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Article Title: Tolstoy and Bryan

Full Citation: Kenneth C Wenzer, “Tolstoy and Bryan,” Nebraska History 77 (1996): 140-148

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1996Bryan_Tolstoy.pdf Date: 4/19/2013

Article Summary: Bryan visited Tolstoy, the symbol of moral conscience, in Russia in 1903. In Chautauqua lectures and writings the American reaffirmed throughout his life Tolstoy’s creed of love and service.

Cataloging Information:

Names: , Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Tsar Nicholas II, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Charles Darwin, Clarence Darrow

Place Names: Yasnaya Polyana, Russia; Dayton and Chattanooga, Tennessee

Bryan’s Speeches and Books Discussed: The Prince of Peace; The Value of an Ideal; The Price of the Soul; The First Commandment; The Message from Bethlehem; Under Other Flags: Travels, Lectures, Speeches; The Old World and Its Ways

Keywords: William Jennings Bryan, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, The Commoner, “cooling-off” treaty, League of Nations, Scopes Trial, Charles Darwin, Clarence Darrow, Chautauqua

Photographs / Images: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (William Jennings Bryan, The Old World and Its Ways, 1907); Bryan, Tolstoy, and William Jennings Bryan Jr at Yasnaya Polyana (William Jennings Bryan, Under Other Flags: Travels, Lectures, Speeches, 1904); Bryan in front of The Commoner office in Lincoln, 1908; Secretary of State Bryan signing one of his “cooling-off” treaties with representatives of France, Great Britain, Spain, and China, September 15, 1914; Clarence S Darrow

This article is about a Russi Seek·the tr ~ th and you will find unity."s American and about a Tolstoycpnsidered the laws of nations its interpretation. The meeting; • . to be capri~ioUs and a form of mental Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and ~illiam slavery whencbmpared with "the Jennings Bryan, between aristo~i~{ ' single, eternal, truthful and general law statesman, was in Imperial Ru~siaJ ofGbd."p Tolstoy, then , preached a spiri­ young world of the open AmehcanMid: tual anarchist ethic. His philosophy was west encountered, for a mom~ nt ; the~· an ethos of nonresistance and love that old world of the Russian forests . wigtti@ ~""By'! Kenneth C Wenzer could equally move an impassioned be­ history of the spiritual influence of the liever, a secular radical, and even an ar­ Sage of Yasnaya Polyana as master on dent mainstream religious believer seek­ The Great Commoner as disciple. Only Tolstoy by now was a gigantic figure, an ing cures to the ills of society. the Bible was more important as spiri­ embodied moral conscience with many Bryan was among the many en­ tual inspiration for Bryan. For twenty­ followers. Admirers throughout the thralled by Tolstoy's appeal. For Bryan, five years, in Bryan's preaching and world sought his guidance, from the Tolstoy was "the intellectual giant of politics, in speech, in the written word, young Indian Mohandas Gandhi, then in Russia, the moral titan of Europe and and even over the airwaves, the Nebras­ South Africa, to the German poet Ranier the world's most conspicuous exponent kan came to personify the ideals of mil­ Maria Rilke. Tolstoy found his eternal of the doctrine of love."7 Evidence of lions of Americans; he also familiarized truths in the moral purity of Jesus' teach­ Bryan's attraction to Tolstoy's teachings them with the name of Tolstoy. ings, but it was a Jesus shorn of divinity can be found in the first issue of The Somewhat liberated from political and dogma. Commoner, which featured a scathing worries after his second presidential bid Tolstoy reinterpreted the Gospels, es­ quotation from Tolstoy condemning the in 1900, Bryan now had more time to pecially the Sermon on the Mount, as a imperialistic aggression of a hypocriti­ devote to other concerns, including message of human unity in love and cal, liberty-preaching American govern­ 8 spiritual values. For twenty-two years his nonviolence. 1 Love,he thought was a ment, backed by commercial forces. newspaper, The Commoner, reached way station between an earthly paradise The fourth issue praised Tolstoy's doc­ out to homes across the nation. The and a spiritual eternity. Tolstoy sought trine of love, brotherhood, and nonresis­ Commoner afforded an excellent ve­ the moral regeneration and perfection tance, and the fifteenth extolled him as hicle for a crusade for the passage of of man through an inward transforma­ a "heroic figure" and "one of the great­ positive legislation for a better govern­ tion.2 The eternal was to be sought in est men in history." A few weeks later, ment guided by a beneficent God. In the uncoerced ethical goodness of The Commoner lamented Tsar Nicholas 3 this, Bryan was reflective of a particular people, especially the toiling peasant. II's failure to respond to Tolstoy's appeal and recurrent variety of reformism, relat­ Transcendent perfection can follow to end tyranny and religious persecu­ ing progressive change to the reassertion from a simple life and the renunciation tion and to create happiness for the Rus­ of old virtues that reformers thought to of desire and of ego, from reaching out sian people.9 be under siege. from self and family to all humanity, all Desirous of seeing the Old World, 4 Bryan took inspiration from the Rus­ living creatures, the universe, and God. Bryan and his son William Jr. steamed sian nobleman Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. "The world," Tolstoy taught, "is a huge off for Europe in late 1903.10 Despite temple in which light falls in the center. meetings with the British prime minister Kenneth C. Wenzer of Bowie, Maryland, is the All people who love light strive towards and the pope the prospect of meeting academic researcher for the Henry George it. . .. Unity is attained only . .. when Tolstoy was more exciting. Traveling Foundation ofAmerica, a historian, and inventor [one] seeks not unity, but the truth .... across Europe, Bryan reached Russia.

