had every chance to secure the wish of the people through its Constituent Assembly, the meeting of which they made impossible. The essence of Bolshevism, as such, is power, to be gained at any cost, and ruthlessly applied by the proletariat minority. This does not mean that they do not believe in the principles of socialism. together with all other socialists. They differ as to method and program, and in these are, therefore, not different from the autocracy which was so recently overthrown. It was inevitable, however, when once in power, that they could not allow the Constituent Assembly to work freely. In its work they saw their own overthrow and hence dispersed the gathering on the ground that the elections were not made through the Soviets although every man and woman in Russia who so desired had voted for the representatives. Throughout the revolution, the Zemstvo has continued to maintain its position as the normal moderate method of government locally, in economic and political life. The coöperative societies which control the commercial and industrial life of the nation are only a modification in form of the Zemstvo and are a direct outgrowth of its activity. The power of this older and more normal form of local government and administration has been recognized by the Bolshevist government and Lenine has not hesitated to make use of its authority by his recognition of its work. So far it has not been weakened by this contact with Bolshevism and remains perhaps the hope of future Russia. SUGGESTED READINGS Hayes, A Political and Social History of Modern Europe, II, pp. 452-466; 472-482. Hazen, Modern European History, pp. 567-571. Hazen, Europe since 1815, pp. 670-676. Robinson and Beard, Development of Modern Europe, II, p. 278 ff. Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1815, pp. 603–608. Spargo, Bolshevism, p. 73 ff. International Conciliation Bulletin No. 136, for March, 1919 contains some of the more important documents of the Russian Revolutionary Government. The Nation for Jan. 1920 also contains additional documents. 'Spargo, Bolshevism, p. 215. Spargo here makes clear the betrayal of the nation. CHAPTER VI MODERN PROGRESS THE period from 1815 to the present day has been aptly styled an age of progress. Sometimes it has been called the Marvelous Century or the Wondrous Age. It has been marked by the rapid spread of western civilization over the entire globe. Wonderful works in engineering and great discoveries in science make it one of the most noteworthy periods in the civilization of humanity. Under the influence of the ideas that had been developed in the nineteenth century, great changes were made in regard to the attitude of men toward each other. During the period under study, the slave trade and Abolition slavery have been gradually abolished. In all the coun- of Slavery. tries of the Western World, political democracy has become an assured fact. At the time of the adoption of the consti- Universal tution of the United States only a part of the males over Suffrage. twenty-one could vote. Not only in the United States has the suffrage been granted to men but also to women. In France, manhood suffrage dates from the Revolution of 1848 and has been legalized by Great Britain, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, and other European countries. Woman suffrage has been partially adopted in Great Britain and fully in the Scandinavian countries and in many of the states which have been formed since the Great War. Individual Liberty of Religious freedom, freedom of the press and the person have come to be a part of the social and legal systems of the Western World. No man can lose his personal liberty except for crime and he is not to be arrested without reasons being given before a court. The American constitution, in its Bill of Rights. guaranteed liberty of the press. In France, a free press has been established since the law of July 1881. Religious the Press. liberty is rapidly being adopted throughout the world. In France, the Declaration of the Rights of Man stated that "no one could be deprived of his opinions, even religious, provided that their manifestation did not disturb the public order established by law." This was similar to the clause in the American constitution guaranteeing freedom of worship. In many countries privileged religions, known as state churches still exist. In England, the state church is the Anglican; in Spain, the Roman Catholic; in Scandinavian countries, Lutheran; and in Greece and the Balkan states, the Greek Religious Liberty. church. However the religion of the State church is not obligatory upon anyone. ianism. In ancient times, many cruel punishments were inflicted. Capital punishment was common for the smallest crime. Gradually, there Humanitar- has been developing a stronger sentiment in favor of the abolition of the death penalty. In many countries of western Europe and in many of the states of the United States the death penalty has already been abolished. Gradually, there has grown a feeling strongly in favor of bettering the condition of prisoners and prisons. Criminologists are making scientific studies of criminals and methods of reformation are being studied and adopted. Beginning with the eighteenth century, attempts began to be made to alleviate the condition of the poor and the unfortunate. A spirit of humanity and of kindness has been shown as in no other period in the history of man. Scientific charity; the study of the social welfare of humanity; laws to protect workers of all kind; attempts to remove poverty-all these were developed on a scale greater than ever before in history. Develop As a result of the philosophical ideas of the eighteenth century, Frederick the Great of Prussia made popular education compulsory. Condorcet, in France at the time of the French Revolument of Pop- tion planned the establishment of a national educational ular Education. system. Pestalozzi, a reformer of the eighteenth century, showed the value of popular education. In 1833, a bill was introduced into the British Parliament establishing a national system of universal education. This made compulsory the education of every child from six to twelve years of age. This failed of passage but 20,000 pounds was voted for the establishment of elementary schools. Wider extension of the suffrage in 1867 in England brought about the idea of the need of greater education, hence the passage of the act of 1870 which provided for the establishment of public schools in neighborhoods where voluntary schools did not exist. Compulsory free education in England may not be said to have been established until the passage of the Fisher Education Act of 1918 which made compulsory the free education of every child up to sixteen years of age and the establishment of continuation schools up to eighteen years of age. This act has not been fully enforced since the war. During the empire of Napoleon III, Victor Duruy, minister of education said, "In a country of universal suffrage, primary and obligatory instruction, being for a society a duty and a profit, ought to be paid for by the community." Jules Ferry in 1881 established free and obligatory education for every child and in 1886 public education was made secular. In parts of Germany, compulsory school education has been obligatory since the eighteenth century. In the Scandinavian countries, in Italy and the other countries of western Europe, educational opportunity to all is rapidly being furnished. President Garfield's maxim that universal suffrage necessitates universal education is being definitely accepted. In the new states formed since the war, notably Czecho-Slovakia, the establishment of free public education shows marked progress. One of the noteworthy changes is the attempt made by the working classes in many countries of western Europe to develop higher instruction for themselves. The Worker's Education Association in England and the People's Schools in Denmark are illustrations of this tendency. ment of the Evolutionary Hypothesis. The last hundred years witnessed marvelous development in the study of life in all its forms. This period witnessed the development Develop- of biology, of anthropology, of the study of religion, of sociology, of law, of economics, and other social sciences -all of these studies were greatly influenced by the adoption of the evolutionary hypothesis in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This idea, simply stated, is that all things have evolved out of other things by a slow process of growth and change. From the time of the Greeks onward, vague ideas of the growth of one organism from another had been held but it was not really until the publication by Charles Darwin of his "Origin of Species" in 1859 that this doctrine really took form and had an influence upon the thought of average people. In this work Darwin taught that man was a long process of growth from other forms; and developed "the theory that living beings vary naturally in all directions, and that those varieties are 'selected' and tend to survive which give their possessors a superior chance in the universal struggle for existence." This theory of evolution has not only affected the thought of men in natural science but also in every other field of study. Today, we realize that all our social institutions such as the family, the church, the state, are an evolution by a slow process of growth from more simple and primitive forms. The political, the religious and cultural institutions in primitive times were centered in one unitary group. Today, these institutions have become complex and each lives its own life, in some ways distinct from the others. The great contribution of the doctrine of evolution to the modern world has been that all social institutions are a process of slow growth being influenced by their environment and in turn changing their environment; that changes in the entire |