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39 chapters
CHAPTER IToC
CHAPTER IToC
What is Socialism? It is exceedingly difficult to answer that question in a few words, for Socialism is exceedingly elusive and bewildering in its doctrines, its aims, and its proposals. Its opponents have described it as "a doctrine of sordid materialism and of atheism," they have denounced it as "the gospel of everlasting bellyful," [1] and as "the coming slavery." [2] They have stated that Socialism means to abolish religion, that it "would try to put laziness, thriftlessness, and inefficienc
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CHAPTER IIToC
CHAPTER IIToC
"We are not indebted to reason," wrote the greatest American Socialist, "for the landmarks of human progress, for the introduction of Christianity, the institution of the monastic orders, the Crusades, the Reformation, the American Revolution, or the abolition of slavery. Man is only irresistible when he acts from passion. The masses of men are never moved except by passions, feelings, interests." [36] "Socialism has the advantage of appealing to the interests as well as to the enthusiasm of all
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CHAPTER IIIToC
CHAPTER IIIToC
"Socialism is not only a theory of another and better system of society: it is an indictment of the existing order." [95] The Socialist conception of society as at present constituted, given in the preceding chapter, will have prepared the reader to some extent for the Socialist grievances. These grievances are three in number, and may be summed up as follows: (1) The workers are for all practical purposes slaves who are kept in chains and forced to work by the capitalist class. (2) The rich men
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CHAPTER IVToC
CHAPTER IVToC
In describing the doctrines of Socialism I do not mean to state in detail the whole of the Socialistic theories. Such a statement would fill a volume, it would be excessively tedious to most readers, and it is for all practical purposes quite unnecessary. A statement of the leading doctrines on which the activity of the Socialists is based—the doctrines which are constantly asserted and which are the fundamental dogmas of the Socialist faith—will enable us to obtain a clear view of the foundatio
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CHAPTER VToC
CHAPTER VToC
Those people who formerly called themselves Communists now call themselves Socialists. Marx and Engels wrote in their celebrated "Manifesto": "The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property." [279] The policy of modern British Socialism may be summed up in the identical words. Indeed, we are told by one of its most eager champions that "The programme of Socialism consists essentially of one demand—that the land and other instruments of product
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CHAPTER VIToC
CHAPTER VIToC
Before investigating the attitude of British Socialism towards the working masses, it is necessary to take note of its doctrines regarding work. Most thinkers, from the time of King Solomon, Socrates, and Confucius down to the present age, have seen in work conscientiously performed a blessing; many, probably most, British Socialists declare it to be a curse and a vice. The leading English philosopher of Socialism, for instance, tells us: "To the Socialist labour is an evil to be minimised to th
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CHAPTER VIIToC
CHAPTER VIIToC
The British Socialists have during many years attacked and denounced the Trade Unionists and the Co-operators, firstly, because the trade unionists and co-operators are "capitalists," and therefore traitors to the Socialist cause; secondly, because Socialism unconditionally condemns providence and thrift among the working men, as will be seen in Chapter XXIII. Although the Socialists pretend that they denounce co-operation and thrift, and even abstinence from alcoholic drink, on economic and sci
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CHAPTER VIIIToC
CHAPTER VIIIToC
British Socialists, as we have learned in Chapter IV., [411] adopting the celebrated formula of Proudhon, have proclaimed "Property is theft," and they are of opinion that property in land is a particularly heinous form of theft. Therefore they demand the restitution of the land to the people, not as a matter of expediency but as a matter of right. "Man has a right only to what his labour makes. No man 'makes' the land." [412] "Land is the gift of Nature. It is not made by man. Now, if a man has
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CHAPTER IXToC
CHAPTER IXToC
We have seen in Chapter VIII. that Socialists claim that "Man has a right to nothing but that which he has himself made," that therefore, "No man can have a right to the land, for no man made it." May, then, owners of property keep at least that part of their property which is not invested in land? The reply is, of course, in the negative. "As land must in future be a national possession, so must the other means of producing and distributing wealth." [430] "Supposing we assume it true that land
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CHAPTER XToC
CHAPTER XToC
To Socialists taxation is chiefly a means for impoverishing the rich and the well-to-do. It is their object to transfer by taxation the wealth from the few to the many, as they believe that the impoverishment of the rich will mean the enrichment of the poor. Therefore they do not aim at economy in national and local expenditure. On the contrary, they wish to spend as much as possible. As money is to be obtained solely from the rich, "An increase in national taxation has no terrors for Socialists
