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~ \ 7 \ =- \ - - - -_ .~-- PRICE- ONE PENNY. Reformers' Bookstall Propaganda Pamphlets (No.2). galfour ofgurleigq ana (50.

WHY THEY OPPOSE .

By W. STEWART ( .. Gavroche").

P rinted by CIVIC PRESS, LTD., 164 H oward St reet , . P ublished by GLASGO W REFORMERS' BOOKSTALL, 126 Bothwell St.reet.; BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH & CO.

HIS pamphlet is written specially for Scottish people. English, Irish, and Welsh are not prohibited from T reading it. It will do them no harm. Scottish folk are specially addressed, not because of their superior intelligence, which is of course taken for granted, but because in this pamphlet an effort is made to do justice to an eminent and highly respectable Scotsman. Lord Bal­ four of Burleigh is modest as well as respectable and emin­ ent, and his modesty has hitherto prevented him from tak­ ing his countrymen fully into his confidence. He has told them that he is opposed to Old Age Pensions, Free Meals for Hungry Children, and Socialism, but he has never yet told them the true reasons why he is opposed to these things. He has indeed implied that he wants to preserve the self­ respect of the Scottish people, and to save Scottish children from being pauperised, which latter is in his opinion a greater misfortune than being starved. But these are not the chief reasons for Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Anti­ Socialism. This pamphlet is designed to explain his Lord­ ship's real motives, which with characteristic reserve he has kept in the background. Incidentally, it will be necessary to explain what Anti­ Socialism means, and that also will involve an explanation of what Socialism means. Thus we are in for an exposure of the Socialists. Also of the Anti-Socialists j all arising out of this attempt to do justice to Lord Balfour of Burleigh. Lord Balfour is in the very front of the Anti-Socialist movement. He is President of the British Constitutional Association, and in that capacity he it was who opened this Anti-Socialist campaign, with considerable bravado and eclat. The date was 3rd October, 1907, a red-letter day in his Lordship's career. It was a great day for the Anti­ Socialists. It was also a great day for the Socialists. 4

For on that day the Anti-Socialists st arted out to advertise Socialism. Since t hat memorable day the Anti­ Socialist campaign has developed. Its missionaries are abroad, and its caravans are carrying inexhaustible st ores of specially preserved gramophonic eloquen ce to the r emotest corners of the land. The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light-the Light of Socialism. They have al so heard a great noise . The noise of the Anti-Socialist gramophones.

To oppose Socialism. What is the object of the Anti-Socialist campaign ? Unless we understand this we cannot do justice to Lord Balfour of Burleigh. The object of the Anti-Socialist cam­ paign is to oppose Socialism. That is a perfectly legiti­ mate object. People who do not believe in Socialism have a right to oppose it. It is, in fact, their duty to oppose it, just as it· will be their duty to acquiesce in it when once the will uf the people has declared in its favour. This is the essential virtue of the Anti-Socialist campaign. It is an appeal to the people. It is an admission that the will of the people must be supreme, for or against S ocialism. Socialists have no right to complain, and do not complain. Socialists believe that in an appeal to the people they have nothing to fear. They glory in the fact that the Anti-So­ cialists have at last been compelled to submit the issue to the judgement of the common people. For in that fact rests the assurance that the ultimate establishment of Social­ ism in this country will be accomplished constitutionally and peacefully. Having once conceded the right of the people to decide, the capitalists dare not resist that decision by f orc e. The Social Revolution will be a peaceful revolu­ tion.

Well, then. The Anti-Socialists are out to oppose Socialism, Balfour of Burleigh leading on. Who is Lord Balfour of Burleigh ~ T.he answer to that question will give us the answer to another question. TVhy does Lord Balfour of Burleigh oppose Socialism ~ 5

If you know a man's antecedents, interests, and envrr­ onments, you can usually get to the root of his opinions. Who is Balfour of Burleigh? What are his titles to be regarded as an authority on Socialism?

An Aristocrat. Firstly, Balfour of Burleigh is an elected Scottish Peer, and in this limited sense is a representative man. He sits in the House of Lords as mouthpiece of the hereditary privileged classes of , who have at all times been the enemies of the common people. As a member of the House of Lords, appointed thereto by a few Scottish noblemen-so-called-Balfour of Burleigh is vested with legislative authority equal to that of a member of the House of Commons, elected by the people. That is to say, he possesses more political power than an entire Parlia­ mentary constituency. Ten thousand voters are collectively of less importance than is Lord Balfour of Burleigh. Here we have one special reason why he is opposed to Socialism. Under Socialism, Balfour of Burleigh would not sit in the House of Lords.

