SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS r/T^i' - < [v — :r^ A^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES L. SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Jl Critical Survey of its Policy, showing the Fallacies and Impracticabilities oj its Doctrines BY SIR WILLIAM EARNSHAW COOPER, CLE. AUTHOR OF "the murder of AGKICULTUKE," "a PLEA FOR AGRICULTURE," " DRINK AND THE BRITISH PEOrLE," ETC. LONDON EVELEIGH NASH Fawside House 1908 w » ♦ V * J J > '»»■;,,»• » »j d'/'^' ^,^^ .^:y RiCHAKD Clay and Sons, Limited, BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - c • « CONTENTS. PAGR c/j Introduction.— The Aims and Objects of Socialist JXJ Leaders to be put to the Test of Practical Ex- *^ PERIENCE I >- oc «=C CHAPTER CO I. Proposed Political, Financial, Fiscal, Administra- •^ tive, Labour, Social, AND other Socialist Changes 5 II. The Destruction of Religious Faith as Advocated BY Prominent Socialists, with Illustrations of their Deadly Enmity to Christianity 24 ^ III. The Destruction of Religious Faith, continued— »— Exposure of- the Methods of Socialists to *^ Secure its Downfall 32 l5 IV. The Loosening of the Marriage Ties and the ^ Substitution of "Free Love." . 40 V. The Loosening of the Marriage Ties, continued — Illustrations of Socialist Teaching with a Protest against the Proposed Changes .... 51 S VI. The Abolition of Standing Armies and the Aban- q9 donment of India and the Colonies 60 VII. Suicidal Socialist Policy OF Playing into THE Hands OF Germany and the enormous issues involved . 68 VIII. The State Ownership of Industries and the De- struction of Capitalists 85 « >»7 .i.-';*i.*J'rw vi CONTENTS CHAPTFR PACIC IX. Contrast of British and German Labour Markets, Illustrating how British Industry WOULD BE Paralysed by the adoption of Socialist Methods 97 X. Socialism considered as an International Move- ment, with Illustrations of its Objects of Spoliation and Revolution iio XI. Working Class Objections to Socialist "Reforms" and the Answers required to • THEM , 125 XII. " Distribution of Profits," with Warnings to THE People not to be Deceived 135 XIII. "The Minimum Wage" and other Socialist Schemes, with their effect upon the Country 147 XIV. "The Minimum Wage," continued — Some National Results 164 XV. How Socialists Misjudge their Fellow-Country- men and how British Workers are to be converted into " State Slaves 175 XVI. The "Distribution of National Income" and THE Inevitable Effects 181 XVII. The " Distribution of National Income," con- tinued — The "Division of Profits" on So- cialist Lines Illustrates the Grotesque Character of the Proposals 192 XVIII. The " Distribution of National Income," con- tinued — Socialist Representations as to the Existence of Universal Poverty Rebutted by Incontrovertible Facts 198 XIX. The "Distribution of National Income," con- tinued — Other Unreliable Links in the So- cialist Chain Tested by the Light of care- ful Inquiry • 207 CONTENTS vii CHAPTER PACE XX. The " Distribution of National Income," con- tinued — Alarmist Statements about Poverty Unwarrantable 21S XXI. The Responsibility of the Working Classes for Existing Conditions and the need for a Better Utilisation of the Land 224 XXII. The Responsibility of the Working Classes con- tinued — The Mournful Tale of Fiscal and other National Blunders, resulting in wide- spread Poverty and Distress 234 XXIII. The Indefiniteness of Socialism— Do the British People desire it ? 246 XXIV. The Socialist "State" and Individualism and Collectivism 257 XXV. The "Socialist State," continued— Enslaving Tendencies of the Socialist " State" involv- ing Important Considerations for Parents . 266 XXVI. The Socialist "State," continued— Questions FOR Householders as to the effect on their Homes, and the Danger of Class Spoliation 273 XXVII. The Socialist "State," continued— Human Nature an Important Factor 281 XXVIII. The Impossibilities of Socialism.— Reforms necessary, but not by Socialist Methods . . 291 XXIX. The Impossibilities of Socialism, continued- Socialism Tested by its Personnel 305 XXX. The Impossibilities of Socialism, continued- Socialist Leaders lack those Qualifications which are necessary in Statesmen 3' 5 INDEX TO CROSS-HEADINGS " Ability and labour," 182 " All hope abandon ye," 35 Animalism and matrimony, 58 Another tempting bait, 135 Answers required, 107 Are the people prepared ? 287 Author's long Indian experience 81 Authorities differ, 237 Betrayal to the Teutons, 69 " Blood and bullet " methods, 180 Bringing the case home to our- selves, 53 British slaves, 177 British workman, the, 240 By fair means or foul, 37 Capital and labour, 93 Champion calumniator, the, 26 Claim to entire produce of labour inequitable, 136 Class domination and class war, 276 Comrades and no quarter, 112 Co-operative industrialism, effect of, 132 Cumulative thumb-screw, the, ii8 Dead level of wages, a, 166 Deceptive bait — a decoy, a, 74 Definition of "The State, "266 Delicate subject, a, 40 Denial of God, the, 24 Deplorable attitude, 113 Destitution and distress, 220 Destruction by physical-force re- volution, 255 Dictatorial power required, 21 Disintegration of the Empire, 75 Disputed millions, 209 Drastic changes, 6 Earth supremacy, 227 Effect of practical tests, 3 Effective legislation, how 10 secure, 30 Emphatic protest, 49 England without defence, 65 Enormous issues involved, 72 Enslaving tendencies, 268 " Equalising " myth, the, 129 Equality of co-operation impos- sible, 136 Equality of international wages impossible, 172 Every man entitled to the reward of his labour, 193 Existing conditions, 224 Fabian figures, effects of, 189 Fabian tract, results of the, 185 Fantastic ideas, 265 Fatal Blunder of Socialists, 60 Freedom for all, 57 " Freedom " means rapine, 82 Further analysis, 200 objections, 218 German competition, 165 invasion, dangers of, 66 progress, the wonderful, 93 Goodly heritage in jeopardy, a, 36 INDEX TO CROSS-HEADINGS Goose that lays the golden eggs, the, 104 Gross libels, 79 Grotesque proposition, a, 196 No inducement to thrift, 99 Nuptial bonds, slackening of, 44 Other spoliation schemes, 159 How the Teutons flourish, 95 How to build up, 173 Illustrative case, an, 141 Imperial insurance, 64 Incidental charges, 141 Increased foreign competition a result of a statutory wage, 169 Indian government, facts about, 80 Individual effort, 278 Inflaming working-class passions, 314 Iniquitous proposals, 8 Judged by their works, 305 Judging a man by his works, 312 Juggling with figures, 184 Labour, the death of, loi Labour difficulties, root of, 98 Legal 30s. wage, a, 164 Legitimate methods required, 33 Look before leaping, 128 Loyalty of our overseas Empire, 60 Machine of State, the, 254 Marked for extinction, 119 Middleman's profits, the, 145 " Minimum wage " problem, the, 148 More wide interpretations, 262 Mournful results, 234 National bankruptcy, 163 National income, destination of, 207 National mistake, a, 235 Necessary middlemen, 141 Necessity for anti-Socialist co- operation, 124 Need for real reforms, 38 Needed reforms, 293 New view of an old question, 236 People are to blame, the, 235 Political jugglery, 92 Positively suicidal, 72 Poverty and degradation, 242 Predatory measures, effect of, 161 Present advantages, 253 Present privileges, 312 Promises like pie-crusts, 162 Protection of British commerce, 61 Pure Utopianism, 46 Questionable figures, 190 Questions for householders, 273 Reasonable interpretations, 41; Reasonable presumptions, 151 Rent and interest fallacies, 214 Result of enquiry, the, 212 Revolution and possible violence, 29 Revolutionists, 247 Rival forces, the, 123 Self-preservation, 168 Serious objections, 131 Shadow for the substance, the, 127 SOCIALISM, aims and objects of, 2 broad interpretations of, 259 cold douche on idealistic, 13 despotic, 143 fatal blunder of, a, 60 menace, a, 122 no results from, 297 not beneficial to the working classes, 299 numerical weakness of, 325 a power yet still an insignifi- cant factor, 323 preaches disloyalty to country, 302 preaches war, 303 INDEX TO CROSS-HEADINGS XI SOCIALISM, predatoiy, 85 term and its attractiveness, the, 27s tried and failed, 300 use the good in, reject the bad, 323 why it will fail, 288 Social revolution, 249 Socialist clap-trap, 125 answers wanted, 213 demands, 246 net, no escape trom, 121 proposal, the, 154 promises, 171 responsibility, 206 scheme, indefinite, 251 statement, is it true? 222 systems, 48 " State," the, 257 Socialists admit injustice of claim, 138 antecedents of, 295 as " Little Englanders, " 321 blowing hot and cold, 216 compared with makers of in- dustry, 320 compared with modern states- men, 319 demolish their own case, 284 lack statesman-like qualities, 317 " summed up," 322 what they postulate, 280 Spoliation of the thrifty, 115 Starvation wages, 178 State workers, disastrous effect on, 144 Stirring up strife and hatred, 179 Striking figures — British trade shows least progress, 244 Suggested alterations analysed, SI Summing up, 56 Suppression of truth, the, 198 Sweeping proposals. 2*13 Teaching of the past, 248 Test case — Socialists v. non- Socialists, 294 "The Idle, Vicious Few," 210 Threatened changes, 114 To undermine the faith, 28 Tried and found wanting, i Unearned incomes, raid upon, 116 Universal peace, or strife and war, 70 Unparalleled poverty, 221 Unsatisfactory conditions, 243 Voice from the dead, a, 100 War, withdrawal of the sinews of, 103 Warning to the people, 96 Warring against capital, results of, 105 Way made easy for the spoilers, 68 Wealth a necessity, 191 We feel the lash when applied to our own backs, 54 We must no longer hesitate, 292 Weight of poverty, the, 226 What non-Socialists say, 187 What other workers receive, 183 What will the people do? 291 Whittling and jeopardising, 208 Why all workers must share the national income, 195 Why the Army is necessary, 63 Wild, destructive schemes, 31 Will-o'-the-wisp advantages, 120 Working of a natural law, the, 48 Working classes, effect on, 176 Working classes responsible for the condition of the people, 239 Working classes' share, 181 Young child-life, 271 " Yours for tho Revolution," no SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS INTRODUCTION THE AIMS AND OBJECTS OF SOCIALIST LEADERS TO BE PUT TO THE TEST OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE The study of Socialism and all that it implies to the human race is becoming more necessary each succeeding year. It has, until quite recently, never been regarded seriously by the British people ; its consideration has been left rather to the dilettante than to the examination of more thought- ful minds. Men like Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Proudhon, Lasalle, and others laid the foun- dations of modern Socialism years ago, but whether these foundations are laid on the solid bed-rock of hard, ascertained facts or upon the more mutable basis of idealism remains to be proved. Tried and Found Wanting. If the question be tested by the light of past experience it will be seen that whenever Socialism li 2 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS has been tried it has proved to be a failure. The French Revolution, the Paris Commune of 187 1, and Robert Owen's experiments in England in 18 1 7 provide illustrations of the fact that Socialism is more suited to the dreamy realms of Utopia than to the commonplace practicalities of our mundane life. Many writers and speakers deal with Socialism as an exact science, but there seems to be no justification for any such assumption. Fundamentally, there may be nothing immoral or inherently wrong in the principles of Socialism ; indeed, its ethics may be sound, and its economic features comely enough, but it is another question whether it would, in its practical application, satisfy all the requirements of modern life. The important point for consideration here, however, is not whether the Socialism dreamed of by philo- sophers is ethically correct and economically sound, but whether it would, in its present forms, benefit the British people. Aims and Objects of Socialism. Before this question can be answered it will be necessary to realise what modern Socialism means, what its aims and objects are, and how its prac- tical application to the affairs of this country would be likely to affect the people. The electorate could then settle the matter for themselves. Several earnest, thoughtful writers have recently done good service to their fellow-countrymen by INTRODUCTION S explaining what Socialism is, and what it means to the citizens of the United Kingdom. In " English Socialism of To-day," by the Right Hon. H. O. Arnold-Forster; " A Critical Exam- ination of Socialism," by Mr. W. H. Mallock; and "British Socialism," by Mr. J. Ellis Barker, the aims and objects of Socialism are clearly defined, as well as the general effect it would have on the moral, social, and economic conditions under which we live at present if its leaders succeeded in thrust- ing upon the British people a mode of government differing in essence, principle, and form as mate- rially from the government of to-day as light from darkness. The Socialism of to-day puts forward so many claims and presents so many aspects, and is, more- over, so full of terrible significance to the vast majority of the British people that it should be closely examined with increasing interest. Indeed, its study should be generally regarded as an im- perative duty. Effect of Practical Tests. It is in this spirit, then, that we propose to test some of the teachings of modern Socialism in the broad light of practical common-sense. If there be any good in it it will surely not suffer from such a process, while, on the other hand, if it breaks down under the test of the ordinary strain of everyday life it can only be regarded as unsuited B 2 4 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS to the requirements of modern times, and, there- fore, as of no use to the body politic. It would be utterly unreasonable to expect the people to accept a Socialistic State which threatens so many drastic changes and revolutionary reforms ; interferes with the relations of public and private affairs, and affects so intimately the individual life of every man, woman, and child in the country, without giving them the opportunity of carefully scrutinising each of its features and putting its many propositions to the sharp test of practical, work-a-day experience. We have the reputation of being a hard-headed, sensible, businesslike nation, and we doubtless well deserve the name, but we must not now forfeit this hard-earned reputation by blindly accepting unknown and untried methods of government. Socialism may be good or it may be bad ; it may be as old as the hills, but it is new, very new, to the vast majority of the British people, and, being new in that sense, it is but right and proper that it should be placed in the same category with all other things that are new and untried, and sub- mitted to close scrutiny by those who are asked to accept its doctrines. With this short foreword we will now proceed to examine the nature of Socialist claims and re- quirements. i' CHAPTER I PROPOSED POLITICAL, FINANCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, LABOUR, SOCIAL, AND OTHER SOCIALIST CHANGES It is necessary that each of us should clearly under- stand at the outset of our investigation what it is that Socialism is trying to establish in this country. There are several Socialist organisations in Great Britain, such as the Social Democratic Federation, the Independent Labour Party, the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Fabian Society, and the Socialist Labour Party, while there are other minor organisations which need not be referred to here. Each of these organisations has its own pro- gramme (see Appendix), owns its own official organ or organs, issues its own publications, and carries on its own propaganda. There is not, neces- sarily, unity between the various Socialist parties ; indeed, there is considerable friction and even ani- mosity, but all are agreed in regarding Individual- ism and Capitalism as common enemies ; while the existing religious, moral, social, and economic conditions are declared to be effete and rotten, and are, therefore, marked down for destruction. 6 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS The ostensible object of British SociaHsm is the emancipation of the working classes from the thraldom of Individualism and Capitalism by the socialisation of the means of production, distribu- tion, and exchange, and by the nationalisation or the municipalisation of railways and other locomo- tive services, as well as of the food, drink, and coal supplies and all other industries. Its real obj'ect will be revealed in the succeeding chapters of this book. It is needless to enumerate all the items in the long list of Socialist reforms, as the programmes of the various Socialist societies will be found in the Appendix. It is, however, necessary to bear in mind some of the most prominent items, other- wise we shall fail to understand the raison d'etre of Socialism. The following are marked under the Socialist programme for " Immediate Reform." Drastic Changes. ^ I . Abolition of the Monarchy. 2. Repudiation of the National Debt. 3. Abolition of all indirect taxation and the institution of a cumulative tax on all incomes and inheritances exceeding ;^soo. 4. Free maintenance for all attending State Schools. 5. Nationalisation of the land and the organ- isation of Labour in agriculture and industry ' Programme of the Social Democratic Federation. PROPOSED CHANGES 7 under public ownership, and control on co- operative principles. 6. Nationalisation of the trusts. 7. Nationalisation of railways, docks, and canals, and all great means of transit. 8. Public ownership and control of Gas, Electric Light and Water supplies, as well as of Tramway, Omnibus, and other Locomotive services. 9. Public ownership and control of the food and coal supply. 10. The establishment of State and Muni- cipal Banks and pawnshops and public res- taurants. 11. Public ownership and control of the life- boat service. 12. Public ownership and control of hospi- tals, dispensaries, cemeteries, and crematoria. 13. Public ownership and control of the drink traffic. 14. No child to be employed in any trade or occupation until sixteen years of age, and im- prisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and guardians who infringe this law. 15. Free State Insurance against sickness and accident, and free and adequate State pensions or provision for aged and disabled workers. 16. The legislative enactment of a minimum wage of 30s. for all workers. Equal pay for both sexes for the performance of equal work. 17. Compulsory construction by public bodies of healthy dwellings for the people; 8 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS such dwellings to be let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone, and not to cover the cost of the land. i8. The administration of justice to be free to all ; the establishment of public offices where legal advice can be obtained free of charge. 19. The disestablishment and disendowment of all State churches. 20. The abolition of standing armies, and the establishment of national citizen forces. The people to decide on peace and war. Iniquitous Proposals. In addition to these proposed reforms other Socialist societies are responsible for the following measures : — 1. Abolition of indirect taxation and the general transference of all public burdens on to unearned incomes with a view to their ulti- mate extinction.^ 2. The loosening of the marriage ties and the substitution of "Free Love."^ 3. The undermining and ultimate overthrow of the Christian faith and the substitution of Atheism.^ It is unnecessary to quote chapter ancr verse for the authority of the two last-mentioned proposals as the copious Socialist literature of the day is full of the subject. 1 Independent Labour Party Programme (Constitution and Rule, 1907-8). ^ Socialist Publications. " Ibid. PROPOSED CHANGES . 9 Bearing in mind this brief sketch of SociaHsm, the following extracts from the writings of leading Socialists will furnish us wuth a certain insight into — Socialism in Action that will help us in our con- sideration of the subject. The objects of Socialism are: — " The Socialisation of the Means of Produc- tion, Distribution, and Exchange to be con- trolled by a Democratic State in the interests of the entire community, and the complete emancipation of Labour from the Domination of Capitalism and Landlordism, w'ith the estab- lishment of Social and Economic Equality between the sexes." ^ "An industrial Commonwealth founded upon the Socialisation of Land and Capital."^ " The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. It therefore aims at the reorganisation of Society by the emancipation of Land and In- dustrial Capital from individual and class ow-nership and the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit. In this way only can the natural and acquired advan- tages of the country be equitably shared by the whole people." ^ If this glimpse of a social and economic paradise were not blotted out by the ever-shifting scenes of the Socialist kaleidoscope it would stand as an * Programme of the Social Democratic Federation. 2 Programme of the Independent Labour Party. ^ Fabian Tract, No. 7, " Capital and Land," p. 19 (Basis of the Fabian Society). 10 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS object worthy of our best consideration, but, unfor- tunately, it is immediately followed by numerous other pictures which reveal the sinister nature of all Socialist designs. " It is, of course, to the discontented wage- workers that the Socialist can appeal with the greatest chance of success." ^ " My object in writing this pamphlet is to make the worker dissatisfied and discontented with his position." 2 " We have had cannibalism, slavery, serf- dom, wage-slavery, small employer, large em- ployer combines and syndicates. If the workers do not own the land, railways, minerals, and the instruments of production they will continue to be wage-slaves."^ " Socialism with its promise of freedom, its larger hope for humanity, its triumph of peace over war, its binding of the races of the earth into one all-embracing brotherhood, must pre- vail."" " Socialism is brotherhood, and brotherhood is as wide as the heaven and as broad as humanity. The growth of international Social- ism is the promise of the realisation of the angel's natal song : ' On earth peace. Good- will toward men.' " ^ " The workers of the world, as a class, are ^ Gronlund, The Co-Operative Comniojvwealth^ p. 187. 2 Qc>\xnQ}iS!ioxQ. h..G\^^^t, The Misfortune of Being a Working Man, p. I. ^ Ibid., p. 24.. * Keir Hardie, From Serfdom to Socialism, p. 104. ^ Philip Snowden, The Individual under Socialism, p. 14. PROPOSED CHANGES 11 fighting the Capitalists of the world, as a class. . . . They compose, when the roll is called, an army of 7,000,000 men, who, in accordance with the condition of to-day, are fighting with all their might for the conquest of the wealth of the world, and for the complete overthrow of existing society. . . . The cry of this army is ' No Quarter, ' we want all that you possess. We will be content with nothing less than all that you possess. We want in our hands the reins of power and the destiny of mankind. . . . Their intention to destroy pre- sent day society is a fact, as is also their inten- tion to take possession of the world with all its wealth and machinery and Governments. Moreover, it is a fact that the working class is vastly larger than the capitalist class. . . . Every capitalist is your enemy and every work- ing man is your friend. Here is class animosity in the political world with a vengeance. And here is revolution." ^ The above glaring inconsistencies in the Socialist doctrines require elaborate explanations before they can be reconciled in the mind of the ordinary layman. Here are a few more specimens : — " Under ideal Socialism there would be no money at all and no wages. The industry of the country would be organised and managed by the State, much as the Post Office now is ; ' Jack London, " Revolution." The Contemporary Review, January, 1908. 12 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS goods of all kinds would be produced and dis- tributed for use, and not for sale, in such quantities as were needed. Hours of labour would be fixed, and every citizen would take what he or she liked from the common stock. Food, clothing, fuel, transit, amusement, and all other things would be absolutely free, and the only difference between a Prime Minister and a collier would be the difference of rank and occupation-" ^ " Usury — in that offensive pregnant little word is contained the secret of Society's worries and Man's woes. Abolish usury : that is the true Fiscal Reform Policv."^ " So long as the instruments of production are in unrestrained private ownership so long must the tribute of the workers to the drone continue, so long will the toilers' reward in- evitably be reduced by their exactions."^ " Every one who pockets gains without rendering an equivalent to Society is a criminal. Every company-chairman with nominal duties, though his salary be but ;^400, is a criminal. Every one who lends his neigh- bour ;^5 and exacts ;^5 5s. in return is a criminal." * " At present more than ;^6oo,ooo,ooo of the national income goes in the form of unearned rent and interest to support an idle class who ' Blatchford, Merrie Englana, p. 100. '^ McLachlan, The Tyra?iny of Usury, p. i. 2 Sidney Webb, The Difficulties of Individualism, p. 8. ■• Gronlund, Co-operative Commonwealth^ p. 166. PROPOSED CHANGES 13 spend it mainly on profitless and demoralising luxuries." ^ " Mr. G. J. Wardle, M.P., in a recent speech at Glasgow, said that rent ' was social immorality, and the State or Society which allowed crimes of that kind to go on unpun- ished could never be a moral society. The same thing applied to interest on money. From the moral standpoint interest is unearned by the man who gets it, and it does not matter how that is cloaked over, that is a fact. Nowa- days it was counted the greatest virtue to lend money at so much per cent. That was a socially immoral proceeding, and because it was socially immoral it ate like a canker into the heart of society. As Socialists they ob- jected to profit.' "2 Cold Douche on Idealistic Socialism. After these intensely benevolent and bombastic outpourings of Socialist idealisms the following hard, dry, capitalistic interpretation of what Social- ism really means to do in respect to rent and interest comes as a cold douche on the ardent hopes of aspirants after Socialistic reform. What Socialism is : — "Socialism is a plan for securing equal rights and opportunities for all. The Socialists are trying to have the land and machinery gradually ' socialised ' or made the property ' Fabian Tract, No. 120, After Bread Education^ p. 12. ^ J. Ellis Barker, Biitish Socialism, pp. 80, 81. 14 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS of the whole people, in order to do away with idle owners, and to win the whole produce for those whose labour produces it. The estab- lishment of Socialism, when once the people are resolved upon it, is not so difficult as might be supposed. If a man wishes to work on his own account the rent of his place of business and the interest on the capital needed to start him can be paid to the County Council of his district just as easily as to the private landlord or capitalist."^ We should not lose sight of the fact in this con- nection that Rent and Interest are anathema to the Socialists. They have taken infinite pains to point out in every line of their publications that these two items alone amount to ;i^65o,ooo,ooo or more than one-third of the total national income. They assert that "the idle vicious few" who receive this vast sum really rob the workers of it, to whom every penny of it belongs, and that the robbers do no work for it either with hand or brain. Every Socialist leader has made a point of impress- ins: his followers with the cardinal fact that this matter of rent and interest is the chief grievance against the present system of Individualism and Capitalism, and that it is one of the main items in their long list of " Immediate Reforms," and yet when they are incautious enough to give us a glimpse of their hand we find that they can no 1 Fabian Tract, No. 13, IV/ia^ Socialism Is, p. 3. PROPOSED CHANGES 15 more do without charging rent and interest to those who may occupy their buildings or borrow their money than your ordinary landlord or capitalist can under the present system. How can they ? How can any man or association or Government afford to allow Jack, Tom, or Harry to dwell in houses or borrow money without receiving in return a reason- able quid pro quo ? The thing is, of course, absurd, and Socialists know this just as well as other men. We need not enlarge on the question here as it is referred to at greater length in other chapters of this book. There is, however, just one more matter that we will refer to in illustration of the enormous diffi- culty there is in front of those who would pull down the present system without having ready to hand another and a better one to set up in substitution thereof. Mr. Sidney Webb, one of the most distinguished Fabians, and certainly one of the most scientific of Socialists, in bewailing the loss of freedom of the working classes under the existing system of Indi- vidualistic Capitalism, has the following: — " The feudal restrictions and aristocratic tyranny of the eighteenth century gave way before the in- dustrial spirit, and the politically free labourer came into existence. But the economic servitude of the worker did not disappear with his political bondage. With the claims of innate status there dropped off also its economic privileges, and the free labourer 16 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS found himself in a community where the old common rights over the soil were being gradually but effectually extinguished. He became a landless stranger in his own country. The development of competitive production for sale in the world market, and the supremacy of the machine industry, in- volved moreover, in order to live, not merely access to the land, but the use, in addition, of increasingly large masses of capital — at first in agriculture, then foreign trade, then in manufacture, and finally now, also, in distributive industries. The mere worker became steadily less and less industrially indepen- dent as his political freedom increased. From a self- governing producing unit he passed into a mere item in a vast industrial army over the organisation and direction of which he had no control. He was free, but free only to choose to which master he would sell his labour — free only to decide from which proprietor he would beg that access to the new instruments of production without which he could not exist. In an age of the Small Industry there was much to be said for the view that the greatest possible personal freedom was to be obtained by the least possible collective rule. The peasant on his own farm, the blacksmith at his own forge, needed only to be let alone to be allowed to follow their own individual desires as to the manner and duration of their work. But the organisation of workers into huge armies, the directing of the factory and the warehouse by skilled generals and captains, which is the inevitable outcome of the machine industry and the world-commerce, have necessarily deprived PROPOSED CHANGES 17 the average workman of the direction of his own Hfe or the management of his own work. The middle class student, over whose occupation the Juggernaut Car of the Industrial Revolution has not passed, finds it difficult to realise how sullenly the workman resents his exclusion from all share in the direction of the industrial world. This feel- ing is part of the real inwardness of the demand for an Eight Hours Bill. " The ordinary journalist or Member of Parlia- ment still says : ' I don't consult anyone except my doctor as to my hours of labour. That is a matter which each grown man must settle for himself.' We never hear such a remark from a working man belonging to any trade more highly organised than chimney-sweeping. The modern artisan has learnt that he can no more fix for himself the time at which he shall begin and end his work than he can fix the sunrise or the tides. When the carrier drove his own cart and the weaver sat at his own loom they began and left off work at the hours that each pre- ferred. Now the railway worker or the power-loom weaver knows that he must work the same hours as his mates." ^ The question that has to be solved here is this : Will the worker under a Socialist State, which threatens to nationalise, municipalise, and control every trade and industry in the country,^ possess ' Sidney Webb, Fabian Tract, No. 69, The Difficulties of Individualism, pp. 12, 13. 2 See Appendix for Pf-o^ramme of Socialist Organisations. C 18 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS greater personal, social, and economic freedom ? The following quotations from Socialist works show how closely the workers would be bound to their State employers. " The first thing which Socialism would do would be to organise work, for practical Socialism is a kind of national scheme of co-operation, managed by the State." ^ Socialism includes : — " The national ownership of land, the State control of the railways, every adult one vote, and the enforcement of the Pauline law, that if a man will not work neither shall he eat."" " We mean the establishment of a political power — in place of the present class State — which shall have for its conscious and definite aim the common ownership and control of the whole of the world's industry, exchange, &c." ^ " State or municipal management is to supersede private management and national or civic owner- ship, to take the place of private monopoly of the land and of all the wealth produced by the land in return for the energy expended upon it." ^ " Socialists want the land and the railways and the mines and the big Trusts to be owned by the people and managed by the ablest men under the general direction of the community. Production, * R. Blatchford, Merrie England^ p. loo. - Philip Snowden, The htdividual under Socialism, p. 4. ^ Belfort Bax and Quelch, A New Catechism of Socialism, p. 9. * Ethel Snowden, The Woinati Socialist, p. 6. PROPOSED CHANGES 19 distribution, and the work and labour required would be organised so that everybody could be reasonably employed and reasonably remuner- ated." ^ " But the desire of each man to become his own master is part of the old Adam of Individualism. The time has gone by for carrying on industry by independent producers, such as survive in the cobbler and the knife-grinder, or even by little as- sociations of such producers, like the self-govern- ing workshop in its best form. " Socialists who hanker after these delights have forgotten their Karl Marx. The steam-engine, the factory, and the mine have come to stay ; and our only choice is between their management by indi- vidual owners or their management by the com- munity. As miner, mechanic, or mill operative, the worker is and must be the servant of the com- munity. From that service Socialism offers no escape."- " By the abolition of the wage system we mean the abolition of the system now generally prevailing in the capitalist industry, by which the worker re- ceives a wage not determined with any reference to his quota of the national product, nor with any regard for the amount necessary to maintain him and his family in efficient citizenship, but fixed solely by the competitive struggle. This competi- tive wage we Socialists seek to replace by an allow- ance for maintenance deliberately settled according to the needs of the occupation and the means at the * Philip Snowden, Daily Mail, 24 January, 1908. 2 Sidney Webb, Socialism True and False, p. 17. C 2 20 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS nation's command. We already see official salaries regulated, not according to the state of the labour market, but by consideration of the cost of living. This principle we seek to extend to the whole in- dustrial world. Instead of converting every man into an independent producer, working when he likes and as he likes, we aim at enrolling every able- bodied person directly in the service of the com- munity, for such duties and under such kind of organisation, local or national, as may be suitable to his capacity and social function. In fact, so far are we from seeking to abolish the wage-system so understood, that we wish to bring under it all those who now escape from it — the employers, and those who live on rent or interest, and so make it uni- versal. If a man wants freedom to work or not to work just as he likes, he had better emigrate to Robinson Crusoe's island, or else become a mil- lionaire. To suppose that the industrial affairs of a complicated industrial State can be run without strict subordination and discipline, without obedi- ence to orders, and without definite allowances for maintenance, is to dream, not of Socialism, but of Anarchism." ^ It is evident from this that the Socialist leaders have no intention of setting up a form of adminis- tration whereunder every man would have greater freedom in respect to work and more latitude in respect to personal liberty than he has under exist- ing conditions; indeed, it seems certain that under a Socialist State he would find his bonds infinitely * Fabian Tract, No. 51, Socialis7n True and False ^y^. 17, 18. PROPOSED CHANGES 21 stronger than those which bind him to present day employers, which, thanks to the efforts of his trades unions, are reasonably light in spite of all that may be said to the contrary. Dictatorial Power Required. One of the most prominent among Socialist leaders, in defining the amount of dictatorial power that would necessarily have to be assumed by Socialist ofScials, said : — " Socialism aims at the supersession of demo- cracy as of every other form of government. The will of the majority of an ideal democracy, or Social democracy, must, as regards its special ex- pression, be subordinate to the general moral canon of a Socialist Commonwealth. That in affairs of management, of tactics, of administration, or in decisions requiring special knowledge, authority, in its nature dictatorial, is necessary, all must admit. There must be a controlling, an authorita- tive voice in direction ; so much must be clear, one would think, to all practical and reasonable persons when once stated. The real point to determine is the nature and limits of that amount of dictatorial power which, we must admit, is essential in any organised community of which we can at present conceive. Social Democracy, while it means all for the people, does not mean the impossible absurdity that everything should be directly regulated by the people, i.e., by a direct popular vote." ^ ^ BcLXf Essays in Socialism^ pp. 75, 76. 22 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS This plain pronouncement makes it quite clear that there would be an amount of absolutism in the administration of the Socialist State which would be sharp and decisive^ and which would not be tolerated under the governmental system of to-day. This is made even clearer by the following little passage which appears in a well-known Socialist publication. It is but a tiny straw, yet it never- theless serves to show the direction of the wind. Q. : When would Socialism allow any one to have a machine? A. : When a person can use the machine for her own use. For instance, Socialists would let a dressmaker have a machine for doing her own work, but not for the purpose of employing others to exploit or rob them." ^ Without the slightest prejudice it would appear that, as there is abundant evidence that a Socialist State would necessarily have to assume exceptional controlling powers to keep in check a turbulent pro- letariat, it would unquestionably set up an all- powerful bureaucracy with its endless army of officials under whom the State workers would ex- perience an amount of petty tyranny which would drive them to desperation ; and this important fact should not be lost sight of that, as the Socialist vState would be the only employer of labour in the country there would be no redress as at the present * A. P. Hazell, Red Catechisfn, p. 8. PROPOSED CHANGES 23 day, for the reason that the State officials would be de facto and de jure their only and real masters. This preliminary inquiry will now enable us to proceed with our examination of certain items in the long list of Socialist reforms which are selected for our consideration. They are : — 1. The Destruction of Religious Faith. 2. Loosening of the Marriage Tie and the sub- stitution of Free Love. 3. The Abolition of Standing Armies. 4. Public Ownership and Control of Industries. 5. Legal Minimum Wage. 6. Distribution of National Income. 7. The Responsibility of the Working Classes for existing conditions. 8. The Indefiniteness of Socialism. g. The Socialist State and Individualism and Collectivism. 10. The Impossibilities of Socialism. These subjects will be dealt with seriatim. CHAPTER II THE DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH AS ADVO- CATED BY PROMINENT SOCIALISTS, WITH ILLUSTRA- TIONS OF THEIR DEADLY ENMITY TO CHRISTIANITY It is a matter for astonishment to every person outside the ranks of Socialism why it is that Social- ist reform should seem to depend upon a disbelief in the existence of an Almighty Being, the de- struction of religious faith, and the repudiation of Christianity. The Denial of God. Admitting for the sake of argument that the uplifting of mankind and consequently the ame- lioration of human suffering is the basic principle of Socialism, and that its mission is to do good to the human race by amending those conditions which make life unnecessarily hard for so many, it is strangely inconsistent that Socialists should take a positive delight in denying, at the very outset, the existence of the source of all good — God Him- self. DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 25 What have the Socialist leaders to say about Christianity, for example? Mr. Robert Blatchford, the Editor of the Socialist organ, the Clarion, said : — " Let the holy have their heaven. I am a man and an infidel. And this is my Apology. Be- sides, gentlemen, Christianity is not true." Mr. James Leatham, the author of " The Class War," and other Socialist works, contributes the following among other passages of a similar character : — " I feel called upon to attack Christianity as I would any other harmful delusion. I do not be- lieve in the theology of Christ any more than I do in his sociology. . . . Happily Christianity becomes less and less of a power every day." " Nunquam " (Mr. Robert Blatchford) in the Clarion, gives to Socialists his confession of faith as follows : — 1. I do not believe that Christianity or Buddhism or Judaism or Mahometism is true. 2. I do not believe that any of these religions is necessarv. 3. I do not believe that any one of them affords a perfect rule of life. 4. I deny the existence of a heavenly Father. 5. I deny the efficacy of prayer. 6. I deny the providence of God. 7. I deny the truth of the Old Testament and the New Testament. 26 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS 8. I deny the truth of the Gospels. 9. I do not beheve that any miracle was ever performed. 10. I do not believe that Christ was divine. 11. I do not beheve that He died for man. 12. I do not beheve that He ever rose from the dead. 13. I am strongly inclined to believe that He never existed at all. This " Confession " of Socialist beliefs is a full and ample recantation of Christianity and, for that matter, of all the great religions of the Eastern World. The Champion Calumniator. But it is left to Mr. Bernard Shaw to stand forth as the champion calumniator of a faith he no longer professes to believe in. That versatile gentleman and great Socialist leader says : — " Popular Christianity has for its emblem a gibbet, for its chief sensation a sanguinary execu- tion after torture, for its central mystery an insane vengeance bought off by a trumpery expiation. ... At present there is not a credible established religion in the world." ^ All that need be said of this contribution is that it is, in the first place, singularly blasphemous, and secondly, that it is in shocking bad taste and unnecessarily offensive to millions of Mr. Bernard 1 Bernard^Shaw, yic>^« Bull's Other Island, p. 182. DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 27 Shaw's fellow-countrymen and countrywomen who have never done him harm or injury of any kind. Other instances of deadly enmity to Christianity on the part of the Socialist leaders might be quoted, but the few examples here given will suffice for present purposes. They are full and clear and remarkably comprehensive in the broad sweep of their destructiveness. The Socialist leaders declare in no uncertain tones that Christianity, which " has for its emblem a gibbet,*' is worthless as a belief and utterly repugnant to them, and it follows that the old faith of our forefathers is marked down for destruction. When a man maligns our friends or speaks ill of that which we reverence, we are apt to question his bona fides. In this instance the questions that naturally present themselves to every man and woman in the kingdom outside the Socialist camp take this form : — 1. Why are Socialist leaders so anxious to up- root religious faith ? 2. Why are they seeking to destroy Christian worship ? 3. If their aim be to uplift mankind and mitigate human suffering, why do they find it necessary to destroy Christianity? 4. Is Christianity antagonistic to, and inconsis- tent with, the mission of Socialism, if so, why, and for what reason ? 5. If Christianity be not swept away and religious 28 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS belief not destroyed, will it be impossible for the Socialist leaders to carry on the Socialist war, and if so, why? Questions of a kindred nature might be multi- plied ad infinitum, but these will perhaps suffice for the moment. In this practical, work-a-day world common ex- perience teaches us the necessity of asking a man his intentions; to show us, in short, his springs of action ; while it further teaches us the extreme danger of following a man who cannot furnish with his scheme, whatever it may be, excellent reasons of a sound, practical, workable nature. To Undermine the Faith. If the Socialists have really a good scheme for the amelioration of human suffering; for improving the social and economic conditions of the people; the mitigation of poverty and the general uplift- ing of the masses, let them bring it forward by all means, and they will merit the thanks of every right-minded man and woman in the country, but when they take such elaborate pains to undermine faith and sap the foundation of hope, they practi- cally tell us they cannot expect to succeed in their work till they have destroyed Christian worship and uprooted from the hearts of the people the simple form of religious belief to which they have been DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 29 accustomed to cling as their ultimate good ; it is then that our common sense receives a shock and we become suspicious. There is nothing in Christianity that is incon- sistent with, or antagonistic to, Socialism, or, at all events, the better part of Socialism — that part of a great science which has for its object the assuagement of human wretchedness and a more even distribution of the good things of this world among the many sections of the great human family, and the above questions are the natural result. Revolution and Possible Violence. To put the case briefly — the Socialists are asking the British people to give up all that they prize; all that their forefathers won for them by gallant deeds and great endurance in the far-away years of past centuries. They are asking them to give up that form of Christian faith which is very dear to the vast majority of men and women, for a doubt- ful good which they hope may arise out of revolu- tion and possible violence, and to agree to the com- plete destruction of existing social and economic conditions. They are asking a hard-headed nation of traders to commit the unpardonable commercial blunder of casting away the substance for the shadow. People naturally ask — Why ? To show how unnecessary it is to commit evil 30 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS that good may come, take two items in the Socialist programme which are most likely to commend themselves to the majority of people, namely : — " Public ownership of food and coal supply," and the " Public ownership of the drink traffic." How TO Secure Effective Legislation. Many thoughtful minds have of late pondered over these matters, and public attention is being drawn to the necessity for such reforms. Food, drink, and coal might conceivably be placed under State control with considerable advantage to the people ; indeed, for the sake of argument we may even go further and say that it is essential in the people's interests that such questions as the food and coal supply should be under the sharp control of the State, but having admitted so much, it is clearly unnecessary to resort to violence and blood- shed to bring about the desired reforms. If Social- ists want reform let them tell the people so in plain terms, and show them how to get it by recognised legitimate means, for it is the people whom they must first enlighten and influence before they may hope for reform. If the people desire such reforms they can be secured through the peaceful means of practical everyday legislation, as a result of public opinion, without plunging the country into the turbulent waves of possible civil warfare and depriving it of the comfort and consolation of Christian wor- DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 31 ship. This proposition is so obvious as to need no further demonstration ; indeed, it is quite likely that the Socialists themselves would be willing to agree with it to this extent. Wild, Destructive Schemes. It would, however, be quite useless to expect them to follow us further, because the rest of their programme is so unjust and predatory as to depend for its success upon those violent revolutionary measures which are almost sure to result in class strife and civil war and bloodshed. Stated in the same unreserved manner in which Socialists are accustomed to throw down their challenges, it would be obviously impossible to bring about these wild, destructive measures, such as the complete subversion of all existing social, religious and economic conditions, and the entire subjugation of what the Socialists call the " classes," or, in other words — the slavery of every man and woman in the kingdom who does not happen to agree with their methods, without resorting to deeds of vio- lence and possibly plunging the country in the bloodv vortex of internecine strife. CHAPTER III THE DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH (continued). EXPOSURE OF THE METHODS OF SOCIALISTS TO SECURE ITS DOWNFALL. Before we proceed further, let us satisfy our- selves that Socialism does mean revolution and violence if it be found necessary to resort to extreme measures. Mr. H. M. Hyndman, in his debate with the late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh twenty-four years ago, said : — " We know perfectly well that in the long run, unless you succeed by argument, force eventually does decide it. But we should be madmen, we should be fools indeed, if we were to-day, when we have the rights of public meeting, full right of argument, if to-day we were to go before the British people in the minority we are and advocate force." 1 " There is no way in which the Class War can be avoided. You can't have the reward of your labour and the idle have it too. There is just so ^ H. M. Hyndman, JVt'l/ Soda/ism Benefit the English People ? pp. 17, 18. DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 33 much wealth produced every day. It may be more, it may be less; but there is always just so much, and the more the capitalist gets the less you will get, and vice versa. We preach the Gospel of Hatred, because in the circumstances it seems the only righteous thing we can preach. The talk about the ' Gospel of Love ' is simply solemn rubbish. It is right to hate stealing, right to hate lying, it is right to hate meanness and unclean- ness, right to hate hypocrisy, greed, and tyranny. Those who talk of the Gospel of Love^ with land- lordism and capitalism for its objects, want us to make our peace with iniquity." ^ Legitimate Methods Required. With these remarkably clear instances of the possibilities of Socialism before us we shall not be doing an injustice to Socialists by plainly saying that their cause would appear to depend, not so much upon truth and the broad principles of equity, right, and even-handed justice, as upon violence, tumult, and disorder ; and as this surely is a most injudicious, and, indeed, absolutelv in- defensible position for any political party to assume, we should now ascertain why the Socialist leaders find it necessary to resort to such measures instead of teaching the people how to acquire what they want, and, indeed, what is their due, by the peaceful and legitimate methods of well-known political agitation. ' Jas, Leatham, T/ic Class War, p. lo. D 34 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Although nearly a quarter of a century has passed since Mr. Hyndman admitted that he and his followers were but a " minority," the same argument holds good to-day. Socialism has admittedly gained more converts during that time, but Socialists are still but a minority, and, more- over, a very small minority, in comparison with the vast masses of the British people. It follows, then, that every man and woman of that vast body outside the small Socialist community will closely scrutinise every item in the programme of Socialism and put their own construction on it unless satisfactory explanation be forthcoming. Among other things, it is extremely probable they may arrive at these conclusions. They may say — a. That Socialists will have to resort to force because existing social, religious, and economic conditions make for law, order, equity, reason, and peace, and that it is not upon these that revolutions feed and thrive. b. That the spoliation of a people and the sub- jugation of one class by another class are not possible under existing conditions, and, therefore, that which exists must be destroyed. c. That as the form of Socialism which is taught by most of its present-day leaders cannot grow and flourish in an atmosphere created out of the deep religious faith of a people, religion must therefore be uprooted and flung aside. d. That hatred and strife cannot well thrive DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 35 where reigns that peace which is born of the com- fort and consolation of Christian faith and the hope and encouragement of Christian prayer, and there- fore Christian worship must be destroyed and Christian men and women must submit to be brought up on the cold hopelessness of Atheism. " All Hope Abandon Ye." Weary wanderers in this world who have hitherto been warmed and cheered by those bright beams which Christianity sheds with such pro- digality upon the world must now turn to the frozen wastes of Materialism with the dreary despondency of icy despair. They must not be touched by one of those brilliant rays which stream in profusion from the Christian Sun and pierce through the gloom which so often enshrouds the human soul — as easily as a sword blade cleaves the air — because the Socialist leaders, before they can succeed, must kill hope and set up despair in its place. The protection of all classes provided by con- stitutional methods, the rights surrounding private ownership of property, private enterprises, per- sonal liberty of action and freedom of contract, the marriage ties and the sacredness of domestic life, together with justice, peaceful government, and all else that English people hold most dear, must perish and be cast out before the Socialist leaders may hope to establish their predatory system of confiscation and expropriation. D 2 36 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS A Goodly Heritage in Jeopardy. All those cherished institutions whose founda- tions are laid on the ruins of many a noble life and cemented with the blood of better men than those who now seek their destruction, are rever- enced by all loyal English people because their forefathers fought so stoutly to establish and main- tain them that they might hand them down as a goodly heritage to those who came after them. But these revered institutions are regarded by Socialist leaders as highly unfavourable to their particular form of Socialism, indeed, as distinctly inimical to it, and — they have vowed their destruc- tion. Then they will probably add that we who are not Socialists know, on the other hand, that so long as our time-honoured institutions are main- tained and Christian faith reigns dominant in the hearts of the British people, so long will peace and order exist ; and while these exist Socialism of the kind preached by its leaders to-day will be doomed to complete failure. They may say, further, that although the British people may not be strictly puritanical in the exercise of their religion, nevertheless there is deep down a strain of real piety which has stood them in good stead in the past, and which will serve their turn now and in the future. They know perfectly well that the question of religion need never enter the political arena at all, nor, at all DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 37 events, prove a hindrance to any political party, nor need it necessarily play any part in the social and economic problems of the country. They may contend that the reform of those conditions which render the lives of many of our countrymen so hard and well-nigh unendurable can be brought about without overthrowing faith and hope; while it is an indisputable fact that, if we aim at the uplifting of mankind and the amelioration of human suffering; religion, hope, and a firm belief in that Eternal Being whom men call by the name of Providence, the Almighty Creator — God, will surely help rather than hinder us in our good work. By Fair Means or Foul. They will point out that, in this time-worn world of ours, common experience tells us there are, as a rule, at least two ways of accomplishing an object — by gentleness or by force, by fair means or foul, and the man who takes a bludgeon and smashes his way through a window when the front door is standing open for his reception deserves — and rightly so— the execration and condemnation of all right-thinking men and women. They will then say it is a regrettable fact that the Socialist leaders have taken the violent and brutal means adopted by the man with the bludgeon, and add^ so long as they continue in that indefensible position so long will all that is LH5 ;rro 38 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS good in the British people stand aloof from SocTalism. The lavish promises of untold benefits to be derived from the general loot of all people better off than themselves may appeal to that section of the community — that flotsam and jetsam of the human race — which is for ever on the look-out for a change of some sort in the vague hope that they may benefit by it, while it may also appeal to a small section of our workers who are of the *' blood and bullet " type; but to the vast majority of loyal, patriotic, order-loving and peace-loving men and women of this country, the red revolutionary pro- paganda of Socialism is necessarily repulsive. Such views as these and many more will assuredly be dealt with in considering the vitally important questions put before the public by the leaders of this new party which has arisen on the political horizon in the form of a blood-red star, and — who shall blame them ? Need for Real Reforms. We freely admit that although improvements in the social and economic conditions of human life have taken place during the last decade or two, there still remains much to be done. This fact is amply proved by the constant reference to the sub- ject in the Press, as well as by the measures of reform introduced every session of Parliament as a result of the ever-increasing pressure of public DESTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 39 opinion. Socialism itself admits as much. The need for improving the condition of the people, securing employment, and raising the standard of comfort is proved by the fact that all classes are interested in the subject, and, when this is so. Government is not likely to ignore the mandate. All that is needed to ensure that improvement in the people's condition, which it is their right to demand and to have, is a little patience and the exercise of that good common sense which is an especial characteristic of the British race; but to attempt to secure reform by and through the devious ways of revolution would be to put back the hands of the clock for many years. If Socialists would but realise the fact that they are not the only party in the State working for reform it would be better for the political peace of the country ; but they are so enamoured of their own sledge-hammer methods as to appear incap- able of seeing the good in any other system. The majority of Englishmen are fully alive to the necessity of bringing about much-needed reform, and are quite as determined to accomplish it as are the Socialists; but they see their way to get what is necessary without wading through the seething waters of revolution or by destroying the religious faith of a people and denying — God. CHAPTER IV THE LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES AND THE SUBSTITUTION OF ** FREE LOVE " A Delicate Subject. One of the most delicate questions in Socialist reform is that relating to the alteration of the mar- riage laws, and it is rendered more difficult to deal with than it need be because it cannot be said to form part of the official programme of Socialism. None of the Socialist organisations refer to the question in their (programmes of reforms, and some writers deny that interference with the marriage laws forms part of their propaganda. The follow- ing passages may be usefully cited : — " Socialism has no more to do with the marriage laws than Toryism has." ' " No party — neither Socialist nor non-Socialist — has openly identified itself with the views of its prominent members on this question. The idea that marriage, as an institution, ought to be ^ Robert Blatchford, What is this Socialism ? p. 2. LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 41 abolished, has never received the sanction of any poHtical organisation of Great Britain." ^ " There may be some SociaHsts in favour of free love, just as there are some Socialists in favour of revolution, and some who are not Christians; but I say also that a big majority of Socialists are not in favour of free love."'