1
10
52
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/875249d1dc691fb934359c9db111fa42.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=UL3%7EdMxyh6TbCyTL0xxUxUe0Y%7E89tx74NsO6dbsRY13YbJn8gpo%7ETYhjwDqCv1-i1o8O3WTtCIzB42a6UzKWtnQ%7EcURS%7EoyckrQFXHnv1YOpjmL7XfUUY0PL1eBnQ3CEZJOjkbiE8pdfaZDLHWcPX2FmadDcFthWsruxd9YIMB5CNjmoc4CdVikUzudLwcq3KXYt28ey8I3DqG6hmvpNrhdhxYPGD4lX0qyyYd9qeOxuLxTf8NySnVafRx0LrfmkJQsv7KkZ7BEOtb02yjvvp%7EBoljyf4RJfoNbZBltM4FhuZoOWQA2uwtDoueXgHVw7bF-i9pOB1Ew25PfcttSFxA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
ccefbc5561ec629647e7c440704b1ecb
PDF Text
Text
WORK AND WEALTH
ESSAY
AN
ON THE
OF
ECONOMICS
SOCIALISM,
BY
J. K. INGALLS.
ONE
PENNY.
LONDON:
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY,
*
r
35, NEWINGTON GREEN ROAD, N.
1887.
��WORK AND WEALTH.4
<Ti HAVE chosen the above terms in preference to Labour and
W Capital, because they convey more exact ideas. Thè word
labour carries with it the impression of compulsory, or servile
toil. Capital is a word which economists themselves cannot satis
factorily define, and to which they apply only an arbitrary meaning.
The things signified by work and wealth are subject to no equivocal
interpretation, are understood by all, and stand to each other in the
relation of a natural sequence.
Speaking from the standpoint of the trader, from which political
economists mainly speak, Adam Smith lays down this fundamental
proposition : “ It was not by gold or silver, but by labour, that all
the wealth of the world was originally purchased.” For him the
term labour was appropriate, because, in his time, a large proportion
of the world’s work was performed by bondmen or by hirelings,
even more the mere dependents of the legal possessors of the world’s
wealth than are the workers of to-day.
Starting from this comprehensive, but exact, proposition that work
is the only source from which wealth can be produced or purchased
as an axiom, the opposite of which is simply unthinkable, let us
direct our attention to an inquiry into the manner in which wealth
to appearance is transferred so often in exchange for no equivalent
in labour. Even the trader may be interested in the attempt to
account for the fact that wealth, at first purchasable only by work,
comes to be possessed mainly by those who do no work.
The thing which a man has produced by his work, and which is an
object of desire to himself and others, can be transferred in several
different ways. The natural or simplistic methods are: (r) Force,
involving robbery, theft, and, in an advanced stage, cheating, over
reaching, and advantage-taking of every description ; (2) Gift, involving partial and invidious bestowments, as well as noble gene
rosities ; (3) Hazard, involving all kinds of gaming, and, in the
progress of society, all speculative ventures.
* This paper originally appeared in the Ameiican “ Radical Review.”
*
�4
v
i
The rational method, and one which is arrived at only by culture
and the recognition of social obligations, is mutual exchange.
With the earlier method^ as they have existed in the past, we need
have no quarrel. They were the only ones possible under the con
dition of social and moral development then obtaining. Robbery is
the main element of organic and animated life. The carnivorous
animals all support life by drawing it from orders less powerful or
aggressive than themselves, and even the herbivorous sustain life by
devouring vegetable life. Man destroys the lives of the creatures
beneath him that he may eat their flesh and robe himself with their
furs and skins.. He robs the sheep of its fleece, the silk-worm of its
web that he may clothe himself. That he pursues a similar course
with his fellow is not to be wondered at. Only a conception of the
brotherhood of man and the real dignity of work can win him from
his tendency to devour the substance of the weak and simple who
fall into his hands, instead of producing wealth for himself.
The rude man, who has spent hours in the forest gathering fagots,
but lies down at night without a fire, while another enjoys the genial
warmth those same fagots yield while burning, may have transferred
their possession in several different ways. He may, with a certain
degree of equity, have exchanged them, for different products which
the other had worked to obtain ; he may have engaged in some
game of chance, and lost them wholly ; or he may have been met
by a stronger man, while returning laden, and deprived of his fagots
by force. Or, he already may have been reduced to a bond-slave,
his life having bten spared in war on condition of his submission to
a life of slavery; and thus have given his captor the perpetual
ability to purchase wealth with his and his childrens’ toil.
From the mental state which results from such motives as sway
the successful warrior and slave-holder, to that of the enlightened
moralist and economist who discovers that, if another has created
wealth which he himself desires, the true thing to do is to create
something which the other will equally desire, that so the transfers
may be mutually agreeable and beneficial, is a distance which
requires ages of toil and struggle to overcome.
It may be urged that in the capture and management of slaves,
who would not willingly work if left to themselves, a certain necessary
work was performed, and a larger production of wealth obtained.
If we were to admit this as regards the past, it would serve as no justi
fication for the continuance of slavery ; but it should also be con
sidered that the robber class, until taught by the toil of the indus
trious that labour will produce or purchase wealth, never seeks to
subject the toilers to slavery. Besides, all experience shows that
•••
�5
slavery, so far from promoting industry, begets a general repugnance
to work on the part of both slave and slave owner : thus the thing
urged in its justification is seen to have been caused mainly by
itself.
It was not till after centuries of advancement that civilized nations
began to discourage chattel slavery. Its entire abolition in our
country is a recent event. But by its abolition we have by no
means reached any thing like an equitable system of exchange. We
still have class legislation, protecting the vast accumalations of
wealth and ownership of land in unlimited quantities, just as incom
patible with justice as the older tyranny.
To be able to purchase wealth with others’ labour, it is not at all
necessary to own their bodies. The strong assumed “ property in ■
man ” and “ property in the soil ” at the same time. Now, since the
soil is absolutely essential to the application of labour to productive
uses, he who has an exclusive claim to it can labour under any
tribute he pleases, or deny it opportunity to employ itself or be
employed at all. Since ownership in man has been abolished,
private ownership of land is the chief basis, the great fulcrum, of alt
devices for purchasing wealth by the work of others.
By the workers themselves this power is little understood, because
it affects them indirectly. They come in immediate contact with
their employers, and questions of raising or lowering wages, lengthen
ing or shortening hours, attract their attention and divert it from
more fundamental questions. They hardly reflect that their em
ployers are also subject to the competitive struggle, and are often
broken down by the operation of the same law which shortens the
rations, and renders more and more precarious the employment, on
which the labourer depends.
The indifference of the working-men to this question of the land,
and their failure to obtain even enough of it to enable them to rear
homes for themselves and families, has a curious, as well as sad,
result. Quite twenty-five per cent, of the earnings of labourers,
clerks, and mechanics who do not own a home of their own, goes
to the landlords for rent. In many instances, this is for structures
which have been paid for a hundred times over, and are not worth in
their material the labour of pulling down and carrying away. It is
true that a portion of this rent comes back in payment of repairs,
taxes, etc., but still leaving a large percentage for which labour
receives no return whatever, and may almost be said to yield
voluntarily, thus permitting others, to that extent, to purchase wealth
with their unrequited toil.
Had our Government established a system of easy access to the
*
�6
soil through nationalization of the land or a judicious limitation to
private ownership, the questions arising between employer and em
ployed would have a ready solution. On the recurrence of a de
pression in business, general or special, the parties feeling themselves
crowded would betake themselves to the cultivation of the soil, or
some self-employment; or at least enough would do so to relieve the
overstocked labour market, thus increasing the demand for the
things which had been over-produced.
Out of our semi-feudal land system grow also many of the giant
evils which afflict our commerce and finance. The man who has no
land must hire it or pay for its use, before he can apply his labours
in cultivation, however willing and capable he may be. This basic
necessity of borrowing is the foundation of all other borrowing ;
paying for the use of land is the basis of all rent and usury and
speculative profit of every description. Distressed by unnatural dis-'“*^* possession and deprivation, people are in no condition to resist the
temptation to borrow anything which promises relief, and to pledge
themselves to pay therefor impossible rates of interest. The poor
man, to free himself from present deprivation, borrows the means to
do a little business • the man of considerable means borrows that he
may do more business; and for the result, we have most of the real
estate and much of the personal property of both in the hands of
the money-lender through foreclosures. A large proportion of all
transfers of real estate, especially for the last three years, has been
through foreclosures, and to avoid foreclosures.
An annual half-billion does not cover the amount which goes into
or through the hands of corporations in the form of interest in this
country, not to mention the enormous rentals, private speculative
profits, etc.
The industrious man, who purchases by his work any desired
wealth, gets only one-half, or less, himself,—the other half going to
the usurer, landlord, or profit-monger. These are enabled to pur
chase, or get recognized possession of, this other half through
unlimited control of land, and the system of usance and annuities
growing up from that basis.
It may be said with too much truth that working-men get now
more than they wisely use; but it is still truer that, in proportion as
their share in what they have produced is diminished, they become
more and more indifferent to saving, and more and more shiftless
and unreliable.
It is not the purpose of this paper to attempt to point out what
is right and equitable between employer and employed under our
system of wages. W-hen any considerable portion of mankind
�7
desires equity and mutualism in industry and division, there will be
no difficulty in arriving at exact conclusions. My object will be
more than realized, if I draw attention to these things as they
actually exist, and to the positive relation which work and wealth
sustain to each other, the truth in regard to which can only be
ascertained by careful analysis.
Into all production of wealth only two factors enter: (i) the raw
material—the soil or its spontaneous productions; (2) human effort.
However complex or extended, in the last analysis only these two
elements are found. It is not the carbon and nitrogen, the salts and
gases, of which our food and clothing are composed, which we pro
duce as wealth, but that specific form and aptitude for use which our
work has wrought or effected.
According to that ingenious political economist, Bastiat, even
when we purchase things with money or by barter, we do not
exchange things, but forms of service. The inference, however,
which he draws from this truthful proposition—that, therefore, any
one in possession of wealth to whatever amount must necessarily
have rendered an equivalent service for that wealth (either by him
self, or through an ancestor or donor)—is so monstrous as to be
accepted only by specialists in 11 exact science.” On the contrary,
we find mutuality of service nowhere recognized as at all requisite in
the business transactions of the world. We might as well look for
it under the chattel system, where men and women are bought and
sold, and where labour does not have to be purchased with equiva
lent service, but can be enforced by the lash. Adam Smith says :
“ It is impossible for one to become excessively rich without making
many others correspondingly poor.” This is a result which could
not possibly arise from any mutual exchange of services, or from any
honest transfers of equivalents, any more than we can have an
equation with one side plus and the other minus. Hence it follows
that, where inordinate wealth exists, it has been purchased by the
labour of others than the possessors, and through transfers by force,
fraud or hazard.
To produce or have wealth at all, human effort must be put forth.
Even the spontaneous productions of Nature cannot constitute
wealth, until taken out of their natural state. The savage who has
fagots and game in store for a week has wealth, as compared with
him who has to gather a daily supply. Application and frugality
seem the only requisites for its acquirement. By a wise division of
labour and special adaptation of functions, the wealth of the world
has been vastly increased; but we must not let the complexity of
work and diversity of employments confuse our ideas in regard to
�8
*
the main question,—namely, the source of wealth, and the equity or
iniquity of the present method of distribution.
As society advanced from the simply savage state, the search,
capture, and transportation of natural wealth was followed by various
handicrafts which added value thereto. It was work, nothing less
and nothing more, of hand and brain which formed social wealth
from the resources of Nature. In all these elaborate transforma
tions, we can discover no other earthly agency, nor indeed make any
material distinction in the essential character of these varied services.
One and all are necessary to each other. By no logic can we decide
that one service is more important than another, except in the utility
of its product.
If one has discovered, another secured, and a third transported
the prize to the place where it is needed for consumption, we can
decide no otherwise than that the pay of each should be propor
tioned to the time employed in labour and the useful result accom
plished. Even the labour necessary to divide and distribute it comes
in justly for a share.
So far all must be plain in regard to the facts involved in our
question. It seems to me the principles must also be clear. But
it will be answered that still the distinctions in life and the inequali
ties of distribution of which we complain have been transmitted to
us from previously existing conditions, and result from the operations
of forces that can be traced back through every form of civilization.
This is, however, very far from proving that they exist in accordance
with elementary principles or any rational interpretation of law.
Really it comes to this,—whether we will continue the essential
injustice, while dropping the barbaric methods of the savage, or
attempt a truly scientific solution of the problem of work and wealth.
In the discovery, procurance, and manipulation of natural produc
tions, I have indicated all the steps in the production of wealth.
Services in the preservation or conservation of wealth are equally
entitled to consideration, but cannot be yielded a superior claim.
With our inequitable division, and the disorganized methods of dis
tribution which it begets, the number of traders becomes sadly
disproportioned to the number of actual producers ; and since those
despoiled are chiefly those who perform the most useful labour, the
smart and shrewd seek the more indirect methods of obtaining
wealth. And just here the principle of competition, which political
economists seem to think ought to reconcile the wealth producers to
starvation, does not work with facility, for no one can do a business
at a loss, and hence society has to support numbers to do the work
which one might do.
�9
I may, in this connection, refer to the instrumentality of money
or currency, serviceable in moving crops and the work of distribu
tion generally. Its importance, however, is ’ mainly due to the want
of mutualism in our distributive system and of equity in our methods
of exchange.
A charge for the time-use of this instrument, in defiance of the
sentiments of all moralists from Moses and Cato to Ruskin and
Palmer, has been enforced by our laws, because labour was at the
mercy of the few who hold the soil, and because operations could
be made to pay dividends out of the wealth purchased by the labour
of the poor arid simple. Chattel slavery enabled the planter to pay
interest. ‘Land monopoly enables the capitalist to assume that there
is a usufruct ’to wealth. In return, usury has been the great lever by
which millions of homes have been alienated, and gone to swell the
domain of avarice and love of lordly domination.
As war was the parent of slavery, by which whole families, tribes,
and nations were reduced to bondage,—made “ hewers of wood and
drawers of water” to the victors,—so it has been employed to
enslave labour by the creation of immense national debts, the mere
interest of which is an onerous tax upon the worker. Hazard has
also played as large, if not so conspicuous, a part as war in reducing
labour to the condition of dependence and distress. The liberty of
self, wife, and children, in barbaric times, was often staked. And
when this was not done, borrowing to prolong play was practised, as
to-day in Turkey and in some Christian and even republican
countries, upon conditions and at rates which can have no termina
tion but in life-long bondage or peonage. To relieve present dis
tress, or deluded by the hope of acquiring the ability to live by
others’ labour, many people to-day, who would despise the mere
gambler, fall into a similar fatuity, and wake from it only to find
themselves slaves to the power they expected to use to lay others*
labour under contribution.
I am not urging sympathy for these dupes. I am only pointing
out some of the causes, still in operation, which have resulted in
making the few the actual masters of labour, and given them the
ability to purchase wealth without work of their own. In our country
and time we do not enforce gambling debts as they do in Turkey ;
but we do enforce contracts to pay interest, often just as oppressive,
and only outwardly less barbarous and inhuman.
In.thus tracing the. working of these crude methods, we find that
the productive labour of our time has its .inheritance, through the
wage system, serfdom, and slavery, from primitive subjection to
force; or through speculative trade, from the hazard which ruined
�ro
the victim without permanently benefiting the winner. It is not
important to our purpose to inquire whether the plunderers or
plundered are more to blame, or the greater sufferers. This is plain;
with the land in the hands of the hereditary or speculative lord, the
labourer has no resources for self-employment, however fit or unfit
he may be.
The working-man can obtain independence now only by the
possession of exceptional powers, or by special good fortune, and
then only through schemes and operations which raise one at the
expense of many.
The inheritance of the property class consists of a transmission of
power attained by forceful conquest, or by the varied forms of hazard,
fraud, and corruption. With their wealth they inherit generally the
tendency to take advantage of the necessities of others, and to apply
new methods of overreaching when the spirit of progress will no
longer tolerate the old ones.
1 do not make this application to individuals, but only to those
given to the shrewd use of wealth; well I know that many parvenus
far outdo, in management, those who inherit wealth.
In this country we have changed some things to suit republican
prejudices. For instance, our land is no longer entailed in a family.
Yet it is all falling into the hands of a class; and although the great
fortunes sometimes change to other hands, they are controlled by
those with still greater, and their attitude and relation to industry
remain the same. Of the large fortunes now enjoyed in New York
and New England, many had their foundations laid by successful
privateers and slave traders ; and by other methods no less dis
cordant with principles of natural justice.
The immense fortunes made by two well-known citizens in the
generation now past are quite exceptional, and yet they well illustrate
the present divorced relation between work and wealth. In a certain
sense, both were industrious workers. Each has said of himself that,
when he worked in the ordinary way, his income was trifling. It
was only after lon^ struggle, in which many worthy men went to the
wall, that their fortunes began to accumulate with great rapidity.
Both were greatly indebted to our civil war, which reduced whole
populations to poverty, left the nation three billions in debt, and
sacrificed a million lives. It is also worthy of note that a great
banker at our nat onal capital was made rich by privileges granted
him to trade during the Mexican war. When it is said in justifica
tion of these men that they did not go outside the acknowledged
rules of I usiness. it is admitting that our systems of trade, finance,
etc., are essentially the same as in barbarous ages whose forms we
have discarded.
�11
Another great estate, also recently left in the city of New York
was mainly inherited, being now in the possession of the third gene
ration. In mentioning these instances I disclaim any purpose of
judging the men. They were what inheritance and environment
made them. My only purpose is to show the irrational and fatal
policy which places in the hands of any men, however good or great,
the power to purchase, ad libitum, wealth with other people’s work.
I am quite well aware that for many years to come this remonstrance
will remain measurably unheeded. The workers are so depressed
with hardship, or so readily elated with the prospect of success in
some exceptional field, that they are quite unwilling to look away
from prospects of temporary relief to the consideration of broad
questions of reform, even if they were less idiotically joined to party,
labelled republican or democratic, by leaders who form a mutual
ring, whichever party attains power, and conspire to make the
plunder of public funds and public trusts a fine art.
But from the operation upon the public mind of works like those
of Spencer, Mill, Lewes, and Ruskin, much is to be hoped. Our
own country, also, has the names of men, not unknown to fame,
who are deeply impressed with the importance of this vital social
and ethical problem. Its development promises to take form like
this :
First, As a civil right,—freedom of access to the soil and oppor
tunity of self-employment;
Second, As a principle of law,—the partnership of all concerned
in the production of wealth requiring division of labour;
Third, As a matter of commercial ethics,—equivalents of service
in all exchanges.
In connection with these developments in the intellectual and
ethical field, it occurs to me that there is a probability, at least, of
a movement which shall greatly hasten the downfall of our barbarous
system of division, and the approach of the era when work shall be
the only recognized title to wealth. Within the present century,
men like Robert Owen, Peter Cooper, Gerrit Smith, and many
others who could be mentioned, have shown, with more or less
success, that it is “nobl-e to live for others,” and that personal
interests may be subordinated to social aims. It seems to me no
dream of romance to indulge the faith that, at a time near at hand,
a class of true men and women will arise and form an order, which
will abstain from preying on the results of others’ toil. These social
knights-errant will scorn to rely on the efforts of others for their
support, or to apply to their own use, in any way, that for which
another has wrought. They will no more consider the necessity or
�12
weakness of their toiling fellow a reason why they should overreach
and plunder him, than would the model knight of the days of
chivalry have considered that the weakness and defenceless state of
a persecuted woman was a reason why he should outrage rather than
protect her. These will organize industries on an equitable basis,
promote emigration to districts where the exactions of landlords are
less intolerable, and turn the current of many now questionable,
though well-intended, charities into channels of self-employment and
self-help. It is not too much to hope that they will be able ulti
mately to change the application of the vast amount of labour and
wealth now expended in “ plans of salvation ” to save the souls of
men in a future world, into a broadly beneficent measures of indus
trial organization and social renovation, and thus render possible the
coming of the “ kingdom of heaven upon the earth,” under the
equitable rule of which it<£ shall be given to every one according to
his work.”
PUBLICATION LIST.
P. J. PROUDHON : A Biographical Sketch, with Portrait.
Seymour.
By Henry
Post free, I ^d.
SAMFUNDET DAGEN EFTER REVOLUTIONEN (Society on the
Morrow of the Revolution). Translated from the French into Danish.
32 pp. and Coloured Cover Post free 2|d.
THE CRIMINAL LAW AMENDMENT ACT. By “An English
Anarchist.” Reprinted from “The Anarchist,” to which is added an
Appendix. Post free, 1 jd.
THE MALTHUSIANS. A Socialistic attack on the doctrine of Malthus.
By P. J. Proudhon. Post free, i|d.
EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION. A Scientific Essay on the doctrine
of Evolution. By M. Elisee Reclus. Post free, i^d.
LAW AND AUTHORITY. An essay on the error and usurpation of politi
cal legislation, and its concomitant evils. By Pierre Kropotkine. Post
free, 2|d.
GESETZ UND AUTORITAET (Law and Authority). German Edition.
Post free, 2.jd.
THE PLACE OF ANARCHISM IN SOCIALISTIC EVOLUTION.
By the same author.
Post free, i|d.
EXPROPRIATION. By the same author. Post free, i|d.
WAR. By the same author. Post free, i^d.
THE MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNISTS. By Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels. Crimson Cover. Post free, 2|d.
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
THE ANARCHIST,
A Journal of Anti-political Socialism and advocate of the abolition of the State.
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: HENRY SEYMOUR.
Price, One Penny.
LONDON : 35, NEWINGTON GREEN ROAD, N.
�
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
Work and wealth: an essay on the economics of socialism
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ingalls, J.K.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Stamp on front flyleaf: South Place Chapel Finsbury, Lending Library. "This paper originally appeared in the American 'Radical Review'". Publisher's list on numbered page at the end.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Publishing Company
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
G4968
Subject
The topic of the resource
Economics
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 (Work and wealth: an essay on the economics of socialism), 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
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/66b8fad5d0f378b8e65a8650cc351f70.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=P-cRcx7FE4jhrdSg7QfVJcEauKeIiLiIDXMirFWwwizK6mMR1JVfZU274T26zt7W2C0ZgFnILLHGAFvdOk6ID8QzBQboGPaAmcniP7J19K8T5B7F3-l-rELbPkHsenmDuf5CZNwhXDGJ74v3MOyLnx6vG%7EsF%7EtgPtrdG%7EmHifE2OABOPr8vyN-grslrI%7E9ngxguy6F3kcRS-BbUzVnRYYU6JBCkvUnzk2jdtHqKsu33u%7EVvbNZdPqTs%7E6kBE1B9ElIqaPhOP8rwb%7EQc-HPqyFwsXuZRbF6dPsyzW2gHDUo%7EESnCz1UtSPOD5V8C-Ja%7Ep2mYaXQP0QqhKupn-8C5F8A__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
dec8b8b413e3a359d4f26cf6435cd109
PDF Text
Text
PRICE QNE PENNY.]
[SEVENTIETH THOUSAND.
WHAT SHALL I DO
WITH MY VOTE?
A Few Plain Words to the New Voters.
BY
ERNEST PARKE.
■4-
The Right Hon. JOHN BRIGHT writes: “I have read your pamphlet, which
■contains much that is good. It is not easy to write as briefly and as simply as
is needed for the instruction of a large portion of the new voters ; but they will
understand much that you have written for them.”
Mr JOSEPH ARCH writes t “I have read your pamphlet very carefully. It
contains some very good advice to the new electors. Any one contesting a
county division would do well to widely circulate your pamphlet.”
-------- ♦--------
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made.
But a bold pe santry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
The Deserted Village
--------- *--------
London
W. Reeves, 185 Fleet St., E.C.; The Cobden Club ; or, The Author.
Birmingham: The National Liberal Federation, Colmore Row.
Manchester: The National Reform Union, 46, Brown Street.
Liverpool: The Financial Reform Association, 18, Hackins Hey.
All Booksellers in town and country.
�JRead these Facts
-------- ~0--------------
There are about 520 members of the House of Lords.
490 of them are Landowners, owning 15,213,000 acres, and
the rental is at least .£12,750,000.
They draw out of the national moneys for salaries, pensions,
etc., over £600,000 a year, of which the Royal princes take
£104,642, the Bishops £165,771, and other peers the rest.
Since 1850, the peers and their relations have had over
£100,000,000 out of the taxes.
If you want to know what they have done for it, look at
page 8.
The annual income of the bishops and parsons of the Church
of England is about £6,000,000.
The greater part of this belongs to the whole nation, and
might go to pay for the schooling of the children.
In about 120 years over 8,000,000 acres of common lands
have been enclosed.
Taxes on food and other goods brought into a country arepaid, not by the foreigner who sends them, but by the people
who buy them, because taxes make the goods dearer. It is
not the Chinaman, but the Englishman who pays the tax on
our tea.
If a tax were put on corn, every man who bought a loaf
would help to pay it and the benefit would go into the land
lords’ pockets.
If Tories deny this, read to them what Sir Stafford Northcote,
their leader, lately wrote, (see page 12).
�A TALK ON THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY.
THE VOTE.
At last, after many years of waiting and hoping, you have the
vote, and you will be able to use it most likely this autumn. Up
till now you have been of very little account in politics. No one
cared what you thought because you had no power. But that is
all changed, and as your class is now very powerful, many people
will be telling you not only what to do, but what to think. But
you will be wise to think for yourselves, and not take your
opinions second-hand from anybody.
IT IS SECRET.
The first thing you should remember about the vote is that it
is quite secret, and no one can know how you have voted unless
you tell him. If any persons say that they can find out, it is not
true, and they are merely trying to make you vote for somebody
whom they think you dare not vote against. If you don’t say
how you vote, no one else can. This way of voting secretly, or
by Ballot, was made law by the Liberals in 1872, though the
House of Lords did all they could to prevent it. They were
afraid that the farmers would vote against their landlords some
times instead of voting for them. Many of you, I dare say, know
cases where, years ago, farmers have been turned out of their
farms for voting against the landlord or his friends; but that
cannot happen now, unless the farmer tells somebody how he
voted. Some years past the Marquis of Exeter, a great Tory
landowner, since dead, ordered all his tenants who were widows
to get married again or else leave their farms. . The women had
no votes, and he wanted only men as tenants, so that he could
make them vote as he liked. The Ballot has put a stop to doings
of that sort, and that is the chief reason why the House of Lords
opposed it so long.
WHOM WILL YOU VOTE FOR?
Feeling now quite sure that the vote is secret, the next thing
is, to whom will you give it ? It seems natural that you should
support that party which has for so many years tried to get you
the franchise. You know that the men who have struggled to
fet you your rights are Liberals. They have worked for you in
'arliament and out of Parliament. They have shown themselves
to be your friends before you had any power, and they are still
more likely to keep friends now you have got it The Tories,
�4
till a very few months back, always said you were not fit to have
the franchise because you were not educated. Then the Liberals
passed the Education Act in 1870, which gives every child in the
land an education, and soon we hope to make the schools free,
because it is for the good of all that every child should be educated’
The Tories thus lost this excuse, and then they took to saying
that you did not care anything about the vote, and would n®t
know what to do with it when you had got it. Last of all,
when they found it was of no use trying to keep it from you, they
said they had been in favour of your having it all along. They
became afraid you would vote against them, and so they are now
trying to make you believe they have always been your friends.
I don’t think you will be deceived so easily. You will most
likely agree with me that these facts form very good reasons why
you should trust your votes to the Liberals. But there are very
many other reasons.
ARE YOU CONTENTED?
A short time ago Sir Stafford Northcote, the leading Con
servative in the House of Commons, said he was afraid people
would be going about telling you that you had wrongs to be
righted and ends to gain, and that you were as good as your
betters. It is plain that he does not think so. He seems to
believe that you are quite happy and contented. If you are, it
will be of no use any one telling you otherwise. But if you are
not, if you think the laws, as they concern you, want altering,
then Liberals and Radicals mean, if you will help them, to get
the laws altered so that they may be just towards you and favour
you as much as others. Your vote will enable you to do this.
Up till now you have otly had to obey the laws ; now you can
help to make them as well as obey them.
THE LAND LAWS.
The Land Laws will have most interest for you, because they
affect your means of getting a living. If they are not good laws
as they stand now, farming must be bad, and you cannot get
better wages. Now, Liberals and Radicals believe that our
present Land Laws need altering, for they partly account for
there being so many millions of acres of land not being tilled
now. The result is that wages are low and thousands of labourers
have left the land, and either gone into the towns to try to get a
living, or else gone to America and other countries where men
are better paid for working on the soil. Mr. Chamberlain, M.P.,
says it is reckoned that there are about 800,000 fewer persons
living on the land in England now than fifteen years ago. Think
of that! It is the same as if two thousand villages, each with
400 people in, were all empty and the people gone away—God
knows where. I can tell you of a case in my native county
arwickshire—which will show you one way how this has
come about. A landlord there has about 3,000 acres, and besides
that he is a rich man. When times got bad, about 1875, his
�5
tenants asked him to reduce their rent. He refused, and they
left their farms. He had plenty of money, and it did not matter
to him if the farms were not taken. But what became of the
labourers on this estate ? They had to work or starve, and as
there was no work for them there, they had to go wherever they
could get it. I dare say most of you can call to mind cases like
this one. This landlord, who never lifted his finger to work,
had the power under the present law to send scores of hard
working farmers and labourers out of their homes, and
besides that the land produced no food, and the other rate
payers in the parish had to pay the rates that this land should
have paid. This is one way in which the law wants altering. If
the land will produce enough for the farmer and the labourer—
the men who really work—it ought to be farmed to grow food
for the nation. The landlord—the man who does not work—
can take his share out of the land after the other two have got
their living, but he should not be allowed to let the land lie idle
and starve the labourer because he cannot get as much rent as
he wants. He cannot be allowed to act like a dog in a manger,
who won’t eat the bait of corn himself, or let the horse eat it.
When a ship is in a storm, the passengers don’t throw the captain
and the crew overboard, but they pitch the useless lumber out.
So, when farming is bad, either through bad laws, bad seasons, or
bad prices, the farmer and the labourer should justly be the last
to suffer, and the rich, do-nothing landlord should feel the pinch
first. One good way to effect this is that suggested by Joseph
Arch—make landlords let their farms by compelling them to
pay rates, whether, empty or not. They would be glad to let
them then, if only to get rent enough for the rates.
THE DEAD MAN'S CLUTCH.
Other laws which must be done away with are the laws which
permit settlement and entail. These allow a landowner to tie
up his land for three generations, so that his son and his son’s
son do not own the land to do what they like with, but only
receive the rents as long as they live. The result of these laws
is that the landlord is not ©ften willing to spend any money
to improve the land, because all he cares about is to get as
much rent as he can as long as he lives, and if the farmer
makes the soil bear better, the landlord will only raise the
rent. Consequently the land is not tilled nearly so well as it
should be, and it does not find work for so many labourers as
it ought to. These laws the Liberals and Radicals will try to
do away with, and if you help them, they will certainly do it.
THE GAME LAWS.
In the same way, we must do away with the game laws. The
game feeds on the farmer’s crops, and as he keeps the game,
it ought to belong to him—if it belongs to anybody. I wonder
how many thousand English labourers have been sent to prison
for disturbing the sleep of those sacred rabbits and hares ! Land
�6
lords and parsons sit on the bench and try the cases, and they
order men to pay heavy fines or to go to prison, without ever
thinking of how great a temptation it is to a poor man to kill a
rabbit for his children’s dinner. But the game has been preserved
long enough. We must now make some laws to preserve the
labourers.
ABOUT ALLOTMENTS.
The law as to allotments is the one in which you will, perhaps,
feel most interest. In many parishes there have been allotments
for years which have been let out to a favored few, often at rents
much higher than were paid by the farmer on the other side of
the hedge, and when one of the labourers offended the parson or
the squire, the allotment was taken from him. In 1882, however,
as you may know, the Allotments Extension Act was passsed by
Parliament. Mr. Howard Evans, who has for many years worked
hard for the labourer’s rights, and whose name is well-known to
every reader of the Labourer's Chronicle, collected the facts and
figures for this Act of Parliament; and Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P.,
whose political life has also been mainly given up to the good of
the labourer, got it passed into law. By this Act it is ordered
that all land left for charity shall be let to labourers in allotments
if they ask for it, at the same rent as the farmers round about
pay. As Mr. Collings made the Bill, if a labourer could not get
the charity land, he was to apply to the judge of the nearest
County Court, who would inquire into the reason why he was
not allowed to have it, and the matter would soon have been put
right. But when the House of Lords examined the Bill, they
ordered that the labourers had to apply to the Charity Commis
sioners in London, instead of the County Court, which meant in
most cases they could not get the land at all if any difficulty arose.
To help labourers who were in this trouble, Mr. Collings started a
society for which a lot of Liberal gentlemen find the money, and
now any labourer who cannot get the people who manage the
Charity lands to let it out in allotments, should write to the
Secretary, Allotments Extension Association, Birmingham, and
he will advise and help him. But this is another law which must
be altered so that all Charity land shall be let out to labourers
who requre it If you show that you mean to have this done,
the law will be changed very soon. Mr. Collings is trying to get
another bill passed, called the Yeomen’s and Small Holdings Bill,
which will make it much easier for labourers to get allotments
•md plots of their own. But if you want good laws like this to
be passed, ask the men who come to you to be sent to Parliament
whether they will vote for such bills, and then you will know
what to do when you hear their answer. The Liberals and
"Radicals mean to get the people back on the land again, and that
the labourer shall have a bit of land to farm for himself, so that
he will have something to look forward to in his old age besides
the workhouse.
�7
TAKING THE PEOPLE'S COMMONS.
They alfeo mean to stop landlords putting fences round com
mon lands, which do not belong to them, but which belong to
the people of the parish. Landlords are very fond of enclosing
land like this, and often say they do it so that the land may
grow something instead of lying idle. But that is no reason why
they should farm it for their own good. Why not let it out in
allotments to labourers, and let the rent go to the good of the
parish instead of into the pockets of the landlords ? Mr. Jesse
Collings is going to try to pass a Bill making landlords who have
fenced in land that does not belong to them in the last fifty years
give it up again. In the last 120 years about eight millions of
acres, or land equal to one-third part of all the workable land in
England, have been enclosed by landlords. Parliament was, and
is now, full of landlords ; and they can pass Acts which favour
their own class very easily. For instance, when a fstrmer becomes
bankrupt, the landlord can send the bailiffs and seize his cattle
and goods for rent, but other people to whom he owes money
have to take their chance of getting paid, and often lose their
money because the landlord has taken all the farmer has got.
Why should not the farmer’s goods be sold and the money divided
fairly amongst those to whom he owes debts ?
LAWS MADE BY LANDLORDS FOR LANDLORDS.
But there are many ways besides this in which the lords and
landlords in Parliament have made laws to suit themselves. When
a man dies and leaves a lot of money, the people who come into
it have to pay a heavy tax. But, if a landlord leaves a lot of
land instead of money, those who come after him hardly pay
anything for tax. Do you think this is fair ? Then, again, the great
squires and lords often do not pay as much for rates as they
ought to. The reason of this is because they are so rich and
powerful that the people who charge them dare not charge them
their full share. I could name six or more of our noblemen, all
of them with over £50,000 a year, who pay much less rates for
their parks than their tenants do for their farms, and they
pay nothing at all for their immense palaces. It would seem
fairer if these very rich landlords were to pay rather more
instead of less, than poorer folks. But there is a worse case
than all these of how they have put their taxes on to the
backs of the common people. About two hundred years ago,
in 1660, when that immoral and base king, Charles II., came
to the throne, the nobles stopped paying him the rents for their
lands which they had always paid to the Government, and instead
they imposed Excise and Customs duties. This meant that they
taxed beer and other things that the people used, and thus the
people paid to the Crown the taxes which the land had always
paid. Then, in 1692, as the taxes did not bring in enough money,
the nobles agreed to pay 4s. out of every pound they received as
rent, but when land got worth more and rents rose they did not
�8
pay any m6re taxes; and the result is that now, instead of the
landlords paying about thirty-four million pounds in taxes for
their land, they only pay a little more than one million. They
have made the poor pay the biggest part by taxing the things
that are used most—such as tea, tobacco, and beer. Here are
some of the taxes which the poor pay though most of them do
not know it. Out of every shilling they pay
For cocoa, l|d. is for tax;
For coffee, l|d. is for tax;
For currants and raisins, 2|d. is for tax;
For tea, 4|d. is for tax.
For every 8d. spent in tobacco 2|d. is for tax, and |d. for
tobacco. Taxes make a shillingsworth of spirits cost 4s. 4|d.
The tax on a shillingsworth of champagne (which poor men
don’t buy) is £cL
TAXING THE POOR.
I will give you an instance of how the poor were taxed. This
case was brought before Parliament in 1842. William Gladstone,
a labourer, earned 11s. a week, and spent 7s. 7d. on food, as
follows :— 1 ounce of tea, 2 ounces of coffee, 8 ounces of sugar,
8 ounces of meat, 8 pounds of flour, seven pints of ale, and a
quartern of brandy.
s. d.
The real cost of these was .................. 2 4^
The taxes on these were
.................. 5 2|
7 7
Thus out of the £28 a year that this poor man earned, £18
went in taxes. A man who had £10,000 a year ought, at the same
rate, to have paid about £4,700 a year in taxes. Instead of that
he paid not more than about £500—that is the poor man paid
nearly ten times as much as the rich man, according to his means.
Since that day the poor man’s taxes have been lightened—chiefly
by Mr. Gladstone and the Liberals—but there is still plenty of
room for change, for even now the poor man pays a good deal
more than the rich man, considering how little he has to pay
with. Liberals hope to reform this, and make the laws so that
rich and poor pay each according to their means.
THE HOUSE OF LORDS.
You will remember that last autumn, when meetings were
being held all over the country to get the Franchise Bill passed
so that you can have the vote, a great deal was said against the
House of Lords. They had refused to pass the Bill. Everybody
expected they would not pass it, because they have always de
layed or refused to pass every Bill of importance that the
Liberals in the House of Commons have brought in for the
good of the people. Before 1-832 the Lords usedto govern the
country how they liked, without taking much notice of what -+-he
people who paid the taxes wanted. Nobody but wealthy
�9
*u-rdt, could sit in Parliament, and the House of Lords really chosethe greater part of the House of Commons. But in 1832 the
Liberals passed the great Reform Bill, after nearly two years’'
struggling with the Lords and the King. The Peers agreed to it
at last, because there had been riots all over the country, and
they could see, if they did not, we should have civil war inEngland. They did not know whether the soldiers would fight
against the people, or side with them; so, in their fear, they
passed the Bill. By this Bill large towns like Manchester, Leeds
and Birmingham were allowed to send members to Parliament,
and little villages of a few hundred people, and, perhaps, with
only a dozen electors who were in the pay of some lord, stopped*
sending members. This was the beginning of that great reform
which has brought it about that now every man in the country
who has a house has a vote.
TKH4T THE LORDS HAVE DONE.
It is easy to see that the more power the people got, the less
was left to the lords, but they have struggled hard to keep their
wrongful power. They have always opposed bills to make elec
tions cheap and stop bribery, because they were rich and could
afford to bribe. They opposed the Ballot because it prevents
them knowing how a man votes, and so they cannot threaten to
turn him out of his farm or cottage if he does not vote as they
want. They refused to do away with cruel laws which punishedpeople severely because they were Roman Catholics or Jews, or
because they went to chapel instead of to church. They, of
course, opposed the first efforts that were made to give the poor
man’s child a cheap education, partly because they were afraid
of the poor knowing how the lords have treated them for hun
dreds of years, and partly because there would be many other
people to teach the children besides the church parson. Then
they opposed the Liberals taking the taxes off paper, because
they knew when paper was cheaper the poor would be able tobuy newspapers for a penny or a halfpenny, and these would
educate the workman and tell him of his rights and his power.
They did all they could to prevent people in the towns from,
having town councils to manage their affairs for them.
HOW THE LORDS HAVE RULED IRELAND.
In Ireland they have been far more powerful than they have
here, and the result is seen in the dreadful condition of that un
happy country. For years the Lords refused to pass every Bill
which the Liberals proposed for the good of the Irish people;
and, as the English did not care quite so much as when theLords refused English Bills, the reforms were much longer
delayed. The greater nrnnber of the farmers there only have small
plots of land. They build their own houses of mud, and make
all the fences and hovels on the land at their own expense, but
when they cannot pay the high rents to their landlords they are
turned out on to the roadside to beg or die. I could tell you of
�10
cases where as many as seven hundred men, women and
children—some of them sick and ill—have been turned out of
their homes in one day because the landlord wanted to knock
down their houses and turn the land into sheep-farms. This sort
of treatment has been going on for hundreds of years, and the
Lords refused to alter the laws which allowed it, although some
Irish landlords themselves said they were most unjust. It is no
wonder that landlords get shot, and Fenians come over here and
make disturbances. It is almost certain that if we had had no
House of Lords, we should have had no Fenians. The high rents
and bad laws in Ireland will also explain why Irishmen come over
for harvest time and do work which Englishmen might do.
Always remember that our House of Lords, by refusing to pass
better laws for Ireland, has made that country so that millions of
the people have left it and come here to live or gone to America.
Mr. Gladstone and the Liberals overcame the Lords in 1881, and
passed a Land Act in spite of them. Ireland is much quieter
now, and when we have given the Irish full justice it is to be
hoped that they will live at peace with us. We must let them
know it is not the English people but the English lords who
have refused them j'ustice. Our lords own immense estates over
there, but most of them spend the money in London and abroad
which their Irish tenants pay. This helps to make Irish trade
bad and the people more discontented.
HARSH AND CRUEL TO THE POOR.
Then, again, the Lords have always been in favor of punishing
the poor severely. How the squires send men to prison for
making a rabbit run away you already know. But that is mercy
itself to what the Lords allowed by the laws. In 1810 it was
lawful to hang a man for stealing half-a-crown’s worth of goods,
and the Lords refused to alter the law although the House of
Commons wanted to. Between 1810 and 1845 it was reckoned
that 1,400 people were hanged for doing what, if they did it now,
they would only be sent to prison for. But the Lords refused
for years to alter the law, although often asked to do so. These
noblemen were rich and well fed, and did not know, or care,
what a temptation it is to a poor and hungry man to steal a loaf.
I wonder how many poor people have been sent to prison for
months for stealing a turnip not worth a farthing ? Of course it
is wrong to steal a turnip, but often a man’s character has been
taken away for life because he took some such trifling thing.
When rich men do worse things (for only very poor people steal
turnips) they generally have a chance to get off by paying. For
instance, in January last (1885) a married clergyman in Lincoln
shire committed shocking assaults on two little girls. He was
only fined £20 and lost his situation. If a poor man had done
such a thing, he would certainly have had a long time in prison,
and most likely would have been sent to penal servitude for ten
or fifteen years, and his family would have gone to the work
�11
house. So, when a noble lord, not long since, assaulted a servant,
instead of being sent to prison and hard labour like any other
man, they arranged it so that he hardly suffered at all.
THE LORDS, THE LAND, AND THE LABOURERS.
But you will feel most interest in regard to what the Lords have
done about the land and the labourers. Every effort that has
been made to get justice for the farmer has always been opposed
by the Lords, although they pretend to be his friends. You
know that when tenants leave their farms, however mutch they
may have improved them, their landlords were not bound to give
them any money to pay them back what they had spent in making
the sheds better, or in manuring the land, or doing other things
that improve the farm for all time. The House of Lords have
always opposed any attempt to protect the property of the tenants
from greedy landlords. In just the same way they tried to defeat
the Bill giving the farmers the right to kill hares and rabbits.
How they have passed Bills enclosing immense quantities of
common land, and how they spoiled the Bill giving you the right
to have charity lands cut up into allotments, I have already told
you. In Ireland they refused to cottage allotments the same fair
treatment which the law gave to large farms. Then the workmen
in towns have suffered from the action of these noblemen just as
badly. They refused to women and children working in coal
mines the protection from hard masters and long hours, which
Liberals tried to get for them in 1842. Many of the lords are
owners of coal-pits, from which they get immense incomes, and
they did all they could to keep women and children at work in
them for long hours because their labour is cheaper than men’s.
They also tried to spoil the Employer’s Liability Act, which gives
a workman or his widow a claim against his employer if he is
hurt or killed through his master’s or the foreman’s carelessness.
In fact, the House of Lords has always opposed every Bill
intended to do good to the working classes or make them more
free. These noblemen sit in the House of Lords because they
are the eldest sons of their fathers, and not because the people
elected them. That may have been a very good reason many
years ago,
BUT IT WONT DO NOW.
No matter whether the Liberals or the Conservatives are in
power in the House of Commons, the House of Lords is always
Tory, and no one will say it is fair that the Liberals who have
been elected by the peeple to govern them should have all their
work delayed or spoiled by a lot of rich landlords who are elected
by nobody. Even if a peer goes to prison, as some do sometimes,
he can go back and make laws for us or spoil other men’s good
work. The People’s League, whose offices are at 14, Bucking
ham Street, Strand, London, has been formed to spread the truth
about the Lords amongst the voters, and you may be sure that
when their evil deeds are more generally known by the voters,
�12
the House of Lords will be either changed or done away with.
The People’s League, before it had been started three months,
had over 100,000 members, and it is still growing rapidly; so
you see very great numbers of your fellow workmen have made
11 p their minds that we can do better without the House of Lords
than with it, and I hope you will think so too.
WANTING TO TAX THE LOAF.
There is one change which a good many Tory landlords and
others want to make. They would like to put a tax on all corn
that comes into the country—that is, they want to tax the loaf.
But you will find that nearly all the people who want to do this
are landlords or their friends. They will tell you that if a small
tax is put on the corn you will have more work and more money.
It is not true, and I will tell you why. The landlord would get
a lot more rent, but will you be willing to pay more for your
bread that rich men may still be richer ? There used to be a tax
on bread. Between the years 1815 and 1846 bread was always
taxed, and what was the state of the people at that time ? Far
worse than it is now. Landlords were better off, but the working
men were starving. Farmers were ruined by thousands. The
workhouses were full; thousands of families had no food, no
clothing, nothing; there were riots in many places, women sold
their we'dding rings for bread, people boiled nettles for food and
ate bad flesh. At this time there were only half as many people
in G-reat Britain as there are now. Do you want these dreadful
sufferings over again ? They were the result of a tax on bread,
which benefits nobody but the landlords. Your wages are very
much higher even now than they were then. Joseph Arch has
written a book which shows up the shocking state of the country
at that time but folks who want to tax your bread don’t tell you
of these things. They say to you, “ What is the use of cheap
bread if you have no money to buy it with ?” They mean you
to understand that if bread was dearer you would have more
money. It is false. Bad as trade is now, it was far worse when
bread was taxed, and would be still worse if we were so foolish
as to allow it to be taxed again. The real change that wants to
be made i-s to alter the land laws so that the soil may be freely
tilled. There would be plenty of work then, and very much
more corn grown at home than there is now.
HOW TO MEET A TORY DODGE.
In the month of April (1885) Sir Stafford Northcote, the
Conservative leader in the House of Commons, wrote—“As
regards the future, I am distinctly of opinion that a return to a
protective duty on corn would be impossible, and that the idea
that a Conservative Government would attempt to impose one is
groundless.” Lord Salisbury a few days afterwards expressed the
same opinion. When a Tory comes to you trying to make you
believe that a tax on corn would raise your wages, show him this
sentence of Sir Stafford Northcote’s, and ask him why he is so
�13
dishonest as to recommend a plan that his own leaders will not
carry out and declare to be impossible.
THE CHURCH.
Now there is the question of the State Church. You know
that the Church of England, which does not include nearly half
the nation, uses for itself alone money which was meant just as
much for the poor as for the parsons. The Church is thus very
wealthy and powerful, and though the parsons are often good
and kind men, in many cases they use their power against the
poor who go to chapel, or who don’t send their children to the
church school, and they forget these poor people when the time
comes round for giving out blankets and coal. Sometimes
these parsons are magistrates and I have known some who have
been very severe in sending men to prison for poaching. When
they are on the Boards of Guardians, they often forget what
their Great Master told them about being kind and merciful.
Well, the Radicals are working to put an end to the special
power which the State gives to the Church of England, and they
wish to have the enormous wealth of the Church spent for the
good of all the people. For instance, it might be used in paying
for the schooling of the children. It was meant for all the
people years ago, and it ought to belong to all the people now,
instead of to only a part. These parsons are usually great friends
of the squires and the landlords. They taught you at school and
at Sunday school to be contented in that state of life into which
it shall please God to call you. You have learnt since that it is
a good thing for a man to better himself when he can. It is easy
to see why the parsons have taught you to be contented, for, as a
rule, they want the laws to stop as they are, instead of being
made better. The parsons and the bishops have always done
their best to prevent changes being made for the good of the
people. They often say the State church is the poor man’s
church, but if that is so, it is a strange thing the bishops and
most of the parsons always oppose laws meant to give poor men
their rights. The laws ought not to favour one church more
than another, and we must do away with the State church, so
that church and chapel will be on the same footing.
VOTE FOR PEACE AND AGAINST WAR.
Lastly, always vote for peace. No lasting good comes to
working men or anyone else from war, which wastes our taxes
and sheds the blood of our fellow men, and all for no real good.
Often wars are made by our rulers without the people being
asked, but the people have to find the money and the men,
although often they don’t agree with the objects for which war
is being made. War makes trade bad and wages low. Nothing
but misery and sorrow comes from it. It may be to the advan
tage of lords and gentlemen who are officers to fight and get
higher rank, but it can never be to the good of working men to
make war except to defend ourselves whaa attacked, and that
�14
we shall be always sure to do. It will help you to understand
what a curse war is when I tell you that out of every pound we
now pay in taxes 16s. 3^cL goes for war, war debt, or war prepa
rations and 3s. 8jd. for all other purposes of government.
WEIGH THESE CLOSING WORDS WELL.
. I have tried to show you some of the objects which you may
like to strive for. If you set your mind upon getting them, you
Can do it, for there are thousands and thousands of your brothers
and relations in the towns who are bent on getting the laws and
changes I have set before you. But how are you to do it ? By
acting together; and, if possible, through your Union. Taken
one at a time, your votes are worth very little : taken altogether,
there are no just and right things you cannot accomplish in timeby means of your votes. But you must not think these objects
can be gained without long and hard work. You must show the
men who want to be your Members of Parliament that you mean
to have these things, and tell them that if they won’t vote for
what you want, you won’t vote for them. We send men to Par
liament to do as we want, not to do as they like, and we must
make them understand it. The Liberals in town and country
everywhere will help you to improve your condition; they will
aid you in gaining whatever is rightly yours. Stand shoulder to
shoulder ; work steadily with your mates for the same just ends,
and there is no class in this country which is strong enough to
deny you your rights when right is on your side.
ERNEST PARKE.
103, Camberwell Grove, London, S.E.
�15
Bow the Lords and Bishops have Voted.
Some Samples oe Hereditary Legislation.
