Socialism from Genesis to Revelation

be peaceful and gradual. With the hope of insuring this result, and with the earnest desire to promote peace and good will by laying again the foundations of social justice in accordance with the precepts of the Son of God, these pages have been written.

SPRINGFIELD, October, 1892.

F. M. SPRAGUE.

嗣

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE GENESIS OF SOCIALISM

I. DEFINITION AND ESSENTIAL NATURE.

Ethical Basis. Two Permanent Factors. - Dis-

tinguished from Individualism. - Historical Sys-

tems of Industry. - Capitalism. - Communism.

Nihilism. Anarchism. - Essence of Socialism

II. THE FIVE FINGERS OF THE SOCIALISTIC HAND.

The Economic. - The Social. - The Moral. The

Political. The Religious. - Eight Points of Re-

semblance to Christianity. - Relation to Republi-

can Government. - Marriage and the Family.

Inflammatory Utterances not Representative.

Working and Upper Classes Embracing Socialism,

PAGE

1-4

4-10

CHAPTER II

CAUSES THAT HAVE PRODUCED SOCIALISM

I. THE INTRODUCTION OF MACHINERY.

Its Capacity. Cause of Suffering.-Punishment of

Machine-breakers. - Machinery a Disappointment

to Laborers

II. THE CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL.

Steam and the Great Plant. - Ruin of Small In-

dustries. Hardship of Laborers. - Movement of

Population.

III. DIVISION AND CONSEQUENT DEGRADATION OF LA-

BOR.

Function of the Laborer lowered. - Labor Mo-
notonous. Production cheapened at the Expense
of the Laborer's Manhood.

11-14

14-15

15-17

IV. THE SEPARATION OF INDUSTRIAL CLASSES.

Assumption of Superiority by Employers.

gation of Wage-workers. -

Segre-

Envy and Hatred

toward Employers. - Large Salaries.- Caste and
Inequality

V. COMPETITION.

Nature. - Labor a Commodity. Manchester
School.-Laissez-faire.— Failure of the Economic
Harmonies. Competition Unethical. - False As-
sumptions. Cause of Inequality. - Prediction of
Pitt.-Oppression of Labor.-Socialism the Remedy,

VI. MONOPOLY.

Precludes Competition. -Oppresses Labor. -Ten-

dency toward Monopoly. — Natural and Artificial.

- Industrial Tyranny

VII. OVER-PRODUCTION.

Anarchy of Private Enterprise. — Disastrous Ef-
fects. No Remedy under Capitalism.

PAGE

17-20

20-26

27-29

29-31

Theory of

31-33

Rodbertus. Inherent in Capitalism. - Feverish
Pulse of Capitalism

Increases with Civilization. - Product of Capital-
ism.-Industry.- Enforced Idleness. -Statistics.
-Menace to the Republic. Cardinal Manning on

the Right to Steal. - Hung for being Poor. - Pau-
perism in England. — In the United States

In Favor of Capital and against Labor.-Testimony

of Professor Rogers; of Professor Jevons. Stat-
ute of Laborers. Statute of Apprentices. - Suf-
ferings of Laborers.- Professor Ely on Child Labor.
- Class Legislation in America

XI. SPREAD OF THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLE.

In Russia. -In England.

United States. - Industrial Liberty Curtailed.
Democracy and Socialism. - Industrial Democracy
a Necessity.

XII. THE DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE.

Power of Knowledge.

- Statistics of Schools and

Progress of Knowledge in Russia. In Italy. - In

33-36

Spain. In the United States. - Newspapers in the
United States and Canada. - Increase of Books. -
Effect on the Masses

XIII. THE DECAY OF RELIGION.

Roscher.-Loss of Faith a Danger. - Working men

and the Church. - Despair of Labor Reformers.

Self-Indictment of the Church. - Charities. Lib-

erty Dependent upon Religion. - Historical Exam-

ples. Purified Christianity and Socialism

CHAPTER III

THE FIVE POSTULATES OF SOCIALISM

I. LABOR IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VALUE.

The Basal Principle.-Labor in its Broadest Sense.-

Mental and Moral Workers.- False Impressions.

Manual Laborers the Principal Sufferers under Cap-

italism. Two Kinds of Value.- Land. - Politico-

Economic Authority for this Postulate. - The Prin-

ciple Self-evident. - Capital. Money not Capital.

-Capital Non-productive. - Mr. Rae's Remarkable

Assertion. Theory that Capital employs Labor.

Capital transferred to Products.

Capital is Value.

All Capital is produced by Labor.- Socialism and
Capital. The System at Fault. - Capital is Con-
gealed Labor.- Nature of Labor as Measure of
Value. - Concrete and Abstract Labor. - Socially
Necessary Labor. - Quantity of Labor the Measure
of Value. Equal Hours of Concrete Labor not of
Equal Value. - Confusion on this Subject. - Mr.
Rae's Erroneous Theory of Value. — Corollaries of
this Postulate. - Bright. - Dr. Behrends