Slavery is not yet abolished. So long as the worker is deprived of ownership and control of the instruments of production, so long as the workers' labour-power is a commodity which they are obliged to sell to another, we are not free, be he or she white or black. He or she is simply a slave to a master and from morning until night is as much a bondsman as any negro cotton picker on the plantations ever were. Slaves are cheaper now and do more work than at any time in the world’s history. The same principle of subjection that ruled in the chattel system rules in the wage system. What does slavery consist?
It consists in the compulsory using of men for the benefit of the user. One who is forced to yield to another a part of the product of his toil is a slave. That the worker can today change masters does not alter the fact. The plantation blacks were slaves, not because of a certain master, but because they must yield a part of the wealth they produced to a master. Today they may desert one master but they must look for another or starve, and this necessity constitutes continued slavery. Under the old system a slave was sure of a master and consequently livelihood. One of the greatest curses of modern slavery is the fear of the slave that he or she may lose a position of servitude. Many a wage slave would gladly exchange their freedom to leave their master for a guarantee that their master would not discharge them. Formerly the masters overbid each other to get the slaves, today, the slaves underbid each other to get a master, and not to get a master means starvation. The loss of the security of existence is the fearful price which the worker has been obliged to pay for so-called liberty.
The insecurity of the wage worker is the greatest curse of the present system. Closely connected with this is the dependence which inheres in the wage system. The wage workers are absolutely dependent for their daily bread upon the favour or whim of their master. Indeed, the wage earner is a wage slave. The intensity of this slavery depends upon the amount of time which the workers are compelled to work gratuitously for others. Under present conditions they must work the greater portion of their time for some one else. It is thus that the wage-earning class is a slave to the employing class. Workers may change their master, but they are still at the mercy of the master class. The choice of the chattel slave was between work and the lash, the choice of a wage slave is between work and starvation. The whip of hunger is all sufficient to drive the wage slave to his task. The worker today, then, is a slave, bound by the pressure of economic wants to compulsory servitude to idle capitalist masters. Workers are obliged to sell their liberties in exchange for the means of subsistence. A worker is under the greatest tyranny of which it is possible to conceive — the tyranny of want. By this lash men and women are driven to work long hours and in unpleasand and unhealthy occupations and to live in tenement slums in our inner cities or housing estate sprawls that for vileness would surpass the slave quarters of old.
The person who has no work or is compelled to submit to wages dictated by a corporation, and is at the beck and call of a master for ten hours a day has not much personal liberty to brag of over the chattel slave. It is quite evident that the working class has not yet secured anything worthy to be called freedom and are still in need of emancipation.
Socialism is the only remedy it is the only escape from personal or class rule. It would put an end to economic despotism and establish popular self-government in the industrial realm. Economic democracy is a corollary of political democracy.
We want every person engaged in industry whether male or female, white or black, young or old to have a voice in making the rules under which they must work. In socialism the workers would elect their own administrators, regulate their hours of work and determine the conditions and intensity under which production would be carried on. We may be sure that when this power is vested in the producing class the factories will be arranged according to convenience and beauty and well lit, heated and ventilated and every precaution taken against accidents. In other words, in socialism the labourers would have absolute freedom in the economic sphere in place of the present absolute servitude. Socialists emphasise the need of this economic freedom, for it is the basis of all freedom. Intellectual and moral freedom is practically nullified today through the absence of economic liberty.
Not only would socialism secure to the producers greater liberty within the economic sphere, but what would be of more importance is the liberty would be offered to all outside the sphere of wage-slavery. The real restrictions today are economic. We are prevented from doing the things we would like to do, not by governmental restrictions, but by limited means. If one would like to take a trip abroad. No statute prohibits it, but only restricted by the lack of the needed resources.
But it is not only freedom of labour but freedom from labour that socialists seek. With a scientific organisation of industry, eliminating all the wastes of the present system, two or three hours a day would suffice to supply all the comforts and even luxuries of life. This would secure to the labourer the leisure necessary to enable him to develop his faculties and which could be devoted to recreation and travel.
