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Text
Price One Penny.
T4O/
POLITICS for the PEOPLE.—No. I.
MINING RENTS
— AND —
ROYALTIES.
By J. MORRISON
DAVIDSON,
BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
Author of “Eminent Radicals,” “The New Book of Kings," “Book of
Lords,” “ Useless, Dangerous,
and
Ought
to be
I
I For Special Prices for quantities to distribute in
to the Publishers.
I
Abolished,” &c., &c.
Mining Districts apply
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�MINING RENTS AND ROYALTIES.
F there be one thing in this world more astonishing
than that individuals should claim private property
in the surface of this planet, and have their claims
allowed by the Legislature of a free country, it
assuredly is that they should pretend to have a right
to the contents of its interior. A coal-hewer descends
into the bowels of the cold earth, and with infinite
toil and danger raises a ton of fuel for tenpence or
even eightpence. Another man, calling himself a
landlord, who is meanwhile, perchance, gambling at
Monaco or bear-hunting in the Rocky Mountains,
successfully exacts a toll of thirteen or fourteen pence
per ton on the entire output of a mine, or, it may be,
a score of mines ! Could there be a more startlinganomaly ? “ O Lord what fools these mortals be ! ”
is all the comment that any rational being can, in the
circumstances, make.
I
�4
Yet this was the kernel of the case which the
influential deputation of Members of Parliament, who,
in April, 1886, brought the question of mining royal
ties before the Liberal Home Secretary, had to sub
mit. True, Mr. Childers’ mind was a taint la 1 asa
as regards mining royalties, and not one of the
deputation ventured to suggest their nationalisation
—the only true remedy for the serious evils com
plained of. Still much good was effected by the
bare recital of the atrocious exactions which the land
lords habitually make both on mine lessees and
miners.
Mr. Stephen Mason, representing one of the
divisions of Lanarkshire, where trade depression is
peculiarly severe, instanced the case of a ducal high
wayman who preys on the mining industry of the
district to the extent of ^114,000 per annum. His
method of blackmail is this :—He benignly grants
leases for twenty-one years at fixed “ rents,” varying
from Z500 to ,£5,000. These are payable whether
the mine is worked or not. If worked, the moment
a certain output is attained “ royalties ” come into
play. These vary from çd. to is. 6d. per ton. No
mediaeval Rhine robber ever devised a more effectual
system of brigandage. Indeed, the landlord is the
undisputed master of the situation, and it is a marvel
that he has not succeeded long ere now in completely
�5
destroying the industrial supremacy of the country.
Mr. Mason told of an instance where a company
spent ^50,000 to get at a seam of coal.
They
reached it, but found that rent and royalty would
together absorb every penny of profit.
The land
lord would, nevertheless, have his entire pound of
flesh. Consequently the machinery has been stand
ing idle for four years !
But it is when leases come to be renewed that the
landlords’ harvest is really ripe.
Mr. Conybeare,
who represents a mining division of Cornwall,
revealed a state of things in his neighbourhood of a
singularly aggravated kind. When the lease of the
Dolcoath mine was renewed a fine of ,£2 5,000 was
exacted, The Duke of Bedford, in the case of the
Devon Great Consols Mine, levied a £20,000 fine.
As for the unfortunate lessees they might like it or
lump it. If they lumped it their engine-houses and
all their improvements went to the landlord without
compensation.
The landlord, moreover, on the
ground-rent monopoly principle, charged from five to
ten times agricultural value for the surface.
As to the amount ofannual tribute paid by the nation
on its mineral wealth to the landlords, no exact figures
can be given. But it is has been estimated that in the
year 1883 they pocketed on coal and iron ore alone
the vast sum of eight millions sterling. This enor
�mous drain in the face of falling and stagnant mar
kets, it is not too much to say accounts for half the
privations which working men are now suffering from
low wages and no wages. Our two staple industries
are admittedly iron and coal. They are controlling
elements in rails, ships, and manufactures of every
description. Every private toll levied on them is a
blight on every related form of employment.
Mr. Mason gave an instructive example of the
effect of a comparatively low royalty.
In Scotland
the minimum royalty on pig-iron is 6s. Some
of the Cleveland royalties on the other hand do
not exceed 3s. 3d. per ton. What is the con
sequence ? Scotland, where all the other conditions
of production are rather more than equal, is invaded
weekly by Cleveland iron to the extent of from 6,000
to 7,000 tons.
Nor is this the worst.
Differential home dues
might be endured, but to handicap the British iron
trade in its strenuous grapple with foreign competition
is a much more serious affair.
In most parts of
Germany the royalty on pig iron is 6d. per ton ; in
France it is 8d., and in both these countries royalties
are national dues, and not, as with us, private black
mail.
In Belgium the ordinary State royalty is
is. 3d. per ton, and even that handicap not
improbably accounts in no small degree for the pre
valent turbulence in that country of miners.
�7
I quote the following weighty sentences from an
admirable address by Mr. William Forsyth, the
eloquent President of the Scottish Land Restoration
League:—“Out of the eighty blast furnaces in
Cumberland forty are at this moment standing idle,
and the others are but partially employed.
There
are many causes which might have the effect of
keeping these forty blast furnaces idle. They might
be idle for want of capital; they might be idle for
want of men willing to work. Well, gentlemen, the
Cumberland furnaces are put out not because of any
lack of capital, for only within the last week or two
a company of employers there were willing to sink
£20,000 in raising iron-ore, and were only prevented
from doing so by the landlord’s ultimatum that he
would not reduce his royalty of 2s. 6d. per ton on
the ore which might be raised. The company found
thatwith this charge they could not raise ore as cheaply
as it could be imported from Spain, and they, therefore, abandoned their project.
Neither can it be
that there are not men able and willing to work, for
an ironmaster in Cumberland writes saying that
there are thousands of men unemployed who would
be glad to find work of any kind in order to save
their wives and children from starvation.”
“ I am informed that the girders of the St. Enoch
Railway Station, in our city, were imported from
j
�8
Belgium, and we know that the Barnsley Railway
Station was built of imported iron. ’ The Midland
Railway Company is at present importing large
quantities of iron and steel sleepers from Belgium.
The streets of London, Liverpool, Dublin, and
Belfast are being laid with tramway rails of foreign
manufacture.
Our Glasgow Municipal Buildings
are at this moment being built with iron girders
brought from Belgium, and paid for from the taxes
collected from the people of Glasgow. On looking
up at these girders we see in prominent letters the
name “ Maclellan,” and in our innocence we think
that if the cost of these buildings is great at any
rate the work is done by our own people.
But this
is not so. The ironmaster to whom I have referred
is himself the owner of eight furnaces specially
adapted to the manufacture of pig-iron and steel rails.
Four of these furnaces are idle, and yet he is actually
importing thousands of tons of iron and steel from
Belgium and Germany.”
Talk of high wages and short hours of labour
“ driving trade out of the country ! ” Why, if these
royalty footpads are not speedily got rid of there will
soon be neither trade nor wages left in it.
One
blast furnace produces in a week six hundred tons of
pig-iron. On that quantity the landlord’s royalties
amount to ^202 ; while the wages of the employes
�9
—managers, engineers, chemists, workmen all told—
average less than one half, or ^95.
The royalties
on British steel rails paid to the landlords amount
to 9s. 6d. per ton ; in Belgium they average is. 9d.
Is it any wonder that the Indian Department of
Government is monthly sending out to India thou
sands of tons of imported iron and steel rails and
sleepers ? Is it any wonder if in most cases it costs
about three times as much to construct a mile of
British railway as any other ?
A Cunard liner making the double or return jour
ney across the Atlantic consumes four thousand one
hundred and twenty-five tons of coal. This means a
royalty to the landlord of ^206 5s., or more than
the wages of the entire crew from captain to cabin
boy. Ina word, the owners of steamers pay to the
lords of land a tribute of ,£274,100 per annum. Of
course passengers and the producers of exports and
the consumers of imports are the ultimate victims.
What, then, is the remedy for this ruinous system
of exploitation ? Is it to be cured, as the deputation
suggested, and as Mr. Conybeare’s Mining Rates
Bill weakly proposes, by establishing a sliding scale
as between landlords and mine-lessees ? Certainly
not, unless the State is to step into the landlord’s
shoes. Every scheme to enable landlords to rob in
moderation is bad.
�IO
We are not without examples of the true solution
of the royalty problem in other lands.
In Germany, speaking generally, the Prussian law
of 1865 prevails. It vests all mineral royalties in
the State. No freeholder can raise minerals on his
freehold without a concession from the Government.
He dare not even, after due notice, prevent private
persons irom entering on his land to bore for the
discovery of minerals. The concessionaire of a mine
is entirely independent of the lord of the surface.
Concessions are made to any qualified person or
persons by a district oberbergamt, or office, on certain
conditions.
Concessionaires must (1) pay to the
State in royalty and inspection dues 2 per cent, per
annum on net produce ; and (2) form a- Benefit
Society, or Knappschajt Verein, for their workmen,
they contributing one-half the funds, the “ hands ”
the other. The Knappschaft Verein supports and
doctors invalid and injured miners, pensions widows,
and educates children free of expense.
In France private royalties were abolished at the
Revolution and made national property. The pre
sent law bears date 1810. It is the same in principle
as the German law. The concessionaire pays 5 per
cent, net produce to the State plus 10 centimes per
franc additional to form an Accidents Relief Fund.
A strictly limited rent is also payable to the lords of
the surface.
�11
The Belgian law (1810) is in the main similar to
the French law', but concessions made under the law
of 1837 are of a less favourable character, and
in some cases the dues mount up to 4s. in the
pound.
But we need not go beyond the limits of our own
Islands for a sound model of mining legislation. An
admirable Act of the Scottish Parliament (1592) still
in force, but audaciously set at defiance by the land
lords of Scotland since the union with England,
appoints a “ Master of the Metals,” with full State
control of all mines and minerals in the realm. He
is to secure 10 per cent, to the State, and is allowed
5 per cent, for inspection dues, &c. “ And by reason
that the said miners are in daily hazard of their lives
by the bad air of the mines and the danger of falling
in the same, and other infinite miseries which daily
occur in the said work, therefore our Sovereign Lord
(James VI.) exempts said miners from all taxa
tion whatever, both in peace and war, and takes
them all, their families and goods, in his special
protection,” &c.
This is the sort of thing that is wanted, and not
sliding scales to. give perpetuity to a system of pal
pable robbery, by which the State is defrauded of
some ten millions sterling per annum. And the
robbers !
�12
What are they ? The drones of the community !
They feed on the mechanic’s labour ;
The starved hind for them compels the stubborn glebe
To yield its unshared harvest.
And yon squalid form, leaner than fleshless misery,
Drags out his life in darkness in the unwholesome mine
To glad their grandeur.
Many faint with toil
That few may know the cares and woes of sloth.
r
�
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Victorian Blogging
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Title
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Mining rents and royalties
Creator
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Davidson, John Morrison [1843-1916]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12, [4] p. ; 19 cm.
Series title: Politics for the People
Series number: No. 1
Notes: Publisher's advertisement p. 2. List of reviews of 'The New Book of Kings', by the author, on four unnumbered pages at the end. Tentative date of publication from KVK.
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The Modern Press
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[1885?]
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T401
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Working conditions
Socialism
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Text
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English
Mining
Royalties
Social conditions
Socialism
Working Classes
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Text
PRICE ONE PENNY.
JL F L H .A
FOR
S O CIA LISM:
BY
J . L. MAHON.
Delivered in
the course
AMONGST
THE
of a
MINERS
Socialist Campaign
ON
STRIKE
IN
Northumberland, 1877.
“ AS LONG AS OUB CIVILIZATION IS BASED UPON PROPERTY OUR BICHES
WILL LEAVE US SICK, THEBE WILL BE BITTERNESS IN OUB LAUGHTER AND
OUB WINE WILL BURN IN OUB MOUTH.
ONLY THAT GOOD PROFITS WHICH
WE CAN TASTE WITH ALL DOORS OPEN AND WHICH SERVES ALL MEN.”—
Emerson
Published at the “ Commonweal” Office :
13, Farringdon Road, London, E.C
J. Beall, Printer, Stationer, &c., St. Andrew’s Street.
1887.
�“ I ask you to think with me that the worst which can
happen to us is to endure tamely the evils which we see, that
no trouble or turmoil is so bad as that; that the necessary
destruction which reconstruction bears with it must be taken
calmly ; that everywhere—in State, in Church, in the house
hold—we must be resolute to endure no tyranny, accept no
lie, quail before no fear, although they may come before us
disguised as piety, duty, or affection, as useful opportunity and
good nature, as prudence or kindness.”—William Morris.
“ The ivorld in a commercial society belongs to the
capitalists, the share of oiunership which each man pos
sesses being his capital.
In order that wealth may be
produced .... toorkmen and horses must till the
land; the sun must shine and the rain must fall upon the
field, when the seed will sprout and grow; bees must per
form the operation necessary to the fertilization of the
flower, when the fruit will form and swell; birds must
join in the work by destroying the noxious insects which
would otherwise destroy the harvest; and so on. When all
is done some of the agents claim a share of the product;
the men and cattle must be fed; the birds make good their
right to share the wealth which their labour, as much as
that of the men and horses, has produced; and even the
earth demands a part as seed for the next crop. After
all the deductions are made, which the harshness of nature
renders necessary, the balance belongs to the capitalist.
To him it is a matter of indifference what natural agents
are instrumental in the production of his wealth, and the
labour of men does not, in his estimation, differ generically
from that of birds or horses, and is more important only
because the men are the phenomena over xohich he has most
control........................... He groups together all the agents
(including the workmen) that have co-operated in the pro
duction of his wealth as elements of the efficiency of his
capital, and measures the result of all their energies by the
rate of profit he obtains.’'—Communal and Commercial
Economy.—JOHN CARRUTHERS.
�A PLEA FOR SOCIALISM
Fellow- Workmen,
I am sure that an appeal to you for a fair hearing is
unnecessary. Socialism no longer meets with the jeers and
abuse that assailed it, from workmen as well as others, only
a few years ago. Discontent is just now so deep and general
amongst the working-class, and the exponents of Socialism
have worked so hard and enthusiastically in their cause that
a respectful and sympathetic hearing is given them by people
of all kinds all over the country. But, having cast off your
prejudice see also that you put away all misunderstandings.
Socialists are often accused of holding opinions which they
are constantly preaching against, of wishing to bring about
things which they are even now trying to abolish. It is said
they wish to make an equal division of all wealth, bring all
men to one dull level, put every man’s affairs at the mercy of
State officials, make the sober support the drunken and the
industrious work for the thriftless, stamp out individuality,
abolish all incentive to invention, and to bring about these
things by hanging every man with a decent coat on his back.
Everything that malignity, jealousy, and sheer stupidity
could string together has been said against the Socialists.
Well, we don’t grumble. We know the way all great reform
ers since the time of Christ have been received ; kicks and
cuffs, and good chances of crucifiction or hanging in the end.
But we take it all as a compliment to the goodness and
usefulness of our principles.
Ike need for Socialism. The chief cause of the great spread
of Socialism of late is the dissatisfaction felt by all classes
with things as they are and the evident uselessness of all other
proposed remedies. England yearly grows richer, yet her
working-men and women are practically as bad off as ever
''
�A Plea
for
Socialism.
they were. Our power of making goods gets greater every
year, but we have not yet found a way of supplying the wants
of those who make them. Food, clothes, houses and all the
needs of life and happiness are here at our hand in abundance,
at our hand also is the means of making ten times more than
we have, and yet the workers who make these things are living
in wretchedness, squalor, and semi-starvation. Many boast
of the power, fame, and grandeur of the British Empire, but
few notice that in the lowest depths of social life, in the shims
and the back streets, is an ever growing mass of people with
out hope in life, for life to them means a fierce scramble ever
getting fiercer; a miserable subsistence ever getting more
miserable. These people have no respect for Society, for
Society has no respect for them. “ Law and order’' is to them
only a fancy name for the power that keeps them in the mire.
They hate the law and they hate society, and their hatred is
just. They are too many to be ignored, too strong to be
despised, too much wronged to bear good will to those in
power. Their ranks are recruited from the working-class
every year : and some prolonged depression of trade may see
them powerful enough to put Law at defiance ; as indeed they
were during the early months of 1886. Civilization ! Pro
gress ! National Greatness !—mockery and humbug while
those who make the wealth are ever in want and in fear of
want, and those who neither toil nor spin live in luxury.
People feel the evil of all this and they see nothing in the
ordinary proposals to undo it. The Socialists have, as is
generally admitted, brought forward the most consistent and
satisfactory criticism of the present system of society, and
from the same line of thought the real remedy must likewise
come.
Toryism, Liberalism, and Radicalism. Out of all our party
fighting we don’t seem to get much benefit. The working
class are gradually losing faith in the political parties of all
shades. Toryism is a dead horse—not even worth a kiok.
Tliberalism has always meant, and Liberals have always worked
for, the interests of trade and commerce, under the idea, no
doubt, that the welfare of the people could best be served in
that way. But every day makes it plainer that the whole
object of modern commerce is to enslave and cheat the
people. That trade is carried on solely for the profit of the
�Political Parties.
5
capitalists, whose chief aim is to increase profits by decreasing
wages. The Liberals have posed as the friends of the people
on questions of merely political importance. But on any
question affecting the “ rights” of property—such as the
factory acts, or adulteration acts—-some of the best Liberals
were the workmen’s worst enemies. It is now plain to most
workmen that there is nothing to choose between Liberals and
Tories, but that the bitter opposition of both may be expected.
Then what of the Radical party ? But where is it I Wander
ing about after a dozen leaders, chasing fifty fads, but having
no policy to give to the people which will excite their
enthusiasm or better their condition. A more hazy, indefinite,
muddled-up party never existed than the latter day Radicals.
Their chief function has been to blacken the boots of the
Whigs, and except that now and then we hear a little murmur
ing, their function has been well fulfilled. The days of
popularity for the Liberal party are now over. They are on
the high road to perdition ; in going there they will kick the
Tories in front of them, and drag most of the Radicals, as
usual, at their coat tails.
The Socialists spend a good
deal of energy in trying to win over the Radical workmen,
and this energy is well spent. In the Liberal agitations hither
to the Whig Dukes and cotton Lords have given the money
while the Radical workmen have furnished the enthusiasm.
The Socialist cause will gain by detaching these enthusiasts
from the false friends of the people and using their powers
for a better purpose. The reason why I attack Liberalism
and Radicalism more than Toryism is because many people
believe in them, while no one believes in Toryism at all.
The official Tories believe least of all in their own principles,
for when in office they masquerade in Liberal garments—
which shows at once their duplicity and their depraved taste.
In my opinion both political parties are humbugs, and the
only difference between the Liberals and the Tories is that
the Liberals are the most ingenious humbugs of the two.
Labour Representation. Great things were expected if we
got workmen into Parliament but very little has been realized.
There are plenty of rich men in the House of Commons who
are far more outspoken and independent than the Labour
members. We, as workmen, ought to be thoroughly ashamed
of the way we are represented. A few limpid lisping weak-
�6
A Plea
for
Socialism.
lings, who always truckle to the party chiefs, who never yet
distinguished themselves by standing out sturdily for the
interests of labour—who indeed have either forgotten or never
knew what the interests of labour mean. A poor spiritless
lot are they ! The best of them seem to have mistaken their
business. They are grubbing away at “ Employers’ Liability
Acts” as if legislation of that kind would by itself achieve
much for the workers. In the Parliament of 1886 we had
twelve Labour M.P.’s
Our twelve apostles ! At that time
the unemployed were rioting, so keen and widespread was
their distress, all over the country. But our apostles did not
like to disturb the arrangements of the Liberal Government.
Labour was in bad straits : but, for a whole session its
apostles sat sucking their thumbs and said never a word. In
Northumberland during the strike, which began in February,
1887, the suffering and distress was very keen. The men
were trying to resist an attempt to reduce wages which were
already at starvation point. Surely the Labour M.P.’s might
have used their position as members of Parliament to draw
attention to the state of their constituents : had Northumber
land been a county in Ireland, the House of Commons would
have been ringing with the tale of the miners’ wrongs. No
better illustration of the miserable incompetency of the
labour M.P.’s could be brought forward. Had they possessed
the least spark of vigour and sturdiness, the country would
not have been in darkness as to the condition of their con
stituents.
•
■
'
If Labourers are to be sent to
Parliament why make them middle-class men by paying them
from T6 to £10 per week ? A workman in Parliament ought
to get the wages of a London artisan and be enabled to live
in the same standard of comfort. He should go there to work
and not be ashamed of the object of his mission. Instead of
that his first move is to ape the costume and manners of the
cultured drones amongst whom he sits. The whole spirit and
object of mere “Labour representation” is mistaken. The no
tion that having “ labourers” in Parliament will do much good
is a very silly and artificial one. Working-men are no better
than other men, and middle-class men are no worse. It is
some definate principle or ideal that must be taken up by the
working-class before it can achieve anything. The Labour
Representation movement has nothing definate in it. It
�The root
of the difficulty.
7
simply wants to get workmen into Parliament—not to do any
thing in particular, just to loaf about, and look dignified, and
turn lick-spittles to the Liberal party when occasion demands.
This vague, hazy, scatter-brained policy will never do any
service or any credit to the working-class. Representatives
of this kind will be only half supported by workmen and de
spised by upper class politicians. Let us resolve on a definate purpose and push that forward. Use Parliament as a
platform if you will, but educate the people tp a clear under
standing of what your aim and their aim should be. When
you have cleared away some of the ignorance of the people—
and that is the real obstacle to their progress—then a strong
fighting party can be organized and there will be every chance
of winning : at present with no particular object and no en
deavour to find one, with nothing but a muddled-up notion of
doing something, sometime, somehow; failure and ignominy
are certain.
The root of the difficulty. Now, in my opinion the error
of the various political parties I have referred to is that they
skim over the surface of these great problems. They are
afraid or unable to go to the root of the matter and point
out the cause of poverty. It is a paltry superficial kind of
reasoning which tells us that the industrious are well-to-do,
and the idle and thriftless poverty-stricken. I have no wish
to gloss over the failings of working people, or to excuse their
sins on the plea that the rich sin also and more heavily. But
I think there is something mean and hypocritical about those
who continually denounce the faults of the poor while they
leave the rich man’s crimes unassailed. Let us denounce
intemperance, idleness, thriftlessness wherever we may find
*
it; but let us be unsparingly impartial: let neither fame nor
rank save the wrong-doer from the reprobation of his fellows.
The faults of the rich do not excuse the faults of the poor,
but they are often the cause of them. It is luxury that makes
penury necessary. It is waste on one hand that entails
scrimping and starving on the other. It is the legalised lazi
ness amongst the rich that sets the example of loafing and
* It is strange to see how this term, thrift, is misused. Thrift means
making the best use of what you have. It does not mean selfish grabbing of
all you can get, nor a crazy hoarding of things you can never use. Still less
does it mean (as some sentimental moralists would have us believe) cowardly
contentment with less than you are entitled to.
�8
A Plea
for
Socialism.
flunkeyism to the poor. It is because the rich man shirks his
share of the world’s work that the poor man is overworked.
And what is the cause of nine-tenths of the vice and callous
ness of the working-men ? The long, dreary, and depressing
toil they have to endure when in employment; the feverish
anxiety about to-morrow’s food, and the future of their child
ren when in the ranks of the unemployed. To most workmen
life is an uninteresting past, a joyless present, and a hopeless
future. The root of the great social question is that modern
society treats the workmen as machines and the capitalists as
lords of civilization. In a civilized society the capitalist
is master of the land and minerals which no man made ;
of the machinery which includes within it the toil and
skill of countless generations; of the vast stores of wealth
which all (except the capitalists) have helped to accumu
late ; in short all the resources of civilization—which,
without exception, are the produce of work—belong to
one class. The only thing the capitalist, as such, does
is to keep a firm grip of these things and never spend
five shillings without a reasonable certainty of getting
ten, fifteen, or twenty in return. Civilization is a huge
arrangement for heaping up profit, and whatsoever will not
bring profit to the holder of capital is prohibited by the laws
of trade and commerce ; it is stigmatized as a thing that
“won’t pay” (no matter how much good it may do) and
banished from the business of life, and the world is thought
lucky if some philanthropist or faddiBt take it up instead.
Are we Slaves ? The pet delusion of the British working
man is that he is free. How he came by this delusion, and
why he sticks to it, I don’t know. It is interesting to notice
that the British workman’s “patriotism” and fondness for
proclaiming his independence varies with the rate of his
wages and the security of his employment. At £2 per week
he is sure that he is not a slave, and “never, never” will
be ; at £1 he is doubtful about the reality of his freedom ; at
12s. he curses the British Empire and says, wisely, though
not elegantly, that his freedom is a fraud. Now, what is a
slave ? One who is compelled to work for somebody
else.
In this, the real sense, the working-class of every
civilised country are slaves. They work and all the result
goes to the capitalist and upper class ; they get back a few
�The old slavery
and the new.
9
shillings to keep them alive, for that is all their wages
amount to. They are forced to work for the upper class,
while the upper class does nothing for them, and therefore
they are slaves. If the miner produces coal for the money
lord, and the money-lord does nothing for the miner, then
surely the miner is a slave. Every man who lives without
doing useful work is enslaving some other people. It is
work that keeps society going. Every man who eats bread,
lives in a house, or burns coal is using the fruits of labour.
Unless he renders some useful service to the baker, the
builder, or the miner he is stealing from them and making
them his slaves. A civilised society includes two main
classes:—Workers and idlers, producers and thieves, slaves
and slave-owners. The workers do everything for themselves,
and support the other class besides. The upper class do
nothing for themselves, and nothing for any-body else, so they
are thieves and slave drivers. Not that they are individually
conscious of stealing or oppressing, or should be individually
punished for it. But the harm done is the same whether
they are conscious or not. Besides, every sensible man
ought to think of where his dinner comes from, and to reflect
that somebody must have earned it; and that if he did not
earn it he must have stolen it.
The old slavery and the new. It is true that one man
cannot call another his property as he would a horse or a
dog, but does this make any essential difference ? The
reason why men were once owned like cattle was simply
that their labour might be used for their master’s benefit.
Well, if their labour is still taken from them, even without
the institution of private property in human flesh and blood,
the result is the same. The capitalist does not to-day own
the workman, but he owns the means by which only the
workman can live ; and he says to him, “ You cannot labour
without using the land and the capital; these things are
under my control, and I shall only allow you to use them on
condition that you take a bare living out of the produce of
your own labour, and that you hand over to me all the
balance over and above that.” The capitalist manages to
■enforce these terms. Nine-tenths of the modern workmen
are mere slaves, getting enough each pay-day to keep them
in bread till the next. In one respect they are worse off
�10
A Plea
for
Socialism.
than the olden slaves. When the employer has no further
need for their services, he turns them adrift in the streets
to find a crust as best they can; in olden times the slave
owner, out of self-interest, always took care to feed and
clothe his human property. In spite of all our boasting
of freedom the position of the civilised workman may be
summed up thus : He is allowed to earn his own living
only when his labour will also yield a profit to supply the
middle and upper classes with a living for nothing ; he gets
only a small part of what he earns ; he is dependent upon
others for the chance of working at all; and when he cannot
be made an instrument of profit-grinding he is cast amongst
the unemployed, and from thence too often he drifts to the
gaol, the workhouse, or the lunatic asylum.
The Slave Market and the Labour Market.
A closer
examination of the old and the new slavery will show still
stronger points of resemblance. In olden times there was a
slave market, to which men were driven in gangs, goaded on
by the lash of the slave driver. When they got there, they
were sold at auction, like cattle, to the highest bidder. Now
there is a labour market, at which human labour is bought
and sold like other goods. The people have no alternative
but to go and sell their labour, and they go obediently and
docilely, and as long as the system lasts they must do so.
Brute force is discarded, but the force of circumstances work
to the capitalists’ interests instead. The slave driver’s whip
is only to be found in the museum, but the whip of hunger
does the same work, and it bites as cruelly. But what is the
difference when they get to the market ? In olden times
they were put up to auction and knocked down to the highest
bidder ; now they are compelled to compete against each
other and are knocked down to the lowest bidder. From
this competition for employment a strange and horrid light
is thrown on the working of the capitalist system. The
master takes advantage of the men’s misfortunes, and uses
the unemployed to force down the wages of those in work.
In short, slavery is still the basis of our social organisation.
Our chains ud to be ugly black iron ; we saw them and
e
*
abhorred them. Now they are finely polished and painted,
and we think them ornaments and hug them ; but they are
as strong as ever, and when the times of distress come we
�Conquer
the cupboard.
11
feel them gnawing and chafing us. We cannot be free
while able, useful, and willing workmen starve in a land
made wealthy by their own labour. Our freedom is an
elaborate and ingenious hypocrisy while thousands are
denied the chance to earn their bread in their own country;
and while the whole working-class is only allowed to labour
on condition that it will hand over the largest part of the
result to the idle, useless, and vicious upper class.
Conquer the Cupboard. The powei’ lies in the hands of
the moneyed class, because they have the land and the
capital completely in their control. The workers dare not
till the soil of their own country, although thousands of acres
of it are lying waste, unless they can produce a heavy rent
for the landlord as well as a living for themselves. The
factories also are closed and the machinery stopped in many
districts. Here comes the narrow selfishness of the present
system. The men who own the land and capital do not wish
to use it themselves, and indeed could not. They simply
have the power to prevent others from using these things,
and they use that power to extort enormous profits from the
workers. Let us compare society to an ordinary household.
Imagine a family in which the father and several sons were
the bread-winners, and the mother and several daughters
housekeepers. Suppose they have a cupboard in which the
food and other means of life are stored. This cupboard
should be under the care of the housewife. But let us
imagine that a stranger, who has done nothing to help in the
work of the household, forces his way in, fixes a patent
lock to the cupboard, and says to the household, “ In future
this part of the house shall be under my charge. I shall
always be ready to open it when you have anything to
put in, but when you want any supplies I shall dole out
just as much as I think is good for you. While you are
filling the cupboard you shall get enough to keep you, and
enable you to go on working, but no more. When the cup
board is full you must stop working, and eating too, and you
will be known as ‘ tramps ’ and the ‘ unemployed.’ ” Now,
this family might fancy itself free ; it might meet in the
back-parlour and sing paeans in praise of the grand system it
lived under; it might also pass Bills and give each of its
members a vote, or a dozen votes ; but as long as the
�12
A Plea
fok
Socialism.
stranger held the key of that cupboard he would be master
of the situation, and the inmates one and all would be mere
slaves of his. This is a fair simile of what England and
every other civilised land is to-day. The workmen are filling
the cupboard of the country, but the key is held by men who
do none of the labour. While filling it they get a subsistence
wage—seldom more—and when it is filled to overflowing
there is a glut (a trade depression), and the men who filled
the cupboard must go hungry and homeless because it is too
full. Yes, this is why we starve in the midst of abundance,
and the first duty of the working-class is to make good its
claim to the fruits of its labour : it must conquer the cup
board.
The Socialist proposal is to take the land and capital
from the private individuals who now unrighteously own
them, and put them under the control of the community,
and use them for the benefit of the workers. Capital must
be the handmaid of labour, not its master. The resources
of civilization must be used to benefit the people, not to
grind profit out of them, as now. The aim of society must
be to so dispose of the labour and resources of the com
munity as to secure a fair living to all who labour for it.
Socialism is based on the principle that as all society is
maintained by labour, all should do a fair share of it. The
bread we eat, the houses we live in, and the coals we burn
are all produced by labour. If we use these things, we
ought to produce them, or do some useful service to those
who do. If we use these things, and live in idleness, we
are stealing them. All we eat and drink and wear is made
by labour, and if we eat without labouring we are stealing
from some one else who has laboured. We should all do
our fair share of the world’s work ! No man is too good
to toil for his living; no man is so bad that he should be
cheated out of his living when he has toiled for it.
The Defence of Property.
Whenever this doctrine of
Socialism is stated a certain class of people cry out “ Confis
cation !” “ You want to take men’s savings from them !”
“You want the drunken and thrtftless kept at the expense of
the industrious and careful I” All these parrot cries totally
ignore the fact that to-day the thriftless are living on the
�Property
and
Co-operation.
18
industrious, and that the whole string of evils they charge us
with trying to bring about are here already, and we are
trying to abolish them. When we attack the capitalists our
opponents never defend the proper culprit: they bring up
the workman with £100 saved, and try to turn prejudice
against us by alledging that this would be confiscated. But
the difference between a large capitalist and a workman with
a savings bank account is very great and quite clear. The
workman has earned his small capital; the other has not.
Of course the taking of interest is wrong, no matter to what
extent it may be carried. It must, also, be borne in mind
that in dispossessing the landlord and capitalist we are not
taking from them anything that they wish to use. We simply
deprive them of the power of making others work for them.
It is curious to notice how strong the blind greed for property
is in the minds of those who have only a little. It is not the
Baring or the Rothschild who is most bitter against Socialism.
The kind of man who is fiercest in defence of the rights of
property is the small shopkeeper who, perhaps, is £100 in
debt. The silly scramble of modern days has frightfully
narrowed mens’ notions of the real aim and pleasures of life.
If the rich were to-morrow deprived of all the property they
wrongfully hold, and set to work under decent circumstances
for their living, it would be the best thing that ever happened
to them. The true nobility a man can attain is by making
himself useful to his fellows, and this distinction would be
placed within reach of everybody by Socialism.
The Co-operative Movement. 'The easiest line of thought
towards Socialism is by considering what the Co-operative
movement has done. Had anyone suggested thirty years
ago that this movement would accomplish the revolution that
it has in such a space of time, and by such humble agents,
he would have been laughed at as a fool, or jeered at as an
Utopian—just as Socialists are laughed and jeered at now.
But by steady patient work a great change has been brought
about, the petty shopkeeping class has been greatly lessened,
an enormous amount of labour saved, and the process of
distribution greatly simplified. But still the biggest part of
the work has been left untouched. Distributive co-operation
shows the workman the best and wisest way to spend his
wages—once he has got them. Important as this is, the
�14
A Plea
for
Socialism.
question of how to get a just wage, or any wage at all, is still
more important ; but co-operation at present cannot touch
this question. Here Socialism steps in to finish what Co
operation began. Indeed Socialism is but the full and
genuine development of co-operation. We have introdoced
Co-operation to the shop and the store ; now we must extend
it to the mine, the factory, and the farm.
Is it practicable ? Great difficulties lie in the way of
Socialism, and much hard earnest work will be needed to
bring it about. These difficulties are not due to Socialism
being very Utopian, or very incomprehensible. Socialism is
merely the application of common sense and justice to social
order, but justice and common sense are strange and un
known in these days, when veiled fraud and oppression reign
supreme. Socialism would be simpler and easier to work, so
far as the mere industrial arrangements are concerned, than
the present system. Indeed we should try to make
society as simple in its mechanism and our own lives as
unpretentious as may be. The greatest curse of the present
system is its unnecessary complexity of organisation, and the
conflicting interests which Economists pretend are in har
mony. The first step towards Socialism is to make
Socialists ; to get together a great organisation of all who
accept the principle. Different schools of Socialists may
suggest different ways of realising the new society, but
their differing in that respect is a hopeful sign, as it
shows diversity and even some originality of thought. All
Socialists agree that the principles of competition and
monopoly now holding sway should be done away with, and
superseded by a general and thorough-going co-operation.
In fact we want a nation in which there are neither
masters nor servants, but where all are fellow-workers. A
solid combination of the Socialist movement could bring
a tremendous power to bear on the politics of this country.
That power should be used, not so much in bringing to pass
petty measures, as in forcing the hand of the upper class.
The futility of compromise. There is a class of wellintentioned reformers who are puzzling themselves to find
a way of benefiting the poor without interfering with the
rich. It is self-evident that this is a fruitless endeavour.
�The
future of
Socialism.
15
The robbery of the poor by the rich is the first aim of
capitalist production.It may be wrong
for the poor to
rob the rich ; it maynearly be as wrong for the rich to
rob each other; but for the rich to rob the poor is the
most abominable of all systems. There can be no peace
between the two classes. The poor must cast off the
leeches which are draining the life’s blood from them.
The rich are really parasites on the workers. The dis
tinctions of class must be abolished, for they only mean
the right of the rich to rob and the duty of the poor to
submit. But, although no peace can be between them, a
peaceable settlement might be effected. The rich should
be told by the toilers, “ Now, you have lived a long time
at our expense, and we find that it is bad for both of
us—it wearies you with elegant and enforced idleness, and
it burdens us with overwork. We don’t want to hurt you
for your past misdeeds, because for the most part you
were unconscious of the evil you were doing, but you
must do different in future. Those of you who are
entirely useless, and most of you are, so we fear, we will
keep in moderate comfort. We will give work to those
of you who are able and willing to do it (and that is
more than you gave us') ; a training to those who are
willing and not able ; and the gaol or the lunatic asylum
to those who are able and not willing.” These are the
only terms on which this antagonism can be settled. It
is nearly 2,000 years since St. Paul said, “ He that will
not work, neither shall he eatand surely it is time we
put the principle into operation.
The future of the Socialist party. Everything points to the
rapid growth of the Socialist party in this country. It lays
definite principles before the people, and though these, as
they require some independent thought and enthusiasm, may
take some time to win acceptance, they make a deep and
lasting impression where they do take hold. As time goes on
and the difficulty and hardships which the present system im
poses on the workers are more keenly felt, they will find out
how shallow and ineffective is the hand-to-mouth policy of the
ordinary politician. Times are coming when plain honest
words and upright action will be needed to save the country
from the horrors of a revolt of miserable and desperate people.
�16
A Plea
for
Socialism.
That revolution will come upon us, there can be no doubt.
Its shadow is already cast over us. Socialists do not wish to
make or to carrse a revolution: they only wish to point out
that revolution, bred of the misery and inherent injustice of
the present system, is inevitable. If the people are left un
organised and ignorant, revolution may well seem a terror to
all men. But we look to the coming change. We are pre
paring to. meet it with a combined and intelligent people, a
people wise enough to know their rights, strong enough to
enforce them, and disciplined enough to guard them. We
are carrying a message of hope to the poor, of comfort to the
outcast, of joy to the desolate. We bid them lay aside
despair, to take courage, and gather strength, for the time is
at hand when, with enlightenment and determination, they
may end for ever the folly, and crime, and misery in which
their lives are now spent, and realise a noble, fraternal, social
life, with labour, leisure, and liberty for all; a life in which
we shall have
“ Man without a master, and earth without a strife,
And every soul rejoicing in the sweet and bitter of life.”
Single copies of this
address on receipt
sale or distribution
50 copies 3/-; one
THE
pamphlet will be sent to any
of threehalf-pence. Parcels for
at cheaper rates : ioo copies, 5/-;
dozen copies post free 1/-
“COMMONWEAL, ”
Official Journal of the Socialist League.
A thorough-going weekly labour paper : contains a re
view of the labour struggle and Socialist movement
throughout the world; criticism on current political
events; revolutionary poetry; review of books on the
labour question ; and articles on science, art, history,
and political economy in their bearing on labour
questions.
ONE PENNY WEEKLY.
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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A plea for socialism : delivered in the course of a socialist campaign amongst the miners on strike in Northumberland, 1877
Creator
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Mahon, J. L.
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Advertisement for the "Commonweal", the Official Journal of the Socialist League, on end page. Printed by J. Beale, St. Andrew's Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Publisher
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The "Commonweal"
Date
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1887
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T467
Subject
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Socialism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A plea for socialism : delivered in the course of a socialist campaign amongst the miners on strike in Northumberland, 1877), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Addresses
Miners
Northumberland
Socialism
Speeches
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PRICE ONE PENNY.
Oh Slaves of these laborious years,
Oh Freemen of the years to be :
Shake off your blind and foolish fears,
And hail the Truth that makes you free.
WHAT
A
COMPULSORY
8 Hour Working Day
MEANS
By
TO
THE
TOM
WORKERS.
Mi .zV TV ’2V ,
(Amalgamated Engineers).
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
Agent
for
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The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever pen
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�EIGHT HOURS A DAY.
-------------- ♦--------------
HE appalling amount of distress that exists in
every town in Britain must arrest the atten
tion of all duty loving men and women. No
one who sees the effects of want and the fear
of want can passively behold the dire poverty of a large
section of the workers. Rather will he probe and probe
until he finds the cause of the disease. Socialists have
probed and they find the disease of WANT to be spread
by the profit-making system upon which all industry
and Society itself is based. They know that five or
six centuries ago, without machinery, Englishmen
obtained for their work sufficient to keep them in
vigorous health and that they were not subject to
periodical trade depressions; and when they further
reflect upon the fact that the working day then consisted
of no more than eight* hours, no wonder that Socialists
are discontented with the present state of affairs, and
that they resolve to use every means in their power to
replace the present discord, misery, and anarchy, with
harmony, happiness, and order.
The effect of our so-called labour-saving machinery
(used really by its owners to save wages and not labour)
is to cause continual distress amongst the workers by
mercilessly throwing them out of employment without
any compensation. It may then take a man often
* See “Work and Wages” by Thorold Rogers, M.P.
�months, sometimes years, to find an occupation of any
kind and when found it is at a price much below that
he was in receipt of before the machine disturbed him.
Yet the machine has increased the ease and rapidity of
wealth-production. This increase of wealth is of course
enriching some one—a class of which many perform but
little really useful work while the bulk of them serve
no function useful in any way to the community. Look,
again, at the effect of increased Scientific Knowledge.
By a better knowledge of Chemistry and Metallurgy
tons of metal are now extracted from the ore with the
labour of fewer men than must formerly have been
employed to produce one hundredweight. What I am
concerned about is, that in spite of our advanced methods
of producing wealth, the workers as a class get only a
subsistence wage, whilst an increasing number of them
cannot get the barest necessaries of life.
Optimist Politicians are unwilling to admit that this
is so. Anxious to make out a good case for the present
basis of Society, they ignore the plainest of facts, so in
confirmation of my contention I will quote from one or
two non-Socialists. Professor Thorold Rogers, the
present M.P. for Bermondsey, says on pages 185-6 of
“ Six Centuries of Work and Wages,” written in 1884.
It may be well the case, and there is every reason to fear it is the
case, that there is collected a population in our great towns which
equals in extent the whole of those who lived in England andfWales
six centuries ago; but whose condition is more destitute, whose
homes are more squalid, whose means are more uncertain, whose
prospects are more hopeless than those of the poorest serfs of the
Middle Ages and the meanest drudges of the mediaeval cities. The
arm of the law is strong enough to keep them under, and Society
has no reason to fear their despair; but I refuse to accept the
superficial answer that a man is an admirer of the good old times
because he insists that the vaunts of civilisation should be examined
along with, and not apart from its failures. It is not possible to
give the solution of one problem, the growth of opulence, and to
refuse all attention to the other problem, the growth of penury.
Joseph Cowen M.P. speaking at a Mechanics’
Institute at Newcastle, alluded to the labouring section
as “ a hybrid class doomed to eat the bread of penury
and drink the cup of misery. Precarious labour provided
them with subsistence for the day, but the slightest
�5
interruption threw them destitute. A week of broken
weather brought thousands of these industrial nomads
to the brink of starvation. An inscrutable influence
seemed to sink them as it elevated those around and
above them. Society, ashamed and despairing, swept
them, like refuse, into dismal receptacles, where
seething in their wretchedness, they constituted at once
our weakness and reproach. How to sweeten these
receptacles and help their forlorn occupants to help
themselves was the problem of the hour. If Society did
not settle it, it would in time settle Society.”
To this Socialists answer that there is no permanent
way of sweetening the lives of the class referred to
except by the complete annihilation of the profit-mongers
as a class, by forcing them all into the ranks of the
useful workers. This will be apparent when it is realised
that under the present system we are working to supply
profits to profit-mongers instead of working to supply
the legitimate requirements of the entire community,
and when it is borne in mind that Shareholders and
Employers are contented with nothing less than the
Highest possible profits, it will also be seen that on the
other hand we (the workers) can have nothing more
than the lowest possible wages. To establish Society
nn a proper basis is therefore the work of every rightminded man or woman.
Demagogues have been at work—with good inten
tions perhaps—but they have misled the workers from
the true cause of their troubles. Among the blind
leaders of the blind may be mentioned the Malthusians,
the Teetotallers, the Financial Reformers, and wellintentioned Radicals. The first mentioned have taught
that there are too many people in the country, and that
the only way of bettering our condition is by curtailing
the population, and this in face of the fact that every
year wealth in this country is increasing much faster
than population. The Temperance advocates hammer
away at the blessings of sobriety as though drunkenness
was the cause of poverty, when the fact is the other
Way about. Well nigh as fast as they surround an old
toper with influences that prevent his drinking tastes
�6
being gratified, another fills up the hole out of which
he was lifted. It is a useless expenditure of energy to
be continually preaching temperance and thrift. Let
all be blest with leisure, food, and healthy enjoyments,
as they might be if the economic basis of Society was
as it should be, and then these matters will all right
themselves. The only reason people spend time upon
these panaceas is because they fail to understand the
law of wages, which is that all above a bare subsistence
wage shall go to profit mongers as profit. The only
way out is to destroy the profit mongers.
The same argument applies to the financial reformer.
All sensible persons are of course agreed that the
country should be governed as economically as is con
sistent with efficiency, as also all are agreed that we
should live soberly. But the reformer fails to see that
if we curtail taxation to its lowest possible minimum,
reduce it if you will 90 per cent., not one farthing of it
would be saved to the workers. The Iron Law would
still be in force which says, “ So much as will keep life
in you and no more shall go to you, O ye workers, so long
as the profit making system remains.”
These economic questions cannot be understood in a
sufficiently clear manner by the mass of the workers
while they are absorbed twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and
even more hours a day while in work, and when out of
work are walking about with the pangs of hunger eating
out their vitals, and the blackness of despair staring
them in the face at every turn. Now suppose those of
us who can see these things in something like their
grim reality, decide that come what may, we at least will
do our part towards obtaining remunerative employment
for all, and at the same time sufficient leisure that all
may have a little breathing time after their work, what
course can we take ? To this I reply, there is one way
by which it can be done, viz., by at once concentrating
our efforts towards the establishing of an eight hours
working day.
Let us examine a few figures in order to see clearly
how this would affect us. We have something like
7,000,000 adult workers in the British Isles, working
�7
nominally under the nine hours system, leaving overtime
out of consideration for the moment. Let us see how
many more hands would be put in employment if we
struck off one hour per day from those in work. It is
roughly estimated that of the above mentioned workers
there are about 900,000 now out of work, representing
a total population of 3I or 4 millions of men, women,
and children who cannot get the barest necessaries of
life. Now strike off one hour per day from the 6,000,000
in work. The result would be an immediate demand
for 750,000 additional workers to keep up production
at its present rate, and remembering that these 750,000
would immediately begin to buy more food, clothing,
and general comforts, this of course would give an im
petus to trade, and so add greatly to the comfort of
the entire community for a year or two. These advan
tages, however, would soon be swallowed up by fresh
displacements of labour due to more efficient machinery
and advancing scientific knowledge; but, during the
year or two that it gave relief, see how immensely it
would add to the leisure and therefore to the general
intelligence of the workers. And increased intelligence
means more active discontent with our conditions of
life, and in due course a hastening of the overthrow of
the present capitalistic domination.
I am fully aware that there are some who claim to
have a knowledge of the workers who contend that the
very success of an Eight Hours Movement would
simply mean a perpetuation of the present wretched
system, as the people would become more contented if
the conditions of life were made more tolerable. This
I hold to be the very reverse of truth. As a workman
who has worked from early boyhood on the farm, down
the mine, and in the engineer’s shop, I repudiate such
a slanderous statement. What means the continually
increasing restlessness of late years of those workmen
who are now, relatively to their former position, in a
passable state of comfort ? I contend that it is in
large part due to the additional leisure obtained under
the nine hours system, though most of its advantages
have now been swallowed up by more rapid machinery
�and the cursed system of overtime we still tolerate.
I ask myself what has been my guide in the formation
of my opinions on social and political subjects, and,
risking being charged with egotism, I reply that I have
ever endeavoured to get correct views upon these and
other subjects by fashioning my ideas upon the best
models I could find, and the more leisure I had the
better my opportunity for finding good models. I can
understand a middle-class man holding this—to me—
absurd theory. I can also understand some workmen
reflecting the opinions of these theory-loving, poverty
accentuating blockheads merely because they are
middle-class. But I cannot understand a workman
who through youth and early manhood has been
battling against long hours in order that he might attend
the institute, listen to the lectures, and read the works
of able men, and by these means has succeeded in
having a mind worth owning—I say I cannot under
stand such an one hindering rather than helping in a
shorter hours movement. He practically says by such
conduct that the leisure he used so well as to become a
man thereby, others will use so ill that they will con
tinue fools. But men generally love what is best for
all, and are prepared to do their part towards carrying
it out so soon as they understand clearly what course
they should take. Let those of us who see (or think
we see) further than the average man, do all in our
power towards enabling him to see as clearly as we do,
and then, unless I am incapable of reading aright the
lesson of life, he too will become in his turn an earnest
and an energetic worker for the elevation of his class.
I must apologise to some readers who may think that
none of this reasoning is necessary. I emphasize it
because I know there exist philosophers who strain at
gnats and swallow camels, who talk of ameliorating
human suffering, but hang back instead of assisting a
movement the success of which must for a dead certainty
largely ameliorate the pangs of the hungry men, women,
and children who are now in the throes of despair.
Another section raise the objection that however
desirable it may be to curtail the hours of labour,
�remembering the severe competition of other countries
it is simply impossible either to raise wages or shorten
hours unless a similar movement takes place on the
Continent. I will endeavour to answer this first by
showing that the English workers produce more per man
than any of the Continental Nations, and second, by
showing that with regard to our staple industries
Foreign Competition is a bogie used by the Employer
to frighten the workers into accepting harder terms in
order that their master may make a greater profit. It
may be of some service to point out the relative wealth
per annum produced by the useful workers of this and
other countries. I am assuming that the reader is clear
concerning the source of wealth, that there is no other
source than useful Labour, so that, having sufficient
Raw Material for Workers to exercise their ingenuity
upon, it will be seen that the more workers, the more
the aggregate wealth, as in all ages men have been able
to produce by their labour more than they and their
families required for ordinary consumption. Quoting
from Mulhall’s “Statistics,” we find that Britain with a
Population of 36 millions produces wealth to the amount
of £1,247,000,000 per annum ; France with 37I millions
of people produces annually ^”965,000,000 (or with a
million and a half more people about three-quarters the
amount the English make; Germany, population
45 millions, wealth per annum, ^850,000,000 ; (or two
thirds only of our amount); Russia with 80 millions of
people, creates per annum only ^760,000,000, Austria,
38 millions population, only ^602,000,000 per annum ;
and simarlarly with the smaller nations. These figures
will serve to show that our method of producing wealth
is a more effective one than that in vogue on the Con
tinent, as although they generally work longer hours per
day than the English yet the result of their year’s work
compares unfavourably with ours. The important
lesson to be learnt here is this, that it is not the amount
paid as wages that decides whether or not one country
can compete successfully with another ; or rather, it is
not the countries where wages are low that compete
most successfully with this country. This will be seen
�IO
when it is realised that the severest competitor we have
to-day is America, a country that pays at least 25 per
cent higher wages than are paid in this country.
This of itself should be sufficient to encourage those
timorous mortals who are always attributing our ex
hausting toil to the competition of the lung hours of the
Continent. The time may arrive when, with an equally
advanced method of production, low paid labour will
produce wealth as effectively as better paid labour, but
that time has not yet come. By way of proving this
let me here instance the Iron Shipbuilding industry.
Many have been the disputes between employers and
employed in this industry during the past two or three
years, the employers continually urging that the Con
tinental shipbuilders are getting all the trade, or at any
rate will do so, unless our workmen submit to reductions
in wages and longer hours. This argument was ad
vanced repeatedly during the year 1885, so in order to
thoroughly test the matter a delegation of workers was
despatched to the Continent to bring back precise in
formation upon the subject. They found that Germany
was our chief competitor in Iron Shipbuilding, and
that during the year 1885 that country produced 22,326
tons of shipping. But in this country one firm on the
Clyde during the same period turned out 40,000 tons.
France produced 10,000 tons, and Russia 7,867 tons—
total for the two countries 17,867 tons. But the river
Tyne alone launched no less than 102,998 tons. The
Belgium output was 5,312 tons, that of Holland 2,651
tons, of Denmark 3,515 tons. To sum up, the whole
of the Continental output was a little over 50,000 tons,
while that of the English shipyards was 540,282 tons,
or nearly eleven times as great as that of all the yards
on the Continent put together. With facts like these
before us is it not high time we demanded that our
hours were curtailed so as to give a chance to those
who now walk about in enforced idleness, without
waiting for the Continent to take simultaneous action.
The Americans, who pay their mechanics better wages,
have had to concede the demands of their workmen for
the eight hour working day—not universally, it is true,
�II
because a universal demand was not made. Just astheir success stimulates us, so our success will stimulate
the Continental workers, and we shall find that they
are as well prepared as we are to deal vigorously with
the exploiting classes.
To Trade Unionists I desire to make a special appeal.
