Sedition is nothing but the barking of a lap dog at an elephant. From the point of view of a government which is well organized, not from the police standpoint but with regard to its social basis, the lap dog barks at the elephant because he does not realize his strength. It is only necessary for the elephant to show his strength once and the dog barks no more; he begins to wag his tail the moment he sees the elephant.
In order to eliminate the prestige of martyrdom from political crime, we will seat the political criminal on the same bench with thieves, murderers, and other disgusting and dirty criminals. Then public opinion will regard that class of criminals as quite as disgraceful as any other, and will brand them with equal contempt.
We have endeavored to prevent, and I hope have succeeded in preventing, the Goys from using such methods of dealing with seditious activities. In order to attain this end, we have made use of the press and public speeches; indirectly, through cleverly compiled historical textbooks, we have given publicity to martyrdom as though revolutionists had undergone it for the sake of human welfare. Such an advertisement has increased the contingent of liberals and forced thousands of Goys into the herds of our cattle.
Protocol No. XX
To-day we shall deal with the financial program, the discussion of which I have postponed until the end of my report because it is the most difficult, conclusive, and decisive point in our plans. In approaching it, I will remind you that I have already intimated that the result of our actions is measured in figures.
When we become rulers, our autocratic government, for the sake of self-defense, will avoid burdening the people with heavy taxes, and it will not forget the rôle it has to play, namely, that of Father and Protector. But as government organization is costly, it is necessary to raise the means for its maintenance. Consequently, we must carefully work out the plan of a fair distribution of taxation.
In our government the sovereign will have the legal fiction of owning everything in his kingdom (which is easily put into practice), and can resort to legal confiscation of all money in order to regulate its circulation throughout the country. Consequently, the best method of taxation is the levying of a progressive tax on property. Taxes will thus be paid without difficulty or ruin in respective proportion to the amount of property owned. The rich must realize that it is their duty to give a part of their surplus wealth for the benefit of the country as a whole, because the government guarantees inviolability of the remaining part of their property and the right of honest gain. I say honest because the control of property will prevent legal theft.
This social reform must come from above, for the time is ripe and it is becoming necessary as a guarantee of peace.
The tax on the poor is the seed of revolution, and it acts detrimentally to the government, which loses the great in its pursuit of the little. Moreover, the taxation of capital will lessen the increase of wealth in private hands, in which at present we have concentrated it as a counterweight to the governmental power of the Goys, namely, to the state treasury.
Progressive taxation, assessed according to the amount of capital, will produce a much greater revenue than the present system of taxing every one at an equal rate, which is useful to us now only as a means of exciting revolt and discontent among the Goys. The power of our sovereign will rest mainly in equilibrium and in guarantees of peace. For these, the capitalists must cede a part of their income so as to protect the action of the government machine. Public needs must be met by those who can best afford to do so and by those from whom there is something to take.