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 SOCIALISM

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SOCIALISM

attained the proportions of a movement: it is to-day a doctrine embodied in programmes, a system of thought and belief that is put forward as the vivifying principle of an active propaganda, a thing organically connected with the intellectual and moral activities of the millions who are its adherents. Next, the views of small and scattered bodies of men and women, who profess to reconcile the two doctrines, must be allowed no more than their due weight when contrasted with the expressed beliefs of not only the majority of the leading exponents of Socialism, past and present, but also of the immense majority of. the rank and file in all nations. Thirdly, for Catholics, the declarations of supreme pontiffs, of the Catholic hierarchy, and of the leading Catholic sociologists and economists have an important bearing on the question, an evidential force not to be lighth' dismissed. Lastly, the real meaning attached to the terms "Christianity" and "Social- ism", by those who profess to reconcile these doc- trines, must always be elicited before it is possible to estimate either what doctrines are being reconciled or how far that reconciliation is of any practical ade- quacy.

If it be found on examin.ation that the general trend of the Socialist movement, the predominant opinion of the Socialists, the authoritative pronounce- ments of ecclesiastical and expert Catholic authority all tend to emphasize the philosophical cleavage indi- cated above, it is probablj' safe to conclude that those who profess to reconcile the two doctrines are mis- taken: either their grasp of the doctrines of Christi- anity or of Socialism will be found to be imperfect, or else their mental habits will appear to be .so lacking in discipline that they are content with the profession of a belief in incompatible principles. Now, if Socialism be first considered as embodied in the Socialist move- ment and Socialist activity, it is notorious that every- where it is antagonistic to Christianity. This is above all clear in Catholic countries, where the Socialist or- ganizations are markedly anti-Christian both in pro- fession and practice. It is true that of late years there has appeared among Socialists some impatience of remaining mere catspaws of the powerful Masonic anti-clerical societies, but this is rather because these secret societies are largely engineered by the wealthy in the interests of capitalism than from any affection for Catholicism. The European Socialist remains anti-clerical, even when he revolts against Masonic manipulation. Nor is this really less true of non- Catholic countries. In Germany, in Holland, in Den- mark, in the United States, even in Great Britain, organized Socialism is ever prompt to express (in its practical programme, if not in its formulated creed) its contempt for and inherent antagonism to revealed Christianity. What, in public, is not infrequently deprecated is clearly enough implied in projects of legislation, as well as in the mental attitude that is usual in Socialist circles.

Nor are the published views of the Socialist leaders and writers less explicit. "Scientific Socialism" be- gan as an economic exposition of evolutionary mate- rialism; it never lost that character. Its German founders, Marx, Engels, Lassalle, were notoriously anti-Christian both in temper and in acquired phil- osophy. So have been its more modern exponents in Germany, Bebel, Liebknecht, Kautsky, Dietzgen, Bernstein, Singer, as well as the popular paper.s — the "Sozial Demokrat", the "Vorwiirts", the "Zim- merer", the "Neue Zeit" — which reflect, while ex- pounding, the view of the rank and file; and the Gotha and Erfurt programmes, which express the practical aims of the movement. In France and the Netherlands the former and present leaders of the various Socialist sections are at one on the question of Christianity — Lafargvie, Herve, Boudin, Guesde, Jaurfe, Viviani, Sorel, Briand, Griffuelhes, Largardelle, T6ry, Renard, Nieuwenhuis, Vandervelde — all are

anti-Christian, as are the popular newspapers, like "La Guerre Sociale", "L'Humanit6", "Le Social- iste", the "Petite Republique", the "Recht voor Allen", "Le Peuple". In Italy, Austria, Spain, Rus- sia, and Switzerland it is the same: Sociahsm goes hand in hand with the attack on Christianity. Only in the English-speaking coimtries is the rule appar- ently void. Yet, even there, but slight acquaintance with the leading personalities of the Sociahst move- ment and the habits of thought current among them, is sufficient to dispel the illusion. In Great Britain certain prominent names at once occur as plainly anti-Christian — -Aveling, Hjiidman, Pearson, Blatch- ford, Bax, Quelch, Leatham, Morris, Standring — many of them pioneers and prophets of the movement in England. The Fabians, Shaw, Pease, Webb, Guest; independents, like Wells, or Orage, or Car- penter; popular periodicals like "The Clarion", "The Sociahst Review", "Justice" are all markedly non-Christian in spirit, though some of them do pro- test against any necessary incompatibility between their doctrines and the Christian. It is true that the political leaders, like Macdonald and Hardie, and a fair proportion of the present Labour Party might insist that "Socialism is only Christianity in terms of modern economics", but the very measures they ad- vocate or support not unfrequently are anti-Christian in principle or tendency. And in the United States it is the same. Those who have studied the writings or speeches of well-knowm Socialists, such as Bellamy, Gronlund, Spargo, Hunter, Debs, Herron, Abbott, Brown, Del Mar, Hillquit, Kerr, or Simmons, or periodicals like the "New York Volkszeitimg", "The People", "The Comrade", or "The Worker", are aware of the bitterly anti-Christian tone that per- vades them and is inherent in their proijaganda.

The trend of the Socialist movement, then, and the deliberate pronouncements and habitual thought of leaders and followers alike, are almost universally found to be antagonistic to Christianity. Moreover, the other side of the question is but a confirmation of this antagonism. For all three popes who have come into contact with modern Socialism, Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X, have formally condemned it, both as a general doctrine and with regard to specific points. The bishops and clergj', the lay ex-perts on social and economic questions, the philosophers, the theologians, and practically the whole body of the faithful are unanimous in their acceptance of the con- demnation. It is of little purpose to point out that the Socialism condemned is Marxism, and not Fa- bianism or its analogues in various countries. For, in the first place, the main principles common to all schools of Socialism have been explicitly condemned in Encychcals like the "Renim novarum" or the "Graves de communi"; and, in addition, as has been shown above, the main current of Socialism is still Marxist, and no adhesion to a movement professedly international can be acquitted of the guilt of lending support to the condemned doctrines. The Church, the Socialists, the verj* tendency of the movement do but confirm the antagonism of principle, indicated above, between Socialism and Christianity. The "Christian Socialists" of all countries, indeed, fall readily, upon examination, into one of three cate- gories. Either they are ver\' imperfectly Christian, as the Lutheran followers of Stiicker and S'aumann in Germany, or the Calvinist Socialists in France, or the numerous vaguely-doctrinal "Free-Church" Social- ists in England and America; or, secondly, they are but very inaccurately styled ".Socialist"; as were the group led by Kingsley, ^laurice and Hughes in Eng- land, or "Catholic Democrats" like Kctteler, Man- ning, Descurtins, the "Sillonists"; or, thirdly, where there is an acceptance of the main Christian doctrine, side by side with the advocacy of Revolutionary So- cialism, as is the case with the English "Guild of St.