most effective," Facts for Socialists," is unsigned seems to indicate that the author-apparently a well-known leader of the Fabians-had some sense of shame, and it is to be hoped that the Fabian Society will immediately, and publicly, repudiate this dishonest pamphlet. The statements contained in the pamphlet "Facts for Socialists," may be misleading and utterly dishonest, but they are very useful for propaganda purposes. Nothing is more likely to inflame the masses than to be told that the "idle rich" take more than two-thirds of the national income. The practical effect of this pamphlet may be seen in utterances such as the following: "It has been estimated that in our country of the wealth produced, onethird is enjoyed by those who earn it and two-thirds by those who have not laboured for it. To put it in other words, of every three pounds earned by labour, one pound goes to him who earned it and two pounds to others who have done nothing towards its production." "For twothirds of his time the worker is a slave, labouring not for himself but for others."2 "On the average at the present time the workers produce nearly four times as much as they consume." "Nearly two-thirds of the wealth produced is retained by an eighth of the population." 4 "The great mass of the people, the weekly wage-earners, four out of five of the whole population, toil perpetually for less than a third of the aggregate product of labour, at an annual wage averaging at most 401. per adult, and are hurried into unnecessarily early graves by the severity of their lives." 5 "Out of the wealth which his labour creates, the worker receives but one-third. He is paid one-third the value of his labour, and when he "3 Ward, The Ideal City, pp. 5, 6. ? Keir Hardie, From Serfdom to Socialism, p. 15. 3 Quelch, Social-Democratic Federation, p. 5. • Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, p. 8. seeks to lay it out he is robbed of one-half its purchasing power, and all this is done by a Christian people."1 "Q. How does the capitalist act? A. He extorts from those labourers who are excluded from the land a share of all that they produce, under threat of withholding from them the implements of production and thus refusing to let them work at all.-Q. On what terms does the capitalist allow the labourers to work? A. The capitalist agrees to return to them as wages about a quarter of what they have produced by their work, keeping the remaining three-quarters for himself and his class.-Q. What is this system called? A. The capitalist system." 2 By analysing the returns of the income-tax, various economists show that the value received by the working class and the superintendents of labour amount to a third or less of the wealth produced. The income-tax returns, however, are not a very reliable test of the degree of exploitation, though, of course, they afford us valuable and incontestable evidence that the worker does not receive more than a third of what he produces. One to four, or one to five, in my opinion, expresses more accurately the rate of exploitation." 3 I am not prepared to give an estimate how the national income is distributed between hand workers, brain workers, and men who live on their income without doing any useful work, because such an estimate could be arrived at only by guesswork. However, it is quite clear that it is untrue that the wage-earners receive only one-third, one-fourth, or one-fifth of the wages which they ought to receive, as is constantly stated. 'Keir Hardie, Can a Man be a Christian on a Pound a Week? p. 7. 2 Joynes, The Socialist Catechism, p. 2. Hazell, Summary of Marx's" Capital," p. 9. E CHAPTER IV THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF SOCIALISM IN describing the doctrines of Socialism I do not mean to state in detail the whole of the Socialistic theories. Such a statement would fill a volume, it would be excessively tedious to most readers, and it is for all practical purposes quite unnecessary. A statement of the leading doctrines on which the activity of the Socialists is based -the doctrines which are constantly asserted and which are the fundamental dogmas of the Socialist faith—will enable us to obtain a clear view of the foundations upon which the theoretic fabric of Socialism is built, and to judge whether that foundation is scientific and sound, or unscientific and unsound. The basic doctrine of Socialism, upon which the great edifice of Socialistic theory has been reared, may be summed up in the phrase "LABOUR IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF WEALTH Therefore we read in the celebrated pamphlet "Facts for Socialists," of which some important extracts were given in the preceding chapter: "Commodities are produced solely by the efforts and sacrifices' (Cairns), whether of muscle or of brain, of the working portion of the community, employed upon the gifts of Nature. Adam Smith showed that labour is the only source of wealth. . . . . . It is to labour, therefore, and to labour only, that man owes everything possessed of exchangeable 6 value (McCulloch's 'Principles of Political Economy,' Part II., section 1). No wealth whatever can be produced without labour' (Professor Henry Fawcett (Cambridge), 'Manual of Political Economy,' p. 13).” 1 This statement is scarcely honest, for it quotes opinions of Adam Smith and others which are erroneous, as will be seen in the following, and which have been generally abandoned. This statement may impose upon the simple by its show of learning, but it is somewhat vague, for it only suggests, but does not distinctly assert, that manual labour is the only source of wealth. However, in most-one might say in nearly all-Socialist books, pamphlets, and declarations of policy we find the basic doctrine of Socialism asserted in a form which leaves no doubt that according to the Socialist theories the manual labour of the labourer is the only source of wealth. The founder of modern Socialism declared, "Labour is the only source of wealth," and his disciples-at least his British disciples-support that declaration. "All wealth is due to labour; therefore, to the labourers all wealth is due." 3 "Labour applied to natural objects is the source of all wealth." 4 The Socialist Party of Great Britain declares: "Wealth is natural material converted by labour-power to man's use, and as such is consequently produced by the working class alone." 5 The Independent Labour party asserts: "No man or class of men made the first kind of wealth, such as land, minerals, and water. Therefore no man or class of men should be allowed to call these things their own, or to prevent others from using them (except on certain conditions), as the landowners and mine-owners do now. Facts for Socialists, p. 3. 2 Hazell, Summary of Marx's "Capital," p. 1; Macdonald, Socialism, P. 54. * Socialism made Plain, p. 8. 4 Hobart, Social-Democracy, p. 7. Manifesto, Socialist Party of Great Britain, p. 8. The only class of human beings who make the second kind of wealth are the workers. Working men and women produce and prepare for us all those things which we use or consume, such as food, clothing, houses, furniture, instruments and implements, trams, railways, pictures, books, gas, drains, and many other things. They produce all the wealth obtained by toil from the land." i 1 Those who maintain that labour, or, as some Socialists assert, the labourer's labour, is the only source of wealth, look merely at the mechanical factor, but omit the force which directs and controls it. The Socialistic argument "We can run the mills without the capitalists, but they cannot run them without us" is misleading. Labour is certainly an indispensable ingredient in production, but it is no more indispensable than is direction, invention, and thrift. Hence it is as absurd to assert "All wealth is due to labour as to say "All wealth is due to invention," or "All wealth is due to thrift." As the brain is more important than the hand, at least in a highly organised state of production, so invention, organisation, management, and thrift are more important than manual labour, because invention, organisation, management, and thrift alone enable manual labour, working with modern machinery, to be highly productive. In fact, it may be asserted that wealth is created not so much by labour as by the saving of labour. A factory-owner who is dissatisfied with the profits of his factory or with its products does not get better workers, but gets a better manager or better machinery, keeping his workers. This fact proves that labour is the least important factor in modern production. The doctrine "Labour is the only source of wealth" is untenable and absurd. What Socialism Means: Independent Labour Party Leaflet, No. 8, p. 3. 2 Debs, Industrial Unionism, p. 20. |