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THE DEGENERACY OF THE REVOLUTION 51
who with the aid of the Petrograd garrison seized the central
power and declared themselves undisputed masters of the
situation. The last phase consisted in the suppression of the
National Constituent Assembly, who had met in Petrograd
with a majority that voted against the Bolshevist party.
In order to remain in power this party proclaimed, as a
fundamental principle, that the workmen’s, soldiers’, and
peasants’ class should unquestionably rule irrespective of
the wish and will of the whole nation.
This claim rests on the presumption that a great State
organism can do without its intellectually trained classes—
an illusion especially dangerous in a State like Russia, where
the educated classes represent a very small minority,
amounting probably to not more than 3 per cent, of the
total population. The educated classes form the backbone
and brain of the country, and it becomes very difficult to
replace them, owing to the fact that many years of study and
preparation are necessary to fit a man for an intellectual
career in the conduct of the practical exigencies of State
and Society. Only extreme doctrinarianism and an
uncompromisingly prejudiced mind can overlook the fact that
every occupation requires a certain qualification and
efficiency. An educated man does not look with contempt
upon the uneducated. On the contrary, he recognizes that
the uneducated man, performing as he does necessary manual
labour, is indispensable to the life of the nation, but at the
same time he also realises that the management of matters
concerning the State and public affairs require a certain
standard of knowledge and training which are not at the
command of the uneducated masses. This truiim could only
be ignored by the hopeless class prejudice of Bolshevism,
which mistrusted and disqualified the educated classes
solely for the very fact of their education. Such a principle,
embodying the subversive teaching of Leo Tolstoy, is
inimical to enlightenment and progress. The educated
classes represent the greatest effort made towards efficiency,
improvement, and the understanding of opportunities
afforded by nature. The mistake made by the miscon-
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