PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE vt the massos that the revolwtion also means material b~tterment are dynamic influences in the life and growth of the; new society. Of the two factors the spiritual values are foremost. The history of previous revolutions proves thait the masses were ever willing to suffer and to sacrifice material well-being for the sake of greater liberty and justice. Thus in Russia neither cold nor starvation could induce the peasants and \Yorkers to aid counter-revolution. All privation and misery notwithstanding they served heroically the interests of the great cause. It was only when they saw the Revolution monopolised by a political party, the new-won libertie!; curtailed, a dictatorship establishe'd and injustice and inequality dominant again that they became indifferent ·to the Revolution, declined to participate in the sham, refused to co-operate and! even turned against it. · To forget. ethical values, to introduce practices and· metho'ds inconsistent with or opposed to the high moral purposes of the revolution means to invite counter-revolution and disaster. It is therefore clear that the success of the social revolution primarily depends on liberty and equality. Any deviation from them can only be harinful ;· indeed, is sure to prove destructive. It follows that all the activities of the revolution must be based on freedom and 'equal rights. This applies to smal1 things as to great. Any acts or meth,ods tending to limit liberty, to create inequality and injustice, can result only in a popular attitude inimical .to the revolution and its best interests. It is from this angle that all the problems of the revolutionary period must be consi•dered and solved. Among those prqblems the most important are consumption and housing, production and exchmge. 81 Biblioteca G no Bianco
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