SYNDICALISM 
 
 ADAM W. KIRKALDV
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
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 The Cambridge Manuals of Science and 
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 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM
 
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 ECONOMICS 
 
 SYNDICALISM 
 
 ADAM W. KIRKALDY 
 
 M.A., B.LiTT., OXFORD 
 
 M.CoM., BIRMINGHAM 
 
 Professor of Finance in the University of 
 
 Birmingham 
 
 Cambridge : 
 
 at the University Press 
 1914
 
 With the exception of the coat of arms at 
 the foot, the design on the title p>ige is a 
 reproi!::ctlon of one useil bv the earliest known 
 Cambridge printer, J'>hn Siberch, 1521
 
 THE Industrial World is passing through a stage of 
 acute unrest. The situation has not developed 
 suddenly, nor was it unexpected by those who 
 know what has been going on quietly for some years 
 past. 
 
 Pamphlets and leaflets dealing with industrial 
 questions, wages, employment, profits, the wrongs 
 of the workers, the oppression of the employers, 
 have been written by men having a grievance against 
 societjr, or in some cases by clever men eager to lead 
 their readers astray, and to do so of set purpose. 
 These publications have had a wide circulation 
 among the working classes. Many of them are 
 written in an interesting form, and contain half-truths 
 speciously dressed up to resemble facts. They have 
 gradually worked their way, until having for the 
 most part been left uncontradictcd, hundreds of 
 working men have accepted their teachings as proved. 
 And now the seed having been sown, the reaping of 
 the whirlwind has commenced. 
 
 The object of this little book is to draw attention 
 to some points of special interest at the present 
 moment. It is bv no means too late for the back-
 
 viii ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 hone of the industrial army to adopt an attitude on 
 economic questions which will make for evolution 
 and progress instead of revolution and disaster. The 
 chief mischief is wrought by ignorance, or by a par- 
 tial consideration of the natural laws which regulate 
 the industrial sphere. The economists of the early 
 nineteenth century made the mistake of concen- 
 trating too much on the production of wealth. 
 Then arose theorist.^ \vho showed the economist his 
 error, and it was made plain, that not only how 
 to produce wealth to the best advantage and in 
 the greatest amount should be studied, but how 
 wealth when produced should lie distributed among 
 the factors co-operating in its production. Un- 
 happily extremists have Fallen into the error of 
 concentrating their attention on the question of dis- 
 tribution : and this has led to what is called the 
 en' cfinn>/ jiolici/. Some leaders ignore the fact that- 
 labour of all grades is paid out of what it produces, 
 not out of some existing fund. Rising prices are 
 due' to a great extent to the fact that with higher 
 wages and shorter hours there is a smaller output per 
 unit, to some extent caused either directly or in- 
 directly bv this policy. Under such circumstances 
 higher wage--; cannot benefit the working man. 
 \\ha1 i^ needed at the present moment is that all 
 rank-- in the industrial army ^hould be equally well 
 versed in the economic iaws \\liich regulate, noi onlv
 
 PREFACE 
 
 XI 
 
 the production of ivealth, but also its distribution and 
 its consumption. Until this comes about society 
 will continue to grope in the dark, and there will be 
 not only unrest, but the possibility of worse things. 
 
 It is a most hopeful sign that the more serious 
 sections of the working classes are striving after a 
 real knowledge of economic laws and their working. 
 
 I would take this opportunity to thank Mr W. J. 
 Davis, President of the Trade Union Congress, for 
 his ready permission to print the speeches of the 
 French and German Delegates at the Manchester 
 meeting. These speeches speak for themselves. 
 May the time never come when English working 
 men as a body shall accept the opinion that the 
 advancement of their interests depends on a warfare 
 between wage-earners on the one hand and the 
 employing-class and the State on the other ! The 
 acceptance of such teaching can only lead to one 
 result disaster. 
 
 A. W. K. 
 
 1914.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE ... . vii 
 
 CHAP 
 
 I. ( NCONSMOUS AND SEMI-CoNSCIOUS ECONOMISTS . . 1 
 
 II. THE EFFECT OK NATIONALITY ON ECONOMIC THOUGHT 
 
 AND PRACTICE ... ... 17 
 
 III. TIIK ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM IN 
 
 ENGLAND .... . . 33 
 
 IV. EAHLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 54 
 V. INTKRNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM . . 71 
 
 VI. SOCIALISM TO-DAY AND ITS RIVAL SYNDICALISM , !>~ 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 A. THK ADDRKSS OF TIIK FKENCJII DKLKGATK AT THK 
 
 THADK I.\NION CONGRESS, MANCHESTER l!)lo . }]."> 
 
 B. THE ADDRKSS OF TIIK GKRMAN DKLK<;ATE . . 12-") 
 ( . '-'.'AGES AND i'lucEs I'Kini 1H.")0 .... 133 
 
 I). DIAGRAM SHOWING THE THEORY OF PROFITS IN A 
 
 STAPLE INDUSTRY ... . . l.Sf> 
 
 INDEX . l:}-
 
 BOOKS TO CONSULT 
 
 SM Ainm CI.AY. Syndicalism and Labour. John Murray. 
 London. liili'. I-. 
 
 Lui is LKVINK. IMi. I). The Labour Movement in France. (A 
 Study in Revolutionary Syndicalism.) Columbia I Hiver- 
 Mty. I'.tlL'. .f !..')( 
 
 .'. KAM-AY MA- DONAI ,n. M.l*. Syndicali-ui. (A Critical Kx- 
 aniination. ) Constahlc A" ( o London. Is. 
 
 1'iui.ii' S.\o\M>i:.\ . M.I'. The Living' \\aye. FI odder A" 
 Stoujrliton. London. Is. 
 
 1'nn.ii' SNOUDKN, M.I'. Socialism and Syndicalism. Collins. 
 London. I-. 
 
 THK MINKH>' NKXT STKT. (Issued liy the Unofficial Reform 
 Cnmtnittep. ) Robert Davies tt Co. Tonypandy. lull'.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS AND SEMI-CONSCIOUS ECONOMISTS 
 
 To understand the present economic situation, the 
 outcome of which appears to so many people to 
 have resolved itself into an alternative, either 
 socialism or syndicalism, it is necessary to have at 
 least a bowing acquaintance with the development 
 of economic theory and practice from the earliest 
 days. These have really developed as man himself 
 has progressed. 
 
 During the period which is known as ancient 
 history, the economist was unconscious ; during 
 that period which is roughly termed the Middle 
 Ages, he may be called semi-conscious. It was not 
 until about the middle of the seventeenth century 
 that thinking man became conscious that there was 
 a science of economics, and began to make efforts 
 towards unravelling its laws, and understanding its 
 tendencies. 
 
 i
 
 2 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 In this country two great economic events mark 
 the time \vhen the conscious economist appeared 
 upon the scene. At that time England was engaged 
 in wresting from Holland the supremacy in foreign 
 trade and shipping, which the Dutch had taken from 
 the Portuguese. During the time that Amsterdam 
 was the economic centre of the trading community, 
 the great Bank had been founded which had proved 
 of enormous benefit to both local and international 
 business. From the experience of this Bank im- 
 portant lessons as to banking and currency had 
 been learned indeed, it may be said that this 
 great institution, although its organisation was by 
 no means perfect, marks an epoch in commercial 
 history namely, the inauguration of modern bank- 
 ing. As the Knglish began to compete successfully 
 \\ith the Dutch for foreign trade, and London began 
 to take the place of Amsterdam as the great com- 
 mercial centre, there were vague suggestions that a 
 Bank of London should be founded. But until 
 William Paterson propounded his scheme' for the 
 establishment of a Bank oi England, the suggestions 
 failed to take form. Eor tluvr years niter its 
 promulgation Paierson's scheme remained almost 
 unheeded, but in 1G ( .)4, mainly owing to the exigencies 
 of the political situation, the Bank of England was 
 founded. Two years later a recoinage was carried 
 through in England, and round these two events a
 
 ECONOMISTS 3 
 
 very interesting controversy raged, which gave rise 
 to the writing of a considerable number of pamphlets 
 and books, in some of which it is quite evident the 
 writers were beginning to get glimmerings of economic 
 truth. At any rate it is safe to say that about this 
 time there was a definite attempt in England to 
 formulate a science of economics. 
 
 But since both existing customs and prejudices 
 prove that the unconscious or semi-conscious theories 
 of ages long past continue to have an influence over 
 the material world, centuries after their raison 
 d'ltre has ceased, it is not only interesting but 
 necessary, in order to get a real understanding of 
 present-day thought, to trace down, even though it 
 only be possible to do so somewhat skctchily, some 
 of the main thoughts connected with economic 
 theory and practice from ancient days. 
 
 Roughly speaking, there have been four great 
 stages in human development. 
 
 I. The Hunting Stage. Primitive man was a 
 hunter. There were some wild fruits doubtless, but 
 man's food and clothing would consist for the most 
 part of the results of the chase. It must have been 
 a very hard life, for until he devised them, man had 
 no weapons wherewith to hunt and kill the animals 
 he required for food. But the economic situation 
 was a very simple one. There being no private 
 property in land, there was no rent ; and as capita!
 
 4 ECONOMICS AXD SYNDICALISM 
 
 onlv existed in a very rudimentary form, no question 
 would arise as 10 what interest should he paid. .\>,. 
 houever. man progressed, he furnished himself, as 
 \\c know, with rude tools and weapons, the begin- 
 ning-' of eapital, and doubtless he would use surplus 
 skins and surplus tlesh for exchange purposes. There 
 even may have been, as time progressed, a rough 
 and ready kind of currency, but taken as a whole, 
 the economic situation was simple, and as such it 
 has had but little eilect on succeeding generations. 
 
 11. T/t<> I'dxtonil ^tntjc.. As time went on man 
 developed new resource's : he found it possible to 
 domesticate certain animals ; he would capture the 
 younir. or take care of the weakly or slightly injured, 
 and tind that in some instances they were tameable. 
 At any rate, we know that from the hunting stage 
 man entered upon what is called the pastoral 
 stage, and at this juncture he became a shepherd. 
 enjoying a far higher state of existence. Thus the 
 pastoral stage 1 is the second great stage in human 
 development. Here the economic situation de- 
 veloped somewhat, but on the- whole it remained 
 simple. Either slavery or service was instituted, 
 and there mav have been, and doubtless was, a 
 wages question. There was land ownership on a 
 small scale, if only for burial purposes, as one may 
 learn from the history of the Patriarchs in the 
 Book of (ienesi>. The Hocks and herds which
 
 ECONOMISTS 5 
 
 these nomad shepherds collected were personal 
 property, but pasturage was sought by wandering 
 about from district to district, and there was but 
 little thought of permanent settlement. 
 
 III. The Agricultural Stage. Progress continued 
 and eventually settlement began to take place, and 
 mankind passed from the pastoral to the agricultural 
 stage. In this the economic situation developed in 
 many new and interesting directions. In order 
 to practise the arts of agriculture, it was necessary 
 that settlement, including land ownership, or at 
 least security of tenure, should be practised, and so 
 we find man clearing the land and producing new 
 and improved crops, carrying on side by side, each 
 assisting the other, pastoral and agricultural pur- 
 suits ; a very healthy and a very interesting stage 
 of existence, which apparently mankind was loath 
 to leave. 
 
 But progress, although perhaps imperceptible to 
 the man on the spot, continued working in the 
 village communities, which gradually developed in 
 connection with agriculture. In these, moreover, 
 separation of employments was found to give 
 advantages so great, that as time went on each 
 little village had its own wheelwright, carpenter, 
 smith, and other separate tradesmen. The market 
 for which these men worked was known and well- 
 defined ; it consisted of the requirements of the
 
 6 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 little, soli-contained community in the midst of 
 which the lot of these artificers was thrown. 
 
 IV. The ( '(niii<rci<tl and Industrial titnge. As 
 centuries passed, these communities developed, 
 and their needs increased : the simple food, clothing. 
 housing, and amusements of early days no longer 
 sufliced. With imp.oved methods of agriculture, 
 and improved tools for manufacturing articles 
 required by an agricultural community, the men 
 practising separate employments increased their 
 output, with the result that they sought a wider 
 market. In other words, the agricultural stage 
 reached its highest point, and a new era opened 
 out before the progressive man. This is known as 
 the commercial and industrial sta-jv. This stage 
 has continued down to the present time, though it 
 too has been subject to development since the com- 
 paratively simple beginnings made in the agricul- 
 tural village or small town. There was a great 
 advance when what is known as the (Juild System 
 began to be practised. This system had. in its 
 day. a very great and widespread iniluence on 
 mankind. But it tended, as a system, to become 
 petrified and inelastic, and with szTouing ideas 
 concerning liberty, man became dissatisfied, and 
 refused to be bound by archaic (Juild Law. For- 
 tunately this (Juild Law only ran within certain 
 limits, and so the- progressive man went beyond
 
 ECONOMISTS 7 
 
 these limits and commenced manufacturing and 
 trading 011 a new system. Thus the Guild System 
 gave place to the Domestic System. So long as 
 tools were simple, and raw material was only required 
 in comparatively small quantities, cottage industries 
 could be practised with advantage, and the factor 
 could go round collecting what had been manu- 
 factured in this comparatively retail wa}'. The 
 Domestic System had much to commend it. The 
 worker on the whole lived a reasonable and happy 
 existence ; but with invention and discovery, the 
 limits of the market were still further widened, and 
 with international demand, the Domestic System 
 was unable satisfactorily to cope. With the inven- 
 tion of the steam engine and a number of rapidly 
 working machines, the output of a given district 
 could be enormously increased. But at this juncture 
 another phenomenon emerged. With simple tools 
 and a small demand, a scattered population could 
 produce the several commodities required by the 
 market. But for the successful application of 
 steam po\ver it became necessary that as many 
 machines as possible should be run by one engine. 
 Hence the invention of the steam engine brought 
 about what is known as the Industrial Revolution, 
 and the Industrial Revolution brought into existence 
 the manufacturing town with its teeming population, 
 and the many attendant problems.
 
 8 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Now this very sketchily and very roughly traces 
 out centuries of growth : hut the sketch is perhaps 
 sufficient for the immediate purpose. Throughout 
 all these stages there had heen progress, as has been 
 shown, and this progress was always due to some 
 long-headed man or group of men. These men, 
 desiring an enlargement of their life, and keenly 
 anxious to make the most of their opportunities, 
 had the effect of improving and broadening life 
 for the whole of their fellows. These long-headed 
 men were really economists. Jn the early stages of 
 existence they were so unconsciously ; they gradu- 
 ally became semi-conscious of economic possibilities. 
 until with the developments that came at the end 
 of the seventeenth century, full consciousness began 
 to dawn. 
 
 It is of interest to realise that all these stages, 
 which have been briefly described, exist to-day 
 contemporaneously and can be studied from actual 
 life. In North America and other parts of the 
 world, some men are still in the hunting stau'e. In 
 Asia and Africa, the shepherd can still be seen 
 following his calling in much the same way as 
 Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob. Primitive agriculture 1 
 is still practised in various parts of the world, whilst 
 incipient industries and the beginnings of commerce 
 can be studied in more than one country. 
 
 Man has progressed through all the stages that
 
 ECONOMISTS 9 
 
 have been mentioned, and in each stage there can 
 be traced both an economic theory and an eco- 
 nomic practice. There have been laws and customs 
 which not only regulated the society of the day, 
 but many of them have continued to influence man- 
 kind down to the present time. It will be of interest 
 to take one or two instances of old-world theories 
 and practices which have very materially affected 
 subsequent history. 
 
 India, Palestine, and Greece all furnish in- 
 stances of ancient economic theory and practice which 
 have had momentous effects on the economic his- 
 tory of the world. Money was considered to have 
 peculiar powers inherent in it, and as in ancient days 
 borrowers were usually people who were in some 
 trouble, more or less temporary, it was considered 
 that to take interest or usury for the use of a 
 money loan was taking advantage of a poor man's 
 necessity. And further than this, Aristotle de- 
 finite!}* taught that, the precious metals being sterile 
 substances, to pay interest on a money loan was 
 unnatural ; that whilst there was natural increase 
 in the case of the use of an orchard, or a herd of 
 cattle, or a flock of sheep, for a given period (an 
 increase which could be divided between the owner 
 and the borrower), there was no special increase in 
 the case of a loan of metal. In the Vedas, the 
 Brahman was onlv allowed to take interest from a
 
 10 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 wicked person. The teaching of Moses upon this 
 subject contains a very important modification 
 which is not found elsewhere ; for while lie would 
 not permit a Jew to exact usury from a brother 
 Jew. he was careful to add that this law should 
 not apply to any business relations between Jew 
 and Gentile. This exception has indeed had great 
 consequences. When during the Middle Ages the 
 Church, in pursuit of the grandest possible ideal, 
 attempted to set up on earth a true Kingdom of 
 God. the Canon Law was gradually promulgated 
 with the object of regulating the conduct of man- 
 kind both in the spiritual and the material sphere. 
 This Law contains an economic theory, and on the 
 subject of payment of interest on money loans, the 
 reverend authors of the Law apparently forgot their 
 Old Testament and remembered Aristotle, for they 
 altogether prohibited the payment or exaction of 
 usury for a money loan. Hence, when trade and 
 commerce began to develop, the commercial com- 
 munity in Europe found itself sadly hampered by 
 this provision of the Canon Law. Fortunately, 
 however, by. on the one hand, making use of fictions. 
 and on the other, taking advantage of the prophetic 
 foresight of Moses, the difficulty was circumvented, 
 for whilst the Jews were prevented from following 
 a number of trades and professions, there was one 
 occupation which their Law and the Canon Law
 
 ECONOMISTS 1 1 
 
 left open to them. The Jew, for a, time, was the 
 only man who legally and morally could exact 
 interest on a money loan, and so he became the 
 great banker and financier of the world. The ex- 
 ceedingly useful and foreseeing modification allowed 
 by Moses in an otherwise stringent and drastic 
 law has thus had the greatest possible consequences 
 on the financial and commercial history of the 
 world right down to the present moment. 
 