^ " I believe there is not one Socialist in a hundred who would vote for doing away with marriage, or for handing over the children to the State." ^ " Nowhere and at no time was the abolition or even the weakening of the family incorporated in the Socialist creed." ^ We would much prefer to believe that these pro- minent Socialists voice the views of the Socialist party in respect hereto, but in face of the over- whelming evidence to the contrary such a belief is impossible. From the time of Robert Owen to this present year of grace the subject of the marriage laws has been much in the minds of Socialists. Owen said : — " In the new moral world, the irrational names of husband and wife, parent and child, will be heard no more." Bebel, the German Socialist leader, said : — " Man and woman being animals, can we talk of ^ Russell Williams, The Difficulties of Socialism,'^. 13. 2 Robert Blatchford, Britain for the British, p. 78. ^ Ibid., p. 78. ■• J. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., Socialism, p. 95. 42 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS matrimony on indissoluble bonds ? Plainly no. The woman remains always free, as the man re- mains always free." Karl Pearson, in his book " Socialism and Sex," said : — " If the State is to guarantee wages it is bound in self-protection to provide that no person shall be born without its consent." Mr. Bernard Shaw, in " The Quintessence of Ibsenism," has the following: — " Unless woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her husband, to her children, to society, to the law, and to everyone but herself, she cannot emancipate herself. Therefore woman has to re- pudiate duty altogether." We also find in the same work : — - " Duty is the primal curse from which we must redeem ourselves " ; and " All progress involves the beating of them (honour, chastity, &c.) from their position." A writer in the Socialist paper, the New Age, calmly announces " That no marriage should last more than a week." Other Socialists hold the following views : — " Marriage as we know it is merely one of the many unwholesome fungi that grow out of the reek- ing, rotting corpus of private property, and it LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 43 would not be difficult to conceive a sexual order infinitely more angelic." ' " For the first time since the world began, woman will in every respect be the equal of man. She will be the guardian of her own honour, and marriage will assume an entirely novel character. All unions will be the unions of affection and esteem, and children, as of old, will primarily be the children of the mother. Her right to select the father of her own children is absolute. In such a society all children will be equallv ' legitimate,' and the Seventh Commandment will become practically ob- solete because the economic circumstances in which it was formulated will have passed away." ^ " There are few points on which the advanced Radical and the Socialist are more completely in accord than in their theoretical hostility to the modern legal monogamic marriage. The majority of them hold it, even at the present time, and in the existing state of society, to be an evil."^ " In this, as in other departments, the modern man, immersed in the categories of the bourgeois world, sees everything through them. For him, therefore, there exists only legalised monogamic marriage and prostitution, both of which are based essentially on commercial considerations. The one is -purchase, the other hire. He cannot see the higher and only really moral form of the marriage- relation which transcends both, and which is based neither on sale nor hire. Prostitution is immoral, ' Davidson, Gospel of the Poor, p, 149. - Ibid. The Old Order and the New, pp. 164, 166. ^ E. Bel fort Bax, Outlooks front the New Standpoint, p. 151. 44 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS as implying the taking advantage by the woman of a monopoly which costs her no labour for the sake of extorting money from the man. But the condition of legal marriage — maintenance — does the same." ^ " There is no Socialist marriage, nor is there, so far as I am aware, any specifically Socialist theory as to sexual morality. But the definite change in economic arrangements which Socialism involves will naturally carry with it certain changes in other aspects of life which we may forecast without enter- ing the domain of prophecy."^ Slackening of the Nuptial Bonds. These, and numerous other instances which might be cited, show that, although Socialist leaders may deny that the abolition of the present marriage laws and the general loosening of the marriage ties form part of the official Socialist pro- gramme, there is, at all events, ample justification for the assumption that, given a Socialist " State," our marriage laws would, at least, undergo con- siderable change and perhaps abolition. The want of cohesion among Socialists them- selves, and the absence of a general definition as to the precise meaning and import of the question affecting the marriage laws, proves rather the im- matureness of the Socialist scheme than that it will never assume material form. * E. Belfort Bax, Outlooks from the New Standpoint, p, i6o. ^ James Leatham, Socialism and Character, p. 27. LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 45 The substitution of other marriage vows, the slackening of the nuptial bonds, and the introduc- tion of what is termed " free love," would have such far-reaching effects on the entire social fabric of our country that no man can predict what might happen. At any rate the change which is threatened in all matters pertaining to the alliance of the sexes is not a thing of chance, but an inevitable result of the deliberate utterance of the Socialist leaders, as the foregoing passages quoted from prominent Socialist publications conclusively show. The question which confronts us, then, is — will this threatened interference with those well-defined conditions which guide and govern the conjugal life of the British people be good for them, or will it be bad ? Will it tend to loosen the marriage ties and bring about, eventually, that state of " Free Love " which is evidently so much in the mind of many advanced Socialists, or will it draw the bonds between man and wife tighter, and generally con- duce to happier conditions in the connubial state? Reasonable Interpretations. Let us now endeavour to put some reasonable interpretations on that suggested state which Social- ists call " Free Love." Socialist literature is full of the subject, and much of it takes the Utopian view among others. 46 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Here are a few specimens: — " The present marriage system, founded more on the legal bond than on affection, cannot be claimed by any one as a success. In the holiest of all re- lationships the legal bond is to-day considered the most important factor, and is the natural effort of the State to regulate marriage founded on the sub- jection of woman. With the growth of independ- ence in woman, the number of divorces is increasing rapidly, testifying to the unsatisfactory nature of so many marriages." * In another publication w^e find the following : — "It is more than probable that the ordinary Church marriage service w'ill be abolished. But it ought to be abolished. It is a degradation of marriage to regard it, and speak of it, as a kind of safety-valve for those who cannot keep them- selves in the holy condition of celibacy. By its wording it actuall)^ sanctions lustfulness and animalism of the worst description, if it be prac- tised within the sacred bonds of marriage. . . . Free as the wind the Socialist wife will be bound only by her natural love for husband and children. But such limitations, small at the most, will be nothing but a joy, for it will spring out of respect and esteem, the surest foundation of a lasting love." 2 Pure Utopianism. The writer then indulges in what we may safely regard as pure Utopianism in respect to the many * T. D. Benson, Woman— The Co?itmumsi, p. i6. 2 Ethel Snowden, The Woman Socialist, pp. 6o, 6i. LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 47 blessings which Socialism will confer on the human race. " But to believe in the facilitation of divorce; to hold that the child born of affection, whether it be born in wedlock or not, is in the true sense a ' natural ' child, which ought to have equal rights with children born in wedlock ; to hold that a woman is not necessarily morally ' ruined,' as the cant phrase goes, because, although not legally married, she has borne a child sound in mind and body into the world ; to believe in the vvholesomeness of a freer sexual relation in general is a very different thing from believing in promiscuous intercourse of the sexes." ^ " We see that even under the existing system men and women who live together in the relation of * concubinage ' adhere to one another as faith- fully as though they had been married by all the Bishops in the House of Lords." ^ " I see no reason why we should not straightway begin to have Socialist marriages in our branch organisations." ^ Briefly summarised, it may be said that in this particular phase of Socialism there is much that is immoral — at least according to our present ideas of what constitutes immorality — there is a good deal that is doubtful, a lot of it that is not clearly defined, and, as numerous Socialist works show, an immense amount of Utopianism. ^ James Leatham, Socialisin and Character, p. 29. 2 Ibid., p. 29. 3 /^^v/., p. 36. 48 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS From these passages, and from the foregoing extracts from the works of Bebel, Bernard Shaw and others, this, at least, may be gathered, namely — that Toryism, Capitalism, Animalism, and a cor- rupt society are held responsible for all that is evil in the matrimonial state ; that under Socialist rule woman is to be set free from her subjection to man, and that out of her freedom will spring abiding love and happiness between man and wife. The Working of a Natural Law. That such halcyon days may dawn on the matri- monial world is devoutly to be wished, but to expect Socialism to eradicate from the human race the natural law of affinity or sexual attraction which, after all, plays the chief part in all matrimonial alliances, as also in all matrimonial scandals, is to expect that which cannot be. The social system which is responsible for our present marriage laws may be good or it may be bad, but so long as the human race exists so long will co-exist that subtle indefinable something which draws the sexes together and finds material expres- sion both in wedlock and — sometimes in the divorce courts, and all the systems and codes in the Socialist world will never stop the working of a natural law. Socialist Systems. But Socialism tells us something more than this. LOOSENING OF THE MARRIACxE TIES 49 Here is an extract from a letter to the Daily Mail of February 6th, 1908, from Mr. J. Bruce Glasier : — " What has been the system of Marriage moraHty sanctioned by Tory law, sustained by Tory cus- tom, and approved by Tory moralists down all the ages of Christian history ? The Tory system has been — marriage for property and, unmarried co- habitation and libertinism as outlets for ' free love.' " EiMPHATic Protest. This, and the other specimens of Socialist writings we have given, are in the nature of pos- tulates to which the whole of the British people, with a few exceptions, will take strong objections, because from their own individual experience they know them to be untrue. The people, in common with Socialists and everybody else, are quite aware that, in what is called " high Society " there are a certain number of manages de convenance, while they are equally aware that chiefly among the ** Smart Set," a certain number of unsavoury divorce cases are served up every year, to the dis- gust of all clear-minded people; but as this small coterie of individuals no more represents the vast masses of the British people than one drop of water represents the great mass from which it is taken, we offer on the part of the people, an emphatic protest against the attitude assumed by Socialists. E 50 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Ask the " masses " what they think of Mr. Ber- nard Shaw's postulates that — " Woman has to repudiate her duty altogether," &c. ; of Mr, J. Bruce Glasier's affirmations in respect to the immorality of the present marriage system, and of Mr. Leatham's reference to British " Concubinage," and their answer will be forcible enough if perhaps not polite. Ask that great mass of people who are re- presented by clerks, typists, public office employes, shopkeepers, merchants, the professional classes, and the great army of middle-class people — all workers — who comprise perhaps half the population of the country, what they think of the Socialist question — *' Man and woman being animals, can we talk of matrimony, on indissoluble bonds?" and they will surely tell you that they prefer the present system, which at least guarantees conjugal fidelity and happiness — as far as it is humanly pos- sible to secure it^ — to the Socialist system which, according to Bebel, classes men and women with beasts and abjures connubial morality; while according to others it offers at the best a scheme of so impractical a nature as to be purely Utopian. CHAPTER V THE LOOSEiNJING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES (continued) ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOCIALIST TEACHING, WITH A PROTEST AGAINST THE PROPOSED CHANGES Socialism presents a series of pictures both from Herr Bebel's point of view, and from that of more Utopian works, such as the " Woman Socialist," and " Woman — the Communist," of so impossible a nature as to render a few common- sense touches from Nature's brush a matter of necessity, otherwise they are sure to convey a dis- torted meaning to our minds. Suggested Alterations Analysed. Let us take an instance from the domestic life of that section of the community for whose especial benefit this suggested alteration of our marriage laws is chiefly undertaken — the working classes. Here we have, we will say, a typical artisan, sober, hard-working, respectable and honest, pay- ing his way honourably in the world and looking E 2 52 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS every man square in the face. He has got his comfortable home, with wife and children, and is as happy and contented as a man has a reasonable right to expect to be. Your Socialist comes along, and your honest artisan thinks it a fine thing to join a movement which promises so much that is attractive to the masses, and he accepts the doctrine of Socialism en bloc. The wife listens with peculiar interest to that part of it which deals with " Free Love "; her mind is receptive enough, and becomes impregnated with the new doctrine; the deadly seed has been sown on fertile ground. She has, indeed, already had certain leanings towards greater freedom in respect to her relations with her husband, and this " Free Love " doctrine of the Socialists offers the opportunity, for so long as temptation remained absent the inducement to overt action was lacking. With notions of " Free Love" in her head she casts her eyes about her and soon espies a man more to her liking — at least for the moment — than her husband^ and — " Free Love " does the rest. Ask your honest and respectable artisan what he thinks of the Socialist doctrine of " Free Love " when his home is left desolate and his children motherless. He has tested Socialism in the narrow circle of his own private affairs. How does he like it ? Is he prepared to say that the infidelity of his wife, the desertion of his children, the wreck of his LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 53 home, and the destruction of beHef in a woman's purity and honour can be justified by any teach- ing or any form of faith ? Will he affirm that the alteration of the marriage laws and the loosen- ing of the nuptial bonds are anything more than inducements to the inception and growth of new ideas in respect to married life which are as sure to result in conjugal unhappiness as day results in night? Bringing the Case Home to Ourselves. These questions were bluntly put one Sunday by a Hyde Park "orator" who was speaking on this particular phase of Socialism. " Look 'ere, guvnor," cried a Socialist from the midst of the crowd^ " wot's all this 'ere Christian rot about being tied by the leg to one woman all our lives? ' Free Love,' says 1, and lots of it." "Very good," said the defender of the old familiar form of married life^ " but remember ' what's sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.' Are you a married man?" cried the Christian champion. " Yes, I am/' answered the Socialist. "All right, friend. Let us put the case this way. Supposing your wife has drunken as freely of this ' Free Love ' poison as you appear to have done, and she claims the right of deserting your Home and living as wife — or anything else you may choose to call her — with one of your 54 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS chums, perhaps ; how would you Uke it ? How would you feel when your pals jeered at you for your wife having gone to a better man and deserted you and your children, if you've got any — say, friend, how would you feel then?" " Oh, come, guv'nor, stow that ! You've no right to bring my missus into the bloomin' show. 'Ere, I'm off," and he retired amid the laughter of the crowd. This, in a rough way, illustrates the position of many of us. We are often ready enough to believe in and accept abstract theories, but hardly ever take the trouble to reduce them to a concrete form and apply them to our individual lives. We Feel the Lash when applied to our Own Backs. In the year 1858 the question of slavery was much in evidence in America^ and one of the great orators of the day, Stephen A. Douglas, in debating the matter, said : — " I care not whether slavery in the Territories be voted up or whether it be voted down, it makes not a particle of difference with me." In reply to this Abraham Lincoln answered : — " I am sorry to perceive that my friend Judge Douglas is so constituted that he does not feel the lash the least bit when it is laid upon another man's back." LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 55 This is exactly the attitude we assume in regard to many a question that we think can have no apphcation to us individually. So long as the lash does not fall upon our own backs we are indifferent to the whip, but the moment it touches our own bodies we at once perceive the injustice, cruelty, and inhumanity of the matter. If we take this attitude towards Socialism, which is as highly charged with revolutionary principles as a storm cloud is charged with electricity, we shall surely find that it has in store for us many a lash that will fall upon our individual shoulders with cruel effect and bite into our flesh so deeply as to defy even the healing power of time. Women, too, are vastly interested in this ques- tion. Infidelity to our wives is not altogether unknown to-day. Alter the marriage laws, loosen the ties between man and wife^ and adopt the Socialist scheme^ and more wives will be deserted in a month than are now deserted in a year. The home of many a working man, in common with many homes of other classes, are held together to-day only by those conditions which environ our social lives, but, given the opportunity, they would break up as easily as the clay is broken on the potter's wheel. Many a poor woman who has lost her good looks, and her power to please and attract, would be cast aside as we throw away a sucked orange, and her home would know her no more. Bereft of husband, children, home, her lot 56 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS would indeed be piteous, and with none to help she would be forced to seek refuge in the work- house. Summing Up. To arrive at some conclusion, let us sum up the matter in this way. The vast majority of the British people of all classes are of a peaceable, industrious nature, loyal to their country, true to their wives, honest, up- right and honourable in their dealings, and good citizens. They have a public code of laws which they respect and abide by, and a private code of honour which governs their inner domestic life and commences where the public code ends. By these two codes they shape their course, and, generally speaking, that course makes straight for clean living, a wholesome home atmosphere, and conjugal fidelity. The social conditions under which they live are clearly defined and well under- stood, their ethics are at least as good as those of the people of other civilised States, and, taking one thing with another, their lives are perhaps as free from immorality and sin as are the lives of their confreres in the United States of America or the other highly civilised countries of the Western world. The marriage laws of the country are perfectly intelligible and well understood by all classes, but they are not perfect. Many persons would prefer LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 57 to see greater equality between the sexes in the matter of divorce proceedings, among other things, and this change may come before long ; but, as far as they know, no section of the community has been clamouring for their repeal. All classes, both men and women, recognise in the laws affect- ing the married state certain sensible, practical provisions which ensure — as far as it is possible to do so — those conditions of domestic peace and conjugal loyalty and fidelity which is the raison d'etre of the matrimonial alliance, and they see no necessity for altering them. Freedom for All. Generally speaking, our common sense tells us our marriage laws ase good enough as they are, or, at all events, better than those suggested by the Socialists. There iSj, in spite of all that Socialists would have us believe to the contrary, perfect freedom for all. Neither man nor woman, as our everyday experience tells us, is ever forced into matrimony ; they are free to marry or free to remain single, just as free as they ever could be under Socialist or any other rule. Toryism and Capitalism play no greater part in matrimonial alliances to-day than they would if the Socialists' sway were established ; in fact, how could they ? What on earth has one or the other to do with either Bill Sikes or my Lord Tom Noddy's matrimonial arrangements? If they want to marry they marry, 58 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS and if they do not want to marry they remain single. And would not precisely the same rule apply under a Socialist " State " ? Animalism and Matrimony. The part that animalism plays in this question is not likely to be altered either way, for where men and women are animally inclined they are likely to remain so^ and all the legislation in the world will not alter them. You may have your Socialist " State " and all that it promises in re- spect to the alteration of the marriage laws and greater facilities for conjugal freedom, but rather than curbing animal propensities there will be extra inducement for their development. Looking at the matter from an impartial point of view, common-sense tells us that, taking one thing with another, our marriage laws, though not perfect, are more calculated to establish and pre- serve conjugal fidelity and peace than the ill- defined scheme which has tentatively been put for- ward by Socialists. Moreover, it is certain that any legislation in respect hereto that may be eventually undertaken must be approached with great care and circumspection, because the matter involves the most delicate relations of human life, and the sledge-hammer revolutionary methods of Socialism would obviously be altogether out of place where extreme adroitness and deftness of touch are required. LOOSENING OF THE MARRIAGE TIES 59 Alter the marriage laws in the manner advocated by Socialists, loosen the ties that bind man and wife together, give each of them freedom in lightly breaking away from the nuptial vows, and tlie chances are distinctly in favour of much matri- monial dissension, of the breaking up of homes, the desertion of children, and general domestic un- rest and unhappiness. This being the case, the masses of the British people will stoutly oppose revolutionary changes in our marriage laws. CHAPTER VI THE ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES AND THE ABANDONMENT OF INDIA AND THE COLONIES A Fatal Blunder of Socialists. One of the great fundamental blunders of Social- ists — and perhaps the greatest — is to regard Eng- land, per se, as the *' Ultima Thule " of their poli- tical horizon. They are apparently incapable of seeing beyond the four shores of the British Isles, yet England, although of vast importance, is only so because she is vastly greater abroad than at home. England may be likened unto an ancient patriarch, or the chief of a powerful clan, whose stalwart sons and numerous following of brave and loyal men are not afraid to push their father's for- tune outside the narrow limits of the patriarchal tent, or the restricted space enclosed by the walls of the paternal stronghold. Loyalty of our Overseas Empire. Britain's sons have not spared themselves, as the world knows ; they have penetrated to every quarter of the planet they inhabit, and have, in the course ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 61 of centuries, built up a splendid overseas Empire such as the world has never previously seen, and, perchance, may never see again. Their blood has been freely poured out for the land they loved, and their bones lie bleaching in many a far-off country. The sons of these gallant men hold with a strong hand that which their sires won for them at so great a cost; indeed, fully recognising that the Mother Country cannot now possibly exist with- out the everyday support and sustenance which she derives from her young possessions abroad, they have taken sure means to guard and protect these valuable and necessary possessions jealously and well. Statistical works on the subject will prove that it is necessary to maintain under arms upwards of a million men in all parts of our vast Empire to keep sea and land open for the free and unrestricted flow of British trade. The United Kingdom and India account for a large portion of this formidable army, while the re- mainder is scattered abroad throughout our Colonies and those other British possessions which go to make up that mighty commercial Empire over which the Union Jack waves so proudly. Protection of British Commerce. This vast armed force is not maintained for pro- vocative or predatory purposes, but solely in order that the way may be kept open for British trade, and that British people may be able to secure in 62 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS peace those food supplies which their own country does not produce, as w^ell as that prodigious quan- tity of raw material for industries upon which depends the welfare of 43,000,000 of our country- men. Socialists put the question of Standing Armies before their followers with the object of showing that this armed force is maintained to bolster up a worn-out Monarchy and a corrupt and effete social, religious, and economic condition, and also to main- tain foreign possessions which we should never have acquired; while they try to prove that it is a sore financial drain on the country, an injustice to the working classes, and a curse to the nation. It is, indeed, their business to make the people believe that the armed forces of the Empire are kept up for purposes entirely foreign to those which have been so clearly enumerated in these pages, in order that the way may be paved for their abolition. The army stands in the way of the Socialist leaders, and there- fore, like our graqd old religion and simple faith, it must be swept away. At least, this seems to be a fair interpretation of the Socialist programme. The view the British people take of the matter differs materially from that of the Socialists. They maintain that we require a million armed men to guard what we possess at home and abroad, and to keep the way open for the free and unfettered transit of that enormous volume of merchandise which is poured forth from our great hives of in- dustry in a constant and ever-increasing stream. ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 6.'5 Why the Army is Necessary. We might pause here with considerable profit in order to inquire more fulh'^ into this highly impor- tant question. We require the active daily co-operation of an armed force of a million men in all parts of the vast British Empire to maintain intact those very insti- tutions which Socialists are striving so hard to destroy. These institutions, which are as essential to the sustenance of England as the sun's light and warmth are to the planet on which we live, include — among other things — the supremacy of the seas and the maintenance of that stupendous export and import trade without which the Mother Country would die literally for want of food. Every schoolboy knows that the vast armed force which we find it necessary to maintain, and the powerful navy which guards the seas, are not kept up for the sole purpose of intimidating our customers and forcing our trade and manufactures on the nations, but rather that the way may be kept open for the free inflow of those vast supplies of food stuffs which we are forced to buy for the people, and for the import of that raw material which we work up into manufactured articles and send back in exchange for our food supplies. Imperial Insurance. " Man cannot live by bread alone," said the Master, and we have found it so. Nor can he live 64 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS by bread and gold. We are forced to import three- fourths of our bread, and if we had nothing but gold to pay for it, we should soon starve. Gold is truly a necessary item in the world's economy, and a highly important factor, but unless it be used wisely it is of little good. The British people use their gold wisely in spending it freely on the estab- lishment and development of great manufacturing industries which enable them to pay for imported food and to provide, at the same time, employment for vast numbers of people. Then they sagaciously spend a part of it on those armed forces which every loyal Englishman knows are absolutely essen- tial to the British Empire — or, in other words, in the maintenance of — British Trade. Abolish these standing armies, destroy our sea supremacy, and the mighty trade of Britain would crumble and fall to pieces as easily as a child's card castle is de- stroyed by a passing breath. Let us now turn to the contemplation of a pos- sible, nay, a very probable, condition under a Socialist Government. We will suppose that the vast standing armies of the Empire have been abolished, and that some sort of an armed force, merely for the internal pur- poses of the British Isles, has been set up in their stead. We should assume, at the same time, that the Continental powers have refused to abolish their standing armies at the bidding of English Social- ists, and then conjecture what might, and assuredly would, take place. ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 65 England Without Defence. For the first time in history, England would be left without a striking force, without the means of defending her possessions abroad, or of striking an efTective blow in defence even of her own shores; she would be as impotent as a palsied cripple, and an easy prey to any nation coveting our great possessions. At the moment we are at peace with all our war- like neighbours because — " when a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace." The reverse side of this position is worth con- sidering. In looking about us for a possible foe we might first of all regard Germany as the most likely Power in Europe to attempt to take from us that which Socialists would hold so lightly, partly because of the ill-feeling between the two nations which has, most regrettably, been stirred up of late years, and partly because the enormous commercial and in- dustrial expansion of Germany demands far wider markets than she possesses to-day, which markets are only to be found within the broad scope of British possessions. Let us suppose, then, that Germany, being fully alive to the pressing necessity of finding larger and surer markets for the outlet of her ever-increasing productions, and being tempted thereto by our naval and military weakness, casts covetous eyes on India. How would a Socialist Government stop her from taking that which she coveted ? 66 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Dangers of German Invasion. Our inability to defend our own country from invasion, or hold with a strong hand those great possessions of ours across the seas which our gal- lant forefathers w^on for us and upon which Eng- lish blood and English gold have been poured out with no stinted hand, would be patent to Germany as to the whole world, and Germany would get, with hardly an effort, that which she might desire. A pretence for war could easily be found, and a few hundred thousand troops, which could be spared from her great and splendid army without being felt, could be landed on our own shores in a few hours. Germany would then be able to dictate her terms for the cession of our great Indian Empire from London and not from Calcutta. Not a man would Germany land in India till the compact be- tween the weak Socialist Government of Great Britain and the powerful Chancellor of a great military empire had been drawn up, and the treaty signed and delivered and — what then ? India is by far the best and largest market for many of our manufactured commodities; these manufactures alone employ between one and two millions of workers, while they feed and support several millions more. These workers, and all those who are dependent upon them — the old people, the women and children, and the wives and families of this great army of toilers — who, even under the present comparatively favourable existing condi- ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 67 tions which surround their lives, find it hard enough to live with a fair amount of comfort — want to know what they are to do when Germany wrests the whole of our great Indian trade from our people and sup- plies her own goods to that vast country with its 300,000,000 of people, all of whom to-day want something that our own people manufacture? These millions of workers ask how these Social- ists are going to employ and feed them and their families when there is no longer a demand for those goods which it has been their life's business to make ? These workers are not fools ; on the contrary, they are keen observers, and, among other things, they are quite capable of seeing that in these days when nations are armed to the teeth it is he who is strong wiio can hold with a firm hand that which is his, and not he who is weak and feeble. " No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he will first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house," said the Master, and although Socialists profess to deny Christ and deride His sayings, the Great Teacher, albeit He was an embodiment of forgiveness, mercy, compassion, and love, was, nevertheless, wiser than they, for He taught how a man might avoid the spoiler, while they teach how he may fall into his hands. F 2 CHAPTER VI THE ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES {Continued) suicidal socialist policy of playing into the hands of germany, and the enormous issues involved Way Made Easy for the Spoilers. If such a Socialist programme as that which is sketched in the preceding chapter were put into operation the knell of the British Empire would be sounded; for if the armed forces which Great Britain finds it necessary to maintain in many parts of the world be abolished, the way is made easy for the spoilers. Germany may well covet India, as other nations may, and she will get it if she can. It may have been the dream of her great statesmen for years, for they know as well as we do that the trade of India is the most valuable in the world. They moreover realise that, owing to the enormous industrial expansion of Germany, further markets for this phenomenal and yet ever-increasing output ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 69 of manufactured goods must be found, and India alone can give her what she wants. Betrayal to the Teutons. Germany is our good friend to-day, and treats us with that becoming courtesy and respect which one strong man feels for another, but give her the op- portunity and she will avenge, in her own way, those insults to her national pride which commenced with the taunt — " JMade in Germany," and culmin- ated during the war in South Africa in the boarding of the steam vessels the Bundesrath and the General. Many of us have forgotten these little matters, but Germany has not, and that is why her navy has grown up in six years to such an extent as to make her one of the most formidable sea- powers in the world. Germany may be biding her time, and if the Socialists give her the opportunity of landing her armies on these shores, India, at least, will be the price the people of England will have to pay for the betrayal of their beloved land to the Teuton conqueror. Then how can we hold our other possessions — Canada, Australia, and many others, in their in- tegrity, once the strong man is overcome? The United States are not hankering much after Canada to-day, but once the Mother Country has been shorn of her strength and has nothing where- with to protect her young possessions abroad, what is to prevent Canada herself seeking protection 70 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS from her great Foster Mother just across the Niagara River ? Or what is to prevent the United States taking over that great Western Dominion, either by fair means or foul ? Australia and New Zealand, as well as India, would fall to Germany, while our Mediterranean ports would go to the Latin nations interested in those waters. Who is to prevent it? — not the Socialists, for their determination is to do away with our standing armies, and so deprive us of the means of guarding our home and holding by force of arms those overseas possessions which are rightly our own. In reply to these pertinent questions, Socialists will perhaps tell us that Socialism is essentially an international movement, and that the abolition of our standing armies presupposes a state of affairs whereunder the standing armies of all the other civilised States of the world have been abolished, or that, at all events, an international undertaking to that effect has been given. But can any man living to-day — whether of the English race or of foreign blood — honestly say that such things are possible ? Universal Peace, or Strife and War? Is it conceivable that, under any conditions which are likely to regulate and control human life in this twentieth century, or, at all events, in the near future, the nations will come together in the brother- hood of universal love, and that a holy calm will ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 71 possess mankind as a result of the mild, benign, just, and eminently peaceful sway of Socialism ? Can it be consistently urged by Socialists that Socialism can confer the benefits of universal peace, equity, and love when its very doctrines teach strife, hatred, and class war, and proclaim, at the very outset, its unmistakably predatory nature ? How is it possible for Socialists to ensure equity, justice, and peace when every other item in their revolutionary propaganda declares for confiscation, spoliation, expropriation, and war? Said one of the prominent Socialist leaders — Mr. Jack London — speaking of the Socialist cause : — " They are fighting with all their might for the conquest of the wealth of the world and for the complete overthrow of existing society. . . . The cry of the army is ' No Quarter ' ; we want all you possess."^ We ask, then, how can these Socialists, who have declared a relentless war of extermination against all classes who do not or who will not em- brace the Socialist cause^ and who have the lust of avarice in their hearts, and malice^ revenge, and bitter hatred for their war cry, possibly ensure that international universal peace which must neces- sarily exist before any presupposition in regard to the international abolition of standing armies can be indulged in ? The proposition is so absurd that we need not discuss the matter further. ^ Contemporary Review, ]z.r\\jia.ry, 1908. 72 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Enormous Issues Involved. Shorn of our great overseas possessions, what are we going to do ? How are we to employ our millions, and how are we to feed them ? Forty- three millions of men, women, and children in the United Kingdom to-day are depending upon the maintenance of those social and economic condi- tions to which they were born and bred, and which they are accustomed to regard as essential to exist- ence. These social and economic conditions are, in fact^ as much interwoven into the lives of the people as the warp and woof are woven into the web of the cloth^ and to tear them out or destroy them would be to cut off life itself. That this would happen is as sure as the coming of the equi- noxes or the return of the seasons^ but the Socialists are careful not to tell us so. As these matters involve such enormous issues, we must look at them entirely from our own point | of view, and indulge in the same plain speaking which is characteristic of every Socialist utterance, as is shown by all their publications. | Positively Suicidal. | The vast masses of the British people to-day are inclined to regard the Abolition of the Standing Army, the Repudiation of the National Debt, and other items of a kindred nature in the Socialist programme, as being not only impracticable, but positively suicidal, and that, if resorted to, would ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 73 encompass the destruction of that great Empire we are all so proud of, and bring about the invasion of the country we love so well. To all men and women in the land who do not write themselves " Comrades," the Socialists are but a new political party, aiming at place and power, and determined to get it if they can. They are regarded as being bold in their methods, un- wearying in their efforts, tenacious in their grip, and altogether unscrupulous. There is^ as is well known, no chance for a new political party along the familiar and well-beaten tracks of everyday politics, and the organisers of this new party, there- fore, find it imperative to make a fresh road for themselves. The road chosen so deliberately by the Socialist leaders seems, to the vast masses of the English people, so fraught with danger, so full of deadly peril, so inimical to national interests, and so menacing to the nation's peace as to be hopelessly impossible, and, in declining to follow them along so dangerous a highway, the question is naturally asked, why have they chosen it ? The reason may be sought for in many direc- tions, because, in this busy world, full as it is of multitudinous aims and desires, men are moved by all sorts of ambitions, and, if the lust of place and power be among the causes which have influenced the leaders of Socialism to adopt what seems to us so perilous a course, the reason is obvious. If, on the other hand, Utopianism is at the root of it — and 74 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS it should be borne in mind that Socialism is as full of Utopianism as an egg is full of meat — then the path chosen would be just as full of deadly peril to those who pursue it as though they were urged along it by other and more malign influences. At any rate, the British people, rightly or wrongly, regard the Socialists of to-day as a new political party with a new party cry of " Social and Economic Revolution, and Better Times for the Poor." A Deceptive Bait — A Decoy. The bait is tempting enough, but, like all baits, is it but a deception — a decoy ? One of our political parties raised the cry of the "Cheap Loaf," and it "caught on" for a time, but where is the cheap loaf to-day ? Ask the East Ender who is paying heavily for his daily bread how he likes the "Cheap Loaf" cry to-day, and, in language more forcible than polite, he will tell you it is nothing but a fraud and a sham. Question the workers in the great centres of population, and they will tell you the " Cheap Loaf " cry is, like many other political cries, a snare and a delusion. Socialism may prove to be a blessing, but it comes to us in such a questionable shape as to lead us to think otherwise. To-day, Socialism means upheaval, revolution, and dislocation of the ma- chinery of State, and the destruction of all existing conditions, and until we can satisfy ourselves that ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 75 Socialism means, in all cases, the very antithesis of this, we are not likely to be beguiled by any of its party cries and watchwords. Indeed, we may be justified in going even a step further and plainly saying that if we are so foolish as to permit this new political party to play their own game to our grievous hurt, without playing a strong counter- game to defeat their every move, we simply deserve that widespread destruction and deep national hu- miliation which will surely overtake us unless we learn to realise the insidious nature of this new political teaching, and take steps to deprive it of its virulent poison. Disintegration of the Empire. Let us, however, be sure that we are right in our premises, and that the abandonment of India, among other things, is contemplated by Socialism. Here is what one of the official Socialist docu- ments says upon the subject : — " But what is this attitude of Socialism towards backward races, savage and barbaric peoples, who are to-day outside the civilised world ? The posi- tion of Socialism towards these races is one of ab- solute non-interference. We hold that they should be left entirely alone to develop themselves in the natural order of things, which they must inevitably do or die out. This is the attitude of Socialism towards these races, not onlv from considerations of justice, or on abstract ethical grounds, but also for Socialist economic reasons, as the expansion of 76 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS caprtalism beyond its present limits means the but- tressing of the present system of society, and the extension of its lease of life. For this reason all the Socialist parties of the world have, by instinct, thrown the whole force of their opposition against colonial expansion in any shape or form. Socialists are in this respect eminently " Little Englanders," "Little Francers," and "Little Germaners." ^ " That the agricultural population was well-to- do as a whole when we commenced our long reign of wrong and robbery is borne witness to by many travellers of capacity. It has been our mission to destroy all this greatness and prosperity, and to reduce the inhabitants of British territory proper to absolute indigence."^ " This meeting of the citizens of London ex- presses its deep sympathy and admiration for Lajpat Rai, Adjit Singh, and the Sikh leaders at Rawal Pindi, Amritsar, and Lahore, now under- going imprisonment without trial at the command of Mr. John Morley and the Liberal Government " [(Cries of "Shame.") But wfiy cry "shame"? It is just the same thing whether you have a Liberal and Tory Government ; it is no more shame for one than for the other. If you do not under- stand that Liberal and Tory and Tory and Liberal spell exactly the same thing with different letters, you do not know much about the history of your country. (Hear, hear.)] "and sends its cordial ^ Belfort Bax and Quelch, A New Catechism of Socialism^ p. 36. 2 H. M. Hyndman, Colonies and Dependencies, p. 12. Report to the International Socialist Congress held at Amsterdam, August, 1904. ABOLITION OF STANDING AR]\IIES 77 greetings to the agitators all over India, who are doing their utmost to awaken their countrymen of every race and creed to the ruinous effect of our rule, which, by draining away ;^35, 000,000 worth of produce yearly from India without return, lias manufactured poverty upon a scale unprecedented in history, and is converting the greatest Empire the world has ever seen into a vast pauper warren and human plague farm. This meeting, further, records its fervent hope that this infamous British system, which crushes all economic, social, and political life out of 230 millions of people, will, ere long, be peaceably or forcibly swept away for ever." ^ " That is to say, the plague has settled in India permanently, and it has been increasing to such an extent that in the month of March alone 250,000 Indians died of black plague : that is, 50,000 more than the total population of Europeans and Eura- sians in all India. In the first two weeks in April they died at the rate of 75,000 a week of plague. (Cries of ' Shame.') I say that that mortality, and the poverty which engenders it, is due to the Englishmen in this room, and the English people who support this administration. (Applause.) It is upon our shoulders that the responsibility for this impoverishment of India, resulting in the awful plague mortality, really falls." ^ " The shame of it will be upon us unless we do our best to help the people of India if they try to remove our misgovernment. The whole thing to ' H. M. Hyndman, Unrest in India. Verbatim Report of a Speech delivered at Chandos Hall, London, May 12, 1907, p. i. 2 Ibid.., p. 7. 78 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS me is a hideous nightmare. I can scarcely ima- gine the horrors we create. Just think of 250,000 people dying of manufactured black plague in one month ! The poverty of India is almost incredible. At least 100,000,000 of that people are existing in permanent starvation. That makes me feel even more hatred against the ruling class in this country than the misery which I see around me in London."^ " Let us rise to the level of the situation. (Cheers.) We wull neither have any part in allow- ing these horrors to continue, nor will we permit any repression of the people of India, * rightly struggling to be free,' but we will pledge ourselves to take up an attitude of stern opposition to such a policy now and henceforth. Then, at last, will come the period when this awful nightmare of British misrule and British blood-sucking will be ended, and India, free to work out her own salva- tion, will once more be a wealthy, glorious, and happy country. (Loud and prolonged cheer- ing.)"2 " We are ruining that great Empire with a cruelty and imbecility unknown since the Spanish conquest of South America, and exceeding in cold- blooded horror even the infamies of the inhuman Viceroys of that day. The people of England, the people in this hall, are responsible for the famines in India, and the plague which is engendered by poverty. They are responsible for allowing men like Curzon to manufacture famine in their name 1 H. M, Hyndman, Unrest in India. Verbatim Report of a Speech delivered at Chandos Hall, London, May 12, 1907, p. 16. 2 Ibid., p. 16. ABOLITIOxN OF STANDING ARMIES 79 for tens of millions of people by a deliberate policy of bleeding to death. Any harm that comes upon this country for the wrong thus done will have been well deserved. The most hideous crime that has blackened the history of mankind is now being committed by us. As we have utterly failed to do anything but frightful mischief, it is high time we left India to manage her own affairs." ^ In the face of such irrefutable testimony to the contrary, it could never be contended that Social- ists are not contemplating the abandonment of India and the sacrifice of our Colonies. Gross Libels. We have quoted chiefly from Mr. Hyndman's utterances, partly for the reason that that gentle- man is regarded by his followers as the founder of British Socialism, and partly because he excels all his compeers in posing as the champion of Indian freedom. The above quotations are but a few extracts from the many bitter things Mr. Hyndman has had to say about India and its government, while the fact that such utterances are grossly libellous of a great body of self-denying Englishmen who form the splendid administration of our great Indian Empire naturally incenses the uncritical audiences to whom he invariably addresses himself. ' H, M. Hyndman, Social-Deinocracy, p. 27. 80 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Facts about Indian Government. The fact is that the Indian Government, although not perfect — as no government in this mundane sphere is likely to be perfect — is, nevertheless, an honest, upright administration, striving to do its best under exceptionally difficult conditions. The Indian Empire is so vast, its elements so heterogeneous, its races so dissimilar, its sociology so complicated, and its economic conditions so varying, that the wonder is that a handful of aliens can govern at all. That they do govern, and govern generally in the best interests of the multi- tudinous races of that great country, is a matter of common knowledge to all who really know India — that is to say, to those who have lived many years in the country, as well as those who, as students, have honestly tried to become acquainted with the real facts by studying the works of com- petent writers. In regard to its personnel, the Indian Govern- ment may be, and is, justly proud. In the ranks of the various services are to be found thousands of men who exile themselves from their native land at an early age, and spend practically the remainder of their lives under such abnormal climatic and social conditions, for which no pay, however good, can possibly compensate. Owing to the extraordinary conditions which prevail in India, these men are necessarily often invested with administrative powers which are un- ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 81 dreamed of in this country, and which, indeed, EngHsh officials would not care to assume ; yet it is astonishing with what remarkable moderation they exercise them. Strenuous in their lives, patient under bodily ills induced by a bad climate, constantly practising self-abnegation for the public good, working longer hours than any officials in this country would care to work; longer, indeed, than any English Govern- ment would dare to ask its servants to work; the Indian officials may justly be regarded as perhaps the best administrative body that the world can produce to-day. It is thought by most EngHsh people that, in respect to actual work, the Anglo-Indian has an easy time, but, as a matter of fact, he works longer hours than his confreres do here. In the hottest time of the year the Anglo-Indian official frequently leaves his house at 5 a.m. on horseback, and puts in five hours' work before breakfast. He then works on through the long, weary Indian day, finishing in the late afternoon or evening, and this severe drain on the best of our manhood goes on year after year till sickness or death calls — Halt ! Author's Long Indian Experience. The writer was over forty years in India in un- official capacities, and during his long sojourn under Indian skies he found ample opportunity of studying Indian official life, among other things, G 8a SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS while his seat on the Legislative Council for eight or nine years offered every facility for arriving at just conclusions in respect to the equity, justice, the suitableness, and the necessity, or otherwise, for British rule in India. Only one conclusion is possible, and that is the absolute necessity there is for British occupation. The following passage from another writer is significant : — " A well-known representative of one of the fighting races of India was asked not long ago what, in his opinion, would happen in India if the British power were withdrawn. His reply was more trenchant than polite, but it was true. *' In six months," said he, " there would not be a virgin or a rupee left in Bengal."^ The writer not only endorses the prediction of the blunt Indian fighter, but he goes considerably further. Not only would Bengal be handed over to the warlike sons of those warrior races which have swept the Eastern Provinces time and again as with a besom of destruction^ but tribe would rise against tribe, and race against race, from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, and from Burmah to the wild borders of Afghanistan. " Freedom " Means Rapine. Will the proud and warlike Sikh nation consent to be governed by the Sons of Islam from Delhi 1 Right Hon. H. 0. Arnold-Forster, English Socialism of To-Day^ p. 8r. ABOLITION OF STANDING ARMIES 88 and the other great cities of the North-West and the Punjab, and will Scindhia and his Mahrattas succumb to the Nizam of Hyderabad ? Is it likely that the warrior tribes of Rajpootana would obey the mandates of a Bengali Parliament, or that the fierce, head-hunting Nagas and other wild tribes on the Cachar and Assam frontiers would be kept in check by a Baboo government ? Then, is it to be supposed that Afghanistan it- self would be kept in leash once the strong Govern- ment v/hich now insists on internal peace were re- moved? The loot of India is the Afghan's dream, and v.ho and what would hinder its realisation if you take away the strong man who now guards the house ? Mr. Hyndman may be an excellent Socialist, but, in spite of his many lectures and writings, he knows not India. If he is earnestly desirous of helping the people of India, let him pray to all his gods to maintain the British Government in all its integrity, or a far worse thing will surely befall that country than even when the fierce Jenghiz Khan devastated it with fire and sword, and the fiery Tamerlane swept the cities of the plain with his wild horsemen, and left nought behind save ravished women and slain men. The Indian Government has asked for no testi- monial from the writer, nor have the members of the Indian Civil Service solicited him for a char- G 2 84 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS acter, but he can honestly vouch for the necessity for the continuance of the former, while he has nothing but intense admiration for a body of self- denying, patriotic Englishmen who, under excep- tionally trying and difficult conditions, administer wisely and well and with absolute incorruptness to the daily needs of that heterogeneous mass of 300,000,000 people whom Mr. Hyndman would first poison with discontent and then stir into rebellion. Having narrowed this question down to the irre- ducible minimum of whether or not we are pre- pared to abandon India and lose our Colonies, we would prefer to leave its settlement to the good judgment and calm common sense of our fellow- countrymen. CHAPTER VIII THE STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES AND THE DESTRUCTION OF CAPITALISTS Predatory Socialism. The next subject of our investigation is the State Ownership of Industries, or, as it is rightly called outside the Socialist ranks, the Destruction of Capi- talists and the Withdrawal of Capital from the Country. This question is of such stupendous magnitude that it is almost impossible to do full justice to it. The utmost we can do here is to briefly set forth the aim and object of Socialism in respect thereto, and then state the objections of non-Socialists. The State ownership of industries means exactly what the term implies, namely, the State is to be owner of railways, tramways, and all other locomo- tive services ; of docks, canals, electric light, of gas and water supplies, of all manufacturing industries, land, banks, pawnshops, restaurants, and practi- cally all trades and all sources of production. Socialism represents capitalists as tyrants, who wax fat on the poor man's toil, while they rob him 86 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS — so they contend — of two-thirds or even three- fourths of his income. Wipe out the capitalist taskmaster, expropriate him as far as you can, set up State industries in place of those run by private capital, and every poor man will become either rich, or at least well off. *' The capitalist class has been indicted. It has failed in its management, and its management is to be taken away from it. Seven million men of the working class say that they are going to get the rest of the working class to join with them and take the management away." ^ " The greatest Empire the world has ever seen is rotting at its heart. . . . The causes are not far to seek. We here in Great Britain have enjoyed the fruits of competitive capital- ism for fully four generations. From the latter part of the eighteenth century until now, the capitalists, with their economic dependents, the landlords, have practically everything their own way. No continuous attempt has been made to regulate their slave-driving system, which, devoid of all personal relations or social morality, and guided solely by greed of gain, regards the pro- letariat engendered by its own development as mere food for profit, whose claim to live is grounded solely upon its usefulness to provide wealth for others on a low standard of subsistence for itself. The wonder is not that things are so bad, but that they are not worse. No record of brutality to 1 Jack London, " Revolution." Contemporary Review., January., 1908. STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 87 women and children, in any part of the world, at any period of history, equals what was done by the capitalist class in Great Britain at the expense of this most defenceless part of the population in the fifty years preceding the enactment of the first effective Factory Acts." ' " Socialism is an attack upon the means whereby millions of men and women in the upper and middle classes live, and the whole lesson of history is that they will fight savagely for the retention of their rents, their interests, and their dividends." ^ " The classes have such a land monopoly that they would not allow the masses to use the roads, only that without free roads the workers would not be able to get to their work, and the result would be that the classes would have to start working them- selves. The workers of Britain are practically aliens in the land where they were born, and they are absolutely dependent upon a small section of the community for permission to live in their native land, and they cannot secure that permission with- out paying on the average twopence out of each shilling that they earn to keep an idle class in luxury and extravagance."