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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
11
ffifte Atheistic ffitntfornu
XL
fL?-..
THE CURSE
|
OF CAPITAL.
BY
EDWARD B. AVELING, D.Sc.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT
PUBLISHING
63, FLEET STREET E.C.
1 8 8 4.
PRICE
ONE
PENNY.
COMPANY,
�THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
Under this title is being issued a fortnightly publi
cation, each number of which consists of a lecture
delivered by a well-known Freethought advocate. Any
question may be selected, provided that it has formed the
subject of a lecture delivered from the platform by an
Atheist. It is desired to show that the Atheistic platform
is used for the service of humanity, and that Atheists war
against tyranny of every kind, tyranny of king and god,
political, social, and theological.
Each issue consists of sixteen pages, and is published at
one penny. Each writer is responsible only for his or her
own views.
1. —“ What is the use of Prater ? ” By Annie Besant.
2. —“ Mind considered as a Bodily Function. By Alice
Bradlaugh.
3. —“ The Gospel of Evolution.” By Edward Aveling,
D.Sc.
4. —■“ England’s Balance-Sheet.” By Charles Bradlaugh.
5. —“ The Story of the Soudan.” By Annie Besant.
6. —“ Nature and the Gods.” By Arthur B. Moss.
These Six, in Wrapper, Sixpence.
7. —“ Some Objections to Socialism.” By Charles Brad
laugh.
8. —“ Is Darwinism Atheistic ? ” By Charles Cockbill
Cattell.
9. —“ The Myth of the Resurrection.” By Annie Besant.
10.—“ Does Royalty Pay ? ” By Geo. Standring.
*
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
----------- ♦-----------
For the first time in speaking in this hall, I feel to-night
that I shall not have my audience thoroughly with me.
I am so used to talking upon a subject upon which we are
all quite agreed—that is, on the subject of religion—that
I am conscious to-night—more conscious, perhaps, than
anybody else here—that I am speaking to an audience
which, on this particular topic with which I shall deal this
evening, is not at one with me. We have been so used to
discussing the position of Christianity and other creeds,
and have come to the same conclusions with such a start
ling and noticeable unanimity, that I am conscious, and I
doubt not many of you are conscious, of a certain amount
of embarrassment in dealing with the subject before us.
I know that I am in a minority, not quite of one, but at
all events in a minority with this audience. But that very
feeling prompts me to speak more openly to you, because
I know that I shall get from you just as patient a hearing
in respect to a subject on which you and I are antagonistic,
as I should have if I spoke on a subject on which we were
all thoroughly agreed. I am going to ask you to listen to
me not only patiently, but even silently. I mean that I
would rather speak to you on the subject to-night, and
make my position as plain to you as I can, without any in
terruption even of the kindly order with which you gene
rally favor me. The subject is a difficult one, an intricate
one. It wants very carefully placing before you, and wants
careful attention. Having said so much, I may at once
plunge into the discussion of what I have called “ The
Curse of Capital.”
I think that there are two great curses under which the
present society is laboring—the one is Christianity, and the
other is Capital. Last Sunday night I discussed the for
mer ; to-night I will discuss the latter. These are, to my
thinking, the two great curses of this modern civilisation
of ours ; and I have come to conclusions in respect to both
of these that I put before you as the result of my studies
as scientific student. Last week I told you I could not
�164
THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
accept Christianity because I was a student of science. My
hatred of the capitalistic system of to-day is based on the
same methods, the same employment of scientific study, as
in the former case. I am an evolutionist, and as an evolu
tionist I have come to the conclusion that Christianity is a
bane and not a blessing. Equally, as an evolutionist, I
have come to the conclusion that the present system of pro
duction—the capitalistic system of production—is a bane
and not a blessing to the world at large. It is only a
blessing to a comparatively few people. It is a distinct
evil to anybody but that comparatively few. I am an
Evolutionist, an Atheist, and a Socialist.
Of these two curses I think capitalism is the greater
curse and the greater danger to us. Christianity you
and I hold to be bad alike for the society and for the
individual—upon that we are thoroughly agreed. Now,
capitalism is clearly, to my thinking at least, bad for
society, but, unfortunately, not bad for certain individuals.
Everyone of you desires—righteously desires—to be a
capitalist. In the present condition of society you are
perfectly right to desire it. Everyone of you desires to be
a capitalist. I should be very pleased to be a capitalist.
Nothing would give me better pleasure than to have a
certain amount of capital at my disposal; but nothing
would give me greater pain than to get it in the way that
some people get it. The great difficulty is this. Here is
a system we know to be distinctly bad for the race, and
yet to get capital for the individual is a distinct pleasure
to him and a distinct good. Christianity we hold to be
alike bad for the race and for everybody who takes part
in it; but the capitalistic system, though it is bad for the
mass, is good for certain individuals. That makes the
question complex, and people who cannot see beyond the
limits of their own life cannot understand that a system
out of which they themselves may get some benefit is a
bad system intrinsically none the less. Thus we want you
to subscribe capital for this hall and this company, to find
funds for an Atheistic hall, and we are justified under the
present existing conditions in doing this. It is absolutely
necessary. If any work is to be done there should be an
individual capitalist or company, but that does not vouch
for the goodness of the system nevertheless. .Often we
are reproached for being individually capitalists, though
we are fighting against the system. I hope we are not
inconsistent in this. It is a question of self-preservation.
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
165
I look, then, upon Christianity as a minor curse to Capi
talism. I am aware that I am speaking to an audience
that is in the main a Radical audience. It is pleasant to
think that in some respects we who differ as Socialists are
at one as Radicals. To one or two points I will call atten
tion where we are at one, and then I will deal with others
where we are not at one. You are an advance upon
Liberalism; as Liberalism is an advance upon Whiggism;
Whiggism on Conservatism, Conservatism on Toryism.
And as men progress from the lower to the higher, the next
step from Radicalism is Socialism. The difference, however,
between the position of Radicalism and that of Socialism
is much greater than between either of the other classes.
Not a Radical or Socialist would say “ no ” to this state
ment : that the condition of the labor classes is at the
present hour a disastrous one. There every thinker goes
with me when I say that the condition of the labor classes
is a most disastrous and unhappy one. In lives, in home,
in every detail of life, the position of the labor classes is
distinctly an injustice to them. I take it you will go
further (and not fare worse) in another point. Not only
is it that the labor classes are in a most unhappy condi
tion, but further, the chief reason for this is that they are
without power. They are without any social or political
power. This is the c’ry of all political reformers—the labor
classes have little^ or no social or political power. Why ?
Because all the means of production, with one exception, are
not in their hands, are indeed out of their reach. You
may say: “Well, but a man who is very thrifty and
careful can by degrees lift himself out of his condition and
make himself a small capitalist.” It is possible that a unit
out of thousands may do it; but I am speaking of the
average laboring man, and I urge upon you that the means
of production are not and never can be within reach of 999
out of every thousand of these men in existing conditions
—with one exception. And mark what the exception is, be
cause it is that upon which one of our fundamental doc
trines rests. The exception is what we call labor-power.
It is a truism to tell you that of all the means of produc
tion labor-power is the solitary essential one. It is the
one essential beyond all others. Machinery is a means of
production, but machinery without labor-power is perfectly
useless. Natural objects are, in a sense, means of produc
tion ; but they cannot be turned into commodities without
labor-power. In short, whatever means of production you
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THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
take, all is of no avail without the one essential means—
labor-power. What I am trying to urge upon you is this,
—that the body of people in whom is resident the one
essential, human labor-power, are the very body of people
who have no other means of production at their disposal
whatever. They are all out of their reach except this one,
the most essential one. Upon that it seems that we are
justified in charging a gross injustice upon our modern
society. More than this. Other means of production, such
as machinery, have been produced by this labor-power, and
are now beyond the reach of the very class to whose labor
they are due.
