SOCIALISM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 124, 26 May 1911, Page 6

SOCIALISM.

Mr. P. Fraser comments on the subject of Socialism and Socialists. "There is no reason whatever why a single individual should starve at the present time. Labour applied to the researches of Nature haa provided enough for all, and to spare. True, to-day, come people roll in idle and senseless "luxury, while others starve. This is the direct consequence of the private ownership of land and capital- We have social production to-day. Let us now have social distribution. When the people own the means of life—that is, the land and tools of production —poverty will inevitably become a thing of the past. There is no violation of the laws of Nature in this, no reducing to a dead level all and sundry—no reason, in short, for Dame Nature to throw a flat-iron at the Socialists. War, despite the alarmist "German scare"" and 'TfeTlow Peril," is fast becoming impossible, too. Socialists look at facts as they are to-day. They do not think in obsolete terms. They recognise that capital to-day is not British, French, or German, but is international. It goes where the chance of greater profits, everything else being equal, is held out. Let the financial position of one civilised nation be weakened, and disaster follows in all civilised countries. Financial panics are now world-wide. The conqueror in a war between two great Powers stands to lose as much as the conquered. War, now improbable, is fast becoming impossible. Another factor to be taken into account is the increasing international solidarity] of the workers. The Socialist is aware of a war proceeding at present— a, worldwide war; a war not of nations, but of classes. This war entails as mnch suffering as ever the sword did. The person who talks with bated breath of the one, while complacently beholding the other, is a hypocrite. Socialists recognise that the interests of the workers of all nations are identical, and therefore they object to militarism, and the military spirit in every shape and form. Human nature has always been, will, always be, the reflection of the economic basis of society at any particular time. J

It has changed before, and will change again. To-day it is the result of thousands of years of evolution. Abolish the present cruel struggle for existence, the glory of the swine-trough philosophers, and immediately the worst traits in human nature will be eliminated. As regards the affairs of the Auckland branch of the Socialist party, Mr. Bonner seems to know a lot more than the members do. There have been no cat and dog fights, no splits. A few members, differing upon tactics, left. That is all. Mr. Bonner is welcome to all the pleasure he can derive from the fact. The Auckland branch certainly is not clothed in sackcloth and ashes."