140 Tolstoy and Bryan

The Great Commoner, well enough light mare whose back bent like an arc known internationally in his own right, when he climbed up on her." 15 received an audience with Nicholas II. At this time Tolstoy was penning an Bryan boldly reminded the Tsar of All introduction to a biography of William the Russians of his promise to give a de­ Lloyd Garrison. He told of Bryan's play­ gree of self-government and free speech ing Devil's Advocate to Tolstoy's doc­ to his people. Nicholas diplomatically trine of nonresistance. Bryan asked responded that plans were being car­ whether force was not permissible for ried out for democratization and ex­ the sake of saving a child from a male­ pressed his continued friendship for the factor. The Russian responded that dur­ . I I ing his life he never met such a monster, But what was a mere emperor or but pope compared to the Sage of Yasnaya I have not seen ... the ending of one, but Polyana! At 1 A. M. on December 3 of millions of robbers, who have violated Bryan, his son, a correspondent, and a children, women, grown-ups, the elderly and all working people in the name of the translator stepped down from a mail permittable right of force . ... When I said train at Tula and immediately pro­ this, my dear interlocutor in his own quick ceeded to a hotel in piercing winter peculiar way of understanding, did not give me an argument, but smiling, recog· weather. At daybreak, they reached 16 Tolstoy's residence after a hazardous nized my reasoning with satisfaction . journey in a closed landau over a tortur­ Bryan actually cancelled another ap­ ous road. At Yasnaya Polyana the entou­ pointment with the Tsar to stay longer rage was escorted on a short tour of a with Tolstoy and did not leave until 11 peasant village. The contrast with P.M. Promising that he would someday American life amazed the Nebraskan. return with his wife, Mary, Bryan ex­ Afterwards Tolstoy, in peasant garb, claimed that this was "the most wonder­ greeted his guests. Bryan was described ful day in my life." Shortly thereafter, by one Russian eyewitness as c1ean­ Tolstoy wrote, shaven, affable, and energetic, but com­ With all my heart I wish you success in posed and resonant "like a bird singing your attempts to destroy the trusts and to on a branch." He won Tolstoy's immedi­ aid the laborers to enjoy the fruits of their toil; but I think that these are not the ma­ ate Iiking.12 Having expected to meet a jor goals in your life. The most important narrow politician, Tolstoy found "a thing is to know the will of God , i.e., to thoughtful serious man ... animated by know what He wishes, so th at we can ful· very lofty aspirations." It was odd, rumi­ fill it. I think that you are doing this and I wish you the greatest luck.17 nated Tolstoy, that "he can give his heart to political activity." 13 Tolstoy's words must have resonated Tolstoy never deviated from his powerfully with Bryan's deeply felt reli­ morning exercises, but a prolonged and gious convictions for this meeting with lively conversation in English about the the novelist was a watershed in his life. problems of the world and man immedi­ Until then, he had esteemed Tolstoy; ately engrossed the Russian. Tolstoy now he became a disciple. Bryan did not beamed with joy, apparently a rare totally share Tolstoy's more extreme event in his later years. The tribune of Lev Nikolcevich Tolstoy. From William views, but he cherished a potent spiri­ the American farmer and the prophet of Jennings Bryan, The Old World and Its Ways tual idealization of Tolstoyan philosophy the Russian peasant were at one in their (St. Louis: Thompson Publishing, 1907) for the rest of his life. He revered Tolstoy belief in universal love, the dignity of la­ as the living incarnation of the doctrine bor, spiritual values, and the agrarian daughter Alexandra ran outside to see of love and the purest example of man's life as the cradle of virtue.14 After a meal the most unusual sight, "for the huge potential to achieve universal brother­ Tolstoy invited Bryan for a short horse American wore a fur coat of city cut, hood, next only to Jesus. A photograph ride, for the aged Russian didn't want to which looked absurd with a plain of his meeting with Tolstoy graced fatigue the American, a story Bryan leather belt strapped over it, and a Bryan's living room. Tolstoy had the would later love to relate. Tolstoy's warm cap with earlaps. He rode a small same photograph in his lower library. 18

