UC-NRLF H X 86 S796 1912 MAIN GIFT OF H K - -v a A SOCIALIST CATECHISM HERMAN-I. STERN PRICE 25 CENTS BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA NINETEEN TWELVE A SOCIALIST CATECHISM HERMAN I. STERN X 3 Copyright 1912 HERMAN I. STERN. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA NINETEEN TWELVE DEDICATION To J. Stitt Wilson, Comrade and Colleague, Neighbor and Friend. PRINTED BY THE COURIER BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA AN INTRODUCTION The recent elections in the United States differ from the quadrennial sprees of Sir Demos wherein he has hitherto zigzagged reeling from one of the old parties to the other. They mark rather a certain sobering up in him and a definite straight-forward step, namely from business controlled politics to economics. It is no less than the descent of the Great American Busi- ness Man and the ascent of the American Working Man and the Common People. Heretofore it has been sufficient for the Republican poli- ticians to appeal for a "business administration" with the threat of an endangered prosperity. This time, having learned that the prosperity is none of ours, we have left busi- ness to its own resources, especially as the corner grocery man complained to the anxious housewife that it no longer reaches him. The Hobson's Choice of the Democratic politicians does not indicate that the people are quite so asinine as to turn back from the trusts to competition. It merely indicates that the big brute King Elephant shall no longer trample them and that they must put up with the antics of King Donkey during the transition period from the present to a coming or- der. They have caught a glimpse of co-operation beyond mon- opoly as the way out. They can never turn back. The chief agent in this change of mind is the Socialist who is at last being heard both in his diagnosis that there is such a thing as Capitalism, not merely oppressive Capital, and in his remedy. The immense increase in the Socialist vote shows this, and where there is one Socialist voter there are scores of waiting Socialist sympathizers. Now there is at hand the recurrent interaction between material pressure and mental readjustment. , Man is mental first and last, in his motives and in his pur- pose, and material only in the middle, in his means. His materialities are merely the plastic material through which what is in his mind is wrought. Socialism looms large enough now to reveal itself in outline to all thoughtful minds and earnest souls as the cre- ative genius of the people travailing with a better way of 25538*7. A SOCIALIST CATECHISM life and a new social order. This may be apprehended as its first definition, that it is an art, or Society as the human poet or maker. Since the means with which mankind must work are its material resources and conditions and operations the second, more obvious, definition of it is that it is a new Science of Economics. But the third definition, though less definite, is most im- portant, namely that it is a new Life and World View, and therefore a challenge to and a review of the prevailing one. This on the whole may be called the philosophy of Socialism or Socialism as a philosophy. An epochal movement like this has its solid material nu- cleus but also its pervasive spiritual aura or emanating at- mosphere. Socialism in giving an account of itself as a prof- fered substitute for Capitalism must do more than ram this on the industrial and political field as a locomotive going at full speed rams one standing on the track. Such head-on col- lision we have had for years in the clashing between capital and labor and yet we all who are supposed to be in one or the other of the two trains watching for the crash with our heart in our month have scarcely felt the jar. For men when their material house of life is struck at once take refuge in their mental house. It is here where after all they live. The movings in history are only at first taken from physics, the impact of momentum upon inertness, momentum, the product of volume and velocity, but finally they are metaphysical or deliberate strivings. Even after an earth- quake people return to their shattered houses, if they have no better one. The mental counterpart of Capitalism is the false, competing and exploiting "Individualism" in which we have all been born and bred. We find, for instance, that de- spite the class struggle a working man may have so little "class consciousness" that he contents himself with hawking his labor power in the labor market in the hope of getting a little capital with which to turn and exploit his fellow work- man. Is he not capitalistically minded? And in the next years men will resort to this mental house for the props and braces with which to bolster up the totter- ing economic one. With our material resources, our theor- retical equality and our political versatility the procrastina- tion can actually be lengthened out. The "immediate demands" of Socialism are already de- A SOCIALIST CATECHISM tached from Socialism proper and will be treated by them- selves with compromises and concessions to confuse and post- pone the crisis. State Capitalism, falsely called State Socialism, will be ad- vanced. Reforms, reforms of the effects, any and all, in order to avoid revolution at the Cause. Meanwhile in the mental world it will be a time of infinite query and parley. It will be the day of the moralizing pub- licist. The Capitalist is dismissing the political boss with his cynical Rogues' Latin of the Game and engaging the political philosopher and reformer. This gentleman speaks the Language of Canaan indeed and assumes lofty airs over his predecessor, but because he means the same thing his speech "bewrayeth" him. He is the good boy who goes to Sunday school but on Monday morning will cheat at marbles just like the bad boy. Like Paul he will reason of justice, moderation and judgment to come but, unlike Paul, he will not make Felix tremble, unless it- be with fear that the preacher is overdoing the unctuousness. The politician is the priest of the God of Things as They Are, and trades marketable intellectualities and moralities for votes for his master. When the people were frankly sordid he was frankly cynical. Now they are discontented he is just ''as honestly but unrepentantly 'pious. The boss believes in the divine order of Capitalism, greed, graft and all. The reformer believes that it is not wrong but has only gone wrong. It is all very nauseating, this escaping Cant, to the Social- ist, who as the citizen of a future State is used to breathing a finer air, but as he is the one who punctured the bladder he must e'en endure a dose of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. With his headlong passionate sense of man he mostly takes himself too seriously. It were well for him to stop at times to lodge with humor, the half-way house on the road to love. For Socialism is the outcome of all that we have been no less than the promise of all that we may become. Homo sum, it declares, I am Man, and nothing of man is foreign to me, laughter with tears and dreams as well as statistics. Humor is a kind of kindness, the feeling that we all belong to the same kind, and the intellectual test and fruit of this feeling is catholicity, wholeness. "What is the matter with A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Socialism?" Bernard Shaw was asked. "The Socialists," was his reply. If we stopped to see ourselves as others see us we would hear from them that we seem not to reck our own rede. They perceive in us a lot of dogmatists, fanatics, partisans, haters, rustics, fault-finders, guerilla fighters, amateur philos- ophers, an eruption of barbarism. The impression is that here is the effect of large ideas on small minds. The am- bassador with a King's message should be a kingly person. The trouble is that we confuse our two roles, of destruc- tion and reconstruction. For the storming of Bastiles any rabble fury of hunger will do, but the time has come for re- building, where like the rebuilders of Jerusalem we should lay the trowel down and reach for the sword only when the Philistines approach. Vision and vaticination act on the hyper-orthodox Social- ist as a red rag on a bull, or the red flag on a policeman. For well he has learned that the priest can without discom- fort swallow a dozen prophets for breakfast with their Apoca- lypses, Millenniums, Golden Ages and New Jerusalems. And the lesson is true, but only a small part true. Denying a falsehood is effectual only when a positive truth is present. Thus the class struggle is a reality. Proletarian versus Bourgeois is a real situation. To ignore these antagonisims because they are unpleasant is not softhearted but soft headed. They are fundamental facts which should not only not be con- cealed but emphasized. Yet they are true only for the time, as conditions of the war, and the martial ardor of the war is inspired by the vision of peace with its abolition of classes. The false is mortal, the true is immortal. When this mortal shall have put on this immortal then death is swal- lowed up in victory. Wherefore the Socialist's class consciousness must be swallowed up by his man consciousness and race conscious- ness. By this sign shall we conquer that we are already the citizens of a new State. Ragnarok, the burning up of the old sinful order, the Twilight of the Gods, let it go on, but we be more than incendiaries lest we too likewise perish. We must herald the new Dawn or a long dark night will intervene. In appealing to the wholesome man back of the unwhole- 6 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM some one as he has been marred by Society, Socialism must address itself to the whole man. It must shake the four corners of his mental house, his class sociology, his institutional beliefs, his conventional morality and his politico-economic organization. This in order to drive him forth. Such analysis has been made. It is a large part of Socialist propaganda and literature where much is to be found about psychology and ethics. But Socialism must also resolutely rear its own larger mental house four square to the four points of the compass and invite the lurking prisoner from the other house in. He is hesitating because he hates to leave his household gods. Such synthesis has not yet been made. Above all, a com- parison between the two houses. To the ruling mind of today we are immoral, as the larger must always be to the smaller standard. Hence the need and timeliness of a frank Con- fession of Faith or a putting of two and two together, namely economics and politics on the one hand and psychology and morality on the other. The Wisdom of Socialism, the Spirit of Socialism! Not an enclosed creed, for this movement is not a closing in but an opening up and out. It is not an ism at all but a quick- ened and more abundant life. It is men becoming more so- cial, their coming together and going together. The only thing that is new about it is that it is the appli- cation of Science to truth seeking, and Science is a method and not a creed. This also should answer the foolish question whether Socialism is a materialism or an idealism. It depends upon your point of view, whether you look at the beginning or at the end. The old catechisms, following the theological or deductive method, began with x-y-z, the unknown factors in algebra, God, Immortality and Duty and tried to tunnel their way back to actual life. Socialism begins inductively with a-b-c, the known factors in algebra, Man, Nature, Society. If this is materialism then make the most of it. The true philosopher does not bandy words, just as the true Socialist may not content himself with repeating a-b-ab, but will go on to the end of the alpha- bet willing to take what he fiinds there. Such a putting together of the new Social Thought which A SOCIALIST CATECHISM is the new Social Life has been "a long-felt want" in one So- cialist at least. He might well have shrunk from the task but that the felt need of it could no longer be shrunk from. If the reader judges that the work has not been done well enough the author will agree, for he knows better than the reader how far execution has fallen short of conception. Nevertheless he will insist that this is no reason why the work should not have been done at all. HERMAN I. STERN. A SOCIALIST CATECHISM FIRST PART Psychology . The Individual As a human being, placed on the earth in this present aeon of time, of what are you aware? I am aware of myself and of my environment. Of what are you aware in regard to yourself? That I am composed of body and of mind. What is the relation of your body to your mind? It is the relation of servant to master. In what manner is this relation fulfilled? By the mind directing the activities of the body that sat- isfy its own needs and then by the body working for the sat- isfaction of the mind. What is the primary need of the body? The maintenance of its own life in health, strength and comfort. What is Life? Life is organic correspondence with environment. The Egx>. Body and Mind. Life. Of what does your Environment consist? First, of Nature or the Universe or the material world. Environment Then, of other human beings or society. Further, of an artificial material world created by society, as cities, farms, mines, factories, railroads, ships, etc. Are you aware of aught else in your environment? Yes, of a mental world evolved by society, as ideas, beliefs, customs, institutions and laws. Wherein does your Organic Correspondence with Nature or the material world consist? In the correspondence of my sense organs with the .ma- terial world, as the eye with the sights, the ear with the sounds of Nature, etc., and in that of the vital organs, as the lungs with the air and the digestive organs with food. What does such correspondence constitute? It constitutes my bodily or physical life. In addition to seeing, hearing, etc., and to air for breath- ing and food for eating do you need any other things to live? Yes, clothing and shelter. From what part of Nature or the material world do you Food obtain food, clothing and shelter? From the land. A SOCIALIST CATECHISM liand. labor Mental Life Mentality of tne Universe. Beauty. Trutn. Life Purpose. How do you obtain these from the Land? By means of those mind-directed activities or energies of the body called Labor. What, therefore, is the primary condition and necessity of your life? The need and the right of free access to the land with my labor. Is this a natural human right, and why? Yes, because it is the only means of life to me and be- cause of Nature's abundant provision to satisfy my need. How does the body work for the satisfaction of the mind? By supplying the material foundation and conditions of my mental life. Wherein does your Mental Life consist? In the organic correspondence of my mind with the men- tality of Nature by which she becomes my alma mater or nursing mother mentally as well as physically. What is the Mentality of Nature? It is the intelligence manifested in the existence, nature and action of the universe and that is impersonally conceived and 'named as Reason, Mind, Spirit or Soul or personally and humanized as God. How is this Intelligence manifested? As a consummated act of the self-expression of mind perfected or wrought through matter. What is the evidence of this act? It is the beauty of Nature. What is Beauty? Beauty is the outward sign of an inner harmony, namely, between the nature of a thing and its character or between its purpose and its reality, which inner harmony is Truth. Is not truth a purely intellectual matter? By no means; it is a vital achievement or the completed experience of a life purpose, hence the sum and narrative of the action of becoming. What is your life purpose? It is likewise self-expression and consummation or fully becoming that of which I am by nature capable. Whence do you obtain this