The Great Oration
The outlook for the approaching winter was—as usual—gloomy in the
extreme. One of the leading daily newspapers published an article
prophesying a period of severe industrial depression. “As the
warehouses were glutted with the things produced by the working
classes, there was no need for them to do any more work—at present; and
so they would now have to go and starve until such time as their
masters had sold or consumed the things already produced.” Of course,
the writer of the article did not put it exactly like that, but that
was what it amounted to. This article was quoted by nearly all the
other papers, both Liberal and Conservative. The Tory papers—ignoring
the fact that all the Protectionist countries were in exactly the same
condition, published yards of misleading articles about Tariff Reform.
The Liberal papers said Tariff Reform was no remedy. Look at America
and Germany—worse than here! Still, the situation was undoubtedly very
serious—continued the Liberal papers—and Something would have to be
done. They did not say exactly what, because, of course, they did not
know; but Something would have to be done—tomorrow. They talked vaguely
about Re-afforestation, and Reclaiming of Foreshores, and Sea walls:
but of course there was the question of Cost! that was a difficulty.
But all the same Something would have to be done. Some Experiments must
be tried! Great caution was necessary in dealing with such difficult
problems! We must go slow, and if in the meantime a few thousand
children die of starvation, or become “rickety” or consumptive through
lack of proper nutrition it is, of course, very regrettable, but after
all they are only working-class children, so it doesn’t matter a great
deal.
Most of the writers of these Liberal and Tory papers seemed to think
that all that was necessary was to find “Work” for the “working” class!
That was their conception of a civilized nation in the twentieth
century! For the majority of the people to work like brutes in order to
obtain a “living wage” for themselves and to create luxuries for a
small minority of persons who are too lazy to work at all! And although
this was all they thought was necessary, they did not know what to do
in order to bring even that much to pass! Winter was returning,
bringing in its train the usual crop of horrors, and the Liberal and
Tory monopolists of wisdom did not know what to do!
Rushton’s had so little work in that nearly all the hands expected that
they would be slaughtered the next Saturday after the “Beano” and there
was one man—Jim Smith he was called—who was not allowed to live even
till then: he got the sack before breakfast on the Monday morning after
the Beano.
This man was about forty-five years old, but very short for his age,
being only a little over five feet in height. The other men used to say
that Little Jim was not made right, for while his body was big enough
for a six-footer, his legs were very short, and the fact that he was
rather inclined to be fat added to the oddity of his appearance.
On the Monday morning after the Beano he was painting an upper room in
a house where several other men were working, and it was customary for
the coddy to shout “Yo! Ho!” at mealtimes, to let the hands know when
it was time to leave off work. At about ten minutes to eight, Jim had
squared the part of the work he had been doing—the window—so he decided
not to start on the door or the skirting until after breakfast. Whilst
he was waiting for the foreman to shout “Yo! Ho!” his mind reverted to
the Beano, and he began to hum the tunes of some of the songs that had
been sung. He hummed the tune of “He’s a jolly good fellow”, and he
could not get the tune out of his mind: it kept buzzing in his head. He
wondered what time it was? It could not be very far off eight now, to
judge by the amount of work he had done since six o’clock. He had
rubbed down and stopped all the woodwork and painted the window. A
jolly good two hours’ work! He was only getting sixpence-halfpenny an
hour and if he hadn’t earned a bob he hadn’t earned nothing! Anyhow,
whether he had done enough for ’em or not he wasn’t goin’ to do no more
before breakfast.
The tune of “He’s a jolly good fellow” was still buzzing in his head;
he thrust his hands deep down in his trouser pockets, and began to
polka round the room, humming softly:
“I won’t do no more before breakfast!
I won’t do no more before breakfast!
I won’t do no more before breakfast!
So ’ip ’ip ’ip ’ooray!
So ’ip ’ip ’ip ’ooray So ’ip ’ip ’ooray!
I won’t do no more before breakfast—etc.”
“No! and you won’t do but very little after breakfast, here!” shouted
Hunter, suddenly entering the room.
“I’ve bin watchin’ of you through the crack of the door for the last
’arf hour; and you’ve not done a dam’ stroke all the time. You make out
yer time sheet, and go to the office at nine o’clock and git yer money;
we can’t afford to pay you for playing the fool.”
Leaving the man dumbfounded and without waiting for a reply, Misery
went downstairs and after kicking up a devil of a row with the foreman
for the lack of discipline on the job, he instructed him that Smith was
not to be permitted to resume work after breakfast. Then he rode away.
He had come in so stealthily that no one had known anything of his
arrival until they heard him bellowing at Smith.
The latter did not stay to take breakfast but went off at once, and
when he was gone the other chaps said it served him bloody well right:
he was always singing, he ought to have more sense. You can’t do as you
like nowadays you know!
Easton—who was working at another job with Crass as his foreman—knew
that unless some more work came in he was likely to be one of those who
would have to go. As far as he could see it was only a week or two at
the most before everything would be finished up. But notwithstanding
the prospect of being out of work so soon he was far happier than he
had been for several months past, for he imagined he had discovered the
cause of Ruth’s strange manner.
This knowledge came to him on the night of the Beano. When he arrived
home he found that Ruth had already gone to bed: she had not been well,
and it was Mrs Linden’s explanation of her illness that led Easton to
think that he had discovered the cause of the unhappiness of the last
few months. Now that he knew—as he thought—he blamed himself for not
having been more considerate and patient with her. At the same time he
was at a loss to understand why she had not told him about it herself.
The only explanation he could think of was the one suggested by Mrs
Linden—that at such times women often behaved strangely. However that
might be, he was glad to think he knew the reason of it all, and he
resolved that he would be more gentle and forebearing with her.
The place where he was working was practically finished. It was a large
house called “The Refuge”, very similar to “The Cave”, and during the
last week or two, it had become what they called a “hospital”. That is,
as the other jobs became finished the men were nearly all sent to this
one, so that there was quite a large crowd of them there. The inside
work was all finished—with the exception of the kitchen, which was used
as a mess room, and the scullery, which was the paint shop.
Everybody was working on the job. Poor old Joe Philpot, whose
rheumatism had been very bad lately, was doing a very rough
job—painting the gable from a long ladder.
But though there were plenty of younger men more suitable for this,
Philpot did not care to complain for fear Crass or Misery should think
he was not up to his work. At dinner time all the old hands assembled
in the kitchen, including Crass, Easton, Harlow, Bundy and Dick
Wantley, who still sat on a pail behind his usual moat.
Philpot and Harlow were absent and everybody wondered what had become
of them.
Several times during the morning they had been seen whispering together
and comparing scraps of paper, and various theories were put forward to
account for their disappearance. Most of the men thought they must have
heard something good about the probable winner of the Handicap and had
gone to put something on. Some others thought that perhaps they had
heard of another “job” about to be started by some other firm and had
gone to inquire about it.
“Looks to me as if they’ll stand a very good chance of gettin’ drowned
if they’re gone very far,” remarked Easton, referring to the weather.
It had been threatening to rain all the morning, and during the last
few minutes it had become so dark that Crass lit the gas, so that—as he
expressed it—they should be able to see the way to their mouths.
Outside, the wind grew more boisterous every moment; the darkness
continued to increase, and presently there succeeded a torrential
downfall of rain, which beat fiercely against the windows, and poured
in torrents down the glass. The men glanced gloomily at each other. No
more work could be done outside that day, and there was nothing left to
do inside. As they were paid by the hour, this would mean that they
would have to lose half a day’s pay.
“If it keeps on like this we won’t be able to do no more work, and we
won’t be able to go home either,” remarked Easton.
“Well, we’re all right ’ere, ain’t we?” said the man behind the moat;
“there’s a nice fire and plenty of heasy chairs. Wot the ’ell more do
you want?”
“Yes,” remarked another philosopher. “If we only had a shove-ha’penny
table or a ring board, I reckon we should be able to enjoy ourselves
all right.”
Philpot and Harlow were still absent, and the others again fell to
wondering where they could be.
“I see old Joe up on ’is ladder only a few minutes before twelve,”
remarked Wantley.
Everyone agreed that it was a mystery.
At this moment the two truants returned, looking very important.
Philpot was armed with a hammer and carried a pair of steps, while
Harlow bore a large piece of wallpaper which the two of them proceeded
to tack on the wall, much to the amusement of the others, who read the
announcement opposite written in charcoal.
Every day at meals since Barrington’s unexpected outburst at the Beano
dinner, the men had been trying their best to “kid him on” to make
another speech, but so far without success. If anything, he had been
even more silent and reserved than before, as if he felt some regret
that he had spoken as he had on that occasion. Crass and his disciples
attributed Barrington’s manner to fear that he was going to get the
sack for his trouble and they agreed amongst themselves that it would
serve him bloody well right if ’e did get the push.
When they had fixed the poster on the wall, Philpot stood the steps in
the corner of the room, with the back part facing outwards, and then,
everything being ready for the lecturer, the two sat down in their
accustomed places and began to eat their dinners, Harlow remarking that
they would have to buck up or they would be too late for the meeting;
and the rest of the crowd began to discuss the poster.
“Wot the ’ell does PLO mean?” demanded Bundy, with a puzzled
expression.
“Plain Layer On,” answered Philpot modestly.
“’Ave you ever ’eard the Professor preach before?” inquired the man on
the pail, addressing Bundy.
Imperial Bankquet Hall
“The Refuge”
on Thursday at 12.30 prompt
Professor Barrington
WILL DELIVER A
ORATION
ENTITLED
THE GREAT SECRET, OR
HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT WORK
The Rev. Joe Philpot PLO
(Late absconding secretary of the light refreshment fund)
Will take the chair and anything else
he can lay his hands on.
At The End Of The Lecture
A MEETING WILL BE
ARRANGED
And carried out according to the
Marquis of Queensbury’s Rules.
A Collection will be took up
in aid of the cost of printing
“Only once, at the Beano,” replied that individual; “an’ that was once
too often!”
“Finest speaker I ever ’eard,” said the man on the pail with
enthusiasm. “I wouldn’t miss this lecture for anything: this is one of
’is best subjects. I got ’ere about two hours before the doors was
opened, so as to be sure to get a seat.”
“Yes, it’s a very good subject,” said Crass, with a sneer. “I believe
most of the Labour Members in Parliament is well up in it.”
“And wot about the other members?” demanded Philpot. “Seems to me as if
most of them knows something about it too.”
“The difference is,” said Owen, “the working classes voluntarily pay to
keep the Labour Members, but whether they like it or not, they have to
keep the others.”
