94 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



in inculcating it ? Let them stop compelling people to 

 swear allegiance to every new monarch, let them 

 cease saying prayers for him, celebrating his birth- 

 days, placing his pictures in public halls, and his 

 monument in public squares, printing his name in 

 capital letters in prayer-books, calendars, and text- 

 books, imprisoning people for speaking ill of him, 

 dazzling the people's eyes and befogging their minds 

 by means of pomp and show and glitter, crowns and 

 sceptres, gaudy uniforms, military bands, medals 

 and ranks, fireworks and triumphal arches let them 

 cease doing such things and they will soon discover 

 how much patriotism is inborn, how much of it is of 

 spontaneous growth, and how much of it is forced 

 upon the people. 



'Patriotism, therefore, as commonly understood," 

 concluded Tolstoy, "is for rulers a means for gratifying 

 their lust of land or power, and for the people a renun- 

 ciation of their God-given intellect, a surrender of 

 fundamental teachings of their religion. Conceived in 

 that sense, patriotism is but a form of slavery, and 

 the patriot often but his monarch's executioner. 

 End this blind patriotism, and you end war at the 

 same time, for people will then be no longer willing 

 to sacrifice themselves for the aggrandizement of 

 their ruler, or of his diplomats or of his military chiefs. 

 Remove this blind patriotism, and the profession of 

 the diplomat will be gone. There will then be no 

 quarrel between nations which arbitration courts 

 will not adjudicate. Remove this blind patriotism, 

 and nations will establish their cause by the law of 



