s». '^.t: IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) fe ^/ /. i/.. 1.0 1.1 1^12^ |2.5 ^ U£ 12.0 2.2 1-25 1 U , ,.6 ^ 6" ^^ <5^ w ^> Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716)872-4503 ^ ^r. Persuaded , he learned to what he con- At the age d an essay in verses, he un- ; earth is the ime all the dif- ice and his ad- the fields, and s writing, he the project he ipt sent to the Czar, in the form of a request, was rejected, and its printing was forbidden by the authorities. In the meantime, in 1885, BondarefT became known to Tolstoi, whose renown was alreadv great among the people. Struck by the pro- found truth of the peasant's theories, the author of My Religion introduced into his own life the reform that Bondareff had preached ; he set himself to follow the plough, to use the awl, and. in a word, to work with his hands. Till then he had had but glimpses of these reforms, without professing them openly.* The truth only appeared to him in all its brightness, when Bondareff placed before him his manuscript. He then developed Bondareff's views, while modifying them and giving them a wider and more profound meaning, in his great works, What is my Life ? (of which the true title is! What then must be done ?)^ and What should be done, which is the answer to the first, and forms with it one complete work.ij: *See, in War and Peace, \.\ reflections of Pierre Bezon- chef and of L6onie. Consult also, Anna KarMine and My Confession. f What is vty Life? translated by Gatzouk and Em. Pag^s. One volume. Illustrated Library, 1888. X Tolstoi was familiar with the work of Bondareff, before writing What is my Life? and What should be done. Besides the many other points of resemblance that they display, we give here a passage from What is my Life? (page 164.) where Tolsto! makes evident allusion to Bondareff, " Wealth," says Tolstoi, " is but slavery; it has the same object and like results. Its object is to free man from the primordial law, according to the 8 Labor. ;£t rr xj: tr:rs-: Bm.darers own production. *^ '""' The principal reason for nresmtin^ , .l world a translation of W is ha. "" great value, not only as sho,: nl Tols.rsT" vipu'c Kiif r,^ J* 1 . »'"Mg 1 oisioi s own Mcws, out as displavinp- thp crK*.^* • ^ n- which To^rK'" "" ""= ereat reform of Piofanlhtrid!"""""^""^ "^^'""^ "-• »»- I. Between the dortnn#» ^f *u dareff and that T'Z H^ £;:rkt^: ex.sts a strong and remarkable resemblance ■speaks is no »,her',ha„B™r'»r"""°' ""■""«' T„l„„, manual labor on iV. p"i!,i,"'! '"'■ "^ " ""'»" »^'. "as.. A journal published „„a,r .h. direction „, M. Obo,o„.ki. . deas of which he ^ere not illusive ol a paradoxical /Russian Wea/f/i* lication had been he wrote a pro- theory of Bonda- h together with resenting to the that it possesses g Tolstoi's own reat intelligence he advocated, e but profound t, who stammer- jreat reform of ^ame the cham- ■ peasant Bon- Lyof Tolstor e resemblance. Bondareff; he. »1 law of life as we Tsonal labor as the " of whom TolstoT weshall see. bases ial law : " In the >f M. Obolonski. i Labor. ' , g had questioned him on the idea he had con- ceived that labor was a social remedy ; he had read his work, and had also edited it. Bonda- ret! had thus been theinspirer of Tolstoi's social theories, as the sectary Soutaief inspired his re- ligious beliefs.* We shall find in Tolstoi's last philosophic work, W/iat should be done, his ideas o«i social reform. ' Every man should by the work of his hands support himself and his family. Every woman should nourish and educate her own children. To man, according to the Bible, God gave the law of manual labor, to woman that of mother, hood. To violate these laws is death. But while to man disobedience to his own duty would be followed by speedy death, for woman the punishment comes more slowly. But the violation of both laws would lead ultimately to the annihilation of humanity. But for a long time men have disregarded the law of labor. For a long time certain classes have oppressed others, and at this day the breaking of the law is pushed to the verge of folly. Do we not see Renan and others filled with the vain dream that one day machinery will accomplish all sorts of labor, while men will become but " bundles of enjoying nerves" .> While men so transgress their law, women usually obey theirs. Thus, according to Tol- * Under the heads of tolstoism and soutai/vism, see in the Itevue des Deux-Mondes of September 15, 1888, a masterly es- say by M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu. lO Labor. I ! 1l stoi, women are stronger than men, and to them men owe the hope of becoming in the future more faithful to primitive law. Still a mother who disregards her maternal duties, and finds all her pleasure in luxury and worldly enjoy- ments, will bring up her children to false ideas, and will teach them to neglect the duty of la- bor, by usurping the fruits of others' exertions. On the contrary, the faithful parent would in- struct her children that labor is necessary to life. We can compare these ideas with those ex- pressed by Bondaref! in the first paragraphs of Labor according to the Bible. Bondareff inter- prets the account given in Genesis as meaning that Adam was punished for eating the for- bidden fruit, that is, for taking the fruits of oth- ers' labor. He was condemned to seek his own food, "to knead his bread," to use Bonda^ reff's expression, by the sweat of his face.* It is by manual labor and above all by till- ing the ground, and not by the merits of Christ, not by sacraments or other virtues, that Adam' was to save his soul from hell. His descend- ants have inherited with original sin the obli- gation to labor for their redemption. The penance inflicted on Adam by Jehovah is not allegorical. That of Eve, " In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children," must be taken literally. Thus , on one side, man must procure by the * It is shown by note on page 21 how this mode of inter- preting the Bible can be justified. Labor. II m men, and to them ning in the future iw. Still a mother al duties, and finds ind worldly enjoy- Idren to false ideas, 2ct the duty of la- >f others' exertions, il parent would in- >or is necessar}'- to eas with those ex- first paragraphs of . Bondareff inter- renesis as meaning or eating the for- ig the fruits of oth- mned to seek his id," to use Bonda>- t of his face."* above all by till- le merits of Christ, virtues, that Adam ell. His descend- B^inal sin the obli- edemption. The y Jehovah is not I sorrow shalt thou be taken literally. ^ t procure by the i )w this mode of inter- labor of his hands the bread necessary for his own subsistence and for that of his wife and children ; on the other, woman must acquit her- self of all the duties of motherhood. Neither one nor the other can evade their respective obligations. It is from Labor according to the Bible that Tolstoi has taken the leading idea which he has given in What is my Life f nd What should be done. But while Bondarcif claims that the law of labor and that of motherhood are the effects of a divine malediction, Tolstoi protests energetically against that notion. What we find in the verses of Genesis cited by Bondareff, and on which he rests his theory, is this: God said to Adam, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread ;" and to Eve, " In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children." * But according to Tolstoi it is an error to believe labor is a curse ; and to this error he attributes man's efforts to evade the law and to usurp the fruits of others' work. He ceases not to proclaim that labor is not a sorrow but a joy. Neither is motherhood a curse. It is a sacred and imperative duty ; but it is also a joy, and an utter satisfaction. Tolstoi" thus arrives at the same conclusions with Bondareff, but from a different standpoint. That is, he opposes the Gospel to the Bible. He even claims to find in the Christian precept * It is remarkable that the Talmud also teaches that every man should have a manual profession, and the Sanhedrim de Clares that labor ". ordained by the law of Moses. — ^ 1' I I I IJ Labor. \ \ •Ml "f l-'veand charity the hw „f As he says so clon„.n!. ""'""'>' '«bor. "inn whoVo/esscsT„r ^''" P-''*^'' ^6: "The ""ions, the .ioar • es of " ' ^^ ^""'^ ''"' ^V "ot deceive hims^tolel- ■'•"'' ''"<-• -'' Never would the n,: w, ^e ?dir' T '""^ '''"■ 'S to serve other.! im. "^ existence "•ose who ar dWn' 5"" '^''' !'" - help ■"•■•king new bwsf i;^' ,W cf' '""''" ''> "» objects of iuxu^y^or bv nfn °"' "'"'''■"ff or violin. Love can ,n^ > ^T"^ °" ""^Pi"»" Thoi.D-l, w- '''' *" foo ish." 1 noiigh dcsaereeine- on .1,.., • . •-"'d Tolstoy unite i^nro-l •'"""'• '^'""'•'"■«ff labor is not only „a s'Z '"r'"^ """ '""""•-" «l>e most excelle„"mor,1 ^'' "J ""'' " '^ «!«> cious agent forsrivrti; p' /' •\"' •'"' ^»'^•-'- Tolstov how tilling the "•,„''";f'''<='T Las shown P--ively calls -Tabor ^^'^^^l:'^',;"^ «'. e- tive occupation to which -.n ' ""^ P"""'- themselves, and by whTd, L L "',"'"'' '''PP'r man should not aJ Jl . >' *'"'"''' "ve. A has worked in the "o, T?"'"'' '■^"'» "" he f s way a .nan'tLC 3h''':JrVr- '" shelter himself without ne?H ' . / ''"'*f<^' and ' Both Bo„dareff\nd T„, ^^ ' ''"'"" ''"^'^"- ' elusion that ph^icalthn .?' ■""■"'^ •■" "'<= ^o". tellectual acdvi' b ,t o t"' "°' '^■^'••'"'''^ h-- ' hold that it augment the "■.%?°"'^a'-y. thev i power. ^ "" "'<' """ds dignity and < .aS:;: tt:iTzr "'" "■'^^' ^<"»"" h-s ' ir. Labor. M law of manual labor y on pa^e ^6: "The '"'y by words but by truth and love, will ''c object of his life ^sc idea of existence >e that he can help cold and hun^rcr by •ng: cannon, working playing- o.uhe piano so foolish," 'I's point, Bondareff aiming that manual ' but that it is also niedy, and an cffica- Jondareffhasshoun "(1 (which he so ex ^ead-)istheprimi. nien should apply 'ey should live. A 3ndary tasks till he O'- forty days. I„ clothe, lodge, and ig aid from others. ■ arrive at the con- >es not exclude in- 'e contrary, thev '"d's dignity and ^Ml'or, wc shall see that Tolstoi's theories'are the ;amc as Hoiuiarcff's. Without doubt the pliilo- spi)hic novelist has his own originality of ideas, but it is not the less true that he found the first outlines of his doctrine in Bondareff's book. And is it not an admirable spectacle to behold this great genius, the celebrated author of War and Peace, seeking in the home of the humble peasant the word of life, the magic formula which permits us to construct here below the heavenly Jerusalem of which we all dream? II. ^vhat Tolstoi- has "Sly put in prac- 'uld be done, with Labor does not only show us how, under Bon- dareff's influence, Tolstoi's ideas on the social reform to be produced by physical labor are developed, but it enables us to comprehend more clearly how this theory and its conse- quences are only now arrived at. What have they not said of Tolstof, as laborer and shoemaker ? A recent letter says : " Tol- stoi's compatriots fail somewhat in respect to- wards this grand old man. From them comes the story of his learning the trade of shoemak- ing. We see this nobleman established in a shop, and we hesitate whether to admire or pity him. We should do neither. He does not make the trade his condition of life, but only a distraction, seeking a mental repose in manual exercise. Others make arms or weights ; he ! ( '4 tab, *or. lias a horror of uselp«« , o- '•><'ke shoes." ''^"'■''> «»d prefers t the doc'trine of t'oIs[ovT a"'^^ ""^ ^P'"'' o cal labor is with t; ?ht ^^t"'^' ''^y- «fntial character of mn S*""'' ''"'>' '"« "»b- mode of life. VVitTn?', !? .""^ '™«' '^e 'v-ork to maintain the eolilih ''".'''• °"« ""'« [•"d body, but that is',o h "'"' ''^'"'^«" '"in'l Tolsto, to the p oujh ''^.^ 7"v« which led ments of Jean-Jacque ,n ^ "™?^'^ "«= •■"■?..■ ' W^e must work wi^h'our hi H°?' ''"^"^ '^b°r. ^'^'^ in a battle with It^f''""^" "f^ -"n- ""^tence. and phy dbh "' ""= ""^^"^ of Man finds in thra'ccol tr '^ "'^ '••"»■ "' We. complete satisfact on 7o hirn '.°f ""'^ ^"'>' '^ h's spiritual needs To °u''^ "^ ^^«" "^ ^^••e for himself and hi T"!' "°"'«' «"d bod.ly wants. To nourth W?.^ '""^'^^^ his "'hers becomes a spS' w /^'' ""'' '"'' 'or '"■v;ty is le^itima't ' ttt d"'^- ''^ '°'-"' <" S""fy the primitive wanN „f "°' ^^^f^ 'o rests his very life. "" "'^ '"=»", for in these Let us go further T i i • ""■e is what we our..i ° ' ? "" '''^^'ist. Na- ;'s true f„rm is Mi d „TthT^- "^ '''""- '" farabove the individual nert ,""'"" '^'"d ''^ ognize individuality as P'T^.'''^-- Letusrec- -e working at an in^fi, il "a ^ th"'.""" *''=" "'^ beyond us. To n„t IJ, ' "'"<^'' '"^ infinitelv follow the path of enunctti!:: "?"""'">' ""^ nunciation and self-abnega- I I nil I :l 11 1 bor. Labor. 15 efforts, and prefers t(^^'^ should be our rule of life. Now,4he a(N tion in which this idea clothes itself, that in ^ being- the spirit o^'^'^^^ ^^ takes form, is labor, the secular task ind Bondareff. Phvsi^'^^*^ unites all generations of men and makes the highest duty th ®^ ^'^^ universe a completed harmony, a single lan, and the true the '^^'"§^ accomplishing a single work.* ^owt doubt, one must Consequent upon this theory of labor is the uibrium between mind ^^''^^ ^" ^^^^ possibility of a paradise in this the motive which Jed '^^^^^*^» ^"^ ^^^^ ^ contempt for mere industrial ^"d the shoemaker's ^'°^^' ^^^^ condemnation of commerce, and a ^d strongly the areu ^^^''^^ ^^ cities, which he calls " truly impure favor of bodily labor ^^^bylons." We must, says Tolstoi, abandon the ands because life con ^^^'^^ where there are but consumers and not Ji'e for the means of P^'o^ucers, and renounce those habits of city life vi^hich, far from constituting progress, are but the worst forms of corruption. Again, in adopting this theory of manual labor, the problem of pauperism will be readily solved ; we need but to scatter the poor of the cities among the peasants of the country. How, asks TolstoY, can we leave the village, where we are surrounded by fields, by forests, by grain and herds of cattle, in a word by all the riches of the earth, to seek nourishment where only dust and stones are to be found ?t Live by the work of your hands, " labor for bread," thus Tolstoi and Bondareff advise those who seek a remedy for social evils, and whose ^or IS the Jaw of Jife hment of this duty a ^is bodijy as weJJ as "ourish, cJothe, and famiJy satisfies his c'othe, and care for ^"tj. No form of does not seek to '^ '"an, for in these ' IS an ideaJist. Na ^^^e it. Nature in - universal Mind is "al'ty. Letusrec. Jsion, and that we which ic. infinitely r persona h"ty and n and seJf-abnega- * See Lfeon Tolstoi's book entitled Of Life, one volume, published by C. Marpon and E. Flamtnarion. f What is my Life? p. iii. i6 i I :i Labor, hearts are full of i sentiment of justice ' °' ^"'"'"'^ and tf Jolstoiaddsthatifther. <"• 'w men, who Wtho . """"^ °"^' "vo, thre, 'nent or resorting to .1 ?'"'S^ ""^ govern ^''»"ld solve for ,1, '^'^^"'"""nary violen. 'i"n which div de. .V^'""^'^'^" this 4e 't n ' ;«!'^hj and the hitherto ^'"'"""^ "'">'" the ' 'h.es between conw ""''^'^oxcilable ant?,! ' -cfet, would z::ziTV''. -^-i- io ' >■ , '"^qi-alities would ^''^P''3'sical labor Cr, ^ Saence, Politic Ec: "t' T" -«'-• S->nce, Poh, :.'', <'-:-<'ed upon eart "" " "'^ans are powerless toT'','"^ •'"' "terior " "nly remedy is ;„ ? .""'^P^' this evil tk P 1?:,....^''!. -"ole 'sodai ' .!;'"'"":''-''^ re. " moral.ty. To an honest 1 ''"''•'°" ''^ ""e of co-e from within. If each "r'''" '■^'"™ -"st f stables, or JudgeT '^ "° "^^ «f -'dier?;2: f . ■L'oes not this offer pn • • * -centive to refor^^'ol^tf f^ /nd ^--^^u, ^uman race? Js nntVu^ "^"^ ^^ save fh. ^^f ocates PossfbLr H ;;f^-- ^hat Tol^^ ^l' ."ot comprehended tt^."'" ^^"^* ^'^ who ^^-st, which teaches the ren"' '""''^^"^ of ^ renunciation of indf. se th III. Labor. ly ^or humanity and th ^ 'idual life and admits no immortality except •^e vvere one, two thr '^^^ ^^ humanity. ^"t entering- uno'n n^^ ' t fr^. ui- ^ "pon an\ t troubling the govern ^olutionary violenc;' ^'ves this o-reat qucs ^^ '^^^^ endeavored in few words to por- ^^^d,it would result ill '^^''^"'^ ^" compare the doctrines of Tolstoi happiness within thei *"^ ^ondarefl. We have shown their tendency J^^econciJable antir)'""^**^ *'^^^^ ^°^^^^ results. We have but to add a "<^ the organization /'^^"''"^"^ °" Bondareff's own book. Physical labor. Cruel ^^^ perusal is highly interesting and sugges- ^^f and it would be a^^*^^' ^^"^ ^"^ "^ ^'^^^ peasant a profoundness of ^^^ upon earth. ' ''thought united with great simplicity of charac ^y> and all exterio ^^^' ^""^^^^^^ his ideas are not always ex- spel this evil -p^^ [ Pressed with sufficient clearness, which is due idual moral reform^ ^° ^^'^ biblical style he has adopted. But this 'yal labor. Human' ^^^^"^^>' ^^ ^^^ily surmounted, if we read with due attention. We have endeavored to give his language as precisely and exactly as possible, leaving un- touched the style of speech familiar to the Rus- sian peasants, who are indefatigable readers of the Holy Scriptures. We have sought to explain by notes every serious difficulty that occurred, and to illustrate |he texts of Tolstoi and of BondarefT by com- paring them with each other. ^he individual's re ^"^^!^'«" is one of' ^«cial reforn, n^ust p"^ .should avoid '<-hnst,an charity ^ ^^ soldiers, con-' "^J and powerful and to save the ^^^ that Tolstoi- ^a« doubt it who ^"e doctrine of "c^^tion of indi. * \V I owe thanks to my brother, M, Emile Pag^s, ho has already translated a work of TolstoTi my Life ? one volume, Illustrated Ij What i8 Labor. I brary), and who will soon publish Wealth and Literature by the author of My Religion, as well as an essay on his life and works. In 1888 he visited the great Russian author at Moscow, and received from him the manuscript of Labor, whose translation he entrusted to me, beinji; too much occupied to attempt it himself. That Lyof Tolstoi and the peasant Bondareff may recognize their work as we have translated it will be the best reward of our efforts. Amed£e Pag^s. i 1 i I Wealth and 'igion, as well In 1888 he at Moscow, ript of Labor, ne, bein^ too mself. That )ndareff may translated it rts. >£e PAGfes. LABOR. KiRSX F>AR'r. LABOR, AND BONDAREFF'S THEORY. BY COUNT LYOF TOLSTOI. The work which ! now offer to the public is by Timothy Michailovitch Bondareff. I have made no change in it, except to substitute for Bondareff's peculiar orthography one more generally used in books. One other difference consists in my division of the work in two parts; reserving under the title of Appendices all that seemed to be a repetition of 6r digression from the principal subject. This work is, in my opinion, remarkable for its force and clearness, the beauty of its lan- guage, the sincerity of conviction which each line betrays, and, above all, the importance, the truth, and the profundity of its fundamental idea. The master-thought of the bpok is this : Un- »9 20 Labor. ri! dcr all circumstances of life, it is essential not only to know what is g-ood and necessary, but to know which, among these good and neces- sary things, is of the first or second impor- tance. This, which is of supreme need in the affairs of life, is still more so in those of religion, for which faith fixes duties of such great import to humanity. Tatian,* one of the Fathers of the early * Tatian, an apologist of the second century, attracts the historian by the originality with which he assimUates revealed truths, and the somewhat rude eloquence with which he bran-is pagan corruption for its lapse from orthodoxy to the Gnostic heresy. He was born in Assyria, as he himself states in his Discourse to the Greeks. Having vainly sought, as well in the popular faith, in the Ori- ental mysteries, and in the schools of philosophy, for a doctrine that would appease his intellectual doubts and satisfy the more elevated demands of his conscience, he found it ultimately in the Gospel, and described it in his hrst and most celebrated work, the Discourse to the Greeks, as the motive of his conversion. This apology, which wou.i seem to have been written during a sojourn in Rome, is distinguished from all others that were written at that period by the irreconcilable antagonism it portrays between the pretended wisdom of the pagan and the Gospel. On one side all is light; on the other, utter darkness: here stand mythology with its absurd fables whose subtle alle- gories scarcely conceal their coarseness, art devoted entirely to sensual pleasures, and philosophy with its contradictions and its nothingness ; there, Christianity with its simplicity and universality, its purity of life, and the courage in the presence of death with which its followers were inspired. After the death of Justin Martyr, Tatian returned to Syria, and affiliated himself with one of the numerous sects to which Oriental fervor of imagination gave rise. As far as can be ascertained where so much controversy existed, Tatian joined the sect of the Encratites, although he Labor 21 1 essential not necessary, but od and ncccs- econd impor- e need in the »se of religion, 1 great import of the early itury, attracts the Sbimflates revealed h which he bran -is oxy to the Gnostic mself states in his ar faith, in theOri- phy, for a doctrine id satisfy the more nd it ultimately in d most celebrat««i ; of his conversion, fen written during 1 others that were )le antagonism it Lhe pagan and the er, utter darkness: whose subtle aile- t devoted entirely its contradictions I its simplicity and je in the presence ed, returned to Syria, lus sects to which much controversy iiites, although he Church, says that the misfortunes of men come less from their ignorance of the true God than from their faith in false gods. This is equally true in regard to men's individual duties. Their misfortunes and crimes result not so much from igorance of real duty as from admitting false ideas of duty, and from not regarding as their sole duty that which is highest and most clearly established. BondarefT affirms that the crimes and mis- fortunes of men result from their accepting as sacred duties precepts that are frivolous and hurtful, while they forget and conceal from themselves and others that which is incontest- ably the first and most important of duties, and which is contained in the first chapter of Holy Scripture: "In the sweat of thy face Shalt thou knead bread." * t^as not its founder. (E. Strachlin, Encyclopedia of Religious $cience.) The best known of his w Drks of that period, the Diatessnron, must have been a harmony of the four Gospels of which Euse- Wus speaks without having seen it. Tatian composed this to «9cpimge from the canonical text the genealogies and other I»ssages which make the Saviour belong to the race of David in the flesh. * Tolstoi and Bondarefif thus render this verse of Genesis as letter expressing the idea of manual labor. It is usually |-anslated, " In the sweat of thy face shalt shou eat bread." ^e give a passage translated by Reuss from the Hebrew text: f And the Eternal God said : Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I fommanded thee thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground lor thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy »/>. Thorns also and thistles shad it bring forth to thee, and thou ^ Labor. ifc- ill To those who believe in the sacredness and mfahbility of the Divine Word as given in the «JbIe, It will be evident that this command ment strongly asserts its own truth, since it was given by God and has never been annulled As for those who do not believe in H. , Scnpture, if they will, without prejudice, con- sicler this precept as a simple and natural ex- pression of human wisdom, they will see clearly Its sense and truth if they also examine the con- d.tions of human lifer and it is precisely this that Oondareff has done in his book. They may be prevented making successfully such an examination, because so many arc accustomed to the absurd and erroneous expla- nations that theologians give to the Holy Scrip- tures. It will need but to recall to them that a doctrine is susceptible of different interpreta tions, and they will exclaim with disdain: •' V\ hat do we care for Holy Scripture? Wc know that whatever one chooses may be based upon It, and that it is all false." Nothing could be more u. ; ^ ior we nmst not take for Holy Scriptur.: naa. s mistaken views of It, and he who really speaks the truth ^ may well do so in the words of the Scriptures I sMl ean/u-HerJ, of U.e fieU, in the sw.at of thy face shalt thou lln^H '; . "" "'"'" '" ''^ «^"""'= '''' -' °f '•• --' thou Uken. dust thou art. and unto dust shalt thou return " We. ^.his interpretation of TobtoT and Hondanffis not 1... exact They have reason to believe that Genesis tcach.s us that the natural condition of man is to labor in the ground II tur( if, ( sim ing for It S it is beci its \ its c tran est grej Bon com gott fore O all I ever gori cies M who to u evf*r grat then and I Labor. «S e sacredness and d as given in the It this command n truth, since it er been annulled, believe in Hcly t prejudice, con- J and natural ex- !y will seeclearlj examine the con- is precisely this book. king- successfully e so many are erroneous expla- ) the Holy Scrip- H to them that a ;rent interpreta 1 