From “The Socialist Standard” : December, 1904 (1942)

From the January 1942 issue of the Socialist Standard

(1) Socialist Unity

“Better far to have a party, however small, with common principles and a common end, than a party, however large, which is bound by no tie save party interest. We, therefore, who differ from these other parties [Fabian Society, I.L.P. and S.D.F.] in essential principles—inasmuch as we accept the principle of the class struggle while they do not—cannot consent to unite our forces with theirs. It would weaken both parties—and the weakening would he more disastrous to the uncompromising section than to the revisionist. . . . We are all for unity, but it is for a unity firmly established on a common aim, and a common method. Any other unity is but a delusion.”

(2) Charity and Socialism

“Charity, whether organised or unorganised, exists because some folk have more than they need and others need more than they have. In a country where labour applied to natural objects can produce more than sufficient for everybody, such a state is unnecessary as well as unjust. In the Socialist Society, where industry is organised for the benefit of all, where all perform their share of the necessary labour and where all enjoy without stint the results of the organ­ised effort of the whole community, neither want nor charity need to exist. But the perpetuation of the capitalist system and not the establishment of the Socialist Society is the object of the charity-mongers.”