Page:Eleven Blind Leaders (1910?).pdf/14

12 All of these "leading socialists" apparently conceive the transformation as the exclusive task of a political party, in control of the governmental machinery of the capitalist state, using that machinery to legislate or otherwise bring into existence the Co-operative Commonwealth.

I shall leave this phase of the problem to the conclusion, and proceed first to deal with the proposed "reforms" or "steps toward socialism" advocated by Simons and Kennedy in their speeches before the League.

First let us consider that "step towards socialism" known as"CO-OPERATIVES."

The system of socalled "co-operatives" finds its highest development in the little country of Belgium. These consist for the most part of various agencies of production and distribution set up in competition with other capitalist institutions of similar character, and floated by money contributed from the savings of workers and middle class "socialists." The "co-operatives" were initiated by the Belgium Labor Party and are affiliated with that socialist political organization. A percentage of the profits realized by these establishments is regularly turned over to the Party for propaganda purposes. According to the Report of the Belgium Labor Party for the year ending December 31, 1906, the "co-operatives" numbered at that time 117 establishments in 24 different sections of the country, with a capital invested of several million dollars.

It must be borne in mind that Belgium is a very small country, no bigger than the single state of Maryland, with no such field for large industrial development as in this country or the larger countries of Europe. Even there, however, we find that the dominant industries, such as mining, transportation, and large manufacturing, are in control of the capitalist class, which thus maintains its industrial and political supremacy over the Belgian working class. Add to this fact the