Workmen's advocate., 1888-05-26

compensation, but he only serves to aC- centuate the other side. ard active So- Cialist teaching here and in other coun- tries is cOntisCatory.
 Now, the groundwork of this teaching IS that the determination to carry out this contiscation by physical force, f HeceS%diB, Is an essentially moral deter mlnatlOn, Our friendly uppJnruts who do not disbelieve in force altogether will probably admit thal an American slave, especially when he saw his wife and children sold from him, would have been justified in using any and every means to obtain his and their freedom, even to the killing of his master. They them selves would have no compunction in appealing to the truncheon of the police man if they should happen to be garotted by English thieves. Immediately they appreciate the Socialist position, that the present social system is for the worker as much a slavery as American slavery, and as much theft as English garotting, they will have solved for themselves the question of the morality or immortality of physical force.
 There will then remain for them and for Us the question of it's eXpediency; and this really means the probabilities of s success. Socialists, unfortunately know only too well that nothing would be easier than to provoke in London and in every large town a series of riots, The ease with which it could be done is in itself the sternest condemnation of our social system. But they also know quite well that the attempt would be utter madness and worse than useless. SO- clalSm is not to be won by riots, but by the steady, combined movement of an educated, organized democracy. And the first fruits of this movement will not be the killing of every landlord and cap ltalist, nor the burning of every West End house, nor the saCking of every shop. It suits our enemies to say this, but those who know us know better. If the combination Is strong enough, and educated enough, it will probably take the shape of a refusal by the workers to be any longer exploited either by private rent paying or by the produce of their toll being withheld from them and sold under their own eyes for the benefit of others. If the organization is not strong and educated it will fail, but no man,
 
 exactly when it is sure to succeed. Movements grow; they are not made in the twlnkllng of an eye, and there will probably be trlals of strength before the final struggle. But the whole matter will then lie in nutshell. If the pos Sessing classes resist by force, then there will be no hesitation about using physi- cal force to resist them, and the blame, if blame there be, will rest with the ex- ploiters and not with those who have hitherto been exploited.
 Will the possessing classes fight? If they can, l believe they will. Never in the world s history have they given up anything voluntarily for the good of the people, and l cannot conceive that when most of what makes life dear to them, ease, wealth, luxury, the power over others, is about to be taken from them that they will calmly submit. We are told that if there be but Socialist ma jorlty in parliament which will pass So- cialisC laws all will be well, and every thing will work out peaceably, none dar- ing to resist. l do not so read human nature. The question of majority or minority has nothing whatever to do with the moral part of the subject, be- cause if thing be immoral in itself, no majority can make 1t moral. And great social movements, too, have a knaCk Of not waiting till every head in the nation has been counted. But granted the ma jority-and if the change could possibly be quietly accomplished thus no true So- cialst would wish it otherwise-the question of force is only pushed one stage farther off. At the back of the majority lies it's physical force for the compulsion of the minority if need be- l wish could see my way clear to be- lieving that that force will never be neCes ary. It does not rest with the SO- ciaIists to say whether or not it will have to be used, The responsibility will rest, not with the workers who are endeavor- ing to escape from slavery, but with those who have practically been the shareholders of our modern industrial ism, and on them and them only will rest the blame, if blame there be.-Her- bert BDTOtcS iH London Justice.