with disdain: Scripture? We- es may be based 1st: ior we must I nians mistaken speaks the truth -\ I the Scriptures, of thy face shalt thou ■ ir out of it wast tlioii i hou return." ' I nondan ff is pot in : Genesis tcachrs us >r in liie ground, ^ If we admit that what we call Holy Scrip- tures is not the work of God, but of men, and if, on the other hand, while it is purely and simply the work of men, it is regarded as com- iifig Irom God, let us not forget there is a reason vfor its continued existence. It is easy to perceive this reason. Superstitious men call it God's work because il is more profound than all human science, and because, notwithstanding continual attacks upon its verity, it remains to this day without losing its divine authority. It is called divine, and is transmitted to us, because it contains the great- est possible wisdom. And this is true of the greater part of what we call the Bible. This in fact, and in a literal sense, is what Bondareff takes for his text, in proclaiming the commandment that the human race has for- gotten, or has so interpreted as to destroy its force. One usually regards this sentence of God and all Adam's life in paradise as a real and historic ^ event, although we should also give it an alle- gorical aspect, as showuig the contrary tenden- cies that God has placed in human nature. Man fears death and is subject to it. One who knows of neither good nor evil would seem to us most happy, and yet we are eager to know everything. Man loves the pleasures and the gratifying of his wants which bring no pain with them, and yet it is by pain and suffering t, he and all his race attain life. ■i i 34 Labor, These words, "Knead thy bread in the sweat ot thy face," are important, not only because it IS claimed that God himself uttered'thcm to our father Adam, but because they are true, because they affirm an irrevocable law of human exist- ence. The law of gravitation -, not true only be- cause Newton discovered it; but, on the con- trary, we know of Newton because he made this discovery, and we are grateful to him for show- ing us an eternal law which serves to explain a whole class of phenomena. It is the same with the law, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread." It is also a law which explains a whole class of phenomena. Having known it once, wc can never forget it and we are full of gratitude to him who discov- ered it. This law would seem to be simple and well known ; but that is but a delusion, as we discover on looking around us. Not only is it not recognized, but another that is diametrically opposed to it prevails. All who believe in God Irom the emperor to the beggar, seek to evade rather than to obey it. To show its eternity and immutability, and to explain how its infringement must necessarily result in misfortune, is what Bondareff has un dertaken in his book. Bondareff calls it the primitive law, the first cc)mrr,andment, nnd places it above all others. He shows that sm and all faults and disloyal Drea Vou Both feast year, «CCO] 0ays. ; He that ; by al $cien( Jiuma I Labor, 25 read in the sweat t only because it tered them to our are true, because ' of human exist- ot true only be- but, on the con- uise he made this to him forshow- :rves to explain a 'In the sweat of d." It is also a 5s of phenomena, never forget it, him who discov- simple and well 1, as we discover only is it not is diametrically believe in God, % seek to evade utability, and to lust necessarily ndarefT has un- e law, the first lOve all others. s and disloyal actions belong to those only who break it. In his eyes, the principal of humanity's positive duties, the first and incontestable need of each individual, is to ivork with his hands for bread ■ he understands by it that each man, by long and pamful labor, should preserve himself from dy- ing of cold and hunger, and that he should pro- cure b)' manual labor food, clothing, warmth, and shelter. ' Bondareff's fundamental idea is that this law (man must work to live), now regarded as merely necessary, should be considered as the highest of all. It ought to be held as a relig. lous duty, like observing the Sabbath and cir- cumcision are among the Israelites, fasting and the sacraments among Christians, and the pray, ing five tmies a day and other practices among the Mahometans. ^ He claims that if men regarded working for bread as a religious duty, no other occupation ^'ould deter them from fulfilling it, even as nothmg can deter believers from celebrating the feasts prescribed by their religion. , We have more than eighty feast-days in the year, while working for bread only requires according to Bondareff's calculation, about forty' _ How extraordinary it seems, at first glance, that a means so simple, so easy to be understood by all the world, and requiring neither skill nor icience to accomplish it, should be able to save humanity from all terrestrial evils, no matter t 26 Labor. 'X. how numerous they may be! But how much more surprising is it that, having in our hands a means so simple, so clear, so long known to all the world, we should neglect it, and seek to cure our woes by various false and subtle theo- ries! It is acting like one who, instead of putting a new bottom in a broken cask, tries to invent all sorts of artifices to make it hold water. hvA our efforts to cure our own woes are like these vain artifices. Whence come, then, all the misfortunes of men, excepting those which result in assassina- tions, prisons, combats, and all the cruelties of i which they become guilty because they cannot ! iorbear to use violence? ; All human misfortunes, direct violence ex, i cepted, result on the one hand from hunger and privation of all sorts, and from discouragement m labor, and on the other from riches, idleness, and the vices they engender. Ought we not to endeavor to destroy this inequality by which some are plunged into the evils of misery and want, and others into those which belong to the temptations of wealth? How can we do this but by taking part in the labor which satisfies our wants, and in abandoning wealth and idleness, which are the parents of vice and temptation,' in other words, in obeying the law which com^ mands men to labor each for his own bread and to earn their living with their own hands? We are so overwhelmed with the multitude of Labor, 2; ! But how much 'ing in our hands a long known to all :t it, and seek to e and subtle theo- stead of putting a tries to invent all hold water. K\:\ oes are like these le misfortunes of esult in assassina- 1 the cruelties of ;ause thej cannot irect violence ex, from hunger and 1 discouragement 1 riches, idleness, Ought we not to luality by which Is of misery and ich belong to the r can we do this )r which satisfies jalth and idleness, and temptation; law which com- *■' "^ \J TT ii Lfi ^aw, leir own hands? the multitude of Religious, social, and domestic laws that are im- posed upon us ; we have invented so many com- iiandments in announcing, as Isaiah says, " line Ipon line, precept upon precept," one rule for |iis, another for that, that we have lost all clear |erception of good and evil. One says mass, an- other recruits for the army, or collects taxes, a Siird is a judge, a fourth is a student, a fifth cures isorders, a sixth teaches ; all, in fine, by these or similar pretexts evade the law of labor, leaving ^ for others, and forgetting thac there are around t|iem men who are dying with hunger and ^tigue. But before giving the people priests, flpldiers, judges, doctors, and professors, we l|iould know that they are not perishing with linger. Not only do we forget that many duties pay present themselves for fulfilment, but also fiat there is a first and a last duty, and that we iannot undertake the last till the first is ful- |lled, any more than we can harrow the |round before it has been ploughed. "* It is to accomplish the duty which is the first practical order that BondarefT's doctrine is iven. BondarefT shows that the accomplishment of Ihis duty does not interfere with any other fccupation, presents no difficulties, and saves fcan from poverty, want, and temptation. It destroys above all the odious division of man into two classes who hate each other and liide under a veil of humility their mutual dis- like. 28 Labor. illlF Labor for bread, says Bondareff, renders al men equal, and clips the wings of luxury and covetousness. One cannot cultivate the ground or dig wclli in rich clothing, with white hands, or on delicaU food. By giving themselves up to an occupatior that is good and holy for every one, men conu nearer to each other. Labor for bread restore; intelligence to those who have lost it or hav( led unworthy lives ; and it also bestows joy aiic happiness ; for God and nature have reservec this as a glad and interesting work for mankind ^ Labor for bread is a remedy that saves man kind. If men would recognize this primitiv* law as divine and immutable, and regard labo: for bread as an indispensable duty, all wouh then be nourished by their own work, b< united by the same faith in God and in love fo one another, and thus destroy the poverty fron which so many suffer, We are so accustomed to a contrary stale o affairs, and to regard wealth, freedom fron the need to labor, and high social position a; gifts of Heaven, that we do not choose to se? how unjust and incomplete it is. Let us analyze it with care, and see if it is just There are on this point religious and politica theories to suit all tastes. Let us judge Bon dareff's theory as a mere theorv. Let us con sider what would happen if, following Bon dareff's wish, all the clergy should undertake in th m of ^of ne i W ^i a ihi w< us ; W( y tei • ofc no ^sa: r thi ^ as br \ an \ frc ;oti I of lin^ : lab idareff, renders al! igs of luxury anc round or dig wclii ands, oron delicatr to an occupatior 2ry one, men cohk for bread restore; ive lost it or havt 30 bestows jo}' anc ire have reservec work for mankind y that saves man ize this primitiv( and regard laboi : duty, all woul( - own work, b rod and in love fo ' the poverty fron contrary state o h, freedom fron social position ai not choose to set is. and see if it is just ^ g-iousand politica et us judge Bon )ry. Let us cop , following Bon ould undertake ir Labor. (plain this first comi 29 their sermons to ment, and if all men should accept the holy law of labor. What would be the result? All the world would labor and eat the fruit of their labor, and bread, being an object of necessity, would neither be bought nor sold. What then? No one would die of hunger. If a man could not earn enough for himself and his family, his neighbor would help him. He would do so because he would have no other use for products that he could not sell. It would follow that man would have no more temptations; he would have no occasion to obtain by ruse or violence the bread he could not otherwise procure. Violence and deceit would not then be neces- sary as they are now; and he who resorted to them would do so from evil impulse, and not, as now, from want or privation. Those who are weak and cannot earn their bread would no longer need to sell their labor, and perhaps their souls, to obtain food. . No one would then, as now, seek to escape from the burden of labor or to throw it on others ; nor endeavor to crush the feeble with it, while on the strong they neap all manner of work. We would no longer find men devot- ing all their intellectual forces to facilitate, not labor for laborers, but idleness for the idle. In taking part in the labor for bread, and in recognizing it as the principal human occupa- tion, we act as one who, seeing a carriage drawn 1 30 Labor. by fools with the wheels in the air, turned it over and replaced it on its wheels. It then went smoothly. The life we lead in scorning labor, and in try- ing to reform it contrary to nature, is as this upset carriage with the wheels in the air. And all our efforts will be vain till we place the carriage in its proper position, and our- selves in ours. This is Bondareff's doctrine, in which I entire- ly believe. Let me further explain his notion. There was once a time when men devoured each other. The idea of equality gradually developed among them, however, so that this state of affairs did not continue. Thus canni- balism was abandoned. Then followed a period in which they made slaves of their fellow-beings, and possessed themselves of the fruits of their labor. But in tmie human consciences became too enlightened for this, and slavery was abolished. While these gross forms of tyranny have now disappeared, its spirit is still existing beneath hypocritical deceptions. Man no longer openly avails himself of the labor of others without form of recompense. To-day exists another phase of violence: the rich, profiting by the needs of the poor, still enslave them effectually. But, according to Bondareff, the time is com- ing when ail men will be equal, and one cannot profit by tb 3 need of another, or through his Labor. 31 air, turned it eels. It then )or, and in try- ure, is as this s in the air. till we place ion, and 011 r- vhich I entire- ion. len devoured ty gradually so that this Thus canni- h they made d possessed bor. But in enlightened id. my have now ting beneath :)nger openly lers without :ists another iting by the n effectually, time is com- [ one cannot through his suffering from hunger or cold succeed in enslav* ing him. Man, admitting that labor for bread is a law imposed on all, will consider it a strict duty not to permit the sale of bread (that is, articles of actual necessity), but will nourish, clothe, and care for each other. I regard Bondareff's work from another point of view, which is this: You will often hear it said that we must not be content with negative laws and command- ments, that is, the rules which decide what we must not do; but we should have positive laws, which determine in a precise manner what we ought to do. For example, Jesus Christ gave five negative commandments : * I St. Never regard any one as a fool or idiot; and never be angry with any one.f 2d. Do not look on marriage as a mere source of pleasure. Let not the husband leave iiis wife, nor the wife her husband.:}: ♦Tolstoi's moral law is all contained in these Gospel pre- cepts. See, for the development of this doctrine, and his ex- planation of the Sermon ott the Mount, his book entitled My Religion. \ " But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in dan- ger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (St. Matthew, chap. v. 22.) ^: " It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for th? cause of fornication, causeth her to commit m .-'I r ^ i 'I M 32 Labor. n i ' ;. it .•Ill i ll^ 3d. Swear not ; do not make promises to any one or for any cause.* 4th. Submit to offence and violence, and do not resist wicked men.f 5th. Do not regard men as enemies. Love your enemies even as you do your neiglibors.| It is said these commandments teach us only what we must not do. It may seem strange that there should not be in the doctrine of Christ a precise command- ment as to what we should do. But whoever adultery: and whosoever shall marr^ her that is divorced, com- mitteth adultery." (Ibid. v. 31, 32.)' * " Again, ye have heard that it hath been said, by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusa- lem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black." (Ibid. v. 33-37.) f " Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Ibid. V. 38-39-) X "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you. Love you renemies. bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your father which is in heav- en; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Ibid. V. 43-45.) Labor, 33 promises to any violence, and do enemies. Love our neighbors.:!: ts teach us only re should not be ecise command- ). But whoever that is divorced, com- leen said, by them of ilf, but shalt perform either by heaven; for )1: neither by Jerusa- , because thou canst ^- V. 33-37) d, An eye for an eye, evil; but whosoever > him the other also." aid. Thou shalt love ies. bless them that Li. and pray for them you. her which is in heav- i'il and on the good, the unjust." (Ibid. believes fully in the doctrine of Christ will find-^ there not only these five negative command-' ments, but also the positive doctrine of all truth. Now, the doctrine of truth, as proclaimed by Jesus Christ, is found not in laws, not in com- mandments, but only in the sense b}' which we understand life. It teaches that life and its welfare consist not in personal happiness, as many believe, but in serving God and our neighbor. And this is not a duty to be performed for recompense, it is not a mystical expression of hidden and incom- prehensible meaning, but a revelation of the law of life hitherto ignored, a demonstration that life cannot be good if it is not given its highest phase. So the doctrine of Christ and of truth is ex- pressed in these words : Love God, and thy neighbor as thyself. Christ's direct laws and commandments, and the Judaic and Buddhist precepts, indicate the ways in which the world's temptations turn men from the right way. Thus, there may be many such laws and pre- cepts, while it needs but one positive rule of life to teach us what to do. The life of every man consists in following some one aim. Whatever it may be, he tends to- wards it, as he sees it more or less clearly. Christ has shown us the right wav, and how we may be turned aside from it. For this there are many diverging paths, and the five com- ni 34 Labor. 1i I Vl 1 Hi ■h; ill j 1 i,., mandments are given to guard us from their errors. But only one precept is needed to show us the right way , and for those who be- lieve Christ's teaching, and know the true way of life that he has pointed out, no positive laws are needed to enforce his doctrine. The different actions which result from fol- lowing the true path of life are clearly dcHned for those who accept Christ's teaching. They are, to use his expression, as a well of pure wa- ter bursting from the soil , and their actions liow naturally from the pure source, in spite of all obstacles. No man, believing in the doctrine of Jesus Christ, would ask what were h.s: positive duties, any more than the water springing from the earth would ask what it should do. It flows in its abundance to refresh the grass, the trees, and the flowers, while birds, animals, and men par- take of its bounty. Thus the man who accepts Christ's definition of the path of life goes unquestioning on his w.iy straight to the goal. He need not ask what he has to do. Love, which will become the prin- ciple of his being, will show him clearly the right path, and what duties belong to the present and future. The first and most pressing claims of this work of love are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to succor the sick, and to visit the prisoners. This is the counsel of Christ as well as of our own hearts. And above all. are we Labor. 35 rd us from their ipt is needed to for those who be- now the true way , no positive laws rine. I result from fol- re clearly dcHned teaching. They \ well of pure wa- and their actions source, in spite ol doctrine of Jesus Ks: positive duties, ringing from the d do. It flows in rass, the trees, and lals, and men par- Christ's definition [uestioning on his need not ask what II become the prin- m clearly the right to the present and ng claims of this hungry, to clothe k, and to visit the ;i of Christ as well above all. are we exht)rted by reason, by cojiscience and feeling,.- to secure to our brother-men their lives, to pre-' serve them from the suffering and death which result from their unequal contest with nature,* and to urge upon them the labor for bread, the most important and most wearisome of all work, and which is distinctly imposed on all men. Even as the spring may not ask where it shall send its waters, whether it shall sprinkle from above the grass and the leaves of the trees, or seek their roots beneath the earth, so a man who knows the doctrine of truth may not ask in advance what he must do, whether he is to teach men, to defend them from the enemy, to amuse them and give them the pleasures of life, or to succor those who perish in want. A spnng does not flow upon the surface, quench- ing the thirst of animals and filling the ponds, * This idea of an incessant struggle with nature as being [man's principal duty and occupation occurs frequently in Tolstoi's works, and notably in What should be done. "The |first and most undoubted duty of man," he says, "is to partake |in the struggle with nature, for his own life and his neighbor's." I And again: " Whether it results for good or for ill, this is the |decree of God, or the law of nature which created man and the Iworld. The situation of man in the world, as we know it, is such |that, being naked, without shelter, and unable to find hi'' food fin the fields, — like Robinson Crusoe on his island, — he is under !the necessity of contending always with nature for food, cloth- iing, and shelter. Food must be prepared to satisfy his own ^hunger several times in the day, and also th:it of the children fwho are too young for labor, as well as of the feeble old [folk." 36 Labor. si It* till it has first watered the earth; thus a man, kn()\vin bemg n the death that vith nature. The l)y words but by and love, will not )bjcct of his life. idea of existence that he can help \ and hunger by cannon or work- by playing on the t be so foolish. does not consist /hen he is hungry, reat price if he is the contrary, it is :ity. So a man in ve himself; he will Lity that his love for ing succor to those 3r hungry. But to )y is to fight hand he who is willing lo in the moment of ry will refuse to aid * Tolstoi" has discussed the theory of the division of la- bor, showing its disastrous effects, in IV/iat should f>f done, at page 104 of the French translation, and those following it. Without doubt, according to Tolstoi', the division of labor exists in human society, but the question is how to render it Ijust. It has made in our day an admirable progress, but, by jsome unhappy chance, it has aggravated instead of amr- jlioraiing the condition of the greatest number, who are the la- orers. How then shall we make a just distribution of labor? To [preserve life by a manual labor, common to all. is the first uty ; which is to be personally fulfilled, yet in a manner that ids our neighbor also. T— 3pip^!SH 38 tabor. WW are still dying for want of aid. The man who practises the doctrine of truth will demonstrate in his life, that is consecrated to the service of his fellow-men, the primitive law which is formu- lated in the Book of Genesis: ''In the sweat of thy face shaft thou knead bread. Ihis is the primitive law, or the first commandment, as Bondareff calls it, and he shows us that it is a positive law. This is a law as well for those who have not comprehended the true meaning of hfe as indi- cated by JesusChrist ; for those who lived before him, and also for those who have not believed in him. It is a positive law, exacting from all of us, conformably to God's will, as it is manifested in the Bible and to our intelligence, to support our- selves by labor. It preserves this character even when the true meaning of life, as indicated by | the doctrine of truth, is unknown to men. But where men well know this aim of life as pointed out by Jesus Christ, the law of labor for bread will become part of Christ's positive doc- trine (to love one another), and will then have a necrative and not a positive meaning. When men comprehend the true Christian doctrine, this law will show them the old temp- tations which they must avoid, that they be not turned from the true path. To a believer in the Old Testament who does not recognize the doctrine of truth, this law has the following meaning : '« Work for bread with your own hands.' Labor. 39 The man who will demonstrate to the service ol lw which is formu- " In the sweat of ;ad." This is tiie commandment, as )ws us that it is a ose who have not ling of life as indi- se who lived before ave not believed in :ting from all of us, 3 it is manifested in ice, to support our- this character even ife, as indicated by lown to men. ' this aim of life as the law of labor for Ihrist's positive doc- md will then have a meaning. the true Christian them the old temp- )id, that they be not restament who does Df truth, this law has York for bread with But to the Christian its signification is nega- tive. It says to him : " Do not believe you can do good to mankind while overwhelming them with labor for others, and while not earning your food with your own hands." It shows to the Christian one of the oldest and most criminal temptations that have assailed mankind. Against this temptation, that is so fatal in its consequences, and which we recognize with difificulty as deceitful and contrary to human inature, Bondareff's book is directed. His words are as obligatory to the believer in the Old Tes- tament as to him who accepts the Gospel, to the man who rejects Scripture and relies on his own reason, as to him who comprehends the doctrine of truth. : Reader, dear brother, whoever thou art, I love Ihee ! Far from seeking to grieve thee, or to bring evil or offence into thy life, I wish only to serve thee. I desire to prove fully the truth of this thesis, to refute all the objections that are made against it ; |)ut 1 miglit write at greatest length and with ut- fnost talent, I might give the most logical rca- lons, and yet I could not convince thee, if thy Ipirit contends with mine, and thy heart remains ^old and insensible. I One thing I should fear, lest, in disputing with Ihee, the pride and coldness of my own spirit fliould overshadow thine, and I should thus larm thee. Then let us not reason. I only ask f thee one thing : do not discuss or demonstrate e matter, but only question thine own heart. 