This Month's Quotation: R. H. Tawney (1940)

The Front Page quote from the February 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

  “The exploitation of the weak by the powerful, organized for purposes of economic gain, buttressed by imposing systems of law, and screened by decorous draperies of virtuous sentiment and resounding rhetoric, has been a permanent feature in the life of most communities that the world has yet seen.”

R. H. Tawney

This Month’s Quotation

The passage quoted on the cover is from R. H Tawney’s “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.' (Pelican Books. 6d. Page 252.)

Socialism and Snob Values (1940)

From the February 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

The Socialist Party of Great Britain’s task of Socialist education necessitates destructive criticism of ideas prejudicial to the ready acceptance by the workers of the Socialist case; and in this regard a few words might be profitably said upon snobbery, which is very prevalent among the black-coated sections of the working class.

It can easily be understood that those workers who are snobbish and who value differences in economic status are not eager to undertake an unbiassed examination of the Socialist case, because they find the principle of equality, implicit in Socialism, repugnant to the differences they cherish in class and rank.

In relation to unemployment, the snobbish outlook of to-day bears an interesting parallel to the outlook of the Puritan moralist of the Reformation period. Just as the Puritan harshly condemned unfortunate vagrants as idle, worthless fellows, and deprecated the relief afforded to them by alms-givers, so to-day the snobbish black-coated worker despises the unemployed. Already penalised by being unable to find buyers for their labour-power, the unemployed suffer an additional penalty by being stigmatised at the hands of their snobbish fellow-workers. 

In his belief in snob values, the black-coated worker fails to recognise that workers are displaced from industry by machinery and other economic forces, and he is loath to discard the fatuous notion that unemployment is attributable to laziness and personal deficiencies.

Similarly, the snobbish “intellectual” worker, warped in his judgments by excessive self-esteem, entirely disregards the important economic functions performed by manual workers, and looks down upon them as his “inferiors.” The distinctions he draws between “brain” and manual workers are purely arbitrary, as no clearly-defined line of demarcation exists between the expenditure of mental energy and that of physical energy. He overlooks the fact that the relative differences in the extent to which skilled and unskilled workers expend their mental and physical capacities are differences of degree and not of kind.

To regard productive occupations, without which society would perish, as occupations to be ashamed of is the height of absurdity. Opprobrium which the “refeened” attach to working in a factory or in a mine arises from a ridiculous scale of values. When analysed, such values are revealed to be based upon a fawning adulation of conceptions held by the ruling class. Bearing upon this point, let us consider for a moment the capitalist’s opinion of the workers.

The wealthy capitalist, in his arrogance and in his ignorance of social science, regards the bricklayer, the carpenter, the plumber, and, in fact, all workers, as unquestionably his natural inferiors; and snobbish black-coated workers, in ape-like imitation of their capitalist masters, assume accents, cultivate manners, and adopt fashions in dress, all for the purpose of marking themselves off from the “workers,” the assumption being that they (the snobs) do not belong to the working class.

The way a person obtains his or her living determines to what class he or she belongs; and all those who, by virtue of having no part in the ownership of the means of production, are compelled to sell their labour-power to obtain the means of sustenance are members of the working class.

By the same standards of judgment to which we have referred, personal worth is measured in monetary terms. Personal merits—physical, mental, or moral—even if they are not discounted, when viewed in the light of snob values, are of secondary importance. What is of primary importance is a person’s bank balance and social position: his qualifications are merely incidental; and this kind of evaluation is in complete accord with a social system in which inequalities are viewed as the eternal order of things.

Mean subservience to wealth and social position is characteristic of that kind of mentality we have been discussing. Those possessing this type of mind classify society according to income into a multitude of classes. They think that a worker earning £6 per week is twice as good as another earning £3, and the one receiving £3 is, in turn, thought to be better than one in receipt of 30s.

It is, however, gratifying to Socialists to notice signs of interest being displayed by black-coated workers in social problems, and that gradually their snobbish notions are being discarded. The black-coated worker is induced by the economic distress he sees around him and by the insecurity, from which he himself is not immune, to direct his attention to the necessity of creating a new social order.

The advancement of professional and clerical workers towards the adoption of Socialism as the remedy for social evils is proportionate to the retreat of snobbishness and ideas that obstruct such advancement. Economic conditions will result in the dissolution of the conceptions of class distinction and conceptions of “betters” and “inferiors.” Unemployment, insecurity, bad housing, and undernourishment, must inevitably disillusion, not only black-coated workers, but all sections of the working class. Having cast off their illusions, the majority of workers will begin to think on rational lines about their economic status. Then, and only then, will it become glaringly apparent to the working class that Socialism is the only solution to the evils that afflict it. The deep-rooted inferiority complex possessed by many workers regarding their social status will also disappear with the growth of their political understanding.

