The Republican., 1925-07-30
RUSSIA BEST EXAMPLE OF
NATIONAL RUIN.

Russia furnishes the most outstand-
ing example in all history in national
ruin, says George B. Lockwood in the
July National Republic. Other ma
tions have passed through upheavals
somewhat similar but have withstood
the shock. Russia is wrecked. Most
Of her people of intelligence and edu-
cation, whose better directed energies
might have led Russia to security and
happiness, are dead or in exile. A
nation may grow new crops and de-
Velop new resources, but the stamp
ing out of nations brains is an il
reparable injury.
In this period, when patriotism is
so much decried, the spirit of nation
alism so often attacked, the traditions
of our republic so often fouted, it is
well to remember the cause of the
Russian cataclysm. 1t came about
through lack of patriotism; through
absence of a true national spirit. 1t
was a lack of genuine patriotism
which caused the rulers of that nation
of the pre-revolutionary period to lose
step with the rest of the world in
lifting up the level of life for the
masses. Russia had resources al
most incompatible to those of the
United States, but no national spni
stirred the governing classes of Rus
sia to the development. Industrialism
was feared as a menace to an autoc-
racy which refused to be liberalized
and had its natural reaction in un-
reasoning, revolutionary radicalism.
There is no real love of Russia as a
land and as people among those in
whose hands the destiny of this great
empire seemed to rest. Russians of
the ruling class had no pride in their
country, no love even for their Ian
guage. The sentiment grew up even
among those who formed the Russian
court that anything foreign was pref
cradle to that which was Russian.
Children Of the upper classes must
speak French, write English, now
German. AffectatiOn of these lam
guagse eliminated interest in that
which was Russian. Paris became
the real capital of the pleasure-loving
Russian aristOcracy. There was no
national feeling; no national language
expressed the thought of the people.
And so what was once called the
great bear has become no more than a
bowling hyena. Her masters today
profess no special love for Russia;
theirs are dreams Of communist inter-
nationalism; of worldwide dominion.
Within the vast domain of Russia,
bulking across two continents, rich in
resources sufficient to develop
great, powerful and independent ma
ton are the materials out of which a
great empire, great republic, might
be. built. But as in the days of the old
czars, so in the days of the new, there
is no love of country-that spirit
which has made every great nation
great, and which only can build
country worthy of the love and loyal
ty of its people.
In this country today we have prop
agandists who seek to break down our
national spirit, who sneer at love of
country, who decry patriotism, and
who would make Americans ashamed
of loyalty to their republic and its
flag. They would lead us over the
pathway which Russia has trod to
ruin. When Americans, who have so
much reason to love their country,
cherish its ideals and uphold its prin-
ciples, succumb to the perversive
propaganda of spurious information
alism, when they develop a national
inferiority complex like that of our
noisy apostles of Europeanism, they
will have started downward on the
road which leads to destruction.