THE NEW LINE-UP IN AMERICAN POLITICS
Laidler, Harry W.
THE NEW LINE-UP IN AMERICAN POLITICS The Democratic Party Ends Its Role of Opposition;? _City and Farm Mdsses Politically Homeless By Harry W. Laidler IN speaking about political parties...
...Moreover, his best Ideal characters act simply, act Intuitively, yet always correctly, for they are In communion with a higher law and guidance...
...The Socialist Party Is the only party now on the horizon which gives promise along these lines and as such it should be supported by every man and woman who la tired of What Tolstoi's Life and Writings Have Meant To Me A Code of Life According to the Teachings of the Great Russian Philosopher By Vladimir Karapetoff AS long as I remember myself (I was bom In 1816), I have been under the Influence, almost a domination, of Tolstoi's literary and apostolic power...
...It is not earned by military fame or by scientific achievements, but only by service of love...
...It nominated Lincoln In 1860, went on record in favor of a homestead law with a view of Interesting farmers and favored the protective tariff to secure the support of the eastern capitalists...
...If you take Issue after issue of fundamental importance in American life...
...This Is individual Immortality...
...throw thousands of compositors In our newspaper offices, akmed men who haw devoted years of their life to one particular Job, on the scrap heap...
...The Federalist party of Alexander Hamilton represented the economic interests of the trader, the manufacturer, the creditor, the men and women who were afraid of the rule of the people and who believed that only those should vote who had a substantial amount of property...
...the day...
...Party Differences Disappear The Democratic party has survived, but as a heterogeneous party, representing, on the one hand, the old, reactionary...
...Jeflersonlans contended for freedom to ertteize the government as the people saw fit...
...Voice the truth, remonstrate with the offender, appeal to his better nature, and show him that he win be better off in I the end by not forcing you against your 'win...
...So simplified and purified, a person will see and feel the underlying truth, the science and art of life, and will know what to do on every occasion...
...Collective Immortality of humanity is taken care of I in .the succession of generations and their { problems...
...rise to a level where you can have no ene- '¦ mice...
...i 5. Live in accordance with the truth as you see it today...
...It should fight against race discriminations...
...The heroic greatness of this step, and the tragedy of his last years due to it, come to be understood only gradually...
...One great monopoly controls a majority of the aluminum...
...The Jeffersonlans favored state rights, although, when the economic Interests of the farming and slave owning groups were advanced by a strong, central government, the Democrats were for that centralized government...
...It will be understood of course that I am describing only Tolstoi's influence in shaping my life ideals, and not my actual conduct...
...Walk in a wide road, with plenty of room for others to walk In their own way and at their chosen Speed...
...After this, writing the article aj a whole on regular sheets of paper is no task at all, for one already knows the end, and shapes everything to conv.-ge to that end...
...Nor do we have to worry about Immortality or future life...
...For whether u...
...Search for Ultimate Alms of Life The earnestness with which Tolstoi sought an interpretation of his own life and that of humanity Impressed me when I was a young man and made out of me not only an eager student of philosophy, but one for whom metaphysical and ethical inquiry has been inseparately bound with everyday life...
...Southern white political machine, and, on the other hand, the entrenched machine of some of the large cities...
...Akim (In the Power of Paiimej), a psessaal cteeaerQaJded By the ssaa* tree sense of doty sad sen les, lbs greet Binds leader, Gandhi, volantaruy apes* hie Usse aortas aa ali-Iadiaa Pongrns slsenrng laatrlasa...
...Two corporations own more than half of the Iron ore...
...In fact, I am deeply Indebted to many other great minds for their Influence In my life, some of whom Tolstoi would have most vehemently denounced...
...There must be no re«lamentations as to when and how much of your property you should give away, and to whom...
...The Federalists and, following them the Whigs, were for a centralised form of government, for concentration of power at Washington, rather than tn the several states...
...Voice and practice It fearlessly, be absolutely sincere with yourself and with others, and search dihgsntly...
...Since this limitation in his doctrine is obvious, I shall disregard it and render the fundamentals of his views, as I understand them, in more general terms...
...He could not have his political and ethical essays published in Russia, so he allowed his followers to print them abroad, at a danger to himself...
...He stood ready to go to prison for them, but the Government did not dare to touch him...
...Leo Tolstoi...
...Under the Intelligent and valiant leadership of Norman Thomas and others this party has done a magnificent educational work in behalf of a powerful third party movement and the ideals which such a movement should advance...
