With this issue THE SOCIALIST STANDARD enters upon its fifth volume, and each volume represents twelve issues containing more real information of Socialism and the Socialist Movement than any paper of whatever size appearing in this country. For four years THE SOCIALIST STANDARD has appeared with regularity each month, notwithstanding that our death as a party after three month’s existence was foretold by the quidnuncs; and notwithstanding the opposition of those who sought to silence us by the operation of the law of libel.
For four years the Party Organ has maintained consistently the attitude of hostility to all the forces seeking the maintenance of capitalism, palliated or otherwise; and for a like period the claims of Socialism as the one subject of real interest to the working class have been maintained against those who, on the one side, while persistently calling themselves Socialists, are busy following the will-o-the-wisp of the “practical” politicians into the bogs of reform, and against those who err on the other side and would sacrifice the Socialist Movement to their own horror of the temptations of political action, by relinquishing the strongest weapon the working class ever can have in its struggle for emancipation—the political weapon—because that weapon, corroded by its long connexion with the oppressing class, corrupts some of those who attempt to grasp it for their own selfish or misguided ends.
For a party such as ours, dependent entirely on the voluntary work of its members, without a single individual financially interested in either the Party or its Organ, the existence and the appearance of our paper is something of which the Party membership may well be proud. Written by workmen in the brief intervals between toil and sleep, its articles are always, we believe, easy of understanding by those who, like the writers, have first-hand experience of the conditions of the problem with which they treat.
While, however, our paper is justifiably a source of pride, it is so, we would remind you, only because it is our paper, and being ours, we, the Party, are responsible for it. Let the Party, then, remember its responsibilities. Anything which can provide a point for the further explanation of Socialism, in anything they may be reading, members should make a note of, cut it out if possible, and send it to the Head Office clearly marked.
Our paper is a very important item in the work of the Party, and the energies of every member are needed to ensure its success. Everyone can do something, if it is only selling it, and if the members will remember the claims of their Party Organ, Volume V. will probably show them developments and improvements which will make it of even greater service than it has been in the past.
The first three volumes, bound together, had a good sale and are even yet obtainable from the Head Office. It may be that the four volumes now completed will be obtainable similarly bound together. If so, they will represent such a collection of Socialist literature as to provide a valuable addition to the bookshelves of the student of this important and interesting subject.
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