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I MR. LAWRENCE CONTINUES.I

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I MR. LAWRENCE CONTINUES. The Rev. Mr. Dockeray. Sir.—Ruskin's definition of religion shows that he was an apt critic who never hesitated to tell the truth. Beaconsfield once said that al- cohol was the chloroform given to the working class to render them unconscious to the econo- mic conditions. Religion and alcohol are the two principal expedients sanctioned and foster- ed by the State for the same express purpose- to render the masses unconscious. The one poieons the body; the other the mind. You, sir are actively engaged in dealing out to the masses this soporific mental potion in order to keep them from thinking of things that really matter; by preaching to them about things that are untrue, and in doing so you mislead them into believing that the untruths of reli- gion are of vital importance. As long as you and your colleagues can succeed in keeping the minds of the masses chloroformed by religious fervour so long will they remain ignorant of the possibility of social betterment; so long as they are taught to believe that the present social order is God-ordained —and that is what you teach them—so long will they remain with- out attempting an effort to improve it. You, Sir, have shown in your several letters to the press that you know so little, of the order of evolution of human society that you cannot conceive of a different and higher order. All you have to suggest is a palliative—a patch on the social ulcer i.e., a living wage. You state that in your last letter. Whatever you mean bv that I don't know. Will you say what is your standard of measurement? You place a money value upon the lives of the worker; some measure of comfort, you say, for the man who is prepared to pay the price in hard work. Am I to suppose that an educated man who exprresses himself in that manner in the 20th Century is capable of giving advice to the Edi- tor and the Labour movement? We Socialists are not advocates of a mere living wage. We are out in order to live; to live in the full sense of the term, if you can grasp it. We value men by the nobility of their minds. We are out for a new order; we are out to abolish the wage system; we can see mankind being born anew in a new society. We see a new world in process of develops ment; of the Socialist Societv you. sir, have no vision. You cannot be expected to; you can- not have given any study to the subject, or you would not write as you do. Yet you are apparently in earnest about something. You assert you are mindful of the workers' interest. You would do something for them; you remind me of the parasites of human society the upper classes—when they read of misery, pov- erty and wretchedness of the poor m e,rt.y daily papers. Thev have a sense of pity; they feel as if they ought to do something so they organise some society concerts, bazaars, for charitable purposes, where they create a mere pittance to mitigate human suffering when they are themselves the cause of human misery. Yes. they would do anything for the worker except get off his back! You, Sir, do not put forward any practical suggestion as an altern- ative? What right have you to criticise? You are a believer in the present social order with all its accompanying horrors—war, exploitation and legalised robbery of the worker. You say we are against the present order of society; therefore you admit it. Do you feel proud of it? Do you believe that God made mankind for the one half to rob and murder the other half? If you think so, then your God is only a replica of yourself. We do not attach the blame of this war to God or the Devil. We blame the present oder. Therefore, we want to change it. You say that we who hold these views are not fit members for this organised society. Now, Sir, I agree with you; we are not; but we are not living in a good organised society.. This is a wicked disorganised society, and we are out to re-organise it for the moral good of mankind. The economic basis of society is wrong, and I want to know where you stand. You believe in the present consti- tution of aociety and the present war. You do so because you have no conception of the changing process of human society; you do not foresee the possibility of any economic reconstruction of our social order; you say that Socialism is an abstract political theory. That one sentence. Sir, reveals to me your complete lack of knowledge of the subject you have set yourself out to advise. Let me show you how little you know about it. Do you think that the sanitary arrangements at your house, the refuse collecting system of the town, the water service laid on, the streets and pavements you walk upon, the educational system of this and other countries, the beneficial administration of such system as the postal system and the gas and electric lighting of the various towns in the United Kingdom are nothing more than an abstract political theory? You should know that these things have passed the theor- etical stage. They are now practical every-day facts, although I am compelled to admit they are not perfect; but the maladministration is due to the fact that the people who manage them hold opposing views like yourself. Their private interests clash with the public interest, They are advocates of the status quo; they ha-ve no real interest in the world except their own sordid little speck of it. Apart from their own petty graspings td make as much as they can out of their fellows, what sincere effort do they make to understand the condi- tions that make or unmake humanity? Talk to them about posterity and they reply. "The present is good enough for me," especially if it means clutching the leg of mutton at the top of the pole. They represent the capitalists' mind. You say we are out to fight capital to the hitter end. Again you are wrong. We have no quarrel with capital; we never had any. We are out to quarrel with the manner in which the capitalist misuses the capital which the workers produce. We want a better sys- tem of distribution. Within the last few years 125 clergymen died, leaving £ 6.229.000 an average of £ 349,000. Your Master is reputed to have had nowhere to lav His head, and would you care to practically follow His advice? To go into the cornfields of the rich and pluck the corn! You would n ot care to do it, be- cause you know it would be unlawful. If you were to do it in the name of religion, you would be considered by society to be insane; if you don't believe, then try the experiment.— Yours respectfully. I A W. LAWRENCE.

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