THE DESCENT OF BOLSHEVISM
his infidel brother off the throne and regained the crown.
And Mazdakism, which had suffered a momentary check in his absence, became again a power of terror and frightfulness in the land. In the name of Equality, Lawlessness and Communism, the tables were turned, every crime was sanctioned or condoned, the rich, in consequence, becoming poor, the poor becoming rich, and everywhere the mob ruled supreme. Morality and religion were renounced, abolished; man became a law unto himself; and the strong, whether of the proletariat or the bourgoisie of those times, prevailed.
But the most amazing things about Mazdakism, is the inconsistency that is scarcely found outside the Orient, where piety and crime go hand in hand. For while it encouraged, even sanctioned all kinds of unspeakable abominations, it imposed upon its followers a rigid observance of the sacredness of animal life. Mazdak himself was a vegetarian, and he prohibited the killing of animals for food or for sport.
[7]