We have seen that the poor of the laboring classes are
in an unhappy condition, and that the means of production
are out of their reach. As a consequence, it is a familiar
fact that every great discovery, whatever it may be, does
not benefit the labor classes. Any great scientific discovery,
any great advance—say the telegraph or the application of
electricity—whom does it benefit ? the productive classes ?
What are called the middle classes derive a considerable
amount of benefit from it; but how many of the labor
classes are in any sense better ? How many working men
or women’s lives are made sweeter or happier by any of
these scientific discoveries ? Put the question to yourselves,
and I think that the answer will be that, on the whole,
any great discovery is not for the world at large, but for a
comparatively limited class, and not for the class that most
needs these discoveries and their advantages. Another
illustration: I take the illustration of our schools and
universities. Our universities have, every one of them,
been founded by the labor of the labor classes. Every
detail of the finances of our universities is entirely due to
the labor of the labor classes. The scholarships that keep
men at Cambridge, the various exhibitions that can be
obtained there, the great endowments of “Chairs” of this
science, and of that language, all these emoluments in
your universities are the product of the labor classes.
What benefit do they get from them ? The answer is,
evidently none! So also with your State schools. You
will say they are supported by the rates, and that the rates
come out of your pocket. You may speak feelingly; but
economically every rate that you pay comes directly or in
directly out of the labor of the labor classes; and hence
these schools are their property. You only are, as it were,
trustees for them, and very badly you deal with your
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
167
trusteeship. When they clamor for free education they
are asking a right, and not a favor. Whenever there is a cry
for free schools they are simply asking for their own again.
Another point of agreement: for any remedy of a drastic
nature, for any great change that is ever to be brought
about, Parliament, as at present constituted, is practically
useless. I know well enough my Radical friends with a
sigh will repeat that after me, and will tell you that for
any great change that is to be brought about with speed
and completeness, Parliament, as at present constituted,
is practically of no avail. It is not necessary to remind
you how the men are elected, and how they conduct their
business, or no business, as the case may be; but certain
we are of the painful fact that Parliament is only a Board
for the protection of vested interests.
There is a word used by politicians that covers a multi
tude of sins: that is, “government.” Even those who
feel that Parliament is largely effete, still cling to that
shibboleth—‘ ‘ government. ’ ’ They say when you have such
men as are now in the Cabinet, you have a Government of
able and well-meaning benefactors to their species. I am
not going to touch the question whether a Tory or a
Liberal Goverment is the better; but I am going to remind
you that every Government, like every Parliament, con
sists of a body of men who—at least nine out of ten—
are of that very -class of landlord and capitalist against
whom we, as Socialists, are waging warfare. Our govern
ments, whether in England, Germany, or America, are all
governments of a small class, of the capitalist and landlord
•order; and they govern for the benefit of capitalists and
landlords, and not for the benefit of the community at large.
This is too true, no matter with what Government we deal.
We know that never, in the history of the past, has
there been an example of one class legislating fairly and
honestly for any other class; and yet this is what you
expect with your panacea of a Liberal Government. In
all these Government arrangements, you always have one
class legislating for another; and whenever you have that
you will have little or no real legislation done. You
middle class people refused to allow the “ upper class ” to
legislate for you, though you left them a little figment in
the shape of a House of Lords, to remind you how foolish
you were to leave them anything at all. Yet you middle
class people think you can legislate for the working-classes.
It is impossible. There will never be honest and fair and
�168
THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
complete legislation for the community at large until all
classes are legislating for themselves or until there is no
“ class” at all, and the legislation is of the community for1
the community.
Some will say: “You Socialists are so unpractical.
You are talking very finely to-night; but why can’t you
be patient ? Why can’t you help us when we try to get
some measures passed—such as Municipal Bills or Fran
chise Bills?” We do; and are willing to help you. I
am not of that imaginary school of Socialists who say it is
not of the slightest good helping in any of these little
measures of Extension of the Franchise and so on. I
believe I am the mouthpiece of a great number of people
who are quite willing to help you in these; but it must be
understood that these are merely transition remedies; that
they do not heal the sore at all; they do not get near it.
I want to see the Franchise extended and two million
more electors added to the suffrage-list; I want to see
women on the suffrage-list; and I am perfectly anxious to
work with you at it. So is it, I believe, with every
thinker among the Socialist party. But these are tran
sition remedies, and don’t touch the vital point. They are
interesting, and move in the right direction, but they are
only transition remedies, and as they are such, you must
forgive us if we work also for something which goes
further. And this is where the Radical politician and the
Socialist are so much at issue.
I may most fitly, here, before I turn to another point,
speak for a moment of two schools of thought, eaoh of whom
is working, I believe, honestly and thoroughly in the right
direction, but each of whom, again, is not what we should
call a Socialist. I mean the Positivist school and the Radi
cal school. I am a Positivist, but something more; and I am
a Radical, but something much more. The Positivist aims
at something, but does not go far enough. The Positivist
says : “Moralise your individual; make him a better and
more moral man, and then your great results will follow.”
The first part is excellent, but the second part contains, I
think, a fallacy. By all means moralise your children;
let them have as much intellectual training as possible;
that is excellent. But when the Positivist says that all
good results will follow, we do not go with him there. It
is quite right to work from within outwards, but you must
also work from without inwards. You must change not
only the nature of the individual, but change, too, his
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
169
environment. It is of greater importance to change the
environment, and make it a more moral environment.
We say, work from within outwards, but work also from
without inwards; and at length, the two labors meeting,
you will obtain the desired effect.
The Radical says: “Change the nature of government—
let us have a Republic.” Strange, how many Radicals seem
to think that the moment a Republic comes then the political
millennium will be to hand. Look at France and America,
and ask yourselves whether the condition of the community
at large in those countries is in any degree better than it is
in England. It needs no reading to know that under
Republics the exploiting of the laboring classes is as bad as
under monarchies, if not worse. Do not let us think that
a Republic will change all the conditions. I think a
monarchy is as evil a form of government as any you can
have. But do not imagine that if you had a Republic to
morrow that you would have the community at large much
happier. I cannot believe it; all evidence is against it.
What is it, then, at which we aim? We want, with the
Positivist, to change the morale, of the individual; we want,
with the Radical, to get a better form of nominal govern
ment ; but we want to do something else—to change the
environment of the individual. I told you at the outset
that I had come to these conclusions by way of science.
From science, especially from your Darwinian science, you
can learn so much. You that are students of Darwin, and
have learned something of his views and of his great
truths, will know what I mean by this idea of changing the
environment, the surroundings, as well as changing the
individual. As result of that variation that is so infinite
in nature, on which natural selection works, you get an
infinite diversity of plants and animals, on which evolution
works. How is this variation brought about ? Mainly by
the changed conditions of the surrounding of the animal
or plant. Why is it that a particular plant or animal
varies ? Largely because of the conditions in which it is
placed. You who have learned the incalculable value of
conditions on the individual, of the nature of the environ
ment, will see what our meaning is when we say it is no
good working on the individual alone; you must alter the
condition of society as it is at the present time, and then
you will get a reaction upon the individual.
Upon some of the chief words in economics you as Radi
cal and I as Socialist part company. When I begin to
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THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
speak of labor, competition, thrift, wages, profit, we shall
be to some extent at issue. You know that everyone of
those wants a lecture or a course of lectures; and as I am
making a confession of faith to you, and trying to justify
my position in this matter, you will bear with me if I say
a word or two on each of these points.
Labor. There is a phrase often used about labor that
the Socialist abhors. That is, “the dignity of labor.”
