Editorial: Queeries. (1908)

Editorial from the June 1908 issue of the Socialist Standard

It was the chairman of the Labour Party Conference at Belfast who affirmed that “they had been called a queer party and they were a queer party.” Mr. Joseph Burgess, the Labour candidate of Dundee is a member of this queer party. Which may account for his answer to the intelligent voter who, according to The Scotsman, asked him the following questions :-—

(A) Do you think that Socialism would interfere with the present division of labour?

(B) If everyone received the same reward, who would do the dirty work under Socialism?

The answer of this queer member of a queer party, as reported, was :-—

(A) I am of opinion a complete state of Socialism cannot come for at least fifty years; nationalisation of the land must come first, Socialism afterwards.

(B) I am sure that those who do the disagreeable work would receive the big wage.

Mr. Burgess’ idea of the order of evolution of Socialism is certainly equal to his conception of the remuneration of the dirty worker under Socialism; while his value as an exponent of Socialism is hardly more than his worth as a member of the ancient order of the prophets. It would be interesting now to hear Mr. Burgess upon what Socialism is, what wages are, and what reasons he can adduce for the imposition of a time limit of fifty years to the capitalist system. It is just possible that his answers would stagger even the members of the S.D.P. who gave expression to their passion for the unity of the “forces of progress” by affiliating with all the other odds and ends of political ineptitude in the locality, to secure Mr. Burgess’ election.

It is worthy of some little note that the fact of Mr. Burgess moving at the I.L.P. Conference of 1907, against affiliation with the S.D.P. on the ground, in effect, that the S.D.P. was not good enough, neither prevented the S.D.P. from supporting his candidature at Dundee, nor his acceptance of that support. Mr. Burgess may, however, quite fairly claim now, that the support which the S.D.P. gave to the “Socialist” candidate whose conception of Socialism is expressed in the answer above quoted, is quite sufficient justification for his assertion that the S.D.P. is not good enough. The S.D.P. is apparently concerned to show that the Labour Party is not the only queer party in existence.