Jones: The Parlor Socialists [Oct. 1907] 1 The Parlor Socialists by Ellis O. Jones Published in The International Socialist Review [Chicago], v. 8, no. 4 (Oct. 1907), pp. 204-212. The designation “parlor” has been attached to Socialism, as the natural and logical evolution- the Socialists who are of sufficient importance in the ary successor of capitalism, attracts attention most financial and social world to attract to themselves and readily where capitalism has given the greatest evidence their movements a considerable degree of publicity. of its ill effects and therefore of its decadence; where As ordinarily used in the public prints, the phrase car- tyrannous industrial and commercial aristocracies have ries with it an insinuation of dilettantism or faddism unmistakably been formed and where class lines are or often times of downright insincerity. most sharply and indelibly defined. These beginnings But there is a deeper significance to the Parlor are found in the commercial and industrial countries Socialist, a meaning vastly more profound than the of the old world, most conspicuously in Germany, daily newspaper, whose editorials and headlines are England, France, and Italy. In these countries, class written in a hurry to catch the edition, is accustomed lines have, to be sure, long existed but within the cen- to go, even if the average newspaper reader, who is tury there has been a change in the color of the chalk essentially a hasty skimmer, demanded expositions with which they were drawn. Formerly in England, more penetrating and consistent. That is to say, for merchants and others “in trade” belonged to the lower various complex reasons, more or less familiar, the at- classes and were generally looked down upon by the titude of the average newspaper, as such, towards cur- landed and hereditary aristocracy. Now however the rent topics is apt to accord very closely with the atti- aristocracy has become largely industrialized while the tude of the general public toward the same topics. The lower classes consist almost exclusively of the prole- very existence of a newspaper depends upon an ap- tariat, with an admixture of pseudo-bourgeois, lead- proximate agreement between its vies and the views of ing ever a more precarious and dependent existence, its reading or advertising patrons, or both. the slaves of the wages system. The temporal power has tended to follow the possessors of wealth, transfer- I. ring itself to these from the hereditary kinds and po- tentates,. The reference is to England because its so- The general conception of Socialists in this coun- cial fabric is more familiar to American readers. The try has been that they are a body of malcontent agita- same is true of the other countries, any difference be- tors, with a great preponderance of good-for-nothing ing one of degree and not of kind. aliens, advocating a highly-colored exceedingly fanci- The industrial development of the United States ful and totally impractical governmental, economic, was no less rapid in the absolute than in those coun- or industrial scheme. This conception only the most tries but our country, being vast in extent, was able to superficial examination can justify. It is not the pur- absorb it, and no pressure was felt. Furthermore class pose here however to enter upon an exposition and lines in this country had to be formed anew rather defense of the principles of Socialism; only insofar as than merely transformed as in the older countries,. But it may be necessary to throw light upon the particular class lines were forming insidiously, even if they were phenomenon indicated by the title hereof. not an easily discernible phenomenon. During the 1 2 Jones: The Parlor Socialists [Oct. 1907] greater part of a half century therefore, while Social- revolution or the German military system without ism in Germany was rife, while it was there a leading abating one jot or tittle his own intense jingoism, but question exerting an appreciable influence on the gov- when he finds men advocating Socialism for this coun- ernment and the laws which all historians recognize, try, men who were born in American soil, bred in it was in this country taken practically no notice of. American homes, enriched by American methods, and When considered at all, it was summarily dismissed as educated at American universities, then he grows a little something peculiarly foreign, a product probably of more serious about it, ceases for a moment his strenu- monarchies, to disappear with the establishment of a ous waving of the flag, ponders and possibly evolves a democracy or a republic. This indeed was more than a derisive epithet. hasty or superficial view. Even such careful analysts as Henry George and Herbert Spencer speak of Social- II. ism as comparable to the autocracy of Russia. How they reached that conclusion is not clear although it is Opponents of Socialism frequently say as an likely that they mistook for real Socialism the efforts objection that there are different kinds of Socialists of Bismarck to forestall and impede real Socialism by and different kinds of Socialism. Let them use the fol- instituting a modicum of state socialism. They possi- lowing statement as ammunition if they can. There bly noticed that state socialism was of no benefit to are as many different kinds of Socialists as there are the proletariat and accordingly uttered their compre- different Socialists. In using that statement however, hensive disapprobation. let them take notice that it is necessarily inconsistent At any rate, until the last 5 years, Socialism re- with the “equality of men” theory, an impossible con- ceived scant notice in this country. News items, much dition which Socialists are often charged with attempt- less editorial comment, pro or con, were rare. Maga- ing to bring about. There are also varying expressions zine articles were rarer, if not entirely absent. During of the details and ramifications of Socialism, but they this time and before, there were however the begin- all rest on one fundamental principle, the collective nings which were made largely by immigrants who, ownership and democratic administration of the so- being already familiar with the tenets of Socialism, had cial tools of production and distribution of wealth. no difficulty in recognizing its applicability to all coun- State ownership of railroads in Germany or Russia, tries. Many of our cities had German or Italian Social- for instance, is therefore not considered as collectively ist organizations, where a native American Socialist owned, that is, not privately owned, they are certainly could hardly be found. Even these organizations were not democratically administered. few in number and in membership and the average Socialists who are sincere (for we even recognize editor passed them by as not worthy of serious aca- that such a thing is possible as an insincere or self- demic consideration and as too insignificant to con- seeking Socialist) are striving for the same goal, their sider from a circulation standpoint. They touched nei- methods, powers, opportunities may and do differ. ther his mind, his heart, nor his pocketbook. They may be classified according to any arbitrary stan- But what, you ask, has this to do with the Parlor dard — color of eyes, mental caliber, material posses- Socialist? From the standpoint of America, it has ev- sions, etc. For the purposes of this paper, it is conve- erything to do with him, for the phenomenon which nient to divide them, not invidiously, into two classes: the paragrapher lightly dubs Parlor Socialism is noth- the ordinary workman and the “intellectual.” ing more or less than an unmistakable sign of the Bearing in mind that no classification is abso- Americanization of Socialism, leading the paragrapher lute, it may be said in general that the former, the or- gently but powerfully and relentlessly past the point dinary workman, who is a Socialist is so because his where he can define Socialism as the unintelligible rav- own immediate economic necessities forced him to ings of a handful of unnatural and unnaturalized give it attention. The struggle for existence, in its most bomb-throwing aliens plotting against duly constituted virulent form, lies at his very door and he is ready to authority. The paragraphers finds plenty of satisfac- give ear to any propaganda that promises alleviation. tory reasons for the socialistic product of the German His is the inductive method. That he is likely to be Jones: The Parlor Socialists [Oct. 1907] 3 relatively unintelligent goes without saying. Manifestly amine the Parlor Socialist a little more closely. he has not had the advantage of a college education, He is usually a collect graduate. The average col- often not even of common schooling. Even the skilled lege graduate is a hopeful, ambitious lad. If he have workman has acquired his skill at the neglect of wider sufficient vigor and earnestness of purpose to secure a intellectual pursuits. Obedient to a specialized brain, place among the commencement day orators, he talks his hand performs the work assigned, but he has not about big affairs and electrifies his applauding fellows been trained to think, to think widely and profoundly, with glowing idealisms. His gaze is intently fixed upon to generalize, to deduce, to follow a consistent and the future and in fancy he carves his career and writes logical abstract mental process. The unskilled work- his name in bold face type upon the indelible pages of man is still more incompetent mentally. Being an un- history. He wants to do something. He wants to be skilled workman, he often hasn’t even the social ad- something. He has, he thinks, fitted himself for law, vantages of the labor union.