How long, how long will you be content with the present
half-hearted policy of your Unions? I readily grant
that good work has been done in the past by the
Unions, but, in Heaven’s name, what good purpose are
they serving now ? All of them have large numbers
out of employment even when their particular trade is
busy. None of the important Societies have any policy
other than that of endeavouring to keep wages from
falling. The true Unionist policy of aggression seems
entirely lost sight of; in fact the Unionist of
to-day should be of all men the last to be hope
lessly apathetic, or supporting a policy that plays
directly into the hands of the capitalist exploiter. Do
not think I am a non-Unionist myself, and therefore
denounce Unionists. T take my share of the work in
the Trade Union to which I belong, but I candidly
confess that unless it shows more vigour in the future
than it is showing at the present time (June, 1886)
I shall be compelled to take the view—against my will
—that to continue to spend time over the ordinary
squabble-investigating, do-nothing policy will be an
unjustifiable waste of one’s energies. I am quite sure
there are thousands of others in my state of mind—e.g.,
all those who concurred with T. R. Threlfall, the pre
sident of the Trades Union Congress, when, in his
Presidential Address, he told the delegates assembled
at Southport that a critical time had arrived in the
history of Trades Unions, and that in the future they
must lead or follow, and that they could not hope to re
tain advanced men with their present policy. In his
magnificent address Mr. Threlfall did all a man could
do to stir the Unionists up to take action in regard to
the Eight Hour working day, but one looks in vain at
each and all of our important Trade Societies to find
any action being taken in the matter. It is not enough
�12
to say their funds are low. Their funds are not too
low to get up an agitation upon this subject. All over
the country they have excellent organisations which
might be used in the first place as the means for instruct
ing their own members up to the required standard, and
then spreading information amongst the non-Unionists,
skilled and unskilled alike. When the bulk of these
understood the pros and cons of the case the combined
forces could make a demand for the immediate passing
of an Eight Hours Bill, the details of which could be
settled by a duly qualified committee.
While this is being done attention should also be
made to another important item alluded to by Mr.
Threlfall viz., the payment of election expenses out of
the local or Imperial rates and the support of Members
of Parliament in a similar manner. When this is done
we shall be able to command the services of those
whom we believe in because of their merits, irrespective
of what the depth of their pocket may be.
Let me now invite attention to the effects of an
Eight Hour Bill upon some of our monopolies. Let us
take the Railways as a representative concern, using
round figures such as will convey a correct idea to the
ordinary reader without confusing him. The Blue Books
bear out the following statements •>—At the present time
the Annual Income of the British Railways may be put
at ^70,000,000, of this vast sum one half goes to the
Shareholders, who do no useful work whatever; one
fourth to keep up rolling stock, permanent way &c.;
and the remaining fourth to the workers, (including
managers’ and superintendents’ salaries).
The man who has not paid attention to Railway
Income and Expenditure will denounce this as trash or
probably by a stronger term. He will probably say
that the figures must be wrong, as Railway Shareholders
get only some 5 per cent on their capital. Exactly, but
where nearly all make the mistake is in not making the
distinction between percentage on money invested and
percentage of Income. There are nominally more than
^920,000,000 invested in Railways in the British Isles,
and 5 per cent on this means about five-eighths of the
�total income, the entire income of 70 millions amounting
only to 8 per cent on the investments. Consequently a
Railway Company paying 4^ per cent to Shareholders
actually pays more than half of the total income to
these utterly useless individuals, leaving the remainder
to go in about equal proportions to rolling stock and
permanent way and as wages and salaries to Employees.
This gives about 18s. per week to the 350,000 persons
engaged on Railways in the British Isles. When we
remember that superintendents and managers get very
large salaries, we see that those who do the hard work
and have the longest hours get much less than 18s.
Now that we realise the enormous amount the idle
shareholders take, let us see how generously they behave
to those in their employ. At Nine Elms are situated the
cleaning sheds of the South Western Railway. Until
recently the “dirty cleaners” at this yard received
£i os. 6d. per week. Instructions have been issued
from Waterloo to curtail their wages from 20s. 6d. to
15s. at one stroke. On the same line, at Waterloo
terminus, the parcels porters commence work at 5.20
in the morning and keep on till 9.45 in the evening with
one Sunday off per fortnight, their wages being from
18s. to 22s. per week.
Now assuming the average day on Railways to be
12 hours, what loss would it inflict on the Shareholders
if a Bill were passed enforcing an Eight Hours’ Working
Day ? We have seen that the Employees get about
a quarter of the total income or about ^"17,000,000.
To curtail the hours by one third means of course putting
one half more men in work than are at present employed.
To pay these at a similar rate to those already working
would require £8,500,000 or less than one per cent on
the nominal value of the shares, so that a Company
paying 4^- per cent now, would, if one half more men
were employed still pay 3^ per cent to the Fleecing
Shareholders. What arrant nonsense then it is to urge
that the Company cannot afford to curtail hours.
Let us look now at the condition of our Colliers.
Here we have men devoting themselves to underground
toil from boyhood to old age, the majority never having
�14
the opportunity of paying a visit to the Capital or any
•other large town, practically kennelled in the earth, tied
down with capitalistic chains,
Spending a Sunless life in the unwholesome mines,
for the wretched pittance of about 18s. per week.
Surely an Eight Hours Bill requires no urging from
me on behalf of those who work in and about the mines ;
when we remember that of the value of coal raised
•annually in this country (about £66,000,000) one third
•only goes to the colliers who raise it.
An item worth mentioning also was pointed out by
Sir Lyon Playfair in his address before the British
Association at Aberdeen in 1885, whilst deploring the
fact that the exhaustion of the British coalfields made
the coal increasingly difficult to get. It was proved
that not only has man’s ingenuity conquered these
obstacles, but owing to the increased power of steam
•engines and hand-labour-saving appliances, two men
now produce as much as three men did twenty years
-ago. Yet coal is dearer now than it was then !
Thirty years ago eight sailors were required for the
management of every 100 tons of shipping. Now, ow
ing to improved machinery, less than half that number
suffice. In twenty years the consumption of fuel on our
ocean-going steamers has been reduced by one half,
chiefly owing to the use of compound engines in place
•of single ones as formerly. Thus on every hand a
greater result is being shown with less labour. And it
must be so or else there is no meaning in material pro
gress. But “ less labour ” means under our existing
system, and must mean so as long as industry is con
trolled by the idle classes, not “ more leisure ” or
shorter hours all round, but less wages, more unemployed,
poverty, famine, and physical and moral degradation.
What then can be more rational than to ease the
burden of those in work and the starving stomachs of
those who are out, by shortening the working day ?
See what is going on in the watch-making industry,
a fine example of the effects of machinery. Among the
exhibits at last year’s Inventions Exhibition was that
of the Waltham Watch Co. Some machines were there
�T5
at work making screws for watches, of which it took
250,000 to make up a pound in weight. These machines
were so perfectly made, that at the Company’s Factory
in Massachusetts, one boy keeps seven of them going.
The best wire to make one pound weight of screws costs
ten shillings, but after this wire has been converted into
screws by passing through this automatic machine, the
screws are worth /’350, or seven hundred times the cost
of the material. Imagine the number of men here
thrown out of employment; the watches in large part
being made by girls, and the enormous profits going to
the owners of the machinery.
Take another case, that of Bryant and May’s Match
Factory in East London. Two years ago this firm was
formed into a Limited Liability Company. Their work
girls are most miserably paid, getting only some 8s. per
week, and the Company refused to increase their pay
when they made a demand a short time since. And
yet that Company, during the first six months of its
existence, after paying all working expenses, actually
paid over ^33,000 to shareholders, who had not done a
single stroke of work towards producing it. These girls
are working ordinary factory hours, io^- per day They
cannot live in comfort on such a miserable pittance as
they are receiving. How many girls are compelled by
this sort of thing, to take to the streets ?
The above is only typical of what all our large firms
are doing. Armstrong, Mitchell and Co., the great
engineering firm at Newcastle-on-Tyne, for instance,
last year after deducting for working expenses and
depreciation of stock, paid to shareholders ^162,000.
Whatever improvement may come through more
efficient machinery etc., its effect, while owned by, and
used for the profit of, the employing class, will be to
throw men out of work and swell the already too full
pockets of the capitalists. If we do not decide to cur
tail the hours of labour, what then can we do ? Allow
things to go from bad to worse ? That is what most
assuredly will happen, unless we absorb the Unemployed
into the ranks of the employed by rigidly suppressing
overtime, and curtailing the nominal nine hours per day
to something less.
�i6
The question will be asked by some, “ What about
wages if we work an hour a day less, are we to have an
hour s less pay ? ” Most certainly not. Even when the
curtailing principle was only partially applied 15 years
ago by the Trade Unionists this did not happen. On the
contrary in many instances the workmen were soon able
to get a rise in actual wages in addition to the curtail
ing of hours. The reason we cannot command a better
wage now is because the Employer can say, “ If you
don’t like it you may go, others will be glad to take your
place,” but, as I think I have shown, if we make Eight
Hours the labour day then the Unemployed will be
absorbed and the workers will be able in their turn to
dictate terms to the Employer.
In conclusion I appeal to the workers of Great Britain
to join hands over this business and let us make it a
success. In a measure of this kind Liberal and Tory,
Christian and Freethinker, Unionist and Non-Unionist,
Mechanic and Labourer, Radical and Social-Democrat,
Teetotaller or Vegetarian, whatsoever be your creed or
sex, unite on common ground and let us fight this
battle of the workers with vigour, with energy and
determination. Be no longer apathetic. Take pleasure
in the performance of your duty as an honest citizen
and the result will be a hastening of that glorious time
when the domination of a class shall be a matter of
History, and when all shall have enough work and
none shall have too much.
For further information on all these subjects read “JUSTICE ”
every Saturday, One Penny, which is owned by working men,
edited by a working man, and independent of capitalist support.
Also, if willing to assist in attaining these objects, write to H. W.
Lee, Bridge House, Blackfriars, E.C.
�
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What a compulsory 8 hour working day means to the workers
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Mann, Tom [1856-1941]
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[1886?]
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Working conditions
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Social conditions
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’T4/0£a
THE
COMING REVOLUTION
IN ENGLAND.
BY
H. M. HYNDMAN,
Author of “ The Social Reconstruction of England,” “ TextBook
of
Democracy,” &c.
LENDING
LIBRARY
LONDON:
WILLIAM BEEVES, 185, ELEET STBEET, E.C.
Office of “ The Christian Socialist."
�Reprinted from the “North American Review.
�THE COMING REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND.
England at the present moment affords beyond doubt the
best field for the study of the social development of our times.
*
To a superficial observer we are still the Chinese of Europe,
clinging to old forms and old reverences, which have long since
been discarded elsewhere; though a closer examination shows
clearly that we have entered on a period of change which will
probably carry us far in advance of anything yet seen, either in
Europe or America. Few educated Englishmen, if pressed for
a deliberate opinion, would deny that there is every likelihood
that a complete social and political reorganization will be
attempted in these islands before the end of this century. Even
among the useless men and women who dub themselves “society,”
an undercurrent of uneasiness may be detected. The dread
word “ Revolution ” is sometimes spoken aloud in jest; more
often quietly whispered in all seriousness. The luxurious classes
feel that there is something going on below which they do not
understand, while now and then the truth that they are after
all but a handful of drones amid a dense swarm of ill-housed
and underfed workers forces itself in dimly upon their minds.
“Of course,” said one lady, “we know the working classes can
overwhelm us if they are only organized, but what is to come
then?” The deluge was to her but a swollen brooklet compared
to this loosing of the waters of democracy.
* See “The Social Reconstruction of England,” (W. Reeves, 185,
Fleet Street, London, price 6d.)
�4
THE COMING REVOLUTION
Now this growing consciousness of weakness if, if, if—this
or that takes place, which sooner or later is allowed to be
certain to come, acts itself as a force on the side of the people.
The “ it will last our time ” sort of men soon go to the wall in
days of real popular excitement. Those who refuse to look
thoroughly into the problems of their own age and country,
cannot fail to make grave mistakes when brought face to face
with the relentless necessities of social evolution, or even with
a body of enthusiasts who know their own minds. Ignorance
and cowardice invariably engender spasmodic injustice and
hap-hazard cruelty. And the worst sort of ignorance is that
which neglects to take account of natural laws, the most hope
less cowardice that which leads men to shut their eyes to
approaching danger.
Among the upper and middle classes in England to-day
there is absolutely no ideal for the future of their country.
There is not a single idea stirring among them which can give
hope to the old or can fire the young. Materially it is the
same. Neither of the present organized Parliamentary parties
offers to the mass of Englishmen any real change for the
better in their own condition, or proposes measures which hold
out the prospect of a brighter lot for their children. The bills
before the House of Commons at this hour exclusively concern
the welfare of the middle class, consequently there is an utter
apathy in relation to them among the workers. What does a
man who has to keep his wife and children on a pound or less
a week care about the provisions of a bankruptcy act, or the
assimilation of borough and county franchise ? All he knows
is, that somehow or other he has to work day in and day out
to keep body and soul together; that to-morrow he may be
unable to earn even the scanty pittance he at present gets;
and that then, from causes quite beyond his own control, he
may have to exchange the squalid misery of his home for the
�IN ENGLAND.
5
yet more squalid misery of the workhouse. No doubt such a
hand-to-mouth workman rarely reflects on his social wrongs;
but, when he does, from thought to action will be a very short
step.
Events just now move fast. Landlords, for instance, can
scarcely help observing that in Ireland, despite coercion acts,
a revolution is being wrought which can be but the beginning
of a complete change of system. At first the movement was
only a middle-class agitation, yet see what has been done in
two years. The farmers are still discontented, but already, ere
they are pacified, the day-laborers make themselves heard.
Those who imagine that the working classes in England will
not be influenced, in the long run, by what is going on in
Ireland, take a very short-sighted view of the situation and
its surroundings. However favorable the conditions may be,
this kind of political yeast ferments slowly through the great
unleavened mass of the people; but it does its work all the
same. The undefined fear that this may be so accounts for
the uneasiness referred to. What if similar steps should be
taken on this side of St. George’s Channel ? What if English
men and Scotchmen should call to mind that though the lap'’,
of Ireland is held by 12,000 people against 5,000,000, the land
of Great Britain is owned by only 30,000 against 30,000,000 ?
What if those who live on the starvation wages graciously
accorded them by the hypocritical fanatics of supply and
demand, with never the hope of rising above the wage-slave
-class—what if they, ground down under the economical pres
sure into a depth of degradation inconceivable to those who
have not witnessed it, should demand the fruits of their labor
from the classes who live in luxury on the produce of their
toil. What indeed ? At the very thought of it a chill shud
der creeps down the back of the land monopolists and the
capital monopolists alike, and they cry aloud in chorus for
�6
THE COMING REVOLUTION
more and yet more tyranny in Ireland, and huddle together
into a “ Liberty (!) and Property Protection League ” here.
For they know, if “society” and the workers don’t, that the
interests of the producing classes on both sides of the Irish
Channel are the same, and that should a struggle commence,
it will be a furious class war between the capitalists and middle
class aided by the landlords, on the one side, against the
*
working class aided by a few thinkers, enthusiasts, and ambi
tious men, on the other—a struggle beside which the old fight
of the burgesses and men of the “new learning ” against nobles
and clergy would seem child’s play.
He who writes the history of class wars writes the history
of civilized peoples. A new, and—unless far more wisdom
and foresight is displayed by the well-to-do than now seems
likely—a bloody page of that history may ere long be turned
over with us here in the “ Old Home.” In such circum
stances what course should be taken by any man who wishes
well to his country ? Surely to try to read aright the signs of
the times, and to endeavor to convince others near and far that
in such a battle surrender is both nobler and safer for the
weaker party than inevitable defeat. As an Englishman who
has had special opportunities of watching our social growth
from many points of view, I venture to think that the following
pages may be of some interest to the great English-speaking
* Among the wiser leaders of the Conservative Party in the past
there has always existed some sort of vague hope that an alliance might
be formed between the landowners and the people against the capi
talists. Mr. Disraeli certainly had this idea. But to carry it into effect
called, and calls, for sacrifices of which our English nobles and squires
are quite incapable. They talk boldly of patriotism, but they always
keep their hands tight clenched in their breeches pockets. Of late this
whole policy has been thrown aside with contempt, and Lord Salisbury
and Sir Stafford Northcote make no secret of their anxiety to make
common cause with the plutocracy in favor of the “ rights of property”
against the rights of the people. A Conservative programme truly.
�IN ENGLAND.
7
■democracy on. the western side of the Atlantic Ocean as well as
to our own people here.
It is a commonplace to say that a hundred years is a short
period in the life of a nation, yet few perhaps reflect how short
it really is. A man of seventy in this year, 1883—and nowa-days our English statesmen are, so to say, in their “ teens ”
at fifty—might have conversed as a youth of eighteen with his
father, who, if he had then attained likewise threescore and
ten years, could retain a clear personal remembrance of the
events of the American War of Independence, and must have
passed through the era of the French Revolution in the prime
of manhood. Thus considerably less than two ordinary lives
carry us back to a date which, in certain respects, social and
economical, seems as remote as ancient history. It needs an
effort of the imagination to recall what England was in 1783..
, Nevertheless, those who have studied the years immediately
preceding the great war with France know well that at that
time the opinions of educated men were to a great extent in
advance socially and politically of what they are to-day. The
writings of Thomas Paine, Priestley, Horne Tooke, Thomas
Spence, of Newcastle; the speeches of the elder Pitt, Burke,
Fox, Sheridan, and Colonel Barre, to say nothing of the crowd
•of pamphleteers who in one way or another reflected the ideas
of Rousseau and Voltaire and the general tone of the working
■classes in their ordinary talk, all shadowed forth a political
movement in England not very widely different in its objects
from that which wrought so great a change in France. A
hundred years ago the Duke of Richmond fathered a bill in
fiavor of universal suffrage and annual parliaments, and Thomas
Hardy the shoemaker was tried for high treason because he
agitated for a National Convention. It is certain that the
mass of Englishmen, so far as they could give expression to
their opinion, fully sympathized with the early phases of the
�8
THE COMING REVOLUTION
attack upon the ancien regime in France,, and would gladly
have followed up the policy so successfully begun in America
and carried on by the French in the direction of a complete
enfranchisement of the people.
Yet here we are to-day without reforms admitted to be
necessary by Lord Chatham, and considered with a view to
bringing them forward from a Tory point of view by his reac
tionary son. The present House of Commons, though sup
posed to represent thirty-five millions of people, is really elected
by a little over three millions; the House of Lords still has
the power, as it so disastrously showed in numberless instances,
of thwarting, for a time at least, any genuine liberal measure
carried by the so-called popular chamber. The House of
Commons itself also, elected as stated, consists of a compact
phalanx of landlords and capitalists, whose interests are directly
opposed to those of the great body of the people. What
Thomas Paine called the game of ride and tie still goes mer
rily on. Tories and Whigs, Conservatives and Liberals, take
turn and turn about in cajoling their constituents, and enjoy
the sweets of office as the reward for their dexterity. The
cost of elections and the nonpayment of members shut out all
but men of the well-to-do classes, or the two or three specimens
of the working class who are ready to do their bidding. Now
it is clear that there must be some great causes to account for
this remarkable set-back, since the revolt of our American
colonies, and the teaching of vigorous minds, both in England
and abroad, led the English democracy to look to a thorough
reform of the constitution, or even to the establishment of a
Republic as not only advantageous, but necessary.
Mere political reaction will not fully explain such a strange
collapse. Doubtless the war against France, into which the
nation was dragged by the aristocratic class, had a great effect.
The horror, more than half manufactured, which was felt at
�IN ENGLAND.
9
the fate of Louis XVI. and. Marie Antoinette, helped the reac
tionists and the war party. Burke and others did their utmost
to fan the flame. The Reign of Terror in Paris, exaggerated,
by the calculated panic of the upper classes intensified the
popular feeling. And of course when once we were fairly at
war the old dogged spirit of the victors of Crecy and Poitiers
was roused, the fatal mirage of glory tempted the suffering
people on, and internal reorganization was practically thrust
aside in favor of naval triumphs and glorious battles. If we
lost, it would never do to be beaten like that; if we won, why,
•all was going well. Hurrah for old England I To this day,
also, the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror are quoted
in almost every middle-class household as standing warnings
against any attempt of the people to organize themselves in
•earnest.
Who shall say, moreover, what an influence the common
school-books have had in this direction ? Till within the last
few years all history for the young has been compiled in the
direct interest of reaction. Not the least noteworthy, there
fore, among the smaller signs of coming change is the fact that
at the present moment efforts are being made to correct the
ideas which have been current with regard to the leaders of
the French Revolution among the working class. Lectures
are constantly delivered and pamphlets distributed in the
growing radical and democratic clubs, which run quite counter
to the middle class idea of that great upheaval. Robespierre,
St. Just, Couthon, and even Marat are rehabilitated com
pletely, and held up to admiration as men who sacrificed them
selves to the good of the human race. This, too, though they
themselves all belonged to the very class which the extreme
-advocates of the rights of labor commonly denounce.
But deeper causes have been at work than the shock of the
Reign of Terror or the satisfaction of martial ardor. At the
�10
THE COMING REVOLUTION
end of the eighteenth century the long and bitterly cruel
process of driving the English people from the soil was pretty
well completed. The idler landlord and the capitalist farmer
had quite displaced the sturdy yeoman of old time. Commonswere being daily stolen by individuals, and an increasing por
tion of the agricultural population now reduced to mere wage
earners to the farmers, were driven into the towns, where they
became mere wage-earners to the factory lords and shop
keepers. The increasing power of steam, together with the
terrible laws favoring long hours and prohibiting combination
among workpeople, handed over the population of the cities
bound hand and foot to their masters—the sole owners of the
means of production. The furious destruction of machinery,
which frequently took place; the long, violent struggle against
the masters for shorter hours, for restriction of child and woman
labor; the persistent endeavors of the workers, as a class, tn
obtain some little freedom,—all show how fearful the pressure
must have been. Readers of Robert Owen and William
Cobbett can form some idea of the horrors wreaked on helplesswomen and children, of the infamous tyranny practised upon
almost equally helpless men by the factory owners and their
managers. The reports of the various commissions give a still
more fearful picture of what, went on. So grave was the dete
rioration of the physique of the poorer classes in the rapidly
growing manufacturing districts, that positively a social col
lapse threatened from this cause alone.
Meanwhile, the whole system of which this was a develop
ment grew apace. Education there was little or none ; justice
as between employed and employer was not to be had. The
workers were trampled under foot to a degree which the slave
class even in ancient Rome never suffered from. In 1825came the first of the great industrial crises which can be
directly traced to our present system of production, and the-
�IN ENGLAND.
11
misery among the poor in town and country alike was deplor
able. Fifty years ago affairs seemed really hopeless. Men
who still remember the situation in the years immediately
preceding the Reform Bill of 1832, say that there seemed
little prospect of the slightest modification. The aristocracy—
though their power had been shaken by the middle class—still
held, to all appearance, effective control. What with rotten
boroughs, sinecures, and bribery, they could still do pretty
much as they pleased. That very manufacturing prosperity
which had enabled the capitalist class to amass wealth directly,
also enriched the landlords in the shape of enhanced rents
indirectly, and thus increased their political strength. England
was already established as the manufacturing power of the
world, and the one idea of the classes which controlled its
development was that the labourers who made for them all
this wealth had really no rights at all. But for the activity of
Robert Owen, Richard Sadler, Lord Shaftesbury, and a few
other self-sacrificing men, even the first factory acts, which in
some degree checked the hideous crushing down of the people,
might have been delayed for years.
Thus, from the very time when some hope of real reform
had dawned on the minds of Englishmen up to the miserably
ineffective measure of 1832—a period of fifty years—a relent
less social pressure was going on in the cities and in the
country, which helped the partisans of reaction to an extent
that can hardly be estimated.
England, too, we must never forget, lies outside the great
European currents of popular excitement. The days of July
in Paris (1830) which produced so great an effect elsewhere,
were barely felt here at all. Still the economical conditions of
.the workers were such, and the political disfranchisement of
the masses was so galling, that it was clear even then that
■some attempt would be made to remedy their position. Men
�12
THE COMING REVOLUTION
of our day have grown up into liberty, and forget how hard
their fathers had to fight to maintain freedom of the press,
right of public meeting, and the like. The Chartist move
ment, which began a few years after 1832, renewed in politics
the Duke of Richmond’s electoral plan of more than sixty
years before1—see how slow it goes 1—the basis of the pro
gramme being manhood suffrage, annual parliaments, equal
electoral districts, and the ballot. But below this the leaders
had hope of real social reforms. Fine fellows, indeed, those
leaders were. Some of them are living now, and known to
me, and I do think nobler men with higher ideals have rarely
come to the front in English politics. The spirit of the people
was once again rising. That wave of revolutionary movement
which at times seems to spread, no man knows how, from
country to country, had begun to swell. The anti-corn law
agitation, which went on at the same time, though kept up
chiefly in the interest of the capitalist class, served to bring
the miseries of their social condition clearly before the mass of
the workers. Such men as Bronterre O’Brien, FeargusO’Connor, Ernest Jones, or Thomas Cooper—to speak only of
the dead—hoped for a sudden and beneficial change for the
mass of their countrymen. Foreign revolutionists who were
driven here just prior to ’48, fully believed that in this country,
at least, with its great factories and impoverished workpeople,
its great landlords and miserable agricultural laborers, its
political freedom and general disfranchisement,—that here,
here in England, the social revolution would now surely begin,
and the proletariat would at length come by their own. Alas 1
prison, disillusion and death awaited the English leaders; and
their foreign coadjutors, worn out with waiting, still watch
sadly but almost hopelessly for the dawning of the day.
That nationalization of the land, which is now so eagerly
debated alike in the East and in the West, was a portion of
�IN ENGLAND.
13
their creed, and though the true economical explanation of the
industrial phenomena by which they were surrounded was not
clear to them, most of the English leaders certainly wished to
carry out a far more thorough programme than they could
induce their middle-class supporters to adopt. But the move
ment of 1848 failed, partly because the leaders did not know
their own minds at the critical moment, but chiefly because
the people were not ready for the change, and the social evolu
tion had not—has it yet ?—worked itself up to the needful
point. Yet the men who wished for an immediate recognition
might be pardoned for thinking, in the years just preceding
the shake of ’48, that a complete change could not long be
postponed. Ireland was on the eve of that fearful famine
which ended in the death or expatriation of more than a third
of her population; England was approaching a period of
serious depression, which could not, to all appeartince, lead to
any improvement for the mass of the people; all over Europe,
as well as in the British Isles, men had begun to say that
anarchy could not be worse than the existing social oppression.
No wonder that, in England in particular, the well-to-do
classes drew together in anticipation of grave trouble, and
wild schemes of taking hostages of the daughters of the
wealthy were discussed on the other side. But suddenly the
sky cleared. Emigration to America and- Australia offered an
outlet to the more ardent spirits, of which they were not slow
to avail themselves. The Cronrwells and Hampdens of the
movement gladly took refuge beyond sea, and expended their
*
energy in new countries. At the same time, the gold dis
coveries and improved communication gave a marvellous
impulse to trade in every direction. Those who left became
comfortable and wealthy; those who remained had at least
enough to live upon. And so the revolutionary wave of ’48,
like that of ’89, passed by our shores, causing but the slightest
�14
THE COMING REVOLUTION
disturbance, and the mass of the people were left still in “ that
state of life ” in which it pleased their “ betters ” to keep
them.
From that time forward, though political agitation has
been almost at a standstill—for what, after all, was the reform
movement of 1866, or, for that matter, the household suffrage
it led up to ?—our development in other directions has pro
ceeded with a rapidity altogether unprecedented in human
history. Railways, telegraphs, ocean steamers, submarine
cables, have brought the peoples of the world together, and
have enhanced the wealth-producing capacity of our species to
an extent the wisest could not have foreseen as being possible
within so short a period. Those sciolists who attribute the
vast enrichment of England to free trade overlook the fact that
the mastery of man over nature has increased in an almost
immeasurable ratio during the last five and thirty years. We
English, very lightly handicapped in the race, with our cheap
coal, with our densely crowded cities and socialized workshops,
with the first-fruits of mechanical invention, with accumulated
capital at our command, had the heels of the rest of the world
from the start. Luring the whole of this period, from 1848
to 1878, we had almost undisputed control of the markets of
the globe. Our commercial and industrial centres, London,
Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield, Leeds, Birming
ham, Bradford, Newcastle, not to mention such places as
Middlesboro’ or Barrow, have increased in population to an
extent scarcely to be surpassed even in America. Our agri
cultural population has meantime decreased most seriously,
and mere lounger towns such as Brighton, Cheltenham, Scar
borough, Eastbourne, etc., have sprung up to afford restingplaces for the growing number of the indolent wealthy.
Nevertheless it is clear to all that the leaps and bounds of
commerce, on which our middle-class financiers are never
�IN ENGLAND.
15
weary of congratulating us, have given far more wealth to the
upper classes than comfort or well-being to the lower; that
riches are rolling into the lap of the few, while the many suffer
hideously from recurrent depressions, which sweep away every
vestige of their prosperity; that unrestricted competition
simply degenerates into combination and rigid monopoly, and
that the beautiful theory of supply and demand, as applied to
the working-classes of Great Britain, produces a state of things
so deplorable that philanthropists wring their hands in despair,
and even the economist hacks, whose business it is to chant
the praises of my Lord Capital and all his works, are sometimes
startled into denouncing the very system they champion.
For here in brief is our present position :
First. In no civilized country in the world is there such a
monopoly of the land as in Great Britain.
Second. In no country are capital, machinery, and credit
so concentrated in the hands of a class.
Third. In no country is there such a complete social sepa
ration between classes.
*
* This is apparent to the most superficial observer. But it is
amusing to note that Englishmen of the upper classes are often
ignorant that so it is. Thus a well-known Anglo-Indian official of a
radical turn said not long ago, speaking of Indian legislation: “Legisla
tion in India is, of course, so much more difficult than in England. In
England, you know, if you want to learn exactly what a body of men
want, you just ask some of theii" principal people to dinner and discuss
the business quietly. But in India that sort of social gathering is
almost impossible, or quite useless.” Now, I’ll be bound to say, that
worthy gentleman does not number among his intimate acquaintace a
single individual who works daily at his trade, let alone asking him to
dinner. Yet our modern jurist would legislate for him and his, with
the profound conviction that the right thing had been done. Probably
the idea of what the men wanted would be filtered through an employer;
and he, doubtless, would dine.
Not long ago a great capitalist—a member of the present Liberal
Government—gave an entertainment to the representatives of the
working-men’s clubs of London at the South Kensington Museum. It
was all very nice, I’m told, but the tone of the fete was pretty much
�16
THE COMING REVOLUTION
Fourth. In no country is the contrast between the excessive
wealth of the few and the grinding poverty of the many so
striking.
Fifth. In no country is the machinery of government so
entirely in the hands of the non-producing classes, or are the
people so cajoled out of voting power and due representation.
Sixth. In no country are the people so dependent for their
necessary food on sources of supply thousands of miles away.
Seventh. In no country is it so difficult for a man to rise
out of the wage-earning class.
Eighth. In no country in the world is justice so dear, or
its administration so completely in the hands of the governing
classes who make the laws.
A few figures will bring out some of these points into high
relief.
Thus, with regard to the land: according even to the
statistics in the so-called “ New Domesday Book,”a compila
tion published expressly in the interests of the landlords, 2,192
persons hold 38,726,849 acres of the total small area of Great
Britain and Ireland, the people having been completely driven
from the soil. Mr. Bright’s statement that 30,000 people hold
the agricultural land of Great Britain is positively very near
the truth. Reckoning rents, royalties and ground-rents, it is
calculated that landowners take not less than £100,000,000
out of their countrymen owing to the monopoly they enjoy.
Much of this vast revenue is, no doubt, heavily encumbered
by debts to the capitalists. This, however, makes it no better,
but rather worse, seeing that the mortgages cripple the possesthe same as it must have been at a gathering called by a feudal lord of
old time, when he condescended to regale his retainers with a roasted
ox and “ fixings.” Not a single middle class or upper class man was
asked. Of course I am not saying that the working-classes are not as
much to blame for this state of things as those who patronise them. I
think they are. No one will give them the social equality they have
a right to unless they claim it,—of that we may all be very sure.
�IN ENGLAND.
17
sor and prevent him from making improvements; while there
is no personal relation whatever between the mortgagee and
the tenants or laborers on the mortgaged estate. Bad seasons
and American competition have, it is reckoned, reduced the
value of land in England in many districts not less than
twenty-five per cent. The percentage of bankruptcies and the
registration of bills of sale among farmers have of late years
been something distressing, and as it is impossible to grind the
agricultural laborer down any lower—his average wages are
but three dollars a week, and farmers charge him at the rate
of eight pounds to twenty pounds an acre if he wants a plot of
the land, which is let by the landlord to the farmer at £1 or
£1 10s.—and the farmers can’t continue to pay rent out of
capital, a great change must be close at hand. Agriculture is
still by far our most important industry, involving the employ
ment of more capital and labour than any other. The value
of agricultural produce alone is taken at three hundred million
pounds a year on the average. A few years ago Mr. Caird
put the landlords’ agricultural rents at sixty-seven million
pounds. A system like the present, which has no elasticity
whatever, and acts as a positive injury to the community,
cannot possibly last much longer. When reforms begin they
will not stop short of the point which takes in the agricultural
laborers.
Who can wonder that, as it is, we are so dependent on
foreign countries for an ever-increasing amount of food.
Leaving Ireland aside, the population of England, Wales and
Scotland in 1840 was, in round figures, 18,000,000, or rather
over. In 1882 it was 12,000,000 more, or 30,000,000.
During that period agricultural science has greatly advanced,
and machinery, improved communications and the like have
increased the area of profitable cultivation. In 1840, however,
we imported a total amount of £27,000,000 worth of food;
�18
THE COMING REVOLUTION
in 1882 we imported no less than £160,000,000, and this
amount is steadily increasing. Yet it is the opinion of such
experts as Mr. Lawes, Mr. Caird, Lord Leicester, and others
that, under proper arrangements, at least twice the amount of
food might he profitably grown in Great Britain than
is now raised, and our enormous importation reduced to that
extent. The grave danger of the dependence upon sea-borne
food, which might be cut off during war with any naval power,
it is needless to insist upon. Enough that from this point of
view also the land question demands immediate consideration.
But again, to show the operation of capital and its absorp
tion of the general wealth. In 1841 the wealth produced in
Great Britain has been taken at £514,000,000 ; at- present
the annual wealth produced can scarcely be less £1,800,000,000.
The working-classes, however, who produce this, take a very
small share of it in return for their labor. The actual
number of workers cannot be put at more than eight millions—though this is a difficult figure to get at—and the power they
exert has been estimated at not less than that of one thousand
millions of men. Yet the average wages of the working
classes certainly do not exceed fifteen shillings a week, and the
total amount paid to them would not be more than three
hundred million pounds, as against more than nine hundred
million pounds absorbed by the upper, professional, and
middle classes, in one shape or another. The last census shows,
too, that while the producing class is not increasing so rapidly
in proportion as the non-producing classes, including domestic
servants, the actual pauper class is not decreasing. Mr. Russel
Wallace even estimates those who are more or less dependent
on charity in England and Wales alone at 4,500,000, out of
our total population of 28,000,000.
Nor is there any possibility that under existing conditions
this state of things will be altered. The tendency of improved
�IN ENGLAND.
19
machinery, used, not in the interest of the people at large, or
under their control, but simply to enable manufacturers to
undersell their neighbors and produce cheaply, is to create a
“fringe of labor ” always hanging on the skirts of the market
ready to be absorbed in periods of “ good trade,” only to be
thrown out again when the inevitable glut and stagnation
follow. As to getting out of the wage-earning class, that, as
a rule, is hopeless, and even if one fortunate artisan does
raise himself, he but shoves a more needy man into his place.
Since the beginning of this century there have been also seven
industrial crises, and the crushing effect of those upon the
rank and file of laborers, as well as upon the small shop
keepers who live upon selling them necessities and trifling
luxuries in small quantities, can only be known by those who
have seen the houses of the poor sold up and whole families
driven on to the “ parish ” from no fault whatever of their
own. Yet here in England, drawing wealth from all parts of
the earth, no effort whatever is made to distribute this wealth
more fairly among the people. The luxurious classes are
quite content to see their taxable profits alone rated at nearly
six hundred million pounds, while below men are glad to work
for seventy-five cents a day, and cases of sheer starvation are
common.
Once more as regards politics. That the House of Lords
is a house of landlords is a trite saying ; • but it is worse, for
many of their “ lordships ” are landlords and capitalists at
the same time; and they, consequently, no longer, as in
former times, exercise any control over the capitalist class.
Look, however, at the composition of the House of Commons,
elected, as I have already said, by a minority of the adult
male population, and so arranged that no poor man can
possibly sit in it without help from others. The interests of
the aristocracy are represented there by 165 members; there
�20
THE COMING REVOLUTION
are no fewer than 191 land-owners; bankers, traders, lawyers,
manufacturers, brewers, etc., sum up to 285. Out of a house
of 658 members in all, but two members belong to the work
ing-class—a halfpenny-worth of bread, indeed, to this intoler
able deal of sack.
Now here, surely, is the making altogether of a very
pretty overturn if once the working-classes understand their
position. There can be no mistake whatever about that.
Nevertheless, the external aspect of affairs for the moment is
tranquil in the extreme. Never were the people, to all
appearance, so dull. Our agitators say that men have not
half the spirit of the workers of twenty years ago, to say
nothing of the Chartists of ’48. This is, to a great extent,,
true, and the reasons for it are not far to seek.
In the first place, the capitalists are more than ever masters
of the situation. Almost the whole press and literature of
the country are devoted to their cause. The workers fancy
they are free, and for the most part are quite ignorant of the
fact that the wealth they see around them grows out of their
poorly paid labor. Though they can, as a body, feel the iron
law of wages, though they feel the effects of this law in over
work and short food, they still take it all for granted, and
think—those that do think—that chance, or good times, or
perhaps strikes, may improve their condition.
*
Of the abso
* It is from this iron law of wages that Marx has formulated his
famous demonstration of surplus value. A man accepts from sheer
necessity the competition wages of his time, and sells his force of
labor to the capitalist for the week or the day. But in two or three
hours’ work—Mr. W. Hoyle says, on the average, one and one-quarter
hours’ work—he will produce quite enough social labor-value to keep
him or to refund the wages the capitalist pays him at the end of the
week or day out of the results of his toil. The laborer, however,
does not work these two or three hours a day only, he works ten,
twelve, fourteen, even sixteen, hours a day ; for he has sold his labor
force to the capitalist, who can “ exploit ” it to any extent. Those
extra hours of toil, therefore, over and above the time needed to
�IN ENGLAND.
21:
lute necessity for general social and political combination tobring about genuine reforms, they know at present almost
nothing. Moreover, above this rank and file of laborers therestands the aristocracy of labor—the trade-unions, who, though,
they have done admirable work in the past, now block the
path of radical reform. As an old trade-unionist said of them
the other day, they are a standing protest against the tyranny
of capital, without the slightest idea of progress. Their leaders,
too, are almost without exception, more or less in the pay
of the capitalists—mostly Liberals who, in effect, use them to
*
keep back their fellows. This game has been played for years.
If a working-man shows himself capable, he is flattered; and,,
so far as anything in the shape of real revolutionary work goes,
“ squared.” * It is amusing to see members of the TradeUnion Parliamentary Committee button-holing members in.
that least democratic of all gathering-places, the lobby of the
House of Commons, bowing and scraping, indeed, when, if
create the amount of value represented by the wages paid simply
constitute so much unpaid labor which the capitalist takes in the shape
of the surplus value created by the laborer—the articles of utility,
namely, on which he has been employed. That surplus value the actual
capitalist divides up with landlords, bankers, profit-mongers, and other
gentlemen at large. When a workman first thoroughly grasps this
nice little jugglery which is going on at his expense he is apt to get atrifle warm in the expression of his love for the capitalist and “ society ”
in general. How odd !
* The trade-unionists are a small fraction of the workpeople of
England, yet they constantly pose as if they represented the whole
body, there could be no greater absurdity. They are not even
agreed among themselves on any matter of moment; and are, in truth,
to-day a convention or rather a reactionary body full of the “fads”about limitation of apprentices and the like, though meanwhile
machinery is practically abolishing the skilful handicraftsman. The
plan pursued by the capitalists has been very astute. They have
*
found money for working-class movements just enough to carry them
to the point where danger might begin. Then the support has been
withdrawn. This system of pauper politics has debauched many as
promising working-class leader.
�22
THE COMING REVOLUTION
the workers knew their real position, they would talk as
masters. But this sort of thing will not go on for ever.
Economical pressure is becoming too strong. We are no
longer absolute masters of the markets of the world; the
depression in agriculture seriously affects the home trade;
business is dull, even in the height of summer weather, and
the next industrial crisis may absolutely force the workingclasses to sink their petty jealousies, and the trade-unions
their fancied superiority, in a more thorough movement than
.any yet contemplated. Meanwhile there are not wanting
signs that another serious revolutionary agitation has begun.
All through London political clubs are being formed, at which
social changes of the most complete character are warmly
■discussed. The same in the provinces. Everywhere the
-claims of labor to control production are being debated by
.knots of workmen ; and invariably, so far as my experience
lias gone, from the socialist point of view. I do not say that
there are many who are yet prepared to take action—there
.are not; but the number of workers who are taking the
trouble to consider is increasing with surprising rapidity. For
instance, little more than two years ago a few Englishmen
and women, mostly of the working-class, started the organiza
tion known as the Democratic Federation. The programme
includes the fullest possible representation of the people, and
claims for them full power over every department of the
State. Among its other aims are to obtain free justice,
nationalization of the land, and eventually the control of the
machinery of production by the working-class. Already we
have held some of the largest open-air meetings ever held in
London, and have been almost equally successful in the indus
trial centres of the country. This shows in itself that the
political and social stagnation is rather apparent than real;
�IN ENGLAND.
23-
that much is going on of which no account is taken by thosewho wish not to see.
*
More obvious tokens of coming change, however, are not
wanting. The House of Commons, which has for three cen
turies exercised such preponderant influence in the State, is
falling into universal discredit. This is by no means wholly
due to the strain which has been put upon all its traditions of'
free speech by the determination of a Liberal government to
introduce undisguised despotism in Ireland against the protests
of the representatives of the overwhelming majority of Irish
men. The deterioration had begun before.! First of all, theHouse, which should represent the nation, became merely the
scene of party fights and faction squabbles, and then it hasdegenerated into little better than a machine for registering
the decrees of the cabinet—a body, be it remembered, quiteunknown to our constitution. Even worse than this are thelong, almost interminable utterances of wearisome members
on matters of no moment. Let a local question be once
started, and all the bores in the House are immediately in
full cry. They arc sure to know all about it—it is so unim
* The following is the programme of the Democratic Federation,
as revised and sanctioned at the last conference : (1) Adult Suffrage
(2) Annual Parliaments ; (3) Proportional Representation ; (4) Pay
ment of Members, and of all election expenses out of rates; (5) Bribery,,
treating, and corrupt practices at elections to be made acts of felony ;
(6) Abolition of the House of Lords and of all hereditary authorities ;
(7) Legislative Independence for Ireland; (8) National and Federal
Parliaments, including Representation of Colonies and Dependencies
(9) Nationalization of the land; (10) Disestablishment and disendowment of all State Churches; (11) Free Justice; (12) The Right of'
Making Treaties, of Declaring War, or Concluding Peace to be vested
in the direct representatives of the people.
This point was admirably put the other day in the “ Newcastle
Chronicle.” This journal belongs to Mr. Joseph Cowen, member for
Newcastle-on-Tyne, and is almost the only newspaper in the kingdom
which treats politics and social questions from an independent demo
cratic point of view.
�•24
THE COMING REVOLUTION
portant. But still more depressing is the dead level of
mediocrity among the younger men on both sides of the
House of Commons. The traditions of oratory seem to have
faded out from among them, and men look blankly around to
see which of the industrious and painstaking gentlemen now
posing as budding statesmen may artfully conceal under his
apparent dullness the qualities requisite for leadership in
these stirring times. * Formerly it was not so. Gladstone,
Cornwall Lewis, Bright, Hartington, even Forster, Disraeli,
Lord Robert Cecil, Gathorne Hardy, had early given evidence
■of powers which could fire a democracy or influence a senate.
What man is there among the English members under forty
•or five-and-forty—which is it of the landlordlings or conserva
tive money-bags on the one side, or the plutocrats, prigs, and
professors on the other, of whom the like could with truth be
•said ? The fact is, landlords and capitalists are alike played
■out. Their very finance is stuck in a blind-alley. They
neither of them have a policy they can affect to believe in for
themselves or with which they can hope to stir the pulses of
■the people. In a word, the House of Commons, as at present
constituted, is little more than a middle-class debating club,
•with a party wire-puller in the speaker’s chair. To revive the
memory of its ancient glories it must far more directly repre
sent the hopes and fears, aspirations and grievances of the
great body of Englishmen, must gain strength and vigour in
the free, bluff air of democratic agitation, and trust in the
future to the mass of the people for support.
* I but repeat here what is common talk among political people. It
is not that clever young men in other respects are wanting among the
members. Some can write and lecture very well. What is lacking is
'that indescribable energy, independence, imagination, eloquence—that
-genuine political capacity, in short, which pushes a man to the front
-almost in spite of himself. How is it the Irish members stand out
•from the ruck? Surely because they have a cause which they believe
in, and have a people at their back.
\
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41
IN ENGLAND.
2&
Meanwhile the very discredit of the pseudo-popular
chamber prepares the way for root-and-branch reform. Glad
stone, who is denounced as a revolutionary agitator, is really the
last of the great middle-class transitionists, and with his disap
pearance a new era will begin. An agitation for the abolition,
of the House of Commons would even now find adherents. A
little more, and the idea of a hundred years ago will spring;
again, and a National Convention may force its way to the
front. We have outgrown our political swaddling- clothes,
and in any case constitutional forms are but the outcome of
the social and economical structure beneath them. As that
changes, so must they.
This decadence of Parliament is of course only a symptom..
But outside, also, straws show which way the current is setting.
Apparent stagnation, general mediocrity, almost universal
listlessness in grave concerns, indifference to anything but the
superficial aspects of events—these precede almost every great
upheaval which the world has seen. To take an example of
indifference. Among the ugliest growths of modern society
are the numerous gangs of organized roughs—answering tothe hoodlums of America or the larrikins of Australia—who
parade our great cities, and too often, not content with mauling:
one another, maltreat the peaceful wayfarer. Yet in all the
criticisms of the anonymous press on their action, not one
writer has taken the trouble to analyze the manner in which
these people were fostered into their present brutality. Again,,
of late there has been a surprising increase of vagrants and.
loafers—many of them, by the way, are trained militiamen or
discharged short-service regulars, who would be ugly fellowsin a street fight with their discipline and desperation—men
who already render the highways by no means pleasant travel
ing for foot-passengers. In some districts tramps of this kind
have increased ten-fold in number during the last few years.
�.26
THE COMING REVOLUTION
Here, one would think, was a social phenomenon calling for
•careful attention. Why are able-bodied men and women
thus roaming the country ? What are the causes which
render them homeless, forlorn, and therefore dangerous ? A
bill for their repression was lately brought in by Mr. Pell, a
Conservative, and Professor Bryce, member for the Tower
Hamlets, and a “Philosophical ” Radical. Neither professor,
nor scholar, nor any other human being in the House of
Commons, considered the question from the point of view that
society might be to blame. In the House of Lords, when the
bill went there, my Lord Salisbury and my Lord Fortescue
said matters were getting serious, and such ruffians ought all
to be put under prison regimen. First drive men to want
and misery by social injustice, and then punish them because,
poor devils, they roam the country in search of food. Bravo,
my Lords and gentlemen, the bloody legislation of Queen
Elizabeth against “ the sturdy beggars ” will soon be revived
at this rate.
Once more. Here in London the number of the unemployed
has swollen to almost an alarming extent, even during the
summer months. Idle, good-for-nothing, drunken fellows, said
the capitalist press; let them starve or go to the workhouse. A
friend of mine, a journalist of ability, was shocked at what
he saw, and took up the question. He soon found that the
great majority of these thousands of workless people were
neither idle, good-for-nothing, nor drunken. But the case of
most of them seemed to him desperate. Ready to do almost
anything, there was literally no work for them to do.
My friend sent a note of his inquiries to a well-known
journal. “It was better,” so wrote the manager in reply, “not
to call attention to such matters. It could do no good.” Thus
the easy classes are shut out from even knowing what misery
�IN ENGLAND.
27
there is below them—which any overturn can only improve—
while what may be the result of such neglect in a troubled
time no one stops to consider for a moment. A few other
instances, and I have done. What is called the “ sweating ”
system is increasing in every direction, with the result that
young women actually work fourteen hours a day, for six daysin the week, for four shillings a week, out of which they have
to find house-rent and food! Several cases of this awful
slavery have lately figured in the police courts. On the
railways and elsewhere the tendency is to increase both length
of the hours and intensity of labour to a point which means
continuous exhaustion and early death—the death-rate of the
working-classes is in itself a lesson when placed by the side of'
that of the well-to-do. Lastly, the increase of prostitution,
especially of very young women and children, of late years, isalone enough to show the utter rottenness of our society. And
yet, I repeat, all this passes almost without notice. Our
statesmen and economists, our journalists and philanthropists,
our politicians and jurists cannot but know these things in a
sort of way; but, as to attempting to correct them, that is
quite another affair.
*
Now, let any intelligent man—he can find similar things,,
or not very different probably, within a stone’s throw of him
at home—come with me into some of the dwellings of the poor.
Here, for instance, is a hard-working family living in a single
room: they can afford no more. Father and mother, two
daughters, almost grown up, two boys and a little girl, pig
together in it as best they may. The court is crowded, the
* The increase of luxury among the upper and middle classes is
positively amazing. Only the other day I went straight from a work
ing-man’s work-room to the Harrow and Eton match. Is it within the
bounds of possibility, I said to myself, that, with the schoolmasterfairly abroad, this awful contrast between the waste of the few and thepinching of the many can long continue ?
�-28
THE COMING REVOLUTION
-•dwelling insanitary, the air unwholesome. Yet the two boys
and the girl go to the board school for “ education,” and return
■with just enough knowledge to enable them to appreciate their
social surroundings. They will, at least, be able to read and
write, and know what is going on. Are they likely to increase
the ranks of “ conservative working-men ” or to rest content,
•unless bemused with beer and tobacco, with arrangements
which thus brutify them ? I judge not. In the agricultural
-districts, where there is plenty of room, I have seen arrange
ments quite as bad. Educate children, and then send them
back to such conditions as these : is not this to prepare revolu
tion with both hands ? Still we hear the old fateful answer,
It will last our time. I say it will not.
For, apart from the lectures of which I have spoken, books,
pamphlets and fly-leaves are finding their way into work-shop
;and attic, which deal with the whole social question from the
very bottom. Theories drawn from Dr. Karl Marx’s great
work on Capital, or from the programme of the Social Demo
Scrats of Germany and the Collectivists of France, are put
.forward in a cheap and readable form. Mr. Henry George’s
work on “ Progress and Poverty,” also, has already found tens
of thousands of working-class readers. Professor Wallace’s book
-on “ Land Nationalization” has also been widely read, though
neither of these writers at all meets the views of the advanced
.school on the subject of capital. But pamphlets and leaflets—
.some of which are written by men actually working at their
trade—produce a still greater effect. Our workers have but
little time, and too often little taste, for reading. With them,
therefore, short, pithy tracts are the ones that tell.
*
* Those who have read Paul Louis Courier’s brilliant “ Pamphlet
-des Pamphlets ” will require no further evidence of the influence which
,the pamphlet has had on civilized men. Those who have not will
thank me for calling their attention to that famous little brochure.
�IN ENGLAND.
29
In support of the views I hold as to the approach of a
troublous time, it is scarcely necessary that I should refer to
the growth of the Salvation Army, though this strange combi
nation of the Convulsionists of the pre-revolutionary epoch in
France and the women’s whisky war in America is, thought
fully considered, significant enough. Moreover, in the really
serious conflicts which have taken place between processions of
these enthusiasts and the roughs, neither the police nor the
magistrates have shown much more capacity than they have
displayed in dealing with the gangs in London. While the
elements of disorder thus gather apace, the controlling power
seems smitten with a sort of paralysis. Outbreaks of brutal
savagery are thought worthy of far more leniency than a paltry
theft by a starving woman. At the opposite pole to the
Salvationists stand the Secularists, who are in their way quite
as bigoted, while the most improper exclusion of their leader—
I had nearly said their pope, for Mr. Bradlaugh brooks no
•contradiction in his atheistic church, and has long since regis
tered his right to infallibility—from the House of Commons
has given them a legitimate grievance to agitate about.
As to the Church of England, she has stood so many shocks
and schisms without a topple, that even the growing feeling
against all state churches may take some time to upset her.
Nevertheless, many of the rising young parsons themselves
•denounce the alliance which the ecclesiastical hierarchy has
made with the mammon of unrighteousness, and proclaim
aloud that whatever modern Christianity may find it con
venient to allow, the religion of Christ means more or less
■complete communism. How many of these audacious young
men will sink their principles in fat livings and preach general
.subservience to snoring laborers, I should be sorry to estimate.
Enough that the ideas are abroad quite apart from individual
•backslidings. If religionists of any “stripe” wish to gain a
�30
THE COMING REVOLUTION
permanent hold on the workers nowadays, they must com
bine the prospect of material improvement in this world with
the promise of eternal happiness in the next. Otherwise the
indifference of the mass will be too much for them, the singular
success of the Salvationists notwithstanding.
But some may say, This gloomy picture you paint for us is
too much of one colour: is there no ray of light to irradiate
the landscape ? For the great mass of the working-people of
England, under present social conditions, I say deliberately—
None. On the contrary, the future seems for them darker than
ever. For nowadays we are not as in 1848 : the outlets are
blocked; industrial crises when they come are universal;
capitalism dominates the planet. Electricity, which is already
clearly seen to be the great force of the future, and which
bears the same relation to steam that steam did to the old
horse-power—this illimitable engine of production is also going
without heed or protest into the hands of the capitalist class.
