Page:The future of democracy.djvu/16

THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY was a reaction againﬆ that narrow view, and people began to believe in human peaks and pinnacles as essential. People went to the other extreme—the idea of the dominating superman began. Thank God we have got rid of that. The truth is that people are not equal by nature, but there is a corollary to this truth, and it is: there is no reason why they should be made more unequal than is avoidable by laws and inﬆitutions. If you bear these two things in mind you will find that you get a certain amount of light.

If people cannot be in all respects equal what can they be? They can be made equal in the chance of developing what is in them. If you take the old abﬆract notion of equality, the old Labour notion without more, you see how badly it works. There is Russia. Where is Russia to-day? I have a certain amount of sympathy with Bolshevism. It is a reaction againﬆ an abominable syﬆem of government. The Bolsheviﬆs fly to the other extreme; they say everyone is equal to themselves, and the ﬆandard they adopt is that everyone is on the level of the ﬆupideﬆ. They bring life down to a dead level. This policy is not working, and it is just making them a prey for the moment to people who have the power of putting thought into expression, as the Germans have to-day, and there is Russia at the feet of the conqueror. I believe that the Russians will recover themselves. I believe in the country of Tolﬆoi and Doﬆoyevsky. I believe Russia will recover, but Russia has taught us a lesson, and that is, not to truﬆ in unduly abﬆract and narrow ideas, but to take care to organise ourselves, not according to Prussian methods, but according to our higher ideals. That will give us the beﬆ in thought and knowledge, and teach us to develop the individualities of our people.

What is it we are aiming at if Nature will not let us treat all men as equal? It is that we muﬆ give them equal opportunity. Every man, woman, and child ought to have the 8