inding forces that
holds civilization together and supplies incentive to labor. Some of the
evil effects of the confiscation and socialization of property in Russia
are shown from the following articles, published by the
Socialists-Revolutionists, a faction of the Marxians opposed to the
Bolsheviki. Their paper, "Vlast Naroda," declares:

"The village has taken away the land from the landlords, farmers,
wealthy peasants and monasteries. It cannot, however, divide it
peacefully, as was to be expected.

"The more land there is, the greater the appetite for it; hence
more quarrels, misunderstandings and fights.

"In Oboyansk County, many villages refused to supply soldiers when
the Soviet authorities were mobilizing an army. In their refusal
they stated 'in the spring soldiers will be needed at home in the
villages,' not to cultivate the land, but to protect it with arms
against neighboring peasants.

"In the Provinces of Kaluga, Kursk and Voronezh peasant meetings
adopted the following resolution:

"'All grown members of the peasant community have to be home in the
spring. Whoever will then not return to the village or voluntarily
stay away will be forever expelled from the community.

"'These provisions are made for the purpose of having as great a
force as possible in the spring when it comes to dividing the
land.' ...

"Some villages in the Nieshnov district, in the Province of
Mohilev, have supplied themselves with machine guns. The village of
Little Nieshnov, for instance, has decided to order fifteen machine
guns and has organized a Red Army in order to be able better to
defend a piece of land taken away from the landlord and, as they
say, that 'the neighboring peasants should not come to cut our hay
right in front of our windows, like last year.' When the
neighboring peasants heard of the decision they also procured
machine guns. They have formed an army and intend to go to Little
Nieshnov to cut the hay on the meadows 'under the windows' of the
disputed owners....

"Stubborn fights for meadows and forests are always going on. They
often result in skirmishes and murder. There are similar happenings
in other counties of the Province, for instance, in Petrov,
Balashov and Arkhar.

"In the Province of Simbirsk there is war between the commu