 Again, ancient politics were to a great extent 
 based on slavery. It is true that bond service has 
 passed away, but the effects of the teaching and 
 practice of these early days has continued to exert 
 its influence to the present moment. Trade and 
 business, manufacture and commerce, were looked 
 upon as unworthy occupations for a man of citizen 
 rank. The citizen might be an agriculturist, an 
 administrator, or a soldier, but he must not soil his 
 fingers with trade, and so these occupations, looked 
 upon with scorn by the citizens, were exercised by 
 the servile class. It is needless to say that this 
 class, deprived of the possibility of broadening their 
 outlook and humanising their intellects with culture 
 and education, developed qualities which tended to 
 increase still further the scorn with which the 
 citizen regarded them. Labour was degraded, the 
 producers were cut off from intellectual pursuits 
 and excluded from public life, and this for centuries
 
 12 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 militated against industrial progress. As a direct 
 result of old-world conditions, the Canon Law 
 definitely stated that trade will lead to fraud, and 
 that the only la \\ful occupations for the Christian 
 man are agriculture or its simple attendant handi- 
 crafts. To make a long story short, the effect of 
 tliis old teaching and practice still lingers, and is 
 seen to-day in the class feeling which exists, though 
 happily not so strongly as it did. between the pro- 
 fessional man. the soldier, the administrator, and 
 the tradesman. 
 
 As mankind developed ne\\ and higher activities 
 the State emerged, and \\ith the evolution of man. 
 living in an organised and regulated community, 
 the economic position becomes increasingly interest- 
 ing. Ancient writers have a great deal to say 
 about the circumstances which led to the foundation 
 of the State, and from their works much can be 
 learnt that helps one to picture the condition of 
 society in these early organised communities, and 
 as to the old-world conception of the duties and 
 responsibilities of the citi/.en. For instance. Plato 
 tells us that the State arises out of the needs of 
 mankind, that no man is self-suilicing. for all of us 
 have 1 many wants. That having all these wants, 
 and many people being necessary to supply them, 
 the various individuals required for these many 
 purposes gather themselves together as helpers or
 
 ECONOMISTS 13 
 
 partners. This body of people is called a State. 
 The individual members of which it is composed, 
 exchange with each other one gives, another 
 receives and the result is that these mutual ex- 
 changes confer a mutual benefit. 
 
 Thus the origin of the State is attributed to want 
 of self-sufficiency on the part of the individual, 
 together with advantages accruing from a separation 
 of occupations, rendered possible by the establish- 
 ment of a satisfactory system of exchange. This 
 marks a very important advance indeed in economics, 
 for the acknowledgment of the advantages con- 
 nected with the separation of employments fore- 
 shadows the advantages which have accrued to 
 mankind from the modern teaching and practice 
 connected with division of labour, and although 
 ancient philosophers never advanced to this point, 
 they had, in grasping the advantages of separation 
 of employments, travelled a long way along the 
 road of economic science. Aristotle puts the 
 matter somewhat differently, but practically means 
 the same thing : av9pwrro$ c/>v<rei TTO\ITIKOV 0)0^ 
 Man is essentially a social animal ; he loves 
 company, and cannot attain to his highest in a 
 solitary condition. The origin of the State is the 
 family. For, as Aristotle puts it, man and woman 
 cannot exist independently, and the association 
 naturally formed for the supply of everyday wants,
 
 14 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 forms a household, whose members eat of one store. 
 Then as the number of families increases, there 
 arises the separation of occupations to which re- 
 ference has just been made. This opens up possi- 
 bilities for many uses and abuses of the economic 
 position. For a time man may rest content with 
 working to supply the daily needs of himself and 
 those dependent on him, but a time comes when, 
 while some men may go on doing this, and so practise 
 what Arii-totle calls CCOHOIHI'CX. another and more 
 pushing set of men will begin to strive after accumula- 
 tions of wealth. 'Flic former is natural, the latter 
 unnatural. Everything has a use and a misuse. 
 To use a thing rightly is natural and proper, but 
 to abuse it is unnatural. Thus Aristotle calls this 
 unnatural use of wealth ( 'hrematistics. Economies 
 and (hrematistics have something in common, at 
 least there is an overlapping of their spheres. For 
 included in the sphere of economics or household 
 management come the production of those things 
 needful for the due development of life, and the 
 rules guiding their consumption. Moreo\e! 1 . ;is man 
 is no longer a self-sufficing unit, exchange of simple 
 superlluiiies in order to obtain a fuller life is lawful. 
 But both the barter, or exchange and production 
 of the necessaries of life, fall also within the sphere 
 of chrematistics. or unnatural economics, for by 
 increasinu the amount of barter which supplies
 
 ECONOMISTS 15 
 
 things needed for a fuller, yet still lawful style of 
 life, one begins to practise money- making, and 
 allied to this are efforts at an increased and un- 
 healthy production of goods for the mere purpose 
 of accumulating wealth. Hence, says Aristotle, 
 while simple barter for one's needs is lawful, retail 
 trading becomes more and more unnatural, because 
 men continue to exchange after they have enough. 
 Returning for a moment to the question of ex- 
 pedient and inexpedient occupations, we learn that 
 agriculture and pastoral pursuits are natural, whilst 
 those connected with exchange and commerce are 
 unnatural. Even here there is an overlapping in 
 the natural and unnatural spheres, because mining 
 and forestry may be included in either or both. 
 This part of the subject should be noted, because 
 one of the reasons why Aristotle takes up this 
 attitude on the subject of trade is so frequently 
 overlooked ; the Canon Lawyers evidently passed 
 it by unnoticed. For Aristotle taught that in the 
 best government, where the citizens are all virtuous 
 and happy, none of them should be permitted to 
 exercise am* low mechanical employment or traffic, 
 for these are ignoble and destructive of virtue. 
 At this point the ({notation usually stops, but by 
 reading on it will be seen that Aristotle had good 
 reasons for his dictum ; for he goes on to say that 
 those destined for public office should not even be
 
 ir> ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 husbandmen, for leisure is necessary in order that 
 the eiti/en may improve in virtue, and fulfil his 
 duty to the State. Here both directly and in- 
 directly is taught a great and much-needed lesson 
 to modern democracy. Not only is there a justifica- 
 tion for a reduction of working hours so that the 
 citizen may have the leisure that is necessary if he 
 is to grow in virtue, but if the vote is to be used 
 intelligently and rightly, if the enfranchised portions 
 of the community are to exercise their duties as 
 citizens rightly, they must have a due limitation of 
 the working day. This teaching does not give any 
 support to the idler or the loafer. The citizen must 
 work while he works, but neither the work, nor the 
 hours occupied by the work, should be so exhaust- 
 ing, or so long, as to stunt a man's individuality and 
 render him an unintelligent citizen. 
 
 The powerful influence exercised by the theories 
 and practices of the ancient world on succeeding 
 generations is recognised by every careful reader of 
 history. In the following chapter will be traced 
 out the course of events as Kurope became Chris- 
 tianised and as the commercial stage was entered 
 upon and passed through its various developments.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE EFFECT OF NATIONALITY ON ECONOMIC THOUGHT 
 AND PRACTICE 
 
 IN the last chapter reference has been made to the 
 teaching of the Mediaeval Church on the subject of 
 usury, and the rightful occupations for Christian 
 people. The Corpus of Canon Law is well worthy 
 of study, for that part of it which more especially 
 affects this subject namely, the regulations framed 
 for the economic sphere is of exceeding interest. 
 To mention but a few points, the Church Lawyers 
 held that community of goods, whereby the primary 
 needs of all may be supplied, is theoretically right. 
 The primitive disciples had not only taught but 
 had practised this. Subsequent history, however, 
 had seen the re-introduction of the system of private 
 property, society was once again securely established 
 on this practice, and naturally the question was 
 raised could it be said that Christianity had been 
 subverted in this particular ? Here the Church 
 legist borrowed a most convenient method of pro- 
 cedure from the juris-consult. Theoretically the 
 hard and fast lines of the Roman Law could not be 
 either changed or relaxed even in the slightest
 
 18 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 degree. But (he lawyer was espial to the occasion. 
 If facts are loo strong, invent a iietion. And as the 
 Civil Law had been subject to amendment and 
 modernisation by means of fictions, so now the 
 definite practices of the early Church, which had 
 become difficult, if not impossible, to enforce in a 
 semi-heathen community. Mere softened down by 
 means of fictions. Community of goods is theo- 
 retically right, but the institution of piivate property 
 is a necessity owing to man's jail. The exacting 
 of usurv on loans of money was absolutely forbidden, 
 as was also the exaction of a price fixed by the 
 haggling of the market. The seller, it was laid 
 down, must sell at juxiutn ju'ctiuni, and not at what 
 might be a momentarily fictitious value fixed by 
 supply and dfinaud. The poor and needy must be 
 relieved ; this was no matter of mere choice and 
 philanthropy, but a legal debt debituni lc<j<de. 
 The man who, in his business or other avocations, 
 practised the unnatural economics, was called an 
 avaricious man : nor was there any shade of differ- 
 ence between the devotee of chrematistics and the 
 devotee of idols. An avaricious man. said the 
 Church, is an idolater. 
 
 .From these few dicta it will be realised that the 
 ideal was high and noble, perhaps in its entirety 
 one of the noblest ever set up in this world : but. 
 whilst it might have been practised under more
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 19 
 
 primitive conditions with advantage, when applied 
 to Europe at the moment when commercial develop- 
 ments were becoming more and more practical 
 politics, such teaching, especially when enforced 
 by an authority which wielded power, not only in 
 this world, but in that to come, threatened to prove 
 an impassable obstacle in the road of progress. 
 Clerics did not realise that the world had not only 
 changed, but was refusing to remain unprogressive. 
 Theories and regulations which met the needs of 
 the hunter and the shepherd were out of date. 
 The infant mankind was growing up, and to attempt 
 to keep the limbs of the stalwart and developing 
 youth cramped within swaddling clothes would 
 create a situation of disaster, either by repressing 
 natural growth, or by causing the infant garments 
 to burst. Nor is this lesson one that can be dis- 
 regarded at the present moment. Each generation 
 has its needs, and has to make its own way along 
 the road of progress. To enjoy to the full the 
 possibilities belonging to its epoch, whilst not in a 
 revolutionary spirit disregarding all that is old, nor 
 abolishing every Jaw or custom handed down by 
 preceding generations, it behoves it to realise its 
 powers, its privileges, and its responsibilities. Thus 
 the great aim should always be so to modify old 
 laws and customs as to bring them into conformity 
 with modern needs. The greatest lesson taught by
 
 i>o ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 liistory to the statesman, the lawyer, and the social 
 reformer alike, is that in order to progress natur- 
 ally and that is synonymous with saying, in order 
 that humanity may enjoy to the full the possi- 
 bilities of the moment there must he evolution, not 
 revolution. The evolution must be natural, pro- 
 gressive, and healthy, because when this natural 
 evolution is working, society advances with the 
 times, but anything that tends to clog or obstruct 
 a natural evolution inevitably decreases the pace, 
 whilst blind revolutionary measures merelv .serve 
 to put hack the clock altogether. 
 
 One of the first lessons ihat ha- i<> be learned in 
 political or social science, is thai there has been 
 throughout the ages co/ih/m/i//. 'I his must be 
 realised in all its bearings if progress is to be main- 
 tained. The natural sequences should be loliowed. 
 and so far as it is possible tor human statesmanship 
 to grasp the great lessons of the past, they should 
 be applied to the needs of the proem, in order that 
 the future mav not be prejudiced, and human pro- 
 gress stultified bv a break in evolution, \\inch can 
 on.lv icsemble the shunting <>i a.n express train on 
 to a siding. 
 
 In iheearlv .Middle .\<j;es Rome symbolised t'miv. 
 both ecclesiastical and political. The spiiiiual 
 descendant ol St IVier. as ilishop of Koine, u as 
 looked up; MI as the representative ol (Jod upon
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 21 
 
 earth, and the Vicar of Christ. He was the Head 
 of the Church, and as such ruled not only the souls 
 of the faithful, but had a power, somewhat difficult 
 for us to realise now, over all human concerns. 
 Standing by the side of the Pope, but a step lower, 
 came the Holy Roman Emperor, the secular head 
 of society. Theoretically the Emperor was in the 
 temporal sphere supreme. Beneath these two im- 
 posing figures society \vas divided up horizontally. 
 Pope and Emperor each supreme in his proper 
 sphere, then came the great officers in Church and 
 State, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Kings, Dukes, 
 Earls, and so on down to clergy and laymen, the 
 latter commencing with the lesser nobility and 
 ending with the serf. There was hardly a trace of 
 nationality. Europe had become cosmopolitan : 
 but the seeds of disintegration were there, and were 
 as time went on being sown more and more widely. 
 The early Norman kings of England struck a chord 
 which was to reverberate throughout the Continent 
 when once the sun of progress began to quicken the 
 good seed. On his accession, William the Conqueror 
 only admitted with qualifications, the papal claims to 
 jurisdiction over the English Church, nor was he a 
 servile vassal of either his nominal feudal overlord, 
 the King of Eraiu'e, or the Emperor, \\hose paper 
 titles entitled him to a subservience almost equal 
 to that accorded to the Deity Jiimseii. The weak
 
 22 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 spot in this organisation was that there were only 
 two positions of the first rank one in the Church 
 and one in the State. With a feudal system breed- 
 ing men of virile action and independent thought, it 
 was not to be expected that only two positions of 
 splendour would be sufficient. Human ambition 
 is a powerful impulse, and it proved sufficient to 
 break down the system which in theory was well 
 iitted for the right governance of the world in 
 both the spiritual and material spheres. Ambitious 
 men may be content with such a system if they be 
 Pope or Emperor, but there being mo'e ambitious 
 men than available positions, schisms arose in the 
 Church, as a result of which two or more individuals 
 claimed to be the representative of St Peter, and 
 called upon the faithful for their allegiance : whilst 
 the Imperial position became a mere title to which 
 Europe paid but scant attention. 
 
 Among these various and contending forces a 
 great movement gradually took form, and with 
 what has been called the iirH<uxx<tii<-c. there was not 
 only a rebirth of learning and liberty, but from the 
 point of view now under consideration, something 
 far more momentous. With tin- Ji^nai-^ancf came 
 a rearrangement of society, for Nationality was the 
 greatest outcome of this rebirth. Europe became 
 divided ii| into constituent pails, and t-aeh of these 
 bound together by ties of race-, speech, or tradition.
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 23 
 
 became a. nation. In other words, the horizontal 
 division of society proved to have been too artificial, 
 and henceforward a vertical division, resulting 
 from nationality, vitalised Europe with an esprit 
 engendering a competition between State and 
 State which, while entailing much that is regrettable, 
 has powerfully affected the world for good. The 
 attempts of recent years once again to make Europe 
 cosmopolitan, the internationalisation of Socialism 
 by Karl Marx and his followers, do not make for 
 progress, for if successful they would tend to repro- 
 duce in the highest spheres, the petrifaction and 
 lethargy which a healthier spirit fought against 
 and conquered centuries ago. It may be conceded 
 that conflicts of armies are a relic of barbarism, and 
 should belong to past histoiy, but twentieth century 
 civilisation can only be quickened and be effective 
 and progressive under the stimulus of a rivalry in 
 the more peaceful spheres of science, invention, 
 commerce, and industry. In these, individual, 
 personal, and national characteristics have played, 
 and continue to play, a healthy role, and are the 
 mainspring of the clock of progress. But it may 
 be asked how did the ideals of nationality affect 
 economic thought and practice ? To answer this 
 question a short excursion must be made into the 
 domain of history in order to show how the earliest 
 economic policy, definitely pursued and developed
 
 24 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 of set purpose by Government, originated. This 
 policy is known as the Mercantile System, or Policy 
 of Power. Its commencement is not altogether 
 easy to trace, but it reached its highest develop- 
 ment under Cromwell. Its inception was very 
 largely due to a growing conception of nationality, 
 and the ambition of some of our kings to increase 
 alike their importance and their realm by carrying 
 on a spirited foreign policy. 
 
 "When the Anglo-Saxons conquered this country, 
 and Britain became England, the kings, whether 
 of the Heptarchy or following them, the kings of 
 a united England, were expected to live of their 
 own. This oirn consisted of the Royal Demesne, 
 lands set apart for the king, into which the spare 
 land of the community became absorbed. Early 
 English kings were great landowners, but their 
 estates were hardly private property, for their 
 revenues were expected to be sufficient to carry 
 on the work of government and support the royal 
 dignity. 
 
 The Northmen invasions, however, led to an im- 
 portant modification in this simple system. Weak 
 kings commenced a system of bribing the North- 
 men either to go or to keep away. These bribes 
 were mainly paid in money or valuables, and to 
 raise the necessary sums taxes were levied. The 
 history of taxation in this country is full of interest.
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 25 
 
 for some of our most highly prized liberties were 
 won by means of bargaining between people and 
 Government. Had the revenue of the Royal 
 Demesne continued to be sufficient to meet the 
 needs of the Government, in all human probability 
 our monarchy would have been autocratic, and 
 our liberties very considerably circumscribed. 
 
