Evening star., 1939-12-24

1t would be an inviting analogy and a
strong literary temptation to compare
the heroic resistance of Finland with the
Leonidas who held the Pass OF Thermo-
pylae against the Persian invaders of
480 BIC. The historian could find many
similarities between Athens the outpost
OF democracy in antiquity, and Finland,
the lone northern sentinel of 1899 A.D.,
holding his gate against Bolshevik pene-
tration into Western Europe through
Scandinavia. The realities in the pres
ent conflict, however, are such as to
focus attention more on the future than
the past and on the destiny OF Europe
rather than the fate of Hellas.
In those bleak and frigid stretches of
the Arctic Circle something is being
decided at this years end that may af-
feet western civilization as profoundly
as did the Russian revolution Of 1917.
That political earthquake set in motion
certain elemental forces of revolt and
discomfort that reached every land and
government whose social stability could
be challenged.
Like their prototypes of the French
revolution, the Russian commissars set
themselves objectives that were world
wide in extent and deep as human nature
In their ultimate attack Not the Rus
sian empire only, but all humanity was
to be reduced to MARKHAM Communism
with its harsh denial of individual en-
terprise, its inherent dictatorship of the
arrogant few over the unorganized many.
and the complete destruction of re-
igion in any form-except worship Of
the state
Since the word state" is an abstract
term used to describe the concrete phy-
sical fact of political organization, the
state religion of Communism in practice
demands complete subjection of mind,
body and soul to definite group of
sworn Marxists in control Of the powers,
the organs and the sanctions of govern
ment. The ideals, purposes and methods
OF the self-elected rulers forming the
present Soviet government are too we'll
known to need restatement here. The
important point is that those plans,
hopes and challenges are now being
propagated at the point of bayonet.
Vituperation and Opportunism.
The present phase of Soviet policy in
Finland is marked by certain character
istics inherent to Moscows statecraft
from November 7, 1917. Notable among
them are vituperation and Machiavel-
liam opportunism. The first is corol-
larry of that cult of hatred which was
initiated by Soviet Russia and which has
since been elevated at Moscow to the
dignity of permanent state policy. It
is the outstanding politico-social phe-
nomenon Of the postwar period.
Into the ears OF men already she'll
shocked physically were poured streams
of poisonous hatred designed to set
the mind af1ame with racial resentment,
mutual suspicion and class warfare. The
first stage of this crime against the
spirit of human solidarity began In
Soviet Russia with the launching of
Lenin's grandiose program Of world
Communism through world revolution.
The political conspiracy was accom-
panied by torrent Of invective borrowed
from the gutter and the barnyard.
Lenin's earlier invectives against the
bourgeoisie are now matched by Premier
Molotoff's billingsgate directed against
the government of Finland, in which
the personal abuse ranges from "ex-
| ploiters" and "vile instigators" to "foul
| brigands" and "ordure." Meanwhile. the
Communist press in the United States