“The Labour members is sent to the ’Ouse of Commons,” said Harlow, “and
paid their wages to do certain work for the benefit of the working
classes, just the same as we’re sent ’ere and paid our wages by the
Bloke to paint this ’ouse.”
“Yes,” said Crass; “but if we didn’t do the work we’re paid to do, we
should bloody soon get the sack.”
“I can’t see how we’ve got to keep the other members,” said Slyme;
“they’re mostly rich men, and they live on their own money.”
“Of course,” said Crass. “And I should like to know where we should be
without ’em! Talk about us keepin’ them! It seems to me more like it
that they keeps us! The likes of us lives on rich people. Where should
we be if it wasn’t for all the money they spend and the work they ’as
done? If the owner of this ’ouse ’adn’t ’ad the money to spend to ’ave
it done up, most of us would ’ave bin out of work this last six weeks,
and starvin’, the same as lots of others ’as been.”
“Oh yes, that’s right enough,” agreed Bundy. “Labour is no good without
Capital. Before any work can be done there’s one thing necessary, and
that’s money. It would be easy to find work for all the unemployed if
the local authorities could only raise the money.”
“Yes; that’s quite true,” said Owen. “And that proves that money is the
cause of poverty, because poverty consists in being short of the
necessaries of life: the necessaries of life are all produced by labour
applied to the raw materials: the raw materials exist in abundance and
there are plenty of people able and willing to work; but under present
conditions no work can be done without money; and so we have the
spectacle of a great army of people compelled to stand idle and starve
by the side of the raw materials from which their labour could produce
abundance of all the things they need—they are rendered helpless by the
power of Money! Those who possess all the money say that the
necessaries of life shall not be produced except for their profit.”
“Yes! and you can’t alter it,” said Crass, triumphantly. “It’s always
been like it, and it always will be like it.”
“’Ear! ’Ear!” shouted the man behind the moat. “There’s always been
rich and poor in the world, and there always will be.”
Several others expressed their enthusiastic agreement with Crass’s
opinion, and most of them appeared to be highly delighted to think that
the existing state of affairs could never be altered.
“It hasn’t always been like it, and it won’t always be like it,” said
Owen. “The time will come, and it’s not very far distant, when the
necessaries of life will be produced for use and not for profit. The
time is coming when it will no longer be possible for a few selfish
people to condemn thousands of men and women and little children to
live in misery and die of want.”
“Ah well, it won’t be in your time, or mine either,” said Crass
gleefully, and most of the others laughed with imbecile satisfaction.
“I’ve ’eard a ’ell of a lot about this ’ere Socialism,” remarked the
man behind the moat, “but up to now I’ve never met nobody wot could
tell you plainly exactly wot it is.”
“Yes; that’s what I should like to know too,” said Easton.
“Socialism means, ‘What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine’s me own,’”
observed Bundy, and during the laughter that greeted this definition
Slyme was heard to say that Socialism meant Materialism, Atheism and
Free Love, and if it were ever to come about it would degrade men and
women to the level of brute beasts. Harlow said Socialism was a
beautiful ideal, which he for one would be very glad to see realized,
and he was afraid it was altogether too good to be practical, because
human nature is too mean and selfish. Sawkins said that Socialism was a
lot of bloody rot, and Crass expressed the opinion—which he had culled
from the delectable columns of the Obscurer—that it meant robbing the
industrious for the benefit of the idle and thriftless.
Philpot had by this time finished his bread and cheese, and, having
taken a final draught of tea, he rose to his feet, and crossing over to
the corner of the room, ascended the pulpit, being immediately greeted
with a tremendous outburst of hooting, howling and booing, which he
smilingly acknowledged by removing his cap from his bald head and
bowing repeatedly. When the storm of shrieks, yells, groans and
catcalls had in some degree subsided, and Philpot was able to make
himself heard, he addressed the meeting as follows:
“Gentlemen: First of all I beg to thank you very sincerely for the
magnificent and cordial reception you have given me on this occasion,
and I shall try to deserve your good opinion by opening the meeting as
briefly as possible.
“Putting all jokes aside, I think we’re all agreed about one thing, and
that is, that there’s plenty of room for improvement in things in
general. (Hear, hear.) As our other lecturer, Professor Owen, pointed
out in one of ’is lectures and as most of you ’ave read in the
newspapers, although British trade was never so good before as it is
now, there was never so much misery and poverty, and so many people out
of work, and so many small shopkeepers goin’ up the spout as there is
at this partickiler time. Now, some people tells us as the way to put
everything right is to ’ave Free Trade and plenty of cheap food. Well,
we’ve got them all now, but the misery seems to go on all around us all
the same. Then there’s other people tells us as the “Friscal Policy” is
the thing to put everything right. (‘Hear, hear’ from Crass and several
others.) And then there’s another lot that ses that Socialism is the
only remedy. Well, we all know pretty well wot Free Trade and
Protection means, but most of us don’t know exactly what Socialism
means; and I say as it’s the dooty of every man to try and find out
which is the right thing to vote for, and when ’e’s found it out, to do
wot ’e can to ’elp to bring it about. And that’s the reason we’ve gorn
to the enormous expense of engaging Professor Barrington to come ’ere
this afternoon and tell us exactly what Socialism is.
“As I ’ope you’re all just as anxious to ’ear it as I am myself, I will
not stand between you and the lecturer no longer, but will now call
upon ’im to address you.”
Philpot was loudly applauded as he descended from the pulpit, and in
response to the clamorous demands of the crowd, Barrington, who in the
meantime had yielded to Owen’s entreaties that he would avail himself
of this opportunity of proclaiming the glad tidings of the good time
that is to be, got up on the steps in his turn.
Harlow, desiring that everything should be done decently and in order,
had meantime arranged in front of the pulpit a carpenter’s sawing
stool, and an empty pail with a small piece of board laid across it, to
serve as a seat and a table for the chairman. Over the table he draped
a large red handkerchief. At the right he placed a plumber’s large
hammer; at the left, a battered and much-chipped jam-jar, full of tea.
Philpot having taken his seat on the pail at this table and announced
his intention of bashing out with the hammer the brains of any
individual who ventured to disturb the meeting, Barrington commenced:
“Mr Chairman and Gentlemen. For the sake of clearness, and in order to
avoid confusing one subject with another, I have decided to divide the
oration into two parts. First, I will try to explain as well as I am
able what Socialism is. I will try to describe to you the plan or
system upon which the Co-operative Commonwealth of the future will be
organized; and, secondly, I will try to tell you how it can be brought
about. But before proceeding with the first part of the subject, I
would like to refer very slightly to the widespread delusion that
Socialism is impossible because it means a complete change from an
order of things which has always existed. We constantly hear it said
that because there have always been rich and poor in the world, there
always must be. I want to point out to you first of all, that it is not
true that even in its essential features, the present system has
existed from all time; it is not true that there have always been rich
and poor in the world, in the sense that we understand riches and
poverty today.
“These statements are lies that have been invented for the purpose of
creating in us a feeling of resignation to the evils of our condition.
They are lies which have been fostered by those who imagine that it is
to their interest that we should be content to see our children
condemned to the same poverty and degradation that we have endured
ourselves.
I do not propose—because there is not time, although it is really part
of my subject—to go back to the beginnings of history, and describe in
detail the different systems of social organization which evolved from
and superseded each other at different periods, but it is necessary to
remind you that the changes that have taken place in the past have been
even greater than the change proposed by Socialists today. The change
from savagery and cannibalism when men used to devour the captives they
took in war—to the beginning of chattel slavery, when the tribes or
clans into which mankind were divided—whose social organization was a
kind of Communism, all the individuals belonging to the tribe being
practically social equals, members of one great family—found it more
profitable to keep their captives as slaves than to eat them. The
change from the primitive Communism of the tribes, into the more
individualistic organization of the nations, and the development of
private ownership of the land and slaves and means of subsistence. The
change from chattel slavery into Feudalism; and the change from
Feudalism into the earlier form of Capitalism; and the equally great
change from what might be called the individualistic capitalism which
displaced Feudalism, to the system of Co-operative Capitalism and Wage
Slavery of today.”
“I believe you must ’ave swollered a bloody dictionary,” exclaimed the
man behind the moat.
“Keep horder,” shouted Philpot, fiercely, striking the table with the
hammer, and there were loud shouts of “Chair” and “Chuck ’im out,” from
several quarters.
When order was restored, the lecturer proceeded:
“So it is not true that practically the same state of affairs as we
have today has always existed. It is not true that anything like the
poverty that prevails at present existed at any previous period of the
world’s history. When the workers were the property of their masters,
it was to their owners’ interest to see that they were properly clothed
and fed; they were not allowed to be idle, and they were not allowed to
starve. Under Feudalism also, although there were certain intolerable
circumstances, the position of the workers was, economically,
infinitely better than it is today. The worker was in subjection to his
Lord, but in return his lord had certain responsibilities and duties to
perform, and there was a large measure of community of interest between
them.
“I do not intend to dwell upon this point at length, but in support of
what I have said I will quote as nearly as I can from memory the words
of the historian Froude.
“‘I do not believe,’ says Mr Froude, ‘that the condition of the people
in Mediaeval Europe was as miserable as is pretended. I do not believe
that the distribution of the necessaries of life was as unequal as it
is at present. If the tenant lived hard, the lord had little luxury.
Earls and countesses breakfasted at five in the morning, on salt beef
and herring, a slice of bread and a draught of ale from a blackjack.
Lords and servants dined in the same hall and shared the same meal.’
“When we arrive at the system that displaced Feudalism, we find that
the condition of the workers was better in every way than it is at
present. The instruments of production—the primitive machinery and the
tools necessary for the creation of wealth—belonged to the skilled
workers who used them, and the things they produced were also the
property of those who made them.
“In those days a master painter, a master shoemaker, a master saddler,
or any other master tradesmen, was really a skilled artisan working on
his own account. He usually had one or two apprentices, who were
socially his equals, eating at the same table and associating with the
other members of his family. It was quite a common occurrence for the
apprentice—after he had attained proficiency in his work—to marry his
master’s daughter and succeed to his master’s business. In those days
to be a ‘master’ tradesman meant to be master of the trade, not merely
of some underpaid drudges in one’s employment. The apprentices were
there to master the trade, qualifying themselves to become master
workers themselves; not mere sweaters and exploiters of the labour of
others, but useful members of society. In those days, because there was
no labour-saving machinery the community was dependent for its
existence on the productions of hand labour. Consequently the majority
of the people were employed in some kind of productive work, and the
workers were honoured and respected citizens, living in comfort on the
fruits of their labour. They were not rich as we understand wealth now,
but they did not starve and they were not regarded with contempt, as
are their successors of today.
