THE RELIGION OF SOCIALISM
We have seen in Chapter XXVI. that Socialism makes war upon
Christianity and upon religion, that it strives to eradicate religion
out of the people's hearts. Now the question arises: How do Socialists
propose to fill the void? What do they intend to put into the place of
that religion which they wish to destroy?
"Socialism involves a change which would be almost a revolution in the
moral and religious attitude of the majority of mankind."[1012]
"Religion will share the fate of the State. It will not be
'abolished,' God will not be dethroned, religion will not be 'torn out
of the people's hearts.' Religion will disappear by itself without any
violent attack."[1013] "The establishment of society on a Socialistic
basis would imply the definitive abandonment of all theological cults,
since the notion of a transcendent god or semi-divine prophet is but
the counterpart and analogue of the transcendent governing class. So
soon as we are rid of the desire of one section of society to enslave
another, the dogmas of an effete creed will lose their interest. As
the religion of slave industry was Paganism; as the religion of
serfage was Catholic Christianity, or Sacerdotalism; as the religion
of Capitalism is Protestant Christianity or Biblical dogma, so the
religion of collective and co-operative industry is Humanism, which is
only another name for Socialism."[1014] "The religion of the future
is to be the religion of the common life. It will have for its ideal
the complete organic unity of the whole human race. And this religion
will be a political religion. It will be a religion which will seek to
realise its ideal in our industrial and social affairs by the
application and use of political methods. The popular conception of
politics as something apart from religion is a cunning device of the
devil to serve his own ends; just in the same way as the popular
impression that politics is something apart from bread and butter, and
shorter hours, and better homes, and better industrial conditions.
There can be no separation between politics and religion. The religion
of the future will be an application of the moral truths of religion
through politics to our industrial and social conditions."[1015]
To root out the very memory of Christianity, Socialists would abolish
the Sunday. "We would surrender once and for all this chimerical
notion of one day of universal rest and institute three days a week,
or, if necessary, more, as days of partial rest, _i.e._ on which
different sections of the community would be freed from labour in
turn."[1016]
This proposal, like so many Socialist proposals, reminds us of the
French Revolution, which also simultaneously abolished the Christian
religion and changed the calendar. The month was divided into three
periods of ten days. The tenth day, the "_decadi_," replaced
Sunday.[1017] The people were compelled to rest on _decadi_ and to
work on Sunday. Peasants who on Sundays did not bring their vegetables
to market were prosecuted.[1018] Policemen who on _decadi_ heard
suspicious noises broke by force into houses to find out whether
people were "desecrating" _decadi_ by work, and the people
complained, "Where is the liberty you promised us when we may not even
dance on any day we like?"[1019]
The French Revolutionaries destroyed the statues and pictures in the
churches. British Socialists at present only propose to replace the
effigies of Christ and the saints by Socialist heroes: "Let the
painters, sculptors, poets, and musicians do honour to the heroes of
humanity, the apostles of science and progress, as they have
heretofore lavished their taste and skill and imagination on a
conventional Jesus, an ideal Madonna and imaginary saints, and Gospel
scenes; let statues arise to Bruno, Vanini, Servetus; let the
historian and the biographer recount with loving wealth of detail
their struggles, controversies, flights, imprisonments, and
martyrdoms; let poets and painters cast the halo of romantic art
around Caxton, Galileo, William the Silent, Milton, Harry Vane, and
great masterful Cromwell; let hymns be sung to Copernicus, Newton,
Harvey, to Massaniello, Danton, Garibaldi, Delescluze, to Grace
Darling, Sister Dora and Father Damien."[1020]
"To the Socialist, Marx has said the last word that need be said on
the subject of the relation of Socialism and religion. 'The religious
reflex of the real world can only finally vanish when the practical
relations of everyday life offer to man none but perfectly
intelligible and reasonable relations with regard to his fellow men.'
