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968 Cjlf %$&iie t* [Saturday ,
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WHAT IS SOCIALISM? To Tuoknton Hunt, Esq...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Social Reform. "Notks Of A Social (Econo...
John Betters takes a veiy common-sense \ ie . w of the question of social reform . He endeavours to prove that " It ' s the interest of the * i ch to take care of the poor and their education , by which they will take care of their own heirs , " and accordingly proceeds to petition " the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament , " in the following terms : — " The crieB and miseries of some , and idleness and lewdness of others , of the poor , and the charge the nation is at for them heing great , hath encouraged me to present you with some proposals of embodying the
poor so together , that thereby they may be made ot equal value to money ( by their raising a plentiful supply of all conveniences of life ) . And by this example the parish rates , and many commons , may be most profitably employed , and the present hospitals of England may be greatly improved , and also from it the most successful fishery may be raised , and our manufactures best and fully wrought in our own nation . I do not say it may be increased to make England the mart and treasury of Europe , but that time and practice may shew the- profit one or two such colledges -will bring . d
" I humbly pray you would be pleaseto consider it , and as may be agreeable to your wisdom ( like the summer sun to a fruitful tree ) , ripen these proposals to the nation ' s advantage . Or , when any subscribers to such a colledge shall petition you ( for their letter government , and not to exclude others ) to incorporate them , you would please to grant it . And if several models shall be proposed to you , that private persons will undertake , with submission I conceive it ' s the publick ' s interest they have encouragement , because the nation will then have the advantage of following what their experience shall prove the best method ; if you shall not think fit to make any of these more national before . "
John BeHers then proposes , to " the thinking and public spirited , " a general subscription and meeting of the subscribers , where every one may have an opportunity of proposing any other useful thought he may have on this subject ; and in order to draw up suitable rules and methods for such an undertaking . He then gives—• 'A Specimen , showing how the rich may gain , the poor maintain themselves , and children be educated , by being incorporated as a Colledge of all sorts of useful trades , that shall work for one another , without other relief : Suppose three hundred in a Colledge to work the usual time or task as abroad , nnd what any doth more , to be paid for it to encourage industry .
• ' Two hundred of all trades I suppose sufficient to find necessaries for three hundred ; and , therefore , what manufacture the other hundred make , will be profit for the founders . •' £ 10 , 000 to buy an estate in land of £ 500 per annum . " £ 2000 to stock the land , and £ 3000 to prepare necessaries to set the several trades in work . " £ 3000 for new buildings , or repairing old . "In all £ 18 , 000 . " None to subscribe less than £ 25 . ' Every £ 50 or £ 100 to have a vote in making by-laws , and choosing officers ; but no one to huve above live votes .
" Once a year twelve or more proprietors to be chosen a committee , as inspectors and counsellors , for the governors and workmen to apply to . " Corrections to be abatements of food rather than BtripeB ; snch as deserve grenter punishment to be expelled . ' ? Also at the sea-coast may be raised several colledges , as nurseries to the most effectual and succcsbfulleHt fishery ; the collegians being taught industry and temj > erance ( idlencHH and drunkenness greatly spoiling the lnst linglish fishery ) , the colledgo can supply all conveniences and necessaries , and spare one third of their company to fish ; and what fish is pfot out of the sea is an the addition of so much land to the undertakers . "
For further details of John Bellors ' s proposals for raising a College , or Joint Stock Association of Capital and Industry , I must refer your readers to his own pamphlet . Wil , mam Conin « ham .
968 Cjlf %$&Iie T* [Saturday ,
968 Cjlf %$ & iie t * [ Saturday ,
What Is Socialism? To Tuoknton Hunt, Esq...
