The following essay was written over six years ago, and appeared originally in the Haverhill Social Democrat. It is reproduced here substantially without any change, except that passages of a purely personal nature and containing allusions which would not be readily understood by the general reader were left out. Some of the statements would be couched by the author in different language now. But there is no substantial difference between the views then expressed and those held by the author now. And as the purpose of the essay was not to give an exposition of the subject but to record the views held by the socialists, it was deemed advisable to retain not only the substance but also the form, and to bring it up to date by adding at the end some opinions expressed since its first publication.
In the September, 1900, issue of the International Socialist Review appeared an article by Comrade Robert Rives LaMonte under the caption of "Science and Socialism,"[1] in which was treated, among other things, also of the materialistic conception of history. In a communication to The People, printed October 28th, 1900, I took exception to the views expressed by Comrade LaMonte in his article, claiming that the article sinned against the truth in drawing an analogy between Society and the Individual with respect to the motives that impel him to action and in asserting that the individual is prompted in his action by his own material interests. I insisted, on the contrary, that there was no analogy in this respect between Society and the Individual; that the individual in his private conduct is not always guided by his material interests; that with the best
- ↑ This issue of the Review is out of print, but the essay was reprinted in a book by Comrade LaMonte, entitled Socialism, Positive and Negative, Chicago. Charles H. Kerr Company, 1907, cloth, 50 cents.