Material conditions rule. 'The English Established Church will more
readily pardon an attack on thirty-eight of its thirty-nine articles
than on one-thirty-ninth of its income.' This is as true to-day as
when written in 1867."[1021] Among the "Immediate Reforms" demanded by
the Social-Democratic Federation is, of course, "the disestablishment
and disendowment of all State churches."[1022]
British Socialists, like the French Revolutionaries, have issued
numerous travesties of the Christian church service. The following are
extracts from a widely read "Socialist Ritual."
"A CATECHISM FOR THE MOB
"Q. What is thy name? A. Wageworker.--Q. Who are thy parents? A. My
father was called Wageworker--my mother's name is Poverty.--Q. Where
wast thou born? A. In a garret under the roof of a tenement house
which my father and his comrades built.--Q. What is thy religion? A.
The Religion of Capital.--Q. What duties does thy religion lay upon
thee with regard to society? A. To increase the national wealth--first
through my toil, and next through my savings, as soon as I can make
any.--Q. What does thy religion order thee to do with thy savings? A.
To entrust them to the banks and such other institutions that have
been established by philanthropic financiers, to the end that they may
loan them out to themselves. We are commanded to place our earnings at
all times at the disposal of our masters."
"A LITANY
for the use of the respectable classes. Edited by Edward Carpenter.
"O God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy upon us, miserable
sinners.--Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our
forefathers, neither take thou vengeance of our sins. Spare us, good
Lord; spare us whom thou hast brought into honour and good position
through the precious blood of the toiling masses, and be not angry
with us for ever: Spare us, good Lord.--From all evil and mischief,
from the crafts and assaults of the thief and the burglar, from
poverty and the everlasting damnation of the workhouse: Good Lord,
deliver us.--From bad trade and bogus dividends, from shady and
unprofitable investments, from all unsuccessful speculation and
losses, whether on the turf or in the City: Good Lord, deliver us."
"THE CAPITALIST'S TEN COMMANDMENTS
"I am Capital, thy Master, that brought thee out of the Land of
Liberty into a State of Slavery. Thou shalt not become thine own
Master, nor have any other Masters but me. Thou shalt commit murder
for my sake only. Thou shalt give thy daughters in prostitution and
thy wife in adultery to me."
THE LATEST DECALOGUE
Thou shalt have one God only, who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped, except the currency.
Swear not at all, as for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse.
At Church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend.[1023]
The foregoing representative statements and extracts clearly prove
that the teachings of Socialism, far from being in harmony with
Christianity, are incompatible and directly hostile not only to
Christianity but to all religion. The philosopher of British Socialism
has very truly said, "Socialism has been well described as a new
conception of the world, presenting itself in industry as co-operative
Communism, in politics as international Republicanism, in religion as
atheistic Humanism, by which is meant the recognition of social
progress as our being's highest end and aim."[1024] As there is very
little difference between "atheistic Humanism" and Atheism pure and
simple, Socialists have really no right to complain if their
opponents, relying on Bax's high authority, reproach them with being
Atheists. The excerpts given above show that the religion of Socialism
is a political and economic one. Its character and principles may be
found in the publications of the Labour Church Union and of the
Socialist Sunday School Union. The prospectus of the Labour Church
Union contains the following declaration of principles:
"(1) That the Labour Church exists to give expression to the religion
of the Labour movement. (2) That the religion of the Labour movement
is not theological, but respects each individual's personal
convictions upon this question. (3) That the religion of the Labour
movement seeks the realisation of universal well-being by the
establishment of Socialism--a Commonwealth founded upon justice and
love. (4) The religion of the Labour movement declares that
improvement of social conditions and the development of personal
character are both essential to emancipation from social and moral
bondage, and to that end insists upon the duty of studying the
economic and moral forces of society."
It will be noticed that the words Christianity, God, morality, virtue,
&c., do not occur in the foregoing statement.