The anarchy consequent upon the existing system of produc
tion and exchange will be only intensified thereby; the “fringe
of labor,” the vagrants, the paupers, the residuum, in short,
will be increased ; the rich will become yet richer; the poor,
poorer still. Even as I write the process is going on so plainly
that he who runs may read the result written on the faces of
the people. As capital rolls up into larger and yet larger
masses, the small shop-keeper is crushed out by the cooperative
associations and the great magazine stores ; huge corporations
carry on business without the slightest regard for the human
machines they employ. So the wheel revolves, grinding ever
smaller the mass of mankind beneath.
Revolution ! What have the workers to fear from revolu
tion I Their life is one perpetual Revolution. They are
never sure of their home or livelihood from one week to
another. It is reckoned that the working-classes of London
�IN ENGLAND.
31
all change their homes once in every two and a half years.
And these homes, bear in mind, become dearer and worse as
times go on. The very improvements in our great cities mean
closer crowding and worse accommodation for those who really
make the nation’s wealth. What have they to fear from a
general overturn ? Nothing. And ere long they’ll know this.
“We lived in garrets forty years ago, we live in garrets now,”
said one of the most active of the old Chartists, who has lived and
agitated to the present time. Nor must the fact be overlooked
that the great machine industries, so farmore developed here than
in any other country, though they have been the means of keep
ing the people down, have also taught them how to combine.
Thus, then, discontent is growing with existing grievances;
the same economical pressure which produces the discontent
and grievances leads to combination; the present lot of the
workers is so bad as a whole that they are beginning to think
no change could be for the worse ; ideas are gradually spreading
among them which would lead them to strive for a complete
overthrow ; there is no authority above which commands their
respect or seriously strives to improve their condition, and the
very increase of man’s power over nature serves but to render
their case worse. The working-classes of England must, in
the near future, be either rulers or slaves; and they are slowly,
very slowly, learning that the choice rests with them. A
serious foreign war would very soon bring the whole to a
head; for assuredly the mass of Englishmen would never
again submit to heavy sacrifices, which would only benefit the
governing classes. Democracies fight, no doubt, but they fight
for an idea or for their own hand. That revolutionary current
also which is moving below the surface in all European
countries can scarcely fail this time to affect us. The impulse
will probably come from without; but, unless we were already
prepared, it would have little effect. When such ideas are
spreading, it needs but a spark to fire the train.
�32
THE COMING REVOLUTION.
If, however, the country is at present in a bad condition
for the many, which all must admit, there is still not wanting
evidence that the English people, under better arrangements,
would soon rise to the level of the most glorious periods of our
past history. Those very lads who now fall into the dangerous
classes from sheer ignorance and bad management—there are,
according to the police, at least three hundred thousand such
people in London alone—form, if taken early and thoroughly
fed and trained, the flower of our navy. The race is really as
capable as ever. In America, in Australia, all the world over,
the Anglo-Saxon blood is still second to none. It is high
time, then, that the great body of Englishmen should take up
their heritage, that they should make common cause with their
Irish brethren, as well in England as in Ireland, in one con
tinuous effort to free the workers of both peoples from class
domination and class greed. There is enough and to spare
for all. Let, then, the men and women who make the wealth
of these islands bid those bunglers who trade upon their welfare
stand back; let them trust to themselves alone to hand on a
nobler industrial England to their children, sinking all petty
jealousies, race hatreds, and personal selfishness in the endeav
our to secure health, home comfort, and true freedom for the
millions who now have neither happiness nor hope. Then,
indeed, that very concentration of population which, under our
present system of unrestricted competition results in squalor,
degradation, and misery, will be our strength, our safety, and
our greatest resource. Then, indeed, England may hold out
to all nations an example of social reorganization, which may
yet give her an ungrudged supremacy among the peoples of
the world. Such an England I for one see before us in the
future: to bring about such a reorganization, I, for one, will
never cease to strive.
�
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The coming revolution in England
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Hyndman, Henry Mayers [1842-1921]
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Place of publication: London
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Notes: Date of publication from KVK. Includes bibliographical references. Reprinted from the "North American Review". Stamp on title page: 'South Place Chapel Finsbury, Lending Library'.
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William Reeves
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[1884?]
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Socialism
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Social change
Socialism
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Self-help by the People.
HISTORY
OF
CO-OPERATION IN ROCHDALE.
By George Jacob Holyoake.
[third
edition.]
��The chapters of this little ‘ History ’ were commenced to be in
serted in the Daily News (in 1857), as the reader may infer from
notes to Chapter I.
The breaking out of the Mutinies in India
absorbed all space in that quarter, and prevented the completion of
the publication in those columns; otherwise, the subsequent chapters
might have been enriched by notes of the Editor of the Daily News,
whose great knowledge of, and interest in, Co-operative Associations,
abroad and at home, are well known.
�CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST EFFORTS, AND THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO MADE THEM...
1
CHAPTER II.
APPOINTMENT OF A DEPUTATION TO THE MASTERS.--- GREAT DEBATE
IN THE FLANNEL WEAVERS’ PARLIAMENT ........................................................
6
CHAPTER III.
THE DOFFERS APPEAR AT THE OPENING DAT.--- MORAL BUYING AS
WELL AS MORAL SELLING ...........................
10
CHAPTER IV.
THE SOCIETY TRIED BY TWO WELL-KNOWN DIFFICULTIES--- PREJUDICE
AND SECTARIANISM ..........................................................................
15
CHAPTER V.
ENEMIES WITHIN AND ENEMIES WITHOUT, AND HOW THEY AT.T, WERE
CONQUERED......................................................
20
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT FLOUR MILL PANIC ..
........... . ................................................................. 27
CHAPTER vn.
SUCCESSIVE STEPS OF SUCCESS.—THE ROCHDALE STORE ON A SATURDAY
NIGHT .........................
„............................
32
CHAPTER VIH.
ANECDOTES OF THE MEMBERS.—THE WORKING-CLASS STAND BY THE
STORE, AND THEY ‘KNOW THE REASON WHY’ ............................................. 41
CHAPTER IX.
RULES AND AIMS OF TflE SOCIETY ..........
46
CHAPTER X.
THE OLD CO-OPERATORS--- WHY THEY FAILED.
THE NEW CO-OPE
RATORS—WHY THEY SUCCEED ..............................................
54
CHAPTER XI.
A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF ILLUSTRATIVE PAPERS AND NOTES... 64
�HISTORY
OF THE
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
*
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST EFFORTS, AND THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO MADE THEM.
L
L ,
/
J
i
Human nature must be different in Rochdale from what it is elsewhere. There must have been a special creation of mechanics in this
inexplicable district of Lancashire—in no other way can you Account
for the fact that they have mastered the art of acting together, and
holding together, as no other set of workmen in Great Britain have
done. They have acted upon Sir Robert Peel’s memorable advice;
they have ‘ taken their own affairs into their own hands and what
is more to the purpose, they have kept them in their own hands.
The working class are not considered to be very rich in the quality
of self-trust, or mutual trust. The business habit is not thought to
be their forte. The art of creating a large concern, and governing all
its complications, is not usually supposed to belong to them. The
problem of association has many times been tried among the people,
and as many times it has virtually failed. Mr. Robert Owen has not
accomplished half he intended. The ‘ Christian Socialists,’ inspired
by eloquent rectors, and directed by transcendent professors, aided by
the lawyer mind and the merchant mind, and what was of no small
importance, the very purse of Fortunatus himself, have made but
*
poor work of association. They have hardly drawn a single tooth
from the dragon of competition. So far from having scotched that
ponderous snake, they appear to have added to its vitality, and to
have convinced parliamentary political economists that competitive
strife is the eternal and only self-acting principle of society. True,
reports come to us ever and anon that in America something has been
accomplished in the way of association. Far away in the backwoods
a tribe of bipeds—some mysterious cross between the German and the
Yankee—have been heard of, known to men as Shakers, who are sup
posed to have killed the fatted calf of co-operation, and to be rich in
corn, and oil, and wine, and—to their honour be it said—in foundlings
and orphans, whom their sympathy collects, and their benevolence
rears. But then the Shakers have a narrow creed and no wives.
They abhor matrimony and free inquiry. But in the constituency till
lately represented by Mr. Edward Miall, there is liberality of opinion
—Susannahs who might tempt the elders again—and rosy-cheeked
children, wild as heather and plentiful as buttercups. Under all the
(agreeable) disadvantages of matrimony and independent thought,
certain workingunen in Rochdale have practised the art of self-help,
* Here we must express our dissent. They failed precisely because they were aided by
the purse of Fortunatus. In France, we are assured all those ‘Associations Ouvribres’
which refused to accept money from government in 1848 are prospering; while those
which accepted it have either ceased to exist, or are on the eve of ceasing to exist. Sacrifice
and self-reliance are the secret of success in these as in all other enterprises.—Ed. Daily News.
A
�HISTORY OF THE
Rochdale human nature—special and peculiar.
and of keeping the ‘ wolf from the door.’ That animal, supposed to
have been extirpated in the days of Ethelbert, is still found showing
himself in our crowded towns, and may be see^ any day prowling on
the outskirts of civilisation.
At the close of the year 1843, on one of those damp, dark, dense,
dismal, disagreeable days, which no Frenchman can be got to admire
—such days as occur towards November, when the daylight is all
used up, and the sun has given up all attempt at shining, either in
disgust or despair—a few poor weavers out of employ, and nearly out
of food, and quite out of heart with the social state, met together to
discover what they could do to better their industrial condition.
Manufacturers had capital, and shopkeepers the advantage of stock;
how could they succeed without either? Should they avail them
selves of the poor-law ? that were dependence; of emigration ? that
seemed like transportation for the crime of having been born poor.
What should they do? They would commence the battle of life
on their own account. They would, as far as they were concerned,
supersede tradesmen, millowners, and capitalists: without experience,
or knowledge, or funds, they would turn merchants and manu
facturers. The subscription list was handed round—the Stock
Exchange would not think much of the result. A dozen of these
Lilliputian capitalists put down a weekly subscription of twopence
each—a sum which these Rochdale Rothschilds did not know how to
pay. After fifty-two ‘ calls ’ had been made upon these magnificent
shareholders, they would not have enough in their bank to buy a sack
of oatmeal with; yet these poor men now own mills, and warehouses,
and keep a grocer’s shop, where they take £76,000 a-year over the
*
* ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS’ SOCIETY, CASH ACCOUNT,
Receipts.
To Cash, balance September quarter
„ Repaid by the Corn Mill Society ------„ Propositions
----„ Contributions
----------„ Received for Goods
--------„ Discounts
---------
DEC., 1857.
£
s. d.
3311 14 1
1000 0 0
750
510 4 3.|
19389 0 0
225 8 2
£24,443 11 6J
Disbursements.
By Cash paid for Goods
---„
„
Wages ------„
„
Rents
---„
„
Carriage
--»
,,
General Expenses and Repairs
„
,,'S ^Treasurer’s salary --„
I Petty Cash
--»
Rates
---»»
„ g I Insurance
--„
„w '■Building Fund
---
„
„
-343 6 8$
34 10 3
152 78
62 16 8j
2 10 0
100
18 16 8
115 0
600
Withdrawn by Members ---Balance
-----------
£ s. d.
19483 0 3
623 3 0
2027 13 7
2309 14 8J
£24,443 11 6J
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
3
The origin of the Society of Equitable Pioneers.
counter in ready money. Their ‘ cash sales ’ of £19,389, recorded in
their last quarterly report, which we subjoin, show their ready money
receipts to reach £l,4p0 a-week.
The origin of the Rochdale Store, which has transcended all co
operative stores ever established in Great Britain, is to be traced to
the unsuccessful efforts of certain weavers to improve their wages.
Near the close of the year 1843, the flannel trade—one of the principal
manufactures of Rochdale—was brisk. At this auspicious juncture
the weavers, who were, and are still, a badly paid class of labourers,
took it into their heads to ask for an advance of wages. If their
masters could afford it at all, they could probably afford it then.
Their workpeople thought so, and the employers of Rochdale, who
are certainly among the best of their class, seemed to be of the same
opinion. Nearly each employer to whom the important question
was put, at once expressed his willingness to concede an advance, pro
vided his neighbouring employers did the same. But how was the con
sent of the others to be induced—and the collective agreement of all
to be guaranteed to each ? The thing seemed simple in theory, but
was anything but simple in practice. Masters are not always
courteous, and workpeople are not proverbially tacticians. Weavers
do not negotiate with their superiors by letter; a personal interview
is commonly the warlike expedient hit upon—an interview which the
servant obtrudes and the master suffers. An employer has no a priori
fondness for these kind of deputations, as a demand for an advance of
wages he cannot afford, may ruin him as quickly and completely as a
fall may distress the workmen. However, to set the thing going in a
practical and a kind way, one or two firms, with a generosity the men
still remember with gratitude, offered an advance of wages to their
own workpeople, upon trial, to see whether example would induce the
employers generally to imitate it. In case general compliance could
not be obtained, this special and experimental advance was to be taken
off again. Hereupon the Trades’ Union Committee, who had asked
the advance on behalf of the flannel weavers, held, in their humble
way, a grand consultation of ‘ ways and means.’ English mechanics
are not conspirators, and the working class have never been dis- ,
tinguished for their diplomatic successes. The plan of action adopted
by our committee in this case did not involve many subtleties. After
speech-making enough to save the nation, it was agreed that one em
ployer at a time should be asked for the advance of wages, and if he
did not comply, the weavers in his employ were ‘ to strike ’ or ‘ turn
out,’ and the said ‘ strikers ’ and ‘ turn outs ’ were to be supported by
a subscription of twopence per week from each weaver who had the
good fortune to remain at work. This plan, if it lacked grace, had
the merit of being a neat and summary way of proceeding; and if it
presented no great attraction to the masters, it certainly presented
fewer to the men. At least Mrs. Jones with six children, and Mrs.
Smith with ten, could not be much in love with the twopenny pros
pect held out to them, especially as they had experienced something
�4
HISTORY OS' THE
The history of a Trades’ Deputation in the olden time.
of the kind before, and had never been heard to very much commend
it.
The next thing was to carry out the plan. Qf course, a deputation
of the masters waiting upon their colleagues would be the courteous
and proper thing, but obviously quite out of the question. A
deputation of employers could accomplish more in one day with em
ployers than a deputation of all the men could accomplish.in a month.
This, however, was not to be expected ; and a deputation of workmen
on this embassy was a rather uninteresting affair.
A trades’ deputation, in the old time, was a sort of forlorn hope of
industry—worse than the forlorn hope of war; for if the volunteers
of war succeed they commonly win renown, or save themselves;
but the men who volunteered on trades’ deputations were often
sacrificed in the act, or were marked men ever after. In war both
armies respect the ‘forlorn hope,’ but in industrial conflicts the
pioneer deputy was exposed to subsequent retaliation on the part of
mill-owners, who did not admire him; and—let it be said in impar
tiality, sad as the fact is—the said deputy was exposed often to the
wanton distrust of those who employed him. A trades’ deputation
was commonly composed of intelligent and active workmen; or, as
employers naturally thought them, ‘ dissatisfied, troublesome fellows.’’
While on deputation duty, of course they must be absent from work.
During this time they must be supported by their fellow-workmen.
They were then open to the reproach of living on the wages of their
fellows, of loving deputation employment better than their own pro
per work, which indeed was sometimes the case. Alas ! poor trade
deputy—he had a hard lot! He had for a time given up the service of
one master for the service of a thousand. He was now in the employ
of his fellows, half of whom criticised his conduct quite as severely as
his employer, and begrudged him his wages more. And when he re
turned to his work he often found there was no work for him. In his
absence his overlooker had contrived (by orders) to supply his place,
and betrayed no anxiety to accommodate him with a new one. He then
tried other mills, but he found no one in want of his services. The
poor devil set off to surrounding districts, but his character had gone
before him. He might get an old fellow-workman (now an over
looker) to set him on, at a distance from his residence, and he had
perhaps to walk five or six miles home to his supper, and be back at
his mill by six o’clock next morning. At last he removed his family
near his new employ. By this time it had reached his new employer’s
ears that he had a ‘ leader of the Trades’ Union ’ in his mill. His emJ
ployer calculated that the new advance of wages had cost him altogether
a thousand pounds last year. He considered the weaver, smuggled into
his mill, the cause of that. He walked round and ‘ took stock ’ of him.
The next week the man was on the move again. After a while he
would fall into the state of being ‘ always out of work.’ No wonder
if the wife, who generally has the worst of it, with her increasing
family and decreasing means, began to reproach her husband with
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
5
The fate of Tom Spindle and his colleagues.
having ruined himself and beggared his family by his ‘trade unioning.’
As he was daily out looking for work he would be sometimes ‘ treated’
by old comrades, and he naturally fell in with the only sympathy he
got. A ‘ row ’ perhaps occurred at the public-house, and somehow or
other he would be mixed up with it. In ordinary circumstances the
case would be dismissed—but the bench was partly composed of em
ployers. The unlucky prisoner at the bar had been known to at least
one of the magistrates before as a ‘ troublesome ’ fellow, under other
circumstances. It is not quite clear that he was the guilty person in
this case; but as in the opinion of the master-magistrate he was quite
likely to have been guilty, he gave him the benefit of the doubt, and
the poor fellow stood ‘ remanded ’ or ‘ committed.’ The chief share
holder of the Milldam Chronicle was commonly a mill-owner. The
reporter had a cue in that direction, and next day a significant para
graph, with a heading to this effect, ‘ The notorious Tom Spindle in
trouble,’ carried consternation through the ranks of his old associates.
The next week the editor had a short article upon the ‘kind of leader
ship to which misguided working men submit themselves.’ The case
was dead against poor Spindle. Tom’s character was gone. And if
he were detained long in prison, his family was gone too. Mrs.'Spindle
had been turned out of her house, no rent being forthcoming. She
would apply to the parish for support for her children, where she
soon found that the relieving officers had no very exalted opinion of
the virtues of her husband. Tom at length returned, and now he
would be looked upon by all who had the power to help him, as a
‘ worthless character,’ as well as a ‘ troublesome fellow.’ His fate was
for the future precarious. By odd helps and occasional employment
when hands were short, he eked out his existence. The present writer
has shared the humble hospitality of many such, and has listened half
the night away with them, as they have recounted the old story.
Beaten, consumptive, and poor, they had lost none of their old
courage, though all their strength was over, and a dull despair of
better days drew them nearer and nearer to the grave. Some of these
ruined deputationists have emigrated, and these lines will recall in
distant lands, in the swamps of the Mississippi, in the huts of a
Bendigo digging, and in the ‘ claims ’ of California, old times and
fruitless struggles, which sent them penniless and heart-broken from
the mills and mines of the old country. In the new land where they
now dwell—a strange dream land to them—their thoughts turn from
pine forests, night fires, and revolvers, to the old villages, the smokechoked towns, and soot-begrimed monotony in which their early life
was spent. Others of the abolished deputationists of whom we speak
turned news vendors or small shopkeepers. Assisted with a few shillings by their neighbours—in some cases self-helped by their own
previous thrift—they have set up for themselves, have been fortunate,
grown independent, and trace all their good fortune to that day which
cost them their loss of employment.
�6
HISTORY OF THE
The Trades’ Unionists attempt to bell the cat.
CHAPTER IL
APPOINTMENT OF A DEPUTATION TO MASTERS.---- GREAT DEBATE IN
THE FLANNEL WEAVERS’ PARLIAMENT.
So much will enable the reader to understand the hopes and fears
which agitated the Rochdale Flannel Weavers’ Committee, when they
appointed their deputation to wait upon the masters. ‘Who shall
go ? ’ Ho sooner was this question put than the loudest orators were
hushed. Cries of ‘ We will never submit ’—‘ We will see whether the
masters are to have it their own way for ever,’ etc., etc., etc.—were
at once silenced. Five minutes ago everybody was forward—nobody
was forward now. As in the old fable, all the mice agreed that the
cat ought to be belled, but who was to bell the cat ? The collective
wisdom of the Parliament of mice found that a perplexing question.
Has the reader seen a popular political meeting when some grand
question of party power had to be discussed ? How defiant ran the
speechesI how militant was the enthusiasm ! Patriotism seemed to
be turning up its sleeves, and the country about to be saved that
night. Of a sudden some practical fellow, who has seen that kind of
thing before, suggests that the deliverance of the country will involve
some little affair of subscriptions—and proposes at once to circulate a
list. The sudden descent of the police, nor a discharge of arms from
the Chelsea Pensioners, would not produce so decorous a silence, nor
so miraculous a satisfaction with things as they are, as this little step.
An effect something like this is produced in a Trades’ Committee,
when the test question is put, ‘ Who will go on the deputation ?’ The
men knew that they should not be directly dismissed from their
employ, but indirectly their fate would probably be sealed. The first
fault—the first accidental neglect of duty—would be the pretext of
dismissal. Like the archbishop in ‘ Gil Blas,’ who dismissed his critie
—not on account of his candour; his grace esteemed him for that—
but he preferred a young man with a little more judgment. So the
employer has no abstract objection to the workman seeking to better
his condition—he rather applauds that kind of thing—he merely dis
putes the special method taken to accomplish it.
The reader,
*
therefore, understands why our Committee suddenly paused when a
mouse was wanted to bell the cat. Some masters—indeed many
masters—are as considerate, as self-sacrificing, as any workmen are,
and they often incur risks and losses to keep their people in employ,
which their people never know, and, in many cases, would not
appreciate if they did. Many Trades’ Unionists are ignorant, incon
siderate, and perversely antagonistic. It would be equally false to
condemn all masters as to praise all men. But after all allowances
are made, the men have the worst of it. They make things bad for
themselves and for their masters by their want of knowledge. If they
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
7
The industrial and political influence of Socialism.
do not form some kind of Trades’ Union they cannot save their wages,
and if they do form Unions they cannot save themselves. Industry
in England is a chopping machine, and if the poor man does not take
care he is always under the knife.
We will now tell how the Flannel Weavers of Rochdale, whose
historians we are, have contrived to extricate themselves somewhat.
Our Trades’ Committee numbered, as all these committees do, a few
plucky fellows, and a deputation was eventually appointed, and set
off on their mission. Many employers made the required advance,
but others, rather than do so, would let their works stop. This
resistance proved fatal to the scheme, seconded as it was by the im
petuosity of the weavers themselves, who did not understand that you
cannot fight capital without capital. The only chance you have is
to use your brains, and unless your brains are good for something,
are well informed and well-disciplined, the chance is a very poor one.
Our flannel weavers did not use their brains but their passions. It is
easier to hate than to think, and the men did what they could do best
—they determined to retaliate, and turned out in greater numbers
than their comrades at work were able or willing to support. The
cooler and wiser heads advised more caution. But among the working
class a majority are found who vote moderation to be treachery. The
weavers failed at this, time to raise their wages, and their employers
succeeded, not so much because they were right, as because their
opponents were impetuous.
At this period the views of Mr. Robert Owen, which had been often
advocated in Rochdale, were recurred to by the weavers. Socialist
advocates, whatever faults they else might have, had at least done one
service to employers—they had taught workmen to reason upon
their condition—they had shown them that commerce was a system,
and that masters were slaves of it as well as men. The masters’
chains were perhaps of silver, while the workmen’s were of copper,
but masters could not always do quite as they would any more than
their servants. And if the men became masters to-morrow, they
would be found doing pretty much as masters now do. Circumstances
alter cases, and the social reformers sought to alter the circum
stances in order to improve the cases. The merit of their own scheme
of improvement might be questionable, but the Socialism of this
period marked the time when industrial agitation first took to
*
reasoning. Ebenezer Elliott’s epigram, which he once repeated as an
* Chartists have always complained that their most active men were won from them by
the new logic of the Social Reformers. Indeed, some Social reformers conceived a dis
trust of political reform as absurd as that professed by many Chartists for social reform;
but the ‘ Doctrine of Circumstances’ had one moralising effect upon the multitude—it taught
them to regard with pity many opponents whose throats they otherwise would have cut
with pleasure. Coleridge has owned (2'Ae Friend, p. 263, vol. ii.) to the pacific influence
of this doctrine on his own spirit when excited by a sense of injury received. When the
Bishop of Exeter called attention to the evil he discovered in the ‘ Doctrine of Circum
stances,’ he omitted to notice that if it sometimes weakened moral effort, it always dimin
ished hatred, a fact of great political importance in a country where class rivalry is
intense, and where the poor grow poorer as the rich grow richer, except where private
benevolence steps in to bridge over the inequality.
’
�8
HISTORY OF THE
The Communistic epigram of Ebenezer Elliott.
argument to the present writer, pointed to doctrines that certainly
never existed in England:—
‘ What is a Communist? One who hath yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings;
Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing
To fork out his penny, and pocket your shilling,’
The English working class have no weakness in the way of idle
ness ; they never become dangerous until they have nothing to do.
Their revolutionary cry is always ‘ more work I ’ They never ask for
bread half so eagerly as they ask for employment. Communists in
England were never either ‘ idlers or bunglers.’ When the Bishop of
Exeter, to whom we have referred, troubled Parliament, in 1840,
with a motion for the suppression of Socialism, an inquiry was sent to
the police authorities of the principal towns as to the character of the
persons holding those opinions (the same who built in Manchester the
Hall of Science, now the Free Library, at an expense of £6000 or
£7000). The answer was that these persons consisted of the most
skilled, well-conducted, and intelligent of the working class. Sir
Charles Shaw sent to the Manchester Social Institution for some
one to call upon him, that he might make inquiries relative to
special proceedings. Mr. Lloyd Jones went to him, and Sir Charles
Shaw said, that when he took office as the superintendent of the
police of that district, he gave orders that the religious profession of
every individual taken to the station-house should be noted; and he
had had prisoners of all religious denominations, but never one
Socialist. Sir C. Shaw said, also, that he was in the habit of pur
chasing all the publications of the Society, and he was convinced,
that if they had not influenced the public mind very materially, the
outbreaks at the time, when they wanted to introduce the ‘ general
holiday,’ would have been much worse than they were, and he was
quite willing to state that before the government, if he should be
called upon to give an opinion.
The followers of Mr. Owen were never the ‘ idlers,’ but the phi
lanthropic. They might be dreamers, but they were not knaves.
They protested against competition as leading to immorality. Their
objections to it were theoretically acquired. They were none of
them afraid of competition, for out of the Socialists of 1840 have pro
ceeded the most enterprising emigrants, and the most spirited men of
business who have risen from the working classes. The world is
dotted with them at the present hour, and the history of the Rochdale
Pioneers is another proof that they were not ‘ bunglers.’ No popular
movement in England ever produced so many persons able to take
care of themselves as the agitation of Social Reform. Moreover, the
pages of the New Moral World and the Northern Star of this period
amply testify that the Social Reformers were opposed to ‘ strikes,’ as
an untutored and often frantic method of industrial rectification; as
wanting foresight, calculation, and fitness; as an irritation, a waste of
money and temper. And when a strike led, as they often have done,
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
9
The Teetotal and Chartist proposals for saving the world.
to workmen coercing their comrades, and forcibly preventing those
who were willing to work at'the objectionable rate, from doing so, the
strike became an injustice and a tyranny, vexatious, disreputable, and
indefensible.
As there was a general feeling that the masters who had refused
their demands had not done them justice, they resolved to attain it in
some other way. They were, as Emerson expresses it, ‘English
enough never to think of giving up.’ Hereupon they fell back upon
that talismanic and inevitable twopence, with which Rochdale mani
festly thinks the world can be saved. It was resolved to continue the
old subscription of twopence a week, with a view to commence
manufacturing, and becoming their own employers. As they were
few in number, they found that their banking account of twopences was likely to be a long time in accumulating, and some of
the committee began to despair; and, as nothing is too small for
poverty to covet, some of them proposed to divide the small sum
collected.
At this period a Sunday afternoon discussion used to be held in the
Temperance or Chartist Reading Room. Into this arena some mem
bers of the weavers’ committee carried their anxieties and projects,
and the question was formally proposed, ‘ What are the best means
of improving the condition of the people ?’ It would be too long to
report the anxious and Babel disputation. Each orator, as in more
illustrious assemblies, had his own infallible specific for the deliverance
of mankind. The Teetotallers argued that the right thing to do was to
go in for total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, and to apply the
wages they earned exclusively to the support of their families. This was
all very well, but it implied that everything was right in the industrial
world, and that the mechanic had nothing to do but to keep sober in
order to grow rich; it implied that work was sufficiently plentiful
and sufficiently paid for; and that masters, on the whole, were
sufficiently considerate of the workman’s interests. As all these points
were unhappily contradicted by the experience of every one concerned,
the Teetotal project did not take effect.
Next, the Chartists pleaded that agitation, until they got the
People’s Charter, was the only honest thing to attempt, and the only
likely thing to succeed. Universal Suffrage once obtained, people
would be their own law makers, and, therefore, could remove any
grievance at will. This was another desirable project somewhat over
rated. It implies that all other agitations should be suspended while
this proceeds. It implies that public felicity can be voted at dis
cretion, and assumes that acts of parliament are omnipotent over
human happiness. Social progress, however, is no invention of the
House of Commons, nor would a Chartist parliament be able to
abolish all our grievances at will; but Chartists having to suffer as
well as other classes, ought to be allowed an equal opportunity of
trying their hand at parliamentary salvation. The Universal Suffrage
agitation scheme was looked upon very favourably by the comB
�10
HISTORY OF THE
Professor Newman on the abolition of shop debts.
mittee, and would probably have 'been adopted, had not the Socialists
argued that the day of redemption would prove to be considerably
adjourned if they waited till all the people took the Pledge, and the
government went in for the Charter. They, therefore, suggested that
the weavers should co-operate and use such means as they had at
command to improve their condition, without ceasing to be either
Teetotallers or Chartists.
In the end it came about that the Flannel Weavers’ Committee
took the advice of the advocates of co-operation. James Daly, Charles
Howarth, James Smithies, John Hill, and John Bent, appear to be
the names of those who in this way assisted the committee. Meetings
were held, and plans for a Co-operative Provision Store were deter
mined upon. So far from there being any desire to evade responsi
bility, as working class commentators in Parliament usually assume,
these communistic-teetotal-political co-operators coveted from the
first, a legal position; they determined that the society should be
enrolled, under Acts of Parliament, 10th Geo. IV., c. 56, and 4th
and 5th William IV., c. 40.
CHAPTER IH.
THE DOFFERS APPEAR AT THE OPENING DAY.---- MORAL BUYING AS
WELL AS MORAL SELLING.
Next, our weavers determined that the society should transact its
business upon what they denominated the ‘ ready money principle.’
It might be suspected that the weekly accumulation of twopences
would not enable them to give much credit; but the determination
arose chiefly from moral considerations. It was a part of their
socialistic education to regard credit as a social evil—as a sign of the
anxiety, excitement, and fraud of competition. As Social Reformers,
they had been taught to believe that it would be better for society,
and that commercial transactions would be simpler and honester,
if credit were abolished. This was a radical objection to credit.
*
However advantageous and indispensable credit is in general com
merce, it would have been a fatal instrument in their hands.
Some of them would object to take an oath, and the magistrate would
object to administer it, thus they would be at the mercy of the dis* A valued book, now in their Library, did not then exist, to teach them to distinguish be
tween prejudice and a moral political economy. In the book referred to, the author says:—
‘ Heartily do I wish that shop debts were pronounced after a certain day irrecoverable at law.
The effect would be, that no one would be able to ask credit at a shop except where he was
well known, and for trifling sums. All prices would sink to the scale of cash prices. The
dishonourable system of fashionable debtors, who always pay too late, if at all, and cast their
deficiencies on other customers in the form of increased charges, would be at once
annihilated. Shopkeepers would be rid of a great deal of care which ruins the happiness
of thousands.’—Lectures on Political Economy, by Professor Newman, p. 255
�,
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
11
The stupendous proposals of our Equitable Pioneers.
■honest who would come in and plunder them, as happens daily now
where the claim turns upon the oath. Besides, some of them had a
*
tenderness with respect to suing, and would rather lose money than
go to law to get it; they, therefore, prudently fortified themselves by
setting their faces against all credit, and from this resolution they
have never departed.
From the Rational Sick and Burial Society’s laws, a Manchester
communistic production, they borrowed all the features applicable to
their project, and with alterations and additions their society was
registered, October 24th, 1844, under the title of the ‘Rochdale Society
of Equitable Pioneers.’ Marvellous as has been their subsequent suc
cess, their early dream was much more stupendous—in fact, it
amounted to world making. Our pioneers set forth their designs in
the following amusing language, to which designs the society has
steadily adhered, and has reiterated the same terms much nearer the
day of their accomplishment (in the Society’s Almanack for 1854).
These Pioneers, in 1844, declared the views of their Association thus:—
‘ The objects and plans of this Society are to form arrangements for
the pecuniary benefit and the improvement of the social and domestic
condition of its members, by raising a sufficient amount of capital in
shares of one pound each, to bring into operation the following plans
and arrangements:—
‘ The establishment of a Store for the sale of provisions, clothing,
etc.
‘ The building, purchasing, or erecting a number of houses, in
which those members, desiring to assist each other in improving their
domestic and social condition, may reside.
‘ To commence the manufacture of such articles as the society may
determine upon, for the employment of such members as may be
without employment, or who may be suffering in consequence of
repeated reductions in their wages.
‘ As a further benefit and security to the members of this society,
the society shall purchase or rent an estate or estates of land, which
shall be cultivated by the members who may be out of employment,
or whose labour may be badly remunerated.’
Then follows a project which no nation has ever attempted, and no
enthusiasts yet carried out:—
‘That, as soon as practicable, this society shall proceed to arrange
the powers of production, distribution, education, and government; or, in
other words, to establish a self-supporting home-colony of united
interests, or assist other societies in establishing such colonies.’
Here was a grand paper constitution for re-arranging the powers of
* In those days the working class were justified in their jealousy of those set ‘in
authority over them,’ to an extent happily less credible now. So late as February, 1849,
our co-operators stipulated that a clause should be inserted in a lease of premises they were
about to take, to the effect that it should not be invalid upon a conviction of nuisance
against them. Their pacific objects might be sworn as a ‘ nuisance ’ by enemies, and ma
gistrates on the bench, finding them legally defenceless, might listen to prejudice against
them. Such cases have occurred elsewhere.
�12
HISTORY OF THE
The difficulty of collecting working class subscriptions.
production and distribution, which it has taken fifteen years of dreary
and patient labour to advance half way.
Then follows a minor but characteristic proposition:—
‘ That, for the promotion of sobriety, a Temperance Hotel be opened
in one of the society’s houses as soon as convenient.’
If these grand projects were to take effect any sooner than universal
Teetotalism or universal Chartism, it was quite clear that some activity
must take place in the collection of the twopences. The difficulty in
all working class movements is the collection of means. At this time
the members of the ‘Equitable Pioneer Society’ numbered about
forty subscribers, living in various parts of the town, and many of
them in the suburbs. The collector of the forty subscriptions would
probably have to travel twenty miles ; only a man with the devotion
of a missionary could be expected to undertake this task. This is
always the impediment in the way of working class subscriptions. If a
man’s time were worth anything at all, he had better subscribe the whole
money than collect it. But there was no other way open to them;
and, irksome as it was, some undertook it, and, to their honour, per
formed what they undertook.
*
Three collectors were appointed, who
visited the members at their residences every Sunday ; the town being
divided into three districts. To accelerate proceedings an innovation
was made, which must at the time have created considerable excite
ment. The ancient twopence was departed from, and the subscription
raised to threepence.
The co-operators were evidently growing
ambitious. At length the formidable sum of £28 was accumulated,
and, with this capital, the new world, that was to be, was commenced.
Fifteen years ago, Toad Lane, Rochdale, was not a very inviting
street. Its name did it no injustice. The groundfloor of a ware
house in Toad Lane was the place selected in which to commence
operations. Lancashire warehouses were not then the grand things
they have since become, and the groundfloor of ‘ Mr. Dunlop’s
premises,’ here employed, was obtained upon a lease of three years at
£10 per annum. Mr. William Cooper was appointed ‘cashier;’ his
duties were very light at first. Samuel Ashworth was dignified with
* The executive policy of democracies is in a very crude state among the people. Time
and zeal are wasted wofully. A committee of thirteen working men sometimes debate half
an evening away as to whether ninepence or thirteenpence shall be expended upon a
broom. Money ought not to be wasted upon brooms, nor ought hard-reared zeal to be ex
pended in the study of the petty cash book. Illustrations occur in the minutes of the
Rochdale Society. ‘ Resolved, that the two parties attending the Bank on business receive
the sum of sixpence each, and the third party twopence.’ (June 10, 1850.) Judging by
the remuneration, the transactions could not have been very responsible. ‘ Resolved, that
the shopmen be presented with an apron and sleeves each, in consideration of having to
make up some bad money.’ (Feb. 28, 1850.) This is a very amusing instance of economical
compensation. ‘ Resolved, that we have two cisterns for treacle, two patent taps from
Bradford, a shovel for sugar, and one for currants, and that the step-ladder be repaired.’
(May 9, 1850.) ‘ Resolved, that the grate at the back of the wholesale warehouse be opened
for air.’ (March 6, 1851.) ‘ Resolved, that there be a watering-can provided for the store.’
(March 28, 1852.) No doubt a protracted debate, five speeches each all round, seven or eight
explanations, and heavy replies by the mover and seconder, preceded these momentous
resolutions.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
13
Toad Lane in 1844. The opening day of the Co-operative Store.
the nomination of ‘ salesman; ’ his commodities consisted of infinitesimal quantities of ‘ flour, butter, sugar, and oatmeal.’* The entire
quantity would hardly stock a homoeopathic grocer’s shop, for after
purchasing and consistently paying for the necessary fixtures, £14 or
£15 was all they had to invest in stock. And on one desperate
evening—it was the longest evening of the year—the 21st of December,
1844, the ‘Equitable Pioneers’ commenced business; and the few who
remember the commencement, look back upon their present opulence
and success with a smile at their extraordinary opening day. It had
got wind among the tradesmen of the town that their competitors
were in the field, and many a curious eye was that day turned up
Toad Lane, looking for the appearance of the enemy; but, like other
enemies of more historic renown, they were rather shy of appearing.
A few of the co-operators had clandestinely assembled to witness their
own denouement; and there they stood, in that dismal lower room of
the warehouse, like the conspirators under Guy Fawkes in the Par
liamentary cellars, debating on whom should devolve the temerity of
taking down the shutters, and displaying their humble preparations.
One did not like to do it, and another did not like to be seen in the
shop when it was done: however, having gone so far there was no
choice but to go further, and at length one bold fellow, utterly reck
less of consequences, rushed at the shutters, and in a few minutes
Toad Lane was in a titter. Lancashire has its gamins as well as
Paris—in fact, all towns have their characteristic urchins, who display
a precocious sense of the ridiculous. The ‘ doffers ’ are the gamins of
Rochdale. The ‘doffers ’ are lads from ten to fifteen, who take off full
bobbins from the spindles, and put them on empty ones.f Like steam
to the engine, they are the indispensable accessories to the mills.
When they are absent the men have to play, and often when the men
want a holiday, the ‘ doffers ’ get to understand it by some of those
signs very well understood in the freemasonry of the factory craft,
and the young rascals run away in a body, and, of course, the men
have to play until the rebellious urchins return to their allegiance.
On the night when our store was opened, the ‘ doffers ’ came out
strong in Toad Lane—peeping with ridiculous impertinence, round
the corners, ventilating their opinion at the top of their voices, or
standing before the door, inspecting, with pertinacious insolence, the
scanty arrangement of butter and oatmeal; at length, they exclaimed
in a chorus, ‘ Aye ! the owd weaver’s shop is opened at last.’
Since that time two generations of ‘ doffers ’ have bought their
butter and oatmeal at the ‘ owd weaver’s shop,’ and many a bountiful
and wholesome meal, and many a warm jacket have they had from
that store, which articles would never have reached their stomachs or
their shoulders, had it not been for the provident temerity of the co
operative weavers.
* These are the articles specified in the minutes of Dec. 12,1844.
t To pull off a hobbin is, in the language of mills, to ‘ doff ithence the phrase ‘ doffers.’
�14
HISTORY OF THE
The self-made difficulties of the early co-operators.
Very speedily, however, our embryo co-operators discovered that
they had more serious obstacles to contend with than derision of the
‘ doffers.’ The smallness of their capital compelled them to purchase
their commodities in small quantities, and at disadvantage both of
quality and price. In addition to this, some of their own members
were in debt to their own shopkeepers, and they neither could, nor
dare, trade with the store. And, as always happens in these humble
movements, many of the members did not see the wisdom of pro
moting their own interests, or were diverted from doing it, if it cost
them a little trouble, or involved some temporary sacrifice. Of course
the quality of the goods was sometimes inferior, and sometimes the
price was a trifle higher. These considerations, temporary and trifling
compared with the object sought, would often deter some from be
coming purchasers, for whose exclusive benefit the store was projected.
If the husband saw what his duty was, he could not always bring his
wife to see it; and unless the wife is thoroughly sensible, and
thoroughly interested in the welfare of such a movement, its success
must be very limited. If the wife will take a little trouble, and bear
with the temporary sacrifice of buying now and then an article she
does not quite like, and will send a little farther for her purchases
than perhaps suits her convenience, and will sometimes agree to pay
a little more for them than the shop next door would charge, the co
operative stores might always become successful. Pure quality, good
weight, honest measure, and fair dealing within the establishment,
buying without higgling, and selling without fraud, are sources of
moral and physical satisfaction of far more consequence to a welltrained person than a farthing in the pound cheaper, which the same
goods might elsewhere cost. How heavily are we taxed to put down
vice when it has grown up—yet how reluctant are we to tax ourselves
ever so lightly to prevent it arising. If there are to be moral sellers,
there must be moral buyers. It is idle to distinguish the seller as an
indirect cheat, so long as the customer is but an ambiguous knave.
Those dealers who make it a point always to sell cheaper than any
one else, must make up their minds to the risk of dishonesty, to the
driving of hard bargains, or of stooping to adulterations. Our little
store thought more of improving the moral character of trade than of
making large profits. In this respect they have educated their
associates and customers to a higher point of character. The first
members of the store were not all sensible of this, and their support
was consequently slender, like their knowledge. But a staunch section
of them were true co-operators, and would come far or near to make
their purchases, and, whether the price was high or low, the quality good
or bad, they bought, because it was their duty to buy. The men were
determined, and the women no less enthusiastic, willing, and content.
Those members of the store who were true to their own duty, were
naturally impatient that all the other members should do the same;
they expected that every other member should buy at the store what
ever the store sold, that the said member purchased elsewhere. Not con-
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
15
Promises ‘ to find.’ Appearance of a millionaire and a martyr.
tent with wishing this, they sought to compel all members to become
traders with the store; and James Daly, the then secretary, brought
forward a resolution to the effect that those members who did not
•trade with the store should be paid out. Charles Howarth opposed
this motion, on the very proper ground that it would destroy the free
action of the members. He desired co-operation to advance, he said
he would do all he could to promote it; that freedom was a principle
which he liked absolutely, and, rather than give it up, he would
forego the advantages of co-operation. It will be seen, as our little
history progresses, that this love of principle has never died out, nor,
indeed, been impaired amid these resolute co-operators. James
Daly’s motion was withdrawn.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SOCIETY TRIED BY TWO WELL-KNOWN DIFFICULTIES—PREJUDICE
AND SECTARIANISM.
In March, 1845, it was resolved that a license for the sale of tea and
tobacco be taken out for the next quarter, in the name of Charles
Howarth. This step evidently involved the employment of more
capital; for though the members had increased, funds had not in
creased sufficiently for this purpose. The members, in public meeting
assembled, were made aware of this fact; then, for the second time in
the history of the Rochdale Store, do we hear of any member being
in possession of more than twopence. One member ‘ promised to find’
half-a-crown. ‘ Promised to find ’ is the phrase employed on the
occasion—it was not ‘promised to pay, or subscribe, or advance.’
‘ Promised to find ’ probably alluded to some mysterious effort re
quired to produce a larger sum than twopence in those parts. Another
member ‘ promised to find ’ five shillings, and another ‘ promised to
find’ a pound. This last announcement was received with con
sternation, and the rich and reckless man who made the promise was
regarded with double veneration, as being at once a millionaire and a
*
martyr. Other members ‘ promised to find ’ various sums in propor
tion to their means, and in due time the husbands could get from the
store the solace of tobacco, and wives the solace of tea. At the close
of 1845 the store numbered upwards of eighty members, and possessed
* I have rescued and shall preserve the name of this pecuniary hero—it was William
Mallalieu, a trusted servant of John Feilden, M.P., now of Todmorden, who joined
the Society at its fifth meeting, September 12th, 1844. It does seem like poking
fun at the thing to make this note, but those concerned know it to be ludicrously
true.
The present writer well remembers the feeling of exultation with which
the important accession of £1 was accomplished; and there was only Mr. JHallalieu in all
Rochdale at that time, willing and able to help the humble movement to that extent. They
little expected, ten years later, to be able to put this minute upon their books—* Resolved,
that A. Hill and T. Smithies wait upon the Board of the Rochdale Corn Mill Society, and
give them notice that £1,500 lying in the Bank, belonging to this Society, is now at their
command.’—Minutes, Marell Sth, 185.5.
�16
HISTORY OF THE
First social effects of the experiment. Early rules of the Society.
a capital of £181 12s. 3d.
*
At first the store paid 2| per cent,
interest on money borrowed, then 4 per cent. After paying this
interest, and the small expenses of management, all profits made were
divided among the purchasers at the store, in proportion to the"
amount expended; and the members soon began to appreciate this
very palpable and desirable addition to their income. Instead of their
getting into debt at the grocer’s, the store was becoming a savings’
bank to the members, and saved money for them without trouble to
themselves. The weekly receipt for goods sold during the quarter
ending December, 1845, averaged upwards of £30.
‘ The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, held in Toad Lane,
in the Parish of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,’ made up its
mind that a capital of £1,000 must be raised for the establishment of
the store. This sum was to be raised by £1 shares, of which each
member should be required to hold four and no more. In case more
than £1,000 was required, it was to be lawful for a member to hold five
shares. At the commencement of the store, it was allowed a member to
have any number of shares under fifty-one. The chances of any member
availing himself of this opportunity were very dreary. But the.
officers were ordered, and empowered, and commanded to buy down
all fifty-pound shares with all convenient speed; and any member
holding more than four shares was compelled to sell the surplus at
their original cost of £1, when applied to by the officers of the
Society. But should a member be thrown out of employment, he
was then allowed to sell his shares to the board of directors, or other
member, by arrangement, which would enable him to obtain a higher
value. Each member of the Society, on his admission night, had to
appear personally in the meeting room and state his willingness to
take out four shares of £1 each, and to pay a deposit of not less than
threepence per share, or one shilling, and to pay not less than three
pence per week after, and to allow all interests and profits that might
be due to him to remain in the funds until the amount was equal to
four shares in the capital.
Any member neglecting his payments was to be liable to a fine,
except the neglect arose from distress, sickness, or want of em
ployment.
When overtaken by distress, a member was allowed to sell all his
shares, save one.
The earliest rules of the Society, printed in 1844, have, of course,
undergone successive amendments; but the germs of all their existing
rules were there. Every member was to be formally proposed, his
name, trade, and residence made known to every one concerned, and
a general meeting effected his election.
The officers of, the Society included a President, Treasurer, and
* The Society paid no interest upon its shares the first year, and all profits were allowed
to accumulate with a view to increasing capital.—Vide Minute of Committee Meeting, Aug.
29. 1844.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
17
Five Directors valued at half-a-crown.
Secretary, elected half-yearly, with three Trustees and five Directors.
^Auditors as usual.
The officers and Directors were to meet every Thursday evening,
at eight o’clock, in the committee room of the Weavers’ Arms,
Yorkshire Street. Then followed all the heavy regulations, common
to enrolled societies, for taking care of money before they had it.
The only hearty thing in the whole rules, and which does not give
you the tic doloreux in reading it, is an appointment that an an
nual general meeting shall be holden on the 4 first market Tuesday,
*
at which a dinner shall be provided at one shilling each, to celebrate
the anniversary of the grand opening of the Store. At which
occasion, no doubt, though the present historian has not the report
before him, the first sentiment given was 4 Th’ owd Weyvurs’ Shop,’
followed by a chorus from the 4 Doffers.’
The gustativeness of the members appears not to have sustained an
annual dinner, for in'1847 we find records of the annual celebration
*
assuming the form of a 4 tea party,’ to which, in right propagandist
spirit, certain Bacup co-operators were invited.
The Store itself was ordered to be opened to the public (who never
came in those days at all) on the evenings of Mondays and Saturdays
only—from seven to nine on Mondays, from six to eleven on Saturdays.
It would appear from this arrangement, that the poor flannel weavers
only bought twice a week in those times. A dreadful string of fines is
attached to the laws of 1844. The value of a Trustee or Director
may be estimated by the fact, that his fine for non-attendance was
sixpence. It is plain that the Society expected to lose only half-acrown if the whole five ran away. However, they proved to be worth
more than the very humble price they put upon themselves. Under
their management members rapidly increased, and the Store was
opened (March 3, 1845) on additional days, and for a greater number
of hours:—
Monday
from 4 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday „ 7 to 9 „
Thursday
„ 8 to 10 „
Friday
„ 7 to 9 „
Saturday „ ‘ 1
to 11 „
On February 2nd, 1846, it was resolved that the Store be opened
on Saturday afternoons for the meeting of members; an indication
that the business of the Store was becoming interesting, and required
more attention than the weavers were able to give it after their long
day’s labour was over. In the October of this year, the Store com
menced selling butcher’s meat. For the three years 1846-8, the
Store was tried by dulness, apathy, and public distress. It made
slow, but it made certain progress under them all., Very few new
members were added during 1846 ; but the capital of the Society in* An early minute, Oct. 6,1845,1 find appoints an Anniversary Tea. It was ‘ resolved,
Oct. 7, 1850, that neither tea nor dinner be provided to celebrate the anniversary’ of that
year. This festival must have been a modest one.
C
�18
HISTORY OF THE
Even a bad trade season adds members to the Store.
creased to £252 7s. ljd., with weekly receipts for goods averaging
£34 for the December quarter.
In case of distress occurring to a member, we have seen that he was
permitted to dispose of his shares, retaining only one. During 1847
trade was bad, and many of the members withdrew part of their shares.
Nothing can better show the soundness of the advantages created by
the society, than the fact that the first time trade became bad, and pro
visions dear, the members rapidly increased. The people felt the
pinch, and it made them look out for the best means of making a little
go far; and finding that the payment of a shilling entrance money, and
threepence a week afterwards—which sum being paid on account of
their shares, was really money saved—would enable them to join the
Store; they saw that doing so was quite within their means', and
much to their advantage. Accordingly, many availed themselves of
the opportunity of buying their goods at the Store. The Store
thereby encouraged habits of providence, and saved the funds of the
parish. At the close of 1847, 110 members were on the books, and
the capital had increased to £286 15s. 3|d., and the weekly receipts
for goods during the December quarter were £36. An increase of
£34 of capital, and £2 a week in receipts during twelve months, was
no great thing to boast of; but this was accomplished during a year
of bad trade and dear food, which might have been expected to ruin
the society: it was plain that the co-operative waggon was surely, if
slowly, toiling up the hill. The next minute of the Society’s history
is unexpected and cheering.
. The year 1848 commenced with great ‘distress ’ cases, and an acces
sion of new members. Contributions were now no longer collected
from the members at their homes. There was one place now where
every member met, at least once a week, and that was at the Store,
and the cashier made the appointed collection from each when he
appeared at the desk. Neither revolutions abroad, nor excitement nor
distress at home, disturbed the progress of this wise and peaceful
experiment. The members increased to 140, the capital increased to
£397, and the weekly receipts for goods sold in the December
quarter rose to £80; being an increase of £44 a week over the previous
year in the amount of sales.
The lower room of the old warehouse was now too small for the
business, so the whole building, consisting of three stories and an attic,
was taken by these enterprising co-operators, on lease for twenty-one
years.
More new members were added to the Society in 1849. The second
floor became the meeting room of the members, and also a sort of news
room, for on August 20th, it was resolved—‘That Messrs. James
Nuttall, Henry Green, Abraham Greenwood, George Adcroft, James
Hill, and Robert Taylor, be a committee to open a stall for the sale of
books, periodicals, newspapers, etc.; the profits to be applied to the
furnishing the members’ room with newspapers and books.’ At the
close of 1849 the number of members had reached three hundred and
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
19
The Store nearly ■wrecked by the religious element.
ninety. The capital now amounted to £1193 19s. Id., and the
weekly receipts for goods had risen to £179.
In the next year a very old enemy of social peace appeared in
Rochdale. The religious element began to contend for exclusiveness..
The rapid increase of the members had brought together numbers
holding evangelical views, and who had not been reared in a school
of practical toleration. These had no idea of allowing to their col
leagues the freedom their colleagues allowed to them, and they pro
posed to close the meeting room on Sundays, and forbid religious
controversy. The liberal and sturdy co-operators, whose good sense
and devotion had created the secular advantages of which the religious
accession had chosen to avail itself, were wholly averse to this
restriction. They valued mental freedom more than any personal
gain, and they could not help regarding with dismay the introduction
of this fatal source of discord, which had broken up so many Friendly
Societies, and often frustrated the fairest prospects of mutual im
provement. The matter was brought before a general meeting, on
February 4th, 1850. We give the dates of the leading incidents we
record, for they are historic days in the career of our Store. On the
date here quoted, it was resolved, for the welfare of the Society:—
‘ That every member shall have full liberty to speak his sentiments
on all subjects when brought before the meetings at a proper time, and
in a proper manner; and all subjects shall be legitimate when properly
proposed.' The tautology of this memorable resolution shows the
emphasis of alarm under which it was passed, and the endeavour to
secure by reiteration of terms, a liberty so essential to conscience and
to progress. The founders of the Society were justly apprehensive
that its principles would be overthrown by an indiscriminate influx of
members, who knew nothing of the toleration upon which all co
operation must be founded, and they moved and carried:—‘ That no
propositions be taken for new members after next general meeting for
six months ensuing.’ From this time peace has prevailed on this'
subject.
