- Project Runeberg -  Problems confronting Russia and affecting Russo-British political and economic intercourse /
68

(1918) [MARC] Author: Alfons Heyking - Tema: Russia
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102 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA

member of State and Society ? Indeed, such a teaching
would be contrary to the fact that education and learning
improve rather than detract from a man, from all points of
view, and if that is so, the educated man whose judgment
is matured and based upon positive knowledge and
comparison is unquestionably more fitted to be entrusted with
the reins of Government in State and Society than the man
whose mentality is undeveloped. In this respect, therefore,
there can be no equality, and all efforts tending to level
men to one standard will only bring about a reduction in
personal capacity, talent, and the higher powers of mind,
energy, and character.

There remains, however, to be settled the great question
of the difference in the scale of wealth which reduces one
man to a state of abject poverty and leads another to the
unscrupulous abuse of power. The problem of a proper
and equitable distribution of wealth is of pressing urgency
owing to the growing education and enlightenment of the
people, the materialistic tendency of the age, and the
possibility of acquiring colossal fortunes by speculation and such
paths as lie outside the field of persistent effort and honest
work.

The capitalistic form of economic life among modern
civilised nations has given to wealth the power of multiplying
at a speed hitherto unknown, and has left the masses who
are not in possession of riches in a more or less stationary
position. Although the poorer classes have gained in their
standard of life in comparison with the past, the difference
between those who have and those who have not has
become more glaring than ever. This is chiefly due to the
fact that other differences in the fortunes of men, such as
the privileges of birth, social standing, and inequality of
rights before the law have been swept away by democracy,
the possession of wealth remaining the only decisive factor
in social position, and the amount of comfort, luxury, or
pleasure at their disposal. The whole civilised world has
become more or less plutocratic as a direct consequence of
capitalism.

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