^ " I am not speaking in any personal sense, John, but of capital in the abstract, and I say that in every manifestation, capital, as now employed, by an in- herent law of its being is the embodiment of blind, incarnate greed, that knows no mercy ; like Solo- mon's horse leech, it cannot be satisfied, and this ' H. M. Hyndman, Darkness and Dawn of May Day., \fyyj^ PP- 4, 5- ^ James Leatham, Preface to the Class War. 3 Councillor C. A. Glyde, A Peep Behind the Scenes, p. 3. 88 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS fatal characteristic of capital is, under your system of trade, inseparable from it." ' " We would take this unemployed labour of the working classes and organise it under State and communal effort, and when I speak of the State I do not mean the State governed by the landlords and capitalists, but the State organised under the control of the whole industrial community as a whole. Mr. George says, ' How are you going to take them ? ' Well, friends and fellow citizens, by vote if possible, by force if necessary. (Loud cheers.) And precisely the same thing applies to rent. How are you going to take the rent ? By vote if possible, by force if necessary." ^ " Do capitalists provide work for everybody? — No. They only employ people when they can make a profit. What is meant by the term ' employing men for profit ' ? — Capitalists, when they pay wages, make the workers produce three or four times the amount they pay them. The extra which the men produce over their wages is called profit. " What evidence is there that the workers earn a great amount and get very little? — The national amount of wealth produced every year is two thousand millions, and the amount paid out in wages is only 500 millions, showing that the poor are poor because they are robbed. " Is it wrong to make profit ? — Yes ; but it is legal according to law and custom."^ * Samuel Washington, A Nation of Slaves, p. 6. 2 H. M. Hyndman, Tfie Single Tax v. Social De^nocracy, p. 28. 3 A. P. Hazell, The Red Catechism, p. 2. STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 89 «'Q._Whois thy God? A. — Capital. Q. — Is thy God omnipotent ? A. — Yes. His grace can grant any and all en- joyments. When he turns his countenance from a person, a family, a country, they are smitten with misery. The power of the God CAPITAL in- creases with the increase of His bulk. Daily does He conquer new countries ; daily does He enlarge the swarms of His vassals, who devote their lives to the mission of increasing His power. Q. — Who are the chosen ones of thy God ? A. — The manufacturers, merchants, landlords, and bankers. Q. — How does thy God reward thee? A. — By furnishing work to me, my wife, and my children, down to the youngest. Q. — Is that thy only reward ? A. — No. Our God allows us to help still our hunger, by looking through the large pier-glass windows of stylish restaurants, devour with our eyes the delightful roasts and delicacies that we have never tasted and never will taste, because these viands are only for the nourishment of the chosen ones and their high priests. Out of His kindness are we also allowed to warm our limbs, numb with cold, by affording us occasional opportunities to admire the soft furs and the thick-spun woollen cloths exhibited in large stores, and intended for the comfort of the chosen ones and their high priests only. He also grants us the exquisite joy of re- galing our eyes on streets and public resorts, with the sights of the sacred crowds of Capitalists and Landlords, to admire their sleekness and round- 90 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS ness, together with their gorgeously-decked lackeys and footmen as they drive by in brilliant equipages. Q. — Are the chosen ones of the same race as thy- self? A. — The manufacturers and landlords are kneaded out of the same clay as myself, but they have been chosen out of thousands and millions. Q. — What have they done to deserve this eleva- tion ? A. — Nothing. Our God manifests His omnipo- tence by bestowing His favours upon those who have not earned them." ^ " Fools as we were, in their honour confiding, We furnished their feasts with the price of our shame, And our meanness was food for their mirth and deriding, In murder they steeped us to blazon their fame. Now, as with naked glaives, Stand we no longer slaves ; Freemen to tyrants no debtors should be. Down on the hated foe, Pay back the debt we owe, Coined in their carnage till labour is free." ^ ^t)"- " Ye poor of wealthy England, Who starve and sweat and freeze By labour sore to fill the store Of those who live at ease ; 'Tis time to know your real friends, To face your real foe, And to fight for your right Till ye lay your masters low ; Small hope for you of better days Till ye lay your masters low." ^ 1 A Socialist Ritual. Reprinted from Justice, pp. 8, 9. 2 Social-Democratic Federation Song Book : verse 2, SociaHstic War Song," p. 13. 3 Ibid. : verse i, "Ye Poor of Wealthy England," p. 25. STATE O^VNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 91 " Oh ! ye tyrants of the earth, Who make others' ruin your trade, 'Midst licentious love and mirth, Fashion, pomp, and church parade, Do you never think, oh, tell, Of the hideous crime and shame That has made this earth a hell Of commercial fraud and shame ! " ^ " The kings of mines, and ships, and railways, Resplendent in their vulgar pride, Have plied their task to exploit always Those whose labour they've e'er decried. Great the spoil they hold in their coffers, To be spent on themselves alone ; We'll seize it some day spite of scoffers, And feel that we have got our own.'' ^ " These kings defile us with their powder, We want no war within the land ; Let soldiers strike : for peace call louder. Lay down arms, and join hand in hand. Should these vile monsters still determine Heroes to make us in despite, They'll know full soon the kind of vermin Our bullets hit in this last fight." ^ These specimens are so typical of the doctrine of SociaHsm in this respect that they will suffice to illustrate the case, although scores of kindred utter- ances might be cited. The question of Capital, however, holds so im- portant a position in the economy of the nation, and plays so much more intimate a part in the life of every working man in this country than the ' Social-Democratic Federation Song Book: verse 3, " In this Age of Vice and Crime," p. 28. ' Ibid. : verse 4, " The International," p. 39. ■^ Ibid. : verse 5. m SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Socialist leaders would have them to believe, that it would be as well to show some more aspects of the question which Socialists carefully hide from their followers. ^ Political Jugglery. Briefly stated, Socialism declares war against the tyranny of Capital and the uprooting and destruc- tion of Capitalists. This, of course, sounds in- tensely philanthropic and patriotic, but as common- sense people, who love fair play, let us measure this scheme by a common-sense standard. If it is of a substantial, durable nature it will bear close inspec- tion, and it may be weighed in the scales of every- day practicality and no harm will come of it ; other- wise it will prove to be another sham, a shadowy phantasm, a very ignis fatuus of political jugglery. These Socialists swear to make war on capitalists — why ? They tell us capitalists are tyrants, and that to crush tyrants and free the people from the might of tyranny under which they are groaning to-day is a meritorious deed, deserving the sym- pathy, support and co-operation of all right-minded men and women throughout the country. Splen- did ! Not a man in the country will find fault with such noble sentiments, but is there even a grain of common-sense in it ? Is it anything more than another form of that political will-o'-the-wisp which so often leads the unwary astray ? Let us look into it with the deep searching eyes of Truth, for in her gaze there is no guile. STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 93 Capital is as necessary to the social and economic machine as steam is to the engine; they are co- existent and co-equal ; take away one and the other becomes of no practical use. Capital and Labour. Capital and Labour are not exactly in the same position, for, whereas Capital may exist fairly well without Labour — at least for a considerable time — Labour, on the other hand, would surely dwindle away and speedily die if Capital were withdrawn. Link these two forces together, however, drive them abreast, curricle fashion, and you will get the best possible results — economic and social. We are all familiar with the enormous advantages derived by our own country in the past from the wise blending of these two forces ; and in more recent times we have seen the enormous increase of individual and collective wealth which has accrued to our great industrial rivals — Germany and the United States — through the judicious wedding of Capital and Labour in those countries and their subsequent co-operation. A single instance will show how enormously the 'worki7ig classes of Germany, for example, have benefited, especially during the last few years, by linking together the two forces which make for com- mercial and industrial success. Wonderful German Progress. Our own Foreign Office in May of last year issued a Report on the trade of Germany in igo6, 94 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS by Dr. Paul Schwabach (British Consul-General at Berlin), from which it will be seen that the quanti- ties of German goods placed on the home and foreign markets during the year had assumed re- cord proportions ; works had been extended to the utmost capacity, while numbers of skilled w^orkmen from England and other countries had to be im- ported to meet the ever-growing demand for Ger- man productions. This scarcity of Labour had re- sulted in a general and considerable rise of wages, as well as in a shortening of the working hours, and it will presently be seen that the wealth resulting from this co-operation of CAPITAL and LABOUR has largely gone into the pockets of the working classes, as it rightly should, and, indeed, must, under the economic conditions prevailing in the German Empire. Now let us get this fact well into our minds, namely, that this is no economic ignis fatuus luring us on to our ruin, but a hard, solid, commercial and industrial fact, yet withal very pleasant indeed and distinctly encouraging. The German working classes have increased their savings in the Prussian savings banks alone during the period 1894-1905 from ;^i96,iii,275 to ;^4i5,ooo,ooo, while a more recent statement furnished by the same high authority gives the total amount to the credit of the working classes in the savings banks of the German Empire at the colossal sum of ;^594, 81 7,000. A still more startling fact is that, during the last year under review — 1906 — the working classes of STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 95 Prussia alone still further added the enormous sum of over ;^27, 000,000 to the hoarded total, while the British working classes increased their deposits for the same period by the insignificant sum of ;^300,ooo only. Here are the British figures : ^ — ■ Deposits for the year 1906 . . . ^43,980,578 Withdrawals „ „ . . . 43,675,181 Increase in Deposits during the year . ^3oS5397 How THE Teutons Flourish. Let us carefully note this cardinal fact, for it is the pivot on w-hich the entire question hangs — the German workers have been enabled to pile up these prodigious savings out of their share of profits re- sulting from an eminently wise blending and co- operation of Capital and Labour. As this bare statement of facts would lose strength if not brought into juxtaposition with kindred state- ments from other countries, let us place it side by side with the savings of our own working classes for similar periods. Appended are the statistics bearing on the subject furnished by Government. 1894. P.O. Savings Banks . , ;^89, 266,006 Trustee „ . . 43,474,904 ;^ 1 32, 740,9 10 1905. P.O. Savings Banks . . ^152,000,000 Trustees „ . . 52,000,000 ;^204,0O0,O00 Siatesmati^s Year-Book^ 1908. 96 SOCIAIJSM AND ITS PERILS Here, then, we have a startling revelation. We, with our overwhelming superiority in respect to the volume and value of trade, which totals the enor- mous sum of over ;!^ 1,000,000,000^ sterling annu- ally, have only been able to increase our deposits in the Savings Banks by ;^7 1,000, 000 in eleven years, and put by in 1906 the insignificant sum of ;^300,ooo; whereas Germany, with her compara- tively small trade of ^'760,000,000, has managed to pile up her deposits during the same period by the prodigious sum of ;^398,7o6,525 sterling, while during the year — 1906 — the people actually added to their already stupendous accumulations the almost incredible sum of ;^27, 000,000. Warning to the People. If these amazing facts are not enough to warn the people of the terrible danger they are incurring in following this new sect of political fireflies, it is to be feared that nothing will. We have in these instances taken the Savings Banks of both countries as a sufficient index of the workers' financial condition, and have left out of consideration such institutions as Benefit Societies, Trade Unions, and other societies of a kindred nature in which the people are wont to invest part of their earnings. ^ Board of Trade Returns. CHAPTER IX THE STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES AND THE DESTRUCTION OF CAPITALISTS {continued) CONTRAST OF BRITISH AND GERMAN LABOUR MARKETS, ILLUSTRATING HOW BRITISH INDUSTRY WILL BE PARALYSED BY THE ADOPTION OF SOCIALIST METHODS It may well be asked here why it is, with our greater industries and larger trade, our workers manage to put by so little, while the German workers contrive to add so enormously to their savings each year? The reply is — partly because our labour markets are always in a highly congested condition owing to the practical destruction of our great agricultural industry, and partly because of the greater thrift of the German workers. In Germany the great and splendid agricultural industry draws away so many millions from her labour ranks that the trades and industries find it difficult to get a sufficiency of workers; in other words, between agriculture, trades and manufac- H 98 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS tures, Germany finds profitable employment for practically every man and woman in the Empire. Root of Labour Difficulties. This, however, is also true, that the more any country draws away its agricultural population to feed its ever-increasing manufacturing industries, the more will labour difficulties increase, because of the greater instability of urban industrial labour, which may be thrown out of employment by the turn of a fashion or a falling off in the demand for certain commodities. This fact has been amply ex- emplified by the recent labour troubles both in Ger- many and in the United States. With us the case is vastly different and our labour difficulties more intense. The insane destruction of our agricultural industry necessarily drives prac- tically all our workers into trades and manufac- turing industries, with the result of which we are all so familiar — an ever overflowing labour market, the lowest possible wage, and far more unemployment, precariousness of life and destitution than there need be. No nation can have this state of affairs without feeling it in its banking account, and we need go no further to discover the difference between the general prosperity of the German working classes and the comparative poverty of our own. The remedy, however, for this condition of things lies not in the destruction of Capitalists, or, STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 99 in other words, in the driving away of Capital from our country, nor in the repudiation of the National Debt, the abolition of the Army, and the rest of the revolutionary measures advocated by Socialists, but in the calm common-sense of the people in deter- mining to establish in this country precisely those conditions which have given Germany such amaz- ing prosperity and widespread distribution of wealth, namely, the re-establishment of the country's agricultural industry on a firm, reliable basis, whereby 77iillions of people may be drawn away from the congested centres of labour and so relieve the pressure on trade and manufacturing in- dustries. Accomplish this simple change in our economic condition and it is certain that that *' more equal distribution, and in subordination thereto, a better production of wealth," which is the dream of the Socialist, would obviously be brought about automatically as it has been in Germany. No Inducement to Thrift. The late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, speaking on the subject of Socialism as far back as 1884, said : — " I allege that in a Socialist State there would be no inducement to thrift, no individual savings, no accumulation, no check upon waste. I say that, on the contrary, you would have paralysis and neutralisation of endeavour, and that, in fact, you would simply go back — you could not go forward. I urge that the only sufficient inducement to the II 2 100 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS general urging on of progress in society is by in- dividual effort, spurred to action by the hope of private gain ; it may be gain of money, it may be gain of land, it may be gain in the praise of fellows, but whatever it is, it is the individual motive which prompts and spurs the individual to action. In this collective Socialism the State would direct every- thing, and there could be no freedom of opinion at all, no expression of opinion at all, ejicept that which the State ordered and directed." ' Mr. Bradlaugh was a Radical of the Radicals, and knew his Socialism well ; he was a bold reformer, and suffered for his opinions, but he believed not at all in violence as a means of redressing griev- ances. Quoting from the same pamphlet we find the following passage : — " I say, then, that physical force revolution must fail, because the majority are against you, and I say even if it succeeded by the energy of those who directed it, that then the crime of it, and the terror of it, and the mischief of it, and the demorali- sation of it, would more retard and hinder progress than do any possible good." ^ A Voice from the Dead. These significant words were spoken by a man who knew the " masses," as it is the modern fashion to call the people, as well as any man living or dead ; and although they were uttered nearly a quarter of a century ago, they are as applicable ^ Social-Democratic Federation pamphlet, Will Socialism, Benefit the English People f p. 14. ^ Ibid., p. 13. STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 101 to-day as they will be a hundred years hence, be- cause they give expression to an indestructible truth. Socialism reared upon the ruins of violence and robbery and possible bloodshed would prove as ephemeral as the French Revolutionary Govern- ment at the close of the eighteenth century, or the Communistic Government during the Franco- Prussian War. Charles Bradlaugh knew this well, and uttered his warning in no uncertain voice. " I would try and coerce you by appealing to your brains, but if you have not any I cannot help it," said he to his adversaries, and although we may not go to that length, because the quarter of a century which has passed since those words were spoken has done much to raise the standard of intellectuality among all classes, we would, never- theless, appeal to that common-sense which we hope has also since undergone considerable de- velopment among all sections of the community. The Death of Labour. Bradlaugh was a keen reformer, and, like all reformers, much ahead of the times in which he lived, but he knew — none better — that Labour could no more exist without Capital than Mother Earth could produce her fruits without sun. He knew perfectly well that Labour wedded to Capital means not only sure and profitable results to the workers but comparative wealth — individual and collective — to every worker in the land. Labour divo^rced 102 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS from Capital means, on the other hand, immediate and considerable shrinkage of commercial and in- dustrial capital, its re-investment in directions that would in no sense benefit the working classes, and the consequent atrophy and death of Labour. The Socialist leaders, or, to call them by their proper name, the leaders of this new political party which is so much in evidence now, who are trying to teach us a new code of ethics, religion, and economics, will, of course, pooh-pooh this idea and seek to belittle it in the ways in which they are such adepts, but it is the truth nevertheless. They have, among other things, endeavoured to prove that the withdrawal of commercial capital matters not at all since the State or the munici- palities would at once assume control of all indus- tries, and, by the direct action of the central authority, find employment for all workers and bring about a more equal distribution of wealth among the people; and if this ideal state could be realised, few there be who would object. But such a scheme would be impracticable. We speak of the withdrawal of commercial and industrial capital, and we mean withdraival — not a transfer from one form of investment to another in this country, but a withdrawal from the country. Under the present programme Socialism aims at something akin to despotism, but do Socialists think for one moment that the wealthy men of Great Britain are going to stand by and allow STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 103 themselves to be plundered without lifting a hand in their defence? Do they think that our great financiers, our industrial capitalists, or our wealthy private gentlemen, are prepared to weakly submit to a process of spoliation which would leave them as bare of worldly goods as a lamb is bare of wool after the summer shearing? Certainly not ! ^^'ITHDRAWAL OF THE SiNEWS OF WaR. There might, perhaps, be no revolution, no raising of armed bands as in days of old to resist the force of the spoiler, but there would certainly be a far worse reprisal than that — the surer and more deadly means of fighting and overcoming the foe in depriving him of the sinews of war by the quiet with draw al fro7n the country of the individual and collective wealth of the wealthy. This is exactly what would happen, for it is certain that your wealthy man, be he commercial capitalist or private gentleman, is not such a fool as to submit to an organised system of robbery which would deprive him of practically all his worldly possessions. Here again we find Socialists pooh-poohing the idea and making light of this insuperable obstacle in their path, but it exists nevertheless. In the writer's own comparatively small circle of friends there are more than a dozen well-to-do people and one commercial capitalist, who, under a government of spoilers, would most assuredly 104 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS make arrangements in ample time to transfer them- selves and their wealth to foreign countries; and the Empire-wreckers would find, if ever they were returned to power, that there had been such an exodus of those who supply the sinews of war to the nation, and so formidable a drain of national wealth, as to leave the State cofTers empty, and the Ministers of State as impotent as a palsied lamb. We have driven millions of our poor workers away from our own shores because the ineptness of our land laws and the unsuitability of our fiscal system to modern requirements render employment difficult to get and harder to maintain, and if we lose our wealthy folk as well, we shall be in a truly piteous state. It has been said that "a country may spare its poor but not its rich," and although it is but a cold, heartless aphorism at the best, there is yet truth in it. If the poor cannot emigrate they must be supported by the State, that is to say, the taxpayers ; but if the wealthy people — or, in other words, the taxpayers — be driven from the country, where is the money to come from to support the poor ? These are pertinent questions, and the people want an answer. The Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. Let us look for a moment at the sum contributed annually to the State treasure-chest by this vast array of wealthy and well-to-do people whom Socialists are seeking to destroy, and then ask the STATE OWNERSHIP OF LNDUSTRIES 105 question whether any Government — Anarchist even — could in any circumstances do without it ? The direct charges on this section of the com- munity, such as income-tax, poor-rates, death duties, house duty, land tax, &c., amount to the stupendous sum of ;^85, 000,000 annually, or nearly two-thirds of the total revenue of the country — ;^ 140, 000, 000; but if we add to this their share of the indirect taxes, such as Customs duties, Excise, stamps, &c., the amount would probably exceed ^'100,000,000, or five-sevenths of the total State revenues. The tyranny of wealth, the sins of the rich and the rest of it, have been favourite topics of recent years among Socialists. The writer, in common with all earnest reformers, would like to do away with all that is undesirable or wrong in this world, but he, nevertheless, fails to see what good is to come from warring against wealth, or destroying those who possess it. The old proverb about " killing the goose that lays the golden eggs " is as applicable to-day as it was in the days that are dead, and if any Government of the future be mad enough to take so insane a course, the supply of golden eggs will cease. Results of Warring against Capital. There is another way of looking at this question which, by the way, has as many facets as a well-cut diamond. 106 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS What is that Government to do which has let in the invader by aboHshing our Standing Army, parted with India and our Colonies as a means of freeing England from the grip of the conqueror; closed those great markets to our trade and manu- factures, and destroyed the wealthy classes which form an essential part of the national pabulum ? When they have uprooted the foundations of Society and destroyed those economic conditions upon which depends the integrity of the Empire, what are these great reformers to do? This question has to be asked in the Name of THE People, because every man in the kingdom, whether of the proletariat or the millionaire class, has a vital interest in it. Every unskilled labourer on his three shillings a day ; every man of that vast army of skilled workers toiling in our great centres of manufactures to make those wares which supply the markets of the world; every shopkeeper and clerk on his scanty salary, which barely enables him to live and maintain that outward form of respectability necessary to his position ; every shorthand-writer, typist, dressmaker, milliner, seamstress, domestic servant ; and every man, woman, and child earning a wage in any trade, profession, or industry throughout the land; every seaman afloat or ashore, and every soldier in the Empire, is so vitally interested in this broad ques- tion touching their condition under a Government set up on the lines indicated in the Socialist pro- STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 107 gramme, that he naturally wants a plain answer to a plain question — What will the Socialists do? Answers Required. This vitally important question has to be answered because Socialism has, by its well- organised methods, persistent clamouring and lavish promises of great and lasting good to the human race, caught the fancy, for the moment, of a certain section of the people which is always on the look-out for a change of some sort, whether of social, economic, or political conditions, or a change of Government — a change of some kind or other so long as it is a change — whereby they hope in some vague way to improve their own condition. That there is danger to the general public in the existence of this ever-changing section of the community, and very considerable danger too, there is no doubt, and the danger is in exact pro- portion to their numbers and extent; while it is certain that the peril is not diminished by the ex- ceedingly mutable basis of these people's politics. Broadly speaking, this is precisely that section of the people which would deify its demagogues to-day and tear them in pieces to-morrow, and it is therefore clear that, although it would be unwise to treat these people as a negligible quantity, it would, on the other hand, be absolutely suicidal to assume for a moment that, because the Socialism of to-day 108 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS has caught their fancy for the time being, this com- paratively small section of the body politic repre- sents the People of Great Britain. Nevertheless, as matters now stand, there is danger to the commonweal in the existence of this band of fervid revolutionists for the creation of which Socialism is responsible. Then it may reasonably be asked by the people — when Socialists have overthrown Capitalism and consequently destroyed the thousand and one in- dustries that spring therefrom, and upon which they depend for their daily bread — what will they set up in its place ? They will, of course, be told that " State "-owned industries will supplant privately owned concerns, but it has been shown in other chapters that *' State "-owned industries, run on Socialist lines, bolstered up by a statute wage, supervised by a veritable army of " State " officials, and hindered and harassed by a host of prying " State " in- spectors, could no more compete with foreign rivals who would not run their industries under such absurd conditions than a pigmy could stand against a giant. This, like many another question that has been put to Socialists of late, is to the point, and, of course, requires an answer. Capitalism may be bad and full of imperfections, but, at any rate, whatever its faults may be, it is known that it forms the basis of industrialism STATE OWNERSHIP OF INDUSTRIES 109 throughout the world and gives employment to countless millions of people in various countries; while it is, moreover, a tangible quantity that is well known to the human race and perfectly in- telligible in all its aspects. It has stood all the tests applied to it throughout the centuries, and, as it affords the chief source of employment to people of all nationalities to-day, it is not likely that they will lightly cast it aside for an unknown, untried scheme which, as far as they can understand, is born of unrest and discontent, and would most probably end in confusion and — Chaos. CHAPTER X SOCIALISM CONSIDERED AS AN INTERNATIONAL MOVE- MENT, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF ITS OBJECTS OF SPOLIATION AND REVOLUTION Another vitally important phase of the subject dealt with in the preceding chapters comes up for consideration in regard to the immediate effects which a measure of so revolutionary a nature would be sure to have on the people of this country. "Yours for the Revolution." In order to fully realise the deadly earnestness of Socialists, let us turn, for a moment, to other countries besides our own to ascertain what they are doing there, for we should never forget that Socialism is an international movement. Here, for example, is an extract from an article contributed to one of the London magazines. " I received a letter the other day. It was from a man in Arizona. It began, ' Dear Comrade.' It ended, " Yours for the Revolution." I replied INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 111 to the letter, and my letter began, ' Dear Com- rade.' It endedj, ' Yours for the Revolution.' " " The army of revolution, 7,000,000 strong, is a thing to make rulers and ruling classes pause and consider. The cry of the army is ' No Quarter.' We want all that you possess. We will be con- tent with nothing less than all you possess. We want in our hands the reins of power and the destiny of mankind. Here are our hands. They are strong hands. We are going to take your Governments, your palaces, and all your purpled ease away from you, and in that day you shall work for your bread even as the peasant in the field or the starved and rusty clerk in your metro- polises. Here are our hands. They are strong hands. " The capitalist class has been indicted. It has failed in its management, and its management is to be taken away from it. Seven million men of the working class say that they are going to get the rest of the working class to join with them and take the management away. The revolution is here now. Stop it who can. " They intend nothing less than to destroy exist- ing society and to take possession of the whole world. If the law of the land permits, they fight for this end peaceably at the ballot-box. If the law of the land does not permit their peaceable destruction of Society, and if they have force meted out to them, they resort to force themselves. They meet violence with violence. Their hands are strong and they are unafraid." ^ ' Jack London, " Revolution." Contemporary Review, Janu- ary, 1908. 112 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Comrades and No Quarter. It is well to observe that in every case and in every country the Socialists strike no uncertain note, and whether they be Belgians, Germans, Americans, or Britishers, they are, above all, " Comrades." They are in themselves — in detail and in aggregate — a formidable body of earnest men and women banded together for the fell pur- pose — as Mr. Jack London puts it in such deadly earnest — of "fighting with all their might for the conquest of the wealth of the world and the complete over- throw of existing society." ** Such an army of revolution is a thing to make rulers and ruling classes pause and consider. The cry of the army is ' No Quarter.' " This, indeed^ is the dominant note which is for ever sounding along the ranks of the Socialist hosts in every civilised country in the world, stirring up the "comrades" as the trumpet stirs the war-horse, and yet the vast masses of the people — all the workers with money in Provident Socie- ties, and the middle and the upper classes of our own country, against whom this war is undertaken, re- main in that fatal lethargic sleep from which they apparently prefer not to be aroused. Why is this ? Why is it that almost every man and woman in the ranks of these three classes to whom you broach the subject of Socialism either INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 113 takes so languid an interest in it, which amounts to apathy, or turns altogether a deaf ear to what is, and must remain^ the most momentous question of modern times ? The answer is — partly because of a somewhat general ignorance of a subject which is com- paratively new and admittedly an unpleasant one to discuss, and partly because it appears to lie out- side and beyond the particular sphere of their everyday life, and does not appear to affect their individual interests. Deplorable Attitude. Briefly summarised and reduced to its proper denominations, this deplorable attitude stands for : — 1. Regrettable ignorance of a subject which affects the interests of every man, woman, and child in the kingdom. 2. Gross selfishtiess which^ if continued in, is sure to reap its own reward. In order that this question of transcendent importance may be understood by those whose income is threatened with extinction and whose liberty and freedom are seriously imperilled, it is necessary to consider here the Socialist leaders' manifesto in regard to such revolutionary measures in which all English people outside the Socialist ranks are, and must be, equally interested. I 114 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS The Socialists have vowed the — 1. Abolition of the Monarchy. 2. Repudiation of the National Debt. 3. Abolition of all indirect taxation. 4. Institution of cumulative taxes on all incomes and inheritances exceeding ;^300 (i.e., no person will ultimately be allowed an income of more than ;^300 per annum). 5. Unearned incomes to be taxed to extinction, 6. Free maintenance of all attending State schools. 7. Public ownership of food and coal supply. 8. Public ownership of all industries. 9. Nationalisation of the trusts. 10. Establishment of State pawnshops. 11. Establishment of State restaurants. 12. Public ownership of drink traffic. 13. Abolition of standing armies. 14. Abolition of courts martial. 15. Abolition of Christian faith. 16. Abolition of the marriage ties and the sub- stitution of " Free Love." 17. Nationalisation of land. 18. Nationalisation of railways, &c. Threatened Changes. If we study this long list of threatened changes in the well understood conditions under which we live to-day, we shall unquestionably find some- thing that will touch, with a rude hand, the in- dividual interests of every man, woman, and child INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 115 who does not happen to be actually working for a daily wage, and, indeed, most of those who do. Those who contend that the abolition of the National Debt would not affect them because they have nothing in the funds^ would be met by a heavy charge in the form of new taxes resulting from the abolition of indirect taxation, from which the State now draws the enormous sum of ;^65, 000,000 annually in import and excise duties on food and alcoholic beverages; while the free maintenance of the millions of children attending the State schools, the cumulative tax on incomes exceeding ,^300, and the taxing of unearned in- comes to extinction would throw so heavy a load on their sorely burdened shoulders as to render their lives well-nigh unendurable. vSpoliation of the Thrifty. Those who have money in the funds would lose it all, and if they are not altogether dependent on that, but upon other snug little investments, that source of income would also be cut oflf, because it would, in that case^ come under the head of unearned incomes, and it will be borne in mind that Socialists have sworn to tax unearned incomes to extinction. For all whose incomes exceed ;^30o per annum there is no escape, for it is against this class that the Socialists have vowed a bitter, relentless war of extermination; they "are fighting for the con- I 2 116 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS quest of the wealth of the world " and — *' The cry of the army is no quarter." For that great section of the community whose business is trade there is no hope, as the substitu- tion of State industries, State ownership of food and coal supplies, restaurants, pawnshops, of the drink traffic and trusts^ &c., would obviously throw millions of people out of employment and cut off their source of income. Raid upon Unearned Incomes. The army of small annuitants who draw their slender incomes from the funds or from insurance companies or other societies or institutions of a kindred nature are doomed to spoliation, because these unearned incomes would fall under the Socialist ban. Retired naval and military officers, and all re- tired officers of other Government services^ would be especially affected, because many of their in- comes exceed ;^300 per annum, while they would also come under the unearned income class which are to be taxed to extinction. Retired shopkeepers and business men of every kind, retired physicians and professional men of all classes, would all fall into the Socialist net and lose their incomes because they do not happen to be working, at the moment, for a daily wage. Such incomes as these would fall under the un- earned category and would be taxed to extinction, INTERNATIONAL MO\^MENT 117 or, where they exceed £300 a year, they would come under the "cumulative tax" head, and be soon wiped out. Widows, pensioners, the hard-working dress- maker who, by hard toil, has put by just enough to yield a small income, the clerk who has put his money into some safe investment, all that needy class who have converted their legacies or other " windfalls " into small annuities, every small in- vestor in the various Post Office Savings Banks, Building Societies, or other institutions of a cognate character, domestic servants, gardeners, cabdrivers, coachmen, small farmers and many of the agricultural class, gamekeepers, bailiffs and others, would lose every penny they possess, because these " unearned incomes " must he taxed until they become extinct. The fight is " for the conquest of the wealth of the world and the complete overthrow of existing society," and no man, woman, or child may escape. The ducal house will be as sorely smitten as that of its groom or coachman who, after a life of faithful service, has retired on his savings. The lady of fashion, whose life is spent in a ceaseless round of social gatherings, and whose large income is chiefly spent on the adornment of her own person and the gratification of her own silly, vapid tastes and pleasures, will be swept away as remorselessly as we brush away flies, and her place will know her no more; but this will not help the poor retired 118 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS milliner who has modestly withdrawn from busi- ness on a small annuity bought with her life's savings, or whose small store may be invested in the Savings Banks or Benefit Societies. The Socialist cumulative tax on incomes exceeding ;^300 will do away with the former, while the unearned income tax will wipe out both dressmaker and lady of fashion. The Cumulative Thumb-screw. The city magnate whose influence in the world of finance and commerce is great and far-reaching, and whose income is often represented by five figures, will be of no more account under a pre- datory Socialist administration than his clerk who draws his modest ;^i5o a year; the "cumulative tax on all incomes of more than ;^300 " will seize him as with a grip of iron, and his surplus gold will pour from him as readily as water exudes from a squeezed sponge. He will, moreover, be especially affected by " The repudiation of the National Debt," '* State ownership of food, coal, and drink supply," " State ownership of all industries," " Nationalisation of the trusts," &c., and his occupation will be taken from him as surely as the icy blasts of winter hurl back into the past the radiant warmth of the glad summer- time. INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 119 The man about town and club lounger who happens to have inherited either a vast fortune from better men than himself, or a smaller fortune which admits either of a life of prodigal waste or one of comfortable^ idle ease, will find himself in a far worse position than the man who has to work for his daily bread, because it is this particular class of moneyed idlers that the Socialists have sworn to extirpate. They declare them to be drones of an effete society and as worthy of de- struction as the drones of a hive which are destroyed and cast out periodically by the w'orking bees, and they have consequently marked them down for extinction. Marked for Extinction. The country gentleman who either owns vast acres of land or a modest five hundred acres, and reads his Times and swears by all his gods that "the country is going to the devil. Sir," is not to be saved by his Tory tendencies or his choleric outbursts, because of the " nationalisation of land." "The land shall become the people's," declare the Socialists, and it is not difficult for the country magnate to determine by what means a Socialist administration that is prepared to repudiate the National Debt would take possession of the land. Then, again, if by great good fortune he escapes being despoiled of his land, he will be caught by 120 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS any one or more of the following revolutionary measures, namely, the : — 1. " Repudiation of the National Debt." 2. " Abolition of all indirect taxation." 3. " Institution of cumulative tax on all incomes exceeding ;^300." 4. "Taxing unearned incomes to extinction." 5. " Free maintenance of all attending State schools," &c. There is^ in short, no more chance of the country gentleman escaping the toils of this predatory Socialist Government than there is of the carted stag getting away from the hounds that are let loose on his track. Then we come to the working classes, for it is professedly in favour and on behalf of the working men that this crusade against what Socialists call "an effete civilisation" has been undertaken. What are the advantages to the working classes which must necessarily ensue if the promises of the Socialist leaders are worth the paper they are written on ? WiLL-o'-THE-Wisp Advantages. The Socialist programme includes^ as we have seen, the Repudiation of the National Debt. Taxing of unearned incomes to extinction. The working classes have over ^415,000,000 in Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks and in INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 121 Building Societies, Industrial and Provident Socie- ties, &c. Part of this vast sum, namely, ;^240, 000,000, is invested in Government funds^ and therefore forms part of the National Debt, while much of the re- mainder is either invested in municipal stock or other securities which would come within the scope of the Socialist Government. Supposing, however, that a portion of these vast deposits escape the "Repudiation" net, the depositors would still be caught under the " Unearned In- come " clause, which would wipe out what re- mained of their savings as effectually as a wet sponge wipes out the pencillings on a slate. One great cardinal fact stands out in appalling clearness in this short disquisition on this part of the Socialist scheme, and that is, that under a Socialist Government no man or woman in the kingdom can hope to escape spoliation, save the office bearers of the State, unless they make one law for Socialists and another for all the rest of mankind ! Are they prepared to do this? No Escape from the Socialist Net. This brief forecast of some results of a Socialist administration is not the outcome of a morbid imagination, nor is it a fanciful picture drawn to frighten the timid. Aristocrats, capitalists, well- to-do people, the bourgeoisie, the lower middle classes, and all those who do not write themselves 122 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS "Comrades" come within the broad devastating sweep of SociaHsm, and none may escape the deadly net and trident of the SociaHst retiarius. We may assume, if it so please us, the ostrich-like attitude of burying our head in the sand, we may pooh-pooh the whole business and put it aside as being a subject too unpleasant to contemplate; or we may rail and bluster at the injustice and iniquity of Socialism and write irascible letters to the Times ; we may even exhort Government to come to our aid and crush the Socialists^ but this will not help us in the smallest degree. Socialism is not a thing of yesterday; in some form or other it dates back to very early times, and there is not a civilised country on earth where its doctrines are not preached. It is a movement that stirs certain sections of the community as the war trumpet stirs up the warrior to battle, and its roots have struck deep down into their hearts. | Socialism a Menace. Socialism is a call to which 7,000,000 of men in various countries respond to-day, while to-morrow it is certain that more and more of our workers will enroll themselves under its blood-red banner. Socialism may not be put lightly aside as we put away from us many a petty worry or annoyance, nor may it be abashed by ridicule or rebutted by lofty cynicism ; it is to a certain degree a popular INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT 123 movement, and popular movements can only be met and overcome by counter movements. For nearly a quarter of a century British Socialists have been well educated by their leaders. Thousands of lectures have been delivered in every town in Great Britain by able speakers, while the outpouring of copious literature is completing the educational work. Infinite pains have been taken by the various Socialist organisations to the end that their followers should become thoroughly acquainted with the doctrines of Socialism, and many of the Socialist tracts and pamphlets run into twelve or fifteen editions^i and reach their hundred thousand and over, and they are extremely popular. Question any one of the " Comrades " on the doctrines of Socialism and you will be surprised at the extent of his knowledge of those social and economic questions which, among other things, it is the aim of Socialists to teach. The Rival Forces. Briefly stated, we have, on the one hand, a powerful, well organised, and suitably equipped body of earnest Socialists well trained in their sub- ject, and believing implicitly in the righteousness of their cause^ taking the field against another body of citizens composed of heterogeneous elements practically ignorant of the subject of the casus belli, unaware of the enormous issues involved in the struggle, uneducated in the very questions 124 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS upon which Socialist reform is based, untrained, unequipped, and without leaders. Which of these bodies is likely to prove victorious is obvious, and there is no need; therefore, for further comment. Necessity for Anti-Socialist Co-operation. If Socialism is to be met and overcome there must be a party well trained and well armed at all points with those weapons which alone are likely to prove of avail in warfare of this nature, namely, those weapons of offence and defence which can best be forged by — Education ! Let every man and woman outside the Socialist ranks take the trouble to study this question and they will soon become alive to the necessity of combining to combat the Socialist movement^ and once this necessity calls us to common action the rest will follow in sequence. CHAPTER XI (< WORKING-CLASS OBJECTIONS TO SOCIALIST RE^ o ' ' forms and the answers required to them Socialist Clap-trap. In order to show that the working classes are more interested in, and more seriously affected by, these Socialists' threats than they seem to realise, it is necessary to consider a few of those reforms which they have sworn to accomplish. Three of them will suffice for the moment, namely : — 1 . A legal working day of 8 hours (with promise of ij to 2 hours of work).^ 2. Minimum legal wage of 305. a week for workers of both sexes .^ 3. Distribution among working classes of all profits from State-owned industries.^ Let us deal with these items seriatim. I. Legal working day of 8 hours. ' Vide Socialist Publications. 2 Programmes of Socialist Organisations. •^ Vide Socialist Publications. 126 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS This is a reasonable reform, but our workers will get it without the intervention of the Socialists. To promise a man that under Socialist rule he need not work more than one and a half to two hours a day is to wilfully mislead him. The work- ing man is not a fool, and he knows that the world's industries can never be carried on successfully by working two hours in the twenty-four ; nevertheless, this sort of clap-trap does catch a few of those with whom "the wish is father to the thought" — the idle loafers who would do anything to avoid an honest day's work. Here is what a well-known Socialist has to say on the subject of short hours : — "It is plainly demonstrable as that twice four make eight that a due system of organised effort would enable your 43,000,000 of people to win from Nature an overflowing superfluity of all that man desires, without one-fourth the effort put forth now to win a beggarly subsistence so far short of what your community requires that 13,000,000 of your people live continually on the verge of starvation." ^ " The hours of labour will probably not exceed a minimum of two and a maximum of five daily." ^ Numerous other Socialist writers and speakers promise workers similar halcyon days in respect to the hours of work; but is there the slightest ^ Washington, A Nation of Slaves^ p. 5. 2 Davidson, TJte Old Order and the New, p. 170. WORKING-CLASS OBJECTIONS 127 justification for so wilfully misleading the work- ing classes, who have, God knows, quite enough trouble and disappointment to contend against without tantalising them with rubbish of this kind ? The Shadow for the Substance. 2. A minimum w-age of 305. per week. A most attractive morsel in the Socialist menu is this minimum wage of 305. a week, and every man — whether an honest worker or an out-and-out "waster" — is bound to be attracted by such a tempting bait. Is it likely, however, to agree with those who swallow it^ or to stick in their gullets and land them in the same unpleasant predica- ment as the unfortunate fish which too readily swallows the glittering bait of the angler. Let us look at this matter as every prudent man does who is asked to throw away that which he has for something which he has not — the substance for the shadow. The prudent worker is bound to ask — who is to pay us this minimum wage — who is to guarantee it ? You Socialists are going to smash up every- thing and nationalise or municipalise every trade and industry in the country, and I naturally want to know who is to guarantee my 30s. a week when the State is owner of land, railways, canals, gas, electric light, and water supplies, docks, and all locomotive services such as tramways, 'buses, &c., together with the public ownership of the coal, 128 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS food, and drink supply, and also of restaurants, banks, and various other industries. You may leave some industries to their present owners sub- ject to heavy taxes and galling restrictions, but as you are to own the principal ones yourself, namely, all those which employ the vast majority of the working classes, who are we to look to for our 30S. a week ? Now we know where we are because what our present employers promise in the matter of wages that will they surely perform, but with the " State " as our masters where shall we be ? These are pertinent questions, and they re- quire an answer. The State, in regard to its servants, is not in- frequently uncompromising, harsh, and arbitrary — even the mildly benevolent Government of the day — but what it would develop into under the despotic rule of the Socialist leaders, or the capri- cious yet arbitrary will of a Socialist people, it is not difficult to determine. Look Before Leaping. The working man will then want to know what effect this enormous rise in wages is going to have on the price of commodities, because, as wages enter largely into the composition and cost of all productions, so must they affect the prices as they rise or fall. If we double the cost of wages, the cost of our productions are bound to rise, at least, to that extent, and as ours is a Free Trade country WORKING-CLASS OBJECTIONS 129 we shall not have a chance against those countries which liave not followed the EngHsh Socialists in doubling the wages of their workers. These are very reasonable questions, and the working classes would do well to get an answer, if one be forthcoming, before they embark on a career of Socialism. The immediate effect of this solitary item in the Socialist programme would be, first of all, a shut- ting down of such privately owned industries as are permitted by the State, because of the hopeless- ness of competing with foreign countries under such impossible conditions, and, secondly, either the closing of all State-owned industries for the same reason, or a remorseless cutting down of wages to a pittance that would reduce every worker — man or woman — in the kingdom to the abject condition of slaves. The working man knows full well the difficulty of competing with foreign countries with wages at their present level, and he is quite capable of making his own calculations and forecasting what would assuredly happen if the wage-rate through- out the kingdom were suddenly doubled. The "Equalising" Myth. He has an idea also that this 30s. a week mini- mum wage m.eans, among other things, that " equality of opportunity " which Socialist leaders are so fond of speaking about, or, in other words, K 130 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS the right to enable the inferior, careless and lazy- workman, or workwoman, to earn the same wage as the nimble, skilful, industrious workers whose fingers are in as perfect touch and harmony with their work as the strings of a musical instrument are under the complete control of a skilful player. " Equality of opportunity " is a high-sounding phrase, but the British workman knows that there is no more material substance in it than there is in the hollow of a drum. You may start by " equalis- ing opportunities," but there you will also finish, for in this mundane life of ours it has no practical meaning. Start, for example, two boys of the same age and training in a workshop; the one bright, alert, painstaking and industrious, willing and determined to succeed in life; the other dull- witted, inclined to shirk his work, fond of play, and a grumbler. In a year or two the first lad will be marked out for more responsible work and a better wage, and the other for — " the sack." And so it is all through life — you may pave the way for every member of the great human family by "equalising opportunities," but there it ends, because the infinite variety of individual tastes, idiosyncrasies, temperaments, and what the Ameri- cans call "general cussedness," which take pos- session of our lives, render the practical operation of such a scheme hopelessly impossible. The arbi- trary application of this " equality of opportunity " which Socialist leaders threaten to thrust upon the WORKING-CLASS OBJECTIONS 131 people, becomes therefore ridiculously absurd and, if it were ever brought into operation — monstrously unjust. Serious Objections. It is highly probable that the wage scale secured to workers in arts and crafts under trade union rules is, perhaps, as far as the working classes themselves would care to go in regard to this " equality of opportunity " scheme; and that they might, as a matter of fact, strongly object to any system— Socialist or otherwise — which would secure to a " rotter " a minimum wage of thirty shillings a week when it is well known he is not worth fifteen. There would, indeed, be many objections to urge against any proposal of the kind. It would be objectionable on the grounds of injustice to the employer, whether "Capitalist" or "State," to be compelled by law to pay an inferior worker twice as much in wages as his "ability" would entitle him to receive. It would be highly improper and morally wrong to so " equalise opportunity " as to enable an inferior workman to earn as much as a more highly skilled one ; while it would be econo- mically fatal to set up a system whereunder cost of production would be burdened with a much higher wage scale than there is need or justification for. These few objections to the Socialist scheme are perhaps sufficient to condemn it on the grounds K 2 132 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS of its being morally wrong, economically unsound, and altogether impracticable. The Effect of Co-operative Industrialism. There is, however, another aspect of the case which it would be well for our working classes to consider, because it involves their weal or their woe. Socialism is pledged to the following mea- sures : — *' Nationalisation of the land and the organisa- tion of labour in agriculture and industry under public ownership and control on co-operative prin- ciples." ^ " The capital necessary for industrial operations should be owned and used collectively. *' Work and wealth resulting therefrom should be equitably distributed over the population." ^ " The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. It therefore aims at the reorganisation of society by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership, and the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit. In this way only can the natural and acquired advan- tages of the country be equitably shared by the whole people." ^ ** The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic con- trol of the means and instruments for producing ^ Programme Social Democratic Federation. ^ Programme Independent Labour Party. ^ Basis of the Fabian Society. WORKING-CLASS OBJECTIONS 133 and distributing wealth by and in the interests of the whole community." ^ " SociaHsm is a principle, the Co-operative prin- ciple." ^ The basic principle of Socialism is, therefore, co-operation and an equitable distribution of the wealth arising therefrom. Any scheme of econo- mics that is co-operative in principle must neces- sarily be co-operative in effect. This is, of course, a truism, and it is one in w'hich the working classes are intensely interested. Capitalism, as we understand it to-day, is indi- vidualistic. It runs its own industries, and is en- tirely responsible for all risks attending its opera- tions. Any diminution of profit owing to failing demand or increase in cost of production, or any loss arising from incompetent management, glutted markets or competition with cheaper sources of supplies — foreign or local — falls solely upon the capitalist, and does not immediately concern the wage-earner. It is, moreover, common knowledge that many of our industries are sometimes carried on for years unprofitably before the owners give notice of a reduction of wages, and not infrequently the crisis is tided over without reducing the wages at all. Co-operative industrialism, on the other hand, is the economic antithesis of this system. Every ' Programme, The Socialist Party of Great Btitain. 