knowledge? From my communion and correspondence with the men- tality of Nature through mental labor or the exercise of the functions of my own mind. 10 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM What are these functions of your mind? Thinking, feeling and willing. Function* Are these separate and independent of one another? No, they are a trinity that cannot be divided. Thinking is the intellectual office that conceives the life purpose. Feel- ing is the aesthetic office that supplies the motive power. But willing is the creative office that leads to action by which the other two are realized and approved. Are you able by nature to ascertain truth as an individual without the authority and instruction of the world as ex- pressed through such institutions as the church, the state and the school? Yes, I can have no other source and means of knowing Man myself than myself in the exercise of my whole threefold mental organism. But how do you prove the authenticity and certainty of your individual knowledge over against the authority and formulations of the world? It is self-proving in that organic correspondence with the mind of Nature constitutes my mental life just as organic correspondence with the matter of Nature constitutes my physical life. Wherein is the fact of your mental life realized and ap- proved? In the creative office of willing that leads to action. Still, do not men disagree about individual truths while arriving at some agreement in the collective conclusions of these institutions of the world? On the contrary they forever disagree about these, the creeds, codes and philosophies of the world, while they are all alike in their mental organism and agree in their experience of its correspondence with mental Nature just as they are all alike in their physical organism and agree in their ex- perience of its correspondence with material Nature. What do you call this knowledge of yours in distinction to the institutional or traditional knowledge of the world? Original or Organic Knowledge. What is the difference between your organic or original knowledge as a man and the institutional knowledge of the world? Original The difference is that I derive my knowledge as a man ^J^^ 6 *** directly from the origin or source of knowledge, the mind institutional of Nature, through organic correspondence with it in action, Knowledge A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Wealth the Material Foundation of Mental ttfe as I would breathe the fresh out-door current of air in labor, while the institutional knowledge of the world is such as has been stagnated through the failure of action and which is to me like the breathed over air of a close room. To what is this failure of action and this stagnation due? To aversion from the material foundation of mental life, of knowledge and of truth, with the consequent rise of insti- tutional ambition and of intellectual authority, tutelage and tyranny. What is the difference between the first hand certainty of human knowledge and the second hand uncertainty of insti- tutional knowledge in the processes of the two? In the first I am naturally or universally minded and un- sophisticated as I would gaze on Nature with the naked open eye whereas in the second I am institutionally or worldly minded and sophisticated as I would peep at Nature through colored classes. What is the fruit of the former kind of knowledge? Vital and fundamental truth; vital because it constitutes mental life and fundamental because it is built on the material foundation of that mental life. How does your physical labor furnish the material foun- dation for your mental life? In a twofold way, as in Nature: i, By the mind using mat- ter as its material through which self-expression is wrought or perfected; and, 2, by the mind working out its emancipation from the trammels of matter and the drudgery of physical labor. Is such emancipation necessary to your mental life? Yes, it marks the transition from a mere food-gettng ani- mal existence to a truth-finding human life. How do you accomplish such conditions through your labor. By means of wealth. What is Wealth? Wealth is food, clothing and shelter produced in a quan- tity over and above my immediate need which I can then transmute into mental weal or well being through the freedom and leisure that it provides for my. mental life. If access to the land with your labor for producing food and wealth is so essential to your life purpose, both physcal and mental, how must this need be regarded? It must be regarded as Right or Duty. What is Right or Duty? It is life purpose as a compelling aim of my own will and action or truth expressed in terms of morality or ethics. 12 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM SECOND PART Ethics or Society What is Morality or Ethics? It is the liberty of living in accordance with the need of my nature and the purpose of my existence. Inasmuch as morality is mostly regarded as a restraint rather than as a liberty where do you find the reason for your definition? I find it in the morality of Nature. How can you speak of a Morality in Nature? It is shown there in the reign of law. Morality of Nature What is Law? _ It is the essence and substance of a thing operating freely from within between its purpose and its accomplishment. Is not law a system of rules and regulations imposed on you from without? No, there is no true law except in the essential or scientific sense, as the law of gravity, etc. Whence come these legal systems, then, and why are they coercively imposed on you? They come from the institutional knowledge of the world and are coercively imposed from without because they im- perfectly express the purport of moral law which is exercised only in liberty. What is the purport of Moral Law? It is justice. What is Justice? Justice in Nature is a certain built-in moral symmetry, equipoise and adaptation of means to an end, which in her relation to men becomes that equity and impartiality of pro- vision with which she treats all her children alike. Of what does this just provision primarily consist? First, abundant food and wealth for all; second, the need of labor by all, and, third, the full product of that labor to all. Into relation with what new factor does morality therefore bring you? Into relation with the second division of my environment, other human being or society. What is the meaning of the word Society? Partnership, from socius, a partner or companion, which Society latter word in turn still more specifically refers to community 13 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM in food, meaning one who shares bread with you, from con, together and panis, bread. Hence Society originally means the association and organization and consequent civilization of men through partnership and companionship in the pri- mary material things of life. What then is Human Morality or Justice? It is equity of relations and conduct between men, pri- marily in the production and division of food and wealth. Can you not be moral or just without reference to society and labor? No, morality or justice is altogether social and funda- mentally industrial, for since I must live on the products of labor, if I live by the labor of my fellow-man or permit him to live by mine, I am in either case immoral and unjust. How Do You Name Such Morality? It is scientific or essential morality, or the ethical com- plement to organic or original knowledge. Does not an inquiry into morality first involve the ques- tion of the origin and nature of Evil or moral philosophy? No, this is putting the cart before the horse, or meta- physics before physics. The physics of truth is contained in life, the first step in which is a living. But is not that which is called Sin an actual guilt of the mind which must be expiated before you can become righ- teous? gia Sin is indeed on its formal or judicial side a guilt or vio- lation of the mind and morality of the universe and as such is punished naturally in its own consequences, but practically it is a disability or inability which calls for the physician rather than the lawyer. Is not sin the result of ignorance which Culture and Re- finement will change into Character that will be sufficient for right social relations and Conduct? Culture ^ ^ s tru ^ v a result of ignorance of essential law but with- fttt d out social justice mere intellectual culture will result in only Character more refined forms of sin. If morality is liberty to live in accordance with the need of your nature for self-expression and consummation does this desire of yours not prevent social consideration? No, since I have this liberty as a member of society where all men are equal with me. Here I want nothing for myself which I do not want for every one else. If I do I forfeit the right and betray the success of the liberty in myself. 14 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM How do you betray the success in you? By impairing the source common to all. We are like trees bearing divers kinds of fruit but all planted in the same soil. But is there not an irreconcilable conflict between what are called Egotism and Altruism in you? No, this is a false antithesis. The 'conflict is between Humanism humanism, or the need and right which I have in common and the with my fellow men, and the crude material conditions and CoJmmona social relations hostile thereto. It is possible then for you to love your neighbor as your- self? In my thinking and feeling it is not only possible but nat- ural to do so on this plane of common need and right, since here he is the same as myself, but in my willing and doing it is impossible until the social conditions are changed, which make him my rival and enemy. Does not the Iniquity prevailing in the world and envel- oping us as an atmosphere, make this a vain hope? No, the world is nothing but the organized society of Iniquity men and iniquity is nothing but inequity, which is inequality. And the one is continually perfecting the other. But is not human nature altogether selfish and bad? It is not. The objectors to human nature confound nature with character. What is the difference between nature and character? My nature is the model of which I am made and which Nature is as cosmical and moral as Nature herself, being of the very stuff of the universe. My character is a product of society or the changing sum of beliefs, motives, actions and habits with which my social environment for the time fills the model. What then is true Morality in You? It is the liberty to live in accordance with the need of my nature and the purpose of my existence, while the same right is granted to all others. Are you able to practice such morality in the social con- ditions and relations of today? I am not, since injustice in regard to the means of -life prevails, in which I must share either actively or passively or both if I would live. If injustice in regard to the means of life prevails in pres- ent day society, is it not entrenched in the Morality of that Society? 15 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Morality of Present Day Society It is, wherefore essential morality must be a social battle cry and marchng order against that injustice and against the false morality in which it is entrenched. How does the morality of present day society differ from essential morality? Essential morality is natural, original and a living growth while the morality of modern society is an accretion of dead motives. Of what is this accretion composed? Of traditional religious authority, social expediency and legal and penal systems. What is this Religious Authority? It is the authority that was exercised when morality was promulgated in the name of religion. What is Religion? The term means a rebinding or reunion, namely with the eternal and universal, which is the same as organic cor- respondence with the mind of Nature and therefore the same as essential morality. Then why have men failed to achieve social justice through their religions? Because they permitted them to be diverted from action to an institution or from a movement to an establishment, in which thinking and feeling were employed with creeds and cults but the consummate office of the mind, willing or action, was arrested and betrayed. What has been the effect of this arrest and betrayal? The false and fatal division of men's interests into sacred and secular, into temporalities and spiritualities, ending in the division of themselves into Church and State. What has been the outcome of this for the Church? Of the three mental offices the church postponed willing or action or realization to another world, thus forfeiting this field to the state. In like manner thinking or truth-seeking or creed making, lacking reality, has passed to the school or to science, whence there is left only the middle function of feeling where the church ministers to the emotions with mystical and aesthetic means. What has been the outcome for morality in the State? The moral standard of the state, lacking the organic union with the mind of the universe that religion should have pro- 16 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM vided, has shrunk to social expediency and to legal and penal systems. Does the church not preach a higher social morality than the secular moral standards of the state? It does not. What is Social Expediency in morals? It is the doctrine of Enlightened Selfishness as a necessary social and useful restraint in social conduct. Expediency Is this true and has it proven useful? No, since selfishness in the things of our common need Enlightened is error and sin which darkens the mind and hardens the Selfisnnesi heart, and has proven a mere decency, an honor among thieves and a rope of sand as a restraint, whence morality has sunk still further, namely to the intimidation of Legal and Penal Systems. Why does society have to resort to this intimidation to suppress vice and crime? From its very failure to moralize the conditions that i,eg;al and produce vice and crime. Penal Systems But must not society always employ force to uphold law and order? No, the employment of force is a confession that its con- x, aw g^a ditions and relations are at variance with the Law and Order Order of Nature. Is your theory borne out in practice? Yes, the proof lies in the growing demoralization of pres- Son^of*" ent-day society as manifested in its lawlessness and disorder, Modern in the increase of vice and crime and in the dissolution of Society social bonds. Can you cite a statutory embodiment of existing morality which contains the three elements, traditional religious authority, social expediency and legal and penal systems? Yes, the three commandments from the Decalogue: Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. How does society interpret and seek to enforce these? In a retail way as individual sins, vices and crimes, while ignoring the wholesale violation of them by society itself. How are they violated in a wholesale way by society? By legalizing exploitation, which is stealing, in industry and in business. 