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CHAPTER XIToC
CHAPTER XIToC
Most British Socialists object to the Empire on various grounds, and desire its downfall and dissolution. According to their views Great Britain should, in the first place, give up her non-self-governing colonies. Let us take note of some Socialistic pronouncements to that effect: "Governments have no right to exist except with the consent of the governed, and the British have no more right to dominate other peoples than other peoples have to dominate us. What we can only hold by maintaining an
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CHAPTER XIIToC
CHAPTER XIIToC
"Socialism," Mr. Ramsay Macdonald writes, "has a great part to play immediately in international politics. It alone can banish national jealousies from the Foreign Offices; it alone offers the guarantees of peace which are a necessary preliminary to disarmament. Socialism has a world policy as well as a national one—a corollary to its belief in the brotherhood of man." [510] These words contain assurances, not a plan, and therefore we must inquire, What is the foreign policy of Socialism? As reg
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CHAPTER XIIIToC
CHAPTER XIIIToC
Most Socialists, British and foreign, are opposed to the existing armies, for two reasons: (1) Because they wish to overturn practically all existing institutions from the Monarchy downwards, and they fear that the military may defend the status quo ; (2) Because they aim at the abolition of States and of nationality and at the disappearance of frontiers, as the ideal Socialist State of the future would, for economic and political reasons, have to embrace the world. The Socialist State of the fu
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CHAPTER XIVToC
CHAPTER XIVToC
The first of the "Immediate Reforms" demanded in the official programme of the Social-Democratic Federation [561] is the "Abolition of the Monarchy." That that demand has been made so crudely and that it has been given so prominent a position cannot surprise anybody who is acquainted with British Socialism. "Socialists are essentially thorough-going Republicans. Socialism, which aims at political and economic equality, is radically inconsistent with any other political form whatever than that of
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CHAPTER XVToC
CHAPTER XVToC
The opinion of most Socialists with regard to the British Parliament is well summed up in the phrase "Parliament a way to the Democracy? Why, 'tis not a road at all, but only a barricade across our road." [567] It will be seen in this and the following Chapter that Socialism means either to capture and hold that barricade or to pull it down. Let us take note of some representative Socialist opinions on the British Parliament. "The House of Commons is a machine elaborately contrived by the exploi
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CHAPTER XVIToC
CHAPTER XVIToC
From the Socialist point of view there is for all practical purposes no difference between the two great parties. Both are representative, not of the people, but of capitalism. Both are hostile to labour. "The difference between Liberalism and Toryism is merely a question of phraseology; there is no fundamental clashing of principle. Both stand for the private ownership of the means of life. They both support a competitive state of society with its inevitable exploitation of the wealth-producers
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CHAPTER XVIIToC
CHAPTER XVIIToC
Many Socialists, especially the Fabians, hope to introduce Socialistic principles and Socialistic rule into Great Britain rather through the local than through the national authorities. They are strenuously exerting themselves to bring about that result, and so far their exertions have been by no means unsuccessful. "Socialists to-day are working in the towns with a twofold object. (1) To level up their districts. If Glasgow has municipal telephones, there is a very good precedent for Liverpool,
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CHAPTER XVIIIToC
CHAPTER XVIIIToC
In one of his books Mr. Blatchford gives prominence to the following statement contained in Prince Kropotkin's book, "Fields, Factories, and Workshops": "If the soil of the United Kingdom were cultivated only as it was thirty-five years ago, 24,000,000 people could live on home-grown food. If the cultivable soil of the United Kingdom were cultivated as the soil is cultivated on the average in Belgium, the United Kingdom would have food for at least 37,000,000 inhabitants. If the population of th
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CHAPTER XIXToC
CHAPTER XIXToC
Many Socialists complain, and they complain with good cause, about the railways of Great Britain. All the British railways are in private hands, and they are very inefficient. They are in many respects very backward, badly equipped, and badly managed. They have wasted their capital, watered their stock, and have paid dividends out of capital; their freight charges are exorbitant; besides, they give habitually and by various means, with which it would lead too far to deal in this book, preferenti
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CHAPTER XXToC
CHAPTER XXToC
All Socialists wish to abolish private capital. Money embodies private capital in its most portable form. It can easily be hidden, and as the Socialists wish to prevent the re-accumulation of new private capital, the abolition of money, and especially of gold and silver, has prominently figured in all Socialistic programmes since the time of Protagoras and of Plato. Socialists wish to effect the exchange of commodities, the payment of labour, and the settlement of accounts mainly by book-keeping
