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PRICE ONE PENNY
THE FACTS
- ABOUT THE -
UNEMPLOYED.
An Appeal and a Warning.
BY
'
iV A
*
-Me ONE
cUaiM
i &\
MIDDLE-CLASS.#^
OF <• THE
:o:
Beholding with the dark eye of a seer
The evil days to gifted souls foreshown,
Foretelling them to those who will not hear,
As in the old days, till the hour will come
When truth shall strike their eye through many a tear.
—Prophecy of Dante.
:o:~
LONDON:
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
AND
W. L. ROSENBERG, 261, EAST TENTH STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
1886.
�To sleep in when their pain is done.
These were not fit for God to save.
As naked hell-fire is the sun
In their eyes, living, and when dead
These have not where to lay their head.—Swinburne.
To bring these hordes of outcast captainless soldiers under due captaincy ? This is
really the question of questions, on the answer to which turns, among other things, the
fate of all Governments, constitutional and other—the possibility of their continuing to
exist or the impossibility. Captainless, uncommanded, these wretched outcast
‘ soldiers,’ since they cannot starve, needs must become banditti, street barricaders—
destroyers of every Government that cannot make life human to them.—Thomas Carlyle.
Socialism, in that sense, is the application of the power and resources of the State
to benefit one particular class, especially the most needy. There stares us in the face the
fact that the duty of maintaining the most necessitous class of the country by the
public funds has, for three centuries, formed part of the law of the land. That is so
strong a fact that it vitiates every argument which we can use from what is called sheer
principle against measures of time.—Lord Salisbury, 30th September, 1885.
The typhoon itself is not wilder than human creatures when once their passions are
stirred. You cannot check them ; but if you are brave you can guide them wisely.
—Froude.
People are all very glad to shut their eyes. It gives them a very simple pleasure
when they can forget that the bread that we eat, and the quiet of the family and all that
embellishes life and makes it worth having, have to be purchased by death—by the
deaths of men wearied out with labour, and the deaths of those criminals called revolu
tionaries, and the deaths of those revolutionaries called criminals.—R. L. Stevenson.
Hyde Park in the season is the great rotatory form of one vast squirrel cage:
round and round it go the idle company, in their reversed streams, urging themselves to
their necessary exercise. When they rest from their squirrellian revolutions, and die in
the Lcrd and their works do follow them, these are what will follow them. They took
the bread and milk and meat from the people of their fields ; they gave it to feed, and
retain here in their service, this fermenting mass of unhappy human beings—news
mongers, novel-mongers, picture-mongers, poison-drink-mongers, lust and death mon
gers, the whole smoking mass of it one vast dead-marine store shop—accumulation of
wreck of the Dead Sea, with every activity in it a form of putrefaction.—John Rushin.
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for youf miseries that shall come upon
you. Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which is of
you kept back by fraud, crieth ; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.—St. Janies.
Yet there is a pause, a stillness before the storm ; lo, there is blackness above, not
a leaf quakes ; the winds are stayed, that the voice of God’s warning may be heard.
Hear it now, O chosen city in the chosen land ! Repent and forsake evil; do justice ;
love mercy : put away all uncleanness from among you.—George Eliot.
In God’s name, let all who hear nearer and nearer the hungry moan of the storm
and the growl of the breakers, speak out! The past, wise with the sorrow and desola
tion of ages, from amid her shattered fanes of wolf housing palaces, echoes speak ! But
alas! the Constitution, and the Hon. Mr. Bagowind, M.P., say, Be dumb.—J. R. Lowell.
Balance the two things against each other. At present you have what you call
■“ freedom of trade” in these respects—i.e., every capitalist has almost unlimited scope
for his “ arrangements,” so as to screw out of his workmen the largest possible amount
of labour for the smallest possible remuneration. But then what have you to do with
it ? A population becoming more and more wretched, more and more vicious, more
and more discontented, and who only need, at any moment, an able leader to be pre
pared to revolutionise the Empire.—Remedies for the Perils of the Nation (1844).
The Writer will be glad to hear from anyone who agrees with his conclusions.
�THE FACTS ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYED.
OR years past the optimist philosopher and the complacent
statistician have declared that the material condition of the
masses of the British nation has been steadily improving. But
hard facts have a logic of their own, before which pretty
theories and judicious compilations must give way when they are found
out not to agree with the actual circumstances. Gradually the impos
sibility of taking a rose-coloured view of the condition of the people has
forced itself upon the intelligent public. The occurrences of last winter
arrested attention, but the eventful struggles of political life have caused
forgetfulness of the truth that whatever changes have taken place on
the surface one thing remains unchanged—-the monotonous misery of
the struggle for a living amongst a large proportion of our countrymen.
So short are men’s memories, so prone are they, in their suspicion of the
exaggerations of hysterical philanthropists and unscrupulous agitators,
to discount estimates of distress, that it is necessary to repeat here
the deliberate statements of officials writing in cold blood.
It is impossible to give details as to the whole country, but those for
the metropolis will serve as a guide, and are by far the most important
on account of the danger arising from the congestion of misery in this
huge city, where the striking contrast of squalid destitution and immense
wealth is ever present. But if the numbers of the Unemployed in
London in the winter of 1885 were greater than elsewhere, the misery
has been even more intense in many provincial towns where the muni
cipal institutions and local public feeling have enabled earnest if
inadequate efforts to be made to mitigate the distress. In Hartlepool,
Gateshead, Newport (Monmouth), Brighton, Gloucester, Sheffield,
Jarrow, Northampton, Southampton, Pontypridd, Liverpool, Ashtonunder-Lyne, Salford, Wolverhampton, Dover, Burton-on-Trent, Derby.
Walsall, Stoke-upon-Trent and many other towns all the horrors or
famine have been experienced. This, autumn, threats of reduction of
wages and dismissal of “ hands ” show only too clearly to those who
will take warning that before Christmas 1886 the destitution will be
yet more widespread.
At the end of January, 1886, the number of persons applying for relief
at the workhouses of London showed no very great increase. From
this it was falsely argued that no exceptional distress could exist. Bu
*
it is the fact that the severity with which the Poor Law has recently
been administered denies any relief to persons under 60 years of age
who are free from disease. Such “ able-bodied persons ” are allowed
no succour, save on condition of entering the living tomb of the work
house, which means severance of all family ties, perpetual confinement,
�4
diet worse than is allowed to many criminals, and the abandonment of
all hope of being anything but a pauper for the rest of life. It is true
that Guardians are allowed to give relief to “ able-bodied ” males out
side the workhouse, on condition of their undergoing the labour test.
In actual practice last winter this meant that in three unions skilled
artizans, mechanics, clerks, and shop assistants were asked to break
from 7 to 9 bushels of stone for a reward varying from 4d. in money,
4d. in groceries, and 2 lbs. of bread to gd. in money and 2 lbs. of bread.
Thus it is small wonder that, in spite of their distress, very few beside
the ordinary hardened paupers applied to the guardians for the only
forms of relief allowed, viz., imprisonment without hard labour in the
workhouse or criminal tasks in the stoneyard. In Westminster,
where piecework was offered, and men were able to earn from 2S. to
2S. gd. per day, the work was eagerly applied for.
Thus the number of applications for relief showed little increase, and
this fact was vaunted in the usual way. But when, in February, 1886,
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, as President of the Local Government Board,
instituted enquiries as to the extent and nature of distress, he received
the replies given below.
*
They are very significant, for in spite of the
horror of “ the house ” entertained by the deserving poor, the number
of persons in receipt of relief in London in September, 1886,
exceeds by fourteen hundred the number who had been driven
to the Unions at the same season last year. If September, 1885,
was the precursor of a winter of such appalling destitution, clearly the
following statements only faintly foreshadow the probable sufferings of
the workers in the Metropolis during the winter of 1886-1887.
REPORTS OF GUARDIANS.
