SOCIAL REVOLUTION WILL COME ONLY IN SOBER AGE.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 33, 20 October 1911, Page 17

SOCIAL REVOLUTION WILL COME ONLY IN SOBER AGE.

Sir, —In re short article as to how Socialists should vote on the prohibition question. As one wlio longs for the established rights of the workers, 1 venture an opinion on the above question. And just here I will say that I think it tho duty of every class-eon-eious worker., of ovo-ry Socialist, to vote national prohibition at the 1911 '/.loctio-iis. W-Jiilo Social iota- are indeed disgusted at the number of their comrudes who h.ave fallen in the bloody capitalist wars of the ]>a. c it, they must ulso admit their disgust at the greater l'.uipber who have go no down \mdsr the-a-rtiJlery of tho capitalistic brewers. Socialists hope to briiig about a social system wherein prediction will no longer be for profit, but for use. And of what use is the production of the brewers, and t-in-ce that tho ablest advocates for continuance have absolutely faded to prove the use of, or tho need for, liyuor (other than to deaden the wit of the woiycer that he may be easier victimised), Socialists would bo safe voting prohibition. The term "victimised" \yill not be thought too strong having regard for the fact that tho dispensers of beer grab a profit of over 150 per cent, upon all beer passed over to their victims. This is not tho worst

feature of the liquor business by any means: the worst is that the wageearner having passed through the hands of the liquor party lie is then an ■easy victim for any profit-hunting institution. I might say that it puzzles mc why the profit-hunting owners of the machinery of production do not establish free beer shops for their wageslaves. If they did so, they could rest in peace, their sins would never find them out; the social revolution would then indeed be something for the distant future to deliver; the revolution will only be witnessed in a sober age. While we may all recognise, that if the liquor trade was wiped ot\t to-morrow the material conditions :of the worker would be none the better, we would still be the wage-slaves of a cruel commercial system. If the Socialist who is out to improve the material conditions of the world's producers succeed in abolishing the liquor traffic, they will have removed one obstruction that admittedly must be removed from the narrow path that leads toSocialism. . Waihi. T. L. RILEY.