LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14002, 7 September 1907, Page 7

LITERATURE.

TES GOSPEL OF SOCIALISM,*

THE BRITISH BRAND. Tho storm scenes which"' marked the progress of tho fecent- Socialist Conference at -Stuttgart, taken together with the widely differing views held by tho delegates from the various countries represented,—tlie differences in several instances embracing what lia.ve generally been regarded as among the cardinal doctrines of Socialism—naturally, tend to a -further confusion iu the minds of men, who already arc puzzled to define what the Socialist gospel really spells, and eager to, discover what tho movement actually has in store for the future. There is, however, one unmistakable conclusion to be drawn from the ' : conferenco. proceedings, viz.—that Socialism as a- coherent, -united, harmonious international forte is not yet, despite, as we'shall presently see, Mv Keir Hardie's extravagantly optimistic hopes in that direction. Hut although International Socialism is still in the crucible,—and apparently the melting and fusing, process Jo induce solidarity will consume many more years j yet thanks to tho admirable'"Labour Ideal Scries", just issued' by Mr George Allen, v it is now possible to ascertain fairly correctly what exactly Socialism, in Great Britain means, and what is the goal towards which the British Labour parly is' working. For instance, Mr Keir Ha'rdie enlarges in his usual emphatic and dogmatic style on " From Serfdom to Socialism," and this is the kind rjf gospel lie preaches:— Tho vision of freedom is an ever expanding conception of life and its possibilitlls! Its evolution, like that of every other growth can only proceed by stages from the 'crude and the immature to the more and more perfected. The slave dreams 'of emancipation; the emancipated workman of citizenship; the enfninohis«Weitiz«n of - Socialism; tho socialist of TOimmroism. It is hopeless to expect that a people who are in tho full enjoyment of political liberty, will . bo content to continue for ever in a filato of industrial servitude. Socialism represents) the same principle in industry which radicalism represented in politicsEquality. /.' /l'he, workman who is a fully enfranchised citizen of tho State, is a veritable helot in the workshop. Obviously this stato of things'cannot go on for ever. He will use the political freedom which Ins fathers won for him to win industrial, freedom', for his children. That is ' the lval inward meaning, of tho rise of the''Labour party. ' Anil following closely upon this graphic and significant "description of the evolution of tho worker, Mr Keir Hardio proceeds ' to ihdicate the method by which the final evolution—or rather " Revolution" ig to be reached: — The slave of a, thousand years ago, with no more right than the swino he tended, has fought his way upward from serfdom to citizenship. " The modern workman is theoretically the equal in the oye of tho law of every other class. His'vote carries equal weight in the , ballot-box with that of the millionaire , who employs him. . . .- Combination «ud energy have raised him to where ho nojv stands. But his task is not yet finished; the long drawn-out struggle is .not yet over. There is one more 'tattle to be fought, ono more fortress to be assailed ere he stands within the charmed circle of perfect equality. He lias yet to overcome property and win economic freedom. Wlien he has made property his . servant, not his master, lie will literally have put all his enemies under liis feet. Here, then, .liave ttfo of the main plaiiks in the British Socialistic platform, viz.—equality in industry .and the conquest of property; but, unfortunately, owing to the orroneous nature of Mr Keir Hill-die's premisesj he is blinded to the sorrowful fact' that both his principles and his methods are doomed to ult-imafe failure, with' much economic mischief intervening, , John Ruskin, as thinker and "reformer, was,-.111 infinitely greater power than Mr . Kciy Hardio can' ever hope to be, and, tliar.ks to the innumerable cheap Teprints now issuing from the press, "Unto This Last " is now being read and studied tho world over by men to whom the 6© not-able essays upon the Science of Political I'.eonqmy have' hitherto, been ''inaccessible. Arid' 'it- -is - strangely 'significant of "the march of time, and of tho alteration in idea,, that tho teaching inculcated in these essays—which upon their first appca,rance in the Cornhill Magaziiie',; (then edited bv Thackeray) were so ''uriammouslv con-demned'-and disliked as to bo brought hastily ,to a, conclusion—has" since been completely vindicated by the verdict of tho thinking and reading public. Further, it may be noted Ant the arguments in "Unto This Last," formerly regatdod as a violent, attack upon the working creed,— the comfortable scheme of-all'society, and Upon the sanction of property, as then held and constituted, and tho justification of life as then lived,—are now being extensively drawn upon as an invaluable armoury from which to combat the unsound and uneconomic gospel at-present preachcd by tlie .socialist 10 eeefcion of tho Labour partv. For John Buskin placed] his finger upon the weak 6pot in Mi* Keir Hardie's armour when he wrote in "Unto This' Last": — Observe, i n these statements lam not taking up, nor countenancing one whit-, the common Socialist idea of division of property; division of property is its destruction ; and with it the destruction of all hope, all industry, and all justice. .■. •. Tlie Socialist, seeiug a, strong man oppress a weak, ono,, cries out, "Break the fit,rang man's arms"; but I say, "Teach him to use them to better purpose." . . . It is continually the .fault or folly of tho poor that thov are poor, 'and it is usually a child's "fault if it falls into a pond, and a cripple's i .weakness that slips at a crossing; nevertheless most passere-by would pull the child out- or help up the cripple, . , Neither is the Socialist right- in desiring to make everybody poor,'powerless and foolish as .he is nor tile' rich man right in leaving tho children in the mire.

