SOCIALISM AND HUMAN NATURE.
It is often said that human nature is too bad for the adoption of socialism. In reply to this Mi'. A. S. Elwell-Sutton in Lhe Weekly Westminister says:—“Human nature is too good for socialism. Those deep fundamental things in human nature —the love of freedom, of independence, the sense of personal responsibility to oneself and one’s family, the spirit of adventure, the desire to carve out one’s own way in life, the honest spirit of emulation inspired by fair and clean competition, the manly sporting spirit that does not grudge the victor’s bays, are all, I believe, if rightly used, good things, implanted in us for our ultimate salvation and uplifting. It is through them that we mount the path of progress. Socialism, we know, would try to kill them. It could not do so, but we must not even let it try. We need them. They require tempering by love and sacrifice, but, and here is another fundamental point for ideal-
ists to consider, these last also can
only flourish in an atmosphere of freedom of individuality, of personal responsibility.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19260105.2.19
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2982, 5 January 1926, Page 3
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185SOCIALISM AND HUMAN NATURE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2982, 5 January 1926, Page 3
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