CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM
The position of the Christian Churches and of Christian ministers
towards Socialism is one of considerable difficulty. Socialism and
Christianity are two words which are not easily reconcilable. Chapters
XXVI. and XXVII. show that the attitude of British Socialists, not
only towards Christianity but towards all religion, is in the main a
hostile one. Their attitude is only logical. Socialists see in
religious men and in religious corporations obstacles to their
revolutionary and predatory progress. However, as many Socialists have
declared that the teachings of Christ and of Socialism are identical,
some large-hearted Christian ministers have tried to reconcile
Christianity and Socialism. Working under the banner of Christian
Socialism, these are rather trying to exercise practical Christianity
than to assist the Socialist agitation, as may be seen from their
programmes given in the Appendix.
Many Christian Socialist ministers are pious and worthy men whose
actions are wise and moderate. Others have adopted an attitude of
hysterical enthusiasm and admiration towards Socialism. Whilst the
former have only a few adherents, some of the latter have rapidly
secured for themselves a considerable Socialist following, and if one
takes note of their views, one cannot help doubting whether their
motives are entirely disinterested. The following utterances, for
instance, one would expect from the mouth of a Soudanese dervish or
an Indian fakir, but not from the pen of a Christian minister:
"Socialism is the Greatest Movement for Justice and Brotherhood that
this old Planet has ever known. Socialism is the Greatest Passion for
the Release and Freedom of the Human Soul that this world has ever
felt. Socialism is the Greatest Urge of the Average Man to stand
erect, independent, and free, without a Master and without a slave,
that the human race has ever experienced.
"The Spirit of the Lord of Life within me, burning as a fierce flame
in my bones, saith 'Speak unto the people these words': There is only
one Sacred Thing beneath the stars--Human Life. Human Life is the
Incarnation of the Desire of the Lord of Life. Behold! He awaits the
Full Expression, the Complete Emancipation, the Perfect Freedom of
that Human Life, as Life, in all its undisclosed majestic meanings.
And it doth not yet appear what it shall be! The Average Man at your
side in the street, next door--the average woman, any woman, the
child, any child--Behold here is the Sacred One. Love, Worship, and
Bless in the name of the Lord of Life. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.' No
artificial, conventional, social, or financial dignity can make that
Human One worthy; no present degradation or humiliation can finally
obscure that Radiant One. 'I see through your sham tinsel and title; I
see through the dirt and despair to the Human One shining there,'
saith the Living Truth. 'The worship that passeth these Darlings of My
Heart and leaveth them--that worship I am against,' saith the Lord of
Life. O stand erect now, just where you are, just as you read these
words. Thou hast no Superior! Thou art very Beautiful! Thou art the
Freedom Incarnate, whose Heart-beat shall dissolve all slaveries and
Injustice. I Love thee, O Thou Human One. There is only one Sacred
Thing beneath the stars--Human Life. Whatever hurts, harms, makes
cheap, blights, hinders, enslaves, subordinates, or profits off Human
Life is Wrong tho' demanded by ten thousand priests, tho' framed in a
thousand laws, tho' hoary with ten thousand years. Whatever hurts the
Son of man--that--that is the Blasphemy. Whatever helps, releases,
emancipates, makes free, glorifies, makes sacred, enlarges, enricheth
Human Life, that is the Right and Good, tho' persecuted by private
interests; that is the Truth, tho' withstood by dead men's creeds.
Whatever emancipates the average man--that--that is the coming of the
Lord. The Fundamental fact of Life is Bread. Man doth not--cannot live
by Bread alone. But man cannot live without Bread. In the eating of
Bread, behold the Divine Democracy of Human Life. The necessity of
eating Bread--there is the Universal Sacrament--all are present--all
partake. Behold, the Supper of the Lord is--just Bread--our common
Daily Bread. Why is this Bread Sacred? Not in itself. No! Why, then?
It is the food of the Sacred Ones--the Human Ones. It is the Food of
the Incarnation of the Lord of Life. And the first Basic Sacred
Ceremony of Man is--Labour in securing that Bread--the Fact of
Bread-Getting. If that is not Just, True, Right, Good, a
Blessing--then nothing is. All else is measured here. You cannot build
a Sacred Ceremony in the superstructure of Human Life if the Basis in
Bread-getting is a Lie, a Fraud, a Cheat, a Theft, a Slavery, a
Service to the Gain-god--Mammon, a Gamble with Human Flesh. Nay,
verily! 'I will not hear your prayers, your chants, your liturgies,
your praises; My soul hateth even your solemn meeting,' said the Lord
of Life, if thou wilt not see Me in these Human Ones as they struggle
for Bread, if thou wilt not make thy Bread-getting Just, and Holy, and
Good, and True.
