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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #23574.
Robert Rives La Monte’s Socialism: Positive and Negative is a modest collection of essays that blends reprinted pieces from early‑1900s socialist periodicals with several unpublished talks. The volume opens with a candid author’s note that explains why two of the papers, “Science and Socialism” (International Socialist Review, 1900) and “Marxism and Ethics” (Wilshire’s Magazine, 1905), have been granted permission to appear again, while the remaining essays are presented for the first time. La Monte acknowledges the seven‑year gap between his writings on materialism, inviting readers to judge whether the shift reflects intellectual growth or decline, and he frames the work as a practical aid for those seeking a clearer grasp of “Marxian Socialism.”
The book’s voice is that of an earnest early‑20th‑century activist, marked by a polemical yet earnest style that interweaves historical overview, philosophical argument, and personal conviction. Its language is dense with references to Darwinian theory, the “Great‑Man” doctrine, and contemporary socialist debates, reflecting the period’s intellectual climate. Readers who enjoy rigorous, historically situated discussions of Marxist theory, particularly those interested in the interplay between science, ethics, and revolutionary politics, will find La Monte’s candid, sometimes confrontational prose both stimulating and informative.
The opening · free to read
Of the papers in this little volume two have appeared in print before: "Science and Socialism" in the International Socialist Review for September, 1900, and "Marxism and Ethics" in Wilshire's Magazine for November, 1905. My thanks are due to the publishers of those periodicals for their kind permission to re-print those articles here. The other papers appear here for the first time.
There is an obvious inconsistency between the treatment of Materialism in "Science and Socialism" and its treatment in "The Nihilism of Socialism." I would point out that seven years elapsed between the composition of the former and that of the latter essay. Whether the inconsistency be a sign of mental growth or deterioration my readers must judge for themselves. I will merely say here that the man or woman, whose views remain absolutely fixed and stereotyped for seven years, is cheating the undertaker. What I conceive the true significance of this particular change in opinions to be is set forth in the essay on "The Biogenetic Law."
Some Socialists will deprecate what may seem to them the unwise frankness of the paper on "The Nihilism of Socialism." To them I can only say that to me Socialism has always been essentially a revolutionary movement. Revolutionists, who attempt to maintain a distinction between their exoteric and their esoteric teachings, only succeed in making themselves ridiculous. But, even were the maintenance of such a distinction practicable, it would, in my judgment, be highly inexpedient. As a mere matter of policy, ever since I first entered the Socialist Movement, I have been a firm believer in the tactics admirably summed up in Danton's "_De l'audace! Puis de l'audace! Et toujours de l'audace!_"
Should any reader find himself repelled by "The Nihilism of Socialism," let me beg that he will not put the book aside until he has read the essay on "The Biogenetic Law."
I do not send forth this little book with any ambitious hope that it will be widely read, or even that it will convert any one to Socialism. My hope is far more modest. It is that this book may be of some real service, as a labor-saving device, to the thinking men and women who have felt the lure of Socialism, and are trying to discover just what is meant by the oft-used words 'Marxian Socialism,' Should it prove of material aid to even one such man or woman, I would feel that I had been repaid a hundred-fold for my labor in writing it.
ROBERT RIVES LA MONTE. Feb. 7, 1907.
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