The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1915-03-11
WHY THE B0URGEOISIE
ADOPTED EVOLUTION
THEORY

When Il Ia considered how stub
bornly the church fought Lamarck'
founder of modern evolutionary
science; and how, later, the theolo-
gians msulted Huxley and Darwin
and detained Haeckel, one might well
ask why II Is that the trading'class
acme at last to adopt the theory OF
evolution, or transformism, as part
OF their educational scheme,
Nothing is permitted to become
part of the curriculum of the capital
lists schools which does not tend to
strengthen the position of the domin'
ant business Interests, Therefore the
theory of development, or evolution.
could not be true" unless 1t served
the economic needs of the class in
control of the schools
The question to be answered, then'
| is. how did Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace,
Spencer, Haeckel, Lyell. ct al, serve
business? Simply this; in the early
years of the nineteenth century the
struggle between the clergy, nobility,
and landlords, on the one hand, and
the growing merchant and manufac-
turing class, the typical bourgeoisie.
had not been finally settled. the
trading-class revolutions had won, but
counter-revolution were still the ord
err of the day down to 1S4S, and have
not to this day wholly died out in Eu-
rope.
Reactionaries of all ages and coun-
tries have depended upon the prin-
ciple of at always was so and always
will be So" to justify their let-well-
enough-alone policy-so long as they
were in power.
But the rising trading-classes Of the
world were hampered by the ancient
regime (feudalism, with all that 1t
implied), and resorted to violence,
bloodshed, and anarchy" in order to
overthrow the power of priests and
mobiles and landed gentry" This
meant Revolution, And how justify
bloody revolution, change, when
things always were so and always
will be So?
Then came Lamarck, Goethe, the
Darwins. Spencer, Lyell, and others,
teaching that change, evolution, revo-
buttons, were the order of Nature;
THAT things have not always been
So; that throughout the universe
there was continual change, strug-
gle for existence, in which 1.-THE fit
test" must survive in order that pro-
aress should be made in the world.
/ All this meant, of course, that the
rising trading-class, the bourgeoisie,
the revolutionists, the dangerous agi-
ltators," etc, were the agents of evo-
Tuition, through whom alone progress
could be made, and civilization adj
vanced Had they not proved them
selves to be the fittest to survive in
the struggle for existence? "Evolu-
ton" came just in time to prove the
justice of their claims, through ma
tural law, and they were right
THINGS HAVE CHANGED
Things have changed now.
The bourgeoisie have already out.
lived their usefulness, as the clergy
and mobiles had outlived theirs in the
Eighteenth Century, and became i'm.
possible early in the Age of Steam
and Electricity. The capitalists have
now become the reactionaries, obstruc-
tors of progress and advancing civil.
cation. Revolutionists and danger
Gus agitators," who wish to brush
aside all parasites, are as hateful to
the coupon-clipper of today as were
the early merchants and manufac-
turers to the parasitic clergy and no
bility of the Eighteenth Century, and
later We may soon expect the kept
teachers and writer's of the parasitic
capitalist-class to discover" that
evolution" is wrong, after all; that
no further revolutions" are needed
"Things as they are"-for them, for
the masters, this will be the burden
of their songs and the gist of their
education" Let well enough alone,
half loaf is better than none; the
fittest have survived, and we are TT
I OF 0avoIution" alone Talk about
baseball; or go to our plays at the
movies; or, better yet, read your
Bible"
Above all, don't listen to Socialist
agitators! They believe in change, in
revolution!