2 Ethel Snowden, The Woman Socialist^ p. 4. 134 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS man engaged in any industry which is conducted on co-operative principles necessarily becomes a partner in the undertaking, and thus renders him- self immediately responsible for such risks as may attend the business. If the undertaking proves successful, each member co-operating in it receives his share of profit, as also his subsistence allowance which he takes in the form of — wages. If it proves unsuccessful for any cause, however remotely it may appear to concern the co-operative wage- earners, the effect is immediate— profits cease and wages are necessarily cut down to a point to suit the altered conditions of the business ; or, if the financial state of the concern is such that the con- tinuance of wage-payments becomes impossible, wages cease entirely — either temporarily or per- manently. This state of affairs is so common in the com- mercial world to-day that to demonstrate the point further would amount to a superfluity. Every member of the working classes knows that when two or more persons are engaged in any business on co-operative principles they at once become partners and co-sharers in all such liabilities and risks as may attend the undertaking, as w^ell as in any profits that may result from co-operative trad- ing, and it is well that this point should be made quite clear. More attention will, however, be given to the matter in succeeding chapters. CHAPTER XII " DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS," WITH WARNINGS TO THE PEOPLE NOT TO BE DECEIVED Another Tempting Bait. A FURTHER point for our consideration is the in- sidious Socialist proposal relating to the " distri- bution among the working classes of all profits from State-owned industries." This also appears to be a most tempting bait, and it is sure to attract such of our workers who will not think matters out for themselves. If it were possible to run the commercial and in- dustrial affairs of the earth on strictly co-operative principles so that all who assist in the production of the multitudinous commodities in demand by the human race would share equally in all the wealth produced therefrom and thereby, few there are who would be inclined to cavil at such an arrangement, but every person who happens to be in his right mind knows that neither in the dim ages of the past nor at the present time has there been, nor can there be, sufficient warrant to lead 136 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS the people to suppose that such a scheme is any- thing more than the quintessence of Utopianism. Equality of Compensation Impossible. The elementary principles of trade, the structural features of commerce, and the fundamental basis on which all industries are built, together with the numerous factors which go to make up the com- position of the whole, preclude the possibility of an arrangement whereby those engaged in the work could be equally compensated, and in spite of Socialist doctrines to the contrary, it is to be feared that it will remain so. Nor would it be either practicable or desirable to evolve a scheme whereunder one section of workers would appropriate the whole of the profit or wealth arising out of any form of industrialism, to the exclusion of all others. Such a scheme would not only be inequitable and unjust, but it would at the same time be economically unsound and commercially impossible. In spite of these manifest truths, however, this is in substance and in fact precisely what Socialists are advocating. Claim to Entire Product of Labour Inequit- able. The following passages are significant : — '* No man or class of men made the first kind of wealth, such as land, minerals, and water. Therefore, no man or class of men should be "DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS" 137 allowed to call these things their own, or to prevent others from using them (except on certain condi- tions), as the landowners and mineowners do now. The only class of human beings who make the second kind of wealth are the workers. Working men and working women produce and prepare for us all those things which we use or consume, such as food, clothing, houses, furniture, instruments and implements, trams, railways, pictures, books, gas, drains, and many other things. They produce all the wealth obtained by toil from the land." ^ " I hope Mr. Hicks will understand me when I say that the capital for Socialist production w-ill come from those who produce the capital for capi- talist production — that is to say, from the people. The difference will be that under Socialism the whole of the produce will belong to those who produce it, and not, as at present, only one- third." ^ "All wealth is due to labour; therefore, to the labourer all wealth is due." ^ All workers are entitled to fair remuneration for work done, and whether that work be performed by hand or brain it matters not at all. The exigencies of human life do not admit of a state under which 7namial labour alone is demanded, nor is it possible that all human requirements can be met by the labour of the agriculturist or the dexterity of the ' Independent Labour Party Leaflet. What Socialism Mea7is, P-3- 2 Blatchford, The Clarion, 21st February, 1908. ' Socialism Made Plain, p. 8. 138 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS handicraftsman. In all grades of society a thou- sand considerations arise which demand something more than the mere productions of manual labour, and we shall deal with this aspect of the question in later chapters. Meantime, it will be useful to show the fallacy that— the manual workers shall divide among them all the profits arising from State-owned industries. Q :50ciALisTS Admit Injustice of Claim. That Socialists themselves are fully aware of this difficulty is manifest from the following : — " Socialism does not propose that everyone shall have an equal share of the product of collective labour." ^ " The principle of inequality of payment must be recognised. It is a necessary consequence of inequality of ability." ^ " The F"abian Society steadfastly discountenances all schemes for securing to any person or any group of persons the entire product of their labour. It recognises that wealth is social in its origin, and must be social in its distribution, since the evolu- tion of industry has made it impossible to distin- guish the particular contribution that each person makes to the common product, or to ascertain its value." ^ ^ Kautsky, T/ie Social Republic, p. 32, ^ Sir Oliver Lodge, Public Service versus Private Expendi-< iure, p. 10. >* Fabian Tract, Report on Fabian Policy, p. S, *' DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS" 139 An anti-Socialist writes as follows: — " If the income of the capitalists were added to that of the workers, the wages of each would be doubled. Unfortunately, however, the matter will not be settled so simply. If we expropriate capi- talism, we must at the same time take over its social functions — among these the important one of capi- talist accumulation. The capitalists do not con- sume all their income; a portion of it they put away for the extension of production. A proletarian regime would also have to do the same in order to extend production. It would not, theraore, be able to transfer, even in the event of a radical con- fiscation of capital, the whole of the former income to the working class, besides a portion of the surplus value which the capitalists now pocket they must hand over to the State in the shape of taxes. For these reasons our Socialists are guilty of wilful deception if they tell the workers that under a Sociahst regime their wages would be doubled and trebled."^ We have here two conflicting opinions, and as it is evident that Socialists themselves are not as yet agreed as to the modus operandi of dividing up the national wealth among themselves, we might take the opportunity of pointing out that the com- posite nature of trade demands remuneration for other workers besides manual labourers; while there are many other factors apart from workers, manual ' J. Ellis Barker, British Socialism, p. 63. 140 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS or otherwise, which not only require due considera- tion, but also an allocation of some of the wealth arising from production. The Fabian Society are right in their interpreta- tion of the difficulties attending the question, and it is certain that no " persons or any group of persons" can justly claim the ''entire product of their labour," and it is therefore wicked to teach the working classes otherwise. Let us, however, take the case of a manufacturer in illusfation of the fact that no one person, not even he^vho represents in himself most of the com- ponent parts of industrialism, can legitimately secure the entire complement of that product, a portion of which others, besides himself, have a just claim to. We will' say that a small trader starts busi- ness as a boot and shoe manufacturer. As foreman of larger works he has saved ;^5oo, let us suppose, and is inclined to embark on a small venture of his own. He rents certain premises at the modest sum of ;^ioo a year, puts in his small plant of machinery, buys his material, engages his "hands," starts operations, and produces his finished articles. So far the work is exceedingly simple and free from complications, and if he could only sell his productions at the factory door all would be well, but the buyer appears a long way off, and to get at him he has necessarily to resort to such customary means as his brother manufac- "DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS" 141 turers resort to, otherwise his goods will remain unsold. Necessary Middlemen. Every person connected with trade knows that the distance between producer and consumer has to be bridged over by travellers, agents, and retail dealers, and then there are the transit charges either by rail or water, including dock charges, custom duties, and so on. Such incidental expenses as these are inevitable, and our new beginner finds that they form a legitimate charge on the cost of production. In addition to these expenses there is a necessary deduction to be made for re^asonable wear and tear of machinery, tools, &c., i.e., of stock, block, and machinery depreciation, and then there is a charge for interest on the money invested in the business. Incidental Charges. Briefly, when the year's accounts are made up and balanced, it is found the amount of gross profit has been considerably reduced by these intermedi- ary, yet necessary, charges, while the net product of his labour is small and distinctly disappointing. An Illustrative Case. Let us put this matter in another way. Our manufacturer makes an article, the market value of which is £s, the material cost £i, — he has paid another £i away in wages to the manual worker U9. SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS who made it, while the intermediate charges — be- tween producer and consumer — amount to 14s.— leaving 6s., or 10 per cent, profit, to the manufac- turer. Here we have an everyday instance of a manu- facturer receiving only 6s. in ;^3 as his share of the product of his labour, in spite of the fact that it was his brain that conceived the industry and his capital and energy that gave it material ex- pression, and thus enabled the manual worker to earn his ;£i share. Is it conceivable under any conditions that are likely to environ any form of industrialism— Social- ist or otherwise— that the manual worker who made the article which was subsequently sold for £2^ could equitably claim its full market price, or, in other words, the entire product of his labour, as his share of the transaction ? The thing is, of course, preposterous, yet this is what is being told to the working classes in every Socialist pamphlet and at every street corner, and many believe that such absurdities are possible. They also tell the workers that the middleman will be abolished, and that under a Socialist State there will be nothing between his own labour and the full product of his labour, but everybody knows how easy it is to make promises and how difficult it is to fulfil them. To deal with this matter in a simple manner we will assume that the State in its determination to "DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS'' 143 do away with the middleman and bring the pro- ducer and consumer into direct touch, has started its great boot factories which are producing boots and shoes in enormous quantities, but stocks are accumulating because, of the 43,000,000 of people who comprise the population of the country, only a few care to go to the State factories for their requirements : the vast majority insist on their right to purchase what they want, when and how they please. This is an awkward position. Meanwhile, our shoe manufacturers have not been idle, many of them, foreseeing events, have either transferred themselves and their capital to foreign countries and started manufacturing for the Encrlish markets under a much lower scale of wages, or have entered into arrangements with foreign firms for the establishment of depots throughout the country for the receipt and sale of foreign manufactures. It is obvious that as this is a free country, accustomed to liberty of action in all its transactions, both these things would assuredly happen once the Socialists attempted to tamper with that perfect freedom which is such a characteristic feature of British domestic life and of the domestic trade of the British people. Despotic Socialism. A despotic Socialist Government may take coer- cive measures to prevent the opening of rival boot shops, and may prohibit the importation of foreign 144 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS productions, but in thus forcing the people to buy their requirements at the State factories, and no- where else, they would commit an act of tyranny so repugnant to the nature of our free-born country- men as to imperil the entire Socialistic organisation and the existence of the Socialist administration. Disastrous Effect on State Workers. But what would be the effect of this unfortunate contretemps on the workers themselves, for we must bear in mind that Socialist State industrialism would be co-operative ? The disastrous results of State industrial blundering would fall immediately and entirely upon the State industrial workers pre- cisely in the same way that similar results of bad management or commercial ineptitude would fall upon the members of a privately owned co-opera- tive business, whatever Socialists may say to the contrary. The unknown writer of that remarkable Socialist publication " Facts for Socialists,"^ may possibly manufacture another specious document bristling with formidable figures and statistical information, and demonstrating by all the laws of political economy that it is impossible for State industrial- ism to come to grief, or for State workers to suffer loss, but as an ounce of practical experience is worth a ton of theory, the majority of British workers will form their own opinion on this matter. * Fabian Tract, No. 5 (Anonymous). "DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS" 145 To enforce their impracticable scheme, a Social- ist State might conceivably resort to violent measures; indeed, many things may be done vi et armis, but it is a foolish way to take, and totally unfitted to the everyday requirements of the up-to- date age in which we live. The middleman is, within certain limitations, absolutely indispensable to the composition of modern trade, and although he may appear to be a harmless individual who may be got rid of — theoretically — without much diffi- culty, it would be found — in practice — that his re- moval would dislocate domestic arrangements, disorganise trade, and revolutionise all those well- known and clearly defined conditions which are the outcome of centuries of commerce, and that no Socialist or other Government would stand for a moment against the storm of indignation that would sweep the country from the Pentlands to Land's End. The Middleman's Profits. The middleman's profits are, therefore, a legiti- mate charge on the cost of production, and as he is, moreover, a highly important and necessary factor in the commercial world, he must be taken just as seriously as we take the cost of material, work- men's wages, and other necessary expenses in the production of those commodities which people want and cannot do without. And this much is certain, that in spite of profuse L 146 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS promises and many vows, Socialists will have to take these middlemen, these multitudinous agents who, by an infinite variety of means, bring the producer in touch with the consumer, as seriously as those who have been before them. They will, moreover, find that they will have to allocate to them their fair share of profit for work done and performed, and to which, indeed, they have just as much right as the artisan or any other section of workers in that great world trade which, while giving employment to so many, must cer- tainly not be used so as to favour the few. Every man who works, whether he be employer or artisan, shopkeeper, clerk, agent, or labourer, is justly en- titled to the fruits of his labour, and all the rodo- montade of the Socialist leaders will never alter the fact or interfere with the working of a natural law. CHAPTER XIII '* THE MINIMUM WAGE " AND OTHER SOCIALIST SCHEMES, WITH THEIR EFFECT UPON THE COUNTRY It will be useful now to consider a few of those revolutionary changes in the social and economic conditions under which we live to-day, which Socialists have vowed to bring about, in order to ^see what effect they are likely to have on the working classes of the country, while it will be as well to glance at one or two other effects of the proposed statute wage of 30s. a week. Sops for the Working Classes. Among many other things, the Socialist leaders have promised their followers the — 1. Abolition of all indirect taxation. 2. Free maintenance of all attending State schools. 3. Old Age Pensions. 4. Minimum wage of 30s. per week for men and women workers. 5. Cumulative taxes on all incomes exceeding £300. 6. Taxing unearned incomes to extinction. 148 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS It should here be borne in mind that this bitter war against existing conditions is professedly un- dertaken by Socialists — in aid of the working classes. This is how it will affect them. The abolition of indirect taxation would at once deprive the Exchequer of ;^65, 000,000 annually — this being the amount of custom, excise duties, &c., collected yearly. The free maintenance of all attending State schools would cost the country about ^90,000,000 annually. There are about 6,000,000 children at- tending State schools, and you cannot well feed and maintain a child under ;^i5 per annum. The " Minimum Wage " Problem. We now come to the most important item in the list of Socialist reforms, namely — a statutory minimum wage of 305. per week for male and female workers. If this scheme were ever put into operation, it would be destined to exercise a far- reaching and fatal influence over the entire body of British workers. The Social-Democratic Federation demands a legal minimum wage of 30s. a week in the follow- ing terms : — *' The legislative enactment of a minimum wage of 30s. for all workers. Equal pay for both sexes for the performance of equal work." ^ * Programme, The Social-Democratu Federation (Immediate Reform). "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 149 The Independent Labour Party provide for it in this manner : — " The provision of work to all capable adult ap- plicants at recognised trade union rates, with a statutory minimum of sixpence per hour." ^ At first sight there appears to be nothing wrong with the proposal, nor does it seem to be com- mercially impossible, but once it be put to those matter-of-fact economic tests which all such ques- tions must undergo, it will be found to be both commercially impracticable and economically un- sound. The proposal is, in short, one of those desperate schemes which Socialists fling abroad with the utmost recklessness. In order to arrive at some just appreciation of the effect that so rash a measure would have on the nation, w^e will invoke the aid of Socialist literature. The great organ of Socialism, the Clarion, of the loth January, 1908, in a jubilant article furiously attacking Mr. Claude Lowther's Carlisle speech, said : — " Do you know what the average wages of the best paid workers are? Forty-eight pounds a year." Here are some other quotations from Socialist publications : — " The average wages of the male worker is 22s. ' Independent Labour Party, Co7istiiution and Rules. 150 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS per week, and the wages of the female worker is 7s. per week." ^ This works out at about i8s. per week if we allow for the greater proportion of male over female workers. Speaking of the income of what one Socialist writer calls "the excluded" class, which he tells us amounts to 37,000,000 of the entire population, he says : — " The average income per family, taking all to- gether, amounts to sofneivhere about one pound per week.'*^ (The italics are original.) We may fairly conclude from the Clarion and from other prominent Socialist leaders that the best paid workers only receive an average wage of about i8s. per week. Now if this be true of the best paid workers — that is to say, the highly skilled artisans and mechanics, our fitters, joiners, turners, and all that great army of experts which have built up for British manufacturers a reputation for durability, quality, and an excellence of workmanship and finish which stands unrivalled in the world to-day, it follows that that other great army of helpers who assist their more skilled brethren in their multi- tudinous occupations must, de facto, receive a smaller wage. Here are some references to the subject. * Councillor C. A. Clyde, T/ie Misfortune of being a Work- ing Matt, p. 2. - Samuel Washington, A Corner in Flesh and Blood, p. 13. "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 151 The Clarion is not so explicit here, but it has the following : — " To-day there are twelve million on the verge of starvation. There are twenty million very poor, consisting largely of families who do not get per head half the sum that Mr. Claude Lowther says is a ' wretched pittance.' There are one million, in London alone, who do not get more than a guinea a week per family." * "In many factories there are thousands of miser- ably paid workmen, such as woolcombers, piecers, See, whose wages do not average above i6s. per week, taking holidays and trade depressions into account. And then we have over a million agri- cultural labourers, whose wages range from los. to 1 6s. per week." ^ " The wages of the agricultural labourer range from 8s. gd. per week in County Mayo, Ireland, to 2 is. per week in some of the Northern (English) Counties, the average wages being about 15s. per week." ^ " In spite of the fact that the lowest subsistence standard of living is 21s. 8d. per week, Mr. Charles Booth tells us that in London there are no fewer than 300,000 persons whose average earnings were less than iSs. per week, and 200,000 persons whose average earnings were less than los. per week." * Reasonable Presumptions. We may assume from these extracts from Social- ist publications that millions of our workers must * T/ie Clarion, January loth, 1908, ^ Councillor C. A. Glyde, Brilaitis Disgrace,^. 22. ^Ibid., p. 22. ^ Councillor C. A. Glyde, The Misfortune of being a Work' ing Man, p, 4. 152 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS receive considerably less than i8s. 6d. per week, we will say. How much the average wage falls below that amount even Socialists do not appear to know, but if our best paid workers receive on an average i8s. 6d. per week, our worse paid probably receive about two-thirds of that amount. Let us, however, proceed on the very reasonable presumption that this section of workers receive 13s. 6d. per week on an average, and although this seems to be in excess of what Socialists would have us believe, we may take that figure as a basis. Let us further assume that the best paid and poorly paid are about equal in numbers; we shall then get an average wage of i6s. per week. There is no difficulty about the number em- ployed, because all the statistical books are full of the subject. It would be fitting, however, to quote from Socialist publications, partly because they profess to have complete knowledge of national statistics, and partly because it would be more intelligible to quote their own figures. The following statement is copied in extenso from *' Facts for Socialists " : — " Who the Workers Are. *' Those who profess to be taking part in the work of the community were divided, at the census of 1901, into the following classes: — "THE MINIMUM WAGE 153 Males. Females. Total. Industrial . 8,884,116 2,594,684 11,478,800 Agricultural . . 2,058,096 183,881 2,241,977 Commercial . 845,127 89,106 934,233 Domestic . 357,037 2,058,528 2,415,565 Professional , 817,731 387,050 1,204,781 12,962,107 5,313,249 18,275,356 Unoccupied under 20 . 6,476,645 7,202,149 13,678,794 Unoccupied over 20 . 663,656 8,840,9151 9,504,571 20,102,408 21,356,313 41,458,721 (Compiled from Reports of the 1901 Census for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland.) Among the professed workers there are, of course, many whose occupation is merely nominal. The number is swelled by the " sleeping partners, the briefless barristers, the invalids, and the paupers, prisoners, and sinecurists of every de- scription. Many thousands more have occupations useless or hurtful to the community; and others, as for example many doniQstic servants, labour honestly, but for the personal comfort of the idlers, and they might, therefore, as far as production is concerned, as well be themselves idle." ^ It would appear from the above paragraph that the writer of this famous Socialist tract has some idea in his mind that the workers' total was some- what under that given in the Census returns for 1901, and it is more than probable he was correct, but, allowing for increase of population, it is quite likely there may be as many as 18,275,356 workers * Most of these are married women engaged in domestic work, although not so described. - Fabian Tract, No. 5, p. 4. 154 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS in the country to-day. From this total we should make a deduction for — 1. Males engaged in the Professions, in Govern- ment Offices, Merchants, Accountants, &c. (in re- ceipt of more than 30s. per week). 2. Females engaged in shopkeeping, &c. Latest returns show the former to be 71 1,074, ^^^ the latter 142,687. Assuming that two-thirds of the males thus engaged are in receipt of more than 30s. per week, and that the female shopkeepers would not come within the scope of that statute minimum wage at all, we get the following result : — Total workers .... 18,275,356 Deduct two-thirds of males in profes- sions, &c., in receipt of over 30J, per week 474,049 Deduct females engaged in shop- keeping, &c 142,687 616,736 17,658,620 The Socialist Proposal. The proposal of the vSocialist leaders to raise this • average wage of i6s. a week to the legal wage of 30s. a week for both sexes means that 17,658,620 of our workers would receive a minimum legal wage of 14s. per head per week, or ;^36 8s. per year more than they are in receipt of to-day. In other words, the Socialist leaders, in their exube- rant prodigality, would undertake to pay our workers out of State funds ;^642,773,768 annually in wages alone, more than they receive to-day. "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 155 At the outset, then, these Socialist leaders would call upon taxpayers to hand over to them the following sums annually : — ■ 1. To replace Indirect Taxation . . ^65,000,000 2. To maintain Children in State Schools 90,000,000 3. To provide for Old Age Pensions ^ . 60,000,000 4. Minimum wage of 30s. per week for men and women workers . . 642,773,768 iissy. 773,768 Briefly, these four items alone would amount to the stupendous sum of eight hundred and jijly- scven millions sterling per annum, but even this appalling amount would be considerably aug- mented by other reforms such as " Free Insurance against Sickness and Accident," " Free Adminis- tration of Justice," " State Construction of Work- men's Dwellings," " Municipalisation of Hospi- tals," &c., w'hich are all ear-marked for early con- sideration. This enormous sum, startling though it is, would by no means exhaust the calls on the Exchequer. It has been estimated that the public and private charities of the kingdom amount to the prodigious total of about ^100,000,000 annually,^ and it follows, if a Socialist Government were to harry the wealthy and well-to-do folk, and by their unjust spoliatory measures discourage and disgust that 1 " The annual cost, therefore, for a universal system (Old Age Pensions) would be, with the necessary administrative ex- penses, about ;!^6o,ooo,ooo." — Socialism attd the Budget, H. Russell Smart. - Sir W. E. Cooper, The Murder of Agriculture^ p. 49. 156 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS vast body which now makes a rule of giving ac- cording to its means — for Charity's sake — and this, be it borne in mind, constitutes probably three-fourths of the British people — this vast sum would have to be made good by Government, other- wise widespread and terrible distress would fall upon the poor. Socialism postulates a condition of society under which there would be universal prosperity, general affluence, and, of course, an absence of real in- digence, but neither the pages of history, nor a fair appreciation of those conditions which surround human existence to-day would justify so remark- able a conclusion. Poverty has attended the human race from the earliest times; its presence is keenly felt by many persons living to-day, and it is extremely unlikel}'^ that it would flee away and be seen no more under Socialist administration. > It seems certain, therefore, that if a Socialist Government were to cut off the source of this immense, widespread charity, they would have to make good the sum so lost out of public funds, and thus another hundred millions would be added to this long tale of obligations. This frightful drain of national wealth would apparently not meet all the requirements of the case^ for the reason that the schemes for the spoliation of the well-to-do folk and the demands of Socialism on the public exchequer are practically exhaustless. Here, for example, is a well-considered schema "THE MINIMOM WAGE^^ 157 for popular education by Mr. John Richardson. This gentleman's plan is that there should be a national system of Primary, Second Grade, Inter- mediate and Third Grade Schools, and a number of State Colleges and Universities wherein there would be educated, housed, fed and clothed, at the public expense, about 15,000,000 of our youth at a total net cost to the " State " of ;^458, 750,000. The following statement from Mr. Richardson's^ book speaks for itself : — The approximate cost would be as follows: — For food, clothing and education of 2,700,000 children, between the ages of four and seven, at five shillings per week for fifty weeks, would be ;C33,75o.ooo For food, clothing, education, and partial' lodg- ment of 5,500,000 scholars from eight to four- teen years of age, at eight shilling per week for fifty weeks, would be .... ;^ 110,000,000 For food, clothing, education, and lodgment of 2,800,000 scholars of from fifteen to eighteen years of age, at fifteen shillings per week for fifty weeks, would be ^^105,000,000 For food, clothing, technical training and lodg- ment of 2,000,000 students of from nineteen to twenty-one years of age inclusive, at the rate of ;i^ 50 each per annum ;i^ 100,000,000 For food, clothing, and lodgment of 2,000,000 ex-students at ;{^5o per annum. . . . / 100,000,000 Building repairs ;^ 10,000,000 Or a total net cost to the nation of . . . ^458,750,000 ' John Richardson, How it Can be Done; oi\ Co7is/7'uciive Socialism, pp. 53, 54, 55. 158 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS The required sum would be raised as follows : — By produce of labour of 5,500,000 scholars in the Second Grade Schools at three shillings per week for forty weeks .... ;^33,ooo,ooo By produce of labour of 2,800,000 children in the Third Grade Schools at six shillings per week, for forty weeks ^33,600,000 By produce of labour of 2,000,000 students work- ing for six hours a day- for forty weeks in the year, at thirty shillings per week . . . ;{^ 1 20,000,000 By produce of labour of 2,000,000 ex-students working eight hours a day during forty-five weeks in the year, at ;i^5 per week,* less ^i for personal use ^360,000,000 By cash payments of 100,000 students who pre- fer to pay for their education in cash rather than in service — 100,000 at ^180 each . . ^{^ 1 8,000,000 Total / 564,600,000 Less cost of £45^,750,000 Briefly stated, we have here another SociaHst scheme which would be sure to cost the country up- wards of ^450,000,000 annually. Mr. Richardson certainly shows considerable profit on the transaction, but to believe that several millions of school-children could, by a touch of the magician's wand, be converted into an army of what this remarkable SociaHst calls ''useful pro- ducers,'^ who would produce annually the enor- mous total of ;^564, 600,000 worth of manufactured goods, would be to assume a more sanguine posi- * The net earnings (not salary) of each useful producer is now over ^200 per year. "THE MINIMUM WAGE^' 159 tion in respect hereto than any of that gentleman's fellow-countrymen would dare to aspire to. The Socialist leaders would therefore start their Government by asking the taxpayers of the country to hand over at least ^857,000,000 annually in addition to all existing rates and taxes, with the certainty of another ;^ioo,ooo,ooo of lost private and public charities which they would have to make good, while a further ;^45o,ooo,ooo would have to be added to the stupendous total if an educational scheme of the nature deliberately propounded by Mr. Richardson be adopted. To the vast majority of people it seems incred- ible that any Government formed even out of the most irresponsible revolutionists could deliberately launch upon society a scheme which would cost the country a minimum of 857 millions in addition to existing taxes — with another 550 millions loom- ing in the near future — yet it is so, and, much as we would like to believe that the whole thing is a dream, it is nevertheless a hard, unpalatable fact — a calm, deliberate Socialist plan awaiting execution. Other Spoliation Schemes. Now it is a common rule of life that when a man draws a cheque on his bankers, he takes the pre- caution of ascertaining if he has a balance to draw against. If he is pressed for money and gives cheques to his creditors which he knows will be dishonoured, he commits an offence punishable by 160 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS law. Let us see if this state of affairs would be applicable to a Socialist Government set up on the spoliation scheme sketched out by the Socialist leaders and warmly advocated by the Socialist newspapers. They have pledged themselves to: — 1. Repudiation of the National Debt. 2. Institution of cumulative taxes on all incomes exceeding ;^300 a year. 3. Taxation of all unearned incomes to extinc- tion. 4. Destruction of capitalists (which means the quiet withdrawal of all private capital from the country). 5. Nationalisation of land, railways, canals, docks, industries, food, drink, and coal supplies, including restaurants and establishments of a kin- dred nature; gas, electric lighting, and so on ad infinitum. Shortly, it may be stated that these Socialists have sworn to start their relentless war against the people of this country by destroying practically all existing organisations and institutions, and by cut- ting off, at one fell blow, all existing sources of em- ployment, industries, wealth, and public revenue. Let us again follow the process we have adopted in other instances, of melting the abstract down to a concrete form so that it may appeal the better to our individual understanding. It is admitted, even by the most advanced Socialists, that the bulk of the ^140,000,000 which "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 161 Government requires annually for State expendi- ture comes out of the pockets of the rich and well- to-do classes of this country in the shape of Income Tax, Poor Rates, Death Duties, House Duties, Land Tax, &c. These total about ^85,000,000 annually, while about ;^i5, 000,000 are added by the amount they pay in Customs, Excise Duties, &c. Roughly speaking, these execrated classes, against whom Socialists hurl their fierce anathemas, yield to the State coffers about ;^ 100,000,000 yearly, or five-sevenths of the entire income of the country. Effect of Predatory Measures. It follows that if you tax unearned incomes to extinction, put on a cumulative tax on all incomes exceeding ;^300 — or, in other words, prohibit in- comes of over ;^300 a year — you automatically cut off your source of revenue. You may, by such harsh, predatory measures, carry on your nefarious Government for a time, but, as sure as the tides return to our shores, so surely will such an act of spoliation recoil upon the plunderer. You may repudiate the National Debt, which amounts to about ;^75o, 000,000, but when you want to borrow again, as borrow you must if you want to keep your wheels of State going, who will lend to you ? You have robbed the people of their savings, aye, in many cases of their all, and is it to be sup- posed for a moment that they would trust you again ? No, a thousand times no ! Not a penny M 162 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS more would you ever get from a cruelly deceived and ruined people, and then — what would you do ? How would you carry on your predatory Govern- ment when you have spoiled those who have helped you and who have cut off all sources of supply ? Promises Like Pie-crusts. It should not be lost sight of here that under a Socialist Government all workers would be " State " workers, and the State would therefore be liable for all wages. How, then, would a Socialist Government contrive to pay their workers that little annual sum of ;^'624,ooo,ooo which they promised them as an extra wage, and provide for the balance of the ;(^85 7, 000,000, the annual payment of which they are pledged to ? It is an awkward question, perhaps, but it must be answered nevertheless. Socialist leaders say to their followers : '* You leave that and all such matters to us and we will see you through all right " ; but if that satisfies the Socialist rank and file, it certainly will not satisfy the vast bulk of the British people, who prefer to think matters out for themselves. That payment of ^857,000,000 annually must be met, but Socialists have not taken the public into their confidence in respect hereto. They could confiscate the National Debt, and, provided they could realise even the whole of it, which of course they could not do, that would only ensure payment for less than a )^ear. They may "THE IMINIMUM WAGE" 163 rely upon the appropriation of unearned incomes and their cumulative tax on incomes exceeding £300, but many of these would disappear auto- matically in a short time, while it is certain that, despite Socialist declarations to the contrary, a vast number of people in receipt of unearned incomes, and others whose incomes exceed ^300, would have withdrawn themselves and their wealth from the country before the Socialists could set up their pre- datory Government. People are not altogether fools, and it is unlikely that they would remain huddled together like a flock of farmyard geese waiting to be caught and plucked by the spoiler. Social evolution is slow, and political revolution is full of signs and portents, and, between one thing and another, it is certain that the wealthy and well- to-do folk of this country would note the warning and clear out to avoid the danger. National Bankruptcy. They might get a haul here and there where a person had been negligent of his or her interests in not taking defensive measures to defeat the enemies' tactics, or where ill-health or individual helpless- ness of some kind or other had precluded the possi- bility of taking the necessary steps to defend the position ; but, generally speaking, any Socialist Government relying on the confiscation of unearned incomes, or the expropriation of those who have more than ^300 a year, would ensure National Bankruptcy within a year. M 2 CHAPTER XIV "THE MINIMUM WAGE" {continued) SOME NATIONAL RESULTS There are so many considerations involved in the question of a statute wage for our workers that only- one of its many aspects can here be dealt with, and that but briefly. A Legal 30s. Wage. If Socialists ever succeed in giving effect to their legal 30s. wage, the first question one would natur- ally ask is — What would the effect be on the cost of production ? A~ yard of calico with wages at 15s. per week would cost 3|d. per yard — we will say — but with wages at 30s. it would cost more — other things being equal. Let us assume — for the moment — that Socialism has conquered, and that the civilised States of the world have been federated under the Socialist flag, and that there exists certain harmony between them. Nay, let us go even further and assume, for the moment, that tne most perfect international har- "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 165 mony, which this mundane life of ours is capable of producing, exists between the peoples. Is it not, then, possible to conceive that a number of nationahties and governments, differing essen- tially in language, religion, tastes, customs, re- quirements, in social, domestic, and economic con- ditions and cost of living, would find it beyond human power to fix the same legal wage in all countries and among all peoples? It only needs a moment's reflection to determine that such an idea is humanly impossible. Let us take this country and Germany and the United States— our most formidable trade competi- tors — as our example. German Competition. It is perfectly within our knowledge that, owing to slightly higher wages in England, and slightly lower wages in Germany, inter alia, the Germans have already done our trade enormous harm by ousting our manufactured goods from practically every market in the outside world, while every housewife in our own country knows that she can buy German wares of many sorts cheaper than she can purchase English goods of similar kinds. It is equally within our knowledge that the United States use this country as a common " dumping ground" for many of her surplus pro- ductions, and that, in consequence, our manufac- turers suffer considerable loss, while our workpeople are thrown out of employment. 166 SOCIALISM AND 11^ PERILS It may be said by some, *' Ah ! but then German wares are not so good as our own." The British housewife holds, however, other views ; at any rate, she finds the German wares good enough for all practical purposes, and she buys them ! The ques- tion does not so much depend upon whether the quality may be a trifle better or a shade worse, but whether the Germans and Americans under a Socialist international federation would, with English wages as high again as they are to-day, have a still better chance of further ousting British- made goods from home and foreign markets than they have under existing conditions. Here, again, we hear the Socialists saying, " Don't you bother your heads about that; leave it to us, and we will see you through this matter right enough " ; but this is just what we cannot do. We cannot double wages without increasing, at the same time, the cost of production, at least, to that extent. If the wage be not similarly doubled in all those States which enter into competition with us for certain goods we are in the habit of making, we shall as surely go hungr)^ as the man who weakly suffers another man to rob him of his dinner. This is but the working of a simple economic law, and not even Socialists may alter it. A Dead Level of Wages. Nor can we, under any circumstances which are likely to regulate and govern the social and econo- "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 167 mic conditions of the future — whether under a Socialist or any other form of administration which may hereafter prevail in this party-distracted country — conceive a state of affairs whereunder the respective Governments of the civilised world would be able to ensure an international dead level of wages so scrupulously exact, and so carefully worked out, as to offer no possible advantage to the trade of one country over another. This world is very old, and to those who care to study its history it will be found to be full of ab- sorbing interest. Many and varied changes has the human race experienced, and many a useful lesson has man learnt since history commenced to record his w-ords and deeds. He has passed through numerous social and economic changes during the many thousands of years he has been playing his part on the world's stage. Whatever his condition may have been in the past, or whatever it may be to-day, we may be certain that one feeling always influenced him, one thought always guided him, and one note was always dominant in his very being, and that was the immanent principle of self-preservation. In his savage state, when battling with Nature herself for the very means of subsistence, this feel- ing of self-preservation was ever present, while to- day who shall say that it is not the dominant note in every life? Who shall say that this same physical sensibility which prompted the savage to J 68 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS guard himself and his belongings vigorously and in a manner suited to his environments does not exist to-day in the mind of civilised man in all its intensity. Self-Preservation. Self-preservation, or, to call it by its modern name, self-interest, is as common among us to-day as it was in pre-historic times, when men possibly fought with the beasts for earth supremacy, and it is right and fitting that it should be so, for if we do not look sharply after our own individual in- terests in this busy, go-ahead world, nobody else will do so for us. Self-preservation has, rightly or wrongly, been called by philosophers from time immemorial the " First Law of Nature," and that it is so regarded to-day by the vast majority of the human race there is no room for doubt. This law of self-pre- servation, or self-interest, being, then, so univer- sally recognised, and being so deeply engrained in human nature, forms, necessarily, a highly impor- tant factor in the subject under consideration, and if we leave it out of our calculations we shall com- mit a fundamental blunder which will have far- reaching effects. Self-interests will indubitably play as important a part in the business of a State as they do in in- dividual lives, and how Socialists are going to prevent it is a mystery even to themselves. "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 169 You may overthrow Governments, abolish Mon- archies, repudiate National Debts, and the rest of it, but you cannot destroy human nature. It is essentially human to vie one with another, to go " one better " than your neighbour, to "best " Him in a bargain if you can, and generally to compete in life's great race with everyone who enters the arena, and, as this is as sure as the fact that the stars come nightly to the skies to remind us of their existence, it is difficult to see how it is to be altered. Natural laws have a habit of taking their own way, despite man's puny opposition, and Socialists, among others, must, of necessity, recognise this fact. Increased Foreign Competition, a Result of A Statutory Wage. You may have your legal wage, and it may be double what it is to-day, but unless you can induce every other civilised State in this world which manufactures the same goods as you do to double its wage, and legalise it by statute, so as to pre- serve that equality of proportion which more or less exists to-day in the international labour market, you will at once give an enormous advantage to your foreign competitors. Testing this highly important question from an- other point of view, let us assume that, under the Socialist sway, complete understanding exists among the federated States in respect to the price of raw material, wages, and cost of production. 170 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS How are they to ensure the performance of inter- national agreements, and give reHable guarantees that all international undertakings affecting the enormously complicated question of nicely regulat- ing and evenly balancing all matters connected with international manufacturers and international trade shall be so arranged that one country may not reap the slightest advantage over another country ? How are they to prove that Germany, for ex- ample, is not producing her yard of calico at a less cost than it is being turned out in England ? And, unless this can be clearly proved, what guarantee have the British workpeople that they are not being "done"? Considering the composite nature of trade and the complex system upon which manufacturing in- dustries have been built up, the ever-varying con- ditions of human life in each separate country, the difference in cost of living, the varying methods of arriving at that cost as adopted in different countries, the difference in cost of commodities, rent, taxes, rates, and the thousand and one things that enter into the composition of the daily life and trade of a great people, is it conceivable that human ingenuity could ever devise a practical working system under which every working man in every civilised State in the world would be sure to re- ceive equality of treatment in respect to his in- dividual trade, and equality of rights as a cosmo- "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 171 politan citizen of a complicated international union ? Is it, in short, practically possible to bind a number of nationalities dififering naturally in race, language, religion, thoughts, habits, desires, and ambitions so closely together in the bonds of universal brother- hood as to ensure equality in all those many condi- tions which go to make up our individual lives? Socialist Promises. This is truly a pertinent question, and it has to be put because the people of this country have been promised, by the new political Socialist party, something of this kind which can never be per- formed, or so they think, at least — and they are, therefore, determined to put this promise in the scales of everyday practicability, and test it with the weights of common sense. To tamper with the wages of our workpeople in the manner proposed by the Socialist leaders would undoubtedly be to impose a tax of such stupendous weight that the country could not bear it even for a single year, while it would, at the same time, ruin our trade and manufactures, and throw vast masses of our workers out of employment, because of the utter impossibility of securing a dead level of wages among all peoples of the earth, and equality of treatment, and of rights in all matters pertaining to international citizenship. Again, assuming that Socialism has managed to bring about some such understanding among the 172 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS civilised States of the world as that depicted, how- are they to bring to book those recalcitrant States which refuse to subscribe to the English demand for an international minimurri legal wage of 30s. a week, or, at least, its equivalent, in their respec- tive countries ? Equality of International Wages Impossible. Supposing Germany said to the English Social- ist Government, " We find there is no necessity for any appreciable increase of wages in our country, because our workers are already earning excellent wages, as is proved bv the standard of comfort under which they live, and the enormous accumula- tions in the Savings Banks, &c." What would the English Socialist Government do to enforce their decree? Belgium, France, Austria — all countries which largely compete with ours to-day — might also say, " No, we cannot do as you ask, because the cost of living with us is lower than in England, while the cost of production is consequently less ; our workers are already well off, and if we did raise the wage it would still fall far short of the English scale." Under such a state of affairs, which conceivably might easily arise, the English Socialist Govern- ment could not force their minimum wage law on the nations, because the international court of ar- bitration — which, we assume^, would exist — would be against the English proposal. They could not "THE MINIMUM WAGE" 173 deal with the matter vi et armis, because the aboli- tion of standing armies would leave them without a punitive force wherewith to enforce tlieir measure. They would, in plain English, be " between the devil and the deep sea." They would have pledged themselves to a monstrously unjust and preposter- ously impossible law, which would assuredly ruin the country, and wreck our trades and manufactur- ing industries, without being able either to induce or force foreign countries to follow their mad lead. They would burden the cost of English production with a load so heavy as would admit of every one of our foreign competitors beating us in the race for the world's trade without an appreciable effort. They would, by their rash, nay, suicidal, mea- sures, let in the world's goods at a price we could not compete with, and we again ask the question — What would the Socialists do? How TO Build Up. They have shown us how to pull down, but what we are more concerned with is the question — How are they going to build up ? The Socialists are famous iconoclasts, but we prefer to hear more about the making of the image, and less about the breaking thereof. They tell us, when we ask such questions, that they have no cut-and-dried scheme dealing in detail with the operation and effect of their multitudinous revolutionary measures, but it is just here that we take up our firm attitude of m SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS protestation, and declare that, to deal altogether in the abstract, without being able to reduce each pro- position to its most concrete form, is to advance a proposition without being able to expound it, and we object to a position which is obviously anoma- lous and altogether indefensible. We are dealing here with the vastest question ever propounded to the human race — namely, the destruction of all existing social and economic con- ditions; of all existing monarchies, governments, institutions, laws, religions; the " loosening of the marriage ties," the repudiation of national obliga- tions, the, sacrifice of national honour, and many other things besides, and we are, therefore, natur- ally anxious to know what sort of a position this general revolution, this uprooting of individual and national life, is likely to land us in ? CHAPTER XV HOW SOCIALISTS MISJUDGE THEIR FELLOW- COUNTRYMEN. HOW BRITISH WORKERS ARE TO BE CONVERTED INTO STATE SLAVES. Leaving out of consideration for the moment the question of the people of this country resisting vio- lence by violence, which, by the way, is quite likely, Socialists are surely not weak enough to believe that the vast majority of the British people would quietly submit to be shorn of all their pos- sessions by, comparatively speaking, a small mi- nority of Socialists without making a good fight for it ? If they do so they have misjudged their fellow- countrymen to an extent that will surely militate seriously against their chances of future success. We are, no doubt, rightly called a cold, unemo- tional people, and we are, more or less, apathetic over many things in life which perhaps unduly excite other nations; we do not, indeed, concern ourselves much with affairs that seem to lie outside our immediate sphere of operations, but once our corns are trampled upon, our interests attacked, our 176 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS property despoiled, and our homes invaded, it cannot be said that we are cold or indifferent, or that we take our punishment lying down. Effect on the Working Classes. History tells us what Englishmen have done at home and abroad, and if that is not written large enough for Socialists to read, there is no use in telling them that what their fellow-countrymen have done in the past in defence of their rights, privi- leges, property, and their homes, they are prepared to do, and will do, to-day and in the future. When reduced to a still more concrete form, it will be seen that every penny of this enormous pay- ment of eight hundred and fifty-seven millions yearly, if it ever be paid at all, must fall on the working classes themselves. When they have spent in a few months what can be realised by their predatory methods, in trying to redeem their promises to their followers in regard to the minimum 30s. wage, the free maintenance of school children^ and the rest of it, the Socialist leaders will have got to the end of their tether. The National Debt robbery would have destroyed National credit, and precluded the possibility of further borrowing; their spoliatory measures in respect to unearned incomes and other properties would have driven the bulk of the wealth of the rich and well-to-do from the country, and the public exchequer would be as bare of gold as an egg is "STATE SLAVES" 177 bare of feathers. There can be no help forthcoming from other sources which now contribute largely to State needs, because railways, docks, food, and coal supply, and practically all great industries, will have been nationalised, and these, as we have seen, are not likely to be run under conditions which would yield a profit to the State. British Slaves. British workers must, therefore, under such con- ditions, be necessarily reduced to the position of slaves in the State workshops, and who shall help them ? There cannot be rival industries, because most of them will have been taken over by the State. The State-owners cannot come to their aid, even if they would, because the State coffers have been exhausted. Private help may not avail, be- cause the harsh, unjust methods of the Socialist Government have cut off and banished the wealth of the country, and dried up the sources of charity. The working man, deprived of such means of alternative employment as he is accustomed to under existing conditions, and of that just con- sideration, fair treatment, and those general equali- ties which are secured for him by his trades unions, and other kindred institutions, would be absolutely subject to his State task-master without means of redress or hope of preferment. Not only would the vaunted minimum wage of 30s. a week prove as illusory as a will-o'-the-wisp, but it is also con- N 178 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS ceivable that, owing to the destruction of National credit and the general shrinkage of National re- venue — due to the causes before enumerated — he would draw no wages at all, or, at all events, a mere pittance — or starvation wage. Starvation Wages. It may be contended by Socialists that this mini- mum wage of 30S. a week would only be applicable to adults, but such a contention would not hold water, because they have vowed to abolish child labour under a statute age of sixteen : — " No child to be employed in any trade or occu- pation until sixteen years of age, and imprisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and guardians who infringe this law." ^ And there would obviously be no other than adult labour. This is no fanciful picture drawn, as so many pictures of the kind are drawn, to influence the weak and halting, and frighten the timid, but one faithfully delineating the plain, stern features of a living truth. These and probably worse things would happen if the people of this country ever adopted the suicidal system which the leaders of modern Socialism are advocating to-day, and it is, therefore, necessary to truly depict the deadly glow of those lurid fires which Socialists threaten to light in this fair land of ours. 1 Programme. Social Democratic Federation. "STATE SLAVES ' 179 Stirring up Strife and Hatred. We have, perhaps, carried our exann nation of a few of these revolutionary reforms which the leaders of this new political party are seeking to thrust upon the people far enough to show what a hope- less Utopianism the whole thing is. It is evident, therefore, how very hollow and misleading are their many and profuse promises. They could no more raise these ;^857, 000,000 annually, and the many hundreds of millions which their other equally im- possible schemes would cost, than they could bale the ocean with a child's sand-bucket. Why, then, do they wilfully mislead the people and stir them up to class strife and hatred ? There is no doubt much that is deplorable in the condition of a vast number of our fellow-country- men. There is more poverty and suffering than there need be — a great deal more, indeed, than is justified by the splendid position we have held in the world for the last fifty years and more. The signs of the times are, however, plain enough, and it is clear that both the Government and the Oppo- sition are in favour of^ and will give immediate effect to, many of the reforms which Socialists are so loudly clamouring for. It is equally evident that all classes in this country, irrespective of creed or party, are asking, in no uncertain voice, for re- forms in various directions, and as the vast masses of our people as far surpass the small body of Socialists as the great shining orb of day dwarfs N 2 180 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS into insignificance the paler light of the moon, the Socialists will not be allowed to take all the credit for such benefits as must result from these reforms. " Blood and Bullet " jNIethods. The Socialists have done excellent service in fo- cussing public attention on the weak points in the administration of the country, but we can get what we want without resorting to their " blood and bullet " methods/ As Englishmen, with pride in our race, and love for our country, we are as deter- mined as were our gallant sires to obtain that mea- sure of equity, justice, and fair treatment that is our right to have and to hold. And we therefore re- sent the assumption of Socialists that theirs is the only party in favour of reform. CHAPTER XVI THE " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS. One of the most important, and perhaps the favourite item in the SociaHst programme is what is termed the " Unequal distribution of National Wealth." It looms largely at every Socialistic gathering, it forms the thesis of every Socialist orator, and every possible advantage is taken of the fact. It has, moreover, been dinned into the ears of the working classes for years past that this national wealth is so unequally distributed as to be a standing disgrace to civilisation, a glaring injus- tice to the working man, and an iniquity to the Commonweal. Working Classes' Share. Infinite pains are taken in pointing out that, of the national income resulting from national indus- try, the working classes do not receive a fair share, and that the bulk of it finds its way into the pockets of what Socialists call " the idle, vicious few," who actually rob the workers of that which is theirs by all the laws of equity and justice. They point out that it is only those who actually work with their hands, together with a few mental 182 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS workers, who should share between them this national income, as they term it, or, as others call it, the national ivealth, and that that other great body of workers who assist in creating and setting in motion the vast national trade, which is the national wealth, or, if we prefer to call it so — the national income — should go unrewarded. " Ability and Labour." Socialists call those who immediately assist the hand-workers and the hand-workers themselves — " Ability and Labour," and according to the doc- trines of Socialism, these, and these alone, are worthy of reward. That great army of toilers in the broad field of labour represented by shop- keepers, merchants, bankers, landlords, house and property owners, shippers, brokers of all kinds, insurance companies, agents, lawyers, barristers, actors, and a host of others are classed among " the idle, vicious few," and therefore unworthy of all participation in the national income, or of reward of any kind. The most famous publication dealing with this question is a tract issued by the Fabian Society entitled Facts for Socialists, which professes to be an expression in figures of the iniquity of the capitalist class and of injustice to the working class. This pamphlet is perhaps more largely quoted by Socialist writers than any other, and it serves as a basis for much of their statistical work. Here are a few passages from it. