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bour, capital, and talent, or capacity. The result of the whole system was to be, to make every kind of labour intensely attractive. All were to be as busy and as happy as the insect swarms that Paley was so fond of, or as Virgil's bees, with this additional perfection, that there was to be no provision, and no want of a provision, for driving away drones. Fourier could not understand the meaning of an evil passion. Self-denial was the humbug of the priests and the philosophers. All passion was good because it was power,-so much invaluable steam going to waste for want of proper machinery which it might propel. In the mechanism of the phalanx every impulse was to have full play, and, with a universal liberty of action, Fourier believed the distribution of tastes amongst mankind to be so harmonious, that even the disagreeable duties of the scavenger and the nightman would find groups and sections to take them up with passionate enthusiasm.

Christian Socialism.

The other forms of Socialism usually recognise as real evils the tendencies which men show to laziness, fraud, and selfindulgence, but concur in expecting that, with social arrangements once properly placed on a brotherly footing, men would act habitually from brotherly feelings. This is the fallacy of the most respectable of all the Socialist writers-namely, the very able, humane, and courageous men who advocate what is called Christian Socialism in England'. In theory they begin with Christianity as the foundation, and if they could do this in fact, that is to say, if they could find a body of workmen thoroughly imbued with the Christian spirit, a brotherly organization of industry would be easy enough. Even with a very imperfect religious sentiment, when strong enough to over

The most acute and brilliant of the French Socialist writers, Prudhon, cannot be síad to have a system. He is negative and critical, not creative; but he would be a formidable adversary for the old dogmatic economists to fence with, if they were always sensitive enough to know when his weapon runs them through the body.

come the ordinary passions of human nature, co-operative industry has been practicable amongst the monks of the middle ages and amongst the Moravians and Shakers of later times; but without the moral preliminary the mechanism will not revolve. Nothing is easier than, like Gonzalo in the "Tempest," in the idleness of the imagination, to frame plans of perfect commonwealths-nothing harder than to give birth to a new enthusiasm. The Christian Socialists find themselves compelled to think of the plan first, and to hope for the enthusiasm as a result. But the laws of moral causation will not be evaded, and those laws condemn all such schemes to inevitable failure. Upon this subject Mr. Carlyle saw and spoke the whole deep truth--first in 1829, and again with increased force, at the very time when England was in a whirl of excitement about the Reform Bill-that no changes of the social mechanism will accomplish a moral regeneration. Life, wherever it exists, assumes appropriate organization. But no organization, if such a thing can be thought of separately, can ever produce life. The Christian Socialists, however, would deserve forgiveness even for more serious errors, which are only theoretical, in consideration of the practical energy and sagacity with which they have urged a really valuable reform, of which I shall presently speak, and in consideration, also, of the important service which they have rendered to society, by causing a numerous body of intelligent working men to feel that amongst the educated and aristocratic classes are many of their firmest and most zealous friends.

Socialism on the Continent.

Socialism, then, in every form in which it has appeared, is, in my view, a delusion; and a calm and clear thinker can scarcely fail to see where the error of each system lies; but from working men in distress, or suffering under any stinging grievance, real or imaginary, calm and clear thought is hardly to be expected. On the Continent, where Socialism has been

most widely diffused, it is not an opinion, but a passion. It is the religion of the bulk of the artizans in all the great towns throughout France, Switzerland, and Germany; and in spite of the coarse sensualism that often mingles with it, is more like that stern, self-denying, irresistible fanaticism which in the seventeenth century overturned the English monarchy, than any popular feeling that has since appeared in Europe. These men have in them nothing of the timid, prudent, calculating spirit of the middle class. Whenever the summons comes, they are ready to march up to the cannon's mouth, or to fill the deepest fosse with their bodies, in order that their comrades may pass over them to storm, and sack, and devastate every standing structure of the old society. Their enthusiasm, indeed, would probably bear any trial better than the trial of a Socialist experiment itself; for it is very much easier to die on a barricade, or even to endure transportation to Cayenne, than to work on for a twelvemonth side by side with a lazy cooperative colleague, and see him regularly swallowing the half of one's own earnings.

