The Shadow On The Dial: and Other Essays

THERE is a deal of confusion and uncertainty in the use of the words "Socialist,""Anarchist," and "Nihilist." Even the '1st himself commonly knows with as littleaccuracy what he is as the rest of us know why he is. The Socialist believes thatmost human affairs should be regulated and managed by the State-theGovernment-that is to say, the majority. Our own system has many Socialisticfeatures and the trend of republican government is all that way. The Anarchist isthe kind of lunatic who believes that all crime is the effect of laws forbidding it-asthe pig that breaks into the kitchen garden is created by the dog that chews its ear!The Anarchist favors abolition of all law and frequently belongs to an organizationthat secures his allegiance by solemn oaths and dreadful penalties. "Nihilism" is aname given by Turgenieff to the general body of Russian discontent which findsexpression in antagonizing authority and killing authorities. Constructive politicswould seem, as yet, to be a cut above the Nihilist's intelligence; he is essentially adestructionary. He is so diligently engaged in unweeding the soil that he has notgiven a thought to what he will grow there. Nihilism may be described as a policy ofassassination tempered by reflections upon Siberia. American sympathy with it isthe offspring of an unholy union between the tongue of a liar and the ear of a dupe.