SOCIALISM, CHRISTIAN. The need of the move ment known as Christian Socialism was suggested by the great social distress of the working classes which cul minated in the great Chartist demonstration of April the 10th, 1S4S. In May, 1S4S, Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) and his friends commenced the publication of a series of " Tracts for the Times " in which they pro posed to "consider the questions of the relation of the capitalist to the labourer, of what a government can or cannot do, to find work or pay for the poor." The friends with whom Maurice had taken counsel were Charles Kingsley (1519-1875), Julius Charles Hare (1795-1855), Alexander John Scott (13054866), J. M. Ludlow, Charles Blackford Mansfield (1819-1855), J. W. Parker (1792 1870), and Thomas Hughes (18224896). The tracts were also described as " Politics for the People." The con tributors, in addition to Maurice, Kingsley, Ludlow, Mansfield, and Scott, included Richard Whately (1783 1863). Archbishop of Dublin, R. C. Trench (1807-1886), Archbishop of Dublin, Connop Thirlwall (1797-1875), Bishop of St. David's, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815 1881), Dean of Westminster, Professor Connington, Dr. Guy, James Spedding (1808-1881), Daniel Macmillan (1813-1857), founder of Macmillan's publishing company. Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne (1808-1889), Sir Edward Strachey, and Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875). All these Dr. Stubbs describes as pioneers of the Christian Social movement in England. Charles Kingsley adopted as a nom de plume the name " Parson Lot." It was under this name that he wrote his famous pamphlet " Cheap Clothes and Nasty." In the summer of 1849 a series of meetings were held at the house of Maurice, with the result that a Co-operative Association of Tailors was formed. The next step was the establishment in 1850 of the Society for the Promotion of Working-men's Associa tions, " the practical application of Christianity to the purposes of trade and industry." With this was asso dated the plan of publishing Tracts on Christian Socialism. The new Society enlisted the sympathies of a number of new workers. These included Dr. Walsh, Augustus Vansittart, E. Vansittart Neale (1310-1892), founder of the Central Co-operative Agency and one of the first members of the Christian Social Union (q.v.), Cuthbert Ellison, a friend of Thackeray, Charles Sully, and Lloyd Jones (1811-1886), a disciple of Robert Owen (1771-1858). E. Vansittart Neale found the capita] for starting two Working Builders' Associations, and he established the first London Co-operative Stores. Mi. Neale in a lecture on the characteristic features of Socialism, after passing in review the principal systems, seeks to justify the designation Christian Socialism. " The remarks which I have made upon the •systems of the Social Reformers with whom we have been occupied to-night, must serve as my justification for claiming the epithet Christian as the proper distinctive adjunct to Socialism, and calling upon all Socialism to announce as Christian, if it would be at once truly social and historically just. We have in these systems the theories of four independent, fearless, original minds, earnest in their own views, propounding them as exclu sively the truth on the questions to which Socialism relates. Now if we are not to commit ourselves to any of these teachers alone, if we assume that each one saw some side or portion of social truth; if. therefore, we are
to seek for a principle which shall harmonize them among themselves, I know not where we shall find one unless we accept as true that profound saying of the gospel, which I select as pm-eminently expressive of the tone of many others of the Christian precepts : Except ye become as little children ye cannot enter into the king dom of God.' For consider what, according to these several authors, Socialism demands : A fearless trust fulness towards God, a readiness to be guided by our natural superiors, a disposition for enjoyment, a general feeling of interest in the objects around us, an absence of the pride of outward distinction, a readiness to be satisfied with the exercise of our powers as such without troubling ourselves as to the reward; all these are quali ties which according to one or another of our socialist philosophers, are to make up true Socialism. And do not these constitute the very essence of childhood in its healthy manifestations, that is the essence of that char acter which Christianity eighteen centuries since declared to be an indispensable condition of man's true well-being? I say then, if as socialists we would be just, we must acknowledge Socialism to be the offspring of Christianity." It has been stated recently by a number of clergymen that, as far as the ultimate aims are con cerned, there is no difference between Christian Socialism and Socialism as commonly understood. In that case the real difference of opinion now is as to the means. Socialism is itself of the nature of a religion. While, however, one section of Socialists, Christian Socialists, identify Socialism with Christianity and the best work of the Christian Church, the other section, composed of Secular Socialists, repudiates Christianity, and asserts that it has been a hindrance rather than a help to the cause. To the one section belong such men as Canon S. Holland, Father Adderley, and Mr. R. J. Campbell; to the other such men as Robert Blatchford. To describe Socialism, therefore, either as Christian or Secular is convenient and appropriate. To regard the term " Christian " in this application as being a natural and inevitable description of Socialism is unwise. The Gospel of Jesus is indeed democratic. God is, in his view, no respecter of persons. But his message seems to have been essentially religious. He seems to have taught that, whatever a person's outward circumstances may be, he may develop within himself a peace of God which passeth all understanding. The words of Jesus, as W. Herrmann says, seem to have been intended to " reveal to us that spirit which enables us to gain independence in the inward man—that is to say, true life." It may well be asserted that Jesus was as much an individualist as a socialist. See the Tracts on Christian Socialism; J. M. Ludlow, Christian Socialism and its Opponents. 1851; Professor Maurice, The Reformation of Society, 1851; Edward Vansittart Neale, The Characteristic Features of some of the Principal Systems of Socialism, 1851; Thomas Ramsay, Is Christian Socialism a Church Matter? 1851; C. W. Stubbs, Charles Kingsley and the Christian Social Movement, 1899; A. Harnack and W. Herrmann, Essays on the Social Gospel, 1907.