Workshop Talks

[El Blanco]

Socialism and Capitalism are economic systems. What exactly does God want with money? It is a human concept used to manage resources.

I can just easily say God is a capitalist, but that is also retarded.

we know that the man who never set foot in a church in his lifetime will, if he is rich, be more honored by Christian society than the poor man who goes to church every Sunday, and says his prayers morning and evening;

Ya, because Sunday when I go to Church we are going to be praying to Andrew Carnegie

we know that the capitalists of all religions pay more for the service of a good lawyer to keep them out of the clutches of the law than for the services of a good priest to keep them out of the clutches of the devil;

Because lawyers charge more.

and we never heard a capitalist, who, in his business, respected the Sermon on the Mount as much as he did the decisions of the Supreme Court.

That is such a generalization. Is this satire? It must be a joke. Is this some lost work of Mark Twain? Because, if not and you believe that bullshit, I'd like to introduce you to my dad. He ran his own small bussiness for years based on the "Love thy neighbor" concept.

We know that Christianity teaches us to love our neighbour as ourselves, but we also know that if a capitalist attempted to run his business upon that plan his relatives would have no difficulty in getting lawyers, judges and physicians to declare him incompetent to conduct his affairs in the business world.

Or his clients would appreciate the treatment and provide him with repeat bussiness. Most bussiness owners understand the value of building good will in the community.

An Irish Catholic joins the Socialist movement. He finds that as a rule the Socialist men and women are better educated than their fellows; he finds that they are immensely cleaner in speech and thought than are the adherents of capitalism in the same class; that they are devoted husbands and loyal wives, loving and cheerful fathers and mothers, skilful and industrious workers in the shops and office, and that although poor and needy as a rule, yet that they continually bleed themselves to support their cause, and give up for Socialism what many others spend in the saloon.

He finds that a drunken Socialist is as rare as a white blackbird, and that a Socialist of criminal tendencies is such a rare avis that when one is found the public press heralds it forth as a great discovery.

What the hell? Ever been to a university campus? I realize this was written 95 years ago, but even they had their version of beatniks. If embracing socialism means swearing off booze, I think I finally get why that worldwide worker revolution never happened.