One of the incidents of the debate over the railway strike in the House of Commons was a clash between Lloyd George, the Liberal leader, and Keir Hardie, the Socialist. Keir Hardie had made inflammatory speeches to striking workmen, and for this the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave him a terrific and unmerciful flaying. (See _Parliamentary Debates_, 5th series, vol. 29, Aug. 22, 1911.) [48] J. RAMSAY MACDONALD: speech delivered at Edinburgh, 1909. [49] See J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, _The Socialist Movement_, pp. 150-7. [50] G.B. SHAW, Preface to "Fabian Tracts." [51] See LLOYD GEORGE'S famous "Limehouse Speech." [52] L.T. HOBHOUSE, _Democracy and Reaction_, p. 237. [53] BROUGHAM VILLIERS, _The Opportunity of Liberalism_, Preface. [54] See article by Secretary PEASE, of the Fabians, on the Fabian Society, _T.P.'s Magazine_, February, 1911. [55] J.A. HOBSON, _The Crisis of Liberalism_, p. 156. CHAPTER X CONCLUSION We have now concluded our survey of the political activities of Socialism in the four countries that present the most characteristic features of this movement of the working classes. It is peculiarly difficult to draw general conclusions from the study of a movement so protean. Democracy is young; Socialism is in its early infancy. Is there a rational trend in Socialism? Or is it only a passing whim of the masses? Is it a crude theory, an earnest protest, a powerful propaganda? Or is it a current of human conviction so strong, so deep-flowing that it will be resistless? It is futile to deny the power of the Socialist movement. The greatest proof of its virility is its ability to break away from Marxian dogma and from the fantasies of the utopists, and acknowledge mundane ways and means. In spite of this earthiness, it still has its fanciful abstractions. Some of its prophets are still glibly proclaiming a new order,--as if society were artificial, like a house, and could be torn down piecemeal or by dynamite, and then rebuilt to suit the vagaries of a new owner. On the other hand, a portion of the Socialists are learning that society is a living thing that can be shaped only by training, like the mind of a child. Socialism, as a whole, is metamorphosing. Some of its vicious eccentricities, like the ravings against religion and the espousal of free love, have already vanished. It is learning that institutions are the product of ages, not of movements, and cannot be changed at the fancy of every new and disgruntled social prophet.