Iris Murdoch
A HOUSE OF THEORY
The
~ocialist
movement in England
~
suffering a loss of
energy: and
this
is a misfortune which touches the whole com–
munity. The Tories are, by their nature, not a party of ideals and
moral inventions. It is rather their function, a function which liberal–
minded Socialists must welcome in general even if they often deplore
it in particular, to check and criticize the more abstract visions of
the Left. But now the salt itself seems to have lost its savor. The
more progressive section of society seems able, in this time, to
provide very little in the way of guidance and inspiration. There
is
a certain moral void in the life of the country. How hM this
come about?
It
does not seem difficult to analyze the sources of moral
energy which fed the Socialist movement in the past. First and most
primitive was the desire for human equality, the valuing of the
poorest he with the richest he: a desire made more intense by the
miseries of the Industrial Revolution. Developing later, and giving
to the movement its most characteristic and probably most pro–
found motive, was the conception of exploitation, whose techni–
cal form was the Labor Theory of Value. Joined with this was
what one might call Benthamite efficiency, the desire to tidy up
society, sweeping away metaphysical obscurantism and outdated
tradition, and plan rationally for the happiness which was so patently
lacking. To be compared and contrasted with this was Marxist
efficiency, closely knit theoretical scientific Socialism, offering a more
complex philosophy and a more revolutionary vision. A product of
this
confident science was a certain determinism whose appeal was
religious as well as scientific: the apocalyptic belief that capitalism
was doomed, the Messianic belief in the role of the proletariat.