141 Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996

Returning from Europe in early 1904, Bryan in September 1905 set out for a year's tour across the globe with his family. Headlines across the United States echoed that in the Chicago Daily Tribune: "Bryan's Travels Have Made Him Known the World Over." This time he visited not only Europe but Asia and the Mideast. His Under Other Flags and The Old World and Its Ways went to press. He welcomed the Russian Revolu­ tion of 1905 as a harbinger of "progress toward the American ideals of democ­ racy," and he had the enviable opportu­ nity to attend a session of the Duma. '9 Bryan commented in Th e Commoner that although it was disappointing that Tolstoy did not use his influence to fur­ ther democracy in Russia it was under­ standable, because he was subject to a tyranny. The time, however, was not far off before there would be a universal re­ generation of people which Tolstoy en­ visioned. 20 Tolstoy was not, in fact, quite fully estranged from the political world. During Bryan's third presidential cam­ paign in 1908, the Sage of Yasnaya Bryan, Tolstoy, and William Jennings Bryan, Jr. at Yasnaya Polyana. From William Polyana wrote to an American: Jennings Bryan. Under Other Flags. Travels. Lectures. Speeches (Lincoln. Nebr.: 1904) I can express very fran kly the wish for Bryan's success ful candidature for the ticularly fond of Theodore Roosevelt, United States presidency. From my point the Nebraskan probably was incensed of view, since I do not recognize any kind when he read an article by the former of government, which is based on force, I cannot justify the presidential [executive] president condemning the aging function in a republic, but in as much as Tolstoy's philosophy. The Rough Rider this capacity still exists, I am assuredly de­ termed the Russian "a mystical zealot, .. sirous that it should be fulfilled by people . [with] a dark streak which tells of who are worthy of trust. moral perversion." The June 18,1909, I speak of Mr. Bryan with great respect and feeling. I know that the principles on issue of The Commoner reprinted a De­ which he bases his [platform] are congru­ troit Times editorial denouncing ent with mine, in regard to our [mutual] Roosevelt, which probably echoed sympathy for the workers, antimilitarism, Bryan's feelings: and the recognition of the evils engen­ dered by capitalism. I still do not know, This attack upon the dying Tolstoy, this but I hope, that Mr. Bryan will be an advo­ gentle, unresisting man, is from the pen of cate of land reform in the spirit of Henry Roosevelt, the killer and the jingoist. George and his single tax system , the real­ Tolstoy is not a man or beast killer and he ization [of which] I consider to be totally abhors war .... The czars ... will hail and essential and which every lead ing re­ cheer their Bwana Turnbo. Every puny former should keep foremost in mind." despot of every decaying monarchy will receive with ecstasy this verbal flogging of High tribute from the world's most the Modern Elijah at Yasnaya Polyana.'2 noted spiritual anarchist! As the illnesses of old age plagued On November 25, 1910, The Com­ Tolstoy, Bryan closely followed his moner announced the death of Tolstoy: Bryan in front of The Commoner office mentor's health from afar. Never par- the "most impressive figure of his age in Lincoln, 1908. NSHS-B915-64

142 Tolstoy and Bryan

finds his soul's peace." The next issue ity. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy­ faith in a perceived spiritual rebirth. In of The Commoner said of Tolstoy: self" was to be the key to happiness. The "The Next Awakening," Bryan declared He has been called the apostle of love, divine consciousness, capable of per­ as early as 1905 that "mankind ... is and no one since the Apostle Paul has forming any miracle, "is the most potent about to be seized with a frenzy, a mad­ preached it more persistently or practiced influence upon a human life."25 Bryan's ness of love." it more consistently .... The night IS illustration of this point with a tale of the darker because his light has gone out: the No one ... has contributed more largely world is not so warm because his heart watermelon growing into a forty-pound to the awakening than the great philoso­ has grown cold in death.2' giant from a mere seed as a symbol of pher of Russia, whose confidence in the God's presence is legendary. law of love is so great that he is willing to It has been said that Bryan traveled trust it unarmed and undefended to con­ To impress his readers with the more miles than any other public figure quer the armies of the world. Love, power of an ideal and th e transforma­ of his times. He gave thousands of Tolstoy thinks, needs not even sling or 30 tion that the individual and the nation pebble to overcome the Goliath of evil. speeches on special occasions and on. must go through, Bryan depicted the the Chautauqua circuit. From 1874 untIl In a speech in Lima, Peru , in 1910 spiritual crisis of Tolstoy in The Value of 1924, millions flocked to get a bit of cul­ Bryan praised the people of that country an Ideal. Life, Bryan wrote, despite great ture, entertainment, and moral uplift. In for adopting the American standard of honors, was devoid of meaning for the its last year twelve thousand Chautauqua popular government, which he defined Russian, and he· contemplated suicide. gatherings drew thirty millions, or about as belonging to the moral revolutIon What stopped him? A change in ideals: a third of the population of the coun­ prophesied by Tolstoy. It was America's a craving to lead the simple life of the try.24 Many once legendary speakers, "glorious destiny" to spread democracy peasant in concordance with divine musicians, and performers now forgot­ and "conquer the world . . . not with love. Tolstoy's metamorphosis, Bryan ten over the years were huge draws. But arms, bu.t with ideals."31 Tolstoyan love stated, had made the world a better one name lived on as the grandest of in action was synonymous with the free­ place.26 In The Price of the Soul, another them all-the name of Bryan. doms of the forefathers of the North of his famous Chautauqua addresses, As the greatest living orator, Bryan American republic. If they are good the Nebraskan warned in Tolstoyan was an American institution, and his life enough for us, he assured his listeners, fashion that unjust monetary gain "shriv­ on the Chautauqua circuit was legend­ they are good enough for the world. els the soul."27 The First Commandment, ary. The magnificent and resonant voice Within the great moral awakening yet another Bryan talk, con~ained a de­ that without aid of amplification could that Bryan envisioned, the perfecting of scription of a conversation In whIch be heard across town or over a storm the individual was to come about and Tolstoy declared that the love of God is brought complete silence during the harmony among nations was imminent. even more important than the com­ talks and then ear-deafening ovation at To this end he attended numerous mand of neighborly love. 28 t the conclusion . From him numberless peace gatherings and became promi­ The dignity of earning a living by the listeners heard the name of Tolstoy, nent in this growing international move­ sweat of one's brow, Bryan explained in linked to their own ideals. For Bryan re­ ment. Bryan believed that all nations a Labor Day Speech of 1908, made for ligion, economic and social morality, should be bound not only By an interna­ the sympathetic bonding among human good government, and universal.b.roth­ tional tribunal but by treaties that ac­ beings that Tolstoy defined; in denounc­ erhood imbued with the Holy SPIrIt centuated investigation, mediation, and ing the plutocratic rich he appealed to abided in harmony. a cooling-off period. By these means: . Tolstoy's denunciation of an unjust The first product of Bryan's reaffirma­ war everywhere might virtually be elImI­ capitalist system. The labor union, im­ tion of religious ideals was The Prince of nated. President Taft thought such trea­ bued with the spirit of service, Bryan ar­ Peace. This most famous of his circuit ties were practical, but the Senate gued, was the affirmation of ~umanity speeches looked not only to the Bible scotched his efforts. This rejection did in its goal of securing an equItable por­ for inspiration but also to Tolstoy. not deter Bryan's belief in their efficacy. tion of the nation's toil and helping es­ Tolstoy, Bryan related, taught that reli­ He agreed that Jesus taught mankin? tablish equality. Only the Democratic r gion was based upon "man's CO~S~IOUS­ that the olive wreath, not the battlefIeld, Party could represent the ideals of the ness of his finiteness amid an InfInIte is the harbinger of peace. Further, struggling man and create a just soci­ universe and of his sinfulness." Tolstoy the most significant example in all th is ety.29 To this end, Bryan repeatedly pro­ I had defined religion "as the relation be­ world today of one who preaches this posed an industrial peace plan to settle tween himself and his God, and moral­ doctrine of love, and lives as he preaches labor disputes. is Tolstoy. He is not only a believer in : .. ity as the outward manifestation of this Prior to World War I Bryan's vision of [this], but he is a believer in the doctnne inward relation." A personal Jesus was of non-resistance, and there he stands pro­ the spread of Christianity across th~ to be the source of salvation and moral­ claiming to the world that he believes that globe was indistinguishable from hIS love is a better protection than force ....

