Tolstoy's Two Laws

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32322, 13 June 1970, Page 4

Tolstoy's Two Laws

The Law Of Love And The Law Of Violence. By Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Mary Koutouzow Tolstoy. Anthony Blond. 101 pp.

This essay, which was intended by Tolstoy to be his testament before the grave, lays down a single argument with passion and devotion. Violence, he states, is the means of holding men in subjection, and will last only as long as the oppressed believe the strength used against them to be more than they can overcome. Since revolution also uses violence and hatred, it will only destroy one form of tyranny for another; since no man is wise enough to visualise fully a future political system, the only way to eliminate judicial and military violence is for each man to follow his own conscience. This will lead him to reject not only institutions and laws of civil life but also those of the Church; he will then embrace completely the law of love laid down by Christ If each man changes for the better, society also must improve. “From the moment that this law penetrates the

universal conscience as the supreme law of life, our dreadful moral condition which permits the greatest iniquities and acts of barbarism to be considered natural will disappear of itself. Then everything dreamed of and promised today by socialist and communist builders of future worlds will come to pass.” Tolstoy cites cases in which individuals have preferred to suffer persecution rather than take part in military operations, or even obey the laws of the land and pay their taxes: he is convinced that their acts are seed sown which will soon flower in the hearts of men everywhere. Politics have changed greatly since Tolstoy wrote this book in 1908. Few countries would now openly defend colonialism or serf labour. However, if this would please Tolstoy, our weapon stockpiles would horrify him. There must be few who can share Tolstoy’s optimism in the ethical regeneration of the world, but more people embracing pacifism agree with him that this is the only way effectively to counter violence.