gathered around him and hung on his every word. Suddenly, as if on command, the people parted and the Russian stood face to face with the STRANGER. ‘Goodwill’ shouted the Russian, ‘that is phrase that will but you to sleep. But we do not sleep. The cannibals want to disarm us so they can stick us into their cauldrons. Our military might prevents them from destroying and devouring us. We cannot defend the achievement of communism with good-will.’ The STRANGER admitted, ‘You have established a great military might. Other nations have done the same and they now lie in the dust of history. A great spiritual power last a lot longer. A military nation is like a wild animal without a conscience and without it, it cannot control its cravings.’ The STRANGER smiled and he asked, ‘who profits from a fight between wolves? Which one of the mauled wolves is better off with his wounds? For as long as nations meet force with force, fear of death and not LOVE will reign the world. Hatred begets hatred, force demands force, one war sows the seeds for the next war. Who should break this terrible cycle? The Russian said, ‘You talk of peace. We want peace. We are against waging wars. We live on the same planet as the capitalistic countries. All we ask for is co-existence. People do not always marry because they love each other, but they still live in rational harmony with one another.’ ‘Those that exclude LOVE from their human relationship amongst one another will not find peace’, the STRANGER warned softly. ‘They expanded their dominion over the dominated without their consent. Brutality and fear might make people obey them, but it will not make them love them. The power of LOVE can however disarm the world in spite of it.’ The Russian snorted like a wild boar. ‘Capitalists do not love their fellow men’ he said. ‘They created paradise for the rich and hell for the poor. Millionaires talk about their belief in God, but they continue to rob the population. This is the power of the Dollar.’ ‘Human beings are not perfect’ the STRANGER admitted. ‘Many who pray with their lips do not pray with their heart. LOVE is a delicate plant. It has grown over the centuries, it has blossomed and then wilted again. It has lots of roots – sincerity, compassion, humility and gentleness – and all of them flourish best in freedom. Why are you so alarmed about the word LOVE? Human beings do not love their neighbours less, because they loves their country. They do not love their country less because they love all of mankind. But true LOVE cannot survive without freedom.’ The Russian had a sinister look in his eyes when he growled: ‘Enough of this fairy-tale about freedom. The capitalists boast about their free world. Free from what? The unemployed are free from work. The poor are free frommoney. – We establish true freedom in our communist countries – freedom from unemployment, from hunger and from exploitation. The capitalists say: Trust in God, love thy neighbour and you will enter paradise when you die. We communists trust in our labour. We want to create a paradise in this life and not in a future life.’ The STRANGER sighed. ‘This word has no meaning without the freedom of the spirit. All human beings would like to have the good things in life. But there is more joy in a full soul than in a full belly. You have a strange paradise where you live, one that causes many people to flee from.’ ‘People like to wear their old shoes’ the Russian strafed the Russian, ‘they behave towards communism they way they behave towards new shoes. They are afraid that, like new shoes, the new system could be uncomfortable. Those that fight against it will get hurt. They will end up on history’s rubbish tip.’ ‘I know your fondness od Russian proverbs’ the STRANGER replied. ‘One of them states that garbage can best be recognised by its stench.’
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