Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

8 articles on this Page

Coun. Egerton Wake at Thomastown…

News
Cite
Share

Coun. Egerton Wake at Thomastown Park. A SOCIALIST SERMON. A large and attentive crowd listened 00 an interesting address given by Ooun. Egerton Wake (Labour Party organiser) at Thomastown Park on Sunday evening last, under the auspices of the Merthyr Branch of the I.L.P. Ooun. Ll. M..Francis presided. The speaker said that probably many would regard the subject which he had chosea as a somewhat unusual one. Socialists did not believe in private monopoly, and therefore did not be- beve that parsons and preachers should monopolise the preaching of sermons, or that churches had a monopoly of re- ligion. Socialism could be defined and expressed in many ways. Many of the old misconceptions had now, however, been purged from men's minds. It was well to remember that while Socialism was often expressed in the terms of economics, yet economics were not the whole of life. Turn wherever we would, in Germany, America, and all over the world. it. would be found that every department of human life, WaB belIlg influenced by Socialist was bei:?g .n f thought. The men who were the. leaders in art. drama, literature, and science in Britain were men who be- lieved in Socialism. The reason for this was because Socialism was not merely an economic theory, but it re- presented living truths, and great liruths which penetrated every depart- ment of human life. Even the churches suffered from the blight of the capitalist system. Socialism came to the preacher, and showed him how the removal of the power of Capitalism, so far as the churches are concerned, would break the chains which bind him and allow him to preach freely as he thought best. The same thing ap- plied to the artist. Most artists to-day could only afford to paint pictures which rich capitalists would purchase. He was not free to paint the finest conceptions of his soul. The artist would be quite free if Socialist prin- ciples prevailed. Socialism would give to the artist that opportunity which would enable him to depict his art in his own way to the glorifying and en- nobling of the lives of the people. Even the religious element in human nature, which was perhaps as strong in Welsh life as anywhere, could find hope in the political faith which Socialists believed in. The habits and character of the millions of this country, he maintained, were higher and better to-day than they had ever been in the history of the nation. This could be demonstrated by the statistics relating to the drink bill of the nation. During the last twenty years there had been a steady and con- siderable improvement in the habits of the people generally. The great niaes of the people were not only controlling their bodily appetites to a greater ex- tent, but they were also developing their mental and spiritual faculties. To-day publishers were telling us that the most profitable line they sold was the reprints, the republication of the flowers of English, Welsh, and Scotch literature. These reprints were being bought by the working classes of the -country. These facts showed that there had been a steady increase in self-con- trol so far as conduct was concerned. It was also true, the speaker main- tained, that there was a demand amongst the working class for a higher ethical standarq. It was continually being stated at the annual conferem'es of the religious organisations that the membership and the revenues were de- creasing. What was the explanation of all this r William Morris once said that" püople have been taught to think when they once could only feel." That was quite true. Civilisation after civilisation had hef'n built upon the backs of beings who for- the mosf part. could only feel. When we turned to the history of Rome. of Greece, or any of the (11d civilisations, we found in the pages ol their history no record of the daring of the workers, no record of their songs. Xo record of the dreamers who dreamt dreams for them. The reason was because they were laves, and were ignorant. They simply felt and suffered. To-day, after 40 years of ■elementary education, we had a more educated democracy, which not only could feel and think, but could act. and were acting.. It was when faced with this state of things that the religious leaders talked about the alienation of the workmg classes. Most religious ?ders. however, looked outside the Church for the reason rather than in- a?de the Churc h. Socialism did not come to destroy re- i -n- not ?ven to teach new truths, but to ^\c new spirit to old truths. ,Th ld ?dage. that there was nothing Mw m the world, was a soientinc fact. AU o so-called new facts were but re- ?de.?Iopments. Socialism came to give new Tneanmgs to old truths. It comes X- fulfil rehg,on. R?gi? was some- thg greater than theSo? gy It is a ?spirit. Wherever ? the pages of his- tory. regardless of language, nation or ."x. we have read of brave spirits who have been strong enoug h to declare the •truth—like Florence Nightingale who, In spite of contumely, did such a great and noble work—whenever men and "Women had been prepared to die for the truth as they saw it, there we had demonstrated the true spirit of re- ligion. The true spirit of religion was the spirit of service and brotherhood. Socialism comes to fulfil religion, to give it a chance of being put into operation. Under the present indus- trial capitalist system it was impossible to put into practice the ethics of %ri;tianitv. He (the speaker) wished that modern Christians .would dig into their gospels with a little imagina-t? ?d try to recreate the Christ of hUr ?V The workers of to-day could find tz similarity between the Christ of history and the Christ as preached by "aay to-day. That was why they turned their backs on the churches. y would be surprised to find that Christ wae not considered respectable when he was on earth. He was practi- cally a leader of the unemployed. It was said of Christ that the common people heard him gladly. He was an outcast, and rejected of men. Christ had, however, left a record of his mission. He said, "Foxes have holes, MLIAIGN. He &W the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." He (the speaker) did not wonder that. the toiling workers failed to recognise Christ as he was pictured to-day. Working men turned their backs on orthodox Christianity, be- cause the churches had prostituted the words of Christ. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.)) How many modern Christians ever troubled to think what these words meant? Viewed in the light of the conditions of the times in which they were spoken. These words evidently refer- red to the capitalistic sys- tem of the Roman Empire. The tax gatherers were fleecing the people, and when Christ saw the poverty of the people his soul burst borth in indigna- tion, and he cried. 'Y e cannot serve God and Mammon." That was the message of Socialism, for "Mammon" was synonymous with Capitalism. The capitalistic system rested on an im- moral basis, and we were all victims of the system. It was impossible for us to live truly immoral lives within an immoral system. It did not matter whether a man lived far away from in- dustry in a secluded mountain glen, or whether he wag a professor at Oxford or Cambridge working unselfishly at scientific study, he could not escape his share of the si n and suffering of modern society, and could not escape his re- sponsibility. There was no such thing as absolutely independence. Men and women were all inter-dependent. This was more true to-day than it had ever been before in the history of the world. To-day, by the aid of science, the workers in far-of f China. Canada, and other places were yielding some of the wealth for which they had toiled to us. and we in turn yielded the products of our toil to them. None of us could escape this interdependence. If that was true. it was he thought, even more true that it was impossible for us to put into operation the principles of Christ while the capitalist system lasted. Some time before the Labour mem- bers found their way to the House of Commons, a crowd of men might some- times have been seen standing outside the dock gates in the East End of Lon- don waiting for work. After a time a small slot would open, and a hand would scatter perhaps 200 small bra.3 tickets amongst the 500 waiting men. Down on their knees the men would fight and struggle for the tickets to enable them to get work. That had now been abolished, but the intensity was there still. Slavery was none the less slavery because the chains could not be seen. Under conditions of this kind what was the use of asking men to put into operation the principles of Christ P How in the name of reason was it possible for men to be "little less than angels'' under those condi- tions. The Rev. Father Hughes, speaking at the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth Society, had stated two cases which he had come across in Liver- pool. One, a girl of 25 years, who had been living an immoral life. This girl had jeweliery worth £10,000 in her possession Another case of a poor girl who had been working for 4/6 per week, and trying to be b honest. Here we had the contrast between the wages of shame and the wages of work. We flogged the white slave trafficker, but the people who drew large profits from sweated labour were not flogged. So far as the principles of Christianity were concerned, they would never he. practised until we had established a Socialistic system of society. Social- ists did not say 'that Christianity had been played out. but that it had never been played in. We were told that the [ Christian Church stood for individual j salvation. Hut after all it was only p.o"si hI.- 1J, social salvation. It. had to be realised that it was possible to con- vert institutions as well. The speaker, in conclusion, recount- ed the achievements of the Socialist and Labour movement. It was, he said, triumphing over the difficulties of language and race. It stood to-day between civilisation and war, and was hastening the day when a system of society should exist in which men and women would live in peace.

! The Palace.I

[No title]

Merthyr Town's Captures.I

Managers and Miss Kiernan.

Alleged Dowlais Assault.

Welsh International Footballer…

Advertising