WHY REVOLUTION? · The nations will stupidly keep on figi:iti11geach other, but nations. • h I d h raduall they are also learning t e $~e ess?n, •an now. t ey are feginnin~ to look for a way to stop the m.ternattonal slaughter known as war. • . , · , . •· . , . . . Unfortunately in our social. l~fe we are yet _m.a coad1t1on of barbarism, destructive an<;!fratnc1,dal.: group still. ,co~b~ts group, class fights. against class.. ~ut here. also men are begmn~ng _to see that it is a senseless and ruinous warfare, that the "'fOrld1s big and rich enough to be erijoy,ed by all, like the sunshine, and that a united mankind would accoriiplish more than one divided against itself. What is called progress is.just the realisation of this, a step in that direction. . . . • . . The whole advance of man consists in .the striving for greater safety and peace, fo: more security_.~nd welfare._ Man'~ n~tu!al impulse is toward mutual help and Jomt effort, his most mst1ct1ve longing is for liberty and joy. . The~e tendencies seek to express and assert themselves in spite of all obstacles and difficulties. The 1esson of the entire history of man is that neither hostile natural forces nor human opposition can hold back his onward march. If I were asked to define civilisation in a single phra~ I should say that it is the triumph of man over the powers of darkness, natural and human. The inimical forces of nature we have conquered, but we still have to fight the dark powers of men. History fails to show a single important social improvement made without meeting the opposition of the dQ.Illinant_powers-the church, government, and capital. Not a step forward but was achieved by breaking down the resistance of the masters. Every advance has ~ost.a ~itter struggle. It took many long fights to destroy slavery ; 1~ required revolts and uprisings to secure the most fundamental nghts for the people; it necessitated rebellions and revolutions to a~olish feudalism and serfdom. It n~ded civil warfare to do away with the absolute power of kings and establish democracies, to conquer more free~om and well-being for the masses. There is not a ~ountry _on_earth, n_otan epoch in history, where any great social evil was ehmmat_edw1t_houta bitter struggle with the powers that be. In r~cent days 1t agam took revolutions to get rid of Tsardom in Russia, of the Kaiser in Germany the Sultan in Turkey the monarchy in China, and so on in v;rious lands ' The · ' . I re. 1sno record of any government or authority of any group -0r- c ass m ""we h · · • '· . . ,...., r avmg given up its mastery voluntanly. In every instance 1t required th f f . 1 . e use o orce or at least the threat of 1t. e s it redadsonableto assume that aufhority and wealth will experi- . nee a su en change f h d · "ff I in th r t h O cart, an that they will behave d1 erent y e u ure t an they had in the past? B·bhoteca G ro Bia'lco 43
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