Very early in the history of co-operation—as far back as 1832—the
Co-operative Congress, held in London in that year, wisely agreed to
this resolution:—‘ Whereas, the co-operative world contains persons
of all religious sects, and of all political parties, it is unanimously re
solved, that Co-operators, as such, are not identified with any religious,
irreligious, or political tenets whatever; neither those of Mr. Owen,
nor of any other individual.’*
Sectarianism is at all times the bane of public unity. Without
toleration of all opinion, popular co-operation is impossible.
These theological storms over, the Society continued its success.
The members increasedin 1850 to six hundred; the capital of the
Society, in cash and stock, rose to £2299 10s. 5d., and the cash
received during the December quarter amounted to £4397 17s., or
£338 per week.
• Resolution of the third London Co-operative Congress. 1832.
�20
HISTORY OF THE
The porcupines of progress.
In April, 1851, seven years after its commencement, the Store was
open, for the first time, all day. Mr. William Cooper was appointed
superintendent; John Rudman and James Standring shopmen.
This year the members of the Store were six hundred and thirty;
its capital £2785; its weekly sales <£308. Somewhat less than in
1850.
The next, year, 1852, the increase of members’ capital and receipts
was marked, and they have gone on since increasing at a rate beyond
all expectation. To what extent we shall show in Tables of Results
in another chapter.
CHAPTER V.
ENEMIES WITHIN AND ENEMIES WITHOUT, AND HOW THEY ALE WERE
CONQUERED.
The moral miracle performed by our co-operatives of Rochdale is,
that they have had the good sense to differ without disagreeing; to
dissent from each other without separating; to hate at times, and yet
always hold together. In most working class, and, indeed, in most
public societies of all classes, a number of curious persons are found,
who appear born under a disagreeable star; who breathe hostility,'
distrust, and dissension; whose tones are always harsh : it is no fault
of theirs, they never mean it, but they cannot help it; their organs of
speech are cracked, and no melodious sound can come out of them;
their native note is a moral squeak; they are never cordial, and never
satisfied ; the restless convolutions of their skin denote ‘ a difference
of opiniontheir very lips hang in the form of a ‘ carpthe muscles
of their face are ‘ drawn up ’ in the shape of an amendment, and their
wrinkled brows frown with an ‘ entirely new principle of action they
are a species of social porcupines, whose quills eternally stick out;
whose vision is inverted; who see everything upside down; who place
every subject in water to inspect it, where the straightest rod appears
hopelessly bent; who know that every word has two meanings, and
who take always the one you do not intend; who know that no state
ment can include everything, and who always fix upon whatever you
omit, and ignore whatever you assert; who join a society ostensibly to
co-operate with it, but really to do nothing but criticise it, without
attempting patiently to improve that of which they complain; who,
instead of seeking strength to use it in mutual defence, look for weak
ness to expose it to the common enemy; who make every associate
sensible of perpetual dissatisfaction, until membership with them
becomes a penal infliction, and you feel that you are sure of more
peace and more respect among your opponents than among your friends;
who predict to everybody that the thing must fail, until they make it
impossible that it can succeed, and then take credit for their treacher-
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS,
21
Members of the opposition.
ous foresight, and ask your gratitude and respect for the very help
which hampered you; they are friends who act as the fire brigade of
the party, they always carry a water engine with them, and under the
suspicion that your cause is in a constant conflagration, splash and
drench you from morning till night, until every member is in an ever
lasting state of drip; who believe that co-operation is another word
for organised irritation, and who, instead of showing the blind the
way, and helping the lame along, and giving the weak a lift, and
imparting courage to the timid, and confidence to the despairing, spend
their time in sticking pins into the tender, treading on the toes of the
gouty, pushing the lame down stairs, leaving those in the dark behind,
telling the fearful that they may well be afraid, and assuring the
despairing that it is ‘ all up.’ A sprinkling of these ‘ damned good
natured friends ’ belong to most societies; they are few in number,
but indestructible; they are the highwaymen of progress, who alarm
every traveller, and make you stand and deliver your hopes; they
are the Iagoes and Turpins of democracy, and only wise men and
strong men can evade them or defy them. The Rochdale co-operators
understand them very well—they met them—bore with them—
worked with them—worked in spite of them—looked upon them as
the accidents of progress, gave them a pleasant word and a merry
smile, and passed on before them ; they answered them not by word
but by act, as Diogenes refuted Zeno. When Zeno said there was
no motion, Diogenes answered him by moving. When adverse critics,
with Briarian hands, pointed to failure, the Rochdale co-operators
quietly replied by succeeding.
*
Whoever joins a popular society, ought to be made aware of this
curious species of colleagues whom we have described. You can get
on with them very well if they do not take you by surprise. Indeed,
they are useful in their way; they are the dead weights with which
the social architect tries the strength of his new building. We men
tion them because they existed in Rochdale, and that fact serves to
show that our co-operators enjoyed no favour from nature or accident.
They were tried like other men, and had to combat the ordinary
human difficulties. Take two examples.
Of course the members’ meetings are little parliaments of working
men—not very little parliaments now, for they include thrice the
number of members composing the House of Commons. All the
mutual criticisms in which Englishmen proverbially indulge, and the
grumblings said to be our national characteristic, and the petty
jealousies of democracies, are reproduced on these occasions, though
not upon the fatal scale so common among the working class. Here,
in the parliament of our Store, the leader of the opposition sometimes
shows no mercy to the leader in power; and Rochdale Gladstones
and Disraelies very freely criticise the quarterly budget of the Sir
George Cornewall Lewis of the day. At one time there was our friend
Ben, a member of the Store so known, who was never satisfied with
anything—and yet he never complained of anything. He looked his
A
' .
�22
HISTORY OF THE
The effects of success upon the suspicious.
disapproval, but never spoke it. He was suspicious of everybody in
a degree, it would seem, too great for utterance. He went about
everywhere, he inspected everything, and doubted everything. He
shook his dissent, not from his tongue, but his head. It was at one
time thought that the management must sink under his portentous
disapprobation. With more wisdom than usually falls to critics, he
refrained from speaking until he knew what he had to say. After
two years of this weighty travail the clouds dispersed, and Ben found
speech and confidence together. He found that his profits had in
creased notwithstanding his distrust, and he could no longer find in
his heart to frown upon the Store which was making him rich.
At last he went up to the cashier to draw his profits, and he came
down, like Moses from the mount, with his face shining.
Another guardian of the democratic weal fulminated heroically.
The very opposite of Ben, he almost astounded the Store by his
ceaseless and stentorian speeches. The Times newspaper would not
contain a report of his quarterly orations. He could not prove that
anything was wrong, but he could not believe that all was right. He
was invited to attend the meeting of the Board; indeed, if we have
studied the chronicles of the Store correctly, he was appointed a
member of the Board, that he might not only see the right thing done,
but do it; but he was too indignant to do his duty, and he was so
committed to dissatisfaction that above all things he was afraid of
being undeceived; and, during his whole period of office, he sat with his
back to the Board, and in that somewhat unfriendly and inconvenient
attitude he delivered his respective opinions. Whether, like the hare,
he had ears behind has not been certified; but, unless he had eyes
behind, he never could have seen what took place. A more perfect
member of an opposition has rarely appeared. He was made by
nature to conduct an antagonism. At length he was bribed into con
tent—bribed by the only legitimate bribery—the bribery of success.
When the dividends came in behind him, he turned round to look at
them, and he pocketed his ‘brass’ and his wrath together; and, though
he has never been brought to confess that things are going right, he
has long ceased to say that they are going wrong.
The Store very early began to exercise educational functions.
Besides supplying the members with provisions, the Store became a
meeting place, where almost every member met each other every
evening after working hours. Here there was harmony because there
was equality. Every member was equal in right, and was allowed to
express his opinions on whatever topic he took an interest in.
Religion and politics, the terrors of Mechanics’ Institutions, were
here common subjects of discussion, and harmless because they were
open. In other respects the co-operators acquired business confidence
as well as business habits. The Board was open to everybody, and, in
fact, everybody went everywhere. Distrust dies out where nothing
is concealed. Confidence and honest pride sprung up, for every member
was a master—he was at once purchaser and proprietor. But all did
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
23
The difficulty of serving the poor.
not go smoothly on. Besides the natural obstacles which exist,
ignorance and inexperience created others.
Poverty is a greater impediment to social success than even pre
judice. With a small capital you cannot buy good articles nor cheap
ones. What is bought at a small Store will probably be worse and
dearer than the same articles elsewhere. This discourages the poor.
With them every penny must tell, and every penny extra they pay
for goods seems to them a tax, and they will not often incur it. It
is of no use that you show them that it and more will come back again
as profit at the end of the quarter. They do not believe in the end of
the quarter—they distrust the promise of profits. The loss of the
penny to-day is near—the gain of sixpence three months hence is
remote. Thus you have to educate the very poor before you can
serve them. The humbler your means the greater your difficulties—
you have to teach as well as to save the very poor. One would think
that a customer ought to be content when he is his own shopkeeper;
on the contrary, he is not satisfied with the price he charges himself.
Intelligent contentment is the slowest plant that grows upon the soil
of ignorance.
Some of the male members, and no wonder that many of the
women also, thought meanly of the Store. They had been accustomed
to fine shops, and the Toad Lane warehouse was repulsive to them;
but after a time the women became conscious of the pride of pay
ing ready money for their goods, and of feeling that the store was
their own, and they began to take equal interest with their husbands.
As usually happens in these cases, the members who rendered no sup
port to the new undertaking when it most wanted support, made up
by rendering more complaints than anybody else, thus rendering no
help themselves and discouraging those who did. It has been a
triumph of penetration and good sense to inspire these contributors
with a habit of supporting that, which, in its turn, supports them so
well. There are times still when a cheaper article has its attraction
for the store purchaser, when he forgets the supreme advantage of
knowing that his food is good, or his garment as stout as it can be
made. He will sometimes forget the moral satisfaction derived fsom
knowing that the article he can buy from the Store has, as far as the
store can influence it, been produced by some workman, who, in his
turn, was paid at some living rate for his labour. Now and then, the
higgler will appear at the little co-operative stores around, and the
store dealers will believe them, and prefer their goods to the supplies
to be had from the store, because they are some fraction cheaper;
without their being able to know what adulteration, or hard bar
gaining elsewhere, has been practised to effect the reduction.
Any person passing through the manufacturing districts of Lan
cashire will be struck with the great number of small provision shops;
many of them dealing in drapery goods as well as food. From these
shops the operatives, to a great extent, spread their tables and cover
their backs. Unfortunately, with them the credit system is the rule,
�24
HISTORY OF THE
Feargus O’Connor’s Land Scheme retards the Store.
and ready money the exception. The majority of the people trading
at these shops have what is called a ‘ Strap Book,’ which of course is
always taken when anything is fetched, and balanced as often as the
operatives receive their wages, which is generally weekly, but in
many places fortnightly. A balance is generally left due to the shop
keeper, thus the great number of operatives are always less or more
in debt. When trade becomes slack, he goes deeper and deeper, until
he is irretrievably involved. When his work fails altogether, he is
obliged to remove to another district, and of course to trade with
another shop, unless at great inconvenience he sends all the distance
to the old shop.
It sometimes happens that an honest weaver will prefer all this
trouble to forsaking a house that has trusted him. One instance has
been mentioned to the present writer, in which a family that had re
moved from a village on one side of the town to one on the opposite
side, continued for years to send a distance of two miles and a half to
the old shop for their provisions, although in doing so they had to
pass through the town of Rochdale, where they could have obtained
the same things cheaper. This is in every way a grateful and
honourable fact, and the history of the working class includes crowds
of them.
We are bound to relate that the capital of the Store would have
increased somewhat more rapidly, had it not at that time been ab
sorbed by the land company of Feargus O’Connor. Many members
of the Store were also shareholders in that concern, and as that
company was considered by them to be more feasible, and calculated
sooner to place its members in a state of permanent independence,
much of the zeal and enthusiasm necessary to the prospect of a new
society were lost to the co-operative cause.
The practise of keeping up a national debt in this country, on the
interest of which so many are enabled to live at the expense of
industrious taxpayers, and the often immoral speculations of the
Stock Exchange, have produced an absurd and injurious reaction on
the part of many honest people. Many co-operative experiments
have failed through want of capital, because the members thought it
imiporal to take interest, and yet they had not sufficient zeal to lend
their money without interest. Others have had a moral objection to
paying interest, and as money was not to be had without, of course
these virtuous people did nothing—they were too moral to be useful.
All this showed frightful ignorance of political economy. If nobody
practised thrift and self-denial in order to create capital, society must
remain in perpetual barbarism; and if capital is refused interest as
compensation for its risk, it would never be available for the use of
others. It would be simply hoarded in uselessness, instead of being
the great instrument of civilisation and national power. The class of
reformers who made these mistakes were first reclaimed to intelligent
appreciation of industrial science by Mr. Stuart Mill’s ‘ Principles of
Political Economy, with some of their applications to Social Philosophy
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
1
25
No necessity for the State to join in the coercion of progressive opinion.
Most of these ‘applications’ were new to them, and though made with
the just austerity of science, they manifested so deep a consideration
for the progress of the people, and a human element so fresh and
sincere, that prejudice was first dispelled by sympathy, and error
afterwards by argument.
The principle of co-operation—so moralising to the individual as a
discipline, and so advantageous to the state in its results—with what
difficulty has it made its way in the world 1 Regarded by the states
man as some terrible form of political combination, and by the rich as
a scheme of spoliation; denounced in parliament, written against by
political economists, preached against by the clergy; the co-operative
idea, as opposed to the competitive, has had to struggle, and has yet to
struggle its way into industry and commerce. Statesmen might spare
themselves the gratuitous anxiety they have often manifested for the
suppression of new opinion. Experience ought to have shown them
that wherever one man endeavours to set up a new idea, ten men at
once rise up to put it down; not always because they think it bad,
but because, whether good or bad, they do not want the existing
order of things altered. They will hate truth itself, even if they
know it to be truth, if truth gives them trouble. The statesman
ought to have higher taste, even if he has not higher employment,
than to join the vulgar and officious crowd in hampering or hunting
honest innovation. There is, of course, a prejudice felt at first on
the part of shopkeepers against co-operative societies. That sort of
feeling exists which we find among mechanics against the intro
duction of machinery, which, for want of better arrangements, is sure
to injure them first, however it may benefit the general public after
wards. But, owing to the good sense of the co-operators, and not
less to the good sense of the shopkeepers of Rochdale, no unfriendli
ness worth mentioning has ever existed between them. The co
operators. were humbly bent on improving their own condition, and
at first their success in that way was so trivial as not to be worth the
trouble of jealousy. For the first three or four years after the com
mencement of the Store, its operations produced no appreciable effect
upon the retail trade of the town. The receipts of the Store in 1847,
four years after its commencement, were only £36 a week; about the
receipt of a single average shop, and five or ten times less than the
receipts of some shops. But of late years, no doubt, the shopkeepers,
especially smaller ones, have felt its effects. In some instances shops
may have been closed in consequence. The members of the Store
extend out into the suburbs, a distance of one or two miles from the
town. It has happened in the case of at least one suburban shop
keeper, that half the people for a mile round nim had become Store
purchasers. This, of course, would be likely to affect his business.
The good feeling prevailing among the tradesmen of the town has
been owing somewhat to a display of unexpected good sense and
moderation on the part of the co-operators, who have kept themselves
free from the greed of mere trade and the vices of rivalry. If the
D
�26
HIST0EY OF THE
The co-operators, and their wise policy toward shopkeepers.
prices of grocery in the town rose, the Store raised its charges to the
same level. It never would, even in appearance, nor even in selfdefence, 'Use its machinery to undersell others; and when tradesmen
lowered, as instances often occurred, their prices in order to undersell
the Store, and show to the town that they could sell cheaper than any
society of weavers, and when they made a boast of doing so, and invi
ted the customers of the Store to deal with them in preference, or
taunted the dealers at the Store with the higher prices they had to
pay, the Store never at any time, neither in its days of weakness nor
of strength, would reduce any of its prices. It passed by, would not
recognise, would in no way imitate this ruinous and vexatious, but
perfectly legitimate, resource of competition. The Store conducted an
honest trade—it charged an honest average price—it sought no
rivalry, nor would it be drawn into any, although the means of
winning were quite as much in its hands as in the hands of its oppo
nents. The prudent maxims of the members were, ‘ To be safe we
must sell at a profit.’ ‘ To be honest we must sell at a profit.’ ‘ If
we sell sugar without profit, we must take advantage covertly in the
sale of some other articles to cover that loss.’ ‘ We will not act
covertly ; we will not trade without profit whatever others may do;
we will not profess to sell cheaper than others; we profess to sell
honestly ’—and this policy has conquered.
,
Some manufacturers were as much opposed to the co-operators’ Store
as the shopkeepers—not knowing exactly what to make of it. Some
were influenced by reports made to them by prejudiced persons—
some had vague notions of their men acquiring a troublesome inde
pendence. But this apprehension was of short duration, and was set at
rest by the good sense of others. One employer was advised to dis
charge some of his men for dealing at the Store, who serviceably
answered ‘He did not see why he should. So long as his men did
their duty, it was no business of his to dictate where they should deal.
They had as much right as he had to spend their money in that mar
ket where they thought it would go farthest, and if they learned
thrift he did not see what harm it would do them, and if they could
save money they had a right to do so. Indeed, he thought it was
their turn.’
The co-operators have long enjoyed the good opinion of the
majority of the manufacturers, and the higher classes of the town.
The members of the Store are so numerous, that the masters come in
contact with them at almost every turn. The co-operators work for
nearly every employer in the town, and many hold the most trusty
and responsible situations. The working class in general hold the
co-operative society in high esteem, and what is more natural, since
it aims at bettering their condition ? Indeed, the society exercises
considerable influence in the town. As its members are spread over
every part, every local or public movement is known to one or the
other, and is communicated rapidly as they meet with their fellow
members at the Store. Facts circulate—opinion is elicited—criticism
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
27
The ‘ exploded fallacy ’ becomes a ‘ paying ’ fallacy.
follows—a general conviction upon particular points springs up—and
thus many learn what is the right view to support, and support it
with more confidence from the knowledge that numbers, upon whom
they can rely, share it.
The slowness of the Rochdale movement for two or three years
may be attributed to the want of confidence in any scheme originating
among the working classes for the amelioration of their condition.
The loss, trouble, and anxiety entailed upon the leading men of the
previous co-operative societies in Rochdale, were still within the
recollection of many. These reminiscences would naturally intimidate
the cautious. There were others who were not aware that the
former societies had been wrecked by the credit system. The ‘ Equitable
Pioneers ’ had most studiously avoided that shoal. In fact, so many
co-operative experiments had been stranded by credit, that an almost
universal opinion was prevalent, not only in Rochdale, but through
out the country and in Parliament, that co-operation was an exploded
fallacy, and the poor co-operators, whose enterprise we report, were
looked upon as dangerous emissaries of some revolutionary plot, and
at the same time as fanatics deluded beyond all hope of enlightenment,
who were bent on ruining themselves, and too ignorant to com
prehend their folly or their danger. It was not until the small but
unfailing stream of profits began to meander into all out of the way
cottages and yards—it was not until the town had been repeatedly
astonished by the discovery of weavers with money in their pockets,
who had never before been known to be out of debt, that the working
class began to perceive that the ‘ exploded fallacy ’ was a paying
fallacy; and then crowds of people who had all their life been
saying and proving that nothing of the kind could happen, now
declared that they had never denied it, and that everybody knew
co-operation would succeed, and that anybody could do what the
Store did.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT FLOUR MILL PANIC.
Towards the close of 1850, a new society takes its place in our
narrative—namely, the ‘ Rochdale District Corn Mill Society.’ A
similar one had long flourished in Leeds, a history of which would be
a very instructive addition to co-operative literature.
*
The Rochdale
imitation commenced its active operations about the close of 1850.
* An account appeared in the local newspapers of 1849, of the success of the Leeds
and Halifax Corn Mill Societies, which had effected a general reduction in the price of flour
in those towns, thus serving the whole public, besides supplying to their own members pure
flour cheaper than the public price, with added profits. These facts, circulated by the
newspapers, led Mr. Smithies, Mr. Greenwood, and Mr. Charles Howarth to initiate the
discussion of a corn mill movement in Rochdale, at the Equitable Pioneers’ meetings.
�23
HISTORY OF THE
Co-operative affairs take a turn for the worse.
This Corn Mill Society, meeting at the Elephant and Castle, Man
chester Road, received encouragement from the Store. It, however,
soon appeared that the mill had too little money to enable it to carry
on the corn business; it had to get its grain from such persons as
would supply it on credit. The directors being unacquainted with the
business, had, of course, to entrust it to other hands than their own,
very much to its disadvantage. Our ‘ Equitable Pioneers ’ invested,
in the shape of shares in the corn mill, from £400 to £600.
In 1851 they began to lend to the Corn Mill Society, on account of
goods to come in. Unfortunately, the goods sent in—namely, the
flour, was of an inferior quality. This was owing to two causes.
First, the corn mill, being short of capital, was obliged to buy where
it could get credit, instead of where it could get the best corn ; being
in the power of him who gave credit, they were often compelled to
accept an inferior article at a high price. Second, there was a want
of skill in the head miller—in the grinding department. The
‘Equitable Pioneer Society’ decided to sell no flour but the ‘Rochdale
Corn Mill Society’s,’ and that being inferior, of course the sale fell
*
off. This is another of those little crevices in the walls of a popular
experiment, through which the selfishness of human nature peeps
out. Of course a man who pays a dearer rate than his neighbour for
any article, taxes himself to that amount; but, in a public movement,
this is one of those liabilities which every man who would advance it
must be prepared to encounter. When the support of the purchasers
at the Store began to drop off by this refusal to take the flour, it
brought on a crisis in the co-operative society. By the end of the
third quarter of 1851, the corn mill had lost £450.f This produced
a panic in the Store, which was considered, by its investments, to be
implicated in the fall of the corn mill. It was soon rumoured that
the Store would fail, and some of the members proposed that the corn
mill business be abandoned. Others suggested that each member of
the Store should subscribe a pound to cover the loss, and clear out of
it. But as the corn mill held its meetings at the Pioneers’ Store, and its
leading members belonged to the Store, Mr. Smithies considered that
their honour was compromised if they were defeated; and insisted,
with much energy, that the name of ‘ Pioneers ’ must be given up,
unless they went on altogether. Had the mill been brought to the
hammer at this time, there would not have been realised ten shillings
in the pound. This was the point to try their faith in co-operation.
The members did not fail. Some brought all the money they could
collect together to enable the difficulties to be conquered; a few, as
usual in these cases, fell back. In the first place, amid those who
distinguished themselves to avert the disaster of failure, all agree to
* The deficiency of capital is always aggravated by miscalculation. After contracting
for the machinery of £750, the millwright sent in a hill of extras of £140—a dressing
machine at £44 was overlooked; the result was that when the mill was ready no money
existed with which to purchase grain.
t The joy with which the directors hailed the production of their first sack of flour was
turned into dismay at this result.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
29
Cheap bookkeeping. The bailiff appears.
name Abraham Greenwood, whose long and protracted devotion to
this work cost him his health, and nearly his life. How much has
depended, in the fate of the Store, on the honesty of its officers, may
be seen from the disasters of the corn mill, arising from defects of
character in some of its servants. One miller systematically went to
Manchester, instead of to Wakefield, to buy his flour. By acting in
concert with some seller, he got a commission in Manchester, and the
Store suffered for it. The first great loss of the mill was probably
occasioned in this way. The next miller had a weakness for ‘ toddy,’
and his successor was liable to faint perceptions of truth; so between
the man who would not know what he was doing, and the man who
did not know what he was doing, and the man who did not know
what he was saying, the affairs of the corn mill got somewhat
confused.
Another very usual error among the working class muddled every
thing further. Thinking it economical to accept volunteer book
keepers, they had their books kept by those who offered—who
officiated in turns—and the books were duly bungled for nothing.
The confusion was cheap but inextricable, and the perplexity of
everything grew worse confounded. The directors acted with good
sense and vigour as soon as they comprehended their position. The
defective manager for the time being was dismissed, Mr. A. Green
wood, the president of the society, acting in his place. A paid book
keeper was appointed—debts were commenced liquidation by small
instalments, when an unexpected disaster overtook them. One
morning news was brought to town that the bailiffs were in possession,
to the dismay of the struggling co-operators, and secret satisfaction of
the prophets of failure, who could not help felicitating themselves on
so portentous a sign. The landlord, of whom the Corn Mill was
rented, had neglected to pay the ground landlord his rent, and for
three years’ ground rent, amounting to £100, he had put in a distraint
upon the property of the co-operators, who were not morally re
sponsible. This enemy was in due time routed—perseverance
triumphed, and successive dividends, from fourpence to one shilling in
the pound, cleared off the loss of £450, and the day of substantial
profits at length dawned.
When the Store was first opened, one shopkeeper boasted that he
could come with a wheelbarrow and wheel the whole stock away,
which was quite true. He had the command of ten times more
capital. He threatened that he would sell cheaper, and break up the
Store. It was quite true that he could sell cheaper, but the weavers
held together, and he did not break up the Store. There were many
unfriendly traders of this way of thinking. It often happens that
men who do not exactly mean ill towards you, become your enemies
artificially. They begin by predicting that you will fail, and without
exactly wishing you should fail, are sorry when you do not. As an
abstract matter, they would perhaps be glad of your success; but
having committed themselves to a prediction, they are disgusted when
�30
HISTORY OF THE
A ran upon the Store. The stocking-foot comes into requisition.
you falsify it, and they will sometimes help to bring about your ruin
for no other reason than that of fulfilling their own prediction. In
1849, when the savings’ bank in Rochdale so disgracefully broke,
and many thousands of pounds of the hard earnings of the poor were
swept away, the poor and ruined people turned to the Store for
*
protection. Since 1849 there has been no savings’ bank in Rochdale.
Many of the weavers who, up to this time, had preferred investing
their money in the bank, had now to look out for another place in
which to deposit their savings. They felt that they had misplaced
their confidence in the savings’ bank, which was an institution without
an adequate responsible security, or in which they had no controlling
influence over the application of the money. As the Store offered
both these advantages, and a higher rate of interest, many of their
bank dividends^ found their way to the Store, and future savings
also.
They had more confidence in the ‘ Equitable Pioneers ’ than in the
pseudo government bank. The failure of the savings’ bank led to an
accession of members and capital to the Store. This growth of con
fidence brought great discredit on the prophets to whom we have been
referring. No sooner, however, did the Corn Mill panic get rumoured
about, than they recurred with sinister emphasis to their old pre
dictions, and their rumours brought about a run upon the Store. The
humble directors said nothing, but quietly placed their cashier behind
the counter with orders to pay every demand. One man, who had
twenty-four pounds in the Store, the whole of which he had made
from the profits, began with a demand for sixteen pounds. He had
some sort of sympathy for his benefactors, and thought he would
leave a little in their hands.
‘ Are you about to commence some sort of business ? ’ asked the
cashier.
‘ No,’ said the man, ‘ but I want my money.’
‘ Well, you are aware that notice is required ? ’
‘ Oh, yes, and I am come to give notice.’ He ‘ would have his
money.’
‘ Well,’ said the cashier, ‘ we avail ourselves of the notice when we
are likely to be short ; but we can dispense with notice now. You’d
better “ tak brass now.” ’
And they made the man ‘ tak brass ’ then, and much to his astonish
ment, he was obliged to carry his money away in his pocket, and he
went away, half suspecting he had been playing the fool.
Eighteen months after, this man brought his money back: he had
kept it in some stocking foot all that time (that celebrated ‘ patent
safe ’ of the poor), losing the interest. He himself then told the
cashier the story of his taking it out; in consequence of being assured
* Out of £100,403 deposits, an officer had appropriated to his own use £71,717. The amount
still due to the depositors (1857) is £38,287. Sir A. Ramsay has lately presented a petition
to the House of Commons on the subject.
t 12s. 6d. in the pound is all yet paid.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
31
The panic subsides.
that the Store would break. He now tells the story to his comrades,
far and near, and nobody has more confidence in the Store than he.
Next a woman appeared : she would have her money out then. It
was at once offered to her—then she would not have it. She de
manded her money because she had been told she could not get it;
and when she found that she could have it, she did not want it. More
sensible and quickwitted than the dullard who carried his sixteen
pounds home to his stocking foot, when she found there was no risk,
she left her money. Another instance occurred, in which a woman
generously refused to draw her money out whether it was in danger or
not. A shopkeeper said to her:—‘ You say you have £40 in the Store;
well, it will be sure to break, and you had better draw it out.’ The
woman answered:—‘ Well, if it does break, it will break with its own;
it has all been saved out of my profits—all I have it has given me.’
From the depositors the panic extended to traders; but the panic
among them did not last long. At that time, corn was bought for
the mill one week, and paid for the next. The payments, at this
time, were made at Wakefield, one week under the other. One week
the buyer-in missed the paying. The old gentleman who was, in this
case, the creditor, was told by millers about him that the Store had
broken—he might depend upon it. He took an express train to
Rochdale and a cab from the railway station, rushed down to the
Store, and demanded his money. He was quietly asked for his invoice,
and his money was at once paid him; and he was told if he knew any
others wanting money on account of goods supplied to the Corn Mill,
to be kind enough to send them in. The old gentleman went away
very much astonished; he felt that he should never have another
order; and he afterwards stated to the superintendent at the railway
station, he had ever since regretted the unfortunate journey he was
induced to make.
About this time, the bank in Rochdale, with whom our ‘ Equit
able Pioneers’ did business, did them a frank piece of service, which
they have always remembered with appreciation. Some tradesmen
being at the counter of the bank, a person remarked that he thought
the Store was running down, evidently fishing from the bankers some
confirmation of his suspicions. The answer given by one of the firm
was, that he did not see why it should, as the Board had left £2000 in
their hands for a long time, which they had never touched. This obser
vation established confidence in influential quarters; and as the
depositors who applied for their money at the Store invariably car
ried it back with them in their pockets, it soon restored confidence
among their own order. The humble directors of the Store, like all
other honest men, had more pride and pleasure in paying money than
in receiving it, and their firm and judicious conduct re-established the
credit of the ‘ Equitable Pioneers.’
Here are from one to two thousand weavers, who have done what
Sir John Dean Paul failed to do—kept an honest banking house. In
point of morality, how infinitely superior are these Rochdale Co-
�32
HISTORY OF THE
Objections to genuine food.
operators to that Lord of the Treasury who finally poisoned himself
on Hampstead Heath I Surely these men are as fit for the franchise
as Paul and Sadleir, as Hugh Innes Cameron and Humphrey Brown,
What . standard of electional fitness does the Government take,
who gives the franchise to fraudulent bankers and knavish lords of
the treasury, and withholds it from honest weavers ?
The September quarter of 1852 showed a clear balance of gain for
that quarter of £100 upon the Corn Mill. The energy of Mr.
Greenwood and his colleagues had turned upwards the fortunes of the
Corn Mill.
In the origin of their flour operations a curious circumstance
occurred. Determined to supply all things genuine, they supplied
the flour so. It might be inferior, as we have related it was, but it
was pure; but being pure, it was browner than the usual flour in the
market. It was rejected for its difference of colour. A friend of the
present writer, disgusted with the spurious coffee of London, made
arrangements to supply the common people with a genuine cup. To
this end he opened a house in Lambeth, and ground up the real
berries pure. But no one would drink his coffee, and he had to shut
up his house. Accustomed to adulterated coffee, until their taste was
formed upon depraved compounds, the people rejected the pure
beverage. So it happened to our Corn Mill. The unadulterated
flour would not sell. The customers of the Store knew neither the
colour nor taste of pure flour. Then there was a cry against the co
operators. It was said they could not compete with the usual millers;
and if they adulterated, the only way open of rendering their flour
popular, there would be another cry out against them for adultera
ting it, and being as bad as other traders. For a short time they made
their flour white in the usual way, but it was so much against their
principles to do so, that they discussed the folly of the preference
with their purchasers at the Store, and the pure flour, of whatever
colour, was taken into favour, and from that day to this it has
been sold genuine.
CHAPTER VH.
SUCCESSIVE STEPS OF SUCCESS. THE ROCHDALE STORE ON A
SATURDAY NIGHT.
The Equitable Pioneers’ Society is divided into seven departments :•
*
Grocery, Drapery, Butchering, Shoemaking, Clogging, Tailoring,
Wholesale.
A separate account is kept of each business, and a general account is
given each quarter, showing the position of the whole.
The grocery business was commenced, as we have related, in
December, 1844, with only four articles to sell. It now includes what
ever a grocer’s shop should include.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
33
History of the wholesale department.
The drapery business was started in 1847, with an humble array of
attractions. In 1854 it was erected into a separate department.
A year earlier, 1846, the Store began to sell butchers’ meat,
buying eighty or one hundred pounds of a tradesman in the town.
After awhile, the sales were discontinued until 1850, when the Society
had a warehouse of its own. Mr. John Moorhouse, who has now two
assistants, buys and kills for the Society three oxen, eight sheep,
sundry porkers and calves, which are on the average converted into
.£130 of cash per week.
Shoemaking commenced in 1852. Three men and an apprentice
make, and a stock is kept on sale.
Clogging and tailoring commenced also in this year.
The wholesale department commenced in 1855, and marks an
important development of the Pioneers’ proceedings. This depart
ment has been created for supplying any member requiring large
quantities, and with a view to supply the co-operative stores of Lan
cashire and Yorkshire, whose small capitals do not enable them to buy
in the best markets, nor command the services of what is otherwise
indispensable to every Store—a good buyer, who knows the markets
and his business, who knows what, how, and where to buy. The
wholesale department guarantees purity, quality, fair prices, standard
weight and measure, but all on the never failing principle—cash
payment.
After registering the Society under the 13 and 14 Viet., chap. 115,
*
the Society turned its attention to a wholesale department, an opera
tion which would have been impossible but for the legal protection of
this Act, an Act which has called forth more expressions of gratitude to
Parliament than any Act. I ‘have ever heard commented upon by
working men. The Pioneers’ laws say (we quote three of their
rules):—
14.—The wholesale department shall be for the purpose of supply
ing those members who desire to have their goods in large quantities.
16. —The said department shall be charged with interest, after the
rate of five per cent, per annum, for such capital as may be advanced
to it by the Board of Directors.
17. —The profits arising from this department, after paying for the
cost of management and other expenses, including the interest afore
said, shall be divided quarterly into three parts, one of which shall be
reserved to meet any loss that may arise in the course of trade until
it shall equal the fixed stock required, and the remaining two thirds
shall be divided amongst the members, in proportion to the amount of
their purchases in the said department.
In 1854, a Conference was held in Leeds, to consider how the
co-operative societies of Lancashire and Yorkshire could unite their
* An act whieh is itself an answer to those who would apply the maxim of Laisser faire
(Let things alone) to politics, a maxim which, however advantageous in political economy,
cannot, observes Professor Newman, be applied to politics without blundering or disin genuousness.—Political Economy, p. 188.
E
•
�34
HISTORY OF THE
Distribution of profits, and the discussions thereon.
purchases of produce and manufactures among themselves. Mr. Lloyd
Jones lent his valuable counsel on this occasion, and at Rochdale, where
a second Conference with this object was held in August, 1855. Of course
the cardinal question was, who should find capital to carry out the idea
of a wholesale department. Some stores were willing to contribute a
proportional share, others had hardly cash to carry on their own
operations; other stores, with a prudence very old in the world, pro
posed to see how the plan was going to succeed before joining in it.
This is a cautiousness commendable in some cases, but were all to act
upon it no advance would ever be made. The Equitable Pioneers
accepted the initiative with their usual pluck. As many of the stores
had the notion in their heads that all the Rochdale Pioneers took up
• succeeded, several stores joined, and put in a little money; but the
principal capital was supplied by our enterprising friends, the
Rochdale Equitables. As the law we have quoted shows, they stipu
lated for five per cent, on their advances. Differences, though not
dissensions, arose. The Equitable Pioneers’ Society felt dissatisfaction
that stores, not contributing a fair share of capital to work the whole
sale trade, should yet receive an equal dividend of profits in propor
tion to their trade with the department. As the Equitable Pioneers
found nearly all the capital, they were by many thought entitled to
nearly all the profit. On the other hand, it was urged that the five
per cent, on their capital was all they had a right to, and they had no
claim to the profits made by the trade of other stores. The Store of
the Pioneers dealt with the wholesale department, and had, in common
with other stores, their profits upon the amount of their own trade. It
was true that many stores only bought articles that yielded little profit,
while the Rochdale Store bought so generally and largely as to create
the chief profits itself, besides risking its capital, which seemed at first
to be in danger. For in the March quarter of 1856, £495 10s. 4d.
were lost through purchasing sugars, syrups, treacle, soaps, etc., when
prices were high, which prices came down before the goods could be
sold. A committee of inquiry at a later date reported that several
stores had increased their purchases from the wholesale department of
goods, which yielded even more profit than the purchases of the
Pioneers’ Store. Mr. William Cooper, the Secretary, defended the
proceedings and position of the department, and it was ultimately
agreed that the District Stores had dealt fairly by the wholesale
department on the whole, although they had not supported it by capital
to the extent the promoters could have wished. Still many remained
dissatisfied, although they were unable to show what was wrong, and
at an adjourned quarterly meeting, so late as October, 1856, it was
‘Resolved, that the wholesale stock be dispensed with.’ Owing to the
energy of Mr. Samuel Stott and others, this resolution never took
- effect. The department being founded by an enrolled rule, it could
not be dispensed with without an alteration of the rules, and before an
alteration in the rules can take place the three-fourths of the whole
members specially convened must consent to it. The opponents of the
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
35
The wholesale department saved by an Aet of Parliament.
department despaired of getting this wide ratification of their partial dis
satisfaction, and the department continued. The loss of £495 10s. 4d.
has, by the end of the March quarter of 1857, in one year’s operation,
been reduced to £141 14s. Id. In half a year more, the loss
will be cancelled, and profits beyond the interest on capital accrue.
The stores, to their credit, continue to trade with the department,
just as though they were receiving a dividend in addition to the interest
on the capital, which they will shortly do; were they to receive no
dividend, it would be to their advantage to trade with the depart
ment. The most important officer of a store is the purchaser. He
must be acquainted with his business and the markets. No honesty,
if he has not tact and knowledge, will prevent him from damaging the
prosperity of a store by bad purchases. Small stores cannot always
find such a man, nor support him when they do. But a wholesale
department, by keeping a few such, can serve all stores, can enable
the smallest to command genuine articles equally with the greatest,
and to command them even cheaper, as well as better, as large, united,
wholesale purchases can be made more advantageously, of course,
than small ones. It is clear, however, that this admirable and welldevised department must have fallen but for the wise provision of the
Act of Parliament, upon which Mr. Stott and his colleagues fell back.
This useful law gives stability to a society, it prevents short-sighted
sections from destroying general purposes, and enables the errors of a
few to be revised and rectified by the decision of a veritable majority
of all concerned.
The members of the Store attracted from a distance, make their
purchases—some once a fortnight, and have their goods sent home;
others unite together and employ a carter to deliver them. The
desire to obviate this inconvenience, and the difficulty of serving the
great increase of members at Toad Lane (the Central Store), Branch
Stores have been lately opened. A members’ meeting can no longer beheld at the Store Rooms. 1,600 members make a public meeting, and the
business meetings of the Society are held in the public hall of the town.
In 1856, the first Branch was opened in the Oldham Road, about a mile
from the centre of Rochdale. In 1857, the Castleton Branch, and
another in the Whitworth Road, were established, and a fourth
Branch at Pinfold.
An idea of the appearance of a Branch Store may be gathered from
the next page. On each side the door a narrow upright sign, the
height of the entrance, gives the following information:—
�36
HISTORY OF THE
External appearance of the front of a Branch Store.
EQUITABLE PIONEERS
*
CO-OPERATIVE STORES.
Enrolled
in proportion
according
to the money
to Law.
expended.
No second
Objects.
prices.
To improve the
social and
domestic
its members.
[Copied from
All purchases
the Doors of
paid for
the School Lane
condition of
on delivery.
Branch.']
Five per cent,
interest paid
on shares.
Dividends
declared
quarterly.
Remaining
profits
divided
amongst
purchasers
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
87
The Store sets up an Almanack.
The ‘owd weyvurs’ shop,’ or rather the entire building, was (in 1849),
as we have related, taken on lease by the Store, in a state sadly out of
repair. One room is now handsomely fitted up as a news-room.
Another is neatly fitted up as a library. Every part has undergone
*
neat refitting and modest decoration, and now wears the air of a
thoroughly respectable place of business.
The corn mill was, of course, rented, and stood at Small Bridge,
some distance from the town—one mile and a half. The society have
since built in the town an entirely new mill forthemselves. The engine
and the machinery are of the most substantial and improved kind.
It is now spoken of as ‘ the Society’s New Mill in Weir Street, near
the Commissioners’ Rooms.’ The capital invested in the corn mill is
£8,450, of which £3,731 15s. 2d. is subscribed by the Equitable
Pioneers’ Society. The corn mill employs eleven men.
The Almanack of 1855 announced the formation of a ‘ Manufacturing
Society,’ enrolled pursuant to the 15 and 16 Vic., chap. 31. Every
Branch of the (we are entitled to say now) Great Store’s proceedings
are enrolled pursuant to some Act or other. This was their first for
mal realisation of the design announced eleven years before, of
attempting the organisation of labour. Now they avail themselves of
the Industrial and Provident Societies’ Act for carrying on in common
the trades of cotton and woollen manufacturing. The capital in this
department is £4,000, of which sum £2,042 has been subscribed by
the Equitable Pioneers’ Society. This Manufacturing Society has
ninety-six power looms at work, and employs twenty-six men, seven
women, four boys, and five girls—in all, forty-two persons.
In 1854, the Store commenced to issue an Almanack, in which
their announcements to members were made, and from which the
reader might gather the historic sympathies of the co-operators from
the memorable men and dates selected. Now a considerable portion
of dates is occupied with their Store, and Corn Mill, and other
meetings. Advertisements of the different operations of the society
are given; a little history of its origin is crowded into one corner;
the ancient objects of the society are repeated in another place; such
principles and extracts from the laws as are suitable for the information
of strangers find due place upon the same broad sheet. In 1855 they
announce their Central London Agents:—‘ The Central Co-operative
Agency, No. 356, Oxford Street.’ In 1856 they add, ‘and the
Universal Purveyor (William Islip and Co.), No. 33, Charing Cross.’
In 1853 the Store purchased, for £745, a warehouse (freehold) on the
opposite side of the street, where they keep and retail their stores of flour,
butcher’s meat, potatoes, and kindred articles. Their committee
rooms and offices are fitted up in the same building. They rent other
houses adjoining for calico and hosiery,! and shoe stores. In their
wilderness of rooms the visitor stumbles upon shoemakers and tailors,
at work under healthy conditions, and in perfect peace of mind as to
* Vide Almanack, 1854.
t In 1855 the drapery stock was ordered to be insured in the Globe for £1000.
�38
HISTORY OF THE
Toad Lane on Saturday night.
the result on Saturday night. Their warehouses are everywhere as
bountifully stocked as Noah’s Ark, and crowds of cheerful customers
literally crowd Toad Lane at night, swarming like bees to every
counter. The industrial districts of England have not such another
sight as the Rochdale Co-operative Store on Saturday night.
At seven o’clock there are five persons serving busily at the
counter, others are weighing up goods ready for delivery. A boy is
drawing treacle. Two youths are weighing up minor articles and
refilling the shelves. There are two sides of counters in the grocer’s
shop twelve yards long. Members’ wives, children of members, as
many as the shop will hold, are being served; others are waiting at
the door, in social conversation, waiting to go in. On the opposite
side of the street, three men are serving in the drapery department, and
nine or ten customers, mostly females, are selecting articles. In the
large shop, on the same side of the street, three men are chopping and
serving in the butchers’ department, with from twelve to fifteen cus
tomers waiting. Two other officers are weighing flour, potatoes,
preparing butter, etc., for other groups of claimants. In other
premises adjoining, shoemakers, doggers, and tailors are at work, or
attending customers in their respective departments. The clerk is in
his office, attending to members’ individual accounts, or to general
business of the society. The news-room over the grocery has twenty
or more men and youths perusing the newspapers and periodicals.
Adjoining, the watch club, which has fifty-eight members, is collecting
its weekly payments, and drawing lots as to who shall have the
repeaters (manufactured by Charles Freeman, of Coventry), which the
night’s subscription will pay for. The library is open, and the
librarian has his hands full in exchanging, renewing, and delivering
books to about fifty members, among whom are sons, wives, and
daughters of members. The premises are closed at ten o’clock, when
there has been received during the day for goods £420, and the
librarian has let out two hundred books. In opposite districts of the
town, the Society has now open four Branch Stores for the convenience
of outlying members, where, on a lesser scale, the same features of
sales are being repeated.
But it is not the brilliance of commercial activity in which either
writer or reader will take the deepest interest; it is in the new and
improved spirit animating this intercourse of trade. Buyer and
seller meet as friends; there is no overreaching on one side, and no
suspicion on the other; and Toad Lane on Saturday night, while
as gay as the Lowther Arcade in London, is ten times more moral.
These crowds of humble working men, who never knew before when
they put good food in their mouths, whose every dinner was adulterated,
whose shoes let in the water a month too soon, whose waistcoats shone
with devil’s dust, and whose wives wore calico that would not wash,
now buy in the markets like millionaires, and, as far as pureness of
food goes, live like lords. They are weaving their own stuffs, making
their own shoes, sewing their own garments, and grinding their own
�BOCHBALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
39
The agency of the pulpit and the Store. Moral effects of co-operation.
corn. They buy the purest sugar, and the best tea, and grind their
own coffee. They slaughter their own cattle, and the finest beasts of
the land waddle down the streets of Rochdale for the consumption of
flannel weavers and cobblers.
*
When did competition give poor
men these advantages? And will any man say that the moral
character of these people is not improved under these influences ?
The teetotallers of Rochdale acknowledge that the Store has made
more sober men since it commenced, than all their efforts have been
able to make in the same time. Husbands who never knew what it
was to be out of debt, and poor wives who, during forty years, never
had sixpence uncondemned in their pockets, now possess little stores
of money sufficient to build them cottages, and go every week into
their own market with money jingling in their pockets; and in that
market there is no distrust, and no deception; there is no adulteration,
and no second prices. The whole atmosphere is honest. Those who
serve neither hurry, finesse, nor flatter. They have no interest in
chicanery. They have but one duty to perform—that of giving fan
measure, full weight, and a pure article. In other parts of the town,
where competition is the principle of trade, all the preaching in
Rochdale cannot produce moral effects like these.f
As the Store has made no debts, it has incurred no losses; and,
during thirteen years’ transactions, and receipts amounting to £303,852,
it has had no law suits.
Children are not generally sent to shops when adults can be spared
for the errand, as it is very well known children are put off with any
thing. The number of children who are sent to the Store to make
purchases, is a proof of the honourable family confidence it has
inspired. A child is not sent to the Store with a message to go to a
particular man with grey whiskers and black hair, and get him to
serve, and to be sure and ask him for the ‘ best butter.’ Everybody
has grey whiskers and black hair at the Store; the child cannot go to
the wrong man, and the best butter is given to every one, old and
young, without its being asked for, for the best of all reasons—they
keep no bad.
The meetings of the Store wore quite a family feature during the
first few years. Afterwards, when the members much increased, the
meetings assumed a more commercial character. Of course the Store
will not now hold its eighteen hundred members. They are numerous
enough to make a large public meeting; and the Public Hall, at
Rochdale, has to be engaged when a general meeting is held. The
perfect freedom of intercourse maintained, the equality of all, which
has ever been undisturbed, both in the board room and on every
occasion of intercourse, have imparted an air of independence cf
* Last year, the Society advertised for a Provision Agent to make purchases in Ireland,
and to devote his whole time to that duty.
t The Arbitrators of the Societies, during all then- years of office, have never had a case
to decide, and are discontented that nobody quarrels. The peaceableness of the Co
operators amounts to what elsewhere would be termed ‘ contempt of court.’
�40
HISTORY OF THE
Progress of the Store.
feeling and manner to the whole. Eighteen hundred workmen are
brought into weekly intercourse with each other, under circumstances
which have raised the tone of society among them all.
The Directors of this important and encouraging movement are the
same modest and unassuming men they were thirteen years ago;
shining in oil, or dusted with flour, in flannel jackets and caps, they
in no way answer the expectations of strangers in appearance, how
ever they surpass expectation in moral and commercial capacity.
The following Table shows the progress of the Store from 1844 to
1857—a period of thirteen years.
Year.
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
No. of
Mem
bers,
Amount
of
Capital.
Amount of cash Receipts per
week in
sales in Store.
December quar.
Annual.
£ s.
£ s, d.
28 0 O
28
710 6
74
181 12 5
1,146 17
252 7 1|
80
1,924 13
110
286 5 3j
2,276 6
397 0 0
140
6,611 18
1,193 19 1
390
2,299 10 5
13,179 17
600
17,638 4
2,785 0 14
630
16,352 5
3,471 0 6
680
22,760 0
5,848 3 11
720
33,364 0
7,172 15 7
900
44,902 12
11,032 12 104
1400
63,197 10
12,920 13 14
1600
79,788 ' 0
15,142 1 2
1850
Total sales in thirteen years, £303,852.
d.
Amount of
Profit.
Annual.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
30 0 0
32 17
5
80 16
34 0 0
7
72 2
36 0 0
10
80 0 0
117 16
54
179 0 0
561 3
0
338 0 0
889 12
0
990 19
308 0 0
0
0
1,206 15
371 0 0
524 0 0
1,674 18
0
1,763 11
0
661 0 O
1,204 0 0
3,106 8
0
3,921 13
1,353 0 0
0
1,491 0 0
5,470 6
0
Total profits, £19,888 16s. ll£d.
The Capitals of Three Departments.
6
34
10
104
9
5
84
24
114
24
44
14
84
1856-7.
Store.
Com MUI.
Manufactures.
Total of
Capitals.
1856— £12,920
1857— 15,142
£8,450
8,450
£4,000
5,500
£25,370
29,092
Weekly Receipts of the same, 1856-7.
1856— £1,353
1857— 1,491
£850
1,184
£360
300
Total Annual
Returns.
£133,276
153,088
These Returns will be much higher for 1858, as the Balance Sheet
for the first quarter shows an increase of more than £10,000 for the
year, for the Store alone.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
41
Two classes exist in all societies who are never to be viewed separately.
CHAPTER VHI.
ANECDOTES OE THE MEMBERS.
THE WORKING CLASS STAND BY THE
STORE, AND THEY ‘ KNOW THE REASON WHY.’
It is as instructive as it is gratifying to notice the kind of replies fre
quently made by persons who have been served by the Store. One
woman who had about £50 in the Store to her credit, was told the ‘ Store
would break,’ by persons who wished it would do so. She answered,
‘ Well, let it break; I have only paid one shilling in, andlhavefifty pounds
in it. It ’ll break with its own if it do break.’ These anecdotes
are very common. Many poor people, whose confidence was sought to
be tampered with, have answered alarmists, who have tried to
shake their trust—‘Well, if it do smash it may smash, with all
it has of mine, for it has paid me out more than ever I paid
in,’ These answers not only show good sense, but gratitude and
generosity of sentiment. In all service of the people there will be
ingratitude displayed. Every man finds it so, sometimes among his private
and chosen friends; no doubt, it will be so with the public, whom you
serve at random. In publicism, in all human relations, a man who
will not be cast down needlessly must learn to look on both sides. He
will in every crowd find many whom he cannot respect, and who do not
deserve respect; and numbers of poor, yet devoted, trusting, toiling,
manly, impassable, grateful men and women, whom you might
worship in the fulness of the sentiment of admiration with which
they inspire you.
‘ Another fact ought not to escape notice, which none but those
having considerable experience are aware of—viz., it is seldom that
the people whom you expect to help forward a movement do it.
Exactly those on whom you most rely—commonly those whom you
select for appeal—deceive you, or fail to help when you expect, and
when the crisis requires it.
The effects of the Store in improving the finances of its
members was seen in the instance of one known as Dick, who has
lived in a cellar thirty years, and was never out of debt. He
one morning astonished his milkman by asking him to change him
a £5 note. The sly dog never had one before, and he felt a
pardonable pride in displaying his first possession. Dick has now
twenty pounds of ‘ brass ’ in Store. And most of those who have the
largest balances standing to their credit, are persons who have never
paid, many shillings in. The whole is the accumulation of their
profits.
The following cases, designated by the numbers belonging to the
particular member, were taken by the present writer from the books
of the Store in 1853, and communicated to the Leader newspaper
�42
HISTORY OF THE
Examples of the advantages derived by members of the Store.
