The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories

satisfy-The Christian life-conception is still misunderstood by men, but our life itself necessitates its acceptance-The requirements of a new life-conception always seem unintelligible, mystical, an

ration-Contradictions of our life-The economical contradiction, and the suffering it causes to the working-men and to the rich-The contradiction of State, and the sufferings that arise from obedience to St

been transmitted in a supernatural manner; or, like the scientists, after having investigated certain of its outward manifestations. Another reason may be found in the conviction that it is impracticable, and that it may be

ations and laws that may be accepted without making any change in one's life: whereas the doctrine of Christ is not a doctrine of rules for man

, which a man must adopt whether he will or no. Those who do not adopt it consciously, adopt it unconsciously. The same change tha

rtainly become so unbearable that he would cast about for a different p

submit to the requirements of the Christian religion, whose truths, however misunderstood and falsely interpreted they may be, are yet familiar to his ears, and seem to offer the only practical solution of the contradictions that beset his path. If the demands of the Christi

known power." But there came a time in the life of the savage when, on the one hand, he had begun, although vaguely, to understand the meaning of social life, as well as that of its chief incentive,-social approval or condemnation: glory,-while, on th

life-conception is now und

country, in order to fulfil the requirements of a law that would compel one to renounce the most natural and praiseworthy fe

law, love of God and one's neighbor, and the sufferings a man endures from the contradictions of life, compel him to renounce

as the present transition, through which we have been passing these last 1800 years, seems arbitrary, unnatural, and overwhelming. But it seems so for the simple reason that the f

various phases, and we ourselves possess it through heredity, education, and unconscious habit; hence it seems natural to us.

of the family, as, for instance, the obligation of parents to feed their children, of children to support their aged parents, and that of conjugal fidelity, seemed equally impossible. And still more unreasonable seemed the demands of the State, requiring citizens to submit to established authority,

sible, mystical, and supernatural. Now that we have passed that phase of human life, we can understand the reasons for the aggregation of men into families, communi

at the present day the uneducated masses, the Russian peasants, for instance, who call the Czar a God upon earth, obey the l

l religion, whereas in reality there is nothing mystical or supernatural about it; it is only a doctrine concerning hum

ity, brotherly love, community of goods, non-resistance of evil by violence-will seem as natural

r life-conception of the family and the State, and must press forward

esign and purpose revealed to him by his reason, he goes on in the old fashion until his life has become intolerably inconsistent, and therefore distressing. Likewise, the larger portion of mankind, after learning through its r

ect entertained for these guides, the majority of men continue to be influenced in life, now additionally complicated, by their former views. It is as if the fath

the doctrine that must underlie the foundations of life in this new epoch; but, yielding to inertia, it still clings to its former habits. From this inconsi

eory to be horrified at the extraordinary contradictions

the economical, the political, and the international. As though his intelligence were forgotten and his faith temporarily eclipsed,-for he

fundamental principles of bygone ages,-principles quite contradic

ied in taking advantage of his fellow-man, oppressing him for generations, merely because he believed in diversity of origin, noble or base, descent from Ham or Japheth. Not only have the greatest philosophers of ancient times, the

of respect were only Persians, only Greeks, only Romans, or only Frenchmen; but no one believes it now. And the enthusias

viction deep in our hearts of the truth of that fundamental doctrine of Christianity, that we are all children of one Father, yea, every one of us, whereso

ays knows that in the matter of life and worldly goods all men have equal rights; that no man is either better or worse than his fellow-men, but that all men are born free and equal. Every man has an instinctive assurance of this fact, and yet he sees his fellow-beings divided into two classes, the one in poverty and distr

by this distressing inconsistency between his ideal and the actual f

never enlivened by a ray of brightness, enduring numberless privations-are those who recognize most clearly t

that they may minister to the pleasures of the minority. And it is this very consciousn

suffers the tortures of Tantalus from his unsatisfied yearning for that which not only could be granted him, but which is really his due. The sufferings of the working

g for himself; he works in order to gratify the luxurious and idle, to increase the wealth of the capitalist, the mill-owner, or manufacturer. He knows that all this goes on in a world where men acknowledge certain propositions such as the economic principle that labor is wealth, that it is an act of injustice

old and what I hear men profess," says a working-man to himself, "I ought to be a free man equal to any other man, and loved; I am a slave, hated and despised."

wrong for the working-man or the poor man to wish himself in the place of the rich: but this is not so; he wishes it in a world which professes the doctrine of the gospel, whose first principle is embodied in the relation of the s

in the sentiment humanity; and if not in the sentiment humanity, then in justice; and if not in justice, then surely in science; and he cann

es of Christianity, humanity, justice, and even of science (political science), in which he professes to believe. He affirms his faith in the principles of fraternity, humanity, justice, and political science, and yet the oppression of the working-class is a

ecessities of life for my brothers and sisters. We are brothers: I receive a salary for judging, convicting, and punishing the thief or the prostitute, whose existence is the natural outcome of my own system of life, and I fully realize that I should neither condemn nor punish. We are all brothers: yet I make my living by collecting taxes from the poor, that the rich may live in luxury and idleness. We are brothers: and yet I receive a salary for preaching a pseudo-Christian doctrine, in which I

erly contradictory, and the more sensitive a ma

uch a life. Even supposing that he succeeds in stifling the repro

tions. Recognizing the calamity that threatens them, their fear turns to defiance and hatred. They know that if they relax for one moment in this conflict with the oppressed, they are lost, because their slaves, already embittered, grow more and more so with every day's oppression. The oppressors, though they may see it, cannot cease to oppress. They realize that they themselves are doomed from the moment they abate one jot of their severity. So they go on in their career of oppression, notwithstanding their affectation of interest in the welfare of the working-men, the eight-hour system, the laws restricting the labor of women and children, the pe