4
Ik
w
St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington.—-Doubtless exceptional distress exists among the class
■who prefer to suffer the severest privation rather than apply for Poor Law Relief.
Paddington. Distress thought to prevail amongst the classes just above the pauper
ranks.
Fulham. The medical officers and relieving officers allege that a great deal of distress
does exist.
St. Luke, Chelsea. Distress not excessive.
St. George, Hanover Sq. No exceptional distress.
Westminster. No more than the normal amount of distress.
St. Marylebone. Has been an increase of distress.
St. John, Hampstead. Believe distress great and quite unusual.
St. Pancras. Some increase of distress experienced by the better class of workmen.
St. Mary, Islington. More distress prevailing than usual.
Hackney. No doubt considerable distress chiefly among people who will not apply for
relief unless under very extreme circumstances.
Strand. More than ordinary distress prevails amongst classes who do not usually
apply for relief.
St. Leonard, Shoreditch. Exceptional number of struggling poor in distress and yet
do not seek relief until actually obliged by acute suffering.
Bethnal Green. Of opinion that there is a large amount of distress not brought
under notice of Guardians.
Whitechapel, Much distress of a chronic or intermittent character.
St. George’s-in-the-East. Increase of the always considerable distress.
Stepney. Distress undoubtedly prevailing.
Mile End Old Town. Working people experiencing great privation.
St. Saviour’s. Large numbers of able bodied men with families out of work.
* These extracts are taken from the Blue Book, Return “Pauperism and Distress.”
Printed by order of the House of Commons, 8th May, 1886. Price is. 9d., or second
hand copies, for which Members of Parliament apparently can find no use, can be pro
cured for a few pence.
�St. Olave’s Distress slightly more prevalent, about 1,100 men out of employ.
St. Mary, Lambeth, Severe and unusual distress among ordinary selfmaintaining
working people.
St. Giles, Camberwell. Large amount of distress among people who will not seek
parochial relief.
Wandsworth and Clapham. Exceptional distress.'
Lewisham. 21 i honest and industrious workingmen compelled to seek employment in
labour yard.
Woolwich. Exceptional distress among families who will not come on the parish.
Holborn. A large number of able-bodied men with families applying for relief.
In addition to these answers from the Guardians of the Poor, the
following replies were sent by
VESTRIES & DISTRICT BOARDS OF WORKS.
St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington. Unquestionably a large number of the labouring
class out of work.
Fulham. Special distress is existing.
Chelsea. No exceptional distress with which we are unable to cope.
Westminster. Persuaded that distress is exceptional.
St. Marylebone. Believe there is considerable distress amongst persons who do not
or would not apply for relief.
St. John, Hampstead. Exceptional amount of distress.
Islington. A very great amount of distress.
St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Painfully recognize the fact that large numbers are |out
of employment.
Holborn. Distress exceptional.
St. Leonard, Shoreditch. Undoubtedly considerable distress owing to lack of em
ployment.
Bethnal Green. Believe there is considerable distress.
Whitechapel. Exceptional distress exists.
St. George’s-in-the-East. A great deal of distress. Much acute suffering. Signs of
still further diminution of labour.
Mile End Old Town. Undoubtedly a great number of mechanics out of work.
Poplar. Distress exceptional among better class of artizans. In many trades lack of
employment, seems no hope in the future. Of 61 lads at Board School, fathers of
22 out of work.
Newington. Distress exceptional. Chiefly among artizan and labouring classes.
St. Olave’s, Southwark. Distress always throughout the year.
Bermondsey. Unemployed labourers somewhat more numerous.
Rotherhithe. Widespread distress. Men unable to obtain work for many weeks past.
Lambeth. In surburbs many employes out of work.
Wandsworth. In Battersea, distress exceptional. In Clapham, very marked. Putney,
many more out of work than for ten years past. Streatham, distress not very
exceptional. Wandsworth, a great many men out of work.
Camberwell. Great and exceptional distress especially among mechanics, clerks, un
skilled workers, &c., who are not accustomed to apply to guardians.
Plumstead. Exceptional distress.
Do these dry statements convey to the reader any idea of the suffering
they represent ? Can an average member of the classes who control the
domestic policy of this wealthy nation, figure to himself accurately what
being “out of work” even for a few weeks means to men who have to
live by selling their labour ? To these, hard times do not occasion
merely a diminution of an income ample to provide all the comforts and
luxuries of existence, but a life and death struggle with starvation. To
commence full of hope to search for fresh employment: to gradually sell
or pawn the few sticks of furniture which convert the single room,
whither poverty has driven you, into a home; to blister the feet
in walking from factory gate to factory gate only to meet with disap
pointment and often with hard words, while hope deferred makes the
heart sick and want of nourishment enfeebles the frame: to see your
�6
wife sinking for lack of food and to send your children to the Board
School without a bit of breakfast: to know that as you grow each day
more gaunt in the face, more shabby in outward' appearance, more
emaciated in physique, there is less and less chance of getting employ
ment ; to return faint and footsore after a long day’s tramp and hear
those you love best on earth crying for food : to have to answer their
moans by telling them that because you are not allowed to work for
your living, Society has doomed them to yet another twenty-tour hours
of starvation ; despairing, to beg from the stranger in the street and be
met with a contemptuous dole or pitiless suspicion : to ponder in cold and
hunger whether the theft that would save your family from slow
starvation is a crime or a duty: to be restrained from suicide only by
the certainty that your death must drive your wife and daughters
to swell the ghastly army of degraded womanhood that parades the
streets of midnight London ; to feel drawing ever nearer the day when
you will be driven into the workhouse to lose for ever freedom and inde
pendence, to part from your wife as surely as if the grave were closing
over her and to condemn your children to be brought up as paupers : to
feel, through all this, that you have done nothing to deserve it—this
was the lot of hundreds of thousands of Englishmen last winter. It is
the certain doom of thousands more during the next few months.
And terrible as is the state of affairs revealed by these official facts,
gloomy as is the prospect they hold out for the coming winter, it is con
fidently declared by those who made a house to house visitation to
collect statistics that they did not adequately depict the destitution
which prevailed last year, and which will recur in an aggravated form in
the next few months. A Special Commissioner of the Pall Mall Gazette
visited a typical East End street, and declared that more than half the
male adults were out of work. Two members of the Holborn Board of
Guardians, Messrs. A. Hoare and S. Brighty, have testified on oath that
when a Committee of that Board, mistrusting the reports of the Reliev
ing Officers, made a personal inspection, they found in many streets of
Holborn and Clerkenwell 30 to 40 per cent, of the population out of
work, and the results of the enforced idleness of the bread winners on
the health of their families was so terrible that the Board were obliged
to strain the Infirmary Relief Regulations, so as to treat sheer starvation
as a prevalent disease !
The above undeniable facts show that the first necessity is an inde
pendent and trustworthy report as to the numbers of men now out of
work. The investigation made in a slovenly way by Mr. Chamberlain
after the windows of the Carlton Club were smashed should now be
made in a careful and deliberate manner. This need not entail much
expense, at any rate in comparison with what continued neglect of such
suffering, if it really does exist, will cost the country. The Local Govern
ment Board should at once require the Guardians of all the Unions to appoint
a small committee of their members to visit every house in a dozen streets in the
poorer quarters of their districts, and render a report showing the number of men
out of work, how many weeks1 work each has done in the last 3 months, his trade,
the number of children dependent upon his wages for food, and finally whether he
would be willing to perform useful labour during eight hours in each day for the
equivalent of 20s. -per week.
*
______________ ___
* This wage is taken as being 37J per cent, less than the average income of a working
class family, according to the estimate of Professor Leone Levi, and, therefore, too
little to attract labour from private enterprises.
