Page:The International Socialist Review (1900-1918), Vol. 1, Issue 1.pdf/20

20 past twenty years and of other Socialist organizations more recently, England lags behind the rest of Europe in acceptance of Socialist doctrines as well as in some respects even in the practical application of Socialistic palliatives. That said we may reasonably look into the causes which head back progress in this and  island. I can do no more in this article than give a summary of the conditions which, in my opinion, tell against the spread of Socialism in Great Britain and account for the backwardness of our party here.

1. The ignorance and almost worse than the ignorance, the belated instruction of the mass of the people. They are not trained, either mentally or physically, in any systematic way. Consequently, their habitual reading is of the most snippety character and largely made up of silly little stories.

2. The low standard of life of a large proportion of the working classes. Bad air, bad food, bad clothes, bad surroundings enfeeble intelligence and destroy initiative.

3. Fairly good wages and better conditions of life for the higher grade of artisans, thus separating them from their fellows living on a lower plane and rendering class combination difficult.

4. The Trade Unions tend in the same direction, being in England almost exclusively an aristocracy of labor. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers does not allow engineers' laborers who attend upon the skilled men to join the Society on any consideration I believe.

5. The heavy emigration and colonization of the past have taken off, as they did in the case of Spain, the most adventurous and determined of the workers, leaving only the less energetic behind to propagate the race.

6. The complementary side to this: the return of wealthy men who have made their fortunes over sea to settle in England, and especially in London.

7. These millionaires are all conservative in the widest sense, and they use their wealth and influence, naturally enough, against

8. The growth of the huge parasitic class of children of the people, domestic servants, purveyors of luxuries, and the like who, being dependent on their rich employers, adopt their opinions.

9. The pauper class of our great cities already referred to, called by the Germans which is frankly reactionary. During the outburst of piratical jingoism from which we have been suffering, the poorest quarters were most beflagged.

10. Liberty. Everybody is personally free. The police are