“The next great change came with the introduction of steam machinery.
That power came to the aid of mankind in their struggle for existence,
enabling them to create easily and in abundance those things of which
they had previously been able to produce only a bare sufficiency. A
wonderful power—equalling and surpassing the marvels that were imagined
by the writers of fairy tales and Eastern stories—a power so vast—so
marvellous, that it is difficult to find words to convey anything like
an adequate conception of it.
“We all remember the story, in The Arabian Nights, of Aladdin, who in
his poverty became possessed of the Wonderful Lamp and—he was poor no
longer. He merely had to rub the Lamp—the Genie appeared, and at
Aladdin’s command he produced an abundance of everything that the youth
could ask or dream of. With the discovery of steam machinery, mankind
became possessed of a similar power to that imagined by the Eastern
writer. At the command of its masters the Wonderful Lamp of Machinery
produces an enormous, overwhelming, stupendous abundance and
superfluity of every material thing necessary for human existence and
happiness. With less labour than was formerly required to cultivate
acres, we can now cultivate miles of land. In response to human
industry, aided by science and machinery, the fruitful earth teems with
such lavish abundance as was never known or deemed possible before. If
you go into the different factories and workshops you will see
prodigious quantities of commodities of every kind pouring out of the
wonderful machinery, literally like water from a tap.
“One would naturally and reasonably suppose that the discovery or
invention of such an aid to human industry would result in increased
happiness and comfort for every one; but as you all know, the reverse
is the case; and the reason of that extraordinary result, is the reason
of all the poverty and unhappiness that we see around us and endure
today—it is simply because—the machinery became the property of a
comparatively few individuals and private companies, who use it not for
the benefit of the community but to create profits for themselves.
“As this labour-saving machinery became more extensively used, the
prosperous class of skilled workers gradually disappeared. Some of the
wealthier of them became distributers instead of producers of wealth;
that is to say, they became shopkeepers, retailing the commodities that
were produced for the most part by machinery. But the majority of them
in course of time degenerated into a class of mere wage earners, having
no property in the machines they used, and no property in the things
they made.
“They sold their labour for so much per hour, and when they could not
find any employer to buy it from them, they were reduced to
destitution.
“Whilst the unemployed workers were starving and those in employment
not much better off, the individuals and private companies who owned
the machinery accumulated fortunes; but their profits were diminished
and their working expenses increased by what led to the latest great
change in the organization of the production of the necessaries of
life—the formation of the Limited Companies and the Trusts; the
decision of the private companies to combine and co-operate with each
other in order to increase their profits and decrease their working
expenses. The results of these combines have been—an increase in the
quantities of the things produced: a decrease in the number of wage
earners employed—and enormously increased profits for the shareholders.
“But it is not only the wage-earning class that is being hurt; for
while they are being annihilated by the machinery and the efficient
organization of industry by the trusts that control and are beginning
to monopolize production, the shopkeeping classes are also being slowly
but surely crushed out of existence by the huge companies that are able
by the greater magnitude of their operations to buy and sell more
cheaply than the small traders.
“The consequence of all this is that the majority of the people are in
a condition of more or less abject poverty—living from hand to mouth.
It is an admitted fact that about thirteen millions of our people are
always on the verge of starvation. The significant results of this
poverty face us on every side. The alarming and persistent increase of
insanity. The large number of would-be recruits for the army who have
to be rejected because they are physically unfit; and the shameful
condition of the children of the poor. More than one-third of the
children of the working classes in London have some sort of mental or
physical defect; defects in development; defects of eyesight; abnormal
nervousness; rickets, and mental dullness. The difference in height and
weight and general condition of the children in poor schools and the
children of the so-called better classes, constitutes a crime that
calls aloud to Heaven for vengeance upon those who are responsible for
it.
“It is childish to imagine that any measure of Tariff Reform or
Political Reform such as a paltry tax on foreign-made goods or
abolishing the House of Lords, or disestablishing the Church—or
miserable Old Age Pensions, or a contemptible tax on land, can deal
with such a state of affairs as this. They have no House of Lords in
America or France, and yet their condition is not materially different
from ours. You may be deceived into thinking that such measures as
those are great things. You may fight for them and vote for them, but
after you have got them you will find that they will make no
appreciable improvement in your condition. You will still have to slave
and drudge to gain a bare sufficiency of the necessaries of life. You
will still have to eat the same kind of food and wear the same kind of
clothes and boots as now. Your masters will still have you in their
power to insult and sweat and drive. Your general condition will be
just the same as at present because such measures as those are not
remedies but red herrings, intended by those who trail them to draw us
away from the only remedy, which is to be found only in the Public
Ownership of the Machinery, and the National Organization of Industry
for the production and distribution of the necessaries of life, not for
the profit of a few but for the benefit of all!
“That is the next great change; not merely desirable, but imperatively
necessary and inevitable! That is Socialism!
“It is not a wild dream of Superhuman Unselfishness. No one will be
asked to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others or to love his
neighbours better than himself as is the case under the present system,
which demands that the majority shall unselfishly be content to labour
and live in wretchedness for the benefit of a few. There is no such
principle of Philanthropy in Socialism, which simply means that even as
all industries are now owned by shareholders, and organized and
directed by committees and officers elected by the shareholders, so
shall they in future belong to the State, that is, the whole people—and
they shall be organized and directed by committees and officers elected
by the community.
“Under existing circumstances the community is exposed to the danger of
being invaded and robbed and massacred by some foreign power. Therefore
the community has organized and owns and controls an Army and Navy to
protect it from that danger. Under existing circumstances the community
is menaced by another equally great danger—the people are mentally and
physically degenerating from lack of proper food and clothing.
Socialists say that the community should undertake and organize the
business of producing and distributing all these things; that the State
should be the only employer of labour and should own all the factories,
mills, mines, farms, railways, fishing fleets, sheep farms, poultry
farms and cattle ranches.
“Under existing circumstances the community is degenerating mentally
and physically because the majority cannot afford to have decent houses
to live in. Socialists say that the community should take in hand the
business of providing proper houses for all its members, that the State
should be the only landlord, that all the land and all the houses
should belong to the whole people...
“We must do this if we are to keep our old place in the van of human
progress. A nation of ignorant, unintelligent, half-starved,
broken-spirited degenerates cannot hope to lead humanity in its
never-ceasing march onward to the conquest of the future.
“Vain, mightiest fleet of iron framed;
Vain the all-shattering guns
Unless proud England keep, untamed,
The stout hearts of her sons.
“All the evils that I have referred to are only symptoms of the one
disease that is sapping the moral, mental and physical life of the
nation, and all attempts to cure these symptoms are foredoomed to
failure, simply because they are the symptoms and not the disease. All
the talk of Temperance, and the attempts to compel temperance, are
foredoomed to failure, because drunkenness is a symptom, and not the
disease.
“India is a rich productive country. Every year millions of pounds
worth of wealth are produced by her people, only to be stolen from them
by means of the Money Trick by the capitalist and official class. Her
industrious sons and daughters, who are nearly all total abstainers,
live in abject poverty, and their misery is not caused by laziness or
want of thrift, or by Intemperance. They are poor for the same reason
that we are poor—Because we are Robbed.
“The hundreds of thousands of pounds that are yearly wasted in
well-meant but useless charity accomplish no lasting good, because
while charity soothes the symptoms it ignores the disease, which is—the
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP of the means of producing the necessaries of life,
and the restriction of production, by a few selfish individuals for
their own profit. And for that disease there is no other remedy than
the one I have told you of—the PUBLIC OWNERSHIP and cultivation of the
land, the PUBLIC OWNERSHIP of the mines, railways, canals, ships,
factories and all the other means of production, and the establishment
of an Industrial Civil Service—a National Army of Industry—for the
purpose of producing the necessaries, comforts and refinements of life
in that abundance which has been made possible by science and
machinery—for the use and benefit of the _whole of the people_.”
“Yes: and where’s the money to come from for all this?” shouted Crass,
fiercely.
“Hear, hear,” cried the man behind the moat.
“There’s no money difficulty about it,” replied Barrington. “We can
easily find all the money we shall need.”
“Of course,” said Slyme, who had been reading the Daily Ananias,
“there’s all the money in the Post Office Savings Bank. The Socialists
could steal that for a start; and as for the mines and land and
factories, they can all be took from the owners by force.”
“There will be no need for force and no need to steal anything from
anybody.”
“And there’s another thing I objects to,” said Crass. “And that’s all
this ’ere talk about hignorance: wot about all the money wots spent
every year for edication?”
“You should rather say—‘What about all the money that’s wasted every
year on education?’ What can be more brutal and senseless than trying
to ‘educate’ a poor little, hungry, ill-clad child? Such so-called
‘instruction’ is like the seed in the parable of the Sower, which fell
on stony ground and withered away because it had no depth of earth; and
even in those cases where it does take root and grow, it becomes like
the seed that fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it,
and it bore no fruit.
“The majority of us forget in a year or two all that we learnt at
school because the conditions of our lives are such as to destroy all
inclination for culture or refinement. We must see that the children
are properly clothed and fed and that they are not made to get up in
the middle of the night to go to work for several hours before they go
to school. We must make it illegal for any greedy, heartless
profit-hunter to hire them and make them labour for several hours in
the evening after school, or all day and till nearly midnight on
Saturday. We must first see that our children are cared for, as well as
the children of savage races, before we can expect a proper return for
the money that we spend on education.”
“I don’t mind admitting that this ’ere scheme of national ownership and
industries is all right if it could only be done,” said Harlow, “but at
present, all the land, railways and factories, belongs to private
capitalists; they can’t be bought without money, and you say you ain’t
goin’ to take ’em away by force, so I should like to know how the
bloody ’ell you are goin’ to get ’em?”
“We certainly don’t propose to buy them with money, for the simple
reason that there is not sufficient money in existence to pay for them.
“If all the gold and silver money in the World were gathered together
into one heap, it would scarcely be sufficient to buy all the private
property in England. The people who own all these things now never
really paid for them with money—they obtained possession of them by
means of the ‘Money Trick’ which Owen explained to us some time ago.”
“They obtained possession of them by usin’ their brain,” said Crass.