We hear so much said about the “ dignity of labor,” but
it does not come from those who are laboring. We do not
look upon labor—that is, upon human effort as devoted
to the production of commodities—as in itself a desirable
thing—as, per se, a thing that is to be regarded as a glory
and a dignity. It is excellent to use your muscles for the
good of the community, but it is a great mistake to talk at
large upon the subject of the “glory and dignity of labor.”
We should try to reduce labor to a minimum. That can only
be done by making the enormous number who never labor
at all take their fair share in the labor of the community.
Then the word “competition.” 0 competition ! “cause
of England’s greatness.” People who have given up the
idea that the Bible is the cause of England’s greatness
have yet seriously come to the conclusion that competition
is the great thing that has made England what it is. Com
petition is almost an unmitigated evil. For it always leads
to two things—first, combination; and, secondly, mono
poly. The whole history of the past and the history of
to-day tells us that where we have unlimited competition
you are sure to get, sooner or later, combination, and, as a
result monopoly. I do not think that I need deal with the
extraordinary statement that is often made, that all great
discoveries are the outcome of the spirit of competition. I
cannot understand how anybody can seriously make that
statement. I am not about to traverse the history of dis
coveries. But I ask you to think of any discovery, and to
reflect whether it has ever been the result of such compe
tition, or whether it has not invariably been made by some
man who has no need to compete perhaps; and certainly
has no intention of competing. How is it all your great
scientific work has to be done by men of means or holding
sinecures?—your Darwins, your Huxleys—all these men
who do all your best scientific work, but do it in no spirit
of competition. We look forward to the time when not
merely a few here and there will be able to give their at
tention to further discoveries, to the extension of know
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
171
ledge, and when, by a more equitable division of work and
play, there will be possibility for hundreds and thousands
instead of units can give time and attention to work and dis
covery and the extension of human knowledge. We can
not understand that competition has brought about these
great discoveries. It has brought about many great com
mercial successes—I do not deny that. But if you are
going to measure the good of the world by the commercial
success of the world, I draw back from you. If you are
going to tell me that it is due to competition that you have
such magnificent fortunes and such successes in certain
lives, you must be reminded that you are measuring the
world by such a little thing; English people measure all
good by the purely commercial test. They can hardly help
it in the present condition of society. They measure almost
all good on the commercial basis, and there, of course,
competition has been an advantage to individuals.
The word “wages” ought, of course, to be spoken of
in lecture after lecture. All I dare hint at here are just
two things. We, as Socialists, desire that wages to the
workers should be a fixed and a fair proportion at least of
the products. Nothing of that kind exists to-day. In all
probability, if changes come gradually, there will be first
some fixed proportion, and later on there will be a fair
proportion, coming as wage to the laborer. At present he
has neither the one-nor the other. We cannot go into a dis
cussion as to what regulates wages, but clearly there is
now nothing like a fixed, much less a fair, proportion of
the produce going to labor. So far Radicals go with us;
but when we say you will never get this in all probability
until the existing condition of things is revolutionised, until
the present relation between capital and labor is alto
gether done away with—you, as Radicals, will draw back.
At present the proportion of the produce that goes to the
worker is distinctly unfair; but we as Socialists say you
will never get that fair proportion until the relationship
between labor and capital is completely revolutionised.
Just another word, about profit. Production to-day is
for three things. Production, that is, where by human
power and the use of other means of production, natural
objects are turned into commodities, is either for use
directly, or for exchange, or for profit. It is that third
kind of production to which we take exception. Produc
tion for use is excellent. Production for exchange is,
also, a well-recognised form of production. But produc
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THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
tion for profit is that against which Socialists set their
face. It is this that is the cause of what is called the
profit-mongering condition of society; and it is because
the present condition of society is essentially a profit
mongering one, because the nature and aim of every one
is to get profit somehow, that we have most of the ills
that at present exist. Production for profit we look upon
as an undesirable thing. There is another familiar phrase:
“ Has not a man a right to his own—to what he produces
or makes? ” The question frequently comes up, especially
when we begin to study this question. If a man has
produced so and so, and made a profit out of it, has
not he a right to his own ? It seems a strange
and low form of morality that prompts one to such an
enquiry. No, clearly not. There is something greater
than the individual—that is, the community for which he
works. A man has clearly no right to do as he pleases.
That which a man produces in his present condition he
must keep, as much as he can, or he would not live. But
in the condition of things to which we look forward we
hope it will be understood that a man produces not for
himself but for the community. Take a case noticed in
the papers recently. One man in a firm in Birmingham
drew out of the firm £70,000 as one year’s income. You
and I are equally agreed that that man had clearly no
right to that £70,000. He will tell you he invested so
much, and so much came back as interest. But even if
he carried on the business himself, I should dispute that
he had a right to the money, because it is clearly profit,
and profit is always made by the exploiting of somebody
somewhere. But I read that there was a child of ten in
that firm. He was also having laid up for him so many
thousands per year. I hold that that child had distinctly
no right to that money. You will say his father founded
the business, and surely he has a right to leave it to the
child. No ; he has no such right. I know in the present
state of society he must do it. But I say the society is
wrong where such a thing is possible, where a child who
has done nothing whatever for humanity should have an1
income of £10,000 or £20,000 a year. It is a crime.
I now come to the one word upon which everything de
pends, and that is the word “capital.” It is upon the
meaning of capital that the Socialistic and all other orders
of thought are at daggers drawn. The one question is, what
explanation do you offer of capital ? I have used the
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
173
phrase “ The Curse of Capital,” I mean capital as it exists
to-day. Capital itself is not a curse; it is only a curse as
it is at this hour. What is this capital ? The economist
says it is the result of saving; and you who have made a
little capital echo that and say “yes.” I must ask you
most carefully not to speak of capital only as an individual.
Your own capital may be the result of saving. I want you
to understand that I am not looking at these little
cases, but I am thinking of great capitalistic fortunes.
You must not rise in your place and tell me your little
experience of how you saved something from your wages,
and commenced to have capital. We must deal with the
big questions of how the great capitals are formed. How ?
Oh, says the political economist, by saving, by self-denial,
by the thrift of the individual. Now, I ask you, what
saving, what self-denial, what thrift has any one of
the great capitalists of the present day shown ? It is
fair to ask, what thrift or self-denial does a great capi
talist show every year? The self-denial and thrift are
shown by his workers. But they do not get the capital,
they make it for him. Trace it wherever you will, and
you will discover that capital is now scarcely ever
the result of the self-denial of the individual who gets
it. Of what is it the result ? I made a distinction
between the great capitalists and the small. I want
to get beyond the latter. You small men are only bubbles
on the great stream, that show neither the direction nor
the depth of the stream. The Socialist says, it is the result
of saving. It is, on the part of the laborer. It is a result
of thrift, but on the part of the laborer. All the capital,
as it is to-day, is the result of the laborer not being paid
for more than a fraction of the work he does. That is the
central position of Socialism; and I want antagonists of
Socialism to assail that position. You may say you want
to know about details, and how you are going to publish
newspapers, and how you are going to get your watches,
and so on. I am not going to deal with these details to
night. I am now dealing with the central question, what is
the meaning of capital? and I am contending that the
meaning of capital is that it is the result of labor that has
never been remunerated.
Say we take a mill that starts working on Monday
morning. Every man and woman works, let us suppose,
ten hours a day. I wish the supposition were accurate.
At the end of the week they are paid; and we contend
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THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
that the payment that they get is remuneration only really
for some two or three or four hours out of every ten. The
labor of the men receives a fraudulent payment. They
had earned what they were paid early in the week, and
had worked days and days absolutely for nothing, as far
as they themselves are concerned.