17 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM: By establishing conditions that produce adultery, forni- cation and prostitution. By upholding war, industrial murder and murderous re- lations and operations. What is the effect of the wholesale sinning of omission upon the retail sins of commission? As in trade, the retail goods are derived from the whole- sale store. Why has society acquiesced in a morality so unnatural and unscientific and that has proven so fatal in its workings? This is explained by its conventionality. What is Conventional Morality? One that is lacking in organic correspondence, hence a social accommodation, convenience and facility, as the terms ethics and morality indicate, both meaning manners, cus- toms and fashions. Whence have they derived this shallow meaning? From the Greeks and the Romans respectively, whose thought on account of the social injustice in their life never attained to a knowledge of essential morality. Why is this shallow worldly "pagan" morality called con- ventional? Because it has come about through a convention or agree- ment, namely, between a ruling social caste and their insur- gents, hence a kind of unwritten treaty of peace, or a modus vivendi with the force of a status quo. What is this Insurrection? Convention In our own era of time it is that of the modern burgher Insurrection or bourgeois class of merchants and money lords against the mediaeval hereditary royalty and nobility of landlords. What is the story of this insurrection? The ruling caste possessed wealth and power through the private ownership of land. The new class obtained wealth, at first as traders through profits, then as money lenders through interest. In the Rennaissance they acquired intelligence by means of their wealth. Last they obtained power, namely, religious power through the Reformation and political power through the Revolutions, with citizenship and the modern state, thus dispossessing and subjugating their masters. What were the terms of the convention or treaty of peace? The insurgents were established in power through the su- premacy of commerce and the rule of money. The old rul- ing caste were left in the possession of the land and of their IS The Bourgeois A SOCIAXiXST CATECHISM Tfce Third ranks and titles, but reduced to a governing class at the pleasure of their conquerors. They were also confirmed as the ornamental figureheads of society and the leaders in manners and fashions, and their standards of morality, after the moral seriousness of the Reformation and the Revolutions had subsided, were rehabilitated. What is the moral standard of the governing upper caste that has been adopted by the ruling middle class? The obtainment of idleness and elegance by means of Morality wealth with consequent luxury and sensuality, modified by formal religiousness, intellectual culture and refined manners. If wealth is the material foundation of mental and moral life why has its possession led to immorality? Because it was obtained through injustice, namely, the exploitation of the working class, and Nature punishes the wrong with corruption. Did the working class have no part in the convention? No, they are the Third Estate who had no part in the con- vention but only in the conflict. What part was this? To furnish the blood and the toil. They conquered the land with their blood for the old ruling caste and maintained them in power with their toil as serfs and agricultural work- ers. Then they conquered modern business with their blood and their votes for the new ruling class and are maintaining them in power as industrial workers. How were they induced to do this? Through the general ignorance of economic laws. The mediaeval feudal regime was built on the divine right^ of caste which men then believed. The modern industrial regime is built on the divine right of man and was effected through appeal to essential morality which they believed safe- guarded in political individualism and in competition, but since the nut now is cracked the working class find themselves sharing in the hull of religious liberty and equality and in the shell of political liberty and equality, while the kernel of ma- terial possession is divided between the two upper classes. Has this epochal deceit and wrong influenced the mind and heart of the modern world? Yes, it explains the universal disappointment, disgust and unrest, as is indicated in the meaning of the word, bour- geois. What is this meaning? It is a literary term of contempt with which for a hundred 19 Hull Sfcell Kernel A SOCIALIST CATECHISM years or more the aesthetic and social aspects of our whole middle class civilization are characterized; its meanness and ugliness, its vulgarity, mediocrity and cruelty, especially its cant. Wherein does this Cant consist? It is a chasm that cuts through the heart of every modern man, dividing his life from his thought and compelling him to lead a double existence. What are these double conditions? On the one hand our unjust material conditions and social relations, on the other our professed sanctities, as liberty, equality, fraternity, religion, morality and patriotism, art, lit- erature and culture, which we are driven to cherish insincerely as impossible "ideals." How does this condition affect the thought of the world? Our social unfaithfulness to the moral order of the universe and our consequent bafflled progress engenders unbelief in that order, as is seen in the skeptical, pessimistic and cynical philosophies of the age. How does it affect the life of society? Like a moral filth disease produced by a stream that runs pure at the mental source but is made stagnant by the material obstructions at the mouth whence the impure water backs up to defile the source. Is there not enough vitality in Nature and in man to cure the sickness? Yes, yet the remedy lies not in individual sanity but in social sanitation. How is this sanitation to be accomplished? By perfecting or carrying out original truth and essen- tial morality through the material conditions as is done in the economy of Nature. 20 A. SOCIALIST CATECHISM THIRD PART Economics or the Material. What is the meaning of the word Economy? The law or system of the household. What does this meaning suggest? Like the other large terms, society, civilization, morality: 1. The social, i. e., the uniting and endearing domestic, family and fraternal character of bread getting such as obtains in the civilized table manners of bread eating, hospitality, moderation, courtesy and mutual helpfulness, where "individ- ualism" is abhorred as uncouth, savage and beastly. 2. Thrift and abhorrence of waste, i. e., meeting the house- wifely bounty of our hostess with the husbandry of guests who use the physical plenty for mental satisfaction. What is the Economy of Nature? It is the mind and morality of Nature expressed in her ma- terial husbandry and housekeeping. Of what does the material of Nature's Husbandry and Housekeeping consist? Of the elements and the natural products, the resources and reproductive forces of the earth; the air, sunshine and rain, electricity and power; water and the fertile soil; birds, beasts and fishes; stone, coal, oil and gas, metals and forests and all things provided by nature for men's food, clothing and shelter and wealth. How can we perfect original truth and essential morality through Nature's economy? By establishing a system of economics in organic corre- spondence with it. What is Economics? It is the science and art of social husbandry and house- keeping or food and wealth production and distribution. Into relation with what new factor does this bring you? Into relation with the third division of my environment, the artificial world produced by society, as cities, farms, mines, mills and factories, ships, railroads, etc. Is there not a system of economics in this artificial world that corresponds with Nature's economy? There is not. What is the difference between Nature's economy and the economic operations and conditions prevailing in society? A. SOCIALIST CATECHISM Socialism a Science an Art and & Philosophy It is this, that Nature's economy is intelligent and moral because it is social in its provision while the prevailing oper- ations and conditions are unintelligent and immoral because they are unsocial, i. e., individual, in their utilization. What is the proof of this? Their failure to secure food and wealth to all. Is this failure not due to Nature's or to society's insuffi- cient ability? No, they are both not only sufficient but capable of in- definite increase. Does not the "Political Economy" taught in the schools deal with this failure? No, this is a mere teaching of the present methods and data without an inquiry into either their intelligence or their morality. Is there not a new system of economics being born of the necessity and vitality of society that is in accord with the economy of nature? Yes, the Socialist system of economics. What is the Socialist System of Economics? It is a proposed scheme of food and wealth production and distribution by society in the place of the unintelligent, im- moral and uneconomic methods now carried on by individ- uals. In what relation does Socialist economics stand to orig- inal knowledge and essential morality? It is the material complement to them both, just as the economics existing in present day society is the material complement to its institutional knowledge and conventional morality. Of what is the Socialist system composed? Of the three natural parts, a Science, an Art and a Philosophy. What are these three? As a science of economics Socialism is a program for the reorganization of industry built on the foundation of material needs and facts, and is opposed to Capitalism. As an art it is a plan for a new social order and way of life, and is opposed to false Individualism. As a philosophy it is a new analysis and synthesis of human knowledge proceeding from vital and total experience, and is opposed to all Speculative Philosophies. 22 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM How does Socialism oppose Capitalism on the field of economics? First, by setting forth definitions and principles about the modern economic factors, then by a destructive criticism of capitalist abuse of them, and last, by a constructive system of these factors under Socialism. A. Definitions and Principles in Economics. What are the modern Economic Factors? They are nine, divided into three groups of three each, as follows: Land Elements of Production - - - { Labor Machinery. Food, clothing, shelter. Products of Labor -.---( Wealth. Capital. \ I ( Business. Means of Ownership and Control < Money. ( Property. What is Land as an economic factor? It is the only source of the means of life to all, both land physical and mental; the former in the form of food, clothing and shelter, the latter in the form of wealth. How can this only source of the means of life be secured to all? Only by the social ownership of the land. What is Labor as an economic factor? It is the only agency for producing the means of life from the Land. Since not all can labor on the land directly, how can you secure access to it indirectly with your labor? Only by a social scheme of industry that will preserve Labor to me an undivided partnership in the land by permitting me to do productive labor on the raw material from the land farther down in the process of food and wealth production. What is productive labor compared with unproductive? Productive labor is that which produces the means of life either directly or indirectly as an integral part of a social scheme of industry, because this is the only way in which labor bears economic fruit, while unproductive labor bears 23 A, SOCIALIST CATECHISM Machinery Food Clothing Shelter Wealth no such fruit, because it is no such part and is therefore wasted. What is Machinery as an economic factor? It is the tools of labor, and not of the first rank or order with land and labor, since it is also a product of labor from the land, or land is the mother, labor the father while ma chinery is the child. Why do you then elevate it to a level with Land and Labor as one of the three elements of production? Because in modern industry it has grown from cheap and simple hand tools made and used by an an individual into costly and complicated manufactures made and used by so- ciety. It is the magical child with whose privileges and prodigies I as an individual cannot compete and to which my need of access is therefore as primary as my need of land and labor. But is your right of access to it the same as your right to the other two? Yes, because as a human being I am part owner of Nature's forces and resources from which it is made, as the land, ore, coal, steam, electricity, power, etc., and as a member of society I contribute to the intelligence of that society which invents, manufactures and uses it. What is the condition of your access to it? Again a social scheme of industry that will insure me an undivided partnership in its possession and use. Of the three kinds of the products of labor what do you mean by the first named, Food, Clothing and Shelter? I mean such food, clothing and shelter as will keep me in a condition of physical health, strength and comfort, and no less in a mental state of self-respect, which in view of the plenty produced by society, of the enforced equality in standards of living and of the prevailing dependence on mod- ern improvements, entails as necessaries the comforts and conveniences if not the luxuries now enjoyed by the well- to-do. What is Wealth? Wealth is that part of the product of my labor over and above my physical necessaries, food, clothing and shelter, which I put back into my life in the form of mental weal or well being. Is wealth also an economic factor in material production? Yes, as a mental means of increasing the facility, efficiency and economy of my labor by increasing my intelligence. 24 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM What is the need and value of wealth as compared with food, clothing and shelter? It is of equal need as well as of higher value since it ministers to my mental life or the need of my nature and the purpose of my existence, self expression and consum- mation, to which end my physical life is but the means. In a social scheme of industry permitting you to produce wealth what is the condition of your obtaining it? A social scheme of distribution that will apportion to. me the full social share of wealth which I have produced. If wealth is mental in character how can material wealth be trnsmuted into mental? Through the leisure which lifts me into relations with Nature's mental economy where I meet with a new set of fac- tors corresponding to those of her material economy. What are these? The mind and morality of Nature or objective truth cor- responding to the land, thought or productive mental labor corresponding to physical labor, education corresponding to machinery, and subjective truth or culture and character cor- responding to the material products of labor. In what manner is Education like Mental Machinery? In that the science, art, literature and philosophy which comprise it are the socially evolved and perfected tools for my mental labor or truth getting, but not that truth itself. What is Capital? It is that portion of the product of my labor over and Capital above food, clothing and shelter, and wealth which I put back, not into my body or my mind, but into my industry in the form of machinery and other equipment. Is capital not the product and therefore the rightful pos- session of some other agency besides labor? No, there is nothing on earth made by man that has not been produced by labor. What is the need and value of capital to you compared with the other two products of labor? It is of equal need and of the highest value since without it I can have no partnership in modern industry by which I produce the other two. What is the condition of such partnership? A social scheme of industry in which the share of capital I have produced is reinvested in it as my part of the owner- ship and control of its machinery. If capital is a product of labor and a mere reinvestment 25 CATECHISM in machinery, is its existence necessary as an economic factor? No, under a scheme of complete and universal collective industry it would be synonymous with machinery and not a separate entity. Of the three means of ownership and control what is the first named or Business? It is in its simplest literal meaning, busyness or activity in the pursuit of the means of life, but its more definite social and public meaning is the dstribution of the goods produced by labor through 'buying and selling, or trade. The meaning now is still further expanded to include pro- duction and industry as well, which therefore is termed Big Business in distinction to little business or trade. What is the Natural Business of an intelligent and moral nation? The social production of the means of life by the labor of all and their distribution at cost to all who labor. What is the Natural International Trade or Commerce of a civilized world society? Free trade of the character of primitive exchange or barter in the goods severally produced and mutually desired by the various peoples. What is the second means of ownership and control, Money? Monev is a symbol and standard of value and a conven- ient medium of exchange for the products of labor. Of what is money composed? At present of the so-called precious metals, gold and silver, also copper or their alloys, made into coins and stamped with the seal or the emblem of a government. Has such money a stable, intrinsic value? Tt has not. These metals have a limited variable commer- cial value in the arts and as ornaments, but as a means of life they are far less important than coal or iron. Wherein does the value of money then consist? Tn its vicarious or representative character as an exchan- geable emblematic enuivalent for the products of labor. Its effectual value is in the social and political imprimature of the stamp which guarantees the nation's wealth in these products. Of what is the money of business actually composed? Of paper or promises to pay in coin. Is such paper money in reality redeemable in coin as the ultimate value? 