The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1915-04-24
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
OF SOCIALISM
BY j. c. HARKEN9S

or remote economic determinism.
2. Surplus value,
g. The class struggle
a. Collectiveness with democratic
management
I First Cardinal Principle.
| II the people could get to under
stand these four great principles thor
oughly, It would be only a short time
before the great majority swoud be-
come genuine Socialists, Work and
vote for Socialism, until the cooper
alive commonwealth is fully estab-
lished.
| 1t seems the first of these principles
is not understood by the people for the
reason so many of them seem TO con
strue 1t as meaning antagonfem to the
spiritual idea. No such things is in
tended. IL simply means that the
method by which society is fed, clothed,
housed and educated, determines the
prosperity. health. ethics, spirituality
and happiness of the individual mem
bers of society as collective whole,
It has nothing as against religion, mo-
rality ethics or spirituality, but, II
true, the religion, morality, ethics and
spirituality of the people depends on
the fact whether society as atwhole is
well fed, clothed, housed and educated.
II the people suffer religiously, ethic-
ally and spiritually g.
Second Cardinal Principle
The second of these cardinal prin-
ciples above stated, surplus value, is
simply the difference between what
laborer produces and what heIreceives
for doing the work. For Instance,
our statisticians, many of them at
least. have agreed, that the average
production Of wealth per person, work
ing on an average of ten hours per
day is $40 Of wealth, while the aver
age wages paid is less than 50 per
day. The difference between the
amount received or 50 per day and the
amount produced $40 per day is So or
the surplus value of each worker,
which the employer receives and thus
concentrates in the hands ~ fewer
and fewer persons. The Socialist
simply says that what is now surplus
value would be distributed back to
the laborers who produce the wealth
and hence there would not be small
class of very wealthy and large class
who are constantly near the line of
actual want. All would have the neces-
sary material things desired and all
would be happy.
Third Cardinal Principle
The third cardinal principle on
which Socialism is based, as above
stated is the class struggle. We
Socialists do not teach that there is a
class struggle because we desire such
a condition in society but rather, be-
cause we desire to arouse the laboring
producing classes to a condition of
class Consciousness, so that they will
arise and remove the causes which
impel the class struggle. What are
the causes which impel the class
struggle? The principal cause is the
surplus value which labor creates but
which the capitalist or employer gets.
The laborer desires a larger portion of
this surplus value which he creates
or larger wages. The capitalist de-
sires to retain that which he is al
ready getting and hence he opposes
any increase of wages and even fights
for lower and lower wages so that he
may retain the surplus value he is
now getting, and this class struggle
now getting and thus class struggle
ever goes on and ever will go ON so
long as the capitalist system continues
| in operations: The Socialist says this
surplus value should all go to the
laboring class that creates it. That
the way to do that is for the laborers
| to become class conscious, unite on
| the political field and on the Industrial
| field, take charge and control of the
political state and of the industries
so that the laborer who produces the
wealth shall get the full social pro
duct of his toll and thereby wipe out
the causes of the class struggle.
Fourth Cardinal Principle
The fourth cardinal principle on
which Socialism Is based, as above
stated is collectiveism, with demo
cratic management. Not collectiVeism
as of today which is managed by the
plutocrats or the few capitalists for
the few capitalists but collectiveism
| in which every member of society
shall have an equal ownership in the
social tools of production and dis
tribution and therefore an equal
power to make all the laws, rules and
regulations of the political state and
of the industries and therefore with
| the power to make every member of
society equal beneficiaries of all the
laws, rules and regulations of
society.
Thus we see that Socialism is based
on scientific principles and with an
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