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 183 " Allowing for a corresponding rise in the in- comes not assessed and in the wages of manual labour, we may estimate the income for 1901-2 at not less than ^1,800,000,000." ^ It then conveniently quotes Adam Smith and other political economists in proof of the contention that as " No wealth can be produced without labour," it is to labour, therefore, that all wealth should be due. The former is a truism, but the Socialists' interpretation of the passage quoted is as fundamentally wrong as their conclusion is mis- leading and unjust. "It is to labour, therefore, and to labour only, that man owes everything possessed of exchange- able value." ^ It then proceeds to show that between rent and interest the *' idle rich " exploit labour to the extent of ^650,000,000 per annum, and adds : — " Nearly the whole of this vast income may be regarded as being received without any contem- porary service rendered in return by the owners as such." 3 What Other Workers Receive. Under " Profits and Salaries" it is then shown that what Fabians call the "endowed class" re- ceive a further slice of the National Income amount- ing to ;^46o,ooo,ooo. This class " includes workers of all grades, from the excep- tionally skilled artisan to the Prime Minister, and ^ Fabian Tract No. 5, Facts for Socialists, p. 3. - Ibid., p. 3. 2 Ibid., p. 6. 184 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS from the city clerk to the President of the Royal Academy." ^ These two items total ;^i,i 10,000,000, and we are gravely told that : — " We estimate that the total drawn by the legal disposers of what are sometimes called the " Three Rents " (of Land, Capital, and Ability) amounts at present to about ^1,110,000,000 yearly, or just under two-thirds of the total produce."^ This stupendous sum is, we are told, received by the "Classes." Juggling with Figures. We are then led to believe that the " Masses " receive as their share of the national income but ;^690,ooo,ooo annually. " Allowing for the income since these estimates were made, we may safely say that the manual- labour class receives for all its millions of Workers only some ;^690, 000,000. Rent ^290,000,000 Interest 360,000,000 Profits and Salaries .... 460,000,000 Total (that is, the income of the legal proprietors of the three natural mo- nopolies of land, capital and ability) = i , 1 1 0,000,000 Income of manual class . . . 690,000,000 _2{^r, 800,000,000 " This unequal division of the fruits of the com- bined labour of the working community divides us, as Lord Beaconsfield said, into ' two nations,' 1 Fabian Tract No. 5, Facts for Socialists, p. 7, •^ IlnJ., p. 8. ^'DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 185 widely differing from each other in education, in comfort, and in security." ^ " Disguise it as we may by feudal benevolence, or the kindly attempts of philanthropists, the material interests of the small nation privileged to exact rent for its monopolies, and of the great nation, thereby driven to receive only the remnant of the product, are permanently opposed."^ Results of the Tract. This famous tract supplies much of the ammuni- tion that is fired oft' by Socialists, and there is not a writer, lecturer, or street orator who does not make capital out of it. A few examples might usefully be given. *' The produce of labour is the natural recom- pense or wages of labourers. From this * natural recompense,' rent and profit are, in Socialist eyes, unnatural, illegitimate abstractions, to be recovered and added to wages as speedily as possible."^ " Not only are ' rent ' and ' profit ' illegitimate abstractions, but they are downright theft. Every landowner, every banker, every manufacturer, every shopkeeper is a thief. All business for profit is swindling. Land, rent, and capital-rent are thefts from the produce of labour."* " Aliens in the land they were born, and they are absolutely dependent upon a small section of the community for permission to live in their native land, and they cannot secure that permission with- out paying on the average twopence out of each ' Fabian Tract No. ■^^ Facts for Socialists, p. g. '^ Ibid., p. 1 1. 3 Davidson, The Old Order and the New, p. 30. ■* Ibid., p. 45. 186 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS shilling that they earn to keep an idle class in luxury and extravagance." ^ " There can be no individual liberty so long as machinery which has been made by the associated labour of all the workers becomes the property of the class, and is used by that class to keep them- selves in idleness, and to pay the workers' wages by wealth taken from them."^ " At present the frugal workman only gets about one-third of his earnings. Under Socialism he would get all his earnings." ^ " The labourer to-day is a slave, and labour has become a mark of bondage."* " Under this present competitive system the great masses of the people are not free. . . . Much as the ' freeborn Briton ' may dislike to hear the pain- ful truth recited, it is a fact not to be controverted, that four-fifths of our total population are bound as completely and as miserably as ever was a black African slave to a Western planter."^ These are but a few examples of the kind of literature the leaders of Socialism dole out to their followers, and it is impossible to conceive a method more calculated to inflame the passions of the prole- tariat than to tell them that the}- have been sys- tematically robbed by the " idle rich " of two- thirds or three-fourths of their income. So inflam- matory a statement could only be justified by — Truth. Is the statement true ? ^ Councillor C. A. Clyde, A Peep Behind the Scenes, p. 3. ^ Philip Snowden, The Individual under Socialism, p. 5. ^ Robert Blatchford, Merrie England, p. 119. * McClure, Socialism. ^ Ethel Snowden, The Woman Socialist, pp. 10, ri. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 187 What Non-Socialists Say. Many non-Socialists, recognising that up to the present time SociaHsts have had the field to them- selves, are now entering the arena against them, and it is certain that the immediate future will witness interesting encounters. Mr. J. Ellis Barker, in his book " British Socialism," has much to say in respect to the matter we are now considering, and he might be usefully quoted here. Refer- ring to this so-called " National Income " of ;^ 1, 800, 000,000, which Socialists manipulate so cleverly, he says : — " These figures are so palpably false and so grossly misleading that attention cannot suffi- ciently strongly be drawn to the deception which is constantly being practised upon the workers." ^ Speaking of the Fabian tract, Facts for Social- ists, we find the following : — " It contains a vast number of quotations from Blue-books, political economists, and statisticians; and a certain show of learning, of thoroughness, and of conscientiousness gives it at first sight the appearance of being a reliable and honest produc- tion. However, appearances are proverbially de- ceptive." ^ The author then proceeds to deal vvith the ;^ I, II 0,000, 000 which Socialists alleo-e are taken from the workers by " the idle, vicious few," in a manner that leaves no room for doubt that the ^ J. lillis Barker, British Socialism^ p. 40. ^ /^/^,^ p_ ^j^ 188 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS figures have been cleverly manipulated by Fabians, and adds : — " From the foregoing statement it appears that the rich draw not two-thirds, but only one-third, of the national income, and this fact should be care- fully borne in mind in view of the contents of the following pages." ^ The same author now deals with the other parts of this vast national trade or income, and shows to the satisfaction of every person in this country who is disposed to look at the entire question from a reasonable, common-sense point of view that Facts for Socialists are not facts but merely figures; that the deductions of Socialists are badly drawn, that their contentions are absurd, and their conclu- sions wrong. In condemning this Fabian tract as being " un- fair, misleading, and dishonest," the writer adds: — " Most of the important pamphlets issued by the Fabian Society are signed by their authors. The fact that the most effective. Facts for Socialists, is unsigned seems to indicate that the author — apparently a well-known leader of the Fabians — had some sense of shame, and it is to be hoped that the Fabian Society will immediately, and publicly, repudiate this dishonest pamphlet."^ Effects of Fabian Figures. A corollary of Facts for Socialists may be 1 J. Ellis Barker, British Socialism, p. 45. 2 Ibid., pp. 47, 48. " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME '' 189 found in the Socialist organ, the Clarion, which has the following : — ** Do you know that we pay out of our total income of ;;^i,8oo millions a year 650 millions in rent and interest? " Do you know that this 650 millions is not earned by those who receive it? That they do not do a scrap of work with hand or brain for it ? " Do you know that 6s. 8d. out of every £1 produced by ability and manual labour is taken by idle shareholders and landlords ? " Do you know that the bulk of this ;^65o mil- lions of rent and interests is taken by a mere handful of rich people, and that only a bit of it trickles into the pockets of ability and labour. Do they ear7i it? What do they do for it? Nothing. Just nothing at all. For, note, before interest and dividends are paid to shareholders and stock- holders, all the manual labour has received wages and all the ability has received salaries." ^ Starting with a clear Socialist proposition that the national income is ;^i,8oo millions a year, and that out of this 650 millions are paid away in rent and interest, and 6s. 8d. in the ;£i of the whole, or ;^6oo millions, are taken by shareholders and land- lords, we arrive at the fact that the remainder, namely, ;^55o, 000,000, is divided among the workers, or, as the Clarion terms them, " Manual Labour" and "Ability." Questionable Figures. All these figures are open to serious objections * The Clarion^ January loth, 1908. 190 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS because the Socialists themselves sometimes give the sum at ^690,000,000, and by deduction even at ^920,000,000.' In fact the entire question deal- ing with the distribution of national wealth is neces- sarily so complicated that our best political econo- mists and statisticians differ considerably in their estimates, and in spite of their expert knowledge many of their conclusions are but guesswork. In this matter of the amount received by Ability and Manual Labour, statisticians differ as much as ^229,000,000.^ We will, however, accept the Socialist figures, misleading and altogether wrong though they are, for the sake of argument, as we have done in other instances. For work performed, the worker receives in wages, then, the yearly sum of ;^55o, 000,000, while ^1,250,000,000 annually are divided among share- holders and stockholders, or are paid away in rent and interest. Here, again, the figures are ques- tionable, but we will deal only with the principle which they involve. Among the great army of our workers there are millions of shrewd level-headed men who are quite capable of understanding the fact that all trades and industries are built up of many parts, and that each one of these parts is essential to, and depends upon, the other for the harmonious working of the whole. Remove or destroy one or more of these parts, and the whole must suffer. A cotton ' See Chapter i8. ^ Socialist Annual^ 1908, p. 22, "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME ^^ 191 mill, for example, does not consist wholly of machiner)', cotton, and "hands"; there is some- thing behind these three parts, some power, which moves, guides, and fashions into an intelligible whole, and then gives it material expression in the form of trade and profit. Leave your workers severely alone with their raw cotton and machinery ; help them not at all with funds; withdraw from the concern the brains and energy which start the mill and keep it going, and — what could happen but the stoppage of the machinery and the dis- charge of the workpeople ? Wealth a Necessity. Every working man who is wise enough to study this question knows perfectly well that no industry in this world can possibly be carried on without capital, and brains and energy to wisely direct and control it, and all the Socialists in the world cannot alter this fact because it is a living truth. Indus- tries may change hands and owners, you may have State-owned trades and manufacturing industries, you may have the State Treasury in place of private capitalists, and State officials in place of private managers, secretaries, clerks, foremen, and over- lookers; you may have State-paid "hands" in place of those paid by private employers, but the component parts of every trade and industry in the country would still remain precisely the same as they are to-day. CHAPTER XVII THE DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS. (Continued.) THE " DIVISION OF PROFITS " ON SOCIALIST LINES ILLUSTRATES THE GROTESQUE CHARACTER OF THE PROPOSALS As Socialists have been so unwise as to condemn the present system as being inimical to the working classes, it is necessary to make a digression here in order to examine the question somewhat closely, to see if the contention can be maintained. Let us take the case of an overlooker in a cotton mill who has had a windfall of some thousands of pounds, which, in a snug investment, yields five per cent. Let us suppose there is a small mill of 20,000 spindles with a proportionate number of looms in the market, and that he buys it at a fair market price, including the cost of the land on which the property stands. He thus be- comes his own landlord ! He draws out his money to pay for the mill and to supply capital for his business, without which there can be no cotton, nor can the machinery be set in motion. At the outset it is clear that his money is at least worth five per cent, per annum. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 193 He then buys his materials, engages his " hands," clerks, bookkeepers, and the rest of the staff to enable him to run his business, and sells his yarn and cloth and makes up his accounts for the year. He finds that his profits, after writing off the customary charges for fair wear and tear of block and machinery, interest, and other incidental expenses, amount to ten per cent., we will say, on the capital invested in his business. In the course of time he sees an opening for healthy development, and he induces a few of his friends to join him in his venture. Some of them are his own friends engaged in work of various kinds, while others are without manual occupation. Between them they supply the necessary capital, form themselves into a Limited Company, and call themselves shareholders instead of partners. The business proceeds, and such profits as it yields, are divided among them according to their shares, while, on the other hand, such losses as may result are similarly shared and made good in proportion to their respective holdings. Every Man Entitled to the Reward of His Labour. There is nothing wrong, immoral, or unjust about this proceeding — the workpeople are paid regularly whether there be profit or loss, and it is clear that the owners of the business are just as much entitled to what they make out of it as are the manual workers whom they employ. o 194 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Here, then, we have in our small concern all those component parts of an industry which Socialists declare to be not only unnecessary but positively unjust and altogether inimical to the in- terests of the working classes. The owners of this small mill are at the same time landlords, share- holders, and stockholders. They are landowners, because the land they purchased with the mill had to be bought with money which yielded — as we have seen — five per cent, interest, and they are therefore, as landlords, entitled to a fair profit on their land investment. The shareholders' money was bringing them in a fair return before they put it into the mill, and they are therefore entitled to such profits as their new investment may yield. The other partners of the concern, who were not engaged in manual occupation, are just as much entitled to their share of the profits as the original owner of the mill or his " hands," because money, being a marketable commodity, commanding a certain price in the market, is always worth that price, whether it happens to belong to a working man or a " stockholder." This is a commercial truism which is recognised the world over by all classes, creeds, and colours, and the Socialists, in attempting to controvert it, will array against themselves the formidable phal- anxes of the working classes who have as keen a sense of the market value of what they possess in the form of cash as any class in the country. '^ DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 195 Why all Workers must Share the National Income. If we carry our examination further we shall see what happens to the cloth after it leaves the mill and then determine, on the broad lines of common- sense and equity, if there is sufficient justification for these charges for rent and interest and the pay- ment of dividends to idle shareholders, stock- holders and landlords, to which Socialists so strongly object. Every piece of cloth made in a cotton mill is either destined for home use or for shipment to foreign countries. Almost every schoolboy knows that it finds its way first of all to the warehouse- man, then to the shopkeeper, and lastly to the consumer. It is put to an infinite variety of uses, and is the mainspring of an infinite number of industries. The manufacture of articles made from cotton cloths of all descriptions is one of the big- gest industries in the kingdom, and gives employ- ment to vast numbers of people of both sexes, while the use of cotton goods is as widespread among all classes as that of bread. The manufacture of cotton goods forms one of the staple trades of the country, and, to deal with it effectually, many costly warehouses, shops, and kindred establish- ments are necessary, while immense capital is required in its exploitation. If it be sent to foreign countries there must be a fleet of ships to carry it, and docks and ware- houses both at home and abroad to receive it. It o 2 196 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS is obvious to everybody — except Socialists — that this vastly important trade cannot be carried on without land on which to build shops, factories, warehouses and docks, and capital to exploit it, while it is also clear that every person engaged in this mighty industry, whether he or she be land- lord, shareholder or stockholder, manual worker or mental worker, is just as much entitled to his or her remuneration for work done or for services given, as the work-people in the mill who originally made the cloth. A Grotesque Proposition. If this be not a fair, reasonable, practical, and logical conclusion to arrive at in the consideration of this simple everyday matter, it must be dis- tinctly understood that the onus probandi rests with the Socialists and not with the people. The Socialists have brought forward the grotesque pro- position that, practically, only those who perform manual labour, such as navvies, dock-labourers, coal-heavers, miners, scavengers, blacksmiths, car- penters, masons, mechanics, factory " hands," &c., are entitled to payment in this world. The Socialists must prove it to the entire satisfaction of the vast masses of men and women workers of every class in this country who have longer hours than the manual w^orker, although they happen to be engaged in earning their daily bread in occupa- tions which do not happen to come under the category of manual labour. " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 197 These people — and they number millions — claim that their occupations, although multitudinous in number, are quite as important and necessary in the composition of trade and industry as are those of the manual worker, while their work is, at the same time, just as arduous, honest, and legitimate as any work— ^manual or otherwise — that is under- taken in this country. This class of workers includes shop assistants, practically all the girls and young men employed in the Post Office and other public offices, typists, clerks, merchants, stockbrokers, bankers, shop- keepers, foremen, managers, farmers, game- keepers, schoolmasters, civil servants, doctors, tradesmen of all kinds, journalists, writers, actors, artists, musicians, lawyers, barristers, trades unions and kindred organisations and institutions, as well as all who are engaged in the enormous import and export trade of the Empire, and those responsible for the development, direction, and control of our vast manufacturing trade, including the execrated landlord, banker, and shareholder. These formidable armies of men and women number (including families) probably eighteen to twenty millions of people, and, as they are held up to scorn by Socialist leaders and stigmatised as " The Idle, Vicious Few," they naturally want to know — Why ? Let the Socialists answer ! CHAPTER XVIII THE DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME, AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS (continued) SOCIALIST REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF UNIVERSAL POVERTY REBUTTED BY INCONTRO- VERTIBLE FACTS. Then, again, the idea of universal poverty among the vast masses of our toilers which is made so much of by Socialists is utterly refuted by the vast sum standing to the credit of the working classes of this country in Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks, Friendly Societies, Building Societies, and kindred institutions. It is somewhat diffi- cult to arrive at the exact sum, but upwards of ;^4i5, 000,000 can be accounted for, while it is vari- ously estimated by competent authorities that the total amount of invested property standing to the credit of the working classes of the United King- dom is ;^55o,ooo,ooo to ;^6oo, 000,000. the suppression OF TRUTH. That this is not the mere assumption of an anti- Socialist, but a plainly stated fact which can be at once proved by a reference to any statistical work on the subject, is incontrovertible, and this practice of resorting to a systematic suppression of manifest "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 199 truths by the Socialist leaders may do more harm to their cause than they are aware of. The Socialists have either a good case to put before the people, or they have not. If their case be good, and if it rests upon the solid basis of equity, justice, and the principles of eternal truth, they may bring it forward w'ithout fear or reproach, and as sure as the plummet cleaves the air and drops straight and true to its place, so will a true cause go straight to the hearts of the people. That Socialists deal in half-truths and keep the whole truths back has been proved over and over again, and it is certain that no cause can prosper which has to be bolstered up by such shifty expedi- ents. To tell a man that he has been systematically robbed by his employer when he has been drawing a fair wage, or that he is a beggar when he lives up to a fair standard of comfort, and has a balance, and a growing one, at his banker's, is to tell him that which is manifestly untrue, and the working classes will not be deceived by such tactics. We may here conveniently deal with the ;^ 1, 250, 000,000 referred to at the end of Chapter XVI. Among other misleading statements indulged in by Socialists, they have deliberately put it forward as an ascertained fact that out of the ;^ 1,800, 000, 000 of national income, ;^65o, 000,000 are received by those by whom it has not been earned, while 6s. 8d. in every £1 produced by Ability and Labour = one-third of the ;{^ 1,800,000,000, is taken by idle 200 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS landlords and shareholders. These two items, which aggregate ^1,250,000,000 are, this group of Socialists solemnly avow, filched from the working classes by " the idle, vicious few," and what they call " Ability and Labour " are thus left with but ;^55o,ooo,ooo of the whole. If we divide this amount among the 17,658,620 workers referred to, we get an average income of £3^'3j or I2S. per week. FURTHER ANALYSIS. The Fabians are, however, responsible for certain statements which quite upset this idea of i2s. a week. They have deliberately declared in their publica- tions that this amount is not ^550,000,000, but ;^69o,ooo,ooo. " Allowing for the increase since these estimates were made, we may safely say that the manual- labour class receives for all its millions of WORKERS only some ;^690,ooo,ooo.'* ^ There are, however, many hundreds of millions to be added to this amount, because, in their eager- ness to make out a good case for what they call the Workers, the Fabians have most cleverly handled the national figures. Whether they have handled them wisely will be seen later. To suit their purposes, they have divided the in- come of the Workers into two portions. One portion they call "manual-labour," and the other the "endowed class." ^ Facts for Socialists, p. 9. " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 201 This latter class draws ;^46o,ooo,ooo annually from the national income, and they then explain that : — "It is convenient for statistical purposes to in- clude in it all those who do not belong to the ' manual-labour ' class .... this prosperous body may be estimated to receive for its work as Pro- fits AND Salaries about ;^46o,ooo,ooo an- nually." ^ [Caps, are original.] In order to asperse this useful and necessary class as much as possible, this pamphlet says : — " When the members of this endowed class elect to work, they are able to do so under unusually favourable conditions. Associated with them in this respect are the fortunate possessors of excep- tional skill in hand or brain, and the owners of literary, artistic, or commercial monopolies of every kind. These workers often render inestimable ser- vice to the community, and they are able to exact in return remuneration proportionate neither to their ability nor to the cost of their education or training, but to the relative scarcity of the faculty they possess." ^ As it would be too damaging to their cause to suppress altogether the fact that this ** endowed class " is the most comprehensive in the kingdom, and includes among its many millions actual manual labourers of all kinds, we find the following grudg- ing admission of its importance: — " The numbers and total income of this large class cannot be correctly ascertained. It includes ^ Facts for Socialists, p. 7. ^ Ibid., p. 7. 202 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS workers of all grades, from the exceptionally skilled artisan to the Prime Minister, and from the city- clerk to the President of the Royal Academy." ^ Mr. Ellis Barker, dealing with this matter in his book, " British Socialism " (pp. 43, 44), has the following : — " As the pamphlet is addressed to the uncritical body of general readers, and especially to working men, these will naturally divide, owing to the artful wording of the phrase, the national income between manual labourers and capitalist monopolists. Ac- cording to this pamphlet, everyone who is not a labourer is a capitalist monopolist. Therefore, the capitalist monopolist class includes all lawyers and doctors, all parsons and clerks, all officers and salaried officials. Every business man, every farmer, every fisherman, every greengrocer, every baker, every butcher, every sailor, every cobbler, every chimney-sweep, every clerk, being not a wage-earning labourer, is ' one of the legal pro- prietors of the three natural monopolies,' or, in plainer language, a monopolist. At least, the in- come of this very large class has barefacedly been credited to the capitalist class, whilst its members have been utilised (on p. 4 of the pamphlet) to swell the ranks of the workers. This is dishonesty number one. The income of the exceptionally skilled artisans, who also form a very large class, is credited on p. 7 to the ' classes ' under the head- ing, 'Profits and Salaries.' They also are in- cluded among the ' monopolists,' although their number has likewise been utilised (on p. 4) to swell 1 Facts for Socialists, p. 7. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 203 the number of the workers. This is dishonesty number two." It will be seen at a glance that an attempt has been made by the writer of this Fabian tract to sup- press the important fact that among this huge sec- tion of Workers there are, perhaps, millions who must necessarily come under the category of 7nanual labour, and thus form part of that great band of workers which Fabians number at 18,275,356,^ and which we have reduced to 17,658,620 for reasons already given. This being so, it is right and proper that a large proportion of the ;^46o,ooo,ooo, which it is alleged is drawn by this class annually from the national income, should be added to the ;^690,ooo,ooo which Fabians admit are drawn by what they call the " manual-labour class." What amount might be fairly allocated in this manner it is difficult to determine, because statis- ticians themselves cannot decide the question. Let us, then, take half of the total, and add it — ;^230,ooo,ooo — to the ;^690,ooo,ooo, and we arrive at the following remarkable result: — Yearly Weekly Income. Workers. Income. Income. C/rt;7<7«'j estimate ^550,000,000 17,658,620 ^^31 3^-. 12s. Fabian's . . ^^690,000,000 „ ^39 i8x. 15.^.4^/. Estimate by de- duction . . /920, 000,000 „ ^52 2S. 20s: Here is a remarkable discrepancy between the Clarion's estimate of the income of " Ability ' Facts for Socialists, p. 4. 204 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS and Labour " and that based upon the figures in Facts for Socialists, of ;^'3 70, 000,000, and the public are justified in looking to Socialists for an explanation. But here is yet another way of looking at this question. Socialists tell us there are 18,275,356 workers in the United Kingdom. If we look up statistical tables we shall find that among these there are : — Professional Class . 1,204,781 Commercial „ . 2,202,054 Total . . 3,406,835 If we take the whole of the professionals from this total, which includes lawyers, doctors, artists, &c., and half of the commercials, among whom we find merchants, bankers, stockbrokers, &c., we have 2,305,808, which might fairly be deducted from the great army of Workers, as such persons un- doubtedly work more with brain than with hand. Accepting the total figures as a basis, we get this result : — Total workers . . 18,275,356 Deduct brain workers . 2,305,808 Total Manual workers . 15,969,548 or £5^ per annum for every manual worker. But there is yet another way of dealing with this complicated question, and, as it happens to be the way taken by unbiassed statisticians, it must, in spite of Fabian manipulations, be regarded as — the right way. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 205 It is held that, as the /460, 000,000 are fairly earned by the ^reat army of middle-class workers, which includes^ as Fabians themselves admit, " Workers of all grades," the whole of it should legitimately be credited to the workers, and, as this seems but an equitable course, we get the fol- lowing result : — Income of Manual Workers . . ^690,000,000 Income of other " Workers of all grades " 460,000,000 Total Income of Workers . ;^ 1,1 50,000,000 Divide this among the 15,969,548 workers, and we get an individual income of over ;^'jo per annum. Socialists may stigmatise this method of dealing with this important question as mere empiricism, but, if they do, it could be pointed out that it is a form of empiricism indulged in by one of our greatest statisticians, Mr. Chiozza Money — himself a Socialist — who deals with the matter in a similar manner. The fact that startles us here is the enormous dis- crepancy between the average annual sum which Socialists tell us is earned by the Workers, and that actually earned as revealed by the researches of economists and statisticians. In one case it is given as £31 3s., and in the other at over ;^7o, and, as there is abundant proof on all sides that Socialists are wrong, and statisticians are right, the Socialist cause is bound to suffer by what Mr. Ellis Barker calls this " Dishonest Fabian juggling with figures." 206 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Socialist Responsibility. Allowing, however, for errors, which Socialists are as liable to as other men, it will be seen that the workers of this country are^ in the hands of the Socialist statisticians, in much the same position as a fiddle in the hands of a skilful performer, upon which many and varying tunes may be played to suit the tastes and fancies of his audience. The division of the national income is a favourite theme with the party, and as the statements that have been put forward by great Socialist writers and speakers deceive the people, it is necessary to point this out plainly and unmistakably. National statistics are exceedingly complicated and difficult to determine, and although able men like Sir Robert Giflfen, Mr. Mulhall, and others do much to elucidate them, there must always remain an element of doubt in the most carefully prepared returns, owing to the extreme difficulty, and, in- deed, impossibility, in numerous instances, of get- ting into the real inner life of the masses. It would be, therefore, not in the least surprising if Socialists differ materially in framing their esti- mates in respect to the division among the people of the stupendous and necessarily complicated National Income, but when they attempt to perform wonderful feats of prestidigitation with the National Statistics they, and not those who object to the per- formance, must be held responsible for results. CHAPTER XIX THE DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS (continued) other unreliable links in the socialist chain tested by the light of careful inquiry Destination of National Income. One of the weakest links in the unreliable chain of Socialist statements is that connected with the real destination of a large portion of that ;^ 1, 250, 000, 000 which Socialists tell the working classes are filched from the national income of ;^ 1, 800,000, 000. It has been shown that the passage of a piece of calico from the loom to the consumer carries with it the destinies, fortunes, and lives of such a multi- tude of people, and is the mainspring of such a vast number of industries, that others, besides manual workers, must necessarily share in the busi- ness, otherwise the cotton industry would cease and even manual workers would be thrown out of employment. It is just here, however, that Socialists have endeavoured to make a point by seizing on what they call "an injustice to manual 208 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS labour." They deliberately affirm that practically the whole of this ;^i, 250, 000,000 finds its way into the pockets of " the idle, vicious few," who do absolutely nothing for it. This amazing statement is so wide of the truth and so easily controverted that it seems astonishing the Socialist leaders should ever have permitted its publication. Whittling and Jeopardising. The composition of trade is necessarily of such a complex nature that its component parts cannot be whittled away with impunity without impairing the structure upon which it is built and so jeopardising the entire fabric. Trade ramifies through and among all sections of the community, and many and various are the occupations which spring there- from. It enters into the web of human life in a multitude of shapes, and forms the basis of much human effort. Starting, then, with this fact firmly fixed in our minds, we stand amazed at the monstrously unjust demand of the Socialists that of this vast army of toilers in the broad fields of trade, practically only the manual workers should be rewarded ; that only among those who w^ork with their hands should the great national annual income of ;^ 1,800, 000,000 be divided. The proposal is so obviously absurd that no further time need be wasted in its consideration from this point of view. Nor need we enter upon any elaborate investi- " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 209 gation as to the actual participators in the ;^i, 250, 000,000 of the national income of which Socialists are trying to make so much, for it is clear to every man outside the Socialist camp that a fair share of that vast sum must necessarily find its way into the pockets of that great army of men, women, and children who are engaged in the mighty wide- spread national trade and manufacturing industries which manual workers help to launch into exist- ence, but do not either direct, control, or push on to their ultimate destination. Disputed Millions. It may never be revealed how much of these dis- puted millions this great band of workers receives, but, whether it be great or small, there can be no doubt that they are as much entitled to their share of what Socialists call the " National Income " as the manual workers, or any other section of the working community. Closer attention should, however, be paid to the Socialist statement that of these ;/," 1,250,000, 000, ^{,'65 0,000, 000 are paid away in rent and interest " to those who — Do not do a scrap of work with hand or brain for it, while the remaining six hundred millions is taken by idle shareholders and landlords.^' This astounding affirmation needs but little counter-force to oppose it. It is admitted by Socialists that manual workers receive about one-third of the national income — we p 210 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS will call it ;^55o, 000,000. The remainder — ^1,250,000,000 — is either paid away in rent and interest or finds its way into the pockets of idle shareholders and landlords. This, then, disposes of the entire national income of ;^i, 800,000, 000. According to the Socialist documentary evid- ence,^ ^460,000,000 annually of the national in- come of ^'1,800,000,000 are paid away, as was shown in the last chapter, to such workers as clerks, managers, foremen, shopkeepers, tradesrhen of many kinds, mill and factory owners, all who are engaged in the vast export and import trade of the country, including the enormous wholesale and retail trade; schoolmasters, doctors, writers, trades union organisers, all those (other than manual workers) engaged in our huge manufacturing in- dustries, and a host of others, manual workers and brain workers too numerous to mention. The Idle, Vicious Few. These number, according to Mr. Robert Blatch- ford's estimate, about 14,000,000 persons (reckon- ing families), and as they admittedly receive ^6460,000,000 as their share of the national income, and the manual workers ;^55o,ooo,ooo, making ;^ 1, 01 0,000, 000, it is evident that " the idle, vicious few " cannot receive as much as ;^ 1,250, 000,000 of the ;^ 1, 800, 000, 000. According to this they can only receive ;6"790,ooo,ooo. But do they receive even so much ? Let us look further into the matter. 1 Fabian Tract, No. 5, Facts for Socialists, pp. 6, 7. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME^' 211 Mr. B. Sansome, a well-known anti-Socialist debater and writer, and a man who has put many pertinent questions to the Socialist leaders, pub- lished a little while back a small paper which he calls " Questions to Socialists." Here are a few of them : — 1 . Let Socialists say how a Socialist Government would have dealt with the national income of /' 1, 700, 000,000 or ;^ 1, 800, 000, 000 of 1906. 2. Do Socialists deny or agree that under Socialism there would have to be management of our home and foreign trade as now, and by the same or similarly qualified persons, and be paid for as now ? 3. Would not the distribution of goods as now have to be managed by the same people as now, and would have to be paid as now, all of which costs ;^46o,ooo,ooo per year? 4. Would there not be municipal government as now, and at greater cost than now, seeing so much is promised free, and which now costs ^160,000,000 per }ear ? 5. Would there not be State government as now, and at greater cost than now, seeing that so much is promised free, and which now costs over ^140,000,000 per year? 6. Are Socialists aware that, out of the national income of ^1,800,000,000, there is about ;^'25o,ooo,ooo set aside for new business, loans to municipal authorities, building of new houses and new mills, &c., to provide for the increase of half a million population ? Would not this have to be piovided for even if we had Socialism ? P 2 ^12 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS The Result of Inquiry. These questions are but a natural result of such astounding statements, and the Socialists should themselves answer them. Up to the present time no reply has been vouchsafed by those who flung them recklessly abroad, and it is extremely doubtful if they will ever be able to answer them in a manner that will advance the interests of the Socialist cause. Meantime Mr. Sansome tells us that in order to earn the national income of ^1,800,000,000 annu- ally, Municipal and State governments are neces- sary, and that they cost us together ;^300, 000,000 a year. He further points out that about ;^25o,ooo,ooo more are set aside each year out of the ;^i, 800,000, 000 for new business, loans to municipal authorities, building of new houses and new mills, and he then pertinently asks. Would not this have to be provided for even if we had Socialism? Mr. Ellis Barker, in considering this part of the question, has the following : — "The pamphlet^ states on page 6 that ;^65o,ooo,ooo per annum are paid in the shape of rent and interest, ' not in return for any service rendered to the community, but merely as the pay- ment for permission to use the land and the already accumulated capital of the country.' The national capital is invested chiefly in perishable objects such as houses, factories, railways, steamships, mines, &c., which depreciate unless kept in proper repair. There is wear and tear in capital as in everything ^ Facts for Socialists. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 213 else. Capital is lost and destroyed every day. Lastly, the national capital is growing, and must continue growing, in accordance with the growing capital requirements of the time and the growing number of its inhabitants, or the country will decay. New houses, new factories, new railways, new steamships must be built and new mines be opened to increase the comfort of all. From /;"200, 000,000 to ;^"300,ooo,ooo are thus reinvested every year in Great Britain, and only by this con- stant process of reinvestment is it possible to main- tain and increase the productive power of the country for the benefit of all. The ;^20o,ooo,ooo to ;^300,ooo,ooo which are yearly reinvested in reproductive undertakings are found by the capital- ists, the trustees, directors and managers, not the consumers, of the national industry and of the national wealth. This sum comes out of their earnings, which thus benefit not only the capitalists but the whole nation. Much irrelevant statistical matter is given in the pamphlet, but this large item is left out. That is dishonesty number three." ^ Socialist Answers Wanted. These questions still remain unanswered, which is to be regretted from a Socialist point of view, because it is clear that, unless they can be utterly refuted, one of the items, at least, referred to by Mr. Sansome — namely, the ;^25o, 000,000 set aside for new businesses, ike. — must be deducted from the ;^790, 000,000 remaining of the ^1,250,000,000 of the national income. All, then, that we have left of the ;^i, 250,000,000, ' J. Ellis Barker, British Socialising p, 45. 214 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS which Socialists deliberately affirm are paid away yearly to "the idle, vicious few," is but ;^540, 000,000, or less than one-third of the whole. This inquiry reveals the significant fact that the shareholders, landlords, stockholders, and all who — " do not do a scrap of work with hand or brain for it " take, roughly speaking, thirty per cent, of the whole as their share of the national income, and not seventy per cent., as the Socialists would have us believe. This result, indeed, is more in har- mony with the conclusions arrived at by our great statisticians, and it is a marvel that Socialists were rash enough to advance so preposterous a proposi- tion. Rent and Interest Fallacies. Another matter which deserves attention is the item of ;^65o,ooo,ooo for rent and interest which is taken out of the national income by "the idle, vicious few." To quote Mr. R. B. Suthers ^ : — " Do you know that we pay out of our total income of ;;^ 1,800, 000, 000 a year, ;{^65o,ooo,ooo in rent and interest ? " Do you know that this ;^65o, 000,000 is not earned by those who receive it ? that they do not a scrap of work with hand or brain for it? " Now when a man talks in this way it means, if it means anything, that he who derives an income * T/ie Clarion, loth January, 1908. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 215 from others by doing nothing for it, practically filches it from those who are, for some reason or other, incapable of resisting him. In other words, the transaction is immoral and it amounts to robbery. The taking of rent and interest, then, is con- demned by Socialists as being in the nature of an injustice to the working man, and is, moreover, regarded as a commercial immorality and an economic swindle. The accompanying extracts from Socialist writers will be of use in enabling us to arrive at a fair appreciation of the position : — " The great central truth of Socialist economy, ever to be kept in mind, is Adam Smith's definition of wages : ' The produce of labour is the natural recompense or wages of labour.' From this ' natural recompense ' rent and profit are, in Socialist eyes, unnatural, illegitimate abstractions, to be recovered and added to wages as speedily as possible." ^ " Land-rent and capital-rent are thefts from the produce of labour." ^ " Everyone who lends his neighbour ;^5 and exacts jC$ 5s. in return is a criminal." ^ " The ownership of land, without which the working community cannot support itself, enables the possessors to appropriate for their private pur- poses the whole fund of rent and interest, and 1 Davidson, T/ic Old Order - 10. 3 H. Russell Smart, Socialism and the Budget, p. 5. * Fabian Tract, No. 13, What Socialism Is, p. 3. "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME "217 the full economic rent for the use of its lands and dwellings." ^ Here we have certain official Socialist pronounce- ments on the same subject, so diametrically op- posed to each other as to be quite startling. The official organ of Socialism, the Clarion, tells its readers that it is immoral and unjust on the part of the private landlord or capitalist to take either rent or interest from the working man, which views are maintained by other Socialist publications, while other equally important mediums of official Socialism, the " Fabian Society," and others, tell us that both rent and interest may be freely taken from him, provided it be taken by a Socialist " State " and not by private owners. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to comment at all on so astounding a discrepancy as this, although this much might be said — that whatever the code of ethics may be which Socialism has set up for its guidance, it will be impossible to reconcile the opposing contentions that, while it is considered robbery and commercially immoral for a private individual to charge a working man either rent or interest for his workshop or interest for his capital, the same transaction becomes legally just and com- mercially sound the moment buildings and capital become the property of a Socialist " State." Verbum sapienti sat est. ' Sydney Webb, Socialism True and False, p. 19, CHAPTER XX DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS (continued) ALARMIST STATEMENTS ABOUT POVERTY UNWARRANTABLE One or two other points in this highly important question should now be considered in order to see if there be a surer basis for certain Socialist state- ments than for those we have already examined. Further Objections. Socialist leaders state that the manual workers of this country receive as their share of the national income only ;^55o, 000,000 out of the ;{^ 1, 800, 000, 000, but this bold affirmation, like so many other statements of a cognate nature, is open to considerable objection. The Clarion's article before referred to says that : — " To-day there are twelve millions on the verge of starvation. There are twenty millions very poor — consisting largely of families who do not get per head half the sum that Mr. Claude Lowther says is a wretched pittance. There are 1,000,000 people in London alone who do not get more than a guinea a week per family. Nay, more, there are 39,000,000 out of our population of 44,000,000 who "DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME" 219 do not get that average ' wretched pittance ' of 2S. 2d. per head per day, nor anything like it. " Nearly half of the total income is taken by 5,000,000 people. A little more than half is taken by 39,000,000." ^ If we accept these statements as they stand, only one conclusion is possible, and that is, that the con- ditions which govern the existence of the British people are so bad that they could hardly be worse, and that in justice to 39,000,000 of our fellow- countrymen, the system of government and every condition of life which has contributed to this de- plorable and gruesome state of affairs should be uprooted and utterly destroyed. This, indeed, is precisely the idea which Social- ists are striving so hard to fix in the minds of certain sections of our people, and that they have succeeded, up to a certain point, there is no doubt. The Need for Investigation. The surest way of arriving at reasonably just conclusions in the matter is not to accept too readily everything we are told, but to take a little trouble in studying it for ourselves. We are face to face with a question of tremendous importance, than which, perhaps, there is none greater in the history of our country, and we should, therefore, spare no pains in making ourselves thoroughly acquainted with its meaning. With " 12,000,000 on the verge of starvation," and " 20,000,000 of very poor''; with " 1,000,000 ' R, B. Suthers, T/ie Clarion, loth January, 1908. 