Socialism As It Is

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"My object here is to justify the practical utility of 'theory' and
'principle' in the movement of Collectivism by showing that
reformers who distrust the guidance of Utopia, or even the
application of economic first principles, are not thrown back
entirely upon that crude empiricism which insists that each case is
to be judged separately and exclusively on its own individual
merits."

Mr. Hobson then proposes his collectivist program, which he rightly
considers to be not Socialist but Liberal merely--and we find it more
collectivistic, radical, and democratic than that of many so-called
Socialists. Moreover it expresses the views of a large and growing
proportion of the present Liberal Party. Then he concludes as follows:--

"If practical workers for social and industrial reforms continue to
ignore principles, the inevitable logic of events will nevertheless
drive them along the path of Collectivism here indicated. But they
will have to pay the price which shortsighted empiricism always
pays; with slow, hesitant, and staggering steps, with innumerable
false starts and backslidings, they will move in the dark along an
unseen track towards an unseen goal. Social development may be
conscious or unconscious. It has been mostly unconscious in the
past, and therefore slow, wasteful, and dangerous. If we desire it
to be swifter, safer, and more effective in the future, it must
become the conscious expression of the trained and organized will
of a people not despising theory as unpractical, but using it to
furnish economy in action."[134]

Practically all "State Socialists" hold a similar view to that of Shaw
and Webb. Mr. Wells even, in his "First and Last Things," has a lengthy
attack on what he calls democracy, when he tells us that its true name
is "insubordination," and that it is base because "it dreams that its
leaders are its delegates." His view of democracy is strictly consistent
with his attitude toward the common man, whom he regards as "a
gregarious animal, collectively rather like a sheep, emotional, hasty,
and shallow."[135] Democracy can only mean, Mr. Wells concludes, that
power will be put into the hands of "rich newspaper proprietors,
advertising producers, and the energetic wealthy generally, as the
source flooding the collective mind freely with the suggestions on which
it acts."

The _New Age_, representing the younger Fabians, also despairs of
democracy and advocates compromise, because "the democratic party have
failed so far to be indorsed and inforced by popular consent." It
acknowledges that the power of the Crown is "great and even temporarily
overwhelming," but discourages opposition to monarchy for the reason
that monarchy rests on the ignorance and weakness of the people and not
on sheer physical coercion.[136] The _New Age_ opposes those democratic
proposals, the referendum and proportional representation, considers
that the representative may so thoroughly embody the ideals and
interests of the community as to become "a spiritual sum of them all,"
and admits that this ideal of a "really representative body of men"
might be brought about under an extremely undemocratic franchise.[137]
"Outside of a parish or hamlet the Referendum," it says, "is impossible.
To an Empire it is fatal."[138] And finally, this Socialist organ is
perfectly ready to grant another fifty million pounds for the navy,
provided the money is drawn from the rich, as it finds that "a good,
thumping provision for an increased navy would do a great deal to
sweeten a drastic budget for the rich, as well as strengthen the appeal
of the party which professes to be advancing the cause of the poor."
Imperialism and militarism, which in most countries constitute the chief
form in which capitalism is being fought by Socialists, are actually
considered as of secondary importance, on the ground that through
acquiescing in them it becomes possible to hasten a few reforms, such as
have already been granted by the capitalists of several other countries
without any Socialist surrender and even without Socialist pressure of
any kind.

The recent appeal of the _New Age_, for "a hundred gentlemen of ability"
to save England, its regret that no truly intelligent and benevolent
"governing class" or "Platonic guardians" are to be found, and its
weekly disparagement of democracy do not offer much promise that it will
soon turn in the radical direction. On the contrary it predicts that the
firm possession of political power by the wealthy classes is foredoomed
to result, as in the Roman Empire, in the creation of two main classes,
each of which must become corrupt, "the one by wealth and the other by
poverty," and that finally the latter must become incapable of corporate
resistance. The familiar and scientifically demonstrated fact of the
physical and moral degeneration of a considerable part of the British
working people doubtless suggests to many persons such pessimistic
conclusions. "It is hopeless in our view," the _New Age_ concludes, "to
expect that the poor and ignorant, however desperate and however
numerous, will ever succeed in displacing their wealthy rulers. No slave
revolt in the history of the world has ever succeeded by its own power.
In these days, moreover, the chances of success are even smaller. One
machine gun is equal to a mob."[139]

Indeed the distrust of democracy is so universal among British
Socialists that Belloc, Chesterton and other Liberals accuse them
plausibly, but unjustly, of actually representing an aristocratic
standpoint. In an article entitled "Why I Am Not A Socialist," Mr.
Chesterton expresses a belief, which he says is almost unknown among the
Socialists of England, namely, a belief "in the masses of the common
people."[140] Mr. Belloc, in a debate against Bernard Shaw, predicted
that Socialism, if it comes in England, will probably be simply "another
of the infinite and perpetually renewed dodges of the English
aristocracy."

It may be well doubted if any of the more important of the world's
conservative, aristocratic, or reactionary forces (except the
doctrinaire Liberals) are opposed to Socialism as defined by the Fabian
Society, _i.e._ a gradual movement in the direction of collectivism. Not
only Czar and Kaiser but even the Catholic Church may be claimed as
Socialistic by this standard. Mr. Hubert Bland, one of the original
Fabian Essayists and a very influential member of the Society, himself a
Catholic, actually asserts that the Church never has attacked Fabian or
true Socialism. In view of the fact that the Church is at war with the
Socialist Parties of Italy, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, the
United States, and every country where both the Church and the
Socialists are a political power, in view of the wholesale and most
explicit denunciations by Popes and high ecclesiastics, and the war
being waged against the Socialist Parties at every point, Mr. Eland's
argument has some interest.

Having defined Socialism as "the increase of State rights" and "the
tendency to limit the proprietary rights of the individual and to widen
the proprietary rights and activities of the community" or as the
"control of property by the State and municipality," Mr. Bland has, of
course, no difficulty in showing that the Catholic Church has never
opposed it--though many individualistic Catholics have done so.

"No fewer than two Popes," writes Mr. Bland, "are said to have condemned
Socialism in authoritative utterances, but when I examine and analyze
these condemnations, I find it is not Socialism in the sense I have
defined it here, that is condemned."[141] It is indeed true that few of
the most bitter and persistent enemies of the Socialist movement condemn
"Socialism" as defined by Mr. Bland and his "State Socialist"
associates.

This capitalistic collectivism promoted by the Fabian Society has
embodied itself practically in the movement towards "municipal
Socialism" of which so much was heard some years ago, first in Great
Britain and later in other countries. It is now from ten to twenty years
since many British cities, notably Glasgow, began municipal experiments
on a large scale that were branded by Socialists and non-Socialists
alike, as municipal Socialism. The first of these experiments included
not only the municipalization of street railways, electric light and
current, and so on, but even the provision of municipal slaughter
houses, bathing establishments, and outdoor amusements. The later stages
have developed in a somewhat different direction. The chief reforms
under discussion everywhere seem now to be the proposals that the
municipalities should provide housing accommodations for the poorer
elements of the population, and that the health of the children should
be looked after, even to the extent of providing free lunches in public
schools. If less had been heard of "municipal Socialism" in the last
year or two, this is merely because reforms on a national scale have for
the moment received the greater share of public attention. This does not
necessarily mean that the national reforms are more important than the
municipal, but only that the latter came first because they were easier
to inaugurate, though perhaps more difficult to carry to a successful
conclusion.

But the first popularity of the municipal reform movement, both in Great
Britain and in other countries, has received at least a temporary
setback as the relations between this "municipal Socialism" and taxation
were recognized. Both the non-taxpaying working people and the small
taxpaying middle class saw that the profits of the new municipal
enterprises went to a considerable extent towards decreasing the
taxation of the well-to-do instead of conferring benefits on the
majority. This might appear strange, since under universal suffrage the
non-taxpaying and non-landowning majority would be expected to dominate.
But in Great Britain, as well as elsewhere, central governments, in the
firm control of taxpayers and landowners, exercise a strict control over
the municipalities, so that this kind of reform will prove advantageous
chiefly to the landlords, by enabling them to raise rents in proportion
to the benefits gained by tenants; and to the taxpaying minority, by
making it possible to use the profits of municipal undertakings for the
purpose of reducing taxes.

