Books: The Inhumanity of Socialism
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Edward F. Adams >> The Inhumanity of Socialism
IV. To fight Nature is to die. Socialism fights Nature. Therefore,
Socialism would destroy the race.
It is a matter of premises, and I have already said that the premises in
these syllogisms can neither be proved or disproved. People, I suppose,
will continue to fight over them but I shall not. No human life is long
enough and no human intellect strong enough to demonstrate or disprove
any one of them. Experimentally mankind is always somewhere trying out
one or the other of these postulates but success or failure only proves
that they did or did not prove true in that particular case.
An underlying fallacy of Socialism is the concept that poverty or at
least extreme poverty, can be banished from the world. It cannot. It is
impossible for the effective to produce and save as fast as the
ineffective will waste and destroy if they can get at it. No truth in
the Bible is more profound than the saying: The poor ye have always with
you."
The concept is based upon an unfounded belief in the competence of the
average man. He is not nearly so competent an animal as he has taught
himself to believe. We read our Nordau and with but the very slightest
ability to judge what he says we declare him a libeler. We read our Le
Bon and declare off-hand that it is absurd and wicked to say that the
crowd has no more sense than a flock of sheep. When we hear of an
alienist who cites the increase of murder, suicide and insanity as
evidence that mankind is losing its mental balance, we declare that the
man is crazy himself.
I do not say that such men are or are not right or anywhere near right
in the views they express, but I do say that they are writing in cold
blood in the light of a great deal of exact knowledge and certainly are
much better judges of the truth in those matters than most of us who
dispose of them so brusquely.
The fact is that man, like other animals, differs greatly in individual
ability but he differs from other animals in that the difference between
the most competent and the least competent is enormously greater than
such difference in any other species. The highest type of man is almost
Godlike in the scope and keenness of his intellect. The lowest type
reaches depths of degradation not touched by any other animal. There is
no degradation so utterly degraded as a degraded mind.
If you ask what all this has to do with Socialism, the reply is that it
has everything to do with it. The sole object which I have in this
address is to impress upon you the concept of man as an animal in the
grip of an all-powerful Nature, and differing from other animals solely
in his greater ability to dodge and evade, and so prolong the processes
through which Nature will surely get him in the end; to conceive of him
also as subject to the same law which enthralls other animals, whereby
the fittest who demonstrate their fitness in the economic struggle shall
survive while the least fit shall perish; to conceive of him as prepared
and inspired for the struggle by the love of self which Nature has
implanted in his soul in order that the race may endure to the utmost
limit possible for it, by the survival of those having the greatest
capacity for happiness.
And, having fixed this conception in your minds, form your own judgment
of the probable outcome of a contest which would begin by eliminating
from man the one principle - selfishness - through which he must survive
if he survives at all.
Thus far, I have dealt with the subject in icy cold blood as a purely
economic problem wholly excluding all considerations of humanity. It
must be dealt with in that way if we are to deal with it intelligently.
What must be will be, however dearly we may wish it otherwise. But we do
not wish to go home with ice in our souls, and let us see if we cannot
find some reflections more comforting. I am sure that we can.
I have said that humanitarianism has no legitimate place in economic
discussion and it has not. But it has a very large place outside
economic theory and often in contact with economic results.
There may be economic gains which ought to be and will be surrendered
for social gains, as long as we can do it and live. A very reliable test
of the prosperity of a Society is the extent to which it can without
distress, surrender economic goods in exchange for social goods.
I have attacked Socialism, not Socialists. Multitudes of Socialists are
most charming men and women, and the aspirations of pure Socialism are
the noblest of which the human mind can conceive. How impossible they
are of realization I think they are, I have endeavored to show. But
there are individualists whose ideals are equally noble. Any conception
that Socialists as a class are upon a higher ethical plane than
individualists may be dismissed. Personally, I fear that at present the
average ethical plane of Socialists is below that of opponents for the
allurements of Socialistic theory have attracted to that cult a great
number of the economically impotent, but nevertheless greedy, who know
nothing and care less about Socialistic theory but lust for that which
they have never earned. It is they who promote class hatred as well as
class consciousness. They are an effective offset, morally, to the
greedy and consciousless employers who nevertheless perform a useful
economic function which the greedy among the Socialists do not.
