The Irish standard., 1912-03-30
Its Champions Maintain That Modern
Society is Founded on Fun
damental Injustice.
Is Opposed to Revealed RELIGION as
Found in the Scriptures, Says
Jesuit Priest.
It Would Reduce the Minority, Even
Though Large, to a Helpless
State of Subsection.

lecture on Socialism and the Bible, gave
an exposition of the meaning of the
doctrine as promulgated by Socialist
leaders, and showed wherein it is at
variance with the spirit of the Scrip
lures. The speaker said in part:
The doctrine of Socialism is that the
present economic order, in which in
dustry is carried on by private CAPT.
talists served by wage labor, is the
cause of all our social ills, and that it
must and ought to pass away. Social
ism maintains that modern society is
founded in fundamental injustice,
since it deprives the individual of the
opportunity to own and control the
products of his toll; that the present
industrial system is a system of ex-
ploitation, since it permits the capital
list to make profit off the land, tools
and machinery which all people must
use in order to live; that it makes the
people dependent on the few private
owners, who can use this great power
for every means of oppression and
tyranny; that there can be no possible
basis for peace, for individual freedom,
for mental and moral harmony, except
in the conscious and complete triumph
Of the working class that has the right
or power to be. Now, it is not my in
tention to show that Socialism is i'm
practicable, because inconsistent with
the known and tried principles of hui
man nature; that it is impossible, be-
cause no central authority could con-
troll interests SO enormous as are in
volved i'll the Industrial life of modern
society; that is inconsistent with
the social idea of free and happy de-
Velopment, because tending to inter-
fere with individual liberty; no, my
object is to demonstrate that it is op-
posed to reve'' religion as we find
it IN the Bible. In order to proceed
systematically, we shall consider: First,
What socialism is; second, what the
foundations of socialism are, and, third,
why we have to reject it.
What is Socialism,?
The essential feature of socialism is
the abolition Of private property in the
means Of production. For, according
to the Socialist view, private property
in the means of production under free
competition has become the source of
all our present evils, the cause of the
unhappy split of society into two hos
! tile classes, of the oppression of the
poor by the rich, the employed by the
employer. Hence the substitution OF
collective for private ownership in pro-
ductive goods, and of social for private
production, is thought to be absolutely
necessary to restore peace and happi-
ness to the human race. A man, there
lore, is not a genuine Socialist unless
ne agrees to what the Socialist party
of Great Britain officially expresses az
their object: "The establishment of q
system of society based upon the COM
mon ownership and democratic contro
of the means and instruments for pro-
ducing and distributing wealth by an6
in the interests of the whole commun.
ity" This Is the Socialism Of Be
bel in Germany, Jaures in France, Of
Vandervelde in Belgium, and Of Ferry
in Italy; the Socialism which is com.
mon in Great Britain, and which like.
wise is common in the, United States
| to the older Socialist labor party and
the new Socialist party.
Foundations Of Socialism.
"The Socialism that inspires fears
and hope today" our American Social
lists maintain, lis that of the school OF
Marx. No one is seriously apprehen.
sive of any other Socialist movement
All the Socialists parties Of the world
are based on the principles first stated
by Marx and Engels over sixty year!
ago. The principles are the material.
istic conception of history and tn,
MARKHAM theory of surplus-value.
MateriaIistic Conception Of History.
The materialistic conception of his
tory, sometimes called economic de.
terminism," is that in any given epocl
the all-important and fundamental ele
ment in determining the social, legal
and political institutions are the eco.
nomic conditions; and "that conse
quently the whole history of mankind
has been history of class struggles
that the history of these class struggle.
forms a series of evolution in which
nowadays, a stage has been reached
where the exploited and oppressed elias!
the proletariat-cannot attain it,
emancipation from the sway Of the ex
plotting class-the bourgeoisie-with
out at the same time, and once for all
emancipating society at large from al