Editorial: Our Third Anniversary
The Socialist Party of Great Britain was born on June 12th, 1904, and three years of crowded life have been added unto it. It has passed through periods of difficulty and of unusual stress and each has left it firmer and more convinced than before. The Party has grown, but not with a mushroom growth, while notwithstanding the comparative smallness of its numbers, its voice has been widely heard—and in no uncertain tone—in the cause of the working class.
Numbers, indeed, are never the only essentials to political strength. Our strength is given us by the logical impregnability of our position and by the fright of our opponents who feel that they have no case. Numbers, in fact, as numbers only, are often a source of weakness, and the disastrous results of seeking numbers first have too often been seen for The Socialist Party to make a similar mistake. The organisation that does not keep numbers and popularity ever subordinate to its early aim becomes easily the tool of self-seekers and its original object becomes entirely lost
The rigidity and correctness of the principles of The Socialist Party, and the knowledge and class-consciousness of its members, form the surest guarantee for the Party’s future. In its early stages the very poverty of the Party is a source of strength. No nameless friends put big sums into its coffers and no lucrative offices exist to attract the charlatan and demagogue. All its work is voluntary and has its root in the sincerity and class-consciousness of working men. The place hunter and the man who unintelligently follows the big show are thus repelled, while the thoughtful and sincere are soonest attracted to its ranks. Thus it is that a firm foundation for the Party’s useful future is being kid.
It is certainly necessary to the realisation of our object that numbers be on our side, but only in so far as they help toward that realisation can they be welcomed. The emancipation of Labour requires working-class unity, but it can be on none other than a Socialist basis since that alone is of any use. And what, it may be asked, do we mean by a Socialist basis ? In the Declaration of Principles of The Socialist Party the essentials of Socialism are, we believe, concisely stated. Assent to these essentials comprises the qualification can neither be made broader without abandoning Socialism nor made narrower without excluding Socialists. Hence we are justified in claiming that the principles upon which The Socialist Party is based are those which must be accepted by the mass of the working class before its emancipation can be accomplished.
We can, therefore, look to the future with confidence and bright hopes, and also upon our past with some complacency: not, however, that we deceive ourselves as to the work yet to be done; but the Party is firmly established and its membership earnest and increasing, while we are confident that our Party cannot be drawn one whit from its path, and that it will keep Socialism ever to the forefront until the day is won.
For the rest, the seed is being widely sown, and, hastened to ripeness in the forcing house of Capitalism, the reaping of the bounteous harvest of Socialism cannot long be delayed.
An Interesting Document
In another column appears a statement issued by some ex-members of the S.D.F. who now form the South Hants Socialist Society. These men have come to see, as we have long seen, that only Socialism matters, and that the S.D.F. is hopeless from the working-class point of view.
In Southampton, as elsewhere, the only result of S.D.F. propaganda and electoral campaigns is working-class confusion or disgust. And no other result could indeed be expected from the intriguing and spineless policy of that organisation ; for a particular brand of conscription typifies its conception of revolutionary propaganda, while its main energies are diverted from Socialism to the realisation of children’s soup kitchens.
The Policy and Objects of the South Hants Socialist Society are not before us, but we conclude from the statement issued that it is a purely propagandist body. It would appear that disgust with the political intrigues of the S.D.F. has caused them to say that their interest in the use of elections for propaganda purposes has vanished. But has the use of elections for Socialism been given a fair trial in Southampton ? Has it not rather been the policy of the S.D.F. there to attempt to get their man into office by hook or by crook, irrespective of principle ?
For elections to be of use for propagandist purposes they must be run straight for Socialism and by a straight party. In which case not only are they useful for propaganda, but also to train the Socialist worker in some of the duties before him. In any case, the capture of political power is necessary, and the work must be begun.
The days are past for a purely propagandist body. It is a way of shirking the fight. To merely propagate principles without at the same time organising for their political and economic realisation is to waste valuable effort and to contribute to the still further confusion of our class. The revolution will not be accomplished by words : it needs organisation and action ; and step by step as the workers become convinced of the soundness of Socialism they must be enrolled within the ranks of a militant organisation so that the mustering of forces and the training of men may go steadily forward for the capture of the political and industrial machinery of the world for the workers.
(Editorial, Socialist Standard, June 1907)