I may here, if I have made the difficult question clear,
just take one illustration from my own way of thinking.
Did you not ask yourselves as a child where does all the
wealth come from ? I as a child did what I think some
children of a larger growth do; and came to the conclu
sion that it all filtered down from the great millionaires at
the top. I had only gorie half way I I had not traced the
wealth to the real source. I traced it up to the million
aires, these interest-mongers, and so forth; but I should
have gone on. Then I should have found out that I had
to retrace my steps, and that these men had exploited the
class beneath them, and that class had exploited the men
beneath them, and at last I come down to where there is
the sound of hammers, of digging and delving. I should
have come where I hear the sighs of the labor-class, and I
should have heard that out of those sighs .there grew the
ring of gold; I should have seen these labor-men giving
their lives night and day, year after year, and dying in the
very act of handing on something to the class above them.
Thus I might have traced the lessening exploitation up
wards until I got to these colossal fortunes of men who do
nothing at all.
What does Socialism propose? It says: You must
nationalise the means of production and the land. Wealth
shall only be enjoyed by the producers—by nobody else
whatever. And to that end, first you must nationalise
the land, and secondly you must nationalise something
more important, the means of production. You must
attack the landlord and also the capitalist. Both must go
down. And the signs of the times show you the capital
istic forces are closing up with us against the landlord.
Self-preservation is taking possession of them at last.
But these two must be attacked simultaneously. Land
and capital must become the property of the nation.
What will the State be? you will ask. The organised
capacity of the workers. What is it to-day ? To-day it
is the organised tyranny of the idlers. We desire to
replace this by an organised capacity of the workers.
Nationalisation of the land and nationalisation of all the
�THE CURSE OF CAPITAL.
175
means of production are to be brought about by a stead
fast education of the working classes and of the middle
classes to a due understanding of the condition of things
and of the wrong that is done the workers. If we could
make every working man understand what I have tried to
make you understand to-night, a revolution would be
brought about to-morrow morning. If once we could make
them understand this key-note of Socialism the present
system of things would end. This is to be brought about
by education. That education is going on in other
countries; but you English people have little conception
of how Socialism is spreading. I believe there is no move
ment since the movement called Christianity that has any
thing like the hold upon the people that this Socialistic
movement of to-day is gaining. In England you do not
know that everyone of our schemes is based upon scien
tific reasoning of the keenest minds of years and centuries.
You say our principles are fads and unsound ideas. You
do not know that our Socialism is the outcome of the most
patient investigation and study of the acutest minds upon
past history and upon the signs of the coming future.
In every country except England the movement is grow
ing immensely. It is growing in England, and I want you
to take your part in a movement that is, without a doubt,
the one movement of this century. This century will be
known for the blowing away of most of the cobwebs of
supernaturalism. 'But it will be known, without any doubt,
by a name far greater, and that is, for the revolution of
the relations between capital and labor. We have in
England one paper, Justice, devoted to Socialism, hardly
read by you. On the continent there are numbers of
journals entirely devoted to the Socialistic movement. In
France, at the voting for the municipal elections at Paris
in 1881, there were only 17,895 Socialist votes; three
years later there were 38,729—that is to say, that in three
years some 17,000 odd had grown to 38,000 odd. Take,
again, the numbers at Berlin. In 1871 there were 1,135
votes for the Socialist party; in 1874 16,549; three years
later 17,000; and three years later 33,629 ; and in 1881,
only one year between, 56,712.
Do you intend to ignore a movement like that ? You
cannot ignore it. A movement that can spread so rapidly
on the Continent cannot be ignored. It is an international
question, it is a question of nations and of the progress of
all nations.
�176
THE ATHEISTIC PLATFORM.
You will ask: “ Will you not have a frightful struggle,
and will it not end in bloodshed ? ” Possibly. I do not
know. “Is it not setting class against class?” Yes; and
Socialists mean to devote their lives to setting class against
class. We preach class warfare. We hope it may not be
a warfare of bullets and of steel; but if it is class warfare
even this alasI is possible. It is a warfare of the labor
class against the capitalist class. In the past there has
been no such battle without bloodshed. I only hope that
this freedom of the labor class, that has certainly to come,
may be brought about by reason and argument. But it
will have to be brought about. Shelley and Marx did not
think it would be brought about without a tremendous
struggle. Neither they nor we are blind to the possi
bilities that are before us. Marx tells us again and again:
“ Work on, you men. Get yourselves represented in Par
liament ; get hold of the means of Government where you
can, and increase your power, until you are sufficiently
strong to say: ‘ Now we will see right done.’ And then
the fighting will come. But it will come from those who
hold your right from you.” Such a cry will go up in timpI want your voice and mine to help to swell that great cry.
It is growing in volume and intensity from all of the labor
classes throughout the world : “ Our Rights! Our Rights I
Our Rights I ”
Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, at 63 Fleet
Street, London, E.C.—1884.
�
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The curse of capitalism
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Aveling, Edward B. [1849-1898]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: [163]-176 p. ; 18 cm.
Series title: Atheistic Platform
Series number: 11
Notes: Through-pagination with other pamphlets in Atheistic Platform series. List of other titles in the series inside front cover. Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, 63 Fleet Street, London E.C. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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1884
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Capitalism
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Capitalism
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Price One Penny.
THE GENESIS
OF CAPITAL.
*
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
GABRIEL
BY
DEVILLE,
B.
J.
London :
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1887.
��THE GENESIS OF CAPITAL.
APITAL, considered in its evolution, from its origin to the
destined disappearance that the actual conditions of its
existence show to be imminent, will be the subject of this
series.
Just as nothing remained for chemists since the time of Lavoisier,
but ‘to teach that water was formed by the combination of hydrogen
and oxygen, so my only aim will be to interpret faithfully the work of
the great writer whose profound insight into economic facts first enabled
us to understand them clearly.
The glory of having discovered the origin and growth of capital, with
the elements of which it is composed, is due to Karl Marx. Now that,
thanks to him, we possess the method of analysis, every one may assure
himself of the correctness of his deductions, just as every one may
verify the composition of water. Being a correct description of the
exact truth, the ideas of Marx, as will be quickly seen, may be easily
grasped by every reader,
Therefore when we see a theory of his described as “ that old story of
Marx,” without the shadow of argument, or even with the announcement
that none will be given—and reason good !—we are pretty sure to be
dealing with a blockhead, whose silly and feeble hostility merits nothing
more, under the circumstances, than a scornful shrug of the shoulders.
In stating that my analysis will tally with that of Marx, I know that I
lay myself open to the regular charge brought against Socialists by
bourgeois journalists, the crime of always repeating the same thing ;
but what of that ? We must continue to maintain that two and two
make four, and we are unable to transfer the heart to the right side of
the body, even to please these gentlemen’s whim for change.
Anyhow, if it be true that we seldom change our theories, still less do
our adversaries vary their method of attack. Can anything be more
monotonous than their milk-and-water criticism of us ? It is like the
refrain of a wearisome song repeated over and over again. Whenever
a Socialist speaks or agitates they instantly seize the opportunity of
reiterating the complaint that he has been attacking that “ infamous
capital.” They have found nothing else to say : and this is never
varied. I beg their pardon though ; I am wrong : some put “ infamous
capital ” in italics, others in inverted commas, but that is the only differ
ence ; their imagination has gone no further.
�4
It is not as if the epithet gave a correct impression of the attitude of
Socialists towards capital; unfortunately it does not even do that. The
expression is not only absent from the Socialist vocabulary, but, more
over, being of bourgeois invention, both in substance and in form, it
misrepresents the attitude which it pretends to portray. It misrepresents
it by assuming that Socialists criticise the present state of things from a
sentimental standpoint, whereas they stand exclusively on scientific
ground.
