222 MY LIFE 



they had been purchased — land and people — from their former con- 

 querors and oppressors. 



Russia itself, the originator of the Peace Conference, forthwith 

 persecutes Jews and Doukhobors on account of their religion, and 

 takes away their solemnly guaranteed liberties from the Finns — a 

 people more really civilized than their persecutors. 



All three of these governments, as well as Germany and France, 

 invaded China, and committed barbarities of slaughter, with reckless 

 devastation and plunder, which will degrade them for all time in the 

 pages of history. 



Such are the doings of the official and military rulers of nations 

 which claim to be in the first rank of civilization and religion ! And 

 there is really no sign of any improvement. But, for the first time in the 

 history of the world, the workers — the real sources of all wealth and 

 of all civilization — are becoming educated, are organizing themselves, 

 and are obtaining a voice in municipal and national governments. So 

 soon as they realize their power and can agree upon their aims, the 

 dawn of the new era will have begun. 



The first thing for them to do is, to strengthen themselves by unity 

 of action, and then to weaken and ultimately to abolish militarism. 

 The second aim should be to limit the bureaucracy, and make it the 

 people's servant instead of its master. The third, to reorganize and 

 simplify the entire legal profession, and the whole system of law, 

 criminal and civil; to make justice free for all, to abolish all legal 

 recovery of debts, and all advocacy paid by the parties concerned. 

 The fourth, the greatest of all, will be to organize labour, to abolish 

 inheritance, and thus give equality of opportunity to every one alike. 

 This alone will establish, first, true individualism (which cannot exist 

 under present social conditions), and this being obtained, will inevita- 

 bly lead to voluntary association for all the purposes of life, and 

 bring about a social state adapted to the stage of development of each 

 nation, and of each successive age. 



This, in my opinion, is the ideal wmich the workers (manual and 

 intellectual workers alike) of every civilized country should keep in 

 view. For the first time in human history, these workers are throw- 

 ing aside international jealousies and hatreds; the peoples of all 

 nations are becoming brothers, and are appreciating the good qualities 

 inherent in each and all of them. They will therefore be guilty of folly 

 as well as crime if they much longer permit their rulers to drill them 

 into armies, and force them to invade, and rob, and kill each other. 



The people are always better than their rulers. But the rulers have 

 power, wealth, tradition, and the insatiable love of conquest and of 

 governing others against their will. It is then in the People alone 

 that I have any hope for the future of Humanity. 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



