Editorial: The Decay of Socialism. (1905)

Editorial from the August 1905 issue of the Socialist Standard

Mr. Keir Hardie is reported as having said in the Berlin “Sozialistische Monats-Hefts” that “In England Socialism appears to be a decaying force. Even the working men can scarcely be said to believe in its doctrines.” This may or may not represent the view Mr. Keir Hardie intended to convey, but it is easily conceivable that the man who would render lip homage to the “obsolete Marxian dogma” of the class struggle which he repudiates at home—in order to secure admission to the councils of the international working-class assembled in Conference, would also endeavour to represent that Socialism as a decaying force through the Continental Press which here in England he is interested to hail as the exact opposite. Mr. Hardie seems to be either a much misunderstood person, or a person playing a double game.