To impregnate the minds of the workers with Socialist ideas is to engender in them a detestation of boot-licking and cap-touching. The Socialist exhorts them to admire pride and independence, as qualities so necessary in the struggle for emancipation. Grovelling and lickspittling are vices to be abhorred by a class struggling to free itself from the fetters of wage-slavery. And it is because capitalists demand a degree of subservience from black-coated workers, who tend to be sensitive to the indignities and superciliousness they endure at the hands of their masters, that they will revolt against capitalism and seek an alternative.

V. J. Berry

Obituary: Death of Comrade A. Jacobs (1940)

Obituary from the February 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

One more of the oldest members of the Party has passed away, in the person of Comrade A. Jacobs.

Very early in his working life he became interested in the struggles of the working class. As a young man he lived in Edmonton, then a rising suburb of North London.

By occupation a cigar maker, he had to make the journey daily to Battersea, in South London, having to rise early every morning to reach the workshop.

With ever-increasing numbers of workers on the platform, and few trains to take them, a fight constantly ensued between them to get into the train.

Soon the workers were aroused into agitating for increased trains and workmen's facilities for cheap fares. Meetings were held, and into these Comrade Jacobs flung himself with zeal.

One morning he was arrested on Liverpool Street Station and charged with disturbing the peace. His trial took place at the Guildhall, and he was defended by Mr. Thompson, at that time Editor of Reynolds News, and acquitted.

He was an active member of the Cigar Makers Union and served on their executive committee. Then he became interested in the propaganda of the old Social Democratic Federation and eventually joined them.

At about this period of his life he experienced considerable unemployment and, with a young family, suffered chronic privation and want.

Very shortly after the formation of  the S.P.G.B. he became convinced of the soundness of the Party’s principles and policy, and decided to join the Party following his resignation from the S.D.F.

For many years he was an enthusiastic worker and spoke at four, five and six meetings a week, very frequently addressing two meetings on Sundays.

He was a loyal and fearless exponent of Socialism, allowing nothing to deter him.

Following the outbreak of the war in 1914 he never hesitated to hold meetings in Victoria Park, East London, notwithstanding hostile demonstrations by workers and interested persons at every meeting he addressed.

When “peace” was declared he threw himself with redoubled energy once more into the struggle for Socialism, and only gave up in recent years, owing to advancing age and decline in his health.

He became almost an institution on the meeting place in Victoria Park, for he seldom missed a meeting on Sundays during many years.

The Party has produced many great workers in its cause, but few gave more ungrudgingly than our old comrade..

He died in his 70th year, leaving a widow in poor health and approaching blindness to mourn his passing.

C. F. C.

The Balkans and the Black International (1940)

From the February 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

The curtain will soon be going down on the first act of the International Tragedy; the second will commence with the spring. So far the pace has been slow, the actors have not been sure of their lines, but we may expect the show to become more lively as the performers become more familiar with their parts.

The Balkans are looked upon as the setting of the next episode, though circumstances may induce the producers to suddenly change their minds. Russia certainly did not anticipate the delay in her "Santa Claus" operations to which she has been compelled to submit, and her frantic efforts to extricate herself clearly indicate she has an engagement elsewhere which she wants to fulfil on time.

Roumania is the country in possession of certain raw materials that are indispensable to Germany at present, and it is said that a railway is being cut through Russian Poland in order that the goods required may be more readily obtained; the fact that Russia allows Germany to do this is proof positive that Stalin realises that it will be detrimental to the interests of the Bureaucracy of Russia should Hitler lose the war.

The prevailing idea, previous to the outbreak, was that “Communism" was making headway in Germany. The purges undertaken by the Moscow Pontiff caused many to believe that Nazism was not going to be tolerated in the “only Socialist country in the world" but now, when the breeze of reality has blown away the smoke screen we perceive that Russia has been Nazified; Germany is to be called upon to teach the wage- slaves of Slavdom how to dance rapidly enough to keep in step with the modern exploiting mechanism: - Truly the “Marxism” of Moscow produces weird and wonderful results never dreamed of in our Socialist philosophy.

Future historians will define Russian “Communism” as a religion, the religion of Pan Slavism. To the “Communist" there is no God but Lenin, and Stalin is his prophet. The movement in Russia is analogous to that of Mohammed.

No heresy is tolerated. Whatever the Prophet decrees is law to the faithful, and whatever he says is true, even though the world at large may perceive it to be false. The function of Mohammedanism was to unite the Arab tribes and compel them to abide by a certain rule of conduct: the function of Russian “Communism" is to unite the Slavs and lead them against those who are not of the faith; the economic urge is the material need of Russia, and this is stimulated by the imperial aspirations of her bureaucracy.

The Roman Catholic Hierarchy have from the first realised the facts of the situation and taken steps to combat what they knew to be a menace to their Church. When the Treaty of Montreux (Britain, Turkey and France) placed Italy at a disadvantage in comparison with France, and, together with Britain’s agreement with Egypt, bottled Mussolini up in the Mediterranean, the Church pointed out to the latter where the real danger lay; the Italian army went to Spain, not only to strike at France, but also at Russia. The banner of the hammer and sickle does not deceive the black-international; it has for centuries had to combat the machinations of its Eastern rival, the Greek Church; as of old the pair come to grips in the Balkans.

