Letter 1
In reply to your letter I send you the enclosed with special pleasure. (1)
I have been acquainted with Henry George since the appearance of his Social Problems. I read that book, and was struck by the correctness of his main idea, and by the unique clearness and power of his argument, which is unlike anything in scientific literature, and especially by the Christian spirit which pervades the book, making it also stand alone in the literature of science. After reading it I turned to his previous work, Progress and Poverty, and with a heightened appreciation of its author's activity.
You ask my opinion of Henry George's work, and of his single tax system. My opinion is the following :
Humanity advances continually towar... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Letter #1
I had just written you, my dear friend Ilya, a letter that was true to my own feelings, but, I am afraid, unjust, and I am not sending it. I said unpleasant things in it, but I have no right to do so. I do not know you as I should like to and as I ought to know you. That is my fault. And I wish to remedy it. I know much in you that I do not like, but I do not know everything. As for your proposed journey home, I think that in your position of student, not only student of a gymnase, but at the age of study, it is better to gad about as little as possible; moreover, all useless expenditure of money that you can easily refrain from is immoral, in my opinion, and in yours, too, if you only consider it. If you come, I shall be ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
You write to me that people seem quite unable to
understand that to serve the government is in-
compatible with Christianity.
In just the same way people were long unable to see
that indulgences, inquisitions, slavery, and tortures were
incompatible with Christianity. But a time came when
it was comprehensible ; and a time will come when men
will understand the incompatibility with Christianity,
first of war service (that already is beginning to be felt),
and then of service to government in general.
It is now fifty years since a not widely known, but
very remarkable, American writer Thoreau not only
clearly expressed that incompatibility in his admirable
essay on "Civil Disobedience," but gave a practical
ex... (From: Wikisource.org.)
My Dear Crosby: -- I am very glad to hear of your activity and that it is beginning to attract attention. Fifty years ago Garrison's proclamation of nonresistance only cooled people toward him, and the whole fifty years' activity of Ballou in this direction was met with stubborn silence. I read with great pleasure in Peace the beautiful ideas of the American authors in regard to nonresistance. I make an exception only in the case of Mr. Bemis's old, unfounded opinion, which calumniates Christ in assuming that Christ's expulsion of the cattle from the temple means that he struck the men with a whip, and commanded his disciples to do likewise.
The ideas expressed by these writers, especially by H. Newton and G. Herron, are beautiful, ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
[...]
The eldest is fair-haired and good-looking;
there is something weak and patient in his expression, and very
gentle. His laugh is not infectious; but when he cries, I can
hardly refrain from crying, too. Every one says he is like my
eldest brother.
I am afraid to believe it. It is too good to be true. My
brother's chief characteristic was neither egotism nor self-
renunciation, but a strict mean between the two. He never
sacrificed himself for any one else; but not only always avoided
injuring others, but also interfering with them. He kept his
happiness and his sufferings entirely to himself.
Ilya, the third, has never been ill in his life;
broad-boned, white and pink, radiant, bad at lessons. Is always
thinking about wh... (From: Wikisource.org.)
My Dear N. N.
I address you as " dear," not because this is a customary form, but because since I received your first letter,
and especially since your second one came, I feel that we
are very closely united, and I love you dearly. In the
feeling which I experience, there is much that is egotistical. You certainly do not think so, but you cannot
imagine to what degree I am alone, to what a degree
the actual "I" is scorned by all surrounding me. I
know that he that endures to the end will be saved:
I know that only in trifles is the right given to a man to
take advantage of the fruit of his labor, or even to look
on this fruit, but that in the matter of divine truth which
is eternal it cannot be given to a man to see t... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The opinion expressed in your estimable letter,
that the easiest and surest way to universal disarmament is by individuals refusing to take part in
military service, is most just. I am even of opinion
that this is the only way to escape from the terrible
and ever increasing miseries of wardom (militarism).
But your opinion that at the Conference which is
about to assemble at the Czar's invitation, the question should be debated whether men who refuse military service may not be employed on public works
instead, appears to me quite mistaken in the first
place, because the Conference itself can be nothing but
one of those hypocritical arrangements which aim not
at peace, but, on the contrary, at hiding from men the
one m... (From: Wikisource.org.)
In the same country-house, a week later. The scene represents a large dining-hall. The table is laid for tea and coffee, with a samovár. A grand piano and a music-stand are by the wall. Mary Ivánovna, the Princess and Peter Semyónovich are seated at the table.
PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Ah, Princess, it does not seem so long ago since you were singing Rosina’s part, and I … though nowadays I am not fit even for a Don Basilio.