143 Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996 "

And what is th e result? He is the only man ties with other nations than at any other thought he could waken the pacifist in Russia on whom the czar, with all his army, dare not lay his hand .... Th e time before or since. Th e kind of "cool­ sentiments that Americans, like the rest power that is in him is proof against the ing-off" treaty he preferred covered of humanity, must have latent within violence of th e czar. I believe it would be disputes of all kinds. A permanent inter­ them. Bryan believed Wilson's mis­ true of a nation .32 national tribunal would investigate dis­ gu ided policies were ignoring the The United States, Bryan proclaimed, putes during a waiting period of one people's true desires. The preparedness should emulate Tolstoy and renounce year with a provision forbidding hostili­ campaign could only benefit the arms war. Bryan urged the United States to es­ ties before any final decision. In all, manufacturers and was tantamount to a tablish mediation by an international tri­ thirty nations were signatories with the declaration of war, for it "involves the bunal as the only way of solving prob­ United States, representing more than preaching of the gospel of hatred" and lems, although the Russian was not, in three-quarters of the world's population. was the work of the Devil. 41 Wilson, he fact, convinced of the efficacy of arbi­ Then came August 1914 and the proclaimed, "is joy-riding with jingoes tration and treaties. Our country would mockery of Bryan's hopes. The British and is applauded by the grand-standers become, he argued, like Tolstoy - im­ ambassador, Cecil Spring Rice, shortly whose voices are unfamiliar to Demo­ pervious to attack and an example to afterwards wrote to Bryan: "No one who cratic ears. "42 Strict neutrality and a me­ the world. Bryan's The Message from has studied the diplomatic history of the diative role, founded on the gospel of Bethlehem censured the capitalists who events leading to the present disastrous love, Bryan argued, was the possible fomented war and created hatreds war can ever speak lightly of your idea key to peace. among nations and argued instead that again. For it is abundantly manifest that But on April 6, 1917, Congress de­ the moral principles that apply to even one week's delay would probably clared war. Deciding that victory for the people must be applicable across na­ have saved the peace of the world."36 Allies with the United States would, in tionallines. Tolstoy, Bryan continued, The reinstatement of a just peace now the long run , be better for the furthering "has bluntly argued that killing, even in became Bryan's central objective.37 In a of the millennium, Bryan turned from self-defense, costs more lives than it letter to Wilson, Bryan asked the presi­ pacifism. At the age of fifty-seven he im­ saves. With a growing regard for the sa­ dent to offer mediation: "It is not likely mediately offered himself as a private. credness of life it is natural that whole­ that either side will win so complete a Solicitous of th e spiritual and moral wel­ sale slaughter should become more and victory ... and ... [that] will probably fare of the soldiers, Bryan urged reli­ more repugnant to the conscience of or­ mean preparation for another war." 38 gious comfort for soldiers of all Chris­ ganized society."33 Although not totany neutral himself, tian denominations and for Jews.43 The Bryan , in a prolonged Democratic Bryan believed Wilson's foreign policy pages of The Commoner called out for convention and then in the resulting was tilting too far toward the Allies. Be­ the support of the war and a speedy ter­ three-way presidential campaign in coming increasingly alarmed, he mination, warned against any discord or 1912, rendered great service to warned Wilson of the potential, soon re­ unpatriotic utterances, and encouraged Woodrow Wilson. Although Wilson had alized, of retaliation. The Kaiser's gov­ readers to buy liberty bonds, to accept previously considered Bryan foolish, he ernment had warned Americans not to the draft willingly, and to conserve food adopted much of the Nebraskan's re­ travel on ships carrying munitions in a and goods. Many pacifists were cha­ forming spirit. 34 The newly elected presi­ war zone; the president's refusal to cau­ grined with his new turnabout. But in dent offered Bryan the secretary of tion Americans against traveling was consonance with his morally informed state's portfolio. Bryan agreed to accept creating a casus belli.39 After repeated populisrrl Bryan demanded the taxing of this high position only if his peace trea­ efforts to convince Wilson by letter and plutocracy's excessive war profits and ties could be negotiated. Wilson readily talk, Bryan tendered his resignation on denounced its unpatriotic plundering44 consented. As the advocate of the June 9, 1915, over a note to Germany In giant letters , the November 191 8 Prince of Peace, the new secretary that he thought redolent of the old sys­ issue of The Commoner announced awakened hope in many religious tem of force and coercion and an occa­ "PEACE." Bryan was elated and looked people, but more polished diplomats sion for war. Wilson, who had come to forward to an era without bloodshed. It only thought him naive.35 Although his have a strong affection for Bryan, was would come through the abolition of se­ actions were not always consistent with genuinely upset. Paolo Coletta, Bryan's cret alliances, the reduction of arma­ pacifism - he supported a controver­ biographer, considered the resignation ments, and a universal application of sial involvement in the Caribbean and to reflect in part the influence of his arbitration treaties, along with con­ in Mexico - he was the first American Tolstoy.4o tinued domestic reform. Although Bryan statesman to attempt to apply its prin­ As a private citizen Bryan stumped held certain reservations, he supported ciples. Under his guidance the United the country for peace and noninvolve­ the League of Nations and earnestly de­ States signed more bilateral peace trea­ ment. In true Tolstoyan fashion, he sired his nation's entry. It was typical of

