The Hero in History
By JOHN DAY
ONE of the oldest of philosophical problems, the issue between free will and determinism, is sanely handled in this wise and witty book. The author effectively criticizes the rigid determinism of Hegel, Spencer, and Marx. A considerable part of the work is devoted, to an effort to prove that Lenin, “the event-making man,”shaped the entire course of the Russian Revolution, that without him there would have been no bolshevism. Here he is perhaps a little too optimistic about the chances of Western democracy in Russia. He has an intelligent formula for democracy: it should “wholeheartedly coöperate with its leaders and at the same time be suspicious of the powers delegated to them.” Otherwise democracy may become “a school of tyrants.”