For from the scientific point of view the attitude of goodness or badness,
infamy or merit, is due either to our personal material circumstances, or
to the particular bent of our character; that is a sufficient criterion for
judging the individual; in fact we have only to deal with economic
states, evolved according to laws which we have to determine.
If strict obedience to the laws of the physiology of the human frame
could lead, by suppressing morbid conditions, to the disappearance of
pain, which is the consequence of these conditions, without the feeling
of pain having been taken into consideration in the study of physiology,
we shall see that in the same way, a complete conformity to the economic
laws of the social organism, would result in social health, which would
put an end to the sufferings and injustice which are unquestionably
crushing the masses to-day, without allowing the burning reality of this
last fact to influence the march of events. Therefore our aim thould be
to arrive at a knowledge of economic laws. It will suffice us to know
these laws, but we must know them thoroughly.
Nor does thorough knowledge of these laws—that is to say, of the
relations existing between things, and resulting from their nature—con
sist in confining ourselves to analysing isolated facts, without taking
into account their mutual connection, their constant relation to their
surroundings, and the endless modifications necessarily resulting there
from : in confining ourselves to the study of things separately, and in a
state of rest, though everything in the universe is always in motion.
And what does movement mean but change ?
This, however, is what economists do. According to them, there have
been economic states which were artificial and temporal, but that at
present existing is natural and eternal; in this economists imitate theo
logians, in whose eyes their particular theory is always of divine origin,
while rival religions are merely of human invention.
The means of production and subsistence which embody to-day the
idea of capital are continually confounded by economists with their material
substance; it is as if they maintained that a negro is naturally a slave.
A negro is a negro; it is only in certain definite social conditions that
he becomes a slave. A spinning machine is a spinning machine; it only
becomes capital under fixed social conditions. The idea of capital is
not a natural idea, but purely social; far from being eternal, the
capitalist system is only a phase of economic movement.
After demonstrating that it has not always existed, I shall show that
it is the necessary result of certain historical events. The “ Genesis of
Capital ” shall be the title of this first treatise.
With all economists alike, as the “Dictionary of Political Economy ”
declares, “ the idea of reproduction is firmly allied with that of capital
by common consent the term “ capital ” does not only imply “ acquired
wealth,” but essentially wealth endowed with the “ faculty of repro
duction.” Value, “which multiplies continually,” as the economist
�5
Sismondi says; “ the insatiable greed for gain,” according to one of the
shining lights of bourgeois economy, MacCulloch ; gain for the sake of
gain ; realized gain producing more; this is what is generally implied
by capital.
Therefore the products of labour, as funds which may be used in
industrial employment, owing to this single fact, under the present
normal conditions increase periodically by a certain sum. From this
sum, from this profit, the landlord draws his means of consumption; if
he does not consume all, that which he does not consume is used in its
turn in industrial employment, and in its turn preserves its character by
giving interest; the excess of income over consumption becoming the
source of profit. This produce of labour, these funds, in virtue of this
power of renewing themselves, have the character of capital. On the
contrary the produce of labour which could not be used in industrial
enterprise, which, though suitable for consumption, would remain idle if
not consumed, would not have this character.
This being admitted, we read the following remarks in the “ Dictionary
of Political Economy,” already quoted:—“ There is no difference of
opinion, among economists, concerning the necessity of capital as
auxiliary to labour. From Adam Smith to Rossi, all agree on this
point, that, without the assistance of capital in the work of production,
man can do nothing. . . . Capital is the companion, the necessary
auxiliary to labour, so much so, that we may safely say that without
capital there is no labour. This is true, even with regard to the savage
state, as has always been recognised, where man never hunts without
bow and arrow, or some similar implement.”
Here, then, we have before us two opinions on which, as their diction
ary declares, all economists agree: one explains what is understood by
capital, the other proves the existence of capital ever since the savage
state, and also in that state itself. Socialists admit the first of these, but
they deny that this thing, described by everybody in the same way,
makes its appearance “ in the work of production ” before modern times,
and they deny it on the grounds of its own specific character.
As we have had the savage and his bow given us as an example, let us
examine the bow of the savage. Here is an implement of labour which
helps its owner to support himself, to gain his living ; but the quality
of capital is missing; the wealth of the savage, viz., the means of sub
sistence acquired by his bow, being devoid of all reproductive properties;
he can kill as much game as he pleases, but its excess will only serve to
give him indigestion. But further. Let us imagine a Pangloss of
political economy, possessed of a bow, entering into communication with
a savage in a forest near that country of Eldorado, visited by Candi le,
where the pebbles are gold. It is very probable that the savage would
consent to give gold to possess the bow. Furnished with this gold, under
whose worshipped form capital first presents itself, our economist will
shortly see the necessity of social surroundings other than those of the
savage, in order that the result of his exchange may act as capital, and
become productive. And, if he cannot escape from the economic con
ditions of the savage, he will not be long regretting his bargain ; for
under these conditions a bow enables him, at least, to try to get some
thing to eat, whereas gold is useless.
From the savage state let us pass to ancient communities, before
slavery had become an organised method of production. Founded on
�6
common property, these communities consumed the provisions produced
by their labour, and this produce, divided among their members, was
e nough for all. But even when they exchanged products with the
neighbouring communities, this exchange, which only played an inferior
part in their economy, had simply the satisfaction of their needs in view.
Neither their products nor their means of labour or subsistence, ever
appear as begetters of interest ; so that here again the character of
capital is missing.
The producing power of man was originally very small. So long as
he could not produce more than enough for his needs, one half of society
could not live on the labour of the other half, and slavery could not be
come established. How could a man work gratuitously for others, when
he could barely procure his own means of subsistence ? Under pre ssure
of physical wants, man’s faculties slowly developed. As the result of such
development labour acquired a productiveness, owing to which it was
able to provide for everyone over and above the simple necessaries of
life : and, since that time, a certain number have been able to live on the
labour of others. As soon as it became possible for a privileged class
to exist, a possibility depending from the first upon the productiveness
of labour, this class began to organise itself—and this always by force—
as for instance after a war or a conquest, or the forceable subjection of one
colony by another, and with the increase of productiveness this class
has increased. It is because slavery depends, to a certain extent, on the
productiveness of labour, that we meet with it only in southern regions,
while it loses its importance as we approach the north, where it only
appears, when it appears at all, in a modified form ; for this productive
ness depends, more especially in the earliest stage of civilisation,
upon natural conditions, the fertility of the soil, the profusion
of the means of subsistence, etc., and all the surroundings of the
labourer; and the north being less well endowed in these respects
than the south, slaves produce less and cost more to keep. In the work
of production, under the slave-owning system, we see the implements of
labour, and the means of consumption and of enjoyment, but no capital.
The aim of production was the satisfaction of wants: this satisfac
tion was secured to the master by the absolute possession of slaves, whom
he employed according to their number and the resources at his com
mand, in cultivating the ground, or, it may be, in working mines, and in
various domestic services. What he gained from the labour of his
slaves, he consumed by living more or less grandly, more or less
luxuriously; but this wealth, which was fitted to be an abundant source
of enjoyment, was nothing else ; it could be consumed, but it had no
inherent power of increase ; therefore it was not capital.
This holds good, too, in cases relatively less frequent, where the master
made his slaves work to sell the produce. Instead of being directly
manufactured, his objects of consumption were produced in the shape
of flutes, let us say, which were exchanged for other objects of con
sumption, or for money, the means of procuring these objects. In one
way or another it was in the means of consumption and enjoyment that
the fruits of production were used.