144 Tolstoy and Bryan

Secretary of State Bryan signing one of his "cooling-off" treaties with representatives of France, Great Britain, Spain, and China, September 15, 1914. NSHS-B915-375x him not to see it as the complete prod­ damper on his expectations. farmer, the community, politics, and pa­ uct of national ambitions compounded The war advanced the cause of pro­ triotism. Since Tolstoy defined morality with an unstable good will, an institu­ hibition. Bryan, its most prominent ad­ as the outward manifestation of a spiri­ tion unreliable but better than nothing. vocate, had looked to Tolstoy for inspi­ tual life, then drinking could not be No, that would not have satisfied this ration. As early as 1915 the Russian was merely a separate and tolerable vice; it Tolstoyan disciple. He declared the cited in The Commoner as prominent in was an offense to God. 46 spirit of the League to be infused with the temperance movement in his home­ Correspondence testifies to Bryan's the Nazarene's love. He had reason for land, a sure sign of this growing world­ compassion for sufferers. Like Tolstoy, pleasure: provisions of Article XII of the wide trend.45 "Prohibition and the he received countless letters seeking ad­ Covenant were in character with his Farmer," which Bryan wrote two years vice. One correspondent considered treaty plans. His country's failure to join later, exalted the virtues of rural life and him to be more "Christlike" than any the League did not, however, put a charged that alcohol was corrupting the man alive for making religion "human