26 A SOCIAUST OATEOHI8M It is not, since the volume of paper money far exceeds that of coin and thus again refers to the nation's ultimate re- sources, credit and ability to pay in the products of labor. What is the relation of money to the other economic fac- tors? This may be expressed in a formula or equation, thus: Money equals capital in business, equals machinery in in- dustry, equals the products of labor or food, clothing and shelter and wealth and capital with the lease value of the land, all regarded as property. What in accordance with this relation is the adequate volume of money? It should be commensurate with the total wealth of the nation in such property. What in the nature of the case is the rightful creation of money? Since money is an agent of industry it cannot rightfully be created or utilized except in a social scheme of industry with society holding the monopoly. What is the true function of money? To pay labor for the products of labor in its own or other products of labor. Is money intrinsically invested with a value and an office over and above such function that entitles it to a reward for its use? No, it is a passive and non-productive instrument only and investing it with appropriating power makes it a master instead of a servant of labor. What is the third means of ownership and control, Property? Property is the products of labor confirmed and safe- Property guarded as a possession by law. What is the true nature of property? It is the peculiar intimate latent quality of a thing by which this is distinguished from other things, as the property of matter, and which in turn I appropriate by transforming it into a patent expression of myself through my labor, prop- rius, peculiarly my own. What, then, is the natural law governing the ownership of property? That no one should own it who has not made it his own through labor. 27 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM What is the first duty of an enlightened and moral nation in safeguarding property by law? Its first duty is to safeguard the rightful acquisition and its second duty only to safeguard the rightful possession of it What kinds of property both in the processes and in the proceeds of labor are rightly yours? These are two kinds, public and private. The lease and use of land, and machinery belong to me publicly as a social partnership. Food, clothing and shelter belong to me pri- vately. Wealth is of both kinds, public wealth being such as ministers to my mental life socially, schools, libraries, museums, parks and other public works of beauty and culture, and private wealth, being such as ministers to my mental life individually, my house, my furniture, books, pictures, etc. R Socialist Criticism of Capitalism. In view of the foregoing definitions and principles govern- ing the economic factors, what is Capitalism? Capitalism Capitalism is the present system of production and dis- Bocialism tribution by which privately owned capital has made itself the head of all the economic factors, as the word indicates, capitalis pertaining to the head, and uses this mastery to ex- ploit labor of the largest share of its products. And in the presence of this condition what is the Socialist movement? Jfce Class It is the uprising of the working class to conquer this headship for society through the class struggle. Is this a struggle between Capital and Labor? No, it is a struggle between the 'working class and the capitalist class for the possession of capital. Who are the working class? All the people who work and all the people who want to work. Is the working class composed of manual laborers only? By no means, since wealth is mental in character the work- ing class includes mental workers whose products are ac- cepted as wealth or as educational machinery by society, such as thinkers, writers, teachers, scientists, physicians, artists, publicists, etc., besides those engaged in the direction of material production, as inventors, engineers, architects and superintendents of industry. Who are the Capitalist Class? 28 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM All those who perform no productive labor, manual or mental, but live on the labor of others through the exactions of capital. How has private capital obtained its headship of the economic factors and its exploiting mastery over labor? Through the two-fold inherited crime against man, the pri- vate ownership of land and interest on money. Why is the Private Ownership of Land a crime against man? Because it shuts him out from Nature's elementary pro- JKJjSjjJi vision of the means of life for him. It is like taking a fish out of the water or a bird out of the air. Has not the private ownership of land always been recog- nized as a fundamental institution of civilized society? On the contrary, it has only been permitted and endured as an evil while the 'belief has always survived that its use belongs to him who tills it, and its ultimate disposal by the people has been recognized as a cornerstone of even the most imperfect legal systems as seen in the Right of Emi- nent Domain. Is not the Amercan plan of distributing the land in quarter sections among the citizens a just and successful combination of social and individual needs and rights? No, it is unjust because no government or people holds an absolute title to the land but only to the use thereof and cannot rightfully give away the bread of future generations, and it has proven unsuccessful, as buying and selling it has subjected it to speculation, spoliation and aggrandizement and to the virtual ownership and actual control of the capitalists, making the farmers mere tenants. How has land passed from mediaeval agrarian into modern capitalist control? As an incident of the victory of money lordship over land- lordship. The landlord was a robber who took the land through conquest. The money lord is a thief who spoils the robber with furtive hand, namely interest on money. What is Interest? It is the reward exacted by the owner of money for the Interest use of it, in the three forms of pure interest, rent or profit. What is the relation between these three? They are usually mentioned in the above order as though interest were the father and rent and profit the children which is unhistorical and unscientific. The order should be re- 29 A. SOCIALIST CATECHISM versed thus, profit, interest, rent, to correspond with labor, money and property respectively. Why do you reverse the order in this way? Because this has been the actual process: First, the trader or merchant, i. e., the middle man or go-between, interest, he is between, namely between the producer and the consumer, with whom came the profit system. But does not profit come from trade or the consumer? No, all profit in whatsoever form at last comes from labor as the producer, since there is no other source of profit. What was the next step in the process? The manufacturer who invested the profits of the merchant as capital in machinery and with whom came industrialism. What is the last step? The financier or banker or pure capitalist and money lord who invests the profits of industry in stocks, bonds and in- dustrials, in war loans and in the acquisition of more indus- tries, of lands and markets and machinery, as mines, plants, railroads, steamship lines, real estate, etc., with fresh profits in the form of interest or rent, and with whom have come "the trusts," Big Business and the international money power of the world. How does this developed money power control the land and the farmer? In four ways, through mortgages and other loans, through the railroads, through the control of the markets and through the sale of tariff protected and trust made machinery and other goods that the farmer buys, in addition to the direct buying up of the land in large tracts and the introduction of tenant farming, like the latifundia of the Romans. In spite of this abuse are you warranted in calling interest a crime against man? Yes, because through it privately owned but unearned capital becomes the master and spoiler of labor and of life. It is the long spoon that you must have if you would sup with the devil since it continually skims the fat or the cream that labor raises from the land. Through what means does interest exhaust or dip up the sweat and life of labor? Through the element of time that is common to both as the measuring unit of compensation. Money, the interest gatherer, never sleeps, noting only time, not distance, therefore the worker, mayhap at the antipodes, must wake early and toil late to feed this insatiable eater. 30 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM May not interest be regarded as the human equivalent of that increase and multiplication through growth with which Nature meets man half way? No, that increase is the free maternal provision for and re- sponse to labor alone. Is not money entitled to a special privilege as the re- ward of diligence and thrift? No, diligence should be made the condition of a liveli- hood, and thrift has its own reward in greater private wealth but interest is the very means of idleness and prodigality. But has not interest always been accepted by civilized society as the cornerstone of its commercial structure? As little as the private ownership of land. Moral teachers and lawgivers in all ages have denounced Usury. Is usury not exorbitant or excessive interest? No, it means any and all charges for the use of money as the word indicates, usura, from uti, usus, to use. Still dp not governments today distinguish between usury and legitimate interest by establishing a legal rate of per cent that may be charged? They do in theory but in practice they place no barrier to the greed of money in interest, rent or profit. Why has the original wholesome identity of interest and usury become obscured? Through the darkening of the mind and the deadening of the social feeling under the successful dishonesty of our "individualism." In spite of "muck raking" our admira- tion for the big Wall Street usurer lingers while we have never lost our contempt for the pawnbroker. But is the capitalist not entitled to a chief reward as a captain of industry? No, as such he would be enttled to wages of superin- tendence only. However, the complete capitalist is not a cap- tain of industry at all, .but a pirate who robs the captain no less than the crew. What is the economic result of the supremacy of private capital? f The complete overlordship of a tribute exacting monied oligarchy over all economic factors and our whole indus- trial life marked in the field of production by the establish- ment of wage slavery and in that of distribution by the pass- ing of little business and competition into Big Business and corporate monopoly. 31 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Wage Slavery Competition Why do you call the Wage System a slavery? Because it has all the conditions and effects of such, compulsion, indignity, exploitation and ravage of human life. As a sovereign citizen of a free country are you not safe from compulsion? This is adding insult to injury. As a citizen I may be intellectually and politically free but as a worker I am com- pelled to come to the capitalist who owns the job and work for him on his terms or else starve. Yet is not the condition of the modern laborer better than the chattel slavery of ancient society or the serfdom of mediaeval society? No, it is materially worse because my master is absolved from all obligation to insure me employment, living wages or support in my old age. And it is mentally worse because I have been born and bred in the theory that I am his social and political equal and I may be his intellectual and moral superior. What is your conclusion and resolution in regard to the social character of the wage system aside from its economic effects? That the economic dependence on and obsequiousness to the capitalist which it entails is incompatible with my intel- lectual and political independence of and equality with him and an intolerable indignity to modern manhood both in me and in him. What is Competition or the Competitive System? ^ ' ls t ' le method of business that has obtained both in production and in distribution whereby the individual capital- ists competed with one another for profits. Is this not the natural method of business both for stim- ulating individual initiative and effort and for employing and supplying society? No, it is socially crude, morally wrong, economically false and hence practcally a falure. Why is it socially crude? Because it fails to supplement Nature's social provision with a social method of production and distribution. Why is it morally wrong? Because it rewards individual ambition with society's means of life as spoils which is wholesale robbery. Because it is carried on by the predatory or robber passions, greed, suspicion, stealth, concealment, cunning, de- 32 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM ceit, treachery, cruelty and every other manifestation of sel- fish emulation. And because it has to resort to immoral methods and means of retail robbery, as misrepresentation, fraudulent ad- vertising, adulteration, short weights and measures, political bribery, perjury and many other forms of lying, cheating and stealing, until business has become a cynical by-word for corruption and the modern name for sin. Why is it economically false? Because its infinite multiplication of purveyorship is an infinite waste of labor and of wealth. Why is it practically a failure? In that it is passing into monopoly and combination. Is this change inevitable? Yes, because competition is a war of the predatory pas- sions and war must always end in the triumph of the strongest and most unscrupulous, as in a jungle the lesser carnivora must fall a prey to the lions, tigers, and wolves, and be- cause the elimination of waste through combination marks a step forward in economic evolution. But is it not desirable and possible to return from the domination of the Trusts back to competition? No, it is not desirable to return to anything so undesir- able only to have the whole process over again, and it is not possible to turn back Nature's current of progress. Is it not feasible and desirable to "regulate" the Trusts? No, it is not feasible to regulate greed by greed, and it is not desirable to regulate, i. e., sanction and establish, a con- dition so