The Maccabaean

in the way that in some cities the Zionists only with difficulty are able to secure a limited number of weeks in which all Zionist business must be attended to. We have entered now upon the Shekel campaign. The importance of this campaign in the development of our interests has been pointed out in numerous circular letters sent out by the central office. In the preparations it was almost impossible to get some cities to move. They argued that the summer season was not over. Then the fall holiday season came on. The result has been to postpone action on the shekel in many cities until after Sukkoth. Now that Sukkoth has passed, we expect every Zionist center to put aside all other Zionist activity and, for that matter, all other Jewish activity, in order to make the shekel campaign a success. By success we mean the securing of not less than one hundred and fifty thousand shekel-payers to be reported to the central office not later than November 18th, the date set for the opening of the American Jewish Congress. The new method devised for the shekel collection should make it easy for the workers to secure the quotas assioned to their cities.

THE BRANDEIS APPOINTMENT

SSOCIATION in the task of preparing the material which, when collated, will be the basis of the American view as to the proper conditions under which the world can live at peace, after this war, is the kind of constructive work which Justice Brandeis will enjoy doing. The mass of the American people who have come to look to Mr. Brandeis for definite attitudes and wide comprehensive principles in domestic affairs will gladly confirm President Wilson’s choice. But it is equally certain that the allied governments will appreciate that America has contributed one of its master minds to the elucidation of just ‘those issues on which the peace of the world depends—the settlement of the near-Eastern problems. And all the peoples of the near-East, those now in possession, and those destined to have a share in the affairs of that part of the world, will have in Justice Brandeis the support of a friend who believes that democracy needs for its fulfillment the creation and guaranteeing of the rights of the small nationalities.

PEACE, DEMOCRACY AND SOCIALISM

IN his illuminating article on “Socialism and Internationalism,” which appears in the September Atlantic Monthly, John Spargo presents the side of those socialists who are of the opinion that socialism does not imply that nations are to be abolished. Socialism may be compatible with the highest form of national patriotism. The socialists who believe that socialism means the negation of nationalism are, in fact, the bourbons of the movement, who, being unwilling to learn, transform slogans into dogmas and will not be swerved from repeating the dogmas ad infinitum, no matter how much may be said against their validity. They think they are Marxian socialists, but when it is proved that Marx himself was not an opponent of nationalism, they persist in adhering to what they think Marx meant. They ignore a wealth of literature and experience and keep to their shibboleths. Mr. Spargo quotes Georges Renard, who said:

“The end which socialists are seeking to attain is not the disappearance of national unities; it is the grouping of nations in great peaceful federations, which shall gradually draw closer so as to embrace the whole civil-

ized world; it is the gradual elaboration of international laws, which shall organize humanity, as state laws have organized nations."

The shibboleth of internationalism will be the ruin of the old socialist party in the United States. It has made it possible for this important political and economic movement to become the expression of all that is disloyal and unpatriotic in the life of the people of the United States. It will make it difficult for the movement to develop and wield that influence in American life, especially during the war crisis, which was expected of it. In fact, the “regular” socialists have handed over to the minority an opportunity to speak and to act for the best interests of socialism, while they devote themselves to what they think to be the best interests of the “party.” Instead of planning a constructive program to wrest from war conditions important concessions to the socialist program, the regulars, obsessed by party, have adopted a destructive and critical policy, intending out of the fears and the pacific instincts of the masses, to build up party strength. From such accessions to the party no wisdom and no strength will come, for their allegiance will disappear with their fears.

An enlightened socialist party would have profited from the experience of the socialists in Europe. It would have seen that war upon so large a scale as this war is bound to be, involving, as it does, a marvelous revolution in industry and commerce, was bound to revolutionize American life also, and it would have interested itself in attacking the government not on its foreign policy, but solely from the point of view of domestic welfare. The possibilities were and are enormous. The government is fixing the price of staples. It is organizing the transportation of the country. It is imposing profit and income taxes. It is invoking social responsibilities and obligations, in place of the free individual competition which reigned almost supreme. In all of these efforts, with the government fighting the predatory interests, the socialists could have become an important political factor, furthering socialism, and at the same time helping in the establishment of a strong central government. They voted for their own exclusion, however, when they decided in St. Louis to identify themselves only with one phase of the political situation. They have become the pacifists, striving for peace in the United States, when in France and in Germany their own comrades are found not only. fighting with their governments, but also taking advantage of the situation to participate in the administration of government.

By doing this, they have excluded themselves from a part in the making of peace; their voices will not be heard in the peace conference because thev have not helped in bringing about the peace, which at this time is possible only through war. That was why at the Chicago meeting of the People’s Council for Peace and Democracy the interest was so intense when it came to peace and so weak and forgetful when it came to democracy. The regular socialists control the People’s Council, but you do not hear them speak of the rights of the Poles, of the Belgians or of the Jews. They are not concerned about the terms of peace except in such general terms that there is only one conclusion possible; they seem to want the peace that Germany wants. The People’s Council ‘night have spoken a commending word for the insurance plan providing for the soldiers, or endorsed the radical form of the profits law. But not one word came from that conference. Mr. Hillquit, who has been nominated as the socialist candidate for mayor in New York, does not speak of a municipal program; he boasts of the fact ‘hat the campaign is to be waged on the issue of peace.