220 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS people in London alone who do not get more than a guinea a week per family," and with " 39,000,000 out of our population of 44,000,000 who do not get that average wretched pittance of 2S. 2d. per head per day, nor anything like it " — there should be a general condition of destitution, beggary, starva- tion, and misery, the like of which can hardly be conceived. There should be tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of unfortunate men, women, and children swarming over the country in every stage of beggared distress and unmitigated wretchedness. This foul mass of festering poverty should breed widespread disease and pestilential sickness of a nature to " stagger civilisation," and of so general a character as to defy the efforts of the ordinary medical staff of an up-to-date civilised country to deal with it. Destitution and Distress. We cannot possibly have 12 millions on the verge of destitution, and 20 millions very poor, in our midst day by day without being brought into hourly contact with a seething mass of squalid misery which must of necessity ooze out at every pore of the body politic and trickle over into every highway and byway of our public and private life. No nation can have 39 millions of its people out of a population of 44 millions in that state which the Socialist leaders say our people are in, without there being evidences of so appalling a nature as " DISTRIBtTTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 221 to render this country well-nigh impossible to live in. Indeed, if this amazing Socialist statement be true, it becomes manifest that not only are the 7nasses in hopeless misery, but the vast bulk of the British population of all classes up to the really wealthy, or at least the well-to-do, must also be sunk in the profound depths of universal poverty and degradation. If we will only take the trouble to examine this matter in a strictly impartial common-sense manner, we shall find that this statement — like many others of Socialist origin — is open to serious objection. Unparalleled Poverty. That poverty exists in our land and exists, in- deed, to a far greater extent than there is any need for, there is no room for doubt. We may go even further and admit that the poverty of the British people finds no parallel in any civilised country in the world, and that it constitutes a stand- ing disgrace to many successive Governments because this stain on the national robe might have been washed out long ago by wise fiscal laws. We will even agree with the Socialist leaders, to this extent, that this foul excrescence on our national life must be removed, and our national administra- tion purged of the grave charge of persistent neglect of a momentous question affecting the com- monweal ; we will, moreover, admit that although much of the Socialist doctrine is open to serious 222 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS objection as being even destructive to those whom it professes to serve, this much, at all events, might be taken into the serious consideration of all the component parts of our great body politic. In saying this, however, we absolutely refuse to follow the doctrine of Socialism a step further, or to admit that the mitigation of the poverty of our people could in any way be helped by the revolutionary methods advocated by the Socialist leaders. Poverty exists truly enough, but when we are gravely told that thirty-nine people out of every forty-four, or more than nine people out of eleven, are either on the verge of starvation or very poor, we prefer to determine the matter by the light of our own everyday observation, rather than by a too- implicit belief in abstract statements. Socialists are vain of their statistical know'ledge, and are fond of parading it before their followers, because masses of figures serve the double purpose of impressing their audiences and at the same time of confounding their opponents w'ho may not be so well equipped with statistical information as they are themselves. Certain things, however, can be better explained by the plain ocular demonstra- tion afforded by our everyday life than by any amount of recourse to abstruse statistical works or recondite polemics. Is THE Socialist Statement True? The question before us is this : — Is there in every town and village throughout the " DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME " 223 land that mass of overwhelming evidence of this widespread poverty to prove that the Socialist state- ment is true ? Can it be truthfully asserted that, in London and in every great centre of population, in our manufacturing towns, and our mining indus- tries, among the vast population of our suburbs and our scattered agricultural villages, and throughout the forty-four millions of our people from the North of Scotland to the South coast, and from the East coast to the West, there is to be met that universal destitution which must of necessity exist if nine persons out of every eleven are, as the Socialists would have us believe, on the verge of starvation or in the grip of dire want ? That there is much to be deplored in the condi- tion of numbers of people in our country there is no room for doubt, but the vast majority of the working classes themselves, among whom there is maintained a fair standard of general comfort and prosperity, would be the very first to resent the suggestion that nine out of every eleven persons of their class are either paupers or are next door to it. The fact is that there has been for many years, and there is to-day, an undesirable residue of un- employed from the great mass of our workers who are thrown up like flecks from foaming waters, and for whom, under existing conditions, work cannot be found ; but to apply this condition to that vast army of industrious men and women throughout the land whose honest work meets with honourable reward, is to asperse a great body of our people. CHAPTER XXI THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WORKING CLASSES FOR EXISTING CONDITIONS, AND THE NEED FOR A BETTER UTILISATION OF THE LAND. We have so far tested and refuted some of the more prominent and aggressive items in the long list of SociaHst revolutionary measures. Existing Conditions. Before putting the broad principles of Socialist doctrines to the crucial test of public opinion, we might usefully examine — although very briefly — those eminently unsatisfactory conditions in the national life which have engendered widespread discontent, which form the basis of so much con- troversy, and, at the same time, give Socialists so many opportunities of fulminating their revolution- ary decrees. No man in his senses will deny that the condi- tions which surround the lives of numbers of our fellow-countrymen are hard and abhorrent, and every one of us would like to see them altered for the better. Not a man in a hundred would keep back if he were shown how he might aid in reliev- RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 225 ing those undesirable conditions, but not a man in a thousand seems to know why they exist. We are so much accustomed to poverty in its many forms that we have come to regard it as an inevitable result of human life, and, beyond regret- ting its presence, and subscribing our quota to the national poor rates, together with our private dole for "charity's sake," we do nothing, because we honestly believe that nothing can be done. Poverty, indeed, is now looked upon as one of the institutions of the country; it is budgetted for each year by whichever Government may be in power; they find the necessity of raising several millions more annually in poor rates than is spent on the army, or in maintaining our magnificent navy, while all classes now regard it as integral a part of the national estimates as are the effective services, education, and other necessary items. The stupendous sum of ^^35, 000,000 annually is taken out of the pockets of the ratepayers to maintain this belief in the necessity for poverty, and as the amount required is increasing by leaps and bounds, it is sure to largely exceed this appalling amount even in the near future. Poverty has, without doubt, taken hold of the people with a deadly grip, and, knowing this, we have to do our best, or what seems our best, to relieve the pressure on our unfortunate fellow- countrymen, and it may truly be said that practi- cally every man and woman in the country outside the pauper ranks is engaged in this work. Rate- G 226 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS payers are mulcted every year to the extent of ^35,000,000, but this is a trifle compared with the colossal amount of public and private charities, which have been computed to amount to about ^100,000,000 annually. The Weight of Poverty. Poverty in this country is thus a real, tangible presence, requiring for its maintenance enormous State contributions and stupendous private aid, and whether these aggregated amounts be ;^ 135,000,000 or more or less, annually, the fact remains that poverty is so widespread, and pauperism so ram- pant, as to open the door to all sorts of theories, speculations, and proposals as to the best way of remedying the evil. We have seen what Socialists propose, but even they have missed the way, or we may more cor- rectly say that, in fulminating their " nationalisa- tion of everything " scheme, they have by chance hit only upon a half-truth. The whole truth of the matter, the key-stone of the arch, and the corner-stone of the whole structure, will be found in the LAND, and only in the land. The land is, and must be, the greatest industry in every country, because it is capable, under ordinary conditions, of employing, supporting, and feeding more people than all the manufacturing industries put together. The land produces all that man re- quires for his subsistence : it produces his food, clothing, his means of producing light and heat; it RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 227 yields him every comfort and luxury which he en- joys in this world ; it forms the basis of all human effort; it is his birthplace and home, and his last resting-place on earth. Without it, man cannot be; from it he was taken, and to it he must return. Earth Supremacy. Ever}- other nation in the world has recognised the eternal truth of this earth supremacy and the working of a natural law ; we alone have thought fit to deride this law and set it at naught. We have cast aside our land as of no great account in the economy of the nation, and have relied practically upon our trade and manufacturing industries as the sole means of employing, supporting, and feeding the people. Over half a century ago w-e saw our way — or thought we saw it — of becoming the greatest trading and manufacturing nation in the world, and we took it ; we scornfully and recklessly cast aside the greatest of all industries — the land — and we have deservedly suffered for our folly. Reiteration of all the misfortunes and evils that have overtaken us as a people would be wearisome. Among other things, poverty of a nature that finds no parallel in any other civilised State in the world has taken hold of us, which fact alone has aroused the mass of polemics that has raged around this question for years past, while it affords, at the same time, every opportunity for the Socialist propa- ganda. It would, however, be doing an injustice to Q 2 328 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Socialists if we were to ignore their exertions in re- spect to land reform. They are fully alive to the necessity of making the most of our agricultural re- sources, and of cutting short that suicidal policy which has deprived the people of their greatest in- dustry for so many years. The following quotations from the works of pro- minent Socialists will be of interest at this juncture. " The great essential is bread. Can we grow our own wheat ? On this point I do not see how there can be any doubt whatever. " In 1841 Britain grew wheat for 24,000,000 of people, and at that time not nearly all her land was in use, nor was her farming of the best. '* Now we have to find food, or at any rate bread and meat and vegetables, for 40,000,000. " Wheat, then, for 40,000,000. At present we consume 29,000,000 quarters. Can we grow 29,000,000 quarters in our own country ? " Certainly we can. The average yield per acre in Britain is 28 bushels, or 3^ quarters. That is the average yield on British farms. It can be in- creased; but let us take it first upon that basis. "At 3I quarters to the acre, 8,000,000 acres would produce 28,000,000 quarters ; 9,000,000 acres would produce 31,500,000 quarters. '* Therefore, we require less than 9,000,000 acres of wheat land to grow a year's supply of wheat for 40,000,000 persons. " Now we have in Great Britain and Ireland about 33,000,000 acres of cultivatable land. Deduct 9,000,000 for wheat, and we have 24,000,000 acres left for vegetables, fruit, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry. RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 229 " Can any man say, in the face of these figures, that we are incapable of growing our own wheat?"! Mr. Blatchford then gives the following extract from Prince Kropotkin's book, " Fields, Factories, and Workshops." " I. If the soil of the United Kingdom were cul- tivated only as it was thirty-five years ago, 24,000,000 people could live on home-grown food. "2. If the cultivatable soil of the United King- dom were cultivated as the soil is cultivated 071 the average in Belgium, the LTnited Kingdom would have food for at least 37,000,000 inhabitants. "3. If the population of this country came to be doubled, all that would be required for producing food for 80,000,000 inhabitants would be to culti- vate the soil as it is now cultivated in the best farms of this country, in Lombardy and in Flanders."^ Many other Socialist writers are equally clear as to the necessity of exploiting the land for all it is worth as the surest means of meeting the difficulties and dangers of the present position, but while agreeing as to the need for immediate reform^ they are altogether hostile to a system of proprietary holdings. A prosperous agricultural proprietor, even on a small scale, has necessarily a solid stake in the country, and this makes for law and order, and creates a certain conservatism which would prove inimical to the revolutionary methods of Socialism. * Robert Blatchford, Britain for the British, pp. no, in. ■'' Ibid., p. ni. 230 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS It is for this reason that Socialists hold the follow- ing views : — "If England were cut up into small allotments, the general state would be harder and leaner than before." 1 " It is to the influence' of this same yearning for industrial anarchism that we are to attribute tHe existence among us of such a spurious form of col- lectivism as peasant proprietorship. ... I suppose that no Socialist desires to see the land of this country divided among small peasant freeholders, though this is still the ideal professed by many statesmen of 'advanced' views." ^ " On the Continent the peasant proprietor, who may now be reckoned as part of the petite bour- geoisie, just as the large landlord with us may be reckoned as part of the big capitalist class, is a potent factor in retarding the process of Socialisa- tion." ^ "Socialism is hostile to small properties."* Socialism generally favours the nationalisation of land and the creation of a universal system of ten- ancies with the municipal authorities as landlords. The leases would be for seven years, and they would probably be equitable enough, while it is quite likely that every encouragement would be offered to men to become capable agriculturists for the mere sake of national economy, but a man would remain 1 Robert Blatchford, T/ie Pope's Socialism, p. 8. ^ Sidney Webb, Fabian Tract, No. 51, Socialism True and False ^ p. 18. ^ Belfort Bax, Essays in Socialism, p. 41. * Some Objectio7is to Socialis?n Considered. RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 231 a tenant-at-will, and all chance of his becoming a freehold proprietor would for ever disappear. Many attempts have been made to beguile the people into the belief that^ as the land primarily be- longs to the people, they would hold it on easy terms. " Land is the gift of Nature. It is not made by man. Now, if a man has a right to nothing but that which he has himself made, no man can have a right to the land, for no man made it." ^ " Rent is brigandage reduced to a system. So long as the English people are content to be tenants-at-will on their own soil, and to pay for the privilege, they will remain virtually slaves." ^ After these illusory promises on the part of the ideal Socialists, the following significant passages from the pens of the more matter-of-fact practical leaders of Socialism must fall with crushing effect on those who believed the land was to be held on easy terms. " You can rent this land from the landlord now. If you had the Single Tax, all the rent would have to be paid in taxes to the State, and the land would be let on precisely the same terms as now. ... It is of not the least consequence to the person who rents the land whether he pays the rent for it to an individual, or whether he pays it to the State." ^ "A Socialist State or municipality will charge the full economic rent for the use of its land and ^ Robert Blatchford, Merric England^ p. 60. "^ Davidson, Book of Lords, p. 25. ^ Socialism and the Single Tax, p. 7. 232 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS dwellings, and apply that rent to the common pur- poses of the community." ^ Briefly, while Socialists contend that in the land lies the people's redemption from the many evils which beset the present social and economic condi- tions, they would be prepared to encourage its com- plete exploitation only on the condition that agriculturists would consent to become tenants-at- will of the Socialist State, in spite of the fact that the amazing agricultural prosperity enjoyed by most of the Continental States has its basis in the universal system of peasant proprietorship . It is doubtful if so uncompromising an attitude as this towards an industry which depends entirely upon the co-operation and support of the State can spring from any other source than pure absolutism. It cannot, therefore, be held that a Socialist Gov- ernment would be likely to invest the moribund agricultural industry with life and motion, and in- vigorate it with that aid and encouragement which it must have before it can hope to be successful. The Land for the People. Let us see what our land does for us as a people, and what it does for the peoples of other civilised countries; whether we are making as much use of it as other nations ; whether it is employing and sup- porting as many people, and producing as much live stock, acre for acre, as it does in other coun- tries, and if not— WHY NOT ? ^ Sidney Webb, Fabian Tract, No. 51, Socialism True aJid False, p. 19. RESPONSIBIIJTY OF WORKING CLASSES 233 Here are some statistics bearing on the ques- tion : — 1. The agricultural areas of our own and other European States with head of population em- ployed and supported to every loo acres. 2. Head of live stock in the United Kingdom and Germany, for example, to every loo acres. 3. Value of food imports — United Kingdom. I. Cultivated area. Country. United Kingdom Germany France . Hungary 48,000,000 108,000,000 92,000,000 54,000,000 Persons employed Persons employed and supported and supported by by Agriculture. every lOo acres. 8 3,900,000 1 9,000,000 24,000,000 1 3,000,000 18 26 24 II. In the United Kingdom a total grazing acreage of 41,591,691 supports : — Horses . Cattle . Sheep 2,092,499 or 10,535,484 „ 29,035,062 „ 5 per 100 acres. 25 68 Pigs 4,177,167 10 In Germany a total grazing area 21,397,298 acres, supports : — Horses . . 4,195,361 Cattle Sheep Pigs Goats or 18,939,692 9,692,501 16,807,014 3,266,977 of 8,662,874 hectares- 19 per 100 acres. 88 45 78 15 III. Imports. Wheat, Grain, and Flour Butter and Margarine . Cheese .... Eggs .... Meat, Bacon, Poultry, &c. Animals for food . Fruits and Hops . Value. ;^67,879,948 26,200,007 7,697,641 7,098,137 41,169,522 9,889,127 11,225,968 ^171,160,350 CHAPTER XXII THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WORKING CLASSES (continued) the mournful tale of fiscal and other national blunders, resulting in widespread poverty and distress Mournful Results. The figures given in the previous chapter refer to only European States, but those who care to carry the analysis further will find that the same sad story can be told by practically every country in the civil- ised world ; the same mournful tale of lost oppor- tunities, of fiscal blunders and mad infatuation resulting in widespread poverty and the loss of enormous national wealth. The United Kingdom employs, and supports and feeds, a smaller head of population, and pro- duces fewer live stock acre for acre under cultiva- tion — thafi any civilised State in Eurofe ! She spends immeasurably more on legalised poverty, produces more paupers, and experiences more general destitution than any civilised country in the world, and the question must now be put — WHY should this be so, and who is to blame ? The first of these questions has been answered RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 235 in the foregoing pages. The answer to the second one is — the people themselves are to BLAME. The people gave their mandate to Parliament fifty-six years ago that the great land industry was to be sacrificed to Free Trade, and the people are necessarily responsible for the results of that man- date. Free Trade, or what it pleases us to call Free Trade, has been established, and agriculture has been cast away as a thing of no value, and the result is, as we all know — phenomenal poverty, extensive unemployment, enormous loss of national capital, and consequent diminution of national income : uneven distribution of national wealth, and individual instead of collective prosperity. The People are to Blame. All this and more the people have brought upon themselves by their unfortunate mandate of years ago, and they alone are responsible. It should here be clearly understood that this work has not been undertaken in a Party spirit, but solely in the interests of the British people. We care not whether this country be a Free Trade State, or whether it be a Protectionist one; we are more concerned with the actual results to the nation than with the political cognomen of the party which may have been primarily responsible for such results. A National Mistake. The people of this country were induced years 286 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS ago by fervid reformers to give their mandate to Parliament to do a certain thing, and they gave it. The people, and those who influenced them, thought they were doing that which was best in national interests. What is now called a " Free Trade " party brought about this particular reform, and it has turned out badly, but had simi- larly disastrous results followed reform by any other political party, that party would have been equally condemnable. As the PEOPLE, then, are solely responsible for the unfortunate results of their own mandate to Parliament, it is the people who should now be called upon to remedy their own grievances and right their own wrongs. They gave a wrong mandate over half a century ago, let them now give a right one. Let them frankly admit that the re- sults of their action have been bad — quite different from what they expected — and let them absolve landlords, capitalists, shareholders, et hoc genus omne, from all responsibility for these results. As these classes — so execrated by Socialists — must have been in a very small minority when the people reformed the Corn Laws in the first half of last century, they could have had little or nothing to do with the passing of those laws which have had so deplorable a result on the nation. New View of an Old Question. This is, perhaps, a new way of looking at an old question, but when we divest our minds of every RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 237 trace of prejudice and bias, which political influence is bound to create, we shall be better able to discern and appreciate its inherent truth and justice. In their desire to remedy the evil the people naturally want to get at the bottom of the business. The question has been so long before the public and has been so widely discussed by persons of all grades of political opinion ; it has been pulled this way and that by various political parties, and tossed from hand to hand in the political arena at West- minster; it has been so pounded and belaboured by political disputants, and has become so battered, that it is difficult now to make head or tail of it. Authorities Differ. We are told by one political party that the cause of this misfortune will be found in this direction and its cure in that ; while another political party tells us just the reverse. Our great writers, poli- tical economists, statists, jurists, and a veritable host of very learned men, prove the case by all the laws of science, first in this way and then in that. And lastly, there is this fervid band of Socialists who loudly assert that theirs is the only way to right the wrong, and give the people relief. Between all these political wire-pullers and learned disputants the mind of the ordinary man in the street becomes so bewildered and befogged that he hardly knows if he is standing on his head or on his heels. What we want to do is to remove this question altogether from the field of controversy and far 238 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS from the region of recondite polemics, and, above all, to take it away bodily from the arena of party politics, because the more it is discussed the more obscure it becomes. In the ordinary and general acceptation of life's ajBfairs we know that a man is held responsible for his own acts, and that he, as a rule, accepts such responsibility in a frank, manly manner. If it be proved to him that he had erred here, or blundered there, he is, ordinarily speaking, frank enough to own it, and to take the proper course of repairing his faults and errors. As with a man, so with a people. The people have gravely erred in the past, and they should now come forward and repair their errors. Let us not shirk our own responsi- bilities, or suffer those who wish to make political or other capital out of the business to lead us to suppose that others should be held responsible for that which we, of our own deliberate choice, elected to do. We — the PEOPLE — altered the fiscal laws of the country years ago because we thought by so doing we should promote our own interests and we are obviously responsible for the results of our own actions. It is the proud boast of Socialists that the — PEOPLE — consists largely of the working classes, and that the working classes form the dominant body in the electorate. The country generally is just as prepared to pay its tribute to the w^orth and power of that great army of workers who, by their RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 239 skill and industry, have helped to make Great Britain what she is to-day as are the Socialists or any other political party, but if the electoral power of the country rests with the working classes, it is the working classes who are, and must be, re- sponsible for these fiscal laws under which these deplorable conditions of the people, which are the cause of so much social and political bitterness, were born and bred. The Socialists take a huge delight in " calling a spade a spade," but in this particular instance they have called it something else — probably what Mr. Victor Grayson tells us in one of his humorous speeches Mr. Balfour terms "an agricultural im- plement for the disinterring of auriferous metal." At any rate, they are not calling it by its proper name now ; they are de facto putting the blame on the wrong men's shoulders. Working Classes Responsible for the Condi- tion OF the People. Socialists are trying to prove, and, indeed, have proved to the satisfaction of their converts, that the unsatisfactory condition of the people of this country is due solely and wholly to the wrong- doing of every section and class of the British people other than the working classes. This is not true, because if the working classes constitute in themselves the most powerful section' of the body- electorate, they must, obviously, exercise a greater 240 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS influence in legislative measures than any other class in the country. It is, then, the working classes who are chiefly responsible for such laws and regulations as Par- liament may make from time to time, and to attempt to make other people responsible for the results of such measures is palpably unjust and dishonest. The Socialists are not, however, the only people who have been playing up to the working man in every conceivable way ; indeed, as he knows well, his vote is considered of such enormous importance to every political party in the country that the work- ing class influence is always keenly competed for, while the working man himself has become a person of so much importance — especially at election time — that he is not unlike "Tommy Atkins," whom Kipling has immortalised in his Barrack Room Ballad "Tommy." "An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please ; An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool — you bet that Tommy sees ! " The British Workman. Nobody has a greater admiration for the working man than the writer, as all his literary efforts prove, but to coddle and cosset him, to hide his faults from him and attempt to make others responsible for his follies, errors, and political blunders is to do him a positive injustice, particularly so as he has never asked to be put in so false a position. RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 241 The working man is admittedly a power in the State, and deservedly so, and he knows this just as w-ell as those political parties who are always " playing up " to him. He has his ow-n well- equipped organisations, and is quite capable of voicing his demands in a manner that would be likely to carry conviction with it. He is a keen politician, staunch to his institutions and to his party, loyal to his friends, and showing a bold, open front to his foes, but above all and through all he is never a canting, cringing humbug, crooked in his ways, and expecting another man to bear the burden of his own misdeeds. Show him his faults, prove to him he is wrong, point out to him the right w^ay, and he will take it and keep straight on it till he reaches the goal. The British working man, like all his race, is a good sportsman and, in the rough and tumble of the game, he is quite willing to take his share of hard knocks. He knows perfectly well that in life, as in football, you cannot have everything your own way, and if, in the scrimmage, you happen to come off with a broken collar-bone or a twisted knee, well — you must grin and bear it. Make it clear to the working classes that the present poverty of the people, the unemployment and wretchedness which environ the lives of far too many of our fellow-countrymen to-day is chiefly the result of their action in the past, that the evils can be remedied by their political influence to-day, and you will do more to alleviate suff'ering, to give R 242 SOCIALISM AiND ITS PERILS permanent employment to our workers, and plenty, prosperity, and peace to our people than has been done by devious political wire-pulling during the last century. Poverty and Degradation. Continue the pernicious system of trying to make the working man believe that every living soul in this country, except himself, is to blame for the poverty and degradation which have taken hold of the people, and you will do that which is as hurtful and wrong to the working classes as to every man and woman in the land. The people have brought about those highly unsatisfactory conditions which all men condemn, and the work- ing classes are just as much responsible for their share of these unfortunate results as are the other sections of the community. To shield the most powerful political section in the country from their fair share of responsibility of giving Parliament a mandate which has resulted in poverty and widespread misery, is to pursue a course which is sure to do incalculable harm to the body politic, because it is certain to breed dis- sension, inflame human passions, and end in class war. We would rather point out wherein we — the body-electorate — have erred, how our best-laid schemes have failed, and what might now be done to pick up the threads of lost opportunity and knit them together in a tight, firm skein for everyday use. RESPONSIBILITY OF AVORKING CLASSES 243 We all admit the existence of conditions in our midst which are hard on the people, a disgrace to our legislature, and a menace to the country. That these conditions are and must be a result of the working of those laws which regulate and govern the national trade and industries, there can be no doubt. That these laws — such as they are — have been in operation for upwards of half a century without alteration is equally certain. L^NSATISFACTORY CONDITIONS. That the unsatisfactory social and economic con- ditions of the people which all classes deplore have been developed during, and synchronise with, the period these laws have been in force is also true. That these laws are what are termed " Free Trade " laws, is likewise beyond dispute. The vast masses of English people to-day do not care what you may call your system so long as it be a good one. They are more concerned with the success of your measure than the name by which you call it. " Free Trade," " Protection," and the rest of it are becoming more and more terms of little or no meaning to them. What they say is this : you have had your innings and you have not played well. If your laws had been all that you claimed for them there would be — as you promised us — work and good wages for all, a fairly high standard of comfort, collective prosperity, and — Peace. R 2 244 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS In the place of these we find work hard to get and difficult to keep, a vast amount of unemploy- ment, poverty both widespread and appalling, bitter discontent, and political unrest. Striking Figures. — British Trade shows least Progress. We have lost our great agricultural industry — the destruction of the hop industry being the last sacrifice to what is termed " Free Trade," while the general trade and industries of the country are not increasing in the same proportion as those of other countries; indeed, both our import and export trade show the least increase of any trading country in Europe and the Western World. On the opposite page are some figures bearing on the subject. Thus it will be seen that taking your administra- tion of the business of the country all round — your ideas of political economy, your fiscal system, and the rest of it — you have made a mess of national affairs because your premises are untenable, your laws are faulty, and your conclusions wrong, and — we are tired of, and want, and must have, a change. The Socialists tell us how they would bring this change about if you return them to power, while other reformers, who are just as keen for a change as the Socialists, point out how these changes can be speedily accomplished and established on a firm, sure basis, which would ensure work for all, good wages, general prosperity, and lasting — peace. RESPONSIBILITY OF WORKING CLASSES 245 H OS O u T. C3 4) ^ U c o >^ i^ i^ ^^ V N en « f^ bo M ^0 •* in 2 a V o w. V fc o o oo Q o o r% CI C4 o 00 tC ro (N VO o s^ en in vd m a. c^ « ■* O o vO Q o o VO O o^ VO O vO W) cT -^ c^ O M « r^ « CI\ 00 « in m cT in N « c< 1^ a\ o\ iO « CO o Q o o o o o H> 6* »n OO H O '^ m VO '* -* OS t< CO e^ tN. d in o l^ oo 03 M ^ « CO ^ o^ o CO « CO CO m ocT t^ m o tv in oo o\ \o^ in CO 0\ H in 00 in N ^0 O r^ Ov -^ w « ■Tl- M o VO m oo o VO •* H o VO^ M in -* -^ cT ^ •^ m M o O^ VO oo Ov o\ oT ocT d vd m Ox c^ t^ ■<^ a -«^ oo o m M o O "^ CO M O » ^3 [/! bJO |i4 tJO OJ c § c rt ID 3 .2 c rt 4J 4J 'i-i tn c C 3 V 12 P < O CO H o 4; Wl CS V iM o □ h^ o ^? ^? 2^ X o t^ CO ro VO M ro tN in M c 01 o u V Ph o Q CJ o o r^ o o « q ix in ^ in « s. O CO in c* o M oo VO t>. M VO '^ in rC W Ov OV CO ^ CO CO o Q VO g o VO o \o ^ ro in vd d tx N « m CT* VO CO CO c^ HI in o\ pT vd t-^ VO OV O ro CO CO O O VO Q O O VO o o VO m o t^ CO vd P* w M « OO Cv CO CJ m m o> CO '*^ VO N CO oo OO m ro « o Q VO O VO o VO^ o^ ■^ CO cT o M M o Tj- Ov C^ O CO M o tC in o Ov oo o m N M m in o VO vO >n o VO en ^ oo vq^ ? w ro M- CO m "O t^ C7^ « cv r-. q i-t M VO "^ OV 00 ■^ N w c» « CO o CO r^ O ro M CO 03 CO CI O vn fO VO cS m in tSi -^ Ov oo oo VO^ ro pT o» CO* OO oo VO VO CI N « « Ov ov Q *o O o VO o; C3V VO M oo •^ VO '^r o en CO t^ in o> M M o oo M dv vd tc tn t^ Ov c>. « N « , , s . >. y* o rt >^ 'o trt taO c ba ^ U -o n3 rt ci >-• u E >*-, Fi o o 1> U f ) >-< V a H rt C a; o TJ U 2 -O H r rt j: d) rt o H bfl OJ •^ rl o (-• y: tc a .n 73 O s O; v«- a3 j; 2 •5.H 1= 5 c- »-. o fa U r CHAPTER XXIII the indefiniteness of socialism, do the british people desire it? Socialist Demands. We are asked by Socialists to abolish the Mon- archy, to repudiate the National Debt, to national- ise everything, to abolish our Standing Army, to practically destroy all existing social and economic conditions, and revolutionise everything — at all costs and risks. The question before us is — Do the British people desire this ? Before stating our case for the people, let us endeavour to arrive at some idea of the proportion that Socialism bears to the entire bodies politic, for without this in our mind we can form no idea of the relative magnitude and importance of either one or the other ; nor shall we be able to assess Social- ism at its true and proper value. It is true that Socialists have, by their loud clam- ouring and persistent and well-organised methods, brought themselves into prominent notice of late, while it must be admitted that they are now a poli- THE INDEFINITENESS OF SOCIALISM 247 tical power that cannot be pooh-poohed or ignored. They are taking a leading part in the burning ques- tions of the day, and the vigour which they display right through their propaganda, including the con- test for seats at bye-elections, marks them as astute and powerful adversaries who have to be reckoned with. They are, moreover, doing good service to their country by calling attention to certain condi- tions in the lives of the people 'which 'must be amended and improved, but whether these amend- ments are to be brought about by the common- sense, peaceful methods suggested in these pages, or by the lurid means advocated by Socialists, re- mains to be seen. Revolutionists. Meantime, here is what a Socialist of the Social- ists has to say about the numerical strength of the English Socialists — " The revolutionists who begin their letters ' Dear Comrade ' and end them ' Yours for the Revolution.' " In England there are 100,000 . . . comrades all and revolutionists."^ These revolutionists may be more, or they may be less, but we are not so much concerned with their exact enumeration as with the principle in- volved in the matter. The Socialists may number 100,000, or they may be double or thrice that ^ Jack London, " Revolution," Contemporary Review^ January, 1908. 248 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS number, but even then they would be as a drop in the ocean compared with the vast masses of the British people, which number upwards of 43,000,000. This small band of fervid revolutionists, then, are attempting to thrust upon the great masses of the people a number of violent schemes of a nature which, the moment their intent and purpose stand fully revealed, are more likely to repel than attract practically all men and women in the land who do not sign themselves " Comrades." Every man in the kingdom who cares to study the question will realise that the signs of the times indicate plainly enough that the British people are standing on the very brink of many changes in the social and economic conditions of the countrv which portend better times for all workers. Indeed, it may truly be said that never before in the history of our country has there been a clearer or more unmistakable mandate given by the people to Parliament than that which may be seen in every printed sheet, and heard at every street corner. Teaching of the Past. The great teachers of the past have done their work, and the people themselves are now fully alive to the necessity of bringing about certain drastic changes in the economic conditions of the country whereunder the social and material status of the working classes would be considerably improved, the standard of comfort generally raised, universal THE INDEFINITENESS OF SOCIALISM 249 employment and good wages guaranteed to all will- ing to work, and a higher level of progressive and collective prosperity ensured. The Fabian tracts, the literature of the Social De- mocratic Federation, and that of the Independent Labour Party quote freely from such economists and statisticians as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Henry Fawcett, Sir Robert Giffen, and others in support of the general feeling favouring far-reach- ing reform. Nobody objects to this, but the ques- tion which naturally arises is this — Are these neces- sary changes to be brought about by the violent re- volutionary measures so vehemently advocated by many Socialists, or by the calm judgment and good common-sense of the British people? One of the commonest rules of life is for a man to — count the cost, and when any person asks us to give up one or more things that are dear to us for one reason or another, we naturally like to know what we are going to get in return. This is but a very proper precaution to take. In this particular instance we are asked to give up everything we possess, as these pages plainly show, but when we ask what they can guarantee in re- turn. Socialists tell us — they have no cut-and-dried scheme! Social Revolution. A great Socialist leader (Mr. Harrington), in his debate with Mr. Claude Lowther on the question - -" Whether Socialism would benefit the people," 250 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS which took place at Carhsle on December 21st, 1907, when pressed by his adversary 10 explain the specific proposals of the Socialists, said : — '* We do not come to you with a ready-made plan; we sim.ply advocate the social revolution." The reporter added — " This admission, which settled the debate, was received with a storm of ironical cheering and laughter by the audience, which was composed largely of working men." So far back as April 17th, 1884, Mr. Hyndman, in his debate with the late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, when pressed by his able antagonist to expound to the audience the details of the Socialist doctrines, said : — ** I must confess when I entered this hall I did not expect I had to explain all the details of bottle- washers, cooks, and cabmen in the remote future." ^ Here are a few examples from Mr. Bradlaugh's speech on that occasion, which called forth Mr. Hyndman 's prophetic rejoinder : — " I have to complain that we have no definition of Socialism, that the two very vague phrases which commenced the speech were as far from being a de- finition as any phrases can possibly be." ^ . . . "I urge the importance of exact definition. The gentleman says that he represents a body which has issued some programme. One of the persons sign- ing that programme actually complains that the op- ponents of Socialism want too much definition and 1 Social Democratic Federation tract, Will Socmlistn Benefit the English People? p. 16. ^ Ibid., p. 11, THE INDEFINITENESS OF SOCIALISM 251 too much explanation of what is to be done, and he says that scientific Socialism gives no details. Dare you try to organise society without discussing de- tails. . . . The men who neglect details are lost in a fog. You might as well build a house without bricks, as discuss a scheme without details, and I object to vague phrases which may mean anything or nothing."^ . . . "You ought to deal with de- tails, and if you are incapable of details, you have no right to try and move the people." " Indefinite Socialist Scheme. What strikes everybody outside the Socialist camp is that, although twenty-three years have elapsed since Mr. Bradlaugh threw down his fiery challenge to one of the greatest Socialist leaders, Socialism is still without its cut-and-dried scheme, still wanting in definitions, and lacking in details — as Mr. Barrington tells us so recently as December, 1907. This is a remarkably significant fact, and one which we should do well not to pass by without grave consideration, because in it and behind it lurks a hidden danger. The Socialist propaganda is, as everybody knows, full of menace, and promises a general smashing up of all existing things, but if a man starts on a course of general smashing up without having behind him a well-thought-out, carefully-prepared scheme of how to build up again from the shattered ' Social Democratic Federation tract, Will Socialism Benefit the English People? p. 12. - Ibid..y p. 9. 252 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS fragments of destroyed institutions, it is certain that the detritus of exploded systems and smashed up bodies and social federations will remain as a lasting monument of his egregious folly. It is equally certain that any political party which embarks upon a general smashing up of all existing institutions without having behind it a well-con- sidered scheme showing in detail, to the entire satis- faction of every man in the country, what they propose to do, and how they are to improve matters by means of violent and possibly bloody revolution, will as surely fail as did Danton, Robespierre, Marat, and others in the French Revolution, and the leaders of the Communistic Government of 1871. Charles Bradlaugh had his faults and failings like any other man, and he suffered for them, but he knew his proletariat well — none better. He knew — just as well as the Socialists — that reform was necessary. Said he : — " We recognise the most serious evils arising out of poverty. . . . We are for reform. Revolution means destruction. We will run gradually first. If we try to run immediately, we must poison or destroy; ... all those who preach class war do not know life. Class war is murder; class war is fratricide; class war is suicide."^ The people, then, in self-defence, have to look at the matter from their point of view, and as they are ^ Social Democratic Federation pamphlet, W/// Socialism Beiiefit the E?tglish People? pp. 10, 25. THE INDEFINITENESS OF SOCIALISM 253 an eminently practical people, liberally endowed with those business qualities which go to make keen traders, they naturally want to know what they are to get in return for that which they are asked to give up. Present Advantages. They are to-day in possession of perfect freedom of speech and liberty of action — such as is enjoyed by no other civilised country in the world — even- handed justice, law, order, and — peace. They have, besides, a social and economic system, which, although by no means perfect, is, nevertheless, im- proving so rapidly that the present generation will surely witness a condition of affairs under which poverty will be swept away, and those unsatisfac- tory conditions from which so many suffer to-day will be entirely removed, and a new and better order of things established on a practical working basis, whereunder profitable employment will be found for all who are willing to work. They have a Government chosen by the people themselves, and a head of State represented by a King whose honesty, integrity, and great natural attainments eminently fit him for the exalted posi- tion he fills, and whose tact, great, good common- sense, loyalty to his country, love for his fellow- countrymen, and ceaseless efforts in the cause of universal peace, mark him as the foremost Englishman of the age. They have also their Constitution and Parlia- 254 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS ment, and that wide, all-embracing institution, the — State. For generations these great possessions have been the pride of Englishmen and the envy of foreign nations, and, thank God, they are as much reverenced and cherished to-day by the great masses of our fellow-countrymen as they were when our gallant sires won them for us with sword and halberd, from king and noble, in the far-aw^ay days of medieval England. The Government may not be all that we desire — no Government ever was, and, perhaps, never will be — but Governments are made of the people. If the people want a Government differing essentially from the present type, they must abandon their present method of running after political parties : plainly state their requirements, and send statesmen to Parliament, and not time-serving politicians. The people make Parliaments, not Parliaments the people ! The Machine of State. The Government of a great country, however, is necessarily a complicated affair, and not to be lightly broken up. Its machinery is elaborate and complex, and ramifies through all sections of the community. Its working parts are so varied as .to be well-nigh endless, and it has been put together at immense cost and with infinite care and patience. It is intended to, and does, work for the good of the commonweal, and every man, woman, and child in the kingdom, irrespective of class, benefits by it. THE INDEFINITENESS OF SOCIALISM 255 and is necessarily interested in its well-being. Any attempt, therefore, to interfere with its working parts, which would cause the machine of State to break down and cease to perform its many impor- tant and essential functions, would meet with the just opposition and resentment of the people, un- less, indeed, a far better machine were set up in its place. Destruction by Physical-Force Revolution. To destroy all that which exists means physical- force revolution. Here is another extract from Mr. Bradlaugh's speech bearing on the question : — " I say, then, that physical-force revolution must fail, because the majority are against you, and I say even if it succeeded by the energy of those who directed it, that then the crime of it, and the terror of it, and the mischief of it, and the demoralisation of it would more retard and hinder progress than do any possible good."^ In urging on revolutionary measures, instead of ensuring reform by more peaceful means. Socialists would as surely put back the hands of the great clock which marks on its mighty dial the events of human life, and the steady, onward march of the development of human progress, as the frosts of March put back the glad burst of spring-time. Indefinite Socialism is bound to fail, because of its indefiniteness, and revolutionary Socialism is * Social Democratic Federation pamphlet, PFi7/ Socialism Benefit the English People? p. 13. ^56 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS bound to fail, because — as Charles Bradlaugh said — "the majority are against you," and this is as true to-day as it was when that pregnant sentence was hurled at Mr. Hyndman nearly a quarter of a century ago. Invest Socialism with certain definite qualities which would ensure real reform obtained by peace- ful measures, divest it of its terrors, lop off a limb here and there, soften its more repulsive features, and there are many who would adopt it, but, in its present form, it is^ to the vast masses of the people — abhorrent. CHAPTER XXIV THE "socialist STATE " AND INDIVIDUALISM V. COLLECTIVISM The " State " of the Socialist is an all-embracing term, exceedingly comprehensive in the abstract, but difficult to determine in its more concrete form. It means so much to every unit of the popula- tion ; it enters so largely into the social, religious, and economic being of each individual member of the great human family ; it so creeps behind the veil which screens from the rude gaze of the outside world the sacred life of our homes, and is so com- prehensive in the broad sweep of its general pur- pose, that it deserves more than mere passing attention at our hands. The Socialist " State." The Socialist " State," said Mr. Robert Blatch- ford in the Clarion of February 21st, 1908 — " would be the people, not a small and privileged class, not an army of stiff-necked unintelligent officials directed by a capitalist, or a landlord, or a Kaiser, but the whole British people. How could the people enslave the people? " Mr. R. B. Suthers, in his " Common Objections s 258 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS to Socialism Answered," in the same newspaper and on the same date, said : — "By ' State ' Socialists mean the ' Whok People.' Thus if everything would be provided by the Whole People, the Whole People could only provide everything by working." The " New Catechism of Socialism " gives a much clearer and broader definition of Socialism than either of these. '* We mean the establishment of a political power — in place of the present class State — which shall have for its conscious and definite aim the common ownership and control of the whole of the world's industry, exchange, &c. " Socialism is an economic theory because the economic conditions form the material basis of human society; but Socialism is much more than that; it embraces all the relations of human life. The establishment of Socialism means a complete change in society in all its aspects." ^ '* State ownership, State tyranny. State inter- ference exist to-day. We have to bear them now; we have to pay for them now. The people, as such, own nothing. And the Socialists demand that the people shall own everything. Note the ' State,' the ' people.' So great is the difference between the word ' State ' and the word ' people.' "^ The German Socialist, Bebel, in attempting to define a Socialist " State," said : — " State administration is very far from being the ' E. Belfort Bax and H. Quelch, Social Democratic Federation tract, 190, A New Catechism of Socialism^ pp. 9, 10. * The Clarion^ i8th October, 1907. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 259 same as a Socialist administration, as is sometimes erroneously supposed. The State administration is just as much a system of capitalistic exploitation as if the institution in question were in the hands of private undertakers."^ Other Socialist works give concrete examples of these abstract principles. Broad Interpretations of Socialism. The following passages from a Socialist book show how the author interprets the Socialist doc- trines in respect to the particular " relation of human life '^ she is referring to: — " For every child born the State will make pro- vision. Either the mother will be paid so much per child so long as it lives and thrives, as her wage for important work done for society in bearing or rearing it; or her absolute independence of her husband will be secured in some other way. The State doctor (a woman for this office) will prescribe and care for the child from the moment of its birth, and State nurses will be in attendance to see that the mother is in need of nothing for her own and the child's well-being." ^ In chapter viii. we find the following: — "A living will be assured to every woman. Jewels and finery will not be valued as they are now; they will lose their value as they cease to be regarded as marks of special worth and importance, and when the power to acquire them has become common." ^ Bebel, Woman, pp. 198, 199. '^ Ethel Snowden, T?ie IVoman Socialist, p. 48. S 2 260 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS From chapter ix. the following passage may be quoted : — " In a Socialist State, let it be repeated, no woman will be economically dependent upon any one man, father, brother, or husband. Her living will be assured to her by the community. Marriage will not make her the mere dependent. If she should have children she will be salaried, or other- wise supported, according to the number and healthiness of her offspring." Speaking of the marriage ties, in the same chapter we find these passages : — "It is more than probable that the ordinary Church marriage service will be abolished. But it ought to be abolished. It is a degradation of marriage to regard it and speak of it as a kind of safety-valve for those who cannot keep themselves in the holy condition of celibacy. . . . Under Socialism the marriage service will probably be a simple declaration on the part of the contracting parties before the civil representatives of the State." Speaking of the great change which the Socialist " State " is to bring about in our homes, chapter x. has the following passages : — " Under Socialism domestic duties will be re- duced to a minimum. There will be municipal or communal servants separated for some special work, which for a short number of hours they shall be willing to do in the houses of the citizens, . . . Of vulgar ostentation there will be none; nothing but artistic loveliness conducing to fair thoughts THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 261 and fine ambitions and the peace which is born of happiness in the home." " And the dress of the SociaHst woman will be in harmony with her home." Immediately preceding these last extracts we are told this : — " In addition the State will provide, to a greater extent than at present, inspectors or officials to instruct the people in habits of health." ^ Other Socialists are somewhat idealistic in regard to the Socialist " State." " Socialism means the elevation of the struggle for existence from the material to the intellectual plane. Socialism will raise the struggle for exist- ence into a sphere where competition shall be emulation, where the treasures are boundless and eternal, and where the abundant wealth of one does not cause the poverty of another." ^ " Under Socialism, the State, as we have known the State in the past, will have disappeared ; for under Socialism there will be no classes, but all the people will form one class, the Government and organisation will be democratic, each individual having an equal voice in directing the affairs of the common life." ^ Such Utopianism as is here indulged in is scarcely warranted in view of the common-sense attitude assumed by the more practical leaders of the Socialist party. " Socialism aims at the supersession of demo- ' Ethel Snowden, The Woman Socialist. 2 Philip Snowden, The Individual under Socialism, p. i. ^ Ibid., p. I. 262 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS cracy, as of every other form of government. The will of the majority of an ideal democracy, a social democracy, must, as regards its special expressions, be subordinate to the general moral canon of a Socialist commonwealth. . That in affairs of management, of tactics, of administration, or in decisions requiring special knowledge, authority, in its nature dictatorial, is necessary, all must admit. There must be a controlling, an authorita- tive voice in direction ; so much must be clear, one would think, to all practical or reasonable persons when once stated. The real point to determine is the nature and limits of that amount of dictatorial power which, we must admit, is essential in any organised community of which we can at present conceive. Social Democracy, while it means all for the people, does not mean the impossible absurdity that everything should be directly regulated by the people, i.e., by a direct popular vote." ^ More Wide Interpretations. The following brief passages are useful in illus- trating how wide an interpretation Socialists are prepared to give to the meaning of the Socialist "State":— " I do not believe it is desirable to cultivate the family idea as at present understood, which in the main is designed to teach the children to think more of their own family than any other ; I want to see the broader family life of society taught in the spirit of the West Country motto, ' One for all and all for each.' "^ ^ Bax, Essays in Socialism^ pp. 75, 76. " Lansbury, The Principles of the English Poor Law, p. 10. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 263 " It may be doubted after all whether it is neces- sary to regard ' the home ' in the sense in which the phrase is here used as the final and immutable form of Social organisation. Humanity does not stand or fall by the arrangement whereby families take the food in segregated cubicles." ^ It is but fair to state, how^ever, that many Socialists deny that Socialism threatens the family life. The following may be cited : — " No Socialist entertains the remotest idea of ' abolishing ' the family, whether by law or other- wise. Only the grossest misrepresentation can fasten upon them such a purpose. Moreover, it takes a fool to imagine that any form of family can either be created or abolished by decree." ^ In spite of such denials there can be no question that many Socialist publications encourage the belief that certain license in respect to the family life, and particularly in regard to the marriage ties, will be more possible under a Socialist State than under existing conditions. We shall give more attention, how^ever, to this matter in another chapter. Sweeping Proposals. From this coign of vantage the non-Socialist may see the broad circling sweep of the Socialist defini- tion of " State," and form at the same time a very fair idea of the multitudinous ways in which this ' Fabian tract, After Bread — Education, p. lo. ^ Kautsky, The Socialist Republic, p. 23. 264 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS same " State " would enter into and interfere with those Httle domesticities of our home life which English people have hitherto regarded as of a strictly private nature and as being entirely con- fidential, and, indeed, sacred to the individual and collective members of their respective households. The Socialist "State" is, first of all, to " Nationalise " everything in the manner laid dow-n in their own manifesto, and then it is to interfere with the domestic freedom of our home life by doing away with our marriage laws; bring- ing our children into the world by the aid of " State " nurses, making each mother who presents a child to the community a salaried servant of the " State," " her wages for important work done for society in bearing or rearing ii," and in sending its inspectors and officials to pry into and interfere with every one of those little items of our domestic life which are now regarded by every English- family as sacred and inviolable. *' Socialism is much more than that; it embraces all the relations of human life,^^ says the " New Catechism of Socialism," and that this is so is proved by the interpretation put upon its doctrines by the author of '* The Woman Socialist " and scores of other Socialist writers. Here, then, we have, in a few words, the official definition of Socialism, as set forth in Socialist publications, followed by an interpretation of its doctrines by those who array themselves under the Red Flag. THE "SOCIALIST STxVTE" 265 Fantastic Ideas. It may, of course, be contended that the Socialist leaders are not responsible for such fantastic ideas as those set forth in " The Woman Socialist " and other works by the followers of Socialism, but such a contention would have no weight in face of the fact of the official declaration that " Socialism . . . embraces all the relations of human life." It may be that, although the deductions arrived at in " The Woman Socialist " are bizarre and un- desirable from every point of view, it does not follow that a Socialist " State " would not have to adopt them in spite of themselves. The leaders of the French Revolution were obliged to do many things which were doubtless repugnant to their ideas of government, and so it always must be with a revolutionary Government which is reared on the ruins of things that are dead, and kept, for a time, in its insecure position by the frantic efforts of its infatuated followers. Leaders of a revolution only lead up to a certain point, after which they are, in turn, led by those who were their followers, and who become a veritable Frankenstein monster which they cannot control. Under such conditions it is conceivable that a Socialist "State" may be forced, in spite of its belter judgment, to adopt many measures that would prove highly objectionable to the masses of the British people, and then — further trouble would ensue. CHAPTER XXV THE " SOCIALIST STATE " (continued) ENSLAVING TENDENCIES OF THE SOCIALIST " STATE " INVOLVING IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR PARENTS Let us now briefly look at the " State " question from another practical point of view. In the first place, what is the " State," and then, is the Socialist " State " likely to differ materially from the " State " of to-day or any *' State " that has been before us ? Definition of " The State." We have a very good definition of what " The State " is in " English Socialism of To-day." "What does 'The State' mean? It means in practice a certain number of persons selected by a rough-and-ready method of election, which, so far as it is to be regarded as a test of the true feeling of the electors, is, under our present system, of about as much value as tossing up. For a short and uncertain period the individuals thus selected are endowed with immense powers over the persons and property of their neighbours. * The State ' has many manifestations; it appears to us in many THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 267 forms. Parliament is one manifestation of ' The State.'" 