The Roman Catholics will have the backing of Roosevelt, though not necessarily of his successor. This is one of the reasons why the election now pending in the United States is so important.

The New Deal was supported by the Catholics and opposed by powerful capitalist interests; the old Church believes in reforms; it expresses the religion of feudalism; it holds that the worker should be content to occupy the position in which God hath placed him, but believes that his bodily needs should be satisfied.

The unsuccessful outcome of the New Deal may have been to some extent due to the antagonism of vested interests, but it is interesting to note that big business in the land of Uncle Sam was not opposed to the hand Mussolini played in Spain. The cross-currents of capitalism are confusing; it is only by the application of the principles of Socialism that they can be traced and their propelling force exposed.

The rise of the Totalitarian States has made trade by barter possible between certain countries, to the delight of some nationalist leaders and the dismay of International Finance. When the imports and exports of a nation are rigidly controlled by its government, whatever is done in the way of trade is of political importance. The struggle going on between the rival groups of exploiters now assume an open political form; the industrial barons, like the feudal barons of old, are taking the field against one another. Capitalism demands they shall kill each other off.

Mussolini, who now represents all those interests in which the ruling class of Italy are involved, backed by the Pope, will move swiftly if Russia threatens Roumania. Hungary will line up alongside the Duce, and so will the Catholic Croats of Jugoslavia. Turkey, although of the faith of Islam, will also take her stand against the enemies of Catholic Poland, but the Serbian elements are still doubtful, and so is Bulgaria. It is said that King Carol and Prince Paul have made a deal, and that Bulgaria is being wooed by Turkey, and if success smiles on the banners of Britain and France we may expect the Balkans, including Greece, to take a position, of hostility to Russia and Germany.

The current issue of the Economist places the position before its readers in the following manner: —

“On his return to Turkey, the Secretary-General of the Turkish Foreign Office, M. Menemenjoglu, announced that financial agreements signed in London and Paris made available a credit for the purchase of armaments to the value of £25 millions, gold to the value of £15 millions, and another £3,500,000 in the form of a commercial loan. Interest payments are to be made against goods, including Turkish tobacco; and beyond this there are arrangements whereby Great Britain and France will buy up fixed quantities of surplus products whose normal market is Germany, Turkish clearing debts will also be liquidated. The transfer of these large sums should be proof positive to Turkey and her neighbours that Britain and France are taking the war far more resolutely than they took the peace; and their announcement at a moment when Turkey is suffering from the effects of great national disasters is a particularly happy touch. Turkey’s value as an ally needs no advertisement, but it is a natural consequence to the granting of these necessary credits that the Turkish Government should feel itself on stronger diplomatic ground in the Balkans. On his way home, M. Menemenjoglu stayed two days in Sofia—the initiative is understood to have been Turkish—and exchanged with King Boris and the Bulgarian Prime Minister conversations that were much more than formal. The statement issued later was taken on internal evidence—though the method of expression was customarily circuitous—to mean that Turkey and Bulgaria were now in substantial agreement on foreign policy; and that, in turn, would appear to mean that the rulers of Bulgaria intend to hold themselves free of German or Soviet influence. Add to this important conclusion the Italian Government’s willingness to help in bringing Hungary and Roumania together, and the latter meeting (confidently reported, though officially denied) between King Carol and Prince Paul, and the Balkan outlook becomes almost temperate. But over-confidence would be an error. Berlin has yet to have its say.”

The Economist is justified in curbing those who tend to be too optimistic.

Hitler is not yet defeated, by any means, even in the Balkans, and Russia can still depend upon the loyalty of her Slav brethren. Britain and France apparently have a great economic advantage, but appearances should not be taken at their face value. The United States in this war demands cash for goods supplied, because Britain fell down on her debts to Uncle Sam. The screws will begin to tighten shortly, and something may rip; the wage-slave is feeling the pinch already, and although our masters may think him blind, as well as dumb, unless the writer is mistaken, they are in for a great surprise.

Should the United States fail to renew the trade agreement with Japan, or refuse to consider drawing up a new one, Japan, Russia and Germany may be driven together.

The longer the war lasts the more complicated and involved will the system become; the difficulties that prevent capitalism from sailing on an even keel are insurmountable; the ship of profit is already listing badly and there is rough weather ahead.

Let those who are struggling for the establishment of a new society based on Socialist principles be of good cheer, the troubles of our masters are our opportunities. We place before the world the only practical proposition that can now be entertained—the common ownership of the means of life and the establishment of production solely for use in place of production for sale. The ruling class, one and all, say they won’t entertain the idea. History says we must. And, what is more, act upon it.

Charles Lestor