Evening star., 1923-06-30
The Library Table
By THE BOOKLOvER

and as yet most of them remain un-
pamphlets and newspaper articles. I
suppose. have Russia for their sub
ject than any other country; but most
of them are under suspicion of being
propaganda, or at least of being COL
ored according as the source is rad
ical or reactionary. If not that, then
the author is suspected of being i'll
or misinformed. In view Of this mass
of special pleading and of Ignorance
or worse. 1T is a relief to find such a
book as "Autocracy and Revolution
in Russia" by Baron Sergius A. Korff,
professor of political science In the
School of Foreign Service Of George
town University, and recently elected
professor of eastern European history
at Columbia University. Baron Korff
is at the same time Russian who
was In Petrograd at the time of the
political scientist with a grasp Of
world history and political move
ments. and q thoroughgoing liberal
without being a radical: In this
brief volume of lectures before col
lege audiences he gives satisfactory
questions.
With his broad and intimate knowl-
and social institutions. and his ability
to compare them with the historical
development of other countries, Baron
Korff traces the recent history of
Russia and draws parallels with the
breakdown of autocracy elsewhere,
particularly in France. He attributes
the downfall of Russian autocracy.
which had for some TIME been in q
process or decay. to contact with the
more liberal systems OF the west: to
the progressive impoverishment of
bureaucracy. and the hatred for both
classes on the part Of the people; to
the emancipation OF the serfs and
their dissatisfaction with their con-
given to the autocracy by the defeat
suffered at the hands of Japan. The
exhibition OF incompetence and de-
moralization revealed in that war,
combined with ruthlessness on the
part Of the political police" In peace
time and the Russifca ton Of nom
Russian races in the empire, caused
so much unrest among the people as
TO compel some slight democratic
concessions. The granting OF a con-
was the death-knell of the regime"
He attributes the violence Of the revo-
luton when 1t finally came to the
facts that II was artificially held back
for a decade and that the great war
brought with 1t more terrible forces
of Generalization and destruction.
He thinks the revolution might have
been avoided had autocracy itself dis
appeared; that Is. had the old regime
honestly accepted in 1905 its own end
and sincerely permitted the develop
ment of a parliamentary system
From Baron Korff's chapter on the
Russian peasant 1 was particularly
glad to learn more of the Russian
village commune or mir. which the
bolshevists have claimed formed the
natural basis for the communistic
system. He shows that the mir was
really a part of former serfdom. that
1t had been a foremost weapon in
the hands of the autocracy in assess
ing and levying taxes and in recruit
ing the army. and that even before
the war there had been a consider
able movement in the direction of
private land ownership on the part of
the peasants. who welcomed the op-
portunity of buying themselves out
OF the commune" so that the mir had
actually disappeared in some parts of
Russia. and was fast disappearing
elsewhere. To the peasants the revo-
luton largely meant not simply more
land. but the private ownership of II.
Since the peasants constitute So per
cent of the population. and they in
tend to keep the land they have
grabbed, Baron korff believes that
communism is doomed. and that the
peasant Is probably the most hopeful
factor which will produce in future
Russia a stable government He even
thinks that "the Russian peasant
may become a very conservative and
reactionary force in politics"
X =
Baron Korff's chapters on the events
Germany played in it are particularly
satisfactory. He sets forth with i'm
partiality the arguments for and
against the theory that Germany
created or originated the destructive
bolshevik movement His final chap
ter, giving some lessons Of the Rus
sian revolution. Is most instructive,
for in it he makes comparisons with
the American and French revolutions
He believes that the Russian revolu-
tion has brought with 1t some i'm
provements in the social order that
have come to stay, and that are i'm
portant and useful acquisitions. as
we'll as some destructive forces which
he hopes will be eliminated Bolshev-
ism he regards as pathological ex-
crescence on the body of the revolu-
ton, and compares it to the reign Of
terror Of the French revolution. Since
the soviet government is itself an
autocracy and leads back to the hated
ireactionary system of the past. he op-
poses it's recognition. He believes
that the power Of the present govern
ment depends entirely on the red
army, and that q new revolution will
come when this becomes demoralized
Strange as It may seem, in view of
the wild stories Of the naturalization
| of women that have come out of Rus
sia. Baron Korff believes that the suf-
| fering incident to the revolution has
Of the family. It may be equally sur
prising to some that he believes that
private property emerges from the
revolution also much better guaran-
teed and much more stable than 1t
ever was in the cxar's times" This
communism, and frankly denies pri-
| vate property. But bolshevism failed.
| and failed irrevocably." -,
*4
Baron Korff's book leaves ono i'm.
portant question unanswered, except
| by Implication. It is: Can Russia
| come back'?" I was, therefore. glad
when my eye lighted on that very
title in the June number of the Po-
| litical Science Quarterly, heading an
article by Lincoln Hutchinson of Lon
| don. The article Is full of figures,
| comparing the production of food and
manufactured products. transporta-
| tion, banking and credit Of Russia in
1918 and 1922, and showing how far
short the Russia of today falls of
reaching the record of pre-war Rus
/ sia. It Is q pretty discouraging pic
ture, but the author says that the
\ ouastion can be answered in the affirm