1807—Rejected Bill appointing a Committee of Council for Education.
1810—Rejected Bill abolishing Punishment of Death for stealing
goods value 5s. Seven bishops voted against the Bill. None for it.
More than 200 crimes then Capital.
1825—Rejected Catholic Relief Bill.
1829—Disfranchised 40s. Freeholders in Ireland.
1831— Rejected Reform Bill. 21 bishops assisted. Great riots.
1832— Mutilated Reform Bill in Committee. Renewed riots. Runon the Bank of England. Country on the brink of Revolution.
Refused to open Universities to Dissenters.
1833— Compelled withdrawal of Irish Education Bill.
1833- 57—Denied civil and political rights to Jews. 20 bishops
assisted. Rejected the Commons’ Bill seven times.
1834—Refused to allow more than 20 persons to meet for worship
in private house. Three times rejected Tithe Abatement Bill; also
Bill for legalising marriages in Dissenting chapels.
1836—Ordered banns of Dissenters’ marriages to be read before
Boards of Guardians. Mangled Municipal Reform Act.
1838—Refused to mothers the custody of infants during separation
caused by fault of father.
1839— Continued death penalty for sheep-stealing. RejectedNational Education Bill.
1842—Refused to give women and children working in mines the
full relief of the Commons’ Mines Regulation Bill. Prevented protec
tion of miners for 30 years.
1845—Refused compensation to the Irish tenants, and so for 25 years.
1858—Refused church rates abolition, and for next 11 years; 24
bishops in the majority.
1860—Rejected Bill taking tax off paper, which meant cheap press..
1868— Threw out Irish Church Disestablishment resolutions. Emas
culated Artisans’ Dwellings Bill.
1867-70—Thrice refused University Tests Abolition.
1869— Mutilated Irish Church Bill. Refused to allow Life Peerages.
1870—Mangled Irish Land Act.
1871—Rejected Army Purchase Bill. Threw out Ballot Bill and
next year made secrecy optional.
1873-6-7-9—Refused to amend Burial Laws.
1879 and since—Refused to legalise marriage with a deceased wife’s
sister.
1880—Rejected Compensation for Disturbance Bill. Ireland became
in a state of anarchy. Threw out Irish Registration of Voters Bill.
1882—Made Allotments Extension Act unworkable.
1883—Maintained Trap Pigeon Shooting. (No Bishops attended tovote.) Spoiled English Agricultural Holdings Bill, but retreated.
1884— « Hung up ” the County Franchise Bill.
After reading the above, do you net think that the House of
Commons was right when, in 1649, it resolved that the House of
Lords “ was useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolished ?”
�ALL THE NEW VOTERS
Should Read
The English Labourers’
CHRONICLE.
THE
1
Organ of the National Agricultural
Labourers’ Union.
ORDER OF ANY NEWSAGENT.
SOLD IN EVERY COUNTY.
Full of Interest for Workers and Voters.
The CHRONICLE contains—
News and Political Articles,
by Well-known Writers,
AFFECTING THE
WELFARE AND WAGES
OF THE LABOURERS.
ONE PENNY WEEKLY
�
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
What shall I do with my vote? : a few plain words to the new voters
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Parke, Ernest
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 15, [1] p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Date of publication from internal evidence (list of House of Lords votes ends with date of 1884, and text refers twice to 1885). Advertisement for the English Labourers' Chronicle on unnumbered page at the end.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
W. Reeves
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1885?]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
T469
Subject
The topic of the resource
Socialism
Politics
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (What shall I do with my vote? : a few plain words to the new voters), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><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
Great Britain-Parliament
Great Britain-Parliament-House of Lords
Great Britain-Politics and Government-1837-1901
Land tax
Politics-Britain
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/8899bef81859b5fc9cc65c3c51911504.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=A9mNZaxLEgsa1sCAh5dPT3tAYoe8dAukHAwXE5S0X2vK2jeie4IGyf%7EKeQzWm2c6Sd65yncJGGzlD67outSI70Ta%7ElLYNobt25vNN-RpvQsAv%7EZYZMYw1VWUm73dShGHch9Raj7lmEzcTs9plgwYx-PadS1HCXFMwF9l39IqQokNX6lfZPdHjycBzgRe6oVT4UzoGw84lcbcZAfYJv2D0flunZn1dXVlLf7j-S7vEf9rs5ZKWOP0ORYC45JiOMA7fml7v%7ErXupcwH9KhpewOab2IiaONBVs0A2GEyyYBX2Ar9GV4XMZJriwGh9WWUqzjfES5EYatCWeKWDl9LCjasQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
1590b35f31ab4ac8c7b0436856512bd0
PDF Text
Text
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
U.S.A., W. L. ROSENBERG, 261, EAST TENTH
STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
�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.
Reprinted with additions from Justice.
price id. Fifteenth thousand.
Socialism and the Worker.
Sorge.
Royal 8-vo.,
By F. A.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of the main idea of Socialism.
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 has just suffered five years imprison
ment at the hands of the French Republic for advocating the cause of the
workers.
John Williams and the History of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
8-vo., price id.
With portrait.
Royal
The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
And W. L. ROSENBERG, 261, East Tenth Street, New
York City.
�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.
�
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
What a compulsory 8 hour working day means to the workers
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mann, Tom [1856-1941]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. : ill. (port.) ; 19 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Date of publication from KVK. Publisher's list on p. 2. Portrait of Mann in oval on front page.
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
[1886?]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
T396
Subject
The topic of the resource
Working conditions
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 (What a compulsory 8 hour working day means to the workers), 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
Social conditions
Socialism
Working Classes
Working Conditions
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/1c6d7827eec35d79792e1ea7162baa7a.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=WkXb9YUPjrA2e7l3ulsctP%7EptE0pjHiWV-NDvaOc1aT8HAtIiH51QWgEzWDICm-e13-1Y%7E7iCFKkU2UdRTVJYFt%7EVzGMekNOO0IONPB8Qgy%7Etf1SciDx1LQa7S4ZEyRcTcbjw4r3yPKVxCgGwtgy2XzhO0ONrY4W9%7EmS3cBIDD6s9sArqxIPqMDiGUUICZeYyyq6oEZda192l5ZQ88fd10Qknf2a%7EkUo-ZqS9QIL48MmBeTVNKFlrII3XRAXRJN1WWPiYeXmeJwNmty3xIG4O-cBVaFm4xHzIy7tH0nH4iUGUu15HdBOEE0d74lkKco19Dg9rVXUUweYj%7EI32LQ47A__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
944575b964e9a3f95dcb55b0172855f1
PDF Text
Text
PRICE SIXPENCE.
THE
WORKING MAN’S
PROGRAMME,
(ARBEITER-PROGRAMM)
An
Address
BY
FERDINAND LASSALLE.
Translated (with an Introduction) by
EDWARD PETERS.
THE
13
and
MODERN
PRESS,
14, PATERNOSTER ROW,
1884.
LONDON,
E.C.
��iii.
NOTE.
.Ferdinand Lassalle was born in the year 1825 at Breslau in
Silesia, where his father carried on the business of a merchant, and
intended that his son should follow the same occupation. But
young Lassalle having early given proof of unusual ability, and
a *“ certain passionate energy of character, ” preferred a more am
bitious career, and having passed with distinction through the
Universities of Breslau and Berlin, devoted himself to the task of
raising the condition of the people. Young, handsome, highly
gifted, and thoroughly trained in the intellectual school of the
highest German thought, he found a ready entrance to the best
society of Berlin, and in Mendelssohn’s house in particular gained
the friendship of Humboldt and other eminent men. The poet
Heine thus writes of him to Varnhagen von Euse—“ My friend
Lassalle, who is the bearer of this letter, is a young man of extra
ordinary ability. To the most thorough scholarship, the widest
knowledge, the greatest penetration I have ever met with, and the
greatest power of expression, he unites an energy of will, and a
prudence in action, which fairly astonish me." He hints at one
defect, however, .with characteristic irony—“He is thoroughly
stamped with the impress of these later times, which ignore the self
denial and modesty about which we of the older generation used,
with more or less hypocrisy, perpetually to prate."
In 1848 Lassalle took a leading part in organising armed resist
ance to the reactionary Government, and when brought to trial, he
undertook his own defence, and admitting the fact, maintained that
he had done no more than his duty, and was acquitted by the jury.
He now devoted himself anew to philosophy and literature. The
first book that he published was entitled “The Philosophy of
Heraclitus the Mystic of Ephesus,” which was considered to be
both, a brilliant and a learned work. His tragedy “Franz von
Sickingen ” contains many passages of brilliant oratory, but was not
found suitable for the stage. His brochure on “ The Italian war
* Wurzbach, Zeitgenossen, to which I am mainly indebted for this sketch of
Lassalle s life.—E.P
�and the task of Prussia," met with a better reception, and soon
reached a second edition. This was followed by 11 Fichte’s Political
Testament,” and a work on Lessing. His “ System of Inherited
Rights ” in two large volumes is said to be a work of great learning
and power, but is not consistent with his later socialistic writings.
Of the latter by far the most important is the treatise on “ Capital
and Labour.” In this he states his object to be, to make the profits
now absorbed by capital, available for the lower class of working
men. The means to this end are to be national workshops, like
those which failed in France, only the part which the State is to
play is to be that of a sleeping partner, namely to provide the
capital, to watch the conduct of the business, and to have the right
of inspecting the books. He held this to be the only way to make
the working class their own employers, and to evade the iron law
which limits the working man’s wages. At the same time he de
clared that ‘ ‘ no social improvement would be worth the trouble of
obtaining it if the working men (which happily is objectively im
possible) were to remain after it what they are now.” Education,
and again education, is the constant refrain of his teaching.
In 1862 he delivered a series of addresses in Berlin which pro
duced a stirring effect on the people, amongst them the Arbeiter
Program™ for which, strange as it may appear to the readers of this
translation, he was punished by a short term of imprisonment. In
the following year the “General Union of the working men of
Germany ” was formed at his instance, of which he was made
President, and thus became the acknowledged leader of the
“ People’s Party.” Bismarck had three interviews with him, and
tried to obtain the help of this party in his struggle with the socalled Party of Progress—but in vain. Equally in vain Lassalle
urged the Chancellor to try the weapon of universal and equal
suffrage against the common enemy the bourgeoisie. Bismarck, it
appeared, had carefully studied Lassalle’s writings, and there can be
little doubt that what are called the Socialistic schemes of the
Chancellor owe their origin, in part at least, to this source. Nor
can we doubt the great influence of Lassalle on German thought in
general. This is the work he had to do in the world, and it may
yet bear fruit in a not very distant future. His further career was
cut off by his untimely death in a duel in 1864.
E. Peters.
�.THE WORKING MAN’S PROGRAMME.
'Gentlemen,
Having been asked to give you a lecture, I thought
that I should best meet your wishes by choosing a theme
which from its very nature must be deeply interesting
to you, and by treating it in the most thoroughly scien
tific manner. I will therefore speak on the special con
nexion that exists between the character of the present
period of history in which we are living and the idea of
the working class. I have said that my treatment of
the subject should be purely scientific.
But scientific treatment consists in nothing else than
complete clearness, and therefore a complete absence of
presuppositions, that is to say, of reasoning founded on
unwarranted assumptions.
On account of this entire absence of presuppositions
with which we have to approach our subject, it will be
necessary at starting to have a clear understanding of
what we mean by a working man, or by the working
class. For on this point we dare not allow ourselves
the benefit of a presupposition, as if this were something
perfectly well known. This is far from being the case.
The language of common life, on the contrary, frequently
attaches different meanings at different times to the
�6
words working man and working class, and we must
therefore at the proper time get a clear understanding
as to the sense in which we intend to use these words.
This however is not the right time. We must on the
contrary begin this lecture with another question.
Namely with the following question. The working
class is only one of the many classes of which the com
munity of citizens consists. Moreover working men
have existed at all times. How is it then possible, and
what meaning can be attached to the statement, that a
special connexion exists between the idea of this speci
fied single class, and the principle of the particular period
of history in which we live ?
In order to understand this, it is requisite, gentlemen,
to throw a glance, at history, at the past, which rightly
Understood, here as always, explains the present and
foreshows the outline of the future. We must make this
retrospect as brief, gentlemen, as possible, for we shall
otherwise run a risk of not reaching at all in the short
time allotted to us the real subject which we have met
to consider. But even in the face of this danger, we must
take some such retrospective view of the past, however
cursory and confined to the most general features, inorder
to understand the meaning of our question and of our
theme.
If then we go back to the Middle Ages, we find that
even at that time the same grades and classes of the
population were in existence, though certainly far less
developed than those of which the community of
citizens consists at the present day. But we find further
that one grade and one element was at that time the
dominating one—namely the landed interest.
�7
It is the landed interest, gentlemen, which in aU
respects bore sway in the Middle Ages, which im
pressed its own specific stamp on all the arrangements
and on the whole life of that time; it is that which must
be proclaimed as the ruling principle of that period.
The reason of this, namely that the landed interest was
the ruling principle of that age, is a very simple one. It
lies—at least this reason may for the present fully satisfy
us—in the domestic and economic constitution of the
Middle Ages ; in the conditions of production at that
period. Trade was at that time very slightly developed,
and industry still less so. The staple of the wealth of
the community consisted to an immensely prepon
derating degree in the produce of agriculture.
Movable possessions were at that time but little
thought of in comparison with possession of the land
and the soil, and you may plainly see to what an extent
this was the case by the law of property, which always
throws a clear light on the economic condition of the
periods in which it was instituted. Thus for instance
the law of property of the Middle Ages, with the object
of preserving family property from generation to gene
ration, and protecting it against dissipation, declares
family property or “ Estate” to be inalienable without
the consent of the heirs. But by this family property
or “ Estate ” is understood by express limitation only
landed property. Chattels (fahrniss), on the contrary, as
movable property was then called, were alienable with
out the consent of the heirs. And, in general, all
personal or movable property was treated by the old
German laws, not as an independent reproductive pro
�8
perty, or in short as capital, but only as the/raZww of the
land and the soil, like the crops which are annually
gathered from it, and it was put on a par with these.
Landed property alone was regularly treated, at that time,
as independent productive property. It was therefore
only in complete accordance with this state of things, and
a simple consequence of it, that the landed interest and
those who had it almost exclusively in their hands, that
is, as you are aware, the nobles and the clergy, formed
the ruling factor of that society in all respects.
To whatever institutions of the middle ages we turn
our eyes, this phenomenon is everywhere apparent in
them.
We will content ourselves with a hasty glance at
some of the most important of those arrangements,
in which the land interest comes forth as the ruling
principle.
First then let us look at the organisation of the public
forces, or the feudal system. You know, gentlemen,
that this was so constituted that the king, princes, and
lords ceded to other lords and knights certain lands for
their use, in consideration of which the recipients were
obliged solemnly to undertake the obligation of service
in the field, that is to say, of supporting their feudal
lords in their wars or quarrels, both in person and with
their dependents.
Let us next look at the organisation of the public
Rights, or the constitution of the realm. In the assembly
of the German States the princely class and the great
landed interest were represented by the Counts of the
Empire and the clergy. The towns only enjoyed a
�9
seat and a vote in that assembly if they had acquired
the privileges of a free town of the Empire.
To proceed, thirdly, to the exemption of tfie great
landed proprietors from taxation.
Now it is a
characteristic and an ever recurring phenomenon,
gentlemen, that every ruling privileged class invariably
seeks to throw the burden of maintaining the existence of
the State on the oppressed classes which have no
property; and they do this openly or covertly, either
directly or indirectly. When Richelieu in the year
1641 demanded six millions of francs from the clergy,
as an extraordinary tax to help the necessities of the
State, the clergy, through the mouth of the Archbishop
of Sens, gave this characteristic answer—“ The ancient
usage of the Church during its vigour was that the
people contributed its goods, the nobility its blood, the
clergy its prayers to the necessities of the State.”
Fourthly, we may mention the contempt with
which every other kind of labour than that which
was occupied with the land was socially regarded. To
engage in industrial undertakings, to gain money
by a trade or profession, was considered disgraceful,
and dishonouring to the two privileged ruling classes,
the nobles and the clergy, for whom it was only deemed
honourable to derive their income from the possession
of land.
These four great and important facts, which determine
the fundamental character of any epoch, are amply
sufficient for our purpose, and show how it was that the
possession of land everywhere fixed its impress on the
period of which we are treating, and formed its ruling
principle.
�IO
So much was this the case that even the movement
of the Peasants War which broke out in Germany in
I524> and spread all over Swabia, Franconia, Alsace,
Westphalia, and other parts of Germany, and was in
appearance thoroughly revolutionary, nevertheless was
essentially dependent on this same principle, was in fact
therefore a reactionary movement, in spite of its revo
lutionary mode of action. You are aware, gentlemen,
that the peasants at that time burnt down the castles
of the nobles, put the nobles themselves to death, made
them run the gauntlet through their spears, which was
the cruel practice in vogue at that time. And not
withstanding, in spite of this external revolutionary
varnish, the movement was essentially and throughout
reactionary.
For the new birth of the relations of the State, the
German freedom, which the peasants wished to establish,
was to consist according to them in this, that the pe
culiar and privileged intermediate position which the
princes had assumed between the Emperor and the
States should be done away with, and that nothing
should be represented in the German Diet, excepting
the free and independent possession of the land,
especially of the land held by the peasant class and by
the knights—neither of which had been hitherto repre
sented—as well as that of the nobles of every degree,
namely of the Knights, Counts and then existing
Princes, without regard to the difference that had for
merly been made between them. The representation
therefore was to be confined to the landed possessions
of the nobles on the one side and those of the peasants
on the other.
�XI
You see at once then, gentlemen, that this plan
ultimately proceeds simply on a perfectly consistent
and more regular carrying out of this principle, which
the epoch just then drawing near its close had taken as
its foundation—I say on a logically consistent, more
complete and regular carrying out of the principle
that the possession of land should be the ruling element,
which alone should entitle any one to a participation
in the management of the State. That any one could
demand such participation on the ground that he was a
man, that he was a reasonable being, without the possession
of any land,—of' that the peasants had not the most
distant idea ! The times were not yet ripe for this, the
thoughts of men not yet become sufficiently revolu
tionary.
Thus, then, this movement of the peasantry, which
proceeded with such revolutionary determination, was
in its essence thoroughly reactionary: that is to say,
instead of resting on a new revolutionary piinciple, if
rested unconsciously on the old established principle of
the period which was at that very time dying out: and it
was precisely for this reason, because it was in fact
reactionary, while it believed itself to be revolutionary,
that the peasant movement was unsuccessful.
In opposition both to the rising of the peasants and
that of the nobles (under Franz von Sickingen), both
of which had in common the principle that participation
in the management of the State should depend, even
more strictly than had hitherto been the case, on the
possession of the land, the sovereign authority of the
Princes, founded on the idea of a State sovereignty
�12.
1I
•
independent of landed possessions, which was making
head at that time, was a relatively justifiable and
revolutionary force. This it was which gave it the
power which led to its victorious development, and to
the suppression both of the movement of the peasants
and that of the nobles.
I have dwelt with some emphasis on this point,,
gentlemen,—first, in order to prove to you the reasona
bleness and the progress of freedom, in the development
of history, and that by an example from which it is by
no means obvious on a superficial survey; secondly,
because historians are far from having recognised this
reactionary character of the rising of the peasants, and
the true cause of its failure which was solely dependent
upon that character, but on the contrary, deceived by
external appearances, hold the peasant war to
have been a truly revolutionary movement.
Thirdly, I have dwelt upon it because this spectacle
is constantly repeating itself in all ages, that men who
do not think clearly—and to this class,, gentlemen,
those who are apparently most learned, and even pro
fessors may belong, and, as the Church of St. Paul
with its sad memorials has shewn us, do extremely often
belong—fall into the extraordinary illusion of holding
that which is only a more consistent and complete
expression of a period of history and an organisation
of society even then passing away, to be a new revolutionary
principle.
Against such men and such courses, which are
revolutionary only in the imagination of these men—for
there will be plenty of them in the future as there
�z3
have been in the past—permit me, gentlemen, to
put you on your guard.
We may be allowed to feel confident on these grounds
that the numerous movements which have been imme
diately, or within a short time, after momentary suc
cesses, suppressed, which we find in history, and which
may fill many well meaning friends of the people who
take a superficial view of things with sad misgivings,
have ever been revolutionary movements only in the
imagination of their promoters.
A truly revolutionary movement, one which is founded
on a really new principle of thought, has never failed, at
least in the long run, as any one who thinks deeply
may, to his comfort, prove to himself from history.
I now resume the thread of my argument.
As the Peasants’ War was revolutionary only in their
imagination, so on the other hand the progress of in
dustry, the productive energy of the towns, the con
stantly developing division of labour, and the wealth of
capital, which came into existence by these means, and
which accumulated exclusively in the hands of the
bourgeoisie (because they were the only class which
engaged in production, and appropriated its advantages
to themselves)—these were the really and truly revolu
tionary forces of that time.
The close of the Middle Ages, and the commence
ment of modern history, is usually dated from the
Reformation, i.e. from the year 1517.
And in fact this is correct, in the sense that in the
two centuries which immediately followed the Reforma
tion, a change was slowly, gradually, and imperceptibly
�taking place, which completely transformed the aspect
of society, and brought about in the heart of it a re
volution, which was only proclaimed, but not really
created by what is called the French Revolution in the
year 1789.
Do you ask in what this revolution consisted ?
Nothing had been changed in the legal position of the
nobles. By law the nobles and the clergy were the two
ruling classes, the Bourgeoisie remained everywhere the
neglected and oppressed class. But if nothing had
been changed de jure, yet de facto the change that had
actually taken place in the relations of these classes
was all the more extraordinary.
Through the creation and accumulation of capital,
that is to say of moveable in opposition to landed
property, in the hands of the Bourgeoisie, the nobles had
sunk into complete insignificance ; nay, often into real
dependence on this Bourgeoisie which had become rich.
Already they were obliged, if they wished to be some
what on a par with them, to abandon all the principles
•of their class, and to begin to make use of the same
means of obtaining money through industry, to which
the Bourgeoisie owed their wealth and therefore their
-actual power.
The Comedies of Moliere, who lived in the time of
Louis XIV., show us as early as that date a highly
interesting phenomenon, the noble of that day despising
the rich citizen, and at the same time playing the para
site at his table.
We see Louis XIV. himself, that proudest of kings,
doffing his hat, and humbling himself in his palace of
�i5
Versailles before the Jew Samuel Bernard, the Roths
child of that day, in order to induce him to grant a
loan.
When Law, the famous Scotch financier, had formed
the trading company or joint-stock enterprise which
had combined for the commercial exploration of the banks
of the Mississippi, Louisiana, the East Indies, &c., the
Regent of France himself was one of the Directors—
a member of a company of merchants! Yes, the
Regent found himself compelled in August 1717, to
issue an edict, in which it was ordained that the
nobles might enter the naval and military service of
this trading company without any degradation to their
dignity! To that pass, then, had the proud and war
like feudal nobility of France arrived, that they could
become the armed commissaries of the industrial com
mercial undertakings of the Bourgeoisie who were
carrying on their trade in every part of the world at
once.
In connexion with this change of opinion, a kind of
materialism had at that time already developed itself, and
a voracious and greedy struggling for money and
property, to which all moral ideas, nay what unhappily
appeals in general still more strongly to the privileged
classes, all class privileges, were prostituted. Under
the same Regent of France, Count Horn, one of the
most distinguished nobles connected with the first
families of France, nay with the Regent himself, was
broken on the wheel as a common highway robber ; and
the Duchess of Orleans, a German Princess, writes in
a letter of the 29th November 1719, that six of the
�i6
most distinguished of the Court ladies had one day
waylaid the aforesaid Law (who at that time was the
most courted and also the busiest man in France, and
whom consequently it was very difficult to lay hold of}
in the court of some building, in order to induce him to
give them some shares in a company he had estab
lished, after which all France was running at that time,
and whose value on the Exchange was six or eight
times as high as the nominal price at which they had
been issued by Law.
The pressure exercised by
these ladies with this object proceeded to a degree
which a regard to decency will not allow me to par
ticularise.
If you ask me again what causes had rendered
possible this development of industry, and of the wealth
of the Bourgeoisie thereby called into existence, I could
not give a complete answer to the question without
largely overstepping the limits of the time allotted
to me. I will therefore only briefly enumerate the most
essential of these causes; namely, the discovery of
America and the enormous impulse thereby exercised
on production ; the discovery of the sea route to the
East Indies by doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
whereas formerly all trade with India and the East was
forced to take the overland route by Suez ; the dis
covery of the magnetic needle and the compass, and
the greater security thus given to all trade by sea, as
well as greater speed and diminution of the cost of
insurance ; the canals and paved roads constructed in
the interior of countries, which, by diminishing the cost
of transport, first made it possible to sell at a distance
�*7
numerous commodities which formerly were not worth
the expense of carriage ; the greater security of the
property of the citizens ; the regular course of justice ;
the invention of gunpowder, and the breaking up of the
feudal power of the nobles by the kings in consequence
of this invention ; the dismissal of the spearmen and
men at arms of the nobles, in consequence of the
destruction of their castles and of their independent
military power, nothing being now left for these de
pendents but to seek admission to the workshops of
that time—all these events helped to drag on the tri
umphal car of the Bourgeoisie!
All these events and many others which could be
enumerated are comprised however in one consequence
—the opening of great outlets, that is of extensive
regions where goods can be sold, and the accompanying
diminution of the cost of production and transport leads
to production in vast quantities, production for the
market of the world, and this in turn creates the
necessity of eheap production, which again can only
be satisfied by an ever-advancing division of labour,
that is by a separation of employment into its simplest
mechanical operations, ever carried further and further,
and thus again calls forth a production on an ever in
creasing scale.
We have thus arrived, gentlemen, at the domain of
reciprocal cause and effect. Each of these facts calls
the other into existence, and the latter again reacts upon
the former, and widens and enlarges its area.
Accordingly you will clearly perceive that, the pro
duction of an article in enormous quantities, its pro-
�i8
Ruction for the market of the world, is, speaking gene
rally, easily accomplished only on the condition that the
cost of the production of this article shall be moderate,
and also the transport of it cheap enough not to raise its
price exorbitantly. For production in vast quantities
requires an enormous sale ; and the extensive sale of
any kind of produce is only rendered possible by its
cheapness, which makes it accessible to a large number
of purchasers. Cheapness of production and transport
therefore cause the production of wares of any kind to
take place on a large scale. But conversely, you will
at once see that it is the production of an article in large
quantities which causes and increases cheapness. A
manufacturer for instance who sells two hundred thou
sand pieces of cotton in the year, is enabled by pur
chasing his raw materials cheaper on so large a scale,,
and also because the profits on his capital and the
expense of his plant and machinery are divided between
so large a number of pieces, he is enabled, I say, within
certain limits, to sell each piece much cheaper than a
manufacturer who only produces five thousand such
pieces every year. The greater cheapness of produc
tion leads therefore to production in larger quantities,
and this leads again to still greater cheapness, which
calls forth again a still larger production, which once
more causes further cheapness, and so on.
Precisely the same thing happens with regard to
the division of labour, which on its side again is the ne
cessary condition of extensive production and of cheap
*
ness, for without it neither cheapness nor production on
an extensive scale would be possible.
�19
The division of labour which separates the process of
production into a great number of very simple and often
purely mechanical operations requiring no exercise of
reason, and which causes separate workmen to be em
ployed for each one of these divided operations, would
be quite impossible without an extensive production of
the articles in question; and is therefore only called into
existence and developed by such extensive demand.
Conversely this separation of labour into such simple
operations and manipulations, leads further (i) to an
ever increasing cheapness, (2) consequently to produc
tion on a greater and more gigantic scale, ever spreading
beyond this and that market till it reaches the whole
market of the world, and (3) by this means, and through
the new divisions which this extension renders possible
in the single operations of labour, to an ever increasing
advance in the division of labour itself.
Through this series of reciprocal operations of cause
and effect, an entire change took place in the work of
the community, and consequently in all the relations of
life of the community itself.
A brief view of the nature of this revolution may be
obtained by reducing it to the following contrasts.
In the earlier part of the Middle Ages, as only a very
small number of costly products could bear the enhanced
price which would have been caused by their transport,
articles were only produced to supply the needs of the
locality in which the producers lived. This implied a
very limited market comprising only their immediate
neighbourhood, the requirements of which were for this
very reason well known, fixed, and uniform. The re
�20
quirements or the demand preceded the offer of the goods,
and formed the well known guide to the amount of goods
offered for sale. Or in other words—the production of
the community was carried on mainly by handicrafts.
For this is the character of business carried on in a
small way or by handicrafts, as distinguished from that
which is carried on in factories or on a large scale, that
either the demand is waited for, before the article is pro
duced ; as for instance the tailor waits for my order be
fore he makes me a coat, the locksmith before he makes
me a lock ; or that at least if many articles are manu
factured beforehand, this production in advance is limited
to the minimum of the requirements of the locality and
its immediate neighbourhood, which are accurately
known by experience. For instance, a tinman makes a
certain number of lamps in advance, which he knows
will be soon absorbed by the requirements of the town.
The characteristic quality, gentlemen, of a community
which produces mainly in this manner, is poverty, or at
least only a moderate degree of prosperity, and on the
other hand a certain stability and fixedness of all re
lations.
But now, through the incessant reciprocal action
which I have described to you, the work of the com
munity, and consequently all the relations of life gra
dually assumed a totally opposite character. This was
in germ the same character which distinguishes the work
of the community to-day, through truly in a very different,
in fact in an immensely- developed degree. In the
'gigantic development which has now been attained this
character may be thus indicated in opposition to the
�earlier one which has been described: whereas formerly
the demand preceded the offer of the merchandise, and
the production of it, and drew this latter in its train, and
determined it, formed its guide and its well known mea
sure, now on the contrary the production, the offer of the
goods precedes the demand, and seeks to force it into
existence. Goods are no longer produced for the locality,
for the ascertained needs of neighbouring markets, but
for the markets of the world. They are produced on
the largest scale and for every part of the world in gene
ral, to supply a need entirely unknown and not to be
measured, and the produce is able to force the demand
for it into being, provided that a single weapon is given
to it, namely cheapness. Cheapness is the weapon of
production, with which on the one hand it conquers the
purchaser, and on the other hand drives all other goods
of the same kind out of the market, which may be like
wise pressed upon the purchaser, so that in fact under
the system offree competition, every producer may hope,
however great the quantity of goods he produces, to
find a market for all these if he is only able by the better
arming of his wares with cheapness to make the wares
of his competitors unable to maintain the contest.
The prevailing character of such a community is vast,
immeasurable wealth, on the other hand a great mobility
of all relations, an almost constant, anxious insecurity
in the position of individuals and a very unequal appor
tionment of the proceeds of production amongst those
who work together to secure them.
You see then, gentlemen, how vast was the change
which the quiet, revolutionary, and undermining activity
�22
of industry, had imperceptibly wrought in the structure
of the community before the end of that century.
Although the actors in the Peasants War had not yet
ventured so much as to take up any other idea, than that
of founding the State on the possession of land, although
they had not been able even in thought to free them
selves from the view that the possession of land was
necessarily the element that involved dominion over
the State, and a participation in this possession the
condition of a participation in this dominion, yet
before the end of this century, the quiet, unnoticed, re
volutionary advance of industry had brought it to pass,
that the possession of land had been completely
stripped of its former importance, and in presence of
the development of the new means of production, of the
wealth which this development fostered and daily in
creased, and of the immense influence which it exercised
thereby on the whole population, and on its relations,
as well as upon the nobility itself, which had to a great
extent become poor, had sunk to a subordinate position.
The revolution had therefore already entered into the
vitals of the community, into their actual relations, long
before it broke out in France, and it was only requisite
to bring the change thus wrought to external recognition,
in order to give it a moral sanction.
This, gentlemen, is always the case in all revolutions.
A revolution can never be made; all that can ever be
done is to add external moral recognition to a revolution
which has already entered into the actual relations of a
•community, aud to carry it out accordingly.
To set about to make a revolution is the folly of im
�23
mature minds which have no notion of the laws of
history.
And it is for this reason equally foolish and childish
to attempt to repress a revolution which has once de
veloped itself in the womb of a community, and to
oppose its moral recognition, or to utter against such a
community, or the individuals who assist at its birth,
the reproach that they are revolutionary. If the revolu
tion has already found its way into the community, into
its actual relations, then there is no help for it, it must
come out and take its place in the constitution of the
community.
How this comes about, and how far it had already
happened in the period of which I am speaking, you
will best see by one fact which I will relate to you.
I have already spoken to you of the division of
labour, the development of which consists in separating
all the processes of production, into a series of very
simple and mechanical operations, requiring no exer
cise of reason.
Now as this division is ever advancing further and
further, it is at last discovered that these single opera
tions, as they are so simple and require no exercise of
reason, can be just as well and even better performed by
unreasoning agents ; and accordingly in the year 1775,
that is fourteen years before the French Revolution,
Arkwright invented in England, the first machine, his
famous spinning jenny.
I am not going to say that this machine produced the
French Revolution. The invention preceded it by far
too short a time for this, and besides had not yet been
�24
introduced into France ; but it may truly be said that
it represented in itself, in a material form, the revolution
which had already actually entered into the community,
and was already developed there. This was itself, so
to speak, the revolution which had become a living
force.
The reason of this is very simple. You will have
heard of the formation of the Guilds, through which
production was carried on in the Middle Ages.
I cannot here go into the history of the Guilds of the
Middle Ages, nor trace that of the free competition
which at the time of the French Revolution had every
where taken the place of the Guilds. I can only state
the fact in the form of an asseveration, that the system
of Guilds of the Middle Ages was inseparable from the
other social arrangements of that period. But if time
does not allow me to lay before you clearly the reasons
of this inseparable connection, yet the fact itself admits
of an easy historical proof. The Guilds lasted through
the whole of the Middle Ages, and until the French Revo
lution. Asj-early as the year 1672 their abrogation was
discussed in a German Diet—but in vain, nay, in the year
1614 the Bourgeoisie demanded of the Estates General.,
that is to say the French Parliament, the abolition of
the Guilds which already cramped them in all their
manufactures. This was likewise in vain. Nay further,
thirteen years before the Revolution, in the year 1776,
a reforming minister in France, the famous Turgot, did
abolish Guilds. But the feudal privileged world of the
Middle Ages regarded itself, and it was perfectly right,
in danger of death, if privilege, its principle of life,
�ceased to penetrate every class of society : and so the
king was prevailed upon, six months after the abolition
of the Guilds, to withdraw his edict, and restore them.
In due time came the Revolution, and destroyed in one
day by the storming of the Bastille that for which Ger
many had striven in vain since 1672, and France since
1614, that is for near two centuries,{.0 do away with by legal
means.
You will perceive from this, gentlemen, that how
ever great are the advantages which attend reforms
conducted by legal methods, yet they have on all the
most important occasions, the one great drawback of
an impotence lasting for entire centuries, and on the
other hand, that the revolutionary method, terrible as are
the drawbacks with which it also is accompanied, has in
spite of them the one advantage of attaining speedilv
and energetically a practical result.
Now fix your eyes, gentlemen, with me for a moment
on the fact that the Guilds were inseparably connected
with the whole of the social arrangements of the
Middle Ages, and you will see at once how the first
machine, the spinning jenny which Arkwright invented,
contained already in itself a complete revolutionising
of those social conditions.
For how could production by means of machinery be
possible under the system of Guilds, by which the
number of men and apprentices which a master might
keep was fixed by law in every locality ? Again under
this system of Guilds, the different branches of industry
were marked off from one another in the most exact
manner by law, and each master was only allowed to
�26
undertake one of them, so that for example, for hundreds
of years the tailors who made clothes were engaged
in lawsuits with the tailors who mended them,
the makers of nails, with the locksmiths, in order to fix
the limits which separated their trades. Now under
such a system of Guilds how could production be carried
on by machinery for which it was necessary that
different kinds of labour should be combined in the
hand of one and the same capitalist ?
A stage had thus been reached, at which production
itself, by its steadily advancing development, had
brought into existence instruments of production which
were destined to shatter the whole existing system of
society; instruments of production and methods of
production, which could find no place or room for
development in that system.
In this sense I say that the first machine was already
in itself a Revolution, for it bore in its cogs and wheels,
little as this could be seen from its outward appearance,
the germ of the whole of the new conditions of society,
founded upon free competition, which were to be deve
loped with the vigour and necessity of a living
force.
And in the same way it is possible, gentlemen, unless
I am greatly mistaken, that many phenomena which
are to be seen at the present day, contain in themselves
a new condition of things, which they must of necessity
develope. This is entirely overlooked in judging of
these phenomena from the outside only, so that even
the Goverment passes over them without suspicion,
while prosecuting insignificant agitators, nay even con-
�27
siders them as necessary accompaniments of our culture,
greets them as the flower and outcome of it, and occasion
ally makes speeches recognising and approving them.
After all this discussion, gentlemen, you will now
clearly comprehend the true significance of the famous
pamphlet which was published in 1788 the year before
the French Revolution by the Abbe Sieyes, and which
is summed up in these words, “ What is the third Estate?
Nothing ! What ought it to be ? Everything !”
The Bourgeoisie was called the third Estate in France,
because they formed the third class, in contra-distinction
to the two privileged classes, the nobility and the clergy,
and thus included the whole of the nonprivileged popu
lation.
Sieyes then thus formulated these two questions and
answers. But their true significance, as follows from
what I have already said, might be expressed more
strikingly and correctly as follows—
“ What is the third Estate actually and in fact £
Everything!
But what is it legally or constitutionally? Nothing !
The point is, therefore, to make the legal position of the
third class, identical with its actual position; to obtain
legal sanction and recognition for its actual and existing,
significance,—and this is precisely the work and the sig
nificance of the victorious Revolution which broke out
in France in 1789, and of the transforming influence
which it exercised over the other countries of Europe.
I am not going, gentlemen, to enter upon the history
of the French Revolution. We can now only glance, and
that in the most brief and cursory manner, which is all
�28
that our time will allow, at the most important and
decisive points in the transition from one stage of
society to another.
’ It is necessary here then to ask the question, who
constituted this thirM class, or the Bourgeoisie, who by
means of the French Revolution conquered the privi
leged classes, and obtained the government of the State?
As this class stood over against the legally privileged
classes of the community, so it understood itself at that
time, at the first moment, to be identified with the whole
people, and its interests to be identical with the interests
of the whole of humanity. To this was owing the elevating
and mighty enthusiasm which prevailed at that period.
The rights of man were proclaimed, and it appeared as if
with the freedom and the rule of the third Estate, all
legal privileges had disappeared from the community,
and all differences founded upon them had been
swallowed up and absorbed in the one idea of the
freedom of man.
In the very beginning of the movement, in April 1789,
on the occasion of the elections to the chambers which
were convened by the king on the understanding that
the third class should this time send as many represen
tatives as the nobles and the clergy together, we find a
journal by no means revolutionary in character, writing
as follows—“Who can say whether the despotism of the
Bourgeoisie will not succeed to the pretended aristocracy
of the nobles ?”
But cries of this kind were at that time drowned in
the general enthusiasm.
Nevertheless we must return to that question ; we
�must put the question distinctly.— Were the interest
of the third class truly the interests of the whole
of humanity, or did this third class, the Bourgeoisie,
carry in its bosom yet another, a. fourth class, from which
it desired to separate itself by law, fend so to subject it
to its dominion ?
It is now time, gentlemen, that in order to avoid the
danger of being exposed to gross misinterpretation,
I should explain clearly the meaning of the word Bour
geoisie or upper Bourgeoisie, as the designation of a
political party, and the sense in which I use the word
Bourgeoisie.
In the German language the word Bourgeoisie is
usually translated by the burgher or citizen class. But I
do not use it in this sense; we are all citizens, the working
man, the poor citizen [Kleinburger] the rich citizen
[Grossbiirger] and so forth. The word Bourgeoisie
has on the contrary in the course of history acquired
a very special political significance which I will now imme
diately explain to you.
, The whole burgher or not noble class, when the French
Revolution occurred, divided itself, and still remains
divided, speaking generally, into two subdivisions,
namely in the first place, the class whose members either
entirely or mainly derive their income from their labour,
and who have either no capital, or a very modest one to
assist them in exercising a productive industry for
the support of themselves and their families.
To
this class belong therefore the working men, the lower
grade of citizens, handicraftsmen, and generally speaking
the peasants. The second class consists of those who
�30
dispose of large private property, of a large capital, and by
reason of such a basis of capital, engage in production,
or draw an income in the shape of rents. These may
be called the rich citizens. But a rich citizen, gentlemen,
is for that reason essentially no Bourgeois at all.
If a nobleman seated in his room, finds pleasure in the
contemplation ofhis ancestors, and of his landed property,
no citizen has any thing to say against it. But if this
nobleman desires to make his ancestry or his landed
property the condition of a special rank and privilege in
the State, the condition of the power of directing the
will of the State,—then the indignation of the citizen
is roused against the noble, and he calls him a feudalist.
The same thing exactly takes place with regard to
the difference of property within the citizen class.
That the rich citizen seated in his chamber should
find pleasure in contemplating the great convenience
and advantage which a large private property brings
to its possessor, nothing is more simple, nothing more
natural and legitimate than this.
The working man, and the poor citizen, in a word,
the whole of that class which is without capital,
is fully justified in demanding from the State that
it should direct its aim and all its endeavours towards
the improvement of the sorrowful and needy condition
of the working classes, and to the discovery of the means
by which it may help to raise those by whose hands
all the riches with which our civilization delights to
adorn itself have been produced. To the same hands all
those products owe their existence, without which the
whole community would perish in a single day ; it is.
�31
therefore the duty of the State to help these to a more
ample and assured wage, and so again to the possibility
of a rational education, and through this to an existence
truly worthy of man. Fully as the working classes are
justified in demanding this from the State, and in point
ing out this as its true aim, so on the other hand, the
working man must and will never forget that the right
to all property once lawfully earned is thoroughly
legitimate and unassailable.
But if the rich citizen, not contented with the actual
advantages of large possessions, desires to make the
property of the citizen, or his capital, the condition of
power over the State, and of participating in the
direction of the will of the State and the determination
of its aims, then the rich citizen becomes a bourgeois,
then he makes the fact of possession a legal condition of
political power, then he characterises himself as belong
ing to a new privileged class of the people, which now
desires to impress the overruling stamp of its privilege
on all the arrangements of society, just as the noble did
in the Middle Ages, as we have seen, with the privilege
of the possession of land.
The question then which we have to raise with re
gard to the French Revolution, and the period of his
tory inaugurated by it, is this,—Has the third class
which came into power through the French Revolution,
regarded itself as a Bourgeoisie in this sense, and at
tempted successfully to subject the people to its privi
leged political domination ?
The answer must be sought in the great facts of
history, and this answer is distinctly in the affirmative.
�32
We can only cast a rapid glance at the most import
ant of these facts, which, however, are amply sufficient to
decide the question.
In the very first decree issued in consequence of the
French Revolution, namely, that of the 3rd of Septem
ber 179I (Chapter I. sections 1 and 2), the difference
between active and passive citizens is set forth.
Only
the active citizens are entitled to the franchise, and an
active citizen, according to this decree, is only one who
pays dived taxes to a certain amount, which is afterwards
more precisely stated.
The amount of this taxation was fixed with consider
able moderation ; it was to be only the value of three
days’ work, or if we estimate a days’ work at the value
of 10 silver groschen it would amount to a thaler (three
shillings). But what was far more important was this,
that all who served for wages were declared to be not
active citizens, by which definition the working class
was expressly excluded from the right of election. But
' after all in such questions as these it is not the amount
which is of importance but the principle.
A census was introduced, that is to say a specified
amount of private property was, by means of the franchise—
this first and most important of all political rights—
, made the condition of participation in the direction
of the will of the State, and the determination of its
object.
All those who paid no direct taxes at all, or a less
amount than the above, or who worked for wages, were
excluded from exercising power over the State, and
reduced to an inferior subject class. Private property
�33
or the possession of capital had become the condition of
sovereignty over the State, as nobility or landed property
had been in the Middle Ages.
This principle of the census remains the leading
principle of all the constitutions which resulted from the
French Revolution. The only exception was a short
period during which the French Republic of 1793 lasted,
which perished on account of its own want of definite
ness, and of the entire condition of society at that
time, and on which I cannot enter here more particularly.
Yes, following the rule which is common to all
principles, it was a necessary consequence that the
amount first fixed should soon develope itself into a much
larger one.
In the decree of 1814, 300 francs or 80 thalers, instead
of the former amount of three days labour, was fixed as
the qualification of the franchise by the charter granted
by Louis XVIII. The Revolution of 1830 broke out,
and nevertheless, the law of the 19th of April 1831
enacts that a payment of direct taxes to the amount of
200 francs or about 53 thalers, shall be the qualification
of the franchise.
That which was called, under Louis Phillipe and
Guizot, the “ pays legal,” the country recognised by law,
consisted of 200,000 men. There were no more than ,
200,000 electors in France qualified by the amount of
their private property, and these bore rule over a country
of thirty millions of inhabitants.
We must here observe that it is obviously a matter
of indifference, whether the principle of the census,
the exclusion of those who have no property from the
�34
franchise, is applied by the law in a direct and open, or
in some covert manner. The effect is always the same.
Thus the second French Republic in the year 1850
could not possibly recall openly the universal and direct
right to the suffrage which had been once declared, and
which we shall consider presently in its operation. But
they partially effected their object by excluding from the
franchise, by the law of 31st May, 1850, all citizens who
had not been domiciled for at least three years without
intermission in the same place. For, as workmen in
France are often forced by their circumstances to change
their abode, and to seek for employment in another
commune, they hoped, and with good reason, to exclude
from the suffrage a very considerable number of work
ing men, who would be unable to prove a continuous
residence of three years in the same place.
We have here, then, a Census in a disguised
form.
Much worse, however, do we fare in Prussia since
the passing of the electoral law, which divided electors
into three classes. By this law, according to the cir
cumstances of different localities, three, ten, or thirty
or more electors of the third class who have no property,
exercise only the same voting power as a single large
. capitalist, a rich burgher who belongs to the first
electoral class. Consequently, in point of fact, if the
proportional numbers were on an average, for instance,
as one to ten, nine men in every ten of those who in the
year 1848 possessed the franchise, have lost it through
this electoral law which formed part of the charter of
the year 1849, and now exercise it only in appearance.
�35
But in order to show you how this law now actually
works on an average, it is only necessary to exhibit to
you some figures which are drawn from the official lists
published by the Government.
In the year 1848 we had in consequence of the right
of universal suffrage then introduced, 3,661,993 original
electors.
By the electoral law of 30th May, 1849, with its three
classes, the number of electors was in the first place
reduced to 3,255,703 by depriving of the suffrage all
who had no fixed abode, or who received public alms.
Thus 406,000 men were at once deprived of the fran
chise. This however was the smallest part of the evil.
The remaining 3,255,000 electors were now to be
divided, according to the electoral laws, into three
classes, and according to the official lists prepared by
the direction of the chartered electoral law of
1849—
153,808 men belonged to the 1st class
409,945
,,
,,
2nd class
2,691,950
,,
)t
3rd class
Now let us leave the second class out of view, and
compare only the first and the third, the rich burghers
and those who possessed no property, with one another,
and we find that 153,800 rich men exercised the same
voting power as 2,691,950 who belonged to the class of
workmen, small citizens, and peasants; that is to say,
one rich man exercised the same right of voting as
seventeen who had no property. And now if we take
as our basis the fact, that in the year 1848 universal
suffrage was decreed by the law of the 8th April, so that
�36
at that time 153,800 working men or small citizens were
of equal weight at the elections with 153,800 rich men,
and consequently one man without property was of
equal weight with one rich man, it is clear that now,
when it takes seventeen poor men to counterbalance the
vote of one rich man, sixteen working men and small
citizens out of seventeen have had their legal right of
voting wrested from them.
But even this, gentlemen, bad as it is, is only the
average effect. In practice the matter assumes, in con
sequence of the varying circumstances of different
localities , a very different and far more unfavourable
aspect ; and most unfavourable of all where the ine
qualities of property are the greatest.
Thus the
district of Dusseldorf has 6356 electors of the first
class and 166,300 of the third class ; twenty-six electors
of the third class therefore exercise in that place the
same voting power as one rich man.
To return from this digression to our main line of
argument. We have shown, and have yet to adduce
further proofs, that since the Bourgeoisie attained to
power through the French Revolution, it has made its
own element, private property, the ruling principle of all
the arrangements of society ; that the ■ Bourgeoisie,
behaving precisely as the nobles did in the middle ages
with regard to landed property, now affix the pre
dominant and exclusive impress edits peculiar principle,
private property or capital, the impress of its privilege,
upon all the arrangements of society. The parallel
between the nobility and the Bourgeoisie is in this
respect complete.
�37
In relation to the most important and fundamental
point, the composition of the State, we have already
seen this. As, in the middle ages, the possession of
land was the ruling principle of the representation in
the German Parliament, so now by means of the direct
or the disguised census, the payment of taxes, and
consequently, as this is conditioned by the capital
which a man possesses, the possession of capital, is
ultimately that which determines the right of election
to the Chambers, and consequently the participation in
power over the State.
And so with regard to all the other arrangements in
which I have proved to you that the landed interest
was the ruling principle in the Middle Ages.
I have drawn your attention to the freedom from
taxation of the nobles who then possessed the land ; and
I told you that every dominant privileged class en
deavours to shift the burden of supporting the expenses
tof the State on the oppressed classes who have no
property.
The Bourgeoisie have done precisely the same. It is
true they cannot openly declare that they intend to be
free of taxation. The principle that they express is on
the contrary that every one should pay taxes according
to his income. But they attain to the same result in a
disguised form, at least as far as it goes, by the distinction
between direct and indirect taxes.
Direct taxes, gentlemen, are those which like the
classified income tax, or the class taxes, are raised from
income, and are therefore fixed according to the amount
of the income and capital. Indirect taxes, on the other
D
�38
hand, are those which are imposed on needs of some
kind, for instance on salt, corn, beer, meat, fuel, or on
the need of the protection provided by law, on the cost
of litigation, stamps, &c. These are in most instances
paid by the individual in the price of the article, without
his knowing or observing that he is paying any tax
when he pays for it, or that it is the tax which enhances
the price he pays for the article.
Now you are aware, gentlemen, that one man who is
twenty, fifty, or a hundred times as rich as another, by
no means requires on that account, twenty, fifty, or a
hundred times as much salt, bread or meat, nor drinks
fifty or a hundred times as much beer or wine, nor
requires fifty or a hundred times as much warmth, and
therefore fuel, as a workman or poor citizen.
Hence it follows that all indirect taxes, instead of being
adapted to individuals according to the proportion of
their capital and income, are paid, in far the greater
part, by the poorest and most destitute classes of the
nation. It is true that the Bourgeoisie did not actually
invent indirect taxation; it existed before. But the
Bourgeoisie were the first to develop it in an unprece
dented degree into a system, and laid upon it almost the
whole burden of supplying the necessities of the
State.