Socialist Tendencies in England.

But there are some who think that this contagion, the spread of which has done much to undermine the fabric of continental society, is not at all to be dreaded in England; and that the instinctive good sense of English workmen must always protect them from such a delusion. The superior practical sense of the English workman is, indeed, a real and most fortunate distinction; but an error which can obtain dominion over such minds as those of the highly-educated advocates of Socialism in England, may very easily assume shapes which, under favourable circumstances, would spread it far and wide amongst the working class. There is, moreover, a peculiarity about working-class politics which is frequently lost sight of, but is of the highest importance; and that is, the love which they have for abstract and elementary discussion. The political shop

keeper takes as keen an interest in the differences between Lord John Russell and Lord Derby, as if he himself were either hoping to gain or fearing to lose some ministerial appointment. The politician of the workshop cares not a rush for either of the great leaders. He is well convinced that they are both aristocrats and enemies of the people. The topics which he deems worthy of discussion are such as the right of property in land, the hostile claims of labour and capital; and, in short, his intellect is perpetually loosening up one or other of the foundations of society. What can be a greater mistake than to imagine that there is not here a soil, all ready prepared, for a general and rapid upgrowth of Socialism, whenever a man shall arise who knows how to turn the capacity to account, and chooses to cast in the seed?

Reform in the Law of Partnership.

Few things can be more important at the present time than to anticipate and prevent any such movement, by providing, if it be possible, channels into which the tendencies which would lead to Socialism may find outlets, not only safe, but eminently beneficial. That this can be done, even with facility, has been shown by Mr. Babbage, in his “Economy of Machinery and Manufactures," by Mr. Mill, in his most valuable chapter on the "Law of Partnership," and by the evidence of various witnesses before Mr. Slaney's committee. In this case a reform is suggested, which is not discordant with the doctrine of leaving things to themselves; but is, on the contrary, a very simple inference from that doctrine, although by some unfortunate coincidence it does incur the condemnation of some of the very persons who, in consistency, should be its chief advocates. The substance of the reform is, that the law of partnership', which amongst us is fettered

1 Upon this subject there is an article full of instructive details in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1852. The title is "Investments for the Working Classes." This paper is clear, forcible, and in admirable tone.

with restrictions, not thought necessary either in France or the United States, should be so altered as to leave men free to form partnerships and joint-stock companies, either with liability limited to the capital subscribed, or with limited liability on the part of all the partners in a concern, except the acting managers; and further, to provide partners, at least in concerns of small magnitude, with some cheap and simple remedy against each other, instead of the present system, in which a partnership dispute compels all the parties to plunge head foremost into the unfathomable and hopeless gulf of the Court of Chancery.

Popular Belief respecting Profits.

The peculiar state of working-class opinion which renders this change advisable even on grounds of the most selfish policy, is worthy of notice. The germ of Socialism, ready at any moment to be quickened into most dangerous life, lies in the belief, wide-spread and deeply-rooted amongst the operative class, that the capitalist obtains more than his just share of the produce of labour. In any intelligible sense of the word justice this is a mistake, a "popular delusion,” which may yet furnish matter for a new and painful chapter in Dr. Mackay's valuable work. It is a delusion, because, if capital is to have any share at all, which will scarcely be denied, it could hardly have less than in cases of the largest investment it has at present. Whatever be the proper rate of profit in any case, the quantity must be in proportion to the quantity of the capital. There is no other way of measuring it. This, however, makes the share of the capitalist class in England seem to be very great, because the absolute quantity of capital that has been accumulated is enormous, but the rate of profit is lower than in any part of the world, and is constantly tending to a point at which no man would think it worth while to exercise the self-denial involved even in the easiest kind of saving. The most accurate index to the general rate of profit is the rate of interest on

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