�7
This could be done in a few days, and should the event prove that
distress amongst the deserving poor is severe, wide spread, and increas
ing, there can be no excuse for refusing to take steps for their relief. To
begin with, it is intolerable that, under the exceptional circumstances,
th sturdy independence which leads the sufferers to dread becoming
paupers should be broken down. It is sheer brutality to give the Unem
ployed no choice but the workhouse, or a useless, and in the long run,
costly labour test, if it be made manifest that the distressed are
really skilful and hard working men. For the immediate pressure
it will be necessary to place a certain amount of discretionary
power in the hands of the Committees of the Guardians, to
enable them, when they are satisfied that the suffering is genuine,
to give out relief to men out of work. This should be strictly
limited to relief in kind. Doles of money would inevitably go straight
from the hands of men out of work, who are naturally in arrears with
their rent, straight into the pockets of their landlords, too many of whom
are on these Parochial Boards. The best form which the relief could
take, would be the provision of a free dinner to children in the
Board Schools. Whatever may have been the crimes or follies of their
fathers, these children have done nothing to deserve the tortures that
the poverty, whether deserved or not, of their parents inflicts upon
them. They cannot be “ pauperised ” by the enjoyment of food from
public funds, and the interest of the future of our country demands that
thousands of children should not be again forced to starve for a few
months, and so contract the physical, and consequent mental and moral
infirmities, which will prove so great a burden on the next generation.
It is undoubtedly true that the endowments and charities of the City
parishes would be ample and sufficient to cover the cost of providing a
free meal to all the Board School children in London. These funds *
are squandered in a variety of foolish ways, there being now no con
gregations in the City Churches, and no poor resident in the City
parishes. The best interests of England will be better served by secur
ing the nourishment of starveling infants than by maintaining clerical
sinecures, in order that sermons of thanksgiving may be preached to
empty aisles on the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, or
of the detection of Guy Fawkes. Much of this money is already spent
in providing free dinners, not in Board Schools for the children of the
poor, but at the Star and Garter at Richmond, or the Trafalgar at Green
wich, for the officials who administer the funds.
But if the distress be as wide spread as is supposed, it is impossible
to provide for it from local resources, more especially as the demand
would be heaviest where the ratepayers are poorest. In the working
class districts of London a large proportion of the rates are contributed
by persons who are largely dependent, as lodging-house keepers, small
tradesmen, &c., on the welfare of the working classes, and the state
of affairs which denies the workers a chance of earning wages, means, to
the poorer ratepayers, rents in arrears, and trade reduced to the vanish
ing point. If on the top of this Poor Rates were largely increased,
thousands, who are now by the most strenuous exertion keeping out of
the pauper class, would be overwhelmed in one common ruin. It is, be
sides, absurd that able-bodied workmen, who only ask to be allowed to
See Reports of the School Board for London on the matter.
�8
-earn their living, should be compelled to be idle when there is so much
necessary and productive work undone. The Embankment of the poor
man’s side of the Thames, and the building by public bodies of whole
some working class dwellings on vacant sites throughout London, would
provide really useful work for hundreds of men. The demolition of the
buildings and the preparation of the sites of Clerkenwell Prison and the
House of Detention for artizans and labourers’ dwellings would provide
employment for a large amount of unskilled labour. The reclamation of
*
waste lands and foreshores} would entail little expenditure beyond what
was actually paid in wages for manual labour. If England can recruit
and equip her sons to defend the suspicious interests of bondholders in
Egypt, if ^10,000,000 of British gold can be poured into the sands of
the Soudan with no other result than the destruction of human life and
happiness, surely even a large expenditure of wealth in the effort to save
life is justifiable !
But this State or Municipal organisation of labour can be done
effectively and economically if the will is not wanting. When similar
works were undertaken in Lancashire during the cotton famine by Sir
Robert Rawlinson, £1,500,000 of public money were profitably expended,
and though the bulk of the workers were factory hands unaccustomed
to outdoor labour, thec^ztagHaid out in plant and superintendence
amounted to only 6-3 of the total expenditure. The attempts made at
the end of last winter in a few London parishes on a smaller scale
show that the thing can be successfully done, if it is energetically
undertaken.} But so slow are the officials to move that public opinion has
* A company is now building artizans dwellings in Central London, and has proved
the possibility of clearing 8 per cent, on capital by providing houseroom on highlyrented ground at an average rent of 2s. 6d. per room. Nothing has been done t6
provide the workers with wholesome lodging within their means since the report of the
Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, and the passing of the Act
of August, 1885, which allows the issue of loans at 3J per cent, interest for this purpose.
The Act has remained a dead letter ; but if its provisions were enforced, the money
raised, and the work done without the intervention of a contractor, the saving of his pro
fits would allow the lower rate of interest to be paid if only half the rent were demanded
for accommodation much better than is offered by the above-named commercial under
taking. But public bodies, many of whose members are pecuniarily concerned in their
own vested interests in the extorting of high rents for unwholesome tenements, are not
likely to encourage this form of competition save under tremendous pressure.
f At a recent meeting of the British Association at Barrow-in-Furness it was stated
that 40,000 acres of land round a neighbouring estuary would pay to reclaim.
+ See the Report of M. Geo. R, Strachan, Surveyor of Chelsea, in the Pall Mall
Gazette, October 2,1886, from which the following are extracts. .
“In response to the public demand, in the early spring of this year, the Chelsea vestry
on the 20th of February last instructed me to pave the macadamized part , of King s
Road with wood, and further instructed me to employ and pay the men without the
intervention of a contractor. The pay was to be 4d. per hour, and of this two shillings
was to be paid each night in order to get the men food. It was questioned whether
there would be 100 applicants for the work, but on the day appointed to take the names
no less than 300 were at hand. There is much discussion as to a test for distinguishing
genuine cases of distress from the loafers and the ne’er-do-weels. I venture to suggest
that a man who will hack up a macadam road like King’s Road for 4d. per hour has
earned the right to be considered a genuine case. The number of men employed was
increased to 230, among whom, to my own knowledge, were carpenters, , plasterers,
bricklayers, fitters, shoemakers, watchmakers, printers, hatters, gentlemen s servants,
and tailors, as well as general labourers, each of whom commenced work at 4-d. per
hour. The severe work tried many of the men at the beginning. When paying the
men each night their two shillings, I noticed that many of them had. been punished by
their particular job, and where it was possible they were given a lighter job the next
�9
to be heated to a dangerous degree before they can be made aware
that the punctual drawing of their salaries and pigeon-holing of all com
munications is not their whole duty. The pressure necessary to stir them
entails mass meetings of hungry and wretched men, injudicious inter
ference by officious policemen, and then, perhaps, riot and bloodshed,
for which the whole responsibility rests on those who will not hear any
other appeal.
But these measures are merely stop-gaps. Extension of out-door
relief and provision of employment- by public bodies will prevent deaths
from starvation for the time, but they will do nothing to avert the
recurrence of a state of affairs which would be an amusing satire on
human intelligence if it were not for its tragic side. On all hands over
production, so it is said ; too great an abundance of all the commodities
which labour makes. Yet in every great town threatening crowds of
workers complain that this very superfluity of the good things of
this world keeps them in want of the merest necessaries of life. The
means of producing wealth have been so improved and multiplied that
it is impossible for the workers to get enough to keep them and their
families in health. The burden of the evidence taken by the Royal
Commission on Depression of Trade is, not that the volume of trade is
decreasing, but that the intense competition is ruining every industry.
In the decade 1874 t° T883 all the great industries of the country showed
a great increase of production, with only a trifling increase, or even a
decrease, in the number of persons employed.
*
That is to say, im
proved methods had enabled each man to produce more, and had con
sequently denied work to many. Thus it is certain that the distress we
are now witnessing is no passing symptom, but destined to increase in
intensity with every advance in the modes of production.
day. At first they did not earn their money, but as they got food into them they visibly
improved. Where a man was found capable of better work than hacking the road up
he was put to mixing the concrete, for which he received 5d. per hour. When it came
to laying the blocks, the artisans among them were advanced to that work, and were
then paid the usual wage of a pavior—9d. per hour...........................One scarcely knew the
men again. Nine weeks’ work had enabled them to turn round in the world. They had
rescued their clothes, which in many cases had been “ put away,” and there they were,
a body of contented men, forming a striking contrast to the hungry men who struggled
for work when the names were taken down. Altogether, a sum of £2,000 was circulated
to these men as wages, and I have no hesitation whatever in saying that it gave assist
ance to men who were deserving of consideration, and that it saved many a wife and
her little ones from hunger and suffering.
