"HISTORY 15."

No subject today causes more excitement, more worry or more thought than Bolshevism. In every civilized country it is felt to be a menace which shakes the foundations of our society. Growing up in Russia as the result of a great revolution, it seems to have gathered all the threads from the radical movements of the nineteenth century, to boil them up, and then launch them forth again in streams of lava that have crept into every phase of modern life.

Few people know any real facts concerning its origin or its workings, and any discussion of it is violently partisan. To be called a "Bolshevik" in seriousness in these days is enough to make a man fight. It is a label that cuts far deeper than "thief" or "murderer," because no one is quite aware of what it means, and one's imagination plays havoc with accusation.

No creed can be intelligently combatted unless one knows something about it. It is like trying to take an enemy's position without reconnaissance. Professor Lord, in his course this spring, which he is throwing open to all students for the second semester, is going to stress particularly the background of the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik regime.

Professor Lord's long study of Russia, and his experience in that country and at the Peace Conference, make him particularly able to treat this subject in a sane, non partisan way. He is offering to undergraduates the opportunity to find out what lies back of Bolshevism. It is a university's place to stabilize thought on the great issues of the day as well as those of the past, and Professor Lord is helping Harvard to face the present issue with intelligent scientific methods.

History 15 should be a testing ground for ideas which have been conceived in hearsay and excitement. There is scarcely a member of the University who has not now such ideas on the Russian problem. The enrollment for Professor Lord's course should reflect that fact.