...However, with the Industrialization Of the Democratic South, the manufacturing and commercial forces dominating the Democratic machine in that section have come out Increasingly for hish tariffs, and these and the new industrial forces of the North that have entered the party, men of the type of John Raskob, have finally captured the party for a high tariff program, as the last campaign shows...
...This wUl enable them to Influence them by example during working hours, rather than preaching on Sunday, and eating dinners with their families...
...Nevertheless, Tolstoi's Influence passes like a prominent white thread through my whole life, and I am going to enumerate below the principal features of this influence...
...an outlet for their altruistic natures learn this lesson and become masons, carpenters and mechanics instead...
...As it was, he took some temporary undesirable conditions obtaining in factories and in large cities as something inherently bound up with industrial progress, and by contrast tried to glorify primitive village life with which he was familiar...
...The so-called "general strike," when peaceful...
...Two corporations control half of the steel produced...
...Many a time when baffled by a problem, or dismayed by a large amount of How to Live According to Tolstoi It has been Justly pointed out that had Tolstoi lived in Western Europe or in the United States during the later years of his life, some of his doctrines would have been clothed In more general terms, applicable to the industrial conditions as well as to somewhat primitive Russian moujlks...
...oa by a Hluoaalra four handmd who, by vbrtare of sack ssastshla, shaB be able for s* aiaettoal persists to own aary aasaaa beings, in oar tsBictrvt capacity, own the saeaas of aredaetioa oaiseltea, and *C*eood to work oat the realities of a gssasrxstle ropabner* Tn our electric industry at the present time, six great corporations control over half of the electricity generated, and, with their vast funds, are corrupting our politics, our press, our educational institutions...
...that the only thing that we can be sure of In politic* as In everything else is that things cannot stay as they are, that everything is subject to the law of change...
...Haluuf Shaw, the great British dramatist, Joints" the Fabian Society, a Socialist education, al organisation, way hack in the eights* of the last century...
...To him love was the highest expression and the most convincing manifestation of the supreme law...
...We begin to see that the step was unavoidable, as It was to St...
...So to him understanding or feeling the ultimate alms of life was lnseparate from actually living a life of simplicity, service and sympathy for others...
...Francis of Asslssi, to Gandhi, and finally to Bin Simpson (*) In our own days and land...
...It is only In this way that one is granted to feel even a glimpse of ultimate eternal truths...
...Not satisfied with this stupendous effort, be undertook a study of Hebrew when he was over seventy, and again brought bis knowledge to a point where, with the assistance of a rabbi and a dictionary, he could Judge for himself the meaning Df those places In the Old Testament and £ the Talmud which he considered essenlal tn shaping his views...
...speaking In his American Party Battles of the social legislation that has thus far been achieved in America: "As far as the great body of total legislation enacted daring the last X years is concerned, it sasst so coafsov ed that tt sprang from meremcnU ot opinion quite outside the range of political orthodoxy, that Is...
...a. Everyone must work to supply not only his own needs, but also, as much as possible, those of others who are handicapped...
...I purposely say "feel" rather than "know," because Tolstoi meant an Intuitive knowledge, almost a revelation...
...tm»tmM of leaaaMs easoUl.'bo'oira...
...These elements did not desert the party...
...The points on which I did not understand*1 Tolstoi or could not follow him are not mentioned, for they would not very well fit within the title of this article...
...In fact...
...Secondly, he did 1 not feel at one with the lowly, he did pot understand their psychology and t their simple faith, and of course be knew that giving money or grain away was not reshatng that great commonwealth of love for which his big compassionate soul i was longing...
...Even persons who know almost nothing about Tolstoi usually know at least that he taught passive resistance...
...Years ago Professor Olddlngs of Columbia University, had this to say: "The greatest roostiea before the chief sad eonUoaing asanas of nreanction la the Catted States, oar and...
...Of course personalities were brought in...
...These two parties were opposed on certain economic issues...
...Its strengthening now wtf/JeTt great aid to the powerful political the*.: moot that is bound to corse, Bernard Shaw's Exam pie J And in supporting this party, we a*, tainly should do everything possaat if bring pi i«i ail ss Ideals to the atssHsai of our friends, through prtvat* does*, slons, community forums, through tftwature and in every other legitimate ws*~ A great movement tor human rmsm tjs tton is not organised in a day, £ quires yean of education, years of aggn...
