United labor bulletin., 1912-01-11
What Is SOCIALISM?
FRENCH GIVES ANSWER
The Benefits and Results of So
ciaIism Told in Language
That Is Alone Worth
the Reading.
(W. e. p. French in Machinists' Maga-
Zine.l


Socialism is the religion of humanity.
1t was begotten in hope, conceived in
charity, and born in honor. II was nour-
shed in the milk of truth, swaddled in
the robes of justice, rocked in the cradle
of equality, and lighted and warmed by
the eternal fire of the torch of liberty.
II was prophesied in the past, 1t is being
fulfilled in the present. and it shall be
the glory of the splendid future. It is
the creed of the just mind, the prayer
of the generous heart, the commandment
of the kindly soul. 1t is love, and love
is God and fulfilling of the law.
Socialism is the theory and practice of
humanism, mutualisn and we-ism.
Socialism is the science of the COM
monweal and the commonwealth, and
the art of voluntary cooperation. 1t is
the law of evolution applied to society.
1t is the realization of righteous political
economy. 1t is a hope, an aspiration, a
demand for something better, higher and
holier. 1t is living force moving on
ward and upward, and its motto is for
ward" 1t is a progression from evil to
good. from want to plenty, from misery
to happiness, from cruelty to kindness,
from stagnation to movement, from hate
to love, from distrust 10 confidence, and
from death TO life. 1t is a growth away
from falsehood and toward truth, from
injustice toward justice, from folly to-
ward wisdom, from fraud toward hon
esty, from artifice toward art, and from
deformity toward beauty.
Socialism is Americanism, in the sense
of the founders of the republic, for it re-
affrms, in fuller measure, the Declara-
ton of Independence, asserting that all
children, women and men are, and ever
will be, free and equal.
Socialism is the antithesis of anarchy
and autocracy, and the apotheosis of
democracy. 1t is the ripe fruit of de-
mocracy, The Republic of Man, Woman
and Child.
Socialism is the highest patriotism,
for it embraces the whole world, holding
the welfare of the race above the rancor,
avarice or ambition of ruler. priest, or
politician, but ready and willing TO fight
TO the last ditch in defense of its own
country, or in aid Of any other land
threatened by wrong. cruelty or oppres-
sion 1t is the negation OF national and
individual selhshness and isolation, and
the affirmation of the interdependence
and solidarity of all humankind. 1t be-
lieVes that disputes between nations
and individuals can be honorably ad-
justed without murder, and it holds that
war is justifiable in three cases only
TO defend threatened liberties, to seize
withheld liberties, and to succor the vic
tins of tyranny.
Socialism is progress. Ii is the raising
of humankind above money. of people
above property, of humanity above hum
bug and hypocrisy. 1t is a social uplift
from darkness into light. 1t is the de-
nial of the gospel-of-getting, the asser-
ton of the gospel-ofgiving. 1t is the
grave of the corrupt body of selfishness.
the resurrection and immortal life of the
shining spirit of Altruism. 1t is prog
ress, progress. progress, eternal progress
from night to day, from cloud to sun
shine from ignorance to knowledge,
from fear TO hope, from sleep of conserv-
atism to the awakening of thought, from
the coma of reaction to the conscious
splendor OF action and creation. from
the madness of individual competition to
the sanity and peace of collective effort.
from sordid commercialism to big
hearted cooperation, from the crime of
monopoly to the common sense of the
Collectivist Commonwealth. from envy
to emulation, from malice to mutual and
kindly understanding, from the swamp
of poverty to the sunkissed uplands of
universal prosperity. from the earthly
to the ideal. from the hell of the rule OF
gold TO the heaven of the Golden Rule.
Socialism is the evolution of the hui
man race from cannibalism and sayagery
to fraternalism and philanthropy, from
the infamy of the swine to the splendor
of God.
SOCltlSm is the NluSuOul OF
eousness, wherein little children. eman-
cipated from toll. ignorance. hunger and
exploitation. shall be raised by loving
care, in school and play time. to healthy.
happy. useful citizenship; wherein
women. absolved from shame. servitude
and inequality. shall be enfranchised,
owners of themselves, and full partners
in every right and obligation: and
wherein men. masterless. joyous and
free. shall work gladly for family and
home. sure of what they earn. unafraid
of the morrow. unhaunted by the fear
of illness or unemployment. safe from
the scrap-pile OF trade. ennobled by the
dignity of toll that pays no tribute to
Tsskmaster.
Socialism is the communion of art and
industry. the marriage of beauty to
strength and skill. the baptism OF labor
by pleasure. And from these sacraments
shall spring the Joy of the working
the mere joy of living" and the right
to create and enjoy-the inalienable
right of every human being to do the
work that is worth while and pleasant
in the doing.
Socialism IS law and order. cause and
effect. the logic of right reasoning from
right premises. 1t is creation by disin-
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