British Socialism Part 55

[1275] Leatham, _Socialism and Character_, p. 96.

[1276] See Mencius' Works in Legge's _Chinese Cla.s.sics_; Euripides, _The Suppliants_; Aristotle, _Politics_, vii. 5; Aristophanes, _Ecclesiazusae_ and _Plutus_; Plutarch, _Tiberius Gracchus_, 9; Livius, ii. 32; Sall.u.s.t, _Catiline's Conspiracy_, 20, 23, 37-39; Virgil, _Georgics_, i. 125; Tibullus, i. 3, 35 Propertius, ii. 13, iii. 5, 11; Seneca, _Epistles_, 90, &c.

[1277] Taylor, _Statistics of Coal_, p. xxi.

[1278] See _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 8th edition, 1853-1860, articles: Cotton, Iron, Railways; Meyer, _Konversations Lexikon_, 1839-1855, article: Grossbritannien; Porter, _Progress of the Nation_, 1847; MacCulloch, _British Empire_, 1846; MacCulloch, _Dictionary of Commerce_, 1847; Macgregor, _Commercial Statistics_, 1844-1850, &c.

[1279] See _Board of Trade Labour Gazette_ and _Reichs Arbeitsblatt_.

[1280] Ellis Barker, _Modern Germany_, 546 ff.

[1281] Burns, _Labour and Drink_, pp. 15, 18.

[1282] Newman, _The Health of the State_, p. 189.

[1283] Whittaker, _Drink Problem_, p. 10.

[1284] McMillan, _The Child and the State_, p. 4.

[1285] Newman, _Health of the State_, p. 194.

[1286] See _Reports of the Mosely Industrial Commission to the United States_; _The Bra.s.sworkers of Berlin and of Birmingham_; _The Gainsborough Commission, Life and Labour in Germany_; Horsfall, _The Improvement of the Dwellings--The Example of Germany_; Marr, _Housing Conditions in Manchester_; _City of Birmingham, Report of the Housing Committee_; Steele, _The Working Cla.s.ses in France_; Rowntree and Sherwell, _The Temperance Problem_; Rowntree, _Poverty_; the publication of Charles Booth, &c.

APPENDIX

OFFICIAL PROGRAMMES OF THE SOCIALISTIC ORGANISATIONS

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION

_Programme and Rules as revised previous to the Annual Conference held at the Labour Inst.i.tute, Bradford, Easter 1906_

_Object._--The Social-Democratic Federation is a part of the International Social-Democracy. It believes:--

1. That the emanc.i.p.ation of the working cla.s.s can only be achieved through the socialisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and their subsequent control by the organised community in the interests of the whole people.

2. That, as the proletariat is the last cla.s.s to achieve freedom, its emanc.i.p.ation will mean the emanc.i.p.ation of the whole of mankind, without distinction of race, nationality, creed, or s.e.x.

3. That this emanc.i.p.ation can only be the work of the working cla.s.s itself,[1287] organised nationally and internationally into a distinct political party, consciously striving after the realisation of its ideals: and, finally,

4. That, in order to ensure greater material and moral facilities for the working cla.s.s to organise itself and to carry on the cla.s.s war, the following reforms must immediately be carried through:--

IMMEDIATE REFORMS

_Political._--Abolition of the Monarchy.

Democratisation of the Governmental machinery, viz. Abolition of the House of Lords, Payment of Members of Legislative and Administrative bodies. Payment of Official Expenses of Elections out of the Public Funds, Adult Suffrage, Proportional Representation, Triennial Parliaments, Second Ballot, Initiative, and Referendum. Foreigners to be granted rights of citizenship after two years' residence in the country, without any fees. Canva.s.sing to be made illegal. All elections to take place on one day, such day to be made a legal holiday and all premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors to be closed.

Legislation by the people in such wise that no legislative proposal shall become law until ratified by the majority of the people.

Legislative and Administrative independence for all parts of the Empire.

_Financial and Fiscal._--Repudiation of the National Debt.

Abolition of all indirect taxation and the inst.i.tution of a c.u.mulative tax on all incomes and inheritances exceeding _300l._

_Administrative._--Extension of the principle of Local Self-Government.

Systematisation and co-ordination of the local administrative bodies.

Election of all administrators and administrative bodies by Equal Direct Adult Suffrage.

_Educational._--Elementary education to be free, secular, industrial, and compulsory for all cla.s.ses. The age of obligatory school attendance to be raised to 16.

Unification and systematisation of intermediate and higher education, both general and technical, and all such education to be free.

State Maintenance for all attending State schools.

Abolition of school rates; the cost of education in all State schools to be borne by the National Exchequer.

_Public Monopolies and Services._--Nationalisation of the land and the organisation of labour in agriculture and industry under public ownership and control on co-operative principles.

Nationalisation of the Trusts.

Nationalisation of Railways, Docks, and Ca.n.a.ls, and all great means of transit.

Public ownership and control of Gas, Electric Light, and Water supplies, as well as of Tramway, Omnibus, and other locomotive services.

Public ownership and control of the food and coal supply.

The establishment of State and munic.i.p.al banks and p.a.w.nshops and public restaurants.

Public ownership and control of the lifeboat service.

Public ownership and control of hospitals, dispensaries, cemeteries, and crematoria.

Public ownership and control of the drink traffic.

_Labour._--A legislative eight-hour working day, or 48 hours per week, to be the maximum for all trades and industries. Imprisonment to be inflicted on employers for any infringement of the law.

Absolute freedom of combination for all workers, with legal guarantee against any action, private or public, which tends to curtail or infringe it.

No child to be employed in any trade or occupation until 16 years of age, and imprisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and guardians who infringe this law.

Public provision of useful work at not less than trade union rates of wages for the unemployed.