The belief I have that contributing to the development of the collective being of man is the individual’s general meaning and duty, and the formulae of the Socialism which embodies1 this belief so far as our common activities go, give a general framework and direction how a man or woman should live. (I do throughout all this book mean man or woman equally when I write of “man,” unless it is manifestly inapplicable.)
And first in this present time he must see to it that he does live, that is to say he must get food, clothing, covering, and adequate leisure for the finer aspects of living. Socialism plans an organized civilization in which these things will be a collective solicitude2, and the gaining of a subsistence an easy preliminary to the fine drama of existence, but in the world as we have it we are forced to engage much of our energy in scrambling3 for these preliminary necessities. Our problems of conduct lie in the world as it is and not in the world as we want it to be. First then a man must get a living, a fair civilized4 living for himself. It is a fundamental duty. It must be a fair living, not pinched nor mean nor strained. A man can do nothing higher, he can be no service to any cause, until he himself is fed and clothed and equipped and free. He must earn this living or equip himself to earn it in some way not socially disadvantageous, he must contrive5 as far as possible that the work he does shall be constructive6 and contributory to the general well-being7.
And these primary necessities of food, clothing and freedom being secured, one comes to the general disposition8 of one’s surplus energy. With regard to that I think that a very simple proposition follows from the broad beliefs I have chosen to adopt. The general duty of a man, his existence being secured, is to educate, and chiefly to educate and develop himself. It is his duty to live, to make all he can out of himself and life, to get full of experience, to make himself fine and perceiving and expressive9, to render his experience and perceptions honestly and helpfully to others. And in particular he has to educate himself and others with himself in Socialism. He has to make and keep this idea of synthetic10 human effort and of conscious constructive effort clear first to himself and then clear in the general mind. For it is an idea that comes and goes. We are all of us continually lapsing11 from it towards individual isolation12 again. He needs, we all need, constant refreshment13 in this belief if it is to remain a predominant living fact in our lives.
And that duty of education, of building up the collective idea and organization of humanity, falls into various divisions depending in their importance upon individual quality. For all there is one personal work that none may evade14, and that is thinking hard, criticising strenuously15 and understanding as clearly as one can religion, socialism and the general principle of one’s acts. The intellectual factor is of primary importance in my religion. I can see no more reason why salvation16 should come to the intellectually incapable17 than to the morally incapable. For simple souls thinking in simple processes, salvation perhaps comes easily, but there is none for the intellectual coward, for the mental sloven18 and sluggard19, for the stupid and obdurate20 mind. The Believer will think hard and continue to grow and learn, to read and seek discussion as his needs determine.
Correlated with one’s own intellectual activity, part of it and growing out of it for almost everyone, is intellectual work with and upon others. By teaching we learn. Not to communicate one’s thoughts to others, to keep one’s thoughts to oneself as people say, is either cowardice21 or pride. It is a form of sin. It is a duty to talk, teach, explain, write, lecture, read and listen. Every truly religious man, every good Socialist22, is a propagandist. Those who cannot write or discuss can talk, those who cannot argue can induce people to listen to others and read. We have a belief and an idea that we want to spread, each to the utmost of his means and measure, throughout all the world. We have a thought that we want to make humanity’s thought. And it is a duty too that one should, within the compass of one’s ability, make teaching, writing and lecturing possible where it has not existed before. This can be done in a hundred ways, by founding and enlarging schools and universities and chairs, for example; by making print and reading and all the material of thought cheap and abundant, by organizing discussion and societies for inquiry23.
And talk and thought and study are but the more generalized aspects of duty. The Believer may find his own special aptitude24 lies rather among concrete things, in experimenting and promoting experiments in collective action. Things teach as well as words, and some of us are most expressive by concrete methods. The Believer will work himself and help others to his utmost in all those developments of material civilization, in organized sanitation25 for example, all those developments that force collective acts upon communities and collective realizations26 into the minds of men. And the whole field of scientific research is a field of duty calling to everyone who can enter it, to add to the permanent store of knowledge and new resources for the race.
The Mind of that Civilized State we seek to make by giving ourselves into its making, is evidently the central work before us. But while the writer, the publisher and printer, the bookseller and librarian and teacher and preacher, the investigator27 and experimenter, the reader and everyone who thinks, will be contributing themselves to this great organized mind and intention in the world, many sorts of specialized28 men will be more immediately concerned with parallel and more concrete aspects of the human synthesis. The medical worker and the medical investigator, for example, will be building up the body of a new generation, the body of the civilized state, and he will be doing all he can, not simply as an individual, but as a citizen, to ORGANIZE his services of cure and prevention, of hygiene29 and selection. A great and growing multitude of men will be working out the apparatus30 of the civilized state; the organizers of transit31 and housing, the engineers in their incessantly32 increasing variety, the miners and geologists33 estimating the world’s resources in metals and minerals, the mechanical inventors perpetually economizing34 force. The scientific agriculturist again will be studying the food supply of the world as a whole, and how it may be increased and distributed and economized35. And to the student of law comes the task of rephrasing his intricate and often quite beautiful science in relation to modern conceptions. All these and a hundred other aspects are integral to the wide project of Constructive Socialism as it shapes itself in my faith.
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embodies
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| v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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sloven
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| adj.不修边幅的 | |
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sluggard
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| n.懒人；adj.懒惰的 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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sanitation
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| n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备 | |
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realizations
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| 认识，领会( realization的名词复数 )； 实现 | |
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investigator
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| n.研究者，调查者，审查者 | |
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specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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hygiene
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| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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geologists
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| 地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 ) | |
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economizing
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| v.节省，减少开支( economize的现在分词 ) | |
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economized
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| v.节省，减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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