Social Revolutions: Is it Near?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 22, 4 August 1911, Page 4

Social Revolutions: Is it Near?

A SYfVfPOSIUIVI.

"Surely it is time our thoughts turned seriously to questions that relate. to the day of Revolution, —and the morrow oi : it." Thus, sagely, concludes Dogmatist in his forcible article of May sth. It would bo folly to attempt to gainsay facts. With figures that tell the tale has Dogmatist shown the wondrous growth of the Socialist movement, from the tiny acorn to the spreading oak. Such figures arc inspiring and serve to buoy us up with hopes that may prove delusive, ' Dogmatist leaves the facts and figures to speculate upon the manner m which the great re-ordering of society may take place. He waxes enthusiastic over the transformation that already has been achieved and holds out brignt promises of a new era in the near future, to be achieved it seems by the social revolution. The sentence quoted above is the end of his pronouncement, and it is to the injunction embodied in it we now propose to apply ourselves. The Disturbing Factor. When one considers the readiness with Avhich men to-day can assimilate Socialistic ideas one is almost convinced that a radical change is near, but when the factor of human nature is included in the view one feels justified in expressing grave doubts that social unrisings or political changes in the near future can inaugurate a lasting regime of a Socialistic order. Social unrisings brought on by industrial or financial" troubles are possible, political revolutions are likely to occur; and after that the deluge 3 . -' What permanency can be expected to accrue when nine out of every ten of the so-called Socialists who engineer the revolution are born and bred in an environment of boodledom or wage slavery, when more than half, of them, and the intellectual cream of them at that, are ready to fight like Kilkenny cats if their personal ambitions are unsatisfied by the change. Can it be denied that the rank and file of every Socialist organisation are no more than ordinary trade unionists whose final thought is more wages for the self ? How many of the rank and file have the remotest conception of Socialism or the least ambition to practise it ? • . Human nature is the great stumbling block, the great obstacle in the path of nrogress. Some say it is unalterable': —a, comforting creed to the conservative who seeks to justify the present order. The persistence of same kind of human nature therefore becomes a .favorite theme with the society novelists and penny liners who grind out mediocre literature to soothe the aching consciences of the" devotees of Mammon. -? Yet this idea is wholly erroneous. Human nature is a compound mixture, as the alchemist would say, made up of baser elements, precious metals and volatile ingredients. It is a blending of many virtues, vices and passions; good and indifferent are intertwined. Changes of environment can crush out some°or others, eliminating good or bad by slow degrees. The Goal Far Off. The one permanent passion—the desire to live and to bo doing is neither good nor bad. It is passive ,—Nirvanah. The subsidiary tendencies make or mar character. They have been gradually evolved, and can- only be .n-aduallv dispelled. Selfishness may be a virtue when it is philosophic, enlightened and far-seeing, when it sees the greatest good to each individual and his clan will come from the greatest good to the whole community. Selfishness may be a vice when it signifies avarice, ambition to be top doo- vanity and intolerance. So with each of the virtues and vices that compose human nature. A variety of permutations and combinations are possible, each of which constitutes a distinct type. ' Life is but a ouest for the absolute, _in other words, a struggle for the unattainable. Each height captured discloses to the-view-other heights beyond So by sloav degrees with con"knivt striisgling c are m °Y ni £ .*?' wards a fuller life such, as Socialists aim at. Every legislative act of a Socialistic character is a step towards farther achievements and constitutes m it-elf an object lesson that prepares *ho minds of the people for the next step. But the goal is yet far off—for huiv.au nature has to be regenerated; the people's minds have to be revoluThis is a slow and tedious process which can a:iy be brought ttbout by the powej- of gradually.