40 Labor. ,;i i, 1 ii uh Mil t Whoever thou art, whatever may be thy qualities, however good thou art, in whatever condition thou art placed, canst thou take tran- quilly thy tea and eat thy dinner, canst thou oc- cupy thyself with politics, fine arts, science, medicine, or teaching, when thou secst and hear- est the man who is lying at thy door sick and starving? No! But thou wilt say. they are not always there at my door. It may be so; but they^are perhaps but a short distance away from thy house, and thou knowest it. 1 hen thou canst not live tranquilly ; whatever may be thy iov it is poisoned by this knowledge. Not to see those who are miserable, thou mayest barricade thy doors, and drive them afar off, or ^ fly thyself to a retreat where there may be no j., danger of finding them. But they are every ^^ where. And if thou couldst find a place where ^^ thou canst not see them, canst thou escape thine ^ own conscience ? What then is to be done" ? ^^ Thou knowest, and Bondareff's book proves it, ^ that thou must descend into the depths, or what ^j appear to thee to be the depths, but which are^^ really the heights. Join thyself to those who feed the hungry and shelter them from the cold, .^ Fear nothing. Far from being worse, thy nevv^ estate will be better than that which preceded.^ it Place thyself on the level of others ; under-^^ take, with thy feeble and unaccustomed hands,^ the work of nourishing and clothing the needy ^^ U.bor for bread, contend with nature, and for ' the first time thou wilt feel the ground firmly , w in Ic P ki th t.n fr vi tl w g' U re Labor. 41 2ver ma) ^ J with thy feet, thou wilt be filled with a sense of ' \ art, in whatever ,. , j ,-, , , , , , nst thou take tran- :^ndepcndeiu:e, hberty,anci s^ength ; thou wi t no ,ner canst thou oc- ¥^^. ^^^"^ ^^ «>'"f ' ^"^ ^hou w|lt taste, with a ' rts science ^^^ J^^' '""'^^^"'^ pleasures of which the world hne ar s, ^^^^^^ Jias never given thee the least notion. Thou wilt hou sees an » . - |^,^q^ ^^ l^^j. ^j^^^^ strong, simple-hearted men, thv door sick and * , ^1 , . , ,. , -^ J , -e not W ^wn brothers, who, notwithstanding the dis- ilt say, 16) ai lance at which they have hitherto stood apart It may be so; but * ., , , • i , , ,/ from thee, have always nourished thee, ort distance away t- ,, ^ .• c .- . ., • , it Then ^'^ ^ ^'"^^ satisfaction, thou wilt see in them knowes 1. virtues hitherto unknown; thou wilt find in ' : whatever may be ,, , ' r , • , , 1 1 ^ TJnf ^"^"^ ''^ modesty and goodness of which thou ^s knowiedge^^^^^m ^^ii^ fed unworthy. Instead of scorn and hatred Table, lou m* y ^^^ \\io%Q that wait upon thee, thou wilt receive ,ve tnem atar 011, or g^^^jj^^^ ^^^ respect, because, after having -e there^ ""^^J^/J ^^'^ ^^ ^^^''" services all thy life, thou wilt now 3ut they are every |gjne^l3er tj^^j^ miseries and endeavor with t find a place w'neie |^j^,^ j^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ .^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 1st thou escape thine ^^^ .^^j^^ ^^ ^^j^.^^ ^^^^^ ^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ en IS to be done. ^j^^ ^^^^^^ ^,^^^ ^^^^.^^ ^^^^ engulfed thee is but irefl s book proves It | ^^^^ ^^ r^^h\;^^\,, whilst the seeming sea thou ) the depths, or what l^^j^ fear is the earth itself. Thou wilt now jpths but which ^^ it with bold, tranquil, and joyous feet, byself to th()se who | j^ ^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ abandon- -them ,rom t''ecold.|^ ^j^^ ^^^j^^ ^^^^^^ ^^,,^^^ .^ ^^^.^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ,eing worse, thy new j^^^^^.^^ unwittingly and against thy true that which preceded.|^^^^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ vel of others ; under. J ^,^ ^^^ ^.^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^ disobeyed unaccustomed han^^^^^^^ will, thou wilt now faithfully accomplish I clothing the need) ,1 ^ ^ with nature, and for'l ;el the ground firmly lioscow. March. 1888. Lyof TolptoI. ! ' ji* SECOND r*ART. LABOR, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE. BY THE PEASANT BONDAREFF. .. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread: dust thou art. and unto dust shalt thou reinrn."-Genesis, ui. 19. Before undertaking to treat with all my en- erev of the questions of labor and idleness let me explain who I am. Am I not ^^e those who, in pointing out to others the good path they should follow, wander themselves m that which is evil, and most opposed to equity and right- j eousness ? t ^ ^a^ Up to the age of thirty-seven years I wod I ishment any m »re than you will death itself. But what may perhaps save you will be that I they will destroy this work. 4 One must have an aim, 1 have replied. For Jthe truth we profess we must be willing to 'suffer, and even to die. But it may be that 'their fault is the gravest, and that for them will •be the severest punishment, as we will show presently. St) I have answered the idle ones who have redicted for me terrible sufferings. It might € for my interest to speak in allegory, but I vill not; be they angry or no, I will still take and live without Ihe straight path. would stretch out | Many rich ones, having read my writings, which is forbidden lire offended by them. •' You write," they say, earned by another's |' not against the world, but against us only." with you. That 1 Therefore, in the name of the God of truth, pray you, reader, not to imagine likewise. I ave written, in the name of all laborers, against hose, whoever and how many soever they may i)e, who do not produce the bread they eat by |he labor of their own hands. I All my writings may be condensed in two payings : 1. Why, according to the first commandment, o you not labor for the bread that you eat, stead of eating that which the labor of others as produced ? 2. Why, in both secular and theological ooks, are not the laborer and his work corn- ier, to have pity on o this question, and others refuse to ex- ponsible. for the trouble I that I labor and lunishment for it, as )ur reproaches, say DU would receive a i stab to the quick 46 Labor. m n b( k: b i'ill! mended, instead of being treated with extreme ""T^l these questions „nght to be enough^ But as you co.uemn manual labor '"every fvai, I m'ust write at greater length, on the sub- '' To conclude, I pray you, reader, not to eat (or two days before judging my book. The human race ildi^ed into two classes: one is noble and honored, the other humble and desoised. Those belonging to the hrst are rich'y clothed, possessing tables well furms ed with exquisite dishes, and they are •n»je=t'^=^"> seated in places of honor; but those belong.ng o the second are covered with rags, the.r stren-ih exhausted by poor food and hard orC and they have an air of sorrow ul humility, as they remain standmg on the thresh- old : these are the poor laborers. The truth of my words is confirmed by the parable in the Gospel. -'There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day : and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate, full of ^or.^'^^^ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell j from tlfe lich man's table: moreover the dogsl caiue and licked his sores." (St. Luke xvi. '^Veli I will speak to my companions, the laborers who stand on the threshold: Why do Labor. 47 ed with extreme ;hl to be enough, l labor in every 2ngth, on the sub- eader, not to eat ny book. into two classes: other humble and ; to the tirst are )les well furnished ey are majestically jt those belonging 1 with rags, their r food and hard air of sorrowful iding on the thresh- rers. 5 confirmed by the here was a certain i in purple and fine ,ly every day : and ar named Lazarus J , full of sores, and ; crumbs which fell moreover the dogs es." (St. Luke xvi. Tiy companions, the threshold: Why do you stay there always, as silent as so many quad- ■ rupeds? Without doubt one should be silent befor-e a man of greater merit, but we should know wherefore and to what extent wr are to be silent, and not humble ourselves basely, or adore him as an idol. Tlius, in the name of this latter class, I address myself to the former, and I say: Reply to the ^questions I will ask. I. Adam,for having infringed God's command. *' Ye shall not eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree," lost paradise not only for himself, but for all his race unto the end of the world. We see by that that he was guilty of a great sin, but we must not believe that his crime consisted ■merely in eating the forbidden fruit, that is, the apple. 1. Then he tried to iiide himself among the trees of the garden, as the Scripture recites. But from whom would he hide? Men did not yet exist. From God, then. Behold, then, the madness in which sin |had plunged man! Could he hide from the lyes of God? We' see that, having recognized is fault, he waited to receive his punishment, ind this is God's unexpected decree : " For having disobeyed the command 1 gave ou, behold your punishment: In the sweat of hy face shalt thou knead bread : dust thou art, nd unto dust shalt thou return." 3. Ought not Adam, then, to have shed tears f gratitude towards God for the great mercy It SBSS 48 Labor. 'III I I ii 11', i' 1' III Shown him? What was this punishment to that which he mio:ht have looked to receive? 4--Ma.v we then believe that Adam labored for mne hundred and thirt) years, and that he eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, livinfr by the work of his hands, altho.icrh he was a noble, according to his time, since ..e is the father of the human race? 5. Did he desire dominion, or any power whatever? No. For though he listened in par- adise to the words of the serpent, who said to him find to his wife, "Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil,"_that is, you shall live like pomestchiks, and you will be the most in tcUigent beings in the world,-thev nevertheless sc. lost spirit as to seek concl^ilment from (jod. Following the counsel of the serpent, Adam hoped to live in the world without labor; but he was, on the contrary, condemned to seek his nourishment in the sweat of his face, and instead of being elevated to a supreme rank, he lost his birth-place, and in exile was poor and with- out shelter. Thus to him the serpent became a horrible creature, to whose frightful influence he owed his own loss and that of all his race 6. Thus you will see, reader, what is the "re- sult of this desire for possessions. And what must we think of one who thus gains possessions, that is, who can be sheltered beneath an umbrella, having white hands, and who during all his life eats the bread that Labor. 49 others have earned ? The solution of this'enijr. ma is beyond the limits of reason. I know that 3'ou have already a crowd of ob- jections to make to my ideas, but do not criticise them, I pray, till you have heard me to the end. 7. Did Adam hope for a moment, by means of money that did not yet exist, or by any other subterfuges whatever, to turn over his labor to strange hands, to remain himself under an um- brella, and wait for the results of others' labor, hke a beggar or a drone? Thus many do in these days, who regard it as a great crime to take from any one a blade of straw or a grain of corn, but who do not think it a crime to take and eat the food, earned by others, which is served at their tables. 8. But if our father Adam received a pun- ishment in proportion to his crime, and sub- mitted to it willingly,— iu other words, if he labored v\rith his hands to the end of his life, as is said, ''Thou shalt return to the ground, whence thou wast taken,"— we see that he is now innocent, and has atoned to God for his crime. 9. Holy Scripture again says: "For then Adam will stretch out his hand and eat of the frui of the tree of life, and will live forever." It has been supposed this means literally the tree on which Christ was crucified. But that is an arbitrary supposition. Can we admit that to the merits of another, of Clirist, that man, who r- m ■"Ml hi r ii ill 50 T.ah or. m lias no merit of his own, obtains pardon for his sins? That notion was evidently invented to strengthen the hope that we may without labor, and while resting at ease, inherit eternal life. But if this tree represents Adam's penance, and means the duty of laboring for bread, then a severe task is imposed on ourselves. Is not, then, my interpretation just, by which, if Adam ate the bread his own hands had earned,' he should then, and then only, Hve throughout all ages ? For example, if no one stretches out his hand towards the tree of life, that is, to labor for bread, what would become of most of us? In that case, could the world itself exist? We see, then, clearly that wc, who are labor- ers, are near the tree of life, but you, who will not labor, are near the tree of death. Have I spoken justly ? One must, at least, acknowl- edge that my conclusions are true. 10. Thus it is evident that if Adam by his punishment has won iorgivcness of his crime towards God, that penitence ought also to atone for the sins of his whole life. But as man continues to sin against God as long as he lives, this chastisement is decreed : " To dust shalt thou return." Is this just? 11. And you of the higher classes, which are but branches of the same trunk, why will you not, m ail your existence, submit to this penance and why must you eat several times in the !l !,: ll Labor. 5» ins pardon for his ntly invented to ay without labor, rit eternal life. Adam's penance, j^ for bread, then rselvcs. )n just, by which, )ands had earned, , live tiiroughout :hcs out his hand is, to labor for most of us? In f exist ? -, who are labor- Jt you, who will death. Havel least, acknowl- ue. if Adam by his :ss of his crime S^htalso to atone against God as ent is decreed: asses, which are k, why will you to this penance, il times in the I day ? Are you not as miserable as I am, and as I arc the laborers, my companions? But as you are above us, you are more intel- ligent and better educa':ed, and yet you comtnit the greatest of all crimes in the sight of God and the world. You say. *' We work harder than the laborer; and it is with the money gained by our labor that we buy bread." We will speak of that presently. 12. We see by what has been said that we vainly consider how we should atone for our sins, for God knows what treatment should be prescribed for our illnesses or wrong-doings, and ,he has prescribed thi^ we should accept it with sincere ardoi, and not use divers pre- I texts to evade its application. Is this true ? 13. But if we, Adam's posterity, have inher- ited his sin, and share in the penance attached to It, and if we are really more guilty than Adam, [because he did not know all that we have been taught, then we ought not to try to escape that punishment, nor to evade the penance which I God himself decreed for Adam and his posteri- jty. Each of us should labor to gain his bread I with his own hands, whether he be rich or poor, [and whatever may be his merit or rank, excus' ling only the sick or aged persons who are too I feeble t(^ work. 14- Doubtless, if we do not examiae manual labor attentively, the duty of earning our nour- •rl m m * II! I i! I, ii.. ^1 ! I ill i ii ■ i (: HA 52 Labor. ishment, and their respective merits, they will not seem of sufficient value to atone for ail our sins, and to render us innocent in the sight of God. Because if we work only for ourselves, what recompense can we expect ? I have already said what this recompense is and I will repeat it. ' But if the merit of labor seems to you insuffi cient, you will be little disposed to accomplish It, even if an angel came down from heaven to explain it. * 15. You see, then, how Adam atoned for the first sm. But it has been asserted that he was for that exiled to hell during five thousand five hundred years, and that he suffered there till Christ delivered him. But this is certainly an interpretation con- trary to the law. And why do yon assert what IS not conformable to law ? Is it to be delivered from "these abominable occupations," and to live like a pomestchik? But if it is just to be- heve that Adam owes his deliverance to manual labor, then let us devote ourselves assiduouslv to that duty. Is it just ? 16. I ask, then, why God did not prescribe to Adam as a penance our most esteemed virtues such as fasting, prayer, partaking of the sacra- ments, etc. Why did he, instead, direct this labor in which men of education can find no virtue, but who regard it as almost a vice? Why is this ? 17. From the developments thus far reached, '■■^ Labor, 53 e merits, they will to atone for all our snt in the sight of only for (Hirselves, ect ? this recompense is, ems to you insuffi. sed to accomplish vn from heaven to im atoned for the serted that he was five thousand five suffered there till terpretation con- o you assert what it to be delivered ipations," and to ' if it is just to be- -erance to manual elves assiduously J not prescribe to j esteemed virtues, ing of the sacra- itead, direct this tion can find no 5 almost a vice? thus far reached, n w mla seem that Adam belonged to our class \o that which is inferior and ignorant : he knew ^ot how to read, to write, nor to speak elegant- ly. God gave him an occupation which suited MS spirit ; and he, being weak, submitted to it 3ut God orders now the same dutv for men who Ire instructed in Scriptures and by the voice of fonscence ; and these make a thousand obiec- fions to It, which God himself would not know *iow to answer. i8. Till now, we have spoken only of Adam's )enance, and not that of Eve. Could not God the beginning have created many thousands )f people } Why did he create only these two [he husband and the wife, Adam and Eve? Evidently because in human life there are two principal affairs, two duties of equal value and mportance : the one, that of motherhood ; the ther, that of manual labor. God said to Eve • il will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thv onception: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth h.ldren •' And he said to Adam : '' I„ the Iweat of thy f.Tce shalt thou knead bread ; and «iou Shalt return to the ground whence thou ■'ast taken. 19- Now I ask why, i„ the woman's penance ny, there is no hidden meaning or allegory ut ,t IS accomplished literally, as God pro! ounced u? The woman who hves in a poor |ut and the emnrps*; on b-^r ou, neglecting this precious remedy, and| burying it in a tomb, where the inhabitants of the earth may not find it, you decide that faith in^ God alone can save you. Satan also believed in God, and obeyed him, as we see in the Book of Job, ii. 1-3. !l I it might be believed that we invented this, and that no onel had so spoken of us. But the appellation has been given us" many times. It is thus we might reply to it: V You, then, arc as the unit i, and we the cipher o. Rut as wf ^ are bound to your service, you must unite these figures, i ami o I which make lo. Thus we are as nine to one. (Author's not. J iuce what is to-dr nv u accept this law? eying it, you could it is you who have )n, as the prodigal ler's house, who is :y? ion, but as ciphers value, as certain e us in this way? you ? 3 found some other id to make it pro- ^ :his labor the pen.| words, man could abor for his own • that God permits cious remedy, and inhabitants of the scide that faith in and obeyed him, ii. 1-3. id this, and that no one ion has been given us to it: he cipher o. But ns '.:■" e these figures, i and o one. (Author's nod j Labor. g. « You have made labor for bread a secondary nrtue ; and you will be severely punished by God, and judged without mercy, because for thousands o years you have hidden this law mder a bushel, and have slain a living thing, ^ead all the books in the world, and you wHl h them never find labor or the laborers held in he least esteem. They are classed below all xn"; K .^'V' ^' '" "^^ ^^^^^^^ that you must ?o to buy bread, and its productions depends on lis good-will. Reflect on that. 'v"\i ^^^ J^'^ "^'r^' ^^^t ^'^ committed on the ^arth, such as thefts, assassinations, frauds, pil- lage exactions, etc., result from the concealment ^1 this law from men. The rich man will do all in the world to es- ape this odious occupation; the poor man is ker to throw it off. But explain to men its fenportance and virtue, a.id all crime >vill cease ^rever, while men will be delivered from overty and misery, because every one will do 's best to fulfil this duty to God I remember well that, fifty years ago the .|^.ey tax was four roubles a head, the Custom. ^head and all others are ten times as much as rmerly; the number of persons liable to be |xed IS doubled, and yet they complain that the |.H)unis collected are insufficient. Thus itmav fe foreseen that in fifty years more the tax will •I HI 62 Labor. be increased to one lumdred roubles a head, and the people will all be ruined. And why ? Because every one wishes lo be elegantly attired, without working for it. On all sides you offend us in an insupportable man- ner. People have become tricky and given to intrigue; they love to deceive ; and thus, havini^ no claim on the treasury for the least sum, thev will assert that it owes them not five but ten thousand kopecks, and they will receive them. In the last days of March 1883 1 learned that capital punishment had been re-established. I trembled at this news. As one chops meat with a blunted axe, so strikes the executioner. It is better to kill outright than to torture in| this fashion. I asked myself often what was the best way] for the executioner to accomplish his duty. If there is no other way, if we cannot by any possibility constrain men to do right, then we I must, against our will, consent to shed their blood. But there is a means, a decisive remedy fori crime, to be found in God's most ancient la\v,| For it was not without intention that God has not imposed any command before this, nor that he has not ordered us to avoid any vice ex cept neglect of labor. We thus see that labor embraces all virtues,! while idleness and luxury, on the contrary, pro- duce all vices. If, then, a malefactor is foundl . ! 1 i,lil % Labor, J roubles a head, led. one wishes to be irking for it. On nsupportable man- icky and given t(j | ; and thus, having '- he least sum, thev n not five but ten all receive them, h 1883 I learned een re-established. LS one chops meat 3 the executioner, than to torture in was the best way Dlish his duty, we cannot by any | do right, then we | snt to shed their cisive remedy fori most ancient law.a ion that God has before this, noi avoid any vice ex - braces all virtues, the contrary, pro| alefactor is foundj 63 imong laborers, it is because he does not observe his law. We must not deny that other works have lent, but they are only to be considered after one has earned his nourishment with his own hands You have permitted the executioner to fiog en, but what men? Evidently us only He ouches not the rich man, who has for his dc fence friends, eloquence, cunning, and, above all -loney. We have no such advantages. Of course the rich man must expiate his crime t the affair reaches the ears of supreme au- liority. But it is usually smothered from the beginning. It is srid in Deuteronomy: " Presents lazzle the judges' eyes." Of all the petitions I would make to you the earest to my heart is this: Do not crush the •oor while sparing the rich. And if you must trush any, begin with the head rather than the '"I. Think of my argument against your justom of shedding human blood. Let the exe- utioner disappear from among men, and let |ven his name become unknown in all the world 36. But will not the baser sort among the people say, Here are such and such ones who ive on the labor of others, why may not I do Ikewise? Then I will rob, slay, and exact the uttermost ^nny; I will live like a pomestchik, with mv %nds in my pockets: I will commnnH o^^ ^o •nger obey. For it is not by honest labor that ^u acquire your fine houses. " Honest labor ■ *(, I I'il mm 64 /Mfi, 'or. will not make you rich, but hunchbacked; ifj you do not sell your soul to the d';vil, you wil not make money." * And you will condemn such a man and exile- him to Siberia, when you arc yourselves thej sole cause of his crimes. 37. You see now, reader, how much evil there] is in this wrongs, this neglect )f labor for bread. You see the evil that white liands may do, and| the good that labor-stained ones can cause tol si)ring from the earth. You see, in tine, the good| result of making known this commandment. Have good writers given themselves muclil trouble to explain and teach it.' They shouldl have shown how useful is its observance, howl wrong its evasion. They should have enl deavored, by speech and writing and by religj ions ceremonies, to exhort all the world tn| manual labor. That would be worth a thousan(| times more than founding a faith on the work^ and merits of Christ alone, and of ahandoningl the task prescribed by God. It would be well i| writer and preacher should set the example ; bull how can we make people labor who find it sj great a fatigue to carry their food to theiij mouths? 