Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1890-01-11
with his small duties toward the general

whatever, unless he belongs to The small
class not worth considering of iuXur-
ious idlers who are wrongfully enjoying
now the fruits of past robbery and in
justice. luse these hard terms, for they
express the truth cleared from all So
phistical varniSh but cannot join that
sect of socialists, who indulge in sense
| less and bitter denunciation of the indi-
vidual members Of the rich clHsses, for
getting that it is the system of life,
mistakenly developed that has brought
the injustice and robbery, and not the
single human being. do not think we
could trust the members of this rantlng
set of socialists themselves, under the
same temptations for selfish ease and
comfort. Human nature is about the
same in all classes, though we may hold
| the full belief that the career of selfish
ease which is the lot of the rich classes
tends to deaden the quick sympathy and
loving care for another's sorrow and
misery, which is found such universal
trait among the poor.
We socialists should be optimists in
the faith that, through the course of
evolutionary development, man has al
most reached the stage when, with the
consent of Nature, he can throw off the
animal inclination toward vile Oppres-
sion Of his weaker fellows, and enter on
! the true lines of social development
which are in accordance with the fair
ideals presented by the worlds great
! ethical teachers, not necessarily caring
! whether these ideals were inspired from
above, or were the result of curious ar
| ,Nf 4l,n
exceptional mortal brains.
In the development of socialistic
thoug ght in human minds, throughout
past centuries, the hopeful ideal has
been continually presented for fulfil
ment at some future time. But the plans
presented for social reorganization, al
though beautiful in conception, were
too theoretical to offer much hope for
practical fruition. The iabors of the
great French ideaists in the early part
of this century, however, were not
spent in vain, for they had an undoubted
influence in prompting later aspirations,
and many feeble attempts were made in
! different countries to carry into practice
the plans offere by Fourier, st. Simon
and CADET.
Louis Blanc and Proudhon came very
near the conclusions reached by modern
scientific socialists; and these two
teachers of different system of poll
teal economy from that generally held
by the thinkers of their time gave the
first lessons to two giants of intellect,
energy and acuteness,-Ka Marx and
Ferdinand Lasalle. Karl Marx labored
for forty years in the cause of the work
ing men of the world, and, in his great
work, "Capital y, established, the doc
trines of Socialism upon firm scientific
basis, for the arguments presented in
that sound treatise have not been con-
troverted by the capitalistic reasonings
of any so called political economist. 1t
is to be regretted, however, that this
work "Das Kapital" is written in such
profound style that the ordinary
reader, unless he is willing to devote
much time and thought to the work,
must lay it aside in despair,
Ferdinand Lasalle's romantic career is
well known to all Socialists. We can
readily bring to our imagination the in
telligent student of the most abstruSe
German PHILOSOPHERS; the talented law
yer. giving some Of his best years in aid
of a wronged woman; and we can pic
ture Lasalle as the petted gallant in the
most exclusive circles of German society;
but it is only when we think of him as
the powerful advocate of the downtrod-
den wage earners, that our hearts are
filled with gratitude. What contrast
is presented between this unselfish leader
of workingmen twenty-five years ago
whose preCepts still guide the trade
organizations of the world-and few
of our own labor leaders in this country
to-day, men who are known to be en-
gagged on the side of the wage Garner
for selfish ends alone. Since the death
of Marx and Lasalle, this work of incul-
eating the worlds mind with socialistic
doctrines has gone on with astonishing
rapidity. When we think of how thor
oughly the mortal brain is possessed
with lndivldualstic insanity, it Is very
impressive to observe the general atten-
ton which has been directed to the So
Cial problem within the last few years.
Not only has this interest awakened
among the members of those classes
who produce all the wealth of the world;
but the members of what are called the
upper classes are awakening from a
condition of lethargy, to keen appre-
citation of the gross wrongs of the pres
ent social formation; and a large per-
centage of the idle classes is discarding
the old beliefs in the let alone policy of
individuaiism, and is ready to follow the
true line of evolutionary development
toward unity of human interests and
the common brotherhood of man.
In this noble work of social propaganda
the novel has been of vast Importance.
Thousands upon thousands of readers,
who would never have taken the time
or thought necessary to inform their
minds little on questions of economical
science, have unconsciously absorbed