If society—including all the workers—were less concerned about the money a man has to spend or to give away than about the purity of the means whereby he has got what he has, a great deal of the gilding of wealth would vanish at a stroke. Aggrandisement would grow less attractive—the path of renunciation would become more easy and natural. Public opinion a force to which every landless workman and every unrepresented woman in Britain can contribute—is a maker of the future, stronger than any legislation, which indeed can never be more than its follower and vassal. While wealth, however acquired, is envied and admired, it will be sought by any means. Abstention from envy, from admiration, and from servile emulation can create a new atmosphere about it. When the fateful Mordecai sits unmoved at the gate, the doom of Hamon approaches.
It is thus seen that the land question is ever the vital question for all people in all countries. Tolstoy’s argument and appeal must not be set aside by any, with the self-satisfied remark that his words concern only Russia, “which is in such a terrible state.” In truth—as Tolstoy so clearly recognises and points out—in this matter, the only difference between Russia and her Western neighbours is, that she is really in a more hopeful state than they are. Her malady is acute—it has not become chronic—the mass of her people still know what they need, and its remedy lies straight before them. In certain other countries—Britain among them—the peoples have been long hypnotised and are left standing, as it were, outside a bewildering labyrinth, full of blind alleys, which, athirst, they wander up and down, while the fountain of economic life lies secret at the heart of the maze. Therefore, the first step possible for these peoples is to be de-hypnotised and awakened to the recognition of what they really need, proceeding thereupon to understand the true character of those who have robbed them of it, and to determine henceforth to refuse to be used as tools in further robbery of the same obscure nature either at home or abroad.
To cease to do evil, is the first step towards learning to do well.