In order to show you this, I will glance by way of
example at the revenue of Prussia for the year 1855.
The total amount received by the State in that year
was in round numbers 108,930,000 thalers. From this
-we have to deduct 11,967,000 thalers the proceeds of
the domains and forests, that is to say, income derived
�39
from State property which we need not reckon here.
There remain, therefore, about 97 millions of revenue
from other sources. Of this revenue, according to the
budget, about 26 millions were raised by direct taxation.
But this is not true, and is only made to appear so
because our budget is not constructed on scientific
principles, but is only regulated by the manner in which
the taxes are apparently collected.
Out of these 26
millions, 10 millions of land tax ought to be deducted ;
for though they are certainly taken directly from the
possessor of the land, yet they are again added by him
to the price he demands for his corn; they are there
fore actually paid by the consumer of the corn, and are
really an indirect tax. For the same reason the tax on
trades amounting to 2,900,000 thalers must be de
ducted.
There only remains as revenue really derived from
direct taxation—
2,928,000 thalers from classified income-tax.
7,884,000 ,,
from class taxes.
2,036,000 ,,
from surtax.
Total 12,848,000 thalers.
Thus only 12,800,000 thalers, gentlemen, out of a
revenue of 97 millions really proceed from direct tax
ation. All that is collected beyond this 12,800,000
thalers (for we must not follow the unscientific classifi
cation of the budget which does not reckon the proceeds
of the salt monopoly, amounting to 8,300,000 thalers,
nor 8,849,000 thalers received as a tax on litigation, as
�40
indirect taxes), all this balance I say, with the exception
of a few unimportant items of a special character, is
altogether raised from sources of revenue which are of
the nature of indirect taxes, that is to say they are raised
by indirect taxation.
Indirect taxation is therefore, gentlemen, the institu
tion by which the Bourgeoisie creates the privilege of
freedom from taxation for great capitalists, and lays the
'cost of maintaining the existence of the State on the
poorer classes of the community.
At the same time I beg you to observe, gentlemen,
the remarkable contradiction, and strange justice in
volved in this proceeding of laying the whole burden of
the expenses of the State on the indirect taxes, and so
on the poor people, but making the direct taxes the
criterion and condition of the right to the suffrage, that
is to say of the right to political power; while these
direct taxes contribute only the absurdly small pro
portion of 12 millions to the whole revenue of 108
millions !
Moreover, I told you, gentlemen, while speaking of
the nobles of the Middle Ages, that they held in social
contempt all the activity and industry of the burgher
class.
Precisely the same thing occurs to day. It is true
that every kind of labour is now held in high honour,
and if a rag picker or a nightman became a millionaire,
he might be certain of being received with high honour
into society.
But with what social contempt are they greeted, no
matter in what way or how hard they work, who have
�no private property to back them. This is a fact which
you have no need to learn from my lecture, but which,
unhappily, you can verify often enough by your own
daily experience.
Nay, in many respects the Bourgeoisie carries out
more thoroughly and logically the dominion of its own
peculiar element and privileges, than did the noble in
the Middle Ages with respect to the landed interest.
The education of the people—I speak here of the
education of adults—was in the Middle Ages left in the
hands of the clergy. Since then the newspapers have
undertaken this office. But owing to the caution money
which the journals must deposit, and still more to the
stamp duty which is imposed on the newspapers here,
in France, and in other countries, to start a daily paper
is a very expensive business- that can only be under
taken with the help of a large amount of capital ; so
that by this means the possibility of appealing to the
thought of the people, of enlightening and leading them,
has become a privilege of the possessors of capital.
If this were not the case, gentlemen, you would
possess very different, and much better journals I
It is interesting to see, gentlemen, at what an early
period this attempt of the richer Bourgeoise to make
the press one of the privileges of capital, showed itself,
and in what a naive undisguised form. On the 24th
July, 1789, a few days after the storming of the Bastille,
and therefore soon after the Bourgeoisie had seized upon
political power, the representatives of the Commune of
Paris -issued a decree by which the printers were de
clared to be responsible for the publication of pamphlets
�42
or leaflets written by authors “ sans existence connue."
The freedom of the press which was thus seized upon,
was to be allowed therefore only to writers of known
means of subsistence. Property appears therefore as the
the condition of the freedom of the press, nay in fact of
the morality of a writer I This naivete of the first days
of the rule of the Bourgeois, only expresses in an artless
and open way, what has been attained by the ingenious
contrivance of caution money and stamp duty in our
day.
We must be satisfied gentlemen, with these great and
characteristic facts, which corroborate the view we
have taken of the Middle Ages.
We have now seen, gentlemen, two periods of the
world, each of which is dominated by the ruling idea of
a particular class of the community which impresses its
own principle on all the social arrangements of its
time.
First the idea of nobility, or of the possession of land
which forms the ruling principle of the Middle Ages,
-and permeates all its institutions.
This period closed with the French Revolution,
although you will understand that, especially in Ger
many, where the change was not brought about by the
people, but by very gradual and incomplete reforms
introduced by the Government, numerous and import
ant extensions of that first period of history have
occurred, which even at the present day greatly hamper
the progress of the Bourgeoisie.
We saw in the next place the period of history which
begins at the eighteenth century with the French Revo
�43
lution, which has for its principle large private property,
or capital, and makes this into the privilege which per
vades all the arrangements of society, and is the con
dition of participation in directing the will of the State
and determining its aims.
This period also, little as outward appearances seem
to show it, is virtually already closed.
On the 24th February 1848, the dawn of a new
period of history appeared.
For on that day in France (that country in whose
great struggles the victory or the defeat of freedom
means victory or defeat for the whole human race) a
revolution broke out which called a working man into
the provisional Government, declared that the object of
the State was the improvement of the lot of the working
classes, and proclaimed the universal and direct right
to the suffrage, by which every citizen who had attained
his twenty-first year, without any reference to the
amount of his property, received an equal share in
the government of the State in the direction of its will
and the determination of its aims.
You see, gentlemen, that if the Revolution of 1789
was the Revolution of the Tiers etat, the Third class, it
is now the Fourth class, which in 1789 was still enfolded
within the third class and appeared to be identical with
it, which will now raise its principle to be the domi
nating principle of the community, and cause all its
arrangements to be permeated by it.
But here, in the domination of the fourth class comes
to light this immense difference, that the fourth class
is the last and the outside of all, the disinterested class
�44
of the community, which sets up and can set up no
further exclusive condition, either legal or actual,
neither nobility nor landed possessions nor the posses
sion of capital, which it could make into a new privilege
and force upon the arrangements of society.
We are all working men in so far as we have even
the will to make ourselves useful in any way to the
community.
This Fourth class in whose heart therefore no germ
of a new privilege is contained, is for this very reason
synonomous with the whole human race. Its interest is
in truth the interest of the whole of humanity, its freedom
is the freedom of humanity itself, and its domination is
the domination of all.
Whoever therefore invokes the idea of the working
class as the ruling principle of society, in the sense in
which I have explained it to you, does not put forth a
cry that divides and separates the classes of society.
On the contrary, he utters a cry of reconciliation, & cry
which embraces the whole of the community, a cry for
doing away with all the contradictions in every circle
of society ; a cry of union in which all should join who
do not wish for privileges, and the oppression of the
people by privileged classes ; a cry of love which
having once gone up from the heart of the people, will
for ever remain the true cry of the people, and whose meaning
will make it still a cry of love, even when it sounds
the war cry of the people.
We will now consider the principle of the working
class as the ruling principle of the community only in
three of its relations :—
�45
(1) In re1ation to the formal means of its realisation.
(2) In relation to its moral significance.
(3) In relation to the political conception of the
object of the State, which is inherent in that principle.
We cannot on this occasion enter upon its other
aspects, and even those to which we have referred can
be only very cursorily examined in the short time that
remains to us.
The formal means of carrying out this principle is the
universal and direct suffrage which we have already
discussed. I say universal andtf/m^ suffrage, gentlemen,
not that mere universal suffrage which we had in the
year 1848. The introduction of two degrees in the
electoral act, namely, original electors and electors
simply, is nothing but an ingenious method purposely
introduced with the object of falsifying as far as pos
sible the will of the people by means of the electoral
act.
It is true that even universal and direct suffrage is no
magic wand, gentlemen, which is able to protect you
from temporary mistakes.
We have seen in France two bad elections following
one another, in 1848 and 1849. But universal and
direct suffrage is the only means which in the long run
of itself corrects the mistakes to which its momentary
wrong use may lead. It is that spear which heals the
wounds itself has made. It is impossible in the long
run with universal and direct suffrage that the elected
body should be any other than the exact and true
likeness of the people which has elected it.
The people must therefore at all times regard uni
�46
versal and direct suffrage as its indispensable political
weapon, as the most fundamental and important of its
demands.
I will now glance at the moral significance of the
principle of society which we are considering.
It is possible that the idea of converting the principle
of the lower classes of society into the ruling principle of
the State and the community may appear to be ex
tremely dangerous and immoral, and to threaten the
destruction of morality and education by a “ modern
barbarism.”
And it is no wonder that this idea should be so
regarded at the present day since even public opinion,
gentlemen—I have already indicated by what means,
namely, the newspapers—receives its impressions from
the mint of capital, and from the hands of the privileged
wealthy Bourgeoisie.
Nevertheless this fear is only a prejudice, and it can
be proved on the contrary, that the idea would exhibit
the greatest advance and triumph of morality that the
history of the world has ever recorded.
That view is a prejudice I repeat, and it is simply the
prejudice of the present time which is dominated by
privilege.
At another time, namely, that of the first French
Republic of the year 1793 (of which I have already told
you that I cannot enter into further particulars on this
occasion, but that it was destined to perish by its own
want of definite aims) the opposite prejudice prevailed.
It was then a current dogma that all the upper classes
were immoral and corrupt, and that only the lower
�47
classes were good and moral. In the new declara
tion of the rights of man issued by the French
convention, that powerful constituent assembly of
France, this was actually laid down by a special article,
namely, article nineteen, which runs as follows, “ Toute
institution qui ne suppose le peuple bon, et lemagistrat
corruptible, est vicieuse.” “ Every institution which
does not assume that the people are good and the
magistracy contemptible is vicious.” You see that this
is exactly the opposite to the happy faith now required,
according to which there is no greater sin than to doubt
of the goodwill and the virtue of the Government,
while it is taken for granted that the people are a sort of
tiger and a sink of corruption.
At the time of which we are speaking the opposite
dogma had advanced so far, that almost every one who
had a whole coat on his back was thought to be a bad
man, or at least an object of suspicion ; and virtue,
purity, and patriotic morality were thought to be pos
sessed only by those who had no decent clothes. It was
the period of sansculottism.
This view, gentlemen, is in fact founded on a truth,
but it presents itself in an untrue and perverted form.
Now there is nothing more dangerous than a truth
which presents itself in an untrue perverted form. For
in whatever way we deal with it, we are certain to go
wrong. If we adopt such a truth in its untrue perverted
form, it will lead at certain times to most pernicious
destruction, as was the case with sansculottism. But
if we regard the whole statement as untrue on account
■of its untrue perverted form, then we are much worse.
�For we have rejected a truth, and, in the case before us,
a truth without the recognition of which not a single
sound step in our political life can be taken.
The only course that remains open to us, therefore,,
is to set aside the untrue and perverted form of the
statement, and to bring its true essence into distinct
relief.
The public opinion of the present day is inclined,
as I have said, to declare the whole statement to be
utterly untrue, and mere declamation on the part of
Rousseau and the French Revolution. But even if it
were possible to adopt the course of rejection in the
case of Rousseau and the French Revolution, it is quite
impossible to do so in the case of one of the greatest of
German philosophers, the centenary of whose birth-day
will be celebrated in this town next month : I allude to
the philosopher Fichte, one of the greatest thinkers of
all nations and times.
Even Fichte declares expressly in so many words,
that the higher the rank the greater the moral deteriora
tion, that—these are his very words — “Wickedness in
creases in proportion to the elevation of rank.”
But Fichte did not develope the ultimate ground of
this statement. He adduces, as the ground of this cor
ruption, the selfishness and egoism of the upper classes.
But then the question must immediately arise, whether
selfishness does not also prevail in the lower classes, or
why it should prevail less in these. Nay it must at first
sight appear to be an extraordinary paradox to assert
that less selfishness should prevail in" the lower classes
than in the higher who have a considerable advantage
�49
over them in education and training which are recog
nised as moralising elements.
The following is the true ground of what as I said
appears at first sight to be extraordinary paradox.
In a long period in the past, as we have seen, the
development of the people, which is the life-breath of
history, proceeds by an ever advancing abolition of
the privileges which guarantee to the higher classes their
position as higher and ruling classes. The desire to
maintain this, in other words their personal interest,
brings therefore every member of the higher classes who
has not once for all by a high range of vision elevated
himself above his purely personal existence—and you will
understand, gentlemen, that this can never be more than
a very small number of exceptional characters—into a
position thoroughly hostile in principle to the develop
ment of the people, to the progress of education and
science, to tne advance of culture, to all tne life-oreatn
and victory of historic life.
It is this opposition of the personal interest of the higher
classes to the development of the nation in culture
which evokes the great and necessary immorality of the
higher classes. It is a life, whose daily conditions you
need only represent to yourselves, in order to perceive the
deep inward deterioration to which it must lead. To
be compelled daily to oppose all that is great and good,
to be obliged to grieve at its successes, to rejoice at its
failures, to restrain its further progress, to be obliged
to undo or to execrate the advantages it has already
attained. It is to lead their life as in the country of an
enemy—and this enemy is the moral community of their
�own people, amongst whom they live, and for whom to
strive constitutes all true morality. It is to lead their
lives, I say, as in the country of an enemy; this enemy
is their own people, and the fact that it is regarded and
treated as their enemy must generally at all events be
cunningly concealed, and this hostility must more orless
artfully be covered with a veil.
And to this we must add that either they must do all
this against the voice of their own conscience and intelli
gence, or they must have stifled the voice by habit so
as not to be oppressed by it, or lastly they must have
never known this voice, never known anything different
and better than the religion of their own advantage !
This life, gentlemen, leads therefore necessarily to a
thorough depreciation and contempt of all striving to
realise an ideal, to a compassionate smile at the bare
mention of the great name of the Idea, to a deeply seated
want of sympathy and even antipathy to all that is
beautiful and great, to a complete swallowing up of
every moral element in us, by the one passion of selfish
seeking for our own advantage, and of immoderate desire
for pleasure.
It is this opposition, gentlemen, between personal
interest and the development of the nation in culture,
which the lower classes, happily for them, are
without.
It is unfortunately true that there is always enough
of selfishness in the lower classes, much more than
there should be, but this selfishness of theirs, wherever
it is found, is the fault of single persons, of individuals r
and not the inevitable fault of the class.
�5^
A very reasonable instinct warns the members of the
lower classes, that so long as each of them relates him
self only to himself, and each one thinks only of himself,
he can hope for no important improvement in his.
position.
But the more earnestly and deeply the lower classes
of society strive after the improvement of their condition
as a class, the improvement of the lot of their class, the
more does this personal interest, instead of opposing
the movement of history and thereby being condemned
to that immorality of which we have spoken, assume a
direction which thoroughly accords with the development
of the whole people, with the victory of the idea, with the
advance of culture, with the living principle of history
itself, which is no other than the development of freedom.
Or in other words, as we have already seen, its interest
is the interest of the entire human race.
You are therefore in this happy position, gentlemen,
that instead of its being possible for you to be dead to
the idea, you are on the contrary urged to the deepest
sympathy for it by your own personal interests. You
are in the happy position that the idea which constitutes
your true personal interest, is one with the throbbing
pulse of history, and with the living principle of moral
development. You are able therefore to devote your
selves with personal passion to this historical development,
and to be certain that the more strongly this passion
grows and burns within you in the true sense in which
I have explained it to you, the higher is the moral
position you have attained.
These are the reasons, gentlemen, why the dominion
�52
of the fourth class in the State must produce such an
efflorescence of morality, culture, and science, as has
not yet been witnessed in history.
But there is yet another reason for this, one which is
most intimately connected with all the views I have
explained to you, and forms their keystone.
The fourth estate not only has a different formal
political principle from that of the Bourgeoisie, namelv,
the universal direct franchise, instead of the census of
the Bourgeoisie, and not only has through its position
in life a different relation to moral forces than the higher
classes, but has also—and partly in consequence of these
—quite another and a different conception of the moral
object of the State from that of the Bourgeoisie.
According to the Bourgeoisie, the moral idea of the
State is exclusively this, that the unhindered exercise
by himself of his own faculties should be guaranteed to
each individual.
If we were all equally strong, equally clever, equally
educated, and equally rich, this might be regarded as
a sufficient and a moral idea.
But since we neither are nor can be thus equal, this
idea is not satisfactory, and therefore necessarily leads
in its consequences to deep immorality, for it leads
to this, that the stronger, the cleverer, and the richer
fleece the weaker and pick their pockets.
The moral idea of the State according to the working
class on the contrary is this, that the unhindered and
free activity of individual powers exercised by the indi
vidual is not sufficient, but that something must be added
to this in a morally ordered community—namely,
�53
solidarity of interests, community and reciprocity in
development.
In accordance with this difference, the Bourgeoisie
conceive the moral object of the State to consist
solely and exclusively in the protection of the personal
freedom and the property of the individual.
This is a policeman’s idea, gentlemen, a policeman’s
idea for this reason, because it represents to itself the
State from a point of view of a policeman, whose whole
function consists in preventing robbery and burglary.
Unfortunately this policeman’s idea is not only familiar
to genuine liberals, but is even to be met with not unfrequently among so-called democrats, owing to their
defective imagination. If the Bourgeoisie would express
the logical inference from their idea, they must maintain
that according to it if there were no such thing as
robbers and thieves, the State itself would be entirely
*
superfluous.
Very differently, gentlemen, does the fourth estate
regard the object of the State, for it apprehends it in its
true nature.
History, gentlemen, is a struggle with nature; with
* This idea of the State, which in fact does away with the State,
and changes it into a mere union of egoistic interests, is the idea
of the State as regarded by liberalism, and historically was
produced by it. It forms by the power which it has necessarily
obtained and which stands in direct relation to its superficiality,
the true danger of spiritual and moral decay, the true danger,
which threatens us at this day, of a “modern barbarism.” In
Germany happily it is strongly opposed by the ancient learning
which has once for all become the indestructible foundation of
German thought. From this proceeds the view “that it is neces
sary to enlarge the notion of the State to the fullest extent to which
in my opinion it is possible to enlarge it, that the State should be the
organisation, in which the whole virtue of man should realise itself.”
(Augustus Booth’s address to his University of the 22nd March, 1862.)
�54
the misery, the ignorance, the poverty, the weakness,
and consequent slavery in which we were involved
when the human race came upon the scene in the
beginning of history. The progressive victory over this
weakness—this is the development of freedom which
history displays to us.
In this struggle we should never have made one step
forward, nor shall we ever advance one step more by
acting on the principle of each one for himself, each one
alone.
It is the State whose function it is to carry on this
development of freedom, this development of the human
race until its freedom is attained.
The State is this unity of individuals into a moral
whole, a unity which increases a million-fold the
strength of all the individuals who are comprehended in
it, and multiplies a million times the power which
would be at the disposal of them all as individuals.
The object of the State, therefore, is not only to
protect the personal freedom and property of the indi
vidual with which he is supposed according to the idea
of the Bourgeoisie to have entered the State. On the
contrary, the object of the State is precisely this, to
place the individuals through this union in a position to
attain to such objects, and reach such a stage of existence as
they never could have reached as individuals ; to make
them capable of acquiring an amount of education, power,
and freedom which would have been wholly unattainable
by them as individuals.
Accordingly the object of the State is to bring man
to positive expansion, and progressive development, in
�55
other words, to bring the destiny of man—that is the
culture of which the human race is capable-—into actual
existence ; it is the training and development of the human
race to freedom.
This is the true moral nature of the State, gentlemen,
its true and high mission. So much is this the case,
that from the beginning of time through the very force
of events it has more or less been carried out by the
State without the exercise of will, and unconsciously
even against the will of its leaders.
But the working class, gentlemen, the lower classes
of the community in general, through the helpless con
dition in which its members find themselves placed as
individuals, have always acquired the deep instinct,
that this is and must be the duty of the State, to help
the individual by means of the union of all to such a
development as he would be incapable of attaining as an
individual.
A State therefore which was ruled by the idea of the
working class, would no longer be driven, as all States
have hitherto been, unconsciously and against their
will by the nature of things, and the force of circum
stances, but it would make this moral nature of the
State its mission, with perfect clearness of vision and
complete consciousness. It would complete with un
checked desire and perfect consistency, that which hitherto
has only been wrung in scanty and imperfect frag
ments from wills that were opposed to it, and for this
very reason—though time does, not permit me to explain
in any detail this necessary connection of cause and
effect—it would produce a soaring flight of the human
�56
spirit, a development of an amount of happiness, cul
ture, well-being, and freedom without example in the
history of the world, and in comparison with which, the
most favourable conditions that have existed in former
times would appear but dim shadows of the reality.
This it is, gentlemen, which must be called the work
ing man’s idea of the State, his conception of the
object of the State, which, as you see is just as different
from the bourgeois conception of the object of the
State, as the principle of the working class, of the
claim of all to direct the will of the State, or uni
versal suffrage, is different from the principle held by
the Bourgeoisie, the census.
The series of ideas which I have [explained to you
must be regarded as the idea of the working class. It is
this that I had in view when I spoke to you, at the com
mencement of my lecture, of the connection of the
particular period of history in which we live with the
idea of the working class. It is this period of history
beginning with February, 1848, to which has been
allotted the task of bringing this idea of the State into
actual existence. We may congratulate ourselves,
gentlemen, that we have been born at a time which is
destined to witness this the most glorious work of
history, and that we are permitted to take a part in
accomplishing it.
But on all who belong to the working class the duty
of taking up an entirely new attitude is imposed, if there
is any truth in what I have said.
Nothing is more calculated to impress upon a class
a worthy and moral character, than the consciousness
�57
that it is destined to become a ruling class, that it is
called upon to raise the principle of its class to the
principle of the entire age, to convert its idea into the
leading idea of the whole of society and thus to form
this society by impressing upon it its own char
acter.
The high and world-wide honour of this destiny must
occupy all your thoughts. Neither the load of the
oppressed, nor the idle dissipation of the thoughtless,
nor even the harmless frivolity of the insignificant, are
henceforth becoming to you. You are the rock on which
the Church of the present is to be built.
It is the lofty moral earnestness of this thought which
must with devouring exclusiveness possess your spirits,
fill your minds, and shape |your whole lives, so as to
make them worthy of it, conformable to it, and always
related to it. It is the moral earnestness of this thought
which must never leave you, but must be present to
your heart in your workshops during the hours of labour,
in your leisure hours, during your walks, at your meet
ings, and even when you stretch your limbs to rest
upon your hard couches, it is this thought which must
fill and occupy your minds till they lose themselves in
dreams. The more exclusively you immerse yourselves
in the moral earnestness of this thought, the more
undividedly you give yourselves up to its glowing
fervour, by so much the more, be assured, will you
hasten the time within which our present period of history
will have to fulfil its task, so much the sooner will you
bring about the accomplishment of this task.
If there be only two or three of you, gentlemen, who
�LONDON:
PRINTED AT THE MODERN PRESS,
— 13 AND 14, —
PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
�March., 1887.
W O
S
SOLD BY THE
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
63, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
Postage must be sent with Orders less than One Shilling in value. Cheques
should be crossed “ London and South-Western Bank". No receipts
for amounts under 10s. in value sent, unless stamped and directed
envelope be fonoarded. BU orders should be addressed to “ The
Manager ’ ’.
_____
Estimates given for Printing Books and Pamphlets.
Bradlaugh., Charles—(See also International Series.')
The Freethinker’s Text-Book. Part I. Section I.—“ The Story
of the Origin of Man, as told by the Bible and by Science.” Sec
tion II.—‘‘What is Religion?” “ How has it Grown ? ” “God
and Soul.” Bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.
Impeachment of the House of Brunswick.—Ninth edition. Is.
Political Essays. Bound in cloth, 2s. 6d.
Theological Essays. Bound in cloth, 3s.
The Parliamentary Struggle, containing the whole of the docu
ments. Cloth, Is.
Debates—All Verbatim Reports.
Four—with the Rev. Dr. Bayleb, in Liverpool; the Rev. Dr.
Harbison, in London; Thomas Coopbb, in London ; the Rev.
R. A. Armstrong, in Nottingham; with Three Discourses by
the Bishop of Peterborough and Replies by C. Bbadlaugh.
Bound in one volume, cloth, 3s.
What does Christian Theism Teach? Two nights’ Public Debate
with the Rev. A. J. Harrison. 6d.
God, Man, and the Bible. Three nights’ Discussion at Liverpool
with the Rev. Dr. Baylee. 6d.
God as the Maker and Moral Governor of the Universe. Two
nights’ Discussion with Thomas Cooper. 6d.
Has Man a Soul ? Two nights’ debate at Burnley, with the Rev.
W. M. YVesterby. Is.
Christianity in relation to Freethought, Scepticism, and Faith.
Three Discourses by the Bishop of Peterborough, with Special
Replies. 6d.
Secularism Unphilosophical, Unsocial, and Imiupral. Three
nights’ debate with the Rev. Dr. McCann. Is.
Is it Reasonable to Worship God? Two nights’ debate at Not
tingham with the Rev. R. A. Armstrong. Is.
Will Socialism benefit the English People ? One night’s debate
with H. M. Hyndman. 3d.
�Bbadlaugh, Chaeles {continued)—
Pamphlets—
Lying for the Glory of God.: a letter to the Rev. Canon
Fergie (Wigan)
Supernatural and. Rational Morality ..
England’s Balance-Sheet for 1886. 16 pp.
Letter to Lord Randolph Churchill, M.P., Chancellor of
the Exchequer. 16 pp.
Mr. Gladstone or Lord Salisbury: which ? An appeal
to the Electors. 12 pp. ..
The Radical Programme
What Freemasonry is, what it has been, and what it
ought to be
The True Story of my Parliamentary Struggle. Contain
ing a Verbatim Report, of the proceedings before the Select
Committee of the House of Commons ; Mr. Bradlaugh’s
Three Speeches at the Bar of the House, etc., etc.
Fourth Speech at the Bar of the House of Commons
May the House of Commons Commit Treason ? ..
Correspondence with Sir S. Northcote, M.P.
John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough: “Mob, Scum, and
Dregs” ..
A Cardinal’s Broken Oath
Perpetual Pensions. Fortieth Thousand
Civil Lists and Grants to the Royal Family
Real Representation of the People
Some Objections to Socialism
Why do Men Starve ?
Poverty and its effect upon the People ..
Labor’s Prayer
The Land, the People, and the Coming Struggle..
India A lecture
Five Dead men whom I knew when living. Sketches of
Robert Owen, Joseph Mazzini, John Stuart Mill, Charles
Sumner, and Ledru Rollin ..
Cromwell and Washington: a Contrast
Anthropology. Four lectures. In neat wrapper
When were our Gospels Written ?
Plea for Atheism
Has Man a Soul ?
Is there a God ?
Who was Jesus Christ?
What did Jesus Teach?
The Twelve Apostles
The Atonement
Life of David
Life of Jacob
Life of Abraham
..
.. k
Life of Moses
Life of J onah
A Few Words about the Devil
Were Adam and Eve our First Parents ?
Heresy; its Morality and Utility. A Plea and a Justification
s. d.
0 1
0 1
0 1
0
1
0 1
0 2
0 2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
0 2
0 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
6
4
6
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
9
�3
Bradlaugh, Charles (contmued}—
s- d.
The Laws relating to Blasphemy and Heresy ..
..06
Autobiography (written in 1874)
..
..
..0 3
Verbatim Report of the Trial, The Queen against Bradlaugh and
Besant. With Portraits and Autographs of the two Defendants.
Second Edition, with Appendix, containing the Judgments of
Lords Justices Bramwell, Brett, and Cotton. Cloth, os.
Splendid large-sized Photograph of Charles Bradlaugh, mounted
for framing, 5s.
Cabinet Photograph of C. Bradlaugh, 2s.
Bust of C. Bradlaugh, half life-size, 5s. ; packed in box for safe
carriage, 5s. 6d.
Chromo-litho of Charles Bradlaugh. Cabinet size, _ld.; in Letts’s
protecting case, post free, 2d. Large size, 6d.; in Letts’s pro
tecting case, post free, 7d.
Litho portrait of C. Bradlaugh, fit for framing, large size, 6d. ;
in Letts’s protecting case, 7d. Mounted, in black and gold
frame, 5s.
Besant, Annie—
The Freethinker’s Text-Book. Part II. “On Christianity.”
Section I.—“Christianity: its Evidences Unreliable.” Section
II.—‘ ‘ Its OriginPagan.” Sectionlll.—‘ ‘ Its Morality Fallible.”
Section IV.—“ Condemned by its History.” Cloth, 3s. 6d.
History of the Great French Revolution. First Series, cloth, 2s.
Second Series, 9d. Third Series, 9d. One vol., cloth, 3s. 6d.
My Path to Atheism. Collected Essays. Cloth, gilt lettered,. 4s.
Marriage : as it was, as it is, and as it should be. Second Edition.
In limp cloth, Is.
Tight, Heat, and Sound. In three parts, 6d. each. Illustrated.
Cloth, 2s.
The Jesus of the Gospels and The Influence of Christianity on the
World. Two nights’ Debate with the Rev. A. Hatchard. Is.
Social and Political Essays. 3s. 6d.
Theological Essays and Debate. 2s. 6d.
. Legends and Tales (Young Folks' Library}. Legends :—1. Ganga,
the River Maid. 2. The Stealing of Persephone. 3. The
First Roses. 4. The Drowning of the World. 5. A Curious
Adventure. 6. Drawn from the Waters. 7. The Wandering
Jew. Tales:—1. Hypatia. 2. Giordano Bruno. Cloth,attrac
tively bound, illustrated, Is.
Autobiographical Sketches. With Cabinet Photograph. Uniform
with ‘ ‘ International Library ”. 4s.
Disestablish the Church, or Sins of the Church of England. A
Fade Mecum for Liberationists, full of details about Tithes,
“Church” Revenues, Persecuting Laws, attitude of the Church
towards education, the slavery question, etc., etc. Prettily
bound in cloth, gilt lettered, with Index of Contents, Is.
Is Socialism Sound ? Four Nights’ Debate with G. W. Foote.
Cloth, on heavy paper, 2s. Paper covers, Is.
Pamphlets—
s. d.
Roots of Christianity, or The Christian Religion before
Christ ..
..
..
..
..
..06
Life, Death, and Immortality
..
..
..02
The World and its Gods
..
..
..
..03
�4
Besant, Annie (continued}—
A World without God. Reply to Miss F. P. Cobbe
Woman’s Position according to the Bible
Christian Progress ..
Fruits of Christianity. Fifth Thousand
The Gospel of Christianity and the Gospel of Freethought
Blasphemy ..
The Christian Creed. Parts I. and II., each
God’s Views on Marriage
The Gospel of Atheism. Fifth Thousand
Whv I do not believe in God
Is the Bible Indictable ?
Biblical Biology
What is the Use of Prayer ? Tenth Thousand ..
The Myth of the Resurrection. Tenth Thousand
Why should Atheists be Persecuted ? ..
The True Basis of Morality. A Plea for Utility as the
Standai I of Morality. Seventh Thousand
The Ethii s oc Punishment
Sin and Crime : their nature and treatment
The Natural History of the Christian Devil
Is Christianity a Success ?
Sins of the Church. In 8 numbers, each
Cloth
Do.
do.
Part I. (6 numbers)
Do.
do.
Auguste Comte. Biography of the great French Thinker,
with Sketches of his Philosophy, his Religion, and his
Sociology. Being a short and convenient resume of Posi
tivism for the general reader. Third Thousand
Giordano Bruno, the Freethought Martyr of the Sixteenth
Century. His Life and Works
The Law of Population : Its consequences, and its bearing
upon Human Conduct and Morals. 110th thousand
Social Aspects of Malthusianism
Legalisation of Female Slavery in England
The Physiology of Home—No. 1, “ Dig-estion” ; No. 2,
“ Organs of Digestion” ; No. 3, “ Circulation ” ; No. 4,
“Respiration” ; Id. each. Together, in neat wrapper..
Electricity and its Modem Applications. Four lectures.
Id. each. Together, in wrapper
Eyes and Ears
Vivisection ..
Modern Socialism
Why I am a Socialist
The Evolution of Society
..
The Redistribution of Political Power
Gordon judged out of his own mouth ..
Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
Landlords, Tenant Farmers, and Laborers
The English Land System
Ei glish Marseillaise, with Music
English Republicanism
s. d.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
1
2
2
2
1
6
2
2
3
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
1
3
1
1
1
0
6
0 6
0
1
0 6
0 1
0 1
0 4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
3
1
6
1
.3
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
�5
Besant, Annie (continued)—
8. d.
The Political Status of W^omen. A Plea for Women’s Ri °"hts
Fourth Thousand ..
..
..
..
°
0 2
T?d Religious Liberty, with some Hints taken from
the French Revolution. Sixth Thousand
0 3
The Transvaal
0 1
Force no Remedy. An analysis of the Coercion Act (Ire
land) 1882
..
..
.
'
0 1
Coercion in Ireland and its Results
0 1
Egypt, a Protest against the War. Second Edition
0 2
The Story of the Soudan
0 1
Free Trade r. “ Fair ” Trade—No. 1, “ England before the
Repeal of the Com Laws ” ; No. 2, “ The History of the
Anti-Corn Law Struggle ” ; No. 3, “Labor and Land:
their burdens, duties, and rights” ; No 4 “What is
really Free Trade?” No. 5, “The Landlords’ Attempt
to Mislead the Landless ” ; ld. each. In neat wrapper
with Appendix .,
.,
<t
0 6
Large Photograph of Annie Besant, for framing
10 6
Cabinet
ditto ’
..
2 0
Atheistic Platform, Parts I. and II., 6d. each. Parts I and H.
in wrapper together, Is. In Penny Numbers : I. “What is the
Rse of Eray®F ? ” By Annie Besant. 2. “ Mind considered as a
Bodily Function.
By Alice Bradlaugh. 3. “ The Gospel of
RyRd^ard^veling,E-Sc. 4. “ England’s Balance
Sheet. By Charles Bradlaugh. 5. “ The Story of the Soudan.”
By Annie Besant. 6. “Nature and the Gods.” By Arthur B
Moss. 7. “ Some Objections to Socialism.” By Charles Bradlaugn b. is Darwinism Atheistic?” By Charles Cockbill
9'
°f the Resurrection.” By Annie Besant.
10. Does Royalty Pay?” By George Standring. 11. “The
Curse of Capital. ” By Edward Aveling, D .Sc. 12. “ Why should
vurse or capital.
D.Sc.
Atheists be Persecuted?” By Annie Besant.
Aveling, Edward. B., D.Sc., Fellow of Univ. Coll., London —
(bee also International Series.)
Essays, limp cloth Is. General Biology, cloth, 2s. Physiological
Tables, 2s. Botanical Tables, Is. Bookworm, Is. The Value
o this Earthly Life, Is. Biological Discoveries and Problems
Is. Science and Secularism, 2d. Science and Religion Id Supersfation, Id. Wickedness of God, Id. Irreligion of Science, Id.
M68;
,rrn;TS’ ld- A Godless Life the Happiest
and Most Useful Id. Sermon on the Mount, ld. Darwinism
and Small Families, _ ld. Religious Views of Darwin, Id.
The Gospei of Evolution, ld. The Curse of Capital, ld. Plays
of Shakspere, 4d. Macbeth, 4d.
J
Ball, W. P. The Ten Commandments, ld. Religion in Board Schools, 2d.
Bastiat, Frederic—
P°ft Eallacies regarding Trader and Foreign Duties. Adapted
to the Present Time by Ed. R. Pearce. Boards, 79 pp., 6d.
Baxter, W. E.—Our Land laws of the past, 3d.
�6
Beauchamp, P. (G. Grote, the historian of Greece)—
Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the Temporal
Happiness of Mankind.. 123 pp. Is.
Blackie, Prof.—Jewish Sabbath and Christian Lord’s Day, 2d.
Blanchard, J.—Essays and Addresses, Is.
Bonser, T. O., M.A.—The Right to Die, Id.
Bradlaugh, Alice—Mind considered as a Bodily Function, Id.
Bradlaugh Bonner, Hypatia—
Princess Vera, and other Stories (Young Folks’ Library'). Con
tains:—Princess Vera ; A Day’s Adventures ; How the World
was Made; Tommy and I; A Children’s Picnic. Cloth,
prettily bound, illustrated, Is.
Four Lectures on The Chemistry of Home: Air, I., Air, II.,
Water, I., Water, II., Id. each; or in wrapper, 4d. Four
Lectures on The Slave Struggle in America. Id. each, or in
wrapper, 4d. Secular Education, 7|d. per 100, post free.
Brodrick, Hon. George—Reform of English Land System, 3d.
Buchner, Prof. Ludwig, M.D.—(See also International, Series.)
The Influence of Heredity on Free Will. Translated from the
German by Annie Besant. 2d.
C. B. X.—Aurora. A story. 6d.
Cattell, Charles C.—The Age of the Earth, etc. A reply to Sir
J. W. Dawson. 2d.
Christ and Osiris. 2d.
Cobden, Richard—The Three Panics, Is.
Cobden’s Political Writings. Cloth, 704 pp. 6s.
Conway, Moncure D.—(See also List 13.)
Liberty and Morality.
3d.
Cooper, Robert—
Holy Scriptures Analysed. With Life by C. Bradlaugh.
6d.
Corner, Our. Edited by Annie Besant. Vol. I., Jan. to June;
Vol. II., July to Dec., 1883; Vol. III., Jan. to June ; Vol.
IV., July to December, 1884 ; Vol. V., Jan. to June; Vol. VI.,
July to December, 1885 ; Vol. VII., Jan. to June ; Vol. VIII.,
July to December, 1886 ; handsomely bound, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.
each. Christmas Number, 1883, 6d. Yearly subscription, post
free, 7s. A monthly Freethought and Radical magazine.
Courtney, Herbert—The House of Commons, Past, Present, and
Future. 4d.
Secular v. Christian Morality, Id.
Crisis in Farming, The ; its Radical Causes and their only
Remedies. Twenty-two evils arising from Landlord, thirteen from
Tenant. By the Author of ‘ ‘ Hints to Landlords and Tenants ”. 6d.
Crofts, W. R.—City Missionaries and Pious Frauds, Id.
Dalton, H. R. S., B.A., Oxon.—
The Education of Girls, Second Edition, 6d. Ish’s Charge to
Women, 4d. Religion and Priestcraft, 2d.
�7
D, JL—-To be or not to be. (On future existence.) |d.
Drysdale, C.R., M.D.—
The Population Question, Is. Tobacco, and the Diseases it Pro
duces, 2d. Alcohol, 6d. Animal Vaccination, 6d.
Eastern Traveller—Tables of Faith, 3d.
Ellershaw, Charles—
The Soil of Great Britain and Ireland.
In neat wrapper, 6d.
Ellis, Ellen—Everything is possible to Will. A most useful Tem
perance Story.
Cloth, 3s. 6d.
Elmy, Ben W.—The Cause of Woman. From the Italian of Louisa
To-Sko. 6d.
Studies in Materialism, 4d.
Farrar^ Sir T. H., Bart.-—Free Trade v. Fair Trade (3rd edition).
376 pp., Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
Forlong, Major-Gen. J. G. R., F.R.G.S., F.R.A.S., &c.—
Rivers of Life, or Sources of Streams of the Faiths of Man in all
lands; showing the Evolution of Faiths from the rudest sym
bolisms to the latest spiritual developments. With maps, illus
trations, and separate chart of faith streams. In 2 vols. quarto,
cloth gilt, £6 6s.
A Colored Chart of all Faith Streams, 7J feet by 2| feet, folded
in case, or on rollers, £1 6s. P. 6d.
Garrison, Prof. H. D.—The Absence of Design in Nature, 2d.
Haeckel, Prof. Ernst (See International Series).
Headingley, A. S.—
Biography of Charles Bradlaugh. With Appendix by W. Maw
(revised and enlarged). Cloth, 2s. 6d.
Hindu, A—Reflexions on the Blasphemy Prosecutions, 2d.
Holt, R. B.
Utile Dominium, or The Right to Use the Land, 8 pp., demy 8vo,
Id. Absolutum et directum Dominium, or Absolute Ownership of
Land.
8 pp., demy 8vo, Id.
Howell, Constance—
Biography of Jesus Christ, Is. ; cloth gilt, Is. 6d. The AfterLife of the Apostles, Is. ; cloth gilt, Is. 6d. History of the
Jews, Is., cloth gilt, Is. 6d. Written for Young Freethinkers.
The cloth edition is tastefully bound in uniform style.
“ Humanitas ”—
Is God the First Cause ? 6d. Bound in cloth, with other Essays,
Is. 6d. Socialism a Curse, 3d. Thoughts’upon Heaven, 6d.
Charles Bradlaugh and the Oath Question, 2d. HowC. Brad
laugh was treated by the House of Commons, 2d. Charles
Bradlaugh, M.P. and the Irish Nation, 6d. Jacob the Wrestler;
paper, 2s. ; cloth, 2s. 6d.
Hume, David—
On Miracles, 3d. With appendix, etc., by J. M. Wheeler.
Hunter, W. A., M.A .—Past and Present of the Heresy Laws. 3d.
Indian Officer—
The True Source of Christianity; or, a Voice from the Ganges.
Originally published at 5s. Paper covers, Is. ; cloth gilt, Is. 6d.
�Ingersoll, Col. Robert—
Library Edition : Oration on the Gods, 6d. Oration on Thomas
Paine, 4d. Heretics and Heresies, 4d. Oration on Humboldt,
2d. Arraignment of the Church, 2d. These can be supplied in'
one volume, neatly bound in limp cloth, Is. 6d. Mistakes of
Moses, 3d. Liberty of Man, Woman and Child, 6d. Modem
Thinkers : or, the Spirit of the Age, Id. Hell, 2d. Decoration
Day, Id. Salvation, Id. Ingersoll at Home, Id. Prose
Poems, Id. Tilt with Talmage, Id.
Popular Edition, 16 pages, Id. each: 1. Take a Road of Your
Own; 2. Divine Vivisection, or Hell; 3. The Christian Re
ligion ; 4. The Ghosts, Part I.; 5. The Ghosts, Part II. ;
6. Thomas Paine the Republican. In wrapper, 6d. 7. Is all
of the Bible inspired ? Part I.; 8. Is all of the Bible inspired?
Part II.; 9. Mistakes of Moses; 10. Saviors of the World;
11. How Man makes Gods ; 12. Law, not God. Erom 7 to 12
in wrapper, 6d. The 12 in wrapper, Is. 13. What Must I Do
to be Saved? Part I. ; 14. What Must I Do to be saved ? Part
II.; 15. The Spirit of the Age ; 16. Human Liberty; or, In
tellectual Development, Part I. ; 17. Human Liberty; or, In
tellectual Development, Part II. ; 18. Which Way? Erom 13
to 18, in wrapper, 6d.
International Library of Science and. Freethought—
Mind in Animals, by Professor Ludwig Buchner. Translated,
with the author’s consent, by Annie Besant, 5s.
The Student’s Darwin, by Edward B. Aveling, D.Sc. (Lond.)
Fellow of University College (Lond.), etc., price 5s.
Jesus and the Gospels, and The Religion of Israel, by Jules
Soury, 4s.
Genesis : its authorship and authenticity, by C. Bradlaugh. 5s.
The Pedigree of Man, and other Essays (illustrated with 80 wood
cuts), by Dr. Ernst Haeckel, translated from the German, with
the author’s consent, by Edward B. Aveling, D.Sc. 6s.
“ Julian ”—
Natural Reason versus Divine Revelation. An appeal for Freethought. Edited by Robert Lewins, M.D. 6d. “ Justice ”—Peace and Prosperity. An Essay on Social Questions,
with remedies for existing evils. 6d.
Kay, Joseph.—
Free Trade in Land. With Preface by John Bright, Is.
L. W. H.—The House of Lords. Id.
Land Law Reform League Leaflets, No. 1 to 6 in assorted
packets for distribution, 6d. per 100; post free, 7|d.; an assorted
dozen, lid.
Lee, T.—
Falsivir’s Travels. The remarkable adventures of John Falsivir,
seaman, at the North Pole and in the interior of the earth;
with a description of the wonderful people and the things he
discovered there. In paper wrapper, Is. ; boards, Is. 6d.
L’Estrange, Thos.—The First Seven Alleged Persecutions, a.d
64 to a.d. 235. 6d. The Eucharist, 6d.
�9
Levy, J. Hyam—
Wealthy and Wise. A Lecture introductory to the Study of
Political Economy. 6d.
Local Government and Taxation of the United Kingdom,
520 pp., cloth, with index, 5s., containing a series of essays:—
Local government in England, by the Hon. G. C. Brodrick ;
County boards, by C. T. D. AclancL; Areas of rural government,
by Lord E. Fitzmaurice; London government, and how to reform
it, by J. F. B. Firth ; Municipal boroughs and boundaries, by J.
T. Bunce; Local government and taxation in Ireland, by R.
O’Shaughnessy; Local government and taxation in Scotland,
by W. Macdonald ; Local taxation in England and Wales, by J.
Roland Phillips.
Linton, Mrs. E. Lynn—(See also List B.)
Under which Lord ? By the author of “Joshua Davidson”.
Originally published in three vols. at £1 11s. 6d., now issued
complete in 1 vol., cloth gilt, 2s. 6d.
Major, A.—A Few Objections to Spiritualism, 2d.
Materialist—A Reply to Cardinal Manning’s Essay on “ The Relation of the
Will to Thought”, 3d.
Mawer, W.—
The Latest Constitutional Struggle. Being a Diary of the North
ampton Struggle from April 2nd, 1880. 2d. Reasons why
Blasphemy Prosecutions should be abolished. 2d.
Medley, G. W.—England under Free Trade, 3d.
Mitchell, Logan—
Religion in the Heavens ; or, Mythology Unveiled. In a Series
of Lectures. Cloth, 2s. 6d.
Mongredien, A.—Free Trade and English commerce, 6d.
Montague, F. C.
The Old Poor Law and the New Socialism, or Pauperism and
Taxation. 6d.
Moss, Arthur B.—
Nature and the Gods, ld. Man and the Lower Animals, ld.
16 pp., each.
Murray, D.—
Is Knowledge sufficient to Prevent Crime ? ld.
National Reformer—Index to, 1883, 1884, 1885, 2d. each. Cases
for loose numbers, with holding-cords, 2s.
National Secular Society’s Almanack for 1882, 1883,
1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887. 6d. each. P. ld. each.
“ Neptune ”—Our Naval Policy, ld.
Nordau, Max—
The Conventional Lies of our Civilization. This remarkable book
has been seized and prohibited in Austria, and has gone through
seven editions in seven months in Germany. 365 pp., paper,
2s. 6d.
�10
Paine, Thomas—(See also List B).
Common Sense. With new Introduction by C. Bradlaugh. 6d.
The Age of Rea on. With Preface by C. Bradlaugh. Is.
doth, Is. 6d.
Rights of Man. With Introduction by C. Bradlaugh. Is. doth
gilt, Is. 6d.
Theological Works ; including the “ Age of Reason ”, and all his
Miscellaneous pieces and Poetical Works; his last Will and
Testament, and a Steel Portrait, doth, 3s.
Parable of Modern Tim.es, A. 2d.
Paul, Alexander—History of Reform, Is.
Pearce, E. R.—Popular fallacies on trade and foreign duties, 6d.
Peers and the People, The, an appeal to history, Id.
Perot, J. M. A.—Man and God. doth, 4s.
Questions, One hundred and one. Id.
Robertson, John—
.
Royalism, 4d. Socialism and Malthusianism, 2d. Toryism and
Barbarism, 2d. The Upshot of Hamlet, 6d.
Sins of the Church, Nos. 9—14, ‘ ‘ The Perversion of Scotland ”, Id.
each ; or in 1 vol., cloth, with index, 9d.
Salmon, C. S.—
Crown Colonies of Great Britain. Stiff boards, 184 pp.
Is.
Sins of the Church; A series of pamphlets, issued fortnightly.
16 pages each, Id.
Nos. 1 to 4: “Threatenings and Slaughters” [England] ; 5 and 6:
“ For the Crown and against the Nation” ; by Annie Besant.
No. 7: “A Burden on Labor ” ; No. 8: “ The Church a Creature
of Crown and Parliament,” by Annie Besant; Nos. 9—14:
“ The Perversion of Scotland,” by John Robertson.
Nos. 1 to 8, in cloth, with Index, etc., Is.; Nos. 9 to 14, in cloth,
with index, 9d.
Part I. (Nos. 1 to 6 in wrapper), 6d. Part II. (Nos. 7 to 12
in wrapper), 6d.
Soury, Jules (See International Series.)
Standring, George—
Life of C. Bradlaugh, with portrait and autograph, 12 pages, Id.
Life of Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, with portrait and autograph,
and extracts from his orations, in wrapper, Id. Court Flun
keys ; their Work and Wages, Id.
Symes, Jos.—
Christianity essentially a Persecuting Religion, 2d. Hospitals
and Dispensaries not of Christian Origin, new and revised
edition, Id. Man’s Place in Nature, or Man an Animal
amongst Animals, 4d. Christianity and Slavery, 2d. Chris
tianity at the Bar of Science, 3d. Debate on Atheism with Mr.
St. Clair, Is. Debate and eight essays, bound, cloth, neat, 3s.
Three Trials of William Hone, The, for Publishing Three
Parodies, viz., The late John Wilkes’s Catechism, The Political
Litany,’ and The Sinecurists’ Creed ; on three ex-officio informa
tions, at Guildhall, London, during three successive days—De
�11
cember 18th, 19th, and 20th, 1817—before three special juries
and Mr. Justice Abbot, on the first day, and Lord Chief Justice
Ellenborough, on the last two days. 2s.
Thursday Lectures at the Hall of ScienceContaining Mr. Bradlaugh’s lectures on Anthropology, Annie
Besant’s on The Physiology of Home, Miss Hypatia Bradlaugh’s
on The Chemistry of Home, and Hr. Aveling’s on The Plays of
Shakspere. Complete in one vol. Cloth, 2s.
Torrens, Sir R.—Transfer of land by Registration under method
operative in British Colonies. 6d.
Volney, C. F.—(&?e also List
Ruins of Empires, with Plates of Ancient Zodiac, cloth, 2s.
Wheeler, J. M.—
Frauds and Follies of the Fathers.
6d.
Young- Folks’ Library ; edited by Annie Besant. Cloth, boards,
attractive binding, illustrated :—
%
I. Legends and Tales, by Annie Besant, Is.
II. Princess Vera, and other Stories, by H. Bradlaugh Bonner. Is.
LIST B.