 As the nation progressed, however, it was no 
 longer possible for a king to live of his own, and 
 the necessity for levying money taxes increased. 
 This tendency was subject to a remarkable develop- 
 ment under some of our most notable kings. Henry 
 II., Edward I., and Edward III. all required large 
 amounts of additional revenue to enable them to 
 follow their ambitions. In very early days experi- 
 ence had taught the difficulty of exacting money 
 from the agricultural interest, but as towns and 
 cities began to flourish, the Government discovered 
 that there was a fund of wealth being created by 
 traders and manufacturers from which the sinews 
 of war could be extracted. Hence it became an 
 important aim of the Government to foster trade 
 and manufactures, not because these pursuits were 
 loved for their own sakes. but because by means 
 of them a very valuable taxable fund might be built 
 up. From this evolved the Mercantile System 
 which became the economic policy of Western 
 Europe from the break up of the mediaeval system.
 
 -><> ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 There are some points of resemblance between the 
 Mercantile System and State Socialism. Both 
 have as a common ideal the State organised on an 
 industrial and commercial basis. It is in their 
 ultimate aims that they differ : for while the 
 Mercantilist strove after national self-sufficiency, 
 the aim of the State Socialist is that, by means of 
 State ownership of all the means and factors of 
 production, every child born into the community 
 may have a level chance in life. 
 
 The Mercantile System, in its most developed 
 form, imposed upon this country a corpus of legisla- 
 tion whose object was the building up of a great 
 and wealthy State. This included the Navigation 
 Laws, the first of which dates from the reign of 
 Richard II.. whilst the final form was due to the 
 genius of Cromwell. These laws had as their 
 definite object the creation of a great mercantile 
 marine. .Another great feature of the policy was 
 the Corn Laws, whose object it was to protect and 
 help farmers, so that England might be independent 
 of supplies of grain from abroad : there were also 
 the Statutes of Apprentices, and the Poor Law 
 framed to regulate the labour force, and to deal 
 with the problem of poverty. 
 
 (ireat men evolved a great policy under which 
 a great empire and a jrreat commerce were suc- 
 cessfully founded. Smaller men carried the policy
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 27 
 
 to excess ; they did not realise that a scaffolding 
 may be necessary for the construction of a building, 
 but that it would be mere folly to keep the scaffold- 
 ing in place after the building has been com- 
 pleted. The Mercantile System became petrified 
 and inelastic ; its supporters looked upon it as a 
 permanent part of the constitution, which must not 
 be modified in any particular. The great aim of 
 Government, they said, was to foster a favourable 
 balance of trade ; to this end exports must exceed 
 imports in value, so that the balance might be 
 received in gold. This created a very interesting 
 situation which, but for the good sense of leading 
 men, might have entailed commercial and political 
 decaj'. Fortunately, however, at the moment when 
 the policy appeared to be most solidly established, 
 men with large views, and a more than ordinary 
 foresight, began to question its permanent utility, 
 and to fathom some of the delusions dear to 
 its advocates. Men like Sir William Petty and 
 Sir Dudley North not only realised that the old 
 system was getting outworn, that the building 
 having been built the scaffolding should be removed, 
 but the}' began to formulate a new policy to meet 
 the changed conditions of the economic sphere. 
 Their theories arc the beginning of those doctrines 
 of natural liberty which were perfected a century 
 later by Adam Smith. The steps by which these
 
 28 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 new doctrines evolved may be briefly stated. 
 Originating in England, they found their way to 
 France and led to furl her speculations. The new 
 theories brought about the formation of a new 
 school of economic thinkers, known as the Physio- 
 crats. These men. inspired by the old Roman 
 conception of Jus Xalnrti'. declared that there is 
 a Law of Nature, a beneficial code which has been 
 established by Nature herself, and this furnishes 
 mankind with the standard to which all human 
 policies ought to conform. The sound conclusions 
 of Petty and North as time went on became em- 
 broidered with a great amount of fancy work. The 
 swin<r of the pendulum, so far as these theorists 
 were concerned, was complete. Undoubtedly, many 
 of their doctrines were largely a product of the 
 time. The unfortunate state of atVairs existing in 
 France during the latter half of the eighteenth 
 century, lent colour to somewhat fantastic specula- 
 tions whieh contained both a political and an 
 economic th"ory. On the subject of labour, they 
 held that onlv labour employed in agriculture 
 or the extractive industries is productive. Thus 
 labour employed iu manufactures or transport \\as 
 classed as unproductive, together with I hat of the 
 profess! oil a I man and the merchant. To judge of 
 the annual increa.se of national wealth, it was held 
 bv them to be but necessa; \ to calculate the value
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 29 
 
 of the products of field, forest, water, and mine, 
 and deduct the cost of their production. This 
 gives the produit net, and is the sole measure of the 
 increase of national wealth. It was indeed conceded 
 by them that manufactures, commerce, and the 
 liberal professions may be useful, but they are un- 
 productive and sterile, drawing their gains from the 
 superfluous products of agriculture, and the number 
 of people employed in them should therefore be 
 reduced to a minimum. These teachings were a 
 necessary protest against the worst fallacies of the 
 Mercantilists. Indeed, in spite of anomalies, the 
 world to-day owes much to the Physiocrats. They 
 had appeared upon the scene at a time when highly 
 artificial regulations were threatening to strangle 
 both commerce and industry. This was the more 
 important, since owing to discovery and invention, 
 trade and business were ripe for considerable ex- 
 pansion. The Physiocrats had a favourite motto, 
 Laissez /(tire, laissez fxtsser. by which they meant, 
 keep your hands off and allow trade to develop along 
 its own lines. Absolute freedom of trade was held 
 to be the surest way to progress, both national and 
 world-wide. For by freeing trade from all possible 
 restrictions, llie smallest possible deduction for 
 commercial services would be made from the 
 l>roduit net ; customs-duties, octroi, expenses of 
 Government, and other restrictive regulations, all
 
 30 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 in the end caused leakages from the one great fund. 
 The great interest of the Physiocrat position now is 
 that the best elements of the system were absorbed by 
 a very remarkable man. and were by him transmuted 
 into pure metal. Adam Smith had early in lite 
 set himself a great task the revision of the whole 
 range of philosophy. Me did not succeed in accom- 
 plishing all that he had planned, but after a long 
 sojourn in France, during which lie discussed economic 
 theories with the leading Physiocrats, he set to 
 work to produce a givai work on wealth and its 
 phenomena. In th<- year 177*>. he- published "An 
 Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the \Vealth 
 of Nations." This was speedily recognised as one 
 of the most remarkable books ever written, and 
 Adam Smith was acclaimed as the founder of a new 
 Science. Th'- moment when this book appeared is 
 marked by some momentous events as one of the 
 great epoch-making periods in history. For that 
 same year the American Colonies declared their 
 Independence and Democracy was born : and only 
 a few months earlier .lames \Vatt had perfected 
 his steam engine, \\hich was distined to etlect so 
 many changes in industries and manufactures, arid 
 bring about that great social event known as the 
 Industrial Revolution. 
 
 It is not too much to say that Adam Smith's 
 book ha i as powerful an effect on modernising trade
 
 ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 31 
 
 and industry as the steam engine, for it showed 
 the necessity for adopting a different attitude to 
 economic questions, and became the inspiration of 
 a series of statesmen from Pitt to Gladstone, who 
 by their policy smoothed the way and made progress 
 possible. Indeed, but for this new spirit infused 
 into the statesman and legislator by Adam Smith, 
 the new developments would have been sorely 
 hampered. 
 
 The theories of Political Economy had been made 
 concrete and simplified by Adam Smith, but the 
 subject was neither limited nor completed by the 
 Wealth of Nations. Other thinkers published their 
 conclusions. Ricardo, indeed, was ambitious of 
 rewriting the Wealth of Nations. He succeeded in 
 opening up new avenues for speculation by con- 
 structing an economic man a useful hypothesis, 
 and a necessary step in the development of the 
 subject. This economic man, however, has been the 
 cause of a great deal of misconception and mistrust. 
 
 Malthus, too. writing at the time when causes 
 and effects in the industrial world were difficult to 
 determine with certainty, by taking a too restricted 
 view of the situation, and by keeping his attention 
 closely fixed upon contemporary hardships, evolved 
 his law of population and laid the foundations of a 
 theory of wages. This, with Ricardo 's theory, gained 
 for Political Economy the title of the dismal science.
 
 32 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 It is unnecessary here to go in detail into either the 
 theories or the errors of these and other early 
 economic writers. The important point is to realise 
 that an entirely new economic situation had arisen 
 owing to the application of steam power to manu- 
 factures. A new set of problems the like of which 
 mankind had never previously faced, yet vitally 
 affecting the well-being and the future of the nation, 
 presented themselves and demanded immediate at- 
 tention. Neither statesman nor reformer, employer 
 nor employed, had cither a precedent to which 
 to refer, or a standard to which appeal might bo 
 made. For some decades there was a period of 
 tragedy caused by the fact that, whether with or 
 without good intentions, people were ignorantly 
 groping in the dark. Experience had to be bought, 
 and in this case it was bought at the cost of much 
 suffering, injury to the race, and even death. Un- 
 happily many of the worst sufferers were helpless 
 little children, and women. This forms the darkest 
 chapter in industrial history, and usually its causes 
 and the lessons which may be learned from them 
 art' ignored, it is of the utmost moment to those 
 who desire to know the truth about present social 
 conditions to study very carefully the period of the 
 early days of industrialism, for unless this be done, 
 misconceptions \\ill be 11 mi voidable.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM 
 IN ENGLAND 
 
 SOCIALISM is essentially a modern movement. It 
 originated in the developments which took place 
 in connection with the great changes wrought by 
 the Industrial Revolution ; thus to really under- 
 stand Socialism as preached in England to-day, a 
 knowledge of English industrial history is necessary. 
 The great revolution caused by the application of 
 steam power and labour-saving machinery to manu- 
 factures, very completely transformed the condi- 
 tions and circumstances of living for the great mass 
 of the nation. Up till that time the population of 
 this country had been comparatively small ; but 
 the opening up of new markets, and the extension 
 of the world's trade, coming just at the time when 
 new processes of production made it possible to 
 supply a large and growing demand, caused popula- 
 tion to increase by leaps and bounds. Thus began 
 to arise a new social situation ; a small population, 
 for the most part sparsely scattered over the country, 
 gave place to a comparatively large and ever- 
 growing population, not scattered over the country 
 
 n 33
 
 34 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 but concentrated in towns. These towns were to 
 a great extent new, having been called into being 
 by the changed industrial conditions. They had 
 neither tradition nor precedent to rely upon. Their 
 growth had been haphazard ; factories and mills sur- 
 rounded by the dwellings of the workers were irregu- 
 larly piled together. At first perhaps this had arisen 
 for convenience' sake, but the final result was that 
 most distressful feature of the modern world, the 
 industrial town of the mid-nineteenth century with 
 ill-paved, irregular streets, large numbers of back-to- 
 back houses, producing in due time all those problems 
 social, municipal, physical and ethical connected 
 with the slum. In a sentence in place of a small 
 population living mainly under rural conditions, 
 there arose a dense town population centred in a 
 comparatively few localities. 
 
 The Industrial Revolution led to the production 
 of commodities of all kinds in greatly increased 
 quantities. What had been the comforts or even 
 the luxuries of the \\ealthy now came within reach 
 of those who were comparatively poor ; indeed, 
 one of the great changes effected by the revolution 
 Avas that henceforward the manufacturer was to fix 
 his attention more and more on the production of 
 those goods which would command the greatest 
 sale. .In other words, it was the needs of the masses 
 which were to be catered for rather than, as had
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 35 
 
 hitherto been the rule, the demands of the wealthy. 
 In no instance perhaps is this great change so clearly 
 seen as in the shipping industry. The Indiaman of 
 the eighteenth century had brought to England 
 silks, jewels, perfumes and the hundred and one 
 things necessary for the luxurious life. During the 
 nineteenth century shipping became more and more 
 the means of making the conditions of life for the 
 people more comfortable ; the great object of inter- 
 national commerce being to ensure for the masses 
 food-stuffs and clotiiing, good, plentiful, cheap, and 
 of a standard never before within their reach. 
 
 At the same time, too, economic thought and 
 practice began to take a new direction. Theorists 
 began to consider the newly developing organisation 
 of industry. The master-craftsman had developed 
 into the capitalist employer, the journeyman had 
 become the hand. These and other novelties had 
 become part and parcel of the new order of society, 
 and after a few decades, it was confidently assumed 
 that the new state of affairs had come to stay. A 
 too restricted view of an}' situation invariably 
 results in drawing a false conclusion ; it \vas so in 
 this case. None of the economists, with the pos- 
 sible exception of J. S. Mill, either went behind or 
 questioned Capitalism. Nor was it until great 
 abuses in connection with factory and slum had 
 grown into glaring evils that anyone thought, or
 
 :m EcoxoMirs .\xn SYNDICALISM 
 
 indeed dared, to question the new economic 
 conditions. 
 
 It is at this point that teachings, feeble ai first, 
 but growing in strength and volume, began to make 
 their appearance these teachings are the beginning 
 of modern Socialism, (rradually a school of re- 
 formers arose which was anti-capitalistic, advocating 
 sweeping economic reforms, criticising the existing 
 ideas as to private property and competition this 
 school was Socialist. 
 
 It is well worth while pausing for a moment before 
 considering these new theories, to gain some further 
 idea as to how the new social evils had arisen. Is it 
 conceivable that a group of evil-intentioned men 
 devised the factory system, thought out a policy 
 for sweating labour of all descriptions, of buying 
 cheap and selling dear with the deliberate intention 
 of depressing the condition of the worker, and by 
 these means raising themselves to positions of 
 wealth and importance ( Had any group of men 
 been so far-seeing, had they been able to lay plans 
 so far ahead, and with so great a measure of success, 
 one would almost have to confess that they deserved 
 their reward. But this was by no means the case. 
 Throughout the business world, in connection with 
 manufacture's, the labour force, markets, and bank- 
 ing, everything was revolutionised. Xo one knew 
 exactly what was happening the whole industrial
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 37 
 
 world, for a considerable time, was blindly groping 
 in the dark. There was practically no previous 
 experience to go upon, no precedents whence 
 guidance might be sought. Take the banking 
 sphere, for instance. Here at fairly regular inter- 
 vals for a number of decades, pressures leading 
 on to crises and even disaster became the rule. 
 It seemed to be a law of nature that the business 
 world must pass through a cycle culminating with a 
 Black Friday. Subsequent history has considerably 
 modified this view. Want of knowledge and 
 lack of experience led bankers, when times of diffi- 
 culty were threatening, to begin calling in their 
 advances, and to tighten up their purse-strings ; 
 they must safeguard themselves whatever might 
 happen to the rest of the community. Thus, just 
 to mention a few dates in last century, in 1825, 1833, 
 1845 to 1847, 1850, 1800 there were commercial 
 crises. Each of these, however, taught a lesson, 
 from which experience of the greatest moment was 
 painfully gathered. The banking interest now 
 knows how to face an incipient crisis, with the result 
 that for many years past such phenomena have 
 been robbed of their worst terrors. 
 
 Similar lessons, mutatis mutandis, have been 
 learnt, or are being learnt in all spheres of industry 
 and commerce, with far-reaching results to the com- 
 munity ; but the ardent social reformer is very apt
 
 38 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 to ignore these significant facts. It should be 
 noted, too, that both law and custom had evolved 
 to suit other and simpler circumstances ; it took 
 well-nigh half a century to get even the foundations 
 laid of a system of law suitable to these changed 
 conditions. 
 
 When one reads history and realises how long it 
 took to evolve a satisfactory system of Parliament 
 or Justice, both of which were beginning to shape 
 themselves in Norman and Plantagenet times, 
 though a really satisfactory system in each case 
 only resulted after 1(588, it must be conceded that 
 though there are many anomalies still existing in the 
 industrial sphere, though there is much to be re- 
 gretted in social conditions, yet if one compares 
 the state of affairs in 1813 with that of 15)13 there is 
 much of which to be proud. Many difficult problems 
 have been fathomed, and the capitalist system (to 
 accept a phrase which has become current) has 
 shown a remarkable elasticity, and the capability 
 of progressing on right lines. There has been a 
 very real evolution in the besl sense of the word. 
 Moreover, this is in accordance with the best tradi- 
 tions of our race. It is indeed a great and striking 
 fad that in little more than a century we have 
 realised most of the difficulties and problems con- 
 nected with the vast revolution wrought by the 
 invention oi steam- a revolution prolonged by a
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 39 
 
 series of inventions, greater than the whole previous 
 history of man ^ can show. The English race has 
 boldly faced this difficult situation, and on the whole 
 has faced it wisely. A system has been built up 
 containing elements which warrant our facing the 
 future full of hope. A great deal has been success- 
 fully accomplished in a comparatively short time, 
 but what is of even greater moment, the system 
 established with so much travail gives promise of 
 accomplishing }*et greater things. Evolution, the 
 great secret of English success in so many spheres, 
 is working, and promises to go on working, in this 
 sphere too. 
 
 The thought naturally arises, do the critics of our 
 industrial system really grasp the intricacies of the 
 mechanism of modern commerce ? 
 