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CHAPTER XXIToC
CHAPTER XXIToC
In his thoughtful book on Socialism, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., the Socialist leader, attributes the rise of the Socialist movement in great Britain to various causes, one of which is "the reaction against Manchesterism." [766] Socialists, generally speaking, are opposed to Free Trade. Neither the moderate nor the revolutionary sections of British Socialism have a good word to say for it. The Socialist leaders, looking at the question of Free Trade and Protection from the worker's point of view
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CHAPTER XXIIToC
CHAPTER XXIIToC
The attitude of Socialists towards education is a peculiar one. They see in it apparently less an agency for distributing knowledge and discovering ability than an instrument for the propagation of Socialism and an institution for relieving parents of all cost and responsibility for the maintenance and the bringing up of their children. Hence most Socialists, in discussing education, consider it rather from the point of view of those who are desirous of State relief than from the point of view o
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CHAPTER XXIIIToC
CHAPTER XXIIIToC
Socialism thrives upon the poverty, unhappiness, and misery of the workers. Starving and desperate men may easily be aroused to rebellion. Contented men will not become Socialists. Therefore it lies in the interest of the professional Socialist agitators to maintain poverty and misery among the masses, and if possible to increase it. With this object in view, many Socialist agitators oppose all measures which are likely to turn the propertyless wage-earner—the "wage slave" as the Socialists like
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CHAPTER XXIVToC
CHAPTER XXIVToC
Most Socialists have a very strong objection to the existing laws. "Law is only a masked form of brute force." [874] "The laws to-day are defences of the foolish rich against the ignorant and hungry poor. The laws to-day, like the laws of the past, make more criminals than they punish. The laws keep the people ignorant and poor, and the rich idle and vicious." [875] "The laws were made by ignorant and dishonest men; they are administered by men ignorant and selfish; they are dishonest laws, good
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CHAPTER XXVToC
CHAPTER XXVToC
Men in all classes of society save and endeavour to become owners of some property, not so much for their own sake as for the sake of their wives and of their children, whom they wish to leave "provided for." Married men are notoriously more provident and thrifty than unmarried ones. Property is the defence of the family. The fundamental aim of Socialism is the abolition of that private property which is the prop of the family. Consequently every prudent head of a family is likely to resist Soci
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CHAPTER XXVIToC
CHAPTER XXVIToC
What is the attitude of Socialism towards Christianity and religion? A clerical apologist of Socialism informs us that "Socialism is founded on the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man." [977] Another reverend gentleman states: "Socialism in the first place means combination, bringing together men for the building up of a sacred, holy life on this earth. It means the building up together of the different elements of human life. It is, in the grand words of the New Testament,
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CHAPTER XXVIIToC
CHAPTER XXVIIToC
We have seen in Chapter XXVI. that Socialism makes war upon Christianity and upon religion, that it strives to eradicate religion out of the people's hearts. Now the question arises: How do Socialists propose to fill the void? What do they intend to put into the place of that religion which they wish to destroy? "Socialism involves a change which would be almost a revolution in the moral and religious attitude of the majority of mankind." [1012] "Religion will share the fate of the State. It wil
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CHAPTER XXVIIIToC
CHAPTER XXVIIIToC
The position of the Christian Churches and of Christian ministers towards Socialism is one of considerable difficulty. Socialism and Christianity are two words which are not easily reconcilable. Chapters XXVI. and XXVII. show that the attitude of British Socialists, not only towards Christianity but towards all religion, is in the main a hostile one. Their attitude is only logical. Socialists see in religious men and in religious corporations obstacles to their revolutionary and predatory progre
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CHAPTER XXIXToC
CHAPTER XXIXToC
Socialism is not a simple but a complex movement. It contains a powerful strain both of Communism and of Anarchism. In fact one might almost divide all Socialists into two classes: Communist Socialists and Anarchist Socialists. A study of the history of Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism shows that all three movements have much in common. It shows instances of Socialistic parties branching out and having Communist and Anarchist offshoots, and shows instances of Anarchist and Communist groups co
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CHAPTER XXXToC
CHAPTER XXXToC