Special List of Remainders.—All at the lowest price, no reduc
tion to the trade, the object being to supply readers of the National
lieformer with literature at specially low rates. Order must be
accompanied by cost of postage, which is inserted after the letter
P. Where no postage is mentioned, the goods go by rail at cost
of purchaser, and 2d. in addition to price must be sent for booking.
Adam, W.—
First Lessons in Geology. With special article on the Toadstones
of Derbyshire, a glossary explanatory of geological terms and
derivations, with sections, and general diagram of strata. 173
, pp., paper covers (published at Is. 6d.), 3d. Post free 4d.
Theories of. History, with special reference to the principles of
the Positive Philosophy. Favorably noticed by J. S. Mill.
Demy 8vo., 441 pp., 3s. P. 4jd.
Ag-assiz, Louis—On Classification. 8vo. Pp. vii. and 381. Cloth
(published at 12s.), reduced to 3s. P. 4|d.
Alexander, J. E., Lieut.-G-eneral—
the Obelisk of Alexandria. Cloth, 8vo., 109
2s. 6d.), Is., post free.
Philosophy and History of Civilisation.
478 pp., 2s. P. 41 d
Anti-Papal Library, The.—“ How did we come by the Reforma
tion? by Dr. J. R. Beard; “Mary Alacoque and the worship
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presented in their real character,”
by Louis Asseline. These pamphlets, written by eminent ad
vanced writers and translated by the celebrated Unitarian, Dr.
J. R. Beard, are full of information concerning the frauds and
impostures of the Romish Church. Published at 4d. and 6d. each.
Cleopatra’s.Needle,
pp. (published at
Alison, Alex.—The
Cloth, royal 8vo.,
�12
The wo post free for 3d. Also in the same series—“Confession
in the Church of Rome: what it is and what it does”. By the
noted writer, M. Morin ; translated by J. R. Beard. (Published
at Is.) 80 pp. 3d. P. Id.
i< Antipodes.”—The Revelations of Common-sense. Crown 8vo.,
pp. xi. and 452. 2s. P. 4|d.
Argyll, Duke of—
Causes of the Afghan War, being a selection of the papers laid
before Parliament, with a connecting narrative and comment.
8vo, cloth, 326 pp. (published at 6s.), Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Bale, G-. G. P.—Anatomy and Physiology of Man. School edition.
Profusely illustrated (published at 7s. 6d.), 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Barratt, Alfred—
Physical Ethics, or the Science of Action. Contents: Axioms,
Definitions, Propositions, Moral Sense, Human Development,
Unselfish Emotions, Individual Development, Will, Obligation,
* Pleasures that are called Bad, Rearrangement, System,
which mate Good a Primary Quality, Systems which offes
an Explanation of the Nature of Good, Theological Sysr
terns, Organisation of Moral Systems, Objections of inutility of ialsehood, of sneers, Mr. Spencer’s Doctrine of the Absolute,
Laws of Mental Redistribution, Perception of Time, Motion,
and Space ; Relation of Mind to Matter, 2E<thetic Emotions,
Religion of Positivism, Theological Basis of Morality. Cloth,
crown 8vo, 387 pp., 2s. (pub. at 12s.). Postage 4|d.
Physical Metempiric.
Contents: Definitions, The Physical
Method, Other Consciousness, Things-in-themselves, The
Atomic Theory, Monads, Time and Space, Noumena and Phe
nomena. Monadism and Monism, Physical Evolution, Exis
tence, Mental Evolution, General Theory of the Relation of
Mind and Matter, Objections, The “ Suppression” of Egoism,
Ethics and Politics, Ethics and Pyschogony. With Portrait of the
Author. Cloth, 8vo, 311 pp., 2s. (Published at 12s. 6d.) P. 4|d.
Benvenuti, B. F.—
Episodes of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1795, with an
appendix embodying the principal events in France from 1789
to the present time, examined from a political and philosophical
point of view. Demy 8vo, 310 pp., Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Berkeley, Bish.op—
The Principles of Human Knowledge. Treatise on the nature of
the Material Substance (and its relation to the Absolute), with
a brief introduction to the doctrine and full explanations of the
text; followed by an appendix, with remarks on Kant and
Hume, by Collyns Symons, LL.D. Is. P. 3d.
Bernard, H. H., Ph.D.—
Lessing on Bibliolatry.
Black, C., M.D.—-
144 pp. (published at 5s.), Is. 6d. P. 3d.
On the more evident changes the body undergoes, and the manage
ment of health from infancy to adult age. Cloth, 138 pp.
(published at 2s. 6d.), 6d. P. 2d.
�13
Blake, Carter, D.Sc.—
Zoology for Students. With Preface by Professor Owen. Pro
fusely Illustrated. Cloth. 382 pp. 3s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Bonaparte, Napoleon (Jerome)—
Clericalism in France. Translated by Annie Besant. 3d., post free.
Booth., W., L.R.C.P.—
Children’s Ailments : howto distinguish and how to treat them.
Manual of nursery medicine, addressed to mothers and nurses
and to all who are interested in caring for the little ones. This
extremely useful little work gives the symptoms and modes of
treatment of nearly 100 ailments, instructions for the general
management of young children, and 47 prescriptions, with a
table of doses for all diseases. (Published at 2s.) 3d. P. ld.
Boyle, F.—
Savage Life. Notes in South Africa, a night in Granada, Philo
sophy of the Angle. Cloth, demy 8vo, 332 pp., 3s. P. 4-J,-d.
Bradlaugh, Charles—-
Hints to Emigrants ; containing notes of employment, wages,
costs of living, &c., personally made during three journeys in
the United States of America. (Published at Is.) Post free, 6d.
Brown, W.—
The Labor Question. Paper Currency and Lending on Interest
as affecting’ the prosperity of Labor, Commerce, and Manufac
tures. Cloth gilt, 240 pp. (published at 2s. 6d.), 6d. P. 3d.
Bryce, Arch. H., LL.D., &c.—
Second Latin Book. Leadings, with notes, from Caesar, Ovid,
&c., with Syntax and copious Vocabulary. Crown 8vo, 422
pp., Is. P. 3d.
Buchner, Prof. Ludwig—
Force and Matter. 284 pp. (published at as.), 2s. 6d. P. 3d.
Burke, Edmund—The inherent evils of all State Governments
demonstrated.
66 pp. (published at Is.), 3d. P. ld.
Burton’s Prairie Traveller; or, Overland Route.—With
map, illustrations, and itineraries of the prnciple routes between
the Mississippi and the Pacific. By General Randolph Maecy.
Crown 8vo, pp. 270, cloth, reduced to Is. 6d. P. 3d.
Bushby, Rev. Edward, B.D.—Essay on Human Mind, with
Elements of Logic. 84 pp., in stiff wrapper, 3d. P. ld.
Butler, J., LL.D.—
The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the consti
tution and course of Nature. To which are added two brief
dissertations : I. Of personal identity; II. Of the nature of
virtue. With index and questions for examination by the
Rev. G. B. Wheelee, A.M., Cloth, gilt, pp. 350, 2s. 6d. P.4Jd.
Caird, J.—British Land Question. 2d. P. ld.
Campbell, Sir George, M.P.—
White and Black; the outcome of a visit to the United States.
Cloth 8vo, 440 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 6d.
�14
Cant-Wall, E., Barrister-at-Law—
Ireland under the Land Act, with an appendix of leading cases
under the Act, giving the evidence in full, judicial dicta, etc.
8vo, 280 pp., cloth (published at 6s.), Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Cattell, Charles C.—The Coming- Republic (published at 2s. 6d.),
Is. 6d. ; P. 3d.
Republicana, 244 pp., 6d. ; P. 2Jd.
Sun
day Lectures on Science and Freethought, 157 pp., Is. ; P. 1-i-d.
Challice, John, M.D.—
Medical advice to mothers on the management of children in
health and disease. Limp cloth, 98 pp., 3d. P. Id.
Charles, C. Mitchell—
Altieri : his life, adventures, and works.
6d. P. ljd.
Chastel, E., Professor—Christianity in the Nineteenth Century. A Religious and Philo
sophical Survey of the Immediate Past. Translated by J. R.
Beard. Cloth, crown 8vo, 236 pp., Is. P. 3d.
Clifford-Smith, J. L.—
Social Science Association. A Narratiye of Results. With ad
mirable photographs of Lord Brougham and G-. W. Hastings,
M.P. Cloth, 190 pp., published at 2s. 6d., offered at 6d. P. 2d.
Cobden, Richard—Biography by J. E. Ritchie. With superb steel
engraving, 4d. P. l|d.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor—
Letters, Conversations, and Recollections. With preface by the
Editor, Thomas Allsop. Cloth 250 pp., 2s. P. 3d.
CONTEMPORABY REVIEW.—1874, complete in 2 vols., 5s.
(published at 15s. each); containing’ articles by W. E. Gladstone, Sir T.
Brassey, Sir W. Herschell, Professor Clifford, Dean Stanley, Karl
Blind, and many other famous writers.
And the following numbers :—1875. January contains Supernatural Religion
(The Silence of Eusebius), by Prof. Lightfoot; Sermon on the Immutability
of Jehovah, by Colenso; Max Muller’s reply to Darwin; Saxon Studies, by
Julian Hawthorne, etc., etc. March contains Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews,
by R. A. Proctor; Some Results of the Challenger Expedition, by Prof. Huxley;
Life at High Pressure, by W. R. Greg; On Objections to “Literature and
Dogma ”, by Matthew Arnold, etc., etc. April contains A Jesuit Father on Papal
Infallibility; The Covenanters, Charles H. and Argyle; Instinct and Reason, by
St. George Mivart; Bogies of To-day, by Earl Pembroke, etc., etc. July contains
Is the Church of England Worth Preserving ? by W. E. Gladstone; George Jacob
Holyoake on Co-operation; The Tory Party and the Catholics, by Pope Hennessey;
Animal Instinct in its relation to the Mind of Man, by the Duke of Argyll, etc.,
■etc. August contains The Liberal Party and the Roman Catholics, by Arthur
Arnold; "Roman Catholic Marriage Laws, by Canon Todd; Supernatural Religion
(Papias of Hierapolis), by Prof. Lightfoot, etc., etc. September contains A Dis
cussion on the Scientific Basis of Morals between Prof. Clifford, Frederic Harrison,
and P. C. W.; Lord Blachford on Huxley’s Hypothesis that Animals are Auto
mata ; Ocean Circulation, by Dr. W. B. Carpenter; Rig-ht use of a Surplus, by W.
R. Greg, etc., etc. November contains India, Political and Social, by M. E. Grant
Duff; Religious and Conservative Aspects of Positivism, by Frederic Harrison!;
’Liknesses, or Philosophical Anatomy, by St. George Mivart, etc., etc. The above
seven numbers for 1875 free for 2s. 9d.----- 1876. January contains The Fallacies
■ of Testimony, by W. B. Carpenter; Why have Animals a Nervous System? by H.
■Charlton Bastian; Goethe and Minna Herzlieb, by Andrew Hamilton; Wesleyan
Methodism, by J. L. Davies; Public Education, by Sir John Lubbock, etc., etc.
March contains Modem Materialism, by the Rev. James Martineau; Irrigation
Works and the Permanent Settlement in India, by J. Dacosta; Bishop Butler,
by Matthew Arnold ; Eternal Perdition and Universalism from a Roman Catholic
�15
Point of View Religion of Positivism, by Mark Pattison, etc., etc. April contains
Russian Idylls, by W. R. S. Ralston; The Bases of Morals, by James Hanton;
Homerology, by W. E. Gladstone ; John H. Newman: a Psychological Study, by
the Rev. John Hunt; Jellyfish Theory of Language, by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, etc.,
etc. May contains Humanity, by Frederic Harrison ; Strauss : a Chapter in the
History of Modem Religious Thought, by the Rev. A. M. Fairbairn; Religious
Teaching in Elementary Schools, by Francis Peek, etc., etc. June contains Th°
Courses of Religious Thought, by W. E. Gladstone ; Persia, by Arthur Arnold ;
Evolution and the Religion of the Future, by Anna Swanwick ; Elementary Edu
cation, by Sir John Lubbock, etc., etc. July contains- Turkey, by Arthur Arnold •
Christian Evidences, by Richard H. Hutton; Homerology, by W. E. Gladstone •
The Pulse of Europe, by M. E. Grant Duff; The Restitution of all Things, by
Andrew Jukes, etc., etc. September contains Automatism and Evolution, by Dr.
Charles Elam; Capital Punishment in England, by Francis W. Rowsell; Church
manship of John Wesley, by James Rigg, D.D., etc., etc. October contains Imper
fect Genius: William Blake, by H. G. Hewlett; Professor Cairnes on Value, by
W. T. Thornton ; Antagonism of Creeds, by Philip Schaff, D.D.; Working Men and
the Eastern Question, by Geo. Potter and Geo. Howell, etc., etc. November contains
Philosophy without Assumptions, by Cardinal Manning ; The Prophetic Element
in the Gospels, by W. R. Greg; Russian Policy in Turkestan, by W. E. Glad
stone; A Psychological Parallel, by Matthew Arnold, etc., etc. The above
nine numbers for 1876 free for 4s.----- 1877. February contains: Evolution and
the Vegetable Kingdom, by W. Carruthers, F.R.S. ; Problems of Social
and Political Life in France, by A. Oer; The English People in relation to the
Eastern Question, by Edward A. Freeman; Henrietta Maria; The Roman
Catholics and the Puritans, by Peter Bayne; Transcendentalism in England
New England, and India, by H. Holbeach, etc., etc. March contains ■ Pro
gress of Religious Thought in Scotland, by Principal Tulloch; Race and
Language, by E. A. Freeman ; Spinoza : the man and the philosopher, by Arthur
Bolles Lee ; Prussia in the Nineteenth Century, by Prof. J. S. Blackie; Reason
able Faith, by a London Merchant, etc. April contains: Spinoza : 1677—1877 by
Ernest Renan; Metaphysical Study, by Prof. Bain ; The Germ Theory and Spon
taneous Generation: Pasteur, Tyndall, Bastian ; One per Cent., by Prof. Bonamy
Price, etc., etc. May contains: Contest of Heathenism with Christianity, by Prof
Zeller; Conditions and Prospects of the Church of England, by Thos. Hughes •
Wagner, by Rev. H. R. Haweis ; French Thought and Spinozism, by Paul Janet’
Harriet Martineau’s account of herself, by H. S. Richardson; A Reconciling
Philosophic Conception, by Prof. Bain, etc., etc. July contains: Morality in
Politics, by the Duke of Argyll; Pascal and Montaigne, by John Grote; Religious
Upheaval m Scotland, by William Wallace; Drifting Light Waves, by R. A.
Proctor; Virgil, by Julia Wedgwood, etc., etc. September contains: The Gospei
according to St. John, by Ernest Renan; The Pantheistic Factor in Christian
Thought, by the Rev. R. F. Littledale; Scientific Movement and Literature, by
Edward Dowden; French Chateaux of the Renaissance, by Mrs. Mark Pattison
(Lady Dilke), etc., etc. October contains : The Divine Guidance of the Church
by the Bishop of Salisbury; Trial of Jesus Christ, by A. Taylor Tunes; Trades’
Unions, Apprentices and Technical Education, by George Howell; Oxygen in the
Sun, by R. A. Proctor; Legislation for the Insane, by Dr. D. Hack Tuke, etc., etc.
November contains : The Resurrection of Christ a new revelation, by Canon West
cott; War-Power, by Prof. F. W. Newman; Fashionable Farces; Prof. Tyndall’s
Birmingham address, by George Peard ; The Slaveowner and the Turk, by Goldwin
Smith. The above eight numbers of 1877 free for 2s. 9d.
1878. January contains •
Dog Poison m Man, by Dr. Acland; J. S. Mill’s Philosophy Tested, by Professor
Jevons; Disestablishment, by the Duke of Argyll; The Little Health of Ladies
by Frances Power Cobbe; China, England, and Opium, by Justice Fry etc etc’
February contains: Max Muller on the Origin of Reason; Our Indian Empme, by Sidney James Owen; The Provinces before the French Revolution
by H. Tame; What is m store for Europe, by Kossuth, etc., etc. June contains:’
Facts of Indian Progress, by Monier Williams; Determinism and Moral
Freedom, by Paul Janet; Scottish Influence on English Theological Thought by
J- Vaughan; Are the Working Classes Improvident? by George HowellFuture Punishment Eternal Hope, by F. W. Farrar, etc., etc. July contains?
The Position and Influence of Women in Ancient Greece, by Dr. DonaldsonRoman Metempsychosis: a sequel to the discussion on future punishment bv
Francis Peek; Future of Judaism, by Rev. W. H. Fremantle; A curious article
«l,.a
„rl!S punday Evening, etc., etc. August contains: Max Muller on
Juhus Mold ; Critical Movement m the Scotch Free Church, by T. M. Lindsayrhe Early Roman Baptismal Creed, by George Salmon; Parochial Charities of the
�16
City, by Walter H. James; Evolution and. Pantheism, by R. St. J. Tyrwhitt, ;
Professor Blackie on the Scot, etc., etc. September contains : Progress of Indian
Religious Thought, by Professor Monier Williams; Selling the Soul, by R. H.
Horne; Life of Jesus and Modem Criticism, by Professor B. Weiss; The Suu’s
Corona and his spots, by R. A. Proctor; Memoir of Charles Sumner; Super
natural in Nature, etc., etc. The above six numbers for 1878 free for 2s. 6d.---1879. February contains : A. K. Wallace on New Guinea and its Inhabitants;
Ritualism. Roman Catholicism, and Converts, by Rev. Father Ryder; Migration of
Birds, by Dr. Aug. Weissman ; Co-operative Stores and Common Sense, by Rev. W.
L. Blackley; Contemporary Life and Thought in Russia, byT. S., St. Petersburg;
Literary Chronicles, by Profs. Bonamy Price, Cheitham, S. R. Gardiner, and
Matthew Browne, etc., etc. March contains : Belief in Christ: its relation to
miracles and to evolution, by J. LI. Davies ; New Planets near the Sun, by R. A.
Proctor; Women in Ancient Athens (Aspasia and Sappho), by James Donaldson ;
Confession : its Scientific and Medical Aspects, by George Cowell; New Religious
Movement in France, by Josephine E. Butler, etc., etc. April contains: Car
nivorous Plants, by Ellice Hopkins; Over-production, by Prof. W. S. Aldis; Bad
Trade and its cause, by Stephen Williamson and R. H. Patterson ; Disenclosure of
the "‘Anglican Paddock”, by J. R. Prettyman, etc., etc. May contains: The
Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte, by Prof. E. Caird; Prof. St. George
Mivart on the Study of Natural History; Commercial Depression and Reciprocity,
by Prof. Bonamy Price ; Origen and the beginning of Christian Philosophy, by
Canon Westcott; Political Life in Germany, by Friedrich von Schulte, etc., etc.
.Time contains : Conspiracies in Russia, by Karl Blind; Barbarisms of Civilisation,
by Prof F. W. Newman; British Empire in India, by J. von Diillinger; Origin of
the Week, by R. A. Proctor; The New Bulgaria, by an Eastern Statesman, etc.,
etc. July contains: Benjamin Franklin, by Thomas Hughes; The Last Jewish
Revolt by Ernest Renan; Why is Pain a Mystery 1 by J. Burney Yeo ; "What are
Living Beings ’ by Prof. St. George Mivart; Chloral and other narcotics, by Dr.
B W Richardson, etc., etc. August contains : Religious Condition of Germany,
by Friedrich von Schulte; Cheap Justice, by Henry Crompton ; Indian Religious
Thought by Monier Williams; Progress of Education m England, by F. Peek;
Conspiracies in Russia, by Karl Blind, etc., etc. September contains : The First
Sin as Recorded in the Bible and in Ancient Oriental Tradition, by Francois
Lenormant; Political and Intellectual Life in Greece, by N. Kasasis; Animals and
T>i<m+= hv Prof. St. Geore-e Mivart; The Future of China, by Sir Walter H.
�17
etc., etc. August contains: International Morality, by the Rev. J. U. Davies;
River Water, Sea Water, and Rock Salt, by Justus Roth; Missing Millions, by
Lieut.-Ool. Osborn; Rent, by Prof. Bon. Price ; Belgium: the Problem of Liberty m
Catholic Counties, by John Rae; Comparative ^Esthetics, by Vernon Lee, etc., etc.
September contains: Unity of Nature, by the Duke of Argyll; Future of Canada,
by George Anderson; Apprenticeship of the Future, by Prof. Sylvanus P. Thom
son; Heinrich Heine,by Charles Grant, etc., etc. October contains: Man’s Place
in Nature, by the Duke of Argyll; Why Keep India, by Grant Allen; Through
Siberia, by Rev. H. Landsdell; Theology and Materialism, by Justice Fry: Primi
tive Religion, by John Rae; Origin of Music, by J. F. Rowbotham, etc., etc.
November contains: Animal Instinct in Relation to Mind of Man, by Duke of
Argyll; Nationalisation of the Land, by A. R. Wallace; Relation of Christian Be
lief to National Life, by the Rev. J. Baldwin Brown; Old and New Japan, by Sir
R. Alcock, etc., etc. December contains: The Duke of Argyll on the Limits of
Human Knowledge; Nihilism in Russia, by Rev. J. Kaufmann; What is the House
of Lords’ by Prof. Bon. Price; Pusey on Everlasting Punishment; Land
League and its Work, by T. P. O’Connor, etc., etc. The complete set for 1880 free
for 4s. 4d.
Conway, Moncure D.—
Republican Superstitions. (Published at 7s. 6d.) Is. 6d. P. 3d.
Human Sacrifices in England. 64 pp. (published at Is.) 3d.
P. ld.
Demonology and Devil Lore. 2 vols., royal 8vo, with 65 illustra
tions (published at £1 8s.), £1. Free by parcels post, £1 Os. 9d.
Corvichen, B —The Philosophy of all Possible Revelations.
Crown 8vo, stiff paper covers, 360 pp., 9d. P. 4jd.
Curwen, H.—-A History of Booksellers, Old and New. Numerous
Portraits and Illustrations. 8vo, 483 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Davies, Bev. J. LI., M.A.—-
Forgiveness after Death. 40 pp., ld. P. Jd.
Davies, Bev. Dr. Maurice-
Orthodox London. Two volumes bound in one. Contains : The
Rev. H. R.Haweis—Father Stanton—Mr. Foerest—Rev. T.
Teignmouth Shore—Mr. Llewellyn Davies—Mr. Maguire
—Dean Stanley—Canon Liddon—Canon Miller—Mr. Stopford Brooke—Midnight Mass-—Archbishop of York—Bishop
of London—Bishop of Manchester—Bishop of Lincoln—-etc.,
etc. 458 pages (published originally in Two Volumes at 28s.)
2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Dean, J. A.—
Political Rights: How acquired, retained, or forfeited ; with a
sketch of such rights under ancient and modem Republics.
Crown 8vo, 368 pp., cloth gilt, Is. 6d., boards, Is. P. 4|d.
Direy (L.) and A. Foggo—
English Grammar.
136 pp. (published at 3s.), 6d. P. 21d.
Direy, L.—Latin Grammar. 179 pp. (published at 4s.), 6d. P. 2d.
Drew, Frederic—
The Northern Barrier of India. A popular account of the Jummoo and Kashmir Territories. With maps and illustrations.
Cloth, 8vo, 336 pp. (published at 12s.), 3s. P. 4|d.
Duffield, A. J.—
Prospects of Peru. The end of the Guano Age, and a descrip. tion thereof. With some account of the Guano deposits and
“nitrate” plains. Cloth, 120 pp., 6d. P. 2d.
�18
Eyas, Capt R. H. —
The Upas : a vision of the rise, reign, and decay of Supersti
tion. Published at 10s., reduced to 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
P
Bades, H. L.—Shaker Theology. 2s. P. 4-?d.
Ellis, A. J.—
2
The Dyer’s Hand; preceded by ‘ ‘ The Way to God ”. Post free 2d
Emmett’s Life, Id. Post free l|d.
’ '
Espinasse, F.—
Voltan-e; his Life and Times. 1694 to 1726. 620 pp. (pub
lished at 14s.), 2s. 6d. P. 6d.
W U
Facts and Figures, Important events in History, Geography,
Literature, Biography, Ecclesiastical History, etc
etc
Arranged m classified chronological order. Post free 6d’
Farrer, J. A.—
Crimes,and Punishments. Including a new translation of Beccana s Dei Dehttee Delle Pene ”, Cloth, 8vo, 250 pp. (pub
lished at 6s.), price Is. Od. P. 4|d.
Fate of the Peers, The, or a few words with ‘ ‘ Our Old Nobilitv ”
n lth cartoon, crown 8vo, 32 pp., Id. P. id.
J
Frankland, Rev. B., B.A._
^side
2
SOS^pp16 2s°SPp’ 4.14 controversial book on the Christian
Freeman, Dr. E. A.-—Political Catechism. Id. P. |d.
Gebler, Carl von—Galileo Galilei. 4s. P. 6d.
Gladstone and Beaconsfield. 132 pp., 3d. P. id.
Glennie, John Stuart, M.A.—
In the Morning Land Containing precisely the same matter
as Isis and Osins now out of print. 3s. P. 6d.
Goiden Library Series, The.-The Book of Clerical Anec
dotes—Emerson s Letters and Social Aims—Godwin’s (William)
the.Necromancers—Holmes’ Autocrat of the Break
fast 1 able—-Holmes’Professor at the Breakfast Table—Hood’s
Whims ana Oddities, complete with all the original illustrations
—Irvmg s (Washington) Tales of a Traveller—Jesse’s (Edward)
Scenes and occupations of Country Life—Leigh Hunt’s Essays
Mallory s (Sir Thos.) Mort d’Arthur: the Stories of King
Arthur and the Knights of the Pound Table; edited by B Mont
gomery Pankin—Pope’s Complete Poetical Works—Rochefou
cauld s Maxims and Moral Reflections, with notes and introduc
tory essay by Sainte-Beuve—St. Pierre’s Paul and Virginia, and
me Indian Cottage; edited, with life, by the Rev. E. Clarke;
both senes complete in one volume. Reduced to Is. each, by post
3d. extra, or four can be sent by parcels post for 4s. 6d.
Goodwin, C. W., M.A.—
Story of Saneha. An Egyptian tale of 4000 years ago. Published at 2s. 6d., post free
*
Groome, W., M.A., etc.—
Concise Tables for Chemical Analysis. Bound in limp doth,
Demy 8vo, 4d. Post free.
Musical Harmony. 3d. P. Id.
�19
Gubernatis, Angelo de—
Zoological Mythology ; or, the Legends of Animals. Two vols.,
8vo, pp. xxvi. and 432, and vii. and 442, cloth (published at
£1 8s.), reduced to 12s. 6d. Free by postal parcel, 13s. An
important contribution to the study of the comparative myth
ology of the Indo-Germanic nations.
Half-Hours with. Freethinkers—Shelley, Lord Bolingbroke,
and Paine. The three post free 2d.
Hall, W. H. (Bullock)—
Gleanings in Ireland after the Land Acts. With map.
8vo, 115 pp., Is. P. 3d.
Cloth
Hamilton, C.—
Oriental Zigzag. Wanderings in Syria, Moab, Abyssinia, and
Egypt. Handsomely illustrated. 304 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Hawley, J. H.—First Book of English Grammar. Cloth, 3d. P. Id.’
Health Lectures—
Defective Drainage as a Cause of Disease, by J. Makinson Fox ;
Clothing, by John Haddon, M.D. ; Good Nursing and it’ Im
portance in the Treatment of Disease, by J. A. irwin, M.D.;
The House, by Henry Simpson, M.D. ; Infant Feeding in Re
lation to Infant Mortality, by Henry Ashby, M.D. ; Sick
Nursing amongst the Poor, by C. J. Cullingworth. These Six
Pamphlets containing invaluable information for the Preven
tion and Cure of Disease, will be sent post free for 7d.
Heine, H.—
Ludwig Borne. Recollections of a Revolutionist. Abridged and
translated by T. S. Egan. Is. P. 3d.
English Fragments, from the German. Translated by S. Norris.
Cloth, 6d. P. 2jd.
Helps, Sir A.—Animals and their Masters. Cloth gilt, 220 pp.
(published at 4s. 6d.), Is. 6d. P. 3d.
Hill, S.—Egypt and Syria. 3s. P. 6d.
Hoare, E. NT., M.A., Dean of Waterford—
Exotics; or, English words from Latin poets. Post 8vo, 334
pp., with thoroughly complete index, Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Holyoake, G. J.—
Child’s reading book, ld. The social means of promoting Tem
perance, with remarks on errors in its advocacy. Public lessons
of the Hangman. The lot, post free, 3d.
Hone, W.—
The Apocryphal New Testament, being all the Gospels, Epistles,
etc., attributed to Christ, his Apostles, and their companions in
the first four centuries of the Christian era. 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Ancient Mysteries Described. With Engravings, 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Honved, A.—
Sketches of the Hungarian Emigration into Turkey, 6d. P. l|d.
Howell, G.—
Capital and Labor. Including chapters on the history of Guilds,
Trades’ Unions, Apprentices, Technical Education, Intimida
tion and Picketing, Restraints on Trade; Strikes—their Ob
�20
jects, Aims, and Results; Trade Councils, Arbitration, Co
operation, Friendly Societies, the Labor Laws, etc. 2s. P. 4|d.
Hu.gh.an, Samuel—Hereditary Peers and Hereditary Paupers :
the two extremes of English Society. 152 pp., large 8vo, well
printed and neatly bound, Is. P. 3d.
Hugo, Victor, and Garibaldi—Political Poems. Post free. Id.
Imperial Parliament SeriesWomen’s Suffrage. By Mrs. Ashton Dilke. With preface by
W. WoodaU, M.P., and
Leasehold Enfranchisement. By Henry Broadhurst, M.P., and
Robert T. Reid, M.P. In uniform crown 8vo vols., bound in
red cloth, 6d. each. P. 2d. The two post free, Is. 3d.
Ingleby, C. M., M.A.—
Outlines of Theoretical Logic.
Cloth, 88 pp., 6d. P. l|d.
Jackson, Mrs. W. S.—
A Century of Dishonor; a sketch of the United States Govern
ment’s dealings with some of the North American Tribes.
Cloth, 8vo, 457 pp. (published at 7s. 6d.), 2s. P. 4|d.
Jagor, F.—
Travels in the Philippines. Numerous illustrations and Maps.
370 pp., handsomely bound (published at 16s.), 3s. P. 6d.
Kane, Sir Robert M.D., etc.,—
Elements of Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical, including the
most recent discoveries and applications of the science to medi
cine and pharmacy, to agriculture, and to manufacture. Illus
trated by 230 woodcuts, with copious index. Second edition.
Cloth, royal 8vo, 1069 pp., 3s. 6d. P. 7|d.
Kant, Cousin’s Philosophy of. With a Sketch of Kant’s Life and
Writings. By A. G. Henderson. 194 pp., neatly bound (pub
lished at 6s.), 2s. 6d. P. 4Jd.
Kossuth, Louis-
Memories of my Exile. A complete history of the origin of the
Italian War of 1859. Cloth, 446 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 4jd.
Laming, R.—
The Spirituality of Causation. A scientific hypothesis.
gilt, 116 pp., 9d. P. 3d.
Cloth
Lamon, W.—
Life of Abraham Lincoln. Portraits. Cloth, pp. 546. 5s. P. 7|d.
Latham, R. G.—
Russian and Turk. From a Geographical, Ethnological, and
Historical point of view. Cloth, gilt, 434 pp. 3s. P. 6d.
Legge, Alfred. Owen—
Growth of the Temporal Power of the Papacy. A historical
review, with observations upon “The Council of the Vatican”.
Cloth, 8vo, 316 pp., Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Levi, Leone—Work and Pay. 3d. P. Id.
Linton, Mrs. E. Lynn—
Witch Stories. A history of the witches of Scotland and Eng
land from 1479 to 1751. 320 pp., Is. 6d. P. 3d.
�21
R-CC&ll ^^7 TY1»
*
Christian Legends. Cloth, 8vo, 320 pp., Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
MacCoH, Rev. M., M.A.—
Three years of the Eastern Question. Cloth, 8vo, 302 pp. (pub
lished at os.), Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Mackay, R. W., M.A.,—
Rise and progress of Christianity, cloth, 324 pp. (published at
10s. 6d.), 2s. 6d. P. 4^d.
The Eternal Gospel; or, the Idea of Christian Perfectibility.
(Published at 2s. by Thomas Scott.) In two parts, 3d. each,
in all, 6d. P. 2d.
Malan, Rev. S. C., D.D.—
Select Readings in the Greek Text of S. Matthew, lately pub
lished by Rev. Drs. Westcott and Hort. Witha P.S. on “ The
Revisers and the Greek Text of the New Testament ”. 72 pp.
in wrapper (published at 2s.) 3d. P. ld.
Mansel, Professor—
Philosophy of the Conditioned : with criticisms on Mill’s Exami
nation of Sir W. Hamilton’s Philosophy.- 2s. P. 3d.
Manual, A Practical, of the Law of Sales of Food, Drinks, and
Medicines, by Barrister and Magistrate. Stiff paper cover,
post 8vo, 80 pp. (published at 2s.), 3d. P. ld.
McCosh., Rev. Prof. J., LL.D.—
The Association of Ideas, and its influence on the training of
the Mind. 36 pp., wrapper, ld. P. Jd.
Melancholy Anatomised. Showing its Causes, Consequences,
and Cure. Also giving the definition, affection, matter, and
species of melancholy, and dealing with love and religious
melancholies. With anecdotal illustrations drawn from Ancient
and Modern Sources. Founded chiefly on Burton’s celebrated
work. Crown 8vo, 300 pp., beautifully printed on toned paper,
prettily bound, Is. P. 3d.
Men of the Third Republic.—Cloth, 8vo, 384pp., Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Mitra, Rajendralala, LL.D., C.I.E.—
Indo-Aryans: Contributions towards the Elucidation of their
Ancient and Mediaeval History.
Portion of Contents: Origin of Indian architecture —Principles of Indian temple
architecture—Indian sculpture—Dress and ornament in ancient India—Furni
ture, domestic utensils, musical instruments, arms, horses and cars in ancient
India—Beef in ancient India—Spirituous drinks in ancient India—A picnic in
ancient India—On human sacrifice among the Athenians—On the Indian Styx
and its ferriage—An imperial coronation in ancient India—On human sacrifices
in ancient India—Funeral ceremony in ancient India—On the supposed identity
of the Greeks with the Yavanas of the Sanskrit writers—On the Paia and the
Sena dynasties of Bengal—On the peculiarities of the Gatha dialect—On the
Rishya of the Aitareya Brfihmana—On the origin of the Hindi language and its
relation to the Urdu dialect—Vestiges of the kings of Gwalior—Bhoja PAja of
Dhar and of his homonyms—Early life of As’oka—The primitive Aryans—Ori
gin of the Sanskrit alphabet, etc.
Numerous illustrations, and very copious index. Clotb, new,
uncut, 2 handsome vols., 8vo, (pub. at 36s.), 7s. 6d. P. 7|d.
MODERN REVIEW.—In good condition; 4d. per copy, postage 3d.
1882: January contains: Churches established and non-established, by
�22
Dr. G. Vance Smith; Herbert Spencer’s Data.of Ethics, by J. T. Bixby;
Religious instruction in schools, by J. H. Smith; Richard Cobden, by S.
Alfred SteinthaJ; Moral influence of the Christian pulpit, by J. Drummond, etc.,
etc. April contains: Ecclesiastes, by T. Tyler; Materialism, by Mr. Justice
Richmond; The seven CEeumenical Councils, by Dr. J. Hunt; Rhys Davids’
Hibbert lectures ; Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, by A. Armitt; Darwinism
and religion, by H. W. Crosskey, etc., etc. 1883 : January contains: The litera
ture of Israel, by P. H. Wicksteed; Natural religion; Progress and poverty, by
G. Sarson; Abolition of judicial oaths, by C. C. Coe, etc., etc. April contains:
Catholic Church in Erance, by a Drench Catholic priest; Deuteronomy, by Prof.
■ J. E. Carpenter; Overstrain in education, by R. A. Armstrong ; Correspondence
of Carlyle and Emerson ; Man and his relatives: a question of morality, by A.
Armitt; Memory and personal identity, by the Hon. Roden Noel, etc., etc.
Monteil, Edgar—Catechisme d’un Libre Penseur. Is. P. 3d.
Morley, John—
Diderot and the Encyclopaedists, 8s. P. 4|d.
Rousseau. 2 vols. (published at 24s.), 7s. 6d. P. 7|d.
Motley, J. Lothrop (Author of “ Dutch Republic ”)—
• Democracy: the Climax of Political Progress and Destiny of
Advanced Races. Demy 8vo, 32 pp., 2d. P. |d.
Wayler, B. S.—-The Sabbath question. 4to, 64 pp., 2d., post free 3d.
Nicholson, N. A., M.A , Trin. Coll., Oxon.—
The Science of Exchanges. Is. P. 3d.
Nulty, A.—Land Agitation in Ireland. 2d.
O’Keefe, Father—
Ultramontanism v. civil and religious liberty. Demy 8vo, 270
pp., Is. P. 4|d.
O’Kelly, E. de Pentheny—
Theology for the people. Cloth gilt, 9d. P. 3d.
• Owen, Robert D.—
Lecture on Consistency. Situations—lawyers, clergy, physicians,
men and women. Id. each, post free.
Ozanam, A. Frederic—
History of Civilisation in the fifth century. Translated from
the French by Ashley C. Glynn, B.A. 2 vols. in one, 470 pp.,
an excellent work, 2s. 6d. P. 4jd.
Paine, Thomas—
Political pamphlets—“ Decline and fall of the English system
of Finance” ; “Public good” ; “Letters to the citizens of
America” ; “Agrarian Justice opposed to Agrarian Law and
Agrarian Monopoly, with a plan for creating a National Fund ” ;
“Dissertations on the first principles of Government”. The
five free for 6d.
Paris, Comte de—
T
.
The Trades Unions of England. Translated by Nassau J. Senior.
Edited by Thomas Hughes, M.P. (Published at 7s. 6d.) 2s. P.3d.
Mamelukes to the death of Mohammed Ali. 2 vols., cloth,
published at 18s., now reduced to 5s. P. 7|d.
Peasant’s Home, The.—Showing progress of agriculturallabofers
from 1760 to 1865. Crown 8vo, 136 pp., 6d. P. 3d.
�23
Poetic Treasures; or, passages from the Poets.—Chrono,
logically arranged from John Barbour and Geoffrey Chaucer in
the early part of the 14th century to Algernon Swinburne644 pp., 3s. 6d. P. 4|d.
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW.—(Illustrated by the best Artists.)
Only the following- numbers now to be had. Price 3d. per number (published
at 2s. 6d.), post. 3d. The eight numbers for 2s. 9d. Any five numbers free
for Is. 9d.
1879. January contains: Self-fertilisation of Plants, by Rev
G. Henslow; Oldest Mountain in England, by C. Callaway; Electric Light, by
W. H. Stone; Origin of Tams, by J. C. Ward ; Gap between the Chalk and
Eocene m England and the Upper Cretaceous Floras, by J. S. Gardner, etc.
with illustrations. _ April contains : Evolution of the Elements by M. M. P. Muir Structure and Origin of the Limestones, by H. C. Sorby ; Supposed New Crateron the Moon, by E. Neison; Entomology, by W. S. Dallas ; Sources and Uses of
Iron Pyrites, by J. A. Phillips, etc., with fine plates. July contains : The Birth.
Lite and Death of a Storm, by Robert H. Scott; Extinct Animals of the Colonies
of Great Britain, by Prof. Richard Owen; The Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniterous Rocks m the London Area, by R. Etheridge; Is Nest-building an Instinct
in Birds, by Ben]. T. Lowne; Light-emitting Animals, by Prof. P. M. Duncan,
etc., most interesting plates. October contains : Geysers, Hot Springs, and Ter
races of New Zealand, by J. Martin; Jade and Kindred Stones, by F W RudlerAmerican Dredgings in the Caribbean Sea. by A. Agassiz ; The' Most Powerful
Telescope in Existence, by E. Neison; Flight and its Imitation, by Fred. W. Breary,
etc., illustrated.—1880. January contains: Law of Association in the Animal
Kingdom, by M. Edm. Perrier; Argentine Republic, by Chas. Oxlond ; Meteors,
by W. F. Denning; The Dmosauna, by Prof. H. G. Seeley, etc., excellent plates.
April eontams: The Threshold of Evolution, by Surgeon-Major Wallich ; Arti
ficial Diamonds, by F. W. Rudler; Chamseleons, by Prof. J. Reay Greene • The
New Chemistry, by M. M. P. Muir; Classification of the Tertiary Deposits, by
Irot. John W. Judd, etc., interesting illustrations. July contains: Climbing
Plants, by Francis Darwin; On the Influence of Electricity in the Formation of
Rocks, by M. F. de Castro ; Feather Stars, Recent and Fossil, by P. H. Carpenter;
Sunspots and British Weather, by W. L. Dallas; Hardening and Tempering of
Steel, etc., beautiful plates. October contains : Opinions of Voltaire and Laplace
regarding Geology, by Prof. P. M. Duncan ; A Large Crater, by Prof. John Milne:
Infusoria as Parasites, by W. S. Kent; The August Meteors, by W. F. Denning
etc., with good illustrations.
s
Portraits handsome, fit for framing, of John Bright, Gladstone,
and Beaeonsfield, 6d. each.
Preston, S. Tolver—
I. Social Relations of the Sexes ; II. Science and Sectarian Re
ligion ; III. Scientific Basis of Personal Responsibility; IV.
Evolution and Female Education. Cloth, 8vo, 80 pp., 6d. P. 2d.
Priestley, Joseph.—The life and writings of. ld.
Rae, W. Fraser—
Facts about Manitoba. Reprinted, with additions, from the
Times. With two maps, 3d. P. ljd. Useful to emigrants.
Ramage, C. T., LL.D.—
The Nooks and .By-ways of Italy. Wanderings in search of its
ancient remains and modern superstitions. Crown 8vo cloth,
314 PP- (published at 10s. 6d.), Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Reade, Winwood—The Outcast, Is. 6d. P. 3d.
Readings for Travellers.—4 vols. 6d. each. P. lid. Can be
- bought separately.
Reclus, E.—History of a mountain. Cloth, gilt, 3s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Reichenbach, O.—
Configuration of the Earth and the Evolution of its Mechanical
Causes. 100 pp., 8vo, 3d. P. 2d,
�24
Seville, Albert—
Apollonius of Tyana, the Pagan Christ. 112 pp. Limp cloth
6d. P. 2d.
Robertson, J. (of Cupar-Angus)—
The Finding of the Book. An essay on the origin of the Dogma
of Infallibility. This is the important work which provoked
the famous heresy prosecution. Published at 2s. Post free Is.
Roscoe, W.
Life and Pontificate of Leo X.
P. 2|d.
Neatly bound, pp. 425. Is
Rossel, Capt. L. N.—
Posthumous papers. Including letters to Gambetta and others,
1871. Pp. 294. Is. P. 3d.
S., C. V.—Letters to and from Borne in the years A.D. 61, 62,
and 63. Translated. Cloth, 8vo, 69 pp., 6d. P. 2d.
Salamanca, Don Felix de—
The Philosophy of Handwriting. With fac-simile autographs
of distinguished authors, artists, statesmen, journalists, etc.,
etc. Cloth, 8vo, 153 pp. (published at 4s. 6d.), price Is. P. 3d.
Salvator of Austria, Archduke Ludwig—
Caravan route between Egypt and Syria. With 23 full-page
illustrations by the author, demy 8vo, cloth extra (published at
7s. 6d.) 3s. P. 4|d.
Samson, G. W.—
The English Revisers’ Greek Text shown to be unauthorised, ex
cept by Egyptian copies discarded by Greeks, and opposed
to Historic Texts of all ages and churches. Paper, 132 pp.,
6d. P. 2d.
Sane Patient—
Experiences in a lunatic asylum. Cloth, 167 pp., Is. 6d. P 3d.
Sangster, J.—
Rights and duties of Property. Plan for paying off the National
Debt. The Land Question. Cloth, 260 pp., 6d. P. 3d.
Satan : His existence disproved. Id. P. Jd.
Scott, Thomas—
English Life of Jesus.
Cloth, 349 pp. 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
Scottish Border Minstrelsy (Collected by Sir Walter Scott)—
Half-calf, gilt.
3s. P. 4|d.
Shadwell, J. L.—
Political Economy for the People. Cloth, 154 pp.. 6d. P. 2d.
Shelley, P. B.—
The Poet of Atheism and Democracy. Two volumes, each com
plete in itself. Later Poems. Posthumous Poems. Is. each.
The two volumes by parcels post, 2s. 6d.
Simon, Collyns, Hon. LL.D.—
Solar Illumination of the Solar Svstem. Cloth 8vo, 219 pp., Is.
P. 3|d.
�25
Smith, Adam—
Inquiry into the Nature and Gauses of the Wealth of Nations.
Cloth 8vo, 780 pp., 2s. P. 4^d.
Smith, Arthur—
Political Economy Examined and Explained. Containing an ex
plication of that which the public understand by the words
wealth, value, and capital. Cloth gilt, 196 pp., Is. P. 3d.
Smith, Sydney—
Essays. Reprinted from the Edinburgh, Review, 1802— 1818.
Pp. 508, cloth 8vo, 2s. P. 4|d. Contains the famous essay
against the Society for Suppression of Vice.
Sonnenschein, A.—
Educational Code Reform, being a comparison between fifteen
foreign codes and the English code. With a letter from A. J.
Mundella, M.P. 162 pp. Reduced to 3d., post free.
Stapleton, A. A.—
The Foreign policy of G-reat Britain, from 1790 to 1865. Demy
8vo, 300 pp. 2s. P. 4|d.
Sullivan, Sir Edward—
The Princes of India: an historical narrative of the principal
events from the invasion of Mahmoud of G-hizni to that of
Nadir Shah. With sketch map of India. Cloth, 552 pp.
(published at 8s. 6d.), 2s. P. 4|d.
Survival, The, with an apology for Scepticism. 471 pp. Is. P. 4Jd.
Taine, H. A.—
History of English Literature. Translated by H. Van Laun.
2 vols. Vol. I. 530 pp.; Vol. II. 550 pp. (published at 24s.)
12s. P. 7Jd.
Taylor, Bev. Bobert, B.A.—
The Devil’s Pulpit; being Astronomico-Theological Discourses.
Two vols. bound in one, 2s., originally published at 8s. P. 6d.
The Gospel History and Doctrinal Teaching1 Critically
Examined. Cloth gilt, 255 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 4Jd.
Torrens, W. M., M.P.—
Marquess Wellesley; Pro-Consul and Tribune. An historic
portrait. 520 pp. DemySvo. (Published at 14s.) 2s. 6d. P.6d.
Travis, Henry—Advanced Co-operation English Socialism, 2d.
Manual of Social Science, 2d.
Trollope, T. A.—
The Papal Conclaves, as they were and as they are. 434 pp.,
handsomely bound (published at 16s.), 3s. P. 6d.
Trial of P. McDouall, the Chartist. Post free, 2d.
Udny, Geo. (Barrister)—Harmony of Laws. 6d. P. 2d.
Unity, Duality, and Trinity of the Godhead .—With digres
sions on the Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrec
�tion, Infallibility of the Scriptures, Inspiration, Miracles, Fu
ture Punishments, Revision of the Bible, etc. A discussion by
over 250 clergymen, Dissenting Ministers, and Laymen. Cloth,
8vo, 250 pp. (published at 6s.), lOd. Post free, parcels post, Is.
Valbezen de, E,—
The English and India. Origin and beginning of the Mutiny,
siege of Delhi, siege of Lucknow, insurrection in Central
India, cause of the Mutiny, end of the East India Company,
the new charter for India, etc., etc. Cloth, 498 pp. 3s.
(published at 12s.). P. 6d.
Valentin, Dr. G.—
Textbook of Physiology. Brinton’s edition. With upwards of
500 illustrations on wood, copper, and stone. Cloth 8vo. 684
pp., 4s. P. 6d.
Van Laun, Henri—
History of French Literature, from its origin to the end of Louis
Phillippe. In 3 vols. New and uncut, 1244 pp. in all, 18s.
(Published at 24s.)
Vign, Cornelius—
Cetshwayo’s Dutchman: private journal of a White Trader in
Zululand during British Invasion. Notes by Bishop Colenso, and
portrait of Cetshwayo. Cloth, gilt. 193 pp. Is. 6d. P. 4|d.
Volney, C. F.—Lectures on History. Post free 6d.
Von Cotta, Prof. Bernhard—
The Development-Law of the Earth. Cloth, 43 pp. Post free 6d.
Wake, C. Staniland—
Chapters on Mari, with the outlines of a Science of Comparative
Psychology. Pp. 343 (published at 7s. 6d.), 2s. 6d. P. 4jd.
Wall, D.D., Charles William—
Examination of the Ancient Orthography of the Jews and of the
original state of the text of the Hebrew Bible. Part III.,
Vol. 1: The sacred text originally written without vowel-let
ters or any other signs whatever of the voca considered apart
from the articulate, ingredient of syllabic sound. Cloth, crown
8vo, 376 pp., 2s. P. 4|d.
Walpole, Hon. Spencer—Life of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, including his corre
spondence with numerous distinguished persons. In 2 vols.,
cloth 8vo, with portrait, 3s. P. 7|d.
Wartegg, Chevalier de Hesse—
Tunis; the Land and the People. Containing 22 very fine
engravings, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, pp. 292 (published
at 9s.), offered at 2s. P. 6d.
Watson, Rev. J. S., M.A.—
Biographies of John Wilkes and William Cobbett, with steel
gravings. Good index, 410 pp., 2s. 6d. P. 4|d.
�__aX___l_k
xJ____ L
,<T..... fH
27
'WESTMINSTER REVIEW.—Religious, Political, and Social Ques
tions, Science, Art, and Literature, dealt with by the ablest writers of the times.
The following numbers can be obtained at 6d. each, and, besides the articles
mentioned below, contain reviews of the contemporary literature. It will be better
to buy several numbers, as they go very cheaply by Sutton or rail; and by post
each 4|d. extra. By parcels post six numbers can be sent post free for
3s. 6d.----- 1867. April contains Italy and the War of 1866; Papal Drama;
Thomas Hobbes; New America; Hopes and Fears of Reformers; Swinburne’s
Poetry; Contemporary Music and Musical Literature, etc.----- 1870. July
contains Unpublished Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1815-16; Indian
Taxation; Future of the British Empire; Shelley; Roman Catholicism, _ Pre
sent and Future, etc. etc.----- 1871. July contains Religious Life and Tendencies in
Scotland ; Walt Whitman; Genesis of the Free Will Doctrine; Republicans of the
Commonwealth; Early English Literature; Function of Physical Pain; Method of
Political Economy, etc., etc. October contains Pilgrim Fathers; Greek Democracy;
Faraday; Chaucer; Modern Science and Arts; Authorship of Junius; The Baptists;
Lessing, etc., etc.——1874. April contains The Bible as interpreted by Mr. Arnold;
Pangenesis; Song of Songs; Development of Psychology; Moral Philosophy at Cam
bridge, etc., etc.----- 1875. July contains Sunday and Lent; Allotropic Christianity;
Education in Prussia and England ; Evidences of Design in Nature, etc.----- 1876.