The tendency toward the extension of municipal enterprises to be noted
in all the important cities of the world, is hastened by the public
belief that there is no other possible means of preventing the
exploitation of all classes, and consequent widespread injury to trade,
building, and industry in general, by public service corporations. But
it must be observed that whatever municipalization there is will
continue to be under the control of the taxpayers, landowners, and
business men and largely in their interest as long as national
governments remain in capitalist hands.

The national social reform administrations that are coming into power in
so many countries are encouraging various forms of taxpayers' "municipal
Socialism." The ultraconservative governments of Germany, Austria, and
Belgium all permit the cities to engage even in the public feeding of
school children, while the reactionary national government of Hungary
has undertaken to provide for the housing of 25,000 working people at
Budapest. The conservative _London Daily Mail_ cries out that the
Hungarian minister, Dr. Wekerle has "stolen a march on the Socialists,"
but that it is the "right sort of Socialism," and that "it has been left
to the leader of the privileged Parliament [the Hungarian Parliament
representing not the small capitalists, but the landed nobility and
gentry] to make the first start." And there is little doubt that both
the provision of houses for the working people and the public feeding of
school children rest on precisely the same principles as the social
reforms now being undertaken by national governments, such as that of
Great Britain, and are, indeed, the "right sort of Socialism" from the
capitalist standpoint.

Taking the municipal reformer as a type of the so-called Socialist, Mr.
Belloc, a prominent Liberal Member of Parliament and an anti-Socialist,
says that "in the atmosphere in which he works and as regards the
susceptibilities which he fears to offend," that the municipal Socialist
is entirely of the capitalist class. "You cannot make revolutions
without revolutionaries," he continues, "and anything less revolutionary
than your municipal reformer never trod the earth. The very conception
is alien to this class of persons; usually he is desperately frightened
as well. Yet it is quite certain that so vast a change as Socialism
presupposes cannot be carried out without hitting. When one sees it
verbally advocated (and in practice shirked) by men who have never hit
anything in their lives, and who are even afraid of a scene with a
waiter in a restaurant, one is not inclined to believe in the reality of
the creed." Mr. Belloc concludes finally that all that this kind of
Socialism has done during its moments of greatest activity has tended
merely to recognize the capitalist more and more and to stereotype the
gulf between him and the other classes.[142]

And just as Mr. Belloc has reproached the Socialists for their
conservatism, so the _New Age_ and other mouthpieces of Socialism
condemn the non-Socialist radicals who constitute one of the chief
elements among the supporters of the present government (including Mr.
Belloc) as being too radical. In the literature of the Fabian Society
also, the accusation against the Liberals of being too revolutionary is
quite frequent. Years ago Mr. Sidney Webb accused them of having "the
revolutionary tradition in their bones," of conceiving society as "a
struggle of warring interests," and said that they would reform
_nothing_ "unless it be done at the expense of their enemies." While
this latter accusation is scarcely true, either of the British Liberals
or of the revolutionary Socialists of the Continent, it is obvious that
the _most important_ reforms of the Socialists, those to which greatest
efforts must necessarily be given, those which alone must be fought for,
are precisely the ones that must be brought about "at the expense of the
enemy."

In no other country has public opinion either within the Socialist
movement or outside of it so completely despaired of democracy and the
people. In none has the spirit of popular revolt and militant radicalism
been so long dormant. Yet, there can be little doubt that the British
masses, encouraged by those of France, Germany, and other countries,
will one day recover that self-confidence and self-assertion they seem
to have lost since the times of the "Levellers" of the Commonwealth, two
hundred and fifty years ago. It may take years before this new
revolutionary movement gains the momentum it already possesses in
Germany and France. But the great strikes of 1910, 1911, and 1912 (see
Part III, Chapter VI) and the changes in politics that have accompanied
these strikes show that this movement has already begun. There is
already a strong division of opinion within the Socialistic "Independent
Labour Party," and this organization has also taken issue on several
important matters with the non-Socialist Labour Party, of which,
however, it is still a part.

