THE ATTITUDE OF SOCIALISTS TOWARDS THE WORKING MASSES
Before investigating the attitude of British Socialism towards the
working masses, it is necessary to take note of its doctrines
regarding work.
Most thinkers, from the time of King Solomon, Socrates, and Confucius
down to the present age, have seen in work conscientiously performed a
blessing; many, probably most, British Socialists declare it to be a
curse and a vice. The leading English philosopher of Socialism, for
instance, tells us: "To the Socialist labour is an evil to be
minimised to the utmost. The man who works at his trade or avocation
more than necessity compels him, or who accumulates more than he can
enjoy, is not a hero but a fool from the Socialists' standpoint."[341]
A leading French Socialist informs us: "Through listening to the
fallacious utterances of the middle-class economists, the workers have
delivered themselves body and soul to the vice of work."[342] When Mr.
Victor Grayson, M.P., a Socialist, in a speech ventured to refer to
work as "one of the greatest blessings and privileges ever conferred
on humanity," one of the Socialist papers wrote: "Victor Grayson is
simply an agent of the capitalist class. Is Mr. Victor Grayson, M.P.,
trying to allure the capitalist class by picturing work as a blessing,
or is he trying to get the worker to look upon work through a rosy
mist conjured from the brains of the capitalist's agent who is
saturated with capitalist philosophy? It is time the Beatitudes were
extended or revised. How would this do?--'Blessed is the worker who
works (for the capitalist), for he shall inherit the kingdom (of
starvation and misery under capitalism).' 'Blessed is work in itself,
because it enables (the capitalist) to live in peace and happiness.'
Since work is a blessing, it follows that whatever saves work is a
curse. All the beautiful machinery which the working class have shed
their life blood to produce, to develop which an army of them have
been sacrificed under capitalism by the capitalists; this which the
workers of ages and ages have contributed their mite towards; have
laboured long and suffered silently to create; this is an
evil!!!"[343]
British Socialists do their utmost to convert the workers into
shirkers by teaching them not only that work is an evil in itself, but
by constantly admonishing them, "on scientific grounds," to work as
little as possible during the time they are employed. "It is the
interest of the employer to get as much work out of his hands as
possible for as little wages as possible. It is the interest of the
workers to get as high a wage as possible for as little labour as
possible."[344] "The workers have been taught by the practical
economists of the trade-unions, and have learnt for themselves by
bitter experience, that every time any of them in a moment of ambition
or good will does one stroke of work not in his bond, he is increasing
the future unpaid labour not only of himself, but of his
fellows."[345]
The Independent Labour Party has issued a leaflet entitled "Are you a
Socialist?" in which the question occurs, "Do you believe that every
individual should have sufficient leisure to cultivate his higher
faculties and enjoy life to the fullest extent?" and the answer is,
"If you say 'Yes,' join the Independent Labour Party and help to carry
its principles into effect."[346]
Many Socialists promise the workers that the Socialist State of the
future will abolish the curse of work by greatly diminishing the hours
of labour. A leading English Socialist writer says: "It is as plainly
demonstrable as that twice four make eight that a due system of
organised effort would enable your 43,000,000 of people to win from
Nature an overflowing superfluity of all that man desires, without
one-fourth the effort put forth now to win a beggarly subsistence so
far short of what your community requires that 13,000,000 of your
people live continually upon the very verge of starvation."[347] A
leading American Socialist promises somewhat vaguely, "A few hours of
work will secure to everybody all necessaries, decencies, and comforts
of life."[348] William Morris tells us that four hours' work will
suffice, and that it will not all be "mere machine-tending."[349]
Morrison-Davidson prophesies that the "hours of labour will probably
not exceed a minimum of two and a maximum of five daily."[350] Hyndman
feels quite certain that "two or three hours' labour out of the
twenty-four by all adult males would be enough to give the whole
community all the wholesome necessaries and comforts of life,"[351]
and Bax thinks that "In a perfectly organised Socialist State men
never worked more than two or three hours a day."[352] Yves Guyot
wittily says: "There is no reason why their demands should not go
further. Zero alone can bid them defiance."[353] It is worth noting
that many Anarchists also promise a great lessening of the hours of
labour when the State has been destroyed. Kropotkin, for instance,
requires only from four to five hours' work.[354] Agitators desirous
to secure the support of the workers cannot be too lavish in their
promises.