But, my controversy at this time is not with them, but with the
Socialistic idealists moved by the loftiest conception of the welfare of
mankind and the most earnest desire to promote it. And now let us
introduce somewhat of humanitarianism, which, while it has no place in
economic theory, is that which most ennobles and beautifies human
character. And here let me register my last attack upon Socialistic
controversy, which is, that fundamentally it tends to degrade human
character by adopting for, and applying to the manual workers of the
world a contemptuous epithet. When Marx, if it was he, I am not sure,
shouted: "Proletariat of all nations, unite" he said a very wicked
thing. It is not my conception of the manual worker that he is a mere
"child getter," but rather that he is as such, morally and socially the
equal of any of us, from whose ranks there are continually emerging the
leaders of thought, of discovery, of direction and of accumulation to
whose abilities and activities all human progress is due, and I cannot
hear without indignation suggestions from his own would-be leaders which
impair his self-respect. I wish, for a concrete example, that the
workingman should pay his poll tax and contribute to his occupational
insurance with the rest of us, not to relieve Capital of a burden, but
that the character of the working man himself may be strengthened by a
conscious contribution to the upkeep of Society.
Our emotions are stronger than our reasoning powers, and as a matter of
fact, collective human action is and during any period which we need
consider will be controlled by humanitarian instincts and not by the
rigidity of economic theory. Individually, we do and always shall, seek
each his own particular interest. Collectively, we invariably consider
the welfare of all. This has been particularly impressed on me during
the last few years, during which I have presided over the deliberations
of a large body of good citizens, probably about equally divided between
the accumulating and non-accumulating classes. Whatever the individual
practices and tendencies of the respective members, whenever after
discussion the collective opinion is expressed on any social topic the
vote is invariably substantially unanimous for that policy which those
present believe will make for the general good. It is not true that the
rich desire to oppress the poor. It is not true that there is any real
conflict of interest between classes. It is true that there is a general
desire for the general welfare. And it is also true that the general
welfare will be surest and soonest attained by cooperation, and not
conflict between classes, under the direction of those proved to be
strongest and wisest.
I have said, and I am sure you must agree, that man economically differs
from other animals mainly in his greater ability to evade the operation
of Nature's own laws and to make use of the material resources and
forces of Nature to assist him in so doing. And he does it mainly by
collective action which is displayed most effectively and beneficently
in those great economic organizations which we hate and stigmatize as
"trusts" and which every one of us longs to get into as our best
assurance of economic stability.
The problem is how to so regulate these economic regulators of Nature,
that each shall get from their beneficent operation, not that which is
his ethical due, for that we can never determine, nor would it be for
the general welfare that each should receive his due, but that which
each can receive without injury to Society.
It is certain that each will get less as the ages go by unless by our
human ingenuity we can make production keep pace with population. At
present, production greatly varies in different parts of the world, and
the condition in each country is indicated by the amount of leisure
possible to the average man. As population increases, leisure must
decrease. If we work in a crowded community but eight hours per day,
some will die among the weaker who would have lived if all had worked
nine hours. The best index of the economic condition of any country is
the amount of leisure which can be enjoyed by the average man without
noticeable increase of mortality among the least efficient. The
mortality tables have not yet been studied in their relations to this
subject, but in time they will be. In Australia, mostly unsettled, the
eight hour day is easy. If enforced in China the mortality would be
awful. But then China has great but untouched natural resources to be
developed by machinery devised elsewhere, and whose development will
decrease mortality, while at the same time, at least for a long period,
permitting more leisure. These conditions tend to equalize themselves
throughout the world and in time the contest between humanitarian
instincts and economic pressure will reach a world-wide equilibrium
through the operation of natural law. What will happen then I do not
know. Neither can any of us know.
