The Labor enquirer., 1885-01-10
luR FUTURE.
1 Few Brief Thoughts on tlle In
snguration Of the So cialisitic
Commonwealth.
rhsrs Must Be Unity Tstwean All
Schools 10 Overthrow a coin-
mon Enemy.

\ & y =
Burnette q. Haskell. in answering q
letter calling his attention to the con.
Hicting points in the "Red' and BLACK
International. and which sid that they
would never unite, wrote the following.
whicn is full of sound sense and good ad-
vice:
This bugbear, Authority of the ma]orl-
tyr is defended by many of tho State
Socialists, and its necessity admitted by
. still larn u number, know; AMI yet |
believe this is so simply because OF 9
Icertaln superfciality of thought. GER
tain haze as to exactly whatwill bs the re-
suits following the establishment OF State
Socialism. j, for one, certainly cannot
sec how any asaEhoTiEy a all, whether
81 th6 majority or minority can l,e exer-
dssd under um purely 5dmin stratiye
state. This may be startling, yi't l be-
lieve it is true. Let US sketch the prob
able future, and see.
The revolution accomplished, this state
of things occurs Laws for the collection
of rent, profit and interest abolished; pri-
vate ownership in land, inventions, Goals,
ores, natural oils, and other raw materi-
ais of production, in means of transporta-
ton and communication, etc., abolished;
the actual title vested IN society as a
whole, each individual refining only an
equal rightof occupation or use. The
successful soeiallstic majority thereupon
proceed to organize an administrative
state for their own benefit; but they
need not as understand it force Mr..
Vanderbilt or Mr.. Tucker to join in with
them. They say to any OF these men in
effect, this: -. .Z--.. - s.
"We don't propose to deprive you of
that money you have; we only decline in
future to sell goods to you for it. We
don't propose to cut your throat and burn
your bonds; we simply decline to pay
the bonds. We will furnish bread to no
one who is not member of our cooper
alive state, nor clothes. nor houses, nor
books. If you want these things you
must either get some other people to
provide them for you, or you mast make
them yourself. If you think, however,
any other worker will be ass enough to
let you make profit off his labor and
live off his bones and blood when we
offer him the FULL value of his toll, you
will be sadly mistaken. Those who are
willing to work will wopk with
US because we will give them
value for value. You canrIot COM
spefs WITH ds on any point, and will
therefore have to yourself produce every
thing that you consume. Either this, or
of your own free will humbly apply to
become one of as, conserving to do your
duty as we do ours"
If Mr.. Vanderbilt or Mr.. Tucker shall
now reply triumphantly But this is
compulsion; this is force, and the worst
of force-that of threatened starya,
tion,n then they show their hands
at once. They prove that it is
not :"authority" that they COM
plain of, but the absence of it; they show
that they desire the authority to remain
in their hands-to do what? To force
us to work as THEIR SLAVES 1t is not
"liberty" that they want, but license" to
grind out our lives for their benefit.
!, Taffirm it; that State Socialism as Isee
it is life, and freedom without "authori
ty," but with administration; and that it
and it alone will lift the individual from
slavery to liberty, from tyranny to indie
pendence. ..
Under this administrative state nc
man would be taxed as | understand il
r.even to educate his own child; the chill
dren themselves would pay for their owr
education. Under this state the homes
men would not be taxed 10 "buitd jalls anG
penitentlaries in which to keep the dis
honest and vicious, and to feed them
while confined" Far from it. Eighty
per cent. of crime would be abolished by
the removal of its causes. The remain
ing percentage would be summarily sup
pressed by the threat of exclusion from
the benefits of the cooperative state in
case of offense. | -. J.
In conclusion, it seems to me, as it. al
ways has seemed, that tight here is the
common ground on which honest "An
archistsn and State Socialists can unite
It seems to me that this is the point o
view from which both "indiyidualists'
and collectivists appear and are in har
mony; that the Administrative STATE
here flying the banner of the Liberty o
Choice absolutely DOES reconcile, not in
divldual Incense to do wrong snd forcibl,
majority rule, but individual autonomy
in things ofright and collective admins
istrative control for the good of all.
And / further believe that upon seriou
thought all our friends will find tina
concerning this subject of necessary an
tagonism" between these two parties o
honest men, both seeking the same end
they have been alarming themselves ant
dividing their energies without sufticien
cause. But whether this be no or no, +.
submit that these differences ought no
to be vindlctive ones. ] urge unity be
tween all schools of Socialists against th'
common enemy; and suggest that if th'
fntnre shall show an irreconcilable differ