38. If I were, in truth, a man who would avoid labor, and who knew nothing of it, and still sought to impose these opinions on others, everri one would have the right to spit in my face, an(l Russian proverb. Labor, 6s .cnce oHh^ . T '"'°"^ ""'"' ' ""g*" well be iitncelorth treated as a nobody. This IS the reason whv writ^rc k, iDoken nf fh.-o I ""'^" nave never .poKen ot this commandm- „,. nor ever u„ii ^peak of it to the end of th. woH." Adam committed a cr n, G ,d punished ™ according to the great.,,., „ his fault a^ ;ve see ,n Holy Scripture, a„. he thus g ined °mrr.t?"' """'• ^■^y-'hen.sho.Ild" ad- The New Testament makes no allusion to this le Whence then, comes the legend? If true God, ,n .n,posing on him the penance of thi;1'r"''' ^*™ "^ ^ '"'^^ promise For th,s labor was of no utility to Adam if after < ur,ng all its fatigues during his liTe he Was >ndemned after death to the torments of he» ^ery one would exclaim, ■• Is this the rec ' -nse God gnes us for our labor?" If tha be ue, what can we do? Hon shall we net ? mv must we live? by robbery and murder? UoTrrtEroS.rerrarn' J And whose is the fault? Hsto-™,;tCofrbr'^'''^"'^-"- to- If there were in the world a man having i 66 Lab< or. over you the same power that you hold over us he might permit you-though with reluc wfth!. r "'"';'' ^'"''^'"S^ "f "=^'h-to live without manual labor. But you excite envy m the laborers; and in displaying the idleness vnf.T. f'/"" "'^''™ t''^ ''^"''^ tl>^t are de- si^ht of" v':^, '"'"'"'' °' ''^'P"'g "'^•". the sight of your Idleness discourages their work, andeven tempts them to commit crimes. What a pity there is not such a man in au- thonty over you ! For we hear the cry, " God IS in heaven, and the Czar afar off " by what follows, that the man who eats the bread he 1ms earned by his own labor is happy i„th^ world and blessed in the world to come But the contrary happens to him who con. sumes the results of another's labor. No other virtue can save him, because he has disobej^d the principal commandment, and obedience to others cannot supply a remedy and'sofd'if th''™^"''' °' '"^ ^""' ^'-^ •^°"ffht and sold at their price, which is neither more nor less than is suitaole, and each me, t ha"°u own recompense. But when our labor fh.t i, our bread is taken from us for noth "' we a e neither paid nor recompensed. Why fs'n^t our labor na,d, you ask, reader? Mn t I the„ repeat the same thing ten times over/ ' ' yot\bo f^A^ ^T '"?"' ^""^^'^ntio-'sly, will fn I , ^ ""^ '"■^"'^ as much as ihirtv davs ■n the year ? Does that seem impossible t/,ou ? il Labor. 67 Is it because you cannot, or that you will' not do this? Tell me sincerely. 43. Labor for bread is a sacred duty for each of us and we should not make excuses to avoid It. The more a man is educated, the more hd owes the example of labor, neither pretending Igether ''''"^" '" ''' ""'' ,^'"^^^"^"^ ^' 44. Ought I to seek theological proofs becuuse I desire your salvation ? No, but because only that theology offers good reasons in favor of abor ; and because, also, people of my class be- heve firmly m God, in a future life, and in the Holy Scnptures. When they hear these words they will eagerly grasp this, and all other kinds of hhor, hke those who are dying of hunger and 45. Then the dark night will become to them as the bright day, the passing storm will reveal a serene sky, cold will become warmth, and old age will blossom into a flourishing youth Therefore I draw from the Holy Scriptures the arguments therein contained, but I do not address them to you. Who will read these articles to the people ? You have not the right to do so. Must you persuade the laborers themselves to read them? 1 hat ,s impossible, for in so doing you will com- mit a grave error. 40. As the nroverh oo^ro a ,.. _ 1 -^ ^-1 jvcii, ocijo, vvc nave not ci day a feast," but on the contrary it is al Lent. We should always instruct oth very ways ers to be mi* 1' f h^r V. t|| r" ••r,! 1: m r;: I t^i' ;! 68 Labor. iii pleasing to God and useful to society. But the time has come when we have but to ask this question : Why do you teach others, when you cannot teach your own selves? As is said in the same sense, - You place upon the shoul- ders of men neavy burdens, that you would not so much as touch with your little fino-e.- " VVe must set the example of virtue, and encourage people to cultivate it, lest the scythe in cutting the grass shall become broken against a stone 4;. O ye who belong to the upper classes of society, reflect on this: If all the laborers in the world should abandon labor for bread as you do, then every one would die of hunger Do you admit that we could do this with as much reason as you do ? We do not rest, you say, we work unceas- ingly We do not eat food without paying for It with the money we have earned by our work and we give the price that the laborer demands' We eat our bread in the sweat of our face And if we all work, where will the poor ^et their money ? We give it them, and they give us bread. We live by them, and they by us We cnnnot govern and direct others, and at the same time labor with our hands The commandment given to Adam applies not only to labor for bread, but to all our other occupations. Even as we cannot live without bread, we cannot live without the things with which we orrnnv njirc^lv^o r' - ! • fK« , ----ry -"r..iVv.o. Lrud, m creating- the world, intended that we should labor at dif- Labor. 69 ferent sorts of work. Man amasses wealth to^get rid of this uncongenial labor. In short, it is im- possible to be occupied with many affairs at once. 1 have no rest ; night and day I have my oc- cupation?, I have scarcely the time to eat food already prepared. If we too i jst labor for bread, then the universe must of necessity per- ish. I have plenty of money, and I use it in great enterprises without labor, and vet you want me to go into the fields and torture myself lor thirty kopecks a day ! I would be regarded as a simpleton. I prefer to work with my monev at home. ^ But if all the world must labor, let those begin who are a hundred times richer than I ! 48. These are the pretexts and objections that you make to the law ; these are the reasons why you who belong to the upper class would decline to labor for bread. If all of us laborers did the same, would you admit it as a justifica- tion when the plea is made by us? No ; but with your absolute power, you would smother us and our reasons together. But, I ask you; why do you look upon your excuses as legitimate? Bring together a number of men belonging to the great world, who waste their thoughts on its vanities, and ask them what answer you ought to make to this question. 49- Bread should be neither bought, nor sold nor used in traffic. You cannot with bread heap up riches, for its value is beyond human es- mm I t 1 I ^Jl ;l •JO Labor. \ |y timation. It is only in certain cases that it may be given .way, as to hospitals, to orphanages, to prisoners, to countries ruined by bad harvests, to people deprived of everything in a fire, to widows, 10 orphans, to the infirm and aged, and to those who have no homes. 50. This law is ignored in the world, as we have seen, and as I will show you further. They might have placed it among virtues of less importance, but they havt .:.>l even accorded it that much honor. Nature herself leads the laborer to seek the highest good ; that is to say, bread. But if, not content only to see that it is indeed an excellent thing, he can penetrate Nature's profound mysteries, he will then realize what has been said in the preceding article. It will no longer be said, " Give me bread," but rather, " Take of my bread," and I do not believe any man will enjoy eating the bread that another has prepared. But at present, what must be done? You have put away this commandment as one plunges a stone into the depths of the sea, so that its name and its memory are lost to the world. God will judge between us and you. 51. Here are some objections that a rich man has made to me : " How can you say that it is forbidden to buy and sell bread, and to make a profit by the traffic ? Besides that which histor- ians relate, we see in the Holy Scriptures that bread was bought and sold and used in traffic, Labor. 7r yet in spite of that, they sinned not against God You maintain also that bread cannot be ex- changed for money ; that we must absolutely la- bor for It with our hands. It is an evident absur- dity Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other ancestors ot the human race were rich, and had their slaves both male and female. We must conclude that they did not work themselves, but ate bread produced by the labor of others ; and yet they were not for that reason held guilty before (jod. •' 52. And to prove more strongly the falsity of your assertions, the two great legislators, Moses and Jesus Christ, have never spoken of this commandment. When Moses wrote : '• Knead thy bread m the sweat of thy face," he referred to all occupations. This must be the sense we are to give to his words, if we remember that Moses lived for forty years at the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, without working. During the following forty years, he herded sheep in the pastures of his father-in-law Jethro in the land of Midian * ; but he did not labor for bread. During foHy other years he commanded the Israelites in the Wilderness, without laboring. Thus he never labored. Neverthdess, God ac- cepted him, loved him, and placed him above all other prophets ; but, according to you, Moses was a parasite. 53. It is the same with Jesus Christ He is nriU^lTn.''''" ''.';. *'°''^ °'' J'^'^^^' "« father-in-law, the priest of Midian." ' Exodus iii. i.' » n ij m f \\ 72 Labor. W^ himself God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and it was he who judged Adam in paradise ; but instead of " Knead thy bread in the sweat of thy face," he sax s in the Gospel, "Behold the fowls of the air; they sow not, neithei do they reap, nor gather into barns; but God feed- eth them.' Do you not, then, see that labor for brea ] is of slj;:ht benefit, nor has it in this life even util- ity? If, is indeed the most useless of all labor, and God itnposes it on the idle. 54. And furthermore, show me a laborer whom God has admitted into heaven for his work's sake. We do not know if the prophets were rich, but neither do we know that they were poor. But as their books were approved, we may conclude they were rich, because a poor man's book would never be approved, no mat- ter how useful it might be. To this Sirach, a man inspired by God, bears witness when he says : " The rich man uttereth a folly, and all are silent, his words are vaunted to the skies. The poor man speaks reasonably, and instead of approving him, they say, * Who art thou ? ' * "If the rich man is deceived, everyone helps him; if he speaks insolently (if he reveals what should have been a secret), he is justified. But if the poor man is deceived h'' is re- proached; if he speaks wisely, he is not listened to. " When the rich man speaks, all are silent, ant' ,iy vaunt his words to th, •, -ies. When the poor mai. . - they say. Who art thou ? / reproach him with his p_ .n, , ^ndforce him to be silent.) And if he makes a mistake , *' y will pass it over." (Ecclesiasticus xiii. 26. Translated '.v •. \ mo earth, paradise ; the sweat " Behold leithci do God feed- r brea ] is even util- all labor, I laborer n for his prophets that they ipproved, ise a poor 1, no mat- od, bears i uttereth i vaunted asonably, ly, ' Who 5 him; if he en a secret), d hi* is re* • -iy vaunt they say, , £ nd force y will pass Labor. It is true Jesus Christ calls the 73 poor "his ren," but this is only to encourage the m. y the rich, and My ad' breth lest they fall into despair. The proof of this is that He himself frequented only the houses of ■ver entered those of the poor. 55- My adversary continues by saying: When Noah came into the world, his father Lamech said: "1 his same shall comfort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." (Genesis V. 29.) And thus we are delivered from the curse of labor; but you, the laborers, are still kept un- der it; and it must be hoped that God will not condemn you, because our class has trampled you under its feet. And is that a sin in God's eyes ? No, for it has been God's will that it should be so. 56. It is further written in the Scriptures: " Cursed Shalt thou be in the city, and cursed Shalt thou be in the field. "Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. " Cursed shall h^ the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep. ' " Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ' "The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation, and rebuke in all that thou settest thy -iiid unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly ; because of the ^1 ,1 rift r, EC' n 74 Labor. ii«(- wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me." (Deuteronomy xxviii. 16-20.) The adjective cursed signifies unhappy. I ask, cries the rich man, to whom do these words apply? to the rich or to the poor? Certainly to the poor laborer, he adds. Do you see now, Bondareff, how many curses God sends upon the poor laborer, upon his goods, and even upon future generations? On such laws is founded the society of the world. 57. Have I told the truth ? he asks, and I have replied, yes. Can I contradict him ? It would be useless. Could my arguments overcome him ? I am content to say to myself, You speak falsely, sir ! You have not so much brains as you think, nor am I the fool you imagine me to be. On both points you deceive yourself greatly. There are many distinguished persons who feel no horror of my poverty ; they can judge fairly between us. 58. The rich man says: If a man of your in- ferior class obtains some education, he will seek an occupation in which he may dispense with manual labor. Thus if you were all educated, you would labor no more, but would imitate us. But, I ask, what will we then eat? We will live as Christ's commandment points out : " Behold the fowls of the air ; they sow not, neither do they reap; nor gather into Labor. m^ barns ; but God feedeth them." So he ansvVers me. All these arguments are absolutely opposed to the primitive and to the natural law. I ask of the rich man: Which is the most immutable law? Is it the theological law that man has written upon paper, or the natural law that God has written in our hearts? Truly, neither is to be rejected, but I myself prefer the natural law, and I hope, reader, that you will agree with me. 59- Well, Bondareff, if you will present your propositions to the government, with mine by their side, my arguments will be approved, and recognized as true and praiseworthy, while yours will be rejected. 60. You see now, reader, how far I have carried my loyalty. I might have concealed these objections to my arguments, but I will not palter with the truth, because it is wrong to speak of this great and sacred duty of labor- ing for bread, and at the same time to disguise the truth under an ignoble flattery. But if, in my answer, you find a bitterness that seems to you insupportable, clench your teeth and say nothing. I pray you, do not seek a quarrel with me. You are so accustomed to listen to flatterers, that my franknev- svill seem to you intolerable! 61. Let us rei. ill to our question. How many tho usand measures* of wheat, how many * The measure spoken of contains about 16 kilogrammes. 1 • ■i i ':iil Ill ;6 Labor. roubles, are tak n from us each year for taxes and other exactions?* Besides thi^ revenue, the o-eat lords, the pomestchiks, the men:.aiits, and all the rich possess innumerable millions. But money is not given away. It must he earned by our arms of flesh and blood, according to the com- mandment I have given, and not by the pen or the tongue. 62. Your manner of living is to us a most cruel offence, and to yourselves a shame. I know you are a hundred times more educated and intelligent than T and therefore you take my money and my bread. But since you are so intell'gent, you should have pity on me who am weak. It is said, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," and I am your neighbor, as you are mine. Why are we poor and clownish ? It is because we eat the b'ead of our rnvn labor. Have we time to stud; and to be instructed ? You have taken both our bread and our intelligence from us by fraud ci violence ; you have criminally appropriated all. *The taxes are not levteH us but on the mines and other works. The manufact s, wever, raise the prices of their merchandise, and so ike us pay the amount of the taxes. And I ask you, whose hands have labored to eam this money? In truth they are ours. But in whose hands does the money remain ? In your white hands, that you may enjoy your luxury. In a word, the whole world is in our hands. {Author's note.) Labor. 77 It is so, reader, whether you like it or not. It is not my fault that the truth is bitter. 6^. The eagerness of your desire makes you ask of God for purity of air and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. It is well. But to whose hands do you owe this abundance? Who ought to cultivate the ground.? Is it you, or some other one ? Can it be I, with my white hands? you an- sw-r. Truly it is to you, laborers, that this work belongs. I would rather die of hunger than to gather a blade of straw or a grain of wheat. 64. You should ask, before meals, for a bless- in^ upon your food, not from God, but from us, the L borers; and after your repast you should thai ,v us for it, and not God. If God nt you manna from heaven as he did to the Isrnelites in the Wilderness, you should thank him ; but since it is from our hands that you receive your manna, you should thank us, because we nourish you as though you were infants or invalijds. 65. When I had written this much, some laborers said to me: "All this is useless. Do you believe you can make the rich man labor for his bread ? If the prophets and the masters of all wisdom came to urge it upon him, he would not listen to them. If God should cry in his oars with the trurapei of doun, '■ You are about to die, and to pr( sent yourself to me for judgment, and your disobedience to my com- w n ».i.i •?■' ' f \> w < A! h- M m 78 Labor. mand merits eiornal puni> .mcii'c,' — even then the rich man will remain unmoved, for he pre- fers his wealth to all divine benefits. Laboring for bread is to him more horrible than torture. And you, who are but as the dust beneath his feet, would seek, by expressing your own con- victions, to induce him to work !" d^. I know, I replied to them, that it is in- deed impossible. But they may approve of my arguments, since they are taken from the chief divine laws; and perhaps they may make them known to their laborers. For this good action alone God would greatly reward them. Then, like per- sons suffering from hunger and thirst, men will hasten to accomplish this work. They will not give themselves to other occupations till after- wards, for they all depend on labor for bread. Then the obscure night will be as the brightest day, and all will be easy. For this reason, amid all the cares and labors of my life, I have undertaken this task. 6^. And then the superior class will see our merit, which it nad never before remarked or heard of. It will feel culpable towards God and man ; it will no longer depend on or opj)ress us as it does now. We are bought at half price, and sold for double the amount. When a rich man finds himself in a poor country, far from the cities and commercial centres, he meets no one with whom he can buy or sell. At each mouthful of bread men will ask, in spite of Labor. 79 themselves: Whose hands have prepared this food? And as for their conscience! Wealth cannot silence it. It will compel men to be kinder to those who supply them with food. Hoping this, I have undertaken my task. 68. And even if this commandment is graven but superficially in your hearts, O you of the educated class, you will not the less employ all your powers to eat only the bread of your own labor, and you will reason thus: Among the poor and the laborers, not only the strong men are bboring for bread, but also feeble women, who have young children that are thus neglected. The new-born child, in its cradle, suffers from the hot air and the insects that torment it, while its body is scorched by the sun. (Children of seven years also labor so far as they have strength for it, and old men of seventy who cannot bend their backs when reaping the harvest, must do it on their knees. These things occur even yet; but for- merly, in the days of slavery, it was much worse. All these families live and die on the earth, following the precept, " Dust thou art, and unto dust must thou return." Think a little about this, ye educated men! 69. Hut among us, yoa will say, a man of thirty, in good health, continues all his life, even in summer, to whistle, with his hands in his pockets, while waiting for these poor martyrs to put his food between his teeth. With us, the laborers, on the contrary, not r 11 n ill Ti' iiis 80 Labor. only in summer, but even in winter, our ^ar- ments are soaked in the dews of labor Among all Christians, the first and most im- portant sacrament is baptism. But I ask you which washes away the most sin? Is it the water of baptism, or the sweat which streams from our faces, while all our lives are conse- crated to laboring for bread ? There is a prov- erb often cited amongst us, " The peasant's frock IS gray, but the devil has not devoured his reason." This proverb is not true, for 1 know certainly that I might ask questions for- ever without getting an answer. Conse- quently, the devil has devoured my reason * It is certain that we cannot discover with our nar row minds the secrets of God's ways with the world, but we may believe that while you were washed m the water of baptism at your birth that never since has any labor bathed your face m sweat. For me, I have not been washed in the water of baptism; thus must I all my life be bathed in sweat. Nevertheless, which is the cleaner of the two-you who have been baptized, or I who have not ? ^ » ^^ You see, then, what your falsehood is worth At each word, at each step, you have been comi pelled against your will, to yield to me, who am but a feeble man. Possibly you ma^ yet triumph over me through your power, which I f.t '■' Mn other words, ^-.y look on me as an imbecile. Labor. 8i cannot resist; but you can never destroy' my arguments, or prove them to be false. During 6884 years* we have been silent be- fore you. Now we have spoken a word that you have never before heard, even in your dreams. I do not depend on you, but on your conscience. I hope it will come to my aid. 70. There are in the world many inventions that astonish the mind. To produce one ob- ject, of however little importance, machines have been invented. A labor that formerly re- quired the efforts of several men, is now done more perfectly by a machine than any hand of man could have accomplished it. But the labor for bread has been done by peasants from time immemorial. 71. Would it not be easy for an inventor to say these simple words, " Make this or that," that men and beasts should be delivered from a wearisome labor? No ! He would not come near the labor he abhors, or the people who perform it. He would have no pity for the poor martyrs, — I mean the laborers,— nor even for the animals themselves, although he will several times in a day eat this bread— or rather the blood and tears of both beasts and men. It is thus, O you of the upper class., that you offend us, and at the same time you disobey God's command. f. V. Ti t*-r .Ml This article was written in 1884. 82 Labor. Does not your conduct clearly show the ha- tred you feel towards God and your neighbor? Well, what answer have you to make to that? You cannot justify yourself before the peasant nor have you any excuse to offer. 72. Here are further facts to show that you debase and trample everything under your feet. If some one of you makes a discovery, you honor him with a medal bearing this inscrip- tion : " Honor to Labor and to Art." Has any one ever been rewarded for labor and art in gaining bread ? No. And if one were offered, it would be given to the proprietors who culti- vate a thousand acres of ground by the hands of others, but who would not themselves come near this shameful labor nor those who perform it. Behold, then, those who have always re- ceived all such recompense, and always will. 73. What occurs in the homes of the poor ? The husband and wife must support not only themselves, but perhaps a dozen children, be- sides their aged parents. And yet they sell you part of their bread, or rather they give it to you. But, though they have numbered several millions in each century, has even one of them had any reward whatever? Never! Far from being recompensed, they have instead received the name of " moujiks," which signifies a "beast."