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102 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA
in a state of fermentation ; they had broken the bonds of
drink-slavery, and behaved like enfranchised slaves or
inexperienced children, who do not know their limits, and
think that all the world is at their command. This feature
has given to the Russian Revolution its vagaries and
excesses ; but it is easy to discern that this orgy of freedom,
or rather licence, is purely temporary, and must lead to
saner and wiser methods of statesmanship.
The suppression of vodka has benefited the Russian peasant
by liberating him from the money-lender, the " koulak," to
whom he often pawned all he had in order to satisfy his
craving for drink. The money-lender—more often than not
utterly unscrupulous—thus held his victim, who was
hopelessly in debt, completely at his mercy.
Another aspect of temperance in Russia is the influence
it will have on the forthcoming competition with the Jews.
A man who is accustomed to alcoholic drinks is distinctly
hampered in competing against one who is a total abstainer.
The seven million Jews, the majority of whom are total
abstainers, and who, in addition to their well-known strong
tribal solidarity, have now obtained perfect equality with
other citizens, will exercise, in almost every walk in life, a
powerful economic force with which Christians must count.
The suppression of vodka will enable Christians to compete
with the Jews. Such legislation may, therefore, be looked
upon in the light of a blessing, saving them from being
outdistanced by the Jews in their struggle for life.
A further benefit which the suppression of vodka in Russia
has brought about is the decrease in crime. It is a very
well-known fact that crimes are only too often the direct
result of the use of drink, and if the victim of alcohol lacks
the moral balance and resistance which education gives
he is more inclined to become a brute, a beast, an
irresponsible being, following only bad instincts and depraved tastes
when in a state of intoxication. Morally, the use of alcohol,
as of any other poison, is neither good nor bad ; it belongs
to the so-called abca^npa—viz. to actions whose moral
signification depends entirely on the consequence to which
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