There would be no House of Lords. Socialism is democratic. It has its roots politically III democracy. Socialism would abolish the House of Lords, and would place Balfour of Burleigh on a level politically with every other citizen. Naturally Lord Balfour is an Anti-Socialist. He does not want to be placed on a level with other citizens. He does not believe in democracy. He believes in the House of Lords, and in Balfour of Burleigh. On the question of Socialism he is a prejudiced person. The Anti-Socialist vans are out to defend Balfour of Burleigh's claim to sit in the House of Lords.

A Jerry-Built Statesman. Secondly: Lord Balfour, by virtue of his peership, and by virtue of that alone, takes rank as a statesman. He 6 has been a minist er of the Crown, and hopes to be so again. That is one of the immediate objects of the Anti-Socialist campaign-to return Lord Balfour's part y to power so that he and his associates may once more become ministers of the crown. H ere we have another reason wh y Balfour of Burleigh is opposed to Socialism. Under Socialism he would stand little chance of being either a legislator or a st ates­ man. Social D emocracy would not accept its st at esmen ready made and predestined. It would choose them for their brains and abilities. It would train and educate them for their special duties, and it would demand from them national ser vice, not class service. Under such a syst em as that Lord Balfour would not suit at all. It is not su rpris­ ing that he is opposed to Socialism . The Anti-Socialist vans are out to defend Balfour of Burleigh's spurious claims t o statesmanship.

A Recipient of' Out-Door Relief'. Thirdly: Lord Balfour is a State Pensioner. Not a paltry " five shillings a week at sixt y" pensioner. Nothing so petty and insignificant as that. Balfour of Burleigh's pension is ;£1200 a year , ;£100 a month. He gets as much pension in one fortnight as the average workman gets wages in a year. Balfour of Burleigh's pen sion would give five shillings a week to 9 f2 person s. It is not suggested that his Lordship is therefore 92 times a pauper, but it must be evident that he is not without reasons for being opposed to Socialism. Balfour of Burleigh's pension would supply 14-4-,000 m eals for sch ool children. We are thus enabled to measure the loss of self-respect which his Lordship suffers every time he draws his pen sion. The moral damage must be enormous, and is only equalled by the heroism with which his Lordship bears up against it. Balfour of Burleigh's pension is not an Old Age Pension. He is not yet sixt y, and looks hale and hearty. It is not a service pension. H e has done nothing notable. He has not written a great book nor painted a great picture, nor invented a labour-saving machine, nor saved human lives, nor fought his country's battles. He is simply an ordinary commonplace man like 7

the rest of us. He is none the worse of that, of course, and the fact that he is able to lay hands on a pension which is certainly not commonplace, probably accounts for his objec­ tion to other commonplace people getting pensions. Them might be less for his lordship. Balfour of Burleigh's pen­ sion is not an Old Age Pension nor a Service Pension.

It is a Poverty Pension. He draws his pension on account of his Poverty. He himself has said it. He had to say it in order to get the pension. He has a few companions in misery, who like him­ self are not too proud to accept public money in alleviation of their financial decrepitude. Here are the names and titles of some of these distressful knights of the Round Table Dolorous :-

Right Hon. Viscount Cross .". ... £2000 Right Hon. Lord Geo. Hamilton 2000 Right Hon. Sir Henry Chaplin .. . 1200 Right Hon. Sir John Gorst ...... 1200 Right Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh 1200 Right Hon. Gerald Balfour . 1200 Right Hon. Viscount Peel . 4000 Right Hon. Viscount Gully . 4000 Right Hon. Viscount Selby . 4000 Sir C. L . Ryan ...... 1333

£22,133

Unhappy sons of misfortune, all of them! The victims of Poverty! Poverty is perhaps the best of all reasons for giving a man a pension, but it does not seem an adequate reason for giving a man £1200 a year. If poverty justifies pensions, there are twelve million people in this country who have a prior claim to Balfour of Bur­ leigh. Under Socialism those twelve million people would be saved from poverty, but Lord Balfour would not get £1200 a year for doing nothing. That is certain, and his Lordship knows it. That is another reason why he is opposed to Socialism. The Anti-Socialist vans are out in defence of Balfour of Burleigh's pension. s

