ad of for his pope. In Ireland, as I write, the
young priests are defying their bishops and joining the Sinn Fein, a
non-religious movement for an Irish Republic.

What is it that keeps the average workingman in subjection to the
exploiter? Simply terror, the terror of losing his job. And if you
could get into the inmost soul of Christian ministers, you would find
that precisely the same force is keeping many of them slaves to
Tradition. They are educated men, and thousands of them must resent
the dilemma which compels them to be either fools or hypocrites. They
have caught enough of the spirit of their time not to enjoy having to
pose as miracle-mongers, rain-makers and witch-doctors; they would
like to say frankly that they do not believe that Jonah ever swallowed
the whale, and even that they are dubious about Hercules and Achilles
and other demigods. But they are part of a machine, and the old men
and the rich men who run the machine have laid down the law. Those who
find themselves tempted to think, remember suddenly that they have
wives and children; they have only one profession, they have been
unfitted for any other by a life-time of study of dead things, as well
as by the practice of altruism.

But now the Social Revolution is coming; coming upon swift wings--it
may be here before this book sees the light. And who knows but then we
may see in America that wonderful sight which we saw in Russia, when
Christian monks assembled and burned their holy books, and petitioned
the state to take them in as citizens and human beings? It is my
belief that when the power of exploitation is broken, we shall see the
Dead Hand crumble into dust, as a mummy crumbles when it is exposed to
the air. All those men who stay in the Church and pretend to believe
nonsense, because it affords an easy way to earn a living, will
suddenly realize that it is possible to earn a living outside; that
any man can go into a factory, clean and well-ventilated and humanly
run, and by four hours work can earn the purchasing power of ten or
fifteen dollars. Do you not think that there may be some who will
choose freedom and self-respect on those terms?

And what of those thousands and tens of thousands who join the church
because it is a part of the regime of respectability, a way to make
the acquaintance of the rich, to curry favor and obtain promotion, to
get customers if you are a tradesman, to extend your practice if you
are a professional ma