Full resolution (JPEG)
- On this page / på denna sida
- III. Tolstoi on the Famine
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
to assure ourselves and others that we pity the people very greatly,
and that we want to help them out of their misery, which we
ourselves have brought upon them, a misery which is necessary
to us.
“This is why those people’s efforts are in vain, who with
unchanged lives desire to come to the people’s aid by
distributing the wealth they have first taken from them.
*
“If a man of the leisured classes really wants, not to help,
but to serve his people, the first thing he ought to do is to
understand clearly his relations to them. When nothing is
undertaken the lies, though they remain lies, are not very
hurtful. But when, as now, one wants to serve the people, the
first thing to be done is to reject the lies and get to
understand our relations to them. And when these are clearly
seen, i.e., the fact that the people give us the means of life,
that their poverty is caused by our riches, that their hunger
comes from the satisfaction of our appetites, we can begin to
serve in no other way than by ceasing to do what ruins them.
“My thought is this: it is love only that can save men from
all miseries and calamities, including famine. But this love
must not be limited to words, it must be expressed in actions.
And these deeds of love consist in giving one’s morsel to those
that hunger, as not only Christ but also John the Baptist has
said, i.e., to make a sacrifice. Therefore, I think that the very
best thing to be done by those who understand the need of
changing their mode of life, is to go this very year and live
among the starving peasants and spend a certain time with
them.
“I do not say that all who wish to help the mushiks ought
absolutely to take up their abode in a cold hut, dwell among
vermin, live on ‘lebeda’ (a kind of weed), and die in two
months or a fortnight; I do not say that whoever does not do
this, does nothing useful. But I say that to act exactly thus,
to live among them and die in two months or two weeks,
would be very good, very beautiful, just as beautiful as to carry
pardon and die among the lepers, as Father Damien did. But
I do not say that every one can or ought to do this, and that
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Project Runeberg, Wed Dec 20 20:42:26 2023
(aronsson)
(diff)
(history)
(download)
<< Previous
Next >>
https://runeberg.org/jstolstoi/0057.html