intolerable. Effects of Capitalism What is the effect of this general sway of private capital over industry, business and life? It is the cause of the social vice, crime and misery in the world as the father of Poverty and grandsire of its brood of public evils, especially its three notable offspring, War, Intemperance and Prostitution. How does the Poverty of today differ from that of other ages? In that the poverty of other ages was largely one of un- poverty developed resources and productivity, while the poverty of the Twentieth Century is a vast process of Impoverishment in the midst of the vastest wealth production of all ages through 33 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Exploitation tsion Waste Conservation Surplus Value a stream of exploitation, dispossession and waste. The for- mer kind was natural, relative and remediable, the latter kind is artificial, absolute and irremediable under the profit system. Is the process accurately described in the phrase that the rich are growing richer and the poor growing poorer? No, it is more accurately described with the declaration that all classes of society except the few trust magnates, money lords and financial rulers of industry, are growing poorer, and even these are growing richer on a small part saved .from the net loss. Are you growing poorer, then, and why? Yes, I with many millions more am growing poorer, be- cause I am exploited, dispossessed and my substance wasted, as a citizen in the resources of my country, as a worker in the products of my labor and as a consumer in the cost of living. How does the threefold process of exploitation, dispos- session and waste affect the resources of your country? Through the spoliation of the natural sources of wealth, as forests, metal ores, coal, oil, gas, power, etc., the exhaus- tion of the soil, the marring of its beauty and the proletar- ianizing of the farmers into a tenantry and a peasantry, all for private profit. Is "Conservation" not possible under the profit system? No, it is barely possible under an enlightened paternal despotism aided by an enlightened popular patriotism, but it is as impossible as regulating the trusts under an "individual- ism" that regards the public store of wealth as plunder that each may grab and run. How are you exploited as a worker under private capi- talist employment? By being compelled to yield up the surplus value of the product of my labor to my employer. What is Surplus Value? It is the difference between the value of what I produce and what I am paid in wages. What is the average annual amount of this surplus value of which you as an American working man are deprived at the present time? About two-thirds of what I produce. Since the employer needs your labor to produce surplus value for him can he depress your wages below the Level of Subsistence? 34 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Yes, through the resources of unemployment that become to him a new margin of gain. What are the causes of Unemployment? The invention of labor-saving machinery, the centraliza- Unemploy- tion of industrial processes under combination and the impor- at tation of unorganized labor. These are the constant causes, to which must be added "panics" or occasional periods of hard times which are both a cause and an effect of unem- ployment. Are Panics not caused by financial derangements in banks or in the stock market? No, these may instigate and precipitate them, but their Panics cause is economic. The unemployed or impoverished work- ers are unable to buy back the goods that they themselves have produced whence these accumulate unsold until the market is glutted and industry and business stop. Is contiuued prosperity not possible under the profit sys- tem? No, since finance dips from business and business from industry, the worker's abundance is the fountain. How are the periods of Hard Times restored to Good Times so-called? They have been so restored through new foreign markets which has now almost ceased. They may be shortened by a public calamity like war, earthquake or conflagration that destroys life and property, thus creating a need for more labor. Otherwise underconsumption must slowly catch up with overproduction, howbeit, like Pharaoh's kine, the acute state is become chronic. But as as small capitalist, business man or landlord, do you not share in the prosperity by investing your thrifty savings? No, since I must come to Big Organized Capital for my The Passing- profits as I do for my wages and find the same process of ex- of the ploitation and dispossession operating there. I am the small robber who has stolen from labor only to be relieved by the big robber. How are you exploited as a small capitalist? By being compelled to invest through the corporations who use my money for procuring surplus value as they do my labor. How do they procure this surplus value? Mainly through the system perfected by the money trust centered in Wall Street whereby the spare cash of the 35 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM country is gathered in by the banks at four per cent, by the insurance companes, railroads, express companies and other pure money reaping agencies as well as directly by Big Business and then made to yield several hundred per cent as dividends on "watered stock." How are you dispossessed as a small capitalist? Through the absorption of the smaller money-making agencies, as the independent industries, the retail business, etc., and of city real estate, country land, etc., by organized capital which appropriation under competition was like that of a glacier, but under consolidation is like that of an avalanche. How are you exploited as a consumer? Through the multiplication of middle men and the extor- tions of combined capital in control of distribution and the markets by which I am mulcted of a surplus value as a con- sumer in the cost of living. What is the average amount of this surplus value levied on the consumer in the price of food stuffs and manufactured goods? The average market price paid by the consumer is about five times the market cost of production. Is the increased cost of living not due to other causes as, for example, extravagance? No, extravagance could raise prices only if the supply were not equal to the demand, but our crops, no less than our output of manufactured goods, are yearly increasing. Why are these crops not used to feed the people? Because they do not belong to the people but to the capitalists, who ship them abroad where they often sell them cheaper than at home or put them in cold storage for higher prices or even destroy them lest the abundance depress prices. In what does the waste of wealth to Society under private capitalist production and distribution consist? The waste of land and the natural resources through spoliation, competition and uneconomic methods, the waste of labor through unemployment and unproductive labor, the waste in automatic, in protective and in profligate spending and the waste of human life both physical and mental. What is the waste of land and the natural resources through spoliation? It is incalculable. The destruction wrought through de- forestation alone in the rotting of wood on the ground, in forest fires, in the killing of grasses and the fertility of the 36 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM soil, in alternate droughts and floods and in the washing of farms into the sea amounts to many times the net gains of the capitalists from the process. What is the waste from competition and uneconomic methods? It is the waste in duplication, in strikes and other labor troubles, in crude and unscientific methods of agriculture and in distribution that is likewise incalculable. What is the waste from unemployment and unproductive labor? It is so great that one-fifth or one-sixth of the workers today must do excessive productive labor in order to support the other four-fifths or five-sixths of the world in idleness or in unproductive labor. What is the waste through automatic spending? It is that part of the net gains of the capitalists which automatically goes for further acquisition. What is the waste through protective spending? It is the part that the people spend through their govern- ments for the protection of the system and to mitigate its evils, as the maintenance of armies and navies, militia, police, courts, lawyers, legislatures, officials, custom houses, jails, penitentiaries, asylums, poor houses, charities, as well as a large share of the educational, sanitary, moral and political machinery of society, all comprising an endless drain of tax- ation to lengthen and strengthen an endless chain of rob- bery, folly arid calamity. What is the waste through profligate spending? It is the part that the rich spend on their own profligate living. Is this not of economic gain to society inasmuch as it provides employment for the makers and sellers of luxuries and for servants thus "bringing money into circulation?" No, aside from the degradation of men and the corruption of manners and morals involved, it is a double economic loss to Society in the withdrawal of men from productive labor and the creation of parasites that live on other parasites. Are not the philanthropies spent by the millionaires for charities and the endowment of universities, libraries, mu- seums and cathedrals an adequate return to Society for their privileges? No, Society is the philanthropist, for they give back a part of their interest only, while we like a true spendthrift squander our principal on them. 37 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM How does the reign of private capital directly compass the waste of physical life? Through overwork, hunger and starvation, often growing into famines and pestilences, through industrial murder in factories, mines, on railroads and on buildings, through Voca- tional diseases, through suicide, through the passions, insanity and murder engendered by quarrels over money and property, and through the killing care of the struggle for an existence that shortens life in all classes. How does it result in a waste of mental life? Through the universal and all absorbing preoccupation of our minds with material anxiety, i. e., mental exploitation, dispossession and waste. How does it indirectly lead to the waste of life? Through the vice, crime and disease that are the direct fruits of the Capitalist system, especially the organized agen- cies, war, intemperance and prostitution. What is the loss of life through these agencies? It is beyond computation. The sacrifice of lives through the "casualties" in battles slays its hundreds, while the lingering wound and disease through tainted provisions and sanitary blundering slays its thousands. The victims of drunkenness are not only the drinkers but their children and children's children. The infant mortality alone from the venereal pest that is decimating society is a growing slaughter of the innocents. Are these evils not the public social fruits of sin rooted in the individual and to be eradicated morally from within rather than economically from without? No, since they are already morally condemned by the in- dividual as well as by Society it is plain that they survive as economic institutions only. Are wars not caused by antipathies of race and religion, by false national honor and patriotism and by the lingering savagery in men? No, these vices are not the ca-use but the means which Capitalism fosters to furnish the demand for its profitable supply. What is War, as an economic institution? War War is, ist, competition among nations as trade or little business is among individuals and 2nd, combination or inter- national Big Business as an ulttimate monopoly of investment. 38 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM What is the reason for this international competition? The need under Capitalism of more land, cheaper labor and fresh markets for agricultural and industrial products, and of the impetus to industry and to trade through the de- struction of life, goods and property. What is war as an opportunity for ultimate investment by international Big Business? It affords the opening for the profitable investment of the culminating accumulations of capital, that constitutes the secret empire of debt. Where are these accumulations and -how are they used? They are in the hands of the international bankers or brokers forming a world college of money kings and they are used by them as interest bearing war loans. Of what do these war loans consist? Of the debts for past wars, the "financing" of present wars and advances to pay for the preparedness for future wars. What is the relation between the financing of new wars and increased advances for future wars on the one hand and the existing war debt on the other? It is one of conflict between the conservative empire of principal and the aggressive province of interest, between the security of existing loans and the menacing need of fresh loans. What constitutes this menace and insecurity? It is the danger that the cost of a new war or a further in- crease of armaments may prove the last straw on the back of the overtaxed people and end in national bankruptcies with repudiation of the principal. What is the reason for the peace sentiment in the ruling financial circles of the world? It is this crisis, dilemma and extremity in the career of Capitalism. Does the liberal, statistical and sentimental appeal for peace through interparliamentary action under Capitalism promise relief? No, this is like prayers to a machine to stop grinding. The parliamentary delegates to peace conferences and Hague Tribunals pass resolutions there in favor of arbitration and disarmament and on their return home vote for increased army appropriations and new dreadnoughts. In what respect is Intemperance economic in character? In that it is a social disease and the result of the economic 89 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Intemper- ance Prostitution conditions, squalid poverty on the one hand and luxurious wealth on the other, and in that the liquor traffic is fostered by Capitalism because of the great profits which it yields. Is it not true that intemperance is the chief cause of pov- erty? No, the reverse is true. Poverty is the primary social cause of intemperance which in turn becomes a secondary individual cause of poverty. Does the remedy then not lie in total abstinence for the individual and prohibition for Society? Total abstinence would be a remedy for intemperance as a secondary individual cause of poverty, but the remedy for all social poverty is the prohibition of the profit system, which in the case of drink would destroy the criminal supply while the wholesomer physical and social conditions would destroy the vicious demand. In what respect is Prostitution economic in its causes? 1. In the economic relation of the sexes whereby woman is subjected to sexual exploitation by man in return for sup- port from him and which makes of marriage a sensualizing carnal union rather than a spiritualizing wedding of minds. 2. In the economic disparity and invidious discrimination between the Classes whereby Society protects through mar- riage the victim of man's lust who is his social peer but condemns the daughter of the poor to prostitution in the name of chastity. 3. In Capitalism's double role again of profit mongering by fostering the vicious demand and furnishing the criminal supply, the former as a pandar, the latter as a procurer. How does Capitalism profitably cultivate the vicious de- mand as a pandar? With its amorous cult of lust, at first hand through sala- cious literature, art, the theatre, the newspaper, the ^aloon and the salon, the dance hall, the fashions in women's dress, cos- metics, luxuries, etc., and at second hand through the sensual- izing economic and mental workings of the system in general, the breaking up of the home and the' scattering of the family, unemployment and idleness among rich and poor, the cynicism and frivolity of life and irreverence and unchivalrousness to- ward women, besides rents from the "red light" districts of cities. How does it profitably provide the criminal supply as a procurer? 