AIMS OF SOCIALISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 76, 29 March 1924, Page 14

AIMS OF SOCIALISM.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —With reference to the opinion expressed in a recent article in your columns to the effect that in a Socialistic state a man would be in danger of losing his individuality, will you permit mc to say that a belief to the contrary is held by those who are working for Socialism? While differing in matters jf detail, which do not matter very much for the moment, I think you will find that the advocates of Socialism the world over are agreed that instead Df the industries necessary to the wellbeing of man being exploited for private profit; they should be conducted as public utilities and every man in the land taking his part in the industrial Bcheme. With the service of M men being of equal value to the race, no man would have an advantage of his neighbour in matters relating to the education of his children, and with the provision of every means of education and no call for the children to start working until they attained adult age, the young would be assured of an education in which they could be encouraged to develop their individuality, to the highest possible pitch, and to think for themselves, instead of being led by the spell-binders we have to contend with to-day. I Sir, education is wanted first, above all things, in order to bring about a change for the better, and before we can get a more igeneral average of knowledge amongst the people, we have got to gallop out the booze, in order to realise the object of Socialism—equal access to the highest and the fullest possible to man, for everyone. A paper of recent date quotes Sir Henry S. Lunn, -who has just been giving the leaders of the churches in England a heart-to-heart talk. Sir Henry tells them that the Socialist denies the right of any aristocracy* to monopolise the good things of life and insists on a more equable division of the products of labour. It would seem that Sir Henry has taken a long time to find just where the church leaders in England stand today. It should be remembered that the bishops in the House of !Lords opposed a bill for the education of the working glasses on the grounds that it would 'lead to the discontent of the -workers. ,'An English poet has left a line about spreading the Divine spark of discontent, and' if discontent with wretched lives and squalid surroundings are meant, then by all means let us have it. But we need not depend on the holy bishops; right up to the present time they have teen -workup for the exploiters and those -who wish to compare the Christianity of Christ -with the diluted served out to-day, should s. read "The lAfe of Christ." by Ernest ■RenaHj- and compare it -wyth -the "prayer- : fcook oi Church. V"' ~ JOHN AIJKBK.;;