 Modern Socialism, then, may be said to have 
 originated owing to conditions resulting from the 
 Industrial Revolution. The impossibility of fore- 
 seeing where certain forces, if left uncontrolled 
 and subject to ignorant chance alone, would lead, 
 brought about a condition of affairs among certain 
 sections of the working classes which can only be 
 called appalling. It should be pointed out that a 
 great deal of the trouble and misery both of the past 
 century, and even of that now existing, has been 
 caused by an ignorance of economic laws ; especi- 
 ally is this the case in relation to population. The
 
 40 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 law of population as stated by Maltluis was perhaps 
 rather too sweeping and definite ; but it should be 
 remembered that he lived at a time when it seemed 
 as though a certain system would be permanent. 
 What he enunciated was in the main true enough ; 
 it was his successors who, developing his theory 
 on wrong lines, preached an impossible doctrine. 
 The law as he stated it was to the effect that popula- 
 tion will increase up to the means of subsistence. 
 And he tried to prove that while population can 
 increase in geometrical ratio, the means of subsistence 
 the food supply can only increase in arithmetical 
 ratio. This being the case, an equilibrium must be 
 maintained, and this may be done either by natural 
 or by artificial checks ; the best check is to set and 
 maintain a high standard of comfort. Malthus 
 was perhaps rather too definite, but the working 
 of the law can be easily traced in certain sections of 
 the community. The statistics of slum populations 
 show this. Under slum conditions arc found the 
 highest birth rates. It is true that the highest death 
 rates are found there too. but the net increase is also 
 greater than in the comparatively well-oil' classes. 
 The point is of interest because it bears on various 
 questions, such as that of fixing a minimum wage 
 for sweated workers. So long as these people 
 exemplify the law. and. whilst having a very low 
 standard of comfort, tend to increase up to the
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 41 
 
 means of subsistence, the effect of fixing a minimum 
 wage would merely be to intensify the trouble. 
 With this class of people the first requisite is to 
 implant a real desire for a higher standard of living 
 this once done, a minimum wage would be bene- 
 ficial ; otherwise its utility must be very doubtful. 
 There must first come the desire for better condi- 
 tions, then the possibility of enjoying them ; it 
 is to a great extent true to say that the indi- 
 vidual makes the slum, i.e. the worst side of slum 
 life. 
 
 The situation created by the Industrial Revolu- 
 tion would need much time to describe fully, but 
 from one or two extracts from the speeches and 
 writings of the period a sufficiently good impression 
 can be gained. In the year 1840 Lord John Russell 
 informed the House of Commons that the people 
 of the British Isles were in a worse condition than 
 the negroes in the West Indies. Dr Arnold wrote 
 to Thomas Car] vie that the state of society in 
 England was never yet paralleled in history. 
 Richard Cobden during the Anti-Corn Law Cam- 
 paign was able to tell stories of people reduced to 
 living on stewed nettles and the meat taken from 
 decayed carcases. Emigration on a large scale was 
 going on, and these emigrants left our shores sullen 
 and angry, nursing a feeling of the bitterest hatred 
 against the old country. The mass of the people
 
 42 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 began to look on the Reform Act as a failure. 
 Nor had efforts to improve industrial conditions, 
 whether of a peaceable nature or those accompanied 
 by physical force, resulted in anything satisfactory 
 to the workers. Commissions were appointed to 
 examine into the condition of England ; but the 
 outcome was nil, for their only practical suggestions 
 were that riot and possible revolt should be subject 
 to drastic repression. Lord Melbourne denounced 
 the criminal character of Trade- Unions and seriously 
 advocated their suppression. 
 
 In 1834 there had been a radical revision of the 
 Poor Law. but so far as the masses could see, the 
 only tangible result was the cutting off of doles, 
 and the rigorous enforcement of the r>'yiwe of the 
 Workhouse. Then came revelations concerning the 
 factories the employment during brutally long 
 hours of women, and even little children, together 
 with a mass of evidence of a very horrible state of 
 affairs. Frederick Engels. the co-worker with Karl 
 Marx, revealed to continental Europe the state of 
 things existing in England. (Jreat indeed was the 
 surprise to hear that in the workshop of the world, 
 where wealth was being accumulated in hitherto 
 undreamed-of amounts, the conditions of life for the 
 great mass of the working classes we're intolerable 
 and unspeakable. It is a sad picture to look back 
 upon, but it is worth doing if only to grasp an idea
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 43 
 
 of the great change that has come over industrial 
 life and its conditions. 
 
 As the new state of affairs developed, and the 
 wage-earners grew in number, the divergence between 
 their interests and some of the doctrines and theories 
 of the economists became more and more distinct. 
 Nor was it long before, from amongst the middle 
 classes, a new type of thought began to make its 
 appearance. The labouring population was appar- 
 ently so environed by the new system that self-help 
 on right lines was not to be expected. In their 
 efforts to free themselves from the ever-tightening 
 grip of untrammelled competition, which was now 
 the accepted policy of those in authority, they began 
 to adopt measures whose only result could be the 
 deepening of the misery of their lot. With un- 
 educated fervour the doctrine of physical force and 
 revolutionary excess was preached and to some 
 extent practised. This it was that inspired men 
 like Robert Owen and Frederick Denison Maurice 
 in England, St Simon and Fourier in France, in the 
 face of a misinformed and unsympathetic public 
 opinion, to take up the cause of the workers. Self- 
 help being impossible, it behoved tho.se enjoying 
 superior advantages of \vealih and education to 
 lead and inspire the helpless workers and endeavour 
 to put their efforts towards the bettering of their 
 material and social position on sounder economic
 
 44 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 and constitutional lines. The masses if saved at all 
 must be saved by the middle class. This created 
 an extremely interesting situation, to understand 
 which, a sketch of the careers of these self-appointed 
 leaders is necessary. 
 
 Robert Owen was born of comparatively poor 
 parents at Xewtown, Montgomery, in the year 1771. 
 From his earliest years it was evident that his was 
 no ordinary personality. Before he was seven years 
 old lie had absorbed all the knowledge that the local 
 schoolmaster could provide, and himself acted as 
 teacher in the school. At the age of nine he left 
 school and spent a year in London ; thence he 
 joined a draper at Stamford, named M'Guffog, 
 and with him thoroughly learned to judge woven 
 materials, a knowledge which was to stand him in 
 good stead during his business life. Before leaving 
 home some well-intentioned religious ladies had 
 lent Owen some books on religion. These books, 
 unfortunately, were not really religious, but were 
 concerned witJi religious disputes. The reading of 
 them had a disastrous effect, for the young boy 
 began to distrust Christianity which, while professing 
 to be a religion of peace and goodwill, could lead 
 to such dissensions. Unhappily, too. Mr M'Guifog 
 and his wife had disputations on religious doctrines, 
 and these decided Owen finally to break away from 
 accepted traditions. It was undoubtedly a great
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 45 
 
 misfortune, because from what one can gather of 
 Owen's character, there were all the possibilities of 
 a strongly religious man there. From Stamford, 
 Owen returned to London to get further experience 
 in the drapery trade, and about the year 1788 he 
 went to Manchester. He arrived in the great textile 
 town at the psychological moment. After a short 
 experience of working on his own account, at the 
 age of nineteen he applied for the post of manager 
 at a mill employing five hundred hands. He was 
 the youngest applicant for the position and asked 
 for the biggest salary, but so impressed was Mr 
 Drinkwater, the owner of the mill, with Owen's 
 personality, that he was appointed. With this 
 managership came out for the first time the rule 
 that was to be the guiding principle of Owen's life. 
 All the mills were being equipped with the newly- 
 invented machinery, and of this the mill- owners 
 took the greatest care. But between them and 
 their workpeople the sole bond was what CarMe 
 has tersely described as the " cash nexus." So long 
 as the agreed wage was paid, there all responsibility 
 ceased. Owen at once declared that his policy 
 would be to take as great care of the living machinery 
 as of the inanimate. His management was extra- 
 ordinarily successful, and Mr Drinkwater before the 
 end of the first year had decided to take him into 
 partnership at the end of three years. There was
 
 40 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 some opposition to this from Mr Drinkwater's son- 
 in-law, and Owen at once severed his connection with 
 the firm. He had no difficulty in finding a niche. His 
 ability was now well known, and he prepared to 
 start in business on his own account in partnership 
 with some Manchester friends. In order to equip 
 the Chorlton Twist Mill with new and up-to-date 
 machinery Owen had to visit Glasgow, and there 
 met his fate in the person of Miss Dale, daughter of 
 the proprietor of the New Lanark Mills. In order 
 to get an introduction to Mr Dale, Owen offered to 
 buy his mills, and succeeded both in doing so and 
 in marrying Miss Dale. For some four and twenty 
 years from January the 1st, 1800, Owen's chief interest 
 was at New Lanark. Here he developed his theory 
 and practice as to the right relations which should 
 exist between employer and employed. The Scot 
 workpeople were at first very suspicious of the strange 
 Welshman, but eventually Owen completely won 
 their confidence. In the year 181:2. during a shortage 
 of cotton, many mills. New Lanark amongst others, 
 had to close down for some weeks. No work, no 
 pay. was the general rule. Not so. however, \\ith 
 Owen. Throughout the weeks when the \\orks 
 were closed down. Owen's operatives regularlv 
 received full pay. at a cost of something like tTOOO ! 
 In another direction, too. Owen wrought a great 
 improvement in the conditions of living for his
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 47 
 
 workpeople. He found that they were victims of 
 the small shop, that credit and an inferior quality of 
 goods cost these folk dear, and that the purchasing 
 power of their wages was seriously diminished. 
 To remedy this Owen cleared a floor in the mill, 
 installed a competent salesman, and laid in a stock 
 of the ordinary goods consumed by workpeople. 
 He bought the best quality goods in wholesale 
 quantities, and was able to supply them at prices 
 very little more than he paid. Here AVC have the 
 beginning of distributive co-operation, the model 
 copied shortly after by the Rochdale Pioneers. 
 Moreover, Owen began to develop his theories as to 
 improving the living machinery for his works. He 
 opened what he called an " Institution for the Forma- 
 tion of Character." Here the children of his work- 
 people began their life training at the earliest possible 
 age. Little toddlers of two years old entered this 
 Institution : trie beginning this of the Infant School. 
 Owen's educational methods are still of value, and 
 some of them might be copied with advantage. In 
 spite of his open-handedness or perhaps in conse- 
 quence of it Owen is credited with having netted 
 no less than 360,000 in a little over twenty years. 
 He was one of the most successful mill-owners of the 
 day, and his model establishment, with its arrange- 
 ments for the betterment of the workers, became 
 one of the show-places of Europe. During the last
 
 48 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 thirty years of his long life he lived to lie nearly 
 eighty-eight Owen gave himself up to furthering 
 co-operation, and many social-betterment schemes. 
 These latter ended in failure and disappointment, 
 but the great lesson of Owen 'a life can never be 
 forgotten, lie, first, under the new conditions 
 resulting from the Industrial Revolution, realised, 
 taught, and practi-ed the right relation between 
 employer and employed. 
 
 The other English name mentioned, that of 
 F. I). Maurice, belongs to a generation later than 
 Owen. Maurice wa the son of an Unitarian minister 
 and was born in the year 1805, a couple of months 
 before the victory of Trafalgar impressed the world 
 that England had definitely and successfully adopted 
 a policy of evolution as against one of revolution. 
 Maurice was carefully educated, mainly by his father, 
 and became a scholar in the true sense of the word. 
 Although the family was outwardly harmonious, as 
 a result of religious discussion, a system of written 
 disputation was kept up. These disputes led to 
 important consequences. First Mrs Maurice became 
 a stern Calvinist, firmly believing in a small body 
 of the elect and a great mass of lost, and unfortun- 
 ately for her own peace of mind she numbered 
 herself among the latter. One daughter became a 
 Baptist, another an Anglican. Thus, as might be 
 expected, at a comparatively early age young
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 49 
 
 Maurice felt unable to accept his father's religious 
 convictions. However, when he went up to Cam- 
 bridge at the age of eighteen he was still a Non- 
 conformist. His career at the University was 
 distinguished, and he might have taken a brilliant 
 degree, followed by a Fellowship of his College, 
 but he shrank from signing the Thirty-nine Articles 
 apparently to ensure self -advancement, so went 
 down without taking his degree. For some time 
 he worked as a journalist with John Sterling in 
 London. Then, finally, deciding to join the English 
 Church, although now twenty-five years old, he 
 entered Exeter College, Oxford, and again worked 
 for a degree. On graduating he also took Orders, 
 and accepted a curacy near Leamington. In the 
 year 1836 he went to London as Chaplain to Guy's 
 Hospital. It is very difficult to picture the state 
 of working-class feeling during those eventful years 
 between 1836 and 1848. As the months passed by 
 a feeling of great uneasiness was experienced all 
 over Europe, and gradually a tide of revolution, 
 surging over the continent, found its way into 
 England. Thrones were tottering, and for a time 
 it seemed as though the Republican form of govern- 
 ment would be almost generally adopted. Maurice 
 for one had no doubts as to the best form of govern- 
 ment for England. Tense as were his feelings, and 
 deep as were his sympathies with the workers, he
 
 50 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 mistrusted revolution. Nay more, he had con- 
 victions in favour of the monarchy. Nor did he 
 hesitate to voice his views. He boldly declared 
 that although individual kings might be discredited, 
 kingship was not. In (State affairs he was a Con- 
 servative of the best type. A strong government 
 was the first necessity, but as to how the community 
 living under that strong government should be 
 organised, he took a widely different view from 
 those agreeing \\ith him as to monarchy. It was 
 the duty of the rotate to safeguard the interests of 
 the individual citizen and protect his property, 
 but what was needed at this time of national crisis 
 was that citizens should Avork harmoniously to- 
 gether hi association, instead of being ranged in two 
 camps separated by a rivalry \\hosc mainspring was 
 cut-throat competition. This attitude was the main 
 plank of the Christian Socialist movement, led by 
 .Maurice. Hughes, and Kingsley. and influenced them 
 in both their educational work, which resulted in 
 the foundation of the Working .Men's College, and 
 their policy for national well-being, which led them 
 to champion the cause of co-operation. 
 
 For a considerable time, however, it looked as 
 though a policy of force would prevail, and the year 
 1x48 in England, as abroad, was a time of tumult. 
 It is unnecessary to repeat the well-known story. 
 London was spared the sight of riot and bloodshed.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 51 
 
 Great preparations on both sides were made for the 
 presentation of the monster petition to Parliament, 
 on April the tenth. A large force of special con- 
 stables, amongst whom was Maurice, was sworn in to 
 keep the peace. The day, like so many in England, 
 was dismally wet, the Chartists' riot fizzled out, and 
 the petition went quietly to Westminster in a cab. 
 Failure for revolution true ; but on that same 
 day Maurice, Kingsley and a fe\v kindred spirits 
 met, and as a result of that meeting the Christian 
 Socialists concreted their organisation, and began 
 definitely to make their views known publicly. 
 Next day London was placarded with addresses to 
 the Working Men of England, telling them that they 
 had friends, unknown personally, it was true, but 
 " who love you because you are their brothers, 
 who fear God and therefore dare not neglect you, 
 His children." These placards were followed by 
 the publication of a small periodical called Politics 
 for the People, sold at one penny a number. This 
 little paper had a circulation of about two thousand 
 copies, and although only seventeen parts were 
 issued, the theories and feelings of the editors were 
 strongly and effective]}' voiced. Maurice began 
 strongly to denounce the selfishness and cruelty of 
 unrestricted competition in industries. li Competi- 
 tion," he declared, '"is put forth as a la\v of the 
 Universe. That is a lie. . . . The payment of wages
 
 52 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 under this competitive s^-stem has ceased to be a 
 righteous mode of expressing the true relation 
 between employer and employed. ... It is no old 
 condition we are contending with, but an accursed 
 new one. the. product of a hateful, devilish theory 
 which must be fought witli to the death." It can 
 easily be imagined the outcry that such a declaration 
 caused in certain quarters. l>ut Maurice held on 
 his course : he was no idle declaimer. nor did he 
 advocate an impossible utopia. His watchword 
 was " association " a policy based on association 
 would bring hope and salvation to the workers, not 
 only so far as material well-being was concerned, but 
 intellectually and educationally it would be the safest 
 and surest road to the highest culture. 
 
 It must, however, be carefully noted that these 
 associations advocated by Maurice were not to be 
 organised and nursed by the State. The workers 
 were called upon to organise themselves, to take 
 their fate boldly in both their hands and go forward. 
 It was the function of the State to sec that they had 
 fair play, and to prevent abuses. The Co-operative 
 Producing Associations brought into being by the 
 mutual working and class sympathy of the workers 
 themselves would, if successful, result in the elimina- 
 tion of the excessive profits of dead capital, and the 
 ferocity of the competitive struggle would be lessened. 
 Maurice's dream was that from small beginnings
 
 (SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 53 
 
 the Associations both for the production and dis- 
 tribution of goods, and the education of the masses, 
 might become universal. 
 