40 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM With its venereal purveyorship, by driving women out of the home through economic necessity into the shops, stores, factories, etc., and thence through insufficient wages into the street. How does the White Slave Traffic differ from the older kind of prostitution? Only in its finished commercial availability as a capitalist investment. Since there is nothing cheaper than the increas- ing supply of poor girls this business offers the greatest re- turns of all, greater than "scab" employment, child labor or the liquor traffic, whence it was bound' to come and has come to stay as the acme of gleeful investment, police pro- tected, in chivalrous promoting America! Will not the revolt of feeling, the reform forces in society and the efforts of good women avail against this infamy? Not until revolt and reform at the spout change to revolu- tion at the hopper of the machine. How does Socialist criticism sum up its judgment of Capitalism? That under Capitalism the unsocial foundations of civili- sation cause life to be a "struggle for existence," no longer with the forces of Nature but among men, a life that is ani- mal in character, the conditions brutal and the consequences bestial; and that the spectacle is presented of nations being drained of their substance at the cost of life, physical, men- tal, moral and spiritual, to furnish with a share of it, while most of it is wasted, a Trimalchip's Feast for the few who pro- duced none of it and a Barmecide's Feast for the many who produced it all. How does it sum up its analysis of cause and effect? That as the private ownership of Society's means of life Summing- up is the worst perversion of Nature, its procedure is the worst 2. oclal i 8li perversion^ of human nature and of history, since mankind < has come onward and upward through the growth of the social feelings, relations and institutions. How does it sum up its forecast for the Future? That as the principle of Capitalism is essentially disinte- grating, dehumanizing and despotic its continued growth must result in the undoing of the vital acquisitions of civili- zation, as popular material mastery, free government, general intelligence and equality and freedom of thought through the establishment of an industrial despotism. 41 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Principle General Application land Under Socialism Natural Resources Machinery C The Socialist Program. In applying the Socialist remedy and substitute for Capital- ist abuse of the economic factors and the consequences thereof what is the guiding Principle of the Socialist Program? That the means of both the production and the distribution of whatsoever is needed and used by all must be owned and controlled by all so that all shall labor and each receive the full social value of what he produces and pay only the full social cost for what he buys. What is the general application of this principle? The abolition of the profit system through the nation be- coming its own farmer and manufacturer as well as its own common carrier, merchant and capitalist. How is this principle applied to Land? That the land shall be held in fee simple by all the people collectively and conjointly either to be leased to the farmers for individual cultivation or to be cultivated co-operatively under a social scheme of agriculture, national, state, county and township. Which of these two plans is likely to eventuate? The last named, on account of its economic, aesthetic and social advantages. But will this plan not result in the dispossession of the farmer? No, since the farmers form so large a part of the popu- lation that without them Socialism can hardly be adopted and under co-operative agriculture they can be left in undis- turbed possession of their homesteads only with greatly im- proved security, conditions and returns. How is the principle applied to the Natural Resources con- tained in the land, as forests, bodies, stores and streams of water, untillable mountains, power, deposits of coal, metals, stone, oil, gas, etc? That these shall be directly operated by the people under a national scheme of production and distribution, including conservation with reclamation, reforestation and irrigation. How is the principle applied to Labor? In a national scheme of industry under which the people shall employ themselves in productive labor, either directly on the land in agriculture or in manufacture or in distribution or in productive mental labor. How is the principle applied to Machinery? That the people shall collectively own and operate the 42 A SOCIAUST CATECHISM machinery of production, including mines, quarries, gas and oil wells, lumbering camps, etc., and manufacturing plants, the machinery of distribution consisting of railroads,, steam- ship lines, etc., and the machinery of communication as the telegraph, the telephone and the express service like the present socialized postoffice, under the same scheme of na- tional industry. What is the proposed Social Instrument for carrying out the scheme of collective industry? An industrial army comprising all the people in the three natural divisions of the young, the middle aged and the old. Army The young of both sexes to go to school and acquire all the education of society both cultural and technical as a prep- aration for their life work. The middle aged to do the active work, men and women, except women during child bearing and rearing when they shall be supported by the state. The aged to be retired on a pension and employ themselves in mental labor and in wisdom and counsel in the service of society. Thus the three defenseless classes, children, women and the old, on whom the cowardly greed of Capitalism wreaks its worst cruelty, will receive their due of reverence and love. What is the proposed plan for the organization, direction and operation of the industrial army? A democratic organization with universal and unrestrict- ed manhood and womanhood suffrage, direct primaries, the intiative, referendum and recall and other machinery of or- ganization necessary to a complete popular government. The election of captains of industry and other officers by the rank and file and made responsible to them under the above provisions. The conduct of work under a national or international directorship through state, county, township, and local or municipal branches of activity. Hence a government from below upward with a manage- ment from above downward. How can efficiency be reconciled with authority under such a regime? Authority will reside in the people and efficiency will grow out of the co-partnership of possession, community of inter- est and equity of reward. Is it a part of the Socialist program to reward alike the different degrees of ability, as stupidity, mediocrity, talent and genius? '43 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM It is not a part of the program, yet it is a part of a natural economy that superior mental endowments should be reward- ed naturally, not with added material gratuities but with their own mental gratifications, as the joy of creation, the exercise of power, the consciousnes of service and the appreciation of society. What is the application of the principle of the Socialist program to the products of labor, food, clothing and shelter, wealth and capital. It indicates a policy of socially producing and distributing the permanent necessaries while leaving to individuals the making and selling of the changing superfluities, as in food, clothing and shelter the standard staples but not the delicacies, luxuries and ornaments. Thus society will not wish to run jewelry shops, barber shops, manicure or pastry cook estab- lishments. Why not, since these superfluities are wanted, if not ob- tained and used, by all as much as the necessaries? Because when all can have them few, if any, will want them , since they are essentially useless, artificial, sensual and barbaric, and are desired now as marks of class distinc- tion which in a classless society would yield to essential marks of individual distinction. But if in the transition period the purveyors and caterers to the present taste make and sell them for profits? Then Society must needs provide them at cost. How is this policy applied to Wealth? That privately produced wealth shall belong to the maker therof, and socially produced wealth apportioned among the citizens as dividends according to the value produced by each after Society has deducted what it devotes to public works and buildings of beauty and culture. How is the Socialist program applied to Capital? It will asign to Capital its rightful headship in industry as the equivalent of socially owned machinery or the tools of a working society. If Society shall be its own Capitalist can it tolerate the existence of private capital beside it?' Yes, in so far as it shall tolerate private production and distribution of the superfluities. How will Society maintain the mastery to prevent the recrudencence of the profit system? It will inhere in the changed relations whereby private capital will have to come to Society to obtain the materials 44 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM for its machinery and equipment and its means of transpor- tation and not the reverse as now. How will the Socialist program affect the means of own- ership and control, Business, Money and Property? It will change their character by changing their master, pi le curing business of its senselessness by making it identical with of the rational processes of industry, money of its thievery by making it a pure medium of exchange and property of its trader despotism by safeguarding it as the possession of the real Socialism producer. Of what will business consist under Socialism? 1. Of Big Business or national production, distribution and communication with social instead of private monopoly. 2. Of little business or the making and selling of the superfluities, with co-operation instead of competition. 3. Of commerce or international trade with free trade instead of the rivalry of tariff and other wars. How will it be possible to deprive money of its thievery without abolishing interest? By abolishing profit, the father of interest. Will it not be necessary to substitute a new kind of money, as labor checks, for the present exploiting kind? No, this is good enough as under Socialism no one could get it without working or use it for exploitation. What wil money be under Socialism? It will be a pure medium of exchange, issued by the na- tion on the basis of and commensurate with its total wealth without the legerdemain of gold and silver, of private banks or of a money trust. What will property be under Socialism? As to quantity public and private property will change places. Industrial property will be almost entirely socialized, and socially owned cultural property, as public works and buildings, immensely increased. As to quality both the public and the private kinds will experience a regeneration, when the specious art that follows dishonest acquisition and re-exploiting degradation yields to the true art of honest appropriation through labor and of the genuine expression of a democratic life. When property is safeguarded by the law of Nature as the possession and the expression of the maker then it will come into its own as the crowning economic factor in the scheme of industry through which the latent property of 45 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Poverty and Wealth Under Socialism The End of War Through Socialism The Liquor Traffic and the Drink Habit Under Socialism The Sexual Relations Under Socialism Nature is wrought into a patent quality of Man, or Beauty as the exponent of Justice and Truth. Then the glories of the Acropolis and of the Forum will be excelled. Will it be necessary to abolish rent or reward for the use of capitalized property? No, since the abolition of profit will dispense with rent as with interest. How will Socialism destroy Poverty? By destroying the social causes of impoverishment, ex- ploitation, dispossession and waste. Will there then be no rich and poor under Socialism? Yes, because the individual causes of poverty will linger, as incapacity, unthrift and extravagance. There will be spend- thrifts and misers, but poverty as a product of society with its present contrasts of paupers and millionaires will be im- possible. How will Socialism put an end to War? Through the introduction of international Socialism, and by putting an end to international competition in commerce, with its train of colonialism, imperialism and militarism and the substitution of free trade in material products as now flourishes in mental products. But how can Socialists put an end to war in the meantime? By persuading the working men of the warlike industrial countries who form the rank and file of the armies to refuse any longer to fight and kill one another for the profit of their economic masters. How will Socialism solve the problem of Intemperance? By taking the profits out of the liquor traffic it will wholy end the commercial fostering of the drink habit and largely the business itself. By creating normal industrial, physical and domestic con- ditions, as employment, abundant wholesome food and re- fined family life for all it will cure the diseased appetite for alcohol. By supplying the mental means of sociability, conviviality and exhilaration it will render intoxication both odious and undesired. How will the Socialist program affect sexual license as Carnal Marriage, Divorce and Prostitution? By giving woman complete economic equality with and independence of man it will save her from the need of selling 46 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM herself for support from him either in marriage or out of it. By ending the commercial cult that fosters wantonness for profit it will end the social sensualizing of men. By their emancipation from mercenary considerations it will enable men and women to mate from love, affinity and congeniality. And by bringing about conditions of mental growth, self- expression and consummation it will make marriage a lifelong wedding of minds rather than a precarious carnal union. By what ways and means do the advocates of Socialism endeavor to put their program into effect? By means of propaganda among all clases, of organization of the working class for warfare on capitalism, leading to po- litical action. What is this contemplated Political Action? Using the citizenship and suffrage in the modern states to gain political power for introducing the Socialist system by adapting the laws and institutions thereto. 