inst the workers. If it is
not yet as influential here as it was in Russia during the reign of
the Czars--it is becoming so. Its destructive work cannot be
neglected any longer. It must be fought....

"German Socialists understand that by destroying the holy alliance
between the Church and the State their task would not be completed.
After that 'We must wage unrelenting war against the Church,' says
Bebel, 'because she foments civil war among the workers--because it
is the only reactionary force which has any strength and which
keeps us in voluntary slavery.'

"By separating the Church from the State and thereby enforcing
their demand, 'Religion is a private matter,' the French Socialists
were not yet satisfied. They went on fighting religion, and their
Belgian comrades worked in accord with them. Says E. Vandervelde,
'We are bound to admit that both in philosophy and in politics
there must be war between Socialism and the Church.'

"This attitude of the French and Belgian Socialists was approved by
the international Congress at Amsterdam, 1904.

"The position of the Russian Socialists is very clear. They fully
understand that 'Religion is a private matter' signifies only the
first stage in the war against mental slavery. 'Religion is a
private matter,' says N. Boucharin (The Church and the School),
'but it does not mean that we must not fight it by persuasion.'
Further on he emphasizes that it is a 'private matter' only as
much as forceful protection or forceful destruction is concerned.
Beyond the gates of the State's protection, religion is not
considered to be a private matter in Russia. It is fought there in
schools and educational institutions by 'Propaganda, explanation
and education.'

"In this question American Socialists must not be misled by the
seeming contradiction in terms."

In the April 19, 1919, number of "Struggling Russia," Dioneo gives some
interesting information relative to the destruction of education under
the Bolshevist regime:

"The lower and secondary schools are ruined. The villages have
their Soviets, their premises for meetings, but no lower schools.
As regards secondary schools, the Bolshevist reformers are of the
opinion that, in general, such institutions are not wanted and are
just as unnecessary as the int