The Socialist Van
bloody morality!' howled Dick Wantley, as he hurled a lump of granite at one of the cyclists.
After pursuing the van until it was out of range the mob bethought themselves of the local Socialists; but these were nowhere to be seen, having prudently withdrawn as soon as the van had got clear. The victory gained, the upholders of the present system returned to the piece of waste ground on the top of the hill, where a gentleman in a silk hat and frock coat stood up on a little hillock and made a speech. He said nothing about the Distress Committee or the Soup Kitchen or the children who went to school without proper clothes or food, and made no reference to what was to be done next winter when nearly everybody would be out of work. But he said a great deal about the Glorious Empire and the Flag, and his remarks were received with rapturous applause; and at the conclusion of his address the crowd sang the National Anthem with great enthusiasm and dispersed, congratulating themselves that they had shown, to the best of their ability, what Mugsborough thought of Socialism.
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