Why I am in favor of socialism Part 5

"Second. The democratic management by the workers of the collectively owned means of producing the means of life."

"Third. Equal opportunities for all men and women to the use and benefits of these collectively owned and democratically managed means of producing the means of life."

Under the present order of society the means of producing the means of life are privately owned and controlled; the owners thereby forming a privileged cla.s.s and are enabled to dictate the terms on which the means of life--land and the machinery of production--can be used.

As a result of this private owners.h.i.+p labor receives but a portion of the product, the larger part of wealth produced being either wasted in the strife of compet.i.tion or retained by the capitalist in the form of interest, rent and profit.

The wealth we command merely through the owners.h.i.+p of stocks and bonds--so-called income producing capital--is wealth received which we do nothing to produce; hence this wealth must, of necessity, be produced by others who are deprived of a portion of their product.

This wealth thus appropriated is wealth derived from profit in the employment of labor (surplus value). A thorough study of economics shows clearly that interest, rent, and profit result in exploitation of labor--the robbery of labor. It is this profit system which is strangling our civilization. Poverty and the greater portion of crime can be traced directly to this exploitive system.

The aim of the Socialist movement is the dethronement of capital and the capitalistic cla.s.s by merging all humanity into one cla.s.s, a producing cla.s.s.

The exploited majority, the poverty stricken, the submerged, as now under capitalism, will under a Socialistic Republic come into their inheritance--equality of opportunity to the resources of wealth and production--and be enabled to retain the wealth they produce.

The capitalist cla.s.s, in any fair view of the situation, while being obliged to surrender the privileges now retained through the private owners.h.i.+p of "the means of producing the means of life," will under a Social Republic receive indirect benefit which we claim will out-weigh any advantage they may now seem to possess.

Human nature does not stand in the way of the realization of a co-operative commonwealth. It is natural that mankind not only seek but demand that to which they are in equity ent.i.tled. Under capitalism the majority are exploited out of a good share of their product. As the producer awakens to an understanding of the present situation, it is this normal and justifiable self-interest--selfishness--which will prove to be a strong, if not the leading, factor in bringing about Socialism.

The unseemly antagonism and strifes so manifest today under capitalism are largely traceable directly to our conflicting economic interests occasioned by the private owners.h.i.+p of the means of life.

A study of social evolution leads clearly in the direction of Socialism. But it is when we carefully consider the economic situation that we become aware of the fallacy of the capitalist system and realize that the wealth producing majority will in time inevitably demand, as a matter of justice, the co-operative commonwealth; that is, will insist that the wealth producer receive the wealth he produces--that the capitalist, who as capitalist receives usury thereby commanding, without labor, wealth produced by others, must cease to be a parasite on labor.

This changed order, this revolution, can be brought about only through socialization of the means of production and of distribution.

Not very long ago the advocate of Socialism was the voice "crying in the wilderness." Today he bears "good tidings of great joy" to a rapidly a.s.sembling mult.i.tude.

=Noll, Aaron.= (Clergyman.)

I have been a member of the Socialist Party since the year 1900. I have, also, for twenty-five years, been a Christian minister, serving pastorates, in regular connection with an orthodox denomination--the Reformed Church in the United States. I am increasingly persuaded of the righteousness of the Socialist Movement. To me it seems that Socialism will make possible, in a practical way, the social ideals of the founder of the Christian Religion. The Church, at any period of its history, may, or it may not, truthfully, stand for the practical application of those ideals. But the Socialist Movement, at all times, the world over, stands for social and industrial justice. Jesus implanted in the consciousness of man the worth of the individual life. Socialism will make possible the true development of the individual unto a complete life. Socialism will throw around every individual a wall of protection against the rapacity of the strong, greedy, selfish individual, and it will put into the hands of every one the means of life whereby he may rise to the full stature of his being, there being none to hinder or oppress him. The concern of each will be the concern of all. But it will be a concern founded on justice, love and peace. Socialism, being scientifically correct, holds out to all men a vision of future good that inspires a hope that makes life seem worth while.