July contains Sunday in England; Early Phases of Civilisation ; Compulsory Medi
cation of Prostitutes in England; Renan’s Philosophical Dialogues; Lord Macaulay,
etc., etc. October contains Political Economy as a Safeguard of Democracy; Indian
Affairs; Lord Althorp and the First Reform Act; William Godwin, etc., etc.
1877.
April contains Courtship and Marriage in France ; Slavery in Africa; Russia; Charles
Kingsley; Popular Fallacies concerning the Functions of Government, etc., etc.
July contains Chartered Guilds of London; Illicit Commissions ; Harriet Mar
tineau; Our Gaelic Culture; Cradle of the Blue Nile; The Eastern Question, etc.,
etc.---- 1878. January contains Democracy in Europe ; Education of Girls : their
admissibility to Universities; The Indian Famine; Charles Sumner; Lessing;
Charlotte Bronte, etc., etc. April contains Russian Aggression and the Duty of
Europe; An Indian District: its People and Administration ; Popular Buddhism4
according to the Chinese Canon; Peasant Life in France and Russia, etc., etc.
•---- 1880. January contains Social Philosophy; Russia and Russian Reformers;
Early Greek Thought; Colonial Aid in War Time, etc., etc. April contains
Marquis Wellesley in India; Masson’s Milton; Greek Humanists; Nature and
Law; Charles Dickens ; Animal Intelligence; India and our Colonial Empire, etc.,
etc.----- 1881. July contains George Eliot, her Life and Writings ; Characteristics
of Aristotle; Island Life ; George the Fourth; Development of Religion, etc., etc.
Wikoff, Henry—The Four Civilisations of the World. 416 pp.,
cloth, reduced to 2s. P. 4|d.
Willis, R., M.D.—
Servetus and Calvin. Splendid portraits of Servetus and Calvin ;
demy 8vo, 542 pp. (published at 16s.), 4s. P. 6d.
Yeats, J., LL.D., &c., and others—
The Natural History of Saw Materials of Commerce A Manual
of Recent and Existing Commerce from the year 1789 to 1872.
The Technical History of Commerce. In six vols. (published
at 18s.), 4s. 6d. By parcel post, 5s. 6d.
Yorke, Onslow—
Secret History of “The International” Working Men’s Asso
ciation. Crown 8vo, 166 pp, limp cloth (published at 2s.), 6d.
P. 2d.
A. BOiNNER, Urtijirr,
(Manager, Freethought Publishing Co.’s Printing Office),
34, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET
STREET, E.C.
�28
THE
NATIONAL REFORMER.
EDITED BY
CHARLES BBADLAUGH and ANNIE BESANT.
WEEKLY—PRICE TWOPENCE.
••
Post-free per annum to any part of Great Britain, Europe, Egypt,
the United States, and British America, 10s. lOd. New Zealand,
Australia, British African Colonies, South America, West Indies,
Ceylon, and China, via United States, 13s. India, Japan, and China.,
via Brindisi, 15s. 2d.
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE EDITED BY
ANNIE
IJKNVNr.
PRICE SIXPENCE, Post free, Sevenpence; Yearly Subscription,
post free, Seven Shillings.
London: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh,
63, Fleet Street, E.C.-—1887.
��
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 working man's programme (arbeiter-programm)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lassalle, Ferdinand
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 59, [1] p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Stamp on p. 59: South Place Chapel Finsbury, Lending Library.
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
1884
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
T470
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Peters, Edward (tr)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Socialism
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The working man's programme (arbeiter-programm)), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><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
Addresses
Political Manifesto
Socialism
Speeches
Working Classes
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/afe45c5d1617d7ac73c386392663ed4f.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=WjHHLFrZSUIYZ1Xg0Da0p-1JbPZinH4-Q--RL%7EPB1iB8Hx4QOq%7ExriJNMinoqDl0pfKH9pejWHUeCdMcgQnHyB0Y9f202wSb7gHI4pMah1Osa7B%7EV-GWxZYZC-C0lvxn9o%7E8gXlaQFuyYjj9xlKKOn4Zcr8PXoWtcbM8kRXNfVcoc-bynxoewMF4a-gGW7vko%7EHhCYMY8DEDwMcJ3hIePBz50TKt7882xzh%7ENdifaFQWFyfnIUoDRzpPMFW%7EZ2jN24EnbWVDty8vn8iMRUcmuzGnXzgnJukmSo4Ch59Jkfcam0uNv6VfQ7FckT92d%7EHodGY16UIFqLt8TvZeqHHYGg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
d99e0d6ab02cf7eeb5fd1439f487e609
PDF Text
Text
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
THE
SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
BY
ANNIE
[Reprinted
from the
BESANT.
“Westminster Review”.]
LONDON :
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
63, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1 8 8 7.
PRICE
THREEPENCE.
�I
LONDON :
TRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAVGH,
63, FLEET STREET, E.C,
�n)(T7#
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
Some good-hearted people must have felt an uncomfortable
thrill when they heard Professor Huxley declare that he
would rather have been born a savage in one of the Fiji
Islands than have been born in a London slum. The
advantages of civilisation, from the slum point of view,
must appear somewhat doubtful; and as a considerable
part of the population of every large city live in the slums,
the slum view has an importance of its own as a factor in
the future social evolution. For it must be remembered
that the slum population is not wholly composed of
criminals and ne’er-do-weels—the “ good-for-nothings ”
•of Herbert Spencer. The honest workman and struggling
seamstress live there cheek by jowl with the thief and
and the harlot; and with the spread of education has
arisen an inclination to question whether, after all, every
thing has been arranged quite as well as it might be in
this best of all possible worlds. The question, Whether
• on the whole civilisation has been an advantage? has
been a theme of academical discussion since Rousseau
won the prize for an essay on 11 Has the restoration of the
• Sciences contributed to purify or to corrupt Manners ? ”
■ and laid down the audacious thesis that riches gave birth
to luxury and idleness, and from luxury sprang the arts,
from idleness the sciences. But it has now changed its
form, and has entered the arena of practical life: men
. are asking now, Is it rational that the progress of society
should be as lopsided as it is ? Is it necessary that,
while civilisation brings to some art, beauty, refinement—
all that makes life fair and gracious—it should bring to
•others drudgery, misery, degradation, such as no un
�4
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
civilised people know; and these emphasised and rendered
the bitterer by the contrast of what life is to many, thedream of what it might be to all ? For Professor Huxley
is right. The savage has the forest and the open sea, the
joy of physical strength, food easily won, leisure sweet
after the excitement of the chase; the civilised toiler hasthe monotonous drudgery of the stuffy workshop, the hell
of the gin-palace for his pleasure-ground, the pande
monium of reeking court and stifling alley for his lullaby :
civilisation has robbed him of all natural beauty and
physical joy, and has given him in exchange—the slum.
It is little wonder that, under these circumstances, there
are many who have but scant respect for our social fabric,
and who are apt to think that any change cannot land
them in a condition worse than that in which they already
find themselves.
The tendency to think of complete social change as a
possible occurrence has come down to the present genera
tion as an inheritance of the past. Old men still dwell
fondly on the hopes of the “ social missionaries ” who were
preaching when the men now of middle-age were born.
Some even fem ember the experiments of Fobert Owen and
of his personal disciples, the hopes raised by New Lanark
and Arbiston, the chill disappointment of New Harmony.
The dream that glorified their youth has remained a sacred
memory, and they have told how all might have been
different had society been prepared in Owen’s time for the
fundamental change. And the great and far-reaching
co-operative movement, born of Owen’s Socialism, has kept
“his memory green”, and has prepared men to think of
a possible future in which co-operation should wholly re
place competition, and Owen’s dream of universal brother
hood become a living reality. Such part of the energy of
the Owenite Socialists as was not merged in co-operative
activity was swamped in the sudden rush of prosperity
that followed the repeal of the Corn Laws and the English
triumph of Free Trade. Now that that rush is long over,
and the old misery is on the workers once .more, their
minds turn back to the old schemes, and they listen readily
to suggestions of a new social order.
.
The abnormally rapid multiplication characteristic of the
very poor is at once constantly rendering the problem to
be solved more difficult and more imperatively pressing.
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
5
Unhealthy conditions force the young into premature
nubility; marriage takes place between mere lads and
lasses; parenthood comes while father and mother are
themselves legally infants; and the dwarfed, peaky little
•mortals, with baby frames and wizened faces, that tumble
-over each other in the gutters of the slums, are the un
wholesome and unlovely products of the forcing-house of
extreme poverty.
The spread of education and of religious scepticism has
added the last touch necessary to make the poor ripe for
social change. Ignorance is a necessary condition for
prolonged submission to remediable misery. The School
Boards are teaching the children the beauty of order,
•cleanliness, and decency, and are waking up in them desire
for knowledge, hopes, and aspirations—plants unsuited for
■cultivation in the slums. They are sowing the seeds of a
noble discontent with unworthy conditions, while at the
same time they are developing and training the intelli
gence, and are converting aimless, sullen grumbling into
a rational determination to understand the Why of the
present, and to discover the How of change. Lastly, reli
gious scepticism has enormously increased the value put
upon the life which is. So long as men believed that the
present life was the mere vestibule of an endless future, it
was possible to bribe them into quiescence in misery by
.representing poverty as a blessing which should hereafter
bring in its train the “kingdom of heaven”. But now
that many look on the idea of a life beyond the grave with
•doubt, and even with disbelief, this life has taken giant
proportions in their eyes, and the human longing for
happiness, which erstwhile fed on hopes of heaven, has
fastened itself with passionate intensity on the things of
•earth.
Such is the soil, ploughed by misery, fertilised by edu
cation and scepticism, ready to receive and nourish the
seed of social change.
While the soil has been thus preparing, the sowers who
•are to scatter the seed have been fashioning. Thoughtful
persons have noted the regular cycle of alternate depres
sion and inflation trodden by industrialism during the last
century. At one time industry progresses ‘ ‘ by leaps and
bounds ”, employment is plentiful, wages high (as wages
.go), prices of coal and iron high, profits increase, and
�6
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
fortunes are rapidly built up. This inflation after a whilepasses away, and is succeeded by depression ; 11 short time
is worked, wages are reduced, profits diminish, the “ market
is overstocked”. This in its turn passes away, and tem
porary prosperity returns, to be after a while succeeded
by another depression, and that by another inflation. But
it is noticeable that the depressions become more acute and
more prolonged as they return time after time, and that
there is less elasticity of revival after each. The position
of England in the world’s markets becomes yearly one of
diminished advantage ; other nations raise their own coaland their own iron instead of buying from us, and as thecompetition of nations becomes keener, English trade can
no longer monopolise the custom of the world. The radical
weakness of our industrial system is thus becoming patent
•—no longer veiled, as it was during the first half of the
century, by a monopoly which brought such enormousgains that the drain of wealth into a few hands was com
paratively little felt. Now that there is so much less to.divide, the unfairness of the method of division is becoming
obvious.
Nor can we overlook, in tracing the fashioning of thosewho are to sow the seeds of change, the effect on English
thought of the greatly increased communication with
foreign countries, and especially with Germany. English
religious thought has been largely influenced by the worksof Strauss and Eeuerbach ; philosophic thought by those
of Hegel, Kant, and Schopenhauer ; scientific by the specu
lations of Goethe, the practical labors of Vogt, Buchner,
and Haeckel. English insularity has been broken down
in every domain of theoretical and speculative thought ; it
was inevitable that it should also be broken down in the ■
domain of practical sociology, and that German proposals-'for social change should win the attention of English
students of social problems. The works of Marx, Bebel,.
Liebknecht, and Engels have not reached any large num
ber of English people ; neither have those of Strauss,
Hegel, and Kant. None the less in each case have they
exercised a profoundly modifying influence on religious,
philosophical, and sociological thought respectively ; for,
reaching a small band only, that band has in its turn in
fluenced thought in the direction taken by itself, and has
modified the views of very many who are unconscious of the.-
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
7
change thus wrought in their own attitude towards. pro
gress. At the same time the German graft has been itself
modified by the English stock, and English Socialism is
beginning to take its own distinctive color ; it is influenced
by English traditions, race, habit, and methods of public
procedure. It shows, at its best, the influence of .the openair of English political life, the tolerance, of diversity of
thought which is bred of free speech ; it is less arrogant,
less intolerant, than it is with Germans, or witn those
English who are most directly under German influence.
In Germany the intolerance of oppression has caused in
tolerance of revolt ; here the very power of the democracy
has a tendency to sober its speech, and to make it take its
Own way in the quiet consciousness of its resistless strength.
This peculiarity of English life must modify Socialism,
and incline it to resort to methods of legislation rather
than to methods of dynamite.
Nor has the effect of foreign thought been confined to
the influence exerted by thinkers over thinkers, through
the medium of the press. A potent worker for the inter
nationalisation of thought has been silently busy for many
years past. At first insular prejudices were broken down
only for the wealthy and the nobles, when the ‘ grand
tour ” was a necessary part of the education of the fine
gentleman. Then the capitalist broke down.national fences
for his own gain, feeling himself nearer in blood to his
foreign colleagues than to the workers in his own land ;
for, after all, common interests lie at the root of all. fellowfeeling. And the capitalist abolished nationalism for
himself : he hired Germans and Erenchmen for his count
ing-house work, finding them cheaper and better educated
than English clerks ; when his English wage-workers
struck for better wages he brought over foreigners to take
their place, so that he might live on cheap foreign labor
while he starved the English into submission. . The effect
of foreign immigration and of foreign importation has not
in the long run turned wholly to the advantage of the
capitalist ; for his foreign clerks and his foreign workers
have fraternised with the English they were brought, over
to displace. They have taken part in club discussions ;
they have spread their own views ; they have popularised
in England the ideas current among workers on the
tinent ; they have made numbers of Englishmen acquainted
�8
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
with the solutions suggested abroad for social problems.
Thus, the internationalism of the luxurious idle and of the
wealthy capitalist has paved the way for the interna
tionalism of the future—the internationalism of the prole
tariat, the internationalism of Socialism.
From this preliminary sketch of the conditions which
make for a Socialist movement in England at the present
time we must turn to an examination of the doctrines held
and taught by the modern school, which claims to teach
what is known as Scientific Socialism. The allegation, or
even the proof, that modern civilisation is to a large ex
tent a failure, is obviously not sufficient ground for a com
plete social revolution. Appeals to the emotions by means
of word-pictures of the sufferings and degradation of the
industrious, poor, may rouse sympathy, and may even
excite to. riot, but can never bring about fundamental
changes in society. The intellect must be convinced ere
we can look for any wise movement in the direction of
organic improvement; and while the passion of the igno
rant has its revolutionary value, it is on the wisdom and
foresight of the instructed that we must rely for the work
of social reconstitution.
The. first thing to realise is that the Socialist move
ment is an economic one. Despite all whirling words,
and revolution fire, and poetic glamor, and passionate
appeal, this one dry fact is the central one — Socialism
rej ects the present industrial system and proposes an ex
ceedingly different one. No mere abuse can shake the
Socialist; no mere calling of names can move him.
He holds a definite economic theory—a theory wbieb
should neither be rejected without examination, nor ac
cepted without study.
The preliminary stock objection which is often held to
be sufficient to wave Socialism out of court is the statement
that it is “against the laws of political economy”. No
statement could be more erroneous; though it may be
pleaded in extenuation that the abuse levelled by ignorant
Socialists at political economy has given excuse for sup
posing that it is in antagonism to Socialism. With political
economy, as the science which deals with the nature, the
production, and the distribution of wealth, Socialism can
have no quarrel. Its quarrel is with the present industrial
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
9
system, not with the science which points out the ascer
tained sequence of events under that system. Suppose
a régime of avowed slavery : political economy, dealing
with the production of wealth in such a state, would lay
down how slaves might be worked to the best advantage—
how most might be got out of them with least expenditure.
But it would be irrational to attack political economy as
brutal under such conditions ; it would be the slave system
which would be brutal, and blame of the science which
merely dealt with the existent facts would be idle. The
work of political economy is to discern and expound for
any type of social system the best methods of producing
and distributing wealth under that system ; and it can as
easily study and develop those methods under a régime of
universal co-operation such as Socialism, as under a régime
of universal competition such as the present. Socialism is
in antagonism to the present system, and seeks to over
throw it ; but only the ignorant and the thoughtless con
found in their hatred the system itself, and the science that
deals with its phænomena.
In truth, Socialism founds part of its disapproval of
the present industrial system on the very facts pointed
out by orthodox economists. It accepts Ricardo’s “iron
law of wages ”, and, recognising that wages tend to fall
to the minimum on which the laborer can exist, it de
clares against the system of the hiring of workers for a
fixed wage, and the appropriation of their produce by the
hirer. It accepts Ricardo’s theory of rent, with such
modifications as are adopted by all modern economists.
It assents to, and indeed insists on, the facts that all
wealth is the result of labor applied to natural agents,
that capital is the result of labor and abstinence, that in
all save the most primitive forms of industry capital and
labor—that is, the unconsumed result of past labor and
present labor—are both necessary factors in the produc
tion of wealth.
Nor does Socialism challenge the aecuracy of the deduc
tions from the “laws of political economy” in a com
petitive system drawn by the trading community. That
a man who desires wealth should buy in the cheapest
market and sell in the dearest ; that he should drive the
hardest possible bargains ; that in selling he should be
guided by the maxim, caveat emptor ; that in buying he
�10
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
should take advantage of the ignorance or the necessities
of the seller; that the weakest should go the wall; that
feeling should not interfere with business; that labor
should be bought at the lowest possible price, and as
much got out of it as may be; that trade morality differs
from the morality of private life—all these maxims the
Socialist regards as the evil fruits of the perpetuation
among men of the struggle for existence; a struggle which,
however inevitable among brutes, is from his point of view
unworthy of human civilisation.
Recognising thus the unsatisfactory results which flow
naturally and inevitably from the present system, Socialism
proceeds to analyse the way in which wealth is produced
and accumulated under it, to seek for the causes of the
extreme wealth and. extreme poverty which are its most
salient characteristics.
Applying ourselves, then, to the study of the produc
tion of wealth, we find taking part therein three things—
natural agents, capital, and labor. These, under the pre
sent system, are represented in England by three types—
the landlord, the capitalist, and the proletarian. The
transitional organisms need not detain us: the landlord
who tills his land with his own hands, the capitalist who
works in his own mill—these are exceptions ; andwe are
concerned with the normal types. Abroad, the landlord
pure and simple is comparatively rare. Of these three, the
landlord owns the natural agents ; no wealth can be pro
duced without his consent. John Stuart Mill (“Principles
of Political Economy”, bk. ii., ch. xvi., sec. 1) remarks
that “ the only person, besides the laborer and th©
capitalist, whose consent is necessary to production, and
who can claim a share of the produce as the price of that
consent, is the person who, by the arrangements of society,
possesses exclusive power over some natural agent ”.
Given a person who, by possession of the natural agents
from which wealth can be produced, can prevent the pro
duction of wealth by withholding the raw material, and
you have a person who can successfully claim part of the
wealth to be produced as a condition of allowing produc
tion to take place. He gains, by virtue of his position,
wealth which one less fortunately placed can only acquire
by prolonged labor. Nay, more ; since many capitalists
will compete for the raw material when it is advantageously
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
11
situated, he will be able to obtain an ever higher price
from the most eager bidder ; as towns increase . and. trade
develops, competition will drive the price up still higher ;
and this ever-mounting “ rent”, paid, to the owner of the
natural agents, will enrich the lucky possessor, however
idle, ignorant, or useless he may be. Thus is produced
a class which has a vested right to tax industry, and
which taxes it in proportion to its success. Not an
improvement can be effected, nor a railway constructed,
nor a road made, without toll being first paid to the
owner of the soil. The whole nation is at the mercy
of a comparatively small class, so long as it consents to
admit that this class has a right to own the ground on
which the nation lives. Here is a point at which Socialism
finds itself in direct antagonism to the present system of
society. Socialism declares that natural agents ought not
to be private property, and that no idle class should be
permitted to stand between land and labor, and demand
payment of a tax before it will permit the production, of
wealth. Socialism holds that the soil on which a nation
is born and lives ought to belong to the nation as a whole,
and not to a class within the nation ; that the soil should
be cultivated by individuals, or by co-operative groups,
holding directly under the State—the ‘.‘State” here
meaning central organising body or district oiganising
body, according as the organisation is communal or cen
tralised. And here, among different Socialist schools,
difference in detail manifests itself. All agree that the
soil must in some fashion be controlled by the community,
and the benefits derivable from it spread over the com
munity. But some Socialists would have each commune
practically independent, with the soil on which it lives
vested in each; the agriculturists of the commune would
form an organised body for cultivating the soil, and the
agricultural products would be collected in the communal
store, and thence distributed as each member of the
commune had need of them. Nothing would here be
recognised as “ rent ”, since the total produce would pass
under communal control. Other Socialists favor a system
of more centralised management. But all agree that in
dividual property in land must disappear, and that in. the
future land must not be used as an investment which is to
bring in a profit in the shape of rent to some speculator or
�12
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
idler, but must be used for purposes of production for the
general good, yielding food and raw materials for clothing
and other necessaries of life, but profit in the shape of
rent to no individual.
The extreme Radical school of politicians accepts the
Socialist theory of land, and denounces private property in
the soil as vigorously as does the Socialist. In fact, the
Radical is a half-fledged Socialist—indignant as many
would be at the description: he is in favor of the State
being the landowner, but he boggles at the idea of
the State being the capitalist. His attitude to the land
is, however, an important factor in the Socialist move
ment, for it familiarises the national mind with the idea
of the State absorbing the functions hitherto belonging
to a class. The establishment of Land Courts, the fixing
of judicial rents, the legal restrictions put on the “rights”
of landlords—all these make for Socialism. M. Agathon
de Potter, a well-known Continental writer, rejoices over
the introduction of Mr. Charles Bradlaugh’s Bill for expro
priating landlords who keep cultivable land uncultivated,
and for vesting the forfeited lands in the State, as a direct
step towards Socialism. The shrinking of English poli
ticians from the name does not prevent their advance
towards the thing, and the Liberty and Property Defence
League is justified in its view that politics are drifting
steadily in a Socialist direction.
Pass we from the landlord who holds the natural agents
to the capitalist who holds the means of production. What
is capital, and how has it come into existence ? Capital is
any wealth which is employed for profit. On this there is
no dispute. As Senior says: “Economists are agreed
that whatever gives a profit is properly called capital ”.
Now, as all wealth is the result of labor applied to natural
agents, capital, being wealth, must have been so produced.
But another factor has been at work; as Marshall says:
it is “ the result of labor and abstinence ”. Wherever there
is capital there has been labor, and there has also
been abstinence from consumption. But in studying
the origin and the accumulation of capital, this remark
able historical fact stares us in the face—that capital is
not found in the hands of the laborious and the
abstemious, but is obtained by a process of confiscation
of the results of labor and the imposition of privation on
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
13
the laborious. On this John Stuart Mill has the following
pregnant passage :
“ In a rude and violent state of society it continually happens
that the person who has capital is not the very person who has
Saved it. but someone who, being stronger, or belonging to a
more powerful community, has possessed himself of it by
plunder. And even in a state of things in which property was
protected, the increase of capital has usually been, for a long
time, mainly derived from privations which, though essentially
the same with saving, are not generally called by that name,
because not.voluntary. The actual producers have been slaves,
compelled to produce as much as force could extort from them,
and to consume as little as the self-interest or the usually very
slender humanity of their taskmasters would permit. (“ Prin
ciples of Political Economy”, bk. i., ch. v., sec. 5).
Capital always has been, and it always must be,
obtained by the partial confiscation of the results of
labor ; that is, it must be accumulated by labor which
is not paid for, or by labor of which the payment is
deferred. In slave communities the slave-owner becomes
a great capitalist by appropriating the total results of
his slaves’ toil, and returning to them only such small
portion of it as suffices to keep the wealth-producers in
capable working order. That is, the wealth produced
minus the amount consumed by the producers, goes to
the owner, and that part of it which he does not consume
is laid by to be employed as capital. And it is worth
noting that no considerable accumulation of capital was
made, and no rapid progress in civilisation was possible,
until slavery was introduced. In a low stage of evolution
men will not deny themselves present for the sake of future
enjoyment, nor incur present toil for the sake of future
ease. But when, as was neatly said to me, the barbarian
discovered that he could utilise his conquered enemy to
much greater advantage by making him work than by
merely eating him, civilisation had a chance. Slavery
was, in truth, a necessary stage in social evolution ; only
by forced toil and forced privation was it possible to accu
mulate capital, and without capital no forms of complex
industry are realisable. At the present time that which
was done frankly and unblushingly in the slave régime is
done under a veil of fine phrases, among which free con
tract, free laborer, and the like, play a striking part. But
�14
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
in reality the “free laborer” only obtains as wage such
portion of the results of his labor as enables him to exist
at the standard of living current for his class at the time,
and the remainder of his produce goes to his employer.
And too often this portion of his is not sufficient to keep
him in capable working order, as is shown by the sombre
fact that the average age of the hand-workers at death is
far less than that of the idlers. For in truth the slave of
the past had this advantage over the wage-worker of the
present—-that it was to his master’s interest to keep the
slave in high physical condition, and to prolong his working
life ; whereas it is to the modern employer’s interest to
get as much work out of the “ free laborer ” as is possible
in a short time, and then to fling him aside as he begins
to flag, and hire in his place a younger and more vigorous
competitor, to be in his turn wrung dry and thrown away.
Before considering what Socialism would do with the
capitalist, we must turn to the proletarian, his necessary
correlative. A proletarian is a person who is possessed of
labor-force, and of nothing else. He is the incarnation of
the “labor” necessary for the production of wealth, the
third factor in our trio. This type, in our modern society,
is numerous, and is rapidly increasing. He is the very
antithesis of the really free laborer, who works on his own
raw material with his own instruments of production, and
produces for his own subsistence. In the country the
proletarian is born on somebody else’s land, and as he
grows up he finds himself owner of nothing except his
own body. The raw material around him is owned by the
landlord ; the instruments of production are owned by the
capitalist farmers. As he cannot live on his own labor
force, which can only become productive in conjunction
with raw material and means of production (capital), he
must either sell it or starve. Nominally he may be free ;
in reality he is no more free than is the slave. The slave
is free to refuse to work, and to take in exchange the lash,
the prison, the grave ; and such freedom only has the
present proletarian. If he refuses to work, he must take
the lash of hunger, the prison of the workhouse, and, on
continued refusal, the actual gaol. Nor can he put his
own price on this solitary property of his, his body—he
must sell it at the market rate ; and in some agricultural
counties of England at the present time the market rate
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
15
is from 7s. to 9s. a week. It is most significant of the
bearing of the propertyless condition of the proletarian
that many farmers obj ect to the very slight improvement
made in the laborer’s position by his being permitted to
rent at a high price a small allotment which he cultivates
for himself. The ground of the farmer’s objection is that
even such small portion of freedom makes the laborer
“too independent”, and thereby drives up wages. To
get the full advantage out of him, the proletarian must be
wholly dependent for subsistence on the wages he earns.
The town proletarian is in a similar position—neither land
nor instrument of production is his; but he also has his
labor force, and this he must sell, or he must starve.
We have arrived at the citadel of the Socialist position.
Here is this unpropertied class, this naked proletariat, face
to face with landlord and capitalist, who hold in their grip
the means of subsistence. It must reach those means of
subsistence or starve. The terms laid down for its accep
tance are clear and decisive : “We will place within your
hands the means of existence if you will produce sufficient
to support us as well as yourselves, and if you will consent
that the whole of your produce, over that which is sufficient
to support you in a hardy, frugal life, shall be the property
of us and of our children. If you are very thrifty, very
self-denying, and very lucky, you may be able to save
enough out of your small share of your produce to feed
yourself in your old age, and so avoid falling back on us.
Your children will tread the same mill-round, and we hope
you will remain contented with the position in which
Providence has placed you, and not envy those born to a
higher lot.” Needless to say, the terms are accepted by
a proletariat ignorant of its own strength, and the way to
profit is open to landlord and capitalist. The landlord,
as we have seen, obtains his share of the gains by taxing
the capitalist through raising his rent. The capitalist
finds his profit in the difference between the. wage he pays
and the value of the produce of his hired workers. The
wage is fixed by the competition for employment in the
labor market, and limited in its downward tendency by
the standard of living. The minimum wage is that on
which the worker can exist, however hardly. For less
than this he will not work. Every shilling above this is
fought over, and wage rises and falls by competition. At
�16
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
everstage of their relationship there is contest betweèn
employer and employed. If the wage is paid for a fixed
day’s work—as in nearly every trade—the employer tries
to lengthen the day, the employed to shorten it ; the
longer the day, the greater the production of “surplus
value ”—¿<?., of the difference between the wage paid and
the value produced. The employer tries to increase surplus
value by pressing the workers to exertion ; they lessen
exertion in order not to hasten the time of their discharge.
The employer tries still to increase surplus value by sup
planting male labor with female and child labor at lower
wages. The men resist such introduction, knowing that
the ultimate result is to increase the amount taken by
capital and to lessen that obtained by labor.
Now the Socialist alleges that these antithetical interests
can never be reconciled while capital and labor are the
possessions of two distinct classes. He points to the results
brought about by the capitalist class while it was left un
shackled by the State. The triumph of capitalism, and of
laisser-faire between employers and employed, was from
1764 to 1833. During that time not only adults but young
children were worked from fifteen to sixteen hours a day,
and the production of surplus value was enormous. The
huge fortunes of the Lancashire “cotton-princes” were
built up by these overtasked, quickly worn-out workers.
The invention of machinery centupled man’s productive
power, and its benefits were monopolised by a compara
tively small class ; while those who made the wealth
festered in closely crowded courts, those who appropriated
the wealth luxuriated in country seats ; one side of industri
alism is seen in the Lancashire mansions, pleasure-grounds,
and hothouses ; the Other in the reeking slums within the
sound of the factory bells. Under a saner system of pro
duction, the introduction of machinery would have lightened
toil, shortened the hours of necessary labor, and spread
abundance where there was want. Under capitalistic in
dustrialism it has built up huge fortunes for a few, and
has reduced thousands to conditions of insanitary living
and dreary degradation, worse than anything the world
has hitherto known. It has poisoned our rivers, polluted
our atmosphere, marred the beauty of our country’s face,
bestialised large numbers of our people. Improvements in
machinery, which should be hailed with joy, are regarded
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
17
with dread by large classes of workers, because they will
throw numbers out of work, and reduce men, who were
skilled laborers with the old machinery, into the ranks of
the unskilled. True, the result of the introduction of
machinery has been to cheapen—in consequence of com
petition among capitalists—many commodities, especially
articles of clothing. But this effect is little felt among the
laboring classes. They can buy perhaps three coats where
they used to buy one, but the easily worn-out shoddy,
thought good enough for clothes sold in poor quarters, is
but a poor exchange for the solid hand-made stuffs worn
by their ancestors.
What, then, is the remedy proposed by Socialism ? It
is to deal with capital as it deals with land; to abolish the
capitalist as well as the landlord, and to bring the means
of production, as well as the natural agents on which they
are used, under the control of the community.
Capital is, as we have seen, the result of unpaid labor;
in a complex system like our own it is the result of co
operative—that is, of socialised—labor. It has been found
Iby experience that division of labor increases productive
ability, and in all forms of industry numbers now co
operate to turn out the finished product. In each com
modity is embodied the labor of many workers, and the
Socialisation of labor has reached a very advanced stage.
But while industrialism has been socialised in its aspect of
labor, it has remained individualistic in its aspect of capi
tal ; and the results of the combined efforts of many are
appropriated to the advantage of one, and when the one
has exhausted his power of consumption he retains the
remaining results, and employs them for the further
enslavement and exploitation of labor. Thus labor con
stantly adds new links to the chain which fetters it, and
is ever increasing the capital which, let out at interest by
its owners, becomes ever a heavier tax upon itself. Social
ism contends that these unconsumed results of socialised
labor ought not to pass into the hands of individuals to be
used by them for their own profit; but should pass either
into the industrial funds of the several trades that produce
them, or into a central industrial exchequer. In either
case, these funds created by past labor would be used for
the facilitation of present and future labor. They would
be available for the introduction of improved machinery,
�18
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
for the opening up of new industries, for the improvement
of means of communication, and for similar undertakings.
Thus, in a very real sense, capital would become only the
deferred payment of labor, and the whole results of toil
would be constantly flowing back upon the toilers. Under
such conditions, fixed capital or plant would, like land, be
held for purposes of use by the workers who used it. Its
replacement would be a constant charge on the commodities it helped to produce. A machine represents so much
human labor; that embodied labor takes part in producing
the finished commodity as much as does the palpable labor
of the human worker who superintends the machine; that
worker does not produce the whole value added in the
factory to the material brought into it, and has no claim
to that whole value. The wear and tear of the machine is
an offset, and must be charged on the products, so that
when the machine is worn out there may be no difficulty
in its replacement. Under such conditions also the dis
tinction between employers and employed would disappear.
All would be members of industrial communities, and the
necessary foremen, superintendents, organisers, and officers
of every kind, would be elected as the officers of trades
unions are elected at the present time.
Poverty will never cease so long as any class or any indi
viduals have an interest in the exploitation of others.
While individuals hold capital, and other individuals can
not exist unless that capital is used for their employment,
the first class will prey upon the second. The capitalists
will not employ unless they can “make a profit ” out of
those they hire to work for them; that is, unless they pay
them less than the value of the work produced. But if
one man is to have value for which he has not worked,
another must have less than the value of his work; and
while one class grows wealthy on unpaid labor, another
must remain poor, giving labor without return. Socialism
would give to each return for labor done, but it recognises
no claim in the idle to grow fat on the produce of the in
dustrious.
Interest on capital, paid to individuals, has—as is obvious
from the foregoing—no place in Socialism. Strongly as
Socialism protests against the whole system of which land
lords and capitalists form an integral part, it reserves its
uttermost reprobation for the theory which justifies a class
�THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
19
of the latter in living solely on money drawn as interest on
investments. If a man possesses three or four thousand
pounds he can invest them, and live all his life long on
the interest without ever doing a stroke of honest work,
and can then bequeath to some one else the right to live in
idleness ; and so on in perpetuity. Money in the capitalist
system is like the miraculous oil in the widow’s cruse—it
can always be spent and never exhausted. A man in sixty
years will have received in interest at five per cent, three
times his original fortune, and although he may have spent
the interest, and thus have spent every penny of his for
tune three times over, he will yet possess his fortune as
large as it was when he began. He has consumed in com
modities three times the sum originally owned, and yet is
not one penny the worse. Other people have labored for
him, fed him, clothed him, housed him, and he has done
nothing in exchange. The Socialist argument against this'
form of interest lies in a nutshell: a man earns £5 ; he
gives labor for which he receives in exchange a power of
possession over £5 worth of commodities; he desires only
to consume £1 worth now, and to defer the consumption
of the remaining £4. He buys his £1 worth of commodi
ties, and considers himself repaid for the fifth portion of
his work by possessing and consuming these. But he ex
pects to put out his saved £4 at interest, and would con
sider himself hardly used if, fourteen years hence, when he
desired to exercise his power of consumption, deferred for
his own convenience, that power had not increased although
he had done nothing to increase it. Yet it can only be in
creased by other people’s labor being left unpaid for, while
he is paid twice over for his; and this arrangement the
Socialist stamps as unjust. So long as capital remains in
the hands of individuals, interest will be demanded by
them for its use, and will be perforce paid; and so long
also will exist an idle class, which will consume without
producing, and will remain a burden on the industrious^
who must labor to support these as well as themselves, and
must produce sufficient for all.
Now, Socialism aims at rendering impossible the exist
ence of an idle class. No healthy adult but will have to
work in exchange for the things he requires. For the
young, freedom from labor ; they have to prepare for life’swork. For the aged, freedom from labor: they have.
�:20
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
worked, and at eventide should come rest. For the sick
also, freedom from labor ; and open hospitals for all, with
out distinction of class, where tendance and all that skill
•can do shall be at the service of each. But for the strong
and the mature, no bread of idleness, no sponging upon
other people. With division of labor will come also divi
sion of leisure ; the disappearance of the languid lady, full
of ennui from sheer idleness, will entail the disappearance of
the overworked slavey, exhausted from unending toil; and
there will be two healthy women performing necessary
work, and enjoying full leisure for study, for art, for
recreation, where now are the over-lazy and the over
driven.
In thus condemning the existence of an idle class, Social
ism does not assail all the individuals who now compose it.
These are not to blame for the social conditions into which
they have been born; and it is one of the most hopeful
■signs of the present Socialist movement, that many who
are working in it belong to the very classes which will be
.abolished by the triumph of Socialist principles. The man
who has inherited a fortune, and has embraced Socialism,
would do no good by throwing it away and plunging into
the present competitive struggle; all he can do is to live
simply, to utilise his position of advantage as a pedestal
•on which to place his advocacy of Socialism, and to employ
his money in Socialist propaganda.
It is feared by some that the success of the Socialist
movement would bring about the crushing of individualism
and an undue restriction of liberty. But the Socialist
contends that the present terrible struggle for existence is
the worst enemy of individualism, and that for the vast
majority individuality is a mere phrase. Exhausting toil
■and ever-growing anxiety, these crush out individuality,
-and turn the eager promising lad into the harassed drudge
■of middle age. How many capable brains are wasted,
how many original geniuses lost to the nations they might
illuminate, by the strife for mere livelihood ? The artist
.fritters away his genius in u pot-boilers ” ; the dramatist
writes down to the piece that will “pay”, and harnesses
h.is delicate fancy into coarse burlesque full of wretched
witticisms ; in the stress of the struggle to live, patient
study and straining after a great ideal become impossible.
Individualism will only develop fully when Socialism has
�TIIE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
21
lifted off all shoulders the heavy burden of care, and hasgiven to all leisure to think and to endeavor.
Nor is the fear of undue restriction of liberty better
founded than that of the crushing out of individualism.
One kind of liberty, indeed, will be restricted—the liberty
to oppress and to enslave other people. But with this
exception liberty will be increased. Only the very wealthy
are now free. The great majority of people must work,
and their choice of work is very limited. The poor. must
take what work they can get, and their complaint is not
that they are compelled to work, but that they often cannot
get work to do. In satisfying the complex wants of the
civilised human being there is room for all the most diverse
capacities of work; and if it be said that there, are un
pleasant. kinds of work that must be done, which none
would willingly undertake, it may be answered that those
kinds of work have to be done now, and that the com
pulsion of the community would not be a greater restriction
of personal liberty than the present compulsion of hunger;
and further, that it would be easy to make a short period
of unpleasant toil balance a long period of pleasant; and
that it would be far better to have such tasks divided
among a number, so that they would press very lightly upon
each, than have them, as now, pushed on to a compara
tively few, whose whole lives are brutalised by the pressure.
The very strictest organisation of labor by the community
that can be imagined, would be to the great majority far
less oppressive than the present system, for at the worst,
it would but control an extremely small portion of each
working day, and would leave the whole of the rest of the
existence free, to be used at the pleasure of the individual,
untrammelled by anxiety and harassing care for the mere
necessaries of life. The pride in skill, the stimulus of
honorable ambition, the pleasure of success, all these would
be present, as they are to-day; but instead of being the
privilege of the few, they would brighten the life of all.
A profound moral impulse really underlies the whole
of the Socialist movement. It is a revolt against the
callous indifference of the majority in the “ comfortable
classes ” to the woful condition of large numbers of the
workers. It is an outburst of unselfish brotherhood,
which cannot bear to sit at ease while others suffer,
which claims to share the common human lot, and to bear
�22
TIIE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
part of the burden now pressing with crushing weight on
the shoulders of the poor. It detests the theory that there
must always be hewers of wood and drawers of water for
a luxurious class, and proclaims that human degradation
lies in idle living, not in earnest work. It would have
all work, that all may have leisure, and would so distribute
the necessary work of the world that none may be crushed
by it, but that all may be disciplined. And this very out
burst of human brotherhood is in itself a proof that society
is evolving Socialismwards, and that the evolution of
humanity is reaching a stage in which sympathy is tri
umphing over selfishness, and the desire for equality of
happiness is becoming a potent factor in human conduct.
The Socialist ideal is one which could not meet with wide
acceptance if humanity were not marching towards its
realisation.
On one matter the Socialist movement, both abroad and
at home, has set itself in opposition to science and to right
reason—<?.y., on the law of population. It is easy to see
how this opposition has arisen, and it may be hoped that
when Socialists in general disentangle the scientific state
ment of facts from Malthus’ unwise applications of them,
Socialism and prudential restraint will be seen to be
indissolubly united. Malthus accurately pointed out that
population has a tendency to increase beyond the means
of subsistence ; that as it presses on the available means,
suffering is caused ; and that it is kept within them by
what he termed “positive checks ”—¿.0, a high death-rate,
especially among the children of the poor, premature death
from disease, underfeeding, etc. The accuracy of his state
ment has been proved up to the hilt by Charles Darwin,
who describes with abundant illustrations the struggle for
existence—a struggle which is the direct result of the fact
stated in the law of population, of the tendency of all
animated things to increase beyond their food supply ; this
has led, and still leads, to the survival of those who are
fittest for the conditions of the struggle. Unhappily, Malthus
added to his scientific exposition some most unfortunate
practical advice ; he advised the poor not to marry until,
practically, they had reached middle life. The poor felt,
with natural indignation, that in addition to all their other
deprivations they were summoned by Malthus to give up
tfie chief of the few pleasures left to them, to surrender
�TIIE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
23
marriage, to live in joyless celibacy through, the passion
season of life, to crush out all the impulses of love until
by long repression these would be practically destroyed.
Under such circumstances it is little wonder that “ Mal
thusianism ” became a word hated by the poor and
denounced by those who sympathised with them. It is
true that the advice of Malthus as to the putting off of
marriage has been and is very widely followed by the
.middle classes; but it is perfectly well known that the
putting off of marriage does not with them mean the
■observance of celibacy, and the shocking prostitution
which is the curse of every Christian city is the result of
the following of the advice of Malthus so far as marriage
is concerned. It is obvious that Malthus ignored the
strength of the sexual instinct, and that the only possible
result of the wide acceptance of his teaching would be
the increase of prostitution, an evil more terrible than
that of poverty. But the obj ection rightly raised to the
practical teaching of Malthus ought not to take the form of
assailing the perfectly impregnable law of population, nor
is it valid against the teachings of Neo-Malthusians, who
advise early marriage and limitation of the family within
the means of existence.
The acceptance of this doctrine is absolutely essential to
the success of Socialism. Under a system in which children
are forced to labor, they may begin to “keep them
selves ” at a very early age; but under a Socialist system,
where education will occupy childhood and youth, and
where old age is to be free from toil, it will soon be found
that the adult working members will not permit an un
limited increase of the mouths which they have to fill.
Facilitate production as we may, it will always take more
hours to produce the necessaries of life for families of ten
or twelve than for families of three or four. The practi
cal enforcement of the question will probably come from
the women; highly educated women, full of interest in
public work and taking their share in public duty, will
not consent to spend year after year of their prime in
nothing but expecting babies, bearing babies, and suckling
babies. They will rebel against the constant infliction of
physical discomfort and pain, and will insist on the limita
tion of the family as a condition of marriage. The sooner
this is recognised by Socialists the better, for at present
�24
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.
they waste much strength by attacking a doctrine which
they must sooner or later accept.
A glance backward over the history of our own country,
since the Reform Bill of 1832 opened the gate of political
power to those outside the sacred circle of the aristocracy,
will tell how an unconscious movement towards Socialism
has been steadily growing in strength. Our Factory Acts,
our Mines Regulation Acts, our Education Acts, our Em
ployers’ Liability Acts, our Land Acts—-all show the set
of the current. The idea of the State as an outside power
is fading, and the idea of the State as an organised com
munity is coming into prominence. In the womb of time
the new organism is growing: shall the new birth come in
peace or in revolution, heralded by patient endeavor or by
roar of cannon ? Who can tell ? But this one thing I
know, that come it will, whether men work for it or
hinder; for all the mighty, silent forces of evolution make
for Socialism, for the establishment of the Brotherhood of
Man.
�
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 socialist movement
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Besant, Annie Wood [1847-1933]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Reprinted from the "Westminster Review". Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Freethought Publishing Company
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
N070
Subject
The topic of the resource
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 socialist movement), 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
NSS
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/26c3a0ff335a7a6d86d7dc6d26eb6ed7.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=Zl2GeqO4piLZqWPjPlytlvUr10CqPF-EocDxgxts1TvPm1Ps%7E0%7ECHSwZQwSB2BFrphad8Q5Ox7FGvEBaNo8fiuHKd0VcEg9y-8CiPxv3VXJVn3hfO26n4hedQilF4MYzDxPP9cb1hh1xwp9feCSfYWJ7utGHaTjq6aUWPskx-XZF0znHJlCK4PnITBG%7EDeKkLv95TPruGsr6H4v8aFHDYu98mYmCA-Qv9FsuUx%7ER1zV24m8iQsmimjaEeZ0VqhKgBm7r7ooa0usyNGK0ZQGoRJ21vmB783ve%7EI26UOMwfYY8Q2uI8E9q7HhplXp-USF6Ucnoth2kbV0KgLrMlHliXg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
215345c72fbedc717b7e332bf2b73b77
PDF Text
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.
�—
0
—
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.
�7
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-
,■■ ^.
.... ...WTM'
— 8 —
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.
�—
9
~
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.
�-----
IO
-----
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.
�—
12
—
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.
�
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 socialist catechism
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Joynes, J. L. (James Leigh) [-1893.]
Description
An account of the resource
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.
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
1885
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G4976
Subject
The topic of the resource
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 (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>
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
Capitalism
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/7ea436ee3f2fb8f63b975f07e3566c5c.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=X4d1CJ4EcxveLmVnwbmGyreb3x7AXnHfPjVEbbTuipg4cw7M2bZOIjgOsGVRCmgmFf4VHkvqEah2vKHm-pZRu6rYmMqrGT3I-RXkaIrP3mL9uZmTmeuvmk77fTMw5bgUeiCDupMqph5JfG3JVk1fphE2-uqB0%7ENC4p3-H9xrwF5c50-IcK-BmLP6881avi2XEx7xZGysNQdNaP5inOsDkX64BJp82ginU99W7D1x5ym5r0KDTkcfA-iHXs28B68ltPUi27jb7JPxZj3MMDCsTMq%7ED8KQaDtLwz1t2qpvayy-gzpzUChgVkqafUbGmrCAHmjuhQvlg-46LrTj6Bg1Ag__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
7c91220210f793ef6ab4658719265f9c
PDF Text
Text
THE
SOCIAL EECONSTRUCTION
I
OF ENGLAND.
BY
H.
M.
HYNDMAN,
Author of “ The Coming Revolution
Book
of
in
Democracy,”
England,” “ The Text
etc.
LONDON:
WILLIAM REEVES, 185, FLEET STREET, E.C..
Office of “ The Christian Socialist."
�Reprinted from the “ International Review.”
i1
�THE
SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ENGLAND.
On a former occasion * I gave a sketch of the social and
political position in England at the present time, and briefly
showed how the movement now going on below the surface
has been led up to for the past hundred years. Such a sketch
was necessarily rough and superficial. Nevertheless, it made
plain that in England, the richest European country, the mass
of the workers are in a miserable condition of poverty, and
uncertainty, with no security for continuous employment, even
at the low rate of wages they receive—badly fed, badly clothed,
badly housed. As matters stand, indeed, the great body of
the people are shut out from controlling their own political
business, without even the satisfaction of knowing that the
classes which monopolize the whole power in the State will be
at the pains to care for the wellbeing of the wage slaves, to
whose labor they are indebted for the luxury and indolence
they enjoy. The wealthy lower orders are really quite indif
ferent to the problems of the society they control, so long as,
at the expense of a little cheap philanthropy, they can bribe
the workers not to change the system. What can you expect
of men who have no wider range than the discounting of three
months’ bills, the balancing of yearly accounts, or the acquisi
tion of gain by legalized fraud ? The only hope of general
and permanent improvement for the many is in a thorough
• “ The Coming Revolution in England.”—(Wm. Reeves, 185, Fleet
street, London, price 6d.)
�4
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
social reorganization, conducted, with vigor and intelligence by
the producing class themselves. The vast wealth which is
now piled up by their ceaseless exertions, the powerful ma
chinery which increases the productiveness of labor and cheap
ens commodities, become, under existing economical conditions,
the direct means for insuring the subjugation of the workers
to those who own that wealth and control that machinery.
The majority of Englishmen are literally enslaved for life to a
class of their countrymen by their own production itself. This
is true of all nations where the laborers work under the
control of capital; but here in England there is a greater con
centration of land, capital, and machinery in the hands of the
few than elsewhere, consequently, the natural bent of the
capitalist system is less checked or diverted by other causes.
Until this carapace of monopolies, which crushes down our
people, is owned by the State—which will then simply be the
organized capacity of the workers, for the benefit of all—no
great change for the better can be brought about in the lot of
those who labor.
Now this, I dare say, will sound to many abstract, utopian,
all in the air. I don’t think it will when I have done. In
America even, where there is much virgin soil still unoccupied,
and rich lands to be purchased at what seem to us preposte
rously low prices, I can observe that every day the class
struggle between the wage-earners and the capitalists is coming
closer and threatens to be most bitter. With Americans, as
with us, new questions are being forced forward, and people
feel that there is something below more serious than the wellworn shibboleths of Republican and Democrat. What we
English have to deal with is, at any rate, far more a social
than a political problem. Who is “ in” or who “ out” matters
not a straw to those who have learned to labor but cannot
afford much longer to wait. Politics are, after all, merely the
�OF ENGLAND.
5
outcome of the method of production below, and he who stops
to consider them alone gets a superficial view of modern society
indeed. For the worst of it is that while we are talking events
are moving. Yet another generation is growing up under the
deplorable oppression which every man who feels for the
misery of his fellows must hate and strive to remedy. Another
succession of destitute workers—men, women, children of
tender years—are even now stepping into the places of that
food for capital which has just been shot into the pauper
graveyard.
I need scarcely insist upon the difficulties we have to face.
That our social arrangements and our political constitution
are altogether behind the extraordinary development of our
industry and commerce none can fail to understand. But
assuredly there is no patent plaster for all economical diseases
—there is no sovereign remedy for the people’s evil which can
be administered with confidence as an infallible cure. No.
Society is the growth of endless ages of evolution and revolu
tion, in the same way as man himself. We ourselves are, of
course, the creatures of our surroundings and our education
from infancy to manhood.
