Section III: Undue Emphasis of Industrial Life

Socialists demand that all, without exception, take an active part in the system of social production. The “universal duty of labor” insisted on by the Gotha platform is, indeed, no longer mentioned expressly in the Erfurt platform, but in the election proclamation of April 30, 1903, it is emphasized anew by the social democratic party of Germany, and it is, moreover, a necessary inference from the demand of “equal rights and equal duties” and from the systematic organization of labor.

Every individual must enter the service of the community, and receive his portion of the common labor dealt out to him. No one is allowed to possess any productive property of his own, or to produce anything on his own account. For the satisfaction of all his wants he is directed to the state magazines. The education and instruction of youth are to be the business of the state, as is also the care of the sick. In short, every one is to have just so much freedom and so much right as the community concedes to him. We shall have occasion to discuss this point more at length hereafter. Suffice it here to say that this socialistic theory tacitly presupposes that society or the state has the unlimited right of disposal over every individual; that every one is destined in the first instance for the service of the community, and that for the mere purpose of industrial production.

This is the pagan idea of the state as we find it in Plato and other heathen writers. It does not tolerate any personal rights as against the community; it also virtually denies that the first and highest end of man upon earth is the service of God and the attainment of perfect happiness after death. As a logical consequence of this pagan view of the state and of the individual, socialism unduly exaggerates the importance of industrial life or the production of wealth. As in the life of the individual the pursuit of earthly goods, if estimated according to its true importance, occupies the last place in human activity, so also it should be in the life of human society at large. The acquirement of the means of subsistence is subordinate to the higher intellectual aspirations of man. The end of earthly goods is only to prepare the ground upon which higher and more ideal goods are produced.

Now, since it is impossible that all in the same way devote themselves to such various occupations, there must be different callings and states in life, which require long-continued preparation, and which do not all occupy the same place, but form a certain hierarchical order, consisting of various grades subordinate to one another. By their very nature the various classes employed in the production of the necessaries of life (laborers, artisans, husbandmen, etc.) occupy the lowest grade, while the different professions naturally take a higher place on the social scale. We do not mean to imply, however, that the former are not worthy of all consideration and honor, or that those who are employed in procuring the daily necessaries of life have less merit before God: we would only say that the higher professions, considered in themselves, secure a higher rank in society, that they require higher endowments and greater culture, and, consequently, may claim greater consideration.

Now, what is the design of socialism? Socialism will make the laboring class the ruling one, and make the results of labor (the production of values) the standard of the social organization itself and of the social position of each member of society. Society is to become one great productive union. No one may withdraw himself from the duty of production. Unproductive, useless individuals shall not be tolerated. That in such an organization, in which all members are forced to be productive, there is no room for higher callings—e.g., for a priesthood consecrated to the ‘divine service, for religious orders, for those who devote themselves to arts and sciences for their own sake— goes without saying.

Socialism turns away man’s thoughts and desires from lofty ideals and debases them to the level of material enjoyments. Elevation of heart and mind is an unknown quantity in the socialist philosophy. But no! we are deceived. Also socialism lays claim to ideals, But of what kind are they? The socialist Stern¹ enumerates them in the words which Heine, the poet of cynicism, addressed to the Saint-Simonians: “You demand simplicity of apparel, chasteness of life, insipid enjoyments; we, on the contrary, demand nectar and ambrosia, garments of purple, and fragrant perfumes, luxury and magnificence, dancing nymphs, music, and comedy;”’ but this, the same socialist adds, we demand for all and we shall grant it to all.

¹ Stern, Thesen über den Sozialismus, p. 34.

Thus it seems that the mire of Epicureanism, exemplified in the life of Heine, constitutes the socialist heaven. This brings us to another fundamental tenet of socialism.