Socialist 'Ten Commandments' - 3 comments

I'm told the following was used in Socialist Sunday Schools (a little thin on the ground, nowadays) around 1900, to be committed to memory by the children.

1. Love your school companions, who will be your co-workers in life.
2. Love learning, which is the food of the mind, be as grateful to your teachers as to your parents.
3. Make every day holy by good and useful deeds, and kindly actions.
4. Honour good men and women, be courteous to all; and bow down to none.
5. Do not hate or speak evil of anyone; do not be revengeful, but stand up for your rights and resist oppression.
6. Do not be cowardly. Be a friend to the weak, and love justice.
7. Remember that all good things of the earth are produced by labour. Whoever enjoys them without working for them is stealing the bread of the workers.
8. Observe and think in order to discover the truth. Do not believe what is contrary to reason, and never deceive yourself or others.
9. Do not think that they who love their own country must hate and despise other nations, or wish for war, which is a remnant of barbarism.
10. Look forward to the day when all men and women will be free citizens of one community, and live together as equals in peace and righteousness.

Good advice for boys and girls of any age.

Via Laban, via Paul Stott.