Page:Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov - The New Russia - tr. Emile Burns (1920).djvu/33

 Let us turn to the example of the war of secession in the United States of North America. The two parties were almost equal in strength, and the struggle was bitter. In the midst of this bloody struggle, a society of non-resisters arose, headed by Lloyd Garrison, who declared that they were in full agreement with the highest aims of the combatants, but could not have recourse to arms, because their convictions prevented them from taking the life of any person whatever, and ordered them to love their enemies and pardon those who did evil to them. This society won numerous adherents and did a great deal to make the struggle less bitter, and contributed to the final victory and pacification of the country.

In Bohemia in the Middle Ages a Communist Movement grew up among the disciples of Jean Huss, who was burnt alive by the Pope at the Council of Constance in 1415. The Hussite Communists withdrew to Mount Tabor, near Prague, and took the name of Taborites. It seemed as if the movement was likely to develop. Then the Catholic troops, commanded by the Emperor Sigismond, marched against them to crush out the movement. The Holy Father preached a Crusade. The Taborites weakened in their faith. They took up arms and defended themselves heroically against the imperial troops. The movement became a popular one. The struggle extended, and the Hussite Wars, as history has come to call them, lasted thirteen years. The Imperial Party in the end proved stronger, and the disciples of Jean Huss were absolutely exterminated.

But a group of these disciples, headed by Pierre Cheltchitsky, had refused to take part in the struggle, remaining faithful to the Christian principles. When the struggle came to an end the people of Bohemia and Moravia recognised them as liberators, their faith spread