PRINCESS. Our children might do the singing now, but times have changed.
PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Yes, these are matter-of-fact times … But your daughter plays really seriously and well. Where are the young folk? Not asleep still, surely?
MARY IV&Aacu... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
It was an early Easter. Sledging was only just over; snow still lay in the yards; and water ran in streams down the village street.
Two little girls from different houses happened to meet in a lane between two homesteads, where the dirty water after running through the farm-yards had formed a large puddle. One girl was very small, the other a little bigger. Their mothers had dressed them both in new frocks. The little one wore a blue frock, the other a yellow print, and both had red kerchiefs on their heads. They had just come from church when they met, and first they showed each other their finery, and then they began to play. Soon the fancy took them to splash about in the water, and the smaller one was going to step into the puddle, sho... (From: Wikisource.org.)
“Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” . . . . “So
likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts
forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”—ST. MATTHEW
xviii., 21-35.
In a certain village there lived a peasant by the name of Ivan Scherbakoff. He
was prosperous, strong, and vigorous, and was considered the hardest worker in
the whole village. He had three sons, who supported themselves by their own
labor. The eldest was married, the second about to be married, and the youngest
took care of the horses and occasionally attended to the plowing.
The peasant’s wife, Ivano... (From: Archive.org.)
I should like at my leave-taking[1]
(at my age, every meeting with one’s fellows is a leave-taking) to briefly tell
you how, in my perception, men should live so that our lives may not be evil
and bitter, as it now appears to the majority of men, but may be what God
wishes and what we all wish, namely, the blessed and glad things they ought to
be.
Everything depends on how a man understands his life. If I take life to be the life given to me –
John, Peter, or Mary – in my body, and believe that the whole aim of life
consists in obtaining as much joy, pleasure, and happiness of all kinds as
possible for this “me” – John, Peter, or Mary – then life will always be
unhappy and embittered fo... (From: NonResistance.org.)
Yesterday evening I arrived at Lucerne, and put up at the best inn there, the Schweitzerhof. "Lucerne, the chief city of the canton, situated on the shore of the Vierwaldstatter See," says Murray, "is one of the most romantic places of Switzerland: here cross three important highways, and it is only an hour's distance by steamboat to Mount Righi, from which is obtained one of the most magnificent views in the world."
Whether that be true or no, other guides say the same thing, and consequently at Lucerne there are throngs of travelers of all nationalities, especially the English.
The magnificent five-storied building of the Hotel Schweitzerhof is situated on the quay, at the very edge of the lake, where in olden times there used to be the... (From: Wikisource.org.)
You ask me why manual labor presents itself to us
as one of the unavoidable conditions of true happiness. Is it necessary voluntarily to deprive ourselves
of intellectual activity in the domain of science and art,
which seems to us incompatible with manual labor?[1]
I have never regarded manual labor as a special principle, but as a very simple and natural application of
moral bases an application which before all is presented to every sincere man.
In our perverted society in the society called civilized we need, above all things, to speak of manual
labor, because the chief fault of our society has been,
and up to the present time still is, the striving to rid
ourselves of manual labor, and without mutual concessions to ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" We live in glorious times. . . Was there ever so much to do ? Our
age is a revolutionary one in the best sense of the word— not of physical but
moral revolution. Higher ideas of the social state, and of human perfection,
are at work. I shall not live to see the harvest, but to sow in faith is no
mean privilege or happiness." — W. E. Channing.
" For the worshipers of utility there is no morality except the morality of
profit, and no religion but the religion of material welfare. They found the
body of man crippled and exhausted by want, and in their ill-considered zeal
they said : ' Let us cure this body ; and when it is strong, plump, and well
nourished, its soul will return to it.' But I say that that body... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Help for the population suffering from bad harvests may have two objects : support of the peasant proprietors and prevention of people running the
risk of illness, and even death, from want and from the
bad quality of food.
Are these objects attained by the aid now extended in
the form of twenty or thirty pounds of flour a month to
each consumer, reckoning or not reckoning laborers? I
think not. And I think not from the following considerations :
All the peasant families of all agricultural Russia
may be distributed under three types. First, the
wealthy farm with eight or ten souls, on the average
twelve souls to a family, with from three to five hired
men, on the average four, from three to five horses, on
.the aver... (From: Wikisource.org.)
We were out with a detachment. The work in hand was almost done, the cutting through the forest was nearly finished, and we were expecting every day to receive orders from headquarters to retire to the fort.
