The Claim and the Rebuttal.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 25, 25 August 1911, Page 9

The Claim and the Rebuttal.

The forces seeking to bring about by conscious effort the transition from the present order to Socialism manifest themselves in diverse ways. In Australia they are exemplified by the constructive policy of the Labor Party on the-one hand and by a. small but. clamorous body who preach extreme catas- . trophic theory on the other. The meth.od followed by the Labor. Party may-oe defined as an endeavour to secure the transfer of land and capital from individual to collective ownership by systematic and progressive instalments, using Parliament as the main instrument in effecting the, change. The method favoured by Catastrophic Socialism, if we accept "Dogmatist's loudly trumpeted "Social Revolution" us an authoritative exposition, runs, when that writer's vague discursiveness is reduced to definite propositions as follows : — The Social Revolution will fcake place in any country, European preferred, directly a majority of Socialists is returned to its national parliament. This epoch-making election will have as its immediate effects—(l) A sudden money stringency due to an alarmist shutting down upon extravagance by the rich; (2) on the heels of this, a severe trade depression ; (3) out-' of these a financial panic world-wide (and disastrous in its effects', "followed- b.y (4) development of the unemployed problem to an extent of unprecedented acuteness. With this, Capitalism' virtually collapses, the psychological moment arrives,! ; and the, nation 'qttfetly iclimbs "up out of (Civilisation into Socialism" by the simple process of the industrial leaders taking control of affairs, abolishing parliament, with its useless Socialist majority, and drafting the workers into the fields, mines, factories and shops of the new-born Co-operativo Com monwealth. This foolish phantasmagoria implies —(a) a development of trustification until industry is centralised under a

small body of private owners, and (b) a Socialist party sweeping the polls on a- platform consisting mainly of (1) confiscation of all Land and capital; (2) abolition of parliament and all local governing bodies, as well as of all laws and courts of justice ; (3) investment of industrial loaders with full powers to reorganise the production and distribution of wealth. Against (a) —a conteiitentioni explicitly affirmed by sorao writers of this school —it is sufficient to say that the supposed highly centralised development' of industry may never come ,to pass; that it doesn't need to —the lessons in the economies and wide Organisation affected by trustification having been taught, the State, per medium of constructive Socialism; could do the trustifying itself aaid thereby save a lot of unnecessary suffering; that if the supposed, development did come to pass Capitalism, prepared for the- the conflict and wielding the huge influences at its might make the limelight upheaval into Socialism impossible; and that even if the upheaval did happen along the limes laid down, it is highly problematical whether the proletariat, suddenly liberated from the economic pressure and degradation of the old order and invested with the- full measure of freedom and responsibility postulated by the revolution, would be able to respond successfully to the dcm«uas miade upon. it. Against (b) it is sufficient to say that the conception of a majority eaidorsdiig such a. set of drastic propositions, even under the changed conditions of a generation hence, can <tJiry exist in the imaginations of exceedingly far-sighted or .foolish persons. Finally, the catastrophic theory—its upholders give it a more high-sound-ing title —completely impotent iintii private enterprise and greed have consolidated industry j has nothing better to offer its votaries and prospective converts to-day than a crusade of propaganda that must be barren of concrete results until a time comparatively remote even to its most optimistte devotees. Dependent upon a hypothetical development of Capitalism that it is powerless to hasten its practical work for years to come consists in. nothing more dignified than the organisation of an army of class-conscious Mieawbers waiting for a possible international jpphimercial octopus , ; /Of the future;:tolftirli up. ' .; : : £ -fs Brisbane,' Q. JOHHN SMIT TH.