 It was thus that modern socialism commenced in 
 England, under leaders like Robert Owen, one of 
 the most successful business men of his time, and 
 Frederick Denison Maurice, a clergyman of the 
 English Church, holding strong views as to monarchy, 
 but advocating associations among working people 
 for both their intellectual and material well-being. 
 It is true that these two men did not see eye to eye 
 on many subjects, especially on religion ; but, 
 under somewhat different forms, they preached and 
 practised a very similar doctrine.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 
 
 WHILST events were occurring in England as just 
 narrated, tinder different conditions somewhat 
 similar developments were taking place in France. 
 Xew thoughts by a neM- school of theorists speculating 
 on economic subjects were destined to have far- 
 reaching results. The criticisms of these men on 
 the situation as it affected the working classes in 
 France, originated in the after-effects of the French 
 Revolution, in combination with the new industrial 
 conditions resulting from the introduction of the 
 factory system. Men like St Simon and Fourier were 
 anti-capitalist that is to say. they were Socialists ; 
 and. like Owen and Maurice, seeing the want of 
 capability among the masses to create among them- 
 selves efficient leaders. saw the necessity for bringing 
 aid to them from members of the superior classes. 
 It was but natural that the wisest and best of 
 the community should endeavour to regenerate 1 
 society, and this must be done by educating the 
 masses to live under an ideal system. But whilst 
 being socialists they were not revolutionaries, they 
 preached no class warfare. What had to be done 
 
 54
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 55 
 
 was that the masses should be raised, not that 
 those who were better oft' should be depressed, 
 Here again we have a middle-class movement. 
 
 Claude Henri, Comte de St Simon, was born 
 in the year 1760, and claimed descent from 
 Cha.rlemagne. An ambitious man, and withal vain, 
 as may be realised by the order he gave his valet 
 as to awakening him each morning : " Arise, 
 Monsieur le Comte, you have great things to do 
 to-day." He tells how his great ancestor appeared 
 to him in a vision and urged him to devote his life 
 to philosophy, promising him that his successes 
 in that sphere should be as epoch-making as his 
 own had been in arms and statecraft. He was 
 undoubtedly a man of broad views, and held that 
 so far as the present organisation of society was 
 concerned, what was required was amendment, not 
 revolution. As to private propert} 7 , if it consisted 
 of investments worthy of compensation, it was 
 rightful. As to the relations that should subsist 
 between capital and labour, harmony, not strife, 
 should be the aim the fight should be between the 
 industrious and the idle. Society ought to be so 
 organised that all its members must work. Indeed, 
 it may be said that one of the greatest, if not the 
 greatest, contribution made by St Simon to the 
 subject was the necessity of work by all. The 
 central teaching of his system was that the labour
 
 50 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 of the entire community should be so directed that 
 the physical and moral condition of all its members 
 would benefit. To this end the nation should be 
 organised on an industrial basis. But as the people 
 were not yet lit to govern in the industrial sphere, 
 this duty must be entrusted to scientific experts, 
 industrial chiefs. Government proper would be 
 limited to other spheres and to giving the heads of 
 the industrial associations a free hand. Let this 
 system but once be instituted and " mankind would 
 cease exploiting one another, and mutually turn 
 to exploit the earth.'" Although St Simon did not 
 actually attack private property, his followers did. 
 Taking up his teaching as to the necessity for all 
 to work, they declared that there mast be no idle 
 class ; the idle capitalist living an on unearned 
 income must have no place in the new society. 
 Such a man is a parasite, an exploiter of the worker. 
 Here socialist teaching is becoming very modern. 
 In criticising the existing system, it was declared 
 that capitalist employers as owners of the instru- 
 ments of production are able to dictate their own 
 terms to the workers. Nor is this all, for, thanks 
 to the system of inheritance, the instruments of 
 production are handed on from father to son. even 
 though the son may be incapable. This too must 
 be ended, and the community must own all capital. 
 Here again the teaching is remarkably modern.
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 57 
 
 Francois Marie Charles Fourier was born in the 
 3 T ear 1772. His father was a prosperous draper at 
 Besan9on. By nature young Fourier Avas a student ; 
 however, bowing to circumstances, he went into 
 business, and once there, worked well and success- 
 fully. At a very early age he began giving attention 
 to commercial abuses and the petty tricks of trade. 
 It is related how, as a small boy of five years old, he 
 was severely punished for making some too truthful 
 observation concerning some of his father's stock ! 
 And when a young man of twenty-seven he was 
 roused to anger at having to destroy a quantity of 
 rice which had become unfit for human consumption 
 owing to its having been " held for a rise " during a 
 time when many people were suffering from starva- 
 tion. His experience led him to the conclusion that 
 the existing system of society was fundamentally 
 wrong, and he set himself to work to think out what 
 the new system should be. Like Robert Owen he 
 advocated a system of association, but his associa- 
 tions must be limited in membership. Eighteen 
 hundred members, he decided, was the ideal number. 
 Such a community could be self-supporting and 
 could reduce the numbers required for protection 
 to a minimum ; thus the great majority would be 
 producers. Much has been borrowed from Fourier 
 by modern socialist writers, e.g. 
 
 " All labour may be pleasant ; it is only over-
 
 58 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 work that is unpleasant, and that should be un- 
 necessary." 
 
 " Change of occupation is good no man ought 
 to devote long consecutive hours to one piece of 
 work." 
 
 " Between the ages of eighteen and eight-and- 
 twenty a man ought to produce sufficient to enable 
 him to live henceforward a life of leisure." 
 
 Labour, said he. may be divided into three classes 
 necessary, useful, and agreeable. Necessary labour 
 deserves the highest reward, but those who choose 
 agreeable tasks deserve the lowest pay. Exertion 
 should be the measure of reward. He also gave 
 currency to the theory of a minimum wage for all. 
 With all his socialism he was not entirely orthodox. 
 There would, he thought, be a surplus after labour 
 had been paid, and he allowed that a third of this 
 surplus should go to capital, thereby showing that 
 he realised the necessity for providing some induce- 
 ment for thrift. Probably he foresaw that without 
 this reward, capital would not be accumulated. 
 
 In the year 184S the proletarian revolution broke 
 out in France, and after that time the lead in socialist 
 thought was taken by Germany. Socialism ceased 
 to be middle-class. It can hardly be said that there 
 was a definite break : the early socialism shaded 
 into the modem, and between the two. like a
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 59 
 
 connecting link, comes Louis Blanc. Born in 1811 
 at Madrid, the son of King Joseph's Inspector- 
 General of Finance, Blanc enjoyed the advantage 
 of a good education and became a tutor and journal- 
 ist. Turning his attention to writing, he published 
 a book, L 'Organisation du Travail, and this made 
 him very popular with the French working classes. 
 This book preaches the brotherhood of man and the 
 need that every individual born into the world 
 should have the chance to develop his character 
 and intellect to their fullest capacity. For his work 
 a man should be paid not according to the quantity 
 produced, but should receive sufficient for his wants, 
 that is, he should be able to cultivate any tastes 
 and talents with which nature had endowed him. 
 No sj'stem should be considered successful unless 
 every member had his needs supplied. Thus the 
 great point of Blanc's teaching is the right of every 
 individual to a chance for fully developing his indi- 
 viduality, and that he shall have the needs of that 
 individuality supplied. This he considers is not 
 possible under a competitive regime. He is as fierce 
 on the subject of competition, as then practised, 
 as was Maurice. He calls it a murderous warfare. 
 The plan for his workshops was worked out on these 
 lines, and as it was clearly impossible that the 
 workers could establish such workshops themselves, 
 it was the duty of the State to step in ; but the
 
 no ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Stale should he limited, so fur ;is management of 
 the workshops was eoneerned. to appointing the 
 Directors for the first year. Once established, the 
 workers must enjoy the privilege of electing their 
 own Directors. Louis Blanc's originality consists 
 in his having been the first to insist on the necessity 
 of the State taking an active share in the organisation 
 of the work of production. Of his workshops as 
 established in France it is probably true to say that 
 they never had a real trial, perhaps it was not 
 intended that they should ; but under even the most 
 propitious circumstances they must have failed. 
 The dictum that al! men should produce according 
 to their faculties, and consume according to their 
 needs, may look well on paper ; but Blanc, like 
 many a social reformer since his time, forgot that 
 very insistent entity human nature. All men are 
 willing to consume according to their needs, and, 
 when that is the rt'yhtie under which they live, 
 their needs have an insistent way of growing. How 
 many men are willing to work according to their 
 faculties when motive is reduced to a minimum '( 
 
 Looking back over the work of these early 
 Socialists, while their theories sound Utopian and 
 their writings are tinged with sentimentalism, it 
 cannot be denied that they did influence economics 
 for good both in the theoretical and practical spheres. 
 The whole question of the distribution of wealth, a
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 61 
 
 subject far too scantily treated, was brought into 
 prominence, and its issues were made urgent. They 
 also drew public attention to the possible abuses 
 connected with the institution of private property 
 and the right of inheritance subjects hitherto 
 unquestioned. Tn refusing to accept private pro- 
 perty as a fixed, unchangeable fact they fell into 
 error. Had they demanded limitation in place of 
 abolition, they would have been working along 
 sounder lines. Indeed, they would have anticipated 
 the practical policy which has been developing 
 with success in this country since 1894. 
 
 Interest in the development of socialist theories 
 during the second half of the nineteenth century 
 shifts over to Germany. Here a school of thought 
 originated and developed, which, although owing 
 much to English and French predecessors, and 
 developing their theories on new lines, turned 
 definitely from the classes to the masses. In a word, 
 socialism became proletarian, and its leaders began 
 to pride themselves on having broken away from 
 the Utopian ideals of their neighbours, and on having 
 entered on a path of " Scientific Realism." Fore- 
 most, at any rate in point of time, among these new 
 reformers come Roclbertus and Lassalle. 
 
 Johann Karl Rodbertus was born in the year 
 1805, and was the son of a Professor at the University 
 of Greifswald. He studied law at Gottingen and
 
 62 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Berlin, and as a comparatively young man settled 
 quietly on an estate in Pomerania in order to give 
 his attention to economics. Here he elaborated two 
 main ideas a labour theory of productivity, and a 
 belief that labour was receiving a decreasing share of 
 what it was producing. Hence one important part of 
 his work was a criticism of distribution from which 
 he goes on to consider a phenomenon unnoticed 
 before the Industrial Revolution, but now recurring 
 with almost cyclical regularity commercial crises. 
 
 Rodbcrtus adopts, but exaggerates, a theory 
 originally enunciated by Ricardo as to the part 
 played by labour in production, by declaring that 
 labour produces all \\ealth; and he is careful to 
 make his readers understand that by labour he 
 means manual labour only. He allows that organ- 
 ising ability and brains count for something, but 
 such things arc a free gift of nature to the individual 
 possessing them : this being so the share of produc- 
 tion due to them is small, and their reward should 
 not be great. As to Jus dictum that the manual 
 labourer who creates all wealth is being cheated 
 out of an inereasinglv lai'ire proportion of what he 
 makes, although then* \\as possibly some colour 
 for such a statement half a century ago. such a 
 position in the li^ht of reliable statistics is no longer 
 tenable. 1 Rodbertus tells us that there are three
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 63 
 
 claimants to the wealth annually produced the 
 rent of land, the interest of capital, and the wages 
 of labour. Of these the t\vo first exist because 
 labour produces a surplus over and above what is 
 necessary for the subsistence of the worker. The 
 institution of private property places the wealthy 
 in a position of advantage which enables them to 
 seize this surplus for their own use. As a result of 
 this the masses, gaining but a bare subsistence, are 
 unable to develop their higher natures, and this 
 is a great detriment to the well-being of the com- 
 munity. Whether his argument was right or wrong, 
 his conclusion arrested the attention of professed 
 economists, who began to see the necessity for 
 giving very much greater attention to the; subject 
 of distribution i.e. the consideration of rent, 
 interest, profits and wages, and especially the tAvo 
 last. That industrialism should result in there 
 being a large class of ill-paid labour, tending to 
 intensify the problems connected with poverty and 
 misery, led him to declare that the economist should 
 no longer be content with ignoring this distressing 
 fact ; and that, if economics is a science, the problem 
 of poverty should be as carefully investigated as 
 the problem of wealth. In theorising on the subject 
 of commercial crises Kodbertus tries to slum that 
 with a decreasing wage share the workers' power 
 of purchasing commodities decreases ; thu.s pro-
 
 G4 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 duction tends to become greater than consumption. 
 Manufacturers finding the demand for their goods 
 lessening begin to decrease their output, there is a 
 shrinkage in employment, and the workers are really 
 in the grip of a vicious circle, bad leading to worse. 
 
 This may account for bad times and unem- 
 ployment, but it does not account for recurring 
 good times, and a prosperity which is not confined 
 to one class of the community. If the workers' 
 share was always diminishing, and their purchasing 
 power always decreasing, then 1 would be no recur- 
 rence of good times. The theory does not coincide 
 with the facts. 
 
 What is his remedy '. Me advocates nothing 
 startling or revolutionary. Indeed, he concludes 
 that it will take about live centuries to evolve a 
 system satisfactory to all interests. The poverty 
 of mankind, and the commercial crisis which does 
 so much to intensify it. can only be eliminated by 
 wealth becoming the property of the community. 
 To show how the evolution he hopes for will work, 
 he tells of three great stages in economic develop- 
 ment. In the first stage there was slavery, ownership 
 of human beings that was in the Ancient World. 
 Then comes the stage in which slavery is abolished, 
 but whilst man is nominally free', land and capital 
 are subject to private ownership, the result being 
 that whoever wishes to manufacture goods must
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 65 
 
 pay rent for the use of land, and interest for the 
 use of capital such is the condition of affairs at 
 the present day. In the future a new era will appear, 
 during which land and capital will cease to be subject 
 to individual ownership ; they will belong to the 
 user for the benefit of the community. Kodbertus 
 calls this the Christian-Social Era. 
 
 Realising that benefits coming some centuries 
 hence have only an academic value to the man in 
 the street, Rodbertus laid down the lines of a policy 
 for immediate practice, as calculated to smooth the 
 way towards better things. The condition of the 
 worker should at once be improved by regulation ; 
 hours should be limited, the amount of work per 
 man should be regulated, a minimum wage should 
 be fixed, as also should prices. Robert Owen in 
 his Labour Exchanges had made use of a labour 
 currency, i.e. a paper money based not on bullion 
 but on hours of work. Rodbertus suggested a 
 similar expedient, declaring that the adoption of 
 this polic} r in its entirety would be calculated to 
 shorten the time before stage three would dawn. 
 
 Ferdinand Lassalle was born twenty years after 
 Rodbertus, and unfortunately a foolish quarrel led 
 to a duel which cut short an interesting life at the 
 age of thirty-nine. He was the son of a prosperous 
 merchant, but preferred a University career to going 
 into his father's business, He studied philosophy
 
 06 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 and philology at the Universities of Berlin and 
 Breslau, and during his student years he imbibed 
 democratic republican ideas which as years passed 
 grcu" in intensity, and resulted in the foundation of 
 the Social Democratic Party in Germany. 
 
 The English Economists, developing Adam Smith's 
 teaching on the subject of wages, had built up a 
 hideous doctrine known as the Iron Law of Wages. 
 As Lassalle accepted this theory and attacked 
 capitalism from that standpoint, it is worth while 
 knowing at any rate a little about it. 
 
 Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nf (lions points 
 out that originally the worker received the whole 
 result of his work ; but as society progressed, rent 
 emerged in connection with land, and improved 
 cultivation required increasing amounts of capital. 
 Hence rent and then interest had to receive a share 
 of what was produced. The share of the worker 
 came to be fixed by two things firstly, the funds 
 available for his employment, and secondly, the 
 density of population. Eventually wages reached a 
 point at which they sufficed to maintain the popula- 
 tion, and were equal to the means of subsistence. 
 Ricardo followed the same line of thought, but in 
 place of means of subsistence suggested a new phrase, 
 standard <>j liriinj. He declared that wages would 
 conform to the motion which the workers themselves 
 had formed of the standard of life thev would lead.
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 67 
 
 for that notion would determine the increase of 
 population. Malthus, theorising on the same subject, 
 declared that it was impossible to improve the con- 
 dition of the poor man by means of money, and 
 so enable him to live better than he did before, 
 without depressing the condition of others in the 
 same class. He thus assumes that a certain fixed 
 amount of the total food produce of a country will 
 go to the working class, and that the total food 
 produce is a fixed amount, so that any increased 
 demand means increase in price, without leading 
 to an increase in supply. These assumptions, it 
 ma}' be noted in passing, may have been true at 
 the time when Malthus wrote, but fortunately 
 those times were exceptional, and so the theory 
 requires modification. However, the subject did 
 not remain undeveloped : both James Mill and his 
 son, John Stuart Mill, carried the theory further ; in- 
 deed, the younger Mill gave the final form to the Iron- 
 Law, which may be briefly summed up as follows : 
 (i) Industry is limited by capital, but does not 
 always come up to that limit, the increase of 
 capital gives increased employment to labour 
 without assignable bounds. 
 
 (ii) It is not all capital which constitutes the wages 
 fund of a country, but only that part of it 
 which is destined for the direct purchase 
 of labour.
 
 OS ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Thus wages depend mainly on the supply 
 and demand of labour, or on the proportion 
 between population and capital. With these 
 limitations of the terms, wages not only de- 
 pend on the relative amounts of eapital and 
 population, but cannot under the rule of 
 competition be affected by anything else. 
 Wages cannot rise but. by an increase of 
 the aggregate funds employed in hiring 
 labourers, or a diminution of the number 
 of the competitors for hire. 
 
 I Fere we have a doctrine full of despair for the 
 working classes, for if it were true, efforts successfully 
 made to improve one class of workers would result 
 in depressing some other class. Ft is hardly to be 
 wondered at that Political I'.conomy was disliked 
 and called the dixtnul wiener. Happily economists 
 have retraced their steps, and enunciated a far more 
 wholesome doctrine, at once full of hope for the 
 workers, and in consonance with the facts. Wages 
 are not fixed by dividing some definite amount of 
 capital bv the number of workers : the wages fund 
 of a country is only limited by production itself, 
 for wa^es are paid out of the result of production, 
 and only for convenience' sake out of existing 
 wealth. The working classes then can raise their 
 standard of living, and can demand a greater share 
 of what is produced, without being haunted by the
 
 EARLY CONTINENTAL SOCIALISM 69 
 
 thought that increased wages must necessarily be 
 gained at the expense of their fellows : production 
 itself is the limit, so that a well-organised labour 
 force, with adequate economic knowledge at its 
 command, can successfully take measures to improve 
 the condition of labour as a whole. 
 