* ♦According to Fr. Michel, this meaning of the word mou- jik was given to the French word mouchique about 1815, form- ing a souvenir of the Russian peasants. Labor. 83 Is not this sufficient for you, O peasants ? We see, then, that society regards labor for bread as the hardest work in the world. Am I not right, then, in proclaiming that these men love neither God nor their neighbor, but only themselves ? It is painful to see a millionaire, who has re- ceived several medals for pure trifles, marching about with his hands in his pockets, and seeming to say, " Look at me !" And what is his merit compared to ours ? It is but as ashes dispersed by the wind. What shall we do? "God is in heaven, and the Czar afar off !" If I may, I will write all my griefs in a memorial, and present it myself to the Czar, and having gained or lost every- thing, it would only remain for us to live or die. I have taken the right path. I will con- tinue to follow it till I die ; for I have no inter- est in deceiving myself. I have one foot on the earth, and the other in the grave, and I am al- ready more than sixty years old. 74. When they read my writings to a laborer who does not know a from b, he will well under- stand them. My words will sink deeply into his heart. How he will thank me for discover- ing the law of salvation ! How he will apply himself the more zealously to his work! But he who would escape labor is hke the dog who gnaws the stone that has been cast at him. He will criticise these reflections, and '■M Tr,-.,^' '>• M 84 Labor. hnte me for having written them ; and he will threaten me with future evil. Why should there be such a difference be- tween these two men ? Because the laborer and his superiors are so far apart that their opinions can never be the same. But what has God willed to do with me? He has given us the hw of labor for bread. This labor is not difficult, but easy and useful ; it is not long, but short and readily understood. Then why are we not grateful to him for it? And what happens in the world ? One half of mankind seeks this labor, and the other half avoids it as though it were a mortal poison, while they conceal themselves in retired places that they may not behold it. But who are these who thus fly and hide themselves? Are they ignorant? No; they are the most educated and intelligent of men ! Perhaps they do not believe in God ? No ; they are true believers. 75. Your principal objection to labor for bread is this: Whatever may be a man's occu- pation or mode of work, he obeys the command- ment, " Thou shalt knead thy bread in the sweat of thy face." This explanation cannot please God nor man. It has been said, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Does this allude to your occupa- tions ? No. And again : " In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." Here labor for bread is Labor. 85 less precisely designated. And again : " Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." Does this allude to your constant occupations? And still further : " Thou shalt eat the herb of the field." Is there in this an allusion to your occupations? No. And, finally : " In the sweat of thy face shalt . thou eat bread : dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Well, the wise men find still a loophole ; they say, all this applies to the pen as well as to the plough, and they give solid reasons for saying so. ^6. But is it possible that God gave only to us the painful obligation of laboring in the ground, while he permits you to evade it by means of your money ? With me, says the rich man, money labors for bread. It is false! Money has not sinned against God. Nor was the commandment set forth agaiiist money. Besides that, money does not eat bread ; it is not, then, obliged to labor for it. How, then, can you say. With me, money labors for bread ? Do you find yourself entirely just before God, and needing no commandment? But were you more holy than the Holy of Holies, you do not the less eat bread labored for by another. In truth, you cannot escape alive out of the hands of an adversary like me. Here is another excuse that you give. If all Ml "T ■rl ,1 '1' ' .1 ■I' b !• ii '5 ■ :| 86 Labor. r'i the world were occupied in agriculture, the fac- tories and work-shops must stop, and the uni. verse would perish.— Nothing could be more false. The universe need not perish for that. There are eighty festivals in the year, on which we are free irom all labor, and men will spend eighty more in idleness. Do you think because a man and his wife shall labor in a piece of ground during thirty days, at different periods of the ' year, that the universe will perish ? In all large cities, as in Moscow, where there is a great number of factories and workshops, there are about a million inhabitants. Where would you find land enough if all the world undertook agriculture? This is but another excuse to avoid labor. 1 reply to this objection that the manufac- turers and work-people came of their own choice to the cities. But might not the factories be built in the midst of the country, so that the workmen could by turns labor for bread and in the factories ? That could easily be arranged, if you desire to help the lower classes. But you only care to be concerned for your equals. Do you refuse to labor for oread because, if all the world should be so occupied, there would not be enough land } With more reasonableness, if you decided to labor, you would cultivate alone the whole earth ! For my part, I now cultivate a bit of ground; but H tiiis revolution takes place, I must divide it with another. You, my friend, may work by II Labor, 8; ' my side, with your white hands, in frost or heat, in storms and snow, when you will tremble as with fever, and your hands will become like spiders' feet. Is it right that we alone shall endure these evils? 79. If you are so convinced that we eat the bread which you have gained by your labor, why do you sell it to us?— We do not compel you to do so. You beg us to buy it. Is it, then, our fault? If all laborers understood the primitive law, they would not sell their bread, nor even give it away, except in certain admissible cases.— Where, then, would they get money?— They would know how to find it. The idle man, like a door on its hinge, passes all his life lying on his bed. He has never seen how labor for bread is done. Thus he will scarcely have read ten articles in my book than he will throw it aside, saying, ''It is vitriol T This verdict appears to me profound and well merited. It is not he who has found this word, but Providence has put it in his mouth, because to him the bread of his own labor would be as vitriol, while that gained by another's labor is sweeter than honey. Do you see, my readers, how deceit loves itself? And if it did not seem lovelv to itself, to whom could it appear agreeable or virtuous ? ■ ■ ' ;■ ! IT : m 4> ! ■I ■ \ ! 1% I M \^ 88 Labor. 80. I have asked myself, why do they give deceit the name of deceit? They might have given it a better name, be- cause it is more veracious than even truth. It exposes and betrays itself. It has been said: " The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Thus God spoke to Cain, that is, to the voice of deceit. If it cries to God, why is it silent to all the world ? " And God set a mark upon Cain," the token of the evil doer. Does he not to-day mark with this token all wicked ones, and with them the sluggard of whom I have spoken, he to whom I owe an eternal gratitude? 81. You do not answer. Do you, then, ap- prove of what I have said ? You might, how- ever, make this answer, which is the objection you offer in reality against labor for bread: " I cannot do several things at once. If I am occupied in agriculture, I should have no time for other things." But, I reply in turn: "I have, besides labor- mg for bread, many others things to do. How do I, who am an ignorant peasant, bring them all to completion ? If I were as educated and mtelhgent as you, I would occupy myself with many thousand affairs. Why, then, with your infinite spirit, can you attend to only one ? 82. When you fly from the labor for bread, or from the conscience which torments youi yoii say : ''If we all labor for bread, where will the poor get their money, for they live by their Labor. 89 labor? They supply us with bread, an' 'n return we give them money; and thus the pea- sants live by us, and we by them; one hand wasiies the other, and so both are clean." No, your argument does not disconcert us. We are not as stupid as you believe, and you yourselves are not as intelligent as you think. Do not forget that I who speak am standing at the threshold of your palace (like Lazarus). Half the people living do not labor for bread • the other half, laboring for and not selling it can scarce support themselves. But why should tnese last not know where to find money, if all the world labored for bread ? Far from being useful, the sale of bread is hurtful. This present year the harvest is good, and the laborer sells his wheat to the rich man for thirty kopecks the measure. He thinks what he has left will suffice for his wants. But suppose that, next year, the harvest shall be bad, and we have a famine : the laborer will buy his vvheat from the same rich man for a rouble and fifty kopecks the measure ; and if he have not enough money to pay for it, he will sell his beasts at half price. And while he has not sup- phed his wants, he has sold his wheat is de pnved of his cattle, and will become a beggar. Thus many are ruined by selling their wheat. Then how can you say that the peasants cannot live without selling their wheat, wh^n b- d-ing- so they die of hunger .? The true con, 'nsion is that It IS you, not we, who live on oth n. -.M 90 Labor. Cultivate, then, according to the ommand ment, a piece of ground, and all will belong to you that you need. 83. Sometimes I have not a single kopeck for one or perhaps two months. However, when I am fatigued with my day's work, I make tura* I eat well— the tura seems to me better than all your dainty dishes are to you; and I return to my work singing. But you, if you were for two months without my bread, what song would you sing? Now consider well which of us two lives at the expense of the other. Is it you or I } It is you. Then whv ucy you not place yourself among my friend , ? Which of us should occupy the first place at she table? It is surely 1. But why have you taken it ? Who has given it to you, or accorded you this honor? Defend yourself by valid excuses, or else do not eat our bread. Or, if you will, cultivate with your own hands a piece of ground, and then take your place at the table. Otherwise, be off with 3'ou ! 84. I think your reply would be like this which the rich man made to me : I would labor, but I know not how. Once in my life I took up a scythe; I raised it in the air with all my force, and it but glanced over the grass. Then I used more strength, and half buried it in the ground. Next I took a reaping-hook, and after * Bread crumbled and soaked in kvass. Laior, 91 great eflForts I had gathcicd half a sheaf, when 1 cut my hand. This is -what happened to me one day that I was in the fields. And if I should take seriously to work, all my rom- panions would laugh in beholding si an astonishing spectacle. But how do you kn< w how to eat? I asked him When you were only two years old you could eat, but now, though already old, you do not know how to work! Is this for want of strength, or because you do not wish to know? 85. The rich man has also made me the fol- lowing excuses: 1st. I would labor for bread according to the commandment, but I am' ashamed to do so; people would point their fingers at me. 2d. Is it proper for a rich man like me to labor with the poor? 3d All in- telligent and well-educated men would exclude me from their society. 4th. In laboring for bread, I would earn but 30 kopecks a day, while at home, with my pen, I can earn 10 roubles. Behold the reasoning by which the educated classes reject this labor in which they can see only loss and humiliation ! 86. But, they add, are we for that reason culpable in God's eyes ? No ; for Jesus Christ, when dying for us, exhorted us not to commit sin, and not to fulfil this commandment, that is, not to labor for bread, in saying: - Behold the fowls of the air," etc. Therefore we do not and never will, labor for bread. 87. But if you are thus redeemed, I reply, :| IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k A {./ ^ .^. % / /A %° 1.0 1.1 11.25 lii|2g |2.5 |50 ■^" ■■■ I us III2.0 U 116 C Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716)872-4503 iV ^ ,v >^ ^>^ V-^* [/. ^ 92 Labor. why, then, do you eat the product of another's labor? Can it be, that he has redeemed you, and not us? If he had thus redeemed the whole human race, he should have arranged that wheat would be produced already kneaded into bread and baked to each one's taste, or he should have sent us manna from heaven, as was done to the Israelites in the Wilderness. But we see clearly that he did not redeem men either from sin or from labor for bread. Each of us must redeem himself by good works', and not rely only on the merits even of Christ! 88. We sin, we disobey the divine orecepts,' and we incur all the maledictions pronounced in Deuteronomy. It is not so, according to you. Jesus Christ, you would say, takes on himself our sins, our impieties, and our maledic- tions. What a fine invention ! and how exact your calculation is! No; each one must re- deem himself by obeying the primitive com- mand, " Eat the bread of thy labor." There is no greater virtue; and to fail in it is the most dangerous of crimes. 89. If you are rich, live in luxury as much as you can, be as haughty as you will, and aug- ment your dainty dishes, but instead of evading labor for bread, hasten to accomplish it. 90. There is always a great enmity between the rich and the poor. But when they are to- gether, they dissimulate. Who has created this hatred— the rich or the poor? Savs Sirnch : " What agreement is there between^ the hy ena Labor. 93 and the dog? And what peace between the rich and the poor? " As the proud hate humility, so doth the rich abhor the poor." (Ecclesiasticus xiii. 18-20.) Whose is the fault? It is the rich man's, not the poor laborer's. 1 ask you again, and still more loudly, not to forget that 1 who stand on the threshold of the rich man's palace, like Lazarus, address myself, in the name of all laborers, to the higher classes, and not only to the reader. 91. They say: We accomplish ten times more work than the laborer. Can we, then, be regarded as sluggards? On festivals the laborer works, while the rich man rests on his couch, serving neither himself, his neighbor, nor God. They say then, the idle man does his duty, while the laborer com- mits a crime, in breaking the fourth command- ment. Is not that the position we occupy ? During 330 days in the year do what you will; occupyyour^elf as it shall please you; but during 35 days, at different times in the year, every man should labor for bread. 92. But why do I speak at such length, when a few words ought to suffice ? It is because I must oppose a solid barrier to the subterfuges behind which you entrench yourselves; and for that, I must reply fully to your mcnrs. many argu- Can it be because there is neither a past nor !i I V ,':il ■I ■ \ \ mm 94 Labor. a future for God, but all is to him as the present, that he has not comprehended that if man must always eat, he must also always labor? If he mflicted on you a penance for vour sins and said, Take a stone of a hundred pounds weight and carry it, you would reply; I can- not do it. Lord, for you have not given me strength sufficient. Or if he said, Fly in the air like a bird, you would answer: You have not given me wings, and it is impossible to obey your command. Such excuses would be leeiti mate. ^ But why can you not labor for bread ? In truth, you will reply, it is because of my con- dition in life. I have white and delicate hands and the ears of corn will scratch my skin. 94. Again, you will evade labor for bread because you say that in occupying self in any work, you obey the commandmeni, ' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread " One will say: "I have written, to-day, nine hundred and ninety-one line? ; thus I have eaten my bread in the sweat of my face." Another says : " I have, to-day, given my orders to my people, I have seen that they labored well for me ; thus have I eaten my bread in the sweat of my face.'' A third says : " I have, to-day, been driven about the city in a rich carriage ; I have thus eaten my bread in the sweat of my face " A fourth says: "I have, to-dav, sold damaged merchandise for good, and I 'have defrauded Labor. 95 inexperienced men : I eat my bread in the sw'eat of my face." And the thief says in his turn : ''I have not slept during the night, I have abored with my hands: I eat my bread, more truly than you, in the sweat of my face." If it is not by truth, it is by cunning and eloquence that you gain your cause, as KrilofiF has said.* " All the animals who are provided with claws and teeth _arcJnnoce^^ are al- * Kriloff (Ivan And r'eie witch), the Russian fabulist, was bori; ■ n a small village oi Orenburg in 1768. and d.ed at St Peters- burg m 1864. Attracted by the theatre, he composed in early youth a farce called ..The Coffee-p«t " (1783). and several comed.es and tragedies, of which the principal ones are Geo. patra and Philomela. But this was not his real vocation. In 1808, by the advice of one of his friends who foresaw his true talent, he translated nvo of La Fontaine's fables. The Maid and The Oak and the Reed. His translation was striking in its originality and its picturesque character. ' success'' Kriloff th '^T'"'' '/''""'"'' '""'^ °^'^'-^ « ?-«' success. Kriloff then devoted himself exclusively to the com- position of ables. and became the La Fontaine 0/ Russi! aspe'r He'dilr' ^'"^ t' ^^^^"^ ^^^^ ^11 subjects a Russian aspect. He distinguished himself from La Fontaine and Less.ng by his coarse pleasantry and cynical wit. which are qualities that are popular in Moscow. His Fables form a considerable collection (St. Petersburg 1847, 3 vols, in 8vo). Count Orloff published in Paris fri 1825, Rusnan Fables taken fro,n M. Kriloff' s Collection, and 'imi- fated xn French and Italian Verse by several Authors {2 voU in rin ; /m ^\^"",^""" ^^^ "--"^'-t^d in verse Kriloff's pnn- opal fables (Pans. 1852. 8vo). We must also mention the ferred to by Bondareff ,s an imitation of The Anin.als Sick of the Plague, by La Fontaine. •' ■I : if yrfj 96 Labor. most holy; but they accuse the timid ox; the ti^^ers and wolves cry out against him ; and they at once strangle and devour him." It seems to me that Kriloff by the animals, meant the laborers, and intended the timid ox to personify the rich man. What do you think about it, reader ? 95. You who, here in Russia, eat the bread produced by our labor number about thirty millions, including Jews and Gipsies. How can we support you all, supplying you with fine clothes, good beds, and warm covering? It is for you that we must labor day and night, without rest, and endure great privations. Is it not unjust? Is it not criminal on your part? 96. And as thougii you had not heard what I have been saying, you will ask: Of what injus- tice are you the victims, and what crime have we committed ? We do not take your bread for nothing, but we buy it with the money we have earned by our own work. And where did you get this money? It was earned by working according to the commandment. But with us our money does not accrue from our work. Money is not given for nothing; it must be earned by the body, by flesh and bones. And then, can you atone for sin with money? Can you buy the law of God with money ? Your excuse condemns you stil! further. You have the right to buy vvhat you please with Labor. 97 •noney, but bread cannot be bought at any price. -' 97' Do you think you are saved by the con- secrated wafer which you receive in church Irom the hands of the priest? But, you reply It IS not the wafer that saves me, it is my faith in Christ, whom I receive under tiie symbol of the wafer. No ! faith without works, that is to say, without the commandment, is dead. You go to church, having one sin. and you return with two, because you have eaten the bread of an- other's labor. And where, do you ask? In church. 98. Not only. O ye rich, do you now live by the labor of others, but you hope in the future hfe to obtain by the merits of another, who is Christ, eternal happiness. Thus you believe you have no duty to fulfil, and that you may enjoy at ease all the comforts of this world \ou walk on a wide and spacious path, but whither will it lead you ? You know as well as I 99- Often among you are found men who when fortune deserts them and they lose all their wealth, being forced by circumstances to labor for their own bread, fall into despair, and become thieves and drunkards, and undertake all sorts of criminal enterprises. And usually they die a violent death, to escape labor for bread. But revive this commandment, whose life does not appear among you till you die, and the millionaire, finding himself in the same con- i\ \ [ m ! 11 m 'M 98 Labor. dition with us, will no longer seek to avoid this labor, but will turn to it eagerly. loo. Let us speak now, reader, of these three classes of men : the Jew, the Gips} , and the educated European, who, like the others, eats the bread of another's labor. Which is most dis- pleasing to God and man ? It is certainly the European, for we cannot consider the Gipsy, who is but a half-savage. As for the Jew, he was once master of the world, and compelled every one to labor for him ; but this is no longer so. To-day the Jew has gone from the head to the foot, and the European from the foot to the head, and, like the first mentioned, he also eats the bread of another's labor. I ask, which of these three is most displeasing to God and man ? loi. I know the reader will say: Can I com- pare myself to a Jew or a Gipsy ? I who live by the truth, and they by falsehood and deceit?— Yes, if you have the body of an angel and not that of a man. But when you eat the bread of another's labor, there is not in this food a particle of truth. It is but two hours since you have eaten, and you are thinking of again stretching out your hand towards the" tree of life, to take the forbidden bread. How can you, then, boast that you live by the truth ? I02. From all the preceding arguments, we may conclude that there is nothing in the world more evil and infamous than to eat the bread of Labor. 99 anofhei s labor. On the other hand, there is nothing more healtliful and sacred than to eat the bread of one's own labor. I do not sav this as a supposition, but in accord with God's fundamental law, with which our natural law also agrees. 103. I have said that, according to you. an die and luxurious life is conformable to the laws of salvation. I did not at the moment an- swer this sufBciently. But I will now do so in a peremptory manner. (I do not speak of those who live from day to day, from hand to mouth.) i o gam eternal happiness, the servants of God retire t.. monasteries, deserts, mountains, and isles, where they lead a wandering life What do these men, who trample under foot God s law by eating the bread of other men's labor, seek m these places? ^^Tu^% Tu^' '''''"""' while accomplishing the labor God has blessed ? ^ 104. When the harvest is bad, the poor man IS sorrowful; but the rich man is content, be- cause, during a famine, he increases his riches. Thus he will call a famine a good harvest vvhile n is the chastisement of God. And If he joins in the prayers of the poor, do not believe him, for he is a hypocrite. 105. And you say the two classes are not at enmity w.th each other ! The rich man will at once make this excuse: What Th ere are many who are a hundred ti is my wealth ? mes richer '4\ lOO Labor. than I ; it is to them and not to nie that you should attribute the evils of which you speak. To that I reply : We must not measure wealth by figures, but by the number of peasants who surround the rich man ; ff)r, in the country, those who have each five thousand roubles are richer than the millionaire of Moscow. If you readers of the city could see the miser- ies that are inflicted on the poor by the rich in the country, you would take my arguments into consideration. Else you could never be- lieve me. io6. The poor man, the laborer, studies day and night, during all his life, for better ways to prepare the earth for wheat, or for duly caring for his implements and his cattle. He brings up his sons from infancy to the same labors. His efforts are crowned with success. And on the of her side the rich man ponders day and night how to buy from the poor man at half price and to sell to him again at double rates, and he ar^ustoms his sons from infancy to these speculations. The first and last of God's laws concern la- bor, and the principal one is that of labor for bread; but educated and intelligent people evade this labor, and live like pomestchiks, with their hands in their pockets. They have im- posed all labor upon the poor and weak, but these, in retaliation, do not sleep or lose their presence of mind ; they steal, kill, burn, and de- fraud each other. Labor, 101 It IS well As says the proverb, the mastei* is for his bread (that is. his own interests), and the workman is not less cunning than his master ; for, if intelligent people put the candle under a bushel, there is no reason why we should watch It. Act. then, as you can, O laborer ! 