Under the Roman empire, which embraced the world one may say. a
system of production existed differing from the preceding system based
on slavery. The central authority absorbed nearly everything, con
fiscating private fortunes, monopolising implements of labour, directing
�7
trades, regulating all kinds of labour. %In this instance of administrative
communism, where the labourer was drilled into brigades, it is evident
that there could have been no room for the capitalist, but only for
officers.
At the same time various causes combined to diminish slavery. Experi ence having proved that the slave who had the opportunity of saving money
with the hope of freeing himself by means of a third person, who should
first buy him, and to whom he should pay back the purchase price,
worked better, and produced more, the masters’ own interests led them
to facilitate this saving of money, which became a kind of patrimony
for the slave. In this way masters profited by the increased pro
ductiveness of labour, and by the purchase price which they received.
Enfranchisement of slaves also became more common. On another
side the laws relating to the distribution of provisions rather encouraged
such enfranchisements, the masters having thus discovered a means of
obtaining part of the provisions accorded by these laws to freed slaves;
and we must not forget that the latter continued to be bound to their
patrons for certain services.
In the country, in order to stimulate production and to satisfy the
exigencies of • the exchequer, the profits of agriculture contributed to
turn the slaves into settlers, who cultivated the soil and paid a certain
rent. These settlers, neither free men nor slaves, but between the two,
were not allowed to leave the settlement. At length invasions of bar
baric tribes, by encouraging the revolt and escape of slaves, and by making
the security of proprietors doubtful, made this transformation general.
The masters found it to their advantage to parcel out their ground to
their slaves, who were turned into settlers, or serfs, performing certain
prescribed duties.
We can now realise the absurdity of those who persist in maintaining
that the abolition of slavery is due to Christianity. It is due to eco
nomic causes which have gradually led to its disappearance, and re
placed it by serfdom. Neither religion nor fraternity have had anything
to do with it.
In the middle ages, when serfdom prevailed, we find all social rela
tions based on a system of personal dependence, in virtue of which men
stood in various degrees of bondage to other men, with different
obligations to perform, particular duties and services. Beside the serfs
of the glebe, who represented part of the property, the cultivation of the
lands of the lord of the manor was secured by the corvee of beasts and
men, to which the peasants were bound for a variable number of days.
As for industrial labour, it was accomplished by artisan serfs. There
was no kind of service that serfs, peasants, or liege men of the town
were not obliged to render to the lord of the manor, who would not be
satisfied with any special duty incumbent on one or more inhabitants of
the domain under his sovereignty. The master could lead an enjoyable
life, thanks to all the things provided for him, and all the services
rendered; but there was not a trace of capital here, all these means of
enjoyment which he could consume at pleasure being incapable of
multiplying themselves.
Not being content with burdening the town artisans with taxes of all
kinds for their own profit, the barons and their retainers had a habit of
taking things out of the shops whenever they liked. Constant pillaging
went on. Tired of useless complaints, the victims formed a kind of
�s
Bi
I
mutual help society against these robberies. Whenever the men from
the castle entered any shop, all the townsmen following the same trade
were bound by an oath to lend their aid. Constant struggles resulted,
till at last the different trade corporations of a town united for defence.
Owing to this steady resistance, the towns ceased to be attacked. These
energetic risings of the people, occasionally crowned with success, and
the interests of the lords of the soil, led them gradually to agree to barter
for sums of money all their rights and claims.
This money, spent in means of enjoyment, could not by any means
fructify “ in the work of production,” or become, in a word, capital;
there was no possibility of- investment of this kind.
The forming of trades into corporations, at first with a view to mutual
protection, had led to practices, customs, and statutes, which, collected
and codified, became the substance of royal ordinances, and thus pro
duced the laws of corporations. These had their limitations, and de
tailed directions of methods to be used, and rules to be followed; they
fixed salaries, and prices, and conditions of apprenticeship ; regulated
the quality of products, etc., and all this under severe penalties, which
even went so far as the amputation of a hand.
Every master—who was one because his father was one before him ;
or because he had fulfilled the various rules laid down by the statutes in
order to become one ; or, lastly, because he had bought his freedom—
every master was one of a privileged class : it was in virtue of a special
prerogative that he followed his trade, that he was enabled to produce.
But though he was thus privileged, masters of others trades enjoyed
similar privileges, whence the impossibility for a master to enlarge his
production by joining another branch of industry to his own, however
alike the two might be. Again, in his own particular trade he found
himself confronted with masters having exactly the same prerogatives
as himself; thus each master was prevented from employing more than
a certain number of hands. How, then, could the result of production
be made to fructify ?
Supposing one master to gain more than the others, he could not use
his surplus money in producing more for himself, because he could not
increase the number of his hands: for the same reason, that which he
could not do himself he could not do through the agency of another. It
was impossible to increase a sum by investing it in any other master’s
concern, simply because the same limitation of employed producers, and,
consequently, of manufactured products, existed for all.
So, then, production in the middle ages did not allow wealth to multiply
itself in any way,
to become capital. In that sphere of production,
money, excellent for supplying comforts, did not increase if not con
sumed, it was heaped up in view of future consumption, whence the
custom of treasuries so frequent at that time. From this investigation
it becomes sufficiently evident that that which is, according to all
economists, the specific form of capital, did not appear “ in the work of
production ” before the modern era. That which they all agree to be the
characteristic of capital is the “ power of reproducing,” and I think I
have just shown that this reproductive power is not met with in the pro
duction of the savage state, nor in that of early communities, neither in
the production of early ages by means of slavery, nor in that of the
middle ages by means of serfdom ; it is, therefore, a peculiar feature of
the production of to-day, contrary to the opinion, always unanimous, of
�9
economists who, in their universal love of harmony, would do well to
harmonise their own contradictory doctrines.
The quotation given above from the “ Dictionary of Political
Economy,” which sums up the general opinion oi economists, only con
sidered capital employed (this is the exact expression) “ in the work of
production : ;t in my criticism I have done the same, for studying capital
in the sphere of production is the same thing as studying it in its funda
mental form, production being the source of all wealth.
Capitalist production dates from the sixteenth century. In conse
quence of historical changes which I shall speak of presently, production,
as it was carried on in the traditional small work-shop of the master of
the corporation, could no longer suffice to keep pace with the growing
demands of a daily expanding market, this work-shop must be enlarged;
and this enlarging of the corporate work-shop is the starting point of
capitalist production. As the result of circumstances which abolished
the Feudal system, the system of capitalist production follows as an his
torical sequence in the development of productive forces. That it might
become established, it was indispensable to have at the outset an
accumulation of wealth. To develope production it was necessary to
have the means for developing it. The masters of corporations certainly
might have followed the course of events, and become capitalists, only
the general poverty of their means did not allow of their keeeping up at
all with the requirements of the new market. But there were two forms
of capital which could not be used, which appeared under the most
varied economic systems, and which before the modern epoch alone
represented capital, being the only forms in which, before this epoch,
wealth could increase. I mean commercial capital and loan capital.
Although they appear in history before the fundanhental form of capital,
yet these two forms are derived forms of capital. This, at first sight,
may appear strange; and, in order that it ma4 be clearly understood, I
will give an example.
Let us imagine a peasant family cultivating For themselves their bit of
ground, gaining their livelihood by their labour. We have here neither
capital nor capitalist: the means of labour for this family are only the
means of using their productive activity in view of the satisfaction of
their personal wants. But some useful article! they do not produce, and
must therefore buy, and in some cases they need advances, and they
borrow. They sell some of their products towards purchasing, and pay
ing their debts. Their production has only one aim, that of satisfying
their wants, and these are satisfied whether directly by their own produce,
or indirectly by the help of part of their produce exchanged for money,
which to them is simply a means of buying useful articles. So capital
in its fundamental form, capital in production, does not exist here. But
the merchant to whom the peasant producer went, the lender with whom
he had transactions, will make the money received from him fructify,
and will turn it into capital. We see then how commercial capital and
loan capital may be derived from a production where the form of capital
has not yet appeared.
