everybody was talking about the triumph and
victories on this new front. Many tons of
coal were raised, wood was cut, bridges repaired, railway tracks cleared, and in a
thousand ways the enthusiasm formerly given
to the work of slaughter was transferred to
the victories of peace.
If Russia has her way she will have no standing army and will disarm, but this depends on her neighbours and mainly on Britain. If she and America disarm so also will Russia ; meantime when peace is signed the army will become a militia ; battalions will be formed on a territorial basis. It is proposed that this militia will be thus enabled to live at home where massed production in farming, railway construction, mining, etc., is carried on. Men will work together, get their training together and in the event of war, will be organised together in battalions for fighting purposes.
By this means it is hoped to obviate the barrack system and get rid of the existing evils by which millions of men are segregated apart from their families. There is one other thing to bear in mind : it is this ; the one great industrial principle which animates Lenin and his friends is “ Nothing without Labour.” “ He who will not work, neither shall he eat,” and this surely should be the watchword of all Socialists.