Now let us study the details of the Socialist religion. These details
are taken from a statement of the aims, methods, &c. of the Socialist
Sunday Schools, published for the enlightenment of the public by the
Glasgow and District Socialist Sunday School Union, the principal
Socialist Sunday School Union of Great Britain. In that official
publication we read: "Socialism, which the children are taught, is an
idealism. It has been described as 'the highest flight of the ideal
into the realm of the practical.' It is a faith--a faith based on the
divine brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity--irrespective of class,
colour, or creed. It is a religion--a religion greater than creeds or
dogmas. It is a religion of love! Its followers and disciples are
lovers of mankind! Its worship is service to humanity! Socialism has
absorbed not only all the essential spiritual elements contained in
the Christ teaching, but it has also, as Christianity itself has done
before it, absorbed all the highest altruistic teaching of the ages.
But Socialism has done something more--it has struck a new note,
deep-sounding, far-reaching, and its vibrations are stirring in the
hearts of the nations! Socialism has proclaimed its tenets, declaring
the only possible ways and means whereby the sacred rites of the
religion of love can be observed, and without which there can be no
realisation of the divine sentiment--'the brotherhood of man.'
"The Church, the State, and the people alike, in so far as they
sanction and sanctify unrighteous social conditions, are equally guilty
of breaking the very first laws of brotherhood, and thereby of
violating the pure and holy religion of love. When the Sun of Social
Justice--Socialism--has arisen in its full glory, all the artificial
and unnatural causes of evil and error will have been rooted out from
the pathway of human progress. The sons and daughters of men may then,
without mockery, stand before the great throne of love and worship the
beauty and the wonder and the glory of the earth, sky, and sea, as
brothers and sisters in one holy unity, and be more worthy to fathom
the deeper mystery. Thus Socialism, or the law of the religion of love,
unfalteringly maintains: That private property in land is public
robbery. It is public robbery because, the land being the source of all
the necessaries of life, it should belong equally to all, by birthright
of our common inheritance in the brotherhood of the world. 'Let them
know that the earth from which they were created is the common
property of all men, and that therefore the fruits of the earth belong
indiscriminately to all. Those who make private property of the gift of
God, pretend in vain to be innocent, for they are the murderers of
those who die daily for want of it.' Such is the terrible and
unassailable dictum of one of the great founders of the early Christian
Church, Saint Gregory I. Private property in capital--whether in money,
railways, mines, factories, machinery, tools, &c.--is public robbery.
It is public robbery because it creates and divides the human family
into classes. Classes of rich and idle people who claim and hold all
these things as by right--and classes of hirelings who are thus forced
to pay for the use of them--as rent in land, interest in capital,
profit on labour. This means that the hireling classes require to give
all the work of their hands and brains in order to secure a small share
of the things which they need to live, and which they themselves have
produced out of Nature's ample store. And this at once hinders the
possibility of any unity of brotherhood or sisterhood and breaks the
law of love."[1025]
It will be noticed that in this lengthy statement God is mentioned
only for party purposes, and that the chief aim of the "religion of
love" is to sow hatred and to incite to plunder.
The Labour Church Union and the Socialist Sunday Schools use the same
form of the Socialist Ten Commandments, which are as follows:
"Love your schoolfellows, who will be your fellow-workers in life.
Love learning, which is the food of the mind, and be grateful to your
teacher as to your parents. Make every day holy by good and useful
deeds and kindly actions. Honour good men, be courteous to all, bow
down to none. Do not hate or speak evil of anyone, do not be
revengeful, but stand up for your rights and resist oppression. Do not
be cowardly, be a friend to the weak and love justice. Remember that
all the good things of the earth are produced by labour. Whoever
enjoys them without working for them is stealing the bread of the
workers. Observe and think in order to discover the truth. Do not
believe what is contrary to reason, and never deceive yourself or
others. Do not think that he who loves his own country must hate and
despise other nations, or wish for war, which is a remnant of
barbarism. Look forward to the day when all men will be free citizens
of one fatherland and live together as brothers, in peace and
righteousness. Socialism is the hope of the world."
Here also the words Christianity and God do not occur.