What we do know is that in each generation the aggregate of human
happiness will be in a direct ratio with production per capita, up to
the limit of the ability of the earth to produce food. We also know that
the rate of production per capita will increase or decrease in a direct
ratio with the amount of human energy devoted to production and not
wasted in confiict, whether individual, class or international.
Each generation must work out its own problems in its own way. As
population grows denser, individual freedom must more and more give way
to collective restraint and direction. We in the cities have less
freedom than those of the country, and the greater the city the more the
individual impulse must be subordinated to collective control.
But we must never attempt to supplant individual selfishness, inspiring
individual initiative and energy by any form of community ownership or
direction which destroys or lessens opportunity for the more competent
and especially the economically exceptional man. You would create
thereby a machine operated by machinists for the accomplishment of
machine purposes which are the purposes, good or bad as the case may be,
of the individual operators who have never been and are not likely to be
the economically competent.
For our generation the problem is, while not restricting either the
opportunity or the reward of the economically competent, to compel the
predatory and extortionate among them to behave decently, so that others
of their class may do so without ruin - to which end, in my judgment,
jail sentences and not fines will be most effective.
And likewise, to compel the ill-disposed and violent among the
economically ineffective, to obey the laws or suffer the consequences.
To bother our heads much less about Social theories, whose premises it
is impossible to establish, and much more about the practical relief of
the unfortunate by both individual and collective action and suppression
of parasitism among both rich and poor.
To encourage and promote the organization of interests, not for
contention, but for cooperation.
To fully recognize, that only by personal exertion according to his
ability does any one earn the right to live, but that the reward of
exertion will be and should be apportioned, not in the ratio of energy
displayed, but in that of its effectiveness and usefulness to Society.
To learn to differentiate between that reasonable discontent which is
the mainspring of human progress, and that unreasonable discontent which
is the destruction of Society.
And finally, each of us according to his ability and opportunity, to
practice and inculcate respect for the law, the maintenance of order,
regard for the rights of others, admiration for the successful, sympathy
with the unfortunate, charity for all, hope for humanity, joy in the
simple life and contentment therewith.
[1] See Note 2.
[2] The accuracy of this reference was challenged by a young Socialist,
after the address. I have not read Capital for many years but think I
cannot be far wrong in my statement and, in any case, the conception as
stated, whether accurately Marxian or not, is the conception of all who
give vitality to Socialism in this country. Hence, I do not take the
time to verify my recollection. I am a busy man and it is no light thing
to tackle Capital with intent to extract its precise meaning. Multitudes
who have tried it have failed. Perhaps I was one of them. Of course Marx
recognized the value of Labor other than manual, but his appeal was to
manual workers and it is mainly they who have responded.
[3] Some of these counts would bear subdividing but they would come out
all right. Any syllogism will come out all right when you assume the
premises.
A Critique of Socialism
To the Ruskin Club
When your Mr. Bamford wrote me that the Ruskin Club was out hunting
trouble, and that if I would come over here the bad men of the club
would "do me up," I confess my first impulse was to excuse myself from
the proffered hospitality. In the first place, as I have never posed as
a social champion I had no reputation at stake and I was horribly
afraid. Secondly, while my reading of Socialist and Anti-Socialist
literature is the reverse of extensive, I am very sure that nothing can
be said for or against Socialism which has not already been said many
times, and so well said that a fair collection of Anti-Socialist
literature would make a punching-bag solid enough to absorb the force of
the most energetic of pugilists. Finally, the inutility of such a sally
presented itself forcibly, since there is, so far as I know, no record
of the reformation of a Socialist after the habit is once firmly
established. But while at first these considerations were all against my
putting on my armor, in the end the instinct of eating and fighting,
which is as forceful in the modern savage, under the veneer of
civilization, as in our unpolished progenitors, overcame all
considerations of prudence, and here I am to do battle according to my
ability. I promise to strike no foul blows and not to dodge the most
portentous of whacks, but to ride straight at you and hit as hard as I
can.
