only motive force at work in the world. Marx and Engels carefully
avoided the use of the word _interests_ in such manner as to suggest
that material interests control the course of history. They invariably
used the term _economic conditions_, and the careful reader will not
fail to perceive that although economic conditions produce interests
which form the basis of class divisions, it is not unusual for men to
act contrary to their personal _interests_ as a result of existing
_conditions_. In general, class interests and personal interests
coincide, but there are certainly occasions when they conflict. Many an
employer, having no quarrel with his employees and confident that he
will be the loser thereby, joins in a fight upon labor unions because he
is conscious that the interests of his class are involved. In a similar
way, workingmen enter upon sympathetic strikes, consciously, at an
immediate loss to themselves, because they place class loyalty before
personal gain. It is significant of class feeling and temper that when
employers act in this manner, and lock out employees with whom they have
no trouble, simply to help other employers to win their battles, they
are lauded by the very newspapers which denounce the workers when they
adopt a like policy.

It is also true that there are individuals in both classes who never
become conscious of their class interests, and steadfastly refuse to
join with the members of their class. The workingman who refuses to join
a union, or who "scabs" when his fellow-workers go out on strike, may
act from ignorance or from sheer self-interest and greed. His action may
be due to his placing personal interest before the larger interest of
his class, or from being too shortsighted to see that ultimately his own
interests and those of his class must merge. Many an employer, likewise,
may refuse to join in any concerted action of his class for either of
these reasons, or he may even rise superior to his class and personal
interests and support the workers because he believes in the justness of
their cause, realizing perfectly well that their gain means loss to him
or to his class. This ought to be a sufficient answer to those shallow
critics who think that they dispose of the class struggle theory of
modern Socialism by enumerating those of its leading exponents who do
not belong to the proletariat.

The influence of class environment upon men's beliefs and ideals is a
subject which our m