107. Nevertheless, the poor man is very hum- ble before thee, O rich man ! And if thou treat- est him with hypocrisy, he will lall alive into thy hands. Thus the poor man goes in his poverty to the rich man's house, and returns half naked. Sirach says with reason : " Hunting lions is like hunt- ing savages in the desert ; so the poor are the prey of the rich." * This is what often happens in a poor country where a single rich man is settled. The poor must sell to him, and must also buy of him. And the rich man still says: I make fair* and honest bargains. I buy and sell loyally. Every bargain has an amiable : ^^nt. Would you sell to me, or would you buy ? There is no sin in commerce. I do not sell by false weights or measures ; I do not deceive in my accounts. In a word, it is just to say that, according to the commandment, I eat my bread in the sweat of my face. And now, to discuss this with him ! All that he has said is injurious to us. He does not understand the meaning of the com- • •' As the wild ass is the lion's prey in the wilderness : so the rich eat up the poor." (Ecclesiasticus, xiil. 23.) til i •I I 102 Labor. mandment, although his conscience is beginning to awaken. 109. The rich also present this excuse : I give men money that they may work for me. It would be to my interest not to give them work but still I do it. And I hope to be rewarded bv God for my good work. And then without nie. where would they get money for their neces- sities ? I reply : You should employ in your good works treasures gained by your own labor, fol- lowing the commandment which I have given, that is to say, wash you with clean water, and not with that which is impure. But you pretend to help men with the product of their labor! Who, then, has earned the money that you give them ? Is it your money ? No, it belongs to the laborers. Then what reward can you look for.? 1 10. It is said in the Law: " As is the laborer, so is the work ; as is the ground, so are the fruits." In other words, if we are but ignorant peasants and useless portions of society, why do you love our work, that is, our bread.? Believe me, reader, if I were as educated and intelligent as you are, I would never eat bread at all, but only silver or gold. 111. They will tell you: I esteem with my vvhole heart all laborers, and I also love labor for bread, and I detest and scorn all sluggards. To this I reply, in the words of the proverb : " I hear thf^. voice of Jacob, but it is Esau that draws near to me." Labor. 103 112. We ought not to fi:ive away a single ear of wheat.- Why is that? asks the reader. Be- cause one half of the world will not come near to cultivate the earth, and the other half work against their will, because they do not know where to take refuge, since all the corners of the earth are filied with sluggards. Where three or four men would suffice, ten or a dozen arrive ; and not having eaten for two or three da; ., they crowd one upon another. If one were driven away, he would become one of the most terrible and criminal of brigands. 113- I repeat, we should not give away one ear of wheat. We except only women who fulfil exactly the penance God gave to them and which we have cited ; the aged, who labored formerly, but now have lost their strength • the infirm ; and the children, whose day of labor is yet to come. O Heaven! hear my praver' Grant us for them an abundance of the fruits of the earth. 114- "Do unto others as you would they should do unto you " This is the law.- Very ?,'ood ; for my part, I do not think there are any other virtues.-But, I ask you, as you would not wish others to eat the bread of vour labors why do you eat the bread of theirs? In other words, why do you do to others what you would not wish they should do to you ? I buy my bread with money. Well, let us discuss that. You have always i ,ii 104 Labor. the same song on your lips, and it sets my teeth on edge. 115. Have I not said openly that bread cannot be bought at any price, that it can only be bought with labor, because its value cannot be fixed by human reason ? In certain cases it can be given and received gratis. But you have arrived at such a result that in certain cities of Russia a loaf of bread costs no more than a piece of dried muck. What ignominy! I shudder at the remem- brance of this injury that we have received. But for you, rich men, there is no better bargain than bread. All is for the best. This is what you call law. 116 Ah, have pity on us, O you of the upper classes ! Do not destroy my words ! If they are illegal, let my body perish, but let my work rest among the archives where you preserve what is most important to the State. Among the future generations one man may be found sufficiently just to publish it. I would perish gladly, if only my work may give to the millions of laborers who will come after me one great joy, and that they may obtain from it some solace in their labors ! 117. Notwithstanding your close studying from infancy to extreme old age, consider what is the distance that separates you from the igno- rant laborer: it is but one step only! A man of elevated position, a functionary of but one degree inferior to yourself, and a man of our Labor. 10S class, the starchina (the magistrate of a canton) will meet to make an inquiry in view of a pro* posed lawsuit. The canton gives the functionary some cases of wine, and he consents to arrang-e matters. He changes the statement of facfs and he presents a false report to his chief, who does not observe anything irregular in it. and signs It. Thus the innocent become guilty, and the guilty innocent; and ^^\s is through the complicity of the superior w..n the inferior r 18 But why have they deceived him? Not only because he does not labor himself, but because he knows nothing of how labor for bread is accomplished. If he had joined to his science this labor for bread, his intelligence would be so enlightened that he could not be deceived. See how many faults and errors are engendered by idleness! 119. Behold how the good writers act- if they must criticise a superior, they soften their terms, and soothe him, as in Kriloff's fable of the this fable still more mtelligible ; but I am afraid of irritating the Geese."* *THE GEESE. A long rod in his hand, Peter drove on a band Of geese to market bound ; And being pressed for time, he was not overkind And would not et them stray, or straggle o'er the ground. Wuh rage the birds now gobbled, and in furious manner l^ssed I m i 14 f io6 Labor. In other words, they do not cast the truth into his face, but approach it by a by-path. But I, whether from awkwardness or from love for the truth, I do irritate the geese. What do you think of it, reader? Shall they give me blows with their beaks, till death threatens to follow ? Never mind ; cost what it may, I will not be silent. I will not hypocritically conceal Till the lad was fairly puzzled and his way to market missed. A man who chanced to pass that way, the gander soon espied, And then began his neck to stretch, as wrathfully he cried, (In the goose language,) " Look, kind sir, how cruelly we are treated By this audacious peasant, who our tempers thus has heated, We'ie geese of noble lineage ; our ancestors were holy. And in the Roman capitol were worshipped all and solely. Karasmin and d'Hosier agree on this if nothing else." Said the stranger, " Worthy creatures, I do not doubt your words. Your manners show me that you are most aristocratic birds." " Truly and of our ancestors we share the glorious name, And strive to live up to the deeds that won them endless fame." " 'Tis well. Of your great deeds recount me some, I pray." " Our ancestors—" " I know that yarn for many a wear] lay. They saved great Rome by hissing ; but yourselves, what have you done ?" • Our ancestors— " " Oh, bother them! what merits have you ?" "None!" Ah, if I chose to listen to the vauntings and the boast Of geese who don't wear feathers and who are not good to roast, What sermons I could preach! " H.ish, hush i I prithee, not a word !" To-day shines forth the glorious bow of promise from the Lord. f. •* Labor. 107 my thoughts. Since I have taken the light pjfth I will follow it while I live, not deviating to the right nor to the left. There is a book called The Civil Marriage I have never read it ; but 1 know that the p<^ mestch.k Novossesslky therein complains to his wife of a peasant: "Would you believe," he says, " that this miserable servant has neglected to air my shirt .> " ([ can scarcely help laughing 1.. writing this.) - I have scolded him, and he rephes: 'I have always given your late father the general, a damp shirt, and he never com- plained.' " This characteristic confounds me! Idleness has so taken possession of a man that he finds it an insupportable task to put on his own shirts We must conclude that if he was shown the everlasting fire in which he and his descend ants must burn eternally, according to the Christian doctrine, he would consent to be thrown into it, rather than gather one blade of straw or one grain of wheat. .1^^' A""^?^ ^ profound abyss are men plunged by idleness and luxury ! Talk to the rich of the divine commandment, and he will bring up eloquently a hundred arguments to pm^ve that he eats his bread in the sweat of his 121. r would like to ask (if I knew whom to -^-^-ess) whether the nomestchiks do have shirts put on them by their servants. It le, comes the answer from all sides; their th is vn io8 Labor. clothes are put on them like dead men's shrouds ! Then what do they do with their own hands all the while ? This is a feature of slothfulness no one could have imagined, if it had not been true. 122. How these peasant-slaves suffer! The very recollection of their sufferings grieves me. I shudder when I think of them. It would have been better for them never to have been born. Had I a thousand tongues, I could not tell all the fatal calamities which befall them, or the torments these martyrs endure. Human lips could notexpress their sufferings. But I will tell you one outrage we undergo. It may be that you who listen are yourselves pomestchiks. I will not the less tell the truth, for I would not be accused of falsehood. And I have myself been a laborer with a pomestchik on the Don. 123. Three days in the week, the peasant labors for himself; the other three days he and all his family labor for the pomestchik. His wife, his children scarcely twelve years old, and the old men of sixty, work in their turn, and like beasts of burden. The implements of labor, the plough, the cart, the harrows, the scythes! the axes, etc., all must be bought by the peasant. If he has involuntarily caused some waste in laboring for the pomestchik, he must repair it at his own expense. He must, besides, thrash the corn in a field far from all habitations, and there, notwithstanding th« cold, he must work Labor. 109 all day for the pomestchik. Many labor wliile half naked, and tortured with hunger; but it matters not, they must labor for the pomestchik. Is it not a cruel punishment? And yet these people have neither defender nor protector. 124. Three days for himself and three days for the pomestchik ; in a word, one year for himself, and one year for the pomestchik: this IS the peasant's life. But from the year in which he works for himself he must first deduct eighty days which are festivals,— for these people are very pious,— then eighty other days of idleness resultmg from the accidents of labor. And, finally : the peasant is not a stone, he may fall ill, perhaps for fifty days in two years. There remain, then, only one hundred and fifty-five days in which he can labor for himself. 125. I ask if, in this case, he can, on one hun- dred and fifty-five days of work, supply all his wants for two years, that is, for this year and for the next (in which he labors for the benefit of the pomestchik). Consider that he must.besides, collect enough money to pay each year the fis- cal and personal taxes. If the husband or wife should die, there remain perhaps a dozen children under age : to-day they have the fu- neral, and to-morrow they must resume work for the pomestchik. 126. Besides that, the pomestchik takes from the peasants divers provisions, as chickens, geese, eggs, butter, etc. He keeps note of what is given, and with those who give nothing he •Id I m ij ii': 110 Labor. will deal trickily, and they have no one to whom they can complain. Endeavor to speak to him of the commandment, and he will not let you utter a word. He will overwhelm you with arguments, and will prove to you that he toUows the commandment, and that he is himself content to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, and that the peasants on the contrary are sluggards and parasites, etc. Perhaps there are some good pomestchiks somewhere; but I insist that at least all those on the Don are such as I have described them. 127. Is It right, you ask, to thus insult the benefactors who nourish you, or, in other words, to return evil for good, and hatred for love.-* But how can you always thus praise your- selves, and claim that no one is just or compas- sionate but yourself.? 128. They say : A pomestchik may be a vir- tuous man. Well, without doubt he might if he labored for his own bread. That never has happened nor ever will. ^ In the eyes of the true believer, the principal means of being absolved from sin is in receiv- ing the holy communion. But according to exods first commandment, the absolution gained by laboring for one's own bread is a thousand times more to be esteemed. But the million- a>re has paid twenty kopecks the measure for wheat, and so he is free of the commandment.' ■i Labor. Ill 1.29. It is claimed that the condition of- the pomestchik's peasant-slaves is preferable to 'that of the peasants employed by the State. They say that, because they do not know us, for there are many thousand of us, and we can prove the contrary a thousands times. But the pomest- chik sta:Kls by himself, and he has but to say that the peasants under his protection are happier than those employed by the State, and his words will be believed. 130. All that is now over, and slavery is abolished ; but the sorrow that the sight of its infamies has caused me has not yet disappeared, and it will for a long time leave its traces on my soul. Till the age of sixty, the peasant labors for the pomestchik ; deducting from this his thir- teen years of childhood, there remain forty-seven years, of which twenty-four are spent in labor- ing for the pomestchik, and the twenty-three which remain in laboring for himself. Try now to hire a peasant who is employed by the Stat-, and say to him : Labor for me one year with your- wife, your children, and your cattle: maintenance, clothing, implements, etc., to be all at your own cost: if you waste any- thinjr while laboring for me. put it in the account against yourself. For what price would the peasant consent to labor thus for a year? He would ask at least 500 roubles, which would amount in twenty-three years to 11,500 roubles. I 112 Labor. Th,. ,s the sum tl.at the pomestchik has stolen, ,f not n, money, at least in labor, from the^peasant who has given all his life to his se™ And this money the pomestchik has lost at ca ds, or has used to satisfy similar caprices Why, I ask, has he taken this money ? Did the peasant owe it to him ? No. Had he any reason for acting thus? Not one. Then whv has he taken this large sum ? For nothing ^' "31. From the entire universe complainis are being maoe against God. If his goodness is ■»fin.te, whence comes the misery^that ove whelms the poor ? ^ " IS there this mequality E:mong men? Whv is vice happy, and virtue miserable > ^ But IS it the fault of the mirror if our face i, "g 3- ? In other words, is it God's fan if te re ject the law that would establish equality amor^" 132. Enforce this law which says that no one shall eat bread that another has l/bored for e ccpt m legitimate cases, and then, if men are 1" yet equal, they will nevertheless approach more nearly to one another. Labor willTut the wtg^ of those whf. would soar too loftily ^ We are poor through your riches, but you are rich through our poverty. ^ 133. Our great-grandfathers, say you our grandfathers, our fathers, our ancestors 'in a word, have labored, and we also, as ^ou see! Labor, -hik has or, from ) his ser- 1 lost at rices. ^? Did he any en why ng! ints are Iness is t over- e, why Vhy is face is we re- miong 10 one 3r, ex- re not more kving-s : you our in a see, n3 iabor till old age. All that they gained bv their labor they left to their children, and these have transmitted it to theirs. Then why am not I rich.? why can I not even practice the least economy } I owe no more than my grandfather did, perhaps even less. 134. Is it that there are sluggards and drunk- ards in our family? No, my grandfather has said, never! Have my goods been destroyed by fire or flood? No, nothing like that has happened. >J35. Then what has become of my labor? What brigand has stolen my fortune ? Whence come your treasures, O rich man ? Answer mc faithfully. 136. Oh, if the wrong they do us were only temporary ! But it is eternal. As the genera- tions pass, those of to-day must still suffer misery. They will never have defender nor protector. But that is only because you have buried alive our father, that is to say, the com- mandment. 137. Here is what I have had a glimpse of all my life, and what I see clearly to-day, after having for a long time studied the meaning of this commandment : all the world over the peas- ants go into the fields and labor for bread, as- sisted by their little children. The newly born, who have not yet tasted bread, suffer for want of it. To see these people, would they not seem like bees flying over the fields and gathering honey by the way ? f:' ''|i (■■ 114 Labi or. And in beholding men of the upper classes, I have compared them to drones, who are con- ent to buzz without working, and to live by the labor of otiicrs. ^ Every day robbers are arrested ; but are they reai^V^ robbers, or merely rogues? I have found a robber, a real robber who has stolen from God and the Church; he has taken away the primi- tive law which belongs to us laborers. I wish to show you this robber in person. He who does not labor with his own hands for bread but eats the bread of another's labor, he is that robber : arrest and sentence him ! He has carefully hidden the commandment of God and no one for 7390 years has been able to discover it. Furthermore, he has stolen innumerable millions from the noor, and he has left them and their infants, half naked and starving, while he has by this means exalted himself to the clouds. 138. The bees clip the wings of the drones, that they may not eat up the honey they have them- selves gathered. Your turn has come, ye para sites, and we have clipped your wings, that you may not eat the bread of our labor. I know that you will not the less continue to eat it • but when you lift the bread to your mouth, your con- science will take you by the throat, and nothing can deliver you from its grasp. If bread could be acquired by fraud, and if like all other things it could be hidden in a secret place where it would remain in safety, all would go well. But Labor. r classes, are con- 'e by the are they ^G found om God - primi- I wish le who • bread, ; is that ndment IS been s stolen he has 2d and exalted es,that ! them- B para- at you know it; but ircon- :)thing' could hings, ere it But IJ5 we cannot hide bread away; it must be eaKM at once. That deserves reflection. 139. Now you of the upper classes, who havi> placed yourselves among the clouds, consider that you have imprisoned yourselves in the bonds of impiety, and that you have not the strength to break your chains. Behold yourselves plunged in a profound abyss, whence you cannot come forth till God casts out of you the tyrant Idleness and his twin-brother Luxury. We pray you, then, to surrender to us the treasure that God has created especially for our use, and which is the fundamental law of human- ity ; in other words, promulgate it evervwhere. Then we will enrich you, and heap up gold for you, because, hoping henceforth for safety, not only labor for bread, but all other kinds of labor, will seem to us easy. 140. The most weak-minded men, and even children, would comprehend, in hearing this law proclaimed, that it is the first that God gave to the first man, andthat it is more important than all other virtues or commandments put tv)gether. They will at once say to themselves: "I must labor more than ever; but I will pass my life willingly in the fields, to merit happiness in the next world.'' Surrender to us, then, O ye rich, the treas- ure that you, or rather your ancestors, have stolen and concealed from us ; give up to us the "I • I I u6 Labor. ■\ I mos, ^sacred of our .roods, theei/t we hold from »"i'ed by tradition have seemed to me most .mportan, But now they are insignific,^ because ,h,s one commandment, "Knead thv bread,' etc, has filled my heart and mind ^ It will result, if it is promulgated, in depriv- ■ng the priests of bread; for now they eat t r;,'h7h •':i"^' •'""' "" ""^ '•■'•^^ ^^P™"ch them with their Idleness. But then, every one will cast this truth in their face. 141. When I left my manuscript after havine nnnscnbed the preceding article (for I h.vf t^lTl ""'"""' '" '"^^ "'y ^°'^ =" "dd mo- n ents , they came to ask us to lend bread to ,ur X Krasmoiarsk. The inhabitants of our village-ventable Jews-had by a vote taken m the communal assembly, accorded fifty measures of wheat to the magazine of the Mir* Why have they given so little ? " Because the mare has eaten all the bread." f , iif Ih™' ^"^"^ congratulated the man who took the initiative in this proposition ; bur .p- v were angry. .. Fifty measures! fifty .measures! But that IS only twenty pounds _to_enrhl,^.,c. *, °' 'Communal magazin., where Mch household should conlnbule, for .he use o, .he indigen,. ,he ,e„,h parity •-e. ^' ■'"""■Mondes, Sept, 15. 1888. I* 423. as an ptover";. li „ . p„,„, employed 10 evade giv i Labor. i«7 bold from are trans me most y:nificant, 'It ad thy id. 1 dcpriv- cy eat it ^ch them one will r having ■ I have odd mo- read to tants of a vote ed fifty e Aftr* use the an vvho t many ;»sur*js! house. I should rt of its Russia. ade giv Why do you give only twenty pounds? fhey say, at the communal assembly. You might as well have given nothing at all. If you under- take to give at all, you should at least contribute two or three measures from each house, or even two sacks." 142. You see what I predicted has happened. Bread must not be sold, but in certain admissi- ble cases it must be given gratis. And they give it, while you conceal the commandment of labor for bread. But if it had been made known to all men, without diminishing its importance, the burned city of Krasmoiarsk would have re- ceived from our district of Manoussinsk alone, several thousand measures of wheat, and each commune would cause the necessary succor to be distributed. It would be dojie in all cases, for no one knows what may happen to himself to-morrow, or even to-day. 143. Ask instead for money. It will not be given: 1st, because the peasant rarely has any; 2d, because the commandment above cited di- rects the laborer to give bread, rather than anything else. F sides, money is a lifeless thing compared with bread; it is as a mere stone. No one makes gifts in money ; the more one has of it, the more the desire increases for it. Give all the money and treasures in the world to one person: will it make him happy? will it satisfy his cuoiditv? No. But what could he wish for more? why would ' be dis contented? He will cry, "I would old the I*! ! J I ii8 Labor. m whole world in my hands, 1 would control all ZV wr"l^ '" ""^ ^'-- "- -hole ^ xerse! VVh.chever way I look, nothing is 144. But, I will answer him; you must for tha Ive a thousand years, because, whatever in.-«> be your powers, you could never, in an But bread is a thing absolutely opposed to nioney; they are two enemies, even as the ll° borer .s the enemy of the idle man 145- They say that henceforth taxes will be lev,ed on the land ; that is, the amount will be proportioned to the area of the land we possess. Why do you say, on the land Ad! n It frankly that it is the laborers alone who p:.y the taxes. Here is some land that is no" cultivated ; go and take thence the money aTd bend you need. "According to the decree o1 Hn„ who created me, it will answer, I awa^ fo. .ny other purpose, depart, O parasite." Permit me to ask why you exact taxes from o e w o nourish you with their bread, while fr .n thos.. who never labor for bread ,ou do not ake a single kopeck. If the land were bu" f' ee ! I3ut the State has taken it to give ,o the pon,.stch,ks and they e.vact from uf ten tin us v,nluc. Whether the wheat ripens or noT _^.ve us the money : and whore shall we get Labor. 