A Critique of Socialism
While it is doubtless true that no one can live in the world without in
some degree modifying his environment, it is also true that the
influence of a single person is seldom appreciable or his opinion upon
Social questions of sufficient importance to excite curiosity, but I
confess that when I listen to an address intended to be thoughtful, I
enjoy it more or at any rate endure it better, if I have some knowledge
of the mental attitude of the speaker toward his general subject.
Thinking that possibly those who hear me this evening may have the same
feeling, I begin by saying that I earnestly favor a just distribution of
comfort. I suppose that if I should analyze the mental processes leading
to that wish, I should find toward the bottom a conviction that if each
had his due I should be better off. The objection to the Socialistic
program is that it would prevent a just distribution of comfort.
Some years ago in a book of which I was guilty, I wrote the following:
"There is implied in all Socialistic writing the doctrine that organized
man can override, and as applied to himself, repeal the fundamental law
of Nature, that no species can endure except by the production of more
individuals than can be supported, of whom the weakest must die, with
the corollary of misery before death. Competitive Society tends to the
death of the weakest, Socialistic Society would tend to the preservation
of the weak. There can be no question of the grandeur of this
conception. To no man is given nobler aspirations than to him who
conceives of a just distribution of comfort in an existence not idle,
but without struggle. It would be a Nirvana glorious only in the absence
of sorrow, but still perhaps a happy ending for our race. It may, after
all, be our destiny. Nor can any right-minded man forbear his tribute to
the good which Socialistic agitation has done. No man can tell how much
misery it has prevented, or how much it will prevent. So, also, while we
may regret the emotionalism which renders even so keen an intellect as
that of Karl Marx an unsafe guide, we must, when we read his description
of conditions for which he sought remedy, confess that he had been less
a man had he been less emotional. The man whom daily contact with
remediable misery will not render incompetent to always write logically,
I would not wish to know. But it is the mission of such men to arouse
action and not to finally determine its scope. The advocate may not be
the judge. My animus is that I heartily desire most if not all the ends
proposed by abstract Socialism, which I understand to be a perfectly
just distribution of comfort. If, therefore, I am a critic of Socialism,
I am a friendly critic, my objections to its progress resting mainly on
a conviction that it would not remove, but would intensify, the evils
which it is intended to mitigate." That is quite sufficient in regard to
the personal equation.
There appear to be, unfortunately, as many sects of Socialists as of
Christians, and if "Capital" were a more clearly written book I should
be of the opinion that it would be as much better for Socialists if all
other books on Socialism were destroyed as it would be for Christians
and Jews if all books on Theology were destroyed, except the Bible. By
Socialism I mean what some Socialist writers call "Scientific
Socialism." "Marxism," it might be called. "Humanism," I think Marx
would have preferred to call it, and I believe did call it, for he dealt
with abstract doctrine applicable to men and not to nations, and his
propaganda was the "International." Incidentally, as we pass on, we may
notice in this connection the dilemma of American Socialists which they
do not seem to realize. State Socialism has no logical place in a
Socialistic program, for it merely substitutes the more deadly
competition of nations for that of the individual, or even "trust"
competition now existing, while Humanism, or Marxism, tends to a uniform
condition of humanity which the American proletariat would fight tooth
and nail because they would rightly believe that for them it would at
present be a leveling down instead of leveling up.
Karl Marx was, of course, not the inventor of Socialism, nor was he, so
far as I know, the originator of any of its fundamental doctrines, - the
doctrine, for example, that all value is derived from Labor was part of
mediaeval clericism, - but be first reduced it to coherent form and
published it as a complete and definite system, and upon the issues,
substantially as he formulated and left them, must Socialism stand or
fall.