*
The individual can to a small
extent, as most think, modify his own character. Society can,
to a much greater extent, change the surroundings of the
present and coming generations by fostering those elements
which tend to bring about a rapid change. First, therefore,
we must apprehend thoroughly the ills we suffer from and
their causes in order that, as the existing mischiefs are swept
away, we may offer no impediment to the growth of a new and
better state of things from below.
By education we are most misled.
We so believe, because we so were bred :
The priest continues what the nurse began;
And thus the child imposes on the man.
—Dryden.
�6
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
What we have to-day, I repeat, is a class which owns all
the means of production, including the land on the one side..
Those who belong to this class escape, as a body, without any
sort of manual labor, and live in luxury far in excess of what
is beneficial even to them. On the other side is a class utterly
destitute of the means of production. Those who belong to’
this class are, therefore, obliged to compete with one another,
in order to gain the scantiest livelihood, and sell their force of
labor for miserable wages to the capitalists, who “ exploit ” it.
Hence increasing wealth and deepening poverty, production for'
profit and not for use, recurring industrial crises consequent
upon the socialized system of production and the command by
the individual of the whole process of exchange. Authority
carried to its extreme limit in the factory, in the workshop, in
the mine or the farm: laissez-faire allowed full swing in almost
every other department' of civilized life. Thus the wealthy,
who take care to maintain the strictest discipline where their
own immediate gains are concerned, howl loudly, in concert
with their hangers-on, that freedom of contract is being out
raged when they in turn are called upon to submit to some
sort of regulation in the interests of the mass of mankind.
Between the two classes, the capitalists and the proletariat—
the workers, that is, who are absolutely without means of sub
sistence, and dependent on their weekly wages for bread—
there are several gradations; but the antagonism between
those who employ and those who provide the force of labor
which renders surplus value is becoming more pronounced
every day. Events are manifestly tending toward the forma
tion of a party of the people which shall be in opposition to
Tory and Whig, Conservative, Liberal, and Radical alike.
*
* Those who desire to comprehend thoroughly the problems of our
existing civilization should study the late Dr. Karl Marx s masterly
work on “Capital.” It is no easy reading; but no man competent to
form a judgment will, I venture to say, rise from its second or third
�OF ENGLAND.
7
Within the past few months there has been increasing
evidence of this, and a few instances will not be out of place.
The Trades-Union Congress, which met in 1882 at Manchester,
fully bore out my views with respect to the uselessness of
trades-unionism to the rank and file of labor, so far as the
original programme or the main discussions at the meeting are
considered. Such political proposals as were formulated might
very well have been laid down, and I dare say were laid down,
by the middle-class Liberal caucus which has its headquarters
at Birmingham. From all sides the capitalist press poured
forth its congratulations to the managers upon their “ modera
tion.” The secretary was accorded an unanimous vote of
confidence, because he had given place to young Lord Lymington on a bill before the House of Commons dealing with a
matter which was supposed specially to concern the workers.
A delegate who had gone to Manchester with the express
purpose of proposing a vote in favor of manhood suffrage found
so little encouragement among his fellow delegates that he
absolutely thought it better not to bring his motion forward
this year. Altogether anything but a democratic assembly
one must say. Yet here, in this atmosphere of doubt, feeble
ness and trimming, a great step in advance was made. When
it was suggested by a delegate that an examination should be
made into the titles of the handful of gentlemen who have
taken possession of the soil of England, Mr. H. W. Rowland,
secretary to the London Cabmen’s Society, a well known tradeunionist, but also a member of the Democratic Federation,
boldly brought forward a resolution to the effect that no
perusal without the conviction that he has been in contact with one of
the greatest thinkers of our own or of any other age. The name of
Karl Marx is so well known as that of an agitator and revolutionist
that his position as a philosopher is sometimes overlooked. Future
generations will do fuller justice to his extraordinary capacity, industry
and fearlessness than we of to-day.
�8
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
measure short of nationalization of the land could be accepted
as a settlement by the working classes of England. This
measure is naturally opposed, both by landlords who see in it
the utter destruction of their wealth and territorial influence,
and by capitalists who, secretly aspiring to be land owners,
*
support what they call “ free trade in land.” Nevertheless,
and in spite of the efforts of some of the principal organizers
of the congress, the motion was carried by forty-nine votes to*
twenty-nine.
Now, of course, I am well aware that nationalization of
the land by itself and without a complete reorganization of
production in all departments would benefit the workers little,
if at all. Still, it is no small thing that the idea of the pos
session of the land of England—land in country and land in
towns, mines, parks, mountains, moors—should be held by the
people, for the people collectively, to be used and developed
as they see fit to ordain—it is no small matter, I say, that
such a reform as this should find acceptance at a wavering
congress of “the aristocracy of labor” in place of the middle
class tinkering for individual advantage which has hitherto
been forced upon them. For such a vote means that at last
the people of England are awaking to the truth that landlords
and capitalists together have robbed them of their heritage of
freedom and well-being; means, too, that no mere vestry
plans for bolstering up the old cut-throat individualism will
much longer blind the workers to their true interests as a class.
“Each for himself, and the devil take the hindermost,” is a
* In 1879, when Mr. Adam Weiler, the London joiner, brought
forward a similar resolution, he could not even find a seconder. So
that democratic ideas do move in these days, the ridicule and sarcasm
of the capitalist press notwithstanding. I may add that the collectivist
view, as opposed to peasant-proprietorship, is spreading through the
Highlands of Scotland as the only thorough remedy for the existing
land system. It was in the Highlands that the Sutherland clearances
and other similar infamous evictions were perpetrated.
�OF ENGLAND.
9
splendid motto for the employing class. For the wage-earners
it means a never-ending and hopeless struggle to keep out of
the slough of pauperism and crime.
If, however, the trade-unionists have adopted nationaliza
tion of the land, the colliers are again claiming to limit pro
duction and to curtail the hours of labour to eight a day.
The determination to lessen the output of coal in the York
shire coal-field, which is really the chief point in dispute
between men and masters to-day, is in every way more
important than any struggle about wages ; for it involves not
merely the right to obtain increased pay, but the right to
control production itself. Here at once, the whole economical
difficulty is placed before us, if we choose to work it out.
Grant the miners the right to say how much coal shall or
shall not be brought to the pit’s mouth within a given period,
and clearly the puddlers have an equal right to determine
how much ore shall go into the smelting-furnace, the iron
workers the right to fix how many bars or plates shall leave
the forge, the cotton-spinners, as they have also contended,
how much yarn shall be delivered per week, and so on through
the whole long series of manufacturing operations. Well, it
may be asked, why should not those who make all the wealth
decide as to the amount of any special form of it they choose
to expend their labor upon ? I say nothing to the contrary.
Far from it, I desire to see the laborers acting in concert and
producing for the general good. But that any particular knot
of producers should be allowed the power to limit their own
production without agreement or concert with their fellows in
other branches of trade would manifestly but confound still
further the present economical confusion. In this case again,
therefore, the workers will be slowly driven to look upon the
interests of their class—skilled and unskilled laborers alike—
as a whole, seeing that the action of one portion by themselves
�10
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
may disorganize the entire fabric as completely as the strike
of one section of workers may compel a whole factory to stand
idle. A few years ago, the strike of the unskilled dock-laborers
at Liverpool caused a complete congestion of the trade of that
great port for three weeks, and a withdrawal of engine-drivers
and stokers would practically suspend, for a time at least, all
rapid communication. In this complicated society of ours thewhole is, as it were, at the mercy of its parts; but let those
parts once be thoroughly combined on an intelligent compre
hension of their own joint business, and we have opened
up a new industrial era to mankind.
While such ideas are abroad, and such partial combinationsare going on among the workers in active employment, a little
cloud has arisen in another quarter. How to deal with
paupers has always been a great difficulty. Clearly, it is hard
that men or women who have fallen into poverty from no
fault of their own should be treated as criminals, set to pick
oakum, forced to do disgusting or useless tasks, merely, to keep
a few from coming for the scanty workhouse food out of sheer
idleness. This has been the system hitherto. Now anotheris growing up under the control of well-intentioned men, who •
evidently do not see, or do not care for, either the immediate
or ultimate result of their policy. In several workhouses the ■
paupers are now being employed on the production of useful
articles, not merely for themselves or their fellow-inmates, but
for sale in the open market, the paupers who do the work
receiving a certain proportion of the money obtained, in
addition to their keep. Now this is, of course, a great boon
to the poor people who have been driven to accept ’charity,
but are glad to find that they are not wholly useless
to mankind. The change in the appearance of the men and
women thus employed, as compared to what they were with
nothing but hopelessness and a pauper’s grave before them, is-
�OF ENGLAND.
11
•described as surprising.
Excellent every way, no doubt.
But now look at this admirable experiment from the outside.
The goods which these State-supported workers produce have to
be sold in the open market. Whatever they fetch over and
; above the mere cost of the raw material and carriage is so
much clear gain to the rate-payers, who have to pay for the
maintenance of the paupers in any case. Consequently, the
workhouse goods can always be sold cheap. How, then, does
it fare with men or women engaged in the same business who
have to pay rent, get food, and provide themselves with
■ clothing, out of the profits of their own hand-made wares ?
Very badly, as I can testify. More than one trade has been
• completely ruined by this workhouse competition, and many of
those engaged in it driven into the ranks of the neediest class
themselves. Such is the irony of our present social system.
Not a bit worse, however, than when the introduction of a new
machine, which should result in increased wealth for all, fills a
■ capitalist’s pockets, and sends hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
skilled workmen out workless on the labor market as unskilled
hands. The very people who rightly contend that this organi. zation of labor in the workhouse is far better than the shame
ful criminal treatment hitherto in vogue, shriek Socialism,
• Communism, and begin to call names when it is suggested
that labor and production need organization even more outside
the workhouse, and that were such organization carried out
• on a thoroughly sound basis, not only able-bodied pauperism
but able-bodied sybaritism might be done away. But this
< competition now set on foot, if, as is quite possible, it is carried
into the domain of machine industry, will compel the working• classes to insist upon some general understanding with regard
to rate-supported laborers, and thus, perhaps, lead by anothei’
route to the same great end of social cooperation. Mean
while, the field of State employment is extending every day,
�12
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
though, as in the post office, the lowest possible wages are
paid, and a profit is secured wherever attainable.
What, however, are the transition-remedies, as we may
call them, which may serve to help on our society to a wider
and nobler development ? Extension of the suffrage to the
whole adult population—the direct control by the electors of
the entire political system—the abolition of the monarchy
and the House of Lords—the prevention of bribery and log
rolling—these and similar reforms, no matter how thorough,
do but give the machinery whereby the people of England
may at length become masters in their own house. Mere
forms of government, nevertheless, afford no guarantee for
social progress. France has universal suffrage, and theancient nobility has long been overthrown. Yet the plebisciteestablished the stock-jobbing Second Empire, and now the
French enjoy a republicanised empire, where the right of the
workers to combine is put down with a high hand, as in the
case of the strike of the miners at Grand’ Combe, and else
where. In Germany universal suffrage gives the people a,
sultan, a grand vizier, and an army of janissaries—what else
are the Emperor, Prince Bismark, and the Junkerdom at
their command?—while the chief cities of the empire are in a
state of siege. In free Switzerland, also, the middle-class^
dominate completely under republican forms. In America
itself the pressure of capitalists “ rings,” the undue power
exercised by plutocrats who but yesterday were unknown men,
and the insidious corruption which creeps through the whole
body politic, threatens grave danger to the great Republic of
the West. There is no security, then, for the social improve
*
ment of the people at large in any political forms, unless those
who use them are imbued beforehand with just ideas, and aredetermined to exercise their influence for the general benefit.
Necessary as it is to sweep away the monopoly of Parliament,
�OF ENGLAND.
13
which, now keeps the working-classes from having any control,
it is even more necessary that this should be done with a
definite idea of policy for the future.
Here, then, are some of the measures which would at least
tend to secure for the rising generation better conditions of
existence and a clearer view of their own future course under
our present capitalist domination:
First—Free education, compulsory upon all, together with
the provision of at least one good meal a day for the children
attending the public free schools.
*
Second—The compulsory erection by municipalities and
county boards of healthy, well-built dwellings, in proportion
to the numbers of the working population, with gardens or
playgrounds in the immediate neighbourhood—such dwellings
to be let at a price to cover the cost of construction alone.
Third—Eight hours or less to be established as the regular
working-day in all factories, mines and workshops, the labor
of women and children being strictly controlled. The same
regulation to apply to all other employes where continuous
labor is exacted.
Fourth—All squares or private grounds in the neighbour
hood of great cities to be held at the disposal of the com
munity, and thrown open for their benefit.
Fifth,—That the railway monopoly should be at once put
* There are few stories more disgraceful in the long infamous record
of class greed apd class robbery than the seizure by the upper and
middle classes of endowments given by wealthy men in the past to
insure free education for the poor. The children of these classes have
quite ousted the poor from the endowed schools, and there seems little
hope of any redress whatever by peaceable and legal means. The
classes which stand out against free education do not hesitate for
a moment to grasp free education for themselves whenever and whereever they can do so at the expense of others. Even the universities,
which should belong to the country at large, have been turned into
middle-class establishments. Here again, who is going to look out
for the rights of the people—save the people themselves ?
�14
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
an end to, either with or without compensation, as may seem
advisable, the railways thus acquired being used to give the
greatest possible advantages in cheap transport to all classes of
the community.
Such proposals would seem to need little advocacy. Yet
not a single one of them is now before our parliamentary
wiseacres, nor do the working-classes appear inclined to force
them upon their representatives, so hopeless do they seem.
Yet who can doubt that compulsory education, now en
forced by many, if not most, of the school boards, should be
free? It is to the advantage of all that none should
grow up ignorant. Though education by itself does not pro
vide better “ hands ” for the capitalist, and, as we see in
China, may not change social conditions, such education as
can now be given, coupled with the general advance in all
branches of social science around, could scarcely fail to increase
the knowledge of the workers, and at the same time to
strengthen their power of combination. Noble Robert Owen,
who, early in this century, showed us the right path towards
education and industrial organization for the young, never
dissociated his educational system from good food, constant
pleasure, or, later, from physical industry.
*
The authority
* Robert Owen was the father of the factory acts, the most benefi
cent measures ever carried in England. Yet he wras himself one of
the largest and most successful manufacturers. He was also the
leader of modern utopian socialism. Needless to say that, when he
tried to develop his theories on a large scale, he was ridiculed and
boycotted. A philanthropist, he might be : a socialist—oh, horror !
Here is a passage from one of the writings of this truly great man:
“ Since the discovery of the enormous, the incalculable, power to
supersede manual labor, to enable the human race to create wealth by
the aid of the sciences, it has been a gross mistake of the political
economists to make humanity into slaves to science instead of making,
as nature intends, sciences to be the slaves and servants of humanity.
And this sacrificing of human beings with such exquisite physical, in
tellectual, moral, spiritual and practical organs, faculties and powers,
so wondrously combined in each individual, to pins, needles, thread,
�OF ENGLAND.
15
which he exercised over both parents and children at New
Lanark, though at first met by opposition, was in a few years
recognized by the people themselves as the greatest boon.
Similar authority must be now used on an extended scale for
the benefit of the children of the people whose parents too
often, from poverty or other causes, neglect the welfare of
their offspring in their most important years of growth.
Good food in childhood is even more necessary than good
education. Nothing is more certain, also, than that children
brought up to work under favorable conditions do not revert
to idleness if they can possibly help it. Unfortunately, here
comes in the miserable jobbery of our middle-class system
often entailing downright cruelty and robbery of food. If,
however, the workers once understand that the schools are
their schools, that they really pay by their labor for the food
and education provided, they will soon find the means to have
their children properly taken care of and those who neglect
them punished. Already the board schools have produced a
great effect, and the new generation of workers, imperfect as
their education still is, will be able to take quite a different
view of life from their predecessors. Health and education
together will give a power of resistance which can scarcely
fail to be fatal to the class injustice they suffer from.
But, secondly, what is the use of giving education unless
the home conditions of the people are changed ? Here is a
point of the gravest moment. According to evidence collected
by the trade-unions, the working-classes pay from one-fourth
tape, etc., and to all such inanimate materials, exhibits at once the most
gross ignorance of the nature and true value of humanity, and of the
principles and practices required to form a prosperous, rational and
happy state of society, or the true existence of man upon earth.”
In another place he asks where the increased wealth produced by
his two thousand five hundred work-people—equal to the amount
which could have been produced by six hundred thousand a century
before—went to. They did not get it; that he saw clearly.
�16
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
to one-third of their small wages in the shape of rent. , They
are liable to be sold out of all they possess and evicted into the
street if behindhand with payment, and they absolutely have
not, as in the United States, any lien on their tools to enable
them to work, or on the results of their own labors for what
may be due to them in wages. The lodging of the poor in our
great cities is, as I have observed before, horribly bad, and
very dear. True, artisans’ dwellings acts have been passed
and philanthropists have tried to do something. But the acts
are under the management of town councillors, aidermen and
the rest of the middle-class functionaries, who, elected as they
are, never for a moment consider that the health and well
being of the people constitute the real strength of the nation;
and the philanthropists in this direction, as in others, are really
of very small account in comparison with the work that has to
be done. As a general result, therefore, the overcrowding is
increasing in all our great centres of industry, while the
working-classes who must live close to their work have to pay
exorbitant rents to the very vestrymen and employers who
own the tumble-down dwellings and manage the parish. What
likelihood is there that those who make large profits out of
bad, unsanitary house-property will set to work in earnest to
bring sound, wholesome dwellings into competition at low rents
with their high-priced ramshackle hovels? What factory
capitalist will forego the advantage of being able to evict his
work-people from the cottages he owns, should they dare to
strike, unless some more powerful body undertakes to do the
business for the good of all ? So things drag on. Improve
ment for the upper and middle class: yet more overcrowding,
degradation and misery for the producers of wealth. Compul
sion, nothing but compulsion, can induce our monopolists to
act. And yet the so-called working-class leaders advise their
misguided followers to dissociate the trade interests of their
�OF ENGLAND.
17
dass from any political action. We all know that a well-built,
wholesome dwelling is absolutely essential to health and decency.
How can a woman bring forth healthy children surrounded
by such sights and sounds and smells as are to be found in the
courts and alleys of our great industrial centres ? How can
the children themselves become valuable citizens under such
conditions ? In the country similar compulsion is needed from
the same causes. There is more air and perhaps more water,
but the sanitary arrangements are utterly abominable in many
cases, and the overcrowding goes on there too. Nevertheless,
I repeat, the idea of compulsion revolts the middle-class mind,
and the vested-interest-mongers so far have had it all their
own way.
*
But if free education and the provision of food for children,
the compulsory construction of sound dwellings which shall be
rented at cost, savors of socialism, what is to be said of an
eight-hours-act ? Sir Stafford Northcote, the leader of the
Conservative party, and Mr. Henry Fawcett, the principal
middle-class economist and Postmaster-General as well as a
Badical, have both recently declared that “ freedom of con
tract ” is too sacred to be tampered with. Fancy freedom of
contract between a pauper and a plutocrat; between starving
women and children and factory lords and “ sweaters ”! The
thing is absurd. Our system of contract actually excludes
freedom, and well our capitalists know it. Yet we have made
* It is nothing short of exasperating to read through the answers of
witnesses and the report of the recent committee on artisans’ dwellings.
All the evidence goes to show that a thorough change of system is
needed, but no suggestion do we find to the effect that such a change
should at once be made. Marvellous indeed is the patience of our
people, when crowded together in attics and cellars; they can see the
west end of London almost deserted for at least three months in the
year, and could learn easily that, cubic space for cubic space, their dens
are more highly rented than the most fashionably-placed houses of the
well-to-do. Supply and demand, how good is it.
�18
THE SOCIAL EECONSTRUCTION
some progress in the restriction of this illusory freedom, and
neither Conservative statesman nor Liberal economist dare
bring in a bill to repeal those factory acts which happily
interfered with the excessive overwork of women and children
for the profit of the capitalist. Limit the hours still further
to eight hours a day, would not the women and children be
the better for it ? Yet if women and children are to work but
eight hours a day the work of the men stops too, so completely
is the whole of the great machine-industry dovetailed together.
Who will contend that eight hours’ work a day in the factory,,
in the mine, in the workshop, in the sweater’s den, is not
enough for any man or woman ? A horse can barely work
eight hours a day on the average of his strength. But the
difficulty is to prevent even the existing acts from being over
ridden. There are not nearly enough factory inspectors to
keep the capitalist class within the limits of the law. But
when Sir William Harcourt, the Home Secretary, was asked
not long since to appoint some more, he replied that any
addition to the number would be too expensive. Once more
the money interests of the few outweigh, with both the existing
parties, the life-and-death interests of the many.
To assume that railways and railway directors will ever be
controlled by the existing Parliament would seem to all who
know the strength of the railway interest in the House of
Commons a foolish assumption indeed. Our railway magnates
are almost as powerful as American Jay Goulds and Vander
bilts. They work their men such long hours in the signal
boxes, on the engines and at the points, that accidents fre
quently occur from this cause alone. The injurious monopolies
they have been granted by landlords and capitalists are sup
posed by them to be permanently valid against the whole
country. So long as debenture-holders and stockholders are
satisfied, what have the public to do with their business ?
�OF ENGLAND.
19
Such is the tone of the railway directors ; and Parliament, as
at present constituted, is merely a huge board for the protec
tion of vested interests.
The opening of squares and private parks to the inhabitants
of large cities is a much smaller matter than the others. But
here again the antagonism of class interests, the sharp social
separation, make themselves felt. Though the children of the
poor have nowhere but the crowded, airless thoroughfares to
play in, what right have they to intrude on the premises of the
wealthy ? A few running-over cases weekly cannot possibly
be pleaded as an excuse for bringing these unwashed youngsters
between the wind and our gentility. Well may nationalization
of the land, whether with or without compensation, seem
downright robbery to people who resolutely oppose a simple
reform like this.
Thus, even with regard to such measures as those mentioned
above, which only tend to improve the health, morals, educa
tion and general welfare of the nation as a whole, we are met
at once with a dead, dogged, brutal resistance by the classes
which live on the labors of others—a resistance, as I believe,
only to be overcome by force, or the threat of force, on the
part of the wage-earning class. Justice has too long been
appealed for in vain. Yet not one of these measures goes to
the root of the social difficulty of the time. They are all, as I
have called them, mere transition-remedies for some portion of
the misery which now we see. Can we wonder, then, that
daily, in England, the numbers of those are increasing who
hold that what we need is a thorough, organized movement
for the overthrow of a social system which enables the rich to
obstruct every reform that can really improve the lot of the
poor ? Is it any matter for astonishment that when admittedly
“ practical ” measures are postponed sine die, those who suffer
begin to consider what effect a thorough theoretical reconstruc
�20
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
tion might have on their condition ? Perhaps, after all, this
is one of the cases in which the whole is more easy to get than
the half.
Some there are, however, who contend that the workers
have themselves to thank for the hopeless state in which too
many of them are sunk. Their theory is that the poverty of
the great majority, in comparison with the vast wealth around
them is due to drunkenness, extravagance, want of thrift.
Who can deny that drunkenness exists ? But to what is it
due ? When I look around me at the social conditions in
which the workers live, when I take account of the fact that
there are so few opportunities afforded them for healthful
pleasure, when I note that the public-houses—there are far
too many of them, no doubt—are the only places where work
men can conveniently meet their fellows, I wonder that, as a
whole, the very poor should be as temperate, as saving, as
quiet, as contented, as they are. Misery drives to gin, as well
as gin to misery. And what are the figures? What is there
to show that the upper, the middle, the shop-keeping class, do
not drink quite as freely, and more expensive drinks in propor
tion to their means, than those who are directly laboring with
their hands ? There is no trustworthy evidence on this point
at all. But the temperance cry—good enough in itself, to a
certain length, at any rate, for all classes—serves the purpose
of the capitalist class to divert attention from the real causes
of the whole social depression which engenders the drunken
ness, the misery, the pauperism that they so hypocritically
deplore.
Take a hundred children at random from the middle class,
belonging to staunch members of the Blue Ribbon or Salvation
Army, and plant them from infancy in the miserable dwellings
which are inhabited by the very poor ; let them imbibe a little
gin with their earliest pap, hear oaths from their childhood,
�OF ENGLAND.
2X
and witness scenes of vice, or even crime, as they enter on
mature years. Will not a large percentage of them turn out
drunken, dissolute and worthless, be their parentage ever so
respectable, the sobriety of their whole kith and kin beyond
dispute ? Of course we know it would be so, and education
*
might do but little to mitigate the effect of this early training.Reverse the process, and take a hundred babes of the poor'
into such households as might be readily found for them, take *
care that they were surrounded by kindness, purity and plenty
of food for the asking, is it not certain that but a small per
centage would have a tendency toward what is bad, until
driven, perhaps, to desperation at a later period by the long,,
hopeless resistance to economical pressure which forces them
into the ranks of the needy and desperate ? To lecture and
denounce the drunken and extravagant, while maintaining as
beneficent, the system which is opposed to the best interests of
mankind at large, is to mistake the effect for the cause, is to
try to perpetuate the very mischiefs which we are endeavouring
to uproot. Much of the very drunkenness we witness is due
to the vile, adulterated drinks which are sold. But the brewers
and gin-distillers are the pillars of the State. Philanthropists
and members of Parliament, how shall they be effectively
assailed ? The publicans whom they employ but follow humbly
in their wake. The truth is, that though it may be advisable
to restrain the sale of intoxicating liquors (and the fanatics of
temperance are in their * ay doing some good), the social
w
arrangements themselves are really in fault, and drunkenness,like vagrancy, is due to social blundering.
Thrift, again, though good in itself, does but strengthen the
domination of the capitalists under our present system ; for the
savings of the workmen go into the general banking business,
and the workers, for the sake of a trifling pecuniary interest,
lose sight of the far more important interests of their class as a
�52
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
whole. The ^same objection applies to cooperation among
knots of workers. Those who take shares earn a profit which
they divide, thus becoming at once not mere benefactors of
^themselves and their families, but copartners with the men
who live upon the unpaid labor of their class. None can regret
the defects of the workers more than those who are striving
for a complete reorganization of society. If they were all
/temperate, thrifty, ready to combine, democrats would stand a
:far better chance of organizing side by side with them the great
■class struggle of the near future to certain and rapid victory
ffor the laborers. The hungry and the drunken, the dissipated
-and the brutal, may make riots and rebellions, but a class
^revolution, with a definite constructive programme, is far
beyond their grasp. For this reason, if for no other, any
attempt which may be made to reduce the standard of comfort
-should be vigorously resisted.
Before, however, the people as a whole can thorougly
'Organize their national production, or make common cause
with their class in other countries, they must clearly under
stand, in some degree at least, the history of the economical
-development which has brought about their present condition.
This is, unluckily, no easy matter even for the educated.
.Middle-class economists have succeeded in so thoroughly con
fusing men’s minds that it needs some effort to throw aside
their jargon, and to look upon events as they really have
happened and do now take place. According to them our
present form of production and exchange has been practically
the same throughout the ages, and society at all times may be
measured by the same standard. The difference, according to
them, is in size only, not in kind or degree. This is the exact
sreverse of the truth, though doubtless our whole civilization is
the result • of one long, continuous development, and portions of
■ our present growth may be traced into remote antiquity, side
�OF ENGLAND.
23
by side with very different social conditions—just as our great
machine-industries are contemporaneous with the miserableAustralian nomad, the American Red Indian, with village
communities in Asia, or feudalism in Japan. Historically
viewed, nevertheless, our existing system differs fundamentally
from any which has gone before.
England, for instance, during the Middle Ages presented a
very different appearance from the England which now we see..
That age of chivalry about which Burke grew so eloquent,.,
when it served his turn to denounce the principles he had
previously championed, formed a strange contrast to oursociety of to-day. But in no respect was the contrast greater
than in the manner in which what was needed for the purposes
of every-day life was produced and exchanged. The relationsbetween the various grades in that feudal society and theindividuals who composed them were purely personal. Pay
ments were made in kind, service was rendered on one side or
the other in accordance with personal obligation ; production
was carried on, in the first instance, at any rate, for individual,
use. A certain proportion of the crops was surrendered by the
agriculturists, not as rent, but as dues; not as a rate, but as a
tithe to be applied to purposes and arrangements which were
well understood by both parties. The nobles owed the same
allegiance to their superior, or monarch, that their own peopleowed to them. There were plenty of grievances, and we had
risings in England similar to those of the Jacquerie in France,,
though hitherto our historians have been at little pains to
work out the true character and details of these movements.
In the fifteenth century villenage and serfdom had come toan end, and the soil of England was in the hands of the
people themselves, subject only to the recognized dues orregular service in the field. The nobles were no more owners
of the land than the people or the monarch. Each class had).
�^4
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
its rights, subject to the performance of certain duties, which
were, as already said, purely of a personal character. At this
time the instruments of agricultural labor or of manufacture
were poor and rude, suited to the wants of the isolated
workers. The yeomen and life-holders produced for the needs
of their wives, children, families, and hinds. Those hinds
were themselves possessed of plots of ground. Day-laborers
formed a small, an unimportant, part of the population. The
cattle, sheep, pigs, geese, etc., all that made up the agricul
turist’s wealth, represented to him not goods which we should
sell and make a profit from, but actual substance which enabled
him and his to live in comfort or in rude luxury. The women,
the wife, the daughters, the hand-maidens, spun the wool of
the farm, or attempted rude embroidery in the same way for
.use or personal adornment; exchange was not thought of
until the wants of those around were satisfied, and only the
superfluity was actually brought to market. Everybody, or
almost everybody, in the poorer class owned his own means
of production, and the spinning-wheel of the matron, the
potter’s wheel, the rough smithy, the still rougher cobbler’s
shop, formed the manufacturing portion of this rural com
munity. Production for general exchange was almost un. known, each neighbourhood supplying most of its own wants.
In the towns exchange had already become more common,
but it was in no sense an exclusive business here as it had
. already become in Venice or Genoa, where also the first
. modern manufacture in its more extended sense found a footing.
This happy state of things for the many—happy it was
. according to old chroniclers—could not be of long duration.
. Already business for profit had obtained a footing, and goods
were being produced with a view to their exchange. The
middle-class had begun to gain ground, and soon became
- strong enough to obtain those laws against laborers some of
�OF ENGLAND.
25'
which have lasted to our own day. Meanwhile, the Wars of
the Roses impoverished the nobility, leading them not only to
discharge their retainers, but also to uproot from the soil those
who had a better right to it than they, in order that wool
might be grown for the increasing Flanders market. Through
out the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the process of
tearing off the hold of Englishmen from their own land went
on, while the needy peasants who were thus turned loose on
to the highways were forced by law into the control of themiddle-class, now possessed of the means of production and'
developing the system of small workshop manufacture. From
this to the preponderance of the capitalist farmer, growing
crops and cattle for profit on the land, and of the capitalist
over the whole domain of production and exchange, was an
inevitable transition. The landlord lost all sense of personal
connection with his people or their lands. He became merely
a sleeping partner with the farmer, the coal capitalist, the'
factory-owner in the exploitation of the agricultural laborer,
the miner, the factory-hand. Thenceforward the capitalist
has been the master of our modern society, production has
been carried on solely with a view to profit by exchange, the
workers have been regarded simply as ‘‘hands,” to be used to
the greatest possible extent for the enrichment of the capita
list. He, therefore, who, in England at any rate, strikes
merely at the landlords or the land monopolists tilts at wind
*
mills.
The private ownership of land was as inevitable a.
* In Ireland, of course, circumstances are different. There the
landlord has in most cases rack-rented the cotters direct. But peasant
proprietary under present conditions would only strengthen the gom
been men and small money-lenders. All over Europe and in India the
money-lender, in the shape of the Jew, the Soucar or the mortgage
bank is pressing upon the agriculturist. Even where the land is
“nationalized,” as over the greater part of India, the same blood
sucking capitalism goes on. The crops are mortgaged instead of the-
�26
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
portion of the evolution as the private ownership of the other
means of production up to a^d including the most complete
improved machinery, whether for agriculture or manufacture.
Control capital, and landlordism falls of itself; break down
landlordism, capital may be yet more powerful.
The effect of this development has necessarily been to
render the workers more and more the slaves of their own
production. First came the cooperative workshop where the
individual workman did his bit in forming a complete article,
only useful according to the social conditions of the times
when put together. This is the system which Adam Smith
has so glorified, though its result manifestly is to make the
worker “ a portion of a machine of which the parts are men.”
The employer sat by and took the product of the labor, for
which he paid only a small proportion of its real social value.
Here, at once, was a complete change of method. In place
-of the isolated worker owning his own means of production,
and owning also the product when complete, we have the
socialized worker who owns nothing but his bare force of labor
which is used in concert with others ; the entire product
belonging to the employer. As the cooperation extended
machines came in. These, too, naturally passed into the
possession of the capitalist. Steam motive-power followed
the same direction
*
The workers now no longer serve or
help one another as individuals; they themselves simply serve
land. Thus, as I say, nationalization of the land can only bs useful
to the people as a portion of a complete collective system of pro
duction which will include capital, communication, credit, and
machinery.
• The history of the extraordinary industrial development of Eng
land, from Hargreaves’ invention of the spinning jenny in 1764 on
wards, has to be yet fully written. Its effect upon the physical con
dition of the working classes may be studied in the terrible evidence
and reports of the various commissions as well as in those of the health
officers and factory inspectors.
�OF ENGLAND.
27
the machine through which they embody their force of labor’
in the commodity produced.
Now suppose a new machine invented which lessens theamount of labor, and therefore cheapens the goods. How'
does it work under our present system. The capitalist com
petes by reducing prices. His object is to undersell his fellows
as quickly as possible, but always at a profit to himself. Tcp
do this he must get a wider market and sell cheap too. Con
sequently goods are produced at high pressure until there
comes a glut, and the industrial army of reserve is increased
by the forced idleness of men who cannot sell their labor, owingto the introduction of new machines and the refusal of capital
to produce except at a profit. But there can be no profit
where there is a glut. Thence an industrial crisis, owing tothe fact that the socialized method of production revolts against
the individual system of exchange, to the injury of all.
“ Then follows a partial recognition of the social character
of production by the capitalists themselves; the great engines
of production, and the great highways of the country are taken
possession of, first by companies with many shareholders, then
by the State.” *
Thus, as the feudal nobility lost power by the very methodsthey used to strengthen and enrich themselves, so the middle
class is being in turn displaced by salaried officials, and in the
next stage of the organization of production will themselves be
useless.
What a waste of strength, then, it is for the workers tn
expend their funds in maintaining men on strike for higher
wages. Why, it is the wages system itself that crushes them,
and never will they, as a class, know what true freedom and
real independence are until they break it down. Let the
workers spend what money they can afford in obtaining control
* F. Engels.
�'28
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
•of political power for their class, and use this power, when
obtained, to take possession of the entire means of production.
This would benefit, not themselves alone, but even the idlers
and the vicious who now live upon their labor.
Can anything possibly be worse than the existing system ?
We have seen its effects upon the workers in the country
'where capital has most power. For them any change must be
beneficial. Necessary as this stage may be in the process of
human development, capital contrives to exact more labor,
..and to brutify the lowest grades of the population more com
pletely than any method of forced work known. But what is
the result to the soil, to our cities, to our general surroundings ?
England is now supplied with food and raw material from
•other countries; draws from them interest on capital lent. In
America wheat centre after wheat centre is worked to sterility
while we sweep the phosphates down into the sea which might
■fertilize our impoverished lands. In Australia the like process
is going on, to the permanent injury of the Continent. In
India—but the ruin of India by our capitalist system is an
.awful lesson by itself. Meanwhile, everywhere forests which
perhaps can never be replaced are cut down for fuel, for
sleepers, for timbering mines, regardless of the mischief
wrought to the climate and the next generation. Everywhere
the same rampant individualism, utterly indifferent to the
general good; everywhere the same furious greed for gain,
reckless of what may befall. And what of our cities ? Men
of artistic training see no hope of great art under our present
.social arrangements. Such a man as William Morris, the poet,
is driven to look below for some remedy for the hideousness
thrust upon him, as democrats are driven to look below for the
means of overthrowing the social miseries due to our system of
production. Monstrous factories and squalid hovels, blank, fea
tureless houses, and ghastly advertisements, elevated railroads
�OF ENGLAND.
29
and a net-work of telegraph, poles, such are the decorations of
our cities; one long vista of almost irredeemable ugliness, in
which each can vie with his neighbor in parading his indivi
duality in order that he may sell at a profit. Scamped build
ings, adulteration in every form, cheapness and nastiness and
ugliness in every direction.
*
And all for what ? All in order
that the few may live in luxury and the many exist as we
know. The loss to society by the mere cramping of human
intelligence cannot be estimated. What sense of beauty,
what exquisite artistic faculties, what power of invention may
not lie dormant in millions who may now have not a moment
left free from grinding and degrading toil ? The greatest dis
coveries and the noblest inventions have never been made for
gain. A Faraday, a Simpson, a Newton scorns to trade upon
the welfare of the mass of mankind. How many a great idea,
turned to account in hard cash by the capitalist, has been, as
it is, stolen from the poor enthusiast who worked for some
thing higher than mere greed.
* “ Why are cotton, potatoes, and gin the pivots of bourgeois so
ciety ? Because they need least labor to provide them, and they are
consequently at the lowest price.
“ Why does the minimum price decide the maximum consumption ?
Is it because of the absolute utility of these articles, of their intrinsic
utility, of their utility so far as they answer in the most useful manner
to the needs of the workman as man, and not of the man as workman ?
No, it is because, in a society founded on misery, the most miserable
products have the fatal prerogative of serving for the use of the greatest
number.
“ To say now that because things the least costly are most used
therefore they must be of greatest utility, is to state that the wide
spread use of gin, in consequence of the small cost of production, is the
-conclusive proof of its usefulness; it is to declare the potato to be as
nourishing to the working classes as meat; it is to accept the existing
state of things.
“ In the society of the future, when the antagonism of classes has
ceased, when there are no more classes, use will no longer be deter
mined by the minimum time of production ; but the time of production
devoted to an article will be determined by its utility.”—Karl Marx,
-Misere de la Philosopliie, p. 41.
�30
THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ENGLAND.
But whether we like it or not, whether we try to help it on
or not, whether we shall live to see its victory or not, the
movement of the people goes steadily on all the same.
*
The
antagonism of classes is becoming too serious to be concealed
any longer. In England, where the causes of hostility are
deepest, the attempt at reorganization must first be made.
This is the revolution which, sooner or later, we have all of us
to face. That it may be brought about in a peaceful and
orderly manner every Englishman must hope ; that the domi
nant classes will be wise in time is the best that can be desired
for them. But the time is fast approaching when every man
must take his side, and strive for slavery with the landlord and
the capitalist, or for freedom with the people.
* Vous triompherez des tempetes
Ou notre courage expira ;
C’est en eclatant sur nos tetes
Que la foudre vous eclaira.
Si le Dieu qui vous aime
Crut devoir nous punir
Pour vous sa main resseme
Les champs de l’avenir.
It was this idea of Beranger’s I tried to express at one of our
great anti-coercion meetings in Hyde Park : “ And so, when we, the
small men of our time, pass unregarded to the rest of the tomb, this
holy consolation shall close our eyelids in their never-ending sleep—
that though our names be forgotten our memories will be ever green
in the work that we have done, and the eternal justice we have striven
for.”
��
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 social reconstruction of England
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hyndman, Henry Mayers [1842-1921]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 30 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Reprinted from the "International Review". Includes bibliographical references. Date of publication from KVK.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William Reeves
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1884?]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
T407
Subject
The topic of the resource
Socialism
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The social reconstruction of England), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><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
politics
Social change
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/d19d5fde2c9fea7a6a74dd56095bbffe.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=H4devAHqzJbKXYxU15Vq2LRKE5kWIBw17xJf9vKrj7QpxkYCIDTER7A4x0eEEuxthy3%7EDLs4%7EKHAcxcaP8oxuwCTEgyVcYlz3tSiKhtjZwtxoAHTBYZojrcBrsxvChPWnKKCKdVHeQeIZmku7Xy8BQ-%7EK1oHmIXo6IT5uXWSGx1ubUszEb1WM0SBNZ4hJDqabHd0Kh5VgBT9eapZ6tksv%7ElSKTqdAJwunmIfFIZIT61lqFf19WMD8ik88CnRgcbXBUSveNkjuiB1M5FTcbRb8F98rTLw2fwDySMaYmf1MHXm4eK6qSUy407MR6iPIJ0ZvIdhlBS%7EL06%7ELwTTz-UEuw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
58943ba82f323d48f00837847442d178
PDF Text
Text
£6^
THE
SOCIAL QUESTION.
y
'
•
•
A SPEECH DELIVERED BY
Deputy
JOHANN JACOBY,
TO HIS CONSTITUENTS OF THE SECOND ARRONDISSEMENT
OF BERLIN, ON THE 20th JANUARY, 1870
■“ Men shall not be masters and servants, for all are born to liberty.”
Abraham Lincoln.
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
1870.
��OmL QUES TIO N.
T
Dear Fellow Citizens and Friends,
The mandate you have confided to me expires with the close of
the present session of Parliament. I am happy that this meeting
of my constituents gives me an opportunity of thanking you
once more for the confidence you have so faithfully and truthfully
continued to place in me at a time when political convictions are
vacillating in the extreme.
The last time I addressed you from this tribune, I essayed to
n . t
xi.„ —n—„„„
w
.Xgtuiwh'A
bpd J1 ftk tyd
twfil
nj.
M VA ..rt'ioi’ixj 'ifcbVi-M
4‘'-5luofi OS jrp’/,
.Axniii'c*
M>i
/’ ,
'
<fv
>1
■! b/ir*
-.■ii
WP
■■
‘ .
’^301.8W»j MfuJl
* ww
*•
«w‘t '< ♦
“ ini r.tAjitiru 'i-
■’ M0
tfii.ll id "
M JjW ln-i’
'**
l
jaeailBd.Ktoui Li ■>'
' •*»»»<> »•■)-H-sn* *n few’ ■'1 ■
nut you ail Knowxnavcms-wonuei-xia-s
git«o
«
been realised, without the aid of the gods, in the most natural
manner in the world, namely, by insight into the laws and by em
ployment of the forces of nature; that which appeared formerly
impossible to the wisest of the Greeks, is realised daily under
our eyes. But how has this miracle come about ? How has this
happy result been brought to pass, which Aristotle anticipated, of
such a state of things ?
Experience teaches us that by the grand mechanical discoveries
which have been made in our time, national riches have imEneasurably increased, but that the unfortunate and painful lot
of the laborious classes has been at best but ameliorated.
’
�ERRATA.
Page 1, last line, for “ laborious,” read labouring.
Page 5, line 14 from bottom, for “ restoring,” read restricting.
Page 7, line 20 from top, after “ credit,” put a comma.
Page 7, line 3 from bottom, for “ gem,” read germ,.
Page 8, line 22 from bottom, for “ only,” read on.
Page 10, line 14 from top, for “ these,” read other.
Page 12, line 10 from top, after “ does,” put ratf.
Page 12, line 2 from top, for “verum,” read rerum. Same page
line 2 from bottom, for K law ” read labour.
Page 16, line 13 from bottom, after the word “ majority,” insert
—of mankind as wage-labourers.
�TH E
S 0 C I A L QUESTION.
Dear Fellow Citizens and Friends,
The mandate you have confided to me expires with the close of
the present session of Parliament. I am happy that this meeting
of my constituents gives me an opportunity of thanking you
once more for the confidence you have so faithfully and truthfully
continued to place in me at a time when political convictions are
vacillating in the extreme.
The last time I addressed you from this tribune, I essayed to
explain to you the end which the radical German party had in
view, and above all, its position with regard to the working men’s
agitation; permit me to-day to take as the subject of my deli
beration, this working men’s movement itself, or, as it is
ordinarily termed, the social question. The political and social
conditions of a country being intimately allied, every elector has
a right to demand a declaration of social as well as political faith
from his deputy. I shall endeavour to answer this question with
entire frankness. Aristotle, one of the greatest thinkers of
humanity, divides mankind into two classes—free men and men
born for slavery. He pretends that the Greeks, thanks to their
independent character, were called to dominate over other nations,
whilst the barbarian races were destined either to be governed or
for slavery. He sees a social necessity in this institution—he
considers it as an essential and indispensable basis of the State
and of society; for supposing that free citizens should find them
selves under the necessity of providing by their labour for the
needs of life, whence could arise the desire to form their intellect,
and the leisure to occupy themselves with affairs of State ? And
yet, gentlemen, we find in Aristotle a remarkable passage con
cerning the possibility of a state of society without slavery. If
there were animated instruments (automatons) he says, capable
of rendering us those services now performed by slaves; if each
of these instruments, comprehending or even acting in advance
of the wish of man, could execute the labour confided to him
after the manner of the Statutes of Daedalus and the tables of
Hephaestus, which, according to Homer, entered of their own
accord into the chambers of the gods; if the shuttles could
weave alone, and guitars could perform melodies without musi
cians, then weavers would have no need of workmen, nor masters
of slaves.
But you all know that this wonder has in great part already
been realised, without the aid of the gods, in the most natural
manner in the world, namely, by insight into the laws and by em
ployment of the forces of nature; that which appeared formerly
impossible to the wisest of the Greeks, is realised daily under
our eyes. But how has this miracle come about ? How has this
Bappy result been brought to pass, which Aristotle anticipated, of
such a state of things ?
Experience teaches us that by the grand mechanical discoveries
which have been made in our time, national riches have immeasurably increased, but that the unfortunate and painful lot
of the laborious classes has been at best but ameliorated.
�4
Permit me now, in conformity with, enlarged experience, fur
ther to develop the dream of Aristotle. Let us suppose that in
some distant future of the human race, the entire soil of the
globe shall have passed into a state of private property, and that
man, by the progress of science, shall have acquired the mastery
of nature, that the inventions of mechanism shall have attained
such a state of perfection, that machines shall be constructed,
and shall practise by means of other machines, so that all phy
sical labour shall have become superfluous, . or that at least its
necessity shall have been reduced to a minimum. What would
be the result of such a state of things ?.
It will then naturally happen that in virtue of the force of
attraction, which the greater capital exercises upon the lesser,, a
relatively small number of rich persons will find themselves in
the possession of all the machines and all the means of labour;
it is to this small number alone to whom the common revenues of
the country will accrue, as well as all the wealth which is neces
sary for the wants and the pleasures of life, and that from a
point of view now admitted as just.
But what would happen under such circumstances—and granted
the complete depreciation of labour—what would become of the
disinherited mass of the working proletariat, if the charity of
the possessors of capital did not come to their rescue ?
What other resource would remain open to these unfortunate
people, but the alternative of dying of hunger, or modifying
in their own favour the existing relationships of society and
of property, either by force or by fraud ?
It will be said that this is a vain phantom, proposed to frighten
us, and that a similar state of society will never be realised,
either in the present or in the future. I admit this—not how
ever, because the thing in itself is impossible—but because it is
impossible that intelligent men will allow matters to reach such
a point. But can we hide from ourselves the fact that existing
social life, based as it is upon the domination of capital, and upon
the system of wages, tends to such a direction, that unless
obstructed, it would lead us nearer every day towards a state like
that we have just described ? Must we not acknowledge, that
even at the present time, the distribution of the common revenues
of the country is made in such a manner that, at least, a part
of the working proletariat is exposed to the distress we have
depicted.
In such a condition of things, it is the incumbent duty of every
honest and thoughtful man, to put to himself the following
question:—
How can we modify the present relations of society and
property, so as to realise a more equitable distribution of the
common revenue, and to obviate the distress of the working
classes, which daily assumes more extended proportions ?
In examining more closely the problem, the solution of which
we seek, there are two principal features which characterise the
economic relationships of the existing order of society, and which
�5
distinguish it from those of the past—the system of wages and great
^collective industry.
In the past, the social labours were executed in a great measure
by slaves or serfs; since the great French Revolution, there have
no longer existed seignorial rights of man over man.
By right, that is to say legally, every workman is free and dis
poses of himself, but in the fact, he is anything but independent.
Deprived of the necessary means and conditions of labour, with
out any other property but the faculty of labour, he sees himself
[under the necessity of working in the service of another foi'
|c wages,” and for wages which scarcely suffice for the bare
maintenance of life. If he finds no demand for the sole mer
chandise he has to dispose of, that is to say, for his labour, he
falls with those depending on him into extreme misery. Not
withstanding this painful and precarious situation, a labourer
■could with difficulty be found, who would return to the ancient
social state; what he wants is an existence worthy of a man, and
he knows that it is in liberty alone that he can attain it.
As the French Revolution declared the labourer free as regards
his person, it also delivered property from the fetters of the
middle ages; without regard to primitive obligations and destina
tions, it gave him who was then in possession the absolute right
to dispose of his property.
This liberation of property, the employment of steam which
soon followed, and the general introduction of machinery into
workshops, introduced great and weighty changes into economic
End social relations. Trades and small commerce were more or
less driven into the background: commerce upon a large scale,
End great industry, that is to say, production by capital, took
their place. Nevertheless, painful as became the situation of the
poorer workman and of the small dealer by this change, the
Advantages of great collective industry are too important with
regard to the development of civilisation for society ever to forego
them. A return to small commerce and to small trade is for the
future as impossible as a return to statute labour.
In consequence, we must confine our question to the following
■Propositions:—
How can we, without restoring the liberty of labour, and
without prejudicing the progress obtained by industry (on a large
scale), realise a more equitable distribution of the common
revenue, and one more suited to the interest of all ?
The answer for us at least cannot be a doubtful one; there is
■but one means which can lead us to this end : The abolition of the
wage-system and the substitution in its place of co-operative labour.
Whoever can read the signs of the times, will not deny that
this is the thought, which more or less consciously is at the
bottom of all working men’s movements in every country of
Europe. Just as slavery and serfdom, which were also formerly
held to be necessary social institutions, have everywhere given
way to the wage-system, so impends to-day a revolution of the
same kind, and not less important; namely, the transition of the
�wage-system to labour, and labour free and equal in the right of
association. It is needful so to act, that this revolution be effected
in the most peaceful manner, which cannot happen except by
the unanimous concurrence of all the social forces interested in it.
The question which now occupies us should therefore be thus
stated:—
What must (1st) the workman, (2nd) the manufacturer—the
possessor of capital, (3rd) the State do, to advance the transition
already commenced towards production by association, and to
conduct it to a good issue in the interests of the community ?
We see that, to answer this question, we have nothing to do but
review the facts which are occurring before us, a certain proof
that we find ourselves at present in the midst of a social change.
(1.) With regard to the workman himself, it is needful, above
all, that he should have a clear idea of his position, and that
he should learn to know and to respect the noblei’ side of human
nature that is within him.
We have already said that, in general, the wages of the labourer
suffice only for the miserable support of himself and of his
family. If any one doubts this pitiful condition of wages, we
would refer him to the testimony rendered some time back by a
Commission of the Customs to Parliament, in a report upon the
estimate of the wages of workmen; it is written in striking terms.
