SOCIALISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOCIALISM.

SOME OF ITS FALLACIES.

EY THlLri' OF PHILISTIA,

What is Socialism? Nobody seems quite sure. It was once described as the state of mind of women with too little hair and of men with too much, but since that day it has spread so far as to include many outwardly normal people. Each of them appears to have his own particular brand of doctrine, and to worship his own particular fetish. Its extremes will be appreciated when it is realised that some of its followers demand Free Love, while others would be content with Free Beer. There are more sects in Socialism than there are in the Christian religion. But all these sects are illuminated by the same inward flame—the idea of the Equality of Man : some of its exponents can quote authorities for their belief, but to the majority it is only a nebulous theory. One of the clearest intellects of the last century was possessed by Huxley. He took the trouble, lo write an essay on "The Natural Inequality of Man," but few of the believers in Rationalism have troubled "to read it. Of course all men are equal—in their graves. Existence becomes bearable only because in the interval between birth and death no two human beings are quite alike: the sanity of mankind is preserved only through the infinite diversity of all men. No two men have the same features, and it is no more reasonable to suppose that any two have the same mind. To adopt the rigmaro'e of the Rationalist, the permutations of the electro-chemical machine which constituted the human mind are so manifold that no two of those machines will work in just the same manner.

The Brotherhood of Man. As for the Brotherhood of Man, chat is another matter. It is preached with fervour by all who insist on equality, but is it ever relevant '! There is no need to prove that all men are brothers —that is a painful truth which none of us can evade; but because all men are brothers it does not follow that all men are equal. As a cynic once put it, there is no reason to assume, that two men are equal just because they both drank the same milk. The Brotherhood of Man is an accomplished fact, and it is regarded with grave suspicion by women, who are all painfully aware that there is no such thing as the Sisterhood of Woman. If men are not born of equal physique or of equal mental capacity, then there is no reason to suppose thai they can be made equal by the laws of civilisation, though frequent attempts are 'made in that direction. ]f of 100 men there are 30 who can earn only £3 per week, 60 who earn £5, and 10 wh'o earn £10 per week, it is good Socialism to decree that they shall all lie paid £5 per week and that if any take less or earn more, both they and their employer shall be penalised. This is actually done, but it is not inducing equality; it is strangling individuality and placing a premium on inferiority. v

Recently a member of the Australian Moulders' Union was expelled from the ranks of the class-conscious by a letter worded by the secretary as follows: —"On advices given to us that you have proved a traitor to your promise and to the principles of our union by accepting work as a piece-worker, 1 have been instructed to advise you that at a meeting of the executive committee held on August, 16, 1924, you were fined £10 and expelled from the union. Your name and description will be sent to all shops in Victoria, also to all other districts in Australia." This is what Socialism does to the man who can earn £10 per week and is forced to accept £5. Any mere Government guilty of such an act. of regimentation would provoke a howl of protest, but here it is an expression of the. will of the people. One of the chief nails tin the coffin of the equality theory is the. fact that women don't believe in it. The Socialist usually writes for and talks to men, and he forgets that their owners have a voice in the matter. Bill Smith may like the idea of working six hours a day. but Mrs. Smith sees quite enough of him when he works eight hours. Mr. Jones may be. perfectly content to plod along for ever on the same footing as the man next door, but Mrs. Jones intends to go one better than her neighbour's wife, and is determined that Jones shall enable her to do so. Socialism is all very well for bachelors.

Growth of Nationalism. This much for the equality idea in its personal aspect. The other half of the theory comes out in the propaganda of internationalism. Here the Socialist conception is that the mine;- in Huntly has much more in common with the miner in Moldavia than he has with the clothier in Queen Street, and that the clothier in Queen Street has inue.li more in common with the clothier in the Frederichstrasse than he has with the sheep-farmer in Hawke's Bay. It is the idea that the community of interest is stronger than the community of sentiment, and that, the community of occupation is stronger than the community of nationalism. As a theory it has been proved repeatedly to be correct, but even things that are true may be proved. In practice it has signally failed to work'.

The Socialist assures us that these common interests are stronger than the barriers of nationality. Unfortunately, there seems to be an inherent disposition in man to believe that the fellow on the other side of the frontier has horns and a tail. Most men are nationalists, and every woman is an Imperialist. This disposition is shown veiy clearly by the case of England and the United Stales. Here are the two foreign countries which most resemble one another: their people speak practically the same language, they read very similar literature, and their highest stocks are closely allied, yet they have been at war on four different occasions, and the eontemporarv efforts at mutual understanding, so pathetically fostered by a host of lecturers and by the EnglishSpeaking I'nion, under the. presidency of the Earl of Balfour, ha/o done little more than to leave the two races gaping with astonishment at the conflict of their opinions. The truth is that the Nationalist spiritis growing, and not declining. Nationalism —some si ill call it by the good old name, of patriotism, which has suffered much misuse—is not, an old sentiment which is becoming worn out-; it is, historically speaking, a new sentiment, which has not yet attained its climax. Nationalism was born only in Elizabethan times, and it remained practically dormant through the eighteenth century; it became vigorous with the French Revolution, and throughout the nineteenth century grew constantly, and at times hysterically. The doctrine of internationalism arose late in the nineteenth century, and its greatest prophet was the Russian, Bnkunin, whose teaching acquired its greatest strength alter the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, but declined throughout Europe in Iho ensuing decade as each successful Socialist became a bureaucrat.

There was ;i period from 1918 to 1922 when there was much doubt as to whether or not the Nationalist point of view bad been completely discredited by ihe vorld war, and would bo replaced by a worldwide war between tlio classes. It was realised before long that internationalism involved a worse tyranny than any which the Nationalist is 'able to maintain. Already time, has shown that- Nationalism has survived and been strengthened. FirstHungary, (hen Germany, and now England have refused to be governed from Moscow. The mass of the people has already discovered that when a Socialist, attains power ho ceases to be a Socialist. M. Briand became an Imperialist: so did M. Millerand at a later date. Mr. Lloyd George became a dictator only lesser ,n degree than Lenin, and even Mr. Mac Donald became a Constitutionalist. Like most, other inferior things, Socialism cannut Mil \ ivc success.