CHAPTER XLVI

A QUESTION BOX

857. Equal Income.-Q. Will all the people have the same income under Socialism?

A. Socialism will bar from any income those who are able-bodied and render no service, and will so organize industry as to save the waste involved in capitalism. The workers may have equal incomes at one time and unequal ones at another. The joint workers will themselves determine how they will divide their joint products.

858. Dividing With the Helpless.-Q. If the helpless are to be cared for, how then will the workers get the full product of their labor?

A. The helpless are provided for now by the workers, not by the idlers. Under Socialism the cost of improvements, the repairs and provision for the young and the helpless, will be necessary shares of the social cost of production. The net products only can go to the producers, but from the net products no deductions will be made for rent, interest or profit.

859. The Share of the Machines.-Q. Does not machinery have a large share in production? Will the machines be given a share of the products?

A. Yes, all the oil needed to keep down friction and avoid waste, together with all the care and improvements necessary to enable the machine to fulfill the "end of its being" will be provided for machines, then, just as now-and for working people, too, then but not as now. The machine will not be neglected nor the workers robbed for the benefit of those who are not workers.

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860. The Lazy.-Q. Ought the industrious to be compelled to divide up with the lazy?

A. No, but they are obliged to do so now. When the rendering of service shall be the sole condition on which the able-bodied shall be able to secure the benefits of the services of others, then the able-bodied who are lazy will go hungry or go to work. Now they are frequently able to escape work either through the power which the private ownership of productive property, which others must use, gives to them, or by resorting to begging. The lazy who rob and the lazy who beg will never again live at the expense of those who toil.

861. The Incentive.-Q. Will there not be a lack of sufficient incentive to action under Socialism?

A. Yes, there will be no incentive at all to adulterate food, to put shoddy in clothing, to steal, to defraud, to rob, or to hold a private title to lands or tools which are collectively used, for when all can have the free use of lands and tools no one will submit to being exploited in order to use either lands or tools; hence, the motive for owning what others use will disappear while, inasmuch as it will be easier and safer to earn a living than to steal it, the motive for every form of theft will also disappear.

Not so, however, for all kinds of worthy activities. Now men work for a part of what they produce and get so small an income that they have neither time nor strength for anything else. Then life will be just as dear as now, but by increasing the income and shortening the hours those who toil may add to the interests of life the whole range of social and intellectual activities. Socialism will not destroy the incentive to worthy action. It will preserve every worthy motive to action now in force and add the whole force of the higher range of life's most serious interests to the lives of the workers. But within the field of economic interests only it is certain that any reasonable man would work harder for all he produces than for only a share.

862. Boss Rule.-Q. Is not your proposal to manage the industries by majority rule dangerous? Do you want a "Tammany boss" to manage the shops and mines?

A. That is exactly what we have now. The same economic masters who control all the great industrial and commercial interests of the country are also the masters back of all the corrupt political bosses in existence. So long as capitalism remains, the "Tammany boss" or bosses worse than the "Tammany bosses" will control both the workshop and the ballot box. The boss cannot be overthrown in politics so long as he is permitted to remain in business.

863. The Socialist Boss.-Q. Will not the Socialists develop bosses among themselves?

A. They will not need to develop them. They will come into the Socialist movement with the life-habit of capitalism strongly entrenched in all their methods of procedure. It is because of this that there is no more important matter for the Socialists than to guard against boss rule in their own organizations. But the important point here is, that just so far as the Socialist movement falls under the control of any boss in its own management it makes itself incapable of overthrowing the

industrial boss. Surely we can trust the people not to accept a "political boss" in exchange for a "shop boss." Capitalism cannot live without the boss, both in the shop and at the ballot box. Socialism cannot come without the overthrow of the boss both in the shop and at the ballot box.

864. Religion.-Q. Does not Socialism make war on religion?

A. No. Capitalism does. There is not a single religious precept for the government of human conduct which is not contrary to the established maxims and usages of capitalism. Socialism makes the only economic proposals ever made for organizing industry and commerce in a manner not in violation of the practical precepts of all the great religions.