 This digression was necessary in order to make 
 clear, however sketchily, a very important point. 
 Returning now to Lassalle, he accepted the Wages 
 Fund theory in all its brutality, and declared that 
 such being the position under the capitalist regime, 
 labour is in a hopeless position. The obvious, and 
 only remedy, said Lie, is to abolish capitalism and 
 reorganise society on a basis of co-operative associa- 
 tion, with the State to supply the necessary credit. 
 
 Lassalle makes a critical analysis of capitalism 
 and sums up its essentials. First comes division 
 of labour, then production is organised to cater for 
 a world market, thirdly competition is the main 
 motive force, then one favoured clans, the capitalists, 
 own the instruments of production by means of 
 which they exploit the wage-earner to whom they 
 pay as wages a bare subsistence and retain a large 
 surplus for themselves. Thus a dead instrument 
 has depressed the condition of the living agent. 
 
 In formulating the new doctrine of conjunctur, 
 Lassalle attacked industrialism from a new stand- 
 point. There are a series of circumstances or
 
 70 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 conditions that may favour the fortunate individual, 
 nor are these due to any effort on his part. Nation- 
 ality, birth, fortunate circumstances generally, bring 
 fortune to certain individuals, whilst others through 
 no fault of their own experience the reverse. Thus 
 to a great extent the individual cannot control his 
 own destiny. Chance in large measure steps in, 
 and this makes it necessary that the control should 
 be in the hands of Society. Moreover, the larger 
 issues, such as wars and crises, are uncontrollable 
 by the individual. Thus the important events 
 which make or mar nations, being not of individual 
 but of social origin, it is for the community to take 
 the lead. 
 
 Much of the teaching of Lassalle is so full of inter- 
 esting surprises that his early death is a cause of 
 great regret. Had he lived to work out his theories 
 more fully and revise them in the light of a ripe 
 experience, there might have been a rich mine of 
 thought, useful to the social reformer and the 
 economist, and perhaps of benefit to the whole 
 community.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 
 
 SOCIALISM had developed considerably between the 
 days of Robert Owen and Lassalle. Self-dependent 
 associations of working men, organised in a free 
 State, unassisted by the State, but working under 
 a system of law giving them free pla}~, had been the 
 dream of the first socialists, then active assistance 
 by the State had been demanded, and this demand 
 had developed into State Socialism. But socialism 
 still remained a matter of association, and it con- 
 tinued to be national. This position, however, was 
 not to be final. The next advance was to be an 
 attempt to make it international and cosmopolitan ; 
 moreover, peaceful methods were to give place to 
 revolution. The new leader, Karl Marx, was a 
 very remarkable man and had a very remarkable 
 history. He was born at Treves in the year 1818. 
 His father was a lawyer, and hoped that his son 
 would follow in his footsteps. At the Universities 
 of Berlin and Bonn the younger Marx studied law, 
 but, in the process, became interested in history 
 and philosophy. At first he dreamed of an academic 
 career, but in the early forties journalism claimed 
 
 71
 
 72 ECONOMICS AM) SYNDICALISM 
 
 him. and he became Editor of the K/icnix'i (I'azettc. 
 During tliis editorship lie became aware of certain 
 deficiencies in his intellectual equipment, and so 
 decided to study economics at Paris. He married, 
 and settled in Paris in the year IS43. Owing to 
 his advanced opinions he \vas expelled from France 
 two years later and went to Brussels. While there 
 he showed his wit and power as a controversialist 
 by attacking Prudhon's Philo^ojthie de In Mi. sere, 
 in a book which he entitled Ln Ml^rc. dc In I'/iilo- 
 $oj)hi( ! During this time too he coni])osed a 
 manifesto for the ( 'ommunist League : and naturally 
 durum the IS4S period lie was very bu>y. In the 
 year 184!) he settled in London, and it was in London 
 that he died in the year ISS.'J. A man of great 
 industry, he worked untiringly in the Library at 
 the British .Museum, where he acquired what was 
 probably an imiijue kno\\ le<l<_ r e of the literature of 
 Economics, and of the history and development of 
 modern Europe. In the year lsti4. as a result of 
 the Industrial Exhibition held two years earlier, 
 the International \Vorkini: Men's Association was 
 founded. There had been a previous attempt at 
 the same sort of tiling, which had under the influence 
 ol Marx developed into the Communist League. 
 The IM-\V association was originally intended to be 
 a. means for furthering the genuine interests of the 
 workers ot all countries. It \\as. houever. captured
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 73 
 
 by the Socialists, who, finding themselves strong 
 enough, quarrelled with a group of members who 
 were tinged \vith anarchist proclivities. These 
 anarchists were expelled from the International, 
 and the Socialists hoped that they would be able 
 under the leadership of Marx to advance their policy 
 and influence unimpeded. Howsver, after the failure 
 of the Commune in Paris in the year 1871, the 
 International languished and died. The final policy 
 of the International is interesting, as it was the 
 policy of Marx. This policy was outlined in the 
 most important congress of the association, held at 
 Brussels in the year .1808. There it \vas declared 
 that mines, land, and the means of communication 
 ought to be the property of the State, which would 
 hand them over to associations of working men to 
 be worked for the common good ; further, that 
 through co-operative societies and the organisation 
 of mutual credit alone could the workers own the 
 instruments of production ; that labour produced 
 all wealth, and therefore ought to enjoy its full 
 reward without any reduction for rent, interest, or 
 profit. It is perhaps only fair to add that at a 
 congress held at Basle a year later, a proposition 
 condemning the right of inheritance was defeated. 
 In the year 1804, on the death of Lassalle, Marx 
 had obtained control of the Social Democratic move- 
 ment in Glermanv. and had redoubled his efforts at
 
 74 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 agitation. His influence with the dissatisfied elements 
 of labour throughout the world was immense, and 
 probably is greater now than ever it was in his life- 
 time, although some of his doctrines have lost some- 
 what of their original force. His great work. Das 
 Kapital, has been called the Socialist's Bible, whilst 
 recently the Syndicalists would appear to have 
 drawn a good deal of inspiration from his teachings. 
 
 Under Marx, from an ethical point of view, 
 Socialism degenerated, becoming a pure materialism. 
 One authority has said of it : " In passing into its 
 latest or German stage. Socialism gained intellectu- 
 ally, but lost morally." 
 
 With a cynicism that was characteristic. Marx 
 accepted and developed what is known as the 
 Economic explanation of history. This theory 
 contains some truth undoubtedly, and is of consider- 
 able interest : it may indeed in some cases serve as a 
 useful antidote to the chivalry, blood and glory 
 school of historical writing : but extremists have 
 carried it so far that it would, if accepted, deprive 
 history not only of all romance but of all nobleness. 
 Every movement towards truth and right, every 
 attempt to withstand oppression or succour the 
 \\eak. would be attributed to motives of self-interest. 
 Pounds, shillings and pence would be looked for as 
 the basis of the motive force impelling men along 
 the road of progress. Extremists go so far as to
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 75 
 
 declare that Mahomet did not win converts so 
 much by his religions zeal or even military prowess, 
 but because at a time when it became possible to 
 develop trade, and the Christian Church held that 
 trade would lead to fraud, the Koran taught that 
 trade is approved by Allah, and the faithful may, 
 without any spiritual disadvantage, take part in 
 commerce. Or again, the Crusades were not fought 
 really to re-take the Holy Places from the Saracen, 
 but because the road-ends at the Levant by which 
 the merchandise of the East entered Europe were in 
 the hands of the infidel, who thereby made a huge 
 profit at the expense of the European consumer. 
 Even the Reformation is not so much a religious 
 movement as one which under the cloak of religion 
 was really organised by the shopkeeping nations to 
 enable them to break away from the economic 
 restrictions of the Canon Law. Such interpretations 
 make human history a poor thing : all nobleness, all 
 self-sacrifice, all the higher motives of life are sacri- 
 ficed to an all-consuming desire for the questionable 
 advantages of an increasing material wealth. The 
 earlier Socialists had held that man is innately good, 
 that amid much that may be regretted there is a real 
 nobleness to which appeal can be made. Marx 
 and his school deny this, declaring that all great 
 changes can be traced to methods of production and 
 exchange ; that purely material forces dominate
 
 7(> ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 And determine the acts of communities and the 
 social arrangements of nations. Applying such 
 arguments to modern life. Marx has little difficulty 
 in deciding that the worker is at the mercy of the 
 wealthy, that capital exploits labour and makes 
 unjust profits thereby. 
 
 As to Marx's economic doctrines it is of interest 
 to examine what he has to say on the subject of 
 Capital. Value, and Surplus Value : on all these his 
 views are incomplete, not to say unsound. Mis main 
 error consists in ignoring some of the main factors 
 of the economic position. 
 
 As to Capital, lie tells us that "Money, the final 
 product of the circulation of commodities, is the 
 first form of Capital." Is lie juggling with terms 
 or is he ignorant of the elements of Economics I 
 Economics was a subject with a well-defined vocabu- 
 lary before Marx began to speculate ; and in using 
 economic terms he should ha\e used them in the 
 ordinarily accepted sense. The Kconomist in defin- 
 ing Capital teaches thai Capital is wealth used in 
 production. This definition tells us at once that 
 there must have been Capital in the world long 
 before money was employed. The first implement 
 that man devised to help him to work to better 
 advantage was the origin of Capital. Capital can 
 exist apart from money, although under modern 
 conditions for convenience sake Capital is mostly
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 77 
 
 spoken of in terms of money. Capital, which to 
 Marx is a vampire sucking the blood of labour, 
 is really the factor in production to which we owe 
 the possibility of relieving work of the greater part 
 of its hardships. Capital viewed aright is the 
 friend which has eased the burden ot mankind 
 and made life more bearable. It is capital that 
 brings an eight-hour day within the bounds of 
 practical politics. Marx's error is that he fails to 
 differentiate between the right use and the abuse 
 of a great instrument. A poison abused by an 
 ignorant or wicked person may cause agony and 
 death. The very same poison used by a skilful 
 doctor may not only relieve pain but be a great 
 blessing. To condemn capital wholesale, because 
 in some instances through ignorance or through 
 wrong-doing it may have caused hardship and 
 misery, is to ignore the broad lessons of history. 
 
 Moreover, riot only does Marx fail to understand 
 what capital is, and ignore its true function, he 
 also fails to realise the importance of the user of 
 capital, and the fact that the use of capital is not 
 restricted to any one man or one class. In all this 
 he continues to mislead the present-day Socialist. 
 The working-man agitator talks airily about taking 
 over the instruments of production ; the Syndicalist 
 urges each group of workers to take possession of 
 the industry with which it is connected and retain
 
 7S ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 the whole product for itself. Everything that is 
 produced is said to be the work of the manual 
 worker : the organiser is a parasite who sucks 
 the life-blood of the worker. For this is the con- 
 ception of the position, and is the explanation of 
 the class war that is so recklessly preached. 
 
 Really capital is an instrument in production, and 
 in common with all instruments must have a user. 
 It cannot set itself in motion. There is. moreover, 
 a great danger connected with capital. It owes its 
 existence to thrift and abstinence (it is a common 
 socialist gibe to retort " the abstinence of the 
 millionaire ! ") without thrift and abstinence this 
 instrument would never have existed. When a 
 man makes use of capital in business he runs a great 
 risk, because capital can only be used by consuming 
 it. Thus, unless the user produces, firstly, an 
 equal amount to replace what he has destroyed, and 
 then a further quantity to pay the lender for his 
 thrift, and himself for his risk. the community sutlers 
 because the capital available for industry has been 
 decreased in amount. As a matter of fact the man 
 who can successfully make- use of capital is skilful 
 above the average. The brain power may or may 
 not be of a very high order, but it is comparatively 
 rare. -Many people can be trained to use success- 
 fully the ordinary tools and instruments of daily 
 life, and even thouirh they be bunglers the instru-
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 79 
 
 ments are not necessarily destroyed ; they can 
 generally be used again. But Capital once used is 
 lost, and must be replaced a miscalculation, an 
 error in judgment, a want of skill on the part of the 
 user, and the Capital utilised, having been consumed 
 in the using, is lost. This is the explanation of high 
 profits for successful business men, high salaries 
 for skilful organisers a fact conveniently ignored 
 by Marx and his followers. 1 High profits and high 
 salaries are not necessarily made at the expense of 
 the wage-earner ; indeed, in many instances, as is 
 well known, it is by the best organised business 
 firms, making the best profits, that the highest 
 wages are paid and the most regular emploj'ment 
 is given. Not onry do these theorisers ignore 
 the importance of the " Captain of Industry," but 
 they ignore the fact that the use of capital is not 
 restricted to one favoured class of the community. 
 
 The Capitalist Class, to accept the Socialist 
 expression, enjoys no law of entail. Compare the 
 history of commercial families with that of those 
 connected with land. The general experience in 
 business is that a firm, on the average, ceasets to 
 exist with the third generation. Our industrial 
 history, since the introduction of steam, tells with 
 almost wearying repetition of the appearance and 
 success of the self-made man. The explanation is 
 
 1 C/. Appendix, p. 13,"),
 
 SO ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 that the ability to organise work and use capital to 
 advantage is no hereditary characteristic. And in 
 a country like England, ability, like murder, " will 
 out." Let a man but once show his integrity, and his 
 ability to organise, and he has but little difficulty 
 to find supporters. It may be difficult to make the 
 initial advance, but the man of grit is not deterred 
 by difficulties, as is proved by the biographies of 
 our leading manufacturers and commercial men. 
 
 Not only, however, does one find Marx to be 
 unsatisfactory in his teaching on the subject of 
 Capital and the Capitalist, but he is equally unsound 
 when he treats of Value. He tells us that " Leaving 
 out of consideration the utilities of commodities, 
 they have all one common property. They are all 
 the product of human labour : not of any particular 
 kind of human labour, but of human labour in the 
 abstract. The value of a commodity is the amount 
 of abstract human labour embodied in it." And 
 he adds that the more value there is in a commodity 
 the more labour there is embodied in it. Tn other 
 words, the cause and basis of value is labour. 
 Although there is a partial truth here, it is stated 
 absolutely, without modification, and as stated 
 the theory will not bear criticism. The Economist 
 says that value is caused by utility together with 
 limitation in quantity. That is to say. that where 
 ti commodil v is useful and to the extent that its
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 81 
 
 quantity is limited, it Avill have value. This defini- 
 tion will bear all tests. The theory that value is 
 caused by labour will not. For instance, a man 
 picks up a nugget of gold weighing half a pound. 
 Is the labour entailed in stooping down and picking 
 up that nugget worth about twenty- three pounds ? 
 And yet that is what the fortunate finder will be 
 able to sell the nugget for. Again, if labour is the 
 cause of value, when a commodity has once been 
 made its value will not be subject to alteration. 
 A man makes a chair, and, when finished, the chair 
 is worth, say, two pounds. If the labour embodied 
 in that chair is really the cause of its value, the 
 chair will always be worth the two pounds, no more 
 and no less, because you cannot add to or take 
 from the labour which has been expended. And 
 yet furniture emporiums have " sales at great re- 
 ductions " \ To show the absurdity of the theory it 
 has been wittily asked, " If labour is the sole cause 
 of value, what is the cause of the value of labour 
 itself ? " The theory will not bear criticism. 
 
 It is, however, on the subject of surplus value 
 the great contribution made by Marx to economic 
 thought- that- the greatest fallacies concerning the 
 relation between capital and labour have been built 
 up. According to this theory, the capitalist buys 
 from the worker the use value of a day's labour for 
 its exchange value or cost. The difference between
 
 82 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 these two is the tuirpliis value which tlie wicked 
 capitalist retains, and by means of which he waxes 
 fat. A popular explanation of this theory is given 
 in a little pamphlet written by Mr ). Bruce 
 Glasicr, entitled. How Millionaires ore Made. This 
 pamphlet, price one penny, is to be found on sale 
 at most socialist meetings and bookstalls. The 
 story embodies the working of the surplus value 
 \lnonj. The story is interesting because it not only 
 contains the theory but its refutation ! Il is worth 
 while, therefore, giving the story in outline. John 
 and James were two brothers. They had been well 
 brought up, and then put to the engineering trade, 
 one as a blacksmith, the other as a turner and 
 fitter. .Both were intelligent, but neither showed 
 any symptoms of unusual ability or genius. They 
 worked fairly hard, and laid IH( n honest, and ex- 
 ceedingly thrifty. But they did not grow rich. 
 Their wages were thirty shillings a week, and it was 
 only by exercising the greatest care lhat they could 
 save li\e shillings a week. To become millionaires 
 at this rale they calculated would require SO. DIM) 
 years, and yet some men had made several millions 
 in a do/en years or so ! It could not be by saving 
 that working men became millionaires. They 
 continued their calculations, and found that, at 
 thirty shillings a week, a \\orking man in thirty 
 years, that is rather longer than the ordinary working
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 83 
 
 life, would only receive 2340 very far short of a 
 million. The question was for a long time considered 
 by these young men. and at length light dawned. 
 " No man ever became rich in this world so long as 
 he was content to be a working man merely." He 
 must get hold of other men's labour, become an 
 employer, a capitalist, if he wishes to become rich. 
 If anyone wishes to be a rich man he must hasten 
 out of the " position of being a mere honest work- 
 man, as he would hasten out of a house infected 
 with cholera or smallpox." Then John and flames 
 decided to become rich if they could. Their savings 
 had mounted up to twenty pounds each. Just as 
 they came to this decision there was a great demand 
 in their neighbourhood for iron construction work. 
 The brothers therefore rented a shed and got in 
 some simple tools and tittings by a wise expenditure 
 of their forty pounds. They then approached one 
 of the contractors who was very busy, and offered 
 to do some part of his contract at a cheap rate if 
 he would supply tho materials. The bargain was 
 struck, the brothers left their old employment and 
 started in business. They worked hard, and they 
 worked long hours, and now they found that, as 
 their own masters, the longer and harder they worked 
 the more money they made. A mouth finished 
 their first contract, and they found that after allow- 
 ing for all outlay on material, wear and tear of tools
 
 S4 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 and rent,, they had cleared fifty shillings a week as 
 wages. Or if they allowed ten shillings each for 
 overtime, they had made u, -profit off their own 
 labour of ten shillings a week each. The brilliant 
 idea then occurred to them. If we can make ten 
 shillings a week profit on our own labour, why not 
 make it on the labour of other men too ! They 
 therefore arranged to take a larger contract, and per- 
 suaded several of their former fellow-workers to work 
 for them. On the completion of the contract their 
 expectations were fulfilled : they had made a profit 
 of ten shillings a week on each man employed. They 
 rubbed their hands gleefully. ..." We have found 
 the way at last." 
 