1 " The London County Council, which changes its entire outlook on every subject — ecomomic, social, religious, architectural — about every three years, is ' The State.' The Poplar and West Ham Guardians are ' The State ' ; the tax col- lector, the rate collector, and the horde of inspec- tors and surveyors with whom we are all so well acquainted, are ' The State.' John, Tom, and Harry, who live down the street, are not ' The State ' to-day ; but if they have no particular occu- pation and can afford the time to make many speeches and many fine professions as to what they will do with olher people's property if they get the chance, they may become ' The State ' to-morrow. The fact is, that no amount of fine words will alter plain facts, and there is not the slightest reason to believe that this country will be better governed, or that anybody will be happier or richer because we have added some hundreds of thousands to the number of salaried officials paid to interfere with all the concerns of our daily life, or because we have turned out all the present occupants of our public offices and have put another set of people in their places." ^ " Do the people, say, of West Ham, or the people of Woolwich, really want the West Ham Guardians or the Woolwich Town Council to own all the railways, tramways, cabs, carriages, work- shops, machines, tools, hairdressers' shops, con- fectioners' shops, to become the tailors, the ' Right Hon. H. O. Arnold-Forster, English Socialism of To-Day, p. 57. - Ibid.:, p. 59. 268 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS butchers, the bakers, and the candlestick-makers of West Ham or of Woolwich ; to pay everybody's wages, and to fix the rate of payment, to conduct a compulsory creche for all the babies, to send all the children to schools where they will learn the ' Red Catechism,' and to fix exactly what every man's income shall be? " ^ " If Mr. Hyndman and Mr. Grayson and Mr. Keir Hardie and Mr. G. B. Shaw, &c., were to be drawing salaries from their 'comrades' for governing this country, there probably W'Ould be a good deal of change; but that, after all, is only a question of personnel, about which there is no great reason to invoke high and mighty theories. As for the idea that some new, heaven-born entity, called 'The State,' is to descend upon us and alter the whole conditions of our life, it is a patent absurdity which should deceive nobody."^ Here we have so clear an illustration of what " The State " means that a child might understand it, and, indeed, it is essential that we should have this matter clearly fixed in our minds; otherwise we shall be led into all sorts of errors and miscon- ceptions which would prove highly dangerous to ourselves. Enslaving Tendencies. We must have a government of some kind, and the question is, whether a Socialist Government could, under any conceivable circumstances, differ ' Right Hon. H. O. Arnold-Forster, English Socialism of To-Day^ p. 59. 2 Ibid.^ p. 61. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 269 so essentially in its executive form and capacity from any ordinary administration as to ensure those blessings so lavishly promised in " The Woman Socialist " and other Socialist literature : whether, in short, it would be possible by a touch of a magician's wand, as it were, to convert an ordinary State of the period with its many imper- fections into that perfect thing which is promised in the Socialist "State"? You may, as " English Socialism of To-day " points out, have a Government consisting of " Mr. Hyndman and Mr. Grayson and Mr. Keir Hardie and Mr. G. B. Shaw, &c.," but this would be but a mere change of personnel, a difference only of degree : the essence and principle of the thing would remain unchanged, as of necessity it must. Mr. Hyndman's Government would far more likely become the sport of the electorate than would any Government of to-day under Mr. Asquith or Mr. Balfour. "The Socialist 'State' would be the people. . . , How could the people enslave the people? " ^ asks Mr. Robert Blatchford. The best reply to this question is: " In precisely the same manner as the people of the French Revolution enslaved the remainder of the French people who did not follow the Terrorists; and in the same manner as the Communists of 187 1 enslaved the people of Paris who refused to join the red-revolu- tionary movement." There is no doubt that, given opportunities, one ' Robert Blatchford, T/ie C/an'on, 21st February, 1908. 270 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS | section of the people is quite capable of enslaving j the other section; history, indeed, is full of the subject, but the question is not so much "could the people enslave the people?" as "Does one section of the people desire enslavement at the hands of the other section? " Socialists tell us that "Socialism . . . embraces all the relations of human life," and as it is evident that this is so, we have to make up our minds whether we are prepared to let a Socialist " State " take into its own especial keeping all our commerce and industry, all our foreign and home trade, all our means of production, and interfere with every item of our daily business. Are we prepared to let loose a veritable host of "State" inspectors and ignorant officials of various degrees to teach us how to live, and pry into the secret places of our inner lives? Are we prepared that the mothers of our children should become the salaried servants of the State by accepting — " as her wages for important work done for society in bearing or rearing it " — a sum of money for every child she succeeds in bringing into the world and successfully rearing? Do we really desire that our young children should be handed over to the " State " at a tender age, and alienated from that home influence which, with the exceptions which will be noticed presently, is known to be so good and essential to the life of our young folk? THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 271 Young Child-Life. Are we desirous of casting out of our homes the trusting affection and sweet cHnging love of young child-life at the time when our little ones are emerg- ing from the state of helpless babyhood to that condition when a journey from the mother's knee to the nearest chair is as a voyage undertaken at considerable bodily risk to the tiny traveller, and when the innocent prattle of baby lips compen- sates for previous years of wordless chatter. At this time child-life is in its sweetest and most at- tractive form, and even the coldest natures are warmed into tenderness and affection by the fear- less yet trusting and confiding love of those little innocents. And are we quite sure we are prepared to cast this away from us ? We shall, of course, be told that a great deal of home life is so bad, and its atmosphere so vitiat- ing, that it is better to remove the young to the healthier surroundings of State schools, and this is true to a certain extent. There are certain homes to-day — not only among the very poor, but even among the very rich — where the home influence is simply poisonous to young life. We may go even further and affirm that never was there a condition of society in this world in which a similar state of affairs did not exist ; while it is, moreover, extremely likely that, so long as the human race inhabits this earth, some will be better and some worse than others; but to tell the people of England that be- 272 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS cause of these comparatively few undesirable cases of evil home influence the whole of them must be prepared to hand over their children to the tender mercies of the Socialist "State" is to tell them to do that which they are not prepared to do. The old trite saying that you must always legis- late for the many and not for the few holds good here as in all other of life's phases, but it seems that the Socialist "State" would alter this salu- tary rule and legislate for the few. It is no doubt highly regrettable that there should be a single household in all this land where the home influence should be evil rather than good, and every right-minded man and woman in the kingdom would willingly subscribe to any sensible, practicable scheme whereunder such undesirable conditions might be removed, but to tell the people that they, by law, must deliver over their children to "State" control because of the evil influence which exists in some homes, would be to kindle and inflame human passions to an extent that could only result in civil war. CHAPTER XXVI THE "socialist STATE " (contimied) questions for householders as to the effect on their homes, and the danger of class spoliation Questions for Householders. This is another question which can be put to the test of everyday experience without going a yard out of our own individual sphere of hfe. Let us take the first twenty households in the circle of our own friends and submit these questions to them : — 1. Are there certain undesirable conditions in your home life which render it necessary that the State should take charge of your children ? 2. Are you prepared to vote for a measure that would give the State a legal right to take your children from you and educate them on some plan of its own ? 3. Are you prepared to abandon all parental authority over your own children and surrender them to the unrestricted control of the State? If these questions were put to people of all creeds T 274 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS and classes, among the poor and middle classes as also among the well-to-do, it is doubtful whether you would get a single afifirmative answer except from those ne'er-do-wells who would sacrifice wife, children, and everything else in this world, which other men prize and hold most dear, to save them- selves expense and trouble. But here again it should be remembered that these wastrels represent the few and not the many, and it is certainly not for them that the British people would be prepared to surrender those rights and privileges which are as dear to them as life itself. Nor is it for such as these that any Government, Socialist or otherwise, would be permitted to tamper with those laws re- garding our individual freedom, in respect to the charge and control of our young people which, from time immemorial, have rightly been vested in the parents. When some of the more prominent features of Socialism are thus submitted to the people, there seems no doubt that the more they are looked at the more will they repel. Indeed, in its present form, Socialism is not attractive from any point of view. There may be nothing inherently wrong with the fundamental basis upon which the true principles of Socialism have been constructed, but it certainly appears that its builders have put into the structure much bad material, which, of necessity, is sure to be rejected the moment an independent examination be undertaken. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 275 The Term " Socialism " and its Attractiveness. There is something remarkably fascinating about the term " SociaHsm," that is to say, about the word in its true meaning, namely, the principle of substituting association for that of competition, and regenerating society by ensuring a more equal dis- tribution .of property; but it can hardly be con- tended that the Socialist programme of to-day, as framed by the leaders of the party, aims exclusively at those conditions. " Association " means exactly what the word itself implies, but modern Socialism means the very antithesis of this : it means class domination and class war. Mr. Keir Hardie said : — " I have tried to make my own class the ruling class, and it is going to happen." ^ Mr. James Leatham, one of the most strenuous Socialist leaders, said : — " He that comes to the world with a message bearing in it the promise and potency of great and far-reaching changes, is a revolutionist ; and the m.ethods of revolution are and ever must be of the nature of w-ar. The war may not and should not be one of balls and bayonets, but the feelings evoked will be not less vengeful.- . . . Let us clear our minds of cant, then, and preach the Class War without holding any card up our sleeve."^ Said Mr. Hyndman : — " We are accused of preaching discontent, and * Mr. Kcir Hardie's public utterances. '■^ James Leatham, Tke Class War, p. i. ^ Ibid., p. 7. T 2 276 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS stirring up actual conflict. We do preach discon- tent, and we mean to preach discontent; and we mean, if we can, to stir up actual conflict." ^ " Year by year, as the i8th March comes round, it is the custom of Socialists to commemorate the proclamation of the Commune of Paris. As a Socialist I am a friend of the Commune."^ " For a number of years the late William Morris, the greatest man whom the Socialist movement has yet claimed in this country, held and openly preached this doctrine of cataclysmic upheaval and sudden overthrow of the ruling classes."^ *• The Commune had one special fault, that of a fatuous moderation in all its doings. Probably never since history began have any body of men allowed themselves and theirs to be treated as lambs in the slaughter-house with more lamb-like forbear- ance and absence of retaliation than the Commune and its adherents. We have seen this illustrated by the incredible fact that up to the last, amid all the slaughterings of Communists, the vast majority of the hostages and prisoners in its hands remained unscathed." ^ The writer then depicts the bloody doings of M. Thiers and his Government. Class Domination and Class War. There is, in addition to these few examples, abundant evidence in almost every one of the ^ H. M. Hyndman, Will Socialism Benefit the English People? p. 9. - Leatham, The Commune of Paris ^ p. 3. 3 Keir Hardie, From Serfdom to Socialism, p. 86. * Belfort Bax, Paris Commune, p. 74. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 277 Socialist publications that not only Class Domina- tion and Class War are intended, but that the spoliation of one class to benefit another class is also clearly contemplated, and it is more than likely that so long as the Socialist leaders retain these highly objectionable and destructive items in their programme of things to be accomplished, so long will Socialism remain unpopular with the vast masses of the British people. Another ugly feature in the Socialism of to-day is the desire to crush out " Individualism "; and unless this feature be altogether obliterated, or, at all events, so softened and modified as to become less repugnant, it will be sure to repel. Men and women nowadays claim the right of thinking matters out for themselves, and when their minds take them back into the past, they are struck with the significant fact that practically everything worth recording in the history of the world has been accomplished by individual and not by collective effort. From the time of Alexander the Great down to the modern times of Faraday, Edison, and Mar- coni, individualism has played the chief part in human affairs and in leading the onwar.d march of human progress; while it is highly probable that, in spite of the teachings of to-day's Socialism, Individualism and not Collectivism will continue to lead the vanguard of human life. Said the late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh in his debate with Mr. Hyndman : — 278 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS " If Socialism could be realised, then it would be fatal to all progress by neutralising and paralysing individual effort, and I say that civilisation has only been in proportion to the energy of individuals." ^ That this saying is of the indestructible truth there can be no doubt, and that there is need for a greater recognition of its soundness and the appli- cation of its principles to our times than there was when it was uttered nearly twenty-five years ago, seems equally certain. Individual Effort. Individual effort has been, and is to-day, the chief factor in human progress ; it is the pivot upon which human life turns and moves, and we can no more do without it than the heavenly bodies can be kept in their appointed places without the universal law of gravitation. " Civilisation develops in pro- portion to the energy of individuals " — as Charles Bradlaugh put it — and if the incentive to individual effort be taken away, the onward march of civilisa- tion will be retarded. " Every generation inherits the whole of the wisdom of the generations which go before, but it is not Socialism ; it is individual effort that gained the wisdom — the individual Aristotle who wrote, the individual Plato who spoke, the individual Bronterre O'Brien who taught; and these men would have been crippled in your Socialistic State, 1 Will Socialism Benefit the English People? pp. 12, 13. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 279 which would have left them no platform, no hope."i This individual effort may be induced by a variety of causes; in some cases individual gain — the gain of money or lands, of place and power, the love of applause, notoriety or fame may be the chief influence — while in others it may be induced, and very frequently is, by a pure and unselfish desire to benefit the human race and help on our brothers and sisters one step nearer to that blessed state of universal content and happiness which every reasonably minded person desires to see con- summated. But, whatever may be the mainspring of this quality which is the principal factor in pro- gressive civilisation, it is an indwidual and not a collective quality, and we must not lose sight of this important fact. If we, by unwise laws, discourage and paralyse and extinguish the ardent warmth of individual energy and put into its place the cold, unemotional quality called collectivism, a thing without body or soul, without ambition and without that hope of recognition which, in some form or other is, after all, the real source from which springs most human effort — whether individual or collective — then it is clear that this great stream of human energy and power wall be cut off at its source, and that it will become a mere potentiality instead of the mighty living force that it is to-day. * IVt'/l SodalisMt Benefit the English People ? p. 30. 280 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS The " Socialist State " aims at the destruction of Individualism. " Socialism is much more than that, it embraces all the relations of human life. The establishment of Socialism means a complete change in society in all its aspects." ^ Indeed, there is not a relation of human life that this widely ramifying "Socialist State" does not embrace, and whichever way we turn we are always caught by one of its multitudinous tentacles. It seems, indeed, that the Socialism of to-day is faulty to a degree, and full of impracticalities, whichever way it may be looked at. It is, there- fore, unlikely that it will, in its present form, appeal to the masses of a practical-minded people. That there is some good in it few people will deny, but the good is overshadowed and altogether swamped by that which is evil and repugnant; and if a plebiscite were resorted to it is certain that for this reason alone the vast majority of votes would be against Socialism. ^ A New Catechism of Socialism, p. lo. CHAPTER XXVII THE "socialist STATE" (continued) HUMAN NATURE AN IMPORTANT FACTOR, Another important factor in this complicated " State " problem, which even practical Socialists are sanguine enough to believe they will solve, is that of — human nature, which is destined to play the principal part in this drama of life, as in all others. We have seen in previous chapters how impossible it is to eradicate the elementary princi- ples of human nature, and in order to arrive at a true appreciation of Socialist promises in respect to this wonderful " State " of theirs, this elementary factor must not be ignored. What Socialists Postulate. Socialism postulates a state of society w-hich mil- lennarians dream of. Is this possible ? William Morris, the poet and art-lover, whom all Socialists revere, became a Socialist because he be- lieved, among other things, that Socialism would regenerate art. " To sum up, then, the study of history and the love and practice of art forced me into a hatred of 282 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS the civilisation which, if things were to stop as they are, would turn history into inconsequent nonsense, and make art a collection of the curiosities of the past, which would have no serious relation to the life of the present." ^ Another enthusiastic Socialist believes that in certain circumstances there will be no necessity, or very little, for the use of gold and silver, under the blessed condition of a Socialist State. " It may be asked, how are the workers in the National Co-operative Federation to be paid for the work they do for one another ? They will be paid by the work they do for one another. But will there be money? Oh, yes, plenty — not, however, gold or silver, or, at least, very little of that kind of coin for circulation in the Federation. Except at first starting, the State will not have to supply the so-called precious metals with which to pay the workers a weekly subsistence. The State will have to coin only a — Sufficiency of Token Money. This token money will not be for general circulation out- side the Federation."^ " If, more than a hundred years ago, the great Robert Owen could truly say, ' Wealth may be made as plentiful as water,' this is at least ten times more true to-day, when it is the excessive power to make wealth with constantly lessening labour that is the cause of so much social trouble. The pro- blem of production is solved ; the problem of dis- tribution awaits its solution."^ " When it has be- come finally apparent that the completest develop- ' William Morris, How I became a Socialist, p. 12. 2 Dallas, How to Solve the Unemployed Problem, '^'^. 11, 12. 2 Hyndman, Darkness and Dawn of May Day, p. 12. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 283 ment and happiness possible for each member of the community means the greater advantage and greater enjo^-ment of the whole, then assuredly will be seen infinitely the highest individual capacity in every department of culture that has ever been at- tained. Then, too, relieved from the degrading in- fluence of competition and pecuniary necessities, art and science will go forward to the level of such achievement for public and private beauty and knowledge as was never reached in the most palmy days of Greece or Rome or mediaeval Italy." ^ "And now Socialism comes as the Angel of Light, bearing to mankind this message of truth. Socialism, equipped with all the learning of the ages, takes up the ripest teaching of the poet, the philosopher, the economist, the historian, and joins the conclusion of each together into one harmonious whole, which tells us that the weak are necessarv, the uncomely are not to be despised, that not com- petition, but co-operation of all is the law of life. Now we have the knowledge of the truth of Brown- ing's words : — AH is law. Yet all is love. And now we know that suffering, misery, and poverty are a violation of God's will ; now we know that the fulness of time has come for us to cast the last relic of our fallen nature from us, and to follow the beckoning angel who is waiting to lead us 5ack through the gates of Paradise into an Eden of in- tellectual joy."^ "When men have leisure, and they are not enervated by exhausting toil, nor de- * Hyndman, Darkness and Dawn of May Day, p. 13. 2 Philip Snovvden, The Individual under Socialism, p. 9. 284 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS moralised by superfluous riches, they cannot help themselves from following their natural instincts. Man under natural, that is, under favourable material conditions, is an intellectual being, and his intellectual aspirations will manifest themselves when his material needs are satisfied. Just as the nightingale sings in the evening shades^ or the lark trills in the summer sky, so man in natural sur- roundings will seek to gratify his higher nature." ^ " Socialism will provide all the conditions which are necessary for the gratification of every reason- able desire. Even if the acquisition and enjoyment of material wealth were a desirable object, Social- ism will gratify that better than our present system." ^ " Socialism is brotherhood, and brotherhood is as wide as the heaven, and as broad as humanity. The growth of international Socialism is the pro- mise of the realisation of the angels' natal song : 'On earth, peace; Goodwill toward men.' " ^ Socialists Demolish their Own Case. These are beautiful beliefs, born, no doubt, of noble aspirations and an earnest desire for reform, and there is not a non-Socialist in this broad realm who will be found to cast a stone at such reformers, or hinder the accomplishment of so lofty a purpose. The question that hard-headed practical men will ask, however, is this — is this scheme an idealism born of the fantastic brain of the dreamer, or is it a sound, workable project which might be applied practically to the everyday uses of life ? ^ Philip Snowden, The Individual under Socialism^ pp. 9, 10. 2 Ibid., p. 10. 3 Ibid., p. 10. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 285 Here are some views of prominent Socialists on the subject : — " Does not Socialist society presuppose extraor- dinary human beings, real angels, as regards unselfishness and gentleness, joy of work, and in- telligence? Is not the social revolution, with the present brutal and egotistical race of men, bound to become the signal for desolating struggles for the booty or for general idleness in which it would go to ruin?"i " The proletariat will require high intelligence, strong discipline, perfect organisation of its great masses. We may expect that it will only succeed when it will have developed these qualities in the highest degree." ^ " Descendants of barbarians and beasts, we have not yet conquered the greed and folly of our bestial and barbarous inheritance. Our nature is an un- weeded garden. Our hereditary soil is rank." ^ " Socialist propaganda, carried on as a class war, suggest none of those ideals of moral citizenship with which Socialist literature abounds^ ' each for all, and all for each,' ' service to the community is the sole right of property,' and so on. It is an appeal to individualism " (which seems to be a eu- phonism for envy and cupidity), "and results in getting men to accept Socialist formula without becoming Socialists."^ " It is we who must discover the answers to our own conundrums, and I do most seriously suggest that there is no more valuable field of work for any 1 Kautsky, The Social Revolution^ p. 4J- 2 Ibid., p. 42. 3 Blatchford, Not Guilty, p. 257. * Macdonald, Socialism and Society, pp. 122, 123. 286 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS group of Socialists, no more fruitful service to the Socialist cause, than for them earnestly and per- sistently to study, in the light of the ascertained facts, some of the many problems to which we have to apply our Socialist faith. Depend upon it, the first step to getting what we want is a very clear and precise knowledge of what it is that we want. '* But this want of precision in our thinking may easily do worse than merely delay our progress ; there is, as it seems to me, a good deal of danger of its leading us positively astray from the Socialist goal. The circumstances of modern life are so com- plicated, the problems to be dealt with are so diffi- cult, the need for prompt action is often so great that we may easily be led to take up schemes of reform which promise some immediate improve- ment on the present state of things, but which are really in the line of advance towards a genuine Collectivism." ^ " But if we are to make any intellectual progress at all, we must have a great deal more frank dis- cussion of the details of the Socialist programme. The movement gains nothing by a complacent toleration of spurious Collectivism. I do not urge the universal adoption by all Socialists of a rigid practical programme complete in all its details. But our one hope of successful propaganda lies in the possession of exact knowledge, and very clear ideas of what it is we want to teach. To mix up, under the common designation of Socialism, proposals which tend to Anarchism with those which tend to Collectivism, to accept Democracy, and yet to dally with the idea of catastrophic social revolution, to ^ Sidney Webb, Socialism True and False, pp. 9. 10. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 287 confound Utopianism with modern State Socialism, to waver between a trade or workshop sectionahsm and ownership by the community — all this argues a confusion of thought which is the worst possible equipment for a successful teacher. If we are to have anything like the success of the early philo- sophic Radicals, we must be able, like them, to ex- plain in the large dialect of a definite scheme what are our aims and whither we are going." ^ Are the People Prepared? From the foregoing examples of the views held by prominent Socialists as to the practicability of the scheme, the preparedness of the Socialist cause, and the ripe ess of present-day society for the millennium promised by Socialism, or, rather, by certain Socialists who interpret Socialism in their own fashion, it is easy to determine that to all in- tents and purposes the entire question is impossible. There is, indeed, not the slightest justification for the belief that human beings are in the mood to enter into a blessed state of national or international brotherhood wherein there would dwell universal love and peace, and where the lion would lie down with the lamb. Regretfully we have to acknowledge this, but with nations armed to the teeth, ready to fly at each other's throats; with international jealousy, envy, and lust for power and influence^ influencing statesmen ; with bitter rivalry, strife, cupidity, sus- picion, and hatred dominating the individual life, and with Socialists themselves inflaming the evil Sidney Webb, Socialism True and False ^ p. 19. 288 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS passions of men, and stirring them up to class war and all the horrors that may spring therefrom, can any man in his sober senses affirm that society is ready to enter into that idealistic state which ardent Socialists dream of? Why Socialism Will Fail. The Socialist "State" will fail because it de- mands more from human nature than human nature is prepared to give. "Socialist society presup- poses extraordinary human beings, real angels, as regards unselfishness and gentleness," said that astute German Socialist, Kautsky, and when you demand from human beings an amount of moral regeneration they are not prepared to submit to, what else but failure can result ? Most of us have had some individual experience of trying to regenerate human nature in its more concrete form. Some relative, friend, or acquaint- ance has claimed our care and attention, and we have tried to wean him from some of his evil ways. How earnestly many of us have striven to reform husband, wife, or brother, and with loving persist- ence pointed out how easily this bad habit might be given up, or that moral obliquity made straight. How often have we, by precept and example, and frequently by self-abnegation and sacrifice, made the way easy for some loved one, hoping that re- generation would surely follow, and how often have we been disappointed and disheartened because of our failure. THE "SOCIALIST STATE" 289 Human nature is a complex question. It may be as steadfast as the Pole Star, or as tricky as a kitten. It may soar to higher spheres than this planet, or it may wallow in the gutter. Some of it is good; much of it is bad. The good can take care of themselves ; the bad seek not after the ways of reformers, nor do they hanker after moral regeneration. Most people tell you they are not saints, but deny that they are sinners. They submit that, although their everyday life does not attain to that high standard of ethics dreamed of by poets and philo- sophers, it is, at all events, as good as their neigh- bours, and — they see no reason to alter it. And this is the ^rux : the pivot upon which the fulcrum turns. Men c. '' women see no reason to alter their mode of living, because — it is good enough for them as it is. Let us, however, be precise in this. By men and women we do not mean those who belong to the upper middle classes, the plutocrats, and what is termed the "Smn.c Set"; we mean society as a whole. The conservatism of human nature is widespread, and no particular class has a monopoly of it. Your working man is as loath to alter his mode of life, to regenerate his moral being, or to hunger after transcendental intellectualism as is your successful stockbroker or your aristocratic dil- ettante. Ask the working classes if they recognise the need for pressing reform and moral regenera- tion in their own lives, and, although their answer u 290 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS might not be couched in the poHtest possible lan- guage, it would certainly be forcible enough to lead you to conclude that they were, at any rate, satisfied with it, and that it would be unwise for you to interfere overmuch either with their ethics or their homes. Human nature is thus satisfied with itself, and with this supreme difficulty in front of them Social- ists will find the way barred. To attempt to stir into life the dead inertia of a society which is satisfied with itself, would be to harpoon the leviathan with a woman's hat-pin. The task is impossible, and so Socialists will find it. We freely admit that there is much in human nature that requires regenerating; many objection- able social features that might be improved, while there is ample room for reform in many directions. We, moreover, have reason to believe that the present generation will witness many changes in our social and economic conditions, which will en- sure to the people a number of those benefits which all thoughtful men admit are theirs by all the laws of equity and justice; but to admit, however, that society is composed of human units who are in- spired by high ideals and governed by a severe code of ethics, who live in spheres of transcendental intellectualism, and who possess all the virtues of the saints, would be to assume an attitude hostile to reason and common sense, and antagonistic to — TRUTH. CHAPTER XXVIII THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM REFORMS NECESSARY, BUT NOT BY SOCIALIST METHODS Wt- nave now passed in review the various items in the Sociahst programme of many reforms which we set out to examine. The subjects we have selected are among those most cherished by Social- ists, and although we are conscious of having dealt with each of them in a cursory fashion, we have, perhaps, said sufficient to enable our readers to form, at least, some approximate idea of their mean- ing and their significance to them individually and collectively. What will the People Do ? Assuming, then, that most of our readers stand possessed of a fairly general knowledge of what Socialism in action might mean to them and theirs, the question has now to be put — What will they do to combat it? Not altogether the easiest thing in life is to know how to utilise our abilities and our possessions to the best possible advantage, for many a man loses much that might have been his by injudicious u 2 292 SOCIALISM AND ITS PEiRILS action. The loss which results may be traced to various causes. Some suffer from lack of judgment or from want of discrimination, while others come to grief through indolence, ignorance, or apathy, coupled with a fairly general disregard of those landmarks which no voyager through this world can afford to ignore. This much, however, may be urged in extenua- tion, that in this busy world so many matters are crowded into it, such a number of items affecting our social, economical, and political life are con- stantly being poured into the arena of public events that to numbers of people there really seems to be no time for their consideration, and many a useful thing that it is good for us to know is thus con- signed to the limbo of life's unconsidered affairs. We Must no Longer Hesitate. We must, however, hesitate no longer; we are at " the parting of the ways," and halting, doubt, and uncertainty would be fatal to us here. It has been set forth in these pages in a plain, straight- forward manner what Socialism is, and what it means to the British people, and no person in these days can any longer afford to put Socialism aside as of no concern of his, because it has been conclu- sively shown that in it every man and woman in the kingdom, ay, and every child as well, is vitally concerned, and that it directly affects the religious, moral, and material interests pf every individual living to-day. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 293 That a laissez-jaire attitude has been assumed towards this question of Socialism by the vast majority of the British people, and that much poten- tial energy has been wasted in consequence, cannot be doubted. The time has, however, come when this energy must no longer be dissipated, but care- fully collected and conserved and utilised in order to invigorate and fortify that which is weak and indefensible in those conditions which environ our social, economic, and political existence. Much has been done for the upliftment of the human race during the past century, and notably so during the last tw^o decades, but that much still remains undone, that many more reforms are necessary before it can be said that the people have come into their own, is also true, and it is the ac- complishment of these greatly-needed reforms that should be our chief concern now and in the imme- diate future. Needed Reforms. Without overloading these pages with political questions, it should be mentioned that such reforms as the amendment of Land Tenures, the reorgan- isation and improvement of our Poor Laws, and certain judicious alterations in our Fiscal Laws, are, among others, essential before general pros- perity can be assured to the people. The careful consideration of the best ways and means to en- compass these desirable measures becomes, there- fore, an imperative duty with every member of the 294 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS body electorate. Socialists, it will be borne in mind, have marked these and scores of other items in their long revolutionary programme as " Imme- diate Reforms," and although it would be detri- mental to public interests and dangerous to the commonweal to leave the initiation of such reforms to Socialists, it would, on the other hand, be ex- tremely prejudicial and unjust to the body politic if the electorate, who now have it in their power to redress that which is wrong, were to abstain longer from direct action. The English and Scottish Land Bills of last year, the reappearance of the Scottish measure this year, the attitude of the Opposition to the Bill on the grounds of its inadequacy to the requirements of the times, the progress of the Fiscal Reform move- ment and the many indications pointing to the necessity for Poor-Law reform, all portend the advent of important and far-reaching changes — changes that are destined to affect the social and economic conditions of the British people' in no small degree ; and it would be well for all those vast masses of the English electorate who desire to bring about these and other necessary reforms by and through the peaceful means of constitutional usage, not to neglect the opportunity, and so give Social- ists the chance of encompassing them by more violent means. Test Case. Socialists v. Non-Socialists. Let us reduce this matter to a test case between THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 295 Socialists and non-Socialists, so as to form some reliable standard whereby to measure the relative value of the two parties and their fitness to under- take those enormous responsibilities which neces- sarily lie wrapped up in all political reform — whether religious, moral, or economical. It is the universal custom all through life to look into the antecedents, inter alia, of those whom we are about to employ in some task or other so as to gauge their suitability for the post. The Antecedents of Socialists. The antecedents of the foreman of works, the secretary of a public company, and the manager of a factory, are all carefully looked into, and their fitness for the appointment tested, either by their testimonials or by personal communication with their late employers. The portrait painter is tested by the reputation he enjoys, and he is also judged by the material expression found in many of his existing works; while the barrister, the platform speaker, and the general are all selected for something they have done. Every man in this world who applies for an appointment is destined to undergo some sort of examination to prove his fitness for the post, and it is not reasonable therefore to suppose that any new political party can hope to evade the tests to which all men and all parties and things have to submit. Looking at the matter, then, from this practical, 296 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS common-sense point of view, the following ques- tions might reasonably be put : — 1 . What are the antecedents of Socialism ? 2. Have Socialists played so important a part in the world's history in bringing about great reforms and ameliorating the hard conditions of human life as to justify their selection as the governing body ? 3. Are Socialists, individually or in the aggre- gate, so exceptionally endowed with those business and other qualifications which command pheno- menal success, as to justify the assumption of any superiority over their fellow-men ? 4. Is it likely that Socialism, with its programme of destructiveness, will benefit the people ? We do not propose to enter largely into these questions, but a brief glance into the past becomes necessary. Socialism in some form or other is probably as old as the hills, and has in its various aspects been known to men for centuries. In more recent times Socialism found material expression in the Ana- baptist movement, under John of Leyden, in the sixteenth century ; while the French Revolution of 1793 and the Commune of 187 1 afford other proofs of its existence. In our own country Robert Owen's fantastic ex- periment in 1817 served but to illustrate the impos- sibility of applying theoretical Socialism to the practicabilities of everyday life, while orthodox philosophers, such as Mill, Ricardo, and Ruskin have no more advanced the cause towards a prac- THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 297 tical determination than has the "scientific" Socialism put forward by Karl Marx. This, in a small compass, fairly represents the antecedents of Socialism, and when we come to its results we cannot find much to Justify its existence. In this case, as in all others, we should measure Socialism by results. What are they ? No Results from Socialism. vSaid one writer on the subject: — " Let us take any country or any city we please — for example, let us say Chicago, in which Social- ism is said to be achieving its most hopeful or most formidable triumphs — and we shall look in vain for a sign that the general productive process has been modified by Socialistic principles in any parti- cular whatsoever. Socialism has produced resolu- tions at endless public meetings; it has produced discontent and strikes ; it has hampered production constantly. But Socialism has never inaugurated an improved chemical process; it has never bridged an estuary or built an ocean liner ; it has never pro- duced or cheapened so much as a lamp or a frying- pan. It is a theory that such things could be ac- complished by the practical application of its prin- ciples ; but, except for the abortive experiments to which I have referred already, it is thus far a theory only, and it is as a theory only that we can examine it."i In absence of proof to the contrary, this brief extract may be regarded as fairly representing the actual results of Socialistic effort up to the present ^ W. H. Mallock, A Critical Examination of Socialism, PP- 3, 4. 298 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS time. Not a vestage of constructive work can be produced by the entire Socialist organisation which has conferred the slightest benefit on the human race ; indeed, it may be truly said, without doing any injustice to Socialism, that the results are in reality of the negative order, and as bare of actual service to the community as the sterile wastes of the desert are bare of vegetation. The following quotation from the same work exactly describes the position :— " But the ingrained inability of such men to understand that which they would revolutionise does not reveal itself in their errors of theory only. It reveals itself still more strikingly in their own relations to life. If we allow for exceptional cases, such as that of Robert Owen, who was in his earlier days a competent man of business, we shall find that the theorists who desire to socialise wealth are generically deficient in the higher energies that pro- duce it. Though they doubtless could, like most men who are not cripples or idiots, make a living by some form of manual labour, they have none of them done anything to enlarge the powers of industry, or even to sustain them at their present pitch of eflficiency. They have never made two blades of grass grow where one blade grew before. They have never applied chemistry to the com- mercial manufacture of chemicals. They have never organised the systems or improved the ships and engines by which food finds its way from the prairies to the cities which would else be starving. If in some city or district an old industry declines they demand with tears that the thousands thus THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 299 thrown out of employment shall be set by the State to do or produce something, even though this be a something which is not wanted by an)'body. They never set themselves to devise, as was done in the English Midlands, some new commodity, such as the modern bicycle, which was not only a means of providing the labourers with a maintenance, but was also a notable addition to the wealth of the world at large. They fail to do these things for the simple reason that they cannot do them ; and they cannot do them because they are deficient alike in the interest requisite for understanding how they are done, and in the concentrated practical energy which is no less requisite for the doing of them." ^ Socialism Not Beneficial to Working Classes. There is, in strict verity, not a scrap of evidence forthcoming to show that Socialism has ever con- ferred the slightest economic benefit on the great human family it professes to serve ; not a tittle of proof that it has, throughout the world's history, ever done aught to enlarge the industrial sphere or give to our workers freer facilities for lucrative employment and more stability and security in the labour market. There is not a working man in this country who can honestly point to any real advan- tage he has received from Socialism — either in the form of higher wages, shorter hours, better hous- ing, or employment of a less precarious nature. There is not a trade, industry, or profession in the land that has been stimulated, invigorated, or in any * W. H. Mallock, A Critical Examination of Socialism, pp. 170 171. 300 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS way improved by Socialism ; not a man lias become richer by it, nor has his social and economic condi- tion changed or benefited in the slightest degree. Whatever benefits the working man may have received during the last half century or so have come to him through his own trades unions and other necessary and eminently practical organisa- tions, and never by the aid of Socialism, and this fact is as patent to the working classes as it must be to Socialists. Socialism Tried and Failed. It may be urged by Socialists that Socialism has never had a fair trial, but in reply to such a con- tention non-Socialists would, not without force, point to the notable instances of the French Revo- lution and the French Commune during the Franco-Prussian War in proof of the impractic- ability of its doctrine, its unsuitability to national needs, and the repugnance of the people to its operation. Then they may, in turn, contend that their Socialist Government would be set up peace- ably and without throwing out of gear the compli- cated machine of State or disturbing those multi- tudinous conditions which now environ human existence ; but no sane man or woman would, for a moment, be beguiled by so specious a promise because the entire propaganda of Socialism belies such a contention. Here is a specimen of what an International Socialist says of his " comrades " : — THE LMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 301 " They intend to destroy bourgeois society with most of its sweet idols and dear moralities, and chiefest among these are those who group them- selves under such heads as private ownership of capital, survival of the fittest, and patriotism — even patriotism. . . ." ^ Speaking of Socialists as an army, he says : — " But they are numbers, not of conquest and maintenance of established order, but of conquest and revolution." ^ Here are also a few other quotations from Social- ist publications : — " The question of compensation need not greatly worry us. Socialists hold that plutocrats owe all their wealth to society; and therefore that society has the right at any moment to take it back." ^ " The riches of the rich class are the cause of the poverty of the masses." * " You make the automobile, he rides in it. If it were not for you he would walk ; and if it w'ere not for him, you would ride." ^ " The people of this unfortunate country have been aptly divided by Mr. Gladstone into the ' masses ' and the ' classes ' — that is to say, into those w'ho live by their own labour, and those who live on the labour of others. Among the latter tribe of non-producers are included all manner of thieves, pickpockets, burglars, sharpers, prosti- tutes. Peers of Parliament, their families and ' Jack London, " Revolution," Contemporary Rrc/iew, January, 1908. ^ Ibid. ^ Gronlund, Co-operative Commonwealth^ p. 94. * Snowden, Socialists' Budget, p. 11. ^ Debs, Industrial Unionism, p. 5. 302 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS menials, all, or nearly all, the six hundred and odd scoundrels of the House of Commons, the twenty thousand State parsons, who every Sunday shame- lessly travesty the Christian religion in the interest of the ' classes.' " ^ " There is no way in which the Class War can be avoided. You cannot have the reward of your labour and the idler have it too. There is just so much wealth produced every day. It may be more, it may be less ; but there is always just so much, and the more the capitalist gets the less you will get, and vice versa. We preach the gospel of hatred because in the circumstances it seems the only righteous thing we can preach."^ " We attack only that private property for a few thousand loiterers and slave-drivers which renders all property in the fruits of their own labour impos- sible for millions. We challenge that private property which renders poverty at once a necessity and a crime." ^ ** The great act of confiscation will be the seal of the new era; then, and not till then, will the knell of civilisation, with its rights of property and its class society, be sounded ; then, and not till then, will justice — the justice not of civilisation but of Socialism — become the corner-stone of the Social arch."" Socialism Preaches Disloyalty to Country. *• The Socialist's adhesion to the doctrine of the Class War involves his opposition to all measures ^ Davidson, TAe New Book of Kin ^s, p. 115. 2 Leatham, The Class War, p. 10. 2 Socialism Made Plain, p. 10. * Bax, The Ethics 0/ Socialism, p. 83. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 303 subserving the interests of Capitalism. This, coupled with ' Internationalism,' leaves him no choice but to be the enemy of ' his country,' and the friend of ' his country's ' enemies whenever ' his country ' (which means, of course, the dominant classes of his country, who always are for that matter his enemies) plays the game of the Capi- talist. Let us have, no humbug ! The man who cannot on occasion be (if needs be) the declared and active enemy of that doubtful entity ' his country,' is no Social Democrat."^ "Justice being henceforth identified with confis- cation, and injustice with the right of property, there remains only the question of ' Ways and Means.' Our bourgeois apologist, admitting as he must that the present possessors of land and capital hold possession of them simply by right of superior force, can hardly refuse to admit the right of the proletariat organised to that end to take possession of them by right of superior force. The only question remaining is. How? And the only answer is, How you can." ^ Socialism Preaches War. These specimens, although few in number, reveal plainly enough the doctrines of Socialism, and no man of sober mind can fail to interpret their mean- ing. Mr. Hyndman claims the right — as we have seen elsewhere in these pages — of " arming all the citizens," and is there a man, who does not stand under the red flag of Socialism, who can say that this means aught else than Revolution, Class War, * Bax, Essays of Soa'a/i'sm, pp. loi, 102. " /did., p. 82. 304 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Violence, Civil War, and Bloodshed ? Is it pos- sible to inflame human passions, set class against class, stir up animosity and hatred, put arms in man's hands, and then to expect love, charity, tolerance, forbearance, good will, and — Peace ? Socialism, judged by the speeches and writings of Socialists, means war, and not peace — war that may assume the lurid colour of blood. The people of England do not want war and bloodshed, and if Socialism depends upon a vote in favour of such unpopular and repulsive measures it will surely fail. CHAPTER XXIX THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM (continued) SOCIALISM TESTED BY ITS PERSONNEL If we still further reduce Socialism to a few con- crete individual cases and test it by its personnel, are we likely to become more impressed by its possibilities ? Here are some of the greatest living Socialists — men who, under a Socialist Govern- ment, w^ould at once assume the highest offices in the State and becomes its directors — Mr. Robert Blatchford. Mr. Bernard Shaw. Mr. James Leatham. Mr. Belfort Bax. Mr. Hyndman. Mr. Quelch. Mr. Keir Hardie. Mr. Jack London. Judged by their Works. Everyone of these prominent Socialists may be judged by their works, as they are both prolific writers and indefatigable speakers. Measured, then, by so reliable a standard, the peoplij of this country will not find the smallest difficulty in making up their minds in respect to the fitness, or X 306 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS otherwise, of such men to become the leaders of a great political party, Ministers of State, and cus- todians of the country's wealth and interests. As sponsors of the national religion and guardians of the public moral code, Messrs. Blatchford and Bernard Shaw may be judged by the following passages: — Speaking of Socialism, Mr. Blatchford said : — *' Food, clothing, lodging, fuel, transit, amuse- ments, and all other things would be absolutely free, and the only difference between a Prime Minister and a collier would be the difference of occupation and position."^ " If the people rose in revolt, took up arms, con- fiscated the lands of the nobles and handed them over to the control of a Parliament, that would be brigandage; it would be revolution. But if the people, by the exercise of constitutional means, passed an Act through Parliament making the estates of the nobles the property of the nation, with or without compensation, that would be neither brigandage nor revolution ; it would be a legal, righteous, and constitutional reform. We propose to be neither revolutionaries nor brigands, but legal, righteous, and constitutional re- formers." ^ " Unless woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her husband, to her children, to society, to the law and to everyone but herself, she cannot emancipate herself. Therefore woman has to re- pudiate duty altogether." ^ * Blatchford, Mcrrie Englaitd, p. 103. 2 Ibid.^ Some Tory Socialisms, p. 3. ^ Bernard Shaw, The Quintessence of Ibsenism. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 307 Mr. James Leatham's qualifications for one of our Ministers of State may be gauged by these passages from his numerous writings : — " When I pointed out, as I took occasion to do, that the only way to help the worker to a full reward of his labour was to harry the capitalist out of his profits and the landlord out of his rents, the more Socialistic ones among them rode off on the plea that even that would be a good thing for the capitalists and landlords."^ " The only reason why we have not Socialism in Britain is because we have not a majority or even a large minority of Socialists. The way to get Socialism is, therefore, to make Socialists. With- out a majority of the people trained to a knowledge of, or at least sympathy with, Socialism, revolt would be useless. With such a majority revolt would be needless. But the revolt of '71 means something more than this. And here I am glad to pass from criticism to condemnation, from blame to praise. The Commune was the first assertion of the ' right ' of the municipality to administer within its own bounds all that a municipality can manage better than a National Parliament can." ^ Mr. Leatham, it should be mentioned, is an apologist for the French Commune of 1871, and this pamphlet was written as an explanatory defence of perhaps the bloodiest page in the history of Socialism. Messrs. Belfort Bax and Quelch, who would undoubtedly become prominent Ministers under a ^ James Leatham, The Class War, p. 6. 2 Ibid.^ The Commune of PariSy p. 18. X 3 308 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Socialist administration, may be judged of their fitness to conserve British rights and safeguard British possessions from the following joint utter- ance : — " O. But what is the attitude of Socialism towards backward races, savage and barbaric peoples who are to-day outside the civilised world? "A. The position of Socialism towards these races is one of absolute non-interference. We hold that they should be left entirely alone to develop themselves in the natural order of things, which they must inevitably do or die out. This is the attitude of Socialism towards these races, not only from considerations of justice, or on abstract ethical grounds, but also for Socialist economic reasons, as the expansion of Capitalism beyond its present limits means the buttressing of the present system of society and the extension of its lease of life. For this reason all the Socialist parties of the world have by instinct thrown the whole force of their opposition against colonial expansion in any form or shape. Socialists are in this respect eminently 'Little Englanders,' 'Little Francers,' and ' Little Germaners.' " ^ Here we have in plain, unmistakable English a doctrine which aims at the destruction of our over- seas possessions, because colonial expansion in any form or shape buttresses up the present system of society and the extension of its lease of life, which Socialists have vowed to destroy. Mr. Hyndman, who is regarded by many of 1 Belfort Bax i and Ouelch, A New^X^atechism of Socialism, p. 36. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 309 his followers as the founder of modern British Socialism, and who might conceivably become the head of a Socialist State, could hardly be trusted to ensure peace and harmony among the various sections of the British people. The following pas- sage from one of his works is illustrative of his view : — " Whether the shifting of social forces will be effected peaceably or forcibly depends entirely now as ever in a revolutionary period upon the action of the obstructive social strata above. At present the dominant minority uses unemployed members of the subjugated majority to keep the rest in sub- servience, by paying them as soldiers, as militia, as police. Social-Democrats claim the arming of all citizens to prevent any such dangerous powers from being handled to check the natural growth, which cannot possibly be headed back for long if there exist counterbalancing powers on the side of progress." ^ This significant passage means two things — firstly, Mr. Hyndman deliberately charges the rich dominant minority of employing under the present system of Government soldiers, militia, and police to keep in subjugation all the rest of the people — particularly the working classes — while he boldly claims the right of arming all citizens so that the rest of the people might make real war with rifles and bayonets upon the execrated rich and well-to- do folk if they found it desirable to do so. A man who stirs up class hatred in this fashion ' H. M. Hyndman, Darhiess and Dawn of May Day, 1907, p. 1 5. 