A Land Monopolist. Fourthly: Lord Balfour of Burleigh is a landlord. This poverty-stricken State pensioner possesses about 3000 acres of Scottish land. If you should ever happen to be in the vicinity of Clackmannan, you may chance across his Lord­ ship delving in his ain kailyard, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. Or, what is more likely, you may meet. somebody who pays him rent, or some toil-worn collier whose labour provides his Lordship with mining royalty. Here we have still another reason why Balfour of Burleigh is opposed to Socialism. Under Socialism his Lordship would get neither rent nor royalties. He would not possess those 3000 acres, at least not exclusively. He would possess them only in common with all the other people of the country. 3000 acres is not much, compared with the Duke of Suther­ land's 1,358,000 acres. But compared with the fact that 40,000,000 people in Great Britain do not own a foot of land, 3000 acres is a lot for one poor person to hold. Under Socialism

The Land would be Nationalised. Balfour's 3000 acres, and Sutherland's 1,358,000 acres, and all the land of the country would belong to the nation, and would be cultivated and developed, both soil and minerals, for the benefit of the whole people. Neither Balfour, nor Sutherland, nor Argyle, nor Buccleuch, nor any other private person . would draw rent or royalty from land. It IS ea.sy to see why Lord Balfour is opposed to Socialism. The Anti­ 'Socialist Vans are out in defence of Balfour of Burleigh's claims to draw rent from land.

A Capitalist. Fifthly: Balfour of Burleigh, besides being a peer, a :statesman, a pensioner, and a landowner, is a capitalist. He is a director in seven companies, which shows that his Lordship is a really industrious and hard-working man. The .average working day of a railway servant. is twelve hours, 9 but Balfour of Burleigh's working day is much longer than t hat . Supposing he gives on ly eigh t hours a day t o each of those seven companies, t hat is fifty- six hours a d ay. A truly remarkable man, L ord Balfour. The aver age wage of a railway man is about a pound a week. The aver­ age wage of a company director is said t o be r ather more than fourpence halfpenny an h our. H ere is the list of t h e companies of which his Lordship is a director, with the amount of capital, real or -n om in al, as given in the LL.P. Y ear B ook :- Bank of Scotland ...... £1,875,000 National Bank of Scotland ...... 5,000,000 Forth Bridge Railway Company 3,079,000 P .& O. S . N. Company . 5 ,3..00,000 San Paulo Railway Company ... 6,000,000 Western Telegraph Company 2,435,000 Great Northern Railway Company 64,380,000

Total Capital £88,069,000

Thus Lord Balfour of Burleigh is deeply interested III the maintenance of the capitalistic sy st em . As a director of these companies, he draws salary. A s a shareholder, he draws dividend. Under Socialism he would neither draw salary nor dividend. N either h e nor those who are associ­ ated with him. Can we wonder that he and they are opposed to Socialism ~ Under Socialism the commerce of the nation would be organised by the nation. The shareholders would be the people, whose dividends would be expressed in citizenship, in equal facilities for education, and in the security of healthy and rational living. L et us look a little closer at the above list of companies, and at Balfour of Burleigh's position generally, as capitalist and landlord combined. Lord Balfour, we find, is a director of two banks. In obher words, he is a moneylender, or usurer. Thus one part of his income is derived from INTEREST. He is a railway a n d shippin g .company director. Thus, another part of his 10

income is derived from DIVIDENDS. That is to say, from PROFITS. He is a landlord, and in that capacity derives income from Rent.

Rent, Profit, and Interest.

Balfour of Burleigh, you will see, epitomises in his own person the entire capitalistic system. That is why I have made him the subject of this pamphlet. I am making n o attack upon Lord Balfour. I am attacking the system which enables him and others to live upon Rent, Profit, and Interest. He is said to be in private life a kindly, genial, jolly good fellow.