WHAT IS SOCIALISM ? To Tuoknton Hunt , Esq . September 29 , ISM . DeAK Sik , —Every one who professed a new faith , a faith of which the terms art : not defined to the body of those among whom he lives with sullicicnt distinctness b y it » cuHtomary nppellation , must be prepared for the question , " Whnt in thin new tiling -which you profess ? " The man who avows himself a SyCUiliftt . in / ho present day , if liio character or position prffcA-Ves him from being Hiipposed to demitm * hi > ifliinTtor of hi » neighbour ' s goods or the nnd
• ediiotioni Wf ' - ' ^ Mttr wives daughters , must be prepared * br . ' £ wilar question : What do you mean ¦ I ; .,- - ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ yM / J " " ; . " - ' Wf it " , JW ¦ \^ - . y \ ¦ 1 ' \ L ' 1
enable me to give a complete answer to this " vexed question . " But as the subject is one which has occupied much of my thoughts , as the answer which I am prepared to give appears t o me to explain much of the apparent conflict between the differing systems of Socialist writers , and to afford a standing ground on which the partisans of different systems of Socialism may meet , without rudely jostling each other , to show how men may be thoroughly Socialist while vet they abstain from any attempt abruptly to change
by Socialism ? To make clear to our own minds what Socialism is to us , on what principle it depends , what are its objects , by what means we propose to accomplish them , is then a duty imperative upon all who avow ourselves Socialists , if we would " give a reason for the faith that is m us . " It is not less so if we would secure ourselves from being bewildered amid the diversity of systems which have been from time to time put forward by earnest and original thinkers as the expression of true Socialism . I have not the presumption to claim such an insight into the true principle of Socialism as will
existing institutions , and may even admit into their fellowship those whose theories are commonly supposed to be most hostile to them , the political economists . I am desirous of proposing my answer for the consideratiou of your readers ; not indeed as if it had never been made before , and well made in your own columns , but because it has perhaps not been made there in quite the same shape , and because it has , at all events , not been repeated often enough to find its way into public apprehension , and therefore may bear repetition .
My answer in brief is this : —Socialism is essentially not any particular system , but a principle of action arising out of the idea of duty . In a little publication of my own on the characteristic features of some of the principal systems of Socialism , I have defined social science " as the science of the relations in which men must stand to each other on the earth in order to insure the well being of the whole body . " But Socialism is not social science , but the feeling which gives it birth ; and this feeling I consider to be the faith that it is possible to establish such laws and customs respecting all those relations of life which grow out of or concern property , as shall accord with the reason and conscience of mankind , and the conviction that it is a duty of the highest moment to aim at their introduction and
thus" Ring out the feud 'twixt rich and poor Ring in redress to all mankind . " The wider range taken by those who have endeavoured to contrast systems of Social science is easily enough explained by the vast bearing which the laws and customs concerning property have in our modern world , upon the character and welfare of mankind . But if we look carefully , even into the most comprehensive schemes of this nation which have been proposed , we shall find that that which the author has most at heart , the impulse which urges him to theorize , is the desire of bringing the laws and customs -which relate to property into accordance with what his reason and conscience approves .
It is in this characteristic of Socialism that its true strength lies ; here is the secret of its indestructible vitality . For property is by universal admission a legitimate object of human laws . To deny this it would be necessary to maintain that men may act altogether on . —¦ " The good old rule , the simple plan , That they should take who have the power , And they should keep who can . " But if this be so ; if in questions relating to property we cannot say that might ia right ; if it be
allowed that "we are justified in declaring that in these matters the idea of duty is applicable , and that the laws and customs ¦ which prevail in respect to it must be considered as expressing more or less perfectly the conceptions men have formed of what it was reasonable for them to do in regard to their property , then the inconvenient questions will for ever cease , whether the laws and customs -which prevail as to this matter in any particular country at any particular time , are what they ought to be ? if not , how ought they to be altered ?
It is this feature of Socialism which constitutes the ground of its deeply rooted difference with the schools of modern political economy . For the diBciples of this school , although all their reasonings proceed upon the supposition of a state of things in which violence and fraud shall be suppressed by law , and the custom of slavery shall be abolished , that is , on the supposition of a state of society in which considerable progress has been made in bringing the laws and customs relating to property into accordance ¦
with the requirements ) of the reason and the conscience , yet singularly enough in their own reasonings , have been in the habit of disclaiming , for their science , all connection with questions of moral duty . I will not attempt to unfold here all the causes which appear to have led to this disclaimer . One , however , 1 must discuss , because it has an important bearing on the true relation of political economy to { Socialism an I comprehend it . It will be admitted on nil hands , that one great branch of political economy condemns the conditions under which wealth cau bo produced .