310 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS and openly preaches civil war, with all the horrors of internal strife, is hardly the man one would select for the Prime Minister of any Government, save an Anarchist one, and even Socialists do not favour Anarchism. In Mr. Keir Hardie we are not better off, because he, too, is an advocate of Class War and the subju- gation of the well-to-do and the bourgeoisie by the working class. This is what he has to say on the subject : — " For a number of years the late William Morris, the greatest man whom the Socialist movement has yet claimed in this country, held and openly preached this doctrine of cataclysmic upheaval and sudden overthrow of the ruling classes." ^ " In the International Socialist movement we are at last in the presence of a force which is gathering unto itself the rebel spirits of all lands and uniting them into a mighty host to do battle, not for the triumph of a sect, or a race, but for the overthrow of a system which has filled the world with want and woe. ' Workers of the world, unite ! ' wrote Karl Marx, ' you have a world to win and nothing to lose but your chains.' And they are uniting under the crimson banner of a world-embracing principle which knows no sect, nor creed nor race, and which offers new life and hope to all created beings — the glorious gospel of Socialism." ^ In spite of these emphatic declarations that Socialist " reforms " are not to be undertaken in the interest of any particular sect or class, the following public utterance of Mr. Keir Hardie ' Keir Hardie, From Se?/dom to Socialism, p. 25. 2 /^/^.^ p 35 THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 311 stands as an avowal of his real intentions in respect hereto : — " I have tried to make my own class the ruling class, and it is going to happen." Then we have Mr. Jack London, who, although not a Britisher, is nevertheless a type of the ardent International Socialist, and who would, in any country, persecute with fiery zeal and fierce ardour all those who may not sign themselves " com- rades." Speaking of the Socialists he said : — " They intend nothing less than to destroy exist- ing society and to take possession of the whole world. If the law of the land permits, they fight for this end peaceably, at the ballot-box. If the law of the land does not permit their peaceable destruc- tion of society, and if they have force meted out to them, they resort to force themselves. They meet violence with violence. Their hands are strong, and they are unafraid. In Russia, for instance, there is no suffrage. The Government executes the revolutionists. The revolutionists kill the officers of the Government. The revolutionists meet legal murder with assassination." ^ This pithy passage is pregnant with significance, because it gives in a few bold touches the meaning and portent of Socialism, and we should never lose sight of the fact that, as the basic principle of all Socialism is its internationaUsm, it is quite possible that British Socialists, whether they like it or no, may hereafter be forced to accept in their entirety the blood-red doctrines of International Socialism ^ Mr. Jack London, " Revolution," Coniempo7-a)-y Review., January, 1908. 312 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS as set forth in Mr. Jack London's lurid paper— " Revolution." Judging a Man by his Works. If we may then apply this very reasonable standard of measurement — of judging a man by his works — to the Socialist leaders, we shall not find that they promise to become men of tran- scendent genius, of great business aptitude, or capable administrators ; nor do they seem to be filled with those noble, lofty ideas of patriotism which make men into great statesmen of whom the people may be justly proud. Destruction is the key-note of their policy — the destruction of all those conditions, moral, religious, social, and economic, which have resulted from the individual and collec- tive effort of all those great ones who have gone before us — men whose names are emblazoned on the broad pages of human history, and who, in many cases, gave up their lives so that their descendants might enjoy those privileges which are ours to-day. Present Privileges. These privileges — that is to say, the privilege of free speech ; freedom of political thought, and per- fect liberty at political meetings; the freedom from religious thraldom and from compulsory service of any kind; even-handed justice; the rights of labour and of private property, and a host of other benefits which English people enjoy above all other nations — are privileges in spite of the sneers of Socialists, THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 313 and yet all these are marked down for destruction because Socialism would have us believe that all these things are not privileges at all, and that all the conditions under which we live to-day are totally unfit for and altogether inadequate to the up-to-date requirements of the human family. We are, moreover, distinctly told that whether these things be privileges or not, they must be swept away, because " for Socialist Economic Reasons" they only serve to help in "the Buttressing of the Present System of Society AND the Extension of its Lease of Life." The British people, in common w'ith other peoples of the earth, are fully alive to the necessity of securing for themselves all the benefits and advantages that are likely to result from the pro- gressive development of political economy and the application of political science, but to be told that the noble work which our forefathers carried out for many centuries, so that we might be free, has resulted in nothing but slavery to the working classes, is to tell us that which is obviously absurd and untrue. " The effect of private property in land and capital is in all essential respects the same as was the effect of private property in human beings. In each case slavery is the result. The form may have changed, but the substance remains." ^ " The labourer to-day is a slave, and labour has become a mark of bondage." ^ ' Facts for Socialists, p. 12. - Sidney Webb, The Difficulties 0/ Individualis7n,^. 15. 314 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Inflaming Working-Class Passions. The brief extracts which have been given have been taken almost at random from Socialist publi- cations, but they faithfully represent the kind of deadly poison which is being instilled into the very blood of the British working classes by every Socialist writer and speaker on every possible occasion ; and as this fell intent of stirring up and inflaming the passions of one section of the com- munity against the other sections can but result in class war and all the horrors attending internecine strife, it cannot be said that Socialism would be likely to confer those benefits on the human race which it so liberally promises, or that Socialists, who calmly and deliberately advocate the destruc- tion of all existing social and economic conditions, would become able, far-seeing statesmen, com- petent administrators, or safe custodians of the public weal. The body politic consists of more than one member or section, and he or they who attempt to arrange matters so that but one member of that body may be cherished and made to wax fat at the expense of the other members, would simply en- compass its speedy destruction. The British manual labourers have unquestionably their just claims to free citizenship, the brotherhood of man, and all the benefits and privileges of a free people, but theirs is not the only claim, and this they know just as well as those who are now so strenuously endeavouring to make them believe otherwise. CHAPTER XXX THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM (concluded) SOCIALIST LEADERS LACK THOSE QUALIFICATIONS WHICH ARE NECESSARY IN STATESMEN That the Leaders of British Socialism are lack- ing in those special gifts that are necessary in statesmen there can be little doubt. Almost every line they write and every word they titter proclaims the fact that they do not possess those noble, lofty, loyal, patriotic, and unselfish qualities which men must possess before they may hope to serve their country. What is a statesman but one who serves the " State," and what is the " State " but the— People? That the interests of the people have not been reasonably well served during the last half-century is amply testified by the state of discontent and unrest which is disturbing society to-day. That these eminently unsatisfactory conditions are the result of Parliamentary effort is equally true, and tliat this Parliamentary effort has failed because of — something else, is also beyond dispute. What that something else is may be found in the insanity of that " Party Strife System " which has 316 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS dominated the body politic as a bully domineers over the weak and timid inmates of his household. Party strife has taken hold of the country with an iron grip, and until the electorate release them- selves from its grasp, their interests will remain unserved. The Party system may be sound enough theor- etically, but for all practical purposes the experi- ence of the last fifty years has proved it to be — the worst Parliamentary system which the wit of man could devise. This being the case, the People's interests would not be better served by substituting one political party for another. Messrs. Hyndman and Keir Hardie, for example, would prove but indiffer- ent substitutes for Messrs. Asquith and Balfour. It is regrettably true that we have been sending too many politicians to Parliament and too few statesmen, and yet it is equally true that, among the thousand or more members of the Lords and Commons, there is, thank God, many a man who is loyal and patriotic, and who would serve his Country before Party, provided the People would but recognise the fatal fallaciousness of the Party system and give him a mandate to alter it. To such men the following passage would apply : — ** I have seen many monuments and statues erected to philanthropists. ... I have seen many erected to statesmen — statesmen — but never one to mere politicians; many to orators, but never to THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 317 mere demagogues; many to soldiers and leaders, but never to men who were not willing, when neces- sary, to risk all in the service of their country." ^ That the requisite measure of loyalty and patriotism is not possessed by the Socialist leaders is amply proved by their own public utterances. Socialists lack Statesmanlike Qualities. Measured, then, by those tests which, in this mundane existence of ours, we apply to all the ordinary affairs of life, we find the Socialist chiefs are wanting in those qualities which are essential in leaders of men. They lack initiative in a marked degree, and without this power there could be no development in trade or manufactures. In reply to this they may contend that the " State " would become the national manufacturers, but previous chapters have shown the impracticability of the State becoming the national boot-makers or what not. The Socialist leaders are pre-eminently un- practical because their entire programme deals only with the pulling down of all existing things with- out showing us how to build up out of the detritus of shattered institutions and exploded systems. Their statesmanship is faulty to a degree, and full of peril and ill-omen to the commonweal because their policy is to encourage class strife, and class strife can only result in civil war. They are lacking in those attributes which en- courage among the people that simple belief in the > R. W. Trine, What All the World's a-Seeking, pp. 15, 16. 318 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS supreme intelligence of God and the hope and comfort of the Christian faith, because all their teachings inspire disbelief in any existing religions, and scoff at Christian worship ; and a government that would deliberately lead a people away from the bright promise of Christianity to the dreary wastes of unbelief would surely do irreparable harm to the nation — harm so widespread and far- reaching that no man to-day may attempt to measure it. The Socialist chiefs have no code of ethics where- under the people would be likely to benefit. Their proposal to tamper with the marriage laws of the couAtry shows in what light estimation they hold the marriage vows, and any man in his senses knows that once you make a rift in the matrimonial lute, domestic peace disappears, and our moral sense suffers a severe shock. They would fail utterly from the point of view of uprightness, honesty, justice, because it cannot be held that men who to-day advocate the Repudiation of the National Debt, the Taxation of Unearned Incomes to Extinction, a Cumulative Tax on all Incomes of over ;^300 a year, and many spoliatory measures of a cognate nature, could possibly develop into reliable, trusted ministers of State who would be likely to uphold, in its integrity, national honour, and guarantee to every man and woman in the country the continuance of those individual rights which are fully recognised by custom and law to-day. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 319 They could not possibly govern in the best in- terests of the commonwealth because their entire policy lacks constructiveness and conservatism, and unless you build up and strictly conserve that which you construct, you must come to grief in the long run. Those who have read these pages, and all men and women who have studied Socialism from other sources, must be struck with the prominent fact which runs right through its doctrines as the threads run through the warp of the cloth, that destructivencss is the keystone of the entire Social- ist structure, and that the whole fabric is built up on this highly dangerous and absolutely impossible basis. Socialists compared with Modern Statesmen. Placed side by side with men whose names are household words to the British people, how do these Socialist leaders comport themselves? How does Mr. Robert Blatchford compare with a Palmerston or a Chamberlain, or Mr. Bernard Shaw with a Shaftesbury or a Balfour ? Would we prefer that Mr. Belfort Bax and Mr. Quelch should take the places of Sir Edward Grey and Mr. Asquith, and that such men as Mr. Keir Hardie and Mr. Davidson should supplant Mr. Haldane and Mr. McKenna ? Mr. Hyndman and Mr. Philip Snowden are scarcely qualified to blossom into a Beaconsfield or a Salisbury; nor would Mr. Leatham, Mr. Sidney Webb, or Mr. Victor Grayson be welcome as portfolio bearers of the 320 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Home Office, the Board of Trade, or the Depart- ment of Education. The revolutionary doctrines of the Fabian Society are scarcely likely to create and establish a sweet calm content whereunder the British people would find — Rest ; nor is the warlike attitude of the Social Democratic Federation or the bellicose posi- tion assumed by the Independent Labour Party likely to confer upon them the inestimable bless- ings of — Peace. The Socialist leaders would pro- mote war and destruction everywhere, but the people of this country are not ripe for war and destruction. Socialists compared with makers of Industry. We want such men as Watt, Stephenson, Fara- day, Edison, Kelvin, Marconi — useful, scientific, practical men ; shall we find them in superabund- ance among the Socialists' ranks ? We want our Armstrongs and Whitworths, our Krupps, Vicars, and Maxims; our Harlands and Wolffs, and our Cairds and our other great shipbuilding com- panies7 we want such men as have launched into existence our great cotton mills and our woollen mills, our soft-goods and our hard-goods factories, and all those other hives of industry which employ, support, and feed so many millions of our people. Are we likely to find them among the Blatchfords, Hyndmans, Bernard Shaws, and the Quelchs of the Socialists ? Socialists say yes, we will nationalise all these industries and run them our- THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 321 selves; but the earlier chapters of this work have shown that this would be impossible from an economic point of view, whilst the workers would become slaves during the process. Socialists as " Little Englanders." The Socialist doctrine is that we must abandon India and give up our Colonies because they only serve to buttress up existing society: — " For this reason all the Socialist parties of the world have by instinct thrown the whole force of their opposition against colonial expansion in any form or shape." ^ We must, nevertheless, have our Walter Raleighs, our Dalhousies, and our Cecil Rhodeses, our pioneers of Empire and our Empire builders, together with our far-seeing patriotic statesmen, to conserve and protect that which we have here and beyond the seas; otherwise poor little England will be soon likened unto poor little Holland. Is there the slightest probability that Empire builders and conservative statesmen — that is to say, statesmen who would conserve intact all that great world Empire which the British people are so proud of, and which has made England the power she is — will be found among men who are averse to colonial expansion — men who would abandon India and who have vowed to pull down all that our forefathers, by their indomitable courage, money and forethought, built up in the genera- tions that are gone? ' Bax and Quelch, A New Catechism of Socialisvi, p. 36. Y SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS Under the government of such " Little Eng- landers," as the Socialist leaders declare themselves to be, is it likely that England, which necessarily relies upon outside aid for her daily bread, and must have that aid or starve, would hold out even for six brief months if we abandon our Colonies and throw away India? Socialists "Summed Up." To sum up the position in regard to the fitness of the Socialist leaders as Ministers of State, can the people of England honestly aftirm that the country's interests would be better served by them than by the stamp of men whom the electorate have hitherto entrusted with the management of their affairs ? We are quite conscious that the present adminis- trative system is not perfect — as nothing, indeed, is perfect in the imperfect existence which man has contrived to create for himself — but, at any rate, we do know where we are. Under a Government, however, which threatens to pull down every form of institution, every exist- ing religious, moral, social, and economic condition without telling us what they propose to give us in exchange, how are they going to make good the loss? With so iconoclastic an administration as this, we could hardly be expected to know where we might find ourselves. The people of this country, in other words, are hardly likely to give up that which they possess THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 323 without satisfying themselves, beforehand, that they get something of greater value in return. That good common-sense which they have inherited from their sires; that business instinct of the born trader which is in the blood of all Britishers, will come to their aid and serve them in good stead to-day, as it always has done in the past. Use the Good in Socialism, Reject the Bad. What there is good in Socialism can be easily discerned by so shrewd a people, and it is just likely that this portion of the Socialist doctrine may, before long, be borrowed and assimilated into the corpus juris civilis, and thus form part of the existing administration. But it is equally certain, on the other hand, that that which is bad in Socialism, hurtful to individual interests, inequitable, harsh, unjust, predatory, dishonourable, morally or economically wrong, subversive of law and order, destructive, or in any way inimical to the public wealth and the public weal, will be detected just as easily and cast aside as being of no use to the body politic. Socialism a Power, yet still an Insignificant Numerical Factor. As a last insuperable objection to Socialism and its many incongruities — its strange blending of lofty ideals and sordid plunderings; its Utopian- ism and its other impossibilities — there is the supreme fact of its comparative insignificance as a numerical counter in the game of politics. *• Y 2 324 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS We are not so foolish as to attempt to belittle the power of Socialism, or its numbers; we have, indeed, admitted all through these pages that it is a living, moving force that must command the attention of every thoughtful mind, and that it cannot be pooh-poohed and cast aside as a neglig- ible quantity. Numerically speaking, however, it cannot be claimed, even by Socialists, that it is to-day in a position to play an important part in national affairs or to force its schemes on Parlia- ment. What part it is destined to play in the future no man living can predict. " In the United States there are over 400,000 men, of men and women nearly 1,000,000, who begin their letters ' Dear Comrade,' and end them ' Yours for the Revolution.' In Germany there are 3,000,000 men who begin their letters ' Dear Comrade,' and end them 'Yours for the Revolu- tion'; in France, 1,000,000 men; in Austria, 800,000 men ; in Russia, 400,000 men ; in Belgium, 300,000 men ; in Italy, 250,000 men ; in England, 100,000 men ; in Switzerland, 100,000 men ; in Den- mark, 35,000 men ; in Sweden, 50,000 men; in Hol- land, 40,000 men; in Spain, 30,000 men, comrades all, and revolutionists."^ This is unquestionably a most formidable army of militant Socialists (men and women), and nobody but a fool would attempt to belittle it. But in this world it is always as well to look twice at ^ Jack London, " Revolution." Contemporary Review^ Janu- ary, 1908, p. 17. THE IMPOSSIBIIJTIES OF SOCIALISM 325 every question, because first appearances are pro- verbially deceptive. To the living organism in a drop of water the volume of that single particle must appear enor- mous, yet that drop is as nothing compared with the great body from which it is taken. This army of 7,000,000 Socialists is, of itself, a mighty force, but compared to the stupendous mass from which it is drawn it is as a drop in the ocean. Those w^ho care to look up the population of the thirteen countries from which Socialism draws its 7,000,000 "comrades," will find that the people aggregate upwards of 493,000,000. The proportion that the 7,000,000 Socialists bear to this huge total is — 1'42 per cent., or less than one and a half Socialists to every one hundred of the foptdation. Numerical Weakness of Socialism. Numerically, then, Socialists are not as yet an important factor in national politics, and, realising this, they are not sanguine enough to believe that to-day they are in a position to give national effect to their revolutionary propaganda. " This is the lesson I deduce from the history of the Commune of Paris, and it is a lesson not of despair, but of hope; a lesson enjoining not head- long zeal and fighting ardour, but intelligent, temperate, and tactful propaganda, combined with steady, careful, systematic electioneering. The only 326 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERIl-S reason why we have not Sociahsm in Britain is because we have not a majority or even a large minority of Sociahsts. The way to get Socialism is, therefore, to make Socialists. Without a majority of the people trained to a knowledge of, or at least sympathy with. Socialism, revolt would be needless." ^ " But we should be madmen, we should be fools indeed, if we were to-day, when we have the right of public meeting, full right of argument, if to-day we were to go before the English people in the m.inority we are and advocate force." ^ Mr. Hyndman gave utterance to this sentence as far back as 1884, but it proved prophetic, as the following passage from another of his lectures delivered in 1904 shows. " As for us Socialists, let us hearten one another. For my part I am glad that in the early days of this business we were so few. I like to look back on the time when we were a mere handful, and still doing the work. I know that I cannot hope to see complete realisation of what I am laying before this audience, but times move fast, and I may see some part." ^ There are, of course, numerous references to the numerical weakness of the Socialist cause in other Socialist publications, but these brief passages serve to show that although Socialism is a force that has to be reckoned with, it is not as yet power- ' Leatham, T/ic Coimmine of Paris, p. 18. 2 Hyndman, Will Socialism Benefit the EiigHsh People? '^. 18. ^ Hyndman, Social-Democj'acy, p. 27. THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM 327 ful enough to thrust itself on the people of Great Britain. If Mr. Jack London's estimate of the number of "comrades" in this country, namely, 100,000, is correct, then the proportion of Socialists is o'22 per cent., or, say, one Socialist to every 400 of the population. The " Socialist Annual " for 1908 gives the number of " votes given for Socialist and Labour Members at last election " at 334,920, and even assuming that the whole of these were " comrades," the proportion of Socialists in that case would be 076 per cent, of the population, or one Socialist to every 133 non-Socialists. It is doubtful, how- ever, if even half of these votes were plumped for Socialism. At any rate, the masses of the British population are by no means ripe for the adoption of the revo- lutionary measures of the Socialists. Said Charles Bradlaugh : — "I say, then, that physical force re- volution must fail, because the majority are against you " ; and he added, "Revolution, if it must come, is terrible; if it must come, it is horrible; revolution means ruined homes beyond it. I speak for the public, which, through generations of pain and toil, gradually has climbed towards liberty — liberty that you are claim- ing still ; who are ready to suffer some if they may redeem much ; who know that the errors of yester- day cannot be sponged away in a moment to-day; and who would try slowly, gradually to mould, to 328 SOCIALISM AND ITS PERILS modify, to build, and who say that those who preach international struggle and talk vaguely about explosives are playing into the hands of our enemies, and giving an excuse to coerce us." ^ These words were uttered nearly a quarter of a century ago by lips that are dead, but they are even more applicable to these times of turmoil and unrest than they were to those days. The people are as truly keen for reform to-day as they have been for generations, but it is real, last- ing, tangible reform they want; reform born of the necessities of the times, and demanded by a free people with that calm, deliberate sense of right which always carries conviction with it. Reform of this kind is the people's due, and they will have it, but they have no wish to tread the devious paths of Socialism, nor are they disposed to wade through the blood-red mire of revolution and civil war to obtain that which they can acquire by surer and certainly more peaceful means. ^ Bradlaugh, Will Socialism Be7iefit the English People? p. 30. APPENDIX OFFICIAL PROGRAMMES OF THE SOCIALIST ORGANISATIONS. Social-Democratic Federation. The S.D.F. consists of Socialists. The land, the means of producing- and distributing wealth are now owned ' by private persons, who take to themselves the greater part of the wealth created by labour of the workers who sell brain and labour for wages. The poverty, degradation, and misery in which millions of our fellow-citizens exist is the result of private possession of the means for producing wealth required by all. The people should own what the people need. That is to say, the land, factories, railways, and all things essential to wealth production should be owned by the community and used for the common good. This done, and the socially- produced wealth distributed in accord with the needs of the people, poverty would cease, and equal opportunity bring comfort and culture to all. This great change in Society demands the organisation of the working-class into a political party having Socialism as its aim. The S.D.F. is that party, and endeavours to spread a knowledge of its principles by every means avail- able. Immediate Reforms. Political— Abolition of the Monarchy. Democratisation of the Governmental machinery, viz. :— Abolition of the House of Lords, Payment of Members of Legislative and Administrative Bodies, 330 APPENDIX Payment of Official Expenses of Elections out of the Public Funds, Adult Suffrage, Proportional Representa- tion, Triennial Parliaments, Second Ballot, Initiative, and Referendum. Foreigners to be granted rights of citizenship after two years' residence in the country, without any fees. Canvassing to be made illegal. All elections to take place on one day, such day to be made a legal holiday, and all premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors to be closed. Legislation by the people in such wise that no legis- lative proposal shall become law until ratified by the majority of the people. Legislative and administrative independence for all parts of the Empire. Financial and Fiscal. — Repudiation of the National Debt. Abolition of all indirect taxation and the institution of a cumulative tax on all incomes and inheritances exceeding ;^300. Administrative. — Extension of the principle of Local Self- Government. Systematisation and co-ordination of the local administrative bodies. Election of all administrators and administrative bodies by Equal Direct Adult Suffrage. Educational. — Elementary education to be free, secular, industrial, and compulsory for all classes. The age of obligatory school attendance to be raised to i6. Unification and systematisation of intermediate and higher education, both general and technical, and all such education to be free. State maintenance for all attending State schools. Abolition of school rates ; the cost of education in all State schools to be borne by the National Exchequer. Public Monopolies and Services. — Nationalisation of the land and the organisation of labour in agriculture and industry under public ownership and control on co- operative principles. Nationalisation of the Trusts. Nationalisation of Railways, Docks, and Canals, and all great means of transit. APPENDIX 331 Public ownership and control of Gas, Electric Light, and Water supplies, as well as of Tramway, Omnibus, and other locomotive services. Public ownership and control of the food and coal supply. The establishment of State and municipal banks and pawnshops and public restaurants. Public ownership and control of the lifeboat service. Public ownership and control of hospitals, dispen- saries, cemeteries, and crematoria. Public ownership and control of the drink traffic. Labour. — A legislative eight-hour working day, or 48 hours per week, to be the maximum for all trades and indus- tries. Imprisonment to be inflicted on employers for anv infringement of the law. Absolute freedom of combination for all workers, with legal guarantee against any action, private or public, which tends to curtail or infringe it. No child to be employed in any trade or occupation until 16 years of age, and imprisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and guardians who infringe this law. Public provision of useful work at not less than trade union rates of wages for the unemployed. Free State Insurance against sickness and accident, and free and adequate State pensions or provision for aged and disabled workers. Public assistance not to entail any forfeiture of political rights. The legislative enactment of a minimum wage of 30s. for all workers. Equal pay for both sexes for the performance of equal work. Social.- — Abolition of the present workhouse system, and reformed administration of the Poor Law on a basis of national co-operation. Compulsory construction by public bodies of healthy dwellings for the people ; such dwellings to be let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone, and not to cover the cost of the land. The administration of justice and legal advice to be free to all; justice to be administered by judges chosen 332 - APPENDIX by the people ; appeal in criminal cases ; compensation for those innocently accused, condemned, and im- prisoned ; abolition of imprisonment for contempt of court in relation to non-payment of debt in the case of workers earning less than ^2. per week ; abolition of capital punishment. Miscellaneotis. — The disestablishment and disendowment of all State churches. The abolition of standing armies, and the establish- ment of national citizen forces. The people to decide on peace and war. The establishment of international courts of arbitra- tion. The abolition of courts-martial; all oflfences against discipline to be transferred to the jurisdiction of civil courts. The Independent Labour Party. Constitution and Rules, 1907-8. Object. — An Industrial Commonwealth, founded upon the Socialisation of Land and Capital. Methods. — The education of the community in the principles of Socialism. The Industrial and Political Organisation of the Workers. The Independent Representation of Socialist Principles on all elective bodies. Programme.— The true object of industry being the produc- tion of the requirements of life, the responsibility should rest with the community collectively, therefore : The land, being the storehouse of all the necessaries of life, should be declared and treated as public pro- perty. The capital necessary for industrial operations should be owned and used collectively. Work, and wealth resulting therefrom, should be equitably distributed over the population. APPENDIX 333 As a means to this end, we demand the enactment of the following measures : — 1. A maximum of 48 hours' working week, with the retention of all existing holidays, and Labour Day, May 1st, secured by law. 2. The provision of work to all capable adult appli- cants at recognised trade union rates, with a statutory minimum of sixpence per hour. In order to remuneratively employ the applicants, Parish, District, Borough, and County Councils to be invested with powers to : — (a) Organise and undertake such industries as they maj' consider desirable. (b) Compulsorily acquire land; purchase, erect, or manufacture buildings, stock, or other articles for carrying on such industries. (c) Levy rates on the rental values of the district, and borrow money on the security of such rates for any of the above purposes. 3. State pensions for every person over 50 years of age, and adequate provision for all widows, orphans, sick, and disabled workers. 4. Free secular, moral, primary, secondary, and university education, with free maintenance while at school or university. 5. The raising of the age of child labour, with a view to its ultimate extinction. 6. Municipaiisation and public control of the drink trafific. 7. Municipaiisation and public control of all Hos- pitals and Infirmaries. 8. Abolition of indirect taxation and the gradual transference of all public burdens on to unearned in- comes with a view to their ultimate extinction. The Independent Labour Party is in favour of adult suffrage, with full pulilical rights and privileges for women, and the immediate extension of the franchise to women on the same terms as granted to men ; also triennial Parliaments and second ballot. 334 APPENDIX The Fabian Society. Bash. — The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. It therefore aims at the reorganisation of Society by the emancipation of Land and Industrial Capital from individual and class ownership, and the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit. In this way only can the natural and acquired advantages of the country be equitably shared by the whole people. The Society accordingly works for the extinction of private property in Land and of the consequent indi- vidual appropriation, in the form of Rent, of the price paid for permission to use the earth, as well as for the advantages of superior soils and sites. The Society, further, works for the transfer to the community of the administration of such industrial Capital as can conveniently be managed socially. For, owing to the monopoly of the means of production in the past industrial inventions and the transformation of surplus income- into Capital have mainly enriched the proprietary class, the worker being now dependent on that class for leave to earn a living. If these measures be carried out, without compensa- tion (though not without such relief to expropriated individuals as may seem fit to the community), Rent and Interest will be added to the reward of labour, the idle class now living on the labour of others will neces- sarily disappear, and practical equality of opportunity will be maintained by the spontaneous action of economic forces with much less interference with per- sonal liberty than the present system entails. For the attainment of these ends the Fabian Society looks to the spread of Socialist opinions, and the social and political changes consequent thereon, including the establishment of equal citizenship for men and women. It seeks to achieve these ends by the general dissemina- tion of knowledge as to the relation between the indi- vidual and Society in its economic, ethical, and political- aspects. APPENDIX 335 The Socialist Party of Great Britain. Object. — The establishment of a system of Society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth bv and in the interest of the whole community. Declaration of Principles. The Socialist Party of Great Britain holds that Society as at present constituted is based upon the ownership of the means of living {i.e. land, factories, railways, &c.) by the capitalist or master class, and the consequent enslave- ment of the working class, by whose labour alone wealth is produced. That in Society, therefore, there is an antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as a class struggle, between those who possess but do not produce, and those who pro- duce but do not possess. That this antagonism can be abolished only by the eman- cipation of the working-class from the domination of the master-class, by the conversion into the common property of Society of the means of production and distribution, and their democratic control by the whole people. That as in the order of social evolution the working-class is the last class to achieve its freedom, the emancipation of the working-class will involve the emancipation of all man- kind, without distinction of race or sex. That this emancipation must be the v^ork of the working- class itself. That as the machinery of government, including the armed forces of the nation, exists only to conserve the monopoly by the capitalist class of the wealth taken from the workers, the working-class must organise consciously and politically for the conquest of the powers of government, national and local, in order that this machinery, including these forces, may be converted from an instrument of oppression into the agent of emancipation, and the over- throw of privilege, aristocratic and plutocratic. 336 APPENDIX That as all political parties are but the expression of class interests, and as the interest of the working-class is dia- metrically opposed to the interests of all sections of the master-class, the party seeking working-class emancipation must be hostile to every other party. The Socialist Party of Great Britain, therefore, enters the field of political action determined to wage war against all other political parties, whether alleged labour or avowedly capitalist, and calls upon the members of the working-class of this country to muster under its banner to the end that a speedy termination may be wrought to the system which deprives them of the fruits of their labour, and that poverty may give place to comfort, privilege to equality, and slavery to freedom. Platform of the Socialist Labour Party. The Socialist Labour Party is a political organisation seeking to establish political and social freedom for all, and seeing in the conquest by the Socialist Working-class of all governmental and administrative powers of the nation the means to the attainment of that end. It affirms its belief that political and social freedom are not two separate and unrelated ideas, but are two sides of the one great principle, each being incomplete without the other. The course of society politically has been from warring but democratic tribes within each nation to a united govern- ment under an absolutely undemocratic monarchy. Within this monarchy again developed revolts against its power, revolts at first seeking to limit its prerogatives only, then demanding the inclusion of certain classes in the governing power, then demanding the right of the subject to criticise and control the power of the monarch, and finally, in the most advanced countries this movement culminated in the total abolition of the monarchical institution, and the trans- formation of the subject into the citizen. In industry a corresponding development has taken place. The independent producer, owning his own tools and APPENDIX 337 knowing- no master, has given way before the more effective productive powers of huge capital, concentrated in the hands of the great capitalist. The latter, recognising no rights in his workers, ruled as an absolute monarch in his factory. But within the realm of capital developed a revolt against the power of the capitalist. This revolt, taking the form of trade unionism, has pursued in the industrial field the same line of development as the movement for political freedom has pursued in the sphere of national government. It first contented itself with protests against excessive exactions, against all undue stretchings of the power of the capitalist; then its efforts broadened out to demands for restrictions upon the absolute character of such power, i.e., by claiming for trade unions the right to make rules for the workers in the workshop ; then it sought to still further curb the capitalists' power by shortening the working day, and so limiting the period during which the toiler may be exploited. Finally, it seeks by Boards of Arbitration to establish an equivalent in the industrial world for that compromise in the political world by which, in constitutional countries, the monarch retains his position by granting a parliament to divide with him the duties of governing, and so hides while securing his power. And as in the political history of the race the logical development of progress was found in the abolition of the institution of monarchy, and not in its mere restriction, so in industrial history the cul- minating point to which all efforts must at last converge lies the abolition of the capitalist class, and not in the mere restriction of its powers. The Socialist Labour Party, recognising these two phases of human development, unites them in its programme, and seeks to give them a concrete embodiment by its demand for a Socialist Republic. It recognises in all past history a preparation for this achievement, and in the industrial tendencies of to-day it hails the workings out of those laws of human progress which bring that object within our reach. The concentration of capital in the form of trusts at the same time as it simplifies the task we propose that society shall undertake, viz., the dispossession of the capitalist class, and the administration of all land and instruments of in- Z 338 APPENDIX dustry as social property, of which all shall be co-heirs and owners. As to-day the organised power of the State theoretically guarantees to every individual his political rights, so in the Socialist Republic the power and productive forces of organised society will stand between every individual and want, guaranteeing the right to life without which all other rights are but mockery. Short of the complete dispossession of the capitalist class which this implies there is no hope for the workers.! ^ As given by Mr. J. Ellis Barker in his British Socialisvi. Speed the Day. CI.AV ANO SONS, LTD., BKKAU ST. HW.L, B.C., AND BUNGAV, SUKrOLK. THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE BV SIR WILLIAM EARNSHAW COOPER, CLE. Author of " A Plea for Agriculture" '■^Another Flea for Agriculture" '•■ Drinh and the British People:' PRESS OPINIONS "It is impossible to doubt the sincerity of the author in the appeal which he makes in this volume on behalf of the agri- cultural industry. He sees in the gradual decadence of landed pursuits and rural employments a deadly menace to the welfare and stability of the nation. He bemoans, as many others do, the national policy of the past half-century or more which has stimulated commerce, trades, and manufactures at the expense of a more ancient and equally inevitable pillar of national security — namely, a prosperous and energetic agriculture. Rocog- •nising that matters have been allowed to drift perilously near the precipice in this direction, Sir William Cooper has issued this earnest appeal to the people to demand land, tariff, and i>oor- law reform before recovery becomes impossible. His reference to the mistaken and one-sided policy of successive Governments is marked by undoubted ability and knowledge of the various questions in point, while the magnitude and multiplicity of the evils that have accrued from neglect of the land and its utilisation are not overstated." — The Field. " Sir William Cooper states a case for tariff and other reform in ' The Murder of Agriculture : a National Peril.' It is a vigorous plea for the reconstruction of fiscal law and poor-laws by way of dealing with the menace to our national prosperity set up by the enormous amount of poverty and misery in our midst. . . . By elaborate quotation of statistics he proves that land may be made to support the people. . . . The economic puzzle to which Sir William Cooper and many another ardent reformer does not provide the solution is- — how to get the people to accept the ofi'ered benefits." — The Globe. " ' Is Poverty a Necessity? A Study of English Life To-day.' — ' The Murder of Agriculture,' by Sir William Earnshaw Coopf.-r, CLE., is a remarkable appeal for tariff and poor-law reform which has just been published by the Arden Press, Letchworth, which gave extensive and striking extracts from the work." — Evening News. " Lr is perfectly true, as .Sir W. E. Cooper, CLE., puts it in ' The Murder of Agriculture,' that there is no other country in the world with a population of 43,000,000 that is contented — apart from all private charity — to go on spending ;{Ji6,ooo,ooo a year on pn"erty." — Weekly Times and Echo. Z 2 " Sir William Cooper's panacea in ' The Murder of Agri culture ' for all the ills of the body politic is land reform and fiscal reform. First he would create a sufficient number of small holdings to absorb all the surplus labour. Then we must make for ourselves the ;!£J^i5o, 000,000 worth of manufactured goods which at present we import, ' instead of those who put up impossible barriers against a single pound's worth of our manu- factures ever finding their way into this country.' " — The York- shire Post. " Under the title of ' The Murder of Agriculture,' a well written and certainly highly interesting book has been published by the Arden Press, Letchworth. It is written by Sir William Earnshaw Cooper, CLE. In the course of the book Sir William contends, with much logic, that without the great land industry trades, manufactures, and professions alone cannot support and employ the entire working population of the country, and that 'ihe land industry, without other State aid than suitable land tenures, an amended fiscal system, and consistent encouragement to general agriculture, would be as self-supporting as other industries. Other practical suggestions are also made by the author of securing the reforms which are so greatly needed." — The Kentish Gazette and Canterbury Press. " We may note, as a straw showing the direction of the Tariff Reform wind, that the volume (' The Murder of Agriculture ') advocates Protection pure and simple, without a side glance at preference. We recommend the 250 pages to the notice of Tariff Reform League lecturers, by whom they should find a ready welcome." — The Yorkshire Observer. " Sir W. E. Cooper, the author of this very clear and terse little volume, speaks emphatically, but not unreasonably. His facts and figures as to our Free Trade system and its effects are convincing enough, and his conclusions are sternly logical." — The Essex County Standard. " The Arden Press at Letchworth has published a work by Sir William Cooper, CLE., entitled ' The Murder of Agri- culture.' It is a finely written treatise, free from any suspicion of bias, upon the absolute need of developing the Small Holdings Act and reorganising the Land Acts. Agriculture is the back- bone of a nation's prosf>erity, and the author proves clearly that we have jeopardised the national safety by ignoring the possi- bilities of the land. . . . He also explodes the fallacy of Free Trade and the rottenness of the Poor Law system, which manu- factures instead of discourages pauperism. Altogether the book, which is well bound, should be in the hands of every intelligent voter." — Grimsby Daily Mail. "'The Murder of Agriculture,' by Sir William Earnshaw Cooper, CLE., includes a vigorous attack on Free Trade as it effects England's greatest industry. The author makes an earnest appeal for land, fiscal, Poor Law and other reforms, and a good deal of information is put forward in a new and" striking manner." — East Anglian Times. " Sir William Cooper has previously taken up his pen to advocate agricultural and other reforms in this country with a certain amount of success. In his present effort {' The Murder of Agriculture ') he gives his readers something to think about, and they must admit that he has dealt with his subject with hardly any noticeable party inclination in his arguments, which, in itself, is a novelty in these days ; while at the same time many of the suggestions put forward in his book are so very practical that it is only the national fondness for red tape and party procedure that prevents their being put into practice. . . . Altogether the ' Murder of Agriculture ' is a readable book." — Andover Advertiser. " This book is an earnest appeal to the people to demand Land, Tariff, and Poor Law Reform. All who are interested in such questions should read this volume, for the writer has de- voted much and close attention to the problems, and he discusses them in a specific and trenchant manner. In dealing with agriculture in its relation to the ' curse of poverty,' Sir William Cooper goes far afield in his researches, and gives us much interesting information concerning taxation, the paviper ques- tion in Germany, the use that might be made of our land, and so forth." — Sunderland Echo. " Those who read Sir William Cooper's book can hardly fail to be struck with his argument, even if they do not agree with all his facts. The author is very much in earnest, and very confident. We can, he affirms, grow practically all our own food — ' we can repopulate our country districts and give back to England that backbone of rural strength and vigour of which the enervating, exhausting policy of the last half-century has robbed her.' " — Derby Express. " The author deals at considerable length with the problems surrounding our agriculture, pointing out a great national peril fraught with serious results. . . . Many practical suggestions are made for securing the greatly needed reforms. The book shows the author to have a mastery of the question of agri- culture above the average, and should be carefully read by all interested in this important subject." — Newquay Guardian. " Sir William Cooper has given serious consideration to this subject, and shows by convincing facts and figures the causes of existing poverty and unemployment, besides laying bare some of the fallacies and incongruities of the Poor Law system. The book is a veritable vade nieciun to the agricultural question." — Darwen Gazette. " The author deals with the destruction of the national industry of agriculture, with its alarming effects on the labour market, and describes the ways in which, in his opinion, the land could be made the means of providing occupation for the unemployed. Practical suggestions are made by him for securing the reforms which are so greatly needed, and the adoption of which, he maintains, will assist to bring prosperity without the unemployment and other evils that at present exist. The extent and importance of the scheme propounded can hardly be over- estimated, and the book is worthy of thoughtful reading." — Halifax Daily Guardian. " One of the most difficult problems of the present day is how to provide suitable remedies for the widespread evils arising from the terrible perils of national poverty and waste. In ' The Murder of Agriculture ' Sir William Cooper focusses the atten- tion of his readers upon the serious results of the public apathy, indifTerence, and ignorance in regard to past administration, and makes an earnest appeal for land, fiscal, poor law, and other necessary reforms. His book is well worthy of careful study and attention." — Thanet Times. " In calling attention to the fact that the poverty existing in this country is as widespread as it is phenomenal. Sir William Cooper urges that the old methods of warfare against it have failed, and that a new plan of campaign is necessary to ensure the adoption of the remedies required. In this relation the author refers to the destruction of agriculture, with its alarm- ing effects on the labour market, and describes the various wavs in which the land could be made the means of providing occupa- tion for the unemployed. . . . The startling facts and anomalies revealed in the book should be no longer ignored, and it is essential to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them in order to properly realise all that they mean." — Portsmouth Times. " From the seclusion of his lofty residence, Hume Towers, Sir William Cooper takes a wide and unique view of Bourne- mouth. His time, however, is evidently equally occupied in taking a wide and impartial view of the great questions which interest the political life of Bournemouth. Sir William is one of those eminent Anglo-Indians who have devoted their best years to our success in that great Empire, and a book from his pen on English subjects comes, therefore, with greater authority and insight. ' The Murder of Agriculture ' is by no means con- lined to agricultural matters. It deals with the causes of poverty, our immense taxation for the relief of pauperism, and the condition of our labour markets ; it advocates a sweeping reform in our Poor Law, and the taxation of foreign imports, as well as the attachment of ten millions of population to the land instead of emigration. Sir William Cooper has added to the literature of the day a valuable manual on the great trade question of the hour which should be in the hands of everyone anxious to improve the social condition of our country."— Bournemouth Graphic. " Several pleas for agriculture have been written by Sir W. E. Cooper, C.I.E., and the latest is contained in a book entitled 'The Murder of Agriculture.' . . . The book cannot but appeal forcibly to all who have the welfare of the country at Iheart. " — Liverpool Courier. " In ' The Murder of Agriculture ' Sir W. E. Cooper enters an earnest appeal to the people to demand Land, Tariff and Poor Law Reform. He sets forth a wealth of facts and figures to illustrate his arguments. . . . One of the conclusions is that the great political parties should unite for the amicable settle- ment of the agricultural and fiscal problems, and that the Poor Law system should be thrown into the melting-pot and so re- organised to meet modern requirements that it would not be necessary to go on wasting untold millions, as in the past, on State, public, and private charity." — Sussex Daily News. " Throughout the pages of this book runs an earnest appeal for a reconsideration and readjustment of our fiscal laws, and Sir William Cooper appears to see in such reconsideration and readjustment a panacea for the improvement of every ill under which agriculture is at present suffering. The book is written with a force and earnestness which shows how very deeply the author feels upon the subject of which he treats." — Stafford Chronicle. " ' The Murder of Agriculture ' is the startling title of a study of present-day social problems by Sir W. E. Cooper, in which an appeal is made for land, fiscal, poor law, and other reforms. The writer takes the Protectionist standpoint, and combats the doctrines of social agitators." — Soiithport Guardian. " The elaborate exposure made by Sir William Cooper of the Free Trade Sham and the effect it produces in driving trade out of this country, and thus destroying home industries, will be read with sympathetic interest by all who have been forced by the stern logic of facts to believe in the need for fiscal reform. The book is one which should receive wide attention in order to appreciate the extent and importance of the scheme therein proposed. " — Bournemouth Observer. " This is a whole-hearted treatise on the decay of agriculture, showing the disastrous results threatening the nation, and is at the same time an earnest appeal to the people to demand land, tariff and poor law reform. . . . We would recommend" this book to the Cobdenite, who will find in it an astounding array of facts and arguments in support of the policy of reform. Sir William Cooper, in short, has done a really valuable piece of spadework in the cause of tariff and social reform." — Cheshire Observer. " The question which Sir William Cooper urges the people to ask themselves is, ' Shall we be found wanting as a nation when our time comes to be weighed in the balance? Have we set an example to our Colonies that the world at large may follow with advantage, or have we so neglected our great destiny that we have incurred the danger of seeing inscribed on our walls the memorable words : " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin? " ' Writing as a reformer rather than .ls a politician, the author concludes: ' Upon our answers to these questions and the attitude adopted in regard to the vital questions dealt with in this book will greatly depend the future of the country and the ICmpire as a whole.' " — Ne^vcastle Journal. " This is a book which all parties should read. Nearly every- one is in favour of Poor Law reform ; and the country is fast becoming converted lo tariff reform. The revolutionary doc- trines and schemes which Socialist agitators are endeavouring to force upon the country are illustrated with the object of show- ing what remedies could be adopted without resorting to the wild proposals of such stormy political petrels." — Retford, Gains- borough and Worksop Times. " The book is an interesting and vigorous contribution to a subject of vital importance." — Nottingham Guardian. " This book is a warning to the country of the evils that exist in England through the neglect of agriculture. The author approves of small holdings and advocates the reduction of rail- way rates and the laying down of more light railways." — Oxford Times. " ' The Murder of Agriculture ' is an excellent little volume of its kind running to 250 pages, with a clear, intelligent arrange- ment and a great command of data. The volume constitutes an earnest appeal to the people to demand land, tariff and poor law reform. . . . Sir William argues that the existing poor-law system should be thrown into the melting-pot with the view to reorganising it. This and other questions the volume considers in turn with a great deal of vigour and an unmistakable note of conviction of the correctness of the deductions arrived at. . . . In fine, Sir William Cooper writes as a reformer, with an un- usually definite idea of what he wants and precisely on what lines. It is an easy matter to commend the volume for its freshness of treatment and its careful marshalling of facts and figures." — Northern Whig. " The question is one which stirs the hearts and occupys the minds of all thoughtful people, and it is with the object of throw- ing as much light upon it as possible that Sir William Cooper, CLE., has written a book entitled ' The Murder of Agriculture,' which is now submitted for the careful consideration of the read- ing public." — Belfast Evening Telegraph. " There is no mistaking Sir William Cooper's earnestness in the cause or causes he advocates. . . . Everyone will agree with him that the amount of money spent by the Poor Law system and public and private charities in the relief of distress is appalling." — Glasgow Evening News. " Sir William Cooper has all the pros and cons of the ques- tion at his fingers' ends, and students of the problems of Free Trade and Protection will find in ' The Murder of Agriculture ' quite a storehouse of facts bearing upon them and haTidled with the familiarity of intimate knowledge of the questions discussed." — Aberdeen Journal. " After exposing the absurdity of our so-called Free Trade theories and their baleful effect in destroying home industries, Sir William Cooper attacks our rotten poor-law system, which has wasted millions in the past and done so much to demoralise a large part of our population. . . . The author is a bold, clear thinlier, and his writings are marked by undoubied ability." — The Welshman. Note. — The above extracts are but selections from the very numerous notices which have been given by the Press of the United Kingdom of "The Murder of Agriculture," and the important and far-reaching reforms which are advocated by Sir W. E. Cooper, who is now submitting another volume, entitled " Socialism and its Perils," for the consideration of the public. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. mV' 1 195? orm L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 UNIVERSITY OF CALlt JiiMU AT LOS ANGELES 'L___cxas- HX 246 C78s \J\j OUU I IlLllIK Ill.UlUi'i'^l- l-iLii ini AA 000 418 804 1