The Western Socialist
Vol. 26 - No. 209
No. 5, 1959
pages 16-17
There is no excuse for anyone in the modern world being unemployed. If no other work is available we can always tackle miracles. Pursuit of the impossible is surely one of the most ancient and popular of occupations. With some people it is merely a pastime where you work for nothing and board yourself. With millions of others though, it is a paying profession. For example, those who are printing and distributing a certain book dedicated to a famous miracle: resurrecting man from the grave or crematory and rehabilitating him elsewhere. If all the extant copies of that Book were assembled and placed end to end they would perhaps encircle the earth. And if the missionaries occupied in repeating and elaborating on the Book's contents, from Billy Graham up, were laid heads to feet this chain of miracle workers might stretch even farther. And the total product of all this tremendous effort has been exactly nothing - not one dead person has been revived and re-located. It is perhaps the world's greatest failure.
Then there is another bunch of magic men, even more numerous. These are feverishly making arms and ammunition and spreading same over the earth's surface. Bombing planes are built to fly faster than sound and missiles are fired at the moon. Troops are stationed facing each other across international boundaries, trained to hate and destroy one another. "Curtains" are erected by the one set of nationals for the other to peek through or around. Even within the confines of each country one section of the populace is paid to spy upon others. It is called "intelligence," also "freedom." Every day millions of tons of good clean paper is smeared over with messages of suspicion, hatred and vilification. Printing presses of one geographical area describe the white (or yellow) people in other regions as "Reds," while these reciprocate with: "Capitalists ," even though more than 80% of the peoples referred to own no capital. In all these areas concerned, radio and television stations spew forth the same poison. And here enters the magic - all this is done for "peace." Almost all the prominent leaders of this same "Simian world," assure us that peace is their purpose. When reminded that modern wars are waged directly or indirectly by those with the most war machinery and propaganda, these peace-mongers hedge and say it is "defense" that is being affected. When called upon to prove what defense really is they mouth generalities or call you a "name" - thereby confessing another 100% failure, another miracle gone sour.
Miracles are truly necessary in a society where it is each against all. Francois Fourier, a French "visionary" born back in 1772, saw this clearly: "The present social order is a ridiculous mechanism in which portions of the whole are in conflict and acting against the whole. We see each class in society desire, from interest, the misfortune of the other classes. The lawyer wishes litigations and suits; the physician desires sickness. The soldier wants a war which will secure him promotion; the undertaker wants burials; monopolists want famine . . . etc." Were Fourier alive today he might add several more storeys to this monstrous mad-house, a structure that must increase to accommodate the increasing recruits. There can be no objection to the Frenchman's classification; only he did use one peculiar phrase: "social 'order.'"
That our big "bug-house" is rapidly filling up, there can be no question. At the present rate of increase it is calculated that within 30 years we will total 4,000,000,000, adding to the momentum in the race for oblivion humanity is running with itself. We find science prolonging the life-span as well as assisting in the increasing birth-rate.
Now if some top notch miracle-worker were to make the earth expand accordingly, we might, even as a madhouse carry on a while longer. But this trick is too big to ask anyone to perform, and the moon is too remote for a dependable refuge, so we will have to try some other way out. The sociologist Malthus, 161 years ago maintained wars and disease epidemics were necessary to check the epidemic of an increasing humanity; and, he was much on a par with the "experts" of today. This "solution" has proven practical with wild rabbits whose excess is wiped out by disease; and when we have excess puppies or kittens we drown them, gas them to death, or electrocute them. But if applied to us humans with our means of mass annihilation it does seem the least bit drastic. What do you think? Of course we might turn cannibal and eat one another directly, instead of one group depriving the other of the means of life as is done under "Free Enterprise." But cannibalism was never a very dependable social order. And we should be more intelligent than the dogs, cats and rabbits. If not, if "Everything is all for the best in the best of possible worlds," then all we can do is build additions to the bug-house.
In our desire to bring something like sanity into the world, we Socialists may also be trying to perform a miracle. When soliciting your assistance we guarantee but two things: our effort will be only on behalf of live people, and it will be confined to the planet we live upon. We will not leave for some other one until a Socialist reconstruction is attempted here, or until convinced that this is hopeless.
First, we submit that there is no effect without a cause. If you agree that the effects of present social relationships are not in the best interest of a vast majority of humans then the logical procedure should be to find, then remove their cause. At least we believe this to be logic, and we can only present our findings. We live in a class, an exploitative society where the purpose of production is profit. The welfare of the mass of human kind is not thought of when the wheels of industry turn. The determining factor with the owner of capital is: how can I get as much as is possible from society and give as little as possible in return? That the goods being made available may be injurious to most of humanity is not once thought of; the only thought is: what can I get out of it? We often fear it may be impolite to burden others with such matters. Maybe they should not be mentioned. Still, it might not take too much of your thinking time. A few seconds could be sufficient. Try it - you might help perform a miracle!
ROY DEVORE
Socialist Party of Canada