SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM

Evening Star, Issue 17454, 10 September 1920, Page 4

SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM

The weekly meeting of the W.E.A. industrial history class was held in the Council Chambers, Green Island on Wednesday evening. Air MUracken, alter reviewing tbe ground covered by last week’s lecture, said ; " The aim of Socialism is to gain the political power to obtain control of the means of production and distribution of industry. There is no idea of a sanguinary revolution, but a peaceful revolution—an evolution from one change to another. Mr Robert Blatchford, in ‘Menisj England,’ says: ‘Practical Socialism is no simple that a child may understand it. It is a kind of State co-opei*.-tion. The land aoes not belong to the people, but to a few rich men. The railways, factories, mines, laud, gas, and' water should ail be State-owned.’ The later Socialist writers do not agree with Mr Blatchford on all points, and make certain reservations. Says one authority ; ‘ This is nut u precise definition of Socialism. The (government or State should not control ail the means of production, and private enterprise come to an end, but only the means of production, which could he adequately controlled by the State, and so abolish the competitive fyid speculative system now in vogue. Whatever private enterprise was left, this did not mean private capitalism, where the profit was exploited by the capitalist; but the surplus profit must be handed over to the State.’ The bureaucratic danger was then pointed out of allowing tbe State to manage big industries, suca as shipbuilding, and possibly patting an incompetent man in charge who happened to be one of the Ministers of the Grown for the time being, and knew nothing whatever about shipbuilding. This might lead to failure. The word ‘Syndicalism ’ came from France, where it had a special meaning: to destroy the existing order of industry and to hand over the control of the means 'of production and distribution to the revolutionaries of the trade unions, and they would run •industry for the benefit of all". The Syndicalist aimed at changing places with the present Capitalist, and did not agree with tne method adopted by the Socialist, who behaves in bringing about the change bv legislation.”