‘No. 12 joined the Society in 1844. He had never been out of a shop
keeper’s books for forty years. He spent at the shop from twenty shillings
to thirty shillings per week, and has been indebted as much as £30 at
a time. Since he has joined the Pioneers’ Society he has paid in con
tributions £2 18s.; he has drawn from the Society as profits £17 10s. 7d.;
and he has still left in the funds of the Society £5. Thus he has
had better food and gained £20. Had such a society been open to him
in the early part of his life, he would now be worth a considerable,
sum.
‘No. 22 joined the Society at its commencement. He was never
out of a shopkeeper’s debt for twenty-five years. His average expen
diture with the shopkeeper was about ten shillings per week, and was
indebted to him forty shillings or fifty shillings generally. He has
paid into the Society £2 10s.; he has drawn from the Society £6 17s. 5d.;
he has still left in the funds of the Society £8 Os. 3d. He thinks
the credit system made him careless about saving anything, and pre
vented his family from being as economical as they would have been
had they been compelled to pay ready money for their commodities.
In this he agrees with No. 12. Since he (No. 22) has joined the
Society, he has enjoyed other advantages, having a place accessible,
where he can resort to, instead of going to the public-house or
beer-shop for information and conversation.
‘ No. 114 joined the Society in 1848. Paid in fifteen shillings, has
drawn out £11 14s. 1 Id., has still in the funds of the Society £7 2s. lid.
Gained in two years £18.
•
‘ No. 131 joined the Society at its commencement in 1844. He says
he was never out of debt with a shopkeeper for fourteen years. He
spent on an average about nine shillings per week with the shopkeeper,
and generally owed him from twenty to thirty shillings. He has paid into
the Stere as contributions at different times £1 18s. 4d.; and has
drawn from it £1 12s. Id.; and has still in the funds of the Society
£3 Is. lOd. He thinks the credit system one reason why he was always
poor, and that since he joined the Society his domestic comfort has
been greatly increased; and had he not belonged to the Society in
1847, he would have been obliged to apply to the parish officers for
relief.
‘ Thus the members derive all the advantage of a sick as well as a
benefit society. It is thus that the Society give to its members the
money which they save.’*
A mother, who had always sent her child to the neighbouring slfbp,
at length began to send her child to the Store, which was more than
a mile away from her house. The child asked the mother why she
should be sent so far away for things instead of going into the shop
next door. The mother explained to the child that the profits made
at the Store would come to them. The child understood the lesson,
and would come down in a morning to fetch the food for breakfast,
* These instances were quoted by Chambers's Journal at the time of their appearance. -
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
43
Four cows and a half killed weekly.
and the family at home would wait till she returned; and, as Sir
James Graham would express it, both mother and child knew the
reason why. A butcher’s wife expressed her new experience thus :—
‘ Instead of having to take her “ strap ” book with her, she now had
money in her pocket and money in the Store.’ One member has .£50
in the Store, all of which he has made by profits, he having drawn
out for his own use all that he ever paid in. In one case a woman
withdrew £5. from her savings in the Store, not so much because she
had special occasion for the money, as for the pleasure of having £5
in her possession. She had traded at shops for nearly half a century,
and she declared it was the first time she had ever had £5 of her own
in her hands in her life.
A husband who dealt at the Store, and had accumulated money in
it, had a wife who did not believe in co-operation, and was easily
persuaded that the Store was unsafe, and she took the opportunity of
drawing his savings from the Store and placed them, for more
safety, in the savings’ bank. Before long the savings’ bank broke.
The poor woman’s faith was made whole by the mishap. She gathered
up the tardy dividends of the bank and replaced the residue in the
Store, where since they have remained.
George Morton, an old man above sixty, says that had there been
no Store, he does not know how he must have lived without going to
the poor-house. The profits he has received from the Store on goods
purchased has nearly kept him in food for the last eleven years—that
is, from 1845 to 1856. He has, during that time, received in dividends
£77 3s. 6d., and has remaining in the Society £11. He has never
paid into the Society more than £5 16s. 7|d. altogether.
Of the confidence in the dealings of the Store, Mrs. Mills, a widow,
gives this testimony. She came to the Store for a steak, but as the
Store butchers had none, and she wantedit for a sick person, she went
into the public market and bought a pound and a half. On reaching
home she weighed her purchase, and found that the pound weighed
fourteen ounces, and the half-pound only seven ounces. She now
says that when there is no steak at the Store, ‘ they lump itmeaning
that they make shift until the Store is replenished. This anecdote,
which is perfectly genuine, gives no bad idea of a Rochdale sickness,
to which a pound and a half of steak seem congenial. The vege
tarians might take a turn there.
Speaking of beef—the other day I was standing at the upper
window of the Store, when the Store butchers, who had just come
from the Society’s abbatoirs, drove up with an immense waggon full
of ‘ prime joints.’ Upon looking over the chief butcher’s bill, I found
he reported himself as having ‘ killed four cows and a half,’ which led me
to inquire by what co-operative process he was enabled to kill half a cow
at a time. The explanation was this. Some butcher in the town
wanted half a cow for that day’s market, the Store wanted four cows
and a half only, so the fifth cow was divided and both parties served,
which the butcher called ‘ killing half a cow.’
�44
HISTORY OF THE
The beneficial influence of the Store upon marriages.
‘ The Tillycoultry Co-operative Society ’ admits no member who
is immoral in his conduct. A female householder is admitted a mem
ber, but is refused a vote. The Baking Company of the same place
has a similar ungallant and uncivil rule.
*
The Rochdale Store renders incidental but valuable aid towards
realising the civil independence of women. Women may be members
of this Store, and vote in its proceedings. Single and married women
join. Many married women become members because their husbands
will not take the trouble, and others join it in self-defence, to prevent
the husband from spending their money in drink. The husband
cannot withdraw the savings at the Store standing in the wife’s name
unless she signs the order. Of course, as the law still stands, the
husband could by legal process get possession of the money. But a
process takes time, and the husband gets sober and thinks better of it
before the law can move.
Many single women have accumulated property in the Store, which
thus becomes a certificate of their conjugal worth. And young men,
in want of prudent companions, consider that to consult the books of
the Store would be the best means of directing their selection. The
habits of honourable thrift acquired by young men, members of this
Store, renders it unlikely that they would select industrious girls in
marriage for the purpose of living in idleness upon their earnings or
savings, as happens elsewhere.f
What quality is it that makes a poor woman pay her way ? Ladies
do not always do it; many bankruptcies in London are occasioned by
their neglect; the poor woman who has been born with that faculty,
or who has acquired it, is a treasure and a triumph of good sense and
social cultivation. The difficulty of bringing about this result many
working class husbands can tell. The art of living within your
income is a gift. The woman who has it, will do it with £1 a week;
she who has it not, will be poor with £20. Peter Noakes, tired of
finding himself always in debt, wants to get his wife one week in
advance with the world. He wants to stand clear on the shopkeepers
*
books. He knows that the small tradesman cannot pay his way un
less his customers pay theirs. He therefore saves, by carefulness and
secret thrift, a little money, and one week delights his wife by giving
her double wages, that she may pay in advance for her things. What
is the result? Next week he finds her running into debt as usual.
He complains, and then she tells him the everlasting story of a
thousand working class homes, ‘What could she do? Mr. Last’s
bill for Tommy’s boots had never been paid, the account for Billy’s
jacket had stood over till she was ashamed of it, little Jane’s shoes
were out at the toes, and poor Polly, she was the disgrace of the
* Vide rules 1845-6 of the above societies.
t Vide letter of S. H. Musgrave, read by Sir Erskine Perry at the public meeting to con
sider the laws relating to the property of married women, held at 21, Regent Street, Lon
don, 31st May, 1856.—Law Amendment Journal, No. 14, p. 94.
�BOCHPALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
45
Peter Noakes and family.
family for want of a new frock, and as for Mrs. Noakes herself, her
own bonnet was not fit to be seen, she would rather stop in the house
for ever than go out in that old fashioned thing any longer.’ Poor
Peter is overwhelmed—he had never thought of these things. In
fact, Mrs. Noakes tells him, ‘he never does think of anything. He
gets up and goes to work, and comes home and goes to bed, and never
thinks of anything in the house.’ What can Peter do ? He does the
only thing he ought—he allows that his wife ought to know best,
confesses that he is very stupid, kisses her in confirmation of his re
pentance, and promises to save her another week’s wages, and she
shall try what can be done the next time. In the course of a few
weeks, Peter, by over-work and. going without customary half-pints
of beer, saves up another week’s wages, when, alas! he finds that the
shoemaker has sent in another bill, and the tailor another account—
that Master Tommy’s trousers have grown too short for him, young
Billy’s jacket is out at the elbows, Jane’s shoes let in water, Miss
Polly (bless her sweet soul!) is still the disgrace of the family, and
Mrs. Noakes, although Peter thought she never looked so young nor
so pretty as she did last Sunday, declares her bonnet ‘perfectly hate
ful ; indeed, there is not such another fright as herself in the whole
neighbourhood, and if Peter was like anybody else, he would be
ashamed to see his wife go out in such a condition.’ And the little
book still goes to the shop, Peter eats cheese tough as gutta percha,
she buys tea that has been used to boiling before it was sold to her,
the coffee tastes grievously of burnt corn, Tommy’s boots are a long
time being mended, Mrs. Noakes never has sixpence to bless herself
with, her money is all condemned before it comes in; Peter, degraded
and despairing, thinks he may as well drink a pint as a half-pint—•
things can’t be worse at home. He soon ceases to take interest in
public affairs. How can he consistently help the public who can
not help himself? How can he talk of independence, who is the
slave of the shoemaker and the tailor ? How can he subscribe to a
political or social society, who cannot look his grocer in the face ?
Thus he is doubly destroyed. He is good neither for home nor
parish. So ends many domestic experiments for paying in advance.
When children are sick, or the husband is out of work, a wife will
submit to any amount of privation. If she would submit to half
as much from pride of independence as she will from affection,
thousands of families, now always poor, would be in possession of
moderate competence. But to starve your household when you can
help it, to prevent them being starved one day when you cannot help
it, implies good sense, strength of will, and courageous foresight,
which many women certainly display, but which is yet so rare a
quality that one cannot but marvel and applaud the Rochdale Co
operators, who have taught so many families the art of getting out of
debt, and inspired them with the pride of keeping out.
Let the enemies of co-operation ponder on this fact, and learn wis
dom ; let the friends of co-operation ponder on this fact and take
�46
HISTORY OF THE
The partition of profits.
courage ; the fact that the members in a short period learn provident
habits by connection with these societies—habits which, in some cases,
forty years of competition have failed to teach.
CHAPTER IX.
BULES AND AIMS OF THE SOCIETY.
The founders of the society were opposed to capital absorbing all
urofit arising from trade, and to hit upon a plan that should give
proportionally the gain to the persons who make it, was a problem
they had to solve. After meeting several times for the purpose of
agreeing to laws, Mr. Charles Howarth proposed the plan of dividing
profits on purchase—that is, after paying expenses of management,
interest on capital invested, at a rate per cent., the remaining profits
to be divided quarterly among the members in proportion to their
purchases or dealings with the society. This plan continues the feature
of the Rochdale Store.
The division of profits is made quarterly from the net proceeds of
all retail sales in every department, after paying:—
1. —Expenses of management.
2.—Interest on loans.
3. —Reduction in value of fixed stock.
4. —Dividends on subscribed capital.
5. —Increase of capital for the extension of business.
6. —Two and a half per cent, (of the remainder after the above are
provided for) applied to educational purposes.
The residue thus accruing is divided among the members of the
Store in proportion to the amount of their respective purchases during
the quarter.
The Pioneers prudently established early in their career a ‘ Re
demption Fund,’ which consists of the accumulation of entrance fees
of one shilling from each member. The last two pounds drawn from
the society by a retiring member are liable to a forfeit of one shilling
each pound. The trade of non-members of the society affords some
profit. These sums go to the Redemption Fund, which is a reserve to
meet the depreciation of the fixed stock. In all financial reports of
the Society a broad allowance is always made for depreciation of
stock, and the fixed capital at stock-taking is always estimated be
low its real value, so that if the Society broke up, it is calculated that
every subscriber of £1 invested in the Society would receive twentyfive shillings as his dividend.
A new member must now hold five £1 shares in the capital. He
pays one shilling deposit on these on entrance, and threepence a week
afterwards, or three and threepence a quarter, until the £5 are paid
up; but these payments are assisted by all the profits he makes by
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
47
Assistance of members in distress.
dealing at the Store, and any interest, which is fixed at 5 per cent.,
accruing to him as successive pounds are made up. All profits and
interest are not paid to the member, but carried to the credit of his
shares, until the £5 are paid.
The board of directors may suspend any member whose conduct is
considered to be injurious to the Society, and a general meeting may
expel him, after which he has great difficulty in obtaining re-admission,
if he desires it.
The Store supplied the capital for opening the Wholesale depart
ment, for which it charges that department 5 per cent, interest. The
profits, after paying cost of management and interest on capital, are
divided quarterly into three parts, one part as a reserve against
losses, the remaining two parts among the purchasers, in proportion
to the amount of their respective transactions.
Any Co-operative Society can buy to any extent through one of its
members, who, however, must become a member of the ‘ Equitable
Pioneers’ Society.’
A member, being in distress, may withdraw any sum he may have
in the funds of the Society above £2, at the discretion of the Board of
Directors. In the great distress period of 1849, many applications
were made to be allowed to draw all out except £1. Though it is
rarely that any Director puts a question as to the personal affairs of
an applicant, yet narratives were volunteered of so painful and remark
able a character, that the Directors learned to esteem that co-operation
which had placed in their hands a wholesome power of relief. To
this day these Directors recur to the experience of that year when
defending the Society. Members may withdraw any sum above £5
according to the following scale of notice:—
£2
10s. at once on application to the Board.
2
10
to
5 at
2 weeks’ notice.
5
0
„
10 —
3
10
0
„
20 —
4
20
0
„
30 —
5
30
0
„
40 —
6
40
0
„
50 —
7
50
0
„
60 —
8
60
0
„
70 —
9
70
0
„
80 — 10
80
0
„
90 — 11
90
0
„
100 — 12
No member can hold more than £100 of shares in the society
*
except by way of annuity, nor, under any circumstances, shall his
interest in the funds exceed £30. The Directors can obtain loans,
but not exceeding four times the amount of the paid up subscriptions
of the members for the time being.
* A recent Act of Parliament has increased this amount to £200.
�48
HISTORY OF THE
The liability of the Store to income tax settled.
All disputes are settled—
1. —By the Directors, or
2.—By appeal at a general meeting.
3. —By arbitration.
Complaints and suggestions relative to the qualities or prices of
goods, or conduct of servants or the Society, are required to be made
in writing to the Directors, who record their decision thereupon; if
this be not satisfactory, the question is referred to a special general
meeting, whose decision is final.
The question of liability to income tax occupied the attention of
the Store for several years. Its apparently final solution may be use
ful information to other Stores. In August, 1850, the Board applied
to editors of newspapers, who are the popular lawyers of the poor, to
learn whether Co-operative Societies were liable when the individual
members have not the requisite amount of income. Answers so
obtained could not have the force of law, but they had the quality of
direction. The Society paid Income Tax regularly, but as the separate
income of each member was far below the amount at which the
government commences its assessment, the Society appealed against it.
Still the local Commissioners forced its payment. They were told,
indeed, that each member might demand a form of Exemption, and
claim the amount of his assessment back again. But this, on the part
of a thousand members, involved too much trouble, as the Exemption
claims must have been filled up for them in most cases. One year the
members went to the Appeal office in a body, but the Commissioners
refused to admit them, and required one representative to be appointed.
It ended in the old order to pay being enforced. Opinions of Members
of .Parliament were obtained, who said the Society was liable, and the
opinions of lawyers, who said they were not liable. As their num
bers and importance increased, their confidence grew, and, in 1856,
they resolved to make a stand against the exaction, and, if need be,
carry it to trial. An adjourned meeting of the Board, held in
October, appointed Messrs. Smithies and EUis ‘ to appeal against the
Income Tax.’ These officers, who were trustees of the Society, pre
sented themselves on Appeal day, and argued that the Society was
exempt, being enrolled under the Industrial and Provident Societies’
Act, which forbid any member receiving more than £30 annually in
any or all forms from the Society. The case was adjourned to another
day, when it was to be heard first. The day came, but Messrs.
Smithies and Ellis were edified by the opportunity ’ of hearing
numerous cases disposed of without their case being called on. They
were told to come the following day. On the ‘ following day ’ they
were told they should receive notice when required to appear, as the
Commissioners were in correspondence with London. Messrs. Smithies
and Ellis had the happiness never to be sent for. However, the In
come Tax Collector could not refrain from making his accustomed
demand, and insisted that it must be paid, giving the Society the
gratifying assurance that, if illegal, they could get it back again. The
�49
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
Example of an English resolution passed by the Pioneers.
Society, however, were not to be gratified in this way. They thought
it audacity on the part of the collector to make the demand, so long
as the case was undecided, and an attempt to use his legal position to
intimidate uneducated men. Mr. William Cooper reported the case to
the Pioneers’ Board, who put on their minutes, December 4th, 1856, this
very English resolution :—‘ Resolved, that we do not pay the Income
Tax until we are made.’ The next Saturday, the collector again
called and demanded the money. He was told the decision of the
Board. He replied, in professional terms, that ‘ he wanted no un
pleasantness, but the Society had no alternative but to pay, and that,
if his demand was not paid in a few days, he should seize the goods of
the Store.’ On the Board being informed of that, they resolved, Dec.
18th, 1856, ‘ That the Income Tax Collector take his own course.’ He
has not taken his course to this day, nor have the Commissioners made
any sign of having a course to take.
One most honourable feature of the Society, which proves the earnest
desire of the members for self-improvement, is the reservation of a
portion of their funds for educational purposes. The 2| per cent, of
their quarterly profits assigned for division among the members,
together with the fines accruing from the infraction of rules, con
stitute a separate and distinct fund, called the ‘ Educational Fund,’ for
the intellectual improvement of the members of the Store, the main
tenance and extension of the Library, and such other means of
*
instruction as may be considered desirable.
GENERAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNT OF THE EDUCATIONAL FUND.
Receipts.
£ s. d.
Donations -' - 12 6
2| per cent, from Edu
cational Fund - 424 18 11|
Catalogues and Fines 17 19 11
Sale of Newspapers- 2 14 3
Sundry receipts - - 3 7 9
£450 3
4|
Disbursements.
£
Paid for Books - - 308
Bookbinding - 20
55
Book Case- - 25
55
Wages - - - 28
55
Catalogues, etc. 6
55
Newspapers - fl7
55
Sundry Dis55
bursements - - 2
Cash on hand - - 41
£450
s.
11
12
9
5
0
5
d.
9
3|
11
8
9
8
8
41
6
2|
3 41
Their News-room is as well supplied as that of a London club,
and the Library contains 2,200 volumes of the best, and among
them, many of the most expensive books published. The Library is
* A minute of Sept. 20th, 1853, orders a motion tQ be made at the quarterly meeting, for
awarding £40 to the Library.
f 1 he News-room has become chargeable on the Education Fund only within the last
six months. The quarterly meeting passed a resolution that the News-room should be free
to members, and supported from the Education Fund.
�50
HISTORY OF THE
Co-operative colonizers wanted.
free. In their News-room, conveniently and well fitted up, a member
may read, if he has the time, twelve hours a day, also free.
From 1850 to 1855, a school for young persons was conducted at a
charge of twopence per month. Since 1855, a room has been granted
by the Board for the use of from twenty to thirty persons, from the
ages of fourteen to forty, for mutual and other instruction on
Sundays and Tuesdays.
Any readers of these pages, who may contemplate forming Stores
in their own neighbourhood, will, on application to the Secretary of
the Equitable Pioneers’ Society, Toad Lane, Rochdale, obtain the
laws at present in force, and other printed documents from which
executive details may be learned, not necessary to be included in
this history; but a personal visit to the Store ought to be made by
all who would initiate similar establishments. Many Members of
Parliament, political economists, and some distinguished publicists,
have made journeys of late years to the Rochdale Store. The officers
receive with courtesy, and give information with enthusiasm to, all
inquirers. Indeed, they are often found travelling thirty miles from
their homes to give evening explanations to some workmen’s meeting
desirous of information in practical co-operation, and of forming societies
themselves. It will greatly promote the extension of Co-operative
Societies if the Rochdale Pioneers will train officers who may be
transplanted to the towns commencing' Stores, to organise and con
duct them. This co-operative colonisation will save both waste and
failure in many places.
Though an element of self-sacrifice for the good of others—a feeling
that justice rather than selfishness should pervade industrial inter
course, if it is to be healthy—animates these co-operators, they are
neither dreamers nor sentimentalists. This may best be shown by a
quotation from a letter by one of their leaders, to whom we elsewhere
refer—Mr. Smithies. ‘The improved condition of our members is
apparent in their dress, bearing, and freedom of speech. You would
scarcely believe the alteration made in them by their being connected
with a co-operative society. Many well-wishers to the cause think
that we rely too much upon making ourselves capitalists; but my
experience among the working classes for the last sixteen years has
brought me to the conclusion, that to make them act in union for
any given object, they must be bound together by chains of gold, and
those of their own forging.’
In 1855, a co-operative conference was held at Rochdale. A Com
mittee was appointed to carry out certain resolutions agreed to.
Abraham Greenwood, President, James Smithies, Secretary, published
a declaration of the principles on which the proceedings of the said
Committee would be regulated. We shall quote them to the credit of
co-operation. They were these :—
I.
That human society is a body consisting of many members,
the real interests of which are identical.
II. That true workmen should be fellow-workers.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
51
The moral principles of Co-operation.
HI. That a principle of justice, not of selfishness, must govern our
exchanges.
We think these three sentences honourably illustrate how much
higher is the morality of co-operation than that of competition.
When did any commercial firm ever issue, and, what is more, act up
to, a manifesto like this ?
The co-operative conference of 1855, held in Rochdale, was called
by the Equitable Pioneers ; the delegate from London was Mr. Lloyd
*
Jones, who has as continually aided, as he has serviceably defended,
these associations.
On this occasion, the Rochdale Society, in
addition to the manifesto of its own principles and public aims, which
entitled it to distinction above all other societies, took the opportunity
of paying a just tribute to the labours of others, to which they had
themselves been indebted, as well as the public
‘ They were convinced that the Society for Promoting Working
Men’s Associations had, during the period of its active existence, con
ferred great benefits on the Co-operative cause, by gathering all sorts
of valuable information, and spreading it throughout the country
amongst the various Co-operative bodies; by urging on the attention
of Parliament, through members favourable to the cause, the legal
hindrances to the movement; and by helping to procure such alter
ations of the laws relating to Friendly Societies as to give freer action
and greater security to the men who have embarked in the Co
operative undertaking. Not only have they done these things, but
they have likewise drawn up model laws suitable for either distribu
tive or productive associations, so as to facilitate the safe enrolment of
all Co-operative bodies, and to secure the highest degree of legal
accuracy with the smallest possible cost; in addition to which, they
have at all times given legal advice freely to such of the Societies as
stood in need of it—a matter, it must be acknowledged, of great value
to bodies of working men. There was one object, however, which the
gentlemen belonging to this Society did not accomplish, although
they aimed to do so with much perseverance and great patience, and
that was to beget amongst those engaged in the movement a recog
nition of the duties that spring from the principle upon which these
Societies are founded, a recognition without which co-operation can
never acquire unity and force sufficient to carry it triumphantly over
the obstacles which competition, united with ignorance and selfishness,
oppose to its progress.
‘ The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers feel deeply the value of the
services rendered to Co-operation by the Council of the Society for
* Mr. Lloyd Jones, being the manager of the Manchester branch of the Co-operative
Central Agency of London, and subsequent traveller for that firm, has frequently visited
the working and co-operative societies of the North of England, and addressed the mem
bers at their anniversary meetings. On these occasions, and at the several co-operative
conferences held in London, Manchester, Rochdale, Leeds, and Bury, he has exercised an im
portant influence in the development of the co-operative idea. The ‘ wholesale depart
ment ’ of the Rochdale Store, so important a step in organisation, was carried out under his
advice.
�52
HISTOR
OF THE
Acknowledgments to the Society for promoting Working Men’s Associations.
Promoting Working Men’s Associations; and, as the fullest and most
acceptable acknowledgment, they considered that the best thing they
could do would be to attempt to continue the work which the Society
for Promoting Working Men’s Associations had begun, and perfect,
if possible, the design which they unfortunately failed to complete.’
Never was testimony more nobly deserved than this thus borne to
the services rendered to working men by the gentlemen known in
London as ‘ Christian Socialists.’ Professor Maurice, Mr. Vansittart
Neale, the Rev. Charles Kingsley, Mr. Fur nival, Mr. Ludlow, and
others, guided by their wisdom and sustained by their wealth, efforts
for ‘ Promoting Working Men’s Associations,’ for which the people will
be more grateful as they acquire more knowledge to appreciate their
sympathy, their generosity, their patient and costly services. The
Working Men’s College of London is the crowning tribute of their
catholic love of the people.
The Rochdale Store has done business for several years with ‘ The
Universal Purveyor,’ instituted by J. L. St. Andre, author of the
*
‘Prospects of Co-operative Associations in England,’ a volume re
markable for comprehensive views of industrial organisation. In the
words of one whose approval is praise, ‘ M. St. Andre, whatever may
be his enthusiasm, or his over-estimate of what can be done with men
as they are, appears to have the merit of a sincere desire to draw
associations together in a spirit of unselfish co-operation, and at the
same time to place them in a healthy connection with the external world.'^
We record, and rightly, the names of inventors and discoverers—
we record the names of those who signalise themselves on the field of
battle—it is no less useful to record the names of those who have dis
covered, or perfected, or, at least, improved the art of self-help among
the people, and conquered in the field of industry, providence, and
good sense, where so many fail and perish. Every name represents
the continuity of small duties well fulfilled—a quality more valuable
to society than the emulation of sublime virtues. Every member of
this Store has been a co-worker equally with the officers, but we can
only enumerate those who have taken the lead in the greatest
and most successful experiment ever conducted by the people.
Their perseverance must give a new idea of the capacity of the
working class.
The first general meeting of the founders of the Store was held in
the Social Institution, Rochdale, on Sunday, August 11th, 1844. The
first resolutions upon their minutes are as follows:—
Resolved, 1st—That the following persons be appointed to conduct
the business of the Society now established—Mr. John Holt,
Treasurer, Mr. James Daly, Secretary, Mr. Miles Ashworth, Presi* And sustained by the Rev. Charles Marriott, Fellow of Oriel, one of those great
Churchmen who commend the priestly character by uniting a clear faith to works of wide
human interest.
f ‘ The Co-operative Principle not opposed to a True Political Economy,’ by the Rev.
Charles Marriott, B.D., Fellow of Oriel—pp. 35-6.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
53
The Founders and Directors of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers’ Society.
dent, Messrs. Charles Howarth, George Ashworth, and William
Mallalieu, be appointed Trustees.
2nd. That Messrs. James Tweedale, James Smithies, James Holt,
James Bamford, and William Taylor be appointed Directors.
3rd. That John Bent and Joseph Smith be appointed Auditors.
(Signed)
Miles Ashworth, Chairman.
ARBITRATORS OF 1844.
Mr. James Wilkinson, shoemaker, High Street; Mr. Charles
Barnish, weaver, Spotland; Mr. George Healey, hatter, Suddenbrow; Mr. John Garside, cabinet maker, High Street; Mr. John
Lord, Weaver, Cronkey Shaw.
The present arbitrators (1858) are—* homas Livsey, Esq., Aider
T
man, Rochdale, late Chief Constable; f John Garside, cabinet
maker; Rev. James Wilkinson, Unitarian Minister; John Lord,
publican; Samuel Tweedale, foreman.
First among the arbitrators of the Co-operative Manufacturing
Society, and of the Corn Mill Society, of which we have yet to speak,
stands the name universally esteemed among the working classes of
Lancashire, of Jacob Bright, Esq., Mayor of Rochdale.
officers’ names from official publications of the store, etc.
John Holt (Treasurer), Benjamin Rudman, James Standring—
names appended to the Laws of 1844.
John Cockcroft, Henry Green, John Kershaw—names attached to
the Laws of 1848.
William Cooper and Abraham Greenwood—from Laws of 1855.
George Adcroft (President), James Hill, Robert Taylor, John
Whitehead, Robert Hoyle, Thomas Hollows, James Joyce Hill,
George Morton, James Mittall, John Clegg—names attached to Corn
Mill Rules.
Abraham Hill, Treasurer; John Tweedale, Robert Woolfenden,
Trustees; Robert Law, Thomas Hill, James Whittaker, Directors;
Samuel Ashworth, Superintendent. Store officers from the Almanack
of 1854.
Samuel Fielding, David Hill, John Hollows, Trustees; Peter
McKenzie, Robert Whitehead, William Ellis, Adam Grindrod,
Directors. Store officers from the Almanack of 1855.
James Manock, Trustees; John Smith, Secretary; Thomas Clegg,
Isaac . Tweedale, John Worsnip, Directors; Emeryk Roberski,t
Superintendent. Store officers from Almanack of 1856.
Edward Farrand, Clerk. Corn Mill advertisement. Vide Alma
nack, 1856.
* The most radical and popular chief constable of the day.
t Known among old Social reformers as ‘ Father Garside.’
t An intelligent young Polish exile, exiled through the Hungarian struggle, to whom
employment was given in the Store, and who rose to be superintendent. He has lately
emigrated to Australia.
*
�64
HISTORY OF THE
Words that fall on stony ground.
William Whitehead, Secretary. Vide Manufacturers’ advertise
*
ment, 1856.
John Aspden, Librarian; William Holt, Samuel Newton, Robert
Clegg, Samuel Clegg, Robert Howarth, Thomas Halliwell, Com
mittee of Library. Vide Almanack, 1856.
John T. W. Mitchell, Secretary; John Kenworthy, Trustee;
Jonathan Crabtree, Thomas Fielding, Thomas Cheetham, Samuel
Stott, Directors. Store officers from the Almanack of 1857.
James Clegg, George Watson, Matthew Ormerod, William Briggs,
William Hoyle, Abraham Howard, Edmund Kelly, Thomas Whittaker.
Library Committee from Almanack of 1857.
These names are given here in the order of time in which they
appear in the public documents cited, and with the office annexed the
person happened to hold in the list quoted. Each name is given but
once, though most of them occur again and again, some in connection
with every office. For instance, Mr. James Smithies, to whom the
members, some time ago, presented a valuable watch and chain, in
testimony of their regard, has held offices during twelve years. Mr.
Abraham Greenwood, who has been specially mentioned in connection
with the Corn Mill, has been an officer nine years. Mr. William
Cooper has been an officer in the Store from the commencement. To
the last-named persons I have been mainly indebted, and especially
to Mr, W. Cooper, the present Secretary, for the sources of the leading
facts of these pages.
CHAPTER X.
THE
OLD CO-OPERATORS---- WHY THEY FAILED.
THE NEW
CO
OPERATORS---- WHY THEY SUCCEED.
‘ That were a noble achievement which should originate a system of
more wages and less work, that the labour of the handicraftsman might
be lighter on his hands, and his earthly blessings and little comforts
be increased; and that were a still more worthy achievement which
should teach him to fill his intervals of time with the study of phi
losophy, and the pursuit of literature and science.’ Thus wrote
Dr. Chalmers.
‘ This that they call organisation of labour, is, if well understood,
the problem of the whole future, for all who would in future govern
man.’ Thus wrote Thomas Carlyle.
‘ It appears from actual experiment, that a thousand subscribers of
from one penny upwards will yield a weekly revenue of £5. In
Great Britain there are 6,000,000 adult males. Take of these, in
cluding such females as choose to subscribe. 4,000,000; these will yield
�BOCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEEBS.
55
Numbers, Union, and Knowledge, the conditions of Power.
£20,000 weekly, or £1,040,000 a-year.' Now, £1,040,000 a-year, with
compound interest, would amount,
£
s. d.
In 10 years, to
- 18,232,413 14 11
In 20 years, to
• 65,522,599 8 3
In 30 years, to
■ 188,181,161 18 8
In 40 years, to
■ 506,325,883 12 8
In 50 years, to
1331,511,365 15 1
In 60 years, to
3471,129,995 18 4
Now this sum would buy all the property of the kingdom. Do noc
suppose for a moment that 4,000,000 of working men will soon be
found steadily subscribing their penny or twopence a-week for this
object; but these figures show what a fund there lies in the smallest
co-operation of the millions, and which the devotion of the sums ex
pended merely on spirits and tobacco might accomplish for mankind.’
So calculates the Leeds Redemption Society, and seeks to win by
figures those whom rhetoric fails to reach.
‘Wait no longer on the banks of the great and ever-growing river
of poverty, for the golden boat of the capitalists to carry you over,
till you perish. Awake to the fact you may become capitalists your
selves—that you can and must help yourselves.’ Thus exhorts the
People's Journal, in its genuine sympathy for the working classes.
Upon how many thousands of our countrymen have these words of
wise direction fallen, as upon ‘ stony ground,’ The more, therefore,
the esteem with which the public will regard the men of Rochdale,
upon whom they have not fallen in vain.
That co-operation was the secret whereby the poor could make
money was known to old co-operators, though the Rochdale Society
has been the most skilful in turning it to progressive account; for as
early as 1831, one William Shelmerdine, storekeeper of a society,
meeting at 7, Rodger’s Row, Deansgate, Manchester, reported that
their members, with a stock of only £46 12s., and subscriptions of
£26 10s., had made, in twelve months, £20 2s. of profits. Eight
members founded the society, and thirty-six had joined it by the end
of the year.
The second Co-operative Congress was held in Birmingham, in
October, 1831. The first appears to have been held in Manchester,
in May, in the same year. In this year, the Lancashire and York
shire Co-operator appeared—a small fortnightly penny paper, calling
itself the advocate of the useful classes, and bearing this sensible
motto:—
‘ Numbers without Union are powerless—
And Union without Knowledge is useless.’
The true warning is here, though twenty-six years of experience has
not supplied the necessary wisdom to profit by it.
At the third London Co-operative Congress, 1832, there was re
ported the existence of a ‘ Rochdale Friendly Co-operative Society,’
�56
HISTORY OF THE
The Pioneers’ terror of credit.
which sent, as a delegate to London, one William Harrison. It had a
secretary of the gentle name of T. Ladyman, whose address was 70,
Cheetham Street, Rochdale. The Society was formed October, 1830.
In 1832 it had fifty-two members. It employed ten members and
families. It manufactured flannel. It had thirty-two volumes in its
library. It had never discussed the ‘ principles of exchange;’ and
there were two societies in its neighbourhood.
In 1832, there existed in Birkacre a society, whose secretary was
Ellis Piggot, Printer’s Arms, Salford, which had 3,000 members and
<£4,000 of funds. This society were silk and calico printers.
At the third London Co-operative Congress there were sixty-five
societies represented, of which nine were in London. Of the dele
gates or secretaries, the following names are still known:—W. Lovett,
B. Cousins, T. Whitaker.
Why have so many stores one after the other disappeared ? Some
have not known how to turn their prosperity to a progressive account,
and have grown tired of a monotonous success. There have been of
late years failures around Rochdale; the leading cause assigned is the
system of credit.
The Oldham Mechanics’ Store, and the Bolton Store, were broken
up through the strike of the amalgamated ironworkers; but it was said
they paid twenty shillings in the pound. The Brighton Store did not
acquit itself so well on its failure, which was attributed to its giving
credit to its members. Mr. Smithies, who is certainly the most com
petent and practical authority we can follow, said, writing in 1855:—
‘Nearly all the Stores, there is hardly one exception, are now on the
ready-money principle. We find that those Co-operative Societies
which commenced by giving credit, but have since adopted the ready
money plan, have all improved since doing so. I look upon the strap
book,’ says he, ‘ as one of the greatest evils that can befal a working
man. He gets into debt with the shopkeeper, and is, for ever after,
a week behind; and, as we express it here, eats the calf in the cow’s
belly.’
Hence arose that just terror of credit which the Store from the
first betrayed. In their first book of laws—the laws of 1844—the
grand fine, the lion fine of the list there given, was to be inflicted
on any officer, who, on any pretence, should either purchase or sell
any article except for ready money; which prohibition, as usual
when they are emphatic, is given twice over.
The Liverpool Co-operative Store, rising every year in importance
and usefulness, gives credit to the amount of two-thirds of the paid
up shares of the members. The Store connected with Price’s Patent
Candle Manufactory acts upon a similar rule. This, of course, is a
perfectly safe form of credit, but it involves a great additional amount
of book-keeping, and stops short of that moral discipline which ready
money payments exercise upon the poor and naturally improvident.
In Rochdale, each workman in the manufacturing department is
required to become a capitalist Either by weekly subscription or
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
57
Mr. Coningham, M.P.
other payments he is required to hold five shares in the Society. Each
of these artizan shareholders receives 5 per cent, upon the amount he
has invested. After the payment of this interest, and the wages of the
workmen at the usual average of the district, and all trade expenses,
the surplus of profit is divided according to the wages received by
each workman. The amount of profit over 5 per cent, interest, which
is first paid to the shareholders, is divided equally between the share
holders and the workmen. One half goes to the shareholder
according to the number of his shares; the other half goes to the
workman or workwoman according to the wages paid to him or her.
The dividend in the Rochdale Co-operative workshops, paid January,
1857, was one shilling and sixpence upon every pound of wages
received by workman or workwoman.
An important difference in the division of co-operative profits in
Padiham and in Rochdale must be noticed. In Padiham, workmen
who had made small savings, and other minor capitalists, subscribed a
fund among them, bought machinery, and employed workmen. The chief
profits were reserved by the subscribers of the capital for themselves.
The workmen they employed had better situations and somewhat
higher wages than at other mills. This arose from most of the pro
prietors being workmen, and having a sympathy with the persons they
employed. In other respects, the Padiham Cotton League Company,
under the Joint Stock Companies’ Act, paid their profits wholly to the
capitalists or shareholders. All the Societies enrolled under this act
are understood to pursue this rule. It is no part of their plan to
acknowledge the labourer’s right to a share of the profits his labour
creates, which is the Rochdale principle.
By precautions and good sense, the Rochdale Co-operators have
succeeded, notwithstanding the impediments the prejudices of their
class put in their way. During the period known among them as ‘ the
Corn Mill Panic,’ Mr. Coningham, M.P., to whom the country is
indebted for valuable personal reports of the Working Men’s Asso
ciations of Paris, consented to make an advance of capital to assist in
the exigence of the Corn Mill, but on being very naturally required
to submit their securities to the examination of his solicitor, the
Board objected to ‘having anything to do with a lawyer,’ yet
their securities were ample and good, and they knew it.
Confidence among the members was sought the first year of the
existence of the Store by establishing and showing plainly that checks
upon the honesty of the officers existed. Drawers conveniently con
*
structed are now used by each salesman, provided with brass or tin coins
according to the nature of his sales, of which he hands to each purchaser
an amount exactly representing the cash expended.
The treasurer and secretary of the Store, the Corn Mill, and Manu
facturing departments, balance their cash accounts weekly. This rule,
* Vide Board Minute, Oct. 20, 1845.
H
�58
HISTORY OF THE
How co-operative Stores originate,
which enables errors to he corrected as they may arise, has operated
very beneficially.
Security is now taken from £200 to £10 from each officer employed,
according to his measure of responsibility. Each officer in charge of
a shop till gives £10 security. Where other guarantee is not pro
vided, the Society holds the deposits of the officer in the Society, and
if he has not a sufficient amount paid in, he is required to make up such
amount by periodical payments. For sums so lying in the hands of
the Society, interest is paid as in the case of shares. This is a very
efficient regulation of securities, for no man will find it answer his
purpose to rob himself. The early Boards of Directors assisted the
shopmen in their duties. Economical in all their improvements, it was
not until 1854 that they lowered the floor of their flour Store, for the
convenience ofchildren and the aged members coming to make purchases.
Numerous Stores have at times sprung up around the Rochdale
one, and in consequence of its example; but none have been con
ducted with the same ability, nor have achieved more than a tithe of
its success. This is owing to no fault in the principle, but to defi
ciency on the part of those who apply it, to want of sense, of union,
of patience, and enterprise. The reare numerous instances in which
the Stores have not only succeeded, but, in the opinion of the mem
bers, have succeeded too well. They have made more money than
they know what to do with. Not knowing how to employ their
savings advantageously, they have been returned to the members, who
have commenced again. Their Directors have lacked the talent ofexpand
ing their operations, and making their capital reproductive. The Roch
dale Weavers appear to have been bom with a special talent for
co-operation.
One cause of the striking success of these co-operators is, no doubt,
to be found in the great economy of their trade expenses. The pro
portion of the salaries they pay to their receipts is very small. It
*
would be impossible to maintain the same rate in the metropolis,
where rents and wages are higher, and the rate of poor men’s provi
sions, in leading articles, the same. In answer to a question put to
him on this point, Mr. W. Cooper writes me—‘ I see no reason why
the people of London cannot carry on a Co-operative Society as well
as people who live in the provinces. In a small town, some dozen or
twenty persons will meet, and agree that if a Co-operative Provision
Store could be commenced it would be a good. These twelve or
twenty do commence one. They work on together, determined to
make the thing do. When it has worked on awhile, people who
doubted begin to see that it can be carried out, and they join too. I
see no reason why a number of earnest men in London cannot act in
the same way.’ In answer to other questions, the same informant
• The cost of distribution at the central Ftore is 1| per cent, upon the returns, and ■with
the branch shops, about '2 A per cent.; so that for two per cent, ill working expenses of rent,
rates, wages, etc., are defrayed.—John Hot.mks’s paper, partially read before the British
Association for the Advancement of Social Science, at Birmingham, which we commend to
the reader.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
59
The appearance of the town of Rochdale.
writes-—‘At the commencement of a Co-operative Store or Manu
facturing Society, it is essential that the members be visited or
brought together often, so that contributions may be collected to
establish and carry on the Society, and that the members may become
acquainted with the objects, position, and requirements of the Society.
With this kind of management a Store easily acquires sufficient
capital to work its business with, because the members have gained
confidence, and pay in subscriptions on their own account without
being much looked after.’
To get people together in this personal and continuous manner is
the difficult problem in London. Making some allowance for higher
expenses in proportion to profits, the thing might be done if a num
ber of the working class could be got to act together, and keep together,
for this end. It requires to convert a number of them to a clear view
of their own personal interest, to be promoted in no other way, and a
deep sense of duty towards their order, whose character is elevated by
such successes. Compare Rochdale with Liverpool for instance. In
Rochdale, a little bridge, that spans, like a rocking horse, an imaginary
stream, in which there is nothing liquid but the mud, situated in an
invisible part of the town, is the only picturesque object in it. There
is, indeed, a church with a flight of steps to it, so narrow, steep, and
interminable, that you can never get to it, or if you do, it is a question
as to whether you will ever get back. The remainder of the town is
made up of roads that lead to nowhere, ornamented with factories
apparently built before the dawn of architecture. There is not a
building in Rochdale upon which it will do any one good to look. The
town is in the shape, of a tea cup, with a gutter at the bottom and a
burying ground upon the rim. In such a place, if people are disposed
to act together, there is nothing in the way of striking attraction
around them to prevent them. The people are immensely before the
town, which, like many other manufacturing towns in the north, has
grown into importance anyhow ; but will, no doubt, yet assume the
magnificence which is gradually being imported into Bradford, Leeds,
and other places, which, twenty years ago, were quite as unpromising
as Rochdale. Now pass to Liverpool, with the bright and busy
Mersey—its migratory population—its magnificent buildings—its open
halls, surpassing in variety those of London. Plainly, it requires
more devotion among the few to carry a Store to success here than it
does in Rochdale. Then if you compare the ordinary provincial
town, fixed, stolid, and tame, with London and its countless attractions,
the difficulty is greater. The people are ‘ too clever by half’ to be
useful. Will a dozen men stick to a plan of reform year after year,
never failing on the weekly night of meeting to be at their posts, amid
the charms of the metropolis ? Dickens is making a speech at Drury
Lane, or reading his ‘ Christmas Carol’ at St. Martin’s Hall—Thackeray
is lecturing on the ‘Four Georges’ at the Surrey Gardens, with
Mr. Spurgeon to succeed him—Robson is coming out in a new
character—Mr. Saunders has a new play at the Haymarket—
�60
HISTORY OF THE
Peculiarities of Co-operation in London and the provinces.
Cardinal Wiseman is preaching in the next street—Dr. Cumming
is to prove that the end of the world will occur on Saturday,
and the People’s Subscription Bands play in the Parks on Sunday—
Neal Dow is at Exeter Hall, and George Dawson at the Whittington
Club—there is Cremorne, Rosherville, and Kew—the National
Gallery and the British Museum, and the Houses of Commons and
Lords, South Kensington Museum, and public meetings, where you
may hear speakers never to be heard before, and often never again—
and countless other allurements. A man must have self-denial as
well as interest, who steadfastly grinds coffee berries and watches the
sale of tea and sugar, and sits for fourteen years upon Candle and
Treacle committees, amid this confluence of celebrities and novelties.
This is why popular movements in London, which depend upon the
working and middle classes, make such uncertain progress. Unless a
man be wise enough to choose a side and discharge its obligations as a
sacred duty, undertakes to win others to act in concert with him and
pursues his object with the fidelity of a soldier, nothing can be de
pended upon. In fine, it requires working men in London to be as
superior to the average of their class in the metropolis as the Pioneers
of Rochdale are superior to the average of their own class in Lan
cashire, and then co-operation may carry its moral discipline and
physical comfort among the poor of London by district operation.
The Leeds Corn Mill Society—the Padiham Co-operative Manu
facturers—the Galashiels Co-operators—present features of success
worthy to be placed side by side with the Rochdale Store. Whether
in being originated and conducted by purely working men—whether in
the variety and development of their operations—whether in propa
gandist spirit—they are to be compared or placed before the Rochdale
Pioneers, are matters I leave for others to determine. The public
will be glad to hear more about these experiments than these pages
can communicate.
*
Just as the farmers, some years ago, could not be prevailed upon to
make returns of their crops, lest their interests should be prejudiced
in Parliament by the fact, so the Co-operators in some districts,
having the fear of the Income Tax Commissioners before their eyes
(the Rochdale issue of this question not being known, or not being
considered settled), or distrust of government, object to make reports.
Mr. T. Barker, of Todmorden, in an unfilled return sheet before me,
assigns this reason for its incompleteness. Todmorden, Walsden,
Bridge End, Alma Works, and Commercial, are the Flour Mills,
Stores, and Works mentioned on his return. Mr. Smithies, of Roch
dale, whom I had requested to get certain forms filled up for me,
despairs on these grounds of succeeding.
Working men were once injudiciouslytreated by employers in this way.
* For the History of the People’s Flour Mill Society of Leeds, certainly the second co
operative experiment in the empire, the reader cannot do better than consult the paper
mentioned in the note on p. 58. It may, probably, be had of the author, James Holmes,
Leeds, or the printer, David Green, 38, Boar Lane, Leeds. We are not aware that it has
been published.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
61
Opinions of W. R. Greg and Professor Newman.
Where the men dressed with some taste, and maintained an appear
ance of social comfort, masters were apt to infer that they were
doing too well, and would reduce their wages. This had a disastrous
influence on the men, who came to regard careless habits and indigence
of dress means of keeping up wages. How were working men to be
raised from improvidence while those who ought to incite them to
improvement suggested to them the policy of keeping themselves
poor, in order to avoid being made poor. A master whose pride or
ignorance was put to the blush by superiority in the manners of his
men, would reduce their wages in order to lower their tone. This,
however, has greatly changed now; and where it has not changed,
working men have had the sense to perceive that the majority of
masters-are prouder of being enabled to say ‘ all my men are worth
money,’ than that ‘half of them are in debt.’ Throughout mankind
the tendency is universal to help those who can help themselves.
The poorest man that exists will, if he reflects, find himself un
consciously acting on this feeling. The very beggar will not give to
the beggar if he has reason to think that what he gives him will do
him no good. There is no benevolence, high or low, that will many
times repeat the act of pouring the water of charity into a sieve. This
fact, so common to every man’s experience, should teach the working
class that if they display the habits of thrift, others will display the
disposition to help. Moral statistics will assure the intelligent Work
man that where there is one employer who reduces the wages of his
men because of their social aspirations, there are ten who reduce
them because they see no hope of their improvement.
Writers who speak with the authority of political science, have
testified to the utility of these efforts of self-help, some of which we
have here endeavoured to illustrate. One to whom the working
classes are indebted both for instruction and defence, remarks:—‘We
think, moreover, that these Co-operative Associations may be one of
the most powerful of the many influences now at work for the
education of the lower orders of the people; that wisdom will be
gained, if not wealth, from the industry, self-control, and mutual
forbearance needed to conduct them.’*
This is the place where one may usefully cite words which one of
the sincerest friends' of the people has written, and which cannot be
too widely known among them, as this grave truth is not to be dis
puted. ‘ I must, indeed, avow it as my own strong impression, that
the deepest deficiency in the operatives of our great towns is a moral
one, consisting in an extravagant susceptibility to the opinion of their
own order, or an unreasonable suspicion of even the best masters.
‘ I lately heard the case of a letter-printer, now deceased, who used
to employ in his trade the savings of his workmen with mutual ad
vantage. At one time, he had thus in his hands as much as a thousand
pounds, the property of one of the workmen. A master manufacturer
* W. R. Greg, ‘ Investments of the Working Classes,’p. 120.
�HISTORY OF THE
Defensive words by J. S. Mill.
at Manchester assured me that he would gladly employ in his business
any sums which his men would entrust him with, but that it was out
of the question, although, personally, he was on excellent terms with
them. To invest money in their master’s business, would be binding
themselves to his interests, and separating themselves proportionably
from that of their own order. Such a step might even expose them
to resentment, and, at any rate, their party feeling was too alive.
They had an indefinable suspicion that the master would be able to
take advantage of it. Many of them, perhaps, did not like the master
to know how rich they were. If they could set up a business among
themselves, with their own capital, this would flatter their pride ; but
to combine with their master was so unpalatable a thought, that they
preferred to receive at the Savings’ Bank a smaller per centage than
he would give them, or else to contribute their money (in large mea
sure to be wasted) at Benefit Clubs, or finally to consume it in immediate enjoyment.
‘ All the information which I have been able to gather, converges to
the same conclusion : that the operatives have a decided repugnance
to the only thing which has a reasonable chance of doing them good
collectively—viz., a closer union between themselves and their master.
If this be the case, they must wait and suffer, until their mind is
changed, or until a new generation rises, with a better mind.’*
But no sentence ever written about the people is more likely to
serve them than the following words by Mr. J. S. Mill:—‘ In Europe
the time, if it ever existed, is long past, when a life of privation had
the smallest tendency to make men better workmen or more civilised
beings.’ This sentence strikes at the root of that intellectual apathy
about the condition of the people, which has checked, and still checks,
so many endeavours for their elevation. The gentlemen of England
are, as a class, probably less indolent and sensual than the poor.
Opulence, and the means of physical ease, have not robbed them of
enterprise. No spur of privation remains to stimulate them, but the
spur of intellect, of art, of high cultivation, excites them, occupies
them, interests them—a new pride possesses them, and a lofty con
sciousness of nobler powers than those which poverty simulated, now
carries them on to a destiny undreamed of, and, indeed, undesired before.
When this truth is applied to the common people, when it is no longer
an article of parish faith, that ‘ privation’ is the sole incentive of labour,
the social policy of our rulers will be changed, and the systematic ele
vation of the people begin.
When, a few years ago, Mr. Carlyle began, with his noble insight, to
write of ‘ Captains of Industry,’ he was considered to have visions of
the most hopeless class of chieftains ever pictured in romances. But
his ideas, grafted on the age, have taken root. Modern employers, if
they wished, might found chieftainships, nobler far than those of
feudal days, and will, no doubt, do it yet. The Crossleys, Akroyds,
* Professor F. W. Newman’s lectures on ‘ Political Economy,’ pp. 321-2.
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
63
The law of social progress independent and inevitable.
and Salts of the north, are already taking proud places in the indus
trial history of the people. A few years ago, the ‘ hives ’ of Lanca
shire and Yorkshire, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, and Manchester, were
dreary as penal settlements—as Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde,
Stockport, and crowds of smaller towns, are still. Of late years, how
ever, the warehouses of Manchester, and Bradford, and Leeds have
assumed an air of magnificence. Buckingham Palace does not look
half so imposing as does the regal structure erected by Sir John Watts,
of Manchester. Towering in variegated marble, head and shoulders
above all surrounding structures—occupying the site of sixty-three
former tenements—it stands the Monarch of Warehouses. The
factory worker grows taller by looking up at it—the most insensible
inspire pleasure in walking by it. Must not the beef built, square
headed, shrewd Bradford man, grow somewhat refined, and even
proud, if he has a spark of national spirit in him, as his way home lies
by those noble structures every day rising up on his path, and raising
the industrial glory of his native town and land ? Are we not all far
away, proud to think that trade is not all mammon worship and gross
materialism. Is it not a relief to see the careful saving merchant,
wooing the arts, and obtain from the brain of the designer glorious
structures, in which to wear his patiently earned wealth ? Let not the
pallid, often stunted, hot-air-stewed factory hands of Hyde, on pre
carious nine shillings or fourteen shillings a week, nurse a sense of
perpetual despondency. Their turn is coming. When the noble
warehouse has, for some time, been admired, public attention will be
turned to the factory, and next to the ‘ factory hand,’ and will be found
quite ready to admire both, if they will bear admiring; and then
it will never do for the proud and rich employer to say, ‘ Oh,
I keep dainty rooms to store my cottons in; but as for the
people who make them, any murky, sooty, unventilated and
dreary den will do for them.’ The day is coming when no
employer in the north will like to say this. Mr. Titus Salt has been
the first to feel this, and Saltaire, the noble factory and dwellings he
has erected, point to what will one day be done. Workmen think it a
privilege to get an engagement in Mr. Salt’s mill. The town of
Bingley has been deserted by men who prefer Saltaire. The work
men’s rooms, in which the factory operations are carried on, are nobler,
higher, healthier, pleasanter rooms, than the drawing rooms of the
gentlemen of the north fifty years ago. Any workshop in Saltaire is
pleasanter than any room in the house you pass at Bury, where the
late Sir Robert Peel was born.
