Christian sociology; Great Britain -- Social conditions; Poor -- Great Britain; Working class -- Great Britain
The labour movement must
stand for the whole of the people; and the present method, by which
social settlements, workers’ educational societies, labour colleges,
no matter who controls them, select out and train just a few of the
working class, can only be regarded as quite temporary measures.
Meanwhile, even to the men and women who are educated and trained in
these establishments, the object of such education and training must
always be that they may be better servants of the working classes, not
better masters, not even better leaders in the sense of desiring to
be something more than the rest of their class. In fact, we have all
to take the workers as human beings, and those who have the best kind
of brains must be content to give their brains for the service of the
others.
No one to-day considers it right that because a man is physically
stronger than his neighbours he should be allowed to rob or ill-use
them. Physical force used in that way has long been looked upon as
something anti-social and evil, but we have not yet reached the point
when we can say that brain-power shall not be exercised for personal
gain only, and this is just what I think we have to get to. We have
to make clever people understand that their brains should be used
impersonally, and for the service of the whole community, and to create
such a public opinion as will make us all realise that it is just as
dishonourable to exploit our neighbours by the use of our brain-power
as it would be to exploit them by use of our physical power. Further,
those who want to help the labour movement must come into it in
the spirit of comradeship, and without expecting to do more than
give themselves to its service; and in doing so they must strive to
understand how the labour movement proposes to work out its salvation.
It is impossible for me to do more than just to indicate a few of the
things which labour needs to get done now; none of us expect that by
a stroke of the pen or by some sudden action we shall change from a
competitive to a co-operative State. And in judging what I propose I
would urge my readers to bear in mind that often the most simple things
are the most important and the most far-reaching in their effects.
People often refuse to take part in simple movements because these are
apparently dull and uninteresting. The business of a Trade Union branch
meeting or of any labour organisation is sometimes very uninteresting;
but it is in these meetings that the best work can be carried through,
because in them men and women get to understand one another’s point
of view, and are also able to think out and organise their plans
of campaign. I say this because I think it is so important that we
should get out of our minds the idea that mere law-making, or even
administration of law, is an effective means of bringing about great
changes. It is, as I said a little way back, a change of mind that is
so much needed. To explain what I mean I would call attention to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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