“ We cannot allow the assertion that there is a sensible differ
ence between the wages of the workman and the means necessary
for his bare maintenance to pass unnoticed. The amount of
wages is precisely the point around which the whole of the social
question practically moves. Workmen affirm the insufficiency of
wages, the employers do not contest this in principle, but they
declare the amount of wages to be a fixed link in the chain of
economic phenomena, and that under the control of the market
in which they find themselves, they cannot arbitrarily change it
without breaking the whole chain. As long as this contest is not
decided, and we fear that it may be eternal (sic), we must rest
ourselves as being the sole point of any real solid foundation
upon the opinion that the two terms, ‘wages’ and ‘means of
indispensable existence,’ generally compensate each other.” “ The
indestructible chain of economic phenomena!” Really one could
scarcely find a more striking expression ! Doubtless, the lords of
capital and the dispensers of labour will not be impeded in the
accumulation of capital upon capital; but very heavily does this
“ chain of economic phenomena ” weigh upon the working classes.
And yet here again the saying of the poet confirms itself—
“ There dwells a spirit of good even in that which is evil! ”
The dominant industrial system whilst necessitating the
assemblage of large masses of labourers in the same locality,
furnishes at the same time the first step for doing away with the
evil it engenders. As man learns from a glass the knowledge of
the features of his own face, so the salaried workman attains to a
complete acquaintance of his situation only by perceiving his own
�7
•condition reflected m the common misery of his companions in
suffering. In common with his equally ill-favoured and equally
oppressed companions, by constant intercourse and exchange of
ideas with his equals, by the mutual co-operation of reciprocal
assistance and of defence against the common danger, there is
developed by degrees among the workmen a bond of brotherhood,
which supports individuals, educates them, and urges the whole
body to struggle for their social rights. It is a singular occur
rence that it should be production by capital that itself assembles
and disciplines the forces destined to put an end to the domination
of capital and of the classes which represent it.
It is from these great industrial agglomerations that the work
ing men’s movement has arisen, which for this last ten years has
spread itself from England to France, to Belgium, to Germany,
to Switzerland, and has acquired by the foundation of the International Association a precise form and a positive power. On all
sides we find societies taking root, whose object is the amelioration
-of the material condition of the working classes; societies of
bartizans and of labourers, associations for instruction, for assist
ance, for consumption, for advances, and for credit unions for
manufacture and production. It is to be foreseen, that under the
pressure of prevailing financial and economical relationships,
all these institutions proceeding from the workman alone, and
founded upon the principle of “ self-help,” will prove insufficient
in the face of the common wants. But their services will have
been considerable in aiding the intellectual and moral development of the working class and in starting a serious reform in the
condition of labour. The true meaning of the inappreciable value
of these associations consists in that, irrespectively of their spe
cific end, they form a school for the members of the Association,
and render them capable of managing their own affairs as well as
of co-operating efficaciously with others. By education, by pro
gress in the knowledge of affairs, and by the development of a
friendly lien among the workmen, they prepare them insensibly
to pass from the wage-system now in vigour to the system of
production by association, which is that of the future.
It was the spirit of association which elevated the laborious
citizen class, in the middle ages, to such a high degree of civiliza
tion, of well being, of power, and of importance. The awakening
of this spirit of association, will lead us in our own days to
■results, similar, yet more fruitful, not for a single state, but
for the entire human society.
The labour question, as we understand it, is not a question of
mere bread and money ; it is a question of justice, of civilization,
and of humanity. Our pretended saviours of the State and
Society, “ the glorious conquests of politics by blood and iron,”
will long, like a superannuated legend, have fallen into the profoundest oblivion, when it will be accorded as a merit to our time
to have awakened and fostered the spirit of association, the gem
■of human virtue and greatness. By this means, our epoch will
have laid the foundations of a new social life founded upon the
�8
principles of equality and fraternity. The creation of the mosh
insignificant working man’s association, will be to the future his
torian of civilization of more importance than the sanguinary
day of Sadowa 1
Let us proceed now to the second question.
(2.) What ought the manufacturer, the enterprising possessor!
of capital, to do ?
All we ask of him is simply to consider in each workman, “ the
man; ” we ask of him to recognise, and to treat the hired man
he employs as a being who has exactly the same rights as him
self—in one word, as his equal.
Every medal, it is said, has two sides; in this saying there is a
good deal of populai' good sense; the most difficult problems of
science and of life find therein a satisfactory solution. Just as
the medal, man also has two sides: the one peculiar to
him as an individual; the other general, stamping him as
a member of a great community. In fact, these two sides are
inseparable and without a defined limit, for it is but in their
entirety, and in their unity that they constitute man; but it is
nevertheless possible that one of these two sides, temporarily or
lastingly, may manifest itself in excess, and thus exercise a decisive
influence upon our thoughts and upon our actions.
Let us suppose, for example, that it is the more particular or
individual side, which allows itself to be felt and becomes pre
ponderate in the conscience of a man. First of all, there will
result a more exaggerated appreciation of personality, a deeper
sentiment of his personal value and a greater confidence in self.
“Aid yourself! man is his own architect.” This is one man’s
motto, the rule of his thought and his actions. If he preserves at
the same time his sentiment on the other side, that is only the
general side of his existence, if he does not lose sight of the
entirety, which binds him to his equals, he will say, that his own
isolated forces will not suffice to procure for himself a life worthy
of a man; that man can only live and prosper in the society of
his fellow creatures, and that a fraternal co-operation with others
is his interest if well understood.
Reverence for others, the sentiment of community and the
spirit of fraternity, will constitute the necessary counterpoise to
his egotism and self-confidence. But the case is quite different
when this personal egotism develops itself to excess. Even
then he will doubtless not overlook the insufficiency of his
isolated individual power, for the consciousness of the general
and universal side can never be completely stifled, but it is th J
consequences which he therefrom deduces, which are quite
different; he will consider other men not as beings who are his
equals, not as members of a great whole to which he himself
belongs, and in which they have all equal rights with himself, butas members subordinated to his individual self, as simple instru
ments, destined to the satisfaction of his own wants and desires.
It is thus that the personal feeling, so laudable in itself, degene
rates into egotism—confidence in self into arrogance. Cupidity*
�9
pride, ambition, will decide him to make of his neighbour a
servant of his will, and of that which he deems his own interest.
What we have just said of each, man in particular is true also
of man in the abstract; the same forces which act upon the
mind of the individual, act also upon the life of peoples, and
upon the history of the human race.
Domination of man over man, right of the stronger, exploitation of the weaker, these are the characteristic features, which,
distinguished alike the history of antiquity and that of the middle
ages. Is it otherwise at the present time ?
Does not social ordei’ even to-day, notwithstanding our boasted:
progress, repose upon the same principle of human servitude ?
Has the present epoch, in truth, a right to contemplate with,
pride and satisfaction its present state in contrast to the social,
relations of pagan antiquity, and the Christianized middle ages ?
With a frankness which cannot well be surpassed, a statesman
of the nineteenth century, Count Joseph de Maistre, thus ex
presses himself. “ The human race has been created for the
benefit of a few. It is the business of the clergy, of the nobility,
and of the high functionaries of state, to teach the people thatwhich is good or bad, true or false, in the moral and intellectual
world. The rest of mankind have no right to reason on such
subjects, and must suffer all things without a murmur.”
If the style is somewhat highly-coloured, the portrait is taken
from nature. As long as the leaders of the people “ shall make
war without consulting the people; as long as ecclesiastics shall
unite in council or] in synod to give judgment under the auspices
of the Holy G-host, upon the false science of man,” we shall have
no right to give a denial to de Maistre. His error consists alone
in approving a similar state of things, and of supposing that such
a state can and ought to last for ever.
Allow me to cite another testimony. From this double view
the truth will be elicited.
Robert Owen, the founder of the co-operative system in Eng
land, meets one day in the house of a Frankfort banker, therenowned statesman, Frederick von Gentz. Owen expounded his
socialistic system and displayed its excellence; if union could,
but replace disunion all men would have a sufficiency. “ That is
very possible 1 ” replied von Gentz, “but we by no means wish that
the masses should become at ease and independent of us, all
government would then be impossible.”
This, gentlemen, is in two words the social question of the
present time ! For Owen the enigma of the solution is, “union.”
Gentz indicates the source of the evil which opposes this
solution, “ the spirit of domination among the privileged classes.”
Aristotle, you will remember, also divided mankind into two
classes: the one destined by nature to dominion, the other
to servitude; but this difference was to be attributed to nation
ality, and it was the character of the Greek or the barbarian,,
which was the basis of his distinction. De Maistre and Gentz,
Hon the contrary, established a distinction in the same race,
�10
between a limited aristocracy called to power and well being,
and the rest of the masses condemned to be governed and to
suffer want.
If we consider the relationships of the Church, the State, or
of society in general, everywhere, we cannot conceal from our
selves the fact, that the domination of classes and the system of
tutelage, such as it existed in the middle ages, are to be found.
The only difference between the present and the past is that,
thanks to the reform in Germany and the revolution in France,
these convictions penetrate daily into lower and lower strata of
society, and this state of things cannot last long.
It is now understood that man is not born to be governed,
lorded over, condemned, and despoiled by his fellow-men; it
is now exacted in fact, from the State and society, that these
doctrines be seriously applied.
There was a time, and the oldest among you may remember it,
when he who placed a doubt upon the right of absolute rule
was declared a “ rebel.” In the same manner is treated in the
present day, whosoever dares to shatter the chain of economic
relations. Endeavour to attack the privileges of the well-to-do
classes, the abuses of power of the great capitalists, the dominant
system of credit; or only to talk of a more equitable distribution of
material rights, in a certain sphere, you will be at once condemned
as an enemy of all social order, as a heretic towards society and as
a communist. But do not let this impede us from frankly and
openly recognising this truth—that all individual property,
material no less than intellectual, is at the same time the com
mon good of society. Just as man, so has the property of man
also its particular side, which makes it the property of the in
dividual, and its general and universal side, upon which the
community have positive claims. That the State and the com
mune levy rates and taxes upon the fortune of each in di vidua,!,
that the law should limit the disposal of property in each, is
legitimate in the eyes of all.
But we demand, has not the proprietor other duties besides
those which the law of the State prescribes, and when necessary
imposes ? Has he not duties towards society, as he has towards
his family, the community, and the Church ?
Is the sum total of what each man possesses in goods, real or
personal, the product of his own activity ? Is he not indebted
for the greater part of it to the co-operation of others, to the
common and social labour of his predecessors and his contem
poraries ? As the individual cannot attain property without the
assistance and succour of others, so neither can he enjoy its
fruits without the assistance and succour of others. It is only in
society that property can have any value, it is only in society that
man can enjoy his property. The moral duty of every proprietor is
therefore to make such a use of his property, as shall profit not
himself alone, but also the community at large, and especially
that part of it less liberally endowed than himself.
“ Riches are the wealth of all, when it is a man of worth who
possesses them.”
�11
The remarkable working-men’s movement of the last forty
years has produced excellent results in this respect. It has
awakened in the workman a sense of his social rights, and in the
well-to-do classes a sense of social duty. We willingly acknow
ledge this; there are manufacturers to whom the workman is not
a machine to be bought, like any other merchandise, at the lowest
possible cost, in order to make the greatest profit, and then to be
got rid of.
In England, France, and with us also in Germany, there are
manufacturers, enterprises, commercial men, and great landed
proprietors who make it a duty to ameliorate the hard lot of the
workmen they employ, by raising their wages and reducing their
hours of labour, by organising savings’ banks, benefit societies
for succour and for old age, by procuring healthy habitations
for their workmen, and, at a small cost, asylums, hospitals,
schools, &c. We designate in particular the system known
under the name of participation in benefits (industrial partner
ship), by which the workman, besides his wages, obtains a share
in the profits arising from his labour. In England alone,
more than 10,000 workmen find themselves in this position with
regard to the manufacturers, and the two parties have reason
to be contented with the result.
But let us not forget that here again, all depends more or less
upon the good will of the employer, and that under the most
favourable supposition, only isolated workmen or groups of workmen find their condition ameliorated. However profitable these
efforts may be as a means of education and preparation, they
are not less insufficient as a remedy for the social evil arising
from the system of wages, than the efforts made by the workmen
themselves. To obtain this remedy another power is needed,
that shall act in a general manner and upon all points.
And this leads us to our third question:—
(3.) What is to be done by the State to obtain a peaceable
solution of the labour question ?
The new Constitution of the Canton of Zurich, of the date of
“the 18th April, 1369, gives us the following answer:—■
“ Art. 23. The State promotes and facilitates the development
of Association founded upon the efforts of individuals (self-help).
It decrees by the agency of legislation all the necessary measures
for the protection of the workman.
“Art. 24. It institutes a Cantonal Bank, with the object of
developing a general system of credit.”
The primary drawing up of this project was yet more precise :
it ran as follows :—
“Art. 23. It is the duty of the State to protect and to further
the well-being of the working classes, as well as the free develop:ment of Associations.”
Art. 24. As above.
Protect and further—these two expressions clearly and precisely
denote the end of the great Association termed the State.
But what are we to understand from this direct protection and
furtherance by the State ?
�12
The despot also terms himself the protector of the people, and
war is extolled as a means for advancing civilization. Vera verum
vocabula amisimus. “ The real sense of words has been lost to us.”
It is all the more necessary to explain the sense attached to these.
The protection of the State means to us, the duty incumbent
upon each community constituted into a State to procure for each
individual, in the free development and manifestation of his
faculties, a sufficient protection, in so far as it shall not militate
against the liberty of others.
Protection alone, however, does constitute the entire duty of
the State; notwithstanding, that certain politicians limit it tothis, the mutual advancement of the members of the State must
necessarily be added.
“ By the advancement by the State ” we understand, the duty
of the community to interfere by every means in its power wherethe providence of the individual will not suffice to ‘procure him an
existence worthy of a man.
As the protection of the State answers to the principle o£
“ liberty,” and the advancement by the State to that of “ frater
nity,” it results that protection and advancement become at the
same time, and according to their respective needs, the lot of
each, and that thus the principle of equality is satisfied.
You see, gentlemen, that the social doctrine I have put forward
is the same as that which I summarised, upon a previous occasion,,
in the following formula:—
Each for all—this is the duty of man.
All for each—this is the right of man.
But what, some one will ask, if protection and advancement by
the State is to be equally the lot of each, why is the working class
specified in the Zurich Constitution ?
The working class—is it to be a privileged one on the part of theState, and favoured at the expense of the others ? This objection;
is a specious one at first sight, but it will not sustain a closer
examination.
Let us recollect, first of all, that the equality of all consists in
that each is protected and supported according to his wants, and
who can deny that in our time, it is exactly the wage-receiving
class who have need of protection and support ?
Moreover, allowance being made for the most pressing needs,,
another circumstance here presents itself, which for the present,
as well as for the impending future, imposes the duty upon theState of having especial regard to the situation of the working
classes, in order to hasten the advent of the justice which
equalises and reconciles.
Consider only the origin of what is ordinarily termed “ capi
tal,” and you will at once understand what I mean.
However different may be the ideas formed of capital, all theworld agrees in considering it as an economised labour, accumu
lated and destined for productive purposes. But who, we ask,
has furnished this law ? Is it those who possess the capital ?
Do the manufacturer, the merchant, and the great proprietor owe
�13
pffeir capital, this accumulated labour, to their own activity and
to that of their ancestors ?
On the other hand, is the want of capital, the poverty of the
labourer, and the proletarian, merely the consequence of his own
faults and of those of his ancestors ? No one will dare aver this ?
If, therefore, the actual inequality in fortunes is not alone the
result of the economic system of those who possess, and of the
anti-economic system of those who do not possess, to what other
cause must we attribute this inequality?
How does it happen that, day by day, capital accumulates in
the hands of a small minority, whilst tbe majority of the wages
scarcely suffice, notwithstanding the labour, for the needs of the
masses ?
It is evident that one must seek the solution in the iniquitous
redistribution of the return of labour in respect of the labour
provided.
Listen to what one of the most celebrated political economists
of England says upon this question—
“ The produce of labour,” says Stuart Mill, “ is redistributed
.at the present time in an almost inverse ratio to the labour sup
plied: the greatest return falls to the lot of those who never
work: after these, to those whose work is only nominal, and thus
in a descending scale, wages are reduced in proportion as the
labour becomes more onerous and more disagreeable, until at last
that which is the most fatiguing and pernicious to the body can
.scarcely secure with certainty the acquisition of the immediate
necessities of existence.”
We will not inquire by what concatenation of historical events
the labourer has been by degrees deprived of the means of labour,
and how the disproportion which exists between wages and labour
has been brought about. The question before us is the following:—
What has the State done to obtain a more equitable distri
bution of the products of labour ?
Has it ever tried either by laws or by other institutions to pro
tect the labourei’ against the preponderance of capital and to
place a limit to the social inequality which daily increases ?
If we examine the history of all States, we shall find that up to the
latest times, nothing or nearly nothing has been done in this respect.
The nobility, the clergy, or the higher civic class have exercised
for centuries, one after the other, or at the same time, an almost
exclusive influence upon public affairs; they have never hesitated
to employ the power and resources of the State which ought to
be the inheritance of all for themselves and for their particular
interests. Legislation itself, far from producing equality in com
petition and in economic relationships, has contributed by con
ceding privileges on the one side, and by limiting liberty on the
other, to enlarge the social gulf between those who possess and
those who do not.
How can we then be astonished that working men, having at
last attained the consciousness of their rights and of their
strength, exact from the State that it shall take into particular
�14
consideration their interests so long neglected? If the Con
stitution of Zurich accords to the labourers alone the protection
and assistance of the State, it is not a violation of the principle?
of equality. It is not a question here, as some timid minds fear,
to maintain the needy workman at the expense of the well-to-do
citizens; much less is it a question to create, by a lasting
assistance on the part of the State, a kind of labour feudality |
the legislator was only desirous to recognise in a frank and loyal
manner, that a duty was incumbent upon the State to make
amends for the past, to efface the injustices committed, and to
remedy the social evil it has contributed to produce. It is merely
a question how to realise what we have called the demands of an
equalising and reconciling justice.
The Constitution of Zurich does not content itself, it is true, by
proclaiming in general terms the duties and obligations of the
State; it indicates at the same time, in clear terms, the means by
which we can come to the aid of the working class.
“ The State must favour and facilitate the development of
association founded upon personal effort.”
The final end of this development is the cessation of the wage
by the insensible transition of the wage-system to that of free
labour through the means of association.
Let us now survey, one after the other, the exigencies which are
imposed upon the State, that is to say, on the body of the citizens.
In the first place, is the absolute liberty of manifesting one’s
opinion and the unlimited right of meeting and association. We
must renounce all limitation or, according to the usual term,
regiementation (organisation) of liberty.
Hence the equal right of each to participate in political life,
whence results universal and direct suffrage, and, as a necessary
consequence, the direct and universal participation of the people
in legislation and in administration.
We ask, moreover, gratuitous instruction in public institutions
which should be independent of the Church, and the establish
ment of a popular militia in the stead of permanent armies. We
combine these two propositions, the one with the other, for the
instruction and the military training of the people find them
selves in mutual relationship; to make war, above all, money
is needed, and capable soldiers, and both are obtainable by
means of good schools. The wealth of a country depends upon
the productive labour of its inhabitants, and labour is the more
productive, in so far as the labourer is able to calculate the pro
duct of his own activity, that is to say in proportion to his
intelligence. And as the labourer, so also does the soldier by means
of education become more able to perform his task, which is to
defend his country. With us, and with the majority of European
countries, nearly half the revenues of the State are expended in
preparations for war, whilst insignificant sums are awarded to
educational instruction. Reverse this order of things, and the
public income will be increased tenfold, without the respective
value of things diminishing.
�15
A minister of instruction, who understands his business, is at
once the best minister of war and of finance.
For the working classes in particular, and that having in view
the general interest, we ask—
Seduction of the hours of labour, and a fixation of the day’s
work.
The paid labourer (or receiver of wages) must also have time
and the leisure to form his mind and watch the affairs of the
State. The congress of the English Working Men’s Associa
tion, which was held in the month of August last year, at Bir
mingham, advises a period of eight hours as a common measure
for all trades and expresses the conviction that by this means,
will be fortified the physical and intellectual energy of the work
man, and we shall thereby further morals, and diminish the
number of the UnemployedProhibition of the employment of children in manufactories,
and an equal rate of wages, both for women as well as for men, are
necessary steps to prevent the diminution of wages, and to
the decline of the rising generation.
Furthermore, we desire the abolition of indirect contributions,
and the establishment of a tax progressive and proportional to
the fortune of the individuaL
Every tax upon consumption, is a tax upon the strength of
the labourer, and consequently, an impediment to the production
of wealth, and a prejudice to the well-being of the people.
Finally, reform of the system of credit, and the furtherance of
associations, both industrial and agricultural, by the means of
the institution of credit, or by the protection of the State.
It is necessary to lay open the road to credit to the work
man. What the State has done hitherto, and to such an extent
directly and indirectly for the support and protection of capital,
it must now effect, and that in its own interest, for the advance
ment of the working classes and working men’s association.
Nothing is so advantageous to the community as justice in all
thin gs.
These are the first conditions of the reform of labour. Work
men have been advised, perhaps with good intentions, to keep
themselves aloof from all politics, and to concentrate all their
attention on their economic interest, as if we could separate
economic and political interests, as we cleave wood with a hatchet.
W'hoever has followed the course of our considerations will not
doubt, I hope, that it is just the working classes whose interest
it mogt imports to modify public relationships on the side of
liberty’ The assistance of the State, no less than that of the
individual, is necessary to secure to each workman the complete
and intact product of his labour, that is to say, the possibility of
an existence worthy of a human being. The State alone can
come to the workman’s aid, and the free State alone will do it 1
Let us now briefly summarise what we have said:—
The wage-system answers now as little to the exigencies of
'ngficc and humanity, as slavery and serfdom in former times.
�16
Just as it was with slavery and serfdom, the wage-system was
formerly a progress by which society has derived incontestable
^advantages.
. The social question of our times consists therefore in the aboli
tion of the wage-system, without prejudice to the advantages
resulting from the common labour of great collective industry.
There is for this but one means, the system of free labour by
association—the co-operative system. The present time is a
transition period from the wage-system (system of production
by means of capital) to the system of labour by association.
In order that this transition may be effected in a peaceful
manner, it is requisite that the workmen, employers, and the
State act in common.
It is the duty of workmen to unite, in ordei* to resist the
oppression of capital and to raise themselves by education to
moral and material independence.
It is the duty of the employer to engage himself in the cause
•of the workman’s well-being in a philanthropic spirit, and espe
cially to accord to him a share of the profits of labour.
Finally, the' State, by the protection of association, by fixing
the hours of labour, and by giving gratuitous instruction, ought
■to further the efforts of workmen towards civilization. Upon
the State devolves, at the same time, the duty of protecting the
system of production by association on a large scale, of a reform
in the system of banks of credit, and of the institution of State
Credit ?
As such help can only be expected from a free State, it is clear
that the workmen and their friends must, before all, procure for
themselves political liberty.
Political liberty, social liberty, liberty of the citizen, without
sacrificing the majority, this is the problem of our era.
The conquests of the blood and iron policy, the din of arms,
which has reverberated in our day, the struggles and the combats
which occur for the sake of dominion and power, for fortune and
for advancement—these are but ripples on the surface of the
stream of time; in the hidden depths, slowly but steadily
advances the science of nature and of mind, and with this
science, the consciousness of the independence of man — the
world-moving idea of the Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity of ali.
Years and years may pass away, and still that saying of the Scrip/ture will be fulfilled—that joyful message which the electric-wire
brought as a first greeting from free America to Europe encum
bered with arms : “ Peace on earth and good will towards men.”
THE END.
Printed by Austin & Co., 17, Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
�
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 social question: a speech delivered by Deputy John Jacoby, to his constituents of the second arrondissement of Berlin, on the 20th January, 1870
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jacoby, Johann [1805-1877.]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Printed by Austin & Co. for private circulation
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1870
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5243
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 social question: a speech delivered by Deputy John Jacoby, to his constituents of the second arrondissement of Berlin, on the 20th January, 1870), 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
Subject
The topic of the resource
Labour Movement
Socialism
Conway Tracts
Equality
Labour Movement
Political reform
Social Policy
Socialism
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/12a974651e2c4cfed05f6db2819d1b09.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=FRA2gtCpBw-sVHsIJ594fGC2063vkaoZTV1EKwkYwvVxG8cJG-9w07AiqeRU2EUEMm7yPtjvjCpeT6wv0iBHJVSqQwxFuCURNuqj0y9FMkfjeviRgKylR8HbWkp%7EzAhun65Tr-9csartViWHEwPrVpI%7EOh80pE53GRm-BBMhgtdop1EdwRfJZXnZmSI-AhJe3CFR7HoOcQYT%7E1AyWHqtW2J51I1rhBM-HL7mMOg7jr6gH0j7QL15A2PCI02pFF%7EWYck70d6hZNBDu6hugsUt3bTMx2LQL1S0FylK1iTXq3YHt-ssXw1P1txLGWOR4zPZnYPBw9bwvuZC0wtPyd1nsA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
f9f712daa758baf04cf9c2d9de037b92
PDF Text
Text
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE
.
WORKING CLASS.
*
*\
& ftttert
Delivered to a Meeting of Trades Unionists, May 7, 1868.
BY
EDWARD SPENCER BEESLY,
PBOEESSOB OP HISWEY IN UNIVEBSITY COLL EC®, LONDON.
“ The working class is not, properly speaking, a class at all, but constitutes the-body
of society. From it proceed the various special classes, which we may regard as organs
necessary to that body.”—-Auguste Comte.
Reprinted from the “Fortnightly Review.”
LONDON:
E.
TRUELOVE, "256,
. .
HIGH HOLBORN.
± 1869*1^
��THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.1
We live in a day when social questions are for the first time con
testing precedence with political questions. In the first French
revolution the distinction was not apparent; at all events it was not
recognised even by sharp-sighted observers, though we, looking back
to those times, can detect the signs of it. During the reign of Louis
Philippe—from 1830, that is, to 1848—the distinction became every
year more marked. It is the fashion to speak of the revolution of
1848 as a very small affair—as a feeble imitation of the old revolu
tion. If looked at from a political point of view, in the narrowest
sense of that term, it certainly was a much smaller affair than the
old revolution. But to those who have realised in their minds that
there has been in truth but one revolution, which began in 1789 and
has been going on ever since, and that the year 1848 marks its
transition from the purely political to the social phase,—to such
persons, I say, the last epoch will seem even more momentous than
the first. The attempt of 1848 was a failure, no doubt. But the
history of the French revolution was not closed in 1848, as most of
us here present will live to see.
In England we have travelled the same path, though hitherto
without such violent shocks. We are all of us, French and English
alike, moving rapidly towards the most fundamental revolution
Europe has yet undergone ; a revolution in comparison with which
the great political changes in the time of our grandfathers, and even
the great religious changes three centuries ago, were, I had almost
said, insignificant. I will not pretend to say how far workmen may
have clearly realised to themselves this prospect. I am inclined to
think that not many of them have more than a vague conception of
it, although they are instinctively working towards it. But the
middle class have no conception of it at all. I am not speaking of
the stupidly ignorant part of that body, but of its more enlightened
and active members. They sincerely believe that the series of
political changes which they commenced in England forty years ago
is nearly completed. When they shall have abolished the State
Church, reduced taxation somewhat, obtained the ballot and equal
electoral districts or something like it, they think reform will be
completed, and that England will enter upon a sort of golden age.
(1) This lecture was the last of a series of three delivered last spring, by request of
the London Trades’ Council, to meetings convoked by that body. The first two were
"by Dr. Congreve and Mr. Frederic Harrison.
�2
THE SOCIAL FUTURE 0$ THE WORKING CLASS*
They do not contemplate any serious change, either political or
industrial. Politically, we are still to be governed by Parliament.
In industry we are to have the reign of unlimited competition.
' Now we can all of us understand that some men, either from
education or mental constitution, do not believe in progress at all.
They think that all change is for the worse, unless it is a change
backwards; and they are convinced that nothing but firmness is
wanting to resist change. There always have been such men, and
we can understand them. But what is less easy to understand is
that there should be men who believe heartily in progress, and yet
shut their eyes deliberately to the goal whither we are tending.
The truth is that their belief in progress does not rest on any reason
able basis. It is nothing better than a superstitious optimism, a
lazy semi-religious idea that the world must have a natural tendency
to get better. As for what getting better means, that they settle by
their own likes and dislikes. Consequently the middle-class man
interprets it to mean a reign of unlimited competition and individual
freedom; while the workman understands it to be a more equal
division of the products of industry. Although the workman’s
circumstances have led him to a truer conception of progress, perhaps
he has not arrived at it on much more reasonable grounds than those
on which the middle-class man has arrived at his. For, after all, it
does not follow because we long for a certain state of society that
therefore we are tending towards it.
The lot of the poor is a hard lot; there is no denying that. With
a very large number of them life is absolute misery from birth to
death. Though they may not actually starve, they are more or less
hungry from one week’s end to another; their dull round of toil
occupies the whole day; their homes are squalid and frightful,
seldom free from disease, and the heartrending .incidents of disease,
when aggravated by poverty. For them life is joyless, changeless,
hopeless. “ They wait for death, but it cometh not; they rejoice
exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave.” Those who
have mixed with the very poor, and have been startled by the strange
calmness with which they contemplate and speak of death, whether
of themselves or their relatives, will not say that this picture is much
over-drawn. But it is not of this poorest class that I now wish to
speak. I say that the lot of the skilled artizan earning his 30s.
or 35s. a week (when he is not out of employment) is a hard lot.
Perhaps it may seldom or never happen to him to go for a day with
his hunger only half satisfied. But his position compared with that
of a non-workman is one of great discomfort. People often seem to
forget this. It is not uncommon for rich men, when addressing an
audience of workmen to say, “ My friends, I am a working man. I
have been a working man all my life. I have been working with
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
3
my brain as you have with your hands.” Yes, but there is just
that difference. The one man has risen, say, at eight in the morning,
from a comfortable bed, has come down-stairs to a comfortable
breakfast, read his newspaper, reached his place of business towards
eleven o’clock, and then worked perhaps hard enough for some hours,
but in a comfortable office, and with interest in his work so intense
that he perhaps prefers it to any amusement, and then back to his
comfortable dinner and bed. The other man has risen perhaps
before daylight, has toiled ten or twelve hours, it may be under a
broiling sun, or a chilling rain, or under other conditions equally
disagreeable, and at work which cannot have very much interest for
him, first, because it is monotonous, secondly, because the product
will not be his when he has produced it. He has snatched his coarse
food at intervals during the day, and has returned at night to an
uncomfortable home. I think rich people are too apt to forget that,
though habit counts for much, a poor man’s, muscles, lungs, and
stomach,.are, after all, not very unlike their own, and that no amount
of custom makes such a life Otherwise than disagreeable and even
painful to him; and that the main question for him in reference to
civilisation will be, how it alleviates his condition. How are we
to answer that question? Everyone is familiar with the hymns
of triumph that are raised from time to time on the platform and in
the press. We need not enter into particulars, because no one
disputes that, so far as they go, they do point to progress of a certain
kind. No one disputes that the production and accumulation of
wealth is an element of progress J but it is only one element, and if
even this is confined to a comparatively small section of the com
munity, it must be admitted either that society as a whole is not
progressing, or that its progress must be proved by somewhat better
evidence than the statistics paraded in budget speeches and news
paper articles.
There is no question about the material progress of the non-work
man class. There are many thousands of houses in London infinitely
more commodious and luxurious than the palaces of Plantagenet
kings. But there is very great question whether the workmen
generally have made any real progress in comfort. Some of them
have, no doubt. The skilled artizan in London gets enough to eat.
He is perhaps no better lodged than his forefathers, but he dresses
better, and he has greater opportunities of enjoying himself and
moving about to better himself. But among the agricultural
labourers what state of things do we find ? In many parts of England
they are positively worse off than they were a hundred years ago.
In the Eastern Counties, where agriculture is carried on by the
newest lights of science, the horrible gang-system has come into
existence within the present century. Nor is such misery confined
.
b 2
�4
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASSJ
to agricultural labourers. It has been proved in official reports that
' the workmen in such extensive trades as shoe-making, silk-weaving,
and stocking-weaving, are on an average worse fed than the
Lancashire operatives were during the cotton famine.1
Now, wretchedness of this terrible kind does not exist even among
barbarous nations and savage tribes. The child of the North
American Indian, or the Caffre, or the Esquimaux, does not begin to
work in a mill or in an agricultural gang almost as soon as it can
walk. It gets better food than the English child, and leads a
healthier and more enjoyable life. The West Indian negro has
been treated as an irreclaimable savage because he will not toil like
an English labourer, and the reason assigned is that he has plenty
to eat and drink without working hard for it. I fancy most English
labourers wish they could say the same. Really, if progress and
civilisation mean nothing but an increase of wealth, irrespective of
its distribution, Rousseau had much reason to prefer the state of
nature. It is childish to remind the poor man that his ancestor
under the Plantagenet kings had no chimney to his hut, no. glass in
his windows, no paper on his walls, no cheap calico, no parliamentary
trains, no penny newspapers. He was no worse off in these respects
than the Plantagenet king himself, who was equally without chimneys,
glass windows, calico, railways, and penny newspapers. There are parts
of the world now where the labourer is still in that condition. But
he gets sound and healthy sleep out of the straw spread on the floor
of his windowless hut, which is more than three or four families
huddled together in a single room in St. Giles’s can do, though they
may have a glazed window and a chimney. A poor Englishman
might be ashamed to walk about in a good stout sheepskin; but he
is often clad in garments much less warm and durable. What sort
of progress is this, in which the larger part of the community remains
as miserable, if not more miserable, than in a state of barbarism ?
If progress is necessarily so one-sided, it were better—I say it deli
berately—it were better it ceased. It were better that all were poor
together than that this frightful contrast should exist to shake men’s
faith in the eternal principles of justice.
Happily, we are not shut up to so discouraging a conclusion. If .
we look at the whole history of our race in Western Europe, instead
of studying one short chapter of it alone, we shall soon see what its
progress has been. The labouring class have steadily advanced in
dignity and influence. Once they were slaves, with no more rights
than horses and oxen. Then they were serfs, with certain rights,
but still subject to grievous oppression and indignities. Then they
became free hired labourers, nominally equal with the upper class
before the law, but in practice treated as an inferior race, and them(1) Public Health; Sixth Report, for 1863, pp. 13, 14.
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
3
selves looking on the rich with much deference and awe. Now we
have come to a time when the workmen are almost everywhere
standing on their rights, and resisting what they deem unfair or
oppressive. They have learnt the secret of combination. With
freedom and dignity has come confidence—confidence in each other.
They have grasped the idea that the main object of government and
industrial organisation should be their comfort and happiness. What
is more, everybody is beginning to hold the same language. Every
proposal publicly made, whether to destroy or to create, is represented
as for the good of the lower classes. The very employers who are
trying to destroy your trade societies profess to be doing it out of
pure love for you. How astonishing and incomprehensible would all
this have been—I do not say to the ancient slave-owner, or to the
mediaeval baron—but to the wealthy men of the last century. Is
not this progress ? What if a minority only of the workmen have
as yet derived any benefit from the increased production of wealth ?
Is it nothing that the arms are being forged with which all shall at
length get their share ? Material improvement has always begun,
and always will begin, not with. those who need it most, but with
those who need it least; and the higher classes of workmen are now
making the experiment which the lowest will repeat after them.
Once firmly grasped, this truth throws a flood of light on history,
and makes clear what at first sight, is so obscure—the unbroken,
continuous progress of society. We see that even in the so-called
dark ages, when the splendour of Roman civilisation appeared to be
extinguished by the barbarian—when science, art, and literature
were lost and forgotten, and the world seemed to have retrograded
ten centuries—even then, in that dark hour, our race was accom
plishing the most decided step forward that it has ever made. When
the philosophers and poets and artists of Greece were lavishing their
immortal works on small communities of free men—when the
warriors and statesmen of Rome were building up the most splendid
political fabric that the world has seen—the masses were sunk in a
state of brutal slavery. . But when savage tribes, with uncouth names
and rude manners, had poured over Europe,. when a squalid bar
barism had superseded the elegance and luxury of ancient society,
when kings could not read, and priests could not write, when trade
and commerce had relapsed into Oriental simplicity, when men
thought that the end of a decayed and dying world was surely near
—then were the masses, . the working men, accomplishing un
noticed their first great step from slavery to' serfdom.
What I have already said amounts to this: that the improvement
of the condition of the working class is the most important element
of human progress—so important that even if we were to make it
�6
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
the sole object and test of our public life we could not justly be said
to be taking a one-sided view of political and social questions. I
shall endeavour presently to draw a picture of the workman’s life,
as it ought to be, and, as I believe, it will be in the future. But I
must first examine some of the means by which the transition is
being effected.
I will put aside the various schemes of Socialists and Communists.,
which have found so many supporters on the Continent. Widely as
they differ from one another, I believe they all agree in demanding
that the State shall intervene, more or less, in the direction of
industry. Now that' opinion has never found much favour in
England, nor is there at the present time any large body of workmen
who support it. In France the first idea of every reformer or
innovator is to act through the Government. This tendency arises
partly from the jealousy with which all Governments in that country
have repressed voluntary association, but partly also from the logical
and orderly character of the French mind, which abhors anything
partial or patchy either in thought or action. But in England,
where there has always been considerable facility for private and
associated action, it is our way rather to depend upon ourselves than
to wait till we have a Government of our way of thinking. Hence
the only two methods which have any serious pretensions to promote
the elevation of workmen in England have both of them sprung, not
from the brains of philosophers, but from the practical efforts of
workmen themselves. This is shown by the very language we
employ to describe them. In France the labour question has meant
the discussion of the rival schools, the Economic School, the school of
Fourier, the school of Proudhon, the school of Louis Blanc, of Cabet,
of Pierre Leroux, and so on. In England we do not talk of schools,
but of Unionism and Co-operation, which began in a practical form,
and have continued practical. There can be no doubt that all work
men who care for the future of their class are looking to one of these
two methods for the realisation of their hopes. Here, as on the
Continent, there is no lack of thinkers with elaborate schemes which,
in the opinion of their authors, would ensure universal happiness.
But whereas the French philosophers, whom I have mentioned, had
each his thousands of ardent disciples among the workmen, our
theorists cannot count their disciples by dozens, and are therefore not
worth taking into account. But Co-operation and Unionism are real
forces, and to pass them over in silence would be to deprive this
lecture of all practical value and interest for such an audience as I
am addressing.
The first thing to be noticed about Co-operation is that the word is
used for two very different things. There is the theory, and there is
the practice. The theory, as you know, is that there should be no
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASSI
7
employer-class, that the workmen should divide the profits of produc
tion amongst themselves, and that whatever management is necessary
should be done by salaried officers and committees. Co-operation,
nowever, in that sense, does not get beyond a theory. The nobleminded men who founded the celebrated mill at Rochdale did indeed
for some years manage to put their principles in practice; but even
their own society at length fell away from them, and began to employ
workmen who were not shareholders at the market-rate of wages;
and I believe there is not in England, at the present moment, a
single co-operative society in which workmen divide the profits
irrespective of their being shareholders. Co-operation, in this sense,
then, may be dismissed from consideration with as little ceremony
as the Socialist and Communist theories before alluded to. Like*
them it supposes a degree of unselfishness and devotion which wedo not find in average men, and it does not attempt to create those
qualities, or supply their place by the only influence that can keep
societies of men for any length erf time to a high standard of
morality, the influence of an organised religion.
The Co-operation which actually exists, and is an important featureof modern industry, is something very different. We must strip it
mercilessly of the credit it borrows from its name, and its supposed
connection with the theory above described. It is nothing more than
an extension of the joint-stock principle. In what respect does the
Rochdale mill differ from any other joint-stock company ? A con
siderable number of its shares are already%eld by persons who do not
work in it, and it is very possible that in course of time all, or most
of the workmen employed in it, will be earning simply the market
rate of wages. A certain number of men, by the exercise of industry,
prudence, and frugality, will have risen from the working class into
the class above. How is the working class the better for that ?
What sort of solution is that for the industrial problem ? We set out
with the inquiry how the working class was to be improved, not how
a few persons, or even many persons, were to be enabled to get out of
it. We want to discover how workmen may obtain a larger share of
the profits of production, and the Rochdale Co-operative Mill, which
pays workmen the market-rate, has certainly not made the discovery.
The world is not to be regenerated by the old dogma of the economists
masquerading in Socialist dress.
The history of Co-operation is this. The noble-minded men who
first preached the theory in. its purity, were deeply impressed with
the immoral and mischievous way in which capital is too often
employed by its possessors,, and instead of inquiring how moral
influence might be brought to bear on capitalists, they leaped to the
conclusion that capitalists as a separate class ought not to exist. In
making this assumption they overlooked the distinction between the-
�8
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OB’ THE WORKING* CLASS!
accidental and the permanent conditions of industry. Collective
activity among men has had two types—the military and the indus
trial, the latter of which has gradually almost superseded the former.
Military organisation has undergone many and great changes, from
the earliest shape in which we find it among savage tribes down to
its most elaborate form in our own time. But its one leading
characteristic has remained unchanged. There has never been a
time when armies weje not commanded by generals with great power
and great responsibility. Wherever there has been the slightest
attempt to weaken that power and diminish that responsibility, there
it is admitted that the army has suffered and the work has been so
much less efficiently done. Whether the soldiers were mere slaves
as in Eastern countries, or free citizens as in the republics of Greece
and Rome and America, or mercenaries fighting for hire as has often
been the case in modern Europe, the principle of management has
always been the same. Discipline was as sharp among the citizen
soldiers of Grant and Sherman as among the conscripts of Frederick
and Napoleon. Such a thing as the co-operative management of an
army has never been heard of.
Now in the other type of collective activity-—the industrial—a
similar organisation has constantly prevailed. The analogy is
striking, and it is not accidental, for the conditions are fundamentally
the same. Fighting and working are the two great forms of activity,
and if you have to organise them on a large scale, it is not strange
that the same method should be found best for both. And workmen
will do well to notice this analogy, and insist on pressing it home to
the utmost of their power; for the more logically it is carried out, the
more striking and overwhelming are the arguments it supplies for
their side of the labour controversy. There is not a phase of that
controversy which it does not illustrate, and invariably to their
advantage. As one instance out of many, I may mention the sanc
tion afforded by military practice for a uniform rate of wages to the
rank-and-file of labour—an argument which was put by one of the
Trades’ Union Inquiry Commissioners to the Secretary of the Master
Builders’ Association, and which completely shut his mouth on that
questioh. But it is for another purpose that I am now referring to
this analogy. Special skill and training, unity of purpose, prompti
tude, and, occasionally, even secrecy, are necessary for a successful
direction of industry just as much as of war. “ A council of war
never fights ” is a maxim which has passed into a proverb, as
stamping the worthlessness of such councils. Yet councils of war
are not composed of private soldiers, but of skilful and experienced
officers. They are more analogous to our boards of railway directors,
whose incapacity, I must admit, does not take exactly that form.
Whether the efficiency of our railway management would be improved
�Khe soUIAIj future of the Working class.
9
by an. infusion of stokers and plate-layers into the direction, I will
leave it to the advocates of Co-operation to say.
Another no less important advantage of the old industrial system
over Co-operation is that it transfers the risk from the workman to
the employer. Capital is the reserved fund which enables the
employer to carry on his business' with due enterprise, and yet
to give a steady rate of wages to the workman. Great as have been
the changes through which industry has passed—^-slavery, serfdom, and
free labour—this fundamental characteristic has remained unaltered.
In all ages of the world, since industry began to be organised at all,
the accumulated savings which we call capital ha^e been in the hands
of comparatively few persons, who have provided subsistence for the
labourer while engaged in production. The employer has borne the
risk and taken the profits. The labourer has had no risk and no
share of the profits. Though in modern times there appears to be
some desire on the part of the master to make the workman share
the risk, he will soon come to see that such a policy destroys the
only justification of capital, and thus strikes at the root of pro
perty itself. The workmen will help him to see this by their com
binations, if he shows any indisposition to open his eyes. It is one
among many ways in which they will teach him in spite of himself
what is for his own good. In point of fact, in the best organised
trade—that of the engineers—the rate of wages is subject to little if
any fluctuation.
The separation, then, between employers and employed, between
capitalist and labourer, is a natural and fundamental condition of
society, characteristic of its normal state, no less than its preparatory
stages. We may alter many things, but we shall not alter that.
We may change our forms of government, our religions, our
language, our fashion of dress, our cooking, but the relation of
employer and employed is no more likely to be superseded in the
future by Communism in any of its shapes, than is another institu
tion much menaced at the present time—that of husband and wife.
It suits human nature in a civilised state. Its aptitude to supply
the wants of man is. such that nothing can compete with it. There
may be fifty ways of getting from Temple Bar to Charing Cross;
but the natural route is by the Strand; and along the Strand the
bulk of the traffic will always lie. ' And so, though we may have
trifling exceptions, the great mass of workmen will always be
employed by capitalists.
Now this was what the founders of Co-operation refused to see;
and in their enthusiasm they fancied they could establish societies,
the shareholders of which would voluntarily surrender to non-share
holders a large part of the profits vhich their capital would naturally
^command. But the shareholders were most of them only average
�10
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
men; they were not enthusiastic, or their enthusiasm cooled as the
money-making habit crept over them. The co-operative theory was
not bound up with any religious system, or supported by any spiritual
discipline ; and they soon fell into the vulgar practice of making the
most of their capital. What is the lesson to be learnt ? Whatever
there was of good in the movement belonged not to the industrial
theory, but to the social spirit of the men who started it. If those
men had been employers, or if any employers had had their spirit,
the workmen would have reaped the same advantages without any
machinery of co-operation. Therefore we must look for improvement, not to this or that new-fangled industrial system, but to the
creation of a moral and religious influence which may bend all in
obedience to duty. When we have created such an influence, we
shall find that it will act more certainly and effectually on a small
body of capitalists than it would on a loose multitudinous mob of
co-operative shareholders.
Before leaving the subject of Co-operation, let me say that, while I
cannot recognise its claims to be the true solution of the industrial
question, I heartily acknowledge the many important services it may
render to the working class. Even as applied to production, in
which I contend it can never play an important part, it will do good
for a time by throwing light On the profits of business. As applied
to distribution in the shape, that is to say, of co-operative stores, its
services can hardly be exaggerated. It not only increases the
comfort of workmen, by furnishing them with genuine goods and
making their money go further, but it gives them dignity and
independence by emancipating them from a degrading load of debt.
Moreover, it sets free, for the purpose of reproduction, a large
amount of labour and capital which had before been wasted in a
badly arranged system of distribution.
If we turn now to the other agency by which the labouring class
in this country is being elevated, I mean Trades Unions, we shall
find more enlightened ideas combined with greater practical utility
Unionism distinctly recognises the great cardinal truth which Co
operation shirks—namely, that workmen must be benefited as work
men, not as something else. It does not offer to any of them
opportunities for raising themselves into little capitalists, but it
offers to all an amelioration of their position. Co-operation is a fine
thing for men who are naturally indefatigable, thrifty, and ambitious
—not always the finest type of character, be it observed in passing—
but it does nothing for the less energetic, for the men who take life
easily, and are content to live and die in the station in which they
were born. Yet these are just the men we want to elevate, for they
form the bulk of the working class. They are in very bad odour
with the preachers of the Manchester school, the apostles of self-help.
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
11
To my mind there is not a more degrading cant than that which
I incessantly pours from the lips and pens of these wretched instructors.
Men professing to be Christians, and very strict Christians too—■
Protestant Christians who have cleansed their faith of all mediaeval
corruptions and restored it according to the primitive model of
apostolic times, when, we are told, “all that believed were together,
and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods,
and parted them to all men, as every man had need ”—these teachers,
I say, are not ashamed to talk of making money and getting on in
the world, as if it were the whole duty of a working man. Thus it
comes to pass, that while they are bitter opponents and calumniators
of Unionism,1 they patronise Co-operation, because it enables their
model workman to raise himself, as Lord Shaftesbury expressed it
not long ago, “ into a good and even affluent citizen,” a moral eleva
tion to which it is clear a primitive Christian never attained. But
you who are workmen, and have a little practical experience of the
thing, you do not want me or anyone else to tell you that the men
who raise themselves from the ranks are very often not distinguished
by fine dispositions or even by great abilities. What is wanted for
success of that sort is industry, perseverance, and a certain sharpness,
often of a low kind. I am far from saying that those who raise
themselves are not often admirable men ; but you know very well
that they are sometimes very much the reverse—that they are morally
very inferior to the average workman who is content with his posi
tion, and only desires that his work may be regular and his wages
fair. Now the merit of Unionism is that it meets the case of this
average workman. Instead of addressing itself to the sharp, shifty
men, who are pretty certain to take care of themselves in any case,
it undertakes to do the best that can be done for the average man.
And not only so, but it attends to the man below the average in
industry and worthiness: it finds him work, and insists on his
working; it fortifies his good resolutions; it strengthens him
against temptation; it binds him to his fellows;—in short, it
regulates him generally, and looks after him. Nor is even this the
full extent of the difference in this respect between Co-operation and
Unionism. While the benefits of the former are exclusively reaped
by shareholders, the union wins its victories in the interest of nonunionists just as much as of its own members..
I noticed as a fatal error of Co-operation that it regards the relation
of employer and employed as a transient and temporary arrangement
which may and will be superseded, whereas it is permanent, and
(1) “ God. grant that the work-people may be emancipated from the tightest thraldom
they have ever yet endured. AR the single despots, and aU the aristocracies that ever
were or will be, are as puffs of wind compared with these tornadoes of Trades Unions, j
BufeJ^.have small hope. The masses seem to me to have less common-sense than they
had a year ago.”—Zcfter of Lord Shaftesbury to Colonel Maude.
�12
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASSI
destined to survive all attacks. It is an eminent merit of Unionism
that it recognises this important truth. The practical good sense of
workmen has here shown itself superior to all the cleverness of philo
sophers. They have instinctively grasped the maxim that we shall
best serve the cause of progress, whether political or social, by striving
not to displace the actual possessors of power, but to teach them to
use their power for the interests of society.1 And there is this further
advantage of a practical kind, that Unionism is not obliged, like the
schemes of the philosophers, to hover impotently in the air, as a mere
speculative phantom, till such time as it can command the assistance
of the State to get itself tried in practice. A few dozen men can
commence the application of it in their own trade any day they please.
Nor is it a cut-and-dried scheme in which every detail is settled
beforehand with mathematical exactness; it is of infinite elasticity,
and can adapt itself spontaneously to the circumstances of each
case.
