Evening star., 1928-03-22
BY THEODORE DRESSER.


AS a Westerner. accustomed to the
comparatively mild climate of the
| United States. / can only LOOK upon
| Russia as a boreal world that would
/ try any save those born of its very soil
/ To me II seemed AT times and III
places. almost pitiful that man should
I find II necessary 10 conquer a land Of
/ such biting winds and vast spaces. l.
seemed at the same time not little
astounding that this same land, dotted
/ as 1t is with so huge population
] hitherto restrained by such untutored
conditions. should be the scene of thc
latest experiment in human govern
ment.
One thing learned for myself in that
atmosphere. and that l scarcely so
much as questioned in America, is that
ii is a mistake to imagine that any
true distinction for man is TO be de-
rived from mere material possessions.
There is really nothing to that. Man 5
true distinction is, and should be, men
tal-hiS thoughts--their meaning to
the world And true power is some
thing that derives from thought that
can and does. echo in the minds OF
all inspiring all changing all.
Wealth Frowned Upon.
Revond that, the mere SeiZing and
holding for personal use as against the
needs or service of many. the bare IN
sigma Of thought which Is all that ma
terial possessions are. is wolflsh. Worse
it is devoid of any important personal
let alone general meaning. Life is best
more colorful and spiritual. without 1t
Another thing / picked out OF Russia
was the sense of a government tnal
means something that is thinking that
intellectually Enthusiastically as well as
economically is going somewhere. We
in America were once. at least theoret-
icallv Tor l assumed so}, going some
where. seeking consciously for ourselves
a high spiritual or psychogenetic stat"
out OF which would arise more and
more wisdom more and more tnteiiec-
tval curiosity. more and more the glory
of ~,nnta' achievement.
Now. It may be that / was entirely
wrong in assuming any such generatlFe
or mental bent in my people. ! some
times think so. that ] am merely wish
ing for what may be In America !
have even of late rather tended TO
abandon this thought In connection
with America. for we are so wholly
materialistic. in the main 50 utterly
puerile mentally.
But in Russia how different! The
swish and the tang OF actual. serious.
generous. non-material highly spiritual
mentation. Think OF a group of lead
ers men and women. there are SOM
1877 in the Communist Central Com
nittee. representing every nook and
phase of that enormous empire. who
are not thinking of Just Russia alone. as
we in America are thinking Of America,
but of the entire world
You can actually sit down with
man ike President Kalinin, the little
peasant father of Russia, and perhaps
its kinoliest and most loving advisor. or
Georges Tchicherin. its foreign min
ister. or Stain. the secretary of the
Communist Central Committee. or
Alexei Rykov, president of the All
Union Council of Peoples Commissars.
or Nikolai Bukharin. the ostensible head
OF the Third International of Russia.
and communism's principal presant-day
theoretician as we'll as philosopher. or
Lunacllarsky, the commissioner OF edu-
cation, or any one or every one in con-
nectlon with the present-hour Commu-
mist control of Russia.
No Sense OF Party.
And you feel that YOU are talking
not with politician or an official As
such, or TO an individual who for one
reason or another in connection with
MS onlclal or political position must talk
IN certain way, or say thus and so
OUT with a man or a woman officially
powerful and active. who is deeply in
his own emotions and reason convinced
not only OF the importace but the actual
necessity OF all he says and does.
conditions being what they are. he
mas no flavor OF party or OF speak
ing In benalf of any particular group.
ilnancial. political, social, as in Amer
ica. England. Germany, France. On
.he contrary, you are facing a man
or woman who Is thinking first and
Immediately OF the welfare of the COM
munistc ideal, its import, not only to
Russia. but to all the world. and after
that OF the immediate mental as well
as material necessities of Russia As an
eXcmpiar OF this ideal and not other
wise
AND In connection with this~and
! mat Is why 1t Is all so stimulating and
retreshing-there is no sense of party
politics or the material or social well
rare OF any group or sect, but only the
| welfare and the practice OF clean and
! flashing principles that concern ali
men and are intended for the welfare
| ana advancement. the intellectual and
social peace Of all the peoples OF the
/ earth
/ IL is astounding. II may be mis-
/ taken, and because of error In the
reading of the very chemism of man.
/ doomed 10 political and intellectual
failure. But how clean. how fortnight,
how personally disinterested!
/ May Remove Social Misery.
Still another fact have harvested in
/ Russia, and which / will never forget.
! Is this that via communism. or this
| collective or paternaiistic care of every
! body for everybody else. IL is possible
/ 10 remove that dreadful sense OF social
/ misery In one direction and another
/ which has so afflicted me in my life
] m America ever since / have been old
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