In the Socialist State of the future a few hours' work every day will
give boundless prosperity to all, for "Wealth may easily be made as
plentiful as water at the expense of trifling toil."[355] "Under
Socialism, nineteen-twentieths of the people will be better off
materially than they are to-day, for they will be equal partners in
all the productive and distributive wealth of the community."[356]
"Comparative affluence would be enjoyed by each member of the
community."[357]
In the Socialist commonwealth of the future "all wages will be
immediately increased," for "the social community will apply itself to
raise all salaries of workers and peasants."[358] "In a Socialist
State you will have everyone paid a living wage. The surplus will be
dispensed by the State, bringing happiness to the whole
community."[359]
The British national revenue amounts at present only to a little more
than _140,000,000l._ By the abolition of the private capitalists and
landowners the Socialist Government of Great Britain "would at once
find themselves in possession of a revenue amounting to some
_900,000,000l._ per annum, and would probably be puzzled for a time
how to dispose of it and prevent themselves being buried under its
accumulation."[360] This is neither a joke nor a misprint, for the
well-known writer, author of countless Socialist pamphlets, continues:
"After a variety of attempts to dispose of it by dividing into good
fat salaries among those of your community who had had least to do
with its production, after the usual custom, I believe means would be
employed ultimately for inducing them to keep it under by increasing
the wages of the workers, which is another way of saying that those
whose labour had produced the wealth would be allowed to enjoy it,
which would be something quite novel."[361]
The Socialist Government would not only diminish the working hours
making them from three to five hours a day, but would also double and
treble wages, partly in order to get rid of the glut of money flowing
into the National Exchequer, partly because the workers would
presumably receive the whole produce of their labour (see Chapter IV.)
in the form of wages as soon as the private capitalists were
eliminated. Repairs, renewals, replacement of capital losses, and the
extension of national industry, which are at present effected out of
the savings of private capitalists, would, under the Socialist
_regime_, apparently no longer be required, and direction,
supervision, and distribution would apparently no longer cost
anything. The workers are quite seriously told by the philosopher of
British Socialism, collaborating with the editor of "Justice": "Under
present conditions the total wealth produced would, if equitably
divided, amount to a value equal to more than _200l._ per year per
family. But to suppose that any mere distributive readjustment is what
is meant by Socialism is to entirely misunderstand what Socialism
really involves. Socialism means the complete reorganisation of
production as well as distribution. With production scientifically and
socially organised, the productivity of labour would be quintupled,
and the amount of wealth would be increased in proportion."[362] In
other words, there would be _1,000l._ a year for each family. Another
Socialist more plainly states: "At the present hour it is calculated
that the wealth of the United Kingdom exceeds 2,000 millions per year.
This divided among forty millions gives _250l._ per family. It is said
that the abolition of waste labour and the absorption of the idle
classes would quadruple the production. One thousand pounds per year
per family is a very good standard of comfort under a co-operative
system of living."[363]
The two estimates agree in this, that the Socialist family of five
should receive in wages _1,000l._ per annum, or about _3l. 10s._ per
working day. In another chapter we shall learn that in the Socialist
State only the young and strong would work, and they would work, as we
have seen in the foregoing pages, between three and four hours a day.
In other words, the worker who earns now, say, _10d._ an hour, would,
under the Socialist commonwealth, receive _1l._ per hour. Who would
not be a Socialist?
A leading German Socialist has endeavoured to gauge the effect of
Socialism upon the working classes. In making his calculations he has
borne in mind the necessity of providing for the wear and tear of
capital, and for other expenditure, and he has arrived at the
conclusion: "A generous sick insurance will have to be set up, as well
as an invalid and old-age insurance for all incapacitated workers, &c.
Thus we see that not much will remain for the raising of the wages
from the present income of the capitalists, even if capital were
confiscated at a stroke, still less if we were to compensate the
capitalists. It will consequently be necessary, in order to be able to
raise the wages, to raise at the same time the production far above
its present level."[364]
The value of high wages lies in the produce they buy. It is of course
quite clear that a nation, in order to consume more, must also produce
more. It would be interesting to know whether leading Socialists, such
as Messrs. Bax, Quelch, and Hazell, who must be acquainted with the
sober estimates of the German Socialists, honestly believe that under
a Socialist _regime_ _1,000l._ per annum will be available per family,
or whether these statements have only been made to obtain supporters
on the not very honourable principle, _Vulgus vult decipi,
decipiatur_.