That may be j but it does not alter the fact that he lives upon Rent, Profit, and Interest, the results of other people's labour. He reaps where he has not sown. Nor does it alter the fact that in public life he stood between hungry Scotch bairns and their dinners. Lord Balfour may be the pink of courtesy and good breeding. That doesn't matter. Though he were an angel out of Heaven, if he lived upon Rent, Profit, and Interest, he would still be an instrument of injustice, and the cause of suffering to the people whose labours produced his rents, his profits, and his interest. He is not to be blamed, as Society is constituted, for taking all he can get. If he didn't, another would. That is the law of Society to-day, and has been of all previous systems of Society. The good old Rule, the Simple Plan, That he should take who has the power, And he should k eep who can.

Balfour of Burleigh and his class possess the power to take and to keep Rent, Profit, and Interest. The laws which they themselves have made give them that power. They are not to be blamed. The people are to be blamed for allowing them to retain and exercise that power. The people can abolish the laws which give the landlords and capitalists the power to take and to keep rent, profit, and interest. 11

The Labour Party. Many of the people now understand this, and they have already sent a number of Labour representatives to Parlia­ ment for the explicit purpose of destroying the power which enables Balfour of Burleigh and his friends to live upon rent, profit, and interest. These Labour Representatives are in Parliament as a sep­ arate, independent political party; not bound to either the Liberal or the Tory Party, but opposed to both, because both of these Parties maintain the laws which give legality to the claim of the Landlords and Capitalists to live upon Rent, Profit, and Interest. In proportion as the number of Labour Representatives is increased, in the same proportion will the legislative power of Landlordism and Capitalism be diminished; and just as fast as the legislative power of the Landlords and Capitalists disappear, so fast will their economic power disappear. It is of the first importance to the workers that they should have a strong in Parliament. Balfour of Burleigh and his friends are not fools. They know very well that the object of the Labour movement in Parliament and in the country is to establish Socialism. Therefore, they have started the Anti-Socialist campaign. In the course of that campaign they make many mis-state­ ments and misrepresentations. And they carefully disguise the true motives by which they are animated. They say they are opposed to Socialism because it will destroy the home, because it will destroy religion, because it will destroy liberty. None of these, nor all of these are the true reasons why Lord Balfour and his friends oppose Socialism. They oppose Socialism, because it will destroy the power of the landlords and capitalists to live upon Rent, Profit, and Interest. The same reason which makes Balfour of Burleigh and his friends oppose Socialism is the reason why working people should support Socialism. For just so long as the landlords and capitalists are able to appropriate the fruits 12

of other people's labour, so long will the workers be poor. Balfour of Burleigh's Pension, his Salaries, his Dividends, his R ents, and his Royalties, all come from Labour. There is no other source from which they can come. He is not alone. There are many others. And they all t ake toll from L abour. Some take more, some take less, but the aggregate of their piracies last year was Eleven Hundr ed M illion Pounds.

What is Socialism? Under Socialism they would lose the power to appropri­ ate that wealth. It is perfectly natural that they should oppose Socialism. It is also perfectly natural that the people should support Socialism. Socialism is not Confiscation, nor Robbery, nor Atheism, nor the De struction of the Home. Socialism is simply a system of Society from which the landlord, the capitalist, and the usurer will be eliminated , and in which the people will not be compelled to pay rent, profit, and interest for the right to live and work in their own land. A system of Society in which the State will be its own banker, capitalist, and landowner, and the people will thereby be enabled to own the land, the machinery, and the means of exchange. A system of Society in which there will be no poverty. That is what Socialism means. Socialism is no dream. Socialism is practicable. It is the present syst em which is impracticable, which has proved itself incapable of giving to the people the fruits of their own lab­ our, incapable even of bringing food to starving children. Socialism is the organisation of industry by the people themselves, in the interest of themselves, instead of in the interest of Balfour of Burleigh & Co . There is nothing dreamy, or visionary, or impracticable about that. Those railways, for example, of which Lord Balfour is sup­ posed to be a director; they are not to -day managed by him and his associates. They are collectively managed by the railway workers. They would still continue to be so man­ aged, even if Balfour and his friends ceased to draw salar­ ies and dividends ; the salaries and dividends would then 13 take the form of increased reward to the real workers, and increased wealth to the whole nation. If Balfour of Bur­ leigh and his friends ceased to draw salaries and dividends, it would be possible to reduce the working hours of the rail­ way men from twelve per day to eight. It would be possible to-morrow to employ 100,000 more men on the railways, and the railways would be better managed, for the object aimed at would then be not profits but efficiency. 'Who says that is impracticable? Only Balfour of Burleigh & Co. And what is possible with railways is possible with every other form of industry, and with all the new forms of industry that are yet to be evolved. That is what Socialism means. The collective ownership of the sources of wealth, and of the means of life and happiness..