 The story continues until boih brothers had 
 prospered and become wealthy men. One got into 
 Parliament, and so on. The whole thing accom- 
 plished by exploiting labour, by taking possession 
 of the surplus value created by the worker. Is 
 tins the real or only explanation ? Surely not: 
 the whole explanation is forced and coloured to suit 
 the doctrine. The story is true enough, and can 
 be easily duplicated many times over by turning to 
 the "History of our successful manufacturers. What 
 are i he real causes of the success of .John and .lames '. 
 The story tells us that neither of these men 
 showed any symptoms of unusual ability or genius ; 
 but surelv as their little historv unfolds itself this.
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM 85 
 
 statement is contradicted. They begin by thinking 
 out how people become rich ; they exercise thrift 
 and save twenty pounds each ; they seize the 
 psychological moment for making use of their sav- 
 ings ; they note the effects of their first attempt 
 at contract work and lay plans for extending their 
 business. Just these few points show that John 
 and James were not merely ordinary working folk. 
 They were far-seeing, capable young fellows upon 
 whom the experience of daily life was not thrown 
 away. But their success was due to something 
 more than their own labour. The Economist tells 
 us that the origin of capital is abstinence and 
 thrift, and here we see this dictum exemplified in a 
 very practical way. The Economist also tells us 
 that there are three factors in production namely, 
 land, labour, and capital. Here again we have an 
 illuminating illustration of the truth of their asser- 
 tion. John and James by thrift save a little capital 
 of forty pounds ; by means of this the}' rent a piece 
 of land with a shed on it ; on the land they employ 
 first of all their own labour, and when tlie} r begin 
 to prosper they employ other men's labour. Could 
 one wish for a better illustration of the truth of the 
 teachings of economics ? In a sentence, the experi- 
 ence of John and James has been and will be the 
 experience of many a steady, industrious man who 
 has practised thrift and has a genius for organisation.
 
 8(> ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Without their capital, and without their organising 
 power, these young fellows would have accomplished 
 nothing out of the ordinary. With organising 
 capacity alone they might have been able to show 
 their ability to organise a busmess successfully, and 
 then to have borrowed sufficient capital with which 
 to start in business. The theory of surplus value 
 as made use of by Marx and his followers is sheer 
 moonshine. What Marx calls surplus value is the 
 wages of the skilful business man : as there are grades 
 in the skilfulness of labour, or in the fertility of land, 
 so there are grades in the skill of the men who lead 
 the business world : and the most skilful organ- 
 iser can make the greatest profits, or can earn the 
 highest salary, if he accepts a position as manager 
 to a company or a trust. Socialists will never carry 
 on practical business concerns if they continue to 
 ignore the importance of the functions of the 
 organiser of industry and his worth io the com- 
 munity. Thus one finds that Karl Marx when 
 theorising on capital, value, and surplus value is 
 unsound : yet it is on these foundations that he 
 builds up his indictment against the existing organ- 
 isation of industry, which he calls capitalism. No 
 one is infallible, and there is of course the possibility 
 that Marx's judgments may be correct, but is it 
 thinkable thai a sound eonr-lusioTi can b<- drrvwn 
 from such unsound premisses ?
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 SOCIALISM TO-DAY AND ITS RIVAL SYNDICALISM 
 
 HAVING now outlined the origin and development 
 of Socialism down to the time of Karl Marx, the 
 question arises, what is Socialism to-day ? what are 
 its present aims and teachings 'I To answer this 
 question adequately would require a good deal of 
 space, but an examination of some of the literature 
 circulated by Socialists among the working classes 
 in this country is at the present time of considerable 
 interest. Thus, having collected a number of these 
 booklets and pamphlets, I propose to quote and 
 criticise some of their doctrines and statements. 
 
 One pamphlet written by Mr Robert Blatchford 
 is entitled What is this Socialism? At the be- 
 ginning the author explains that " this is not a 
 defence of Socialism : it is an explanation of Social- 
 ism. There is not room in this pamphlet to prove 
 that Socialism is just and practical and desirable. 
 The object here is to explain what Socialism is 
 and is not. A great deal of the hostility to Socialism 
 arises from misunderstanding as to what Socialism 
 is. This misunderstanding is due to the misrepre- 
 sentation of Socialism by its opponents." Mr 
 
 87
 
 88 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Blatchford then proceeds to say what Socialism is 
 not. " Socialism is not a scheme for seizing the 
 property of the rich, and sharing it out among 
 the poor. Plans for a national ' dividing up ' arc 
 not Socialism : they are nonsense. ' Dividing up ' 
 means individual ownership : Socialism means 
 collective ownership."" Then having explained how 
 the people of Manchester own their tramway system, 
 he continues, ; ' To : divide up ' the tramway system 
 would be anti-Socialism. Socialism is the opposite 
 of v dividing up.' Socialism is collective ownership. 
 That the people of England should collectively own 
 England and all that is in England, as the citizens 
 of Manchester own the trams ; that is Socialism." 
 And again. " Socialism is not a plan to despoil the 
 rich : it is a plan to stop the rich from despoiling the 
 poor. Socialism is not a thief ; it is a policeman.'' 
 Jn the next section Mr Blatchford deals with 
 \Vtmt tiocialisw Is.'' " Socialism is a system of 
 national co-operation. It is based upon the principle 
 of co-operation as opposed to the principle of com- 
 petition. It is based upon the principle of collec- 
 tivism as opposed to the principle of individualism. 
 It is union as against disunion, order as against 
 anarchy. It means each for all and all for each, 
 as against the present cruel and wasteful system of 
 ' Every man for himself and the devil take the 
 hindmost.' ' He goes on to quote some definitions
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 89 
 
 of Socialism from dictionaries and the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica, and tells us that three of the 
 most popular . . . English books on Socialism 
 are, The Fabian Essays, Merrie England, and 
 Britain for the British. He quotes from the Fabian 
 Essays, " Socialism is the common holding of the 
 means of production and exchange, and the holding 
 of them for the equal benefit of all." 
 
 Merrie England says : 
 
 " Socialists do not propose by a single Act of 
 Parliament nor by a sudden revolution to put all 
 men on an equality and compel them to remain 
 so. Socialism is not a wild dream of a happy land, 
 where the apples will drop off the trees into our 
 open mouths, the fish come out of the rivers and 
 fry themselves for dinner, and the looms turn out 
 ready-made suits of velvet with gold buttons without 
 the trouble of coaling the engine. Neither is it 
 a dream of a nation of stained glass angels, who 
 always love their neighbour better than themselves, 
 and who never need to work unless they wish. 
 
 " Socialism is a scientific scheme of national 
 organisation, entirely wise, just, practical. It is a 
 kind of national co-operation. Its programme con- 
 sists, essentially, of one demand, that the land and 
 all other instruments of production and exchange 
 shall be the common property of the nation, and shall 
 be used and managed by the nation for the nation."
 
 1>0 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Britain for the British says : 
 
 '' Here in plain words is the principle or root idea 
 on which all Socialists agree : 
 
 " That the country and all the machinery of 
 production in the country shall belong to the whole 
 people (the nation) and shall be used by the people 
 for the people. This is the principle of collective 
 or national ownership, and co-operation or national 
 use or control. 
 
 Socialism may be summed up in one line, in four 
 words, as really meaning ' i>ritain for the British.' ' 
 
 A page further on Mr Blatchford continues : 
 " Under Socialism all the work of the nation would 
 be organised ... so that no one need be out of 
 work, and so that no useless work need be done. . . . 
 At } tresent the work is not organised, except, in the 
 Post Office and in the various works of the Corpora- 
 tions." This travesty of facts requires no criticism. 
 Later on we read : " We have in England thousands 
 of acres of good land lying idle because it does not 
 pay to till it ; and at the same time we have 
 thousands of labourers out of work who would be 
 only too glad to till it." How many of our unem- 
 ployed could make a living out of even our most 
 fertile land ( It would be cruel kindness to transport 
 starving dock labourers and mock them by saying, 
 " There is the land, make your living out of it." To 
 cultivate the land requires training and knowledge.
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 91 
 
 To read Mr Blatchford one would imagine that the 
 kindly ground merely needs to be scratched by a man, 
 be he never so ignorant, and food will at once appear. 
 
 Can you argue that because the Government 1 is 
 responsible for the Post Office, and because some 
 municipalities have their own gas, water and electric 
 lighting departments, that therefore the community 
 can construct its own ships, make its own clothes, 
 prepare its own food and build its own houses, 
 better under Socialism than is done at present ? 
 Government and municipal enterprise at present has 
 the tax-payer and the rate-payer behind it. When 
 this source of credit and revenue has disappeared 
 how r are all these enterprises to be financed ? But 
 as to this more anon. 
 
 Towards the end of the pamphlet Mr Blatchford 
 assures the reader that " Socialism would begin by 
 making sure that there should not be a single un- 
 taught, unloved, hungry child in the kingdom ; that 
 there should be no such thing as poverty, lack of 
 employment, ignorance, preventable disease, starva- 
 tion and despair, within the borders of the British 
 Islands. Socialism would provide work, education, 
 food, clothing, shelter, clean and pure air and water 
 
 1 The present unrest in the Pot Office (1913), and the unjnsti- 
 iial'le strike of mi'mcipal employees at Leeds, have conic as a rude 
 shock to those. \vho Velicved in State and municipal enterprise as the 
 best means for allaying the unrest in the Lal-ovir \Voild.
 
 92 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 for all." And a little further on : " Socialism would 
 abolish all that misery, and suffering, and wrong." 
 Yes ! what a pretty picture have we here of the 
 Earthly Paradise. Could we believe in the possi- 
 bility of Socialisjn or any other "' ism " doing one- 
 tenth part of what is so glowingly painted, one would 
 be willing to sacrifice even life itself to assist in 
 its attainment. Throughout the reading one sym- 
 pathises deeply with the aim. but sober common- 
 sense tells one that it is easier to say that the State 
 is going to do all these things for the benefit of all. 
 than it is to frame a practical policy for earning 
 them into effect. In none of these pamphlets is 
 there a satisfactory account of how all is to be 
 accomplished. The question inevitably occurs, here 
 we have writers glibly saying that the State is going 
 to organise and carry on the everyday work of the 
 community arc these men themselves competent 
 to aid in the work { Could any one of them 
 undertake successfully even the superintendence of 
 one big manufactory or shipbuilding yard '? \Yhat 
 system of cost account ing. what methods of store- 
 keeping, what organisation to prevent the thousand 
 and one leakages that can take place in a big manu- 
 facturing business would they adopt I Organisation 
 does not grow spontaneously. Most of our big firms 
 have 1 ;<' -n developed from small beginnings, the 
 svstem has been evolved under careful management.
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 93 
 
 Yet it is airily declared that the community can do 
 everything for itself, from building a battleship to 
 growing its ownfood supply, and that apparently with- 
 out any special knowledge or training for the work. 
 Another little pamphlet, called Is Socialism 
 Possible ? by Mr Eldred Hallas, after treating of 
 Hiich subjects as present conditions, the artisan, 
 the capitalist, State employment and others, asks 
 the question : How can it be done ? After showing 
 what invention has done for modern civilisation, 
 he concludes that the State ownership and control 
 of new inventions is the readiest and fairest way to 
 Socialism. Beginning with thai, the next steps are 
 the nationalisation of canals, railways, mines and 
 minerals, then the land ; eventually the State 
 obtains complete ownership. When that has been 
 accomplished. '' Each district would have its comple- 
 ment of doctors, nurses, dentists, domestic servants, 
 expert gardeners, window cleaners and other 
 officials who would be in the pay of the State. 
 Until there is universal disarmament England will 
 require to keep a small but efficient standing army, 
 and in addition thereto, at least one half of the 
 adult males should be trained to the science of war. 
 Home Rule should be given to all our possessions 
 beyond the sea as soon as it is believed the people 
 arc strong find wise enouyk io look after themselves.* 
 
 1 The italics are not in the original.
 
 <)4 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 England l>y this time would be producing the bulk 
 of her food *>//;/>/// ; indeed, (til her oint irhcat, 1 and 
 with no food supply from, or possessions beyond the 
 seas to protect, the navy could be reduced almost 
 to vanishing point. . . . The hitherto wealthy man 
 would be found a position, as far as possible, accord- 
 ing to his tastes and capacity, and his increased 
 usefulness would in no way minimise the real 
 pleasures of his life. Indeed, they would be enhanced 
 by the change. Travel and every other form of 
 recreation would be possible to all. for every human 
 being would be a member of the aristocracy of the 
 world. There will be beauty and love and laughter. 
 There will be health and contentment and peace. 
 The shadows of poverty and strife will vanish before 
 the glowing sunlight of the (iolden Age. the Socialism 
 of to-morrow." 
 
 One rubs one's eyes, one thinks of human nature 
 at its best, and at its worst : one compares reality 
 with the dream, and wishes that it could be true. 
 The practical <|iiestion confronts one. How and when 
 is all this to be accomplished ' Rodbertus did 
 speak of five centuries as beini: necessarv before <i 
 much less ambition;', dream could be realised. 
 Present-day writers apparently expert the bigger 
 vi>ion to appear within th< 1 lifetime of the present 
 generation. .Moreover, all this is to be elt'ected by 
 
 1 1 lie italics arc not in the original.
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 95 
 
 the simple process of the State taking possession 
 of all the instruments of production and b}^ nation- 
 alising the land and means of communication. 
 England is to grow all her foodstuffs, her shipping 
 is to be scrapped, and yet travel is to be free and 
 open to all : our colonies and dependencies are to 
 be cut adrift, willy-nilly, as soon as the}' are wise 
 enough to govern themselves ! The idle rich man 
 is to be given an occupation according to his ability 
 and is guaranteed happiness ! There appear to be 
 a good many contradictions, and in giving up so 
 many of our skilled industries should we not 
 suffer irreparable loss ? Can we put all our naval 
 architects and skilled shipbuilders on the land to 
 grow wheat, and expect them, like the ex-idle rich 
 man. to be happy '. 
 
 Let us try to be serious. The State is going to 
 take over all existing accumulations of capital this 
 is the great secret. But until \vc alter the present 
 basis of society this would be a very drastic step, even 
 though the owners of the capital were compensated. 
 Moreover, it is necessary to remember what capital 
 is, and how it functions. Capital is wealth used in 
 producing more wealth ; it is an instrument, and a 
 very delicate one, because it is consumed in the using ; 
 it must be replaced and added to or progress will 
 cease. No arrangements are made for any of these 
 contingencies in the proposals of Socialism. The
 
 96 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 proposals are kindly and -well meant, but utterly 
 impracticable. Moreover, one gets confused, for 
 while some Socialist writers rely upon the State to 
 do everything, others foretell the end of the State ! 
 This phase began with Frederick Engels. the co- 
 worker with Marx, but it is also quite modern, for 
 in another booklet, in which is printed a paper 
 entitled " Socialism a paper read before the Albany 
 Press Club," by Mr W. S. M'Clure, the Socialist 
 Labour Press, while publishing the paper, prefix 
 an explanatory note which is enlightening, not to 
 say amusing. 
 
 " On one point the difference is marked and must 
 not be overlooked. Mr M'Clure in several passages 
 seems to suggest that the new socidy will have its 
 affairs directed by a redeemed State, which, though 
 elected in much the same way as at present, will 
 have been washed in the cleansing waters of the 
 revolution and made whiter than snow. This is 
 not the position of the Socialist Labour Party. 
 It is inconceivable that the State, an engine brought 
 into existence solely for the purpose of maintaining 
 the domination of a ruling class (slave-owning, 
 feudal, or bourgeois) will be either useful or necessary 
 in a. society in which classes have ceased to exist. 
 Everything points to the fact that the administration 
 of the material resources of society will be directed, 
 uot through elected rulers, but by the workers them-
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM <>7 
 
 .selves acting through delegates appointed for the 
 purpose. The Industrial Union, which seeks to 
 unite the workers as a class to do battle against 
 capitalism, will, when capitalism is overthrown, 
 supply an effective mechanism for the direction and 
 control of the new Republic without the need for 
 perpetuating any State Bogey, purified or otherwise.'' 
 
