Chapter X
INDUSTRIAL PEACE OR CLASS WAR?
(er has failed; it could not be
adapted to the human needs of the nation
which, of all nations, might have been considered
the most amenable. An uneducated people, 85 per
cent of whom are agriculturists, and who had for
ages been accustomed to submission to the worst
forms of tyranny, would seem to offer an ideal
field for such an experiment. But the experiment
has failed ignominously. I do not think that such
an essay in revolution will ever be possible in
Britain, though I am prepared to admit that the
mischievous and corrupt advocates of Bolshevism
in this country are capable of local and spasmodic
trouble in the ranks of British Labour. But, as a
real menace to our nation, I think it well to dismiss
the Russian ideal as totally inapplicable to British
mentality.
I think this view is endorsed even by those who
have been upon the several personally-conducted
expeditions to Russia. ‘The real question before
British workers is whether they will take one or
other of two alternative courses, that of reason or
that of force. I so fully believe that the present
chaos must be mitigated, and that unrestrained
capitalism has failed in its duty to the community,
that I have no scruples as to method; all I want is
the prospect of relief. If I oppose Revolution it
is only because it offers neither hope or promise of
success. 1 prefer to explore the peaceful avenue,
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