'' ,s surprising to "what an extent a mere slip of the pen may bo perpetuated into ,1 mistaken doctrine a-ffectinu 1 tho destiny of the world. Adam Smith the pioneer in the field of ]x>lit-ical economv, must bo -held directly responsible for tlio liospel of Socialism as .interpreted by Keir il.irdic and his contemporaries, "" Tho ' Health of Nations" was the first, real si tempt to organise political economv into a -science, mid Adam Smith had his critics and imitators in "James Mill and Jlicardo. But- it was not imt.il 1818 thatJohn; Stuart Mill undertook the task of producing a work to replace the "Wealth of Rations a work which, in liis opinion and that of other men of his time, was "in many parts obsolete and in all impcrfoct": an opinion which, by the wav, has been completely reversed by presentday political economists. But while Mill hoped by "Tlie Principles of Political koonomy to do in tho -nineteenth century what Adam Smith did. in. tho oightaiith century, theeffect'was entirely, different from the writer's intention. By introducing into tho work two antagonistic lines of thought, tho Individualist and tho Oollo:tivist, Mill not only touched hands with Socialism, but also succeeded in raising questions of such momentous import that economic science has been in a state of comparative cliaos ever since. But tho' full effect of Mill's new method was not immediately apparent. The middle classes in Britain were for the moment supreme, and that Beetion oT the working classes who were, most keenly interested in Socialism, being disenfranclrised, had no political power. At the psychical moment spitmg up that weighty thinker Karl Mars, -who from the ruins

* The Labour'ldeal Series: " From Serfdom to Socialism'.' . (by J; Ko'rr Hardie), "The Socialist's Budgofe" (by PMlip Snowden), " Tlw Woman Socialist" (bv Eiael Siiowdcn), "Labour and the Empire" (by J. Ramsay Macdanald).. Landau: George AJlen. Dunediir. J.yßraUtojjtff..

Special Reviews, and Gleanings from Various Sources.

of the old economies constructed a new system ami converted the vague - aspirations and equally vaguo discontent of. the working clarees into a gospel—that gospel which, thanks to the universal riso of the Labour party, is now being preached all over the worM— the Gospel of' Socialism.

