This archive contains 42 texts, with 108,016 words or 620,875 characters.
Notes
JUST PUBLISHED, PRICE 6d. NEW STORIES by LEO TOLSTOY. King Assarhadon, and other Two Stories. With Introduction, including quotations from the Letters of Leo Tolstoy. Authorized Translation BY V. TCHERTKOFF (Editor of “The Free Age Press.”) AND I. F. M. With Frontispiece, on Plate Paper, of the latest Portrait of Tolstoy on Horseback, August, 1903. By request of Tolstoy, the profits of this work will be devoted to the relief of the families of the Jews massacred in Russia. The Free Age Press, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. Réaumur. A sbiten-seller: sbiten is a hot drink made of herbs or spices and molasses The police certificate of registration as a prostitute.—Ed. An unf... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
Chapter 40
As it is said in the Bible, there is a law given unto man and woman,—to man, the law of labor; to woman, the law of child-bearing. Although with our science, “nous avons changé tout ça,” the law of man as well as of woman remains as immutable as the liver in its place; and the breach of it is inevitably punished by death. The only difference is, that for man, the breach of law is punished by death in such a near future that it can almost be called present; but for woman, the breach of law is punished in a more distant future. A general breach, by all men, of the law, destroys men immediately: the breach by women destroys the men of the following generation. The evasion of the law by a few men and women does not destroy the human race, but deprives the offender of rational human nature. The breach of this law by men began years ago in the classes which could use violence with others; and, spreading on its way, it... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
Chapter 39
I have now finished, having said all that concerns myself; but I cannot restrain my desire to say that which concerns every one, and to verify my own deductions by several considerations. I wish to explain why I think that a great many of my own class must arrive where I myself am, and I must also speak of what will result if even a few men arrive there; in the first place, if men of our circle, our caste, will only seriously think the matter out themselves, the younger generation, who seek their own personal happiness, will become afraid of the ever-increasing misery of lives which obviously lead them to ruin; scrupulous persons among us (if they would examine themselves more closely) will be terrified at the cruelty and unlawfulness of their own lives, and timid persons will be frightened at the danger of their mode of life. The misery of our lives! However we, rich men, may try to mend and to support, with the assistance of science and art, this our fal... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
Chapter 38
What is to be done? What must we do? This question, which includes acknowledgment of the fact that our life is bad and unrighteous, and at the same time hints that there is no possibility of changing it,—this question I hear everywhere, and therefore I chose it for the title of my work. I have described my own sufferings, my search, and the answer which I have found to this question. I am a man like others; and if I distinguish myself from an average man of my own circle in any thing, it is chiefly in the fact that I, more than this average man, have served and indulged the false teaching of our world, that I have been more praised by the men of the prevalent school of teaching, and that therefore I am more depraved, and have gone farther astray, than most of my fellows. Therefore I think that the answer to this question which I have found for myself will do for all sincere persons who will put the same question to themselves. First of all, to... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
Chapter 37
But it is said to me, “You only give another narrower definition of art and science, which science does not agree with; but even this does not exclude them, and notwithstanding all you say, there still remains the scientific and art activities of men like Galileo, Bruno, Homer, Michael Angelo, Beethoven, Wagner, and other learned men and artists of lesser magnitude who have devoted all their lives to art and science.” Usually this is said in the endeavor to establish a link, which in other cases they disown, to connect the activity of the former learned men and artists with the modern ones, trying to forget that new principle of the division of labor by reason of which art and science now occupy a privileged position. First of all, it is not possible to establish any such connection between the former factors and the modern ones, even as the holy life of the first Christian has nothing in common with the lives of popes: thus, the activity of... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
What is the origin of money? What are the conditions under which nations always have money, and under what circumstances need nations not use money? There are small tribes in Africa, and one in Australia, who live as the Sknepies and the Drevlyans lived in olden times. These tribes lived by breeding cattle and cultivating gardens. We become acquainted with them at the dawn of history, and history begins by recording the fact that some invaders appear on the scene. And invaders always do the same thing: they take away from the aborigines everything they can take,—cattle, corn, and cloth; they even make prisoners, male and female, and carry them away. In a few years the invaders appear again, but the people have not yet got over the con... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
But what is to be done, then? We did not do it, did we? And if not we, who did? We say, “It is not we who have done all this; it has been done of itself”; as children say when they break anything, that “it broke itself.” We say that, as towns are already in existence, we, who are living there, must feed men by buying their labor. But that is not true. It need only be observed how we live in the country, and how we feed people there. Winter is over: Easter is coming. In the town the same orgies of the rich go on,—on the boulevards, in gardens, in the parks, on the river; music, theaters, riding, illuminations, fire-works. But in the country it is still better,—the air is purer; the trees, the meadows, the ... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
What did it all mean? I had lived in the country and had entered into relations with the country-poor. It is not out of false modesty, but that I may state the truth, which is necessary in order to understand the run of all my thoughts and feelings, that I must say that in the country I had done perhaps but little for the poor, the help which had been required of me was so small; but even the little I had done had been useful, and had formed round me an atmosphere of love and sympathy with my fellow-creatures, in the midst of whom it might yet be possible for me to quiet the gnawing of my conscience as to the unlawfulness of my life of luxury. On going to the city I had hoped for the same happy relations with the poor, but here things were ... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
“Division of Labor” is the law pervading everything that exists, therefore it must exist in human societies too. That may be so; but the question still remains, whether the existing division of labor in human society is the division which ought to exist. And when men consider a certain division of labor unreasonable and unjust, no science whatever can prove to men that what they consider unreasonable and unjust ought to continue. The theological theory demonstrated that “Power is of God”; and it very well may be so. But the question still remains, To whom is the power given, to Catherine the Empress, or to the rebel Pugatchof? And no theological subtleties whatever can solve this difficulty. Moral philosophy demonstr... (From : Gutenberg.org.)
When I talked to my town friends about this pauperism which surrounded them, they always replied, “Oh! you have seen nothing yet! You should go to the Khitrof Market, and visit the lodging-houses there, if you want to see the genuine ‘Golden Company.’” One jovial friend of mine added, that the number of these paupers had so increased, that they already formed not a “Golden Company,” but a “Golden Regiment.” My witty friend was right; but he would have been yet nearer the truth had he said that these men formed, in Moscow, not a company, nor a regiment, but a whole army,—an army, I should judge, of about fifty thousand. The regular townspeople, when they spoke to me about the pauperism of... (From : Gutenberg.org.)