“Exactly,” replied the lecturer. “They tell us themselves that that is
how they got them away from us; they call their profits the ‘wages of
intelligence’. Whilst we have been working, they have been using their
intelligence in order to obtain possession of the things we have
created. The time has now arrived for us to use _our_ intelligence in
order to get back the things they have robbed us of, and to prevent
them from robbing us any more. As for how it is to be done, we might
copy the methods that they have found so successful.”
“Oh, then you DO mean to rob them after all,” cried Slyme,
triumphantly. “If it’s true that they robbed the workers, and if we’re
to adopt the same method then we’ll be robbers too!”
“When a thief is caught having in his possession the property of others
it is not robbery to take the things away from him and to restore them
to their rightful owners,” retorted Barrington.
“I can’t allow this ’ere disorder to go on no longer,” shouted Philpot,
banging the table with the plumber’s hammer as several men began
talking at the same time.
“There will be plenty of tuneropperty for questions and opposition at
the hend of the horation, when the pulpit will be throwed open to
anyone as likes to debate the question. I now calls upon the professor
to proceed with the second part of the horation: and anyone wot
interrupts will get a lick under the ear-’ole with this”—waving the
hammer—“and the body will be chucked out of the bloody winder.”
Loud cheers greeted this announcement. It was still raining heavily, so
they thought they might as well pass the time listening to Barrington
as in any other way.
“A large part of the land may be got back in the same way as it was
taken from us. The ancestors of the present holders obtained possession
of it by simply passing Acts of Enclosure: the nation should regain
possession of those lands by passing Acts of Resumption. And with
regard to the other land, the present holders should be allowed to
retain possession of it during their lives and then it should revert to
the State, to be used for the benefit of all. Britain should belong to
the British people, not to a few selfish individuals. As for the
railways, they have already been nationalized in some other countries,
and what other countries can do we can do also. In New Zealand,
Australia, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Japan and some other
countries some of the railways are already the property of the State.
As for the method by which we can obtain possession of them, the
difficulty is not to discover a method, but rather to decide which of
many methods we shall adopt. One method would be to simply pass an Act
declaring that as it was contrary to the public interest that they
should be owned by private individuals, the railways would henceforth
be the property of the nation. All railways servants, managers and
officials would continue in their employment; the only difference being
that they would now be in the employ of the State. As to the
shareholders—”
“They could all be knocked on the ’ead, I suppose,” interrupted Crass.
“Or go to the workhouse,” said Slyme.
“Or to ’ell,” suggested the man behind the moat.
“—The State would continue to pay to the shareholders the same
dividends they had received on an average for, say, the previous three
years. These payments would be continued to the present shareholders
for life, or the payments might be limited to a stated number of years
and the shares would be made non-transferable, like the railway tickets
of today. As for the factories, shops, and other means of production
and distribution, the State must adopt the same methods of doing
business as the present owners. I mean that even as the big Trusts and
companies are crushing—by competition—the individual workers and small
traders, so the State should crush the trusts by competition. It is
surely justifiable for the State to do for the benefit of the whole
people that which the capitalists are already doing for the profit of a
few shareholders. The first step in this direction will be the
establishment of Retail Stores for the purpose of supplying all
national and municipal employees with the necessaries of life at the
lowest possible prices. At first the Administration will purchase these
things from the private manufacturers, in such large quantities that it
will be able to obtain them at the very cheapest rate, and as there
will be no heavy rents to pay for showy shops, and no advertising
expenses, and as the object of the Administration will be not to make
profit, but to supply its workmen and officials with goods at the
lowest price, they will be able to sell them much cheaper than the
profit-making private stores.
“The National Service Retail Stores will be for the benefit of only
those in the public service; and gold, silver or copper money will not
be accepted in payment for the things sold. At first, all public
servants will continue to be paid in metal money, but those who desire
it will be paid all or part of their wages in paper money of the same
nominal value, which will be accepted in payment for their purchases at
the National Stores and at the National Hotels, Restaurants and other
places which will be established for the convenience of those in the
State service. The money will resemble bank-notes. It will be made of a
special very strong paper, and will be of all value, from a penny to a
pound.
“As the National Service Stores will sell practically everything that
could be obtained elsewhere, and as twenty shillings in paper money
will be able to purchase much more at the stores than twenty shillings
of metal money would purchase anywhere else, it will not be long before
nearly all public servants will prefer to be paid in paper money. As
far as paying the salaries and wages of most of its officials and
workmen is concerned, the Administration will not then have any need of
metal money. But it will require metal money to pay the private
manufacturers who supply the goods sold in the National Stores. But—all
these things are made by labour; so in order to avoid having to pay
metal money for them, the State will now commence to employ productive
labour. All the public land suitable for the purpose will be put into
cultivation and State factories will be established for manufacturing
food, boots, clothing, furniture and all other necessaries and comforts
of life. All those who are out of employment and willing to work, will
be given employment on these farms and in these factories. In order
that the men employed shall not have to work unpleasantly hard, and
that their hours of labour may be as short as possible—at first, say,
eight hours per day—and also to make sure that the greatest possible
quantity of everything shall be produced, these factories and farms
will be equipped with the most up-to-date and efficient labour-saving
machinery. The people employed in the farms and factories will be paid
with paper money... The commodities they produce will go to replenish
the stocks of the National Service Stores, where the workers will be
able to purchase with their paper money everything they need.
“As we shall employ the greatest possible number of labour-saving
machines, and adopt the most scientific methods in our farms and
factories, the quantities of goods we shall be able to produce will be
so enormous that we shall be able to pay our workers very high wages—in
paper money—and we shall be able to sell our produce so cheaply, that
all public servants will be able to enjoy abundance of everything.
“When the workers who are being exploited and sweated by the private
capitalists realize how much worse off they are than the workers in the
employ of the State, they will come and ask to be allowed to work for
the State, and also, for paper money. That will mean that the State
Army of Productive Workers will be continually increasing in numbers.
More State factories will be built, more land will be put into
cultivation. Men will be given employment making bricks, woodwork,
paints, glass, wallpapers and all kinds of building materials and
others will be set to work building—on State land—beautiful houses,
which will be let to those employed in the service of the State. The
rent will be paid with paper money.
“State fishing fleets will be established and the quantities of
commodities of all kinds produced will be so great that the State
employees and officials will not be able to use it all. With their
paper money they will be able to buy enough and more than enough to
satisfy all their needs abundantly, but there will still be a great and
continuously increasing surplus stock in the possession of the State.
“The Socialist Administration will now acquire or build fleets of steam
trading vessels, which will of course be manned and officered by State
employees—the same as the Royal Navy is now. These fleets of National
trading vessels will carry the surplus stocks I have mentioned, to
foreign countries, and will there sell or exchange them for some of the
products of those countries, things that we do not produce ourselves.
These things will be brought to England and sold at the National
Service Stores, at the lowest possible price, for paper money, to those
in the service of the State. This of course will only have the effect
of introducing greater variety into the stocks—it will not diminish the
surplus: and as there would be no sense in continuing to produce more
of these things than necessary, it would then be the duty of the
Administration to curtail or restrict production of the necessaries of
life. This could be done by reducing the hours of the workers without
reducing their wages so as to enable them to continue to purchase as
much as before.
“Another way of preventing over production of mere necessaries and
comforts will be to employ a large number of workers producing the
refinements and pleasures of life, more artistic houses, furniture,
pictures, musical instruments and so forth.
“In the centre of every district a large Institute or pleasure house
could be erected, containing a magnificently appointed and decorated
theatre; Concert Hall, Lecture Hall, Gymnasium, Billiard Rooms, Reading
Rooms, Refreshment Rooms, and so on. A detachment of the Industrial
Army would be employed as actors, artistes, musicians, singers and
entertainers. In fact everyone that could be spared from the most
important work of all—that of producing the necessaries of life—would
be employed in creating pleasure, culture, and education. All these
people—like the other branches of the public service—would be paid with
paper money, and with it all of them would be able to purchase
abundance of all those things which constitute civilization.
“Meanwhile, as a result of all this, the kind-hearted private employers
and capitalists would find that no one would come and work for them to
be driven and bullied and sweated for a miserable trifle of metal money
that is scarcely enough to purchase sufficient of the necessaries of
life to keep body and soul together.
“These kind-hearted capitalists will protest against what they will
call the unfair competition of State industry, and some of them may
threaten to leave the country and take their capital with them... As
most of these persons are too lazy to work, and as we will not need
their money, we shall be very glad to see them go. But with regard to
their real capital—their factories, farms, mines or machinery—that will
be a different matter... To allow these things to remain idle and
unproductive would constitute an injury to the community. So a law will
be passed, declaring that all land not cultivated by the owner, or any
factory shut down for more than a specified time, will be taken
possession of by the State and worked for the benefit of the
community... Fair compensation will be paid in paper money to the
former owners, who will be granted an income or pension of so much a
year either for life or for a stated period according to circumstances
and the ages of the persons concerned.
“As for the private traders, the wholesale and retail dealers in the
things produced by labour, they will be forced by the State competition
to close down their shops and warehouses—first, because they will not
be able to replenish their stocks; and, secondly, because even if they
were able to do so, they would not be able to sell them. This will
throw out of work a great host of people who are at present engaged in
useless occupations; the managers and assistants in the shops of which
we now see half a dozen of the same sort in a single street; the
thousands of men and women who are slaving away their lives producing
advertisements, for, in most cases, a miserable pittance of metal
money, with which many of them are unable to procure sufficient of the
necessaries of life to secure them from starvation.
“The masons, carpenters, painters, glaziers, and all the others engaged
in maintaining these unnecessary stores and shops will all be thrown
out of employment, but all of them who are willing to work will be
welcomed by the State and will be at once employed helping either to
produce or distribute the necessaries and comforts of life. They will
have to work fewer hours than before... They will not have to work so
hard—for there will be no need to drive or bully, because there will be
plenty of people to do the work, and most of it will be done by
machinery—and with their paper money they will be able to buy abundance
of the things they help to produce. The shops and stores where these
people were formerly employed will be acquired by the State, which will
pay the former owners fair compensation in the same manner as to the
factory owners. Some of the buildings will be utilized by the State as
National Service Stores, others transformed into factories and others
will be pulled down to make room for dwellings, or public buildings...