Author of "The Rising Tide" Reviews Workingclass Parties and Policies.

changed environment to dissolve hereditary superstitions, prejudice and bias in the melting pot of reason, and by the effect of long continued oppression and suffering in directing the intellect of naturally intelligent men. Socialism can for many years _to .come be no more than a philosophical creed for the intellectual to guide them in their, efforts to ameliorate human suffering. You can teach the unintelligent to shout themselves hoarse for socialism just as you can educate the 1 "! up to cheering for royalty, you can** stimulate a shoddy sentiment which is thrown away or decently buried when it becomes inconvenient, but to teach the unintelligent to act socialistically is a.s slow a process as to prepare the philosopher's stone. Success and Schism. Your sudden revolutions, political or industrial, will be followed by party schisms and reaction. Generations of short-lived toadstool democracies will spring out of your dungheap of modern civilisation, before the spreading oak of socialism can assimilate the soil. We have seen labour parties grow from tiny beginnings. They have gathered strength while fighting under the Socialist banner. But so soon as the power is within their grasp, when the nation breathlessly await the execiition of their platform, they throw their principles to the winds and abnegate Socialism. The ablest men in a nation-are often selfishly ambitious, and no cause can succeed without the support of able men. They must be embraced with open arms and the best places must be reserved for them, that they may be encouraged to stick to the cause. This course is justified by Dogmatist in 'The Way to Win/ When sticcess is achieved the able men of the party fall out, and the rank and file divides into sections siding with the different leaders. > The •unsuccessful section often casts its lot with Torydom, and Labour is displaced from power. Another great uphill fight follows : When power is regained the schism repeats itself. Are not the Socialists built of the same stuff? In a city not far from here there are to-day three Socialist bodies, each qf which regards the other two so selfish, heretical and bogus. The leaders of these bodies were once bosom friends and allies, biit differences appear to have arisen about the right of leadership". They parted company and the entire organisation divided accordingly. When such things can happen with a society devoid of wealth and -influence how much more bitter would the quarrel be if the party possessed power and place. \ The leaders alone, the selfish ambitious ones, 'have any deep and studied knowledge of the philosophy of socialism and the principles of political economy. This very knowledge is theiir qualification for leadership. For all the others socialism is an unintelligible and worshipped sentiment. Hence the rank and file, unguided by reason, is easily divided by the division of their leaders, when a sound and intelligent socialist body would have expelled the unsocial ambitions or quarrelsome leaders as men whose actions were unsocialistic and rendered them unfit for leadership. The Referendum "Split." * In New South Wales a so-called Labor party recently obtained the reins of power- Almost their first action was to oppose the wishes of the entire Labour movement on the Referendum proposals of the Commonwealth Government, which, indeed, might be said to be the first request a government has* ever made to a people for power to enact socialistic legislation, without having it mutilated first by a revising chamber. What can have inspired the State labour leaders to assume this unfederal and disloyal attitude? Clearly the causes must have been ambition,, flattery and .jealousy of the growing power of the national government. To satisfy these tendencies the best interests of the masses were thrown to the winds. And the worst culprits are some of the formerly most esteemed men in the party. The whole-hogger who imagines that the world should be turned upside down and reconstituted by law on new lines, who is intolerant and prejudiced, he is an obstacle. His windy persirl•age does more harm than-good; The moderate man with extreme ideals, the step by step reformer who keeps b-'-V eye' constantly fixed on the ultimate ideal., he achieves far more lasting good. Thus in Australian politics