Let us now look into the practical proposals of the Socialists to the
workers.
In the official programme of the Social-Democratic Federation[365] the
following "Immediate Reforms" concerning the workers are demanded:
"A legislative eight hours' working day, or forty-eight hours per
week, to be the maximum for all trades and industries. Imprisonment to
be inflicted on employers for any infringement of the law. Absolute
freedom of combination for all workers, with legal guarantee against
any action, private or public, which tends to curtail or infringe it.
No child to be employed in any trade or occupation until sixteen years
of age, and imprisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and
guardians who infringe this law. Public provision of useful work at
not less than trade-union rates of wages for the unemployed. Free
State insurance against sickness and accident, and free and adequate
State pensions or provision for aged and disabled workers. Public
assistance not to entail any forfeiture of political rights. The
legislative enactment of a minimum wage of _30s._ for all workers.
Equal pay for both sexes for the performance of equal work."
It will be noticed that imprisonment is to be inflicted upon employers
who allow their men to work overtime. Would there also be
imprisonment for workers working undertime? Similar demands have been
made by other Socialist bodies. Let us look more closely into some of
those demands which are to be fulfilled forthwith.
OLD-AGE PENSIONS
With the same recklessness with which the Socialist leaders promise to
the working man a large income in return for three or four hours'
daily work in the golden age of Socialism, they try to dazzle him with
promises of wonderful old-age pension schemes which are to be carried
out in the immediate future. Mr. Smart thinks "The smallest sum upon
which an old man can exist, even when his lodging is provided by his
friends, is _7s._ a week. The pension, therefore, should not be less
than this amount, and should be obtainable at sixty years of age. The
annual cost for a universal system would be, with the necessary
administrative expenses, about _60,000,000l._"[366] To Councillor
Glyde the pensionable age of sixty seems to be too high, and the
pension too low. Therefore he proposes that "Old-age pensions of at
least _7s. 6d._ per week should be provided for all aged workers over
fifty-five years of age."[367] But why should a working man have to
wait till he is fifty-five before receiving a pension? In another
pamphlet, Mr. Glyde amends his scheme and tells us, "To give a pension
of _7s. 6d._ per week to all who wished to give up work at fifty years
of age would have very satisfactory results. In the first place, it
would make the aged workers happy and comfortable. In the second
place, it would help to solve the unemployed question by the steady
withdrawal of the aged workmen from the labour market, give them
purchasing power, and thus find a home market for the productivity of
the younger, able-bodied workers. Thirdly, it would prevent the
competition for jobs, and the playing off against the younger workmen
by the employers of the cheaper-paid labour of those who cannot as
they formerly could, so that there would be less strikes, reduction in
wages, and petty tyranny practised upon the younger generation of
workers. Fourthly, it would cause the abolition of workhouses, with
their great army of expensive, well-paid officials. There would be no
need for workhouses, because cottage homes would be provided for those
who were infirm and feeble, on the lines of the present homes for
children; an infirmary for those who were sick and invalids, and
asylums for the imbecile. Thousands would be cared for by relatives
and friends. Fifthly, by Imperial funds being used for old-age
pensions, the Poor rate could be reduced from _6d._ to _1s._ in the
pound. These reforms could be carried out without a single farthing
extra taxation, nor anyone being any worse off than formerly, by the
practice of economy."[368] To pension all workers at fifty would cost
about _100,000,000l._ a year, and I think it would be very difficult
to save that amount on a budget of _140,000,000l._ unless army, navy,
and civil service were abolished. Mr. Morrison Davidson is neither
satisfied with a pension of _7s. 6d._ a week nor with the pensionable
ages of sixty, fifty-five, or even of fifty. He proposes, therefore,
that "Superannuation _on full pay_ will take place at, say, forty-five
or, at the most, fifty."[369]
UNEMPLOYMENT
In the Socialist State of the future there would be no unemployed
workers. Many Socialist writers make forecasts such as the following:
"Under Socialism all the work of the nation would be organised--that
is to say, it would be 'ordered,' or 'arranged,' so that no one need
be out of work and so that no useless work need be done, and so that
no work need be done twice where once would serve."[370] "There would
be a mathematical ordering of production determined by the demands of
the consumer."[371] "Periods of glut and want of work will be
impossible in the new community."[372]