We are officially told that "Socialist Sunday Schools are intended to
serve as a means of teaching economic causes of present-day social
evils and of implanting a love of goodness in the child mind."[1026]
The following extracts from the "Red Catechism" serve to show how
"love of goodness" is inculcated in the Socialist Sunday Schools:
"Q. Is there any difference in the teachings at Socialist Sunday
schools and other Sunday schools? A. Yes.--Q. What is taught in
Christian schools? A. Christian morals and capitalist teachings.--Q.
What is meant by the term 'employing men for profit'? A. Capitalists,
when they pay wages, make the workers produce three or four times the
amount they pay them. The extra which the men produce over their wages
is called profit.--Q. What evidence is there that the workers earn a
great amount and get very little? A. The national amount of wealth
produced every year is two thousand millions and the amount paid out
in wages is only five hundred millions, showing that the poor are poor
because they are robbed.--Q. Who creates all wealth? A. The working
class.--Q. Who creates all poverty? A. Our capitalist society.--Q. Who
are the workers? A. Men who work for wages.--Q. What class of men get
into Parliament? A. The capitalist and aristocratic class?--Q. How is
that? A. Because the workers are opposed by men interested in keeping
them poor.--Q. How many children are there in London who go to school
insufficiently fed and clothed? A. It is stated as many as 100,000; a
number equal to the population of a small county.--Q. To what class do
these poor starving children belong? A. The working class.--Q. Is it
not the working class which creates all wealth? A. Yes.--Q. Do the
rich trouble about the poor children of London who are ill-fed and
clothed? A. No.--Q. What is a pauper? A. One who lives upon others,
while being able to work?--Q. Are the rich class able to work? A. Yes;
because they are well cared for when young and grow up strong?--Q. Do
they work? A. No; they consider it menial and beneath them.--Q. Then
they are paupers? A. Yes.--Q. Do the rich and their children live at
the expense of those who work? A. Yes.--Q. What does machinery enable
the workers to do? A. To produce wealth quicker.--Q. Do the workers
benefit by machinery? A. No. On the contrary. It generally reduces
their wages and throws them out of work.--Q. Why is that? A. Because
the machinery is controlled by the capitalist class.--Q. What is a
wage-slave? A. A person who works for a wage and gives all he earns to
a capitalist.--Q. What proportion does a wage-slave receive of what he
earns? A. On the average about a fourth. The slave and serf always had
food, clothing, and shelter. The wage-slave, when he is out of work,
must now starve or go into the workhouse and be made miserable, or
commit suicide.--Q. What is the remedy for wage-slavery? A.
Socialism.--Q. Who pays the rent? A. Father and mother.--Q. Who
demands the rent? A. The landlord.--Q. Can you say how much the
landlord takes from the wages of father, generally for rent? A. Yes; a
fourth.--Q. That is sheer robbery, is it not? A. Yes; but working men
cannot help it.--Q. Why is that? A. Because the landlord class have a
monopoly of land and houses, and workmen have no land and are too poor
to build for themselves."[1027]
With this mendacious stuff the "Religion of Love" systematically
poisons the innocent minds of little children. The religion of
Socialism is indeed a political religion, as Mr. Snowden, M.P., has
stated.
FOOTNOTES:
[1012] Ball, _The Moral Aspects of Socialism_, p. 23.
[1013] Bebel, _Woman_, p. 213.
[1014] Bax, _Religion of Socialism_, p. 81.
[1015] Snowden, _The Christ that Is to be_, pp. 6, 7.
[1016] Bax, _Religion of Socialism_, pp. 58, 59.
[1017] Mignet, _Revolution Francaise_, ch. viii.
[1018] Sciout, iii. 176.
[1019] Sciout, iv. 386.
[1020] Leatham, _Was Jesus a Socialist?_ p. 16.
[1021] _Socialist Standard_, December 1, 1907.
[1022] See Appendix.
[1023] _A Socialists' Ritual_, pp. 7-16.
[1024] Bax, _Religion of Socialism_, p. 81.
[1025] Glasier, _Socialist Sunday Schools_, p. 9.
[1026] Glasier, _Socialist Sunday Schools_, p. 10.
[1027] Hazell, _The Red Catechism_, pp. 3-10.