Anti-Socia lism! What is that? Anti-Socialism is simply the present system. The pre­ sent system, with its 12,000,000 people on the verge of starvation, with its 1,000,000 paupers, with its 500,00(} unemployed; with all its workers insecure and underpaid; with its crowded workhouses, its crowded prisons, its city slums, its sweated women, its underfed children, and its millionaires. That is Anti-Socialism. That is what Balfour of Burleigh and his friends uphold and seek to perpetuate. They will be unsuccessful. Anti­ Socialism is Capitalism, and Capitalism is bound to go And there is nothing to take the place of Capitalism except Socialism. The anti-Socialists have never yet put forward any alter­ native to Socialism except the present system. There is no other alternative. If there were, they would surely have made it known. They admit the evils of the present system. They deplore the poverty. They are very, very sorry for the poor. But they have no remedy. If they could abolish the poverty without sacrificing their own power to appropri­ ate rent, profit, and interest, they would do so. They have' 14

no remedy. They are the fatalists of modern times. Balfour of Burleigh & Co. are the Apostles of Despair. They are the real Atheists: the fools who have said in their hearts, "There is no God": there is nothing but blind fate, trampling on the weak, dealing out poverty and suffer­ ing to the mass of mankind, and wealth and enjoyment to US-Balfour & Co." Their propaganda of negation comes too late. \Vhile they have been grubbing amongst their dividends and their vested interests, the Socialist movement has arrived. It has stolen upon them unawares. Permeatively and quietly it came at first, pervading the minds of men almost unconsciously. " With step as soft as wind it passed O'er the heads of men: so fast That they knew the presence there, And looked-and all was empty air! As flowers beneath May's footsteps waken, As stars from night's loose hair are shaken, As waves arise when loud winds call­ Thoughts spring where'er that step did falL" And with the upspringing of thought amongst the people 'Comes the growth of Socialism: the consciousness of the right to live worthily, and the knowledge of the .power to establish that right. Balfour of Burleigh & Co. cannot stop the Socialist movement. They cannot even hinder it. They cannot make a move now without helping Socialism! EVERY '\ITORKER in. t:he Coun.t:ry SHOULD GET THE ~a6our II Beader, H WEEKLY. PRICE, ta; ",..om all Newsagents.

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Every Friday, 1d. The "CLARION." Edited by ROBT. BLATCHFORD.

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"HOW THE MINERS ARE ROBBED." Written by JOHN WHEATLEY. 16 pp., Illustrated Coyer, l d.

PRESS NOTICES.

The H Labour Leader" says:- " How the Miners are Robbed" is the title of a racy little broehurc of sixteen pages, written by John Wheatley. The exposure is made in the form of an imaginary trial, after the French manner, in which the Duke of Hamilton and a local coalmaster and several others are charged with having conspired together and heartlessly robbed an old miner named Dick M'Gonnagle. Under the ruthless cross examina­ tion of the magistrate, the landlord and capitalist are Iorced to con­ vict themselves out of their own mouths. The pamphlet shows up tersely the hollowness of the present economic system, and makes very good reading as well."

The H Northern Democrat" says :-- "It is one of the best things we have seen for prapaganda among miners. The writer (Mr. John 'Wheatley) has struck a happy idea in placing a landlord and a colliery ,wner in the dock at a police court charged with robbing a miner. The examination by the magistrate of the colliery owner, landlord, mii, 1', clergyman, and Socialist is enter­ taining and highly instructive. The pamphlet is full of good argu­ ment, and possesses the valuable quality of being easily read and understood. Thousands of miners cannot, or will not, study Socialism, and this pamphlet is just the thing to put into the hands of those who need our case stated in a light, yet convincing form." Mr. Robert Smillie (Miners' Leader) says :-"I consider the pamphlet a good and useful one." Everybody who has seen it says :-"Just the very pamphlet we have been waiting for." First Edition (5000) sold in six weeks. Second Edition now ready. ; '