It is already difficult enough even for the ablest manager to secure
constant employment to workers in a moderate-sized manufactory, shop,
or office. A Socialist Administration composed of fallible men would
have to control and satisfy the whole national demand and supply. It
would have to sow and to reap, to dig for coal and ore, to fish, to
manufacture and to distribute everything wanted and made by all the
people. At the same time it would have to control the vast
international trade on the regular flow of which constant employment
in Great Britain necessarily depends. To satisfy every demand by an
adequate supply, it would therefore have to direct and control not
only all British industries, but also the fashions and the seasons in
Great Britain and in all the countries which stand in commercial
relations with the United Kingdom. The British Socialist
Administration would not only have to provide a sufficient cotton crop
in the United States, a sufficient wool crop in Australia, a
sufficient wheat crop in Canada, but it would also have to provide an
adequate demand for British cotton goods in India and China, for
British coal on the continent of Europe, &c. It would have to provide
sufficient sun in America to produce an adequate cotton crop and
sufficient rain in India to enable the natives to buy part of that
cotton crop in the shape of manufactured articles made in Lancashire.
Unless the Socialist Administration controls not only all foreign
tariffs but also Nature the world over, there might be unemployment in
a socialised Great Britain--and worse.
The doctrines of English Socialism may be summed up in a single
phrase. Every existing evil is due solely to the capitalistic system,
and every existing evil can be abolished only by Socialism.
Unemployment is no exception to the rule. Our Socialists have, for
reasons which will presently be given, concentrated much energy upon
convincing the working masses that unemployment is due solely to
private property in land and capital. The Social-Democratic Federation
has shown that "The existence of an unemployed class is an essential
characteristic of the capitalist system."[373] The Fabian Society in
congress assembled has registered the declaration: "That the existence
of a class of unemployed willing but unable to find work is a
necessary result of the present industrial system, in which every
improvement in machinery throws fresh masses of men out of work"
[would improved machinery not have the same effect in the Socialist
commonwealth?] "and the competition of capitalists for the market
produces recurring commercial crises; that, consequently, unemployment
can only be abolished with the complete abolition of the competitive
system, and can only be limited in proportion as order and regulation
are introduced into the present competitive confusion."[374] Yet the
same Fabian Society frankly admits in another pamphlet that "No plan
has yet been devised by which the fluctuations of work could be
entirely prevented, or safe and profitable employment found for those
rendered idle by no fault of their own. It is easy enough to demand
something should be done, and I entirely agree with agitating the
subject; but something more than agitation is required. It is of no
use urging remedies which can be demonstrably proved to be worse for
the patient than the disease itself. I fear that if we were given full
power to-morrow to deal with the unemployed all over England, we
should find ourselves hard put to it how to solve the problem."[375]
At the last Conference (1907) of the Social-Democratic Federation the
resolution was moved, "That this Conference reasserts its statement
that unemployment is due to the private ownership of land and
capital."[376]
The emphatic statements contained in the foregoing declarations that
unemployment is due to the private ownership of land and capital are
absurd. If the private ownership of land and capital were the cause of
unemployment, unemployment should be almost equally great in all
civilised countries, because in all civilised countries land and
capital are in private hands. Whilst in Great Britain unemployment is
a fearful and permanent evil, it has been practically unknown during a
long time in Germany, where there has been for many years so great a
scarcity of labour that immigration is greater than emigration.[377]
Whilst in capitalist Great Britain employment is so bad that from
200,000 to 300,000 people have to emigrate every year, employment in
capitalist Germany has been excellent, and in the capitalist United
States it has been so good that they have absorbed during a number of
years almost 1,000,000 immigrants per year. These facts prove that
private ownership of land and capital and over-production have nothing
to do with unemployment, which is, as a rule, due not to
over-production but to ill-balanced production, as has been proved on
page 70 of this book. In the case of a country such as Great Britain,
unemployment is due principally to the insufficiency and insecurity of
her markets for her manufactured goods and to the decay of her
agriculture.