It will be the duty of the Government to build a sufficient number of
houses to accommodate the families of all those in its employment, and
as a consequence of this and because of the general disorganization and
decay of what is now called ‘business’, all other house property of all
kinds will rapidly depreciate in value. The slums and the wretched
dwellings now occupied by the working classes—the miserable,
uncomfortable, jerry-built ‘villas’ occupied by the lower middle
classes and by ‘business’ people, will be left empty and valueless upon
the hands of their rack renting landlords, who will very soon
voluntarily offer to hand them and the ground they stand upon to the
state on the same terms as those accorded to the other property owners,
namely—in return for a pension. Some of these people will be content to
live in idleness on the income allowed them for life as compensation by
the State: others will devote themselves to art or science and some
others will offer their services to the community as managers and
superintendents, and the State will always be glad to employ all those
who are willing to help in the Great Work of production and
distribution.
“By this time the nation will be the sole employer of labour, and as no
one will be able to procure the necessaries of life without paper
money, and as the only way to obtain this will be working, it will mean
that every mentally and physically capable person in the community will
be helping in the great work of PRODUCTION and DISTRIBUTION. We shall
not need as at present, to maintain a police force to protect the
property of the idle rich from the starving wretches whom they have
robbed. There will be no unemployed and no overlapping of labour, which
will be organized and concentrated for the accomplishment of the only
rational object—the creation of the things we require... For every one
labour-saving machine in use today, we will, if necessary, employ a
thousand machines! and consequently there will be produced such a
stupendous, enormous, prodigious, overwhelming abundance of everything
that soon the Community will be faced once more with the serious
problem of OVER-PRODUCTION.
“To deal with this, it will be necessary to reduce the hours of our
workers to four or five hours a day... All young people will be allowed
to continue at public schools and universities and will not be required
to take any part in the work or the nation until they are twenty-one
years of age. At the age of forty-five, everyone will be allowed to
retire from the State service on full pay... All these will be able to
spend the rest of their days according to their own inclinations; some
will settle down quietly at home, and amuse themselves in the same ways
as people of wealth and leisure do at the present day—with some hobby,
or by taking part in the organization of social functions, such as
balls, parties, entertainments, the organization of Public Games and
Athletic Tournaments, Races and all kinds of sports.
“Some will prefer to continue in the service of the State. Actors,
artists, sculptors, musicians and others will go on working for their
own pleasure and honour... Some will devote their leisure to science,
art, or literature. Others will prefer to travel on the State
steamships to different parts of the world to see for themselves all
those things of which most of us have now but a dim and vague
conception. The wonders of India and Egypt, the glories of Rome, the
artistic treasures of the continent and the sublime scenery of other
lands.
“Thus—for the first time in the history of humanity—the benefits and
pleasures conferred upon mankind by science and civilization will be
enjoyed equally by all, upon the one condition, that they shall do
their share of the work, that is necessary in order to make all these
things possible.
“These are the principles upon which the CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH of
the future will be organized. The State in which no one will be
distinguished or honoured above his fellows except for Virtue or
Talent. Where no man will find his profit in another’s loss, and we
shall no longer be masters and servants, but brothers, free men, and
friends. Where there will be no weary, broken men and women passing
their joyless lives in toil and want, and no little children crying
because they are hungry or cold.
“A State wherein it will be possible to put into practice the teachings
of Him whom so many now pretend to follow. A society which shall have
justice and co-operation for its foundation, and International
Brotherhood and love for its law.
“Such are the days that shall be! but
What are the deeds of today,
In the days of the years we dwell in,
That wear our lives away?
Why, then, and for what we are waiting?
There are but three words to speak
‘We will it,’ and what is the foreman
but the dream strong wakened and weak?
“Oh, why and for what are we waiting, while
our brothers droop and die?
And on every wind of the heavens, a
wasted life goes by.
“How long shall they reproach us, where
crowd on crowd they dwell
Poor ghosts of the wicked city,
gold crushed, hungry hell?
“Through squalid life they laboured in
sordid grief they died
Those sons of a mighty mother, those
props of England’s pride.
They are gone, there is none can undo
it, nor save our souls from the curse,
But many a million cometh, and shall
they be better or worse?
“It is We must answer and hasten and open wide the door,
For the rich man’s hurrying terror, and the slow foot hope of the poor,
Yea, the voiceless wrath of the wretched and their unlearned
discontent,
We must give it voice and wisdom, till the waiting tide be spent
Come then since all things call us, the living and the dead,
And o’er the weltering tangle a glimmering light is shed.”
As Barrington descended from the Pulpit and walked back to his
accustomed seat, a loud shout of applause burst from a few men in the
crowd, who stood up and waved their caps and cheered again and again.
When order was restored, Philpot rose and addressed the meeting:
“Is there any gentleman wot would like to ask the Speaker a question?”
No one spoke and the Chairman again put the question without obtaining
any response, but at length one of the new hands who had been “taken
on” about a week previously to replace another painter who had been
sacked for being too slow—stood up and said there was one point that he
would like a little more information about. This man had two patches on
the seat of his trousers, which were also very much frayed and ragged
at the bottoms of the legs: the lining of his coat was all in rags, as
were also the bottoms of the sleeves; his boots were old and had been
many times mended and patched; the sole of one of them had begun to
separate from the upper and he had sewn these parts together with a few
stitches of copper wire. He had been out of employment for several
weeks and it was evident from the pinched expression of his still
haggard face that during that time he had not had sufficient to eat.
This man was not a drunkard, neither was he one of those semi-mythical
persons who are too lazy to work. He was married and had several
children. One of them, a boy of fourteen years old, earned five
shillings a week as a light porter at a Grocer’s.
Being a householder the man had a vote, but he had never hitherto taken
much interest in what he called “politics”. In his opinion, those
matters were not for the likes of him. He believed in leaving such
difficult subjects to be dealt with by his betters. In his present
unhappy condition he was a walking testimonial to the wisdom and virtue
and benevolence of those same “betters” who have hitherto managed the
affairs of the world with results so very satisfactory for themselves.
“I should like to ask the speaker,” he said, “supposin’ all this that
’e talks about is done—what’s to become of the King, and the Royal
Family, and all the Big Pots?”
“’Ear, ’ear,” cried Crass, eagerly—and Ned Dawson and the man behind
the moat both said that that was what they would like to know, too.
“I am much more concerned about what is to become of ourselves if these
things are not done,” replied Barrington. “I think we should try to
cultivate a little more respect of our own families and to concern
ourselves a little less about ‘Royal’ Families. I fail to see any
reason why we should worry ourselves about those people; they’re all
right—they have all they need, and as far as I am aware, nobody wishes
to harm them and they are well able to look after themselves. They will
fare the same as the other rich people.”
“I should like to ask,” said Harlow, “wot’s to become of all the gold
and silver and copper money? Wouldn’t it be of no use at all?”
“It would be of far more use under Socialism than it is at present. The
State would of course become possessed of a large quantity of it in the
early stages of the development of the Socialist system, because—at
first—while the State would be paying all its officers and productive
workers in paper, the rest of the community—those not in State
employ—would be paying their taxes in gold as at present. All
travellers on the State railways—other than State employees—would pay
their fares in metal money, and gold and silver would pour into the
State Treasury from many other sources. The State would receive gold
and silver and—for the most part—pay out paper. By the time the system
of State employment was fully established, gold and silver would only
be of value as metal and the State would purchase it from whoever
possessed and wished to sell it—at so much per pound as raw material:
instead of hiding it away in the vaults of banks, or locking it up in
iron safes, we shall make use of it. Some of the gold will be
manufactured into articles of jewellery, to be sold for paper money and
worn by the sweethearts and wives and daughters of the workers; some of
it will be beaten out into gold leaf to be used in the decoration of
the houses of the citizens and of public buildings. As for the silver,
it will be made into various articles of utility for domestic use. The
workers will not then, as now, have to eat their food with poisonous
lead or brass spoons and forks, we shall have these things of silver
and if there is not enough silver we shall probably have a
non-poisonous alloy of that metal.”
“As far as I can make out,” said Harlow, “the paper money will be just
as valuable as gold and silver is now. Well, wot’s to prevent artful
dodgers like old Misery and Rushton saving it up and buying and selling
things with it, and so livin’ without work?”
“Of course,” said Crass, scornfully. “It would never do!”
“That’s a very simple matter; any man who lives without doing any
useful work is living on the labour of others, he is robbing others of
part of the result of their labour. The object of Socialism is to stop
this robbery, to make it impossible. So no one will be able to hoard up
or accumulate the paper money because it will be dated, and will become
worthless if it is not spent within a certain time after its issue. As
for buying and selling for profit—from whom would they buy? And to whom
would they sell?”
“Well, they might buy some of the things the workers didn’t want, for
less than the workers paid for them, and then they could sell ’em
again.”
“They’d have to sell them for less than the price charged at the
National Stores, and if you think about it a little you’ll see that it
would not be very profitable. It would be with the object of preventing
any attempts at private trading that the Administration would refuse to
pay compensation to private owners in a lump sum. All such
compensations would be paid, as I said, in the form of a pension of so
much per year.
“Another very effective way to prevent private trading would be to make
it a criminal offence against the well-being of the community. At
present many forms of business are illegal unless you take out a
licence; under Socialism no one would be allowed to trade without a
licence, and no licences would be issued.”
“Wouldn’t a man be allowed to save up his money if he wanted to,”
demanded Slyme with indignation.
“There will be nothing to prevent a man going without some of the
things he might have if he is foolish enough to do so, but he would
never be able to save up enough to avoid doing his share of useful
service. Besides, what need would there be for anyone to save? One’s
old age would be provided for. No one could ever be out of employment.
If one was ill the State hospitals and Medical Service would be free.
As for one’s children, they would attend the State Free Schools and
Colleges and when of age they would enter the State Service, their
futures provided for. Can you tell us why anyone would need or wish to
save?”
Slyme couldn’t.
“Are there any more questions?” demanded Philpot.
“While we are speaking of money,” added Barrington, “I should like to
remind you that even under the present system there are many things
which cost money to maintain, that we enjoy without having to pay for
directly. The public roads and pavements cost money to make and
maintain and light. So do the parks, museums and bridges. But they are
free to all. Under a Socialist Administration this principle will be
extended—in addition to the free services we enjoy now we shall then
maintain the trains and railways for the use of the public, free. And
as time goes on, this method of doing business will be adopted in many
other directions.”
“I’ve read somewhere,” said Harlow, “that whenever a Government in any
country has started issuing paper money it has always led to
bankruptcy. How do you know that the same thing would not happen under
a Socialist Administration?”
“’Ear, ’ear,” said Crass. “I was just goin’ to say the same thing.”
