San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-05
CHANGE IN RUSSIA

In all revolutionary movements if III,
heart OF nation be sound it is not il
the power of self-sceking demagogues t.
lead it forever astray. Sooner or later
the people will find their way back t
the beliefs they held, the customs they
followed and the habits they had formed
before the great change came 1t has
always been so and so it probably always
will be.
The news, these days, out of Russia
is not reassuring. She has defied all
economic laws, all international customs
and now is turning her governmental
hand against the Christian religion
and right there is where the revolution
as such, is beginning to move toward
its certain end.
In many ways the revolution iii Russia
is counterpart OF the great French
Revolution. In both countries the great
mass of the people were troddcn down
and made the objects of intolerablc in
justice and social wrong. When their
time Of retribution came they went as
far in the search for reformation and
revenge as their oppressors had done
in their greed and tyranny In France,
as in Russia today, after the social and
economic structure of the nation had
been altered to please the wishes of those
in control, an attack was made upon
the Christian religion. In France it was
successful for a day as it may be in
Russia now, but in the end it was found
that the heart of the nation was sound
and that it justified the faith in which
the people had been reared
In France, after the execution of Louis
XVI, it was announced by one faction of
the .Tacobir party that, having dethroned
their earthly king they had decided to
dethronc the King of Heaven. a bias
phemous ceremony was enacted in which
a yelled female-one OF the notorious
characters of the Paris of that day-was
made to represent the Goddess of Rea-
SON" 1t was solemnly proclaimed that
the King of Heaven had been cast down
and supplanted by this goddess The
act itself destroyed the spirit that gave
it birth. The Goddess of Reason went
back to her usual haunts and mode of
life and the people returned to the faith
in which they had always lived.
In these days in Russia, the Greek
church, probably the strongest and most
wealthy national organization of its kind
that the world has seen in these latter
days, has been practically wiped out and
its wealth has been confiscated by the
men who claim to be acting in the in
terests of the state. More than that. it
has been officially decreed that the
church in Russia has ceased to exist and
that the supreme power in things spirit
ual as well as in things political is the
government itself. This is the beginning
OF the end of the present form of gov
eminent in Russia. This is the COM
OF the downfall OF the boil
shevist element that has dominated Rus
STA for so long.
No people, M government. no. political
faction is so strong that flouting the
Christian religion it can rest secure. The
end may be some time coming. but it
rs on the way. What new form the des-
TIMES OF Russia may assume is not for
any man TO say. The one thing certain
is that they arc now changing and with
in not-somany months we shall see
Russia walking as well as she can along
a path different from the road she has
Travelled for the last six years.