Now a careful examination.of the whole question brings out the important fact- . that the political .ideas of, Socialism are rooted in a definite economic theory. Adam Smith made an unfortunate slip— perpetuated .and popularised by lticardo—' when .ho_ declared (hat the wealth of tho nation is in the creation of labour. Ricardo was the intellectual father of Karl Marx; hcnce no headway can be made in demonstrating the fallacy .underlying the Gospel of Socialism until the Marxian theory of value is first of all disposed of, In a most'interesting and illuminating chapter in his "Century of Intellectual Development" Mr Hector. Macpherson deals with this point in trenchant- fashion : A mistake here is fatal. If a thinker's theory of value is unsound 1 his entire system ( of economics-will tumble about his- eara like a house of cards. It is essential .at the outset to subject Marx's theory of' value to a rigorous analysis. Is labour, then, the cause of wealth? Are the interests oj capital and labour essentially antagonistic or essentially' 'harmonious? (Socialism rests upon the' assumption that they are essentially antagonistic. Marx asserts t-liat labour as the creator of wealth is being robbed by capital. Might, not right, rules the industrial world, and under its sway Socialists see the rich growing richer and the poor growing pooler, Once accept the >Socialist definition of wealth and it is easy to see how natural it- is for Socialists to believe that its un-equal-distribution is due to the Tapacity of capital. . . . And here we touch upon t-lio grave error in tho definition of labour, which, originating with Adam Smith, has comedown through tho school of orthodox economists to tlie school of Karl Marx. Though alive to the importance of brain power, Smith, living a 6 he did l in the pre-machinery period, could hardly help identifying labour with manual labour, and his successors only too faithfully followed in his footsteps. Since his da-y . a new kind of labour has been imported into industry— the labour of the inventor, and the labour of the organiser, the captain of industry. Tho simple direct relations, between seller and buyer were, destroyed by the application of fiiachum to industry. For tho simple process of barter mentioned by Adam Smith - there cam© to be substituted a process so complicated t-liat tho head of a- great- industry was transformed into a kind of "Von Moltke, whoso success lay in his ability to work out on paper and carry into effect- a series of elaborate calculations. As Bagehot says:. "A bndv of separate labourers,lias many of the characteristics of a mob, but one acting under tho control of a capitalist has many of those of an army.' A capitalist provides his labourers with subsistence, directs each what lie shall do and when, and deduces the desired result of the whole combi- • nation at the proper time much as a general does. He and Ills men will livo and wi]l produce riches where a mere multitude "of labourers will starve, It will be a thousand pities, if the working classes, now thev have political power, should be deluded into the notion that the capitalist is their enemy. The fact, is capitalism has been the real friend of the working classes, not from any generosity on the part of the capital-

ist, but' from the fact that, under the

inexorable economic law in a machinery and competitive age,, he is compelled in order'to get a.fair return for his out-lay to cheapen his commodities, and this can only be done, paradoxical as it may 6eem, by high wages to his workers. In all this 'we detcct- the elements of enduring progress. When we say. that- wages are increasing, what- does that mean bnt that men as workers are increasing in value? And when wo say that the necessaries of lifo are growing cheaper, what does that- mean but- that commodities are falling' in value. Botli these processes' mean the reverse of the Socialist reading of current tendencies. The workers arc not growing poorer, but richer. The worker is not, as Karl Marx would say, being dragged at the chariot wheel of the capitalist; lio is sitting with him on the box scat, [ driving slowly but- surely along the path of progress! We liavo quoted at- length'from Mr Hector Macpherson in the hopes that in so doing wo may lead students of this all important question to follow out his argument fully, and also because the foregoing extraet demonstrate .so completely the fallacy upon which not- only 'the pamphlet of Mr Keir Hardie is based, but also the erroneous assumption upon which Mr Philip Snowdon'a treatise "The Socialist's Budget" is founded.' According to Mr Snowdon "The Socialist believes that the existence of a rich class is a. danger to the State," 'and again The. existence of a rich clafs, whose riches are thp cause of the poverty of the masses, is the justification for ific Socialist demand that the cost of the bettering of the condition of the people must ba met by the taxation of the rich." Tin's entire treatise furnishes an admirable exposition of the methods which the British Socialist would adopt, in order to attain Mr Keir Eanlie's ideal of the "conquest- of povorty." Mr Snowden would abolish all indirect taxation for revenue purposes as unjust, and would deal most drastically with all pereCls whoso incomes cxcccd £5000 per annum. Without giving the details of Sir Snowden's proposed Budget, wc may mention the principles upon which it is drawn up: —

1. Both local and national taxation should'aim, primarily, .at- securing for the Government benefit all "unearned" or " social" increment- of wealth..

2. Taxation should aim, deliberately, at preventing'tho retention of largo incomes and great fortunes in private hands, recognising that tho few cannot be rich without- making the many poor. 3. Taxation should be in.proportion to ability to pay and to protection and benefit conferred by.the State. 4. No taxation should b» impoml which encroaches upon the individuate means to satisfy his physical needs.