Socialism is, on the whole, hostile to the State. All Socialists hate the State as at present constituted, because it protects the property which they wish to seize. However, many Socialists hate not only the State in its present form. They have become doubtful whether private capital or the State is the greater evil. They long for liberty, and would not welcome the restraint of any State, and least of all that of the absolute, all-regulating, and constantly interfering Socialistic State. Hence
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CHAPTER XXXIToC
CHAPTER XXXIToC
The "Socialist Catechism" contains the following passage: " Q. How are forms of government changed so as to readjust them to the economical changes in the forms of production which have been silently evolving in the body of society? A. By means of revolution.— Q. Give an instance of this? A. The French Revolution of 1789." [1098] Many British Socialists are revolutionaries. They hope to introduce Socialism into Great Britain by revolutionary means. They have studied the French revolutions, and h
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CHAPTER XXXIIToC
CHAPTER XXXIIToC
Most Socialist agitators in Great Britain oppose and condemn State Socialism for two reasons: firstly, because, owing to their Communist and Anarchist leanings, they oppose and hate the State as such, as has been shown in the Chapters on "Socialism and Communism," "Socialism and Anarchism," "Socialism and Revolution"; secondly, because with the introduction of State Socialism their occupation would be gone. Socialist agitators do not wish others to govern the State. They wish to govern it themse
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CHAPTER XXXIIIToC
CHAPTER XXXIIIToC
The Social-Democratic Federation is the most honest and straightforward of the various Socialist organisations. Its aims are revolutionary, as the following statement proves: "The Social-Democratic Federation is a militant Socialist organisation whose members—men and women—belong almost entirely to the working classes. Its object is the realisation of Socialism—the emancipation of the working class from its present subjection to the capitalist class. The means by which it seeks to attain that en
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CHAPTER XXXIVToC
CHAPTER XXXIVToC
Up to a recent date the Socialists in Great Britain had neither power nor influence. Whilst Germany, France, and other countries had large Socialist parties, British Socialism was practically unrepresented in Parliament. Many Englishmen thought that the free British democracies did not offer a soil favourable to the growth of Socialism, whilst many Socialist leaders believed that England possessed ideal conditions for effecting a social revolution because no other country contains, proportionall
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CHAPTER XXXVToC
CHAPTER XXXVToC
What can be done to check the growth of Socialism? Some most interesting statistics supplied by the German Social-Democratic party will furnish the best reply to that question. An analysis of the electorate of Magdeburg and Bremen, two typical commercial and industrial towns, gave the following result: Commenting upon the foregoing table, a German Socialist periodical wrote: "An analytical comparison of the electorate of Hamburg and Bremen reveals an extraordinary similarity in its social compos
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CHAPTER XXXVIToC
CHAPTER XXXVIToC
The realisation of Socialism, the creation of a Socialistic commonwealth in which private property does not exist, seems impossible. Socialists entirely leave out of their calculations two elementary factors: A State devoid of private property is an unthinkable proposition. Private property is not a fortuitous creation, but a natural growth. It is founded not merely upon law, but upon immemorial custom which owes its rise to a fundamental human instinct, an instinct which has been a characterist
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CHAPTER XXXVIIToC
CHAPTER XXXVIIToC
The leading Socialists claim that Socialism is at the same time a scientific doctrine and a practical policy. A perusal of this book should suffice to prove that it is neither the one nor the other. On its scientific side it consists of twenty catch-phrases which are very effective for propaganda purposes, but which are contrary to general experience and to common-sense. On its practical side it consists of a number of fantastic proposals which are likewise contrary to general experience and to
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APPENDIXToC
APPENDIXToC
Programme and Rules as revised previous to the Annual Conference held at the Labour Institute, Bradford, Easter 1906 Object. —The Social-Democratic Federation is a part of the International Social-Democracy. It believes:— 1. That the emancipation of the working class can only be achieved through the socialisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and their subsequent control by the organised community in the interests of the whole people. 2. That, as the proletariat is the
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BIBLIOGRAPHYToC
BIBLIOGRAPHYToC
Abolition of Poor Law Guardians. Fabian Society. London. 1906. Adams, Francis : " The Mass of Christ. " Labour Press Society. Manchester. The Advance of Socialism. (Leaflet.) Independent Labour Party. London. 1907. After Bread—Education. Fabian Society. London. 1905. Allotments, and How to Get Them. Fabian Society. London. 1894. An Appeal to Soldiers. (Leaflet.) Social Democratic Federation. London. Are You a Socialist? (Leaflet.) Independent Labour Party. London. 1907. Aveling, E.M. : The Worki
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