145 Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996 and loveable."47 Although he regarded evolution with its projection of a simian including the new radio, were mus­ Eastern religions lightly, his respect and prehuman ancestry. Despite his history tered. It was a fight between farm and equal regard for Catholics and Jews sets as a pacifist, Bryan sharpened his sword city, between the common man and the him apart from many later fundamental­ and polished his armor in this new war. urban sophisticate. Tolstoy, Bryan ob­ ists. He was a staunch defender of both The battle lines were not over a patch of served, had declared that "the 'cultured the Old and New Testaments as equally land; they were for God's loving divinity, crowd' regard religion as superstition, divinely inspired, respected the Bible's the souls of people, the Mosaic account [only) good enough for the ignorant. . . . different interpretations, and vehe­ of creation, a special destiny of Man, Tolstoy's rebuke to them is the strongest mently denounced anti-Semitism. Many and the imminent universal brother­ I have read."s4 Previously Bryan be­ Jews appreciated his tireless efforts. It hood. Without Biblical miracles the lieved in strict separation of church and was the fate of this man of wide sympa­ world would be devoid of meaning and state, but now the mixing of faith and thies, however, to embark in his latter immortality called into question. Those legislation became more blurred than days on a mission that for generations who espoused evolution were infidels ever. There was now only black and marked him as a fanatic reactionary at engaged in "insidious attacks . .. upon white, evil and good. Civilization, Bryan the famous Scopes Trial of 1925. every vital part of the Word of God." exclaimed, could only be gauged by the To understand the mind of Bryan in Frederich Nietzsche "carried "moral revolt against the cruel doctrine the last years of his life, go back to Darwinianism to its logical conclusion developed by Darwin."ss World War I. All that was or could be and laid the foundation for the world's Nowhere, he argued, was this evil of good and pure in life and close to God bloodiest war. "49The same scientists evolution more present than in and earth gave way to the four-year car­ who proclaimed evolution had "mixed America's educational institutions, poi­ nage of No Man's Land that produced a the poisonous gases .. . [Their) worldly soning children and turning out thou­ cold, mechanistic Bolshevism. It contra­ wisdom .. . made war so hellish."so sands of agnostics and atheists. Chris­ dicted his hope that a new time of More and more, Christian fundamen­ tianity, Bryan declared, was not afraid peace was awakening; it horrified the talism marshaled its forces in its fight of scientific facts, even welcomed ad­ Tolstoyan Christian. It also revealed that against the "godless rationalists" even vances, but must destroy theories based his country, which he had believed in within the fold of its own churches. on unsupported guesses. "Tolstoy insists with a Midwestern patriot's heart, was Bryan battled with the modernists in his that the science of How to Live is more no longer an innocent among the cor­ own divided Presbyterian denomina­ important than any other science." Chil­ rupt. The United States was now the tion. Pastors of any persuasion, he be­ dren were being taught "that [it) is more most powerful country in the world. The lieved, who sought to reconcile God important to know the age of rocks than forces of materialism were erupting in and evolution, were doing greater harm to trust in the 'Rock of Ages."'s6 Why an increasingly consumerist and stan­ than atheists and should be excised should Christian taxpayers allow the dardized economy wrought by compli­ from the church.s1 As Bryan's view of re­ Bible to be trampled on by the teach­ cated machines and colossal factories; ligious liberals hardened, so did their ings of Darwin, have Jehovah's creation great cities were throwing their arrogant views of him. "I am not nearly so much laughed at, negate the miracles of God, shadow over the simple countryside. interested," a minister from Marquette, and rob Jesus of his virgin birth, thus rel­ The fundamental truths of religion and Michigan, wrote to Bryan, "in how much egating him to a descendant of an morality were under siege. A sense of brute there is back of me as in how ape?S7 alienation tinged with xenophobia much brute there may be in me. In men In 1925, in the last days of his life, reigned in the country. Bryan may have everywhere, I see incarnations of the Bryan was in Dayton, Tennessee, to up­ achieved a more profound sense of pig, the ass, ... and others. The present hold the state's antievolution law and spirituality, possibly much like that of condition, not their past history, consti­ help to prosecute John Scopes, who Tolstoy; his religion, at any rate , was ac­ tutes the real concern and shame of had violated it. The trial has been de­ quiring a more intense expression. men. I will tell you what brute I am de­ scribed as a circus-like affair. In the le­ People must have a firm belief in God, scended from when you tell me what gal sense Bryan won, for Scopes was he felt, and like Tolstoy, he described one you resemble most." S2 convicted, but the aging lawyer came morality as an outward manifestation of Some laymen accused Bryan of across as shallow, unable to reconcile that faith. Anything that jeopardized that "preaching a new auto de fe, attempting morality with fundamentalism. The story communion, he feared, was immoral.48 to establish an inquisition for the trial of has been retold many times, depicted in It was therefore the duty of every Chris­ sc ience at the bar of theology!"S3 Many print, and portrayed on the stage and tian to defend his faith. others cheered him in his fight against cinema, and it has given posterity the At the core of the new secularism the enemy, and his works were quite image of Bryan as an ignorant buffoon. Bryan reiterated was Darwin's theory of popular. All forms of communication, And who was Bryan's archenemy at

146 Tolstoy and Bryan

gize him. Even during his lifetime poems 4 Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, "Dnevniki i zapisnye had compared Bryan to Tolstoy60 knizhki" (Diaries and Notebooks), vol. 51, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (Moscow: Gosudartsvo Bryan's Christianity had not been ob­ izdatel'stvo khudozhestvennoi Iiteratury, 1928· scurantist. He was a disciple of one of 1964),88. (Hereinaft er the complete works of the most revolutionary moral thinkers of Tolstoy will be designated as Pss).