Not to leave this brief survey of the origin of capital too incomplete,
I shall point out the principal phases of the evolution of its first forms
from the time, when, amassed by the meads of commerce and usury, it
helped the birth of capitalist production.
When capital is studied historically from its first appearance, it is
�IO
always in the shape of money that we first see it arise ; and this pheno
menon is equally observable to-day ; at least, it is in this shape that every
new form of capital appears in the market. When it first appears on the
scene at its source of production, where it is exchanged as the direct pro
duct of labour for some other product, money represents in the hands
of its possessors the price of an article sold; they must have sold to
possess the money ; so there must have been circulation of merchandise.
Circulation of merchandise is the starting point of capital. Certain
historical conditions are necessary in order that the produce of labour may
be transformed into merchandise, and that production may be carried on,
not with a view to consumption or use, but to exchange.
With members of primitive communities their products were not mer
chandise, for, though they were divided amongst themsqlves, still there
was no exchange. Exchange began in the relations of one community
with another. Different communities found in their own particular cen
tre different means of production and subsistence, whence the difference
in their conditions of life, and in their produce ; and the intercourse
established between the communities led to the exchange of their mutual
products. The foreign articles acquired by exchange, at first accidentally,
ended by becoming necessary ; the exchange was repeated, and the habit
became a regular custom ; certain things were produced solely with a
view to exchange, and things which, in dealings of the community with
outsiders, had acquired the character of merchandise, kept this character
in dealings of the community with one another.
The number of products which were capable of exchange slowly in
creased. To measure their respective quantities, the two forms of
merchandise to be exchanged were referred to a third. The form of the
standard of value, represented by this third merchandise, vanished with ,
the social circumstances which produced it; and thus, sometimes one
commodity was used, sometimes another, until, when trade had reached
a certain point, one especial species of merchandise was used, and this
became money.
From this time commerce grew. It was especially maritime commerce
that produced accumulation of wealth in ancient times; this commerce
was centred in certain towns favoured by their geographical position, to
which they were indebted for monopolies which brought them wealth,
and thus enabled them to increase their traffic. I will give as an example
the far-famed commercial city of ancient times, Tyre, called the queen
of the seas. Her shores abounded in those shells from which the best
purple was prepared, and we know the estimation attached to purple by
the ancients. Owing to this natural monopoly riches flowed into Tyre ;
and this enabled her to multiply her maritime and commercial transac
tions, to found prosperous colonies, and to fetch from a distance the
coveted products of foreign lands, the sale of which, thus becoming also
her exclusive privilege, contributed still more to her wealth.
All that the masters drew from the labour of their slaves was, as we
have seen, the means of consumption and enjoyment; but a good many
of them, after having consumed all the profits of this labour, borrowed,
to indulge their expensive tastes and extravagant habits, and so swelled
the fortuues of traffickers in merchandise and gold. As a witness to
this fact that the ancients borrowed with a view to consumption I may
quote Plutarch : “ If people would content themselves with what was
necessary, there would be no more usurers than there are centaurs.”
�11
I should add that in Rome owing to peculiar circumstances the chief
reason for loans was to obtain necessaries. The citizens were soldiers ;
in times of war the lands of the rich continued to be cultivated by their
slaves, while the poor man was obliged to leave his field untilled. The
campaign over, patricians holding commissions in the army came back
loaded with the spoils of the conquered, which they had bestowed upon
themselves, to find their lands well cultivated, and in full bearing ; the
plebeian found his piece of ground lying waste and useless ; and ruined
in this way through military service, he was forced to borrow in order to
live, and be able to begin cultivating over again.
These debts became so heavy that insurrections followed, and
struggles constantly renewed between creditors and debtors. In the
early part of the middle ages, after the incursions of tribes out of
Central Asia and Germany, production was very limited, the business of
transporting small amounts of products was perilous owing to the
difficulty of communication, aggravated by constant plunder. Each
district organised itself as much as possible for the production of its
own necessaries, and exchange was only carried on in a narrow circle.
To effect exchanges with outsiders certain centres were chosen, whither
the people repaired in numbers at fixed periods; this was the origin of
fairs, sprung from the material conditions of life at that time.
By degrees came intervals of peace in the life of these war-like
people ; conflicts became less frequent, without ceasing altogether, and
disorder no longer reigned supreme. Unoccupied in their domains
during these intervals of relative calm, the cavaliers devoted themselves
to all kinds of warlike games, jousts, and tournaments. Every one
wished to excel in them ; luxury in armour, jewels, texture, etc., grew;
wants multiplied ; town industries were developed ; with this larger pro
duction commerce widened, and its progress reacted on production, and
hastened its development.
At the fall of the Roman Empire the results of the ancient order of
things were found to survive most successfully in Italy. She inherited
the legacy of the old civilisations; and having been longer trained in
their customs, she retained their memory the longest. Her products
felt the effects of this; they were better, and in consequence more in
demand ; they were exported by way of the sea more safely than by the
land, which was infested with pillaging armies ; thus her commerce
enriched chiefly her towns in the Mediterranean, whose maritime situa
tion was the reason that permanent fairs were held there. The begin
nings of social revival also first appeared in these towns. Pisa, Naples,
Amalfi, formed free communities when the rest of Europe was under the
yoke of tyranny, and during the darkest years of the middle ages their
vessels furrowed all seas, owing chiefly to the compass, which, though
it had been discovered some time, was not in general use in Europe till
this period. Other cities followed in their footsteps. Venice and Genoa
also enriched themselves by conveying pilgrims and crusaders. While
the crusaders relieved the country of a large number of robbers and
highwaymen, they helped to free the cities, the communities, and the
serfs by means of financial operations, the barons turning everything
into money and pledging even their estates to procure the funds indis
pensable to these distant expeditions. On the other hand they brought
these rude nobles into contact with Eastern manners, and refined their
taste, they brought back notions of niceness, ignored till then, and ideas
�12
of costly elegance. On their return thej’’ were more than ever dependent
on the Italian cities, whose ships went to fetch from Egyptian ports and
from the shores of the Black Sea, spices, perfumes, gems, costly stuffs,
and all the merchandise in fashion in the Levant. Money—money
which their commerce rapidly increased—flowed into those cities which
united industrial supremacy with their commercial and maritime power.
To the enormous gains of their world-wide commerce, their chief
merchants and bankers added the profits of usury, they lent to the
kings of Europe ; by means of their wealth they reigned in the retirement
of their counting-houses ; from one of these merchant families two sons
were raised to the Papacy, Leo X. and Clement VIE, and two daughters
became Queens of France, Catherine and Marie de Medicis.
Among the causes of this extraordinary accumulation of capital in
Italy we must mention the Papacy, which by its fraudulent trade in
indulgences and dispensations, and by its Peter’s Pence procured an
*
enormous revenue.
And what helps to support the economic materialism of Marx, and
shows that the material conditions of life are the cause of the different
social phenomena, is the fact that this prosperity of Italy! gave birth to
the Renaissance of art, and its imperishable chefs d’auvre. In the midst
of this magnificence intellectual power ripened into wonderful perfection.
But this prosperity excited envy ; her riches and the enjoyments of life
which they allowed, made Italy a tempting prey, upon which the Euro
pean monarchies threw themselves in their passion for wealth.
Nevertheless it was not these political events that deprived Italy of
her capitalist supremacy, however important may have been their con
sequences. The taking of Constantinople by the Turks, in 1453, dealt a
terrible blow to the dominion of Venice, at that time the first commercial
city of Italy, and indeed of the world. Italy retired from the Bosphorus
to the Adriatic, and her downfall, which was signified by this retreat,
was to be completed by the two great discoveries at the end of the 15th
century.