Socialism, then, would secure to the labourers the utmost freedom both within and without the economic sphere. It would enable men and omen to live as human beings and would secure to each, regardless of nationality, the best opportunity for free development and movement. There can be no liberty in economic dependence. The individual who is in want or in the fear of want is not free. No-o is free if they do not possess the means of livelihood. As long as they must look to the pleasure or profit of another for a living they are not independent and without independence there can be no freedom. Freedom will become the heritage of all as soon as socialism is realised because it will guarantee to all security, independence and prosperity by securing labour to all and recompensing each according to needs. Socialism contains the only hope for civilisation. True liberty and freedom can only be attained in the cooperative commonwealth. Socialism recognises no class nor race nor gender distinction. It draws no line of exclusion.
The struggle between the black and white, between native and foreign born to sell themselves in the auction of the new slave market has, in many quarters, engendered bitter feelings, and that they might bid the fiercer against each other the masters have fanned this prejudice into hate. This antagonism will cease in socialism, and with it the hatred which springs from all class conflicts. It will even disappear under the present system just in proportion as workers recognise the solidarity of human labour. Socialism emphasises the fact that the interests of all members of the working class are identical regardless of race or sex. In this common class interest race distinctions are forgotten. If this is true of socialists today, how much more will it be true when humanity is lifted to the higher plane where the economic interests of all are identical.
Socialism, then, offers the joys and privileges of an emancipated humanity. It proposes and equal opportunity for the attainment of wealth and progress Socialism will obtain the enjoyment of the inalienable rights of all men and women to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, in common with all wage slaves, we are deprived by an economic system of inequality, of the privilege of exercising such rights. In the new economic environment where the people will enjoy equality of opportunity, we will take on a new development. The only hope for humanity is in socialism, that system of society that gives to every individual, without regard to race, colour or sex, an equal opportunity to develop the best within themselves. In such a society an individual’s social position will be determined by the use he makes of his opportunities by what he becomes. Socialism, then, is the only hope for the World. To realise this ideal is the mission of the working class. Modern production is wiping out all distinction of race, nationality and colour and dividing society into two classes — the workers and the capitalists. The interests of these two classes are diametrically opposed, and the time has come for the exploited to join hands at the ballot box against the common enemy capitalism.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the only political organisation that has anything to offer. The Conservatives and Labour Parties are both parties of capitalism, and could not help if they would, and would not if they could. There is absolutely no choice between these two parties. They both represent the interests of the capitalist class and their sham battles are for the purpose of dividing the working class into various factions lest they unite to secure their freedom.
It consists in the compulsory using of men for the benefit of the user. One who is forced to yield to another a part of the product of his toil is a slave. That the worker can today change masters does not alter the fact. The plantation blacks were slaves, not because of a certain master, but because they must yield a part of the wealth they produced to a master. Today they may desert one master but they must look for another or starve, and this necessity constitutes continued slavery. Under the old system a slave was sure of a master and consequently livelihood. One of the greatest curses of modern slavery is the fear of the slave that he or she may lose a position of servitude. Many a wage slave would gladly exchange their freedom to leave their master for a guarantee that their master would not discharge them. Formerly the masters overbid each other to get the slaves, today, the slaves underbid each other to get a master, and not to get a master means starvation. The loss of the security of existence is the fearful price which the worker has been obliged to pay for so-called liberty.
The insecurity of the wage worker is the greatest curse of the present system. Closely connected with this is the dependence which inheres in the wage system. The wage workers are absolutely dependent for their daily bread upon the favour or whim of their master. Indeed, the wage earner is a wage slave. The intensity of this slavery depends upon the amount of time which the workers are compelled to work gratuitously for others. Under present conditions they must work the greater portion of their time for some one else. It is thus that the wage-earning class is a slave to the employing class. Workers may change their master, but they are still at the mercy of the master class. The choice of the chattel slave was between work and the lash, the choice of a wage slave is between work and starvation. The whip of hunger is all sufficient to drive the wage slave to his task. The worker today, then, is a slave, bound by the pressure of economic wants to compulsory servitude to idle capitalist masters. Workers are obliged to sell their liberties in exchange for the means of subsistence. A worker is under the greatest tyranny of which it is possible to conceive — the tyranny of want. By this lash men and women are driven to work long hours and in unpleasand and unhealthy occupations and to live in tenement slums in our inner cities or housing estate sprawls that for vileness would surpass the slave quarters of old.