The various Socialist organisations have so constantly preached the
doctrine that unemployment is due to the private ownership of land and
capital that the Trade Unions have at last come to believe it. Owing
to Socialist inspiration, the Trade Union Congresses have passed
resolutions in favour of the nationalisation of land and of the other
means of production at most of the meetings since 1888, and a
Socialist weekly has been able to assert that "Every member of the
Socialist Labour Party, either by Trade Union Congresses or by
Independent Labour Party programme, is committed to the
nationalisation of land and the instruments of production."[378] To
the delight of the Socialists, resolutions of the Trade Unions urging
the nationalisation of all land and capital are becoming more and more
emphatic. In the "Social Democrat" for October 1907 we read, under the
heading "Trade Unionists and Unemployment," the following: "The
resolution on unemployment passed at the Bath Trade Union Congress
shows that the Trade Unionists are falling into line with Social
Democrats on this question, and that they are beginning to see that
Trade Unionism alone is no solution for this evil. After referring to
the failure of the Unemployed Workmen Act, and the niggardly manner of
doling out the grant of _200,000l._, the resolution goes on to say
that 'This Congress, recognising that unemployment is now permanent in
character in busy as in slack seasons, in summer and in winter, and is
common to all trades and industries; also that this is due to industry
being unorganised and carried on for private profit and is bound to
continue, and indeed become more accentuated as the development of
machinery and other wage-saving methods proceeds, calls the attention
of the Government to its neglect of the interests of the people in not
grappling with this social evil, and urges it to at once embark upon
work of public utility with the object of (a) absorbing the present
unemployed labour, (b) laying the foundation for a permanent
reorganisation of industry upon a co-operative basis.'"[379]
The Socialists have been anxious to convince the workers that
unemployment is due to the private ownership of land and capital, and
that all unemployed should be relieved by the State because "A really
adequate system of helping the unemployed will completely alter the
relation of power between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It will
make the proletariat masters in the factory. If the workers sell
themselves to-day to the employer, if they allow themselves to be
exploited and oppressed, it is the ghost of unemployment, the whip of
hunger, which compels them to it. If, on the other hand, the worker is
secure in his existence, even when not in work, then nothing is easier
to him than to disable the capitalist. He no longer requires the
capitalist, while the latter cannot conduct his business without him.
When the matter has gone so far as that every employer, whenever a
dispute breaks out, will get the worst of it and be forced to yield,
the capitalists may certainly continue to be managers of the
factories, but they will cease to be their masters and exploiters. But
in that case the capitalists will recognise that they only carry the
burdens and risks of the undertakings without receiving any advantage,
and will be the first to give up capitalist production and insist on
being bought out."[380] "The right to work is a charter of industrial
freedom, the emancipation of labour from capitalist tyranny. Till it
is obtained there can be neither social nor moral progress. When it is
obtained all other things become possible."[381]
The British Labour Party has drafted a Bill which, asserting the right
to work, makes provision of work for the unemployed compulsory and
enables the local authorities compulsorily to acquire land with a view
of setting the unemployed to work.[382] The Annual Conference of the
Independent Labour Party of 1907, going a step further, demanded the
erection of a national department for creating work and giving a
living wage to the unemployed. It resolved:
"This Conference welcomes the news that a Bill to secure the right to
work is to be introduced into Parliament by the Labour party,
expresses the hope that every effort will be made to secure its
passing into law, and declares in favour of the establishment of a
properly equipped and financed national department for dealing with
the whole problem of unemployment on the basis of putting useful work
at a living wage within the reach of every worker, and of training
such as require to be taught in husbandry, and other forms of work
upon the land."[383]
There is a great danger in these proposals.[384] Creating work for the
unemployed may not cure, but may aggravate, the disease which springs
not from private property in land and capital, but from an
insufficient outlet for British manufactures. If the disease is
wrongly treated, the unemployed may become an incubus which will
cripple both workers and capitalists.
