Page:Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov - The New Russia - tr. Emile Burns (1920).djvu/32

 service, without the substitution of any other service, if it can be shown that such substitution is incompatible with religious convictions; the proof to be taken from writings on the question and also from the personal life of the individual concerned.

—Steps to secure freedom from service may be initiated by the individual concerned or by the Joint Council, and the latter can require the case to be tried by the National Tribunal of Moscow.

Dated from the Kremlin. Moscow, January 4th, 1919.

The battle has been opened on the whole length of the front. Capitalism and private property are in danger. Communist Socialism is developing its attack in strength and now for nearly two years has held in its hands the destinies of many nations. Are we to side with one party or with the other? We can side with neither. The Christian law which we profess prevents us from entering into the ranks of combatants who use violence and cruelty against their enemies. We are living at an exceptional period, at the turning of the ways. The world perhaps has never known such complete reversals of its habits of life. But nevertheless we can find in the history of humanity periods when similar questions were claiming solution, though perhaps on a lesser scale; times when perhaps they have even been solved; and we may therefore be able to follow the example of those who have found the pacifist solution in the midst of bloody struggles.