...With that realization, let u* engage » the great adventure of the age...
...He meant that life such as he had led previous to his conversion was evil and futile, and he quoted Socrates, Buddha, Solomon and Schopenhauer In support of bis contention...
...Non-possessiveness is a superlative of non-acquisitiveness...
...Just as the Jeffersonlan party, starting out as the party of the small farmer, became increasingly the mouthpiece of the great, reactionary slave holding Interests, who had little concept of the ideals of equality, liberty and democracy enunciated by Jefferson and others In the Declaration of Independence, so the Republican party, starting out as the party of Lincoln, the party In opposition to the extension of chattel slavery, with Its success, soon became a tool of conservatism...
...However, even In Tolstoi's own days hundreds of educated and propertied men and women followed his example and went to darkest villages to serve peasants...
...In love, humanity is one, is immortal In the unity of Its great problem...
...need not call me to account for libel...
...As a university student, he was an indifferent scholar, but after the crisis in his life, when he was over fifty, he took up the study of the Greek language in order to be able to read the Gospels In the original and not be Influenced by wrong and biased translations and Interpolations of many generations of monks...
...nt universal truths are not discovered by intellectual study...
...Yet, withal, I am not a consistent or exclusive follower of Tolstoi in any sense...
...Nevertheless, Tolstoi's Influence In my life, some of whom Tolstoi would have most vehemently denounced...
...Gandhi calls it "non-cooperation with the British Government...
...that ol adapting the social machinery of enr civilization to the tremendously constantly building, so that freedom, not serfdom, happiness, not misery, fraternity...
...Therefore, courageously refusing to participate in an evil thing means a victory in Itself, means a step towards God and means helping humanity, no matter even if such passive resistors be completely exterminated or banished from the coun- 1 try...
...until a powerful movement was etteehc What Shaw had to say about ha eg...
...Later on, during my stay in Germany, I read some of his writings in French and in German...
...Professor Beard was right when be »sid...
...Up until a few years ago it pretended to fight for a somewhat different set of principles than did the Republicans...
...The slave ¦holders wanted constantly to expand the territory In the United States on which chattel slavery could exist...
...Tolstoi used to preach that there was no sense in standing idly by a well and Inquiring how the hoist worked which raised the bucket...
...Such a party should stand for greatly increased taxes on the higher Income levels so as to secure to society some of the unearned Incomes now being taken by speculation, incomes beyond anything that any other society ever offered to its victorious osaiinerori...
...No wonder that his mind remained clear and active to his very death (at the age of 85...
...The same method was used by many pacifists in some belligerent countries during the Qreat War...
...With the growth of the great trusts and combines, the party gradually became the recognized party of the great Interests, of the Steel Trust, the Aluminum Trust, the Oil Trust and the Wall Street financial Interests...
...Its history is known...
...Tbsaj was little socialist or progressive •eati, ment...
...Your Intuition (the inner voice) and your experience in giving...
...I also have adopted his method of first writing out the individual thoughts for my articles on small slips of paper and re-writing and rearranging them until the whole sequence of Ideas and the details satisfy me...
...Non-resistance is the highest and the most powerful way of combating something that a person or a group of persons consider to be an Imposition^ One who has risen to the use of this weapon will never resort to violence...
...After all, Tolstoi was not a scientifically trained metaphysician, and the strength of his teachings lies not so much in their powerful logic as In their irresistible appeal to one's altruistic nature, first to purify one's heart, to renounce material possessions and pleasures, and then to serve the actual daily needs of one's neighbors...
...I. Strive towards perfect non-resistance...
...The Republican party was the result...
...Diligent and Sincere Search We remember with reverence those explorers, scientists, and philosophers who diligently and fearlessly searohed for truth, even though for our purposes the results of their labors have been long superseded by later and more accurate Information...
...It should mate a frontal attack against the whole war system, and the economic pauses of war, realising that the next great international war may well mean the death of civilization...
...May his generous sensitive soul rest in peace, for he was a pioneer, and his seeming shortcoming in'this respect will not be misunderstood by the generations to come...
...4. Take an uncompromising attitude against nationalism, patriotism, imperialism, war, and preparednes for war...
...Oh the morning after this measure was presented to the House of Representatives, several members of the House held a conference, and decided that the expansion of the slave power should stop and that a new party was needed If the extension of slavery was to be successfully opposed...