119 ntrol all lole uni- Lhing is nist for '^hatever r, in an 1 would 3sed to the la- will be nt will ind we ? Ad- le who is not ej and :ree of await come from while Oil do re but ^o the times " not, 2 get Although the law says: "Turn thy cheek to him who smites thee," when I consider the cry- ing injustice of which you are guilty towards us, I refuse (and I include all our class of labor- ers, the young, the old, and infants at their mothers' breasts), I refuse, I say, to grant you the right to wrangle over bread, and over the earth that produces it ; be contented to speak • of the stones, and the land that only produces bitter wormwood. If you had an earnest desire to labor, and could not do so for any reason, you would be pardonable; but you evade it from idleness. In this case, what pardon can you hope for? I know you cannot answer these questions. You will employ, you say, even violence to procure your food. But could you so live, could you swallow one mouthful of the bread that you had gained by violence? No, no! that mouth- ful would choke you, body and soul, no matter what rank you occupy. Rich man, have pity on us ! For how many thousand years have you, like a wild horse, galloped over our backs! Consider, for how long a time you have torn the flesh from our bones ! The bread you eat is our body, the wine you drink is our blood. 146. When I had learned the first command ment, notwithstanding my sixty-five years, my weakness and emaciation, I labored in the ground for a whole year (1881). I harrowed t: I20 Labor. m [I'll ^^^H i^^Bj^ ^^^B mm- ^^^^B |^B| ^^^^H I^BI ^1 ■ ■ 1 va ed fh. '^"' plough-horse ; I culti- yated the same ground a second time- I labored I'trsef B^ f"-^'' '"' "' "■«*>* ' -»!'--" hay with the help of my son and my son's caXvI''"Th?'l' 'f '• y '^'" '^""'"-andment ■ vounrth. T M " "• ""^ "'^ "">" becomes 30ung the feeble strong, the idle industrious he .mbecle intelligent, the drunkard sober and rn',i"?T "'^- ^""^'^ ' '"'^« done an Ihat could I. have so labored in the earth i IdW not know I was digging where you had hidden rl^s"^ M?'^ ''"m''' u"°' ^"'""■■' '« ^'^h out- rages. Man would then deliver himself from the ,nd,gence and misery which strangle him 148- It Crod sends an abundant harvest to the e.gt acres I have cultivated, I and m^- flmi „ w,ll have more than enough to satisff us Know, also, O idle men, that I could support" thirty men with the produce of my labor 149- If you have an earnest desire to labor and cannot for good reasons do so, you wouTd be pardonable by God and man; bui it is from Jd eness that you do not work ; is it thei po ™ ble to esteem you? Never, in any degree Hitherto a superior seemed to me a high per' men. I would like to get this notion out of my Labor. i2\ head ; but T cannot, it comes back in sp'te of me I hear often that it is proposed to unite all men m one religion. Is it true? I know not. But if It IS attempted, I declare that, instead of uniting men, they -.vill remain divided in as many sects as ever, and the result will be more hurtful than useful. It was easy to influence men in ancient times, when they were still savage ; they could then be led by a mere thread, without fear of Its breaking. But to-day you may bind them with a triple rope, and you will not lead them one step, first because of their own customs and then because they have a pride which keeps them from submitting one to another. Found religion, however, on the primitive law, without adding strange rules, and soon all the universe will be united. Otherwise it is impossible to obtain the union you dream of. 150. From poverty to riches is but a step • inversely the distance is even less. It is the same with the general and the soldier. A man knows not when his chariot may be overturned ; or, in other words, destiny may to-day give him' a million, and to-morrow make him as poor as we are ; to day he may be a general, and to-mor- row our equal. 151. Behold, then, the path you should fol- low. Hasten to teach the child, however noble mar Wh en be his family, the first commandment. he has grown up, show him by example how to labor for bread. Then, should misfortune over- r »«■ 122 Labor. fake him, he will not even sigh, as he hastens with ardor to labor for his own bread. " For along time," he will crv, " I have wished to occupy myself with this labor, but I could not withstand my fortune; to-dav I thank God for having delivered me from the burden which made me give way to sin." Turning back his sleeves and the lappets of his coat, he will take the plough in hand, which he already knows how to use, and will go singing to his work. 152. But what do we now see? When for. tune proves false to a man, and he is forced to earn his bread with his hands, he becomes dis- couraged, and even disgraces himself, bringing misfortune on all his race. And whose is the fault ? Yours, because you have hidden, and you still hide from him the divine commandment. It should not be the subjects who are condemned to enforced labor, but our rulers. And why ? they ask. Because you should not have con- cealed the law of God. The responsibility of this crime should rest on the priests and on the • Israelitish Rabbi, and not on the civil and mili- tary authorities, who are not culpable in this! 153- You see now, readers, that all your books are of no value by the side of mine. Your eloquent subterfuges are empty nonsense compared with our simple language. All your precious labors for which you pay so generously, are as ncnhing compared to ours. Neither can you compare with us in merit. The treasures which fill your houses have no value compared Labor. 123 hast ens ; wished I could Ilk God 1 which g back he will / knows ork. icn for- rced to lies dis- ringing is the nd you dment. emned why ? e con- lity of on the \ mili- this! your mine, nsense i your ously, er can isures pared to the bread for which v/e labor. All yt)ur great intelligence is weak before our simple faith. Your millions have no more value than our poor possessions. 154. During all ages we have had the rich and the poor, but no one could see why there should be any difference in position between these two classes of men because one had a small capital, another's was twice as great, a third's three times as great, etc.; and each one points with his finger saying: "Is it I that am rich ? Such a one, or another, may indeed be called so." It is these rich men of whom Jesus Christ has said: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, thnn for a rich man to entcr into the kingdom of God." (St. Mark x. 25.) But I have seen a distance between the rich and poor like that between heaven and earth, or between the east and west. Between us and you, as has been said, is a great gulf fixed : we cannot com.e to you, nor you to us. 155. Suppose, for example, I gave a rich or an educated man this counsel: "You see on your side only baseness; come over to ours. Do not labor for bread, since you never have done it, but, by the mere fact of coming to us, you will escape the insupportable reproaches of your conscience." " I cannot do it," he will reply; " I would rather die than join you '■1. '' ' i iv ^f I iu 156. Will it not be the same at the last jud^^ ment, as says the Holy Scriptures? In his (r. 124 Labor. mercy, God would welcome you, but for verv shame you will shrink from him. God, never theless, will not withdraw his mercy, though you have scorned the labor for bread that he has prescribed, and trampled under foot those who have cultivated the ground. 157. For 7382 years your festival has lasted, while we have labored. Now, in 1882, com- mences our festival and your labor, if the com- nKindment is comprehended by every peasant. What joy, what triumph this will be for our in- tenor class ! 158. If you have occasion to remain some time in the country, you must borrow for some days the eyes of an animal, for you could not remain there, having human eyes. As much as we shall be elevated, you will be abased. No one, nevertheless, will reproach you openly they will give you to eat and to drink, but the reproaches that will follow your steps will be more painful than if they were made to your face. ^ 159- If you earned your bread by labor- mg with yojr hands, and not by buying it with money, your feast would be the more com- plete. We are now your inferiors. We would then be still lower, for we labor under compul- sion and pressed by want, while you would be laboring ,n obedience to the commandment ^ our merit would be but the greater and more estimable. 160. You occupy now, in spite of us. our Labor, 125 place at th^ table; and we remain standing so humbly before you that your conscience per- mits It. But then true justice will triumph. It may spare you. but it will no longer wrong us You will not always have the place of honor, and we will not always take the foot of the table. 161. The sluggards say to me: If you had found out how to be rich and happy without labor, all the world would have thanked you for It. But when you invite us to a painful, wearisome, and humiliating task, who will give your words any consideration? You would persuade the government that the primitive law IS founded on labor for bread. But many well- educated people see the law only as throuoh an obscure mist. Must we then deceive our- selves for bread ? What is the use of writing on a subject that is not worth the trouble ? Or of speaking, even, when for fifteen or twenty kopecks one may have a measure of grain ? In fine, if this labor leads to salvation, all ed- ucated persons, and above all the priests, should hasten to undertake it. But they disdain it and like better a life of ease. Then there is notl. ' mg in It of value to salvation. The theory you maintain is but as a tale in the Arabian Nights. 162. The principal scourge of our class*, that which throws us in spite of ourselves into mis- ery, dejection, and all similar unhappiness, is the division of goods among brothers. It is impossible to speak of this evil in few words <4 \ ill 126 Labor, The cause is always the same : thev have hidden from the world the la.v of labor, if this law was made known, a hundred men could live together He who should command need not be hano-hiy and he wh<. should obey need not be quick to take offence. If among this group a father or mother should die, the children would rest in this centre of cordial harmony, and the bereaved spouse would feel the blow less keenly. The orphans would find among them fathers, mo- thers, brothers, and sisters, in a word, many protectors and defenders. Women are usually compassionate : they will care for orphans in preference to their own children. Thus this law carries with it all vir- tues and is opposed to all vices. It was not in vam that God said in creating the world • " Let there be light, for that is good."* You have taken away this gift of God in the sight of men, and you say softly to each other, " What fools these men are who nourish us and supply us with good clothes for nothing ! We give them orders, and they obey us !" 163. If a man speaks of a crime before a nu- merous society, he does not designate any one as Its author, for he cannot look into the con- sciences of those present ; he speaks of the crime f mm a legal poi nt of view, and touches no one's *AlIuding to this passage in Genesis : " God mad^theTim- he made tiie stars also. And God set them .n the firmament' of heaven to give light upon the earth. And God saw that it was good. Labor. 127 sensitiveness. But if he speaks of the primitive law, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread," he cannot conceal the name of the criminal, because he bears the mark of Cain. To disobey this commandment is the greatest of crimes ; and if it is committed by an inferior man it may not be noticed ; but as it is addressed to those who are elevated among the clouds, all the world sees their infringement of it. I would rather praise men than criticise them, but here that would be impossible. In the pres- ence of the holiness )f labor, would it become me to disguise my thoughts in cowardly adula- tion } 164. God gave two commandments to our an- cestors Adam and Eve. The first is, " Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ;" the sec- ond, '• In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread." Why, I ask you, do you execute the first commandment of God with alacrity, and dis- dain the second, flying to conceal yourselves in different corners, wjiile you say, l' will employ a good workman to make my bread ? You fulfil the first commandment personally; why not the second? It is inadmissible to labor for bread by the hand of another, and it can only be done in cer- tain permitted cases. Tell me why you disdain one commandment more than the other. What if your wives should say to you : " We have ful- filled our commandment ; we bring forth chil- 128 Labor. (Iren in sorrow; and in death : and you, why do you not keep the commandment which concerns you ? Give your children bread earned by your own labor."* In brief, you cannot reply to that, and you are left like a fish gasping on the sand. 165. How blind you are, O wise man! You search the Holy Scriptures with all your eyes, but you cannot see there the way to relieve yourself and the flock that God has confided to your care from the burden of sin. You do not see the path that will conduct you to life eternal. You are like the inhabitants of Sodom who were struck with blindness when they sought for Lot's door.f But thtse were in- •Compare these reflections of Bondarefif's with Tolstoi's ideas in the admirable chapter " To Women !"ivhich completes the book What should be done\ "This woman, who, with all the attraction of her personal charms, still evades her own duties under the law of mother- hood, becomes a fit companion for the man who has denied the obligations of his own law of labor; and they thus both lose the true meaning and intention of their existence. "From this proceeds the astonishing folly called the rights of women. These rights we here formulate. " ' Ah. you men.' says woman. ' you transgress your own law of labor, but you wish us to fulfil ours. Truly no ' As ;t is with you, it shall be with us. We will share your pre .ended labors at banks, universities, and academies ; and we will, like you, adopt the pretext of division of labor and will have a hand in all the social and worldlv occupations that we please." " ( What should be done, page 372.) t Alluding to Genesis xix. 10, ii: " But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of Labor. why do :oncerns by your "eply to ? on the i! You ur eyes, relieve fided to I do not to life Sodom n they 'ere in- Tolstol's :ompletes personal f mother- enied the )oth lose he rights our own no ! As our pre- and we and will that we )ut forth I shut to door of 129 deed blinded; wh.Ie you, though siVhies's believe that you see clearly, and that you know everythnig, and no one has the right to .rive yotj counsel. Your blindness is like that of lialaani, who did not see the angel of God that stood armed with a flaming sword in the path before him, while the ass that 1 was ridin- perceived It distinctly. I am the ass; and you, who are Balaam, have ridden upon my back since my childhood. 166. From all that has been said, we see, as in a mirror, that man learns to read, not that he may do good, but evil. The proverb is not without reason which says: '' If educated people should lose their eyes [and I, Bondareff, as well as they] and their horses should founder, we should then be the better." ^ I did not formerly believe in proverbs, but now I see that it is as though God himself had given them to us. ^ 167. The world has a thousand religions, vyhile there should be but one faith, even as there is but one God. The first commandment, "In the sweat of thy face Shalt thou knead bread," would unite all religions. When men shall have compre- hended all Its import, and shall have it graven upon their hearts, then, in one century, perhaps even in less time, all the world, from east to west fr^m mirth to south, will be united in one weaned themselves to find the door." v\ < I t 1 30 Labor, /aith, one church, and one love. (See article 35-) i68. Many people have asked me: Why do you regard those who avoid labor, not onlv without good will, but even with hatred'^ Whatever you feel in your heart, you should at least speak with gentleness and kindness. This is my answer: Where could I find pa- tience and hypocrisy enough to speak with gentleness and kindness? How many millions ot people there are at this moment, how many there have been since the beginning of the world and will be yet in the future, who have been and will be ignominiously wronged by you who are the masters of the world ! In this state of affairs, I do not say a man, but an angel even, could not bear such offences, and the recital alone of our miseries would "set his teeth on edge." * And I, who am but a man, have endured this wrong for a long time. Many times I would have spoken gently, but the moment I commence to write, I am so inflamed with indignation that I forget all my resolutions. And I have said to myself, I can die but once; I have started upon the right way, and I will go forward. 169. I address myself once more to you, O ye of the upper classes. I do not entreat, l' do not ask, but I strongly require of you that you shall give us our due, that you shall teach us the primitive law that God himself gave to us la An expression often used in the Bible. Labor, 131 e article Why do lot only hatred? hould at s. find pa- ik with millions w many e world, een and .vho are : affairs, 1, could ilone of dge." * ed this would imence on that said to i upon ^ou, O It, I do at you us the us la- borers when he created the world. You h-u'e taken it from us by fraud or by violence, .uul you have hidden it in the depths of the earth like the slothful servant in the Gospel who hid' his talent in the ground. Give it back fo us now, without delay; give it back! We will take no excuse. Those who preceded you had some reason to keep this law to themselves, because no one asked them for it; the welfare of others matters little to strangers. But, now. give us this law, or at least explain It to us. ^ 170. You all give us the same excuse. It is not I who am to blame, says one; nor I savs another; nor I, says a third: and the ;/^r / will never finish: but who will say, It is I? If we address the chief men of the State, they say ai . we are not to blame. In a word, the universe has become, as it were, a perfect circle, where no one is on the circumference, and all the world are in the centre. Ask this one or that and he answers invariably. It U not If U the question were of boasting, of raising one- self to the clouds, or of riding on the backs of poor people, you will all cry, // u If It is H But if we speak of holding out the hand to the milhons who are perishing in misery, // is not /. you say at once. Who among you will say // //* Though our emperor, Alexander Nicola' has delivered us from si. %\ i. w--> Ye witch ivery, that has noth in<»- Labor. to do, in my mind, with the question that occu- pies us ; it is quite another affair. 171. We should, without doubt, persuade men by good advice, and by divers warnings, but never by force. Print these counsels in primers and prayer-books, charge the priests of all nations and of all religions, to preach this doc- trine unceasingly, by persuasion and not by force, and to recall to their flocks the qualities which distinguish before God and man him who care- fully executes the primitive law of God, and, on the contrary, to point out' the faults that charac- terize him who shamefully avoids its execution. These are the means by which, to my mind, we shall force men to labor, without employing violence. But excepting the government, who would have the power to do what I have said? No one. 172. If all these counsels were inserted in the daily papers, and in other publications, under different forms, we might wait as many thou- sands of years as there are days in a century, and no profit would result. (See article 36.) 173. Implore, my soul! (and by my soul I mean the souls of all laborers) implore the gov- ernment as much as you will, shed all your tears, multiply your groanings, bend your knees to whom you will, but no one will be touched by your supplications, or moved by your tears. I know my double demand has been made in vain. If they had but said yes or no, I would Labor. m have been more content; but they have said noth- ing! nothing!* Ah! deign, O Eternal Father, from the height of heaven to cast one look upon the earth ! Behold! there is but one man, who by one si'Tg|e^ord can oppress millions of men If * Compare these reflections of Bondareff's 'witirtho";7^rU^ celebrated sectary Soutalef. "If the Czar knew !" said Sou- taief to a throng of his followers. One day he departed for St Petersburg; he would in/onn the Czar. Vain task: they would not let him approach him. The unfortunate reformer was obl.ged to return to his own village, accusing himself of H " n"" ll"^ '" P^*-^^^^^^""-" (A. Leroy-Beaulieu, Revue des Deux-Mondes, Sept. 15, i8S3, page 426.) t Probably alluding to the Czar. APPENDICES. Uo tbe /IDemors of JBonbarett. LABOR AND LOyE. BONDAREFF'S WILL. I. Love of our neighbor is the principal com- mandment. It is the commandment of com- mandments, the la*v of laws, the virtue of virtues. There is no other virtue like it, neither in hea- ven nor on the earth. No other possesses the hundredth part of its perfection ; and in saying this, I do not mean to depreciate existing laws and commandments, but only to give love its full value. II. And now, I ask you, which is the most useful to man and the most agreeable to God, labor or love? Labor beyond a doubt. But there is only one labor that is more useful than love, and that is the labor that is done by virtue of the commandment, «' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread." This is the only labor that is more useiul to man and more agreeable to God than love. Without it all others are useless, and even hurtful. in. i^"^J^ ^^^ fiever happened that any one has labored by virtue of this commandment, that is, »34 Labor and Love. 135 not to satisfy his desire for food, but to obe'y he law (for It is thus that I, Bondareff, interpret this expression in Genesis); neither has any one ever known the joy this labor produces^ a"d readers that can disprove my words, when I oui^'^elghbdn '' "'^'' "''^"' '^''^" ''^" ^^^^ «f IV. \r.t^\ ^'^'a -^ t'jf P'"r^- ^ ^^^-^^ ^^>"nd at each uT^kTr^ '\f ^r^l^ P'"'^^^ •" honor of love for others, liiey laud it. among all people feaT-^Trfh^r'\"- ""^^ ^^"^"^^^^ ^'^ dial iccts. 1 hey honor it in proverbs and sayings hey make it the foundation of all civil and S l.g.ous law. Preachers are wearied in celebrat- ing. Its praises. But, I ask you, have these praises and sermons in honor of love for others tions''"TjJ''"^V^V-^^"'^^^ '" any virtuous ac- tions? Never! It is not only with love thif cbth'e "ri 1''' '•"• '""r>' '^""^'y thelhirsty clothe the poor, give alms to mendicants, heb the widow, or do good to the orphan, etc. ^ V. If men would only help each other and have compassion for the misfortunes of others but no, they will steal, kill, burn, p Ila'e' and deceive one another, they will detest and wish each other all manner of evil ; they w 1 1 set traps and snares for each other the/ w commit wilfu murder; and.tosum upall, ff th^y did not fear the authoriries. and if th--e ivpA ^ sermons in the world, they would eat^;ach otVer al.ye. These are the results which the prTses of love for others and the sermons in its'^honor 136 Labor and Love. produce; and if sometimes one does good to another, he is influenced by the instinct that bnids us together and not by love. VI. Why do they not appreciate this love for others? My reply will be brief: Although love is an excellent virtue, it is narrow and secondaiy • and besides that, labor, properly speaking in- cludes love, while love does not include labor. We may add that labor was created by God in the terrestrial paradise, while this love came to the world four thousand years afterwards, with Moses We see now clearly why labor is the tirst of all virtues, and the base of all laws Love without labor is like a man without a head It IS dead. Love is therefore a narrow, secon' dary virtue. vn. To prove still further what I have advanced I propose to you to make this essay : Suppress and erase all the passages in Holy Scripture which rest on love for our neighbor, and replace them by the explanation of this law, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread" Make known these modified passages, and soon, before the close of the day, all men will be led in spite of themselves, to love their neighbor' It IS in bread, in the labor of the fields that we must seek for the love of others. It is to demonstrate the force of this law that the laborer should direct his endeavors, if he be not also a sluggard. Idleness and luxury are, on the contrary, the principal enemies of serial love. But you who have never labored, have never tasted the joys which attend the accom- Labor and Love, ^Z7 p hment of the law nnd of ti,e labor it tlus you cannot believe niv words duty to speak them ; with vou it rV.t. f^ k r ^ or to deny them ^ ^^^^ ^^ beheve requires ; It is my VIII. Then I these woK/?"' ^^^"^'^ P-ervc and to f^x the T.K "^'^^''""J Lo nx them in vour hpTrfc ^l'',^':±"'-;;-";<;-ding to the pri,„it?veTaw is condition of love for oth without 1 ers. Labor >ve; itcan, by itself, win f is the is strong- or man the highest pnze he can attain before God ivlnki L'i:i:i'''l""' *'•«. ni^l of labor can do no h ±' bt^r'withonf la's =,:;%' i^ Tur"^i!o" '--"^"^^ neighbor and esteem him, buf above ^70^"^ ,l''7'-' Tf' r'-'i'i^^p-^^-t earth. God fas g fen \lllTll ITT^ ""'* and not to slng^gards w'irir,';:h t°e "l a t°Th7s ment of' PrwoJ^X-.e''^, -"T "'^ ^'™-"™^- " or by violence this pJ^ci^urtreas.Tre"' 'h'"' •'"' rtU'sfer-r^l-l^X-^rtJ 138 Labor and Loz'e. his talent. During all these past ages, we, the laborers, have not perceived our loss. Amid the innumerable cares of life, we have over- looked it, and it is onl_>' to-day that we think of it. The thief is now discovered ; we have found the guilty one, and have unveiled his crime be- fore the entire universe. What do you desire? they ask me. Give up the treasure that God has given thee? No, 1 will guard it well! The prey which the wolf hcjlds in his teeth, says the proverb, was given him by Jegor (Georges). What! you preach in every tone of love for others, and you commit like crime? vourself! And why? My question is worth answering. X. If love reigned in the world, would twenty- four millions of men be placed under the author- ity of lords, as it is this day among us, and as it has been for a long time? If love reigned in the world, would "the fertile earth have been given forever to sluggards, whilst men, and still worse, infants, are each day in danger of dying for want of food ? But these lords, these masters of the earth which they have appropri- ated since the creation of the wojVl (thence has come the word " property "), sell it to others at a great price, and then throw awa}- the money at cards, or spend it in unheard-of caprices. Such is the depth of their love for others ! XI. - The sixth day God said: "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat." But the greater Labor and Love. 139 part o. mankind will not submit to the com niand that they should till the earth • thev out tiHspau.ful labor on the defenceless poor^mC whilst they walk to and fro whistlin/a d with their arms folded. If, at least, they had . v {?