Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1908-12-17
SOCIALISM AND THE HOME---BY
MRS. BRUCE GLASIER


that they obtain, destroy the ideal of
the home) are yet frankly recognized
as immoral considerations.
1t is the rich and powerful I'm Eng
land who have largely failed to win
this right--whose marriages are still
governed by reasons OF state. family.
or cash" Kings and dukes, queens
and duchesses may have palaces and
domains IL is the workers who have
homes. For once-pcrhaps IL has al
ways been so down i'm the depths OF
things-the best gift of all has come
to the poor people first. And again
repeat, IL is this home" which our
enemies say Socialism has come TO
destroy! This is the purpose of this
paper-to maintain on the contrary
that 1t is precisely this home" that
Socialism has come to establish for all
classes for all races and for all time,
as the only finally perfect cradle of
the human race, IL is precisely this
home influence the law of love as IL
is learned in and through the home.
that Socialism has come. not to des-
troy. but TO fulfil.
Personally. also. although this is
outside my subject, l would like to
express my belief that this ideal of
home is also the christian ideal. But
the church, whether IL be Catholic or
Protestant. that for centuries has
stopped to sanctify contract" mar
riages. whether between royal per-
sonaEes, American heiresses and de-
cayed dukes, or French peasants
the church has given its blessing alike
to war, with its attendant militarism
in times of peace. to competition. and
to the unearncd riches and undeserved
poverty OF capitalism. has failed to
stand for the social conditions in
which alone the ideal home" can
flourish throughout society.
That IL does so stand will. / believe,
be recognized, and at no distant date,
as the supreme glory of Socialism.
IL is an incontestable fact that i'm
Britain today the vast majority of So
cialists have become Socialists because
they believe i'm the home. They re-
cognize i'm Socialism the system of So
ciety that can be trusted, not only to
preserve and redeem such home-life
as we have already won as a race from
its imminent danger OF destruction
under capitalism, but also to extend
home to the uttcrmost, and to secure
its foundations i'm society as il has
never yet been secured-by making all
homes mutually helpful instead of
mutually destructive, as they are to-
day.
Let us once more briefly exameine
our Socialist ideal. Socialists desire
that society. or the collective action of
the people. should provide for every
girl as for every boy the highest pos
sible education that society knows how
to give-including the supreme educa-
ton that comes with the knowledge
that ito come of age" means to enter
into full citizenship. and the necessity.
as well as the opportunity, of work or
social service. Socialists claim that
society must secure the right to work
abundant wage to every fun grown
woman equally with every full grown
| man.
Socialists claim for society a COM
plete control over the industry of the
country in order that the highest pos
sible supply of every family's need of
fod, clothing. and shelter may be pro-
vidcd.
Socialists therefore desire TO set
+ every woman, as well as every man.
free from all economic considerations
In choosing a life mate: that is, they
desire to unlversaliZe the conditions
of natural selection, and the oppor-
tunity of maintaining In comfort the
family that springs from such a selec-
tion-in short. of the home" Fin
ally, as Engels points out, Socialism
seeks to remove every economic con-
sideration that now practically forces
women to submint to their degradation
at the hand of men, or vice-versa, and
with that degradation to the desecra-
ton OF everything for which the home
stands.
But IL is when we pass from the
consideration of the relations between
husband and wife to those of father.
mother, and child that our Socialist
position as champion of the home"
becomes impregnable.
Let those who raise the cry"Social-
ism against the home" ask themselves
where the Socialists have been to
school for their ideal of a social sys-
tenn founded on mutual aid. Where
did they obtain even the thought OF
human brotherhood? More than all
and here let some unthinking Social
lists pause and consider-where are
they to obtain the motive forces for
the building OF the cooperative COM
monwealth they desire To save i'm those
emotions which have had their origin
in family life at its highest?
"All higher emotions OF our life rise
from II. the love that gathers man and
| woman into one organism" writes II
Fielding Hall, I'm his latest box on Bur-
nah, "The Inward Light" But that
one organizm needs to fulfil its func-
ton in the work of the bearing and
rearing OF its children before that
truth becomes fully manifest in the
race.
Those who are familiar with the
biological writings of the brothers
Reclus and of Kropotkin, gathered In
to wonderfully suggestive form by
Drummond in his Ascent OF Man.
| will recognize the force OF the argu-
ment that II has been the hclplessncss
OF little children more than any other
influence that has led us up as a hui
man race To the possibilities OF the So