A man, whose soul is affluent as well as his circumstances, will supple
ment his stately warehouse by a stately and healthy factory; from
being an artist in his premises, he will, to use Mr. Thornton Hunt’s
words, become ‘an artist in flesh.’ He will covet that his men shall, in
their way, look as well and bear themselves as gracefully as his machines,
and then that they shall dwell in homes as tasteful, as salubrious,
and as suitable as those accorded to spinning jennies: he will
�64
HISTORY OF THE
Anonymous placard opponents.
covet that the ring of his money shall echo with the contentment of
those who aided to earn it. Thus were advocates silent, and the plea
of humanity disregarded, and social rights ignored, a principle of
artistic consistency would, one day, enforce universal co-partnership in
the produce of industry and the conquests of science.
A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER
OF
ILLUSTRATIVE
PAPERS
AND
NOTES.
During the progress of this little book through the press, which has
been protracted much beyond the usual time, some new incidents in
the career of the Store and its Departments have arisen, which deserve
brief notice, to which we shall subjoin the latest Balance Sheet issued.
Lately the Store has been attacked in local newspapers, and on
placards, by anonymous writers, who appear to seek the destruction
of the Society by sowing disunion and creating distrust of its financial
security. The attacks were commenced during the panics of 1857.
In the December quarter the Board reported that although unfavour
able reports had tjeen circulated respecting ‘ the Stores,’ the number
of members on the books was greater by forty-eight than at the com
mencement of the quarter—making a total of 1848. Had the placard
writers here referred to, succeeded in their design, considerable injury
would have been done at that time, when so many firms were daily
breaking, to a large body of the working class. Had the credit of
any commercial House been attacked in the same way, a jury would
have given considerable damages, had the case been brought before
them: and we think the Board of Directors would do well to regard
themselves as entitled to the usual protection of commercial Houses,
and to make an example of the first responsible assailants to whom
they can trace similar wanton aggressions. There is fear that
enemies to the success of the Pioneers, enemies on competitive grounds,
will, now that the Pioneers have become really formidable, seek to
destroy them by disunion. It requires great good sense and mutual
powers of forbearance to sit silent, and see statements published, which
appear to the public more than half true, and which you know to be
wholly false. The temptation to go into controversy in self-defence
is very great; and the ease with which controversy slides into perso
nalities we all know—then time is wasted, temper lost, and only
scandal is gained, and the enemy triumphs. Any shrewd opponent
may naturally calculate that amid 2,000 persons, some will be found
who may, by taunts of want of courage, or want of truth, be seduced
into a disastrous newspaper or placard war. It is said of the first
Napoleon, that in the early part of his Italian campaign he was
followed by numerous letters, some criticising him, some abusing him,
and all perplexing him very much to answer. After a good deal of
time had been consumed in replies, which time might have been much
�ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
Suggestion for dealing with personal controversy.
better employed upon maps and strategy, and actual war with the
enemy, it occurred to him to throw all his letters into a capacious
basket, and let them lie there for six weeks : at the end of which
period, he found that time and events had answered then! dearly all.
We recommend some such plan as this tb the Board of Directors of
the Rochdale Store. We recommend them to “refer all. matters of
controversy to a coihmittee of three cleat-headed, dispassionate men,
whose duty it should be to give very brief explanations of any point
really misunderstood; and if any controversy seemed called for, to
enter upon it only once a year, and to lay by all placards, newspapers,
letters, and articles, until December, and 'then reply, to what time and
success may not have confuted, and what the public may not have
forgotten (which will be found to be nine-tenths of the whole), and
then let silence and peace prevail for twelve months more.
We now subjoin examples of the Quarterly Reports issued by the
Board of directors of the Equitable Pioneers, and the Committee of
Management of the R. D. C. C. M. S. (Rochdale District Co-operative
Corn Mill Society), to the Members. In matters of moral speculation,
it is said that nothing is so delusive as statistics; but in matters com
mercial nothing is more satisfactory than figures. A good tall balance
oh the right side is as intelligible as a flag on a fortress.
ISO I.—ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS
*
SOCIETY.
Fifty-third ’Quarterly Report of the Accounts of the Society, for the
Quarter ending March 23rd, 1858.
The profits this quarter are much larger than last, which may be
partly accounted for by the fact} that at the commencement of the
quarter we had a quantity of goods on hand, the market price of
which was then very low, but which advanced during the quarter.
It has been resolved upon by the members At the quarterly meeting
that the minor accounts should not be printed, but that they should
be posted in the News Room, to which all the members have free
afccess.
Your Board of Directors, have the satisfaction to inform the
members that the prospects of the Society are most cheering, consider
ing the effects of the late panic through which we have just passed,
without any serious drawback in ahy of our undertakings ; they have
also great pleasure in stating that the Library has been considerably
extended during the past quarter.
t
�66
HISTORY OF THE
The fifty-third quarterly report of the Store.
CASH ACCOUNT.
Dr.
To Cash. Balance December Quarter
“
ft
ft
ft
<«
ft
ft
ft
Received for Goods, Grocery:
Toad Lane ...........
ft
Oldham Road...........
ft
School Lane ... ...
ft
Whitworth Road ...
ft
Pinfold ..................
ft
Drapery Department
ft
Butchering ...........
ft
Shoemaking...........
ft
Clogging..................
£ ■ s. d.
2309 14 8|
... 7970 0 0
... 2057 10 0
... 1469 10 0
... 1590 0 0
... 1282 0 0
... 706 10 0
... 1375 0 0
... 191 0 0
49 10 0
16691
To Interest in the Rochdale Branch of the Manchester
and Liverpool District Bank.........................................
“ Contributions......... . .................................................
“ Propositions .................................................................
0 0
102 1 7
454 8 3
5 5 0
£19,562 9
Cr.
£
By Cash paid for Goods ... ... ... ... 14229 10 11
ft
ft Less, Discount ........... ...
200 17 8|
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
Wages ..................
Rents ..................
General Expenses... ...
Carriage of Goods...
s.
6J
d.
14028 13 oi
334 I oj
11 19 3
67 2 3|
90 19 9
Withdrawn by Members.......... 1 ... •••
Balance, Cash..,...............
...
...
...
...
504 2 4
1772 7 4
3257 6 8
£19,562 9
6|
£
S.
d.
13138
125
76
7
5
454
161
10
1505
14
1
1
16
5
8
10
0
7
0
3
6
3J
0
3
6
0
01
GENERAL STATEMENT.
LIABILITIES.
To Members’ Claims, as per Ledger
“ Building Fund .......................... ..................... No. 739
“ Redemption do............................. .................. “ 331
“ Guarantee do.............................. .................. “ 1633
“ Propositions................................. ..................................
“ Contributions .......................... ..................................
“ Interest on £12,922 paid up £ shares ..........................
“ Owing for Goods......... . ........... ..................................
Balance, Profit...........
£15,484 3 10
�67
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
Store profits of the fifty-third quarter, £1500.
ASSETS.
By Cash,
“
“
“
“
“
w
“
“
“
Balance .................................................................
Invested in the Rochdale District Corn Mill Society
Interest added to our Account therein..................
Dividend on £6394, purchase at Is. 6d. in the £...
Invested in the Rochdale Co-operative Manufac
turing Society .................................................
Interest added to our Account therein..................
Stock in Goods.................................. ..................
Owing by Stores and others ... t „ ...................
Fixed Stock Account .........................................
Lease on Building........... ......................... ...
£
3257
3386
54
479
s. d.
6 8
5 4
16 6
11 0
2169
52
4849
98
936
200
14
0
4
11
13
0
9
0
4
6
9
0
£15,484 3 10
PROFIT ACCOUNT.
Depreciation of Fixed Stock .................................. ...........
21 per cent, on £1481 18s. 8d. for Educational purposes
Dividend on £13,822 purchase money, at 2s. in the £...........
Balance ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••
£ s. d.
23 8 4
37 0 11
1382 4 0
62 13 QI
£1,505
Balance to divide
••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••
7 0£
£ s. d.
1505 7 0|
£1,505 7 0|
Balance brought down.................................
62 13 9|
Frederick Greenwood, ) Auditors<
Abraham Howard,
J
Edmund Kelly, Assistant Auditor.
NO II.—ROCHDALE DISTRICT CORN MILL SOCIETY’S
Twenty-Ninth Quarterly Report, ending March 21th, 1858.
In issuing another Quarterly Report, the Committee of Manage
ment beg to call the attention of members to the gradual
progress in the business of the Society. In the quarter just
ended there is a slight falling off in the value of the business done,
owing to a depreciation in the price of flour. On the other hand,
there has been a fair, and on the whole, a satisfactory increase on the
quantity of business done, as the following figures of the ’previous
quarter’s transactions—compared with those of the quarter ending
March, 1858, of the present year, will show.
�68
HISTORT OF TJJE
The twenty-ninth quarterly report of the Corn Mill.
Flour.
Meal.
Sundries.
Quarter ending March, 1858............ 4643 . . . 1407 . . . 2470
Ditto.
«
December, 1857. . . 4193. . . . 1254 . . . 2090
450 ... 153 ... 380
Showing an increase on the December quarter of 983 bags.
The Committee have further to say, that the business of the Society
at present, is such as to give your Committee the expectation of an
important addition to the business of the current quarter.
Weir Street Mill, April 13th, 1858.
CASH ACCOUNT.
RECEIPTS.
To Cash, Balance, December 26th, 1857.................
-66 Receipts from Rochdale Equitable Pioneers ...
it
46
Co-operative Store, Bacup ... ...
46
ft
Do. do. Brickfield
................ ,.A
66
ft
Do. do. Middleton
... ..... ...
ft
ft
Do. <jp. Greenacres Hill, Oldharp,
66
ft
Do. do. Jagger Lane, Hwd.
ft
ft
Do. do. Bridge Street, do.............
66
ft
Do. do. Junction, Saddlth.............
66
ft
Do. do. Whitworth ..................
6.
<»
Do. do. Mi lnrow..........................
ft
ft
Do. do. Ending ..........................
U
66
Do. do. Steps
..........................
ft.
S‘
Do. do. Bury
..........................
66.
ft
Do. do. Greenbooth ..................
ft
Do. do. Shaw
..........................
ft.
ft
Do. do. Mossley.................. ...
ft
ft
Do. do. Duckinfield ..................
66
ft
Do. do. Wardle................
...
66
ft
Do. do. Firgrove... .... .... ...
66
ft
Do. do, Littleborpugh,., ... ...
66
46
Do. do. Ridings..........................
ft
66
Do. do. Ashton ..........................
66
ft
Do. do. Jumbo ..........................
46,
ft
Do. do. Roy ton ....................... ...
66
ft
Do. dp. Bagslate .... ... .... ...
66
ft
Do. do. King Street, Oldham ...
66c
ft
Dp, do, Hpbers. ........... ... w
66
ft>
Do. do. Greenfield
... ... ...
ft
66
Do. do. Chadderton .......... ...
ft.
66.
Do. jo. Facit
.......... ... ...
66
46.
Sundry persons...........
..
Discounts, or Interest......... . ..........................
Contributions
.................................................
£
s. d.
••• ••• 1540 13
••• ... 5382 1
... ... 1582 18
664. 3
w595 11
VA
581 6
MeV W
... ...
391 16
265 7
... ...
... ... 251 3
250 4
... ...
... ...
207 11
...........
206 5
...........
200 0
•.........
196 2
......... .
170 7
155 6
... '•••
...........
153 3
137 9
... ...
137 0
... ...
...........
129 2
104 10
...........
100 17
... ...
......... .
100 9
96 18
... •••
63 1
...........
0
......... .
55 0
50 9
31 2
. ,. ... .
26 12
24 9
... ....
... ... 2168 17
142 2
......... .
...........
310 18
HI
74
7
2
9
7
0
6
74
0
3
0
4
0
0
0
6
6
0
0
0
6
0
0
6
0
0
0
6
0
10|
*
2
6
11
£16;530; T 4
�69
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
Corn. Mill profits—the twenty-ninth quarter, £780.
£
DISBURSEMENTS.
S.
d.
By Accounts paid for Grain .................................................. 13307 12 7£
“ Sacks returned ... ... ... ... ...
.,. ... •••
•••
417 8 ft
** Lancashire and Yorkshire Kailway Company’s Accounts 361 16 2
“ Sundry Accounts........................ . ... ... ... .... .v.
307 11 7
«• Addition to Fixed Stock ...................
192 14 1
“ Men’s Wages
.................................. ... .... ••• —. 183s IQ? 0
Discounts paid ......................................................... •••
175 1 111
* Coal Accounts paid ..........................................
43 3 71
* Pigs,
do. ....................................... . •— ••• •••
35 0 0
“ Hay and StrawAccounts paid................
13 10 0
¥ Travelling Expenses ................... .... — •••. •••
H IQ 2
* Tolls .................................................................................
9 14 5
* Withdrawals.........................................................................
615 6 6
Balance, Cash on hand..................
855 13 2j
£16,530 1 4
GsEN-EBAiL
ACCOUNTS.
lIHmThT
*
I
MEMBERS’LIABILITIES.
£
By Member’s,Shares, as per Ledger
... .M
v. ...
- Loans ... .... ....
... ... v.............................. ..
" Redemption Fund
... ......................... . ...................
“ Contributions) ................ ..
... w ................ *•
* Deposits
> ..........................................
— •••
“ Propositions ) ....................................................... - •••
“ Interest due............................................................... 121
* Owing L. & Y. Railway Co. for Carriage................
77
“ Owing for Coals ... ... ....
... ..... .... <m
“ Owing for Sundries ... ....
v ••• w
“ Depreciation of Eixed Stock
.... ..% ... .... ......
“ Balance, Profit ... ... ..........................
•••
S.
d.
4939 3 0|
4628 9 5
135 2 11
11
194 0 ft
1 7 ft
17 0
3 4
6 13 5
^0 18 4
66 19 3
7.83 14 1
£1:15,090 19 81
assets.
To Balance, Cash on hand
w, ...
w, v. w,
v Fixed Stock Recount .... ..... ...... w .w.
»w. •
»
*
------- “ Grain, Flour, etc., on hand,.,,
w
jbsjl. .. “ Accounts owing .... .....
••• w, w. w. v.
“ Value of Horses and Carts ... .... ...........
•••
« Value of Pigs
........................
••• ......... * ••••• •••
| “ 901 Empty Sacks, Is. each... ... .................................
“ Hay and Straw on hand ... ........................................
“ Manure on hand .,................
• ..................
* Coals
ditto- .................. ... .................................•
ifcrr
“ Paid for Grain not yet received......................... ... •••
£. s.
855.13
^357 14.
%749 11
1.380.19
150. ,0
I®®- ®
45 1
3 0
® 01
d.
2|
9
7
8
0
®
0
0
®
®
406 10 6
£11,090 19 8J
�70
HISTORY OF THE
Conditions requisite for co-operative success.
PROFIT ACCOUNT.
By Dividend on £13,824 purchase, being Members’ trade,
at Is.................................................................................
“ Dividend on £686 purchase, being Non-members’ trade,
at Is................................................................................. '
“ Balance................................................................................
£
s. d.
691 ■ 4 0
34 6 0
58 4 1
£783 14
To Balance, Profit
.
I
£ s. d.
783 14 1
£783 14
To Balance brought down ...
1
58 14
1
Audited by Samuel Stott and A L. Butterworth.
NO. in.—PROFITS OF CO-OPERATION.
Note to Tables, p. 4Q.
It will be seen that the capital of this Society is, in round numbers,
turned over five times a year, at a rate of 8 per cent, on the returns
gross, and 35 per cent, net upon the capital.—John Holmes. Paper
partially read before the British Association for the Advancement of
Social Science, at Birmingham.
NO. IV.—CONDITIONS REQUISITE FOR THE SUCCESS OF CO-OPERATION.
1. Sufficient members to enable the principle to operate.
2. Capital requisite to purchase all economically.
3. All sales, as well as purchases, to be for ready money only.
4. Understanding of the necessary conditions of business.
5. Managers equal to the average abilities of the trade.
6. Directors who have confidence in the principles of co-operation,
and not too much confidence in any one untried.
7. Perseverence and patience to work out necessary results.
8. Forbearance towards each others disinterested opinions.
9. Equitable rules relating to Members, and legal ones under the
Friendly Societies’, or other Parliamentary Acts.
10. Reports regularly published, showing income, out-go, expenses,
operations, profits or loss, and the relations of each.
11. Correct audits of accounts, and guarantees from all in trust.
12. Careful oversight by all officials, and yet respect towards all who
do their duty as servants to the Society.
13. Accumulation of funds for the purpose of extension, loss, wear
and tear, etc., etc.
All failures (and we know many sad ones) arise from the open
breach of some one or more of the above conditions.—John Holmes.
Idem.
�71
ROCHDALE EQUITABLE PIONEERS.
___________
Five thousand co-operators within ten miles of Rochdale.
NO. V.---- RECENT LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE PIONEERS
*
SOCIETY.
Equitable Pioneers’ Co-operative Stores,
Nos. 8, 16, and 31, Toad Lane,
Rochdale, April 17th, 1858.
Sir,—By this post I send the above report of the R. D. C. C. M. S.
for March, 1858, from which you will see that the Society is making
progress—as is the co-operative principle as a whole. I think I told
you that our next step forward will he to extend the operations of
the ‘ Manufacturing Society ’ here, and, while I write, a Committee
is sitting to consider proposals which have been made in response to
an advertisement for a capitalist to build us a Mill, which we purpose
to fill with machinery, and work. The working classes may at times
lose by having over confidence, but do not they lose much more who
never have any confidence ? The five thousand members of the Co
operative Societies within ten miles of Rochdale, representing
twenty-five thousand persons, could not derive the benefits they now
receive unless they had confidence in each other and in the principle of
co-operation. We have received information by telegram thatDr. Bernard
is acquitted, which produces great pride and satisfaction here. The
people here are in no mood either to pander to, or flatter, the Emperor
of France: a little more, and they would have been prepared to
go to war—not with France, but Napoleon.
William Cooper.
To Mr. G. J. Holyoake.
NO.
VT.---- THE
OPINION
AND
ADVICE
OF
LORD
GODERICH,
M.P.
CA later Letter from the Secretary of the Store.)
WEreceived a long letter from Mr. Holmes, of Leeds, this morning, April
26, 1858, which shows that they are aiming at Co-operative Stores to
distribute their groceries in preference to the agency principle, which
they adopted to distribute the flour made at their Mill. In the course of
his letter he remarks, ‘ The other day our West Riding Member, Lord
Goderich, being in the town, visited our Mill, and met the Board in a
conference. We had a very interesting meeting and conversation.
His lordship told us we, Leeds and Rochdale (or rather Rochdale and
Leeds, for we cheerfully give way to your superiority), were the
objects of frequent conversations both in the House and out of it;
that our success was most welcome to some good statesmen, who see
if the people are doing well, all else must be well. Our prosperity
was pointed at as proving the people can, and will, manage their own
affairs. If we fail, the reputation of the principle will be seriously
damaged, and when our contentions and difficulties are mentioned, it
ties their hands. He told us it was not ourselves alone we should
consider^, we were now objects held up and closely watched by other
Societies, and other people would follow us if we succeed, or be dis-
�72
HISTOBY OS' THE BOCHDALE EQUITABLE MONEE Kg.
Important advice of Lord Goderich, M.P.
heartened if we fail. We had a most kind and strong exhortation
to go on, economise, save, and extend — to be shrewd, wise
and peaceful. It would take me long to tell you all, but he
promised us good service should we need it, and he be able to do us
good. By the way I could recommend you to send reports to Lord
*
Goderich, Mr. Conningham, M.P., Mr. Slaney, M.P., and other good
friends in London. It affords them pleasure, and their sympathy is
deserving of return.
*
The cordial interest taken by Lord Goderich in the welfare of the
working classes is well known, not only in the West Biding but
throughout England. We choose to close this brief history with the
above transcript of his wise and influential Words of encouragement
and advice.
END.
JOHN
WATTS, PKiNTEK, 147, FLEET STREET, LoSPON.
�
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Self-help by the people : history of co-operation in Rochdale
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Edition: 3rd
Place of publication: London
Collation: [4], 72 p. : ill. (tables) ; 19 cm.
Notes: "The chapters of this little 'History' were commenced to be inserted in the Daily News (in 1857)..." [From Preface]. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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Co-operative Movement
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Conway Tracts
Cooperation
Rochdale (Greater Manchester)
Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society
Socialism
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Text
Price One Penny.
23rd Thousand.
II
Reprinted with additions from “JUSTICE,”
BY J. L. JOYNES.
1885.
Published at The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
I.—DIVISION OF TOIL.
Q. Why is it necessary that any work should be done in the world ? A. Because men
require food, clothing, and shelter; and these cannot be obtained without work.
Q. Is the work which must be done in order to produce these necessaries either very
hard or very long ? A. It is neither the one nor the other. After all the necessary work
has been done, there is ample opportunity for the enjoyment of leisure and the produc
tion of beautiful things.
Q. Then why do immense numbers of men spend their whole lives in doing work
which gives them no pleasure, while the enjoyment of leisure is an impossibility for
them ? A. Because there is smother large class of men who keep all the available leisure
and pleasure for themselves.
Q. How may these two sets of persons be roughly distinguished? A. As employers
and employed; idlers and workers ; privileged and plundered ; or, more simply still, asrich and poor.
Q. Cannot the poor provide the rich witn rood, clothing, and shelter, and yet have
enough time for leisure even after they have done this ? A. Certainly; but the rich are
not content with exacting simple necesswies from the poor.
Q, What more do they compel them to contribute ? A. Luxuries; and there is no
end to the amount of labour which ma« be wasted in the painful production of useless
things.
Q. Why do the poor consent to produce by their labour all these necessary and un
necessary things for persons who d» nothing for them in return ? A. Simply because
they cannot help themselves.
Q. But how does it happen that <ney are in this helpless position ? A. It is due to
the fact that society is at present organised solely in the interests of the rich.
Q. Why cannot the poor organise society on a system which will prevent their being
robbed of their own productions’ A Because the existing organisation itself keeps them
ignorant of its own causes, and «xmsequently powerless to resist its effects,
Q. What is the first step towards a better state of things ? A. The education of the
poor to understand how it is that their own excessive work enables the rich to live in
idleness upon its fruits.
Q. What is the most hopeful sign that they are ready for enlightenment on this point ?
A. Discontent with the disagreeable and degrading conditions of their own lives.
Q. What is the first principle to which they may appeal for relief from these condi
tions? A. The principle of justice, since it is manifestly unfair that those who do all
the work should obtain the smallest share of the good things which it produces.
Q. What is the alternative to the present unequal distribution of work and good
things? A. That all should be obliged to do their fair share of the work, and to content
themselves with a fair share of the good things.
Q. Are those who insist upon the practical enforcement of this principle Conservatives
or Radicals ? A. They are neither, since they are necessarily opposed to all political
parties.
Q. What then are they called ? A. From the fact that they wish to displace the pre
sent system of competition for the bare means of subsistence, where each man is for
himself, and to establish in its stead the principle of associated work and common enjoy
ment, where each is for all and all for each, they are called Socialists
�'•'AxW^v.xW
IL—THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.
•
Q, What is wealth ? A. Everything that supplies the wants of man, and ministers in
any way to his comfort and enjoyment.
Q, Whence is wealth derived? A. From labour usefully employed upon natural
objects.
Q. Give instances of labour usefully employed? A. Ploughing, sowing, spinning
weaving, etc., etc.
Q. Give instances of useless employment of labour? A. Digging a pit for the pur
pose of filling it up again, making a road that leads nowhere, supporting people in abso
lute idleness by presenting them with food and clothing for doing nothing, etc., etc.
Q. What do we mean when we say that an article has value ? A. That it is useful or
agreeable to human beings.
Q. When is an article said to have an “ exchange value” in addition to its usefulness
or “ use value ” ? A. When it embodies a certain amount of generally useful labour.
Q. Are the two sorts of value ever identical ? A. They cannot be compared at all.
Q. Explain by an instance what you mean by this? A. The hunger of a starving
man who enters a baker’s shop does not affect the exchange-value of a loaf, which is
measured by the amount of labour which has been expended in making and baking it.
Q. What is its use-value to him ? J. Its use-value is infinitely great, as it is a ques
tion of life and death with him to obtain it.
Q. What is its use-value to another man? A. Its use-value is nothing at all to a
turtle-fed aiderman, sick already with excessive eating, but its exchange-value remains
the same in all cases.
Q. Is there no exception to this rule? A. If the baker has a monopoly of baking, and
no other loaves are anywhere obtainable, he can charge a much higher price than the
amount of his expended labour entitles him to demand.
Q. Is this often done ? A. Every monopolist does it, as a matter of course.
Q. Who are the chief monopolists ? A. There are two great classes. The landlord s
monopolise the land, and the capitalists the machinery.
Q. What is capital ? A. Capital is the result of past labour devoted to present pro
duction,—machinery and factories for example.
Q. How does the landlord secure his profit ? A. By extorting from the labourer a
share of all that he produces, under threat of excluding him from the land.
Q. How does the capitalist act? A. He extorts from those labourers who are ex
cluded from the land a share of all that they produce, under threat of withholding
from them the implements of production, and thus refusing to let them work at all.
Q. On what terms does the capitalist allow the labourers to work ? A. The capitalist
agrees to return to them as wages about a quarter of what they have produced by their
work, keeping the remaining three quarters for himself and his class.
Q. What is this system called ? A. The capitalist system.
Q. What is it that regulates the amount returned to the labourer ? A. The amount
that is necessary to keep him and his family alive.
Q. Why does the capitalist care to keep him alive ? A. Because capital without
labour is helpless.
Q. How is this amount settled ? A. By competition among the labourers, and the
higgling of the labour market.
Q. Is it invariable? A. It varies with all the variations of trade and locality, and the
different degrees of skill of the different labourers, but it constantly tends to a bare
subsistence for the mass of the labourers.
Q. By what name is this law known ? A. The iron law of wages.
Q. How can it be proved ? A. By reckoning up the amount of food and clothing
consumed by those who produce them.
Q Is there any independent testimony to its truth ? A. The witness of all doctors
who have studied the subject.
Q. What evidence do they give upon it ? A. They declare that diseases arising from
insufficient nourishment are constantly present throughout the labouring classes, and
that “ the poor are permanently afflicted with one disease—starvation."
Q. What remedy for this do Socialists propose ? A. Simply that the labouring
classes should become their own employers.
Q. What effect would this have? A. The classes who live in idleness on the fruits
of the labour of other people would be improved off the face of the earth, every one
being obliged to take his share of honest work.
Q. On what compulsion ? A. The alternative of starvation would stare them in the
�face, as soon as the labourers ceased to supply them gratis with food, clothing, shelter,
and luxuries.
Q. Are not the “upper classes” useful as organisers of labour? A. Those who
organise labour are always worthy of their hire, though the hire may be fixed too high
at present; but it is only the absolutely idle, and those whose work, however hard it may
be, consists in perfecting and organising the arrangements for plundering the labourers
of their reward, who are simply the enemies of the workers.
Q. Are shareholders in companies, for instance, useful in organising labour ? A. As
a rule they employ others to organise labour, and the work done by the company would
go on just as well if the shareholders disappeared.
Ill—SURPLUS VALUE.
Q. In whose interest is present production carried on? A. In that of the employing
classes.
Q. Explain this. A. The labourers produce the machinery, which the employers
take away from them as soon as it is made. The labourers are then employed to work it,
in order to produce profit for their masters at a faster rate.
Q. What interest have the labourers in the continuance of capitalism, that is, the
capitalist system ? A. Manifestly none.
Q. Is capital, therefore, useless? A. Certainly not. The way in which it is used i»
attacked by Socialists, not the thing itself.
Q. How is it possible that it should be used in the labourer’s interest? A. Only by
means of a democratic State, acting in the interest of the producers.
Q. In what way would the State effect this? A. By taking into its own hands all the
land and capital, or “ means of production,” which are now used as monopolies for
the benefit of the possessing class.
Q. Is there any precedent for this? A. As the State has already taken over the
Post Office and the Telegraphs, so it might take over the Railways, Shipping, Mines,
Factories, and all other industries.
Q. Is the Post Office worked on Socialist principles ? A. Certainly not. There is no
pretence that the interests of its labourers, the postmen, are considered at all.
Q. What principle regulates their employment? A. That which regulates the em
ployment of all other labourers, competition, reducing their wages to the lowest
possible point, except in the case of the higher officials, who are paid much more than
would willingly be accepted by equally capable men,
Q. Cannot the workers combine together by co-operation to defeat this principle of
competition ? A. Co-operative societies cannot defeat this principle, unless the whole
body of workers are included in one society, and that is simply Socialism
Q. Why cannot different societies defeat competition? A. Because they are com
pelled to compete against each other, to exploit those labourers who are not members
of their body, and to be exploited by others in their turn.
Q. What do you mean by the word “ exploit " ? A. To exploit is to get more than
one gives in a bargain.
Q. To what extent is the exploitation of the labourers commonly carried? A. The
employers give them a bare subsistence, and take from them all the rest of the fruits of
their labour.
Q. What is the difference between the two called ? A. Surplus-value.
Q. What proportion expresses its amount ? A. The proportion between the two or
three hours of necessary labour, and the ordinary ten, twelve, or more hours’ work.
Q. W’hat do you mean by necessary labour? A. That which would feed and clothe
and keep in comfort the nation if all took their part in performing it.
Q. Is any individual employer responsible for the exploitation of the labourers?
A. No, the blame applies to the whole class. Individual employers may be ruined, but
the employing class continue to appropriate the surplus-value.
Q. How do you account for this ? A. Because competition is as keen among the
capitalists as among the labourers.
Q. How does it act with them ? A. It determines the division of the spoil, different
sets of people struggling to get a share in the surplus-value.
Q. How does this competition above affect the labourers below ? A. It does not affect
them at all. It is assumed that the plunder is to be shared among the “ upper classes,’
and the only question is in what proportion this shall be done.
Q. How do. the upper classes label this plunder? A. By many names, such as rent
�4
brokerage, fees, profits, wages of superintendence, reward of abstinence, insurance
against risk, but above all, interest on capital.
Q. Are all these deducted from the labourers’ earnings ? A. There is no other fund
from which they could possibly come.
Q. Is surplus-value paid for at all ? A. By no means. It is the produce of unpaid
labour, and is simply taken for nothing, just as a thief accumulates his stolen goods,
Q. Does not the progress of civilisation decrease the amount of the surplus-value ? A.
On the contrary it largely increases it.
Q. How is this? A. Improvements in agriculture, method, and machinery, which
civilisation renders possible, multiply manifold the productiveness of the labourer’s toil;
but competition among the labourers prevents them from reaping the benefit.
Q. Does not competition among capitalists in the same way lower the rate of interest ?
A. Certainly it does, but the rate of interest has nothing whatever to do with the rate
of exploitation or of surplus-value.
Q. What is interest ? A. Interest is a fine, paid by the private organiser of labour
out of the surplus-value which his labourers supply, to the idle person from whom he
borrows his capital.
Q. What is the tendency of the two rates of interest and surplus-value ? A. The rate
of interest falls, while the rate of surplus value rises.
Q. Why is this ? A. Because with the storing up of the increased surplus-value by
the capitalist, or in other words, with the accumulation of capital, the competition among
capitalists who are anxious to lend on interest becomes keener, and each individual is
obliged to be content with less.
Q. Does not this lessening of the rate of interest benefit the labourer ? A. No; since
it is only due to the multiplication of those who share in his surplus-value, the result
being the same as it would be if he were allowed to pay a penny to six people instead of
sixpence to one.
Q. How do the capitalists adjust their own conflicting claims ? A. It is a question of
division of spoil among plunderers. If the surplus-value is high, there is more to divide
among the capitalists, but if the capitalists are numerous there is so much less for each
individual among them.
Q. Explain this by an example A. Take the case of Belgium. The labourers are
there exploited to the uttermost, there being no "factory laws” to restrain the greed of
the employer, but since capital is plentiful, the surplus-value is shared among many
capitalists, and the rate of interest is low.
IV.—METHODS OF EXTORTION.
Q. What did you mean by saying that capital without labour is helpless ?. A. The
most ingenious machinery can do nothing but rust or rot unless it is kept going by
labourers.
Q. Why do not the labourers decline to work the machinery for the capitalist?
A. Because they have no other means of making their livelihood.
Q. How could this be remedied ? The State could compete with the capitalist by
providing employment for the labourers, and paying them the full value of their pro
ductions.
Q. What would be the effect of this upon the private capitalist ? A. His power would
be gone at once, since no labourers would work for him, except on such terms as would
leave him no surplus-value whatever.
Q. Is not the existence of capital in private hands an evil? A. Yes, certainly; but
capital, as such, would cease to exist.
Q. Is not wealth in private hands an evil ? A. Large accumulations of wealth by
individuals are an evil, but the evil is different in kind, for they could no longer be used
to carry out the capitalist system.
Q. Why not? A. Because the capitalist system presupposes the existence of two
factors, and is unworkable and impossible without them.
Q. What are these two factors ? A. First, private property in accumulated wealth ;
and, secondly, the presence of property-less labourers in the market who are forced to
sell their services at cost price.
Q. What do you mean by cost price? A. The wages which will give them a bare
subsistence and enable them to work on the morrow, this being the cost of the daily
reproduction of the force or power to labour which constitutes their sole property.
Q. Could not the capitalists obtain labourers by offering them the full value of their
�5
productions ? A. Possibly, but since the only object of the capitalist system is to
produce for profit, they would cease to wish to employ them when the source of interest
and profit was cut off.
Q. But supposing, in spite of their previous principles, they still wished to employ
them, what would be the result ? A. The labourers would have nothing to complain of
in this case; but the result would be that private capital would gradually dwindle away,
since it would not be replaced by surplus-value, and the capitalist could not compete
with the State on equal terms.
Q | What has hitherto prevented the workers from combining for the overthrow of the
capitalist system ? A. Ignorance and disorganisation.
Q. What has left them in ignorance ? A. The system itself, by compelling them to
spend all their lives upon monotonous toil, and leaving them no time for education
Q. What account have they been given of the system which oppresses them ? A. The
priest has explained that the perpetual presence of the poor is necessitated by a law of
God ; the economist has proved its necessity by a law of Nature; and between them
they have succeeded in convincing the labourers of the hopelessness of any opposition to
the capitalist system.
Q. How is it that the labourers cannot see for themselves that they are legally robbed ?
A. Because the present method of extracting their surplus value is one of fraud rather
than of force, and has grown up gradually.
Q. Has this not always been the case? A. Certainly not. Under the slave-owning
system there was no fraud involved, but only force.
Q. What similarity is there between the slave-owning and the capitalist system ? A.
The parallel is complete, with the single exception that force was used in place of fraud.
Q. Explain this. A. The slave-owner received the produce of the slave’s toil, and re
turned to him part of it in the shape of food, clothing, and shelter. The capitalist takes
the whole produce of the labourer’s toil, and returns to him such proportion of it as will
provide him with necessaries.
Q. What constitutes the chief difference between capitalism and slave-owning? A.
The fact that the capitalist goes through the form of bargaining with the labourer as ic
the amount of the portion of the produce that shall be returned to him.
Q. What is this farce called ? A. Freedom of contract.
Q. In what sense is it free? A. In this sense—that the labourer is free to take what
is offered or nothing.
Q. Has he anything to fall back upon? A. He has absolutely nothing in countries
where the tyranny of capitalism is untempered by any form of Socialism.
Q. What is the case in England? A. Humanity has revolted against the reign of
the capitalist, and provided the workhouse as a last resource for the labourer, taxing the
capitalist for its support.
Q. How has the capitalist turned this piece of Socialism to his own ends? A. By
rendering the workhouse so unpleasant to the poor that starvation is often thought pre
ferable ; and by insisting that no useful work done in the workhouse shall be brought
into his market, where its presence would disturb his calculations, and impair his profits.
Q. Why does he allow it to exist at all ? A. Because he knows that its existence may
stave off for a time the Revolution which he dreads.
Q. What do you mean by the Revolution ? A. The complete change in the conditions
of society which will abolish all unjust privileges, distinctions of rank, or difference
between wage-payers and wage-earners, and will render the workers their own employers.
Q. What other method of appropriating surplus-value has prevailed besides those of
slavery and capitalism ? A. In purely agricultural countries, as for instance in Ireland
and South-Eastern Europe, different types of landlordism have been quite as effectual.
Q. Does landlordism represent the forcible or the fraudulent method? A. Force is
its chief element, since it labels the surplus-value ‘ rents,' and uses all the resources of
civilisation in the shape of police and soldiery to enforce their payment by the people,
but the element of fraud is present, since the labourer is told that he is free to give up
his holding if he does not wish to pay rent.
Q. Mention a special type of landlordism ? A. The system called corvee.
Q. How does this work? A. The labourer is allowed to work on his own land for a
certain number of days, and to keep for himself all the produce of his toil during
that time, on the condition that he spends all his remaining time upon the land which
belongs to the landlord, who appropriates its fruits.
Q. How does this differ from the capitalist method of appropriation ? A. Chiefly in the
fact that the labourer knows exactly when he is working for his own benefit, and whe t
for that of the landlord ; while under the capitalist system there it no line of distinction
and neither he nor anyone else can tell precisely the exact length of time during whic.i
he gives away his labour gratis, although it is clear that his first two or three hours are
for himself, and the remaining seven or eight for some one else.
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Q. Can you show this to be the case ? A. As the producers only get from one-fourth
to one-third of the total produce, the remainder of their work obviously goes to benefit
the non-producers.
V—MACHINES AND THEIR USE.
Q. What is the use of machinery ? A. Labour-saving machinery is used, as its name
indicates, to reduce the cost of production.
Q. What do you mean by the cost of production ? A. The amount of human labour
necessary to produce useful things.
Q. How ought this reduction of the necessary hours of labour to affect the labouring
class ? A. It ought to benefit them in every way, by increasing their wealth as well as
their opportunities of leisure.
Q. Has it done so ? A. Certainly not.
Q. Why not ? A. Because the capitalist class has appropriated to itself nearly all the
benefit.
Q. What, then, has been the result ? A. The available surplus-value has largely
increased, and the idle classes have become more numerous and more idle.
Q. Support your opinion by that of an economist? A. “It is questionable,” says
John Stuart Mill, " if all the improvements in machinery have lightened the day’s toil
of a single man.”
Q. In what aspect of the case is this correct ? A. In respect of the whole labouring
class as a body.
Q. What is the effect upon individuals of the introduction of a labour-saving machine ?'
A. It lightens the day’s toil to a certain number of labourers most effectually, by taking
away their employment altogether, and throwing them helpless on the streets.
Q. Is such a lamentable event frequent ? A. It is a matter of every-day occurrence.
Q. What is the result to their employer ? A. He “ saves their labour ” in the senseof getting the same work done by the machine without having to pay their wages.
Q. Is this a permanent advantage to him individually ? A. As long as he has a mono
poly of the machine, it is a great advantage to him, but other capitalists soon introduce
it also, and compel him to share the spoil with them.
Q. In what way is this result obtained ? A. By comp dtion. The owners of the
machines try to undersell each other, with a view to keeizug the production in their
own hands.
Q. How far does competition beat down prices? A. Until the normal level of capitalist
profits is reached, below which they all decline to go.
Q. What inference do the economists draw from the result of competition? A. That
the whole nation shares equally in the advantage of the machine, since prices are every
where reduced.
Q. What fallacy underlies this argument ? A. The same fallacy which vitiates every
argument of the economists, and that is the assumption that the labourers have no right
to complain so long as the employers are content with taking only the normal rate of
profits as their share of the surplus-value.
Q. What other consideration is omitted by the economists ? A. The fact that society
is divided into two classes of idlers and workers. They assume again that the workers
have no right to complain, so long as they seem to obtain an equal share with the idlers
in the advantage gained by the saving of their own toil.
Q. How do they seem to share this advantage ? A. By the reduction in cost of articles
which they buy.
Q. Is not cheapness of production a benefit to the workers ? A. It is only an apparent,
not a real benefit.
Q. How could it be rendered real? A. It would be real if all who consumed were
also workers. As it is, the working-class get all the disadvantage of the low wages, and
of the adulteration, which has been described as a form of competition.
Q. What makes the reduction of cost appear advantageous to the wage-earners ?
A. The fact that their wages are paid in money.
Q. How is this ? A. The money-price of all articles has risen enormously during the
last three centuries owing to the increased abundance of gold. The money wages have
risen also, but not in anything like the same proportion.
Q. What has prevented them from rising in the same proportion ? A. The cheapening
of the labour-cost of the necessaries of life, which has thus been rendered an empty boon
to the wage-earners.
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Q. Give an instance of the misapirehension of these facts* A. The regular boast of
the Free-Traders, recently reiterated by John Bright, is that the Liberals have given
the labourers two loaves whereas the Tories wished them to be content with only one.
Q. What is this boast based upon ? A. The undeniable fact that bread is cheaper in
England under Free Trade than under Protection.
Q, Then how can you tell that the labourer does not get twice as much bread as
he would otherwise enjoy ? A. Simply because it has been proved again and again on
the highest authority that the labourers as a body at present obtain so bare a subsistence
that it does not suffice to keep them in health; therefore they could not at any time have
lived on half the amount.
Q. What would be the effect if bread became twice as dear ? A. Wages would neces
sarily rise. A Wiltshire farm labourer could not maintain his family on half their pre
sent food; and though capital cares nothing about individuals, it takes good care that
the labourers shall not starve in a body.
Q. What, then, is the general result of the cheapness which is caused by the introduc
tion of labour-saving machinery? A. The advantage of the cheapening of luxuries is
obviously reaped directly by the idlers, since the workers cannot afford to purchase
them. In the case of necessaries the advantage seems at first sight to be shared between
idlers and workers; but ultimately the idlers secure the whole advantage, because
money-wages are proportioned to what money will buy, and the iron law keeps them
down to the price of a bare subsistence.
Q. Do the labourers suffer any direct disadvantage from machinery? A. Certainly
they do. Numbers of them are thrown out of employment at each fresh invention; their
position is rendered ‘precarious in the extreme; and there is a constant tendency to
replaced skilled labour by unskilled, and men by women.
Q. If this is so, would not the workers be wise to destroy the machinery ? A. To
destroy what they have themselves produced, merely because it is at present stolen
from them, would be absurd.
Q. What course should they pursue ? A. Organise their ranks; demand restitution
of their property; keep it under their control; and work it for their own benefit.
.
4
VI.—DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.
«
Q. Is it the case that the prices of articles would be raised if the community were
organised on Socialist principles? A. Not necessarily, nor in most cases; but in some
this would certainly be the result.
Q. On what principle? A. The principle governing the price of all ordinary things
would be that the worker should receive the full value of his labour.
Q. Would not this always raise the price of his production? A. No, it would only
ensure its being paid to him instead of to an idler.
Q. Explain this? A. In many cases the full labour-value of an article is paid by the
consumer, although the producer gets only his bare subsistence, all the surplus-value
being intercepted by the numerous unnecessary middlemen.
Q. Why is this not always the case? A. Because the employer of labour, instead of
always dividing the surplus-value among middlemen, often competes with his neighbours
by offering a share of it to the consumer.
Q. How can he do this ? A. Simply by selling his goods below their full labour-value.
Q. Give an instance of this? A. A notorious example of this occurs in the match-box
trade, for although several middlemen secure their share of the surplus-value of the
match-box makers, they are still sold to the public at a lower price than their full labour
value, the buyer thus becoming a partner in the employer’s theft by receiving a share of
his stolen goods.
Q. Who are the middlemen who intercept and share the surplus-value produced by
the labourer ? A. The unnecessary agents and distributors, the holders of stocks, bonds,
and shares of every description, and all those who are supported by the wealth-producers
either in idleness or in useless labour, of which latter class of persons flunkeys are a
conspicuous example.
Q. Do not the rich support their own flunkeys, and maintain in comfort those who
produce luxuries for them ? A. Certainly not. These people are maintained entirely
by the workers, though the maintenance is passed through the hands of the rich, who
therefore imagine that they produce it.
Q. Is not expenditure for luxuries “good for trade," and so beneficial to the workers ?
A. It is only good for the trade of the producers of luxuries by exactly the amount
which it withdraws from the producers of useful things.
�.'•WSSf^'vNvi-
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Q. Would not the money employed upon luxuries otherwise be idle? A. By no
means. The rich are not in the habit of keeping their riches in a stocking, and the
bankers are compelled to keep all the money lent them in full use, or they would them
selves be ruined.
Q. What then is the result of spending money upon luxuries? A. The destruction
of a certain amount of wealth and the absolute waste of the labour spent in repro
ducing it.
Q. Does not the expenditure of a wealthy man in keeping up a large household
benefit the poor ? A. Decidedly not.
Q. What then is the result of spending money in maintaining flunkeys ? A. The
utter waste of all the food and clothing they consume.
Q. Would not they in any case consume food and clothing ? A. Certainly : but they
would repay the waste by producing useful things themselves.
Q. How does all this work affect the labourers ? A. It compels them to produce
more food and clothing than would otherwise be necessary, or else to consume less of it
themselves.
Q. How is this ? A. Because the food which the flunkeys eat cannot be also eaten
by the labourers; while the labourers are obliged to produce it, since somebody must
do this, and it is perfectly evident that the flunkeys do not.
Q. Does not this apply to all the idle classes ? A. Certainly. We have only to ask
where the food which they eat and the clothes which they wear, come from, and we see
that they are produced by somebody else without any return being made for them by
the idlers. That is to say, they represent unpaid labour, or in other words surplus
value.
Q. Then if one man is living in idleness, what is the inevitable result ? A. That
another man is producing what he consumes; or that several are each doing more than
their fair share of work to make up for his deficiency.
Q. How would Socialism deal with this question of work? A. It would compel every
one to do his share of the necessary work of the world.
Q. Under what penalty ? A. Under penalty of starvation, since those who refused to
work would get nothing to eat.
Q. What would happen to the old and infirm and the children? A. They would be,
as they are in any society, a perfectly just charge upon the able-bodied workers, in
creasing the necessary work of the world by the amount which must be devoted to their
maintenance and education.
Q. Would the workers then receive the full value of their toil ? A. Deductions from
it for such purposes as those just mentioned are, of course, inevitable, and must be
made under every form of society, as well as certain other deductions for other measures
of public utility.
Q. What deductions can be prevented by Socialism ? A. Nothing could be subtracted
from the labourers’ reward for the purpose of maintaining in idleness any persons
whatever who are capable of work, nor for the aggrandisement of private individuals,
nor for the furthering of objects of no public utility merely to satisfy individual caprice.
YII—THEORIES OF PROFIT.
Q. What is the use of money ? A. It facilitates the exchange of articles, especially
those of unequal value.
Q. How is this effected? A. If A produces wheat, and B cloth, money serves as a
convenient measure of the labour-value of each. A exchanges his wheat for money,
and buys cloth with that. B exchanges his cloth for money and buys wheat with that.
Q. Are they both enriched by the bargain ? A. Not in the matter of exchange-value,
since wheat which has cost a day’s labour exchanges for cloth which has cost the same,
but in the matter of use-value they are both enriched, since each gets what he wants,
anil gives what he does not want.
Q. Is this always the case? A. Always, in the ordinary exchange between producers
who are working for their own benefit, and exchange goods for money, and that money
for other goods.
Q. Can a profit be made out of money transactions altogether apart from the exchange
©f goods ? A. Yes, by gambling either on the race-course or on the stock-exchange,
but in this case one gambler's gain is another’s loss.
Q. Whaf other form of exchange now prevails? A. That of those who, not being
workers, produce no goods, but yet have command of money.
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Q. How do they use it ? A. They exchange their money for goods, and those goods
back again into money.
Q. Then what is the use of the process if they only get money at the end, when they
had money at the beginning ? A. Because at the second exchange they get more money
than they gave at the first.
Q. How has this fact been explained by economists? A. By the mere statement
that the money-monger either gave less money than the goods were worth at the first
exchange, or got more than they were worth at the second.
Q. What consideration did they omit in this theory ? A. The fact that these same
money-mongers are in the market both as buyers and sellers, and that without a miracle
they cannot all gain on both transactions, but must lose in selling precisely the amount
they gain in buying.
Q. What other inadequate explanation has been put forward ? A. The theory that
in buying machinery they buy something which has the power of adding an extra exchange-value to the goods upon which it is employed.
Q. What made this theory seem plausible? A. The fact that with a machine the
labourer can produce goods much faster than without it.
Q. Does not this add exchange-value to his productions? A. Not unless he has a
monopoly of the machine, and can thus fear no competition except that of hand-labour;
otherwise the ex change-value of his goods sinks in proportion to the increased rapidity
of their production.
Q. Explain this. A. If he can make two yards of cloth in the time which he formerly
devoted to one, and all other weavers can do the same, the price or exchange-value of
two yards sinks to the former price of one; though, of course, the use-value of two is
always greater than that of one.
Q. Are not monopolies frequent ? A. No individual capitalist can keep a monopoly
for any great length of time, as all inventions become common property at last, and,
although it is true that the capitalists as a body have a monopoly of machinery as against
the workers, which adds a fictitious value to machine-made goods, and will continue to
do so until the workers take control of the machinery, yet this extra value is too small
to account for a tithe of the profits of the money-mongers.
Q. What is the one thing needful, which they must be able to buy in the market, in
order to make these profits ? A. Something whichjshall itself have the power of creating
exchange-value largely in excess of its own cost, in order that at the end of the transac
tion they may have secured more money than they have expended.
Q, What is to be bought in the market having this power ? A. There is only one
thing with this power, and that is the labourer himself, who offers his labour-force on
the market.
Q. On what terms does he offer it ? A. Competition compels him to be content with
its cost price.
Q. What is this ? A. Subsistence wages, that is, enough to keep himself and his
family from starvation.
Q. What does this represent in labour? A. The value produced by his labour
expendedBsefully for two or three hours every day.
Q. Is he, then, at leisure after two or three hours’ work? A. By no means. The
bargain between him and the capitalist requires him to give ten hours or more of work
for the cost price of two or three.
Q. Why does he make such an unequal bargain ? A. Because, in spite of all so-called
freedom of contract, he has no other choice.
Q. Has the capitalist no conscience? A. Individuals cannot alter the system, even if
they would ; and the capitalist is now often represented by a company, which, if it had
a conscience, could not pay its five per cent.
Q. After the labourer has produced the price of his own wages, what does he go on to
do ? A. To produce exchange-value, for which he is not paid at all, for the benefit of
the capitalist.
Q. What is the value produced by this unpaid labour called? A. Surplus value, as
we said before.
, Q. What does the capitalist do with the surplus value? A. He keeps as much as
he can for himself under the name of profits of his business.
Q. Why does he not keep it all ? A. Because out of it he has to pay landlords, other
capitalists from whom he has borrowed capital, bankers and brokers who have effected
these loans for him, middlemen who sell his wares to the public, and finally the public,
in order to induce them to buy from him instead of from rival manufacturers.
Q. How does he justify this appropriation of surplus-value by his class ? A. He tries
to persuade himself that capital has the power of breeding and producing interest by as
natural a process as the reproduction of animals.
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Q. Can he find any dupes to believe in so absurd a theory ? A. He instils a genuine
belief into himself and others that this is really the case.
Q. What is the inference from this? A. That the labourer ought to be grateful to the
capitalist for furnishing him with employment.
Q. For what have the labourers really to thank the capitalist? A. For defrauding
them of three-quarters of the fruits of their toil, and rendering leisure, education, and
natural enjoyment almost impossible for them to attain.
H
VIII.—INADEQUATE OBJECTIONS.
Fi
l
n
Q. What kind of objectors do Socialists mostly meet with ? A. Those who from
interested motives prefer the present anarchy to the proposed organisation of labour,
and those who consider Socialists as a set of well-meaning persons busied about an
impracticable scheme.
Q. What objection do they chiefly urge against Socialism? A. That Socialists, if
poor, are interested schemers for the overthrow of an excellent society, in order that,
being themselves idle and destitute, they may be able to seize upon the wealth accumu
lated by more industrious people.
Q. What have they to say against Socialists of wealth and industry ? A. That they must
obviously be insincere in their Socialism, or they would at once give away all their
capital, instead of denouncing what they themselves possess.
Q. How should Socialist working men meet the charge? A. With contempt. The
idea that people who are treated with injustice have no right to demand justice because
they would be gainers by its enforcement, is too absurd to require refutation.
Q. How should wealthy Socialists reply? A. They should point out that, so long as
the capitalist system remains, it is impossible to evade the responsibility of wealth by
merely transferring it to other persons.
Q. Explain this by an instance ? A. In a capitalist society the mere purchasing of an
article in the market involves the exploitation of the labourers who produced it; and
this is not in any way remedied or atoned for by giving away the article afterwards to
somebody else.
Q. How does this illustrate the case ? A. The owner of capital cannot prevent it from
exploiting the labourers by giving it away. It cannot be used as Socialism enjoins
except under an organised system of Socialism.
Q. Can the wealthy Socialist do nothing to frustrate the capitalist system? A. He
can mitigate the severity of competition in all his personal relations. Beyond that he
can do nothing except use his wealth in helping on the Socialist cause.