"And now, O Capitalism, Thou art doomed! I am against thee, saith the
Spirit. O Capitalism, I have weighed thee in My balances--thou art
found wanting. O Capitalism, thou hast gambled with the Land that I
gave to all for Bread. O Capitalism, thou hast gambled with the great
machines that are for the bread-getting of the people. O Capitalism,
thou hast made Human need an asset of thy gains. Thy Purse is filled
with Bloody Coin. Thy Store-Houses burst where the many Hunger. The
Little Ones cry in the streets whilst thou hidest thy Plunder. I am
against thee, O Capitalism, I am against thee! Thou hast gambled with
the very Bodies and Souls of men in thy Mad Mammonism. Thy fierce
Profit-Hunger Hath rejoiced in the Hunger of Man. I am against thee, O
Capitalism!
"Behold! the Day Dawns! I see Justice arise. I see the Land redeemed!
I see the Titans of Iron, the machinery of shops, used for man! I see
the Toilers go forth to their labours and return with the product of
their toil! I see Capitalism lie prone! I see Mammonism fallen! I see
the Profit of the Many Arise! I see Freedom! I see Brotherhood! I see
the Socialist Age! I see the Commonwealth of Man! 'Tis the coming of
the Lord of Life."[1028]
Much of the foregoing is printed in half-inch letters. At the end of
these wild utterances we read in letters an inch tall: "Rally, Rally,
Rally! Great Social Crusade! Rally, Rally, Rally!"--which unpleasantly
reminds one of the shouting butcher's insistent cry, "Buy, Buy, Buy!"
to be heard in crowded thoroughfares on Saturday nights.
The moderate Christian Socialists cannot help opposing the most
important item in the Socialist programme. For example, "The Christian
Social Union asserts that it has not the slightest sympathy with
confiscation." In fact, "the whole question of expropriation is
tacitly ignored in the literature of Christian Socialism."[1029] "The
Christian who believes in the words: 'Take heed, and keep yourselves
from all covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth,' cannot easily be a
Socialist, and a Christian minister cannot easily approve of the
spoliation of the Church."[1030] Professor Flint stated quite
correctly: "What is called Christian Socialism will always be found to
be unchristian in so far as it is socialistic, or unsocialistic in so
far as it is truly and fully Christian."[1031]
Christian Socialist leaders urge Socialists to join the Christian
Socialist movement. "Every Socialist who understands how deeply
religion has been concerned in every movement that has ever won the
enthusiasm of men, every Socialist who realises how enormous is the
work before him, must welcome the assistance of this ancient and
imperishable organ of love and justice. And every Christian who
rejoices in the singular growth of religious zeal in recent years must
long to see all that huge force given to the service of the Humanity
which Jesus Christ has taken up into the Godhead. For the man that
loves much is a Socialist, and the man that loves most is a saint, and
every man that truly loves the brotherhood is in a state of
salvation."[1032] These words seem rather perfunctory and laboured.
By far the largest number of Socialists regard the Christian Socialist
movement with suspicion and dislike. The philosopher of British
Socialism, Mr. Bax, for instance, wrote contemptuously: "The leaders
of the Guild of St. Matthew wish to accomplish vast changes through 'a
clarified Christianity'?--a Christianity which shall consist
apparently of the skins of dead dogmas stuffed with adulterated
Socialist ethics." A leading Socialist weekly wrote of the early
Christian Socialists: "Whether their labours were largely beneficial
depends on the way one looks at these things. We have no doubt that
for the capitalist class these labours were eminently beneficial, and
that is why Maurice and his friends are held in such great esteem by
them. For the working class, however, their labours spelt slavery, and
ought always to be remembered when similar attempts to 'Christianise'
Socialism are made by the 'servants' of the Church. Here, as in many
other things, the motto of the worker must be 'I fear the Greeks, even
when they come with gifts.'"[1033]
FOOTNOTES:
[1028] _The Social Crusade to Herald the Message of Truth and Freedom
to this Age, conducted by Rev. J. Stitt Wilson, M.A._, November 1907.
[1029] Woodworth, _Christian Socialism in England_, p. 161.
[1030] _Church and Socialism_, p. 39.
[1031] Flint, _Socialism_, p. 441.
[1032] Dearmer, _Socialism and Christianity_, pp. 22, 23.
[1033] _Justice_, October 19, 1907.