As throwing further light- upon Mr Snowden's ideas, lie remarks in passing: — Socialists look to the Budget as a means not only of raising revenue to meet unavoidable expenditure, lint as an instrument, for redressing inequalities in the distribution of wealth. An 'increase in national taxation has no terror for the Socialist, provided that the revenue be wisely and economically administered, and that the incidence (if the taxation be just. It is with positive relief that we turn from the rabid ratiocinations of Mr Iveir Hardio and the chimerical calculations of Sir Philip Snowden ti> the ably written and eloquent, appeal for the political and economic freedom of women which Mrs Ethel Snowden has penned under the title "The Woman Socialist." Evidently in socialism, as in other things, the women know what is practicable and best, and they are not afraid of contradicting tho men. For instance, Mrs Snowden endeavouib to clear away the gross misconceptions concerning Socialism which she declares prevail amongst- large niassre of the people, and 6be doca not hesitate to dub "uninformed" those individuals who "think that- Socialism involves an equal division amongst, the of the world's wealth" or that it " involves the destruction of private property,." Evidently, therefore, Both Mr l'hilip Snowden and Mr Kcir Hardic are equally " uninformed." But Mrs Snowden's main effort is put forth to dispel the equally prevalent notion that Socialism " would destroy the sacrcd ties of marriage, institute free love, give license to immorality, pillage the churches, and put to flight tlie anointed servants of tho Most High." And Mns Sjiowden certainly manages to place her particular brand of Socialism in me«t- attractive guise, and she should succeed in making converts amongst a class deaf to the appeals of aKeir Hardie or the figures of'a Philip -Id passing, too,-she gits fre-

quently home upon the existing social conditions. Horc is, for instance,, a characteristic passage:— The lives of women will be much wider .ind hiore interesting when the new order is established. Only a call to maternity will sanction maternity. There will be no unwilling mot-here. The children born will be wanted. Their coming will bo looked for, anticipated with joy, and duo preparations to.receive the little lives will be made. No heartbroken wail of the anxious mother, willi arcady more mouths than she can. fill .. turning to her for food, at the arrival ''of still another stranger will be heard.For every child born the State will make provision. Either the mother will be paid so much per child go long as it live.') and .thrives, as her wages for important work done for society in bearing and rearing it, or her absolute independence of her husband will be secured . income other way. The State doctor (a woman for .this office) will prescribe and care for the child from the moment of its birth, and State nurses will be in attendance to see that the mother is in need of nothing for her own and the child's wellbeiug. What a different prospect- for the Socialist child of the fnlurc from that of . the child of the

poor at present, often sodden with drink, diseased and dirty, and (120,000 of .them] dead before it is twelve months old.

Should it ever be Mm Snowdcn's' fortune to visit New Zealand, she will probably be surprised to see to what an extent her suggested programme for the earing of the .children, is actually, being carried out in our midst-, and that' not "in the' name of Socialisnvbut in the name of ordinary humanitaMiiism.

One more sample of Mm Snowdcn's style will, we trust, serve to secure a-wide circulation for liei useful anil suggestive little book:— •

The men of to-day divide (heir womcnkind into two classes. Tfcey keep tile two classes rigidly apart, professedly becaiifio of their 'high (deal of womanhood, really in order that the one may not confess to the other the wrongs they have suffered. There arc the " good women" whom they marry, and who 6erve them in a hundred ways in return for tlwir support, aid there are "the " bad women " upon whom they exercise their vilest passions— degrading, poisoning, killing thousands of the unhippy creatures.every year, and still demanding a'fresh army to supply-the places of these they have wickedly destroyed. Socialists expect that- under Socialism the terrible evil of prostitution will disl'Pear. . . But if, as at present,

he " unfortunate woman " 1w ! regardcc is a necessity in these days of advanced thought and increased opportunity, then fcr status must be raJsed. She must not be an acknowledged necessity and a scorned outcast at the same time, as is the cnec now. Her position in the State ivill be clearly defined. She will be held to be performing a necessary service. Whether this idea meets with favour or not, it is the only fair, the only possible, solution—if the prostitute ie to remain:

