan Of In
dustrial communism, nor has he lost
belief In the theory that II can be
made to increase production. He
says that the bourgeois brains when
forced into the factories by the state,
do not work with the same ambition
to make a success of the business that
they did when 1t was their private
property and they had personal-profit
interest In its success. Thus they
are guilty of Withholding their best
from factory management under the
bolshevik scheme of communism
This he calls the sabotage Of the in.
tellectuals." To eliminate this diff
Guilty he proposes that the bolshevik
government turn its attention to the
education Of the working men, pro
vide technical schools and schools
| teaching business management, and
/, In this manner make competent man
ayers and technical experts out OF
worl1ingmen. It is his opinion that
workingmen educated to be experts
and managers would retain their class
sympathy and their interest in the sue
cess Of the class struggle.
Had Forgotten Human Nature.
The bolsheviks are strong on theory
Trotzky fails to take into considera'
tion some simple fundamental truths
He fails to reckon with human ma.
ture as It is. He thinks Of II as II
should be. Let us take an example
which illustrates and emphasizes the
difference between bolshevik' theory
and practical experience. Let us sup.
pose that the bolshevik government es-
tablishes schools for the purpose of
training men I'm business management
and for technical work. Then enroll
in these schools workingmen who, at
the time, are entirely "class con-
scious." They are ardent communists
when they enter the front door OF the
school on the first day of their attend
ance. They attend school for several
years. The time spent In school and
the education given TO the men makes
change In them. They become con-
scious of the power of education, of
their fitness for better class of
work. Education gives them a sense
of superiority, and I do not mean
superiority in the arrogant or boastful
sense. The trained mind is conscious
Of training. It is a more ambitious
mind. The men are not less human.
They want TO get out OF education ma