, not by diplomats or thrones or Kaisers,
but by the will of peoples. The will of peoples can find enduring and
beneficial expression only when that will seeks social change by
reasonable and calculated instalments, and not by any violent act of
revolution. Peaceful voters on their way to the ballot boxes and
properly formulated principles will in the end go further than fire and
sword in the internal affairs of a nation. I say this because of the
loose talk we have heard from many labour platforms recently of
revolution and its benefits. Revolution may well be in any country the
beginning and not the end of internal troubles, often expressed in a
more painful and more violent form than ever. We need only look at our
former great partner, Russia, to find full confirmation of all I have
now implied. The red flag marches with the machine gun and the black cap
when a certain stage of physical revolt is reached. The theory of new
methods of life can only find rational application when democracy is
wisely guided in taking slow but sure steps peacefully to turn its
theories into an applied system, wherein the people of a nation and not
merely a section or a class shall find their proper place and security
for service, and find an assured existence under conditions of comfort
for themselves and advantage to the State. Democratic leaders must tell
these things to the people time after time if need be. They must repeat
them so that the masses may understand them, because the tendency in
labour has been to narrow the meaning of democracy. Democracy is not,
and ought not to be, limited to those who now constitute the industrial
population. Democracy is not a sect or a trade union club. Democracy is
wider than the confines of the manual worker. Democracy should strive to
reach the highest level of morality in doctrine and aspiration. It is
not a class formula. It is a great and elevating faith which may be
shared by all who believe in it. Democracy stands for the general
progress of mankind and means the uplifting of men, and the liberation
and unifying of nations. It does not mean the dominion of one class over
another, nor the violent wresting of position or authority by some
dramatic act of physical force, which if used would still leave a nation
in a state of unreconciled and contending factions. Democracy, again, is
a spirit whereby vast social and economic change may be effected through
a medium approaching common consent or at