In a Socialist- State no woman will

bo economically dependent- upon any one man—father, brother, husband. Her Jiving will be-. assured to her by the "community. Marriage .will not- make her the more dependent. If she should have oltildren she will be salaried according to the number and healthiness of her offspring. It is more than probable that the ordinary church marriage service will be abolished. But it ought to be abolished. It is a- degradation of marriage to regard it- and speak of it as a kind of safety valve for those, who cannot keep themselves in the holy condition oi celibacy. By its wording it actually sanctions lustfulncss and animalism of the worst description if .it- be practised within the sacred bonds of marriage. That a man may not be punished in t-lie next world for his incontinence his wife shall suffer in this is its sinister gospel. . . . Under Socialism tlifl marriago service will probably be a simple declaration on tie part of the contracting parties More the civil representatives of the State. It will be held bindin.;;, except with the consent of the community to its dissolution. There will be no special command of obedience from one to the other. . . . Free as the wind, Ihe Socialist wife will be bound only by her natural love for husband and children. s*

It. will thus be seen that in her own particular sphere Mrs iMiowden is as revolutionary in her ideas as the men writers and as equally opposed to convention and the accepted ideas of society. The : fourth and last- of these little boolas deals with "Labour and the Empire," and may be taken to be the fruit of Mr J. Bamsay Macdonaid's recent- tour through the colonies. He divides'tys subject- into two jxiTt6—" The Empire and Imperialism " and "The Km pi re and Labour Policv,"— and his conclusion is certainly full of significance:— »

In Canada, New Zealand, and South , Africa _ Labour parties grow. Their economic problems are the same as ours, their fundamental practical.aims are the same as ours, their democracy is of the same species as o'ure. They have no interest in a class dominance of the Empire. The South African war and its sequel have tau-glit them much, and have drawn them closer than ever they were to our movement- here. They havo no confidence in Conservative rule at Home. We are their allies; wo and they together must build up an Imperial policy if that policy .is to be democratic. We have - been apart because intercommunication was difficult and was in hostile hands. As yet it must be admitted, when we approach colonial problems, we do so from unfamiliar points of view; when they approach ours they are also strangers to the considerations that weigh with us. But the fundamental similarity of the aims and methods of the parties must speedily tell and produce an understanding between them. Then will begin a;>new chapter in the stoiy of our Empire. • In view of the cementing of the Socialist forces all over the' Empire, at which Mr Macdonald so hopefully hints, and reckoning this to be but the prelude to the vast international organisation of the future, it may be well to take to heart the fiery exhortation with which Mr Keir Hardio concludes onfe of his chapters: —

( And now, in the Internationalist Socialist movement, we are at last in the presence of a force which is gathering imto itself t-lie rebel spirits of ail lands and uniting them into a mighty host to do battle, not for the triumph of a- sect or of a race, but for the overthrow of a system which lira filled the •world with want ami woe. Workers of the world, unite (wrote Karl Marx); you have a world to win ami nothing to lose but your chains. And they are uniting nnder the crimson banner of a world-embracing principle which knows not sect nor creed nor race, and which oilers new life and 'hope to all created beings—the glorious Gospel of Socialism. As a wholesome corrective to so fanatical and unreasoning an outburst, we will conclude this review of the "Labour Ideal Series" with the calm and wcll-considercd passage in which Mr Hector Slacphereon sums up both the situation and tho outIgok: — The evils of which Socialists complain are moral as well as economic, and will jiot be remedied by legislative methods, least- of all by tlie impossible idea of nationalising the means of production. Program llee in quite another direction. It lies in supplementing economic bv moral forces, in recognising that men have duties to discharge as well as lights to preserve. In the work of social regeneration all kinds of elevating agencies are necessary—economic, science, the Church, social reform in various directions, and, above all, a deepor and keener sense of the brotherhood of man. All these agencies aro gradually growing in strength. Much remains to be done, and will be done if the working classos pin their faith to evolution .rather than revolution. To those who cm look beyond the confusion of tho moment- there are visible signs of a better day. Above the- din of conflicting interests and warring passions may be heard bv tihose who

listen in the spirit of evolutionary science the inspiring tones of the'-humani-tarian evangel—'"Peace;,on earth and gowlwill k men." ~ ■ • :*,