The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 3, 1924, Page 11

(Continued from Page Three) Marx, instead of from works of Marx. Again, Marx, on page 406 of Vol- ume I of the Charles H. Kerr edition of “Capital” refutes the vulgarizers by asserting: “ . » «a8 Vico says, human his- tory differs from natural history in this, that we have made the form- er, but not the latter”. * * * Mankind lives under an environ- ment that contains both natural and artificial elements. The first exists independently of man: ~The other is the creation of man. At a low stage of development man responds uncon- sciously to his environment and the first rudimentary social institutions work like natural forces; blindly and destructively. But, as man advances to higher forms of social organization, he brings both natural and social fore- es more and more under his domina- tion, Today we have reached a_ stage where we understand these social forces. We know their effects, their direction, their action, reaction and in- teraction, therefore, we are able to a considerable degree to subject them to our will, . This understanding of the social forces at work in the world today is the one thing that distinguishes the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia from all other statesmen. Thru using the Marxian method intelligent- ly they have been able to hold their own against a hostile world, because they have correctly estimated the po- litical and economic power of their enemies. j * * * Professor Beard asks: “What Is a Statesman?” Then after confusing Marx with the vulgarizers’ conception of Marxism, proceeds to further in- quiry. He discusses the fact that Bis- mark, the Iron Chancellor of Géxmany was a towering figure “in the history books written between 1890 and 1914,” but today there are many who seri- ously doubt the majesty of Bismark. In the case of Gladstone, the alleged founder of liberalism in England, Professor Beard questions even one monumental achievement to his cred- it. Many statesmen admired by Car- lisle are described by Beard as “evan- escent windbags.” Others, esteemed in one generation are “dismissed from the school books and biographical dic- on Russian Industry a 5,000 Shareholders reads: “We are happy to state E? that both the ideals and the practical purposes of the corporation have been fully satisfied.” A Free Copy of this detailed report made by The Directors of R.A.1.C. To The Second Annual Shareholders’ * Meeting will be mailed, together with other RAIC literature, to any one requesting it from . SIDNEY HILLMAN, Pres... RUSSIAM-AMERICAN “wee “oo tno tionaries with a scant bow by the next generation.” Quite evidently the Professor con- siders as statesmen only those in- dividuals who influence the ages. Tn conclusion, he hazards a guess as to what constitutes statesmanship. The statesman must be “one who divines the long future, foresees the place of his ciass and nation in it, la bors intelligently to prepare his coun- trymen for their fate, combines cour- age with discretion, etc.” He must have brains and morals to a degree and must be justified by events. * * With slight modifications no Marx- ist will quarrel with this definition. But we must emphasize our serious disagreement with the assertion that Bismark and Gladstone cannot quali- fy as statesmen. In dealing with these historical figures, Professor Beard abandons the method of seeking the economic foundation for men’s acts he uses: so frequently and so well and falls into the metaphysical method of viewing events and people as separate phenomena, We will not hazard a guess as to what makes statesmen. But we will give our Communist definition: Statesmen are those outstanding fig- ures in history that symbolize power- ful class interests. If Bismark, as a towering figure, passed in 1914, it is only because the junker class, whose power he solidi- fied, entered its decline at that time. So long as the class he represents or did represent is in the ascendency the statesman is revered. When the power and prestige of that class is shattered before the onward sweep of economic forces, his tradition van- ishes. His acts are no longer inter- preted in the light of the vanquished class he represented, but from the viewpoint of the class that rose to power upon the ruins of his class. Professor Beard emphasizes the fact that the liberalism of Gladstone does not influence the British liberals, of today. Again he fails to use the dialectical method and falls into a metaphysical swamp. Gladstone can- not be understood separate from the class he served. Smug, complacent spokesman of the “workshop of the world,” the so-called Sage of Hawar- den was the apostle of textile capital —internationally peaceful; humani- tarian in its outward appearance, while viciously os its own wage slaves. Lloyd George represents the heavy indubtrialiste—iron and steel—with their aggressive imperial- ism. Beard here emphasizes a party label, “liberalism,” without under- standing the fundamental economic Three Leaders Of Men (Continued from page 2.) and all remain written on the ban- ner of the Russian Revolution and of the Communist International, which was born therefrom. Revolution Lenin’s Monument. The Revolution marches, and with it the life work of Lenin. His genius, his determination and his courage have done much to bring it into being, but he himself would have been the last to say that any single personality could achieve what mass movements born of social and economic forces alone can generate. His function was to guide that which, new-born into a hostile world, might have per- ished but for his consummate ability to preserve and strengthen it; he did more. He set the spark to the com- bustible material that contained all the elements of revolution, and out of the conflagration he was able to discern the elements which, forged to- gether, would shape the new society. Lenin was greatest of all in his ability to interpret the needs and ten- dencies of the mass movement of which he felt himself but a part. He was an idealist whose goal was not Utopia, but Reality—he never aimed at the impossible; he never set him- self against the inevitable laws of economics, Therefore his work lives and will grow great in the future, while the dreams of his two contem- poraries, in their time great leaders of men, are forgotten or recounted as a legend. difference between the old textile li. beralism and the new liberalism of iron, Were he a Marxist, instead of an imaginary opponent of Marx, he would find no difficulty analyzing all statesmen, past and present. He would also be able to predict some of the characteristics of statesmen of the future. Marxism has a two-fold value for us. It not only enables us to explain history better than before, but it en- ables us to make history better than it was ever made before. All the revolutionary leaders from Marx to Lenin have understood this fact and their followers today, he- CONCERNING STATESMEN cause of their work, understand the dialectic connection between the pro- ductive forces in society and those who must make the history of this epoch. It was not a reversion to sentimen- talism that Frederick Engels, the griz- zled veteran of many battles, at the grave of Marx in Highgate Cemetery, London, and Gregory Zinoviev at the tomb of Lenin, beside the Kremlin Wall, both declared that the move- ment of the working class would not be what it is today had it not been for them. Both Marx and Lenin made history out of conditions they found at hand—but the point is, they made it. ect diteeeeeidienenceiliemeldanheceinnntin ak sleerenieaeteasniceeberietennaemnentmeriaeneieeetinmnnnenmrieianne ee NEW YORK READERS ATTENTION! See the Great Film: “RUSSIA AND GERMANY—A TALE OF TWO REPUBLICS” In eight big reels of motion pictures. 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