ACHAD HA-AM'S LATEST VIEWS
A brief article from the pen of Achad-Haam on the Turkish Revolution has created quite a stir in current Hebrew literature. It is the peculiar fortune of this great sage of Neo-Hebrew that every stroke of his pen evokes a considerable amount of both favorable and unfavorable comment and criticism, but this time the whole weight of the discussion was thrown on the unfortunate side. Even his most faithful and pious Chassidim, who looked upon every utterance of his as on a new revelation, have deserted him and, if they do not actually join the camp of the enemy, they remain passive onlookers. After three years of literary silence and retirement from public life, a period replete with stirring events from within Jewish life which demanded an expression of opinion from the leading mind of Jewish nationalism, Achad-Haam, no longer able to resist the temptation of a reading public eager for his word, yielded to the urgent solicitations and constant entreaties of friends and determined to enter once more the literary arena.
In an article written in the form of an epistle to leading Zionists residing in Palestine and published in Ha-omer, a quarterly publicaton issued in Palestine by Sh. Gutman (Ben Zion) and D. Yellin, Achad-Haam presents his views on the latest developments in Palestine by drawing a comparison between the phenomenal success of the Young Turks and the crushing defeat of the Russian Revolutionary forces. The struggle against despotism in Russian was doomed to failure, he says, because the leaders of the Russian movemnet made the grievous mistake of relying on mere physical force in an armed uprising against the government, in political assassinations and in incit-
ing one class of the population against the other. It was but natural that the autocratic government with a far superior force at its disposal, with vast resources at its commend and with an army of mercenaries and spies, should crush all armed resistance. Were the leaders of the Russian Revolution as clear-sighted and sagacious as the semi-barbaric Turks, the revolution would have taken an entirely different turn.
For many long years the young Turks have labored incessantly and zealously to educate and enlighten their people, to arouse in them a desire for freedom and a hatred of tyranny and oppression. They knew that the two pillars on which all despotic governments rest, the army and a caste of fanatic clergy, can be undermined and make harmless through diffusing among all classes of the nation the light of knowledge and education. They did not resort to violence and political assassination for they knew how ins’gnificant and trival was their strength as compared with that of the enemy. With undaunted spirit and with remarkable fortitude of mind they continued their work of bringing about a radical change in the life of the people, of revolutionizing their minds and imbuing them with the spirit of liberty and fraternity. Never was the tongue fatigued with speaking to the people, nor the hand weary of writing for them. And when they were convinced that the seeds of freedom which they had shown had produced a good harvest, that the minds of the people were ripe for a political change, they boldly unfolded the flag of liberty and the people rallied around it. Success has crowned their labors, for their guiding principle was the maxim of the prophet: “Not by