Socialism a Failure

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 21, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 28.

Socialism a Failure

IN an address recently, Ex-President William H. Taft is reported to have said, among other things, the following, concerning a socialist experiment:

“The plan was based on the assumption that man was a different being from what he is. If he were so perfect that his love of humankind would banish from every one in human form selfishness, and retain in him the same energy, self-sacrifice, and industry in behalf of others that he now manifests in behalf of himself and those near to him, then there would be no need for the organization of a socialistic community, because we would have it at hand.

“Until men are perfect beings of this kind, socialism must either constitute a tyranny so rigid as to destroy not only the right of liberty and to interfere with the pursuit of happiness or it must be a failure.”

Some of the most well-meaning people that have ever lived may, without doubt, be found among the socialists. They see the grievous wrongs and the oppressions by the rich and powerful, who are grinding millions of poor beneath the wheels of oppression, and they are seeking for a solution for these problems. They set forth ideal doctrines, and conditions that they are seeking to obtain; but they should not lose sight of the perversity of the carnal human heart, which stands in the way of the realization of such ideals.

The power of the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the one thing that can so change men that they will attain to the ideal standards and ideal conditions. These will be reached in this world, but not until the second coming of Christ, which will destroy all sin.