e advantages they have wrung from the poor, as did the ancients, who were convinced of the

istency. Still more strikin

se to acknowledge that the law of our State is not the eternal law, but only one of the many laws of many states, all equally imperfect, and frequently wholly false and unjust,-a law that has been openly discussed in all its aspects by the public press. It was fit that the Hebrew should obey his laws, since he never doubted that the finger of God Himself had traced them; or for the Roman, who believed that he received them from the nymph Egeria; or even for those peoples who believed that the rulers who made the laws were anointed of God, or that legislative assemblies have both the will and the ability to devise laws as good as possible. But we know that laws are the offspring of party conflicts,

church preaching, and still we are compelled to support both; we also admit the cruel and iniquitous punishments inflicted by the courts, and yet we play our part in them; we acknowledge that the distributi

the problem of our international relations, and which cries aloud for solution, since both human

the scientists of other lands; we, who take as much pride in the heroism of a Father Damien as if it was our own; we, who love the French, the Germans, the Americans, and the English, not only esteeming their qualities, but ready to meet them with cordial friendship; we, who not only would be shocked to

ple beloved by God, and that all the others were Philistines and barbarians. Also, in the times of the Middle Ages men might well have held these opinions, and even they who lived toward the end of the last century and at the

need of it for all nations. And the representatives of the government, in their private as well as in their public capacity, in parliamentary speeches and diplomatic negotiations, express themselves in the same temper. Nevertheless, the

uence is a strife between the different governments to surpass each other in strength. The very existence of this spirit of rivalry favors the chances of war: the nations, no longer able to support the increased armament, will sooner or later prefer open war to the tension in which they live and the ruin which menaces them, so that the slightest pretext will avail to kindle in Europe the conflagration of a gener

year. By increasing its armament it paralyzes more and more the springs of social and individual welfare, and may be compared to a man who, in order to obtain w

ance: "These numbers represent but a small part of the actual expenditure, because outside of the expenses enumerated in the budgets of the nations we must take into consideration the great losses to society from the removal of so many able-bodied men, lost to industry in all its branches, and moreover, the interest on the enormous sums spent in military preparatio

lasses and the general impoverishment of the people. But regardless of this, governments, determined to maintain their independence, go to the utmost limits of folly. Additional taxes are levied on every side, and the financial oppression of the people knows no

pean nations. The saddest part of it, however, is that there is no end to this increase of budgets and consequent impoverishment of the

"to enable us to take part in the senseless wars of the future, or to pay the interest of debts left us by th

en and citizens, the time has come to declare the rights of nations and to repudiate once and for all time those undertakings of fraud and violence, which, under the name of conque

; try to reform him by loving him.' Well, the boy goes to the Sunday-school till he is fourteen or fifteen years of age, and then his friends say, 'Put him in the army.' What has he to do in the army? Why, not love his enemies, but whenever he sees an enemy, to run him through t

la

e way also; for in a publication which I saw-I believe it was correct-it was made out that since the year 1812 these nations had spent the almost incredible amount of 1,500,000,000 of money in preparing and settling their quarrels by ki

our army not disbanded, we have no right to be c

an ministers in the matter of preaching against wa

ion that I never heard universal peace recommended from the pulpit half a dozen times in my life.... Some twenty years ago I happened to stand in a drawing-room where there were forty or fifty people, and I

on of the wholesale shedding of human blood, men in these days do not wait for a sufficient cause. Those who are active in war forget to ask themselves if there is any justification for the numerous manslaughters that take place, whether they are just or unjust, legal or illegal, innocent or criminal, or whether they break the principal law that forbids us to commit murder" (without just cause). "Their conscience is silent.... War has ceased to be a matter connec

ease to be nations of thieves, and their armies bands of robbers. Yes, our armies are nothing less than a rabble of slaves belonging to one o

o be slain. There is a military slavery, and it is the worst of all slaveries, particularly now, when by means of conscription it forges chains for the necks of all the free and strong m

es, without protocols, without publicity, and therefor

g from an overgrown army. A new disease is spreading throughout Europe. It has affected kings, and obliges them to maintain an incredible number of troops. It is like a rash, an

f tension is called peace. Europe is in truth ruined. If private individuals were reduced to such straits as these, the richest

f government. In the time of Montesquieu it was said that the reason for the maintenance of large armies might be foun

they called for soldiers and money-there would be an end of a military policy.' Now, almost everywhere in Europe there are

ed at such a pitch of sensitiveness that it is enough to say, for instance (even were the report to prove false), one country has refused to receive the ambassador of another, to precipitate the most frightful and disastrous war. Europe maintains under arms at the present time more soldiers than were in the field during the great wars of Napoleon. Every citizen on our continent, with a few exceptions, is

dreds of millions are yearly expended-sums that would suffice to educate the masses, and to carry on the mos

state of things which is neither war nor peace, and longs to be delivered from it. The heads of governments emphatically affirm that they desire peace, and eagerly emulate each other in their pacific

se appalling armaments show, if not a declared hostility, at least a secret distrust among the different nations. What should we say of a man who, wishi

ces of peace and the military policy of the governments

actions, finds himself in a desperate plight. Setting aside the many other contradictions between actual life and conviction which abound in the life of a man of the present day, to view the military situation in Europe in the light of its profession of Christianity is enough to make a man doubt the existence

t and counsel from our mutual intercourse. Were it not for this sympathy life would have no meaning. But at any moment some demented ruler may utter a few rash words, to which another gives reply, and lo!

o madness and to suicide, and this is but too

hows us why this seems

distractions, half of them would kill themselves out of hand, for to live a life that is made up of contradictions is simply unbearable, and such is the life that most of us lead at the present day. We are living in direct contradiction to our inmost convictions. This contradiction is evident both in economic