the time, enemy to wealth, privilege, 5 Ibid., "Dnevniki i zapisnye knizhki" (Diaries and war. Like his great teacher, he at­ and Notebooks), Pss, 50:92 . tempted to delve to God's essence. And ' Ibid., "0 Znachenii russkoi revoliutsii" (The what he found there was a simple creed Meaning of the Russian Revolution), Pss 36: 358, of love and service that he expressed 347. more humanely than any other Ameri­ 7 William Jennings Bryan, "Tolstoy, the Apostle can politician. Just after Tolstoy's death, of Love," The Commoner 4 (Feb. 19, 1904): 3. a global era came to an end. Bryan's 8 "Tolstoi on Imperialism," Th e Commoner I death too represented a passing of an (Jan. 23, 1901): 6. American age. An old simple way of life g "Tolstoi's Noble Appeal," The Commoner I and labor receded before the exigen­ (May 3, 1901 ): I. cies of an impersonal science and an 10 Bryan's wife, Mary Baird Bryan, remained impatient automation, inimical to a home because she thought she was pregnant and spirituality, in which Bryan insists is "the her daughters stayed with her. foundation upon which civilization " Bryan, "Russia and Her Czar," The Commoner rests." 61 A 1909 issue of The Commoner 4 (Feb. 5, 1904): 3. carries Tolstoy'S "Farewell" message. 12 Peter A. Sergeenko, Ocherki Toistoi i ego "The spirit," Tolstoy declared, sovremennik( (Essays, Tolstoy and his Contempo' raries) (Moscow: Izdanie V. M. Sablina, 1911),243­ lives in all men. .. . And as the spirit is 44. one in all men, it asks for the happiness of 13 As early as 1899 Tolstoy had praised Bryan for all. To wish all men happiness ...means his struggle against the imperialistic maniacism to love all men. And the more a man and the "nasty immorality" of America's war in the loves, the freer and the more joyful is his Philippines. Tolstoy, Pis'mo, "Gruppe shevdskoi life.... We reach salvation only by realiz­ intelligentsii" (Letter, to a Group of Swedish Intel­ Clarence S. Darrow. Courtesy Bryan ing that our life does not rest in the body, lectuals), Jan. 7 or 9, 1899, Pss 72: 12-13. College, Dayton, Tennessee but in the spirit o f God which lives within us . . . each must extend his love ... to all 14 In Bryan's book, Under Other Flags, a chapter entitled "Attractions of Farming" refers to Tolstoy. Dayton? It was another Tolstoyan, men . ... One who truly loves does not perish 62 See Under Other Flags: Travels, Lectures, Speeches Clarence Darrow, defense attorney for (Lincoln, Neb.: The Woodruff-Collins Printing Co., Scopes, who had written Resist Not Evil, Notes 1904),281 and 287-88. a book on Tolstoyan nonresistance. For 15 Alexandra Tolstoy, The Tragedy of Tolstoy, two decades Darrow had debated with 'Theodore R.edpath, Tolstoy, Studies in Modem trans. Elena Varneck (New Haven: Yale University Marxists on the virtues of pacifism European Literature and Thought (London: Bowes Press, 1933), 146. and Bowes, 1960),6; Andre Creeson, Leon Toistoi: against the rightness of the class Sa Vie Sa Oeuvre (Paris: Presses Universitaires de 16 Tolstoy, "Predislovie k angliiskoi biografii struggle, penned articles on Tolstoyan France, 1950),75. Special thanks is extended to Garrisona, sostavlenoi V. G. Chertkovym i F. Lily Griner, Patricia Heron, and Terry Saylor's in­ Khola" (Preface to the English Biography of Garri­ philosophy, advocated nonviolence, son, composed by V. G. Chertkov and F. Khola), and given numerous lectures on the terlibrary loan staff at the University of Maryland's McKeldin Library (College Park); Mary Wolfskill Pss 36: 97-98. Russian. 58 Could each of the two antago­ and her coworkers at the Manuscript Division of 17 Ibid., Pis'mo, "Vil'iamy Braiany" (Letter, to nists have thought that he was defend­ the Library of Congress; James E. Potter of this William Bryan), Feb. 2, 1904, Pss 75: 17. ing the verities of the inspired teacher? journal; and Professors Thomas R. West, Paolo 18 F. Bulgakov, Toistom: vospominaniia i Coletta, and Robert W. Cherny for their insight. a In Chattanooga, during a respite from rasskazi (On Tolstoy: Remembrances and Stories) the trial on July 19, Darrow gave a lec­ 2 V. A. D'iakov, "L. N. Tolstoi 0 zakonomerno­ (Tula: Priokskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1974), 174. stiakh istoricheskogo protsessa, roli lichnosti i ture on Tolstoy. 59 Six days later Bryan, in 19 There is no indication why Bryan did not visit narodnykh mass v istorii" (L. N. Tolstoi on the his last conversation with his wife, dis­ Tolstoy again, but the Russian was plagued by de­ Regularity of the Historical Process, the Role of clining health during the last years of his life. He cussed the sacred Tolstoyan relation be­ Personality and People in History), Voprosy istorii died in 1910. tween man and God. The next day he (Questions of History) 8 (Aug. 1978): 3 1. 20 "Tolstoy on Government," The Commoner 5 died, happy in his belief in God. As 3 W. B. Gallie, Philosophers ofPeace and War: (Apr. 7, 1905): 2-3. Bryan had proclaimed Tolstoy the mod­ Kant, Clausewitz, Marx, Engels and Tolstoy (Cam­ ern Elijah, so did many memorials eulo­ bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 124. 21 Tolstoy, Pis'mo, "Raiersony Dzheningsy" (Let­

