By The Way. (1924)

The By The Way Column from the April 1924 issue of the Socialist Standard

  “But you ask why the Socialists, who are supposed to be the champions of the working classes, and endeavouring to obtain them employment, should be against emigration. It is because they think that the working classes are their supporters, and with a steady emigration of them the Socialists would look askance at their dwindling forces.” (Democrat, 15/3/24.)

You do your own supposing, answer your own question, then dispose of the Socialists —easily! This method also allows for the introduction of several working classes; we, however, have never been able to discover more than one, a class who have the complete monopoly of employment, a monopoly their masters, the Capitalist class, are not likely to deny them. At present the majority of the workers support Capitalism, not Socialism, because they fail to understand with what ease the world’s resources could be made to promote abundance and leisure for all, if commonly owned and used for that purpose. Without such understanding they imagine they are born for work alone, they live for it, emigrate for it, and often die from an overdose of it, not knowing that they give up their lives for no other purpose than sustaining a set of parasites in all the ease and comfort that could be theirs—aye ! and many times better, if they wished it—if they would scrap their cardboard Capitalist heroes and realise tneir own importance.

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  ”Mr. Wm. Leach, Under-Secretary for Air, in a clever speech, showed how slices of Socialism saved the country in the war period and abolished unemployment.” (Report, Daily Herald, 17/3/24.)

Unfortunately, lacking the vivid imagination of our brainy labourite, we mistook the above “slices of Socialism” for very thick slices of Capitalism. And having some recollection of the “war period,” ungrateful wretches that we are, we feel unable to appreciate or anticipate a recurrence of such methods of abolishing unemployment. The above quotation is taken from what the Daily Herald considers a “clever speech.” Opinions differ, however; from the standpoint of truth and intelligence it would be unworthy of a village idiot.

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  “Against that which was really Socialistic the soul of England would swiftly rise in revolt, for God had meant us to be a free and not an enslaved people..​.​. What was wanted was a truly humane campaign of courage and wisdom, conducted by all the men and women of goodwill in our land, who had not bowed the knee to this alien conception called Socialism.” (Prebendary Gough, New Voice, Feb.)

Of course, it is nice to be know from an authoritative (!) source all about the future movements of the “Soul of England” (whatever it may be) and likewise God’s views on slavery. For our part the above timid twaddle merely offers evidence that there are still many in the twentieth century whose mentality is largely made up of slightly modified primitive superstition and ignorance, an ignorance the medicine men of the Capitalists seek to perpetuate for their masters’ sake. According to the press who term a “Labour” Party with a Capitalist programme a “Socialist” Party, and the prophetic vision of the above reverent gentleman, we may now anticipate the revolt of the “Soul of England” and the opposition of Anti-Socialists with “courage and wisdom.” From past experience, the latter will at least be a welcome change.

W. E. MacHaffie