Social Revolution: is it Near?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 29, 22 September 1911, Page 16

Social Revolution: is it Near?

A" "SYMPOSIUM*

By A. K. WALLApE. (President Socialist ; Party of SbuthAustralia.) •■ : f I have read ' "Dogmatist's" ' article on above with great pleasure,, f v lt"s good. What more can. be said?. And the question he raises—— 1 — "Yes" has been said' to it many times in. the past, and the Revolution has not been Yet this'- does not make yes improbable now ; rather, it makes this . yes more imperative. Perfect knowledge of. anything:: is not gained at the first attempt. The first yes to this problem seemed good—was good—7gave reason and courage for more yes next time. And though each succeeding yes failed to see the problem solved, yet the • desire which prompted it was healthy, and must eventually bear healthy fruit. >All the progeny of the , first and succeeding yeses have not been able to gain the highest place. All protoplasm-.has' not combined to make mam —and man was a potentiality of it. Some followed other lines of yet rnaei, potential in protoplasm, was inevitable. The yes of Christianity coaitained the germ which evolved to the contradiction of to-day; but we,must, not judge the potentiality of yes because one> or on© thousand results are not highest. The result of combination of some protoplasm being poisario-usTreptile does not refute the potentiality of .protoplasm to produce man. Despite all the divergent lines it took —MAN IS; The highest was best and inevitably , prevailed. And this yes to Social Revolution. It keeps its life and develops towards highest because it was potential and is certain of highest result. : With previous yeses the necessary combination had not developed. Men said yes, thinking all was ready .for Social Revolution and events ; the goal—but something to assjst in reaching it. Each step forward makes the final one nearer, and so the yeses which did not bear highest fruit make imperative the yes which 'wilL; They forced definite development in society as proved by definite lines of action. They did not win all'because for the time other was needful. '.:-.■■ Now I Yes can be said triumphantly because all attempts to fuller development (Protection, Free Trade, Single Tax, etc.) other than Social lievolution, are purposeless. For yes to be lodig delayed in a purposeless stage means progress arrested. And 1 ao not think it possible for halt to be. made until highest is reached.. Then I

join with "Dogrriatisiß" 'and'say "it is time our thoughts turned... seriously., .to. questions that relate to the day or the -Revolution and the morrow,of it." . How will Revolution be achieved ? ' "Dogmatist" faas given us many , 'pro-, bable methods by which .this: may be , done. They are all part of the process. They may all play their part ir... the end. To the person who thinks tlie Revolution will bo achieved by, entirely peaceable methods, I would say : "Show mc an instance in the past." To one who thinks it will be -as violent as revolutions of the past, what bearing has your instances on the future? Yet great changes must be sudden and violent in ratio to the lack or perfectioai which is. Until all is perfect, neither is any part. I think the real change, farming the working basis of the new social order, must be in great degree sudden —violent if you will. 'Tis part of nature's process. The .relatively peaceful (?) process preparatory to the revolutionary act continues till the act itself cannot be longer delayed. That wlilcli has not been possible in the peaceful process will be consummated in violent action. I do not believe the change can be entirely peaceful. < I am glad that I can think so, because if humanity had to wait for the peaceful method (and spend its time of waiting in the bitter war which is) the universe would have fulfilled its destiny and itself have arrived at the stage when cosmic change is imperative, so that man would have undergone all the inflictions to arrive in peace —at death. "Education" and "peaceful methods" have been bedecked with halos, and stress and hope out of all proportion to actual probability have been laid upon them. I don't belittle them by any means. I hope to see them used to the fullest possible extent, but let us strip them of the supernatural with which they have been invested. Place them in true perspective, and they will be invaluable. Education will ease the birth pangs —not eliminate them. The machine must be used before its capabilities are thoroughly understood. Only the minority will be educated before the Revolution —the majority when the machine is in use. I want Socialism hi our time. The tendencies all seem favourable. Let natural forces have full play. Treat education and peaceful methods rationally, and the dawn may come before most of us are aware.