“If the Government of a country began to issue large amounts of paper
money under the present system,” Barrington replied, “it would
inevitably lead to bankruptcy, for the simple reason that paper money
under the present system—bank-notes, bank drafts, postal orders,
cheques or any other form—is merely a printed promise to pay the
amount—in gold or silver—on demand or at a certain date. Under the
present system if a Government issues more paper money than it
possesses gold and silver to redeem, it is of course bankrupt. But the
paper money that will be issued under a Socialist Administration will
not be a promise to pay in gold or silver on demand or at any time. It
will be a promise to supply commodities to the amount specified on the
note, and as there could be no dearth of those things there could be no
possibility of bankruptcy.”
“I should like to know who’s goin’ to appoint the hofficers of this
’ere hindustrial harmy,” said the man on the pail. “We don’t want to be
bullied and chivied and chased about by a lot of sergeants and
corporals like a lot of soldiers, you know.”
“’Ear, ’ear,” said Crass. “You must ’ave some masters. Someone’s got to
be in charge of the work.”
“We don’t have to put up with any bullying or chivying or chasing now,
do we?” said Barrington. “So of course we could not have anything of
that sort under Socialism. We could not put up with it at all! Even if
it were only for four or five hours a day. Under the present system we
have no voice in appointing our masters and overseers and foremen—we
have no choice as to what master we shall work under. If our masters do
not treat us fairly we have no remedy against them. Under Socialism it
will be different; the workers will be part of the community; the
officers or managers and foremen will be the servants of the community,
and if any one of these men were to abuse his position he could be
promptly removed. As for the details of the organization of the
Industrial Army, the difficulty is, again, not so much to devise a way,
but to decide which of many ways would be the best, and the perfect way
will probably be developed only after experiment and experience. The
one thing we have to hold fast to is the fundamental principle of State
employment or National service. Production for use and not for profit.
The national organization of industry under democratic control. One way
of arranging this business would be for the community to elect a
Parliament in much the same way as is done at present. The only persons
eligible for election to be veterans of the industrial Army, men and
women who had put in their twenty-five years of service.
“This Administrative Body would have control of the different State
Departments. There would be a Department of Agriculture, a Department
of Railways and so on, each with its minister and staff.
“All these Members of Parliament would be the relatives—in some cases
the mothers and fathers of those in the Industrial Service, and they
would be relied upon to see that the conditions of that service were
the best possible.
“As for the different branches of the State Service, they could be
organized on somewhat the same lines as the different branches of the
Public Service are now—like the Navy, the Post Office and as the State
Railways in some other countries, or as are the different branches of
the Military Army, with the difference that all promotions will be from
the ranks, by examinations, and by merit only. As every recruit will
have had the same class of education they will all have absolute
equality of opportunity and the men who would attain to positions of
authority would be the best men, and not as at present, the worst.”
“How do you make that out?” demanded Crass.
“Under the present system, the men who become masters and employers
succeed because they are cunning and selfish, not because they
understand or are capable of doing the work out of which they make
their money. Most of the employers in the building trade for instance
would be incapable of doing any skilled work. Very few of them would be
worth their salt as journeymen. The only work they do is to scheme to
reap the benefit of the labour of others.
“The men who now become managers and foremen are selected not because
of their ability as craftsmen, but because they are good slave-drivers
and useful producers of profit for their employers.”
“How are you goin’ to prevent the selfish and cunnin’, as you call ’em,
from gettin’ on top THEN as they do now?” said Harlow.
“The fact that all workers will receive the same pay, no matter what
class of work they are engaged in, or what their position, will ensure
our getting the very best man to do all the higher work and to organize
our business.”
Crass laughed: “What! Everybody to get the same wages?”
“Yes: there will be such an enormous quantity of everything produced,
that their wages will enable everyone to purchase abundance of
everything they require. Even if some were paid more than others they
would not be able to spend it. There would be no need to save it, and
as there will be no starving poor, there will be no one to give it away
to. If it were possible to save and accumulate money it would bring
into being an idle class, living on their fellows: it would lead to the
downfall of our system, and a return to the same anarchy that exists at
present. Besides, if higher wages were paid to those engaged in the
higher work or occupying positions of authority it would prevent our
getting the best men. Unfit persons would try for the positions because
of the higher pay. That is what happens now. Under the present system
men intrigue for and obtain or are pitchforked into positions for which
they have no natural ability at all; the only reason they desire these
positions is because of the salaries attached to them. These fellows
get the money and the work is done by underpaid subordinates whom the
world never hears of. Under Socialism, this money incentive will be
done away with, and consequently the only men who will try for these
positions will be those who, being naturally fitted for the work, would
like to do it. For instance a man who is a born organizer will not
refuse to undertake such work because he will not be paid more for it.
Such a man will desire to do it and will esteem it a privilege to be
allowed to do it. He will revel in it. To think out all the details of
some undertaking, to plan and scheme and organize, is not work for a
man like that. It is a pleasure. But for a man who has sought and
secured such a position, not because he liked the work, but because he
liked the salary—such work as this would be unpleasant labour. Under
Socialism the unfit man would not apply for that post but would strive
after some other for which he was fit and which he would therefore
desire and enjoy. There are some men who would rather have charge of
and organize and be responsible for work than do it with their hands.
There are others who would rather do delicate or difficult or artistic
work, than plain work. A man who is a born artist would rather paint a
frieze or a picture or carve a statue than he would do plain work, or
take charge of and direct the labour of others. And there are another
sort of men who would rather do ordinary plain work than take charge,
or attempt higher branches for which they have neither liking or
natural talent.
“But there is one thing—a most important point that you seem to
entirely lose sight of, and that is, that all these different kinds and
classes are equal in one respect—THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY NECESSARY. Each
is a necessary and indispensable part of the whole; therefore everyone
who has done his full share of necessary work is justly entitled to a
full share of the results. The men who put the slates on are just as
indispensable as the men who lay the foundations. The work of the men
who build the walls and make the doors is just as necessary as the work
of the men who decorate the cornice. None of them would be of much use
without the architect, and the plans of the architect would come to
nothing, his building would be a mere castle in the air, if it were not
for the other workers. Each part of the work is equally necessary,
useful and indispensable if the building is to be perfected. Some of
these men work harder with their brains than with their hands and some
work harder with their hands than with their brains, BUT EACH ONE DOES
HIS FULL SHARE OF THE WORK. This truth will be recognized and acted
upon by those who build up and maintain the fabric of our Co-operative
Commonwealth. Every man who does his full share of the useful and
necessary work according to his abilities shall have his full share of
the total result. Herein will be its great difference from the present
system, under which it is possible for the cunning and selfish ones to
take advantage of the simplicity of others and rob them of part of the
fruits of their labour. As for those who will be engaged in the higher
branches, they will be sufficiently rewarded by being privileged to do
the work they are fitted for and enjoy. The only men and women who are
capable of good and great work of any kind are those who, being
naturally fit for it, love the work for its own sake and not for the
money it brings them. Under the present system, many men who have no
need of money produce great works, not for gain but for pleasure: their
wealth enables them to follow their natural inclinations. Under the
present system many men and women capable of great works are prevented
from giving expression to their powers by poverty and lack of
opportunity: they live in sorrow and die heartbroken, and the community
is the loser. These are the men and women who will be our artists,
sculptors, architects, engineers and captains of industry.
“Under the present system there are men at the head of affairs whose
only object is the accumulation of money. Some of them possess great
abilities and the system has practically compelled them to employ those
abilities for their own selfish ends to the hurt of the community. Some
of them have built up great fortunes out of the sweat and blood and
tears of men and women and little children. For those who delight in
such work as this, there will be no place in our Co-operative
Commonwealth.”
“Is there any more questions?” demanded Philpot.
“Yes,” said Harlow. “If there won’t be no extry pay and if anybody will
have all they need for just doing their part of the work, what
encouragement will there be for anyone to worry his brains out trying
to invent some new machine, or make some new discovery?”
“Well,” said Barrington, “I think that’s covered by the last answer,
but if it were found necessary—which is highly improbable—to offer some
material reward in addition to the respect, esteem or honour that would
be enjoyed by the author of an invention that was a boon to the
community, it could be arranged by allowing him to retire before the
expiration of his twenty-five years service. The boon he had conferred
on the community by the invention, would be considered equivalent to so
many years work. But a man like that would not desire to cease working;
that sort go on working all their lives, for love. There’s Edison for
instance. He is one of the very few inventors who have made money out
of their work; he is a rich man, but the only use his wealth seems to
be to him is to procure himself facilities for going on with his work;
his life is a round of what some people would call painful labour: but
it is not painful labour to him; it’s just pleasure, he works for the
love of it. Another way would be to absolve a man of that sort from the
necessity of ordinary work, so as to give him a chance to get on with
other inventions. It would be to the interests of the community to
encourage him in every way and to place materials and facilities at his
disposal.
“But you must remember that even under the present system, Honour and
Praise are held to be greater than money. How many soldiers would
prefer money to the honour of wearing the intrinsically valueless
Victoria Cross?
“Even now men think less of money than they do of the respect, esteem
or honour they are able to procure with it. Many men spend the greater
part of their lives striving to accumulate money, and when they have
succeeded, they proceed to spend it to obtain the respect of their
fellow-men. Some of them spend thousands of pounds for the honour of
being able to write ‘MP’ after their names. Others buy titles. Others
pay huge sums to gain admission to exclusive circles of society. Others
give the money away in charity, or found libraries or universities. The
reason they do these things is that they desire to be applauded and
honoured by their fellow-men.
“This desire is strongest in the most capable men—the men of genius.
Therefore, under Socialism the principal incentive to great work will
be the same as now—Honour and Praise. But, under the present system,
Honour and Praise can be bought with money, and it does not matter much
how the money was obtained.
“Under Socialism it will be different. The Cross of Honour and the
Laurel Crown will not be bought and sold for filthy lucre. They will be
the supreme rewards of Virtue and of Talent.”
“Anyone else like to be flattened out?” inquired Philpot.
“What would you do with them what spends all their money in drink?”
asked Slyme.