865. Attacking the Rich.-Q. Does not Socialism attack the rich?

A. No. Socialism will make possible the abolition of involuntary poverty. Under Socialism the means of life will be so abundant that no one would ever be distinguished above his fellows simply because he was thought to be secure against want. The Socialist does not object to wealth. What he objects to is the monopoly of the means of producing wealth.

866. The Family.-Q. Will not Socialism destroy the family?

A. The family can be greatly injured either by cutting off its means of support or by so lowering the general average of human character that the qualities which are essential to the maintenance of the family will be found to be lacking among the people. In both of these particulars it is capitalism which is at fault. It puts the proper support of a family beyond the reach of most men, and then so exhausts the vitality, so engages in long hours of toil, so exposes to conditions of temptation the great body of the workers that the home qualities are found to be largely lacking among the workers, while among the idle rich, who so ruthlessly invade the unprotected homes of the poor, by the very wrongs they commit against the poor man's family, disqualify themselves for entering into the real life of real families of their own.

It is true that the marriage of the future will not be entered into for any economic consideration because of the economic equality of opportunity for all the people. Those who contend that economic equality will destroy the home must hold that mercenary motives are the only ones sufficient to lead to marriage. Socialists believe that when people will no longer need to marry for bread that there are other and better reasons which will still lead them to do so.

867.

Anarchists.-Are not Socialists anarchists?

A. There are many kinds of anarchists. If Kropotkin, Tolstoi, William Penn and all other non-resistants are meant in this question, then it may be readily admitted that many Socialists are non-resistants. But this question is usually meant to mean, are not Socialists laying plans to kill the rulers and destroy the governments? To this the answer is perfectly evident and altogether conclusive. The Socialists are everywhere trying to capture the powers of the government by peaceful, constitutional methods in order that the government may be

administered by all and in behalf of all who are willing to give service for service. In all this there is no threat of violence, no purpose to disturb the peace and good order of organized society. It is the capitalists who threaten that should the Socialists come into control of the government, that then the capitalists will refuse to obey the law.

868. Class Hatred.-Q. Are not the Socialists preaching class hatred?

A. No. Class hatred arises from a clashing of class interests. Capitalists deplore class hatred and insist on perpetuating the economic system which creates, maintains and sets over against each other the economic classes. Socialists also deplore class hatred, but they propose to remove the cause by fighting out to an end the class war and by securing a victory for economic justice and thus make an end of the economic war and of the economic classes, and so finally make an end of class hatred.

869. Paying Dues.-Q. Why do the Socialists have a dues-paying system in a political party?

A. (1) Because those interested in any measure ought to pay the cost of its promotion. (2) Because if the Socialist party is ever to come into power large sums of money must be expended in the support of the party. If these sums are provided by voluntary contributions taken in an irregular way the burden will fall heavily on a few. If all pay small sums, and do so regularly, no one will be seriously burdened and the cause will be supported. (3) All should have equal right to be heard in a political party. But the dependence of the party on the payments of a few would give to that few undue influence in the councils of the party.

CHAPTER XLVII

HOW TO WORK FOR SOCIALISM

870. It is the purpose of this chapter to consider how one who desires to work for Socialism may do so most effectively.

871. Previous Training.-In the first place, it ought to be said that the ordinary training and experience of a political party worker will not be of any value in this undertaking. You cannot urge the immediate personal advantage of an immediate party triumph. The bribes of offices and jobs and contracts for yourself or friends, wherein the gain of the party may be to the advantage of the partisan, cannot now, or at any time, be used to make votes for Socialism. Your party promises that the men who work for Socialism and the men who work against Socialism shall alike secure its benefits when Socialism shall have won the day. Neither will there be a chance to make votes for your party by any effort to mislead or deceive the voters. No form of coercion can be used to increase the number of Socialists. You cannot depend on some favorite leader to make his followers Socialists. The leader in politics is but the same thing as the boss in business. You must go after the men, not after their leaders. The voter must be delivered from the leader.