Mackechnie. — A Poet's Socialism. 388 



And with this we must be content, for we cannot alter hfe, do 

 what we will. 



There are a certain number of radical reformers whose 

 principles, were they allowed to prevail, would spread ruin 

 and desolation everywhere. They aim at subverting the exist- 

 ing social system in order to reconstruct it in their own way. 

 Karl Marx and his disciples make no attempt to conceal the 

 object they have in view, or the means by which it is to be 

 attained. It has been often said, " Money is the source of all 

 evil ; alcohol the cause of all crime," but these wild reformers 

 declare that " Private property is the mother of all crimes." 

 This is the very frenzy of democracy. They declare also that 

 " Society must be destroyed," individualism suppressed, and 

 an association of mankind take its place. They look to 

 a violent subversion of existing order, and propose to appeal 

 to force to establish the rule of the labourer. Would this rule, 

 if established, confer any benefit upon mankind ? It is more 

 than doubtful. The stately pyramid of social order, reared 

 and fashioned by the best exertions of the most capable men 

 of all times, is to be torn down for the purpose of being re- 

 constructed in another form, not as yet generally decided 

 upon. Destruction and reconstruction are easily said. Let 

 us for a moment take it for granted that these worthies have 

 completely succeeded in destroying by violence the existing 

 social order. What follows? The material of the pyramid, 

 human nature, though severed and scattered, still remains the 

 same. Those who previously formed the broad base upon 

 which the structure rested have now the power of altering its 

 foundation. How will the material be used, and what form 

 will the reconstruction assume ? Some of the very advanced 

 thinkers have settled a plan on the following lines : " Abolition 

 of money, inheritance, and private property ; restriction of the 

 isolated household, and development of the associated home ; 

 freedom of sexual unions ; compulsory and equal sharing of all 

 physical labour, and equal division of the means of existence 

 and enjoyment ; universal diffusion of education, science, and 

 art." Now, however we may sympathize with the last- 

 enumerated demand, reasonable men must oppose to the 

 utmost the remainder of this destructive scheme. 



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