* June 11, 1893.
Myriads of honest, industrious women in England are laboring excessively
for a bare pittance; day after day they go through the same monotonous
and exhausting round of toil; and the end of it all is a bit of bread
for some who are dear to them, and a squalid, cheerless existence
for themselves. Sometimes, when work is scarce, and sheer starvation
confronts them, they are driven to the last resource of selling their
bodies, and enter the unspeakable inferno of prostitution.
England has thousands of other women who are lapped in an enervating and
degrading luxury--without occupation, with none but frivolous
cares--who fancy themselves infinitely superior to their poor, slaving,
ill-dressed, and toilworn sisters.
These disparities are as great as any that existed in the "infamous"
days of pagan Rome. The world has had eighteen hundred years of
Christianity, and its "salvation" is still in the dim and distant
future.
While the clergy have preached a hell after death, the people have
been left simmering in a real hell in this life--the hell of ignorance,
poverty, oppression, and misery.
Christianity is now boasting of what it is _going_ to do. It says it
begins to understand Jesus Christ; it means to follows in its Master's
footsteps; it will strain every nerve to raise the downtrodden, to
better the condition of the poor, and to give true comfort to the
afflicted. There are some individual Christians who mean this and try
to practise it. But for the most part these fine new promises of
Christianity are nothing but sermon decorations, words for deeds,
sawdust for bread, flash notes for good coin of the realm.
We have but to look around us at this moment to see the true fruits of
Christianity. It is the same fruit that _all_ religion bears. Under
the pretence of being the best friend of the people, Christianity (like
other religions) has been the real friend of the privileged classes. It
has also fostered a public sentiment in this direction. To prove this
let us take a case in point.
Some time ago an English princess lost her lover by death. She was said
to be inconsolable. But before long it was whispered that she was to
marry her lover's brother. At length it was announced in the papers,
only to be contradicted as a false rumor which very much hurt the
feelings of all the parties it concerned. Those who understood the
nature of such contradictions smiled. By and bye the contradicted rumor
was announced authoritatively. Princess May _was_ to marry the gentleman
in question. "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer
by this sun of York."
All England was soon astir with loyal enthusiasm, and people were
everywhere set subscribing for presents to the dear Princess. Soldiers
and sailors are sweated. Pressure is put upon theatrical people. "You
_must_ give _something_," is the cry. The City of London is to spend
£2,500 on a necklace. One lady gives the royal couple a splendid country
house with magnificent grounds. Committees are formed right and left,
and tens of thousands of pounds will be raised, on the ground that "unto
him that hath shall be given"--in some cases, also, without neglecting
the rest of the text, that "from him that hath not shall be taken away
even that which he hath."
Who is the Princess May? Very likely a pleasant young lady. Happily
there are myriads of them in England. What has she ever done? She took
the trouble to be born. Her husband that is to be has an income from
"the service." His father has £36,000 a year, voted by Parliament, for
the express purpose of providing for his children--in addition to his
big income from other sources. All things considered, it does not seem
that Princess May and the Duke of York are in want of anything. But
how many other women--to say nothing of men--_are_ in want! Is not this
lavish generosity to a pair of royal and well-provided lovers an insult
to the working people of England? Is it not a special insult to the
multitude of poor, struggling women, whose earnings are taxed to support
the classes who lord it over them? It may, of course, be replied that
poor women like the idea of all these presents to the Princess. Perhaps
they do. But that only makes it worse. It shows their training has
corrupted them. The last vice of a slave is to admire his oppressor.
Christianity is satisfied with this state of things. Christian ministers
will wink at it, when they do not bless it and approve it with a text.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will officiate at the royal wedding, and
deliver one of those courtier-like homilies which may be expected from
one who takes £15,000 a year to preach the blessings of poverty and the
damnable nature of wealth. This is what comes of eighteen hundred years
of the "poor Carpenter's" religion. His texts of renunciation are idle
verbiage. His name is used to bamboozle the people, to despoil them, and
to make them patient asses under their burdens.
Religion and privilege go together. What does the New Testament say?
"Fear God and honor the king." Fearing God means supporting the clergy.
Honoring the king means keeping one family in foolish luxury, as a
symbol of the whole system of privilege which is maintained by the
systematic exploitation of the people. We are crucified between two
thieves who mock us, but do not share our cross; the spiritual thief,
who robs us of our birthright of mental freedom, and the temporal thief,
who robs us of the fruit of our labor. _Arcades ambo_.
Some people will think we have written too plainly. We beg to tell them
that we have had to practise self-restraint. The fat would be in the
fire with a vengeance if we gave free expression to our disgust. The
only hope for the future of society lies in the absolute extermination
of Christianity. That is the superstition which fools and degrades
Europe, and we must fight it to the death.