47 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Bnle and Government Citizenship PART FOUR Politics, the Ways and Means. What is Politics? It is the science and art of popular rule and government or citizenship, from polites, a citizen. Is it not the science of all and any rule and government, as that by kings, nobles or priests, as well as by the people? No, since it is only through citizenship or the actual rule of the people that true government is made possible. Hence other rule or government cannot be called politics. What is the difference between Rule and Government? Rule is the inner power while government is the outer machinery. The first is designated with words ending in archy, as monarchy, hierarchy, the second with words ending in ocracy, as aristocracy, democracy. What is Citizenship, or rule and government by the people? It is the mental adolescence of the people with efficiency of association by which they exercise the liberty of social self-expression and consummation through political institu- tions and laws. How is this adolescence and efficiency conceived and de- signated as a process of social refinement and progress? Civilization It is conceived and designated as Civilization, also citizen- ship, from civis, a citizen. What is popular government or Democracy? It is the machinery of regulations and operations through which the people put their rule, or Demarchy, into effect. What is the substance of popular rule or Demarchy? It is the people's own intelligence and morality. Into relation with what new factor in your environment does this bring you? Into relation with the fourth or last division of my envi- ronment, the mental world evolved by society, as ideas, be- liefs, customs, institutions and laws. What is the relation of rule to government? It is the relation of master to servant or of mind to body, the mind politic ruling through the government of the body politic. What is the material of Democracy in the service of De- marchy? Economics or right regulations and operations in material 48 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM things as a vehicle for the people's inteligence and morality. Of what then are political institutions and laws the ex- pression? Of the economic prepossessions of those who rule. Are the people fit to be entrusted with the power to rule and govern? Yes, the worst rule and government that the people can give themselves is better than the best that can be imposed on them since it is through their own social self-expression that they must work out their salvation. If politics is the expression of economics and Democracy is the expression of the people's intelligence why has politics become so corrupt in the democracies? Because these are pseudo democracies in which the people Politics neither govern nor rule but th mental world evolved by Economic* Society holds sway there through capitalist economics. Is not the mental world evolved by Society the same as the people's intelligence and morality? By no means, it is only the culture and character of The People present day Society, which is artifically capitalistic while Versus the intelligence and morality of the people is naturally so- Societ 5 r cialistic . How do you distinguish between Society and the People? Society is the political organization of the people consid- ered abstractly as the personnel of civilization but concretely it is the part of the people in material and mental control as in military history an army means the generals not the pri- vates; hence that other partial use of the word as meaning the rich and fashionable. On the other hand the people, especially the common peo- ple or the working class are the privates with the passive power but without the exercise of rule or government. The people are the collective natural man while Society is prac- tically a class. What is the source of political corruption? It is business dishonesty projected into law-making or it Political is capitalistic economics entrenched in the mental world of society seeking to maintain or to increase its privileges by bribing its political agents. What is the difference between the political corruption in Europe and in America? Because the class mentality and morality of society is domesticated in Europe in its social structure while it is challenged and assailed in America, political corruption there 49 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM is dry rot, whereas here it is yet a fermentation and therefore scandalous. Is the reform of electing good men to office a remedy? No, a man elected to office to uphold a bad system is not essentially good and his conventional goodness will only serve to give the system the semblance of goodness and therefore a longer lease of corruption. Why are the people without the exercise of rule and gov- ernment in the modern republics and free states that were created by the popular will? Because at the time of their creation capitalist economics was yet in its infancy and its dominating relation to politics not understood, hence regard was had only to the political forms and not to the economic substance. Thus while in the American Declaration of Independence and in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man the economic needs of the people inspired an appeal to the rights of man this was shut off from the political machinery of organization that followed in the Constitutions of these republics, where the class mentality and morality of Society intervened to re- establish the privileges of capital and property. Hence the economic conditions under Washington were the same as under the Georges and those under the Napoleons as those under the Bourbons, and therefore the theory of the Declar- ation is at variance with the practice of the Constitution. Of what does rule and government in the modern state consist? The Tfcree Of three wheels within one another, the outer being rule Wheels by public opinion and majority, the inner government by rep- resentation and party, the inmost rule and government by class. How do these three wheels differ in regard, to means? The outer is mental and moral, the inner is political, the inmost is economic. How do they differ in their respective agencies? The agents of the first are the "intellectuals" or the nat- ural teachers and moral leaders of the people, thinkers, writ- ers and speakers, as authors, editors, preachers and priests, professors, lecturers, school teachers and publicists. The agents of the second are the elected public officials, legislative, executive and judicial. The agents of the third are the capitalists themselves, or their attorneys, as press agents, lobbyists, detectives, etc. The first may be unconscious of their agency, the second 50 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM semi-conscious while the third are wholly conscious hirelings of their masters. Why do the "intellectuals" and the moral teachers of society defend capitalism, the cause of political and commer- cial corruption, against Socialism, its remedy, while assailing that corruption as reformers? This is explained by the Material Conception and Inter- pretation of History. Material What is the purport of this conception and interpretation? Interpreta- It is the doctrine of Economic Determinism. ^f n What is this doctrine? It is the discovery that the mental, moral and spiritual convictions of men do not determine their material, i. e., their social, political and economic institutions, but the reverse, i sm that the latter determine the former. Is this the same as Theoretical Materialism which denies men's spiritual convictions as factors in social progress? No, it merely denies that they are determining factors^and vindicates the obvious truth that they are determined, i. e., modified, limited and shaped, by their material interests and social affiliations as the molten ore is by the mould into which it is cast. Yet how can superior culture and character be the servant of an inferior like capitalism? As the refined Greeks were of the coarse Romans, be- cause they are its economic dependents. In what ways are the intellectuals of society dependent on the capitalists? First, through money as the means of leisure, education and culture. Second, through capital controlled institutions as a field of employment, the newspaper, the publishing business, the theatre, art, the state, the school, the church, law, and the superintendency of industries. Third, through wealth or class position as the reward of their labor and as a qualification for the society of the rich. In the first capacity they are the pupils and proteges of the capitalists, in the second their mercenaries and decorators, in the third their imitators and lackeys. Why has parliamentary or Representative Government failed to convey the will and rule of the people? 51 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Representa- tive Government Political Parties The Irre concili- ate Conflict Privilege Because while elected by the people the representatives have not represented them but the capitalists in control of the political parties by whom they are nominated. What are Political Parties? They are groups or classes of society economically divided and politically organized in behalf of their conflicting in- terests. How may the political parties in the modern free indus- trial states be classified? Though varying in different countries in name and as to blocs, groups and coalitions of factions they are invariably these three general divisions: 1. The Conservative, representing contented Big Busi- ness and Privilege, now on the defensive. 2. The Liberal, Progressive or Radical so-called, rep- resenting discontented little business, and offensive. 3. The Socialist, representing the working class and labor. What is the resultant rule and government in these states? Except where the Socialist Party has curtailed it it is the unrestricted rule of the capitalist class through government by popularly elected politicians. In the United States it may be called a Plutarchy or pure rule of money with a Critocracy or government by Judges because through the complicated machinery of checks and balances in the Constitution to pre- vent the people's rule and government Judges are the ulti- mate governors. What is the relation of Demarchy and Democracy to orig- inal knowledge, essential morality and Socialist economics? It is the formal or political complement to all three of them, just as class rule and government in the modern states is the formal or political complement to institutional knowl- edge, conventional morality and capitalist economics. What is the determining factor and bond of union in the relation of these four? It is the failure of political action, by which the need and right of man is perfected or wrought through material econ- omy, on acount of the obstruction of class in that economy and consequently in class psychology and morality, What is the difference between the capitalistic parties on the one hand and the Socialist Party on the other? The capitalist parties while warring with each other over the division of plunder, privilege and over class interests are united in the purpose of preserving the profit system and 52 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM classes in society. The Socialist Party is bent on the pur- pose of abolishing the system and classes in society. Can the demands of Capital and Labor not be reconciled without the overthrow of the profit system, through regula- tion, arbitration, profit sharing or other compromises? No, since under the profit system Capital must needs exploit Labor and Labor must needs resist, between which two desires there can be no reconciliation or compromise. What, in the last instance, is the irreconcilable fight be- tween the working class and the capitalist class? It is the age-long fight between the Rights of Man and Privilege, now removed to its last battleground, economics. What is the nature of this fight? It is four-fold, intellectual, moral, economic and political, comprehending the four divisions of my environment. Why has it this fourfold character? Because Privilege dwells in a house with these four corners: institutional knowledge, conventional morality, cap- italist economics and pseudo democratic politics. Is there not a supreme possession in Privilege that the capitalist class are finally most determined to hold? Yes, that keystone of the arch or the dome of the house, the class privilege of the gentleman. What is a Gentleman? In Europe it is the man who lives in inherited wealth without working, and American Society is coming to adopt the same definition. What is the qualification for this privilege? It is that chief ornament of Bourgeois Society, wealth ac- quired and wealth maintained Culture, at the expense of the Gentleman working man. Culture How does Society justify this wrong to him? Through the heart and conscience benumbing class com- placency of custom and habit, that condemns the working man to a socially produced inferior condition and then ac- quiesces in the wrong as a naturally ordered inferior position. If Socialism is an appeal to the rights of man against wrong as a preaching of right psychology and morality or a spiritual prophecy, why does it descend to economic and po- litical strife or a material belligerency? Because the false psychology and morality are embedded in the economics and politics and without changing the latter the appeal to the former has ever proven an insidious betrayal. 53 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Is the appeal to the good in men a betrayal of that cause? The appeal to capitalists as such is not to the good in men but to a tyrannic system of thought, and petitioning a tyrant's clemency is an acknowledgement of fear and a confirmation of his tyranny, wherefore Man must treat Class regally as the true king does the usurper. Can capitalists then not become Socialists? Yes, many capitalists are Socialists while many working men, as the leaders in the American Federation of Labor, are capitalistic. How do men become Socialists? In all classes alike through a change of mind, metanoia, or conversion. Is this not a theological term applied to a mystical reli- gious emotion? No, it is a scientific term which accurately describes a psychological and ethical experience. &* Of what does this Change of Mind or Conversion consist? Turning from the immoral thought and feeling of the capitalist class to the moral thought and feeling of the work- ing class. But is this not a mere change from one immoral class to another? No, it is a change from Class to Man since the working class, i. e., those who work and those who want to work, represent Man and all of society and are not a class after all except only during the struggle, as in a rebellion the legitimate king is reduced to a belligerent and must recog- nize the usurper as one. What is the condition of this change of mind? It is faith, namely in the moral order of the universe, in reason and right in us and in the promise of Socialism that if we lose our life of individual gain we will find it again in a life of social gain. But if the mind of Society is capitalistic how is it possible to prevail on it to regenerate itself by changing the material conditions? Paitlx It is not possible for Society to do so but only for indi- Conversion viduals who through their conversion have died to the society Beg-enera- of today and have been bprn again and live in the Society of tion the Future. How is such a radical experience brought to pass? The dying is effected through the failure of capitalism and the being born again, through faith in Socialism. 54 A SOCIALIST OATSCHISM Is this double experience a natural, scientific and historical process and not a mere poetical or mystical figure of speech? Yes, in History it is known as Evolution and Revolution. What is Evolution? It is the unrolling or unfolding (explying or evolving) of ^J^* 11 ** 011 a matured thing of life from the encasement or wrappage that served it as a confining environment and nourishment dur- ing gestation by having it rolled or folded in (implied or in- volved). Strictly therefore the term designates this single event while popularly it is understood to mean the whole orderly sequence and succession of such events. What is Revolution? It is the radical change of environment or the complete overturning and destruction of the old confining encasement (sloughing off and perishing) and the construction of condi- tions adapted to the liberated and independent new birth. Hence Revolution consists of two acts, destruction and recon- struction. , What is the difference and the relation between Evolu- tion and Revolution? Evolution is Nature's work, revolution is man's. Evolu- tion is the maturing of the substance, man must provide the new forms. Evolution is the continuity and succession of the Past, revolution is the breaking with and innovation on the Past. Evolution is the incubation of the chick in the egg, revolution is the pecking and breaking of the shell by the chick and its coming forth. In the reciprocal co-operation of these two forces and processes, balancing death and life, the progress of Society is assured. Why is the Socialist movement a step in Evolution? Because in the history of human society it is an orderly sequence, on the economic field, to the intellectual emanci- pation of man on the religious field in the Reformation and to the civic emancipation of man on the political field in the Revolutions. As a successor to these historical events what is its atti- tude and relation to their social achievements? It is one of attachment to the substance implied and involved in them as their comprehension, corrective and ful- fillment, to religion by means of its original truth, to morality by means of its essential justice, to economic development by accepting combination as a step from competition to co- operation and to the present political configuration by ac- cepting the republics and constitutional governments as a step to the Industrial Commonwealth. 