The person who has no work or is compelled to submit to wages dictated by a corporation, and is at the beck and call of a master for ten hours a day has not much personal liberty to brag of over the chattel slave. It is quite evident that the working class has not yet secured anything worthy to be called freedom and are still in need of emancipation.
Socialism is the only remedy it is the only escape from personal or class rule. It would put an end to economic despotism and establish popular self-government in the industrial realm. Economic democracy is a corollary of political democracy.
We want every person engaged in industry whether male or female, white or black, young or old to have a voice in making the rules under which they must work. In socialism the workers would elect their own administrators, regulate their hours of work and determine the conditions and intensity under which production would be carried on. We may be sure that when this power is vested in the producing class the factories will be arranged according to convenience and beauty and well lit, heated and ventilated and every precaution taken against accidents. In other words, in socialism the labourers would have absolute freedom in the economic sphere in place of the present absolute servitude. Socialists emphasise the need of this economic freedom, for it is the basis of all freedom. Intellectual and moral freedom is practically nullified today through the absence of economic liberty.
Not only would socialism secure to the producers greater liberty within the economic sphere, but what would be of more importance is the liberty would be offered to all outside the sphere of wage-slavery. The real restrictions today are economic. We are prevented from doing the things we would like to do, not by governmental restrictions, but by limited means. If one would like to take a trip abroad. No statute prohibits it, but only restricted by the lack of the needed resources.
But it is not only freedom of labour but freedom from labour that socialists seek. With a scientific organisation of industry, eliminating all the wastes of the present system, two or three hours a day would suffice to supply all the comforts and even luxuries of life. This would secure to the labourer the leisure necessary to enable him to develop his faculties and which could be devoted to recreation and travel.
Socialism, then, would secure to the labourers the utmost freedom both within and without the economic sphere. It would enable men and omen to live as human beings and would secure to each, regardless of nationality, the best opportunity for free development and movement. There can be no liberty in economic dependence. The individual who is in want or in the fear of want is not free. No-o is free if they do not possess the means of livelihood. As long as they must look to the pleasure or profit of another for a living they are not independent and without independence there can be no freedom. Freedom will become the heritage of all as soon as socialism is realised because it will guarantee to all security, independence and prosperity by securing labour to all and recompensing each according to needs. Socialism contains the only hope for civilisation. True liberty and freedom can only be attained in the cooperative commonwealth. Socialism recognises no class nor race nor gender distinction. It draws no line of exclusion.
The struggle between the black and white, between native and foreign born to sell themselves in the auction of the new slave market has, in many quarters, engendered bitter feelings, and that they might bid the fiercer against each other the masters have fanned this prejudice into hate. This antagonism will cease in socialism, and with it the hatred which springs from all class conflicts. It will even disappear under the present system just in proportion as workers recognise the solidarity of human labour. Socialism emphasises the fact that the interests of all members of the working class are identical regardless of race or sex. In this common class interest race distinctions are forgotten. If this is true of socialists today, how much more will it be true when humanity is lifted to the higher plane where the economic interests of all are identical.
Socialism, then, offers the joys and privileges of an emancipated humanity. It proposes and equal opportunity for the attainment of wealth and progress Socialism will obtain the enjoyment of the inalienable rights of all men and women to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, in common with all wage slaves, we are deprived by an economic system of inequality, of the privilege of exercising such rights. In the new economic environment where the people will enjoy equality of opportunity, we will take on a new development. The only hope for humanity is in socialism, that system of society that gives to every individual, without regard to race, colour or sex, an equal opportunity to develop the best within themselves. In such a society an individual’s social position will be determined by the use he makes of his opportunities by what he becomes. Socialism, then, is the only hope for the World. To realise this ideal is the mission of the working class. Modern production is wiping out all distinction of race, nationality and colour and dividing society into two classes — the workers and the capitalists. The interests of these two classes are diametrically opposed, and the time has come for the exploited to join hands at the ballot box against the common enemy capitalism.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the only political organisation that has anything to offer. The Conservatives and Labour Parties are both parties of capitalism, and could not help if they would, and would not if they could. There is absolutely no choice between these two parties. They both represent the interests of the capitalist class and their sham battles are for the purpose of dividing the working class into various factions lest they unite to secure their freedom.
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