After the unsatisfactory results of the elections of 1910 the conflict
within the Independent Labour Party became more acute than ever. Mr.
Barnes, then chairman of the Labour Party itself, and Mr. Keir Hardie,
the chief figure in its Socialistic (_Independent Labour Party_)
section, criticized severely the tactics that had been followed by the
majority, _led also by two members of the same "Socialistic" section_,
Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Snowden. It is true that the difference was not
very fundamental, but it is interesting to note that MacDonald and
Snowden and their avowed non-Socialist trade-union allies were accused
of giving so much to the Liberals as even to weaken the position of the
Labour Party itself to say nothing of the still greater inconsistency
of such compromises with anything approaching Socialism. Mr. Barnes and
Mr. Hardie pointed out that the timid tactics pursued had endangered not
only the fight against the House of Lords, but also the effort to keep
down the naval budget and the proposed solution of the unemployment
question that was to have acknowledged "the right to work." That is, Mr.
MacDonald and Mr. Snowden had been so anxious to please the Liberal
government, that they had risked even these moderate reforms, which were
favored by many anti-Socialistic Radicals.

At the "Independents'" 1911 conference at Birmingham, again, a motion
was proposed by the radical element, Hall, MacLachlan, and others, which
demanded that this Party should cease voting perpetually for the
government merely because the government claimed that every question
required a vote of confidence, and that they should put their own issues
in the foreground, and vote on all others according to their merits.
This very consistent resolution, in complete accord with the position of
Socialist Parties the world over, was however voted down by the
"Independents," as it had been shortly previously at the conference of
the non-Socialist Labour Party of which they are a section. The
executive committee brought in an amendment in the contrary sense to
that of the radical resolution, and this amendment was ably supported by
MacDonald. Hardie and Barnes, however, persuaded the Congress to vote
down both resolution and amendment on the ground that the "Independents"
in Parliament _ought to support the Liberal and Radical government,
except in certain crises_--as illustrations of which Barnes mentioned
the Labourites' opposition to armaments and their demand for the right
to work. Keir Hardie also declared that he was not satisfied with the
conduct of the Labour Party in Parliament; his motion condemning the
government's action in the Welsh coal strike, for example, had secured
only seventeen of their forty votes. He claimed that the influence of
the Liberals over the party was due, not to their social reform program,
but to their passing of the trade-union law permitting picketing after
the elections of 1906, and that he feared them more than he did the
Conservatives. However, he thought that this Liberal influence was now
on the decline, and said that if the Liberals attempted to strengthen
the House of Lords, as suggested in the preamble to their resolution,
abolishing its veto power, the Labour Party would be ready to vote
against the government.

The Labourites did, as a matter of fact, vote against this preamble, and
the government was saved only because Balfour and the Conservatives lent
it their support. It still remains to be seen if the Labourites will
detach themselves from the Liberals on a really crucial question, one on
which they know the Conservatives will remain in the opposition--in
other words, whether they will do the only thing that can possibly show
any real independence or make them a factor of first importance in the
nation's politics, that is, overturn a government. Doubtless this day
will come, but it does not seem to be at hand.

This discussion was much intensified by the decision of the executive of
the Labour Party (in order to retain the legal right to use trade-union
funds for political purposes) to relieve Labour members of Parliament of
their pledge to follow a common policy. This decision again was opposed
by the majority of the "Independent" section including Hardie and
Barnes, but favored by a minority, led by MacDonald. With the aid of the
non-Socialistic element, however, it was carried by a large majority at
the Labour Party's conference in 1911. Thus while one element is growing
more radical another is growing more conservative and the breach between
the Independents and the other Labourites is widening.

