COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6833, 22 April 1890, Page 3

COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM.

n !• • "* '- THEIB DREAMS, THEIR EXPERIJ MENTS, THEIR FAILURES, THEIR 6 INFLUENCE. 1 . ' ■ ' FBT PHABOB.] i 111. 3 SIR THOMAS MORES " UTOPIA." j •' To hope till hope ereat«R f From its own wreck the thing it contemplates." ' Tha Land of Utopia— -which, I ouppose, ' may be correctly described as the most t famous country that never was — was , imagined by its designer to be a large • island. Its cities were fifty-four, of which the capital was called Amaurot. Each city ' governed twenty miles of surrounding country. All the people were divided into , families, hone of which coald include less , than ten or more than sixteen adults, j though the number of children might be unlimited. Every thirty families chose once a year a Magistrate, called a j Syphogrant, a name the ugliness o? | which seems to have struck Sir j Thomas, since he explains that the j Syphogrant was also called Philarch. By these Philarchs the Prince of the land was chosen. He held office- for life, though he could be deposed i£ the Philarchs suspected him of aiming at enslaving the people. Between the Philarchs and the Prince twenty superior magistrates were interposed, called Tranibors, or Archphilarchs. These formed a sort of Cabinet Council for the Prince. Nevertheless,heand they were not allowed to act or consult together without taking the Syphogrants — the representatives of tb c people — into their confidence. Secret councils, or, as we should say, caucuses, were forbidden on pain of death, as being dangerous to liberty. In the open councils, notice of aU subjects proposed to be discussed had to be given on a previous day, just as in our Parliament notice of motion is necessary. Each family dwelt in one large house, but every thirty families, with their Syphogrant, had their meals in a large hal]. They were also allowed to have as much food supplied to them in their houses as they chose, but in practice it was foun^ that no one cared to have cooking and eating fioing on in a private house when it could all be done so much laore comfortably and conveniently in the common ball. The women all took turns in cooking. Especially unpleasant and sordid tasks were performed by slaves, slavery being the usual punishment inflicted on criminals. Music and conversation enlivened the evening meal, where old and young sat in a mixed company. Every person in the land, man and woman, strong and weak, had to be a worker. The working day, however, was but six hours long, the rest being devoted to reading, attending lectures, amusement, and of course eating and sleeping. Yet in spite of the short working-day want was unknown in the land, since no one was idle, no one could be extravagant, and no useless labour or wasteful expenditure was allowed. The dress of both sexes was plain, simple and durable; fashion did not change; jewels were looked upon as barbarous gewgaws and toys, fit for children only. When foreign ambassadors, with splendid retinues, in costly dresses and glittering accoutre men ts, passed through the streets, the Utopians stared and laughed as we should at a theatrical troupe, and with no more wish to copy the costumes. Gold and silver, though abundant, were never coined, and the policy of the Government was to have them held in contempt. Inasmuch, however, as it was necessary to have them in reserve in case of a war, or other unforeseen public calamity, the rulers hit upon an ingenious device for serving both purposes. The chains of the slaves and criminals, and the vilest of domestic utensils were ordered to be everywhere made of gold and silver; nothing eke might be. So if a war broke out and foreign aid, or munitions and supplies had to te bought suddenly, there was no difficulty in calling in an ample supply of the precious metals. As everyone, without distinction of age, sex or ability, had to work, trades and tasks had to be carefully distributed. All young men had to work a certain time at agriculture (just as in Germany to-day all young men have to serve their time in the army), but beyond that everyone could choose his own trade. Those who liked agriculture best could remain at it. Large and comfortable farm houses were provided for the farming people. The produce was stored up in magazines along with the manufactured articles from the towns, and either distributed among the families as required, or traded away by the State for foreign goods. No money waß used, no exchange or barter between private persons was allowed. Private property, except in the case of drees and personal belongings, was unknown. Every ' citizen was treated as a member of a vast national array, supplied with everything he could reasonably want, . and not supposed to wish for any ' more. Women, it is explained, were ; reserved for domestic occupations, or ■ such lighter trades as the spinning and | weaving of flax and wool. All were edu- , cated, and all were untiringly fond of | learning. Their education, like that of ; Plato's philosopher - rulers, went on, I throughout their lives. We may remark 5 that the cities of Utopia, like the unchangI ing dress of the people, must have had a j severely sober, not to say mean and i monotonous, loot. The houses were not • large, and the fronts were bo uniform 3 that each block looked like one* | large house. More, however, lived 5 in an age when the irregular streets i of mediaeval Europe were beginning to be i thought an unbearable nuisance. He 1 allowed twenty feet for the breadth of his ? Utopian streets, — not an extravagant i measurement. But he also provided them i with abundance of clear running water, - and excluded all butohering and all filthy 3 and noxious trades from his cities. In p this respect, at any rate, we could wish j that our New Zealand towns were Utopian. I, No city waa allowed to exceed a population I of six thousand. 8 In reading his book it must be remera? bered that More waa no mere bookwosani or dreamer. He was a courtier, a Btatesman, a practical politician, and when he 'l composed Utopia was no longer a hoy.. It i is impossible to avoid believing that when c he wrote he had in his mind's eye the evils S of States and Governments aa he knew. 7 them, and that the miseries of the commoi p. people of England moved him to pity am d warm indignation.. He expressly de g nounces the iniquities of the noblemen an< n landlords o2 England "that are them I s I selves as idle as drones, that subsist oi « j other man's labour, on the labour of thei I tenants wh,OT, to, raise revenue, they par

to the quick. This is, indeed, the only in stance of their frugality; for in all othei thingß they , are prodigal, even -■ to th« beggaring of themselves." Standing armies and the maintenance oi hosts of idle Berving men were also thingi which excited Mores- wrath; but it wai ; against the enclosing English landlords j that his anger was hottest, and he does ! not hesitate to call them "insatiable wretches, plagues to their country," and to charge them with worrying small owners and tenants out of lands wholesale by tricks, : main force, or the weariness of ill-usage. ; Thus, he says, do they turn the best i inhabited plases to solitndeß, "as if parks ■' and forests had swallowed up too little of ; the land." From this cruel selfishness he traces the " unemployed difficulty " of his ■ day, the hosts of masterless men, (starving . vagrants who infested the country, and , whom the barbarous criminal laws of the time failed to exterminate. Of these laws ; More does not fail to observe that " it were ; much better to make good provision, by i which every man might be put in a method : how to live, and so be preserved from tbe j fatal necessity of stealing and dying for ! it." By so enormous a height was Sir i Thomas More above his generation. Even nowadays such suggestions as these are often angrily termed " weak sentimenj tality " and " imbecile pity," and dej nounced as an ominous sign oi the soften- [ ingofourtoughEnglishfibre. Yetthieman, [ this Thomas More, who pitied tbe poor and dreamed Utopia, we know what the end was which he made. There was not much that was weak or imbecile about his last act. It is recorded how he went forth from his happy household and down to London for the last time to meet certain doom by refusing j to bow to Henrv'B wi 1. Always, before, it had been his custom to have his children to walk down with him from the house to his boat on the Thames. But on the final morning he could not bear thus to say good-bye to his dear ones, and, abruptly ordering them to stay at home, walked down to the boat with only his son-in-law, Roper, for company. For a while, as they were rowed along he sat sadly silent. Then, suddenly, he lifted up his face with the words, " Son Eoper, I thank our Lord the field is woo," and won it was, for from that moment Mere went forward unflinching and unconquerable along the straight and narrow way of recusancy which led to the Tower, the scaffold, the block, and to the imperishable crown which awaits those who die for conscience' sake.