SOCIALISM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 18 February 1908, Page 2

SOCIALISM.

•to tile kthtoi. Sir, — In my last letter I intimatec that I should have to decline to replj further to attacks by anonymoui writers. As, however, you, are stil allowing these to appear and one ii your issue of the 13th by "Martii Borax' 1 is niofe than unusually load ed with misfepresehbtitjp; I cannoi allow it to. iJ,ass, particularly as oui Comrade McClure is.. out of Nelson "M.8. " has not. indicated a single legislative enactment that he boastec this roiintry possessed, and that I pro raised to find its counterpart of ii some other countries' Statute Book Now, if "Green Hills" are so "fai away" as to preclude his reference to authorities, perhaps ho will give us his authorities for a few ulofe of. hii " howlers; ' 'vi2. v (1) When and where did any "Socialist .propose, destroying the Trades, Unions?;, (2) What Social ist'was i't -that abandoned the demand of the "The world's wealth for the world's workers?"; (3) When did anj section of the workers in any cbuntrj of the world who were Socialists an nounce their intention of changing their objective? If "M.8." mean! individuals, the only instance I cat call to mind in recent times is that oi John Burns, But hb still claims tc be a Socialist. Surely "M.8." can not think that a person may not be c Trades Unidmst ahd a member of tht Socialist P'alrty at the same time Does he not know that we nave thou sands of capitalists which include millionaires in the Socialist Party and members of the British aristoc racy, actually memDers" of the S.D.F. the '.'ultra -Revolutionary Socialist' organisation of Great Britain? Re attempts to magnify difference! at the Stuttgart Socialist Conference Bebel said: — "Since the last Confer ence at Amsterdam the French Par ties had become ono united Party Socialists had made great advance! in the Parliaments of Britain. Swit zerland, and Finland, whilst in Austria, as a result of demanding universal suffrage, eighty-seven of oui men had been returned to Parliament. 1 ' Heri- Singer the chairman, also said: — "j.hirty-eigiit years ago Bebel and Leibknecht were in prison for the cause. Bebel was here today Celebrating ii Socialist conference in the very country that had imprisoned him. We were one from Stockholm to Madrid, from St. Petersburg to Australia. Whatever details they differed on, they were oue upon the conditional overthrow of the capitalist system," and the account isays "of the Vt million inhabitants of 'Stuttgart more than half were present, whilst every trades union with its 'banner was there represented." Looks like breaking up the unions doesn't it? < It may be that to minds such as your correspondent's the Socialists' objective is "but a dream"; but when Sir J. Ward devotes a whole night to this subject at Auckland, Mr Maasey, not to be outdone, follows suit, not to mention such small matters as the Uerman Kaiser's military arrangements having to be postponed to consider the attitude of the Socialist Party, and President Roosevelt s retiring from the coming "contest'^ for reasons every Socialist in America well understands, anyone mt blind to the march of events must realise that a concrete force is in Snstenoe that has to be reckoned ivitb, and this is. not the "stuff that beams are made of." "What is Socialism?" 'asks "Philinder." No Sir, it would not be ight to further encroach on your ■pace. Let him look up the statenents of the case that have appeared n your columns for some weeks past tgo to the Public ( ?) Library and ook up Socialism in the "Encyclopedia Britannica. ' • We have been equested to doal with the "Incenive to Exertion" under Socialism at mr next outdoor meetinp. as adverised to-night, and if time permits nay accommodate "Philander" with rhat he desires. I am, otc. w • t, J - R HULBERT.' Waimea Road, 17/2/08.