Page:Tolstoy - Christianity and Patriotism.djvu/99

 And once this public opinion exists, then there is firmly established a mighty power controlling in our day milliards of money, the organized mechanism of administration, the posts, the telegraphs, the telephones, disciplined troops, the law courts, the police, a submissive clergy, the schools, and the Press; and this power supports in the peoples the public opinion necessary for its maintenance.

The power of Governments rests on public opinion; possessing power, the Governments, by means of all their organization, officials, law courts, schools, churches, and even the Press, can always maintain the public opinion which is necessary to it. Public opinion produces power; power produces public opinion: and it seems as though there is no way out from this vicious circle.

And there really would not be, if public opinion were something continuous and unchanging, and if Governments could always produce the public opinion necessary to them.

But fortunately this is not the case, and in the first place, public opinion is not something continuous, unchanging, and stagnant, but, on the contrary, something continually changing and moving with the movement of humanity. And, in the second place, public opinion cannot be produced at their desire by Governments, but is what produces Governments and gives them their power or takes it from them.