Now , the desire to produce wealth results from ^ bodily wants of man . If we needed nothing for on ! bodily comfort , if we could live withoSt forS clothes , houses , & c , it is clear that we should maV no effort to produce these articles ; or if we did d so , from the desire of finding occupation for o natural powers , the results of our efforts would n I have to us the worth they now have ; but would rather resemble the toys of a child , prized to-dav t be despised to-morrow . But our bodily wants ar ° essentially individual in their character . They lead to effort for their own satisfaction ; but they lead
n further . All that there is expansive , genero us self devoted in man , arises out of another class of desires " those with which the idea of duty is connected . Now ' Socialism , as I have before said , is especially conversant with this idea . Yet , as it desires to applv this idea to the regulation of that which constitutes wealth , to property , a science which treats of the conditions under which wealth is produced most abundantly , would be a natural and valuable auxiliary in the solution of the problems with which Socialism has to deal ; provided that it is content to
take the subordinate position of a mere collector of information ; but this position the political economists have been unwilling to do . Much as they have disclaimed questions of morals , as belonging to another department of knowledge , they have found it impossible eo to separate the action from the motive as not to be continually betrayed into a justification of sophisms , while dwelling exclusively upo n those selfish , individualizing desires , out of -which the disposition to produce wealth arises ; and ,
therefore , do they come into continual antagonism with the views of those who , dwelling principally on the higher aspirations with which the conception of duty is connected , regard the satisfaction of our bodily wants only as means conducive to the end of our so living and working as to fulfil the higher tendencies of our nature * To take an instance , at once , of the connection and the opposition which subsist between the political economist and the Socialist . The former have traced
out the natural conditions which regulate price . They have observed that the diversity of human powers , and of the physical constitution of the globe on which we live , give to some persons a much greater facility in producing certain articles than to others . They remark that thus a competition
between various articles of the same sort will arise eventually , so soon as they are brought together , from the comparison of their respective qualities ; and that if free scope be given to the exercise of this comparison , by facility of exchange , the result will be , that in each district those articles will be produced in abundance , which can be produced there with less labour than elsewhere ; and that this freedom of competition has a tendency to furnish men with more wealth for less exertion than would otherwise be needed to obtain it . It hae become , therefore , a maxim with the economists , that freedom of competition is a great principle of human action , which it is most mischievous to check . But in course of time ,
as exchanges multiply , it is found that the occupation of conducting them , if well conducted , is extremely lucrative , from the comparative smallness of the capital required , and the greater quickness with which it is turned . Crowds of dealers accordingly embark in it ;—many more than are absolutely required to supply the wants of thej public with whom they deal . As larger accumulations of capital take place , larger cnpatilists , whose larger resources enable them to be content with smaller returns , arise to press upon the smaller traders ; in fierce competi
and now the whole body beg a - tion among themselves , not to supply the public with better articles , but to obtain the lions share of the demand . For this end it is the grout object to attract notice ; notice , accordingly , is sought at any sacrifice of labour and of truth . The magnificent shop , the walking placard , the advertising putt arise . To pay for the labour thus wasted , coine adulteration , falsification , and all their train of « vus . Hut this is free competition , and the political economist , true to his flag , maintains that competition must be left uncontrolled , and the remedy be tne
looked for only from the very exaggeration oi disease . Now , here the Socialist parts company with him . He insists upon attempting to retain the goou without the evil . Perfect liberty of exchange he can l > e content to preserve , lie may be willing to leave price to regulate itself by the law of supply an " demand in the market of the world . But he inBiatB upon instituting such a machinery for regulating tne ^ V r ^ T — ^ . V 4 V — - * ^ . ¦ » ** * - ^ ^ H S V — V *^ k ^* ^ ' ™ « " ^ v ^^ mv ^ 'H— — ~ g g g « ~ m needles
neccBHnry exchanges as shall guard against a waste ot labour in an employment in itself un P ^ ductive , and prevent the growth of such u system _ o fraud nnd falsehood as threatens now to undermine all confidence in the fair dealing of the tradesman , i ^ parts company , therefore , with the political economist when the latter steps over the iMiundnnes « that higher morality , which is the aim of the , Sociiuu » to establish in those relations of life which con cor property , as it is his settled belief that tmcu
morality may be established . I have endeavoured , 1 Ifope not without hucccBH , to enow how clour a light the definition of . hociaiisi "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1851, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11101851/page/12/
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