The Retied of Marxism. By J. Shield Nicholson. (Murray. Gs.
net.)—Professor Nicholson has read once more the works of Marx and is confirmed in his belief that Marx was a very unscien- tific economist, but a violent revolutionary preaching class- hatred. His teaching has been interpreted in opposite senses by liautsky, the German Majority Socialist, and by Lenin. The purely destructive part of his doctrine has been applied literally In Russia. Professor Nicholson's critical summary of Marx's theories is well worth reading. As he says, a leading character- istic of Marx was his boundless conceit ; he generalized from an Imperfect knowledge of economic history and enunciated his conclusions as infallible truths. Lenin and the lesser disciples of Marx are equally dogmatic and equally wrong in their facts. Professor Nicholson points to rural Ireland under the Land Purchase Acts as an example of the benefits of private property. The peasant-proprietors have all prospered since they bought their lands with the help of the British taxpayer. Nowhere has land nationalization made any progress, not even in Russia, as it violates the elementary human instinct'.
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