Q. How may Socialists reply to the taunt that their scheme is impracticable ? A. By
quoting the opinion of J. S. Mill that the difficulties of Socialism are greatly over-rated;
and they should declare that, so far from being an impracticable Utopian scheme, it is
the necessary and inevitable result of the historical evolution of society.
Q. How can they prove this ? A, They can point to the fact that production is becom
ing more and mere socialised every day.
Q. Explain this? A. Production, which was once carried on by individuals working
separately for themselves, is now organised by companies and joint-stock concerns, by
massing large numbers of producers together, and uniting their efforts for a common end.
Q. For what end? A. -For the profits of the shareholders of the company.
Q. How could the State take advantage of this? A. By taking into its own hands
the organisation which the capitalists have prepared for it, and using it for the benefit
of the producers alone.
Q. Would not the capitalists start fresh companies in opposition to those managed by
the State ? A. They could no more compete with the State than they can now with the
Post Office; and they would be equally helpless in the case of the Railways and all the
great industries.
Q. Would it not be easier for the capitalists to compete with the State in the case of
smaller concerns ? A. It would in any case be impossible for them to get labourers, since
the State would be paying the labourers the full value of their labour, and they would
therefore decline to work for the capitalists.
Q. Would the expropriated capitalists be entitled to compensation? A. As a matter
of principle it is unjust to compensate the holders of stolen goods out of the pockets of
those who have suffered the theft; but it might be expedient to grant some compensation
in the shape of annuities.
Q. What is the tendency of the evolution of society? A. It tends always towards
�11
more complex organisation, and to a greater interdependence of all men upon each other;
each individual becoming more and more helpless by himself, but more and more power
ful as part of a mightier society.
Q. Is it true that individuality would be crushed by Socialism ? J. On the contrary,
it is crushed by the present state of society, and would then alone be fairly developed.
Q. What does J. S. Mill say on this point? A “The restraints of Communism
would be freedom in comparison with the present condition of the majority of the human
race. The generality of labourers in this and most other countries have as little choice
of occupation or freedom of locomotion, are practically as dependent on fixed rules and
on the will of others, as they could be in any system short of actual slavery.”
Q. What does Mr. Fawcett say on the same subject ? A. That there is no choice of
work or possibility of change for the factory hand ; and that the boy who is brought up
to the plough must remain at the plough-tail to the end of his days.
Q. What other objection has been urged against Socialism ? A. That it will take away
all the incentives to exertion, and induce universal idleness in consequence.
Q. Is this the case? A. On the contrary, it will apply the strongest incentive to all
alike, for all must work if they wish to eat, while at present large classes are exempted
by the accident of birth from the necessity of working at all.
Q. Name another common objection. A. That Socialism will destroy culture and
refinement by compelling the leisured classes who have a monopoly of them to do some
honest work.
Q. Is this the case ? A. On the contrary, it will bring the opportunity of culture and
refinement to all by putting an end to the wearisome labour that continues all day long;
while the leisured class will learn by experience that work is a necessity for perfect
culture.
Q. What other objection is often .urged ? A. That State management would give rise
to jobbery and corruption.
Q. How may this be answered? A. By pointing to the present State organisation
either of the police or the Post Office, in neither of which are jobbery and corruption
conspicuous features.
Q. Would not the State be in a different postion as regards the people ? A. At present
it is the people's master, but under any democratic scheme of Socialism it would become
their servant, and merely be charged with carrying out their will.
Q. Name another objection to the practicability of Socialism? A. The cuckoo cry
that “if you make all men equal to-day, they will all be unequal to-morrow, because of
their different natural capabilities.”
Q. What equality do Socialists aim at ? A. Equality of opportunities, not of natural
powers.
Q. What is the Socialist view of the duties of those who are especially gifted by
nature ? A. That they owe a larger return to the community than those who are less
naturally gifted.
Q. What is the capitalist view of their rights and duties ? A. That they are indepen
dent of all duties, and have the right of taxing the community, which supports them,
for luxuries and waste to the full extent of their individual caprice.
Q, In accordance with this view, what method do capitalists take in dealing with
them ? A. Capitalists arrange that persons of extra industry and talent shall have every
opportunity of enslaving their less fortunate neighbours, thus adding an inequality of
conditions to the natural inequality of talent.
Q. What is the Socialist method ? A. Socialists insist that the talented as well as the
cunning shall be restrained by the organisation of society from appropriating the surplus
value created by their less fortunate neighbours.
IX—GLUTS AND THEIR RESULTS.
Q. To what is the periodical depression of trade, with its accompanying distress among
the labourers, due ? A. To the fact that individual capitalists are striving to enrich
themselves alone, instead of co-operating to supply the needs of the community.
Q. Explain this? A. During a period of activity, when prices are high and the markets
for goods are not over-stocked, a great competition goes on among capitalists, who wish
to take advantage of the high prices and produce more quickly the goods which can
command them.
Q. What is the effect of this competition ? A. All the available labourers are employed;
all the machinery is set going ; and no effort is spared by the manufacturers to produoe
the utmost quantity of the goods which are in demand on the market.
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Q. What is the inevitable result ? A. A glut is shortly created of these goods. Far
more than were wanted have been made. All the store-houses are full, and no more
purchasers are to be found.
Q. What is the next step in the process ? A. The capitalists soon get tired of heaping
up what they cannot sell, and wish to stop production.
Q. How can they manage this ? A. They turn off all their extra hands, and propose
such a reduction of wages that the rest agree to strike rather than accept it.
Q. With what result ? A. Production is stopped for a time, and the capitalists are not
obliged to pay wages, or else agree to pay only for half time until the glut has gradually
disappeared, as the goods are absorbed by the public.
Q. What follows? A. A fresh demand arises. The workers are all employed again,
and the glut recurs with the utmost regularity.
Q. Is there any necessity for this periodical distress ? A. Not the smallest,
Q .What is it that vitiates the whole system of production at present? A. The pre
vailing idea that goods are not to be produced for the sake of their usefulness, but for
the sake of making a profit for capitalists and giving employment to labourers.
Q. What definite evil is the result of this idea ? A. Adulteration and fraud of everv
description; cheap and nasty wares driving expensive and sound goods out of the market
Q Who are the greatest sufferers from all this ? A. The workers themselves.
Q. In what way? A. Being the least able to protect themselves against adulteration
and fraud, they are cheated to a fearful extent in all that they buy ; and are the first to
suffer from a glut in the market.
Q. How is this ? A. Because they are first compelled to produce more food and
Ciothing than can possibly be sold at a profit, and then are deprived of the means of
buying what they have themselves produced, although they are in urgent need both of
food and clothing, because the capitalists throw them out of work as soon as their work
ceases to pay its percentage.
Q. What advice is given to the labourer by well-meaning reformers who do not under
stand the labour question ? A. To be sober and thrifty.
Q. Is this advice sound? A. As addressed to the individual struggling against his
neighbours under the capitalist system, it is excellent.
Q How can it benefit the individual? A. It may enable him to “ rise ” into the capitalist
class; that is, to exchange his position in the ranks of the oppressed for one in those of
the oppressors.
Q. What is the Socialist criticism of this advice? A. That as a panacea for the
wrongs of the system, or as a cure for the sufferings of the labourers as a class, it is
inadequate , because a general improvement in intelligence, thrift, and sobriety, if
shared by the whole class of labourers, merely supplies the capitalist class with a better
instrument for the production of surplus-value.
Q. What is the result of improvement in the ability of the workers in the present
system? A. The same result as an improvement in machinery, namely, that goods are
more rapidly produced by the workers, and accumulated by the capitalists ; so that the
periodical glut, with its accompanying crisis, depression, and distress, is more quickly
achieved than before.
Q. Is there any possibility of an incidental advantage to the labourers? A. Only in
this respect: the labourer is a two-edged tool in the hands of the capitalist; and when it
becomes sharper and more efficient for his work, it becomes also more likely to cut the
hand that uses it.
Q. Explain what you mean by this ? A. A general improvement among the labourers
in intelligence and sobriety will probably be followed by improved organisation, with a
view to expropriating the classes that confiscate the fruits of their labour.
Q. Is this the end at which so-called “ social reformers ” aim ? A. By no means; but
they seem incapable of understanding either the inefficacy in one way, or the efficacy in
another, of their well-meant advice to the labourers as a class.
Q. What advice do the Malthusians give to the labourer ? A, To limit his family, as
they think that overpopulation is the cause of the distress.
Q. Is this the case I A. It has never been so in England.
Q. How can this be proved ? A. By the fact that the amount of wealth produced
which might be exchanged for food for the workers, if the capitalist system did not pre
vent it, has always increased faster than the number of producers.
Q. Why is this? A. Because the labour of those who are working in concert is far
more efficient than that of isolated workers, and machinery vastly enhances this
efficiency.
Q. What is the element of truth in the Malthusian theory? A. It is perfectly true
that a limited space of land cannot support an unlimited number of people, but as even
England, to say nothing of the world, has not reached that limit to population, it has at
present no bearing on the case.
�*3
Q. What is the element of truth as regards families? A. It is perfectly true that
in the present capitalist system the man who has no children at all is in a better
pecuniary position than the man with a large family, since, just as in actual warfare,
children in the modern competitive battle-field are an encumbrance, where every man
has to fight for his living, and maintain his family as best he may.
Q. How does the standpoint of the Malthusians differ from that of the Socialists’
A. The former accept the basis of the capitalist society, namely, the existence of two
distinct classes of wage-payers and wage-earners, and merely advise the workers to
attempt to secure a larger wage.
Q. How do Socialists regard this advice ? A. They consider that the discussion as to
whether the workers shall enjoy one-half or one-third of the wealth which they have
produced is comparatively unimportant, and they continue to urge the rightful claim of
the workers to the full value of their own productions.
Q. How soon is this claim likely to be attended to ? A. As soon as ever the majority
of the workers really understand their own position, and consequently become convinced
of the advantages of Socialism.
Q. How can the capitalists be converted to the same view? A. Appeals to justice
may make isolated conversions of individual capitalists, but nothing short of a display
of organised force will enable the idlers as a body to perceive the advantage of taking
their due share in the necessary work of society under a just system of Socialism.
X—REVOLUTION.
Q. On what ground do capitalists defend the principle of competition ? A. On the
eround that it brings into play a man’s best qualities.
Q. Does it effect this? A. This is occasionally its result; but it also brings out his
worst qualities, by stimulating him to struggle with his fellows for the relative improve
ment of his own position rather than for the absolute advancement of the interests of all.
Q. Why does this happen? A. Because in ordinary competition one man’s gain is
another’s loss.
Q. What is the theory of the Survival of the Fittest? A. That the class of persons
who are most fitted to live and propagate their race in the conditions with which it is
surrounded, is certain to survive the rest.
Q. Are the existing social conditions favourable to the survival of those persons whose
character renders them most valuable to society ? A. On the contrary, they favour the
survival of the most valueless.
Q. What is the final result of such conditions and surroundings as the filth, foul airand squalor of a town rookery ? A. The crushing out of those who are least able to
adapt themselves to these surroundings; and the consequent survival of those who are
most fit for filth, but least for decent social life.
Q. Does the law of the Survival of the Fittest affect men in the same way as it affects
the lower animals? A. No; because it is possible for men to alter their surroundings,
while other animals must simply adapt themselves to them, whatever they may be.
Q. What is the Revolution for which Socialists strive? A. A Revolution in the
methods of the distribution of wealth corresponding to that which has already taken
place in the means of its production.
Q. What change has already taken place ? A . Wealth is now almost entirely pro
duced by the associated effort of great numbers of men working in concert, instead of by
individual effort as in former times; while individuals still possess command of its
distribution, and use their power in their own interests.
Q. How are forms of government changed so as to re-adjust them to the economical
changes in the forms of production which have been silently evolving in the body of
society ? A. By means of Revolutions.
Q. Give an instance of this ? A. The French Revolution of 1789.
Q. Did that Revolution fail to attain its objects ? A. Certainly not; but its objects
were not those at which Socialists aim.
Q. What were its objects ? A. The political expression of the fact that feudalism was
demolished, and the reign of capitalism established on its ruins
Q. What do you mean by this? A. The overthrow of the political supremacy of
the landed aristocracy, and the establishment of a bourgeois plutocracy; that is, putting
the political power into the hands of the merchants and money-lords of the middle
class.
Q. What change in the forms of production had rendered this inevitable? A The
�fact that the possession of agricultural land had ceased to be the chief means to the
attainment of wealth.
Q. What, then, had taken its place ? A. The possession of capital and the use of
machinery.
Q. In what sense was that Revolution a selfish struggle? A. After the displacement
of the upper by the middle-class in political and social supremacy, the latter established
its own pow’er irrespectively of the rights of any other class.
Q. Is not the struggle which precedes and heralds the Social Revolution one of selfish
class interests in the same way ? A. By no means; Socialists do not aim at the
supremacy of a class or section of the community at the expense of other sections.
Q. Do they not wish the workers to control the State ? A. Certainly they do.
Q. Is not this the supremacy of a class? A. No, for they insist that every ablebodied person of sound mind should do a fair share of necessary wcrk. When all are
workers, the workers will be no longer a class, but a nation.
Q. What, then will become of the class-selfishnes of the workers ? A. Selfishness will
then become public spirit, when the motives which formerly led men to work for the
interests and advancement of themselves alone, operate for the benefit of the whole
human race with which their class has become identified.
THE
OBJECT.
The Establishment of a Free Condition of Society based on the prin
ciple of Political Equality, with Equal Social Rights for all and the
complete Emancipation of Labour.
PROGRAMME.
1. All Officers or Administrators to be elected by Equal Direct Adult
Suffrage, and to be paid by the Community.
2. Legislation by the People, in such wise that no project of Law
shall become legally binding till accepted by the Majority of the People.
3. The Abolition of a Standing Army, and the Establishment of a
National Citizen Force; the People to decide on Peace or War.
4. All Education, higher no less than elementary, to be Free, Com
pulsory, Secular, and Industrial for all alike.
5. The Administration of Justice to be Free and Gratuitous for all
Members of Society.
6. The Land with all the Mines, Railways and other Means of Tran
sit, to be declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
7. Ireland and all other parts of the Empire to have Legislative
Independence.
8. The Production of Wealth to be regulated by Society in the com
mon interest of all its Members.
g. The Means of Production, Distribution and Exchange to be
declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
As measures called for to palliate the evils of our existing society the
Social-Democratic Federation urges for immediate adoption :—
The Compulsory Construction of healthy artizan’s and agricultural
labourers’ dwellings in proportion to the population, such dwellings to
be let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone.
Free Compulsory Education for all classes, together with the provision
of at least one wholesome meal a day in each school.
�Eight Hours or less to be the normal working day in all trades.
Cumulative Taxation upon all incomes above a fixed minimum not
exceeding /"300 a year.
State Appropriation of Railways, with or without compensation.
The establishment of National Banks, which shall absorb all private
institutions that derive a profit from operations in money or credit.
Rapid Extinction of the National Debt.
Nationalisation of the Land, and organisation cf agricultural and
industrial armies under State control on Co-operative principles.
As means for the peaceable attainment of these objects the SocialDemocratic Federation advocates :
Adult Suffrage. Annual Parliaments. Proportional Represen
tation.
Payment of Members ; and Official Expenses of Election
out of the Rates.
Abolition of the House of Lords and all
Hereditary Authorities. Disestablishment and Disendowment
of all State Churches.
Membership of Branches of the Federation is open to all who agree
with its objects, and subscribe One Penny per week.
Those ready to form Branches should communicate with the
Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation, Bridge House, Blackfriars. E. C.
All who are interested, in Socialism
should, read.
THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS OF
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
Which will be sent post free at the published prices on receipt of
an order amounting to one shilling or more.
(The Publications of the Modern Press can be obtained from W. L.
Rosenberg, 261, East Tenth Street, New York City.)
Socialism made Plain.
The social and political
manifesto of the Social-Democratic Federation issued in June 1883 ;
with “The Unemployed,” a Manifesto issued after the “ Riots in
the West End” on 8th February, 1886. Sixty-first thousand.
Crown 8-vo., paper cover, price id.
“ JUSTICE,” the Organ of the Social Democracy. Every
Saturday, one penny.
Socialist Rhymes
from Justice.
By J. L. Joynes.
Reprinted chiefly
Demy 8-vo., price id.
Summary of the Principles of Socialism.
By
H. M. Hyndman and William Morris. Second edition, 64-pp.
crown 8-vo., in wrapper designed by Wm. Morris, price 4d.
This gives an account of the growth of capitalist production, and concludes with a
statement of the demands of English Socialists for the immediate future.
Herbert Spencer on Socialism. By Frank Fairman.
16-pp. crown 8-vo., price id.
�'x'\x\'cw\xye^A>:
I
Socialism and Soldiering*; with some comments on the
Army Enlistment Fraud. By George Bateman (Late 23rd Regi
ment), with Portrait. With an introduction by H. H. Champion
(Late Royal Artillery). Price One Penny.
The Working Man’s Programme (Arbeiter Programm). By Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated from the German
by Edward Peters. Crown 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
The Robbery of the Poor.
By W. H. P. Campbell.
Demy 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
The Appeal to the Young.
By Prince Peter
Kropotkin. Translated from the French by H. M. Hyndman and
reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo., 16-pp. Price one penny.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever penned by a
scientific man. Its author has just suffered five years’ imprisonment at the hands of the
French Republic for advocating the cause of the workers
Wage-Labour and Capital. From the German of
Karl Marx translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
New and cheaper edition, Royal 8-vo., price id.
By Edward Carpenter —Social Progress and Indi
vidual Effort; Desirable Mansions; and Co-operative Production.
One penny each.
The Man with the Red Flag: Being John Burns’
Speech at the Old Bailey, when tried-for Seditious Conspiracy, on
April gth, 1886. (From the Verbatim Notes of the official short
hand reporter.) With Portrait. Price threepence.
The Socialist Catechism. By J. L. Joynes. Reprinted
with additions from Justice.
Demy 8-vo., price id. 20th thousand.
Socialism and Slavery. By H. M. Hyndman.
(In
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By H.
M.
What an Eight Hours Bill Means.
By T. Mann
reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on “ The Coming Slavery.”)
New Edition, with portrait. 16 pp. Royal 8-vo., price one penny.
Hyndman. With a Portrait of the Author. Reprinted by per
mission from the Nineteenth Century for February, 1885. Crown 8-vo.,
price one penny.
(Amalgamated Engineers). New edition with portrait.
Thousand. Price one penny.
Socialism and the Worker.
By F.
A.
Sixth
Sorge.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of tne main idea of Socialism.
The Chicago Riots and the Class War in the
United States. By H. M. Hyndman. Reprinted
from Time, June, 1886.
Price one penny.
International Trade Union Congress, held at Paris,
August, 1886. Report by Adolphe Smith.
Price Three-Halfpence.
24-pp., Royal 8-vo.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The socialist catechism
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Joynes, J. L. (James Leigh) [-1893.]
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 4, [2] p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Reprinted with additions from: Justice. 23rd thousand edition. Publisher's list on unnumbered page at the end. Information on the Social-Democratic Federation, p. 14.
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The Modern Press
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1885
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G4976
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Socialism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A defence of atheism: being a lecture delivered in Mercantile Hall, Boston, April 10, 1861), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
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English
Capitalism
Socialism
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■nit S
PRICE ONE PENNY.
SEVENTY-FIRST THOUSAND I
SOCIALISM
MADE PLAIN
AND
“THE UNEMPLOYED”
BEING TWO
MANIFESTOES
OF THE
SOG/A L-DEMOGRA TIG
FEDERA TION.
Address Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation,
Bridge House, Blackfriars. E.C.
EDUCATE.
AGITATE.
ORGANISE.
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
1886.
Agent for U.S.A., W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, EAST
STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
FOURTH
�Summary of the Principles of Socialism.
By H. M. Hyndman and William Morris.
Second
edition, 64-pp. crown 8-vo., in wrapper designed by Wm.
Morris, price 4d.
This gives an account of the growth of capitalist production, and con
cludes with a statement of the demands of English Socialists for the imme
diate future.
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By
H. M. Hyndman. With a portrait of the Author.
Reprinted by permission from the Nineteenth Century for
February, 1885. Crown 8-vo., price id.
The Socialist Catechism. By J. L. Joynes.
Royal 8-vo.,
Reprinted with additions from Justice.
price id. Fifteenth thousand.
Socialist Rhymes.
J.
By
Reprinted chiefly from Justice.
L.
Joynes.
Royal 8-vo., price id.
Wage-Labour and Capital.
By Karl Marx.
Translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
Price 2d.
This is the only work of the great Socialist thinker which has been
translated into English.
Socialism and the Worker.
Sorge.
By F. A.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of the main idea of Socialism.
John Williams and the History of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
8-vo., price id.
Socialism
and
With portrait.
Slavery.
By
H.
Royal
M.
Hyndman. (In reply Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on
the “ Coming Slavery ”). New Edition. Price id.
The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.G.
And W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, East Fourth Street, New
York City.
�SOCIALISM
MADE
PLAIN,
BEING THE
Social and Political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation
EDUCATE.
AGITATE
ORGANISE.
Fellow Citizens,
qpHE time has come when it is absolutely necessary
that the mass of the people should seriously take
in hand their own business unless they are content to
find themselves in the near future worse off than they
have ever yet been. At present, social and political
power is monopolised by xhose who live upon the
labour of their fellows; and Tories or Conservatives,
Whigs, Liberals or Radicals strive only to keep the
workers ignorant of the truths which most nearly con
cern them. After the Reform Bill of 1832 the capi
talists entered into alliance with the landlords except
on one question, and from the repeal of the Corn
Laws in 1846 to this day the lords of the money-bag
and the lords of the soil have together been absolute
masterc of the millions who labour throughout the
United Kingdom. So complete has been their control
that since the year 1848 no vigorous attempt has even
been made to overthrow it. But what has been the re
sult to the workers of this supremacy of the luxurious
classes ? During fifty years our labourers have com
peted against one another for wages which barely
suffice to keep them
aUve.
Whilst the realised
�weaith and the annual income of the country have
more than trebled, those who create these riches re
main a wage-slave class, overworked and underfed,
at the mercy of every crisis and the victims of each suc
ceeding depression. The improved machinery, the
extension of railways, the great steam and electric
communications—that vast increase of the power of
man over nature which has been the main feature of
our epoch, has brought luxury for the few, misery and
degradation for the many. Even in the past ten years
what have we seen ? The interests of Great Britain
utterly neglected, Ireland shamefully misgoverned,
India ruined and South Africa estranged. In 1874
the Liberals were dismissed for incapacity and Conser
vatives ruled in their stead for six years. Not a single
measure did they introduce during that long tenure of
office which could in any way lighten the lot of the
millions who toil. The Conservatives having been
turned out in disgust the Liberals again try their
h|and, and once more not a single measure is before
Parliament, not a single measure is proposed for future
legislation, which can benefit the working men and
women who are really the source of all our wealth.
Fellow-Citizens the further success of this pitiful
trickery depends upon your ignorance and will last as
long as your apathy. Landlords and capitalists, who
o ahi the House of Lords and fill the House of Commons,
wish nothing better than to protect their interests
under the pretence of looking after yours. Take up
then your own heritage, push aside these wealthy huck
sters of both factions who trade upon your labour,
and trust for the future in your own strength alone.
�Consider the figures below.
Total Production of the United
Kingdom................................. £1,300,000,000
Taken by Landlords, Capitalists
and Profitmongers
..........
1,000,000,000
Left for the Producers..................
300,000,000
Study these figures all who toil and suffer that others
may be lazy and rich ; look upon the poverty, the star
vation, the prostitution around you ye who labour and
return the value of your entire day’s wages to the employ
ing classes in the first two or three hours of your day’s
work. Ponder on these facts, reflect upon these figures,
men and women of England, and then ask yourselves,
whether it is worth while for such a result as this to
bow down in slavish subjection before your “ governing
classes,” whether you will not rather demand and
obtain the full fruits of your labour and become your
own governing class yourselves. Submit then no longer
to a system of Parliamentary Government which is
maintained in the interests of those who rob and oppress
you—which has proved itself for generations to be alike
a failure and a fraud.
EDUCATE !
AGITATE !
ORGANISE !
Fellow Citizens, we of the Democratic Federation
demand complete adult suffrage for every man and
woman in these islands, because in this way alone dan
the whole people give free expression to their will; we
are in favor of paid delegates and annual Conventions
because by this means alone can the people control
their representatives; we stand up for the direct r&
ference of all grave issues to the country at larg<&,
and for the punishment as felony of every species ol
�corruption, because thus only can tyranny be checked
and bribery uprooted ; we call for the abolition of all
hereditary authority, because such authority is neces
sarily independent of the mass of the people. But all
these reforms when secured mean only that the men and
women of these islands will at length be masters in
their own house. Mere political machinery is worth
less unless used, to produce good social conditions.
All wealth is due to labour ; therefore to the labourers
all wealth is due.
But we are strangers in our own country. Thirty
thousand persons own the land of Great Britain against
the 30,000,000 who are suffered to exist therein. A
long series of robberies and confiscations has deprived
us of the soil which should be ours. The organised
brute force of the few has for generations robbed and
tyrannised over the unorganised brute force of the many.
We now call for Nationalisation of the Land. We
claim that land in country and land in towns, mines,
parks, mountains, moors should be owned by the people
for the people, to be held, used, built over and culti
vated upon such terms as the people themselves see fit
to ordain. The handful ot marauders who now hold
possession have and can have no right save brute force
against the tens of millions whom they wrong.
But private ownership of land in our present society
is only one and not the worst form of monopoly which
enables the wealthy classes to use the means of pro
duction against the labourers whom they enslave. Of
the £1,000,000,000 taken by the classes who live without
labour out of a total yearly production of ^1,300,000,000,
the landlords who have seized Our soil, and shut us out
�from its enjoyment, absorb little more than £60,000,000
as their direct share. The few thousand persons who
own the National Debt, saddled upon the community
by a landlord Parliament, exact ^28,000,000 yearly from
the labour of their countrymen for nothing ; the share
holders who have been allowed to lay hands upon
our great railway communications take a still larger
sum.
Above all, the active capitalist class, the
loan-mongers, the farmers, the mine-exploiters, the
contractors, the middle-men, the factory-lords—these,
the modern slave-drivers, these are they who, through
their money, machinery, capital, and credit turn every
advance in human knowledge, every further improve
ment in human dexterity, into an engine for accumu
lating wealth out of other men’s labour, and for
exacting more and yet more surplus value out of the
wage-slaves whom they employ.
So long as the
means of production, either of raw materials or of
manufactured goods are the monopoly of a class, so
long must the labourers on the farm, in the mine or in
the factory sell themselves for a bare subsistence wage.
As land must in future be a national possession, so
must the other means of producing and distributing
wealth. The creation of wealth is already a social
business, where each is forced to co-operate with his
neighbour; it is high time that exchange of the produce
should be social too, and removed from the control of
individual greed and individual profit.
As stepping-stones to a happier period, we urge for
immediate adoption :—
The COMPULSORY CONSTRUCTION of healthy
artisans’ and agricultural labburers’ dwellings in pro
�8
portion to the population, such dwellings to be let at
rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance
alone.
FREE COMPULSORY EDUCATION for all
classes, together with the provision of at least one
wholesome meal a day in each school.
EIGHT HOURS or less to be the normal WORK
ING DAY in all trades.
CUMULATIVE TAXATION upon all incomes
above a fixed minimum not exceeding ^300 a year.
STATE APPROPRIATION
with or without compensation.
OF
RAILWAYS,
The establishment of NATIONAL BANKS, which
shall absorb all private institutions that derive a profit
from operations in money or credit.
RAPID
DEBT.
EXTINCTION
of
the
NATIONAL
NATIONALISATION OF THE LAND, and
organisation of agricultural and industrial armies under
State control on co-operative principles.
By these measures a healthy, independent, and
thoroughly educated people will steadily grow up
around us, ready to abandon that baneful competition
for starvation wages which ruins our present workers,
ready to organise the labour of each for the benefiit
of all, determined, too, to take control finally of the
entire social and political machinery of a State in
which class distinctions and class privileges shall cease
to be.
Do any say we attack private property ? We deny
'Vp attack only that private property for a few
�thousand loiterers and siave-drivers, which renders all
property in the fruits of their own labour impossible
for millions. We challenge that private property
which renders poverty at once a necessity and a crime.
Fellow-Citizens, we appeal to every man and woman
among you who is weary of this miserable huckster’s
society, where poverty and prostitution, fraud and
adulteration, swindling and jobbery, luxury and debau
chery reign supreme, we appeal to you to work with
us in a never-ceasing effort to secure a happier lot for
our people and their children, and to hold up a high
ideal of national greatness for those who come after.
Such an ideal of true greatness and glory, needs but
intelligence, enthusiasm, and combination, to make it
a reality even in our own day. We, at least, will never
falter. We stretch out our hands for help, co-operation,
and encouragement, to all creeds and all nationalities,
ready ourselves to render assistance in every struggle
against class injustice and individual greed. The land
of England is no mean heritage; there is enough and
to spare for all; with the powers mankind now possess
wealth may easily be made as plentiful as water at the
expense of trifling toil. But to-day the worn-out wage
slaves of our boasted civilisation look hopelessly at the
wealth which they have created to be devoured only by
the rich and their hangers-on. To the abject poor
patriotism is but a mockery, all talk of happiness, of
beauty, of morality, is a sneer. We call, then, upon
every lover of freedom to support us in our endeavour
to form a real party of the people, which shall secure a
noble future for our own and other lands.
The aims and objects of the Democratic Federation
�are before you.
organised effort.
Success can only be achieved by
Educate !
We shall need all our intelligence.
Agitate !
We shall need all our enthusiasm.
Organise !
We shall need all our force.
EDUCATE !
(Signed)
June, 1883.
A GITA TE !
ORGA NISE !
The Executive Committee,
Democratic Federation.
The Federation consists of branches in various towns,
membership of which is open to all who hold the prin
ciples set forth in the manifesto of the body, and who
subscribe to its programme. Subscription id. per week.
Further information can be obtained by reading
EVERY
SATURDAY.
“JUSTICE”
w
1
ONE
PENNY.
A paper managed by working men, and edited by a
working man. It can be obtained from any newsagent,
or will be forwarded for 13 weeks to any address if is.
8d. is sent to The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row,
London, E.C.
Full particulars can be obtained by writing to the
Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation,
Bridge House, Blackfriars, E.C.
�MANIFESTO
OF THE
Social-Democratic Federation.
Issued after the West End Riots, Feb. 8, 1886.
15^ February.
Fellow Citizens,
We invite you to attend a mass meeting of employed
and unemployed workers in Hyde Park, at 3.30 p.m.
punctually, on Sunday next, February 21st, to demand
that the Government should organise the labour of
those who are now starving, owing to no fault of their
own, and should, as at other periods of distress, com
mence useful public works, paying to those engaged rates
of wages sufficient to ensure a healthy subsistence.
In calling this meeting we earnestly appeal to all who
attend it, whether in or out of work, to help us to keep
order. Those who understand the vital importance of
the Social-Democratic movement to workers of every
grade will be the first to put down any attempts of their
enemies to discredit the cause of the people, or to
endanger that right of public meeting which can alone
enable the producing class to gain any real advantage
without bitter civil strife.
The objects of the Social-Democrats when attained
will benefit not the workers only but even those who
to-day live in luxury, at the expense of the misery and
�12
degradation of the labourers. The present hopeless
breakdown shows clearly enough that the upper and
middle classes are unable to handle the industrial
machinery even to their own profit. Hundreds of
thousands of our fellows eager to do' useful work, in
order to maintain themselves and their families in
reasonable comfort, find that they cannot earn sufficient
wages to give them the bare necessaries of life. At the
same time the very goods which they themselves most
want are unsaleable because the producers are thus
denied the possibility of purchasing them. Even the
employed must know that the lot of their workless
fellows to-day may be theirs to-morrow. The uncer
tainty of employment is yearly increasing in every trade,
while in many branches men over forty years of age are
systematically refused work.
Hard times now come much oftener than formerly and
each crisis lasts longer than the one before. The
reason of this is that the workers themselves, having no
property, are forced to compete with one another for
subsistence wages, and have nothing to do with the dis
posal of the wealth which they produce for the profit of
others. When capitalists cannot mike that profit, they
cut their men adrift.
What is to be done? The landlords and capitalists
practically confess that they, at least do not know.
When forced to recognize that people will no longer
starve in silence, they condemn skilled artizans as well
as famine-stricken labourers to prove that poverty is
their only crime by breaking stones or picking oakum
at tenpence a day; or they endeavour to salve their
consciences, shocked by the misery which clamours at
�*3
their doors, by the pitiful expedient of an unasked-for
charity.
Social-Democrats alone dare deal directly with the
difficulty. More than two years ago as palliatives for
the serious distress which even then prevailed, we
issued the following proposals :—
“ i.—That no Government servant be employed at his
or her present wages for a longer period than eight
hours in each day. This alone would give room for
many now out of work, seeing that the ordinary hours
of work in the Post Office and other State establish
ments are from ten to twelve hours, or more, in the day.
2. —That all uncultivated Crown, or other lands, or
lands now in pasture, which in the opinion of skilled
agriculturists, would best pay to cultivate, be at once
worked with improved machinery by such of the unem
ployed as are accustomed to or would prefer agricultural
occupation. These labourers to be paid the rate of
wages which, in the judgment of a board of assessors,
shall be sufficient to keep them and their families in
health and comfort, or that such necessary food be sup
plied at cost at a general meal, lodging being provided
on the spot. An equitable portion of the profits, if
any, derived 'from such farming operations to be divided
from time to time among the people employed.
3. —That any public works oi importance in or near
any industrial centre—such as artisans’ dwellings, em
bankment of rivers, construction of canals or aqueducts
—should be begun at once instead of their commence
ment being deferred ; and that the same rate of wages
be paid, in proportion to cost of living, to the workers
employed that is paid to the agricultural labourers, or
�*4
that their feeding be conducted on wholesale principles
as above. That if, on valuation of works completed
any profit should be shown above what such works
would have cost, at rates of wages for similar work
averaged for the last five years, an equitable proportion
of such profit be divided among the labourers.
4. —That, where possible, light relief works on similar
principles should be commenced for those women or
men, who are incapable of heavy labour; or that they
be engaged on clothing or other work which they could
exchange through the State with the products of those
who are at work upon the land.
5. —That the cost of the initial proceedings and the
payment of wages be met by the ratepayers and the
State in equal portions, or in such proportions as may
be determined. The advantage to the ratepavers is that
able-bodied persons would be engaged upon beneficial
remunerative labour, instead of upon useless workhouse
tasks ; the advantage to the State would be that no
permanent pauperism would result from the prevailing
depression. Therefore the Municipalities and the State
should at once organise the unemployed labour and
thereby save expense later.”
To these we would now add free dinners for the
children in all Board Schools, as nothing is more
terrible for the workers at times like these than to see the
health of their offspring ruined for life by sheer lack of
nourishment.
Is this incendiarism ? Are these proposals anarch
ical ? That they can be but temporary expedients
we readily admit. But every man must acknowledge
that a society in which the statement of such elemen
�tary truths as that men should be allowed to work and
children to eat is accounted revolutionary cannot long
be propped up even by the adoption of the continental
methods of police repression or the arbitrary despotism
of a military governor.
All the facts around us confirm us in the conviction
that the class supremacy due to historical development is
even now being sapped by the growth of new economical
foims. The scientific truths on which this belief isfounded,
can be studied in the authorised publications of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
We call then upon the workers of London and of
these islands to stand side by side with us in orderly
union, to the end that they may organise for themselves
and for their children a sound system of national and
international co-operation which shall happily replace
the anarchy and misery of to-day. The work that we
have taken up is no light one, but the object is noble
and the reward is sure.
Let the governing classes face the inevitable downfall
of a decaying civilisation without hypocrisy and without
panic.
On them rests the responsibility of a
peaceful or a forcible issue to the last great class
struggle of our times. Here in the centre of capitalist
domination and commercial greed we at least are
resolved to continue our efforts, confident that they
must lead to the final emancipation of labour and to
the conquest of the future by the workers of the world.
(Signed)
The General Council of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
�The Working Man’s Programme (Arbeiter
Programm). By Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated from
the German by Edward Peters. Crown 8-vo., paper
cover, price 6d.
Social Progress and Individual Effort.
Desirable Mansions
Co-operative Production.
By Edward Carpenter.
Price id. each.
The Appeal to the Young.
By Prince
Peter Kropotkin.
Translated from the French by
H. M. Hyndman and reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo.,
16-pp. Price one penny. Tenth thousand.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever pen
ned by a scientific man. Its author is now suffering five years imprison
ment at the hands of the French Republic for advocating the cause of the
workers.
Herbert Spencer on Socialism. By Frank
Fairman.
16-pp. crown 8-vo., price id.
The Robbery of the Poor. By w. H. P.
Campbell.
New Edition.
Paper wrapper, price 6d.
The Man with the Red Flag: Being John
Burns’ Speech at the Old Bailey, when tried for Seditious
Conspiracy, on April gth, 1886. (From the Verbatim
Notes of the official shorthand reporter). With Portrait.
Price 3d.
What an Eight Hour Bill Means. By T.
Mann, (Amalgamated Engineers).
Price id.
Socialism and Slavery. By H. M. Hyndman.
(In reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Article on “The
Coming Slavery ”). New Edition. 16-pp., Royal'8-vo.
Price id.
The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
And W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, East Fourth Street, New
York City.
�
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Socialism made plain and "The Unemployed" : being two manifestoes of the Social-Democratic Federation
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Social-Democratic Federation
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 15, [1] p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: First manifesto (p. 1 to 10) titled, 'Socialism Made Plain, being the Social and Political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation'. Second manifesto (p. 11 to 15) titled, 'Manifesto of the Social-Democratic Federation. Issued after the West End Riots, Feb. 8 1886'. End of text of first manifesto dated June, 1883. Second manifesto dated, 15th February [1886]. Publisher's advertisements on page [2] and on unnumbered page at end.
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1886
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Socialism
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Political Manifesto
Socialism
Unemployment
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PRIGE TWOPENCE.
SOCIALISM
anU IJrarticr
BEING
A LECTURE DELIVERED TO A WORK
ING CLASS AUDIENCE.
KARL PEARSON.
SECOKD
EDITION
LONDON:
W. REEVES, 185, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C,
�Note to Second Edition.
This lecture delivered early in 1884, and afterwards
printed as a pamphlet, seems somewhat out of place
in 1887. Things have been rapidly changing in the
last three years. The discontent of the hand
workers has become greater and more manifest; if
I read the times aright, we are still only at the
threshold of the social crisis. The socialist of the
market-place has accomplished many things, of
which one only seems to me of real value. The
“ Church Parade ” is a brilliant inspiration and will
do much good if it brings home to our shepherds how
completely they have been neglecting the herd in
order to pipe to the dancing of their mistresses,
Wealth and Power. On the other hand the need
for a scientific exposition of evolutionary Socialism
is as pressing and as unsupplied as ever. It is only
after repeated request from the publisher that I
have consented to a reprint in its present form of a
pamphlet which has no claim to be a scientific
treatment of a very difficult and urgent problem.
Inner Temple,
K.P.
March 6th, 1887,
�To E.
C.
This lecture has been printed just as it was delivered
You would have wished it carefully revised. Other
labour has hindered my touching it, and it now seems
better to let its simple language stand. It was addressed
to simple folk ; had it been intended for a middle-class
audience it would have adopted a more logical, but un
doubtedly harsher tone. The selfishness of the ‘ upper ’
classes arises to a great extent from ignorance, but these
are times in which such ignorance itself is criminal. The
object of this pamphlet will be fulfilled should it bring
home even to one or two that truth, which I have learnt
from you, namely—that the higher socialism of our time
does not strive for a mere political reorganization, it is
labouring for a renascence of morality.
K. P
Inner Temple, Christmas Eve, 1884.
�SOCIALISM:
IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
-------- 0--------
During the past year there was a great deal of
discussion in the newspapers—and out of them_
concerning the dwellings of the so-called poor.
Numerous philanthropical people wrote letters and
articles describing the extreme misery and unhealthy
condition of many of our London courts and alleys.
The Prince of Wales got up in the House of Lords
and remarked that he had visited several of the most
■deplorable slums in the Holborn district, and found
them “ very deplorable indeed 1” The whole sub
ject seemed an excellent one out of which to make
political capital. The leader of the Conservatives
wrote an article in a Tory magazine on the dwellings
of the poor. He told us that things are much
better in the country than they are in the towns,
that the great landlords look after the housing of
the agricultural labourers. It is the employers of
labour, the capitalists, who are at fault. They
■ought to provide proper dwellings for their work
people. This was the opinion of Lord Salisbury, a
great owner of land. But the Conservatives having
come forward as the friends of the working-men, it
seemed impossible, with a view to future elections,
to let the matter rest there. Accordingly, Mr.
Joseph Chamberlain, a Radical leader and capital
ist, wrote another article in a Liberal magazine, to
�SOCIALISM : IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
5
show that it is no business whatever of the employers
of labour to look after the housing of their work
people. It is the duty of the owner of the land to
see that decent houses are built upon it. In other
words, the only men, who under our present social
regime could make vast improvements, threw the
responsibility off their own shoulders. “ Very
deplorable, indeed,” said Lord Salisbury, “ but of
course not the landlord’s fault; why does not that
greedy fellow, the capitalist, look after his work
people ?” “ Nothing could be more wretched; I
am sure it will lead to a revolution,” ejaculated Mr.
Chamberlain, “ but, of course, it has nothing to do
with the capitalist; why does not that idle person,
that absolutely useless landlord, build more decent
houses ?” Then the landlord and capitalist for once
agreed and thought it would be well to appoint a
Royal Commission, which meant, that after a certain
amount of philanthropic twaddle and a vast ocean
of political froth the whole matter would end in
nothing or an absolutely fruitless Act of Parliament.
*
Any change would have to be made at the cost of
either the landlord or capitalist, or of both, and
whether we like it or not, it is these two who practcally govern this country. They are not likely to
empty their pockets for our benefit. It is generally
known how strong the interest of the land
lords is in both Houses of Parliament, but this is
comparatively small when we measure the
interests of the capitalists. You will be surprised,
if you investigate the matter, to find the large
proportion of the House of Commons which re
presents the interests of capital. The number of
members of that House who are themselves
* Three years afterwards we see it has ended in
nothing—-not even an Act
�6
SOCIALISM :
employers of labour, who are connected with grea
commercial interests, who are chairmen or directors
of large capitalistic companies, or in some other way
are representatives of capital (as well as of their
constituents) is quite astounding. It is said that
one large railway company alone can muster forty
votes on a division; while the railway interests, if
combined, might form a coalition which, in con
ceivable cases, would be of extreme danger to the
State. I have merely touched upon this matter to
remind you how thoroughly we are governed in this
country by a class. The government of this country
is not in the hands of the people. It is mere self
deception for us to suppose that all classes have a
voice in the management of our affairs. The
educative class (the class which labours with its
head) and the productive class (the class which
labours with its hands) have little or no real
influence in the House of Commons. The govern
ing class is the class of wealth, in both of its
branches—owners of land and owners of capital.
This class naturally governs in its own interests,
and the interests of wealth are what we must seek
for would we understand the motive for any
particular form of foreign or domestic policy on the
part of either great State party.
It may strike you that I have wandered very far
from the topic with which I started, namely, the
dwellings of the poor, but I wanted to point out to
you, by a practical example, how very unlikely it is
that a reform, urgently needed by one class of the
community, will be carried out efficiently by another
governing class, when that reform must be paid for
out of the latter’s pockets. Confirmation of this
view may be drawn from the fact that the govern
ing class pretend to have discovered in 1884 only
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE,
7
that the poor are badly housed. There is
something almost laughable in all the pother lately
raised about the housing of the poor. So far as my
own experience goes—and I would ask if that is not
a fact ?—the poor are not worse housed in 1884 than
they were in 1874. The evil is one of very old
standing. It was crying out for reform ten years
ago, twenty years ago, forty years ago. More than
forty years ago—in 1842—there was a report issued
by a “Commission on the sanitary condition of
the labouring population of Great Britain.” The
descriptions given in that report are of a precisely
similar character to what was put before the public
in a little tract entitled the “ Bitter Cry of Outcast
London.” In that report we hear of 40,000 people
in Liverpool alone living in cellars underground.
We are told that the annual number of deaths from
fever, generated by uncleanliness and overcrowding
in the dwellings of the poor, was then in England
and Wales double the number of persons killed in
the battle of Waterloo. We hear of streets without
drainage, of workshops without ventilation, and of
ten to twenty people sleeping in the same room,
often five in a bed, rarely with any regard to sex.
The whole essence of this report was to show that
owing to the great capitalistic industries, the
working classes, if they had not become poorer, had
become more demoralized. They had been forced
to crowd together and occupy unhealthy and often
ruinous dwellings. The governing class and the
public authorities scarcely troubled themselves
about the matter, but treated the working classes as
machines rather than as men. We see, then, that
precisely the same evil was crying loudly for remedy
in 1842 as it cries now in 1884. We ask why has
there been no remedy applied during all these
�8
SOCIALISM :
years ? There can only be two answers to that
question; either no remedy is possible, or else thosem whose power the remedy lies refuse to apply it.
We must consider these two points.
Is no remedy possible ? Not long ago a thinking
Conservative (if such be not a contradiction in terms !)
stated that although he recognised the deplorable
misery of the poorer members of the working classes,
he still held no remedy was possible. The misery
might become so intense that an outbreak would
intervene ; still, when the outbreak was over, matters
would sink back into their old course. There must
be poor, and the poor would be miserable. No
*
violent revolution, no peaceful reform, could per
manently benefit the poorer class of toilers. It was,
so to speak, a law of nature (if not of God) that
society should have a basis of misery. History
proved this to be always the case.
It is to this latter phrase I want to call your
attention—History proved this to be always the case.
Our Conservative friend was distinctly right in his
method when he appealed to history. That is peculi
arly the method which ought to be made use of for
the solution of all social and political problems. It
is of the utmost importance to induce the working
classes to study social and political problems from
the historical standpoint. Do not listen to mere
theory, or to the mere talk of rival political agitators.
Endeavour, if possible, to see how like problems
have been treated by different peoples in different
ages, and with what measure of success. The study
of history is, I am aware, extremely difficult, because
the popular history books tell us only of wars and of
kings, and very little of the real life of the people—
* This seems to be the doctrine recently expounded
to “ Church paraders,” March, 1887.
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
9
how they worked, how they were fed, and how they
were housed. But the real mission of history is to
tell us how the great mass of the people toiled and
lived; to tell us of their pleasure and of their
misery. That is the only history that can help us
in social problems. Does, then, history tell us that
there always has been, and therefore always must
be, a large amount of misery at the basis of society ?
The question is one really of statistics, and extremely
difficult to answer; but, after careful investigation, I
must state that I have come to a conclusion totally
different from that of our Conservative friend. I
admit, in the words of the man who worked for the
poor in Galilee, that at all times and places “ the poor
are always with you ” ; but the amount of poverty as
well as the degree of misery attending it has varied
immensely. I have made special investigation of
the condition of the artisan class in Germany some
three to four hundred years ago, and do not hesitate
to assert that anything like the condition of the
.courts and dwellings of poorer London was then
totally unknown. If this be true, the argument from
history is false. The artisan class has occupied a
firmer and more substantial position in times gone
by than it at present occupies. If it has sunk in the
scale of comfort, it can certainly rise. In other
words, a remedy for the present state of things does
seem to me possible. Should any of you want to
know why the working classes were better off four
hundred years ago than they are at present, I must
state it as my own opinion, that it was due to a
better social system. The social system, so far as
the workman was concerned, was based upon the
guild, and the political system of those old towns
was based as a rule upon the guilds. Thus the
union which directed the workman in his work, and
�IO
socialism.
:
brought his class together for social purposes,
was practically the same as that which directed the
municipal government of his city. If you would
exactly understand what that means, you must
suppose the trades unions of to-day to take a large
share in the government of London. If they did so,
how long do you think the dwellings of the poor
would remain what they are ? Do you believe the
evil would remain another forty years ? or that in
1920 it would be necessary to shuffle out of im
mediate action by another Royal Commission ?
As I have said, the guilds of working men had
originally a large share in municipal government.
The city guilds, as you know, are still very wealthy
bodies, and have great authority in the city. This
is all that remains in London of the old system of
working men’s guilds taking a part in the manage
ment of the city’s affairs.
In old days, then, the labouring classes were
united in guilds and these guilds had a considerable
share in local government. The social and political
system was thus, to some extent, based upon labour.
Such an organization of society, we call socialistic.
The workmen of four hundred years ago were better
off than are the workmen of to-day, because the old
institutions were more socialistic—in other words,
society was organized rather on the basis of labour
than the basis of wealth. A society based upon
wealth, since it grants power and place to the
owners of something which is in the hands of
a few individuals, may be termed individual
istic. To-day we live in an individualistic state. I
believe the workman of four hundred years ago was
better off than his brother now, because he formed
part of a socialistic rather than an individualistic
system. I believe a remedy possible for the present
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
II
state of affairs, because history seems to teach us that
the artisan has a firmer and happier position under a
socialism than under an individualism. It also
teaches us that some forms of socialism have existed
in the past, and may therefore be possible in the
present or future. I hold, and I would ask you to
believe with me, that a remedy is possible. If it is, we
are thrown back on the alternative that the govern
ing class has refused or neglected to apply it. We
have seen that the evil did not arise or did not
accumulate to such an extent where society was
partly based upon labour; we are, therefore, forced
to the probable conclusion, that the evil has arisen
and continues to subsist, because our social and
political system is based upon wealth rather than
upon labour—because we live under an individualism
rather than under a socialism. It is the fault of our
present social system, and not a law of history, that
the toilers should be condemned to extreme misery
and poverty.
We have now to consider the following questions:—
What do we mean by labour and a social system based
upon labour ? By what means can we attempt to
convert a system based upon wealth to one based
upon labour; in other words, how shall we proceed
to convert our present individualism into a socialism ?
In the latter question it will be necessary to include
the consideration of the attitude which the artisan
class should itself take with regard to organizations
for socialistic change, and h@w it should endeavour
to take political action especially with regard to the
two great capitalistic parties.
Let me first endeavour to explain what I under
stand by labour. You may imagine, perhaps at
first, that I refer only to labour of the hand—such
abour as is required to make a pair of boots or turn
�12
SOCIALISM :
a lathe. But I conceive labour to be something or
far wider extent than this. I conceive it to include
all work, whether work of the head or of the hand,
which is needful or. profitable to the community at
large. The man who puts cargo into a ship is no
more or less a labourer than the captain who
directs her course across the ocean; nor is either
more of a labourer than the mathematician or astro
nomer whose calculations and observations enable the
captain to know which direction he shall take when
he is many hundred miles from land. The shoe
maker or the postman are no more labourers than
the clerk who sits in a merchant’s office or the judge
who sits on the bench. The schoolmaster, thewriter and the actor are all true labourers. Insome cases they may be overpaid; in many
they are underpaid. Men of wealth have been
known to pay the governess who teaches their
children less than they pay their cook, and treat her
with infinitely less respect. I have laid stress on
the importance of labour of the head, because I
have met working men—although few—who believed
nothing but labour of the hand could have any value’;
all but labourers with the hand were idlers. You
have doubtless heard of the victory gained last year
by English troops in Egypt. Now, how do you sup
pose that victory was gained ? Were the English
soldiers a bit braver than the Arabs ? Were they
stronger ? Not in the least. They won the victory
because they were better disciplined, because they
had better weapons—shortly, because what we may
term their organisation was better. That organiza
tion was due to labour of the head. Now, what
happened in Egypt is going on in the world at large
every day. It is not always the stronger, but the
better organized, the better educated man who goes
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
I J.
ahead. What is true of individual men is true of
nations. The better organised, the better educated
nation is victorious in the battle of life. We English
have been so successful because we were well
organized, because we were better educated than
Hindoos, Zulus, and all the races we have con
quered. You must never forget how much of that
organization, that education, is due to labourers with
the head. Some of you may be indifferent to the
great empire of England, to this superiority
of Englishmen, but let me assure you that, small asin some cases is the comfort of the English working
classes, it is on the average large compared with
that of an inferior race—compared, say, with the
abject misery of the Egyptian peasant. I want, if
possible, to point out to you the need for sympathy
between labour of all kinds—that labourers with the
hand and labourers with the head are mutually
dependent. They are both true labourers as
opposed to the idlers—the drones, , who, by some
chance having a monopoly of wealth, live on thelabour of others. I would say to every man—
“ Friend, what is your calling, what are you doing
for society at large ? Are you making its shoes, are
you teaching its children, are you helping to main
tain order and forward its business ? If you are
doing none of this, are you relieving its work hours
by administering to its play ? Do you bring plea
sure to the people as an actor, a- writer, or a
painter ? If you are doing none of this, if you are
simply a possessor of wealth, struggling to amuse
yourself, and pass through life for your own pleasure,
then—why, then, you are not wanted here, and the
sooner you clear out, bag and baggage, the better
for us—and perhaps for yourself.” Do you grasp
now the significance of a society based upon labour ?
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SOCIALISM
The possessor of wealth, simp y because he ha
wealth, would have no place in such a society. The
workers would remove him even as the worker bees
eject the drones from their hive. ,
Society ought to be one vast guild of labourers—
workers with the head and workers with the hand—
and so organised there would be no place in it for
those who merely live on the work of others. In a
political or social system based upon labour it would
be the mere possessor of wealth who would have no
power ; how far we are at present from such a social
ism maybe best observed by noting that wealth now
has almost all political and social power—labour little
or none.
