Sir — This refers to the article, “A century after the rising” (November 6) by Kushan Mitra. How archaic capitalism made poor children work as chimney sweeps in the United Kingdom after the industrial revolution (who can forget Oliver Twist?), gives us enough reasons to tip our hats to the Russian Revolution on its centenary this year.
We need to acknowledge that a modern welfare state, that ensures social security for its citizens, is more inclined to a socialist state than a police state. This is the reason why the Constitution has absorbed the spirit of socialism in its very Preamble as well as in the Directive Principles of state policy. But why must we be socialist? Swami Vivekananda had given a very clear answer, “I am a socialist not because I think it is a perfect system, but half a loaf is better than no bread.”