...In the early days, Jefferson was denounced as an atheist and a leveler, while Adams, representing the Federalists, was condemned by his opponents ss the monarchist...
...and it was not rata I had come to the point of being sole to deliver separate lectures, without Dotax, liberalism , socialism, communism, anarchism, trade unions, cooperation, democracy and the adaptability of bmesa nature to systems of Just distribution, that I was able to handle social democracy as It must be handled before it em be preached in sucn a way at to promt it to every sort of man from his own particular point of view...
...For these reasons he took a rather negative and sarcastic attitude towards human learning, planning and intellectual wisdom...
...needed preliminary work, have I thought of Tolstoi and of his study of Greek and Hebrew, and this gave me renewed courage and patience...
...Other soul's are irresistibly drawn to the one who has overcome the temptations of carnal life, and labor is sanctified by being done mainly to help others...
...The Democrats, representing the farmers, were for a low tariff...
...So Tolstoi will forever remain a shining example of a thinker and man of action who was absolutely sincere with himself, who sought no comforting doctrine to excuse his acquiescence in the existing conditions, and who spared no labors in order to get at the truth and to live in accordance with it...
...Even in his comparatively early writings, as for example In War and Peace, he brings out the Idea in the 1 end that there are unknown historic alms for which individual man act as unoonclous tools...
...In the early part of this country, the chief political battle was that between the Federalists and the Jeffersonlan democrats...
...Courage and Non-Keslstanee Against EvO Jesus' doctrine, "resist ye not evil," appealed to Tolstoi to such an extent as to amount almost to an obsession...
...Oeneral Motors and Fords control a majority of the automobiles produced each year, and in practically I every great industry fewer and fewer corporations are reaching out lor a monopoly grip over their respective fields...
...this would be unjust to the simple and the lowly...
...Then you shall see more truth and higher truth, and you will emerge gently to a higher level...
...Refuse to go to war or to contribute to 1. in any manner whatsoever...
...The conclusion that life on tearth is evil and futile and that death is better than life, was only temporary with Tolstoi, during a few years of his crisis...
...It must Insist on increasing the Income of the mass of the people, so as to Increase their capacity to buy the goods that are produced, it must organise "national wide public employment agencies, so that the worker win not longer be dependent on unscrupulous private agencies...
...Soon after the Civil War, so Professor Charles A. Beard declares, •the ranks of the Republican party were permeated with mercenaries of every type—spoilsmen bunting offices, railway promoters seeking land grants and financial aid from the government, manufacturers demanding discrimination In the tariff legislation, and the great army of hangers on who attached themselves to these leaders...
...It ah—Id strive in every legitimate way to reconstruct agriculture on a basts of a genuinely human and happy existence...
...Even a verb was coined, meaning "to become converted to simplicity," emphasizing the belief that no further spiritual progress is possible without extreme simplicity and non-possesslveness In one's own life, in one's relation to others, and in one's interpretation of the world at large...
...1. Simplicity of personal habits and strict self-control are the first steps toward any satisfying solution of the life problem...
...St must work out a plan for the building of pubIts works during periods of unemployment, so as to absorb as many of the unemployed as possible...
...Ivan the Pool, the hero of the Tale of the Three Brothers, is probably the most forceful and artistic expression of this doctrine, and to me he is irresistible...
...wer* saT typical of that of others, is worth reams, tog: "I made an my acquaintances ttaab me madder than usual," declared ansa** "by the pertinacity with which I attended debating societies and haunted at sorts of hole-and-corner debates snd p*V ' lie meetings and made speeches at than I was president of the local government Board at an amateur parliament whew a Fabian ministry bad to put its proposals Into black and white In the sbap* *f parliamentary bins...
...When a college student In Leningrad, in the nineties, I became acquainted with his ethical and political writings, partly through illegal "underground" editions...
...With this doctrine goes the injunction not to condemn others (vengeance is Mine, to Anna Karenina), for we are only, tools of a mysterious destiny, and we only know the permeating flavor of the universe,—love, but not the ways and the means...
...love was that by which men lived...
...For it Is futile to call men back to the- soli and It is unjust to consign Industrial workers to perdition i because they live In cities and work In factories and In offices...
...It should work in every possible way toward a government of the people, for the people and by the people, politically and industrially...
...We need here the same devotion if we are to bring about a political alignment in America based upon realities...
...Do not be satisfied to love your enemies...