But did it pay ? Yes. These roads cost gs. rod. and gs. yd. per square yard
respectively, all told, which included superintendence, printing, testing, and a substan
tial allowance for the depreciation of plant and tools The price could not be bettered
for the quality of the work. The work is satisfactory as regards execution. The vestry
and the parishoners were so satisfied with the works that they resolved to continue
them, and I am now engaged in paving Pont Street with wood under the conditions
named. There is an eagerness for work that is equal to that at the beginning of the year,
and though the men are not so starved as they were then, yet they are out of work. If
300 men—all Chelsea men—were wanted, they would be forthcoming in two days.
This opens out a serious prospect. Should the winter be a severe one it will be
necessary to relieve the distress. I submit that there are few better ways than by
employing the men in useful public works. Our wood pavement experiment is only one
class of work. It would be a desirable precaution for all the local authorities to look
up the works they could put in hand if the emergency arises, so as to be ready.
The surveyor who has such work entrusted to him has a strange team to drive over a
new course, and he cannot have his rem hand or his whip hand pulled at, if he is to get
over it successfully. He should be given a free hand while the work is on, and made
to render a strict account when it is done.”
* See "The Emigration Fraud Exposed,” by H. M. Hyndman.
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*
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**
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�IO
Mr. Hugh Owen, C.B., the Secretary to the Local Government
Board, has pointed out, very wisely from his point of view, the danger
of allowing the Unemployed to entertain the idea that it is the duty of
Government to provide them with wages. And certainly, relief works,
whether undertaken by the National or Municipal authorities, must
come to an end sooner or later. If the stress of poverty passes away
the industrial regiments that have been enrolled may be disbanded with
impunity. But should the permanent causes which have brought about
scarcity of employment remain in action, should the distress therefore
continue to augment, the State will have on its hands an ever-increasing
army of desperate men who have been taught that if they agitate fiercely
enough the State will provide for them, It is not a pleasant prospect.
Surely it is wiser, while undertaking special measures for the momentary
pressure, to at once go boldly to the root of the matter.
The question is really the one with with which the ruling classes are
now face to face in all countries in the world. “ Why are the workers
poor? ” This is the riddle of the modern Sphinx, which our civilization
has to answer or perish. Poverty, the material degradation of a large
proportion of the population, means that long hours of work for low
wages are alternated with these long spells of want of employment and
sheer starvation. There is one way and one way only to put a check on
this—the establishment of a shorter working day—and this can be
best effected by the
1. Reduction of the hours of labour in all Government
employments to eight a day.
2. The prohibition by law of more than 48 hours per week
being exacted from their employes by any railway, tramway,
or omnibus company.
3. The establishment of communications with foreign
countries in order that an international agreement may be
arrived at for curtailing, in each State, the hours of labour
in manufactures and industries which are affected by inter
national competition.
Some objections will be raised to these proposals, but there is not
the slightest doubt that any Governmeet which enforced the first of
them would be amply supported by public opinion. The public have
too often lately supped on horrors provided by the graphic descriptions
of the life of the poor not to be willing that any practical steps should
be taken for their relief. It only needs to be pointed out that, for
instance, plenty of Government work is given out to contractors who
over-drive their men, that many of the uniforms of our soldiers, police
men, postmen, etc., are made on the sweating system,” for men of
every class and every shade of political belief to unite in declaring that
as citizens they object to what, as individuals, they may themselves be
forced by competition to do, and that even if low profits drive the
employing class to reduce wages and lengthen hours, this wealthy
nation shall not take advantage of the necessities of the poor to grind
their lives out of them. This one measure would at once give employ
ment to many thousands who would be called in to fill the vacancies
created.
But some difficulties would be experienced in passing an Act
�11
of Parliament compulsorily reducing the hours of adult males in
the employment of companies of capitalists. Such interference has
always been deprecated, by those interested in maintaining long hours
and low wages, on the ground that if the men really desire it they would
combine and enforce a reduction through a trade union by strikes etc.
To this the reply is : that large numbers being out of work, the em
ployers could readily fill the places of any number of men who struck for
a reduction of hours : that the same circumstance drains the funds of all
existing trade societies as they are also benefit societies and pay all
members out of work, and therefore cripples them for undertaking
*
strikes ; that strikes are a barbarous method of effecting such a change
and to be successful must be backed up by at any rate a certain amount
of intimidation, boycotting etc. Much vigorous opposition will be raised
by the shareholders in these enterprises and their numerous supporters
in Parliament. They undoubtedly wall suffer by being deprived of
the right to make profits by overworking their employes, but it is not
possible to undo injustice and remedy hardships without appearing to
injure someone. Advantages to the community at large must be
weighed and a decision taken on that ground. There are some 360,000
men employed, for instance, on the railway system of this country. Their
average hours are 12 per dayt and their average wages are under 20s. a
week. The compulsory reduction of the hours to 48 per week would
therefore mean the taking on of 180,000 workers and the expenditure as
wages of nine millions of pounds which now go into the shareholders
pockets as dividends. This is less than one per cent, of the capital
invested in railways in England. Now admitting that individual cases
ofhardship will occur, but also remembering the awful and wide-spread
distress which is now devastating the “ lower orders,” the question for
the community is whether one per cent, interest is worth more than the
devotion of that sum to wages would effect, i.e. increased leisure for 360,000
men, and a chance of earning a living to 180,000. There can be no
question as to the opinion of the working class on the point, and even
the well-to-do may see it in a different light, when it is borne in upon
them that some hundreds of thousands of unemployed men must
somehow be provided for, either by charity, private or public, or by legis
lation, and that it may be cheaper, easier, and safer to meet such a pro
posal as this half-way than to seek to evade the inevitable.
This applies still more strongly to tramway and omnibus companies.
They exact longer hours and their victims are consequently still less
able to combine, and for unskilled work such as theirs the competition,
even at such miserable wages, is terrific.
There are many other trades and occupations in which the enforce
ment of a shorter day of labour is necessary. Where competition has
reached a point when its disastrous effects are patent to all, when
individuals are powerless to control it, it surely becomes the duty of the
* It is on this account that the Amalgamated Society of Engineers had a deficit of
over ^43,000 last year. The Union of Operative Bakers cannot prevent many employers
exacting 18 hours work a day. The Boiler Makers show 23I per cent, of their members
out of work and ^45,000 paid to them; the Brass-founders (Liverpool), 17 per cent,
unemployed, the Amalgamated Carpenters, 18 per cent. See Returns “ Pauperism
and Distress.”
f The average hours of drivers are 10, goods guards n to 12, passenger guards 12
to 15, porters all work 12 and over. For further particulars see a pamphlet by T. Mann,
entitled “ What an Eight Hour Working Day Means.”
�12
organised community to fix a limit beyond which the excesses of com
petition must not go. In the cases mentioned above the difficulty is
not complicated by the presence of foreign or oriental underpaid labour.
There can be no doubt whatever that under what is called Free Trade
“ the unrestricted competition to which Parliament in its wisdom has
decided that this country shall be subjected ”—the market of the world
will confer its custom on those countries where, other things being equal,
labour is cheapest, and that our artizans will some day have to accept
the wage of Belgians, and Italians, or English manufacturers will be
beaten. And there is nothing more certain than that in each of the
foreign countries, whose competition we may have to dread, there is a
strong feeling in favour of international legislation on these labour
questions. To that end communications should at once be made to
foreign governments, and should they be unwilling to come to reasonable
terms, it will certainly be found in England, as in every country where
the workers have any voice in national policy, that the democracy is in
favour of a war of tariffs to coerce the recalcitrant countries.
