A NEBULOUS THEORY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. "]
SIR,—On April 17th and 18th a Conference of the Plebs League will be held in Bradford to consider the kind of text-books on economics that ought to be provided for the proper education of Labour. The Plebs League is the propaganda side of the Labour College Movement and its motto is: " I can promise to be candid but not impartial." Its aim is to provide the " wage slaves " with an independent education, the foundation of which is the economic doctrines of Karl Marx. The League objects to the Ruskin College and the Workers' Educational Association because they do not interpret all social phenomena in the terms of the Marxist Materialist Conception of History. To remedy this defect in workers' education is the chief aim of the Labour College and the Plebs League.
The Bradford Conference will, " with lunch and tea inter- vals," endeavour to formulate an educational scheme (not impartial) that will make the workers thoroughly familiar with the mysteries of the " class war " and prepare them for the Revolution. But it appears that it is not possible fully to grasp the nature of the conflict between Capital and Labour without a preliminary (Socialistic) investigation of the nebular hypothesis, and a comprehensive knowledge of the solar system. In a syllabus for a suggested course of lectures for beginners in the study of Marxism, the following subjects are mentioned: "Stellar space—collision of dark stars—nebula and its con- densation—geological formations—protozoa—plants—animals (tool-users)—man (a tool-maker)," and so on. This course ends in demonstrating that evolution from the nebula has brought us to our present system where " a few capitalists own all the means of life, and consequently control everybody else." The ultimate end of this evolutionary process is reached when the workers seize "social power, destroy all capitalist Parlia- ments, and establish Communism." Then apparently evolution will stop! This might be entitled "From Nebula to Lenin " !
When the workers have completed this educational course they will readily perceive that Lenin and the Soviet Republic, with the dictatorship of the proletariat and compulsory labour, are the inevitable result of the " nebula and its condensation " millions of ages ago. And, having this " independent" bit of information firmly fixed in their heads, the workers will no doubt see that " to destroy capitalist Parliaments and establish Communism" is the least they can do under these very " nebulous " circumstances.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