...And while working for the future at us realise that even while our party It t minority, it is doing valiant work In forcing the pace of the two old psrtk...
...I shall never know of this for if this question is ever touched upon tn print, It will be only In my obituary notice...
...Lincoln was elected against a divided Democratic party...
...How far and bow faithfully I have carried his teachings out in practice, is another story which is not for me to toll...
...A third party that means bwlnasi must grapple with this ojssaaon of unemployment...
...He beard that a Russian sect, Dukhobors (Born of the Spirit), refused to serve In the army because of their religious scruples and were mercilessly persecuted...
...The Northern business men...
...With that snerrtaf artistic Most for Ttrone efeets, Toistot ssakss one ef bis saost teaotUnl divine characters...
...Olve your time, money, sympathy, knowledge, skill, or any other thing that you may possess, to the needy wbo ask for it, to the limit of your endurance...
...frost the M*tation of minorities winning eeaettstons from the major parties...
...At the same time Jefferson had little faith In the city worker and feared the influence of the so-called dty mob on the government...
...catkmal activities tn the early days, as tivlUes which, he ™»'"»*'rn...
...and rejoice m the variety of human types, temperaments, aims and experiences following the win o* the warns to tas sit* parties and who Is bent on buiisna- • permanent poUtfcal mstxarneot JkTasmss of social Justice...
...At least twice in his life he organised and personally conduct* ed famine relief on a large scale, in the face of opposition on the part of the Government which tried to conceal the facts...
...And this la but on* of thousands of devices that are each year making for this new type of unemployment called technological unenmlcymcnt, for lack of a better name...
...If I could com* anywhere near the level of this "fool.In Christ," I should desire nothing higher...
...Recognise your nationality only to indicate the place of your residence and the language which you speak...
...City and Farm Mdsses Politically Homeless By Harry W. Laidler IN speaking about political parties and toe possibility of a new political alignment In this country, we must not fall to realize that the present parties have not existed always, and will not necessarily continue to exist...
...Every Sunday I lectured on some subject which I wan tod to teach myself...
...In times of niece martyrdom may seem fanatical, 'but once war has been declared, urge others to desist, aad go to prison rather than to participate In killing others, directly or Indirectly...
...It should safeguard freedom of speech and the press...
...It most go on record go favor of ¦namploy •sent insurance, a form of Insurance which has bean already adopted by numerous countries of Europe...
...v The workers are assuming other heavy risks of modern industry which should be shared by society...
...This means a strictly vegetarian diet, simple clean clothing, a minimum c" living quarters, and mastery over sexuxl desires...
...Is a similar weapon...
...ml • daUst party atone becomes the »Tg progressive party of the future, or p., • eratos with other groups to afreet jbS a party...
...As a child I read and re-read his fairy tales and peasant stories: as a high-school boy, I gorged myself on his War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and shorter novels...
...It should abolish the power of the courts to issue injunctions In labor disputes...
...Of course, the value of such Inquiry is mainly critical: one readily finds that wealth, fame, power, and the pleasures of the senses not only do not constitute ultimate satisfying alms, but obscure the latter, and that to see them even dimly one must rise above such lower and purely biological desires...
...It seems almost a necessity for me to pick up this or that of his writings, now and then, and from them to get new strength to live, a new bright star to steer by...
...when tnstauad...
...In his early search for a satisfying mode of life and in his boundless desire to help others, found two great obstacles...
...n*»' warfare, will be the heritage of our children and our children's children...
...It ii at such lecturing and debating work, and on squalid committees and ridiculous little delegations to conferences of the three tailors of Tooley Street with perhaps t ' deputation to the major thrown in once In a blue moon or so, ordinary Pibuw workman or clerk must qualify for hit future seat on the town council the school board or perhaps the cabinet'' It was that kind of educational wort which laid the foundation for the stronf labor party movement they have In England at the present time...
...At that shag then was no Labor Party in augtea...
...If something unjust is sskqd of you, refuse firmly, but do not resist by force...
...it is only the Individual immortality that has to be earned...
...Of course, in countries In which the constitution and the laws guarantee reasonable freedom, opposition by non-resistance does not Jook so important, and need not be applied except in the case of national crisis...
...Tsar saw the light and they resolved to weX...
...So long as this Is understood, rabid Tolstoyan...
