Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-10-04
WHAT THE SOCIALIST
PROGRAM REALLY Is
Complete Exposition of Purposes of COs Who Would Have Common
Control of ali Material and Means of PrductonRvae Ownership
of Property Necessary for Personal use or Convenience.


the Portland Oregonian asserting
that there was no Socialist program,
Charles Pye, of Woodstock, Ore gon,
sent the following reply, which was
published and commented upon as
being a complete and definite ex-
position of the purposes of the So
cia1ists:
At the very outset it may be we'll |
TO call attention to the fact that !
there has been steady development
in the history of Socialist thought.
There was a time when writers
such as Plato in his Republic,
Sir Thomas Moore in his ''Uto-
pia'' and Bethany in Looking
Backward advocated vague, in
definite, Utopian ideas and in
dulged in speculations in social
theory. But since the time of Karl
Marx (his manifesto, written in
ls48) the philosophy of Socialism
has been subjected to the most rigid
scientific methods Of thought. Most
objections to Socialism and most
Of the criticisms are aimed at the
IDEAS of the earlier phases of uto-
plan or sentimental Socialism.
But the only kind that is being at
all successfully propagated in the
world today, and the kind here
discussed is the Socialism based up
on the scientific method. Socialists
certainly have program.
They seek to organize the work
ing class into class-Conscious po-
litical party with purpose to cap
eure the political power of nations
from the capitalist class which now
rules them, that the capitalist sys-
tenn of production, with its wage
system and exploitation of the
worker may be abolished, and that
the cooperative commonwealth be
established wherein the worker will
receive the full equivalent OF
what his labor socially produces.
The definition of Socialism is
its chief, and perhaps its only
necessary defense. To make clear
exactly what it is, the principle:
upon which it rests, and the pro
gram it offers is, as rule, suffi
cient to satisfy intelligent and sin
cere persons as to its genreal phil
osophy. Most of the indifference
or opposition to Socialism is du,
10 a misapprehension of the subject
or a lack of thorough knowledge o
its principles and program.
In trying to make clear jus
what Socialism is, it is Amos
necessary, first of all, to remov
the misapprehensions concerning
H. There are so many. crude an
even ludicrous ideas about the sub
ject thet no real progress can b
made until these false ideas ar
corrected. Now as to few of tn
ones most frequently met.
SOCIALISM is MOI ANARCHY
There are now very few VIII
confuse these two PHILOSOPHERS
and yet once in while one meet
with this misconception. And
all who confuse the two, we II
sist with all possible emphasis tina
they are not only not the sam,
but are irreconcilably opposed
each other.
The Anarchist would have tt
individual absolutely Independent
and to accomplish it would abolis
all government. The Socialist, c
the other hand, desires the grea
est possible freedom for the ind
vidusl, but recognizes the IA
that that can be secured on
through the Independence of all,
which the rights and liberties
all are co-ordinated in a perfect,
social organization; and this agai
can only be secured through a der
ocratic form of government.
SOCIALISM NOT ATHEISTIC.
1t is supposed sometimes tn
Socialism is hostile to Christianit
This, again, is due to a misunde
standing of the case. Socialism
a philosophy concerning the soci
and economic life of man, and n
the religious at ALL 1t does II
concern itself with religion,
distinctly declares it to be priva
matter Socialism is therefore r
hostile to Christianity, but leav
that whole question with the inC
vidual, just as the Constitution
the United States does.
The late Frances E. Willard sd
of Socialism: '.It is the marrt
and fairness of Christ's gospel;
is Christianity applied" To us
is the logic of Christianity
The ideals of justice, of brotht
hood, and the law of love as emu