By doubling the Cape of Gtood Hope in 1497 Vasco di Gama opened
a new way to commerce; and in 1492 and 1498 Christopher Columbus
gave it a new world; but Italy found herself thenceforth out of the run
of fortune. The centre of activity was changed, and passed from the
towns on the Mediterranean to the towns of the Atlantic.
The new openings in the East and in America, the forming of colonies
and the increase of merchandise gave considerable scope to commerce
and navigation. Fresh opportunities of exchange were the result, which
led on the one hand to the depreciation of the land revenues of the nobles,
andon the other increased the wealth of the bourgeoisie ; the commercial
and industrial class, the bourgeois element, became more and more
developed, at the expense of the old Feudal system which it replaced.
The nobles on their side hurried on this work of dissolution. They had
* “Peter’s Pence ” was a tax levied on all families possessed of thirty pence yearly
rent in land, out of which they paid one penny, and was so called because paid on the
feast of St. Peter. It was claimed by the Popes as a tribute from England, and regu
larly collected till suppressed by Henry VIII. It had been originally presented for the
endowment of an English College in Rome.
f But compare page 17 of the “ Summary of the Principles of Socialism,” by
H. M. Hyndman and William Morris.—Ed.
�*3
begun to pledge their estates at the time of the crusades, and their un
bridled love of luxury, fine horses, splendid armour, sumptuous houses,
brilliant fetes, and amusements of all kinds, led them to continue this sys
tem, and they cared less and less to liberate their pledged property ; while
usury was carried on at their expense by Jews and Lombards, under the
form of pawnbroking and mortgaging. In short from the 14th century
they gradually alienated their estates, and at length the extensive im
portation of precious metals from America depreciated still more landed
fortunes, and contributed to the ruin of the feudal debtor, whose political
power declined as the economic basis which had supported it became
•feebler, for it was based upon landed property, involving personal rela
tions of domination and dependence.
We must not forget that the use of gunpowder and firearms had dealt
a serious blow to the feudal system by taking away its social function.
Supported by his serfs and liege men, the noble fought to defend them
against the extortions of strangers ; with the invention of artillery the
cavaliers cased in iron ceased to be a necessary rampart; the art of war
changed, and consequently the corporation of the nobility lost its useful
ness, and its ancient power was undermined.
All discoveries, all changes, which involved expansion of the market
and lessening the costs of transport, immeasurably accelerated produc
tion. Production must be increased to keep pace with growing wants,
and from this increase, occasioned by the creation of the market of the
two worlds in the 16th century, dates the history of capitalist production,
of which only the first faint beginnings had been traced in some of the
Italian towns.
But that production might increase, pecuniary means were necessary ;
and the feudal constitution of the country, and the corporate regime of
the towns were opposed to the transformation of capital in money form,
amassed by the twofold practice of commerce and usury, into industrial
capital. These barriers, becoming less solid with the relaxation of
feudal ties, caused by the phenomena shortly stated above, yielded in
many points to the force of necessity.
Kings multiplied pretexts, not altogether disinterestedly J for the creation
of masters in the corporations; they granted privileges to individuals
for the purchase and sale of certain products; they suppressed various
charges which burdened commerce, etc., and thus surmounted the
obstacles which the organisation of craft-guilds held out to the extension
of production. It was in this way that commercial capital and capital
by usury were developed, and in this way they prepared the way for the
capitalist era, properly speaking. To wind up my sketch of the evo
lution of these two forms of capital, I must add a few words.
Commercial and maritime supremacy passed at first from Italy to
Portugal, to whom the way to India, discovered by Vasco di Gama,
promised splendid possessions in Africa, and still more in Asia. Portu
gal overflowed with riches, but it was quickly supplanted by Spain, to
whom Christopher Columbus had given America; in 1580, Portugal
became a province of Spain.
In revolt against Philip II, who had crowned himself king of Portugal,
the Dutch established themselves with complete success upon the ruins
of the power of the Portuguese and Spaniards. These had founded their
dominion upon conquest: Holland was the first nation which developed
industrial capital simultaneously with commerce and navigation, and she
became the most opulent power of the world.
�14
When William III, Prince of Orange, was raised to the throne of
England in 1689, the Dutch nation with its capital and its men turned
towards this last country, and economic supremacy passed with them to
England who has since retained it.
The United States of America imagine they will subordinate her to
the office to which she has subordinated Holland, of being simply the
distributor of American products; whether they will succeed or not the
future will show.
We have now examined the growth of capital in its fundamental form,
and the growth of bourgeois industrialism, which necessarily arose in the
historical evolution, in order to develope the means of production, and
adapt them to the supply of a larger market: for the small work-shop of the
master of the corporation had to be enlarged, and at first the difference
was merely in quantity. We have seen whence came the funds indis
pensable to this enlargement, but other conditions were necessary, before
the larger work-shops could be used : for besides the means of labour,
labourers must be forthcoming. I shall examine in my next sketch, the
historical movement which changed the immediate producers into the
proletariat, I shall then touch on the different phases of capitalist pro
duction, co-operation, social machinery, and associated labour; and I
shall thus arrive at the present time, where the forces of production are
tending to destroy the economic conditions which produced them.
Once more, after studying the creation of the class destined to carry
into effect the means of operation of which I have traced the origin, I
shall take our method of production from the point where I leave it to
day, at its birth. I shall trace it in its evolution, prove that it is
approaching its dissolution, and show, by means of the very symptoms
which foretells its end, that its dissolution will evolve the constitutive
elements of a superior social organisation, where the means of produc
tion, being socialised, will no longer be clothed in this form of capital,
which they began to assume#nearly 400 years ago.
The continual change in the development of productive forces
necessarily brings with it modifications in the relations of production,
that is to say, in the manner of living; and the social relations depend
ing upon this must, evidently, be transformed that they may be adapted
to the changes in the relations of production : they are, consequently,
bound to change at the same time as the change in the productive forces.
Socialisation of the means of production, collective appropriation, which
is the basis of our theory, presents itself therefore, not as the original
conception of brains impassioned for justice, but as the scientific definition
of the end towards which economic phenomena are taking us whether we
will or no. x\s long as the state of the powers of production was such that
the material conditions demanded by the new society had not yet appeared,
those whose dream has been to remedy the misery of the lower classes
have been reduced to extemporising systems, and have fallen into
utopianism ; but the producing forces of to-day have attained a develop
ment which substitutes for the generous but unscientific speculations 01
the mind, the study of the changes in progress and the relations which
depend upon them. Collective superintendence of production and ex
change, formerly the ideal of certain brains, an institution with no
foundation, is at present an historical necessity, material facts tending
inevitably towards its realisation.
Between the social conditions reserved for us by its realisation, and
�i5
the actual conditions of to-day, there stands nothing but the denseness
of bourgeois stupidity; the obstacle is enormous I admit, but it is not
insurmountable. Were the bourgeois class aware of their true interests,
they would facilitate a transformation, by retarding which they are
ruining their own supports, and exhausting, as Marx has it, the two
sources from which all wealth springs, the soil and the labourer. Ifi
this the bourgeois class resemble the animal mentioned by our great prose
writer, Gustave Flaubert, in his “Temptation of St. Anthony,” which was
so supremely stupid, that it devoured its own paws without being aware
of it.
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�Socialism and Soldiering ;
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Victorian Blogging
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The genesis of capital
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Deville, Gabriel [Writer on Political Economy.]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 15, [1] p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Publisher's list on unnumbered page at the end.
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The Modern Press
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1887
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G4971
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J., B (tr)
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Capitalism
Socialism
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Capitalism
Socialism