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ernment official to make the experiment. The possibilities of a free and spontaneous development should be safeguarded from governmental routine to every possible extent.

(6) Perhaps the most frequently mentioned objection to socialism is the danger to liberty. Under socialism there would be simply the public sphere of employment, and there is reason to fear that the inability to escape from the public sphere would compel the submission to onerous and tyrannical conditions imposed by the administrative heads of the business in which one might be engaged. The socialists, it is true, have a rejoinder in the fact that this objection refers to liberty in the negative sense rather than in the positive sense of the power to enjoy goods, and yet there are many persons who fear the tyranny of the majority. Those in whose hands centered political and economic control would have tremendous power, however they might be selected or appointed. As in the religious sphere in the past, so in the economic sphere in the future, we may find that compulsory coöperation is incompatible with human nature.

(7) The Marxian socialists may be criticised for the importance which they attach to the economic interpretation of history, for the validity of that proposition does not establish the validity of the socialist contention. If it be true that our social life is a reflex of our economic activity, it still does not necessarily follow that our economic development is going to be such as will land us in socialism. Their doctrine of the class struggle also does not give an accurate account of existing conditions. We have a laboring class and a capitalist class, it is true, but there is also a considerable class, perhaps large enough to hold the balance of power between the other two, which does not sympathize exclusively with either labor or capital.

Social Reform. There are those who recognize the strength of the socialist's criticism of the existing economic and social order, but who believe it wise to attack the various problems confronting us one at a time. Social reform seems likely to accomplish more valuable results than socialism. We have a monopoly problem before us now. Its solution may involve a considerable extension of government enterprise. Why not concentrate our efforts upon

that problem instead of making up our minds now whether some day the greater proportion of the industrial field must be collectively owned and managed?

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The Socialist Movement. In every country of importance at the present time there is an organized socialist movement, and while it may never attain its ideals, it is exercising an important influence on present-day affairs. This is most marked in the case of Germany. Its voting strength has been steadily increasing, although in the last election its representation in the Reichstag was considerably reduced, as shown in the following table:

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The membership later rose to 81. The total number of seats in the Reichstag is 397.

Although the official platform of the party adheres strictly to the orthodox Marxian faith, the party itself has worked for many reforms tending to favor the lower classes, and a large element of the party (the "revisionist " wing) is in favor of putting the doctrine of the class struggle and complete collectivism in the background, and laying main emphasis for the present upon social reform. In France there are a number of socialist factions, or various degrees of radicalism, nominally united in one party, the factional strife being one of the prominent characteristics of the movement in that country. Their combined representation in the chamber of deputies is about one seventh of the total membership. A member of the moderate group, Millerand, was made Minister of Commerce (1899) in the Waldeck-Rousseau cabinet. In a number of French municipalities the government is almost completely

socialistic in personnel. The result in these cases has been an increased public activity in behalf of workingmen, the poor, and the unfortunate.

In Belgium the success of the socialist party in promoting the coöperative movement has been striking. In England the organized socialistic party had small influence in political affairs until recently, when a "labor group" was organized in Parliament. The Collectivist activity of the London County Council may also be mentioned in this connection. In the United States there are two rival parties, the Socialist party of America and the Socialist Labor party (of declining importance) both having platforms based upon the Marxian philosophy. A number of mayors and state legislators have been elected, but there are no socialist representatives in Congress. In 1904 the Presidential Socialist vote was about 3 per cent of the total votes cast.

Socialists have rendered good service by calling attention to social problems, by forcing us to reflect on the condition of the less fortunate classes, by quickening our consciences; also by helping us to form the habit, acquired by few as yet, of looking at all questions from the standpoint of the public welfare and not merely of individual gain; finally, by calling our attention to the nature of the industrial functions of government and helping us to separate rationally the private industrial sphere from the public industrial sphere. A number of questions having no connection with socialism have been, even by socialists, not infrequently associated with it. Atheism and free love may be mentioned. Socialists generally, however, regard religion and marriage as changing institutions.

