Page 525 - the-brothers-karamazov

quietly. That’s your duty as monks, for the peasant has God
in his heart.
(f) Of Masters and Servants, and of whether it is
possible for them to be Brothers in the Spirit.
Of course, I don’t deny that there is sin in the peasants
too. And the fire of corruption is spreading visibly, hourly,
working from above downwards. The spirit of isolation is
coming upon the people too. Money-lenders and devourers
of the commune are rising up. Already the merchant grows
more and more eager for rank, and strives to show himself
cultured though he has not a trace of culture, and to this
end meanly despises his old traditions, and is even ashamed
of the faith of his fathers. He visits princes, though he is only
a peasant corrupted. The peasants are rotting in drunken-
ness and cannot shake off the habit. And what cruelty to
their wives, to their children even! All from drunkenness!
I’ve seen in the factories children of nine years old, frail,
rickety, bent and already depraved. The stuffy workshop,
the din of machinery, work all day long, the vile language
and the drink, the drink — is that what a little child’s heart
needs? He needs sunshine, childish play, good examples all
about him, and at least a little love. There must be no more
of this, monks, no more torturing of children, rise up and
preach that, make haste, make haste!
But God will save Russia, for though the peasants are
corrupted and cannot renounce their filthy sin, yet they
know it is cursed by God and that they do wrong in sinning.
So that our people still believe in righteousness, have faith
in God and weep tears of devotion.

The Brothers Karamazov