Christian sociology; Great Britain -- Social conditions; Poor -- Great Britain; Working class -- Great Britain
This movement does many things that we all feel are hurtful both to
itself and to society. That is only because the working class does not,
as a class, yet know either its strength or what it wants. In the vast
majority of cases working-class discontent is quite unorganised, and
is but the expression of a righteous wrath against conditions which
often are well-nigh intolerable. All the same, though, it is a good
rule to remember that the workers are so often right and so seldom
wrong as to make it, on the average, quite the wisest thing to stand
by them all the time. Their enemies are never slow to put them down,
and, consequently, I would urge every man and woman who wants really to
change things to get into the working-class movement. At first people
of a different class may be received with suspicion and distrust, but
if they are not self-seekers, if they go into the movement asking for
nothing, but willing to give all they have to give, whether it is brain
power or merely material resources, they will very soon find that a
place will be made for them and their help cordially welcomed.
But what the working-class movement less and less will tolerate is
patronage from anyone. So many superior young men and women try
to join it in order to direct and control it. These usually end by
becoming Government bosses in one form or another. The main thing
for us all to bear in mind is that, in joining the labour movement
or in supporting it, we must be prepared to become just one of the
people. This necessity always reminds me of the saying that unless
we become as little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Such is the attitude of mind which should dominate our relationships
with one another; that is to say, we must have the mind of little
children in that our words and actions must carry conviction because
people understand that there is nothing more behind them than they
are intended to convey. This is true of little children; we know what
they mean because of what they say; and it must also be true of men
and women who want to be in the labour movement. There have been too
many men and women who have used the movement to become what are called
leaders and so on, and that is not what middle-class people should go
into the movement for. They should join in order to be part of it, all
the time keeping steadily in mind the fact that _true_ democracy
means people thinking and doing things for themselves, and that the
_word_ democracy does not always guarantee that those who use it
are themselves true democrats. Any who join or who are willing to
support the labour movement must be prepared for disappointments and
disillusionment. The working classes are just like the rest of the
people, liable to fits of depression and fits of elation. All the same,
the salvation of humanity must come by and through them. The better
educated, the more moneyed, can help to stimulate and train them,
but this must all be on impersonal lines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account