Anarchism. — In contrast with the socialist, the anarchist holds that the ideal social arrangement is that men should freely and spontaneously form coöperative groups. The anarchists attack government and deny the right of one man to exercise authority over another. Freedom, independence, self-reliance, non-compulsion is what appeals to them. Such an ideal contains nothing reprehensible, but its complete attainment is impossible. Some governmental compulsion seems necessary with human nature as it is or is ever likely to be. The anarchist is not opposed to

the principle of association; he simply asks that the association be voluntary. The anarchist ideal is thus portrayed by Kropotkin:

"This society will be composed of a multitude of associations federated for all the purposes which require federation; trade federations for productions of all sorts, - agricultural, industrial, intellectual, artistic; communes for consumption, making provision for dwellings, gas-works, supplies of food, sanitary arrangements, etc.; federations of communes, among themselves, and federations of communes with trade organizations; and finally, wider groups covering all the country, or several countries, composed of men who collaborate for the satisfaction of such economic, intellectual, artistic, and moral needs as are not limited to a given territory. All these will combine directly by means of free agreements between them, just as the railway companies or the postal departments of different countries coöperate now, without having a central railway or postal government, even though the former are actuated by merely egotistic aims, and the latter belong to different and often hostile states; or as meteorologists, the Alpine clubs, the lifeboat stations in Great Britain, the cyclists, the teachers, and so on, combine for all sorts of work in common, for intellectual pursuits or simply for pleasure.”1 Many persons class anarchists and socialists together as simply dangerous persons. One thing they do have in common, and that is, discontent with existing conditions. Otherwise their views are radically divergent.

Anarchists differ among themselves. The leading "Communist-Anarchist" is Kropotkin, who advocates revolutionary tactics. Bakunine and Stirner have also stood for violence. The "individualistic anarchists," such as Tolstoi and Tucker, pursue a peaceful policy of non-resistance. Godwin and Proudhon may be called anarchistic reformers.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Is the public purchase of a street-railway system socialistic?

2. Does William Morris, in his News from Nowhere, picture socialism or anarchism?

3. Compare the Amana Society with the New Harmony Community. 4. What is meant by the economic interpretation of history? Is it accepted by thinkers who are not socialists?

5. What thoughts are common to the various platforms given in the appendices to Ely's Socialism and Social Reform?

6. Write a sketch of the life of Josiah Warren.

1 Memoirs of a Revolutionist, pp. 398–399.

REFERENCES

BAX, E. B. Essays in Socialism, New and Old. (From a socialist point of view.)

BROOKS, J. G. The Social Unrest, Chaps. VII-X. (Sympathetic critic of socialism.)

COMMONS, J. R. "The Class Conflict," American Journal of Archaeology, May, 1906.

ELY, R. T. Socialism and Social Reform, and French and German Socialism, and the articles on Socialism and Socialist Parties in the new International Encyclopædia.

ELTZBACHER, PAUL.

Anarchism. (Trans. by S. T. Byington.)

ENSOR, R. C. K. (Editor). Modern Socialism, 2d ed. (A collection of essays

by leading socialists.)

HILLQUIT, MORRIS.

socialist.)

History of Socialism in the United States.

(By a

HINDS, W. A. American Communities. (Descriptive.)

JAURES, JEAN. Studies in Socialism. (Trans. by M. Minturn.) (By a

conservative French socialist.)

KIRKUP, T. History of Socialism.

LE ROSSIGNOL. Orthodox Socialism. (Criticism of leading doctrines.) MALLOCK, W. H. Aristocracy and Evolution. (Opposed to socialism.) MORRIS, WILLIAM. News from Nowhere.

RAE, J. Contemporary Socialism, 2d ed. (Opposed to socialism.)

SPENCER, HERBERT.

SELIGMAN, E. R. A.

Man versus the State.

(Opposed to socialism.)

The Economic Interpretation of History.

TUCKER, BENJAMIN. Instead of a Book, 2d ed. (By a leading anarchist.)

VEBLEN, T. B. The

Theory of Business Enterprise, Chap. IX. (Severely

critical of existing conditions, but not accepting socialism.) WELLS, H. G. A Modern Utopia.

ZENKER, E. V. Anarchism. (Attempts to give an exposition of anarchism

without taking sides.)

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