There is one objection from the worker’s point of view w'hich remains
to be met. Reduction of hours would no doubt provide work for those
out of employment, but would it not reduce the average rate of wages ?
Especially where men are paid by the hour it seems on the face of it so
certain that a week of 48 instead of 60 hours must mean a proportionate
reduction of income. But this is not so. The main factor in the pres
sure which keeps wages down is the eagerness of men who are out of
work to accept it on any terms. The employer, perhaps smarting from a
diminution of his normal income, feels justified in reducing wages when
he sees that thousands would be only too glad to be taken on even at
the reduced rate. As long as “ the reserve army of labour ” is there to
draw upon, unscrupulous employers are in a position to do exactly what
they please, and, by the action of competition, force better men to have
recourse to the same villanies in order to escape bankruptcy. If the
Unemployed are provided for, and the pressure on the labour market
reduced, the same laws of supply and demand which now make the
capitalist the absolute arbiter in matters of work and wages will then
destroy his present advantage. Every man who is looking for work is
an ally of the capitalist and an enemy of his fellows. The reduction of
hours, by absorbing the Unemployed, will inevitably raise wages until
further developments of machinery and invention increase the produc
tivity of labour, and bring about a repetition of the miseries of the last
few months.
Not the least significant fact about the recent agitation on the
subject of the Unemployed is that it has been allowed to remain entirely
in the hands of a body of men who form the Social-Democratic Federa
tion, the oldest and best known of the English Socialist organisations.
Of these men Mr. Geo. R. Sims, whose knowledge of the poor in Lon
don is great, says that their influence over the workers is enormous,
and Mr; Arnold White, the well-known philanthropist, admits, while
attacking them zealously, that “ they are slowly and surely winning the
confidence of the masses.” From time to time their doings are chro
nicled in the papers, but some of the following facts should be more
widely known.
1
�13
On Monday, February Sth, 1886, a large meeting of men out of work
was held in Trafalgar Square. Speeches were delivered by some Social
Democrats, who afterwards headed a portion of the large crowd towards
Hyde Park. On the way stones were thrown at the Reform and Carlton
CIttbs in Pall Mall. The accidental absence of police showed that this
Could be done with impunity, and portions of the crowd broke hundreds
Of pounds worth of plate glass, ill-treated the passers-by, and sacked two
shops in Piccadilly, and several in May Fair, before they were dispersed.
On the following day London was in a panic, but no further riots
occurred. Four of the Social Democrats, who were reported to have
used very strong language, were indicted for seditious speaking and
inciting to violence, and after five days’ trial at the Old Bailey were
acquitted on April 10th, Mr. Justice Cave stating in his summing up that
they deserved “ some considerable credit ” for their vain efforts to bring
the dangerous nature of the distress among the working classes to the
notice of the proper authorities.
So much is notorious. What is unknown is the real origin aud
meaning of occurrences without parallel in modern times.
The
following summary can be readily verified from reports of the meetings
and of the testimony of witnesses at the trial:—
In the winter of 1883, when the distress began to be seriously felt, the
Social-Democrats made themselves conspicuous by vehement attacks on
the supporters of emigration as a panacea for working class poverty.
During that and the following winter they repeatedly carried amendments
by unanimous votes in the meetings convened by the advocates of
emigration. This made them very popular all over the country, especially
in East London, and gave them an influence they were not slow to utilise.
In February, 1885, the Social Democratic Federation convened a
meeting of the Unemployed (even then very numerous) on the Thames
Embankment, whence a deputation proceeded to ask the Local
Government Board to urge various remedial measures for the distress of
the thousands stated to be then out of work. In the absence of Sir Charles
Dilke, the Under Secretary, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, stated that nothing
could be done by the central authority at Whitehall, and advised the
deputation to “ bring salutary pressure to bear on the local authorities.”
This advice was not immediately followed, probably owing to the
approach of summer and the consequent diminution of the suffering.
But early in 1886 proceedings were again commenced, and the methods
taken by a branch of the same organization in Clerkenwell were
closely followed in Marylebone, Hampstead, Bermondsey, Hackney,
Westminster, Limehouse, Battersea, and other parts of London, but
the description of the one agitation applies with more or less force to
all. Determined to put “ pressure ” on the Guardians of the Holborn
Union, the members of this body instituted a house-to-house census of
the poorer parts of the district, in order to satisfy themselves as to the
distress. They summoned the Local Members of Parliament (one a
Conservative, the other a Liberal), who declared themselves willing, but
impotent, to effect any remedial legislation. On January 27 a deputation
attended the meeting of the Guardians, and pointed out—(a) That their
investigations had showed 40 per cent, of the bread-winners to be out of
employment ; (&) That the workhouses were overcrowded ; (c) That in
accordance with the strict regulations denying outdoor relief to persons
under 60 years of age and free from disease, succour was refused to the
�x4
sufferers; (d) That the reports of the Relieving Officers showing that
comparatively few persons applied for relief were misleading, since artizans out of work did not apply : firstly, because they were not of the
“ pauper class,” secondly, because they were well aware that application
for relief would be vain, unless they entered the workhouse and broke up
their homes. They further demanded that —(i) The Guardians should
personally investigate the distress; (2) Should apply to the Local
Government Board to relax the rules, and grant discretionary relieving
powers during the winter; (3) Should urge the Vestries and Boards of
Works in the districts to employ men on any works of real utility, such
as artizan’s dwellings, baths and washhouses, or street improvements ;
(4) Should insist on the Metropolitan Board of Works carrying out the
recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Work
ing Classes by clearing the sites of Clerkenwell Prison and the House of
Detention, and erecting on these and other available sites working class
dwellings, to be let at the lowest rents which would cover the outlay ;
and (5.) Should try to procure the immediate commencement of the new
Admiralty and War Office proposed for Whitehall. The Guardians
listened very patiently, and there being some thousands of Unemployed
men outside their Board Room, decided to adopt all these proposals—with
the following results. They appointed a committee who made a houseto-house visitation in their locality, and found the severest privations,
and even starvation, being suffered, owing to lack of employment, by
hundreds of families of even the better-to-do artizan class. Of all this
no hint had been given in the reports of Relieving Officers and Local
Government Board Inspectors, who merely record the individuals who
apply for relief. The Local Government Board, or rather Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain, was not so far carried away by the impulses of the
“ political humanity,” on which he spoke so eloquently to working class
audiences during the electioneering campaign, as to relax the rules,
owing to the stringency of which so much patient misery had remained
unnoticed and unrelieved. A ‘‘labour test” was imposed, and the
skilled artizans and watchmakers of the district were invited to prove the
reality of their distress by breaking stones all day for a remuneration of
ninepence and two pounds of bread. Of the few who accepted this
test many suffered severely from cut faces and blistered hands. On
more than one occasion these men, who lost their right to vote by
entering the labour yard, broke into open revolt. But the majority said
that it would be just as pleasant to die of starvation outside the
stoneyard as inside.
Few practical steps of any use whatever were taken by the Vestries
or Metropolitan Board of Works.
The Members of Parliament for London, irrespective of party, were
summoned to an informal conference, which appointed a Committee.
After a delay of some two months the Committee reported that the dis
tress was exceptional, and that it was quite beyond their province and
powers as only a section of the Legislature to deal with it. With this
ended the interest displayed in the matter by members of Parliament,
for the proposal made by two Republican “ working class representa
tives/’ Mr. George Howell and Mr. Joseph Arch, that the Queen’s
Jubilee should be antedated by a year, in order that public festivities
and wasteful expenditure might improve trade, can only be regarded as
a piece of shameless sycophancy or ill-judged pleasantry.
