Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1905-10-18

Proposes to Do

touhtilSS, lutCIndtlOndl oOCldllSUl
is making tremendous strides and
its millions of supporters, spread
over all the belts and zones of the
globe. and the most active propa-
gandists ever known, will in the
next few years be multiplied into
controlling majorities in all lands
which have modern industry as the
basis of their civilization, Socialism
being wholly a question of economic
development. This will mean
the end of the present capitalist
competitive system and the intro
duction of its successor, the coop
erative commonwealth.
The movement is international
because it was born of and follows
the development of the capitalist
system, which in its operation, is
confined to no country, but by the
stimulus of modern agencies of pro-
duction, exchange, communication
and transportation, has overleaped
all boundary lines and made the
world the theatre of activities. BY
this process all the nations of the
earth must finally be drawn into
relations of industrial and COM
mercial cooperation, as the econ
omic basis of human brotherhood.
This is the goal of modern So
cialism and it is this that inspires
its deciples with the zeal and ardor
of crusaders.
What is Socialism, To answer
in a single sentence, it means the
collective ownership by all the
people of all the means of wealth
production and distribution. 1t is
purely an economic question; the
evolution of industry has develop
ed Socialism. Man can only work.
produce wealth with tools. The
mere hand tools of former times
have become costly and ponderous
machines. These machines, Social
lists contend, represent progressive
social conceptions. These and the
factories, mills and shops in which
they are housed, as well as the lands
and mines from which the raw ma
terials are drawn, are used in COM
mon by the workers, and in their
very nature are marked for common
ownership and control. Socialism
does not propose the collective own
ership of property, but of capital;
that is to say. the instruments of
wealth production, which, in the
form of private property, enable
few capitalists to exploit vast num-
bers of workers, thus creating mil
lionaires and mendicants and inaug-
urating class rule and all its odious
and undemocratic distinctions.
Socialism proposes equal rights
and opportunities for all without
reference to sex, color and other
conditions. Equality is the vital
principle of Socialism. Its mission
is to abolish class rule by making
all equal proprietors of the means
upon which all depend for employ.
ment, and without which there can
be no life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. This insures economic
freedom for every human being.
As no one would have private prop
erty in that upon which another de-
pended upon employment, industrial
mastery and slavery would disap-
pear together and competition for
profit would give way to cooper
alton for use.
The rapidly changing economic
conditions are paving the way for
the transition from competition cap
italism to cooperative Socialism.
Socialists are simply indicating the
trend of evolution and seeking to
prepare the way for its orderly re-
ception. The coming of Socialism
is with them not debatable ques-
ton. That is not matter of doubt
or conjecture, but of scientific cal
culation.
The evolution of the social or