Mr. J. C. Watson furnishes a fine example of a man who never allows his ideals to be forgotten and yet never lets Volatile sentimentality carry aw>ay his sense of the practical course to follow. Another's Way To Win. Educational reform, in primary and secondary schools, and above all in universities will be the greatest-factor in hastening the coming of the Cooperative Commonwealth. With this there must he "incessant propaganda. Efficient educational reform can only be procured by the capture of the political machine by the representatives of the workers. Little by little environment must be alts-red so as to produce that revolution of the people's minds which lb-. sen declares to be the first essential oi the Social Revolution. The whole-hogger doels much to educate the more backward, but when he attempts'too much at once and fails he frightens away many eager disciples. • No ideals should be permitted within the Labour and Socialist organisations but the perfected one, that of the people emancipated and controlling for themselves all means of prodxretion, distribution and exchange. But the Fabian tactics of recognised labour parties, like that of the Australian Commonwealth, are productive of s ; faster evolution of that higher human nature essential to achievement, than the more violent measures demanded by many. "The ideals must be sound and every step must be in the same direction except when obstacles have to be circumvented, but the speed of the march must be regulated by the ability of the rank and file to follow; and the height to be captured must be constantly pointed out to the people lest they forget whither they are going. One of the greatest curses to the proletariat movement is the so-called "Labour man" who disclaims Socialism, and does not understand what the goal is. He is like a bombastic leader of a pillaging company that has departed from the' line of march in search of plunder, like the adherents of Peter the Hermit in his great march for the Holy Land. Great movements are not in existence to benefit any jvarticular company, but all alike. Increased wages in a particular trade are of no economic advantage unless the boodlers are prevented from taxing the rest of the people to recoup their loss. The result of the Referendum fight in Australia showed that the masses have not yet learnt this lesson. It showed how unreliable and uninstructed our fighting forces were. Military Training and Arbitration To those who believe that a social revolution is feasible in the near future it might be pointed out that a lasting regime of the new order can only be maintained by military force under existing conditions of human: nature. What kind of socialism would we then haye? Nothing short of an enlightened tyranny maintained by military power, a farcical kind of socialism, as- far removed from the ideal as the newly formed Portuguese Republic The extreme revolutionaries who hold the views here criticised are as visionary as the reliomaniacs who expect "Doomsday with the next visitation of Halley's comet or Armageddon on April Ist next year. Unlike The Maoriland Worker the present writer believes both in, Compulsory Military Training and in Industrial Arbitration oir- Australian lines. Though a hater of the jingo spirit he regards military training in early youth" a valuable education . to _ the young both from a physical and inteliiation from the course of all elements of rampant jingoism. The discipline and knowledge of the citizen soldiery would thus be a tower of strength to democracy. . ' Industrial Arbitration also seems most reasonable from a socialistic point of view. We aim at organised industry, not individualism, cliquism, or anarchy. Submission to arbitration never satisfies the industralists that the court has given them their full rights, but it is a valuable training- in obedience, to organised society, withouirwhich any socialistic scheme would break down. It is true that the capitalists always score more points than •the workers, but the' reason is simply that the workers have not yet evolved for themselves sufficient unanimity to seize, power and make their own laws. This will come with more lessons of defeat, more propaganda and more concentration. There is the practical side too. ; > The workers'' j-<Ve- divided into numerous unions palling'-in different directions. Separate strikes by various sections usually end in ignominious rout;" such' an event serves as .an'education, but so : does defeat in a constitutional court. More "is gained by the peaceful method. If

tho workers of each State were united they would succeed by either method of procedure, and disunited- as_ ; they are, the strike method is the most costly to their . own well-being, both entailing suffering to their families and a replacement of socialistic tendencies by anarchical ones. No Milienium Yet. While therefore the writer is thoroughly imbued with socialistic , desires and as desirous as any socialist to hasten the day of emancipation he does not expect the millenium either this year or next. Keep the flag 'Hying, keep up the. propaganda and maintain the ideals undented! Do not harbour rats -m the great movement! If people will not keep in step let them fail out I Let steady onward march be the; mode of procedure and much of the promised land will be ours in our time. If we take more than Aye can assimilate we will be turned out altogether for another period. The great thing is to keep the rank and file in step. : This requires long training. To rail against Industrial Arbitration seems not unlike raising an outcry against machinery . because:-the boodler benefits from it, or agaMst railways because the land-oWTier scoops in the dollars. However, have to consider primarily what institutions will'or will not be essential"in the ideal State which we have as our goal. ' .' .;,"."_ We must appeal to the intellect of the masses and develop it where r£. is quiescent. Doctrinaire quibbles arid loud sentimental shrieks are equally incapable of gaining a 'permanent body of adherents. . Solid work is required and this as just what most of cur labour parliamentarians are unwilling to face. The Socialists must therefore peg away— and educate, educate, educate. Sydney. . . H. INGEMAN..