Publisher's Synopsis
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 little accuracywhat he is as the rest of us know why he is. The Socialist believes that most human affairsshould be regulated and managed by the State-the Government-that is to say, themajority. Our own system has many Socialistic features and the trend of republicangovernment is all that way. The Anarchist is the kind of lunatic who believes that all crimeis the effect of laws forbidding it-as the pig that breaks into the kitchen garden is createdby the dog that chews its ear! The Anarchist favors abolition of all law and frequentlybelongs to an organization that secures his allegiance by solemn oaths and dreadfulpenalties. "Nihilism" is a name given by Turgenieff to the general body of Russiandiscontent which finds expression in antagonizing authority and killing authorities.Constructive politics would seem, as yet, to be a cut above the Nihilist's intelligence; he isessentially a destructionary. He is so diligently engaged in unweeding the soil that he hasnot given 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 is theoffspring of an unholy union between the tongue of a liar and the ear of a dupe.