A champion of the policy of _laisser faire_ argues: "The State cannot
make work, if by work is meant the doing of something that somebody
wants done. It is of course true that the State can take on new
functions, and do more of the work that is now left to private
enterprise. But that would not make additional employment; it would
only transfer employment from one set of men to another. When the
State or the municipality, instead of seeking to do the thing that is
wanted in the most economical and most efficient manner, deliberately
picks out the least competent workmen and sets them to work on things
that are not wanted, no new wealth is created, and the previous
creation of wealth is diminished, because the taxpayer has been
deprived of the means of employing as many persons as he would have
employed. Artificial jobs may be created for the unemployed, who will
be perfectly conscious that these jobs are artificial, and thus the
independent and self-respecting workman will be arbitrarily deprived
of his job. It cannot be too often repeated that the so-called 'right
to work,' on which Socialists are fond of insisting, means in practice
the right to deprive another man of his job."[385] These arguments are
fallacious. There is work such as the reclamation of the foreshore,
draining of bogs, constructing canals, planting of forests, &c., which
are, as general experience shows, rather the province of the community
than of the private individual. Unemployment may be relieved by the
State and the local authorities if discretion be used. Proposals to
create work of this kind for the genuine unemployed, and to provide
compulsory labour for idlers and loafers, have been advanced by many
Socialists and non-Socialists, and these proposals are worth
considering and adopting.
FOOTNOTES:
[341] Bax, _Religion of Socialism_, p. 94.
[342] Lafargue, _Right to Leisure_, p. 11.
[343] _The Socialist_, October 1907.
[344] Leatham, _The Evolution of the Fourth Estate_, p. 13.
[345] _Fabian Essays in Socialism_, p. 145,
[346] _Are you a Socialist?_ p. 1.
[347] Washington, _A Nation of Slaves_, p. 5.
[348] Gronlund, _Co-operative Commonwealth_, p. 170.
[349] Morris, _A Factory as it Might Be_, p. 10.
[350] Davidson, _The Old Order and the New_, p. 170.
[351] Hyndman, _Socialism and Slavery_, p. 10.
[352] Bax, _Religion of Socialism_, p. 58.
[353] Guyot, _Pretensions of Socialism_, p. 9.
[354] Kropotkin, _Conquete du Pain_, p. 239.
[355] _Socialism Made Plain_, p. 11.
[356] Snowden, _The Individual under Socialism_, p. 10.
[357] _Fabian Essays in Socialism_, p. 159.
[358] Jaures, _Practical Socialism_, p. 6.
[359] _Socialism, For and Against_, p. 11.
[360] Washington, _Milk and Postage Stamps_, p. 5.
[361] _Ibid._ p. 5.
[362] Bax and Quelch, _A New Catechism of Socialism_, p. 17.
[363] A.P. Hazell, _Summary of Marx's "Capital,"_ p. 17.
[364] Kautsky, _The Social Revolution_, p. 18.
[365] See Appendix.
[366] Smart, _Socialism and the Budget_, p. 12.
[367] Councillor Glyde, _A Peep Behind the Scenes on a Board of
Guardians_, p. 27.
[368] Councillor Glyde, _Britain's Disgrace_, pp. 31, 32.
[369] Davidson, _The Old Order and the New_, p. 170.
[370] Robert Blatchford, _Real Socialism_, p. 13.
[371] Ben Tillett, _Trades Unionism and Socialism_, p. 12.
[372] Bebel, _Woman_, p. 192.
[373] Quelch, _The Social-Democratic Federation_, p. 5.
[374] _Report on Fabian Policy and Resolutions_, p. 11.
[375] Webb, _Socialism True and False_, pp. 8, 9.
[376] _Report of 21th Annual Conference, 1907, Social-Democratic
Federation_, p. 17.
[377] Ellis Barker, _Modern Germany_, p. 546.
[378] _New Age_, November 30, 1907.
[379] _Social Democrat_, October 1907, p. 580.
[380] Kautsky, _The Social Revolution_, p. 6.
[381] Russell Smart, _The Right to Work_, p. 15.
[382] A Bill to Provide Work through Public Authorities for Unemployed
Persons.
[383] _Independent Labour Party Report, Annual Conference, 1907_, p.
54.
[384] See Thorold Rogers, _Work and Wages_, p. 557.
[385] Cox, _Socialism_, pp. 37, 39, 40.