�The Social Democrats, however, convened a meeting in Holborn
Town Hall on 3rd January, 1886, to which all Members of Parliament
for London were invited. With one consent they made excuse, and not
a single Member put in an appearance. The hall was crowded with men
out of work, who unanimously passed resolutions demanding remedial
measures. No notice whatever was taken of this. On February 8th,
1886, Patrick Kenny, a well-known promoter of public meetings on all
sorts of subjects, who had previously persuaded the Lord Mayor to open
a Mansion House Fund for the Unemployed, convened a mass meeting
of men out of work in Trafalgar Square for the purpose of denouncing
Free Trade and demanding Protection. The Social Democrats attended,
as did thousands of hungry and desperate men. Being recognised by
the crowd and called on to speak, the Socialists harangued the assembly,
who deserted the conveners of the meeting to hear John Burns,
H. H. Champion, H. M. Hyndman, John Williams, and others. At
the close of the meeting, Burns, who had in his hand a red flag, led
the way into Hyde Park. It was proved at the trial of the four chief
speakers that no disorder occurred until some real or fancied insult
by the gentlemen at the windows of the Reform Club enraged the crowd.
Stones were thrown at the windows, and no police were present. En
couraged by this circumstance, the rougher and more desperate portions
of the crowd broke hundreds of windows, and even rifled some shops, until,
on reaching Hyde Park, the majority, on the advice of the speakers of
the Social Democratic Federation, dispersed to their homes, while a
small band went through May Fair, damaging a good deal of property,
until stopped by a small band of police. On the following day
crowds again collected in Trafalgar Square, but the Social Democrats
went to Mr. Chamberlain at the Local Government Board, who,
on their representations, issued the circular to the local authorities,
whose replies are summarised above.
After some delay, Mr.
Childers, the Home Secretary, summoned up courage to proceed
against Burns, Champion, Hyndman, and Williams for seditious speak
ing. They were committed for trial, and on April 10th acquitted at the
Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Cave. It was proved, to the satisfaction
of the jury, that their advice had not been that of Timon of Athens,
Break open shops, nothing can you steal
But thieves do lose it...........................
Large handed robbers your grave masters are—
And pill by law.
but not more seditious, if more sincere, than many speeches delivered by
Privy Councillors.
Since that time various attempts have been made by the Social
Democrats to induce the local as well as the central authorities to pre
pare for the inevitable distress of this winter, but absolutely without
effect.
If the rulers of England do not want to have another Ireland at their
own doors they will do well to show that redress for grievance, in Lon
don at any rate, can be obtained without recourse to violent methods
of agitation.
No one can doubt that if the Unemployed had pursued the tactics
which have hitherto been so successful on the other side of St. George’s
Channel, their condition would now be occupying the serious attention
of our statesmen. The poor are learning this lesson. When they have
mastered it, what will be its application in London ?
�Lord Rosebery has pointed out that you cannot go on for ever sucking
the social wreckage of all other towns into the vast maelstrom of misery
that lies east of the Bank of England. City missionaries and bishops
are for ever dinning their warning into the ears of all who will hear.
No one now attempts to deny the danger to society caused by the con
trast between undeserved poverty and riches too often equally unde
served. But while the danger comes ever nearer, no attempt is made to
grapple with the causes of it. It is not too much to say that the winter
of 1885—1886 may be a turning point in the national history. If in
stead of dry reports of Commissioners, who sit to collect evidence
which is never utilised, something is done to remove these evils at their
root, all may yet be well. If this winter passes leaving the permanent
causes of social misery just where they were, and the poor still more
hopeless of peaceable changes, and chafing still more bitterly under a
sense of injustice, we have before us a prospect of bread riots put down
by arbitrary force, and martial law opposed by secret conspiracy. And,
if this be the result, who is to blame? YOU, if you agree with the
above proposals, and yet do nothing to support them. YOU, if not
agreeing with them, you fail to put forward better proposals of your
own.
H.H.C.
�
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The facts about the unemployed: an appeal and a warning by one of the middle-class
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Champion, H.H.
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Place of publication: London; New York City
Collation: 16 p. ; 23 cm.
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The Modern Press; W.L. Rosenberg
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1886
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Working conditions
Socialism
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Poverty
Socialism
Unemployment
Working Class-Great Britain
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Text
■nit S
PRICE ONE PENNY.
SEVENTY-FIRST THOUSAND I
SOCIALISM
MADE PLAIN
AND
“THE UNEMPLOYED”
BEING TWO
MANIFESTOES
OF THE
SOG/A L-DEMOGRA TIG
FEDERA TION.
Address Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation,
Bridge House, Blackfriars. E.C.
EDUCATE.
AGITATE.
ORGANISE.
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
1886.
Agent for U.S.A., W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, EAST
STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
FOURTH
�Summary of the Principles of Socialism.
By H. M. Hyndman and William Morris.
Second
edition, 64-pp. crown 8-vo., in wrapper designed by Wm.
Morris, price 4d.
This gives an account of the growth of capitalist production, and con
cludes with a statement of the demands of English Socialists for the imme
diate future.
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By
H. M. Hyndman. With a portrait of the Author.
Reprinted by permission from the Nineteenth Century for
February, 1885. Crown 8-vo., price id.
The Socialist Catechism. By J. L. Joynes.
Royal 8-vo.,
Reprinted with additions from Justice.
price id. Fifteenth thousand.
Socialist Rhymes.
J.
By
Reprinted chiefly from Justice.
L.
Joynes.
Royal 8-vo., price id.
Wage-Labour and Capital.
By Karl Marx.
Translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
Price 2d.
This is the only work of the great Socialist thinker which has been
translated into English.
Socialism and the Worker.
Sorge.
By F. A.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of the main idea of Socialism.
John Williams and the History of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
8-vo., price id.
Socialism
and
With portrait.
Slavery.
By
H.
Royal
M.
Hyndman. (In reply Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on
the “ Coming Slavery ”). New Edition. Price id.
The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.G.
And W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, East Fourth Street, New
York City.
�SOCIALISM
MADE
PLAIN,
BEING THE
Social and Political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation
EDUCATE.
AGITATE
ORGANISE.
Fellow Citizens,
qpHE time has come when it is absolutely necessary
that the mass of the people should seriously take
in hand their own business unless they are content to
find themselves in the near future worse off than they
have ever yet been. At present, social and political
power is monopolised by xhose who live upon the
labour of their fellows; and Tories or Conservatives,
Whigs, Liberals or Radicals strive only to keep the
workers ignorant of the truths which most nearly con
cern them. After the Reform Bill of 1832 the capi
talists entered into alliance with the landlords except
on one question, and from the repeal of the Corn
Laws in 1846 to this day the lords of the money-bag
and the lords of the soil have together been absolute
masterc of the millions who labour throughout the
United Kingdom. So complete has been their control
that since the year 1848 no vigorous attempt has even
been made to overthrow it. But what has been the re
sult to the workers of this supremacy of the luxurious
classes ? During fifty years our labourers have com
peted against one another for wages which barely
suffice to keep them
aUve.
Whilst the realised
�weaith and the annual income of the country have
more than trebled, those who create these riches re
main a wage-slave class, overworked and underfed,
at the mercy of every crisis and the victims of each suc
ceeding depression. The improved machinery, the
extension of railways, the great steam and electric
communications—that vast increase of the power of
man over nature which has been the main feature of
our epoch, has brought luxury for the few, misery and
degradation for the many. Even in the past ten years
what have we seen ? The interests of Great Britain
utterly neglected, Ireland shamefully misgoverned,
India ruined and South Africa estranged. In 1874
the Liberals were dismissed for incapacity and Conser
vatives ruled in their stead for six years. Not a single
measure did they introduce during that long tenure of
office which could in any way lighten the lot of the
millions who toil. The Conservatives having been
turned out in disgust the Liberals again try their
h|and, and once more not a single measure is before
Parliament, not a single measure is proposed for future
legislation, which can benefit the working men and
women who are really the source of all our wealth.
