Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 7, 1930. MODIFIED SOCIALISM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17410, 7 November 1930, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 7, 1930. MODIFIED SOCIALISM

U is always interesting to juote the changes which education is bringing about in the minds of the people, particularly so in regard to the Labor movement. In New Zealand we have seen the tenets of Bolshevism applauded, and Russian revolutionaries called bv the endearing term of “Comrade.” Not ,SQ now. It would be actionable to ascribe to any of the leaders of Labor sympathy with the vicious doctrines of the .Soviet. We doubt whether it is quite safe to call any of them Socialists at the present, time, for views regarding Socialism appear to bo undergoing transition. “Socialism in our Time,” was at one period quite a potent slogan, but it has gradually gone into disuse and its futility is openly acknowledged. The British Trades Union Congress, which recently held its sixty-second annual session, representing, it is claimed, some 3,700,000 workers, made the acknowledgment. The Congress, by its militant policy, provoked the general strike of 1920, when the slogan was advanced with great determination. The disastrous experience of that strike brought better sense, and so four years later, after Labor has enjoyed the responsibilities of government, we have the president of the Congress, Mr. John Beard, proclaiming the futility of the doctrine formerly so vehemently advanced. A new and significant development in the orientation of organised labor in the United Kingdom is recorded in Mr. Beard’s practical and sensible address. The figure of 2,000,000 unemployed, he said, did not appal him, great as it was. It had been increased by more eOieicnt registration under the Labor Government, and apart from that it had been found impossible to absorb the goods produced more rapidly and abundantly through invention and scientific discovery. “We might, of course, end capitalist production,” said Mr. Beard, “and if glib talk would do it it would surely end in a year or two, though if it did I am not certain that there is at this moment any kind of organisation in society capable of working the change without tremendous dislocation to the social and economic, life of the nation. I make this statement advisedly and in reply to those who, I think, desire to be serious in regard to ‘Socialism in our time.' Surely these have not given consideration to the change of mind that must take place among the people before it is possible for any thing in the shape of the dream of William Morris to conic, ‘when all tilings of worth that the world <ytii give shall Ire ours and all men’s, nor shall any lack a share of the toil and the gain of living in .the days when the world grows fair.’ As f interpret the spirit of iliat declaration,” continued Mr. Beard, “it means that every man and women shall share not merely in tln* good tilings of life, but in the toil, the pain, anil the trouble which will still be the lot of humanity to bear; that each must place in the common store more than lie takes out; that all will take a turn at the unpleasant jobs, which will still have to in) done for the common good, such as working in the mines, in the sewers, emptying dust-bins, digging drains, in thy field work in sun, wind, cold, and frost; women to take their turn in the wash-houses or scrubbing floors, not daring to be ashamed of smeared faces or worn, calloused hands. Can Socialism, based upon the principle of sharing all these things, come in our time.' Is there any evidence that then; is a desire for it, even in the I.abcjr movement? I want, to say emphatically that there is not, and that therefore 'Socialism in our time, if we are not careful, will be rightly interpreted as a political slogan, or al best a mere epistemological profundity, and it will be a pity if oar movement is brought into a quarrel over si phrase’ of that character. Docs not experience teach us that our plans may prove useless when they come to be applied to the problems for which they were intended? When that happens, as ordinary common-sense individuals, we cither abandon or alter our pians.” This very frank and honest statement is worthy ol’ .attention. The avowal that the Labor leaders have been chasing chimeras does not tend to establish confidence, in their judgment, or capacity to conduct, the affairs of State. Regarding the end to be kept in view, Mr. Board was equally outspoken. “The problem of the Labor lMrly in Parliament,” lie said, “is to rebuild the road without stopping the traffic.” ’Applying this guide to the question of tariffs, he shatters the hitherto prevailing conception that the British manual worker will never .countenance protection. “To mako a fetish of frectrnde and maintain that at no time and in no circumstances whatever must the pan-

eiple of 100 per cent, freetrade be questioned,” he declared, “is in our view us foolish and impossible us it would be to declare that tariffs are a cure,for all our industrial ills.” Air. Beard’s refreshing utterance gives some hope that- if the nation’s trade policy comes to the test, of public opinion, as come it must before long, the stubbornness which Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Snowden have viewed the situation rnav vol be overcome.