=Russell, Charles Edward.= (Journalist and Author.)

I am in favor of Socialism because Socialism would put an end to the monstrous system of injustice by which men toil to create wealth and then are deprived of the wealth that they create. All wealth is created by labor and should belong to the men and women whose labor creates it.

Socialism would abolish poverty, put an end to child labor, make education the universal possession, abolish prost.i.tution and make the earth fit for the inhabitation of its children. It would obliterate the slum, the breeder of nine-tenths of the evils that now afflict society. It would mean industrial as well as political democracy. I believe in democracy. Therefore, I believe in Socialism, which is perfected and applied democracy.

=James, George Wharton.= (Explorer, Ethnologist and Author.)

As I now stand I can scarcely be said either to favor or oppose Socialism. The term must first be clearly defined. I believe in fellows.h.i.+p, in munic.i.p.al owners.h.i.+p of all public or semi-public utilities; the establishment of free munic.i.p.al markets for vegetables, etc.; the purchase by the city authorities of fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat, coal, etc., when dealers seek to force up the prices, and their disposal at cost to users. I would take back from all corporations, or else compel them to pay to the people an annual rent for the same, all water rights, power rights, etc., that they have filed upon and held by the right of might; I would make all great coal mining, oil mining and other reapers of crops for which they did not sow, pay a certain percentage of their returns into the public treasury; I would compel the abolition of all slums, even to the extent of compelling the munic.i.p.alities to provide decent shelter for the poor at reasonable rates; I would parole all well-behaved prisoners (as a rule) at the end of a year and give them a chance to make good; I in every way would seek to educate the people as a whole to the rights, responsibilities and privileges of government, and then give them, what is theirs inherently, a full power to determine how and by whom they shall be governed.

These, hastily and crudely expressed, are some of my ideas on this important question.

=Koeb, Otto, B.S.= (Stanford University, Cal.)

I believe in universal world-peace between all nations. Since the Socialists are the only political party honestly indorsing world-peace, I sympathize with them.

I am in favor of an universal eight-hour working day, six days per week; abolition of child labor; creation of old age pensions for disabled working men. A certain minimum wage rate, which makes it possible for every normally developed laborer to support a family. Up to the above mentioned points I am in favor of Socialism.

=Cooke, George Willis.= (Author and Lecturer.)

I am in favor of Socialism because I believe in equal opportunities for all children born into the world, and that each should be able to use all his natural gifts according to his ability.

I believe in Socialism because I detest all forms of monopoly and exclusiveness, not being able to see why the minority should possess property and the majority should be deprived of its advantages. If it is good for any, it is good for all.

I am a Socialist because it is quite apparent that the great fundamental sources of the necessities of life, on which all alike are dependent, are social and public in their nature, and should be open to all. They should belong to the nation, accessible on the same terms to all who need them, without giving monopolistic advantage to any.

I am a Socialist because I cannot understand why one man should be subject to another as slave, serf or wage-earner. No man is good enough, said Lincoln, to have the control of another man's life.

I am a Socialist because I believe in the equality of men and women, that the domination of women by men has been vastly injurious to the race, and that the ballot will give women a better opportunity to live a n.o.ble and healthy life as woman, wife and mother.

I am a Socialist because I believe in freedom, individuality and initiative for every man and woman, and that these can be secured for all men and women, according to the measure of their individual capacity, only by that co-operative method offered by Socialism.

HERE AND THERE.

Here is a mother kneeling by a cradle, who vainly endeavors with smacks and kindly words to appease her hungry babies.

There is a father, dusty and fatigued, vainly begging for work.

Here is a magnificent edifice which is called a museum. It shelters dead mummies and statues of marble.

There on a park bench sits a homeless living human being, who, s.h.i.+vering with cold, stares at the pale moon and wonders why his tears are subject to gravitation.

EDWARD SILVIN.