55 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Why is the Socialist movement a revolution? Because in its task of providing adequate forms of envi- ronment for the substance of the Past it must break up and radically change the confining institutions, the church by changing it from an establishment into a movement, the school by changing it from a teacher of false individualism to a teacher of social science, art and philosophy, the state by changing it from a vessel of capitalism to a vessel of So- cialism and society by changing it from a class organization to an organization for man. Is revolution necessarily a disorderly, violent and bloody change? No, since it is a mental change before a political one the disorder, violence and bloodshed always come from the "conservative" or reactionary resistance that ignores the mental change and then seeks to repress the political one by means of force. What is the agent of this change as a teacher of evolu- tion and the army of the revolution? The Socialist Party. What is the twofold task of this organization? The Propaganda or instruction in the new economics, ethics p^^* S * anc ^ psychology, and the peaceful conquest of political power by the working class for all the people. What is the Socialist Party? It is an international working class body, established in al Ithe civilized countries of the world and consisting of, i, an outer circle of about twenty million voters and about fifty million adherents, and, 2, of an inner organization of dues-paying members or the party proper. How is the Socialist Party organized? It is an imperium in imperio or a working model, within the present political states, of the demarchy and democracy of the future co-operative commonwealth. Wherein does the Demarchy or rule of the people in the party consist? In the conversion or change of mind of those who join, and in their unity of subscription to the teaching and policy of Socialism and in the equality of the members. Who may join the party and how are they received? All adults regardless of age, sex, race, class, creed or con- dition by taking the initiating pledge which consists of re- nunciation of the capitalistic parties and subscription to the 56 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Constitution and Platform of the Socialist Party including the program of political action. How is the demarchy or rule of the people carried out in the democracy or government by the people in the party? 1. Through the structure of the organization, of which the Local with its Branches is the unit and the source of authority. 2. Through the machinery of government by the initia- tive, the referendum and the recall, direct primaries, etc. 3. Through the discipline of the members in democracy from activity both in propaganda and in political campaigns. Of what does the Propaganda consist? Of meetings in the locals and branches, of public ad- Propaganda dresses, lectures and speeches both during and between cam- paigns in halls, on street corners and country crossroads; Of conferences, conventions, camp meetings, of house to house visitation, and individual solicitation; Of precinct organization and all systematic means of influencing voters; And of the distribution of literature. Of what is Socialist Literature composed? literature Of many hundreds of periodicals, daily, weekly and month- ly, of books, pamphlets and tracts, directly scientific and pole- mical, and the new creative productions in pure literature, fiction, poetry, the drama, history, philosophy, oratory. Since Capitalism controls the institutional knowledge, scholarship and culture of Society how does it oppose this intellectual opulence of Socialism? Mainly by a policy of silence and ignorance in the daily Press, thus revealing its poverty of mind and heart, inas- much as the scientific defense of its system against both the facts and the arguments of Socialism has well nigh ceased. What is the program of the Socialist Party for Political Action? It is a plan, of campaign for the war and consists naturally Political of two parts, namely, skirmishes and battles to weaken and Action drive in the enemy, and the main march of the army on the political stronghold of Capitalism. Of what kinds does the first part consist? Certain immediate partial ameliorative demands and re- forms, as: i. Political: the capture of cities and towns, the intro- 57 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Immediate Demands Socialism and the Labor Unions Socialism and Progressive- ism duction of true democracy through woman's suffrage, the initiative, the referendum and the recall, etc., the curbing of the judiciary, etc. 2. Civic, fiscal and administrative, as municipal owner- ship of public utilities, the limiting of armaments, income and inheritance taxes, conservation and, in general, reforms in the interest of the people and of the extension of social control. 3. Industrial, i. e., legislation wrested from the capital- ists in favor of the workers, as the suppression of child labor, the minimum wage, old age pensions, reduction of hours of labor, compulsory insurance, employers' liability laws, pub- lic employment, etc. What is the relation between the Socialist Party and Organized Labor in regard to immediate demands and to ultimate conquest? The right relation is that these two organizations are the two hands or arms of the worker whereby the Socialist Party fights for ultimate conquest on the political field while the Labor Unions are fighting for the immediate demands on the industrial field. Does this normal relation actually exist? It does in Europe but not yet entirely in America, be- cause here the Labor Union politicians have confined their followers conservatively but vainly to seeking these imme- diate demands from the capitalist parties without attacking the system. What significance attaches to the rise of the Progressive Parties over the economic situation? It signifies the political disintegration and division of Capitalism and the desperate effort to make terms with Labor for its own preservation and the defeat of Socialism. What is the difference between Socialism and Progress- ivism? The Socialist seeks the immediate demands as concessions and advantages and as steps toward ultimate conquest, the Progressive offers them as compromises and as a truce, if not as a final treaty of peace, in behalf of Capitalism. To the Progressive the contest means the pruning of the cor- rupt tre of its worst fruits, which must then bear more such fruit. To the Socialist it means the cutting away of the "suckers" at the trunk so that the axe may the better be laid to the root of the tree. What is the general distinction between Socialism and 58 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM the other anti-capitalistic movements and bodies as the Single Tax advocates, the Anarchists, the Communists and the Syndicalists or I. W. W.? Through its scientific and social catholicity of aim and its practical mobility for world campaign Socialism is the reg- ular army of the revolution while these other bodies on ac- count of their partial aims and inefficiency of organization are like the scouts and sappers and guerilla fighters. What is the difference between Socialism and the Single Tax? The Single Tax advocates are but one-third revolutionary socialism and Socialist since they seek the abolition of rent only Single Tax and the socializing of land through the single tax while re- taining the capitalist system with interest and profit in in- dustry and in business. They are academic in method and admost wholly bourgeois in personnel and in spirit, lacking the proletarian class consciousness of their apostle, Henry George, and little more ^ than radical Progressives, though without a party, in politics. What is the attitude of Socialists toward the Single Tax proposal? Socialists are Single Taxers as a possible first step while Single Taxers are not yet Socialists. What is the general repulsion between Socialism and Anarchism? It is largely one of temperament and of tactics, racially explained. What is this explanation? Anarchism is the hereditary aversion of the brooding Slavic and Eastern mind toward secular problems and thus the successor of the .spurious unworldliness and other worldliness in religion. Socialism is the Western, i. e., Latin and especi- aly Saxon trend and thus the continuation and revival of the resolute militant this worldliness in religion. What are the characteristic differences between them? Anarchism is the rebound from misrule to the farthest Socialism other extreme or unrule, hence a theoretical reflex of the SJnarchism practical anarchy of Capitalism. It sets all store by the social and historical man, yet re- jects the society and history he has made. Shunning political action from political inexperience it is a world flight, Utopian, mystical, impotent and provincial while Socialism is a world fight, practical, scientific, potent and imperial. To Socialists it is revolution without evolution and de- 59 A SOCIALIST CATECHISM Socialism and Communism Socialism and tlie Industrial Workers of the World struction without reconstruction, a pouring of the baby out with the bath and a building of the house downward from the roof. What is the technical difference between them? Socialists demand more, i. e., industrial in addition to mere political rule and government while Anarchists would abolish all government. What is the attitude of Socialists toward this as an ideal? All thoughtful Socialists are but immediate Socialists and ultimate Anarchists because in common with other dreamers they look forward to the time when men may live and labor together without governments and laws. If they can do so ultimately why not immediately? Because, i, the social mind requires the mediation of a so- cial body which is political organization. 2. The downfall of capitalism requires industrial recon- struction which is political action. 3. The character of men will require a long continued habit of social justice before it is established as a second na- ture that can dispense with government and laws. What is the difference between Socialism and Commun- ism? Communism demands common ownership in property and the other products of labor while Socialism demands it only in the sources and means of producing them. Hpwbeit there are no Communists any more as little is Nihilists or other mere political revolutionaries since revolution has be- come both economic and scientific, whence belated defenders of Capitalism attribute, either ignorantly or maliciously, those crude programs to Socialism. What are the Syndicalists or the I. W. W.? These are the libertini or enforced freedmen of wage slavery, being recruited from the army of the unemployed and as impatient of political action before as the Anarchists are of it after the crisis. What is their program? In the matter of labor organizations they would supplant craft unionism with an undivided and universal industrial unonism. In industry they urge "direct action," i. e., such large drastic measures as the general strike and such petty acts of reprisal as "sabotage." In politics those who belong to the Socialist Party form an extreme "radical" Left, with jealousy of the "intellectuals," the professional and other mid- dle class members. 60 What is the attitude of the Socialist Party toward this movement? Being the political organization of the working class it is primarily interested in perfecting their co-operation on the political field and refrains from interfering with their indus- trial organization as such. In the industrial war it favors and furthers all "direct action" that is lawful and peaceable but condemns violence, retaliation and destructiveness. Resume and Forecast. How do you sum up the characterization of the Socialist Movement? As the building of a new house of life for mankind, a house with a basement and three storeys; or as a new song of four voices, of which the bass is hunger or economics, the tenor intelligence or its philosophy, the alto compassion or com- munity of feeling and the soprano vision, namely of the com- ing social order and art of life; or the material, the intel- lectual, the emotional and the spiritual, or the stomach, the head, the heart and the soul. What is there new about this? The presence of them in a blended whole for the first time in history. Without the intelligence of the working class the economic necessity of hunger would only end again in a Servile Insur- rection or a Peasants' War or a riot of Communards. Without sympathy and community of feeling which is the mainspring of morality necessity and intelligence would ship- wreck on the rock of individual selfishness. Without the sustaining faith inspired by the vision of suc- cess the other three would falter and be wearied ere the goal was reached. How would you forecast the Mission and the Course of the Socialist Party? As it is both a teacher and a fighter, it must teach while fighting and conquer through teaching. Yet, as it is the ve- hicle of a movement more than the promulgator of a creed, its motto must be, a minimum of doctrine with a maximum of action, and of growth within no less than without. Moreover, as its teaching is a new philosophy compre- hending all of man, all of history and all of life, so its cam- paign must comprise all the world and all the currents of human progress. How should you characterize the Spirit of Socialism? 61 A ftfl&UTZLXSTP CATECHISM Its scientific thoroughness makes it a radical and cru- sader, yet its impersonal analysis gives it more than the teacher's, more than the believer's patience, moderation and charity. As the poet of the world's oldest and saddest tragedy of the Exploited Toiler it has the passion of the lover, the champion, the zealot and the partisan, yet as all of these it hates no man or class of men but only things, the hateful Thing that is destroying men. And the vastness of its enter- prise for the destinies of man must surely chasten and sol- emnize it. How may one sum up the larger Message and Meaning of the Socialist Party, Movement and Revolution? To show the presence and supremacy of law, the meaning and the sacredness of life, the oneness of our human interests, and that to feed the hungry soul the hungry body must be fed. What do you expect to gain for yourself through the tri- umph of Socialism? The attainment of self expression and consummation through the liberty of exercising original truth and essential morality under a just social economy in the oc-operative com- monwealth. 62 ' UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW JAN 27 1916 OCT 3 tfl ' JSPfr 131918 WAR 29 1918 FEB 25 1920 OCT 8 1921 307n-l,'15 U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES