第 8 节
作者:一意孤行      更新:2021-10-16 18:41      字数:9322
  prove that   Socialism  must   come;   but   scarcely  concerns   himself to   argue
  that when it comes it will be a good thing。 It may be; however; that if it
  comes; it will be a good thing; even though all Marx's arguments to prove
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  that it must come should be at fault。 In actual fact; time has shown many
  flaws     in   Marx's     theories。    The     development        of  the    world    has    been
  sufficiently      like   his   prophecy      to  prove    him    a   man    of   very    unusual
  penetration; but has not   been sufficiently like to   make either political   or
  economic        history     exactly    such     as   he   predicted      that   it  would      be。
  Nationalism; so far from diminishing; has increased; and has failed to be
  conquered by the cosmopolitan tendencies which Marx rightly discerned
  in   finance。 Although   big   businesses   have   grown   bigger   and   have   over   a
  great area reached the stage of monopoly; yet the number of shareholders
  in   such    enterprises     is  so   large   that   the   actual   number      of  individuals
  interested   in   the   capitalist   system   has   continually   increased。   Moreover;
  though      large   firms    have   grown     larger;   there    has   been   a   simultaneous
  increase in firms of medium size。 Meanwhile the wage…earners; who were;
  according   to   Marx;   to   have   remained   at   the   bare   level   of   subsistence   at
  which they were in the England of the first half of the nineteenth century;
  have instead profited by the general increase of wealth; though in a lesser
  degree   than   the   capitalists。   The   supposed   iron   law   of   wages   has   been
  proved   untrue;   so   far   as   labor   in   civilized   countries   is   concerned。   If   we
  wish   now   to   find   examples   of   capitalist   cruelty  analogous   to   those   with
  which Marx's book is filled; we shall have to go for most of our material
  to the Tropics;   or   at   any  rate   to   regions   where   there   are   men   of   inferior
  races     to  exploit。    Again:    the   skilled    worker     of  the   present    day    is  an
  aristocrat in the world of labor。 It is a question with him whether he shall
  ally  himself   with   the   unskilled   worker   against   the   capitalist;  or   with   the
  capitalist against the unskilled worker。 Very often he is himself a capitalist
  in   a   small   way;   and   if   he   is   not   so   individually;   his   trade   union   or   his
  friendly society is pretty sure to be so。 Hence the sharpness of the class
  war   has   not   been   maintained。   There   are   gradations;   intermediate   ranks
  between rich and poor; instead of the clear…cut logical antithesis between
  the workers   who have   nothing   and   the capitalists   who have   all。  Even   in
  Germany; which became the home of orthodox Marxianism and developed
  a powerful Social…Democratic party; nominally accepting   the doctrine   of
  ‘‘Das     Kapital''    as  all  but   verbally     inspired;    even    there   the   enormous
  increase      of  wealth     in  all  classes    in  the   years    preceding     the   war    led
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  Socialists to revise their beliefs and to adopt an evolutionary rather than a
  revolutionary   attitude。   Bernstein;   a   German   Socialist   who   lived   long   in
  England; inaugurated the ‘‘Revisionist'' movement which at last conquered
  the bulk of the party。 His criticisms of Marxian orthodoxy are set forth in
  his ‘‘Evolutionary Socialism。'''9' Bernstein's work; as is common in Broad
  Church writers; consists largely in showing that the Founders did not hold
  their doctrines so rigidly as their followers have done。 There is much in
  the   writings    of   Marx    and   Engels    that  cannot    be   fitted  into   the  rigid
  orthodoxy       which     grew    up    among     their   disciples。    Bernstein's     main
  criticisms     of   these   disciples;    apart    from    such   as   we    have    already
  mentioned; consist in a defense of piecemeal action as against revolution。
  He protests against the attitude of undue hostility to Liberalism which is
  common among Socialists; and he blunts the edge of the Internationalism
  which undoubtedly is part of the teachings of Marx。 The workers; he says;
  have a Fatherland   as soon   as they  become citizens;  and on this basis   he
  defends that degree of nationalism which the war has since shown to be
  prevalent in the ranks of Socialists。 He even goes so far as to maintain that
  European   nations   have   a   right   to   tropical   territory  owing   to   their   higher
  civilization。     Such    doctrines    diminish    revolutionary      ardor   and   tend   to
  transform      Socialists    into   a  left  wing    of   the   Liberal    Party。   But   the
  increasing      prosperity     of   wage…earners       before    the   war    made      these
  developments inevitable。 Whether the war will have altered conditions in
  this respect; it is as yet impossible to know。 Bernstein concludes with the
  wise remark that: ‘‘We have to take working men as they are。 And they are
  neither so universally paupers as was set out in the Communist Manifesto;
  nor so free from prejudices and weaknesses as their courtiers wish to make
  us believe。''
  '9'   Die   Voraussetzungen       des   Sozialismus      und   die   Aufgaben      der
  Sozial…Demokratie。''
  In March; 1914; Bernstein delivered a lecture in Budapest in which he
  withdrew   from   several   of   the   positions   he   had   taken   up   (vide   Budapest
  ‘‘Volkstimme;'' March 19; 1914)。
  Berstein   represents   the   decay   of   Marxian   orthodoxy   from   within。
  Syndicalism       represents     an   attack   against    it  from    without;    from    the
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  standpoint of a doctrine which professes to be even more radical and more
  revolutionary than that of Marx and Engels。 The attitude of Syndicalists to
  Marx      may     be   seen    in   Sorel's    little  book;    ‘‘La    Decomposition         du
  Marxisme;'' and in his larger work; ‘‘Reflections on Violence;'' authorized
  translation      by   T。  E。   Hulme      (Allen    &    Unwin;     1915)。     After   quoting
  Bernstein; with approval in so far as he criticises Marx; Sorel proceeds to
  other   criticisms   of   a   different   order。   He   points   out   (what   is   true)   that
  Marx's     theoretical     economics      remain     very   near   to  Manchesterism:        the
  orthodox   political   economy   of   his   youth   was   accepted   by   him   on   many
  points   on   which   it   is   now   known   to   be   wrong。 According   to   Sorel;   the
  really essential thing in Marx's teaching is the class war。 Whoever keeps
  this   alive   is   keeping   alive   the   spirit   of   Socialism   much   more   truly   than
  those   who   adhere   to   the   letter   of   Social…Democratic   orthodoxy。   On   the
  basis of the class war; French Syndicalists developed a criticism of Marx
  which goes much deeper than those that we have been hitherto considering。
  Marx's views on historical development may have been in a greater or less
  degree mistaken in fact; and yet the economic and political system which
  he   sought   to   create   might   be   just   as   desirable   as   his   followers   suppose。
  Syndicalism; however;   criticises; not only Marx's views of   fact; but   also
  the goal at which he aims and the general nature of the means which he
  recommends。 Marx's ideas were formed at a time when democracy did not
  yet   exist。   It   was   in   the   very   year   in   which   ‘‘Das   Kapital''   appeared   that
  urban   working   men   first   got   the   vote   in   England   and   universal   suffrage
  was granted by Bismarck in Northern Germany。 It was natural that great
  hopes should be entertained as to what democracy would achieve。 Marx;
  like the orthodox economists; imagined that men's opinions are guided by
  a   more   or   less   enlightened   view   of   economic   self…interest;   or   rather   of
  economic   class   interest。   A  long   experience   of   the   workings   of   political
  democracy   has   shown   that   in   this   respect   Disraeli   and   Bismarck   were
  shrewder judges of human nature than either Liberals or Socialists。 It has
  become increasingly difficult to put trust in the State as a means to liberty;
  or in political parties as instruments sufficiently powerful to force the State
  into the service of the people。 The modern State; says Sore