Fellow-Citizens the further success of this pitiful
trickery depends upon your ignorance and will last as
long as your apathy. Landlords and capitalists, who
o ahi the House of Lords and fill the House of Commons,
wish nothing better than to protect their interests
under the pretence of looking after yours. Take up
then your own heritage, push aside these wealthy huck
sters of both factions who trade upon your labour,
and trust for the future in your own strength alone.
�Consider the figures below.
Total Production of the United
Kingdom................................. £1,300,000,000
Taken by Landlords, Capitalists
and Profitmongers
..........
1,000,000,000
Left for the Producers..................
300,000,000
Study these figures all who toil and suffer that others
may be lazy and rich ; look upon the poverty, the star
vation, the prostitution around you ye who labour and
return the value of your entire day’s wages to the employ
ing classes in the first two or three hours of your day’s
work. Ponder on these facts, reflect upon these figures,
men and women of England, and then ask yourselves,
whether it is worth while for such a result as this to
bow down in slavish subjection before your “ governing
classes,” whether you will not rather demand and
obtain the full fruits of your labour and become your
own governing class yourselves. Submit then no longer
to a system of Parliamentary Government which is
maintained in the interests of those who rob and oppress
you—which has proved itself for generations to be alike
a failure and a fraud.
EDUCATE !
AGITATE !
ORGANISE !
Fellow Citizens, we of the Democratic Federation
demand complete adult suffrage for every man and
woman in these islands, because in this way alone dan
the whole people give free expression to their will; we
are in favor of paid delegates and annual Conventions
because by this means alone can the people control
their representatives; we stand up for the direct r&
ference of all grave issues to the country at larg<&,
and for the punishment as felony of every species ol
�corruption, because thus only can tyranny be checked
and bribery uprooted ; we call for the abolition of all
hereditary authority, because such authority is neces
sarily independent of the mass of the people. But all
these reforms when secured mean only that the men and
women of these islands will at length be masters in
their own house. Mere political machinery is worth
less unless used, to produce good social conditions.
All wealth is due to labour ; therefore to the labourers
all wealth is due.
But we are strangers in our own country. Thirty
thousand persons own the land of Great Britain against
the 30,000,000 who are suffered to exist therein. A
long series of robberies and confiscations has deprived
us of the soil which should be ours. The organised
brute force of the few has for generations robbed and
tyrannised over the unorganised brute force of the many.
We now call for Nationalisation of the Land. We
claim that land in country and land in towns, mines,
parks, mountains, moors should be owned by the people
for the people, to be held, used, built over and culti
vated upon such terms as the people themselves see fit
to ordain. The handful ot marauders who now hold
possession have and can have no right save brute force
against the tens of millions whom they wrong.
But private ownership of land in our present society
is only one and not the worst form of monopoly which
enables the wealthy classes to use the means of pro
duction against the labourers whom they enslave. Of
the £1,000,000,000 taken by the classes who live without
labour out of a total yearly production of ^1,300,000,000,
the landlords who have seized Our soil, and shut us out
�from its enjoyment, absorb little more than £60,000,000
as their direct share. The few thousand persons who
own the National Debt, saddled upon the community
by a landlord Parliament, exact ^28,000,000 yearly from
the labour of their countrymen for nothing ; the share
holders who have been allowed to lay hands upon
our great railway communications take a still larger
sum.
Above all, the active capitalist class, the
loan-mongers, the farmers, the mine-exploiters, the
contractors, the middle-men, the factory-lords—these,
the modern slave-drivers, these are they who, through
their money, machinery, capital, and credit turn every
advance in human knowledge, every further improve
ment in human dexterity, into an engine for accumu
lating wealth out of other men’s labour, and for
exacting more and yet more surplus value out of the
wage-slaves whom they employ.
So long as the
means of production, either of raw materials or of
manufactured goods are the monopoly of a class, so
long must the labourers on the farm, in the mine or in
the factory sell themselves for a bare subsistence wage.
As land must in future be a national possession, so
must the other means of producing and distributing
wealth. The creation of wealth is already a social
business, where each is forced to co-operate with his
neighbour; it is high time that exchange of the produce
should be social too, and removed from the control of
individual greed and individual profit.
As stepping-stones to a happier period, we urge for
immediate adoption :—
The COMPULSORY CONSTRUCTION of healthy
artisans’ and agricultural labburers’ dwellings in pro
�8
portion to the population, such dwellings to be let at
rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance
alone.
FREE COMPULSORY EDUCATION for all
classes, together with the provision of at least one
wholesome meal a day in each school.
EIGHT HOURS or less to be the normal WORK
ING DAY in all trades.
CUMULATIVE TAXATION upon all incomes
above a fixed minimum not exceeding ^300 a year.
STATE APPROPRIATION
with or without compensation.
OF
RAILWAYS,
The establishment of NATIONAL BANKS, which
shall absorb all private institutions that derive a profit
from operations in money or credit.
RAPID
DEBT.
EXTINCTION
of
the
NATIONAL
NATIONALISATION OF THE LAND, and
organisation of agricultural and industrial armies under
State control on co-operative principles.
By these measures a healthy, independent, and
thoroughly educated people will steadily grow up
around us, ready to abandon that baneful competition
for starvation wages which ruins our present workers,
ready to organise the labour of each for the benefiit
of all, determined, too, to take control finally of the
entire social and political machinery of a State in
which class distinctions and class privileges shall cease
to be.
Do any say we attack private property ? We deny
'Vp attack only that private property for a few
�thousand loiterers and siave-drivers, which renders all
property in the fruits of their own labour impossible
for millions. We challenge that private property
which renders poverty at once a necessity and a crime.
Fellow-Citizens, we appeal to every man and woman
among you who is weary of this miserable huckster’s
society, where poverty and prostitution, fraud and
adulteration, swindling and jobbery, luxury and debau
chery reign supreme, we appeal to you to work with
us in a never-ceasing effort to secure a happier lot for
our people and their children, and to hold up a high
ideal of national greatness for those who come after.
Such an ideal of true greatness and glory, needs but
intelligence, enthusiasm, and combination, to make it
a reality even in our own day. We, at least, will never
falter. We stretch out our hands for help, co-operation,
and encouragement, to all creeds and all nationalities,
ready ourselves to render assistance in every struggle
against class injustice and individual greed. The land
of England is no mean heritage; there is enough and
to spare for all; with the powers mankind now possess
wealth may easily be made as plentiful as water at the
expense of trifling toil. But to-day the worn-out wage
slaves of our boasted civilisation look hopelessly at the
wealth which they have created to be devoured only by
the rich and their hangers-on. To the abject poor
patriotism is but a mockery, all talk of happiness, of
beauty, of morality, is a sneer. We call, then, upon
every lover of freedom to support us in our endeavour
to form a real party of the people, which shall secure a
noble future for our own and other lands.
The aims and objects of the Democratic Federation
�are before you.
organised effort.
Success can only be achieved by
Educate !
We shall need all our intelligence.
Agitate !
We shall need all our enthusiasm.
Organise !
We shall need all our force.
EDUCATE !
(Signed)
June, 1883.
A GITA TE !
ORGA NISE !
The Executive Committee,
Democratic Federation.
The Federation consists of branches in various towns,
membership of which is open to all who hold the prin
ciples set forth in the manifesto of the body, and who
subscribe to its programme. Subscription id. per week.
Further information can be obtained by reading
EVERY
SATURDAY.
“JUSTICE”
w
1
ONE
PENNY.
A paper managed by working men, and edited by a
working man. It can be obtained from any newsagent,
or will be forwarded for 13 weeks to any address if is.
8d. is sent to The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row,
London, E.C.
Full particulars can be obtained by writing to the
Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation,
Bridge House, Blackfriars, E.C.
�MANIFESTO
OF THE
Social-Democratic Federation.
Issued after the West End Riots, Feb. 8, 1886.
15^ February.
