A POLITICAL RESURRECTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 658, 24 March 1879, Page 2

A POLITICAL RESURRECTION.

An old political faith, under a variety of new names, has lately made its appearance in Europe, and is creating widespread consternation. We refer to what is known iii England and Germany as Socialism, in Russia as Nihilism, and in France «is Communism. The doctrines of the propagators of this political faith vary slightly according to the circumstances and the habits and dispositions of the people. In France the Communist inherited too much of the revolutionary Bpirit, and he has suffered the consequences of his impulsiveness. Not ten years ago the streets of Paris ran red with the hot blood of the Communist, and those of the leaders that escaped have since had their ardour considerably cooled by years of exile on the shores of New Caledonia. The Russian Nihilist has. also betrayed a lack of discretion. Burning under a deep sense of abuse, he has sought revenge, instead of patiently waiting and working for a rectification of wrong. Not so the German and British Socialist. He has gone to work methodically, and systematically, and he promises to give the Government of these countries considerable trouble, if the wrongs that he protests against are not speedily righted. Bismark is doing his best to extinguish the rising flames, but his sucoess is problematical. Only a few years ago this political faith was simply a mere spark ; noyr we see the whole of Europe lit up with the conflagration. The Socialist may be arrested and imprisoned, but will the cell extinguish his influence 1 This is the question that Bismark and the rulers of Germany have to consider. France is comparatively quiet, Anarchy has given way to peace.

The industrial progress of France since the late Franco-Prussian war, is something unprecedented and astounding. And why is this ? Simply - because a liberal and enlightened .policy haa followed a reign of absolutism, — because the peasantry of France enjoy a position of independence and comfort which neither the peasantry of Geimany nor Great Britain possess. Communism has been stamped out in France, not so much by banishment and bloodshed as by wise concessions and the inauguration of a liberal policy.

Across the Channel the position of affairs is widely different. Instead of a contented peasantry we find artisans cooped up in vast cities, suffering the agonies of slow starvation, with the gates of their workshops closed againßt them, and their families reduced to pauperism. The land is held in the hands of a few, and vast areas, that might afford subsistence to thousands of peasants, are devoted to the noble sport of deer-stalk-ing for the pleasure of a few titled drones. Hereditary rank and fortune has produced the most disastrous results. The social system of England and a portion of the Continent is thoroughly unsound. No amount of argument can explain away the very grave and striking contrasts that in consequence Of class distinction pervade British society. The people are no longer content to have dust thrown in their eyes. They refuse to grope in darkness. They believe that for social distress there must be a cause, and that there must also be a remedy, if they can only discover it. This remedy, they imagine, they have found in Socialism.

Referring to Socialism in England, a British journal says : — " The English ' friend of humanity' does not put knife or pistol Into the hands of his dupe. He does not even advise him to burn down the houses of the rich, or cut their throats. He simply sayß, ' You are poor. Your children often want bread and clothing. The wife of your bosom may be young in years, but she is made to look old by misery. It is absurd to call on Providence, or to hope for happiness in another world — there is not another world, nor does there exist a God. Man is only a higher kind of animal, and animal pleasures are all he need look to enjoy. Fine houses, costly dresses, abundance of the daintiest food — the rich have all these enjoyments. They have robbed you of your share.' . . . There the preacher stops. He knows what inference his hearers will draw. Once convince a man that he has no other world to look forward to, and such riots as we have lately had in Lancashire follow, as an explosion follows the introduction of a naked light into a mine filled with firedamp. Such crimes as have horrified Germany will come in due season. The apostle of Socialism can wait.

This is one way of putting it, and undoubtedly it is a forcible way. But is it not the song of " Wait, old horse, and you'll get grass." We. are afraid that this ''looking forward to another world " to which the writer refers has had much to do With the retarding of reforms essential to the amelioration of the condition of suffering humanity. As education progresses, people naturally begin to take a common sense view of their position. They refuse to speculate on the chances of the future while they have the present to deal with and imfirove. Clergymen of broad and enightened views no longer tell, their hearers that they must suffer in silence, and sit idly under wrongs when they have have the means of helping themselves. They tell them, on the contrary that the next world will probably be a tolerable reflex of the present, and. that if they improve the shining hour that they possess, their chances of a reward in the future will not be endangered thereby. It is this " looking forward to another world" that has operated like a snare and a delusion, and prevented the people from rising and trampling the oppressor underfoot. That the .spread of Socialism should occasion widespread dismay in the upper circles of British society is only to be expected ; but that this political faith will eventually improve the condition of the lower strata is beyond a doubt.