Communism -- Soviet Union; Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940; Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921 -- Personal narratives, American
To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into
the future. That is the law of life, individual and social. Revolution
that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of
injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society. The _means_
used to _prepare_ the future become its _cornerstone_. Witness the
tragic condition of Russia. The methods of State centralization have
paralysed individual initiative and effort; the tyranny of the
dictatorship has cowed the people into slavish submission and all but
extinguished the fires of liberty; organized terrorism has depraved and
brutalized the masses and stifled every idealistic aspiration;
institutionalized murder has cheapened human life, and all sense of the
dignity of man and the value of life has been eliminated; coercion at
every step has made effort bitter, labour a punishment, has turned the
whole of existence into a scheme of mutual deceit, and has revived the
lowest and most brutal instincts of man. A sorry heritage to begin a new
life of freedom and brotherhood.
It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that revolution is in vain unless
inspired by its ultimate ideal. Revolutionary methods must be in tune
with revolutionary aims. The means used to further the revolution must
harmonize with its purposes. In short, the ethical values which the
revolution is to establish in the new society must be _initiated_ with
the revolutionary activities of the so-called transitional period. The
latter can serve as a real and dependable bridge to the better life only
if built of the same material as the life to be achieved. Revolution is
the mirror of the coming day; it is the child that is to be the Man of
To-morrow.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Political bureaus.
[B] Armed units organized by the Bolsheviki for the purpose of
suppressing traffic and confiscating foodstuffs.
[C] Individual small-scale.
[D] Happy villagers and their model homes, specially prepared and shown
to Catherine the Great by her Prime Minister Potemkin to deceive her
about the true condition of the peasantry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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