Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/213

 A LETTER TO RUSSIAN LIBERALS 197

Tlie other method is_, in my opinion, even less effec- tual or rational. It is ineffectual and irrational because Government — holding in its grasp the whole power (the army, the administration, the Church, the schools, and the police), and framing what are called the laws on tlie basis of which the Liberals wish to resist it — this Government knows very well what is really dangerous to it, and will never let people who submit to it and act under its guidance do anything that will undermine its authority. For instance, take the case before us : a Government such as ours, or any other which rests on the ignorance of the people, will never consent to their being really enlightened. It will sanction all kinds of pseudo-educational organizations controlled by itself — schools, high schools, universities, academies, and all kinds of committees and congresses and publications sanctioned by the censor — so long as these organiza- tions and publications serve its purpose — that is, stupefy the people, or at least do not hinder their stupefaction. But as soon as those organizations or publications attempt to cure that on which the power of Govern- ment rests (namely, the blindness of the people), the Government will simply, and without rendering any account to anyone, or saying why it acts so and not otherwise, pronounce its veto, and will rearrange or close the establishments and organizations, and forbid the publications. And therefore, as both reason and experience clearly show, such an illusory, gradual con- quest of rights is a self-deception which suits the Government admirably, and which it, therefore, is even ready to encourage.

But not only is this activity irrational and ineffectual, it is also harmful. It is harmful because enlightened, good, and honest people by entering the ranks of the Government give it a moral authority which but for them it would not possess. If the Government were made up entirely of that coarse element — the men of violence, self-seekers, and flatterers — who form its core, it could not continue to exist. Tlie fact that honest and enlightened people are found participating in the