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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 86

Amendment of Political Machinery

Amendment of Political Machinery.

Object.—To obtain the most accurate representation and expression of the desires of the majority of the people at every moment.

page 56

Means.—1. Reform of registration so as to give a vote, both Parliamentary and municipal, to every adult. 2. Abolition of any period of residence as a qualification for registration. 3. Bi-annual registration by special public officer. 4. Annual Parliaments. 5. Payment of election expenses, including postage of election addresses and polling cards. 6. Payment of all public representatives, parliamentary, county, or municipal. 7. Second ballot. 8. Abolition or painless extinction of the House of Lords.1

This is the programme to which a century of industrial revolution has brought the Radical working man. Like John Stuart Mill,2 though less explicitly, he has turned from mere political Democracy to a complete, though unconscious, Socialism.3

1 It need hardly be said that schemes of "free land ", peasant proprietorship, or leasehold enfranchisement, find no place in the modern programme of the Socialist Radical, or Social Democrat. They are survivals of the Individualistic Radicalism which is passing away. Candidates seeking a popular "cry" more and more avoid these reactionary proposals.

2 "Autobiography", p. 231-2. See also Book IV. of the "Principles of Political Economy" (Popular edition, 1865).

3 For a forecast of the difficulties which this programme will have to encounter as its full scope and intention become more clearly realized, see the eighth essay in this volume, by Hubert Bland.