Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1922-06-01
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
HUMAN NATURE VS.. IDEALISM
Communistic Theory of Ownership Of
Land, Put to the Test in Russia,
Has Proved Dire Failure
In Practice.
Article XVI.
BY FRANK coMEREoRp.

dustry; the working men took ovAk
the factories. 1t was part of the plas
of communism. The promise was THAI
the specialization of industry would irr
crease production and free the work,
ers from exploitation. The owners ant
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
6Tave tom 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 were
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 it 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 1918 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 it to the
sabotage of the intellectuals." BY
this he meant that the bolsheviks
drove the specialists, the technicians
and managers of industry, out of bust
ness; that the working men, not hav-
ing the training for these places re-
curing 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 truly said
that the intellectuals have the benefit
of special training, education and ex-
perience and that shops and factories
filed with machines, material and
working men, cannot be run without
the skilled manager. the intelligent,
experienced foreman. But Trotzky
dustrial communism, nor has he lost
belief In the theory that 1t 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 success Of the business that
they did when it was their private
| property and they had personal-pro1t
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 bolshevfk
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
| workingmen. 1t 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-
ton some simple fundamental truths.
| He fails to reckon with human ma
ture as 1t is. He thinks of 1t as II
/ should be. Let us take an example
which illustrates and emphasizes the
i difference between bolshevik theory
and practical experience. Let us sup.
pose that the bolsheyik government es-
tablishes schools for the purpose OF
training men in business management
and for technical work. Then enroll
In these schools workfngmen who, al
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 severa
years. The time spent In school ant
the education given to the men makes
change In them. They become con
scfous Of the power Of education, O
shefr fitness for better class O
work. Education gives them sens'
Of superiority, and I do not meal
superiority in the arrogant or boastfu
sense. The trained mind Is conscious
81 training. IT. ID q more ambition
mind. The men are not less human
: They want to get out Of education nea