...A third party that represents the fce^th^ooSroe of tl*s*o*hldartrW to the urge the nstlanaassrlsn of one or more of the strategic Industries, such as electricity or coal and a plan of admins** raUon under public ownership which would mate Jar both efficiency and de? Social hmatwmm Program In the second place a third party of the people must demand that sodotjr and not the Individual assume the risks incident to our rapid technical changes and our periods of deniwartnci We have just heard of too tnstallstinn of a device by the Oannett chain of newspapers which will ant up type by telegraph and...
...Moreover, one should conl,itly strive ' rise to h-0.ier and higher standards of simplicity and vigor for It is through them that one's thought and heart are purified and clarified...
...In other words, instead of seeking soothing or *v'Png experiences, walk through life with your conscience constantly "tuned," constantly on the alert to receive a message, be tt from the source ot all life """nt an idea clear to you or from a brother seeking succor...
...For this reason, do not con- 1 demn your neighbor, for be is a mysteri- 1 ous tool of destiny Just ss you are...
...Beatrice Webb, Ramsay MacDooaU, Ksr Hardle and others were no daunted...
...The Need for a New Party The great need of the hour Is, therefore, a powerful third party which represents the Interests of the nation's producers by band and brain In the office, the factory, the farm, the mine and the home...
...A practical mind seeks definite external ends...
...Hence the title of one of his most beautiful parables—"What men live by...
...At least part of time should be spent in hard manual labor, for the sake of unity with those wbo ere forced to do manual labor all the time, and partly tor the sake of humility and training of character,* Working with others and for others, reveals infinitely more truth that pondering in solitude...
...In fact as late as 1912, when Woodrow Wilson ran, the Democratic platform declared that the "high Republican tariff was the principal cause of the unequal distribution of wealth, the system of taxation which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer," and that it led to the suffering of the farmer and the laborer...
...tion, years of organisation...
...they came back by the ton and were eagerly read...
...on the other hand, wanted to increase the territory devoted to manufacturing and trade based on more efficient wage labor...
...On the contrary, they will see in it warning that a reformer must begin early in bis life when he Is unencumbered by a family, or else, his wife must be wholeheartedly in sympathy with his doctrine and mode of life...
...The only difference between the two, said oas great political scientist a short thus ago, is that the Republican party is the acknowledged spssisnun of big bosinrss...
...But Bernard Shaw, Sidney...
...As a man of eighty, Tolstoi suffered keenly because he lived in comparative comfort with his family, and because he felt that this disparity between his writings and his personal life was a great Stumbling block to his followers and a big trump in the hands of his enemies...
...Importance of IntsJUonal Guidance Having been a great artist and a wonderful searcher of human hearts, Tolsto' saw the essence of human relations Intuitively and felt distinctly the presence of a higher power guiding the universe...
...it Is like an orchestral arrangement of a piano piece, or a novel made into a moving picture...
...and debating or in picking up social information even in the most dingy tad scrappy way, to going to the theatre, or dancing or drinking, or even sweethearvlng If he Is to become a really competent propagandist—unless, of course, his daily work is of such a nature ss to be in itself a training of political life...
...a political alignment which will give some chance to the worker on the and in the city to come to his own...
...Noa-Pianisilitusss and Stnrpttctty I advisedly use the term non-pooseslslvinm, rather than poverty, community of propertly, or any other expression that may characterize an external condition rather than a state of mind...
...For one thing it advocated a lower tariff...
...Simplicity of life and non-possesslveness do away with Innumerable worldly cares, personal adjustments, and worries, allow one to concentrate on spiritual ideas, obviate the fear Of beggars and thieves, create a broad road for sympathy, and above all unite all men into one big family, which to Tolstoi was the ultimate end on earth...
...A third party should urge, as a means of relieving these risks, a system of old age pensions and accident and sickness Insurance...
...Bare sympathy with aU...
...In order to reach this state of mind you must lead an extremely simple life and work with others and for others...
...May those generous young men who seek ministry as (*) For information on thli remarkable man, , see Unity (Chlcsco) March 14 snd 31...
...The Jeffersonlan Democracy represented, on the other hand, the farming interest, led, however, by the aristocracy of the slave-owning planters...
...The only party tn the last campaign believelng In democratic Ideals, which frankly faced these issues and proposed adequate remedies for our social evils along these lines was the Socialist party...
...Abstain rigorously from liquor, tobacco, narcotics, and other soothing or exciting Influences, for no matter what men claim ss a reason for their use, ths real reason is a desire to still the voice of their conscience...