147 Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996

ter, to Ryerson Jennings), Sept. 28(?), 1908, Pss 78 : 35 Oscar S. Strauss, New York, to Bryan, Mar. 4, 50 Bryan, "Tampering with the Mainspring: 57. 231. 191 3; Box 29, Folder I, William Jennings Bryan 51 Bryan to Rev. Paul Moore Strayer, Dec. 19, Papers , Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress , 22 "Roosevelt and Tolstoy," The Commoner 10 192 1, Box 34, Folder 13, Bryan Papers, and Bryan, Washington , D.C. , (hereafter cited as Bryan Papers). (June 18, 1909): 5. It is Wrillen (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1924). 36 Cecil Spring Rice, Washington, D.C., to Bryan, 2J "Tolstoy: The Commoner 10 (Dec. 2, 1910) : 2. 52 Pastor Horace F. Ferry, Marquette, Michigan, In the 1910 and 1912 annual Christmas greetings in Oct. 6, 1914 ; Box 30, Folder 6, Bryan Papers. to Bryan, Apr. 16, 1923, Box 37, Folder 10, Bryan The Commoner, Bryan connects Tolstoyan univer­ 37 Bryan, "Mr. Bryan's Address Before the Ameri­ Papers. sal love with that of Jesus: a spiritual continuity can Peace Society," The Commoner 15 (Jan . 53 Undated newspaper article fragment, Edwin between the originator of his beloved religion and 1915): 6-7. Grant Conklin, The (?), Box 62, its greatest modern exponent. 38 Bryan , Asheville, N.C. , to Woodrow Wilson, Folder 8, Bryan Papers. 24 Victoria and Robert O. Case, We Called It Cul­ Sept. 19, 1914, Box 30, Folder 5, Bryan Papers. 54 Bryan, "Sc ience vs. Evolution: Th e Commoner ture: The Story ofChautauqua (New York: 23 (Apr. 1923): 4. Doubleday, 1948),3. J9 Bryan, Washington, D.C. (?) to Woodrow Wil­ son, Apr. 19, 1915, Box 30, Folder II, Bryan Pa­ 55 Bryan, Th e Menace ofDarwinism, 15-16; Un­ 25 Bryan, The Prince ofPeace (New York: Funk pers. dated pamphlet in Box 49, Folder 14 , Bryan Pa­ and Wag nalls, 1914),7-8. pers. 40 Bryan, "Mr. Bryan Resigns as Secretary of 26 Bryan, The Value ofan Ideal (New York: Funk State," The Commoner 15 (June 19 15) 2, and Paolo 56 Ibid., 6. and Wagnalls, 1914),20-22. E. Coletta, William Jennings Bryan, vol. I , Political 57 Bryan, Is the Bible True ? (Chicago: The Bible 27 Bryan, "The Price of a Soul," Speeches of Will­Evangelist, 1860-1908 (Lincoln: University of Ne­ Institute Colportage Association of Ch icago, n.d.), iam Jennings Bryan, Vol. 2 (New York: Funk and braska Press, 1964),3 18. Bryan Papers. From a speech delivered at Ryman Wagnalls, 1909),349-50. 41 "Mr. Bryan's Lecture," The Commoner 15 (Sept. Auditorium (Nashville) on Jan. 24, 1924. See also 28 Bryan, The First Commandment (New York: 1915)): 7, and Ibid., 15 (Oct. 1915): 2. It is Wrillen, Bryan Papers. From a speech deliv­ Fleming H. Revell, 1917), 11 -13. Many of Bryan's ered at the Southern Bible Conference (Miami) on 42 "The Duty of a Fri end: The Commoner 16 religious works, such as Heart to Heart Appeals, Fa­ Feb. 17, 1924 . (Feb . 1916): 1. mous Figures ofthe Old Testament, Christ and His 58 See Arthurand Lila Weinberg, Clarence Companions, and The Making ofa Man, as well as 4J Bryan, Washington, D. to Secretary of War c., Da"ow: A Sentimental Rebel (New York: G. P. others, cited Tolstoy. Newton D. Baker, Apr. 20, 1917, Box 31, Folder 17, Putnam's Sons, 1980). Co nsult also Box 5, Folder Bryan Papers. 29 Bryan , "Mr. Bryan's Labor Day Speech," The 8, th e Clarence S. Darrow Papers, Manuscripts Di­ Commoner 8 (Sept. 11, 1908): 1-4 . 44 Bryan, "The President's Appeal" and "The New vision, Library of Congress. Revenue Bill, The Commoner 18 (June 19 18): 1. 30 Bryan, "The Next Awakening: The Commoner 59 Ray Ginger, Six Days or Foreuer?: Tennessee v.

5 (June 16, 1905): 1-3. 45 "Worldwide Temperance Wave, " The Com­John Th omas Scopes (: Beacon Press, 1958),147. 31 Bryan, "Mr. Bryan at Lima: The Commoner 10 moner 15 (June 19 15) : 30. (Feb. 25,1910): 1-2 . 60 Undated newspaper article fragment from Mrs. 46 Bryan, "Prohibition and the Farmer," The Com­ W. R. Smith, News (?), July 22, 191 [?]; Bryan Pa­ 32 Bryan, "M r. Bryan at Lake Mohonk: The Com­moner 17 (Sept. 1917): 8. pers, box 60, folder 8. moner 10 (July 8, 19 10) 3. 47 Fred Emerson Brooks, San Francisco, to Bryan, 61 Telegram, Bryan to William S. Woods, Apr. 5, " William Jennings Bryan, The Message from May 18, 1917, Box31 , Folder 18, Bryan Papers. 1923, Box 37, Folder 8, Bryan Papers. Bethlehem (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), 48 Bryan, "Tampering with the Mainspring: 40, 20. 62 "Tolstoy's Farewell: The Commoner 9 (Dec. pamphlet in Box 50, Folder 8, Bryan Papers. 31, 1909): 2-3. 34 Arthur S. Link, Wilson: The Road to the White 49 Bryan to Rev. E. W. Blakeman, Oct. 4,1921, House (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, Box 34, Folder 8, Bryan Papers. 1947),527.

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