-ven to the poor the labor for bread. im^^,{ be borne ; but they have heaped upon him sorts 01 painful labors, and he even p ys tl e pnvileps of doing them! 1 do not speak of taxes, but of rents, and the services of Til sorts The nln^tf' hYl7'"^'^^'" '^'^- Tins is done in him suhnW f f T' ^'''- ^^"^^"* ^^^^h making nim submit to these wrongs, they take from eier imi^^ h"h'- /V."^ '^^^^ gu'en that fo" evei into the hands of those who evade bhnr and they call that for which they have nev^e; labored, their property. ^ ve never DrJach 'vul'll''^^ ^''' •'"', "^'ghbor which you preach but never practise ! ^ seed xir. Many times I have resolved to speak to vou more affectionately; but when I behold your treachery, I forget all my resolves. ^ We see clearly that between the primitive aw of labor and the civil and religious ws which exist there comes the eternal enmity th^? eparated the serpent and the woman. But be ween these two classes of men, the laborers on the one side and those who evade labor on the other there exists an enmity created by God himself and not by man. They say there s h.s difference between the primitive law and ^ter laws, that the first was given to man bv f?^M^''^\^^"'"'^^' ^^^ ^»'« ^i"^' and we know that God has not ordered us to atone for our crimes by any other virtue or merit. Burif 140 Labor and Love. this be so, why is not labor prescribed by law and tradition as indispensable to salvation? Ihus we are tempted to think that God's de- cree IS not just; and for this reason I have said that there is enmity between these two sorts of law. Besides that, since the days of Adam there have been millions of laborers; was there never among them one single man who wasffood and acceptable to God ? The question is of importance. But instead of solving It, writers who are more competent than I am, speak of the progress of labor and of Idleness, without designating any one. Thus have they always neglected, and will do so tiU the end of the world, the discussion of idleness and labor. x XIIT. Here is a new argument to prove that labor, accomplished in conformity with the primitive law, IS more useful than love for otliers. If you speak of this love to an ignorant man. or to one but slightly educated, he will not listen to vou \ou will see that in his eves and in the expres- sion of his face: he puts on a dejected air he is drowsy, he yawns, and is weary. He endeavors to cad the conversation to other subjects, or will tell you he is in haste; he prepares to de- part, and what you have said he will not, or can- not, understand. It was useless to engao-e him ni such a conversation. I have witnessed all that myself. I have not invented it. XIV. When, in reading passages of Genesis to a man, you arrive at these words, ' In the sweat Labor and Love. ,^j Ihem ^f./'r ^^Y' ^^"" ^''^^^ bread," explain ec"^ ^^^^'.%^ '\-^' this penance^wa sm Add that God, when crcatino- heaxen ind Ook Tt vnn ^""" y"'"" ">":■ l"CUlor wiH V Hr', , ^ '" "'""^ement; he will „,, l„„.,er fcrc^J S'.r.v""'''-?; °'-, «'■" not give nnv that the/aie"rut- ^"' ' ^^^''^ ''^^°- ^o^ XV. what he has learned, and the^sS y'wil goTrom XVI. Observe always that only the lahnrer^ ,«i?i iT.n ,T'' '""^'- ^' ^o-- those who' av"d labor,— and they are numerous in the world thev w.ll dispute yourarguments, word for wor'd^ ancl asa crownmg refutation of them, und^r the pauilul arcumstances in which they ^re nlaced they will show you the money the^ have take« 142 Labor and Love, from the poor laborers, \ -hich iliey pretend they vyill use in their aid. You know well, readers, that, whatever may be the subject under discus- sion, the rich always gain their point. It has always been so, and always will be to the end of the world, as says Sirach, the man who was inspired by God : " When a rich man speaketh, every man holdeth his tongue, and look, what he saith they extol it to the clouds: but if the poor man speak, they say. What fellow is this ?" XVII. Have I not proved, beyond dispute, that love without labor is dead, and that labor, accom- plished according to the commandment, can live alone without the aid of love? Love is hidden in labor: labor is the home in which love dwells Love without labor is as the body without soul*. Ihe law lives only when its power is used for man s profit ; otherwise it is dead. Besides that, the law lives only for those who accomplish it willingly, and not for those who refuse to sub- mit to labor with all their heart. And in fine the sluggards— who are truly criminal— are dead to the law as it is dead to them. As for love to others, we will not speak of it here. It is impossible for me to explain to the world the law of labor, that I have only learned by myself, and that no one has taught me. I have comprehended its truth with my whole soul. \ou deny, and you will deny forever, that it is gifted with a force that will, one day, unite all men in one failh, one church, and one love, be- cause It is the chief of all virtues. You would Labor and Love. H% gain, O you of the upper classes, by holdino- in your hands the head of all virrui. whereas'you now hold only its tail-and by tail 1 mean lo^e Love ilse.f creates your words, but not your act.ons And why? Because your money^ 1 as fTom dt'tair '^^^''" """"""* '^'''^''" '^^ ^^^^ XVIII. Could you believe, readers, that he who shall have welcomed the law of labor with the caffer- ness that I have described would do to others what he would not have them do to him? Would he take, by any means whatever, the goods of another ? Can we suppose that, havinir resolved to eat the bread for which he has la- bored wri h his own hands, and to live an honest life, he will retain whatever he may have ac- quired dishonestly? No, we cannot imagine such inconsistency. ^ Could a man, whose conscience is so pure re- frain from holding out a helping hand to his neighbor, or, in other words, C(;uld he behold one who IS an hungered and not feed him, or one who IS dying of thirst and not give him to drink or a weary traveller and not give him rest in his own house, etc. etc? A pure conscience has the eyes not of a man, but of an angel. Nothing can escape them. ^ XIX. For him who has not tasted the joy ot labor that IS accomplished conformably with the prim- itive law that God himself has given us when creating the heavens and the earth, it is difficult, very difficult in fact, to believe what I have been 144 Labor and Love. saying. But in claiming that labor, blessed hv God Ks a hunc red timcs^iore uscfu than bve I bnt use a r.^Hit that belongs to n,e. Ym. nn v XX. highest .j.^^, ^^^{^:t^ ^east and not the greatest",,' hesc vfe' '» onH ,h "'i '""u' «^""'' ■■«"*"" 'he bread of !t^,ers will say, we have c4Ired our ^00..";,^ """"^"'^ as on dod, believing thaF we wTs c ,rbo7h &r3Lr„ot':;t;;:''£tT af?^ ^-- s-e rnl^^?r- Must";e"?°i'rh^i;n^5;t if/s r-c "1 M ^'"^* °"'' "l>'ni<>ns on legitimate rea tent^^lV^ntl^rS^Sne^S pensh my readers will say and th nk hnt^hi proverb is true which savs -Thethnni li not always r.u>,. fj- .uY ^_; 1 '^^ thunder does a heap of dust " " ""' '''''"'''' ^"^ ""^^^^ ^'^^m Labor and Love. MS XX r. - Even as the universe could not live without God, It also cannot ii^'e without bread, and therefore not without laborers. It is evident that after God and bread the laborer comes in the third rank, for on this triple foundation rests al the world, as we will show clearly in the following articles. XXII. God is a Spirit who is present everywhere, in heaven, on earth, and beneath the earth. But which is his usual habitation? This is a question not yet resolved at this day. But it is evident to any reasonable man that, without doubt, God's principal habitation is with bread and with the laborer. Suppress one of these three existences, God, or bread, or the laborer, and soon the uni- verse will disappear. XXIII. Can we not now affirm that tne second one of this trinity will truly save our souls from death ? VVe would not commit a sin in calling it the first trinity, for that which is formed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is not universally accepted. One half of the world believes it. and the other half does not, making of Gt)d but one person. If all the world recognized the trinity of which I speak, which is composed of God, bread, and the laborer, they would with- out doubt admit that these three are contained in one God. And now what do you think, readers, would happen if all the laborers understood my words } ^ I 146 Labor and Love. rich ones ! You cannot deny that all your iovs depend on our labor: without it you couTd no^ be happy. But what will you do to restnct a^ these men to cultivating tL earth ?! is i^ St^ne^falTh ''^' ^^ -V deplore tTe misiortune of a laborer who sows ffood seed in a sterile soil and gathers no harvest? It t who am this laborer; the good seed s the L commandment of God. wkh its consequences n^'J^""''^ soil, those hearts of yours that amid' all the comforts of the world, tur^wih discus from the labor that God has imposed on al? XXV. I return once more to what I said iust now vitMheh'bo'rer-.'^'P^^^"^^ "'^h bSTd' we ^hnuM '^' It seems to me reasonable that we should revere bread as we do God himself ZVc:^'^:''''l'''''^' ^^^ niost precious / nis creatuies in heaven or on the earth (\ r, not speak. of myself, already so old ho could only jom ,n honoring the others.) To da v the price of bread is fixed at one rouble and fort v kopecks the measure, while its real "al," cannot be understood by the human mind Qnce more, it must never be sold, and only in extr. ordin »ry cases can it be given away ^ Bread ?: est.mited at one rouble lid fortyY^pecks .nl t he lo borer ,s quoted at a still lower orlce hJ stands at zero. And yet he is one oF the'lhj^e Labor and Love. XXVI. 147 God could, I grant, nourish man without having need of bread or of the laborer; but to do that, he would be obliged to change all the plan of the world, and to withdraw the decree he pronounced when creating the heavens and the earth. He must destroy his creation, be- cause its laws would no longer have any value. But for whom should he do this? 'For the sluggards ? No, no ! 1 repeat, God, bread, and the laborer form the true and indivisible trinity which saves us from death. XXVII. It is for me to ask whether or no a thing is useful for the common good ; and it is for you to answer me or not, as you will. Why, then, I ask you, do you treat the laborer as an im- becile, an idiot, or a fool, and scorn the great- ness of his merits who eats the bread of his own labor, and preserves from famishing other men as well as the animals ? We are fools, I admit, fools in all the force of the term. But it is this : the more we are instructed, so much the more we make progress ; but we cannot attain the limit of progress which is perfection. During this life man cannot reach the limit of science, but after death he will at once attain perfection. XXVIII. And further, the more a man is educated, the better he perceives his intellectual defects. Since, then, you look down upon the man who nourishes himself by his labor, as well as his fel- low-creatures, and also the animals, what, I prav you, will you call him who, far from nourishin'o- 148 Labor and Love. I f,.K fK^ 1 ^ '^F^l'icis, vviiat have vou reservpH sate v!^? ^5;'":'^ ' S"' «■'>>• do 1-tl.us h e ro '; raiders, tiurt"'^'" ""^"^'- ™«' '''■' >""■. XXIX. of Lufger/ ^^rwhe'^e' ifth? X.trf" whlcK^ there was an pvr^cc j« ♦u "neat oi which which ihev Tthe fn hi ? P^^jed.ng years, and iw.li nicy (^tne imbeciles) have sfmv^ri .,..5 The mtehgent ones have eatenTis the renlv St^-h^SeT To''lr,hr"jST- n-el^K-rretrr&'^^Tf^ incredible! F'""^tive law— it is almost "^ XXX. poor laborer*! If *\..\ . *"^ backs of fhey wlTr„^ever c'ot;::r^r X'j;iH"'.'rj thin, .oui7't^„\'' L.;r^r'.<'i"^;'"^; Labor and Love. 149 Whence comes this state of things? From tl e,r not explainmg the divine law " In the sweat o li^ face Shalt thou knead bread/' to you''i n en wonM ""h' °^ ^^^^nce For by this meant mth th.l th ""'^^ comprehended from their JkI K ' ^^^*^.''^' """^^ cinxi^^X themselves to eat the bread of their own labor, and to live honestly. XXXI. virTne?/''' "^'^ ^^^""^ of labor, that virtue of virtues, ^ u ;3 pnmers or in the books of hi^h science 1 he masters make no allusion to it \^^^rW^ 1'^'^' ^^^"^selves live in idleness. Thus chook -h" ^'%" r'l^r^ "^^^ '^ ^"«d' i" the schools. He ^ylll be like the earthen vessel v.Mch retains always the odor of the first^fquM It has contained. Many examples prove this h.stonans relate that the R^oman emperor ^cuigula vyas so cruel that, not content with tak.ng the life of those who displeased hmT he even drank the blood of his victims The daughterof Darius could find no more Jxqu kite article of food than the serpent. How w?ll you C'lruh ''' ^T'^ .^^"^' ^^ "«^ '^^^^ been tC and that the daughter of Darius had a nurse to whom the serpent's Hesh was the daintiest of XXXII. 'I heologians claim that God offered the r^ilk o wisdom as nourishment for a child, but that hv i; ""^^l?^ ^""^ "■^''^ '"'^k «f ""piety. I by lault of the parents, the child drani- the ISO Labor and Love. flevil'e milk, no other food could thenceforfh P eas< him. Even as Caligula loved o drink Ihe n?f food'^inir^'^ ^^'"''' ^^^ ''^ VVe^.^Hl?^' ^Y ^'''I'^ ^'''" the laborers have> We stih must expect the worst. But if all them ?'' -hi". "'^ "^^ ^'''- ^^ho will nourish on:"j/willl^.^^ loroi;^"''^'^^ P'""'^^"^ ^^^^ - XXXIII. I pray you, readers, not to forget thaf T Tf ^V'i humbly, * standing wfth bowed head and sad aspect at the threfhold of your door. But you are occupying the nlare nf honor at the table where tLy^serve ?he oro ducts of our labor. You wi/l not reply ^ s 1 because you feel that you are in every way culpable in the sight of God and ma7 ^nH even before your own conscience ? If you try o justify yourself, you will f.,11 still mo^e de^p y into sin ; if you try to contradict me voi r bt'a^ah;"st'rod ' ^" ^"^^T' "^^ -^^-^'Z XXXIV. You see now, you of the upper classes thaf he laborer is vour second father; we may even ( i- L ■ Remember that a 1 the dishes of which yoM eat at your table are the pre JlLTf^i'tl L'd o'S '""" ""?", °' "" -"' -^i-^^- "^- Labor and Love. 151 as a father nourishes his children Nothing can be more contrary to the law than the excuse you present in saying, - 1 pay for my bread." Where did you |et your money ? Is not this money that you keep a[ home with you, the fruit of our libor? VoJ cannot obtain our pardon unless you igree with all your heart to eat the bread of your own iabor.-Impossible ! you reply again ; how could all men do the same work ? XXXV. The law of labor may be incomprehensible if we compare It to that of love, because this.word ^7/^ alone suffices to show all its nature, while we need numerous developments to make clear the meaning of the primitive law. I have wr^t ei! already nearly three hundred articles* in on- ment upon it, and I doubt if I have completely persuaded my readers of the necessity oAabor How can I present in few words all the mysterious virtue which belongs to the law f Tr?. ?J^ ^^^^'1'' ^J^^t'"ff the heavens and the earth ? Besides, it encounters the greatest of obstacles in the influence of money wtiich de- prives this law of so much of its force V is money which renders men blind and insensible Hear them answer simply: "J pay for mv bread ! pay for my %k^i:' -fCl is th?i^ the tcvt Mf ulZ^A a modified the numeral on, so that the text of Bondarefif now contains only 173 paragraphs. 152 Labor and Love. XXXVI. sermon'^"'' '^ ^"^'^ '"^ ^^«^^"^^-' or rather my At the moment in which T wn't^ fk^ is my witness thaf F / "i' "^''"dness. God An individual is '';aVdlPb4^f°h^ "■""'• of some tilings- Ut\^\^'^A-\f 'gnorant government fhin^d h ide from""the '""' i^'^ eyes the P-reafPcf ko • ^ '^"^ people's hiaven or^on the eaX'^'r '^'' """ ^^ ^" lieveit. ^' ^ ^^" "ever be- XXXVII. I have just been told that T wiMl r.^^ u s^ e'fetrnir,zrK;fr-iiP- government,ide„esswrWfl^'''-\^^ ^« ^'^^ everywhere • t m f. flj^^/'^sh and increase scorned and debase(^^"ni?H ^'"^^v^ ^"^"1^ be the truth of mv medir L """S' Y^" ^^^ "«^v of my words. ^ Predictions, and the exactness XXXIX. The blood and the \e'\r; God in the life beyond the g?ave My conscience will be my judge; and it will not torture me with remorse, for I believe that h^ve always applied myself to do right. And yet if there is any doubtful case, I will resign myself to the decision of God ^ XLIV. My readers desire perhaps to know what are the griefs that have dried up my blood Thev are these : r j' 1. iic_y ist. I have not the habit of writing, as you may see. I have been obliged to re-w rite the same article several times. You will see from that, the imperative need I have felt of doing- m}' work. '^ 2d. I have composed this work in the midst of painful labors in the field. I go to my labors m, n^^T'T' T^ ^^ "^8^^* I ^^^»te, and with much difficu ty, because I do not see well, even with spectacles. 3d. If I had been rich, I would have had teachers, counsellors, and literary aid But while I am not entirely poor, my possessions "^"n^/Z.'^^d^f- At 1 have also not been well icccived where I have spoken of my proj- 4th. Is my family numerous.? In other words, 156 Labor and Love. how many arc. there of us who labor ? We are seven: myself, my wife, our oldest son and his wile, and tlieir three young children. We are far from bemg all of us ahll to work. Uur fortune does ..ot permit us to employ laborers ; and besides that, as 1 have show f we must not eat the bread .,f another's labor! 5th. It IS four years (we are now in De cember i886) since I addressed the govenl" ment on this subject that I have at^heai I have asked permission to publish my sermon' What IS the result? It is as though 1 had^ ad to do with the deaf and blind ; they do not an hJ }'■ 1^?"^^ ''''''^^ '"°^t ^^' '-^1' dries up my blood IS that sixty millions of Russians are Zi tenng ,n ignorance and misery because the law of labor IS hidden from them. Why? That some persons may live in comfort an/idlenes's and enjoy all the earthly pleasures that for very shame's sake I will not enumerate before honest people. ui^iure Have I told you all the sorrows, the evils the weariness and the pain from which I suffer? JMo ; lor It is impossible to express it all. XLV. fhi?T^h"^/J "'T ^?^- "^^^^" J^'-^s designed that I should seal with my blood and bathe tith my tears the truth that f have taught. I have te.'!f 'Vt "^3^ blood, and bathelit with my ment'T kJ ""P' ^ ^"-^ "y ^^^^h the commani- ment I have proclaimed will flourish. I can- not behave otherwise. What obstacle couid stand in the way ? I have told but the truth my prophecy cannot vanish without leaving Labor and Love. | - - XLVI. 1 liave bedewed it with m v . *^ i '''"^^• with my blood as nve ^aid n'd""l'' ^"'"' " XLVII. Ar^,\ eLTt^Vol'-; .fri w!?rr^ sign myself to the sepulchre and I J "" pt7tii^i;^^':L™£:-nt'v^''^?f precious than all eartlvTreTs^lTt r^" you my design in the fo^nowhiranicIeT" ''"" XLVIII. I, Bondarcff. will make a written rather fKo a verba w II ;„ ,.,k;^u • ** ;r,V"en rattier than rbal vvill. „, which 1 will say to Daniel : At my death, wh en you place me my sop in I «58 Labor and Love, coffin, put in my hands the papers that are uw M ■ ^^^''Z''^'; "^7 everything, the surface as as the depths of the earth, will know why I shall hold these papers ih my hands. He can jud.i^^e of their contents when he summons to the last ludgment all our enemies who. havintr heard of or read my doctrine, have made no ef- fort to propagate it. He will summon ak., the defenders of the law of labor, and he nmU re- compense them. I assure you with all mv soul that my prophecy will be accomplished. If you offend a man, you will certainly be pun- ished. In denying the law of labor, you offend millions of men, with their children and all their descendants. Do you believe that your sin will be pardoned because of- the blind fortune that protects you } None but atheists could nave such a delusion. XLIX. We have with us the custom of carrying the dead to the cemetery in our arms. But J will order my son to carry ray corpse on a carriage to the tomb. ^ Man is too much of a hypocrite to be per- mitted to touch ray reraains. When one of us seeks in life the esteem of his neighbors, he re- ceives but hatred ; they wish him the greatest misfortunes and they disdain him ; but when he is dead and he has no longer need of man's esteem, his enemies carry him to his last rest- ing-place with feigned sorrow. Ah ! if a man could see what passes at his obsequies, he would be but little satisfied ! Man is a hypocrite I now hate all men, and that is why I will not have them touch my coffin after my death. Labor and Love. '59 My often too ea^er critics do not consider private individuals for whom they care' not but they regard only the representatives of the supreme government. These are thev who are our most bitter enemies. These are'as pas- tors who nourish themselv. i, at..! let the flock hun er confided t ) their care die of L. If a man passes from death to life, his neigh- bor will not even carry him on a cart • but If he passes rom life to death, he will carry him in his arms And ,f one had occasion to^help hone^f nn' .^' V' ^^^^\^^^r, but only in the hope of an actual recompense, consisting- of gifts of money or of public praise. ^ LI. or sand, but with fertile earth nnd m li -^ l^urial. I will direct him to continue every year pensewith the pries S office^Sr-K^'''' undertook to dis- crated ground, but for other" r?./ be "nt^^.^j ;„ unconse- child was hnrn '' U -. , ^/ .reasons than Bondareff's. "A fused toha'veit'bamized^ anofh ^^.'"J-Beaulieu, "and here- ■t in his garden. uTd^rfhe^p^text ^i;:'^?' "'l'^^ '^ ''-^ When that was forbidden, hr^d^hj boVy'underTis W""'^ = i6o Labor and Lm>e. o sow the place with good wheat. Later, this land may belong to some other cultivator, anH in this manner they will gather the Dread of life from my grave, to the end of the world. Thus will be accomplished the prophecy of Job (v. 26): "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season."* This is the monument that I prefer to all others. Already I have chosen the place of my burial I consign myself to the grave. I live yet to. day : the future does not belong to us. I here terminate* my book. ^ And now. readers, we will meet again ; if not in this world, at least in the next. We shall find that world different from this. But I hope, with your skill and eloquence, you will be able to justify yourselves before God better than I have known how to do it. Timothy Miciiailovitch Bondareff. *Men will speak of my obsequies from century to century, and many laborers will follow my example. Perhaps some amongst you, O ye nobles and rich men, will also be interred in the earth where men sow their grain ! Later, this vat or, aiiH ead of life rid. Thus y of Job ;;rave in a eth in his jfer to all my burial. ve yet to- lin ; if not shall find t I hope, ill be able :er than I i 3AREFF. I / to century, Thaps some ) be interred