Fellow Citizens,
We invite you to attend a mass meeting of employed
and unemployed workers in Hyde Park, at 3.30 p.m.
punctually, on Sunday next, February 21st, to demand
that the Government should organise the labour of
those who are now starving, owing to no fault of their
own, and should, as at other periods of distress, com
mence useful public works, paying to those engaged rates
of wages sufficient to ensure a healthy subsistence.
In calling this meeting we earnestly appeal to all who
attend it, whether in or out of work, to help us to keep
order. Those who understand the vital importance of
the Social-Democratic movement to workers of every
grade will be the first to put down any attempts of their
enemies to discredit the cause of the people, or to
endanger that right of public meeting which can alone
enable the producing class to gain any real advantage
without bitter civil strife.
The objects of the Social-Democrats when attained
will benefit not the workers only but even those who
to-day live in luxury, at the expense of the misery and
�12
degradation of the labourers. The present hopeless
breakdown shows clearly enough that the upper and
middle classes are unable to handle the industrial
machinery even to their own profit. Hundreds of
thousands of our fellows eager to do' useful work, in
order to maintain themselves and their families in
reasonable comfort, find that they cannot earn sufficient
wages to give them the bare necessaries of life. At the
same time the very goods which they themselves most
want are unsaleable because the producers are thus
denied the possibility of purchasing them. Even the
employed must know that the lot of their workless
fellows to-day may be theirs to-morrow. The uncer
tainty of employment is yearly increasing in every trade,
while in many branches men over forty years of age are
systematically refused work.
Hard times now come much oftener than formerly and
each crisis lasts longer than the one before. The
reason of this is that the workers themselves, having no
property, are forced to compete with one another for
subsistence wages, and have nothing to do with the dis
posal of the wealth which they produce for the profit of
others. When capitalists cannot mike that profit, they
cut their men adrift.
What is to be done? The landlords and capitalists
practically confess that they, at least do not know.
When forced to recognize that people will no longer
starve in silence, they condemn skilled artizans as well
as famine-stricken labourers to prove that poverty is
their only crime by breaking stones or picking oakum
at tenpence a day; or they endeavour to salve their
consciences, shocked by the misery which clamours at
�*3
their doors, by the pitiful expedient of an unasked-for
charity.
Social-Democrats alone dare deal directly with the
difficulty. More than two years ago as palliatives for
the serious distress which even then prevailed, we
issued the following proposals :—
“ i.—That no Government servant be employed at his
or her present wages for a longer period than eight
hours in each day. This alone would give room for
many now out of work, seeing that the ordinary hours
of work in the Post Office and other State establish
ments are from ten to twelve hours, or more, in the day.
2. —That all uncultivated Crown, or other lands, or
lands now in pasture, which in the opinion of skilled
agriculturists, would best pay to cultivate, be at once
worked with improved machinery by such of the unem
ployed as are accustomed to or would prefer agricultural
occupation. These labourers to be paid the rate of
wages which, in the judgment of a board of assessors,
shall be sufficient to keep them and their families in
health and comfort, or that such necessary food be sup
plied at cost at a general meal, lodging being provided
on the spot. An equitable portion of the profits, if
any, derived 'from such farming operations to be divided
from time to time among the people employed.
3. —That any public works oi importance in or near
any industrial centre—such as artisans’ dwellings, em
bankment of rivers, construction of canals or aqueducts
—should be begun at once instead of their commence
ment being deferred ; and that the same rate of wages
be paid, in proportion to cost of living, to the workers
employed that is paid to the agricultural labourers, or
�*4
that their feeding be conducted on wholesale principles
as above. That if, on valuation of works completed
any profit should be shown above what such works
would have cost, at rates of wages for similar work
averaged for the last five years, an equitable proportion
of such profit be divided among the labourers.
4. —That, where possible, light relief works on similar
principles should be commenced for those women or
men, who are incapable of heavy labour; or that they
be engaged on clothing or other work which they could
exchange through the State with the products of those
who are at work upon the land.
5. —That the cost of the initial proceedings and the
payment of wages be met by the ratepayers and the
State in equal portions, or in such proportions as may
be determined. The advantage to the ratepavers is that
able-bodied persons would be engaged upon beneficial
remunerative labour, instead of upon useless workhouse
tasks ; the advantage to the State would be that no
permanent pauperism would result from the prevailing
depression. Therefore the Municipalities and the State
should at once organise the unemployed labour and
thereby save expense later.”
To these we would now add free dinners for the
children in all Board Schools, as nothing is more
terrible for the workers at times like these than to see the
health of their offspring ruined for life by sheer lack of
nourishment.
Is this incendiarism ? Are these proposals anarch
ical ? That they can be but temporary expedients
we readily admit. But every man must acknowledge
that a society in which the statement of such elemen
�tary truths as that men should be allowed to work and
children to eat is accounted revolutionary cannot long
be propped up even by the adoption of the continental
methods of police repression or the arbitrary despotism
of a military governor.
All the facts around us confirm us in the conviction
that the class supremacy due to historical development is
even now being sapped by the growth of new economical
foims. The scientific truths on which this belief isfounded,
can be studied in the authorised publications of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
We call then upon the workers of London and of
these islands to stand side by side with us in orderly
union, to the end that they may organise for themselves
and for their children a sound system of national and
international co-operation which shall happily replace
the anarchy and misery of to-day. The work that we
have taken up is no light one, but the object is noble
and the reward is sure.
Let the governing classes face the inevitable downfall
of a decaying civilisation without hypocrisy and without
panic.
On them rests the responsibility of a
peaceful or a forcible issue to the last great class
struggle of our times. Here in the centre of capitalist
domination and commercial greed we at least are
resolved to continue our efforts, confident that they
must lead to the final emancipation of labour and to
the conquest of the future by the workers of the world.
(Signed)
The General Council of the
Social-Democratic Federation.
�The Working Man’s Programme (Arbeiter
Programm). By Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated from
the German by Edward Peters. Crown 8-vo., paper
cover, price 6d.
Social Progress and Individual Effort.
Desirable Mansions
Co-operative Production.
By Edward Carpenter.
Price id. each.
The Appeal to the Young.
By Prince
Peter Kropotkin.
Translated from the French by
H. M. Hyndman and reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo.,
16-pp. Price one penny. Tenth thousand.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever pen
ned by a scientific man. Its author is now suffering five years imprison
ment at the hands of the French Republic for advocating the cause of the
workers.
Herbert Spencer on Socialism. By Frank
Fairman.
16-pp. crown 8-vo., price id.
The Robbery of the Poor. By w. H. P.
Campbell.
New Edition.
Paper wrapper, price 6d.
The Man with the Red Flag: Being John
Burns’ Speech at the Old Bailey, when tried for Seditious
Conspiracy, on April gth, 1886. (From the Verbatim
Notes of the official shorthand reporter). With Portrait.
Price 3d.
What an Eight Hour Bill Means. By T.
Mann, (Amalgamated Engineers).
Price id.
Socialism and Slavery. By H. M. Hyndman.
(In reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Article on “The
Coming Slavery ”). New Edition. 16-pp., Royal'8-vo.
Price id.
The Modern Press, 13, Paternoster Row, E.C.
And W. L. ROSENBERG, 56, East Fourth Street, New
York City.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Socialism made plain and "The Unemployed" : being two manifestoes of the Social-Democratic Federation
Creator
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Social-Democratic Federation
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 15, [1] p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: First manifesto (p. 1 to 10) titled, 'Socialism Made Plain, being the Social and Political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation'. Second manifesto (p. 11 to 15) titled, 'Manifesto of the Social-Democratic Federation. Issued after the West End Riots, Feb. 8 1886'. End of text of first manifesto dated June, 1883. Second manifesto dated, 15th February [1886]. Publisher's advertisements on page [2] and on unnumbered page at end.
Publisher
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The Modern Press
Date
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1886
Identifier
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T465
Subject
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Socialism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Socialism made plain and "The Unemployed" : being two manifestoes of the Social-Democratic Federation), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Political Manifesto
Socialism
Unemployment