We have now reached what I conceive to be the
fundamental axiom of Socialism. Society must be
■organised on the basis of labour, and, therefore, political
power, the power of organising, must be in the
hands of labour.
That labour, as I have
endeavoured to impress upon you, is of two kinds.
There is labour of the hand, which provides
necessaries for all society: there is the labour of
the head, which produces all that we term progress,
and enables any individual society to maintain its
place in the battle of life—the labour which
educates and organises. I have come across a
tendency in some workers with the hand to suppose
all folk beside themselves to be idlers—social
drones, supported by their work. I admit that the
great mass of idlers are in what are termed the
‘upper and middle classes of society.’ But this
arises from the fact that society, being graduated
solely according to wealth, the people with the most
money, and who are most idle, of course take their
place in these viciously named ‘upper classes.’ In
a labour scale they would naturally appear at the
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
15
very bottom, and form ‘ the dregs of population.’
It is true the labourer with the head is, as a rule,
better clothed, housed, and fed than the labourer
with the hand, but this often arises from the fact
that he is also a capitalist. Still, if the labourer
with the head, whose labour is.his sole source of liveli
hood, is better clothed, housed, and fed than the
artisan, it does no show that in all cases he is earn
ing more than his due; on the contrary, it may
denote that the artisan is earning far less than his
due. The difference, in fact, often represents the
work which goes to support the drones of our pre
sent social system.
At this point I reach what I conceive to be the
second great axiom of true Socialism. All forms of
labour are equally honourable. No form of labour
which is necessary for society can disgrace the
man who practises it or place him in a lower social
grade than any other form of labour. Let us look
at this point somewhat more closely, for it is of the
first importance. So long as the worker looks upon
his work as merely work for himself—considers it
only as a means to his own subsistence, and values
it only as it satisfies his own wants, so long one form
of work will be more degrading than another. To
shovel mud into a cart will be a lower form of work
than to make a pair of shoes, and to make shoes
will not be such high-class labour as to direct a
factory. But there is another way of regarding
work, in which all forms of real labour appear of
equal value—viz., when the labourer looks at
his work not with regard to himself, but with
regard to society at large. Let him con
sider his work as something necessary tor
society, as a condition of its existence, and then
all gradations vanish. It is just as necessary for
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SOCIALISM :
society that its mud should be cleared from the
streets, as that it should have shoes, or again, as
that its factories should be directed. Once let the
workman recognise that his labour is needful for
society, and whatever its character, it becomes
honourable at once. In other words, from the
social standpoint all labour is equally honourable.
We might even go so far as to assert that the
lowest forms of labour are the more honourable,
because they involve the greater personal sacrifice
for the need of society. Once let this second axiom
of true Socialism be recognised—the equality of
every form of labour—and all the vicious distinc
tions of caste—the false lines which society has
drawn between one class of workers and another—
must disappear. The degradation of labour must
cease. Once admit that labour, though differing in
kind, as the shoemaker’s from the blacksmith’s, is
equal in degree, and all class barriers are broken
down. In other words, in a socialistic state, or in
a society based upon labour, there can be no
difference of class. All labourers, whether of the
hand or the head, must meet on equal terms ; they
are alike needful to society; their value will depend
only on the fashion and the energy with which they
perform their particular duties.
Before leaving this subject of labour, there is one
point, however, which must be noticed. I have
said that all forms of labour are equally honourable,
because'we may regard them as equally necessary
for society. But still the effects of various kinds of
labour on the individual will be different. The man
who spends his whole day in shovelling up mud
will hardly be as intelligent as the shoemaker or
engineer. His labour does not call for the same
exercise of intelligence, nor draw out his ingenuity to
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
17
the same extent. Thus, although his labour is
equally honourable, it has not such a good influence
on the man himself. Hence the hours of labour, in
such occupations, ought to be as short as possible ;
sufficient leisure ought to be given to those engaged
in the more mechanical and disagreeable forms of
toil to elevate and improve themselves apart from
their work. When we admit that all labour is
•equally honourable, and therefore deserving of
equal wage, then to educate the labourer will not
lead him to despise his work. It will only lead him
to appreciate and enjoy more fully his leisure.
This question of leisure is a matter of the utmost
importance. We hear much of the demand for
shorter hours of labour; but how is the increased
spare time to be employed ? Many a toiler looks
with envy upon the extravagant luxury of the
wealthy, and cries, not unnaturally, “ What right
have you to enjoy all this, while I can hardly
procure the necessaries of life ? ” But there is a
matter in which I could wish the working classes
would envy the wealthy even more than they might
reasonably do their physical luxury—namely, their
education. There is to me something unanswerable
in the cry which the workman might raise against
the wealthy—“ What right have you to be educated,
while I am ignorant ? ” Far more unanswerable
than the cry—“What right have you to be rich
while I am poor ? ” I could wish a cry for educa
tion might arise from the toilers as the cry for bread
went up in the forties. It is the one thing which
would render an increase of leisure really valuable
to the workers—which would enable them to guide
themselves, and assist society through the dangerous
storms which seem surely gathering in the near
future. Leisure employed in education, in self
�18
SOCIALISM :
improvement, seems to me the only means by which
the difference in character between various forms of
labour can be equalised. This appears a point on
which the labourers with the head can practically
assist those with the hand. Let the two again
unite for that mutual assistance which is so
necessary, if between them they are to reorganise
society into one vast guild of labour.
If we pass for a moment from the possibilities of
the present to those of a distant future, we might
conceive the labourers with the hand to attain such
a degree of education that workers of both kinds
might be fused together. The same man might
labour with his pen in the morning and with his
shovel after mid-day. That, I think, would be the
ideal existence in which society, as an entire body,
would progress at the greatest possible rate. I have
endeavoured, then, to lay before you what I under
stand by labour; how all true labour is equally
honourable and deserving of an equal wage. If
many of the anomalies, much of the misery of our
present state of society would disappear, were it
organized on a socialistic or labour basis, it then
becomes necessary to consider in what manner the
labour basis differs from, and is opposed to, the
present basis of wealth.
In order to illustrate what the present basis of
wealth means, let me put to you a hypothetical case.
Let us suppose three men on an island separated
from the rest of the world. We may also suppose
there to be a sufficient supply of seed and ploughs,
and generally of agricultural necessaries. If now,
one of the three men were to assert that the
island, the seed, and the ploughs belonged to him,
and his two comrades for some reason— or want of
reason—accepted his assertion, let us trace what
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
19
would follow. Obviously, he would have an entire
monopoly of all the means of sustaining life on the
island. He could part with them at whatever rate
he pleased, and could insist upon the produce ot
all the labour, which it would be possible to
extract from the two men, in return for supplying
them with the barest necessities of existence. He
would naturally do nothing; they would till the
ground with his implements, and sow his seed and
store it in his barn. After this he might employ them
in work tending to increase his luxuries, in providing
him with as fine a house and as gorgeous furniture
as they were capable of producing. He would
probably allow them to build themselves shanties as
protection from the weather, and grant them
sufficient food to sustain life. All their time, after
providing these necessaries for themselves, would
be devoted to his service. He would be landlord and
capitalist, having a complete monopoly of wealth^
He could practically treat the other two men as
slaves. Let us somewhat extend our example, and
suppose this relation to hold between the one
man and a considerable number of men on the
island. Then it might be really advantageous
for all the people on the island if the one man
directed their labour. We may suppose him to be a
practical farmer, who thoroughly understood his
business, so, by his directing the others, the greatest
amount possible would be produced from the land.
As such a director of farming operations, he would
be a labourer with the head, and worthy as any man
under him to receive his hire. He would have as great
a claim as any one he directed to the necessaries
of life produced by the labourers with the hand. In
a socialistic scheme he would still remain director ;
he would still receive his share of the produce, and
�20
SOCIALISM :
the result of the labour of the community would be
divided according to the labour of its members. On
the other hand, if our farm-director were owner ot
all things on the island, he might demand not only
the share due to him for his labour of the head, but
also that all the labour of the other inhabitants
should be directed to improving his condition rather
than their own. After providing for themselves the
bare necessities of life, the other islanders might be
called upon to spend all the rest of their time in
ministering to his luxury. He could demand this
because he would have a monopoly of all the land
and all the wealth of the island; such a state of
affairs on the island would be an individualism or a
society based upon wealth. I think this example
will show clearly the difference between a society
based upon labour and one based upon wealth.
Commonplace as the illustration may seem, it is
one which can be extended, and yet rarely is
extended to the state of affairs we find in our own
country. We have but to replace our island-land
owner and capitalist by a number of landowners and
capitalists. These will have a monopoly of land and
of wealth. They can virtually force the labouring
classes, who have neither land nor capital, to
administer to their luxury in return for the more
needful supports of life. The limit of comfort to
which they can reduce the labouring classes depends
on the following considerations, which, of course,
vary from time to time:—First, their own self
interest in keeping at least a sufficient supply of
labour in such decent health and strength that it
can satisfy their wants; secondly, their fear that too
great pinching may lead to a forcible revolution;
and, thirdly, a sort of feeling—arising partly per
haps from religion, partly perhaps from purely
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
21
mechanical sympathy—of dislike at the sight of
suffering.
The greater demand there is for luxury on the part
of the wealthy, the smaller is the time that the
labouring classes can devote to the improvement of
their own condition, the increase of their own com
fort. Let us take a possible case, which may not
be the absolute truth, but which will exemplify the
law we have stated. Suppose that the labouring
classes work eight hours a day. Now, these eight
hours are not only spent in producing the absolute
necessities of existence, and the degree of comfort
in which our toilers live, but in producing also all
the luxuries enjoyed by the rich. Let us suppose,
for example, that five hours suffice to sow and to
till, and to weave and to carry and fetch—shortly,
to produce the food-supply of the country, and the
average comfort which the labourer enjoys as to
house and raiment. What, then, becomes of the
other three hours’ work ? It is consumed in making
luxuries of all kinds for the wealthy, fine houses,
rich furniture, dainty food, and so forth. These
three hours are spent, not in improving the condition
of the labourer’s own class, not in building themselves
better dwellings or weaving themselves better
clothes, nor, on the other hand, are they spent in
public works for the benefit of the whole comm unity
but solely in supplying luxuries for wealthy indi
viduals. The wealthy can demand these luxuries
because they possess a monopoly of land and of
capital, shortly, of the means of subsistence. This
monopoly of the means of subsistence makes them
in fact, if not in name, slave-owners. Such is the
result of the individualistic as opposed to the
socialistic system. We see now why the houses of
the poor . are deplorable—namely, because that
�22
SOCIALISM :
labour which should be devoted to improving them
is consumed in supplying the luxuries of the rich.
We may state it then, as a general law of a society
based upon wealth—that the misery of the labouring
classes is directly proportional to the luxury of the
wealthy. This law is a very old one indeed; the
only strange thing is, that it is every day forgotten.
Having noted, then, wherein the evil of the social
system based upon wealth lies, we have lastly to
consider how far, and by what means, it is possible
to remedy it.
The only true method of investigating a question
of this kind is, I feel sure, the historical one. Let
us ask ourselves how in past ages one state of society
has been replaced by another, and then, if possible,
apply the general law to the present time.
Now, there are a considerable number of socialistic
teachers—I will not call them false Socialists—who
are never weary of crying out that our present state
in society is extremely unjust, and that it must be
destroyed. They are perpetually telling the labour
ing classes that the rich unjustly tyrannize over
them, and that this tyranny must be thrown off.
According to these teachers, it would seem as if the
rich had absolutely entered into a conspiracy to
defraud the poor. Now, although I call myself a
Socialist, I must tell you plainly that I consider such
teaching not only very foolish, but extremely harm
ful. It can arise only from men who are ignorant,
or from men who seek to win popularity from the
working-classes by appealing to their baser passions.
So far from aiding true Socialism, it stirs up class
hatred, and instead of bringing classes together, it
raises a barrier of bitterness and hostility between
them. It is idle to talk of a conspiracy of the rich
against the poor, of one class against another. A
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
23
man is born into his class, and into the traditions of
his class. He is not responsible for his birth,
whether it be to wealth or to labour. He is born to
certain luxuries, and he is never taught to consider
them as other than his natural due; he does as his
class does, and as his fathers have done before him.
His fault is not one of malice, but of ignorance.
He does not know how his luxuries directly increase
the misery of the poor, because no one has ever
brought it home to him. Although a slave-owner
he is an unconscious slave-owner. Shortly, he wants
educating ; not educating quite in the same sense as
the labouring classes want educating, he probably
has book-learning enough. He wants teaching that
there is a higher social morality than the morality
of a society based upon wealth. Namely, he must
be taught that mere ownership has no social value
at all—that the sole thing of social value is labour,
labour of head or labour of hand : and that in
dividual ownership of wealth has arisen in the
past out of a very crude and insufficient method
of representing such labour. The education of
the so-called upper or wealth-owning classes is
thus an imperative necessity.
They must be
taught a new morality. Here, again, is a point
on which we see the need of a union between
the educative and hand-working classes. The
labourers with the head must come to the assist
ance of the labourers with the hand by educating the
wealthy. Do not think this is a visionary project;
two great Englishmen at least, John Ruskin and
William Morris, are labouring at this task; they are
endeavouring to teach the capitalistic classes that
the morality of a society based upon wealth is a
mere immorality.
But you will tell me that education is a very long
�24
SOCIALISM:
process, and that meantime the poor are suffering,
and must continue to suffer. Are not the labouring
classes unjustly treated, and have they not a right
to something better ? Shortly, ought they not to
enforce that right ? Pardon me, if I tell you plainly
that I do not understand what such abstract
‘justice ’ or ‘right’ means. I understand that the
comfort of the labouring classes is far below what
it would be if society were constituted on the
basis of labour. I believe that on such a basis
there would be less misery in the world, and there
fore it is a result to be aimed at. But because this
is a result which all men should strive for, it does
not follow that we gain anything by calling it a
‘right.’ A ‘right’ suggests something which a
man may take by force, if he cannot obtain it other
wise. It suggests that the labouring classes should
revolt against the capitalistic classes and seize what
is their ‘ right.’
Let us consider for a moment what is the mean
ing of such a revolt. I shall again take history as
our teacher. History shows us that whenever the
misery of the labouring classes reaches a certain
limit they always do break into open rebellion. It
is the origin, more or less, of all revolutions
throughout the course of time. But history teaches
us just as surely that such revolutions are accom
panied by intense misery both for the labouring and
wealthy classes. If this infliction of misery had
ever resulted in the reconstruction of society we
might even hope for good from a revolution, but we
invariably find that something like the old system
springs again out of the chaos, and the same old
distinction of classes, the same old degra
dation of labour is sure to reappear. That is
precisely the teaching of the Paris Commune or
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
2$
again of the Anabaptist Kingdom of God in
Munster. Apart from this the labourers with the
hand will never be permanently successful in a
revolution, unless they have the labourers with
the head with them; they will want organiza
tion, they will want discipline, and this must fail
unless education stands by them. Now, the
labourers with the head have usually deserted the
labourers with the hand when the latter rise in
revolt, because they are students of history and
they know too well from history that revolution has
rarely permanently benefited the revolting classes.
You may accept it as a primary law of history, that
no great change ever occurs with a leap, no great social
reconstruction, which will permanently benefit any
class of the community, is ever brought about by a
revolution. It is the result of a gradual growth, a
progressive change, what we term an evolution. This
is as much a law of history as of nature. Try as
you will, you cannot make a man out of a child in a
day, you must wait and let him grow, and gradually
educate him and replace his childish ideas by the
thoughts of a man. Precisely so you must treat
society; you must gradually change it, educate it,
if you want a permanent imprbvement in its nature.
Feeling, as I do, the extreme misery which is brought
about by the present state of society based upon
wealth, I should say to the working-classes, ‘ Revolt,’
if history did not teach me only too surely, that
revolution would fail of its object. All progress
towards a better state of things must be gradual.
Progress proceeds by evolution, not by revolution.
For this reason I would warn you against socialistic
teachers who talk loudly of ‘ right ’ and ‘justice
who seek to stir up class against class. Such teach
ing merely tends towards revolution ; and revolution
�26
SOCIALISM :
js not justifiable, because it is never successful. It
never achieves its object. Such teachers are not
true socialists, because they have not studied history; because their teaching really impedes our
progress towards socialism. We might even take
an example from our island with its landlord
capitalist tyrannizing over the other inhabitants.
We have supposed him to be a practical farmer
capable of directing the labours of the others. Now,
suppose the inhabitants were to rise in revolt and
throw him into the sea, what would happen ? Why,
the very next year they would not know what to sow
or how to sow it; their agricultural operations would
fail, and there would very soon be a famine on the
island, which would be far worse than the old tyranny.
Something very similar would occur in this country
if the labouring classes were to throw all our
capitalists into the sea. There would be no one
capable of directing the factories or the complex
operations of trade and commerce; these would all
collapse, and there would very soon be a famine in
this island also. You must bring your capitalist to
see that he is only a labourer, a labourer with the
head, and deserves wage accordingly. You can
only do this by two methods. The first is to educate
him to a higher morality, the second is to restrict
him by the law of the land. Now, the law of the
land is nothing more or less than the morality of
the ruling class, and so long as political power is in
the hands of the capitalists, and these are ‘ uneduc
ated,’they are unlikely to restrict their own profits
If, then, my view that we can only approach
socialism by a gradual change is correct, we have
before us two obvious lines of conduct which we
may pursue at the same time. The first, and I am
inclined to think the more important, is the educa-
�.
IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
27
tion of the wealthy classes; they must be taught
from childhood up that the only moral form of
society is a society based upon labour, they must be
taught always to bear in mind the great law—that
the misery of the poor is ever directly proportional
to the luxury of the rich. This first object ought to
be essentially the duty of the labourers with the
head. Let the labourer with the hand ever regard
himself as working in concert with the labourer with
the head—the two are in truth but members of one
large guild, the guild of labour, upon which basis
society has to be reconstructed. The second line of
conduct, which is practically open to all true
Socialists, is the attainment of political power;
wealth must cease to be the governing power in
this country, it must be replaced by labour. The
educative classes and the handworkers must rule
the country; only so will it be possible to replace
the wealth basis by the labour basis. The first step
in this direction must necessarily be the granting
of the franchise to all hand-workers. This is a very
practical and definite aim to work for. Now, I have
already hinted that I consider both great political
parties really to represent wealth. Hence I do not
believe that any true Socialist is either Liberal or
Conservative, but at present it would be idle to think
of returning socialistic members to Parliament
*
Socialists will best forward their aims at present by
supporting that party which is likely to increase the
franchise. So that to be a true Socialist at present
means, I think, to support the ‘ Liberal ’ Govern
ment. This support is not given because we are
* This was written in 188L The extension of the
franchise, incomplete as it is, has since considerably in
creased the possibility of returning socialistic members
for at least one or two towns.
�28
SOCIALISM :
‘ Liberals,’ but because, by it, we can best aid the
cause of Socialism. But with regard to the fran
chise, there is a point which I cannot too strongly
insist upon. If the complete enfranchisement of
the hand-worker is to forward the socialistic cause
he must be educated so as to use it for that purpose,
Now, we have laid it down as a canon of Socialism
that all labour is equally honourable; in a society
based upon labour there can be no distinction of
class. Thus, the true Socialist must be superior
to class-interests. He must look beyond his own
class to the wants and habits of society at large.
Hence, if the franchise is to be really profitable, the
hand-worker must be educated to see beyond the
narrow bounds of his own class. He must be
taught to look upon society as a whole, and respect
the labour of all its varied branches. He must
endeavour to grasp the wants and habits of other
forms of labour than his own, whether it be labour of
the head or of the hand. He must recognize to the
full that all labour is equally honourable, and has
equal claims on society at large. The shoemaker
does not despise the labour of the blacksmith, but he
must be quite sure that the labour of the school
master, of the astronomer, and of the man who
works with his brains, is equally valuable to the com
munity. Here, again, we see how the labourer with
the head can come to the assistance of the labourer
with the hand. In order that the franchise may be
practically of value to the artisan, he must grasp how
to use it for broader purposes than mere class aims.
To do this he requires to educate himself. I repeat
that I should like to hear a cry go up from the
hand-workers for education and leisure for education,
even as it went up forty years ago for bread. For
the mind is of equal importance with the stomach
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
29
and needs its bread also. Apart from the franchise,
there is another direction in which, I think, practi
cal steps might be taken, namely, to obtain for
trades-unions, or rather, as I should prefer to call
them, labour-guilds—a share or influence in munici
pal government. Let there be a labour-guild
influence in every parish, and on every vestry. As
I have said before, I cannot conceive that the
housing of the poor would be what it is if the trades
unions had been represented in the government of
London. Such a representation would be the first
approach to a communal organization based upon
labour, and ultimately to a society on the same basis.
You can hardly support your trades-unions too
energetically, and you have in this respect taught
the labourers with the head a lesson. These
labourers with the head are just beginning to form
their labour-guilds too—guilds of teachers and guilds
of writers—and it is to these labour guilds, and to
your trades-unions that we must look for much use
ful work in the future.
These surely are practical aims enough for the
’ present, but I may perhaps be allowed to point out
to you what direction I think legislative action
should take, supposing the franchise granted to all
hand-workers. As I have endeavoured to show,
any sudden change would be extremely dangerous ;
it would upset our old social arrangements, and
would not give us any stable new institutions. It
would embitter class against class, and not destroy
class altogether. We must endeavour to pass
gradually from the old to the new state; from the
state in which wealth is the social basis to one in
which labour is the sole element by which we judge
men. Now, in order that wealth should cease
to be mistress, her monopoly of the means of sub
�30
SOCIALISM :
sistence must be destroyed. In other words, land
and capital must cease to be in the hands of in
dividuals.
We must have nationalization of
the land and nationalization of capital. Every
Socialist is a land-nationalizer and a capital-nationalizer.
It will be sufficient now to consider the first
problem, the nationalization of the land. Mr.
George says, take the land and give no compensation.
That |is what I term a revolutionary measure; it
attempts to destroy and reconstruct in a moment.
If history teaches us anything, it tells us that all
such revolutionary measures fail; they bring more
misery than they accomplish good.
Hence,
although I am a land-nationalizer—as every Social
ist must be—I do not believe in Mr. George’s cry of
‘ No compensation.’ Then we have another set ot
land-nationalizers, who would buy the landlords
out. Let us see what this means. The landlords
would be given, in return for their lands, a large
sum of money, which would have to be borrowed by
the nation, and the interests on which would
increase for ever the taxes of the country. In other
words, we should be perpetuating the wealth of the
landlords and their claims to be permanently
supported by the classes that labour. That is not a
socialistic remedy. It would seem, at first sight as
if there were no alternative—either compensation
or no compensation. Yet I think there is a third
course, if we would only try to legislate for the
future as well as for the present. Suppose a bill were
passed to convert all freehold in land into a lease
hold, say, of 8oto ioo years, from the nation.' Here
there would be no question of compensation, and
little real injury to the present landowner, because
the difference between freehold and a hundred
�IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.
31
years’ leasehold (at least in towns) is comparatively
small. At the end of a hundred years the nation
would be in possession of all land without having
paid a penny for it, and without violently breaking
up the present social arrangements. In less than
100 years with the land slipping from their fingers
the children of our present landowners would have
learnt that, if they want to live, they must labour.
That would be a great step to true socialism. Pre
cisely as I propose to treat the land I would treat
most forms of capital. With the land, of course,
mines and factories would necessarily pass into the
hands of the nation. Railways would have to be
dealt with in the same fashion. The present com
panies would have a hundred years’ lease instead of
a perpetuity of their property.
These are merely suggestions of how it might be
possible to pass to a stable form of society based
upon labour—to a true socialism. The change
would be stable because it would be gradual; the
state would be socialistic because it would be based
upon labour; while wealth, in its two important
forms—land and capital—would belong alone to the
nation.
Some of you may cry out in astonishment, “ But
what is the use of working for such a socialism, we
shall never live to see it, we shall never enjoy its
happiness.” Quite true, I reply, but there is a
nobler calling than working for ourselves, there is a
higher happiness than self-enjoyment—namely, the
feeling that our labour will have rendered posterity,
will have rendered our children free from the misery
through which we ourselves have had to struggle;
the feeling that our work in life has left the world a
more joyous dwelling-place for mankind than we
found it. The little streak of improvement which
�32
SOCIALISM ; IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE
each man may leave behind him—the only im
mortality ot which mankind can be sure—is a far
nobler result of labour, whether of hand or of head,
than three-score years of unlimited personal happi
ness.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Socialism in theory and practice : a lecture delivered to a working class audience
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Edition: 2nd ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: 32 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Note to Second Edition dated March 6th 1887. Lecture first delivered early 1884.
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Pearson, Karl
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W. Reeves
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[1887?]
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T468
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Socialism
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Addresses
Socialism
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Victorian Blogging
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An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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The new Book of Kings
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Davidson, John Morrison [1843-1916]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 123, [5] p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: List of reviews of the book in four unnumbered pages at the end. Date of publication from KVK.
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The Modern Press
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[1885?]
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T399
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Republicanism
Monarchy
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Text
11
PROBLEM
INDUSTRIAL
SOLVED.
BY
W. B. ROBERTSON.
“ England is full of wealth, of multifarious produce, supply for human want in
every kind—yet England is dying of inanition. With unabated bounty the land
of England blooms and grows; waving with yellow harvests; thick-studded with
workshops, industrial implements, with fifteen millions of workers, understood to
be the strongest, the cunningest, and the willingest our earth ever had ; these men
are here, the work they have done, the fruit they have realised is here, abundant,
exuberant on every hand of us; and behold some baleful fiat as of Enchantment
has gone forth, saying, ‘ Touch it not, ye master-workers, ye master-idlers ; none of
you can touch it, no man of you shall be the better for it; this is enchanted fruit.’ ”—
Thomas Carlyle {Past and Present}.
----- LENDING
sb
LONDON:
THE
MODERN
PRESS,
13,
PATERNOSTER
ROW,
E.C.
�CON TEN 7 S.
Overproduction
------
Overpopulation
.......
Remedy
.........
�OVERPRODUCTION. —I.
Y over-production is meant that there are more commodities
produced than can be sold. The problem, therefore, in
connexion with over-production is, why can this surplus of
commodities not be sold?
.Many writers, among them John Stuart Mill, deny the possibility of
a general over-supply. They maintain that, while there may be over
production as regards one or more kinds of commodities, there cannot
be over-production in all kinds, so long as there is a human want un
satisfied. It is impossible, for instance, to have an over-supply of food
so long as millions of our fellow-men are in need of the barest necessities
of life. If there be any strength in an argument like this at all, it would
follow, or rather it is implied in such argument, that the mere need, the
mere human desire, for any given commodity is sufficient to set the
machinery in motion to produce it. Here is a man with an empty
stomach and in need of a meal, this of itself, is, on such grounds, sufficient
to procure such meal; or here is another man with a bare back, and in
need of a coat, this is enough to procure him the coat.
Now it must be plain to every one, that those that have nothing but
empty stomachs and bare backs cannot influence in the slightest degree
the quantity of food that may be produced, or the quantity of coats that
may be made. Is any farmer going to plough and sow a field for men
that come to him with nothing except empty stomachs; or is any tailor
going to make coats for men that have nothing to show but bare backs ?
Here, however, from one of the Cobden Club publications, are facts
that show clearly enough that the quantity of food produced has nothing
to do with the number of people that are m need of food, that in fact
the more food there is, the greater will be the number of people in want.
In this pamphlet * we have the paradoxical statement that the present
depression, which set m in 1884, “ was the natural and necessary result
of the improved and fairly good harvest with which this country was
favoured in that year.” This statement the author (Augustus Mongredien) proves by figures taken from the Boardof Trade returns. Thus,
in 1884, our imports and exports together were twenty-five million odd
pounds sterling less than the average of the four previous years. This
* Trade Depression : Recent and Present.
�4
diminution is accounted for by the fact that in the same year “ our
foreign supplies of cereals fell short of the previous years to the extent
of 15^ millions of pounds sterling ; and to that extent, therefore, we may
infer that the home harvests of 1884 had exceeded in yield the harvests
of the previous few years.”
The effect of this extra harvest was, according to our authority, to
lessen directly our importations of cereals ; we had the cereals at home,
and consequently did not require to buy them from foreign countries.
Indirectly our exports were also lessened. Our whole foreign trade,
exports and imports together, by this good harvest, Mr. Mongredien
computes, was reduced by 43 millions of pounds sterling ; for he
considers the effects of this good harvest as extending into 1885. After,
making allowances he concludes, that this 43 millions worth of goods,
represents from 2,500 to 3,000 cargoes; by so many cargoes, therefore,
would our shipowners’ trade be lessened ; they would have that number
of cargoes the less to carry, This sudden diminution in their business
threw idle ships upon their hands; it then affected the shipbuilders, for
the shipowners having more ships than they could find employment for,
were of course not likely to order more. “ As a natural consequence,”
Mr. Mongredien proceeds, “ the diminished construction of ships (in
which the consumption of iron enters so largely) occasioned a propor
tionate falling off in the demand for that metal, so that (other causes
assisting) the wave of depression extended to the iron trade, and then
spread to the closely connected coal-producing industries and others,
which they influence more or less directly.
Moreover, it would
necessarily follow from there being between 2,500 and 3,000 fewer
cargoes to load and unload at our chief ports, London, Liverpool, Glas
gow, &c., that there would be less demand for persons living by that
kind of labour, so that a number of dock labourers of all sorts would be
thrown out of work. . . . On examination we find that the industries
which really did most suffer from the recent and present depression are
precisely those which we have enumerated above.”
Such then is the account of trade depression given by the Cobden
Club. There can be no questioning its accuracy so far as it goes; it
leaves us helpless, however—in fact, it paralyses us. The farmer always
endeavours to make his labour as productive as possible—the better his
crops the more he rejoices, and the more does the nation rejoice with
him. How tempered must this joy be though, if its cause is also to be
the means of throwing thousands of hard working men out of work, and
depriving them of the necessaries of life ! The bounties of Nature
would thus seem to benefit no one, for the more bountiful she is, the less
wrork is there for people to do, and in consequence the less able are they
to get at these bounties.
Besides the foregoing facts, we have others showing that .people may
and do suffer want in the midst of plenty. The stocks of wheat held in
Liverpool at the end of 1885 were 3,578,938 centals, while at the end of
1884 there were only 1,869,146 centals. Now, the winter 1885-6 was
marked by great distress throughout the country; and yet we were more
abundantly supplied in food-stuffs than we had ever been, for the figures
taken at other ports besides Liverpool showed the same increase. The
argument, therefore, that a general overproduction is impossible while
there is human want can no longer be maintained.
It now remains for us to explain why overproduction comes about, and
�5
why it is, as already remarked, that the more abundant commodities are,
the greater will be the number of people in want. For this purpose it
will be necessary for us to say a word upon the system of renumerating
labour.
The remuneration of every kind of labour is fixed in the same way,
viz., by competition. This competition may be amongst the employers,
or amongst the employed. When there is a great deal of work to be
done, when everybody is in employment, and there is still a demand for
more men, these additional men must be drawn from other masters ; and
to be so drawn inducements in the shape of higher wages must be held
out to them. Under circumstances like these wages tend to rise.
In a state of society, for example, such as that presented by a newly
settled country where human labour is little aided by machinery, the
labouring classes are,, it is well known, highly paid. The reason of this
is because labourers are few compared with the amount of work that is
offered. For these few labourers employers compete amongst themselves
—each one holding out better inducements than the other. Take
America some years ago ; wages were high then because there were
more labourers wanted than could be got. Not only were wages high,
but masters were very civil to their servants, as is evidenced by the fact
that servants were euphemistically called “ helps,” allowed to sit at the
same table with their employers, and treated in every way as equals.
This courtesy, on the part of employers, is rapidly disappearing with the
cause that gave rise to it; for labourers are no longer scarce in America,
and if a servant dislikes to be called a servant, he can go about his busi
ness—there are plenty others willing to take his place. It was the
scarcity of labour that gave rise to the appearance of a system of equality
in America, which many attributed to the Republican form of Govern
ment. The form of Government had nothing whatever to do with it. So
much then for the fixing of wages when labour is scarce.
When labour is plentiful, when there are a great many seeking
work, the labourers compete with one another for such employment as
there is to be had. This of course brings wages down. It is useless for
a man to offer his services for five shillings a day, when there are plenty
others willing to do the same thing for two shillings and sixpence. Thus
one man underbids another, and the one whose necessities are the
greatest is the one that will accept the lowest terms. It is this competi
tion amongst the working-classes that has brought wages down to star
vation point in the simpler kinds of work. Starving men and women
compete with starving men and women, and are glad to get the oppor
tunity of working long hours every day for a few coppers ; because this is
better than nothing at all.
The foregoing then is the method upon which wages are fixed, and it
operates in every department of human activity. The reason that a
navvy is worse paid than a mechanic is simply because there are more
men able to do navvy’s work than mechanic’s work, and the competition
is consequently keener amongst the navvies than amongst the mechanics.
We might go through all the different kinds of labour, and we wnuld
find that wages in each kind are high or low according to the relation
between the number of men seeking employment, and the quantity of
employment to be got. The law of wages, then, may be stated in these
words: Wages vary according to the relation between the quantity of
labour offered and the quantity of labour required.
�6
If people had borne this in mind, we would not have had so many ex
pressions.of surprise at the fact that our working population has made so
little, if, indeed, any progress. We often hear our great wealth spoken
of, the wonderful strides we have made, and yet only a few seem, and we
are told this with astonishment, to have participated in our increased
power. All this is quite in accordance with what Political Economy has
predicted, as is shown by the following passage from Ricardo;—“ If the
shoes and clothing of the labourer could, by improvements in machinery,
be produced by one fourth of the labour now necessary to their production,
they would probably fall 75 per cent.; but so far is it from being true,
that the labourer would thereby be enabled permanently to consume four
coats, or lour pairs of shoes, instead of one, that his wages would in no long
time be adjusted by the effects of competition, and the stimulus to popuation, to the new value of the necessaries on which they were expended. If
these improvements extended to all the objects of the labourers’ consump
tion, we should find him, probably at the end of a very few years,
in possession of only a small, if any, adddition to his enjoyments.”
This was written at the beginning of the present century.
It
afnounts to saying, “ It makes no difference how much you improve
your methods of production, the position of the labourer will
not be one whit the better; he will not enjoy any more of
the necessaries and conveniences of life, his command over these
necessaries and conveniences will always be just enough to enable him
to subsist and to raise up more labourers.” This is perfectly true. It
was at the beginning of the century, as we have just remarked, that
Ricardo wrote the passage. Since then, we have introduced improve
ments into every kind of work, -and the result is as predicted. The
labourers are poor and ignorant; they still toil unceasingly; and they
think themselves lucky if they can get the opportunity of undergoing
this toil.
We shall now endeavour to give more pointedly, the reason of this
anomalous position, the reason why in the midst of plenty people starve,
why, in fact, the more plentiful things are the less able are we to get at
them. As Carlyle says:—“ We have more riches than any nation ever
had before ; we have less good of them than any nation ever had before.
Our successful industry is hitherto unsuccessful; a strange success if we
stop here ! In the midst of plethoric plenty, the people perish ; with gold
walls and full barns, no man feels himself safe or satisfied. Workers,
master-workers, un workers, all men come to a pause ; stand fixed, and
cannot farther. Have’we actually got enchanted then ; accursed by
some God1”
Now let us offer a simple illustration of some of the economic effects
of such a system of remunerating labour. Suppose that the only thing
we did in this country was to make cotton—a single industry is supposed
because it simplifies matters ; suppose, moreover, that we could make
enough cotton to supply our own requirements for that article, and had
enough to send to other countries for our food and whatever else we
needed. At the beginning of the centruy we will further suppose that
everybody is employed, that there is nobody out of work, and the wages
are good enough to keep them comfortably and respectably. By and by
improved methods of production and transit are introduced, and to such
an extent that one man can do as much as five formerly did. As these
improvements are applied four men out of every five would be thrown
�out of work ; wages, moreover, would be reduced, for rather than be
thrown out of work the men would offer their services at a lower rate, and
competition amongst the workers would become keener. Here, then, with
an increasing power of production, we would have a reduced number of
consumers—these too getting a smaller share of the produce of their
labour. What under such circumstances can be more natural than a
glut, than over-production ?
With such a fair start then at the beginning of the century, we should
be as bad to-day as we now actually are. The men that had been thrown
out of work with every successive improvement, and their families, would
have to live somehow ; many of them would become thieves and vagrants,
many of them paupers. All this too would come about independently of
the extraordinary tendency of population to increase. When we take
this into account we can only wonder, not that evils are so rampant in
society, but that society has continued so long upon such a basis.
The hard lot of man then would appear not to be due to the niggard
liness of nature as we have been taught; to have no connection with the
curse that doomed him to eat his bread “ by the sweat of his brow.” It
is due to a mere convention, the shadowy nature of which will appear
clearly enough later on.
The real significance of over-production is to reduce our present indus
trial system to an absurdity. It is ridiculous for people to have to starve
because they have grown too much food, to go unclad because they have
made too many clothes, and unhoused because they have built too many
houses. There would be work for all the unemployed to-morrow if the
half of London were destroyed; there is nothing like calamities for
trade.
By bringing about over-production, then, the working population has
proved our present industrial system to be false; and how very unequal
that system is we see every day. Here in a few words is one of its most ■
glaring inequalities. The governing class has said to the working class,
you go to work under this system—your share of the result of your labour
will be fixed in this wise, our share of the result of your labour will be
fixed in this other wise. So the working population said all right, took up
their hammers and went to work. They weret old to work hard and ever
harder, and overseers were put to see that they did work hard. But
what is this that has come upon us now ? The governing class exclaim,
“ Stop ! you have produced too much ; you must lay down your hammers
until we require you again ; we have quite enough here of everything to
suit us—indeed more than enough. So you can go and shake your heels
outside there while we enjoy ourselves and consume the things that you
have made.”
OVER-POPULATION.—II.
The view that attributes our social disorders to the fact that we are
overpopulated, is perhaps more widely accepted than any other. The
reason for this is because it is an easily understood view. What can be
more clear than that, if there be a greater number of people in a commu
nity than can get employment, and if the livelihood of these people depend upon
their getting employment, the privation of those that cannot get employment
�8
is due to the fact that there is no room for them in such community ? At
one time it was universally believed that the sun moved round the earth ;
for what could be more clear than that, if Rome continued to remain in the
same spot and the sun every day passed over it, the sun must so move ?
Rome, however, did not continue to remain in the same spot; hence
what was so very clear was all wrong. Similarly the livelihood of man
does not depend upon his getting employment, it depends upon his get
ting the means of livelihood ; hence what is so very clear as to our being
over-populated, may also be all wrong. This is a point, however, that
remains for us to consider.
The reader has of course heard of Malthus and his celebrated essay on
“ Population.” In that essay it was shown that in every community the
number of members is limited by the means of subsistence at their
command; increase the subsistence and an increased population will
result; diminish the subsistence, and there follows a diminished popula
tion. “ This is incontrovertibly true,” he says. “ Through the animal
and vegetable kingdoms, Nature has scattered the seeds of life abroad
with the most profuse and liberal hand; but has been comparatively
sparing in the room and the nourishment necessary to rear them. The
germs of existence contained in this earth, if they could freely develop
themselves, would fill millions of worlds in a few thousand years.
Necessity, that imperious, all pervading law of nature, restrains them
within the prescribed bounds. The race of plants, and the race of
animals shrink under this great restrictive law; and man cannot by any
efforts of reason escape from it.” Such was the truth that Malthus
laboured to enforce—a truth that one would have thought so self-evident
as not to need enforcing. His essay, however, is really nothing more
than a demonstration of the extraordinary strength of the principle of
self- con servation.
Malthusians consider themselves followers of Malthus on the ground
that they accept and seek to promulgate his views on population. Let
us consider for a moment their position.
This country, they say, is over-populated. Why I Because there
are more people in it wanting work than can get work ; many are con
sequently compelled to idleness, these not having any other way of
procuring the necessaries of life except by labour, are consequently
either thrown upon the generosity of their friends or become recipients
of public relief, or criminals. In this simple way does the Malthusian
explain all our social calamities, and, as the only remedy, he suggests
that people must be more prudent, must regulate the number of children
they bring into the world—in a word, the population of a country must
correspond to the work to be done in that country, the more work the
greater the population may be, the less work the less the population.
The reader will now see that there is a difference between the view of
Malthus and the view of the Malthusian.; the former set up subsistence as
the limit to population, the latter sets up employment or work to be
done—the more work there is to be done as already remarked, the more
room is there for an increased population.
Let us now follow the Malthusian position to its logical issue. Why
do we call one method of'production or transit an improvement upon
another ? Simply because it involves less labour, simply because it
abridges labour, and that is the reason that we adopt the improved
method. Now, with every abridgment in the labour of making and
�9
transferring things there becomes relatively, less and less labour to do,
and consequently, the ideal population of the Malthusian becomes less
and less. In this way, if the Malthusian position had free play, the most
ingenious race, the race that is most apt to discover quicker and quicker
methods of doing things, would thereby be always narrowing the limits
of its populatiou. It would consequently be the first to disappear from
the face of the earth, the fittest to survive would be the most stupid, the
unkindest countries would be the most densely populated; in a word,
nature and man would be at daggers drawn.
We do not say that such is not the case to-day—in fact it is the case.
Nature and man are at war, and all through one little fallacy in our
economic system. Meanwhile as to our statement that it is the case that
nature and man are at daggers drawn, that the stupidest, or least
adaptive, are fittest to survive, we have practical proof of this in recent
legislative action in America and Australia. Chinese labour was forbid
den the markets of these countries, because the Chinaman can underbid
the Anglo-Saxon. Laws are made to protect the weak against the
strong; the strong man m the case just noticed, is the Chinaman, the
weak, the Anglo-Saxon, who requires special protection. The fittest
will always survive—that statement points to a law that we cannot alter.
What we can alter, however, and what we must alter if we would
continue our race—if, indeed, we wish to make any further progress at
all—are the conditions that make the Chinaman and those that approach
him in character the superior.
Suppose again, that the Malthusian doctrines were practically adopted
and most rigidly carried out. Suppose that to-day our population was
so regulated, that there was not an idle man in the kingdom, not a
pauper, not even a criminal. Every one is fed, and clad, and legitimately
employed. There remains, however, in this happy state of affairs just
one thing that we have got to-day, and that is our present industrial
system.
Let us now take a step forward from this ideal point to a time when
improved methods of production and transit have been introduced. Com
modities can be manufactured with less labour, goods can be conveyed
to their destinations with less labour—in a word, we shall suppose, as
is really what happens, that in nearly every department of human effort,
improvements have been introduced. They are called improvements,
because they lessen labour. What then would be the economic effect
of a year’s progress upon the ideal state of affairs that we have just
been imagining ? The first effect would be that to make the same
quantity of manufactures, less workmen would be required ; masters
would consequently have to discharge some of their men. Now, what
becomes of these men? Well, they do not want to be discharged, so
they offer their services at a lower wage, competition amongst the work
men for such employment as there is to be had becomes keener, wages
consequently become lower, for masters are obliged to follow the market
rate of wages. No matter, however, whether wages be high or low, the
masters cannot employ as many men as they did before the introduction
of the supposed improvements. What, then, becomes of the surplus ?
Why, enforced idleness, and with it loss of independence : then as wc
go on improving, we recruit the ranks of the enforced idlers—they are
enforced idlers at first—and out of them springs the necessity for those
vigorous institutions police courts, prisons, and workhouses.
�IO
The Malthusian would thus have to resort periodically to some drastic
measures to restore the balance between employment and population.
One word more in connexion with improvements. We have seen
their effect to be the lessening the nurhber of those employed and the
lowering of wages. Now here comes the economic effect par excellence.
Fewer men in employment at reduced wages means a diminution in the
power of the community to consume. Improved methods of production,
&c., are ever increasing our power over nature, our power to produce ;
they are at the same time, by rendering competition amongst labourers
keener and keener, diminishing our power to consume. This is going
on all over the world, is operating upon the industrial classes in every
civilised community, is the noose with which we are stranglingourselves,
is in the words of Carlyle, “ the accursed invisible night-mare that is
crushing out the life of us and ours.”
Can anyone wonder that the markets of the world are glutted ? The
supply pipes are ever widening, the waste pipes ever contracting: of
course, there is a running over ; of course, as Carlyle says, our wealth
“i s an enchanted wealth.”
THE REMEDY.—III.
The 'main evils that result from our present economic svrstem have
appeared from our observations on over-production and over-population.
Over-production and over-population are themselves under existing
arrangements sources of great suffering. Both, curiously enough, too,
exist together. This in itself shews that there must be some contradic
tory forces in operation in the industrial world ; for is it not ridiculous
that we should have too large a population while we are complaining of
having too great an abundance of useful things? How are we to tell
when a population is great or small ? By a reference to the limit of
population. Now the limit to population is professed to be the means
of subsistence. But our population is so far from pressing upon this
limit that we are complaining of a too abundant supply of the means of
subsistence. Here then is an absurdity; and we are landed in this
absurdity because the limit to population is not as supposed, the means
of subsistence, but the employment offered in a community. By referring
to this limit, the employment offered in a community, we find that our
population is too great; for there are many more than can get employ
ment, and by so many is our population excessive. Now, it remains for
us to ask ourselves whether we are to maintain this limiting principle,
or whether it would not be better for us to adopt another.
We have already shewn that it is impossible to have population regu
lated by the employment to be had in a community because such em
ployment is always varying, is by the introduction of improved methods
of production always becoming less and less. Now, here is a fertile source
of evil; for with every contraction of the field of employment some are
thrust out of that field, these keep on recruiting the everlasting army of
paupers and criminals, and form the dregs of society. They are forced
into these positions, and no subsequent action on the part of society is
of any avail in recalling them. There is the field of labour, it is full;
�11
place another man in it, it is more than full; the consequence is that
either that man or some one else must go out.
Besides paupers and criminals, and what are called the dregs of
society, such a limiting principle to population leads in its working out
to deterioration in workmanship, and indeed in human character. As
already shown, improvements by lessening the demand for labour lead
to a keener competition amongst labourers, and thereby lead to a con
traction of the labourers’ pockets ; to meet this diminished consuming
power commodities have to be made as cheaply as possible ; there is no
effective demand for good materials, consequently jerrymaundering is in
the ascendant. As to the deterioration in human character that is con
tinually going on, we have already shown what class is best fitted to
survive. It is the class that can live on least, whose manner of living
approaches more and more closely to the beasts. Thus is our civilisa
tion being undermined, and thus are all our attempts at social progress
frustrated. It is apparent, then, that some other limit to population
must be substituted for the one that prevails to-day, and it is. such
other limit that we now proceed to unfold.
This other limit is the means of subsistence—the very limit that is
supposed to be in operation, but which we have shown to be not the
case. Now, in the first place, with such a limit as the means of subsist
ence over-population would be impossible; for no community could ever
consist of more members than it could support. This, of course, is evi
dent, and requires no further elucidation.
In speaking of the limiting principle that is in operation now, viz.,
employment, we objected to it that it was always varying. Might not
the means of subsistence vary too ? If, moreover, at any time, writh the
means of subsistence as the limit to population there should become less
subsistence than will suffice to maintain the whole population, who is to
have such subsistence and who is to go without ? Of course the means
of subsistence might vary; the difficulties that might arise from such a
possibility will, however, disappear after we have shown how this limit
is to be practically adopted, and this brings us to enquire into the nature
of property.
What is property ? Why does society have such a thing as property
at all ? Why should it put itself about to ensure any man in the pos
session of whatever goods he may have got hold of? The only reason
that can be given for this, and a very gocd one it is, is to encourage
industry. For instance, I make chairs ; suppose that as soon as I have
done so a stronger man than myself comes along and takes them from me;
I should most certainly come to the conclusion to make no more chairs,
because I would derive no benefit from pursuing such a course, and
would at once betake myself to procuring whatever I wanted by stealing
also. Of course, there would very soon be nothing to steal, and society
would at once collapse. To prevent this collapse, however, and to
preserve its own life, society steps forward and says that these chairs are
mine, that they are mine because I made them ; the reason that such a
course of conduct on the part of society preserves its life is because I am
.thereby encouraged to go on making more chairs, and every other
maker of everything else is encouraged in the same way. Thus are the
members of the community kept supplied with such commodities as are
required.
The institution of private property, then, is maintained by society
�T2
for the sake of encouraging industry, and for the sake of nothing
else, except what is implied in the encouragement of industry
— viz., the continuance of society.
Such, then, is the reason why
we have such a thing as property.
How far does society
practically adhere to this, the. recognised theory of property ?
It has departed from it as far as it can. To see that this is so, the
merest glance round is sufficient; for those that have made everything
have got nothing. As soon as an article has been made it is by some
magical operation—an operation so subtle that it is scarce perceptible
—snatched from the maker, and becomes the property of some one else.
Speaking in this connection John Stuart Mill says that he would prefer
Communism itself to such an unholy state of affairs. “ If,” he says,
“ the institution of private property necessarily carried with it as a con
sequence that the produce of labour should be apportioned as we now
see it, almost in an inverse ratio to the labour—the largest portions to
those who have never worked at all, the next largest to those whose work
is almost nominal, and so, in a descending scale, the remuneration dwind
ling as the work grows harder aud more disagreeable, until the most
fatiguing and exhausting bodily labour cannot count with certainty on
being able to earn even the necessaries of life: if this, or communism
were the alternative, ail the difficulties, great or small, of communism
would be but as dust in the balance.” Surely it cannot be impossible for
society to carry out so simple a theory—a theory that it recognises and
accepts as true—as to see that people have the produce of their own
labour, that industry is rewarded and encouraged.
The grossest inconsistency on the part of society as regards property
is the maintenance of property in. land. How can that encourage in
dustry ? It is only the produce of the land, the result of labour, that can
be called property. By insuring to this individual or to that individual
this or that tract of land, what industry does society encourage ? It en
courages the industry of the idle—a terrible industry, a scourge: it
reduces thousands of its members to the position of flunkeys, ministers
to idleness.
As we have already said, the view that property is maintained in a
community for the purpose of encouraging industry and for no other pur
pose, is not new neither is it denied. All that it implies is that men are
to be rewarded according to their industry—this, no one can for a mo
ment deny, is far from being practically carried out; in fact, we
practically carry out the very opposite doctrine.
Here then are two principles, viz.: that population is limited by
subsistence and that property is instituted to encourage industry ; that
are universally accepted and argued upon, as if they were carried into
practice ; we have shown that the one not carried into practice, how
ever, seeks to deny them. Why should they not be adopted by society ?
It is the adoption of these two principles, and of these two principles
alone that is recommended here. Indeed by seeing that the theory of
property alone is applied, the limiting principle to population will be
implicitly applied too.
Such, and such alone, is the work that lies before reformers now.
'AXVV
•
wy""........... •''WXxxxax"
�OBJECT.
The Establishment of a Free Condition of Society based on the prin
ciple of Political Equality, with Equal Social Rights for all and the
complete Emancipation of Labour.
PROGRAMME.
1. All Officers or Administrators to be elected by Equal Direct Adult
Suffrage, and to be paid by the Community.
2. Legislation by the People, in such wise that no project of Law
shall become legally binding till accepted by the Majority of the People.
3. The Abolition of a Standing Army, and the Establishment of a
National Citizen Force ; the People to decide on Peace or War.
4. All Education, higher no less than elementary, to be Free, Com
pulsory, Secular, and Industrial for all alike.
5. The Administration of Justice to be Free and Gratuitous for all
Members of Society.
6. The Land with all the Mines, Railways and other Means of Tran
sit, to be declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
7. Ireland and all other parts of the Empire to have Legislative
Independence.
8. The Production of Wealth to be regulated by Society in the com
mon interest of all its Members.
9. The Means of Production, Distribution and Exchange to be
declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
As measures called for to palliate the evils of our existing society the
Social-Democratic Federation urges for immediate adoption :—
The Compulsory Construction of healthy artizan’s and agricultural
labourers’ dwellings in proportion to the population, such dwellings to
be let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone.
Free Compulsory Education for all classes, together with the provision
of at least one wholesome meal a day in each school.
Eight Hours or less to be the normal working day in all trades.
Cumulative Taxation upon all incomes above a fixed minimum not
exceeding /300 a year.
State Appropriation of Railways, with or without compensation.
The establishment of National Banks, which shall absorb all private
institutions that derive a profit from operations in money or credit.
Rapid Extinction of the National Debt.
Nationalisation of the Land, and organisation of agricultural and
industrial armies under State control on Co-operative principles.
As means for the peaceable attainment of these objects the SocialDemocratic Federation advocates :
Adult Suffrage. Annual Parliaments. Proportional Represen
tation.
Payment of Members ; and Official Expenses of Election
out of the Rates.
Abolition of the House of Lords and all
Hereditary Authorities. Disestablishment and Disendowment
of all State Churches.
Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation, Bridge House, Blackfriars, E.G.
�4t J
■
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Royal 8-vo. Handbill.
Price 2S. per 500, post free.
Work for all, Overwork for none.
8-vo. Handbill.
2s. per 500, post free.
Royal
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The industrial problem solved
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Robertson, W.B.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12, [4] p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Stamp on title page: South Place Chapel Finsbury, Lending Library. Publisher's list and Information on the Social-Democratic Federation on unnumbered pages at the end.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The Modern Press
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1887
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G4973
Subject
The topic of the resource
Industry
Socialism
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The industrial problem solved), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Economics
Industrial Democracy
Industrialization
Population Increase
Production
Socialism