Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-01-25
THE GREAT WREckER


the means. for using which he was
restrained by no scruple. Where new
STRUCTURES are to REPLACE old the
wrccker IL an agent OF progress. But
utter disregard of other structures, is
possessed Of n mania to level the en-
tire construction Of the world in dust,
be is allied with madness rather than
serving az an agent to better things.
Better conditions undoubtedly will
come to Russia. but whether better
than otherwise might not have been
obtained may be doubted That
country has undergone terrible
scourginE and has witnessed the
crumhllng Of advantages she
possessed In abundance as the result
Of centuries of constructive growth.
Nature builds slowly through the
Gears: centuries are required to level
the hills to the sea but CONFUSION
may in n moment throw up lands
from the bottom CT the waters.
Lenino did not hesitate to take
Getman gold with which to betray
Russia TO Germany. thinking so to
gain control Of Russia. Indeed the
Instances where he ever manifested
acruple Of any sort are not in evil
denCe IL they ever existed. He was
not satisfied with bringing Russia to
his. scheme but would dlsintegrate
the entire world. When Russians
starved gold was found to further
propaganda in other countries. Com
of the existing fabric of society,
wrccking. ever wrecking but not con-
structins anything substantial to
take tho place of that wrecked
Lcnine ultimately saw the failure
Of this. saw the inability Of the peo-
pie to function as communists. In a
letter to a friend he wrote:
our hUpe in II collective instinct
which would act as n restraint on the
members OF the party was an error.
The hopes we based on this cOlIeC-
tive instinct and on the good sense
Of tho working and peasant classes
have suffered complete defeat For
three yCaIs ! have not been able to
bring myself Ia confess that we were
wrong or that / had chosen the
wrong means Now, when | see what
our work amounts to. | must confess
] was wrong and that | over estimat-
ed the strength and the inability to
understand the necessity of working
for the morrow. Ia2iness and in
70 srro hn al 81
this has formed a wall. impossible to
penetrate and we are not strong
enough. despite the heroic efforts
which tho party has made during
these years.
Il feel that the strength of the
party is failing from day to day. that
IL is eVapurated and that internal
quarrcls and the petty amour ptopre
of certain persons who regard pri-
Nate interests to he more important
than common interests are disinte-
grating the party"
The imnotcncy of his ideal was vir-
tually confessed in a public speech
made by him in 1921 when he said:
"Beforc they have thrashed us def
nitely. let us retreat and construct
everything over again. but more
soHdly." II was then he advocated
a blend of communism and capital
ism. Tho great peasantry. who far
outnumhcr all other classes in Rus
STA. would not toll in the fields and
turn over their products to the COM
mon treasury. Strange that n man
OF Lenine's wonderful mental endow-
ment could not have foreseen this!
Lenine had a vision of a communal
world. He was obscssed by II. He
worshipped It and placed no limit to
the sacrifices he would make in the
worship. To all intents and purposes
he was a mailman running amuck In
the world OF constructed things.
smashing right and left a terrifying
manifestation Of great individual
ity swayed by wrong conceptions, an
admirable courage applied to de-
struction.
That we live in better world
than that OF the stone age is because
the spirit of constructiveness has
dominated the spirit of destructive
ness. Today the japanese. who less
than a century ago were regarded as
semi barbarisns. are constructing on
the ruins Of the terrible devastation
their country has undergone, a bet
ter Japan. A like spirit when applied
TO Russia will produce a better Rus
STA, but Its wor!: will be DELAYED and
hampered because Russia gave over
power to u wrecker with a wrong
vision. The only way by which civili-
zation may avoid these dehacles, con-
vulsions which set It back and weigh
1t down with intclerable burdens. In
to cultivate the intelligence and the
will and the power Of perception to
distinguish between the mad wreck
er with an insane or foolish vision
and the builder with a sane vision,
While Lenine hss so terribly DEM
cnstrated what we may expect from
disregard of the fundamentals, by
which society exists, It is no less
evident that those. who possess ad-
vantages, are. in large degree re-
sponsible for the Lenines, as the lat
ter could not come 70 power unless
the way were prepared for them.