THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 129, 8 February 1909, Page 5

THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.

The methods ofßritish Socialism today are essentially peacefol and coniHttttko»l, aid the difference between them and the methods of revolutionary Socialism &<e strongly emphasised in m open letter which Mr H. G. Weib i recently addressed to the Socialists *t Manchester. "Not everyone who calls ÜbimK a Socialist is necessarily a rep- 1 mtntitWt of cor movement." he gays; "and it is becoming more and bmivs desirable to distinguish clearly boween the two wings of Socialism or, 1 to pot it mote justly, between the main Udy of British Socialism and the Socciat Democratic wing, between broadly nMtmdvt anl essenHtfty British Specialism, oo the one 1*64 Of which the Independent Labour Party is at the present the political expression, standing to-day for »)1 that is noblest and most hopeful to the awakening conseioosness of oor democracy, and oo the other the exMmr pnd relatively small left wing, impracticable, faisoborJinate, I aw disloyal minority altogether alien to that compromising yet persistently creative disposition, that pract|m|ftt and charity and sanctity wbteb are the peculiar political virtue# both of the British people and of that real and vital Socialist movement which more and more embodies its ideate." Mr Wells goes on to argue that the main Socialist movement of tbo present time is free from narrowms* and intolerance. "We realise fbflly that the organised State of the future most be made oot of such elements of ortkr and progress aa exist We aim at no sodden revototiff, no dramatic replacement of class bp etas*. We work steadily to increase »|m proportion of labour representation in parliament, and diminish the power of narrow, anti-social and demoralising propertied interests, but we recognise welcome the co-optation of »B OMD Of good intent." The Socialists, jfr Wells says again, most accept ana utilise the political traditions of to-day, ■Mat adopt compromises where they SET hpfcl Snti most devote all to »n active propaganda. |