Our division of the battery guns was placed on the slope of a steep mountain range which stretched down to the rapid little mountain river Mechik, and we had to command the plain in front. Occasionally, especially towards evening, on this picturesque plain, beyond the range of our guns, groups of peaceable mountaineers on horseback appeared here and there, curious to see the Russian camp. The evening was clear, quiet, and fresh, as December evenings usually are in the Caucasus. The sun was setting behind the steep spur of the mountain ... (From: Archive.org.)
" Come, show me your horses ! Are they in the
yard ? "
" Yes, 'r Grace. I have done as I have been ordered
to, 'r Grace. Would we dare to disobey 'r Grace ? Yakov
Alpatych commanded me not to let the horses out to
pasture for the next day, as the prince wanted to inspect
them, so we did not let them out. We do not dare disobey 'r Grace."
As Nekhlyudov walked out of the door, Yukhvanka
got the pipe down from the beds, and threw it behind the
oven. His lips quivered just as restlessly, though the
master was not looking at him.
A lean gray mare was rummaging through some musty
hay under the shed ; a two-months-old, long-legged colt of
an indefinable color, with bluish feet and mouth, did not
leave her mother's thin ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
1
Amid fields there stands an iron foundry, surrounded by a wall, with incessantly smoking chimneys, clattering chains, furnaces, a railway siding, and the scattered little houses of the managers and laborers. The working people swarm like ants in this foundry and in the mines belonging to it. Some of them are at work from morning until night, or from night until morning, mining the ore in passages two hundred feet underground, which are dark, narrow, close, damp, and constantly threaten with death. Others in the darkness, bending over, take this ore or clay to the shaft and take back empty cars, and again fill them, and so work for twelve or fourteen hours a day throughout the week.
Thus they work in the mines. In the foundry itself, som... (From: EarthlyFireFlies.org.)
We were spending the night at the house of a soldier ninety-five years old, who had served under
Alexander I. and Nicholas I.
"Tell me, are you ready to die?"
"Ready to die? How should I be yet? I used to
be afraid of dying, but now I pray God for only one
thing; that God would be pleased to let me make my
confession and partake of the communion; I have so
many sins on my conscience."
"What sins?"
"How can you ask? Let us see, when was it I
served? Under Nicholas. Was the service then such
as it is now? How was it then? Uh ! it fills me with
horror even to remember it. Then Alexander came.
The soldiers used to praise this Alexander. They
said he was gracious."
I remembered the last days of Alexander, when twent... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Our division had been out in the field. The work in hand was accomplished: we had cut a way through the forest, and each day we were expecting from headquarters orders for our return to the fort. Our division of fieldpieces was stationed at the top of a steep mountain-crest which was terminated by the swift mountain-river Mechík, and had to command the plain that stretched before us. Here and there on this picturesque plain, out of the reach of gunshot, now and then, especially at evening, groups of mounted mountaineers showed themselves, attracted by curiosity to ride up and view the Russian camp.
The evening was clear, mild, and fresh, as it is apt to be in December in the Caucasus; the sun was setting behind the steep chain of th... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Science and art have arrogated to themselves the right of idleness, and of the enjoyment of the labor of others, and have betrayed their calling. And their errors have arisen merely because their servants, having set forth a falsely conceived principle of the division of labor, have recognized their own right to make use of the labor of others, and have lost the significance of their vocation; having taken for their aim, not the profit of the people, but the mysterious profit of science and art, and delivered themselves over to idleness and vise—not so much of the senses as of the mind.
They say, “Science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind.”
Science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind, not because t...
(I)
It was at the time when Christ opened to people his teaching. That teaching was so clear, and it was so easy and was so obviously going to liberate people from the evil that it was impossible not to accept it, and nothing could keep it from spreading around the whole world. And Beelzebub, the father and Lord of all devils, was alarmed. He clearly saw that his power over people will end forever, unless Christ denies his sermon. He was worried, but not discouraged, and incited Pharisees and Scribes, subdued to him, to insult and torment Christ as much possible and advised Christ’s disciples to run away and leave him alone. He hoped that the infamous punishment, humiliation, abandoning him by all the disciples and, finally, th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
The Franco-Russian festivities which took place in October 1894 in France made me, and others, no doubt, as well, first amused, then astonished, then indignant—feelings which I wished to express in a short article.
But while studying further the chief causes of what had occurred, I arrived at the reflections which I here offer to the reader.
I.
The Russian and French peoples have lived for many centuries with a knowledge of each other—entering sometimes into friendly, more often, unfortunately, into very unfriendly, relations at the instigation of their respective Governments—when suddenly, because two years ago a French squadron came to Cronstadt, and its officers having landed, eaten much, and drunk a variety ... (From: Wikisource.org.)