our
prejudices and habits, the weight which deadens you spiritually;
nothing hinders US from being inwardly free. The poisons with which you
poison us are weaker than the antidote you unwittingly administer to
our consciences. This antidote penetrates deeper and deeper into the
body of workingmen; the flames mount higher and higher, sucking in the
best forces, the spiritual powers, the healthy elements even from among
you. Look! Not one of you can any longer fight for your power as an
ideal! You have already expended all the arguments capable of guarding
you against the pressure of historic justice. You can create nothing
new in the domain of ideas; you are spiritually barren. Our ideas
grow; they flare up ever more dazzling; they seize hold of the mass of
the people, organizing them for the war of freedom. The consciousness
of their great role unites all the workingmen of the world into one
soul. You have no means whereby to hinder this renovating process in
life except cruelty and cynicism. But your cynicism is very evident,
your cruelty exasperates, and the hands with which you stifle us to-day
will press our hands in comradeship to-morrow. Your energy, the
mechanical energy of the increase of gold, separates you, too, into
groups destined to devour one another. Our energy is a living power,
founded on the ever-growing consciousness of the solidarity of all
workingmen. Everything you do is criminal, for it is directed toward
the enslavement of the people. Our work frees the world from the
delusions and monsters which are produced by your malice and greed, and
which intimidate the people. You have torn man away from life and
disintegrated him. Socialism will unite the world, rent asunder by
you, into one huge whole. And this will be!"

Pavel stopped for a second, and repeated in a lower tone, with greater
emphasis, "This will be!"

The judges whispered to one another, making strange grimaces. And
still their greedy looks were fastened on the body of Nilovna's son.
The mother felt that their gaze tarnished this supple, vigorous body;
that they envied its strength, power, freshness. The prisoners
listened attentively to the speech of their comrade; their faces
whitened, their eyes flashed joy. The mother drank in her son's words,
which cut themselves into her memory in regular rows. The old judge
stopped Pavel several times and explained something to him. Once he
even smiled sadly. Pavel listened t