228 The Ideal State 



The workers of the nation are too apt to forget the 

 efforts of such men. In all our schools their names 

 ought to be taught as the true makers of history. 

 The noble example of such lives would produce a 

 desire to emulate their endeavours, and fresh impetus 

 from day to day would be given towards the realisa- 

 tion of the " Ideal State." At present one notices 

 that the Syndicalists, the ultra-violent Socialists, at- 

 tack the Labour Members in the House of Commons 

 because they are not able to secure a complete revolu- 

 tion of industrial methods here and now. These ex- 

 tremists never seem to realise that change must be 

 gradual ; that the Government cannot break with the 

 tradition of the past too suddenly, otherwise they 

 run the risk of " wrecking the scheme of things entire," 

 and thereby lose all opportunity to " re-mould it 

 nearer to the heart's desire." As a matter of fact, 

 those Members of Parliament whom the extremists 

 contemptuously name the " Lib-Labs," do far more 

 for the general body of the workers by the pursuance 

 of the methods within their reach, which are slowly 

 ameliorating the social organism. And one is war- 

 ranted in coming to the conclusion that the Labour 

 party is actuated much more by the spirit of altruism 

 than the Syndicalists. The latter, like the Social 

 Democrat, are actuated largely by the spirit of material- 

 ism. " The idea of the Syndicalist was that the 

 railways should belong to the railway men, and the 

 mines to the miners. The idea of the Socialist, on the 

 other hand, was that the mines, railways, and other 

 industries should belong to the people. The Syndi- 

 calist was merely working for the transference of property 

 from one private owner to another." Such was the 

 opinion of a member of the British Socialist party, 

 expressed at the Conference at Manchester in May, 

 1912. And the President of the Conference of Delegates 