...So, in the face of bis ve- | hemently objecting wife, in the face of ridicule of whole Russia, hs adopted the simple peasant garb, plowed his fields and those of neighboring peasants, cobbled, taught peasant children, wrote beautiful stories which simple folks could understand, and showed by his whole attitude that he was at one with them...
...A Second Fundamental Clash As the middle of the nineteenth century advanced, the real fight became one between the Northern capitalists and the Southern slave holders...
...The Federalist party, for awhile at least was for the suppression of free speech, and the Alien and Sedition law, which sought to prevent the radicals of that day from having their say, proved to be the downfall of this party...
...By actually turning the crank and helping others to raise water one could readily learn about the action of the hoist in a practical convincing way...
...It must urge a campaign for the shortening of hours and for the five-day week, and It must atm at an idustrial reorganisation that win ensure to the worker tar resting eontool of his industrial hfe...
...To this was added the requirement of working with others rather than for others, and emphatically, working and not idly walking among laborers with empty words of cheer...
...It was not granted Tolstoi to apply his doctrine on a large scale, but Gandhi in India learned about it and to him passive resistance has become the guiding principle of all his political action, and the most powerful weapon ever used against the British rule...
...And so the fight between the parties was based on a real difference of principles, due to conflicting economic interests...
...and that the Democratic party is the aspiring spokesman of Big sosiasss...
...Formed in 1854, it went Into the elections of 1858 with Fremont as candidate and was defeated...
...The Federalists and Whigs wanted a high tariff to protect the capitalists...
...The Democrats were gradually transformed Into a party dominated by the slave owning class and under the leadership of Stephen Douglas and others, favored the Kansas-Nebraska act which permitted these two western territories to come Into the union with or without slavery...
...6. There is a great probability of some ultimate mysterious ends in the life of humanity, ends which cannot be ex. pressed now in human terms, but in accordance with which anyone may live ' by being simple and pure of heart...
...Such a third party, separate and apart from the two Old parties, should be controlled and financed by the common people and should stand squarely for the interests of the people as against the Interests of the economic rulers of this country on all of the issues...
...He chartered a steamer and sent hundreds of them to America...
...It Is patent to all that on all such issues the two parties are essentially one and that both parties reflect the Interests of the great flaaaciers and mdastrisllsts of the eowntry...
...K should, in the first plaes, have a program for the control of the great trusts and combines...
...it says, "Even tbo I do not believe in war, what good will be accomplished by refusing to serve in the army and being subjected to atrocious tortures in a prison" (as some pacifists were in this- country) 7 To a contemplative Russian or Hindu mind, manifesting an ideal tn his life, is an ultimate end - In Itself, perhaps the highest aim in life...
...By actually doing work on a machine, one learns its purpose and mode of action better than by idly watching it So working with others one can understand them and be useful to them much more than pitying them or preaching to them...
...Strictly speaking, the doctrine ceases to be entirely Tolstoi's...
...Cultivate Intuition and listen to the still inner voice, for lmpor...
...A man* socialistic acquisitiveness must be keen enough to make him actually prefer spending two or three nights a week in -p...
...Recent onto hi notions of banks, of retail stores, of every sort of industrial ssUblishments are also throwing other thousands out of Jobs...
...Four huge Interests own half of the copper...
...In working with others, and in non-resistance will be an unerring guide, for you will derive a much greater satisfaction In giving to those In need than In keeping anything of value for yourself...
...There thus developed a fight to the death between the capitalist forces of the North and the slave holding forces of the South...
...Since my arrival to the United States, In 1*02, I have re-read practically all of his work* in English...
...Tolstoi was extremely practical In applying his doctrine...
...In his negative attitude towards the absolutism of the tsars, supported by a strong1 army and by the vile obscurantism of the church, he fearlessly preached an uncompromising passive resistance: Refuse an oath of allegiance, refuse to serve in the army, refuse to pay taxes, refuse to send your children to school and to church, but do all these things pescefully, in the spirit of love, and be prepared for ridicule, oppression, prison, and even death...
...First, a* a landed proprietor and a member of nobility, his life was complex and detached from that of the I peasants and workers whom be desired to help, fun of subtle conventionalities 1 and petty worries, and whatever he gave ' sway assumed an aspect of hypocritical1 charity on his part and parasitism on the part of the recipients...
Vol. 7 • December 1928 • No. 53
