THE FAITH I HOLD: ROBERT BLAND. A WEEKLY REVIEW OF POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND ART Edited by A. R. Orage. No. 697 [s!ZL.Vol. II. No. 121 SATURDAY, Jan. 18, 1908. ~$~~$,f&f&“*] ONE PENNY CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE NOTES OF THE WEEK . “. ... 221 PALINODE. By F. S. Flint . l . 231 A BARREN OUTLOOK . .- . 224 BOOK of the Week : The Literature of Roguery. By Frank LORD CURZON ON IMPERIALISM . 225 Holmes . .*. .” . 233 JAPAN’SROAD TO RUIN . 226 REVIEWS: The Claims of French Poetry . 233 The Labour PARTY CONFERENCE. By G. R. S. Taylor . 227 Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer . 234 Baby Toilers . 235 CHARLES DICKENS AS A SOCIALIST, By Edwin Pugh ".. 228 . THE LEGITIMATE DUMA.By G. R. S. T. .. 229 DRAMA: Arms and the Man. By Dr. L. Haden Guest... 235 THE TRIAL OF THE 169. By Aylmer Maude . 230 MUSIC: A Lamoureux Concert.. By Herbert Hughes . 236 THE Faith I HOLD. By Hubert Bland “. 231 CORRESPONDENCE . 237 NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.-All Business Com- certain that while the Labour Party remains in name munications must BE addressed to Publisher, New Age,” 139, and profession Labour, and not Socialist, out and out Fleet Street, E.C. ; communications for the Editor to 1 & 2, Socialists will hesitate to join its ranks with much Took’s Court, Furnival Street, E.C. publicity. A certain amount of snobbery may be at work in this, or it may be conviction and principle. In any case, only rarely will middle-class and cultured people identify themselves whole-heartedly with the NOTES OF THE WEEK Labour Party of the present moment. On the other THE Labour Party Conference which is to be held at hand, the loss of these intellectuals may be more than Hull on Monday next promises many points of excep- compensated, by the accession of the Trade Unionists, tional interest. an accession that might not have taken place had It is not, even in the Labour Party, Messrs. Hyndman, Shaw, Webb, and others been at an every-day occurrence for an accession of a dozen the head of the Labour Party in place of Messrs. Keir members to take place ; nor is it always likely to be the Hardie, Macdonald, Shackleton and Barnes. These eve of the final absorption of the whole Trade Unionist latter do stand for the principles of the class war much movement in its ranks. The year 1907 has in some more emphatically than even Mr. Hyndman, who for ways been a triumphant year for the Parliamentary all his doctrines to the contrary is quite without real Labour Party. It has made singularly few mistakes, class antagonism.. On the whole we think the Labour Party has been, and for some time will be, wise in while both the other Parties have been blundering refusing to change its name and profession, even for daily. The result is that the Trade Union movement, our name and profession of Socialism. Sooner or that showed at first some natural suspicion of the wild later the time will come when the change must be made blood in the Labour Party, has decided at last that if the Labour Party is to become national in the com- there is more to be hoped for from wild blood than plete sense ; but we agree that the time is not yet. from pale water. In short, the Labour Party has won And perhaps the best thing the Conference can do is to dismiss the resolution on the subject with as brief Trade Unionism from Liberalism. a discussion as possible. + #I + * 4t * It must be frankly admitted that a certain amount of All the more reason exists, however, for preparation policy has been necessary. Everybody knows that the being made for the change when the time is opportune. majority of the Labour Party are Socialists ; everybody Though cool wisdom denies that the moment is ripe for knows that if the Socialists were taken out of the a declaration of Socialism, political foresight demands some intelligent anticipation of future development. Trade Union ranks the movement would resume its Mr. G. R. S. Taylor suggests in another column the ignominious feebleness of thirty or forty years ago. offering of a free-seat to Mr. Hyndman by the Labour On the other hand, the rank and file of an army can Party in recognition of his enormous services to the easily be overmarched ; and it was necessary for the cause. We heartily support the suggestion, and Labour leaders to appear to move only a little ahead would even add the names of other prominent So- of the army they were leading. And this has been on cialists. We have said before that the Labour Party the whole accomplished. Only rarely, for example, is suffered during the last Session from a defective im- agination ; it did not strike the country as it should. the