I must assume the members of the Ruskin Club to be familiar with the
Marxian fundamental propositions, which I do not state because I shall
confine my attack to the three derived propositions about which
discussion mainly centers. We certainly do not want an exercise in
serious dialectics after dinner, but I will say in passing that I do not
think that any of his fundamental propositions are true, or that his
theory of value has a single sound leg to stand on, and as for what he
calls "surplus value," I doubt whether there be such a thing. At any
rate he has not proved it, nor can it be proved, without taking into
consideration the enormous number of industrial failures, as well as the
more limited number of industrial successes - and there are no data for
that purpose. I may also mention as what seems to me a fatal flaw in
Socialistic philosophy, its concentration upon the conditions of
Industrial Society, without adequate conception of a provision for the
requirements of agriculture. Industrialism and commercialism are
doubtless conveniences essential to our present civilization; but if
every factory and all commerce were blotted from the earth the world
would go right along, and when the necessary millions had perished in
the adjustment, those remaining would be as happy as ever. Mankind
adjusts itself to new environments very readily. We here in cities
talking wisely on these things are wholly unnecessary. The farmer is
essential, because without him we should starve. Nobody else is
essential. We must not get the big-head. Economical farming on
Socialistic methods is impossible, and any successful system of Social
betterment must be based on the requirements of economical farming.
Finally, to conclude this preliminary reconnaissance, the attitude of
Socialism to religion is wholly unjustifiable. I am profoundly convinced
that the groveling heathen, who in sincerity bows down to a "bloomin'
idol made of mud," as Kipling puts it, has in him the propagation of a
nobler and happier posterity than the most cultured cosmopolitan who is
destitute of reverence. The Church and the Synagogue are the only
existing institutions of modern Society which are engaged in the work of
upbuilding and strengthening that rugged personal character which is the
only sure foundation of any worthy civilization.
I do not discuss the fundamental Marxian propositions for two reasons.
In the first place, it would be laborious beyond measure for me, and
dreary beyond measure for you. For example, the bottom stone in the
foundation of the sub-basement of the Marxian edifice is the proposition
that the equation
X commodity A=y commodity B essentially differs from the equation
y Commodity B=X Commodity A.
Now, a discussion whether there is between these two equations a
difference which it is Socially necessary to take account of, is a thing
to be put into books where it can be skipped, and not imposed in cold
blood even on intellectual enemies. Personally I do not believe there
is, for I do not think that Social phenomena can be dealt with by the
rigorous methods of mathematics. One can never be sure that the unknown
quantities are all accounted for. But whether this or similar
propositions are essential to the discussion of the theory of surplus
value or not, I do not describe them because they are of no particular
importance.
Socialism is not based upon the Marxian theory of value, but the Marxian
theory of value was evolved in an endeavor to fix a scientific basis for
a popular movement already fully under way. Socialism is not based on
reason, but emotion; not on reflection, but desire; it is not
scientific, but popular. If every Socialist on earth should concede that
the Marxian theory of surplus value had been knocked into smithereens,
it would have no more effect on the progress of Socialism than the
gentle zephyr of a June day on the hide of a rhinoceros. Socialism must
be attacked in the derived propositions about which popular discussion
centers, and the assault must be, not to prove that the doctrines are
scientifically unsound, but that they tend to the impoverishment and
debasement of the masses. These propositions are three, and I lay down
as my thesis - for I abhor defensive warfare - that
Rent is right,
Interest is right,
Profits are right,
and that they are all three ethically and economically justified, and
are in fact essential to the happiness and progress of the race, and
more especially to those who labor with their hands.
Now, first, rent: I confess that I have no patience with any one who
claims, as an inherent right, the exclusive ownership of any part of the
earth. He might as well claim ownership in a section of air. In this I
am very certain that I have the hearty concurrence of every member of
this Club. I am so sure of this, in fact, that I am going to make that
assumption, in which we all agree, the starting point of a little
dialogue, in which, after the manner of Plato, I will put Socrates at
one end of the discussion, and some of his friends, whom we will suppose
to be Phaedo, and Crito, and Simmias, and the rest at the other, and we
will let Socrates and Phaedo carry on the conversation, which might run
as follows: