THE ROAD AWAY FROM
REVOLUTION
Copyright Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C.
Woodrow Wilson 1923.
THE ROAD AWAY
FROM REVOLUTION
By
WOODROW WILSON
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
BOSTON
COPYRIGHT 1923 BY
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, INC.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The following pages are reprinted
from
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
for August 1923
THE ROAD AWAY
FROM REVOLUTION
3
THE ROAD AWAY
FROM REVOLUTION
In these doubtful and anxious days,when all the world is at unrestand, look which way you will, theroad ahead seems darkened by shadowswhich portend dangers of manykinds, it is only common prudencethat we should look about us andattempt to assess the causes of distressand the most likely means ofremoving them.
There must be some real ground4for the universal unrest and perturbation.It is not to be found in superficialpolitics or in mere economicblunders. It probably lies deep at thesources of the spiritual life of ourtime. It leads to revolution; andperhaps if we take the case of theRussian Revolution, the outstandingevent of its kind in our age, we mayfind a good deal of instruction for ourjudgment of present critical situationsand circumstances.
What gave rise to the RussianRevolution? The answer can only bethat it was the product of a wholesocial system. It was not in fact a5sudden thing. It had been gatheringhead for several generations. It wasdue to the systematic denial to thegreat body of Russians of the rightsand privileges which all normal mendesire and must have if they are to becontented and within reach of happiness.The lives of the great mass ofthe Russian people contained no opportunities,but were hemmed in bybarriers against which they were constantlyflinging their spirits, only tofall back bruised and dispirited. Onlythe powerful were suffered to securetheir rights or even to gain access tothe means of material success.
6It is to be noted as a leading factof our time that it was against “capitalism”that the Russian leadersdirected their attack. It was capitalismthat made them see red; and itis against capitalism under one nameor another that the discontentedclasses everywhere draw their indictment.
There are thoughtful and well-informedmen all over the world whobelieve, with much apparently soundreason, that the abstract thing, thesystem, which we call