fiction that the Labour Party is not Socialist in And we can conceive nothing better calculated to draw intention allowed to be dropped, even by the ordinary the eyes and minds of the public to the existence of the Press. The secret is well kept by being universally Labour Party than the importation of one or two strik- known and universally feared. The Liberals are slow ing Socialist personalities. Undoubtedly such impor- to name their late allies Socialist ; the Conservatives tations would be difficult to deal with, unaccus- are slow for reasons of Tariff Reform ; and the Labour tomed, as they are, to cast-iron discipline. Yet we people themselves are in a perpetual state of political venture to believe that they would lift the Labour Party swither, sometimes thinking and calling themselves off its knees on to its feet in the House of Commons ; Socialists, sometimes stricken with panic at the idea. and without being too closely identified with its dis- Jc * * cipline, act as admirable intellectual sharpshooters and Now we may as well say that we are quite indifferent intelligence men. No such proposal as is suggested for the present whether the Labour Party accepts or appears, of course, on the Hull Agenda ; but we should rejects -the name and profession of Socialism. It is be glad to see the question raised if only to sound the purely a matter of immediate expediency. It is pretty Labour opinion. 222 _-. - Meantime it is obvious that the other Parties are cheaply than white labour, nothing in Liberalism con- having troubles without number. The Conservatives demns the employer who makes use of it. But plainly in particular are more hopelessly divided than ever. It the white labourer is placed in an impossible position. its not strange that Free Trade and Individualism Hence we find the latter passing resolutions at Johan- should go hand in hand, but we confess we see no nesburg in support of the expulsion of their Indian reason for calling the creed Conservative. Lord competitors ; a perfectly natural course, and an inevit- Cromer’s pronouncement in Scotland, for example, was able course so long as economic freedom is denied them. a bit of sheer unadulterated early Victorian Liberalism, * -+ * without the shadow of a Conservative principle, still Mr. Lloyd-George’s wonderful Railway Settlement less of a modern economic principle. And his rallying of the Unionist Free Trade section which had been appears to have settled nothing except (and in a differ- ent sense) the men. Mr. Bell was driven last’ week to temporarily discomfited by Mr. Balfour’s speech at appeal to the President of the Board of Trade against Birmingham, is a disservice to his Party which they We repeat what we have the action of the London and North-Western Railway are not likely to forget. in exercising undue influence on the ballot for the men’s often said, that if Fiscal Reform goes hand in hand with Social Reform, we are prepared to discuss radi- representatives. The appeal, we venture to say, will cal measures. What we cannot tolerate is the absurd be unless. By the terms of the. Settlement, the men attitude of the Unionist Free Traders, who are the are practically pledged not to strike for the next seven Laodiceans of to-day. Yet apparently they are gain- years. In other words, they have submitted to having ing adherents ; and hence the prospect of a strong their teeth drawn. The result is that the Directors Conservative opposition grows fainter, have nothing to fear ; and in the absence of an intelli- . + * * gent public genuinely interested in the matter they can safely- proceed by strategy in technicalities to harass Unfortunately the trade returns for the year give an the men to any extent. The non-recognition of the appearance of support to the Free Traders. We say men’s Union was of more value to the Directors than unfortunately because there is precious little reality in most people suppose. The men can now be dealt with them, Market prices and vital values are so divorced in detail. We should be sorry if Mr. Lloyd-George’s to-day that bounding statistics of the one give no Settlement became the model of future Settlements. certainty of the other. Mr. Strachey, continuing his * * * letters on Socialism, urges that our business is to in- M. Jaurès has, like many Socialists, lain under the crease production and to let distribution take care of imputation of anti-patriotism ; but his article in the itself. Well, it appears we have increased production “ Journal des Débats ” will perhaps have the effect of (at least in figures) enormously, but distribution is rehabilitating his reputation as a statesman. Of growing relatively worse instead of better.