I It is desirable that the workman’s wages should be good, but it is
still more desirable that they should be steady. A fluctuating income
in any station of life is, as everyone knows, one of the most demora
lising influences to which a man can be exposed. When an outcry
is raised against the unions because -they maintain that wages ought
not to fall with every temporary depression of trade, it always seems
to me that in so doing they are discharging precisely their most
useful function. I have already alluded to the duty of the capitalist
in this respect, and Unionism supplies exactly the machinery required
for keeping him up to his duty, until a religious influence shall have
been organised which will produce the same result in a more healthy
and normal way. No doubt unions might offend deplorably on their
side against this principle of a steady rate of wages. It is conceivable
that they might screw out of the employer every year or every month
wages to such an amount as would leave him only the bare profit
which would make it worth his while to continue in business. It is
manifest that on those terms he could not amass such a reserve fund
as would enable him to tide over temporary depression without
reducing wages. Every fluctuation in trade would cause a corre
sponding fluctuation in wages, which would vary from month to
month. If Trades Unions were to act in this way they would lose
their principal justification. They are charged with doing so now,
but the charge is perfectly groundless. Probably in no case do they
extract from the employer anything like the wages he could afford
to give if he was disposed. I do not believe that unions, extend them
as you will, will ever be strong enough to put such a pressure on the
employers. I believe that an organised religious influence will here
after induce employers to concede to their men, voluntarily, a larger
(1) Comte Pol. Pos. i. 163 (p. 173 of the translation by Dr. Bridges).
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
13
sh^?e ofxhew profits than any Trades Union could extort from them.
An additional security that unions will never go too far in this direc
tion is to be found in the fact that some masters, whether from larger
capital, greater business ability, or higher reputation, make much
larger profits than others. But unions do not pretend to exact higher
wages from such masters. The tariff, therefore, is evidently ruled by
the profits of the least successful employers.
It might have been supposed at first sight that employers would
have looked with more favour on Unionism, which leaves them in full
possession of their capital, their authority, and their responsibility,
than on Co-operation, which proposes to supersede them altogether.
But, as you all know, the contrary is the case; and there could not
be a more instructive test of the relative efficiency of the two methods.
Unionism maintains that capital has its duties, and must be used for
a social purpose. Co-operation shrinks from asserting a doctrine so
distasteful to the propertied classes, and seeks to evade the necessity
for it by the. shallow fallacy that everyone is to become a capitalist.
Although everyone will not become a capitalist, no doubt some
will, and the net result of the co-operative movement will be that
the army of capitalists will be considerably reinforced in its lower
ranks. Will that army so reinforced be more easy to deal with ?
An exaggerated and superstitious reverence for the rights of property,
and an indifference to its duties, is the chief obstacle to the elevation
of the working class. The fewer the possessors in whose hands
capital is concentrated, the more easy will it be to educate, discipline,
and, if need be, gently coerce them. But when the larger capitalists
have at their back an army of little capitalists, men who have sunk
the co-operative workman in the co-operative shareholder, men who
have invested their three or four hundred pounds in the concern, and
are employing their less fortunate fellow-workmen at the market rate
of wages, why, it stands to reason that the capital of the country will
be less amenable to discipline than ever. A. striking example is to
be seen in France at the present time. You know that the immediate
effect of the old revolution was to put the cultivators in possession of
the soil. A vast number of small proprietors were created. Doubtless
many advantages resulted from that change. France got rid of her
aristocracy once and for good. The cultivators identified themselves
with the revolution which had given them the soil, and defended it
fiercely against the banded sovereigns of Europe. If the people had
not been bribed with the land, the revolution might have been
crushed. But there has been another result from it, of more doubtful
^advantage. The whole of this class of small proprietors is fanatically
devoted to the idea of property; and in their fear that property should
Ue attacked they have thrown their weight on the side of conserfeailSKL and against further political and social progress. The wealthy
�14
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASSI
middle class plays on their ignorance and timidity. All who desire
to initiate the smallest social reform, who express any opinion adverse
to the tyrannical power exercised by capital, are denounced as Com
munists and apostles of confiscation. The small proprietors are
worked up into a frenzy of apprehension, and fling themselves into
the arms of any crafty impostor who talks big words about saving
society. Thus the artizans and small proprietors, men whose interests
must be essentially the same, for they are all alike workmen living by
the sweat of their brow and the labour of their hands, are pitted
against one another, and the middle class alone profits by the dissen
sion. If the manufactures of this country were to get into the hands
of a number of small shareholders, simple workmen would soon find
the rein tighter and the load heavier. Their demand for the repeal
of unjust laws would encounter a more stubborn resistance; the
progress they have been making towards comfort and dignity would
be abruptly checked. Fortunately, as I have already endeavoured to
1 show, there is no likelihood that so-called Co-operation will ever drive
the capitalist employer out of the field.
Such are the reasons for which I hold Unionism to be by far the
most efficient of all the agencies that have as yet been largely advo
cated or put in practice for the purpose of elevating the working
class, and preparing it for its future destinies. The French workmen
have much to teach us ; but I think in this matter they might take
a lesson from our men with advantage. I hope they will signalise
their next revolution—for which, by the way, I am getting rather
impatient—by abolishing all those laws which so iniquitously obstruct
their right to combine. Indeed, Unionism cannot be said to have
had a fair trial in England until it is established in the other
countries of Europe also?
It remains to consider what the destinies are for which our work
men are thus preparing themselves, and to picture to ourselves what
their condition will be when society shall approximate more nearly
to its normal state. We may do so without indulging in Utopias or
extravagant estimates of our capacity to shape the course of human
development, because we are not postulating springs of action in
individuals, which, as a matter of fact, do not exist, or do not exist
in sufficient strength—we are not spinning theories out of a priori
notions of what society ought to be, but we are feeling our way by
an examination, on the one hand, of the permanent facts of our nature,
and the conditions imposed upon us by the external world ; and, on
the other hand, of the steady, continuous progress of society in the
past. And if it has occurred to anyone that I have been a long
time coming to what professed to be the subject of this lecture—
namely, “ the future of the working class ”—I must plead, in justi
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
131
fication, that I have in effect been dealing with it all along, and that
nothing now remains but to give some practical illustrations of the
conclusions already arrived at.
That the position of the workman will ever be as desirable as that
of the wealthier classes seems, as far as we can see, highly impro
bable. Some people are shocked when such a proposition is plainly
enunciated. They have a sort of hazy idea that the external condi
tions of our existence cannot be inconsistent with the perfection and
happiness of man. They have been taught that this is a world
where only man is vile, and it sounds to them immoral to talk as if
there was any insurmountable obstacle to an ideal state of society
except what they are accustomed to term our fallen nature. The
fact is, however, that this is very far from being the best of all
possible worlds, and we must look that fact in the face. Human
society might arrive much nearer perfection, both moral and material,
if there was not so much hard work to be done. It must be done by
some; and those to whom it falls to do it will inevitably have a less
pleasant life than others. But though to annul or entirely alter the
inflnone.es of the world external to ourselves is beyond our humble
powers, we can generally either modify them to some extent, or,
what comes to the same thing, modify ourselves to suit them, if only
successive generations of men address themselves wisely to the task;
just as an individual may by care preserve his health in a pestilential
climate, though he can do little or. nothing to alter the climate.
And so, though there will probably always be much to regret in the
workman’s lot, we may look forward to improvements which will
give him a considerable amount of comfort and happiness. I will
enumerate some of these which we may reasonably expect will be
reached when present struggles are over, and when employers and
workmen alike have learnt to shape their lives and conduct by the
precepts of a rational religion.
Employers, though exercising their own judgment and free action
in their industrial enterprises, will never forget that their first con
cern must be, not the acquisition of an enormous fortune, but the
well-being and comfort of the labourers dependent on them. Hence
there will be an end of that reckless speculation which sports with
the happiness, and even the life, of workmen and their families—
displacing them here, massing them there, treating them, in short,
as mere food for powder in the reckless conflicts of industrial compe
tition. We shall no longer see periods of spasmodic energy and
frantic over-production first in one trade, then in another, followed
by glutted markets, commercial depression, and cessation of employ
ment. For capital being concentrated in comparatively few hands,
it will be possible to employ it with wisdom and foresight for the
general good; which is quite out of the question while the chieftains
�16.
THE SOCIAL .FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
of industry are a disorganised multitude, swaying to and fro in the
markets of the world as blindly and irrationally as a street-mob at a
fire. Thus the workman will be able to count on what is more
precious to him than anything else—steady employment, and an
income which, whether large or small, is, at all events, liable to
little fluctuation. The demoralising effects of uncertainty in this
respect can hardly be overrated. Large numbers of workmen at
present, from no fault of their own, lead as feverish and reckless an
existence as the gambler. When this state of things ceases, we may
look forward with confidence to a remarkable development of social
and domestic virtue among the working class.
To give the workman due independence, he ought to be the owner
of his abode, or, at all events, to have a lease of it. In some
instances at present we find men living in houses belonging to their
employers, from which they can be ejected at a week’s notice. This
_is often the case among colliers and agricultural labourers, and what
grinding tyranny results from it, I need not tell you. It is not
desirable in a healthy, industrial society that labour should be
migratory. Ordinarily, the workman will continue in the same
place, and with the same employer, for long periods, just as is the
habit with other classes. Fixity of abode will naturally accompany
fixity of wages and employment. Here, again, we may expect an
admirable reaction on social and domestic morality.
A diminution of the hours of work is felt by all the best workmen
to be even more desirable than an increase of wages. All of you,
I am sure, have so thoroughly considered this question in all its
bearings, that I am dispensed from dwelling on it at length. I
merely mention it that it may not be supposed I undervalue it. If
the working day could be fixed at eight hours for six days in the
week, and a complete holiday on the seventh, the workman would have
time to educate himself, to enjoy himself, and above all to see more
of his family.
Let us next consider how far the State can intervene to render the
position of the workman more tolerable. That ought to be the
first and highest object of the State, and therefore we need have no
scruple about taxing the other classes of the community to any extent
for this purpose, provided we can really accomplish it.1 But of course
it must be borne in mind that by injudicious action in this direction
(1) As I have had some experience of the criticism (always anonymous) which seizes
a detached passage and draws from it inferences directly excluded by the context, I
desire by anticipation to protest against any quotation of the above sentence apart from
at least the three which immediately succeed it. Taken by itself (although even so it
is guarded by a strictly adequate proviso) it might be misunderstood. In the context
the proviso is carefully and fully expanded into an argument on social grounds against
excessive taxation of the rich. Arguments from the individualist point of view I
entirely reject, as I trust my audience did.
�THE’ SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
• 17
we might easily defeat our own benevolent intentions. For instance,'
it is conceivable that such taxation might become so heavy as to
approximate in effect to the establishment of Communism, and the
springs of industry and frugality, in other words the creation of capital,
would be proportionately affected. Again, the State must not afford
help to workmen in such shape as directly or indirectly to encourage
on the one hand idleness, and on the other a reckless increase of the
population. For example, it must not interfere to lower the price
of food or houses; because common sense and experience alike show
us that such interference would rapidly pauperise the class it was
intended to benefit. But there are, I believe, many ways in which
it may add most materially to the comfort and happiness of the poor
without at all relieving them from the necessity of exercising prudence
and industry. As regards their physical comfort, it may carry out
sanitary regulations on a scale hitherto not dreamt of. It may
furnish them in London, and other large towns, with a copious supply
of good water free of expense. It may provide medical assistance
much more liberally than at present. I would add, it may exercise
a close supervision over the weights and measures of the shopkeepers
and the quality of the goods they supply, did I not hope that the
spread of co-operative stores may render such supervision unnecessary.
The State may also do much to make the lives of the poor brighter
and happier. It may place education within their reach; it may
furnish an adequate supply of free libraries, museums, and picture
galleries; it may provide plenty of excellent music in the parks and
other public places on Sundays and summer evenings.
I think that a London workman in steady employment, earning
such wages as he does now, working eight hours a day, living in
his own house, and with such means of instruction and amusement
as I have described gratuitously afforded him, would not have an
intolerable lot. His position would, it is true, be less brilliant than
that of his employer. But it does not follow that the lot of the
latter would be so very much more desirable. His income, of course,
will be lessened in proportion as his workmen receive a larger share
of the profits of production. He will live in greater luxury and
elegance than they do, but within limits; for public opinion, guided
by religious discipline, will not tolerate the insolent display of
magnificence which at present lends an additional bitterness to the
misery of the poor. His chief pleasure will consist, like that of the
statesman, in the noble satisfaction of administering the interests of
the industrial group over which he presides. But the responsibilities
of this position will be so heavy, the anxiety and the strain on the
mind so severe, that incompetent men will generally be glad to take
the advice that will be freely given them, namely, to retire from it
to some humbler occupation, The workmen, on the other hand.
�18*
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASSI
will lead a tranquil life, exempt from all serious anxiety; and
although their position will be less splendid than that of the
(employers, it will not be less dignified. For in that future to which
I look forward, the pressure of public opinion, directed, as I have
several times said, by an organised religion, will not tolerate any idle
class living by the sweat of others, and affecting to look down on all
who have to gain their own bread. Every man, whether he is rich
or poor, will be obliged to work regularly and steadily in some way
or other as a duty to society; and when all work, the false shame
which the industrious now feel in the presence of the idle will dis
appear for ever. I am addressing an audience, which, whether it
calls itself Republican or not, has, I am sure, a thoroughly Repub
lican spirit, and a keen sense of the insolent contempt with which
labour is regarded by those whose circumstances exempt them from
performing it. You will therefore agree with me that of all the
changes in the workman’s condition which I have enumerated as
likely to be realised in the future, this is by far the most precious—
that his function will be invested with as much dignity as that of
any other citizen who is doing his duty to society.
There are some men who are inclined to be impatient when they
are asked to contemplate a state of things which confessedly will not
be of immediate realisation. They are burning for an immediate
reformation of all wrong in their own time. They think it very poor
work to talk of a golden age which is to bless the world long after
they are dead, buried, and forgotten. They are even inclined to
resent any attempt to interest them in it, as though dictated by a
concealed desire to divert them from practical exertions. “ Tell us,”
they say, “how we may taste some happiness. Why should we
labour in the cause of progress if the fruits are to be reaped only by
posterity ? ”
I do not wish to speak harshly of workmen who have this feeling.
There has been too much of such hypocritical preaching in times
past, and it is not strange if they have become suspicious of exhorta
tions to fix their eyes on a remote future rather than on the present.
So conspicuously unjust is their treatment by the more powerful
classes, so hard and painful is the monotonous round of their daily
life, that the wonder is, not that some men should rebel against it,
but that most should bear it with calmness and resignation. Never
theless, it is necessary to say firmly, and never to cease saying, that
such language as I have alluded to belongs to a low moralityJ
Moreover, it defeats its own object. For whatever may be the case
with individuals, the people will not be stimulated to united action
by arguments addressed to its selfishness. The people can only be
moved to enthusiasm by an appeal to elevated sentiments. If leaders
�THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
19
of the worst causes find it necessary to invest them with some delusive
semblance of virtue that may touch the popular heart, shall we who
have put our hand to the sacred task of helping and accelerating
social progress, shall we deal in cynical sophisms and play on selfish
passions ? We owe it to our race that we should leave this world in
a better state than we found it. We must labour for posterity,
because our ancestors laboured for us. What sacrifices have we to
make compared with some that have been made for us ? We are
not called on to go to the gallows with John Brown and George
William Gordon, the latest martyrs in the cause of labour; or to
mount barricades, like the workmen who flung away their lives in
Paris twenty years ago next month. Is their spirit extinct ? Were
they men of different mould from us ? Or did they enter upon that
terrible struggle on some calculation of their personal advantage ?
No ! but so short a time had wrought them up to an heroic enthu
siasm which made it seem a light thing to pour out their blood if
they might inaugurate a happier future for their class. And shall
we who live in times less stormy, but not less critical for the cause
of labour, shall we complain if the fruits of such small sacrifices as 1
we may make are reserved for another generation ?
The worst of this unworthy spirit is, that the exhibition of it is an
excuse to the self-indulgent and frivolous for their neglect of all
serious thought and vigorous action. One is sometimes ready to
despair of any good coming out of a populace which can fill so many
public-houses and low music-halls ; which demands such dull and
vulgar rubbish in its newspapers; which devours the latest news
from Newmarket, and stakes its shillings and pots of beer as eagerly
as a duke or marquis puts on his thousands. This multitude, so
frivolous and gross in its tastes, will not be regenerated by plying
it with fierce declamation against the existing order of society. You
will more easily move it by appealing to its purer feelings, obscured
but not extinct, than by taunting it with a base submission to class
injustice. The man whose ideas of happiness do not go much beyond
his pipe and glass and comic song, knows that the sour envious
agitator will never be a bit the better off for all the trouble he gives
himself; and he sees nothing to gain by following in his steps. But
there are few men so gross as not to be capable of feeling the beauty
of devotion to the good of others, even when they are morally too
weak to put it in practice. And though a man may lead an un
satisfactory life, it is something if, so far as his voice contributes to
the formation of public opinion, it is heard on’ the right side. This
is the ground we must take if we wish to raise the tone of workmen.
We must place before them, without reserve, the highest motive of
political and social action——the good of those who are to come after
�20
THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF THE WORKING CLASS.
us. We must hold out no prospect of individual advantage or reward
other than the approval of their own consciences.
Those who complain most bitterly of the slow rate of progress
towards an improved industrial state, would sometimes do well to
reflect whether their own conduct does not contribute to retard »
it. The selfish spirit follows us even into our labours for others,
and takes the form of vanity and ambition. Probably all of us have
had frequent occasion to observe how the cause of labour has suffered
from ignoble jealousies and personal rivalries. Yet it is the greatest
spirits who are invariably most ready to.t^ke the subordinate position '
and to accept obscurity with a noble satisfaction. The finest type k
of theocratic government, the lawgiver of the Hebrew nation, was
ready to be blotted out of God’s book, so that the humblest and
lowest, the rank-and-file of his people, might enter the promised
land. The greatest of the apostles wished that he himself might, be
accuised from Christ, if at that price he might purchase salvation for
an obscure mob of Jews. “ Reputation,” said the hero of the French
revolution, “ what is that ? Blighted be my name, but let France
be free.” So speaks a Moses, a Paul, or a Danton, while petty ambi
tions are stickling for precedence, and posturing before the gaze of
their contemporaries. Devotion, forgetfulness of self, a readiness to
obey rather than an eagerness to command—-if a man has not these
qualities he is but common clay, he is not fit to lead his fellows.
Det us school ourselves into a readiness not merely to storm the
breach, but to lie down in the trench, that others may pass over our.
bodies as over a bridge to victory. It is a spirit which has never
been found wanting whenever there has been a great cause to call it
forth; and a greater cause than that of the workman of Europe
advancing to their final emancipation, this world is not likely to see
again.
�
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 social future of the working class: a lecture delivered to a meeting of Trades Unionists, May 7, 1868
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Beesly, Edward Spencer [1831-1915.]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 20 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Reprinted from Fortnightly Review. "This lecture was the last in a series of three delivered last spring, by request of the London Trades' Council, to meetings convoked by that body. The first two were given by Dr. Congreve and Mr. Frederic Harrison". [p. 1]. Title page brown and paper acidified. Tears at edges of title page. Printed by Virtue & Co., London.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
E. Truelove
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5208
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 social future of the working class: a lecture delivered to a meeting of Trades Unionists, May 7, 1868), 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
Subject
The topic of the resource
Labour Movement
Socialism
Capitalism
Conway Tracts
Labour Movement
Political reform
Social Reform
Socialism
Working Class-Great Britain
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/1158e85b09dfca834c59418580ed93a7.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=qt3QVLun5LnTOsGQbHDqKMQ%7EVjAXaqNgR4mSEVF2lc7qIBKO84IChZV-1x0JMgaD6ay80HLbK%7EhZAcQCtDQVroTkpUWXKfdnqas9q%7EStAv%7En4utwDXwxwXnQwdWkTlUP16X18PbGzdcuAaOdta3ufrHKEaFbVcN%7Erj1SnAuM4hKIBbftkKEfoG3gU-NiQGDwAhxgrpvHXJsTmve7yOlsQzVFmLEwQzKh9xcjWqEOZDgu3J-N-YDpqeXjALpE88STtn7LaeaExam48aA8zyR08qj5PRKccrY5vSqsUTQ8bYO7lJ7mZd70q-V4jSYApe-cLyUBxdu8NpolSVrAXx-0IA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
a24dfb5bb13874813cca8f04a22446a9
PDF Text
Text
OU
T2ETZE
Bights nf I’alunir
ACCORDING TO
JOHN RUSKIN.
ARRANGED BY
TLLOIVE^NS BARCLAY.
WITH-INTRODUCTION BY
JAMES HOLMES, Sec. Amalgamated Hosiery Union.
.
. .
“ I know no better definition of the rights of man
SHALT NOT STEAL I
THOU SHALT NOT BE STOLEN FROM:
Thou
what a Society
were that—Plato’s Republic.. More’s Utopia, mere emblems of it!
Give every man what is his—the accurate price of what he has done and
been—no more shall any complain, neither shall the earth suffer any
more.”—Carlyle.
Chas. D. Merrick, Printer, 34, Cank Street, Leicester.
�INTRODUCTION.
He that will not follow truth, is a slave to error, and he that shrinks
from the full examination of all opinions on vital questions, is either more in
love with his own opinions than with truth, which is egotism : or he is afraid
of truth, which is cowardice.
Equality of social condition should be the aim of all good men. The
basis of true worth is manhood and womanhood, touched into sweetness
by fraternity and justice.
Labour is the great equaliser—and all capable men and women in a happy
and progressive community must work either with head or hand or both.
What a revolution would be produced if the words attributed to St. Paul
were applied to Modem Society and enforced; “ If a man will not work
neither should he eat! ” What a driving out of Royal and Aristocratic drones
would take place ; and what a decrease of gout there would be I Then what
should the labourer get for his work ;—a mere pittance in the form of wages,
without any thought as to whether the wages are sufficient or not? No;
emphatically no ! He should have a full reward in the full produce of labour,
so that he might have in health more than enough, then he might provide for
sickness when it overtakes him, and a competence for old age, so that life may
be made worth living to the workers instead of millions of money accumulating
in the hands of a few,—like the Rothschilds—who are said to be worth
£200,000,000, not obtained by labour or honest exchange, but from the produce
of labour, of which the labourers have been spoiled.
These statements, by many, may be thought extreme, and contrary to our
best and greatest thinkers and teachers of Political Economy. Take these
words from one who has been called “ The Father of Political Economy”:—
“ The produce of labour constitutes the natural recompense or wages of labour.”
(Wealth of Nations, chap, 8). Thus we see that our statements are strictly in
accord with Adam Smith. Labour is the foundation of real dignity, for only
by it do we contribute to the well being of one another.
In the title of the pamphlet containing the teachings of the high-toned,
moral, and original teacher—John Ruskin-the same truth is implied. In his
words are couched some of the truest and noblest ideas. But very few working
men have either the time or means to get at the works of great minds like
Ruskin, so the arranger of the following extracts has culled from his book—
“ Unto this last,” some of the best teachings on the question of labour and
wages, which I think has been done wisely and well; and if working men will
only d'ink of the stream brought to their doors, they will be refreshed thereby,
Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the great truths here set forth.
On the organization of labour I would specially call your attention to the
following points . “Training Schools for youth, in which there shall be taught:
(a) the laws of health; (b) habits of gentleness and justice ; and (c) the calling
by which he (the youth) is to live.” These kind of schools exist to day in
Sweden, Germany and Switzerlani ; and to the matter, under the headings
—“ His scheme,”—“ Riches and Wealth,”—“Proof/’—“The whole question
one of justice.”—-“Injustice of the present system,”—“Wages,”—“Cause of
Poverty,”—“The true function of the Capitalist,” and “Last Words.”
Let us all endeavour to become mire thoughtful, competent, intelligent as
workers, making the best we can of our time, money, and energy, for the im
provement of the great body of the world’s workers, and help to make it as
impossible for the idlers to thrive as it is for the drones to live among the bees.
JAMES HOLMES.
�THE
RIGHTS OF LABOUR
According to JOHN RUSKIN.
jlrHE object of this pamphlet is to place before the workers,
in a cheap form, the main views of one of the greatest
thinkers of any age, on a subject that ought to interest them more
than any other. The subject is Political Economy, in other
words, the relation of Capital and Labour. Until working men
understand thoroughly what this relation is, all hope is vain of
bettering their condition as a class.
“Unto this Last,” is the book from which the following extracts
are taken. It met with bitter opposition from all the usual
enemies of the working man—including Press, Priests, and Pro
fessors The author had great difficulty in getting it published ;
a fact not to be wondered at when we consider its revolutionary.
character, combined with the logic, grace, and vigour, of which
he is so capable. The Greeks fabled Plato as born with a nest
of bees in his mouth, emblematical of his future honeyed
words. They said, if the Gods came down to dwell among men,
they would speak the language of Plato. Mr. Ruskin has been
aptly termed “ The modern Platothere can be no doubt the
resemblance'is strong. Mazzini describes him as “The most
analytic mind in Europe.” His lofty morality is a reproach to
bishopdom. He lashes the hypocrite and scourges the oppressor;
Meanness and injustice fall back from his terrific onslaught.
Sweet to the innocent and good ; Gentle to the erring and unfor
tunate. True Philosopher; mighty Poet without the name,
Prophet too; not a visionary, but one who sees the very truth,—no will-o’-the-wisp, but a beacon-light to lighten men’s darkness,—
a great teacher, whose clear, brilliant, and powerful language, is but
the fitting conductor of original and valuable thought. Such
is Ruskin,
’ In order to estimate him the more accurately, we are going to
let him speak for himself, only occasionally making a note or
comment.
�4
Mr, Ruskin’s Objects.
He informs us in his preface, that his first object is to give an
accurate and stable definition of Wealth, and as he believes
“ for the first time in plain English.” His second object is to
show that “ the acquisition of wealth is finally possible only under
certain moral conditions of society—of which, quite the first, is a
belief in the existence, and, even for practical purposes, in the
attainability of honesty.” A third object is the organization of
labour ; but this he only casually touches upon, because he thinks
it simple “if we can once get a sufficient quantity of honesty,” and
impossible if we cannot.
His Scheme.
Mr. Ruskin has a scheme of organization of labour, and the
most extraordinary part, is that dealing with wages, which, it is
contended, should be fixed. “ Lest,” he says, “the reader should
be alarmed by the hints thrown out during the following investiga
tion of first principles, I will state at once the worst of the creed
at which I wish him to arrive :
Firstly—There should be training schools for youth, established
at government cost and under government discipline, over the
whole country; that every child born in the country should, at
the parents’ wish be permitted, and in certain cases be under
penalty required to pass through them ; and that in these schools
the child should, with other minor pieces of knowledge hereafter
to be considered, imperatively be taught, with the best skill of
teaching that the country could produce, the following three things:
(a) —The laws of health and the exercises enjoined by them ;
(b) —Habits of gentleness and justice ; and
(c) —The calling by which he is to live.
Secondly—That in connection with these training schools, there
should be established, also entirely under government regulation,
manufactories and workshops for the production and sale of every
necessary of life, and for the exercise of every useful art. And
that, interfering no whit with private enterprise, nor setting any
restraints or tax on private trade, but leaving both to do their best
and beat the government if they could—there should, at these
government manufactories and shops, be authoritatively good and
exemplary work done, and pure and true substance sold, so that a
man could be sure, if he chose to pay the government price, that
he got for his money bread that was bread, ale that was ale, and
work that was work.
�5
Thirdly.—That any man or woman, boy or girl, out of employ
ment, should be at once received at the nearest government school,
and set to such work as it appeared on trial they were fit for, at a
fixed rate of wages determined every year. That being found in
capable of work through ignorance, they should be taught, or being
found incapable of work through sickness should be tended ; but
that, being found objecting to work, they should be set under
compulsion of the strictest nature, to the more painful and degrad
ing forms of necessary toil, especially to that in mines and other
places of danger, (such danger being, however, diminished to the
utmost by careful regulation and discipline), and the due wages
of such work be retained—cost of compulsion first abstracted—
to be at the workman’s command so soon as he has come to
sounder mind respecting the laws of employment.
Lastly.—That for the old and destitute, comfort and home
should be provided; which provision, when misfortune had been,
by the working of such a system, sifted from guilt, would be
honourable instead of disgraceful to the receiver. For (I repeat
this passage out of my Political Economy of Art, to which the
reader is referred for further detail), ‘ a labourer serves his country
with his spade, just as a man in the middle ranks of life serves it
with sword, pen or lancet. If the service be less, and, therefore,
the wages during health less, then the reward when health is broken
may be less, but not less honourable; and it ought to be quite as
natural and straightforward a matter for a labourer to take his
pension from his parish because he has deserved well of his parish,
as for a man in higher rank to take his pension from his country,
because he has deserved well of his Country.”
Principles first.
So far, Mr. Ruskin’s scheme of organization, as given in his
preface, and which, though apart from his main work, it was
thought worth giving. As regards the expense of carrying out his
scheme, he contends that the economy in crime alone resulting
from the adoption of it, would support it ten times over ; as for
the rest, he bids the reader remember that “ in a science dealing
with, so subtle elements as those of human nature, it is only
possible to answer for the final truth of principles, not for the
direct success of plans. What can be immediately accomplished
is always questionable; what can be finally accomplished, incon
ceivable,”
What Political Economy is.
We now proceed to Mr. Ruskin’s Political Economy proper.
Political Economy, he says, “ consists in the production, preser
vation, and distribution, at fittest time and place, of useful or
�6
pleasurable things. The farmer who cuts his hay at the right time ;
the shipwright who drives his bolts well home in sound wood ; the
builder who lays good bricks in well-tempered mortar■ the house
wife who guards against all waste in the kitchen ; and the singer
who rightly disciplines and never overstrains his voice; are all
Political Economists in the true and final sense. Political Economy
teaches nations to desire and labour for the things that lead to life,
and to scorn and destroy the things that lead to destruction. And
if, in a state of infancy, they suppose indifferent things, such as ex
crescences of shell fish, and pieces of blue and red stone * to be
valuable, and spend a large measure of labour which ought to be
employed in the extension and ennobling of life, in diving and
digging for them, and cutting them into various shapes,—or if in
the same state of infancy, they imagine precious and beneficent
things, such as air, light and cleanliness, to be valueless
and peace, trust, and love, by which alone they can possess or use
anything to be prudently exchangeable when the market offers, for
gold, iron, and excrescences,—the only science of Political Econo
my teaches them in all these cases, what is vanity and what
substance.”
“ Theiobject of Political Economy is to get good method of
consumption, to use everything and to use it nobly,—consumption
absolute is the end, crown and perfection of production. Twenty
people can gain money tor one who can use it. The question for
a nation is not how much labour it employs, but how much life it
produces.”
What Wealth Is.
Mr. Ruskin goes on to ask what Wealth is; he draws attention to
the definition of Mr. Mill, who, he thinks, has written the “ most
reputed essay of modern times ” on the subject.
Mr. Mill says,
“To be wealthy, is to have a large stock of useful articles.” “ I
accept this definition ” says our author, “ but let us understand it,
ist.—What does to have mean? and.—What is the meaning of
useful? We will first examine our verb. As thus: Lately in a
wreck of a Californian ship, one of the passengers fastened a belt
about him with two hundred pounds of gold in it, with which he
was found afterwards at the bottom of the sea. Now, as he was
sinking—had he the gold ? or had the gold him ? I presume the
reader will see that possession, or having., consists not only in the
quantity or nature of the thing possessed, but also, (and in a
greater degree) in its suitableness to the person possessing it.
Therefore we must make the have depend upon a can, and say
the possession of useful articles which we can use. Next for our
* Pearls, saphires, and rubies.
�7
adjective. What is the meaning of usefult” It depends on the
person much more than the article, whether its usefulness or
ab-usefulness will be the quality developed in it. When you give
a man half-a-crown, it depends on his disposition whether he is
rich or po.or with it—whether he will buy disease, ruin, and hatred,
or buy health, advancement and domestic love. Thus the moral
elements—human capacities and dispositions, must be taken into
consideration. But the Economists tell us (Mill’s Political
Economy, Book iii. Chap. i. Sec. 2) moral considerations have
nothing to do with Political Economy.” Our author, of course,
here speaks ironically, and leaves us to draw our own conclusions.
Wealth and value are with Mr. Ruskin synonymous terms. Value
he derives from Latin valere, to be well, or strong in life, (if a man)
or valiant; strong for life, (if a thing) or valuable. To be valuable
is to avail towards life ; to make it so avail is to be valiant; and
wealth therefore is “ The Possession of the Valuable by the
Valiant.”
Difference between Riches and Wealth.
Mr. Ruskin makes a distinction between Wealth and Riches.
“ Riches ” he says, “ is a relative word implying its opposite
‘ poverty ’ as positively as the word ‘ north ’ implies its opposite
‘south.’
The force ^of the,guinea you have in your pocket
depends wholly on the default of a guinea in your neighbour’s
pocket. If he did not want it, it would be of no use to you. The
degree of power it possesses, depends accurately upon the need or
desire he has for it; and the art of making yourself rich in the
ordinary mercantile sense, is therefore equally and necessarily the
art of keeping your neighbour poor. There is precisely as much
poverty or debt on one side, as riches on the other; therefore
riches do not necessarily involve an addition to the actual property,
or well-being of the state in which they exist. The power of
riches is in an inverse proportion to the number of persons who
are as rich as ourselves, and who are ready to give the same price
for an article of which the supply is limited. To become rich wre
must establish the maximum of inequality in our own favour.”
These statements Mr. Ruskin attempts to prove by examples.
Proof.
He supposes “Two sailors cast away on an uninhabited coast
maintaining themselves by their own labour. Their Political Econ
omy would consist in careful preservation and just division of
their possessions. But suppose that one fell ill at a critical time_
�8
him. The companion might say with perfect justice ‘ I will do
this additional work for you, but you must do as much for me
another time. I will count the hours I spend on your ground,
and you will give me the same number whenever I need your
help, and you are able to give it.’ Suppose the disabled man’s
sickness to continue for several years, what will be the positions of
the two men when the invalid is able to resume work? As a
community they must be poorer than if no sickness had taken place.
The healthy man may have toiled with an energy quickened by
the enlarged need, but in the end, his own property must have
suffered by the withdrawal of his time and thought from it. This
is, of course, an example of one only out of many ways in which
inequality of possession may be established, giving rise to the mer
cantile forms of riches and poverty. In the instance before us,
one of the men might from the first have directly chosen to be
idle, and to put his life in pawn for present ease; or he might have
mismanaged his land, and been compelled to have recourse to his
neighbour for food ’and help, pledging his future labour for it.
But what I want the reader to note is the fact that the establish
ment of the mercantile wealth which consists in a claim upon
labour, signifies a political diminution of the real wealth which
consists in substantial possessions.
Take another example, more consistent with the ordinary
course of affairs of trade. Suppose three men, instead of two, to
form a little isolated republic. Suppose the third man undertakes
to superintend the transference of commodities for the other two.
If this carrier, or messenger, always brings to each estate, from the
other what is chiefly wanted at the right time, the operations of
the two farmers will go on ’prosperously and the largest possible
result in produce be obtained. But suppose no intercourse
between the land-owners is possible, except through the travelling
agent, and that, after a time, this agent, watching the course of
each man’s agriculture, keeps back the articles entrusted, until
there comes a period of extreme necessity for them on one side or
the other, and then exacts in exchange for them, all that the dis
tressed farmers can spare of other kinds of produce. He might
eventually become possessed of the superfluous produce of the two
estates, and in some year of scarcity purchase them both for him
self, and maintain the former proprietors thence-forward as his
labourers or servants. This would be a case of commercial wealth
acquired on the exactest principles of modern Political Economy.
But more distinctly even than'in the former instance, it is manifest
that the wealth of the state, or three men considered as a society,
is less than jt would have been had the merchant been content
with juster profit. The operations of the two agriculturalists have
�9
been cramped to the utmost; the continual limitation of the things
they wanted at critical times, together with the failure of courage
consequent on the prolongation of a struggle for mere existence,
without any sense of permanent gain, will have diminished the
result of their labor ; and the stores finally accumulated by the
merchant (the carrier or messenger) will not in anywise be equi
valent to those which, had his dealings been honest, would have
filled at once the granaries of the farmers and his own.
The Whole Question one of Justice.
“ The whole question, therefore, respecting not only the ad
vantage but even the quantity of national wealth, resolves itself
finally into one of abstract justice. It is impossible to conclude
of any given mass of acquired wealth whether it signifies good or
evil, because it may be indicative on the one hand of faithful in
dustries, progressive energies, and productive ingenuities, or, on
the other, it may be indicative of ruinous chicane, mortal luxury,
merciless tyranny. One mass of money is the outcome of action
which has created,—another, of action which has annihilated,—ten
times as much in the gathering of it; such and such strong hands
have been paralysed as if they had been numbed by nightshade ; so
many strong men’s courage broken ; this and the other false direc
tion given to labour, and lying image of prosperity set up. That
which seems to be wealth, may in verity be only the gilded index
of far-reaching ruin—a wrecker’s handful of coin gleaned from the
beach to which he has beguiled an argosy.” Mr. Ruskin con
cludes this part of the subject with a classification of the people
who become rich, and the people who remain poor, respectively, in
a community regulated only by supply and demand. The persons
who became rich are, generally speaking, “industrious, resolute,
proud, covetous, prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insen
sitive, and ignorant.” The persons who remain poor are, “ the
entirely foolish, the entirely wise, the idle, the reckless, the humble,
the thoughtful, the dull, the imaginative, the sensitive, the wellinformed, the improvident, the impulsively wicked, the clumsy
knave, the open thief, and the entirely merciful and just person.”
Capital,
Mr. Ruskin next discourses of that kind of wealth known as
Capital. Capital signifies “ head, source, or root. It is a root
that does not enter into vital function until it produces something
else than a root—something different from itself. Capital that pro
duces nothing but capital is only root producing root, bulb issuing
in bulb ; seed issuing in seed—never in bread. “ The best and
�io
simplest type of capital is a well-made ploughshare, and the true
question for every capitalist is not ‘how many ploughs have
you ?’ but ‘ where are your furrows ?’ not, ‘ how quickly will this
capital reproduce itself?’ but ‘ what substance will it furnish good
for life ? What work construct protective of life ? if none, its own
reproduction is useless—if worse than none ffor capital may destroy
life as well as support it) its own reproduction is worse than
useless.” As might be expected from the foregoing, Mr. Ruskin’s
views on the employment of capital are utterly at variance with those
of current political economy
Injustice of the Present System.
“ There is not in history,” says he, “record of anything so dis
graceful to the human intellect as that the commercial text, “Buy
in the cheapest market, sell in the dearest,” could represent an
available principle of economy. Charcoal may be cheap among
your roof timbers after a fire, and bricks may be cheap after an
earthquake................ There are few bargains in which the buyer
can ascertain with precision that the seller would have taken no
less—or the seller, that the purchaser would have given no more.
This prevents neither from striving to injure the other, nor from
accepting for a scientific principle that he is to buy for the least
and sell for the most, though what the real least or most may be,
he cannot tell. In like manner a just person lays it down for a
principle that he is to pay a just price without being able to ascer
tain precisely the limits of such price. Now it is easier to deter
mine what a man ought to have for his work, than what his
necessities will compel him to take for it. There is no equitable
reason in a man’s being poor, that if he give me a pound of bread
to-day I should return him less than a pound of bread to-morrow.
Again, I want a horseshoe for my horse. Twenty smiths, or
20,000 smiths, may be ready to forge it; their number does not in
one atom’s weight affect the question of the equitable payment of
the one who does forge it. The “robbery of the poor because
they are poor,” says our author elsewhere, “ is especially the mer
cantile form of theft. The ordinary highwayman’s opposite form
of robbery of the rich because they are rich, being less profitable
and more dangerous than the robbery of the poor, is rarely prac
tised by persons of discretion!'
Wages.
We must now consider Mr. Ruskin’s ideas on the recompense
of labour, and the method of the recompense. “Perhaps,” says
he, “ one of the most curious facts in the history of human error,
is the denial bv the political economist of the nosihilif-v r>f
�ri
lating wages so as to fix the rate ; while for all the important, and
most of the important labour on the earth, wages are already so
regulated. We do not sell our Prime-ministership by Dutch
auction; nor on the decease of a bishop, whatever may be the
advantages of simony, do we (yet) offer his diocese to the clergy
man who will take it at the lowest contract. Sick, we do not
inquire for a physician who takes less than a guinea : Litigious,
we never think of reducing six-and-eightpence to four-and-sixpence.
The best labour always has been, and is, as all labour ought to be,
paid by an invariable standard, ‘What,’the reader perhaps answers
amazedly, ‘ pay good and bad workmen alike ?”
Certainly ! You pay with equal fee your good and bad phy
sician and prime-minister, why not your bricklayer ? “ Nay, but
I choose my physician. By all means choose your bricklayer; that
is the proper reward of the good workman, to be “ chosen.” The
natural and right system respecting all labour is that it should be
paid at a fixed rate, but the good workman employed, and the
bad workman unemployed. The false, unnatural, and destructive
system is, when the bad workman is allowed to offer his work at
half-price, and either take the place of the good, or force him by
his competition to work for an inadequate sum. So far as you
employ it at all, bad work should be paid no less than good work ;
as a bad clergyman takes his tithes, a bad physician his fee, and a
bad lawyer his costs; this I say partly because the best work
never was nor ever will be done for money at all, but chiefly
because the moment the people know they have to pay the bad
and good alike, they will try to discern the one from the other,
and not use the bad. A sagacious writer in The Scotsman asks
me if I should like any common scribbler to be paid by Smith,
Elder & Co., as their good authors are ? I should if they em
ployed him; but would seriously recommend them, for the
scribbler’s sake, as well as their own, not to employ him. In
practice, according to the laws of demand and supply, when two
men are ready to do the work, and only one man wants to have
it done, the two men underbid each other for it, and the one who
gets it to do is underpaid. But when two men want the work
done, and there is only one man ready to do it, the two men who
want it done overbid each other, and the workman is overpaid.”
Mr, Ruskin goes in for just pay.
On this question of labour and its reward, we will quote one
more extract from him : “ I have been naturally asked several
times, ‘ But what are you to do with your bad unemployed
workmen ?’ Well, it seems to me the question might have
occurred to you before. Your housemaid’s place is vacant—vou
�12
give ^20 a-year. Two girls come for it—one neatly dressed, the
other dirtily; one with good recommendations, the other with
none. You do not, under these circumstances, usually ask the
dirty one if she will come for ^15 or ^12 , and on her consent
ing take her instead of the well-recommended one. Still less do
you try to beat both down by making them bid against each
other till you can hire both, one at ^£12 a-year, the other at ^8.
You simply take the one fittest for the place and send away the
other, not perhaps concerning yourself with the question you now
so impatiently put to me. ‘ What is to become of her ?’ Verily
it is a question of weight. ‘ Your bad workman, idler, and rogue,
what are you to do with him ? Meantime, consider whether it
may not be advisable to produce, as few as possible. If you
examine into the history of rogues you will find that they are as
truly manufactured articles as anything else, and it is just because
our present system of Political Economy gives so large a stimulus
to that manufacture, thafyou may know it to be a false one. We
had better seek for a system which will develope honest men, than
for one which will deal cunningly with vagabonds.
How to get the most Work out of a man.
The greatest average of work and greatest benefit to the com
munity would be obtained from a servant by our present pro
cedure, if he were an engine of which the motive power was
steam, magnetism, gravitation, or any other agent of calculable
force. But the largest quantity of work will be done by this
curious engine man, when the motive force—that is to say, the
will or spirit of the creature is brought to its greatest strength by
its own proper fuel; namely, by the affections.
Observe, I am here considering the affections wholly as a motive
power; not at all as things in themselves desirable or noble. I
look at them simply as an anomalous force, rendering every one
of the ordinary Political Economist’s calculations nugatory . . . .
If the master, instead of endeavouring to get as much work as
possible from the servant, seeks rather to render his appointed
and necessary work beneficial to him, and to forward his interests
in all just and wholesome ways, the real amount of work ultimately
done, or of good rendered by the person so cared for, will indeed
be the greatest possible. Nor is this one whit less true because
indulgence will be frequently abused and kindness met with in
gratitude. For the servant who, gently treated, is ungrateful,
treated ungently, will be revengeful; and the man who is dishonest
to a liberal master, will be injurious to an unjust one. And as
�i3
with servants, so with employees. The only means which the
master has of doing justice to the men employed by him, is to ask
himself sternly whether he is dealing with such as he would with
his own son, if compelled by circumstances his son had to take
such a position. As the captain of a ship is bound to be the last
man to leave his ship in case of wreck, and to share his last crust
with the sailors in case of famine, so the manufacturer in any
commercial crisis or distress, is bound to take the suffering of it
with his men, and even to take more of it for himself than he
allows his men to feel—as a father would in a famine, shipwreck,
or battle, sacrifice himself for his son.
The true function of the Capitalist.
For the manufacturer’s or merchant’s function in a state is to
provide for it as the soldier’s is to defend it, the physician’s to keep
it in health, and the lawyer’s to enforce justice in it. It is no more
the function of the merchant to get profit, for himself, than it is a
teacher’s to get his stipend. The stipend is a due and necessary
adjunct, but not the object of his life, if he is a true teacher, any
more than his fee (or honorarium) is the object of life to a true
physician. Each has a work to do irrespective of fee—to be done
at any cost. All of which sounds very strange : the only real
strangeness in the matter being, nevertheless, that it should so
sound. For all this is true, and that not partially nor theoretically,
but everlastingly and practically; all other doctrine than this
respecting matters political being false in premises, absurd in
deduction, and impossible in practice, consistently with any pro
gressive state of national life.” It is impossible to do justice to
Mr. Ruskin in a short pamphlet like this. Those who are interested
in Political Economy (which is essentially the science of the
working-man), should co-operate to get his book and study for
themselves. One or two more extracts and we must draw to a
close.
The Cause of Poverty.
Speaking of the poor, our author says, “ Their distress (irres
pective of that caused by sloth, minor errors, or crime), arises on
the grand scale from the two reacting forces of competition and
oppression. In all the ranges of human thought, I know none so
melancholy as the speculations of Political Economists on the
population question. It is proposed to better the condition of the
labourer by giving him higher wages. ‘ Nay,’ says the economist,
‘ if you raise his wages, he will either people down to the same
point of misery at which you found him, or drink your wages away.
�14
He will, I know it ! ’ Who gave him this will ? Suppose it were
your own son of whom you spoke, declaring to me that you dared
not take him into your firm, nor even give him his just labourer’s
wages, because if you did, he would die of drunkenness, and leave
half a score of children to the parish. ‘Who gave your son these
dispositions?’ I should enquire, ‘ Has he them by inheritance or
by education ? By one or the other they must come ; and as in
him so also in the poor. Either these poor are of a race essentially
different from ours, and unredeemable, (which, however often
implied, I have heard none yet openly say,) or else by such care
as we have ourselves received, we may make them continent and
sober as ourselves—wise and dispassionate as we are—models
arduous of imitation.”
Are there too many of us ?
“ There is not yet, nor will yet for ages be, any real over popula
tion in the world ; but a local over-population, or more accurately,
a degree of population locally unmanageable under existing circum
stances, for want of forethought and sufficient machinery,
necessarily shows itself by pressure of competition; and the taking
advantage of this competition by the purchaser to obtain their
labour unjustly cheap, consumates at once their suffering and his
own. The multiplication of animals is checked only by want of
food, and by the hostility of races ; the population of the gnat is
restrained by the hunger of the swallow, and that of the swallow
by the scarcity of gnats. Man, considered as an animal, is indeed
limited by the same laws : hunger or plague, or war, are the
necessary and only restraints upon his increase—effectual restraints
hitherto—his principal study having been how most swiftly to
destroy himself, or ravage his dwelling-place; and his highest
skill directed to give range to the famine, seed to the plague, and
sway to the sword. But, considered as other than an animal, his
increase is not limited by these laws, but by his courage and his
love. His race has its bounds, but these have not yet been
reached, nor will be reached for ages. The art of life has yet to
be learned. It is one very awful form of the operations of wealth
in Europe that it is entirely capitalists’ wealth which supports unjust
wars. Just wars do not need so much money to support them. They
are waged gratis. Nations like France and England have not
grace nor honesty enough in all their multitudes to buy an hour’s
piece of mind with—purchasing of each other ten millions sterling
worth of consternation annually : a remarkable crop—half thorns,
half aspen leaves—sown, reaped, and granaried by the ‘ science ’ of
the modern Polit:cal Economist teaching covetousness instead
of truth.............
�i5
Last Words.
“ Nevertheless, I desire to leave this one great fact clearly stated,
There, is no wealth but life, life including all its powers of love, of
joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which
nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings ;
that man is wealthiest who, having perfected the functions of his
own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both
personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.
Strive then to make Economy the law of the house ; strict, simple,
generous ; waste nothing and grudge nothing; care in no wise to
make more of money, but care to make much of it; remembering
always the great, palpable, inevitable fact—-the rule and root of all
economy—that what one person has, another cannot have ; and
that every atom of substance, of whatever kind, used or consumed,
is so much human life spent—so much life spent either in
preventing and slaying of life, or in gaining more. Consider
whether, even supposing it guiltless, luxury would be desired by
any of us, if we saw clearly at our sides the suffering which accom
panies it in the world. Luxury is indeed possible in the future—
innocent and exquisite ; luxury for all and by the help of all : but
luxury at present can only be enjoyed by the ignorant. The
cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blind
fold. Raise the veil boldly—face the light. What is chiefly
needed to-day is the desire for a life rich by joyful human labour.
Scenes smooth in field, fair in garden, full in orchard; trim,
sweet, and frequent in homestead ; full of currents of undersound ;
triplets of birds, murmur and chirp of insects, deep-toned words
of men and wayward trebles of childhood. We need examples of
people who will show what the maximum quantity of pleasure is
that may be obtained by a consistent well-administered com
petence, modest, confessed, and laborious. Who will decide for
themselves that they will be happy in the world, and resolve
to seek—not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher
fortune, but deeper felicity : making the first of possession, self
possession and “ honouring themselves in the calm pursuits of
peace.”
What working man is there that will not reverence
these far-seeing and noble utterances of a great and good man,
devoted to the cause of the poor and down-trodden—showing the
truth and demanding justice.
At all events, reader, unless you have had a previous intro
duction, may we not count on having awakened an interest in you
to examine still further into the teachings of John Ruskin,
��
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 rights of labour : according to John Ruskin
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ruskin, John [1819-1900]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Leicester
Collation: 15 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: The binding process has trimmed the bottom edge too close to the text, taking away the last line on p. 7 and cutting through the last line on p. 10. Printed by Chas. D. Merrick, 34 Cane Street, Leicester.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[s.n.]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[n.d.]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
T400
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Barclay, Thomas (arr)
Holmes, James
Subject
The topic of the resource
Socialism
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The rights of labour : according to John Ruskin), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><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
Political Economy
Social conditions
Social conditions;Socialism
Socialism
Working Classes