“I might reasonably ask you, ‘What’s done with them or what you propose
to do with them now?’ There are many men and women whose lives are so
full of toil and sorrow and the misery caused by abject poverty, who
are so shut out from all that makes life worth living, that the time
they spend in the public house is the only ray of sunshine in their
cheerless lives. Their mental and material poverty is so great that
they are deprived of and incapable of understanding the intellectual
and social pleasures of civilization... Under Socialism there will be
no such class as this. Everyone will be educated, and social life and
rational pleasure will be within the reach of all. Therefore we do not
believe that there will be such a class. Any individuals who abandoned
themselves to such a course would be avoided by their fellows; but if
they became very degraded, we should still remember that they were our
brother men and women, and we should regard them as suffering from a
disease inherited from their uncivilized forefathers and try to cure
them by placing them under some restraint: in an institute for
instance.”
“Another good way to deal with ’em,” said Harlow, “would be to allow
them double pay, so as they could drink themselves to death. We could
do without the likes of them.”
“Call the next case,” said Philpot.
“This ’ere abundance that you’re always talking about,” said Crass,
“you can’t be sure that it would be possible to produce all that.
You’re only assoomin’ that it could be done.”
Barrington pointed to the still visible outlines of the “Hoblong” that
Owen had drawn on the wall to illustrate a previous lecture.
“Even under the present silly system of restricted production, with the
majority of the population engaged in useless, unproductive,
unnecessary work, and large numbers never doing any work at all, there
is enough produced to go all round after a fashion. More than enough,
for in consequence of what they call ‘Over-Production’, the markets are
periodically glutted with commodities of all kinds, and then for a time
the factories are closed and production ceases. And yet we can all
manage to exist—after a fashion. This proves that if productive
industry were organized on the lines advocated by Socialists there
could be produced such a prodigious quantity of everything, that
everyone could live in plenty and comfort. The problem of how to
produce sufficient for all to enjoy abundance is already solved: the
problem that then remains is—How to get rid of those whose greed and
callous indifference to the sufferings of others, prevents it being
done.”
“Yes! and you’ll never be able to get rid of ’em, mate,” cried Crass,
triumphantly—and the man with the copper wire stitches in his boot said
that it couldn’t be done.
“Well, we mean to have a good try, anyhow,” said Barrington.
Crass and most of the others tried hard to think of something to say in
defence of the existing state of affairs, or against the proposals put
forward by the lecturer; but finding nothing, they maintained a sullen
and gloomy silence. The man with the copper wire stitches in his boot
in particular appeared to be very much upset; perhaps he was afraid
that if the things advocated by the speaker ever came to pass he would
not have any boots at all. To assume that he had some such thought as
this, is the only rational way to account for his hostility, for in his
case no change could have been for the worse unless it reduced him to
almost absolute nakedness and starvation.
To judge by their unwillingness to consider any proposals to alter the
present system, one might have supposed that they were afraid of losing
something, instead of having nothing to lose—except their poverty.
It was not till the chairman had made several urgent appeals for more
questions that Crass brightened up: a glad smile slowly spread over and
illuminated his greasy visage: he had at last thought of a most serious
and insurmountable obstacle to the establishment of the Co-operative
Commonwealth.
“What,” he demanded, in a loud voice, “what are you goin’ to do, in
this ’ere Socialist Republic of yours, with them wot WON’T WORK!”
As Crass flung this bombshell into the Socialist camp, the miserable,
ragged-trousered crew around him could scarce forbear a cheer; but the
more intelligent part of the audience only laughed.
“We don’t believe that there will be any such people as that,” said
Barrington.
“There’s plenty of ’em about now, anyway,” sneered Crass.
“You can’t change ’uman nature, you know,” cried the man behind the
moat, and the one who had the copper wire stitches in his boot laughed
scornfully.
“Yes, I know there are plenty such now,” rejoined Barrington. “It’s
only what is to be expected, considering that practically all workers
live in poverty, and are regarded with contempt. The conditions under
which most of the work is done at present are so unpleasant and
degrading that everyone refuses to do any unless they are compelled;
none of us here, for instance, would continue to work for Rushton if it
were not for the fact that we have either to do so or starve; and when
we do work we only just earn enough to keep body and soul together.
Under the present system everybody who can possibly manage to do so
avoids doing any work, the only difference being that some people do
their loafing better than others. The aristocracy are too lazy to work,
but they seem to get on all right; they have their tenants to work for
them. Rushton is too lazy to work, so he has arranged that we and
Nimrod shall work instead, and he fares much better than any of us who
do work. Then there is another kind of loafers who go about begging and
occasionally starving rather than submit to such abominable conditions
as are offered to them. These last are generally not much worse off
than we are and they are often better off. At present, people have
everything to gain and but little to lose by refusing to work. Under
Socialism it would be just the reverse; the conditions of labour would
be so pleasant, the hours of obligatory work so few, and the reward so
great, that it is absurd to imagine that any one would be so foolish as
to incur the contempt of his fellows and make himself a social outcast
by refusing to do the small share of work demanded of him by the
community of which he was a member.
“As for what we should do to such individuals if there did happen to be
some, I can assure you that we would not treat them as you treat them
now. We would not dress them up in silk and satin and broadcloth and
fine linen: we would not embellish them, as you do, with jewels of gold
and jewels of silver and with precious stones; neither should we allow
them to fare sumptuously every day. Our method of dealing with them
would be quite different from yours. In the Co-operative Commonwealth
there will be no place for loafers; whether they call themselves
aristocrats or tramps, those who are too lazy to work shall have no
share in the things that are produced by the labour of others. Those
who do nothing shall have nothing. If any man will not work, neither
shall he eat. Under the present system a man who is really too lazy to
work may stop you in the street and tell you that he cannot get
employment. For all you know, he may be telling the truth, and if you
have any feeling and are able, you will help him. But in the Socialist
State no one would have such an excuse, because everyone that was
willing would be welcome to come and help in the work of producing
wealth and happiness for all, and afterwards he would also be welcome
to his full share of the results.”
“Any more complaints?” inquired the chairman, breaking the gloomy
silence that followed.
“I don’t want anyone to think that I am blaming any of these
present-day loafers,” Barrington added. “The wealthy ones cannot be
expected voluntarily to come and work under existing conditions and if
they were to do so they would be doing more harm than good—they would
be doing some poor wretches out of employment. They are not to be
blamed; the people who are to blame are the working classes themselves,
who demand and vote for the continuance of the present system. As for
the other class of loafers—those at the bottom, the tramps and people
of that sort, if they were to become sober and industrious tomorrow,
they also would be doing more harm than good to the other workers; it
would increase the competition for work. If all the loafers in
Mugsborough could suddenly be transformed into decent house painters
next week, Nimrod might be able to cut down the wages another penny an
hour. I don’t wish to speak disrespectfully of these tramps at all.
Some of them are such simply because they would rather starve than
submit to the degrading conditions that we submit to, they do not see
the force of being bullied and chased, and driven about in order to
gain semi-starvation and rags. They are able to get those without
working; and I sometimes think that they are more worthy of respect and
are altogether a nobler type of beings than a lot of broken-spirited
wretches like ourselves, who are always at the mercy of our masters,
and always in dread of the sack.”
“Any more questions?” said the chairman.
“Do you mean to say as the time will ever come when the gentry will mix
up on equal terms with the likes of us?” demanded the man behind the
moat, scornfully.
“Oh, no,” replied the lecturer. “When we get Socialism there won’t be
any people like us. Everybody will be civilized.”
The man behind the moat did not seem very satisfied with this answer,
and told the others that he could not see anything to laugh at.
“Is there any more questions?” cried Philpot. “Now is your chance to
get some of your own back, but don’t hall speak at once.”
“I should like to know who’s goin’ to do all the dirty work?” said
Slyme. “If everyone is to be allowed to choose ’is own trade, who’d be
fool enough to choose to be a scavenger, a sweep, a dustman or a sewer
man? nobody wouldn’t want to do such jobs as them and everyone would be
after the soft jobs.”
“Of course,” cried Crass, eagerly clutching at this last straw. “The
thing sounds all right till you comes to look into it, but it wouldn’t
never work!”
“It would be very easy to deal with any difficulty of that sort,”
replied Barrington, “if it were found that too many people were
desirous of pursuing certain callings, it would be known that the
conditions attached to those kinds of work were unfairly easy, as
compared with other lines, so the conditions in those trades would be
made more severe. A higher degree of skill would be required. If we
found that too many persons wished to be doctors, architects, engineers
and so forth, we would increase the severity of the examinations. This
would scare away all but the most gifted and enthusiastic. We should
thus at one stroke reduce the number of applicants and secure the very
best men for the work—we should have better doctors, better architects,
better engineers than before.
“As regards those disagreeable tasks for which there was a difficulty
in obtaining volunteers, we should adopt the opposite means. Suppose
that six hours was the general thing; and we found that we could not
get any sewer men; we should reduce the hours of labour in that
department to four, or if necessary to two, in order to compensate for
the disagreeable nature of the work.
“Another way out of such difficulties would be to have a separate
division of the Industrial army to do all such work, and to make it
obligatory for every man to put in his first year of State service as a
member of this corps. There would be no hardship in that. Everyone gets
the benefit of such work; there would be no injustice in requiring
everyone to share. This would have the effect also of stimulating
invention; it would be to everyone’s interest to think out means of
doing away with such kinds of work and there is no doubt that most of
it will be done by machinery in some way or other. A few years ago the
only way to light up the streets of a town was to go round to each
separate gas lamp and light each jet, one at a time: now, we press a
few buttons and light up the town with electricity. In the future we
shall probably be able to press a button and flush the sewers.”
“What about religion?” said Slyme. “I suppose there won’t be no
churches nor chapels; we shall all have to be atheists.”
“Everybody will be perfectly free to enjoy their own opinions and to
practise any religion they like; but no religion or sect will be
maintained by the State. If any congregation or body of people wish to
have a building for their own exclusive use as a church or chapel or
lecture hall it will be supplied to them by the State on the same terms
as those upon which dwelling houses will be supplied; the State will
construct the special kind of building and the congregation will have
to pay the rent, the amount to be based on the cost of construction, in
paper money of course. As far as the embellishment or decoration of
such places is concerned, there will of course be nothing to prevent
the members of the congregation if they wish from doing any such work
as that themselves in their own spare time of which they will have
plenty.”
“If everybody’s got to do their share of work, where’s the minister and
clergymen to come from?”
“There are at least three ways out of that difficulty. First, ministers
of religion could be drawn from the ranks of the Veterans—men over
forty-five years old who had completed their term of State service. You
must remember that these will not be worn out wrecks, as too many of
the working classes are at that age now. They will have had good food
and clothing and good general conditions all their lives; and
consequently they will be in the very prime of life. They will be
younger than many of us now are at thirty; they will be ideal men for
the positions we are speaking of. All well educated in their youth, and
all will have had plenty of leisure for self culture during the years
of their State service and they will have the additional recommendation
that their congregation will not be required to pay anything for their
services.
