BREAKDOWN OF SOCIALISM.
SOME TRENCHANT CRITICISM IN ENGLAND.
The Socialist advocates make a study of mass psychology. They seek constantly to impress the public mind with the idea that their’s is the party of success. By this means they hope to win support from among the considerable section of people who have no settled convictions, but are anxious generally to “back the winning horse.” Recently some eminent British publicists have been showing that the Reds are far from being on lines which spell success for their economic theory.
Dir. Arthur Bhadwell, in a series of articles in the “Times” under the title, the “Breakdown of Socialism,” points' out the extraordinary fact that while “Socialism” has made enormous progress throughout Europe as a political movement, is has declined as an economic theorv.
Even socialists themselves, particularly the Social Democrats of Germany, recognise this, but cannot stultify themselves by admitting and acting upon it. The same phenomenon is appearing in ihm country.
The abler type of Socialists, like Mr. Macdonald, as is clear from his criticism of the I.L.P. programme, see the danger ahead when the time comes for them to put their theories to the test of practice. They know that the experience of Germany and Austria will be repeated here, and that any experiment m nationalising any of our great Industries will be a tragic failure. It is this knowledge that accounts for the lack of decision and purpose in their policy and lays them open to the attack of the Communists who know what they want even if it is unattainable. WHY NATIONALISATION HAS RAILED. Dr. Shadwell gives a number of reasons for the economic failuie of State Socialism on the Continent. It is chiefly due to the breakdown of production under State ownership and control. Lenin found this to be the fatal defect of the regime he established in Russia in 1917, which he was compelled to modify in 1921. As in Russia so it is found in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia, the production of goods shrunk and dwindled under tlie withering influence of State management and without the stimulous of personal interest and responsibility.' Socialists in their anxiety for a wider distribution of wealth have failed to estimate the vital importance of production and that without greater production there would be less wealth to distribute.
Other factors that have contributed to a loss of faith in Marxian doctrines, in addition to the decline of production under nationalisation, are the proofs that under Capitalism the conditions of the workers are being steadily improved. There is also the growth of a new middle class,- compossed of brain workers whose existence would lie destroyed by Socialism. But the main consideration was tiro realisation that Staid-run industries could not compare with privately owned industries in enterprise, initiative, progress, and in the benefits which they bring to the individual and to the nation. OUT-OF-DATE SOCIALISTS. On the second reading of the Electricity Bill, Colonel Ashley, the Minister of Transport, twitted the Socialists with holding mid-Victori-an ideas and with silting at the feet of a German who lived 50 or 60 years ago. This criticism is perfectly just, for British Socialists still preserve a pathetic faith in the principles of Karl Marx, even when they have been proved impossible in practice and have in fact been abandoned in many cases where they have been tried and failed.
Mr. Amcry, secretary for tlie Dominions, in liis speech at Birmingham on April 171 li, described how since the war there had been parties in power in Germany, Sweden, Czecho Slovakia, and other countries, which had an opportunity of carrying out the Socialistic theories of; nationalisation, and when they had done so and been up against facts, they had found that, so far from any ■wonderful benefit coming to the people from Stale ownership and enterprise, nothing had followed but toss, difficulty and friction. In one case after another they had handed back industries from State ownership, either to private ownership, or at any rate, to direct administration by business corporations, leaving them to be run, entirely on business lines, independent of the State, and allowing the State to get only its share of the profits, as if it were an ordinary shareholder.
In Russia, as we know, the experiment has been tried on a gigantic scale, with the result that after appalling "bloodshed; tlip condition of the country is worse to-day than it was under the old regime, and no class in the country is as well off in any respect as it was in the worst day of the Tzarist autocracy. Yet, as Mr. Amery pointed out, our Labour Party still continues to cling desperately to these exploded and absoleto doctrines, and are ready to expose the existence of the nation to what at best is a hazardous experiment which has failed wherever it has been attempted. THE ILLUSIONS FADE. The Easier Conference of the I.L.P. declared for a universal mi-
nimuiri wage. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald in his weekly article in “Forward” (17.4.26.) comments on the proposition thus “God alone knew how much it would be or how it was to he tixed.” On the cry of “Socialism in our time” he exclaims “Whose time?” and also says he is grieved to the quick that the poor old I.L.P. seems to be making itself ridiculous.” Yet, Mr. Macdonald regards himself as “one of the fathers of the 1.L.P.” These events show how the Socialists differ and that in respect to economic practice they know not where they are, where they are going, nor how they are going to get there. (Contributed by the New Zealand Welfare League).
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3047, 12 June 1926, Page 4
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943BREAKDOWN OF SOCIALISM. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3047, 12 June 1926, Page 4
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