156 Spiritual Evolution of Society 



the principles of Marx being merely the socialistic 

 expression of the same views of which Nietzsche repre- 

 sents the extreme individualistic interpretation is un- 

 doubtedly sound. Both Marx and Nietzsche founded 

 their philosophy on pure materialism, which has been 

 proved to be a false concept and of necessity doomed 

 to destruction, as all such have been in the past history 

 of mankind ; they are both unaware of any ethical 

 evolution in the upward path of man, and of the need 

 of such if there is to be any permanence in human 

 affairs. In other words, as long as governments, or 

 states, or parties proceed on purely selfish lines, they 

 become hopeless as permanent forces and must finally 

 disappear. Militarism, feudalism, capitalism have all 

 suffered on this account, and disaster awaits the 

 socialist party if they do not take warning and see to 

 it that in the rapid advance which they are making they 

 leave the path indicated by Marx, and think not only 

 of the ascendancy of their own caste, but of the perma- 

 nent good of all mankind. To take an instance : in 

 the coal strike of 1912 there was no thought given to 

 the millions below the poverty line who were forced to 

 suffer far more than the miners themselves — poor 

 people in sweated industries, who had no reserves and 

 no trade union funds to fall back upon, were thrown 

 out of work, without a penny to buy coal to warm them 

 or food to feed them. The strike was unjustifiable, as 

 they could not take action without causing much 

 misery, and should have been delayed until they made 

 provision for the poorer and less able body of workers 

 who were compelled to suffer so terribly. Until the 

 present methods are remedied, the strikers will never 

 receive the sympathy of the people as a whole. And, 

 moreover, the strike will always collapse without the 

 attainment of all the demands of the strikers, just as it 

 did in this case. Their actions must be as just as are 