“Another way: If a congregation wished to retain the full-time services
of a young man whom they thought specially gifted but who had not
completed his term of State service, they could secure him by paying
the State for his services; thus the young man would still remain in
State employment, he would still continue to receive his pay from the
National Treasury, and at the age of forty-five would be entitled to
his pension like any other worker, and after that the congregation
would not have to pay the State anything.
“A third—and as it seems to me, the most respectable way—would be for
the individual in question to act as minister or pastor or lecturer or
whatever it was, to the congregation without seeking to get out of
doing his share of the State service. The hours of obligatory work
would be so short and the work so light that he would have abundance of
leisure to prepare his orations without sponging on his
co-religionists.”
“’Ear, ’ear!” cried Harlow.
“Of course,” added Barrington, “it would not only be congregations of
Christians who could adopt any of these methods. It is possible that a
congregation of agnostics, for instance, might want a separate building
or to maintain a lecturer.”
“What the ’ell’s an agnostic?” demanded Bundy.
“An agnostic,” said the man behind the moat, “is a bloke wot don’t
believe nothing unless ’e see it with ’is own eyes.”
“All these details,” continued the speaker, “of the organization of
affairs and the work of the Co-operative Commonwealth, are things which
do not concern us at all. They have merely been suggested by different
individuals as showing some ways in which these things could be
arranged. The exact methods to be adopted will be decided upon by the
opinion of the majority when the work is being done. Meantime, what we
have to do is to insist upon the duty of the State to provide
productive work for the unemployed, the State feeding of
schoolchildren, the nationalization or Socialization of Railways; Land;
the Trusts, and all public services that are still in the hands of
private companies. If you wish to see these things done, you must cease
from voting for Liberal and Tory sweaters, shareholders of companies,
lawyers, aristocrats, and capitalists; and you must fill the House of
Commons with Revolutionary Socialists. That is—with men who are in
favour of completely changing the present system. And in the day that
you do that, you will have solved the poverty ‘problem’. No more
tramping the streets begging for a job! No more hungry children at
home. No more broken boots and ragged clothes. No more women and
children killing themselves with painful labour whilst strong men stand
idly by; but joyous work and joyous leisure for all.”
“Is there any more questions?” cried Philpot.
“Is it true,” said Easton, “that Socialists intend to do away with the
Army and Navy?”
“Yes; it is true. Socialists believe in International Brotherhood and
peace. Nearly all wars are caused by profit-seeking capitalists,
seeking new fields for commercial exploitation, and by aristocrats who
make it the means of glorifying themselves in the eyes of the deluded
common people. You must remember that Socialism is not only a national,
but an international movement and when it is realized, there will be no
possibility of war, and we shall no longer need to maintain an army and
navy, or to waste a lot of labour building warships or manufacturing
arms and ammunition. All those people who are now employed will then be
at liberty to assist in the great work of producing the benefits of
civilization; creating wealth and knowledge and happiness for
themselves and others—Socialism means Peace on earth and goodwill to
all mankind. But in the meantime we know that the people of other
nations are not yet all Socialists; we do not forget that in foreign
countries—just the same as in Britain—there are large numbers of profit
seeking capitalists, who are so destitute of humanity, that if they
thought it could be done successfully and with profit to themselves
they would not scruple to come here to murder and to rob. We do not
forget that in foreign countries—the same as here—there are plenty of
so-called ‘Christian’ bishops and priests always ready to give their
benediction to any such murderous projects, and to blasphemously pray
to the Supreme Being to help his children to slay each other like wild
beasts. And knowing and remembering all this, we realize that until we
have done away with capitalism, aristocracy and anti-Christian
clericalism, it is our duty to be prepared to defend our homes and our
native land. And therefore we are in favour of maintaining national
defensive forces in the highest possible state of efficiency. But that
does not mean that we are in favour of the present system of organizing
those forces. We do not believe in conscription, and we do not believe
that the nation should continue to maintain a professional standing
army to be used at home for the purpose of butchering men and women of
the working classes in the interests of a handful of capitalists, as
has been done at Featherstone and Belfast; or to be used abroad to
murder and rob the people of other nations. Socialists advocate the
establishment of a National Citizen Army, for defensive purposes only.
We believe that every able bodied man should be compelled to belong to
this force and to undergo a course of military training, but without
making him into a professional soldier, or taking him away from civil
life, depriving him of the rights of citizenship or making him subject
to military ‘law’ which is only another name for tyranny and despotism.
This Citizen Army could be organized on somewhat similar lines to the
present Territorial Force, with certain differences. For instance, we
do not believe—as our present rulers do—that wealth and aristocratic
influence are the two most essential qualifications for an efficient
officer; we believe that all ranks should be attainable by any man, no
matter how poor, who is capable of passing the necessary examinations,
and that there should be no expense attached to those positions which
the Government grant, or the pay, is not sufficient to cover. The
officers could be appointed in any one of several ways: They might be
elected by the men they would have to command, the only qualification
required being that they had passed their examinations, or they might
be appointed according to merit—the candidate obtaining the highest
number of marks at the examinations to have the first call on any
vacant post, and so on in order of merit. We believe in the total
abolition of courts martial, any offence against discipline should be
punishable by the ordinary civil law—no member of the Citizen Army
being deprived of the rights of a citizen.”
“What about the Navy?” cried several voices.
“Nobody wants to interfere with the Navy except to make its
organization more democratic—the same as that of the Citizen Army—and
to protect its members from tyranny by entitling them to be tried in a
civil court for any alleged offence.
“It has been proved that if the soil of this country were
scientifically cultivated, it is capable of producing sufficient to
maintain a population of a hundred millions of people. Our present
population is only about forty millions, but so long as the land
remains in the possession of persons who refuse to allow it to be
cultivated we shall continue to be dependent on other countries for our
food supply. So long as we are in that position, and so long as foreign
countries are governed by Liberal and Tory capitalists, we shall need
the Navy to protect our overseas commerce from them. If we had a
Citizen Army such as I have mentioned, of nine or ten millions of men
and if the land of this country was properly cultivated, we should be
invincible at home. No foreign power would ever be mad enough to
attempt to land their forces on our shores. But they would now be able
to starve us all to death in a month if it were not for the Navy. It’s
a sensible and creditable position, isn’t it?” concluded Barrington.
“Even in times of peace, thousands of people standing idle and tamely
starving in their own fertile country, because a few land ‘Lords’
forbid them to cultivate it.”
“Is there any more questions?” demanded Philpot, breaking a prolonged
silence.
“Would any Liberal or Tory capitalist like to get up into the pulpit
and oppose the speaker?” the chairman went on, finding that no one
responded to his appeal for questions.
The silence continued.
“As there’s no more questions and no one won’t get up into the pulpit,
it is now my painful duty to call upon someone to move a resolution.”
“Well, Mr Chairman,” said Harlow, “I may say that when I came on this
firm I was a Liberal, but through listenin’ to several lectures by
Professor Owen and attendin’ the meetings on the hill at Windley and
reading the books and pamphlets I bought there and from Owen, I came to
the conclusion some time ago that it’s a mug’s game for us to vote for
capitalists whether they calls theirselves Liberals or Tories. They’re
all alike when you’re workin’ for ’em; I defy any man to say what’s the
difference between a Liberal and a Tory employer. There is none—there
can’t be; they’re both sweaters, and they’ve got to be, or they
wouldn’t be able to compete with each other. And since that’s what they
are, I say it’s a mug’s game for us to vote ’em into Parliament to rule
over us and to make laws that we’ve got to abide by whether we like it
or not. There’s nothing to choose between ’em, and the proof of it is
that it’s never made much difference to us which party was in or which
was out. It’s quite true that in the past both of ’em have passed good
laws, but they’ve only done it when public opinion was so strong in
favour of it that they knew there was no getting out of it, and then it
was a toss up which side did it.
“That’s the way I’ve been lookin’ at things lately, and I’d almost made
up my mind never to vote no more, or to trouble myself about politics
at all, because although I could see there was no sense in voting for
Liberal or Tory capitalists, at the same time I must admit I couldn’t
make out how Socialism was going to help us. But the explanation of it
which Professor Barrington has given us this afternoon has been a bit
of an eye opener for me, and with your permission I should like to move
as a resolution, ‘That it is the opinion of this meeting that Socialism
is the only remedy for Unemployment and Poverty.’”
The conclusion of Harlow’s address was greeted with loud cheers from
the Socialists, but most of the Liberal and Tory supporters of the
present system maintained a sulky silence.
“I’ll second that resolution,” said Easton.
“And I’ll lay a bob both ways,” remarked Bundy. The resolution was then
put, and though the majority were against it, the Chairman declared it
was carried unanimously.
By this time the violence of the storm had in a great measure abated,
but as rain was still falling it was decided not to attempt to resume
work that day. Besides, it would have been too late, even if the
weather had cleared up.
“P’raps it’s just as well it ’as rained,” remarked one man. “If it
’adn’t some of us might ’ave got the sack tonight. As it is, there’ll
be hardly enough for all of us to do tomorrer and Saturday mornin’ even
if it is fine.”
This was true: nearly all the outside was finished, and what remained
to be done was ready for the final coat. Inside all there was to do was
to colour wash the walls and to give the woodwork of the kitchen and
scullery the last coat of paint.
It was inevitable—unless the firm had some other work for them to do
somewhere else—that there would be a great slaughter on Saturday.
“Now,” said Philpot, assuming what he meant to be the manner of a
school teacher addressing children, “I wants you hall to make a
speshall heffort and get ’ere very early in the mornin’—say about four
o’clock—and them wot doos the most work tomorrer, will get a prize on
Saturday.”
“What’ll it be, the sack?” inquired Harlow.
“Yes,” replied Philpot, “and not honly will you get a prize for good
conduck tomorrer, but if you all keep on workin’ like we’ve bin doing
lately till you’re too hold and wore hout to do any more, you’ll be
allowed to go to a nice workhouse for the rest of your lives! and each
one of you will be given a title—‘Pauper!’”
And they laughed!
Although the majority of them had mothers or fathers or other near
relatives who had already succeeded to the title—they laughed!
As they were going home, Crass paused at the gate, and pointing up to
the large gable at the end of the house, he said to Philpot:
“You’ll want the longest ladder—the 65, for that, tomorrow.”
Philpot looked up at the gable.
It was very high.