These various hostilities brought material disaster, and material
disaster brought spiritual collapse. The ultimate source of the whole
train of evils lies in the Bolshevik outlook on life: in its dogmatism
of hatred and its belief that human nature can be completely
transformed by force. To injure capitalists is not the ultimate goal
of Communism, though among men dominated by hatred it is the part that
gives zest to their activities. To face the hostility of the world may
show heroism, but it is a heroism for which the country, not its
rulers, has to pay the price. In the principles of Bolshevism there is
more desire to destroy ancient evils than to build up new goods; it is
for this reason that success in destruction has been so much greater
than in construction. The desire to destroy is inspired by hatred,
which is not a constructive principle. From this essential
characteristic of Bolshevik mentality has sprung the willingness to
subject Russia to its present martyrdom. It is only out of a quite
different mentality that a happier world can be created.
And from this follows a further conclusion. The Bolshevik outlook is
the outcome of the cruelty of the Tsarist regime and the ferocity of
the years of the Great War, operating upon a ruined and starving
nation maddened into universal hatred. If a different mentality is
needed for the establishment of a successful Communism, then a quite
different conjuncture must see its inauguration; men must be persuaded
to the attempt by hope, not driven to it by despair.
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