Perhaps the closest and most active associate of Mr. MacDonald at nearly
every point has been Mr. Philip Snowden. Even Mr. Snowden finally
declared that a recent action of the Labour Party, when all but half a
dozen of its members voted with the Liberals, against what Mr. Snowden
states to have been the instructions of the Party conference, "finally
completes their identity with official Liberalism." Mr. Snowden asserted
that if the "Independents" would stand this they would stand anything,
that the time had come to choose between principle and party, and that
he was not ready to sacrifice the former for the latter.

Shortly after this incident, which Mr. MacDonald attributed to a
misunderstanding, came the great railway strike and its settlement, in
which he and Mr. Lloyd George were the leading factors. Received with
enthusiasm by the Liberal press, this settlement was bitterly denounced
by the _Labour Leader_, the official organ of the "Independents." Mr.
MacDonald on the other hand expressed in the House of Commons deep
satisfaction with the final attitude of the government and predicted
that if it was maintained no such trouble need arise again in a
generation. No statement could have been more foreign to the existing
feeling among the workers, a part of whom it will be remembered failed
to return to work for several days after the settlement. The
"Independents" as the political representatives of the more radical of
the unionists, naturally embody this discontent, while the Labour Party,
being partly responsible for the settlement, becomes more than ever the
semi-official labor representative of the government--a divergence that
can scarcely fail to lead to an open breach.

It was as a result of all of these critical situations, especially the
great railway strike and its sequels, that an effort has been made to
form a "British Socialist Party" to embrace all Socialist factions, and
to free them from dependence on the Labour Party. It has succeeded in
uniting all, except the Independent Labour Party and the Fabian Society,
and includes even a number of local branches (though only a small
minority of the total number) of the former organization. This Party has
issued an outright revolutionary declaration of principles. Mr. Quelch,
editor of the Social Democratic organ, _Justice_, had proposed the
following declaration of principles, which was far in advance of the
present position of the Independent Labour Party, if somewhat ambiguous
in the clause printed in italics:--

"The Socialist Party is the political expression of the
working-class movement, acting in the closest cooeperation with
industrial organizations for the socialization of the means of
production and distribution--that is to say, the transformation of
capitalist society into a collective or communist society. Alike in
its object, its ideals, and in the means employed, the Socialist
party, _though striving for the realization of immediate social
reforms demanded by the working class_, is not a reformist but a
revolutionary party, which recognizes that social freedom and
equality can only be won by fighting the class war through to the
finish, and thus abolishing forever all class distinctions."[143]

The phrase in italics was opposed by several of the revolutionary
representatives of Independent Labour Party branches who were present as
delegates and others, and by a narrow vote was expunged. The declaration
as it now stands is as radical as that of any Socialist Party in the
world. The new organization is already making some inroads among the
membership of the Independent Labour Party and there seems to be a
chance that it will succeed before many years in its attempt to free
that organization and British Socialism generally from their dependence
on the Labour and Liberal Parties.

Perhaps the contrast between "Labour" Party and Socialist Party methods
and aims comes out even more clearly in Australasia than in Great
Britain. A typical view of the New Zealand reforms as being steps
towards Socialism is given by Thomas Walsh, of the Auckland _Voice of
Labour_ (see _New York Call_, September 10, 1911).

After giving a list of things "already accomplished," including a
mention of universal suffrage, state operation of the post office,
prohibition of child labor, "free and compulsory secular education up to
the age of fourteen years," and "State-assisted public
hospitals"--besides the other more distinctively capitalist collectivist
reforms, such as government railways, mines, telegraphs, telephones,
parcel post, life and fire insurance, banks and old-age pensions and
municipal ownership, Mr. Walsh concludes:--

"These are some of the things already done: there is a long list
more. The revolutionary seize and hold group may label them
palliatives, may howl down as red herrings across the scent, may
declare that they obscure main issues, but I want to know which of
the reforms they want to see abolished, which of them are useless,
which of them are not necessary? _Contrary to the fond delusion of
the revolutionary group, the defenders of the present system don't
and won't hand out anything; everything obtained is wrenched from
them_; and in the political arena, armed with the ballot box and
the knowledge of its use, there is nothing that labor cannot
obtain.