 This prefatory note would appear to be a modified, 
 or perhaps one should say developed, Socialism, a 
 sort of half-way house on the road to Syndicalism. 
 
 The present aim of Socialism, from the few quota- 
 tions given, is to reconstruct society entirely in the 
 interests of all sections of the community. This is 
 a great and worthy aim ; nay more, at a time when 
 so many people are living with no ideal before them, 
 Socialists win our admiration by coming forward 
 with a great ideal. Their criticism of existing 
 conditions, the misery and hopelessness of the sub- 
 merged tenth, the overlapping of effort, the waste 
 of energy in many directions, the luxury and idle- 
 ness of a favoured few, these things ought to be 
 made known, and the injury to society proclaimed. 
 That there are abuses, even great ones, in the present 
 system must with shame be admitted, but the 
 socialist critics show no power of discrimination 
 all the well-to-do are parasites, there is no good to 
 be found in any Captain of Industry, or organiser 
 of business all the poor are martyrs, all the rich
 
 98 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 are blood-suckers. The luxury and waste of the 
 middle and upper classes are noted, and one has to 
 confess that such waste does go on. lint is waste 
 and extravagance restricted to these classes ? Is 
 it not a fact that it is a failing which pervades 
 even- rank in this country ? At a recent meeting 
 where the minimum wage question was discussed, 
 a Socialist pleaded for an increased average wage 
 for every worker of five shillings a week, at a cost of 
 one hundred million pounds a year. In answer to 
 a question he admitted that, the annual drink bill 
 of the working classes in this country is just the 
 sum named. No one except a rabid teetotaller 
 would urge that all wage-earners should give up the 
 use of alcohol entirely ; but think for one moment 
 what the real cost of excessive drinking is to the 
 workers. Begin with half or one-third the total 
 outlay, then add lost time on bhick Mondays and 
 Tuesdays, and when to that is added the cost of illness 
 and crime connected with the excess a really big 
 bill begins to mount up : and yet that does not sum 
 up the waste and extravagance of the workers. 
 Those who have studied the question declare that 
 the loss in connection with betting and gambling is 
 greater than that connected with drink. One does 
 not wish to imply that the workers should have no 
 recreations, but simply to point out that waste 
 and extravagance are not restricted to the nominally
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 99 
 
 wealthy. On all hands there is urgent need for 
 reform, many abuses require checking or removing 
 altogether. As to this, one is in agreement with the 
 Socialist ; it is when remedies are proposed that a 
 divergence of views becomes apparent. We are 
 asked to go back on all the teachings of history, 
 and on all our traditions ; the work of those who 
 built up our position in trade and empire is to stand 
 condemned. One is asked to agree to a revolution- 
 ary reversal of policy and practice. Think for a 
 moment of the magnitude of the proposal. No 
 nation has ever cut itself away from its past 
 without suffering incalculable loss. Consider 
 secondly what the consequences of even a partial 
 failure would be consequences which would be 
 felt in the first instance, and fall most heavily on 
 the very classes of the community it is hoped to 
 raise and benefit. Then pause and decide whether 
 a policy based on misconception and error is likely 
 to be successful. So long as the Socialist refuses 
 to pay attention to natural laws ; so long as he 
 flouts the real origin, function and use of capital, 
 whilst he disparages the services of the man who can 
 successfully organise business enterprise ; so long 
 as he remains ignorant of the real cause of value, it 
 must be impossible to accept his theories for social 
 and national amelioration. The pity of it is that 
 such earnest men should stultify themselves. For
 
 loo ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 the workers are showing that they will not bo 
 content to remain in ignorance of economic laws 
 and history, nor can there be much doubt but that 
 the hope for the future lies in the effort that the 
 workers are making to get real knowledge. The 
 great root cause of all the difficulties connected with 
 the present situation has been, and is, ignorance. 
 With a right knowledge -of economic forces and 
 economic laws, with a wise spirit of compromise 
 rightly used in the interests of all. and with a desire 
 for harmony and not strife, we may expect improve- 
 ment in the real health and wealth of the community. 
 
 SYNDICALISM 
 
 During the past two years a new development 
 in labour organisation and tactics in the United 
 Kingdom has been much discussed. In the April 
 of 1012 an article in The Times newspaper said : 
 " The existence of a strong Syndicalist movement 
 can no longer be denied. ... Its rapid development 
 lias taken everyone by surprise, including both 
 the older Trade Unionists . . . and the Socialists 
 who have dominated them. Even careful observers, 
 who have made some study of Syndicalism abroad, 
 were unprepared." Mr Ramsay Macdonald, more 
 recently, in his booklet on Syndicalism, assures us 
 v ' that all that is happening in England at present is
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 101 
 
 that Trade Unionism as an active force is reviving 
 and that industrial action is being resorted to with, 
 perhaps, the over-enthusiasm which always follows 
 upon a period of over-neglect." And again, " S} T ndi- 
 calism in England is negligible, both as a school of 
 thought and as an organisation for action." 
 
 In September 1912 the Trade Union Congress 
 for the first time debated Syndicalism, and its 
 supporters were hopelessly beaten on a division by 
 1,693,000 votes to 48,000. Yet that comparatively 
 meagre number includes some very active, not to say 
 able, leaders, and it is clearly right to know some- 
 thing about the movement, especially as Dr Arthur 
 Shadwell tells us that " the efforts made by Labour 
 politicians and Socialists to prove that it (Syndicalism) 
 is negligible show that they do not think so. When 
 men really think a thing negligible they neglect it." 
 
 The word Syndicalism is new to the English 
 language. The ordinary dictionaries do not contain 
 it, the nearest word Syndicate is described as an 
 association carrying out a financial operation, 
 which clearly is not an explanation of Sj'ndicalism. 
 The new word comes from France, and there has a 
 special meaning, for it denotes the policy of the 
 Confederation Generale du Travail, whose object is 
 to destroy, by force if necessary, the existing organ- 
 isation of industry, and transfer industrial capital 
 from its present owners to Syndicalists, the Syndical-
 
 102 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 ists being the revolutionary Trade Unions. The 
 whole history of the movement in France has been 
 collected by Dr Louis Irvine, and has been pub- 
 lished by Columbia University under the title of 
 The .Labour Movement in France A Study in Re- 
 volutionary Syndicalism. Briefly, the object of the 
 Syndicalists is to be accomplished by means of a 
 policy beginning with the irritation strike, to obtain 
 shorter hours and more wages, the employment of 
 sabotage, (injuring employers by bad work, damage 
 to machinery and so on), leading on to the general 
 strike, as its great and final weapon. 
 
 It is possible that the inspiration for such a policy- 
 originally came from the secession of the Plebs in 
 Roman history. A century ago ]\Iirabeau spoke of 
 the great power of a united proletariat. .But it was 
 not until 1868, at a Labour Congress at Brussels, 
 already referred to as making public the policy of 
 Karl Marx, that it was declared that if production 
 were stopped for a time society could not exist, 
 and it is only necessary for producers to cease from 
 work in order to make government impossible. 
 
 To understand the present labour situation it is 
 necessary to have some idea of the relationship 
 between employer and employed during the past 
 century how that relationship stood, how it has 
 developed, and how it stands now. Although it js 
 impossible to do this fully here, it is possible, bv
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 103 
 
 means of an outline sketch, to make the position 
 sufficiently clear for the immediate purpose. The 
 connection between capital and labour at, or just 
 after, the industrial revolution was tersely described 
 by Carry le as a cash nexus. A man agreed to work 
 so many hours a week for so much money. When 
 the service had been rendered and the money paid 
 all obligation ceased ; the employer felt no further 
 responsibility, the conditions of living for the 
 worker were no concern of his. Under the existing 
 system of competition he had to buy in the cheapest 
 market and sell in the dearest ; the cheaper he 
 purchased the labour necessary for his industry the 
 better would he be able to compete. Here we have 
 a simple wage system governed by supply and 
 demand but below the surface such a system 
 entailed, in many instances, much injustice, misery 
 and suffering. Superficially the worker had the 
 advantage of being free from all responsibility as 
 to how the factory should be organised and managed 
 he surrendered his share of what was produced 
 for an agreed wage paid at conveniently short 
 intervals. But things are seldom so simple as they 
 appear on the surface. The individual workman 
 working for his daily bread, with wife and children 
 depending on his earning power, was in a position 
 of disadvantage when bargaining with a compara- 
 tively wealth}' manufacturer. Individual bargaining
 
 104 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 placed great power and special advantages in the 
 hands of the ordinary employer. Hence efforts 
 were early made to effect a modification of the wish 
 iic-xux and individual bargaining ; this opened a 
 second chapter in the relations between employer 
 and employed. Workmen's combinations came into 
 existence, and with the dawn of collective bargaining, 
 even though the kl Union " was small <ind its sphere 
 restricted, labour was more on an equality for 
 purposes of bargaining with the employer than it 
 had been : the average employer and the local 
 Union Avere very much on a par in this respect. 
 The conflict of interests emerged in the first period 
 and continued in the second, the possibility of 
 friction and class warfare could be foreseen by 
 those taking far-sighted vie\vs. Hence about this 
 time began attempts to bring about an identification 
 of interests between employer and employed; this 
 was the work of Robert Owen and the early Co- 
 operators. A good system of co-operation would 
 lead to harmonious working between all the factors 
 in production. The employers on their side at this 
 time, partly to wean the men from the Unions and 
 partly to enlist the interest of the best men in their 
 work, commenced in a tentative way giving bonuses 
 for extra- work or skill. This marks the beginning 
 of the bonus system, which has bad both irood and 
 bad effects.
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 105 
 
 A third chapter in the story opens with the 
 application of the Limited Liability principle to 
 business. This gave the employers a new advantage 
 over the men, and was answered by Unions in the 
 same trade associating, and we get Associated Unions 
 such as the A.S.E. These associations might be 
 stronger than the average Limited Company ; thus 
 the employers began developing the bonus system 
 with profit-sharing so as to strengthen the identifica- 
 tion of interests and weaken the unionist position. 
 So far as co-operation was concerned it was found 
 that it succeeded as a distributing agent, but failed 
 when applied to production. The reason for this 
 was twofold. Co-operators had succeeded in getting 
 legal protection for their organisations, but the Act 
 of Parliament which did this the Industrial 
 Provident and Partnership Act (1851) led to the 
 demand for the possibility of the Capitalist trading 
 under limited liability conditions. In essence this 
 is another form of co-operation, but it had the 
 advantage of experience to guide it ; for instance, 
 while those responsible for its organisation knew 
 the value of the good manager or organiser, the 
 earh' co-operators made the fatal mistake of think- 
 ing that no man is worth more than about five 
 pounds a week, with the result that the best brains 
 have usually been at the disposal of the capitalist 
 employer. The next stage found the employer
 
 100 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 in the stronger position, for Limited Liability trading 
 was discovered to possess many advantages. To 
 this the men answered by attempting to federate 
 their Unions, a policy in which they had consider- 
 able success. Then as friction and unrest grew, 
 conciliation boards for settling wages and conditions 
 of work were advocated, and collective bargaining 
 was put on a more satisfactory footing. Profit- 
 sharing as a harmoniser developed, in some cases, 
 into a new system called Co-Partnership, and this 
 was found to work well in cases where employment 
 was fairly regular, such as gas works, textile and 
 boot factories. Such industries have worked suc- 
 cessfully under this policy, and it has been suggested 
 as a remedy for railway troubles, and as suitable 
 for municipal trading departments. 
 
 Finally, the latest chapter of .Industrial History, 
 the present, time, gives us a situation full at the 
 same time of great possibilities for good and of 
 great dangers. Here we have the tendency for all 
 employers of labour to be ranged together against 
 an increasingly powerful organisation of all labour, 
 with the possibility of the sympathetic strike and 
 the whole programme of syndicalism as the- last 
 word of labour, pitted against a federation of capital 
 in which the tendency is for all employers to take 
 their place. Hence a situation full of danger, 
 full of complications, thanks to the intricate working
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 107 
 
 of the modern community, but happily full of hope 
 for the betterment of all. For given wisdom and 
 moderation, a right statesmanship at the psycho- 
 logical moment, and we may evolve just that policy 
 which will mean harmony and contentment in the 
 industrial world, so far as such things are possible 
 in this imperfect stage of existence. The complexity 
 of the situation ; the interdependence of the many 
 factors ; and the realisation that it is the future of 
 the nation itself which is at stake, has led to Parlia- 
 mentary interference in trade disputes ; to increased 
 activity on the part of the Board of Trade ; and 
 the feverish haste of the Press to make known 
 every possible view or policy on the labour question. 
 
 The simple issue is between class war and industrial 
 harmony between continual and wasting friction, 
 and identification of interests leading to increased 
 productive power, and a possibly higher standard 
 of living for the great mass of our population. 
 
 With this facing us, it is interesting to know 
 what Syndicalism, so urgently advocated by some 
 ardent spirits, means. One writer on the subject 
 assures us that class war is the basis of Syndicalism ; 
 if that be so it stands self-condemned. Its advocates 
 declare that society is divided into two great classes 
 the exploiters and the exploited. Syndicalism is 
 to end this, for under it the Avorkers who produce 
 all the wealth arc to have the full enjoyment of all
 
 108 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 that they produce. The State, says the Syndicalist, 
 even though it became the employer could not eiTcet 
 this, hut it can he done through the Trade Union. 
 Syndicalists say that the worker cannot he free until 
 he controls the means of production. In this they 
 hear company with Socialists, but the two parties 
 differ in their ultimate object. Socialists wish to 
 dethrone capitalism, and to organise society on a 
 new basis, giving to all members of the community 
 a level chance. This may be Utopian, but it is not 
 anti-social. The policy of socialism contains much 
 that can be admired by all. and their aim the 
 raising of humanity is one of the grandest possible. 
 Syndicalists only nominally decry capitalism. Their 
 real object is to put themselves, or the workers, in 
 what they consider the favoured position of the 
 owners of capital. Thus they wish to sei/e the 
 whole means of production for the benefit of manual 
 labour and that only, to the detriment of all other 
 sections of the community. Mr Tom 31 aim asks : 
 " Who is to control industry '. The industrial 
 syndicalist declares that to run industry through 
 Parliament, i.e. by State machinery, will be even 
 more mischievous to the working cla^s than the 
 existing method, for it will assuredly mean that 
 the capitalist class will, through (Government 
 departments, exercise over the natural forces, and 
 over the workers, a domination even more ri<rid
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 109 
 
 than is the case to-day. And the Syndicalist also 
 declares that in the near future the industrially 
 organised workers -will themselves undertake the 
 entire responsibility of running the industries in 
 the interests of all who work, and are entitled to 
 enjoy the results of Labour." If this policy was to 
 be carried out legitimately, that is, by organised 
 labour employing its resources in organising factories, 
 and collieries, and other producing businesses with 
 their own capital and at their own risk ; if a new 
 and better organised system of manufacture was 
 to replace that which is said to be oppressive and 
 outworn, then all honour to the suggestion. But 
 this is not how the change is to come about. Men 
 who have exercised no thrift, who have taken 
 neither responsibilities nor risks, are to take posses- 
 sion of what others have built up ; and it is assumed 
 that under this new and untried management the 
 industries of the country are to progress as prosper- 
 ously as heretofore, but that manual labour is to enjoy 
 the whole produce. A more impudent proposal has 
 seldom or never been put forward seriously. 
 
 How Syndicalists will try to accomplish their aim 
 is revealed in The Miners' Next Step, a pamphlet 
 outlining the policy published during the trouble in 
 South \Yales in the year 1912. The following 
 extracts from this pamphlet show the main aims 
 and objects :
 
 IK) ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 " Policy. 
 
 " i. The old policy of identity of interest between 
 employers and ourselves be abolished and a policy 
 of open hostility installed. 
 
 " x. Lodges should as far as possible discard the 
 old method of coining out on strike for any little 
 minor grievance, and adopt the more scientific 
 weapon of the irritation strike by simply remain- 
 ing at work, reducing their output, and so contrive 
 by their general conduct to make the colliery un- 
 productive. 
 
 Wi xiii. That a continual agitation be carried on 
 in favour of increasing the minimum wage and 
 shortening the hours of work until we have extracted 
 the whole of the employers' profits. 
 
 " xiv. That our objective be to build up an 
 organisation that will ultimately take over the 
 mining industry, and carry it on in the interests 
 of the workers." 
 
 " The 6',sc of the Irritation Strike. 
 
 " Pending the publication of a pamphlet which 
 will deal in a comprehensive and orderly way with 
 different methods and ways of striking, the following 
 brief explanation must suffice: The irritation strike 
 depends for its successful adoption on the men 
 holding clearly the point of view that their interests
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 111 
 
 and the employers' are necessarily hostile. Further, 
 that the employer is vulnerable only in one place 
 his profits ! Therefore, if the men wish to bring 
 effective pressure to bear, they must use methods 
 which tend to reduce profits. One way of doing 
 this is to decrease production while continuing at 
 work. Quite a number of instances where this 
 method has been successfully adopted in South 
 Wales could be adduced. The following will serve 
 as an example : 
 
 " At a certain colliery some years ago the manage- 
 ment desired to introduce the use of screens for 
 checking small coal. The men, who were paid 
 through and through for coal-getting, e.g. for large 
 and small coal in gross, objected, as they saw in this 
 the thin end of the wedge of a move to reduce their 
 earnings. The management persisted, and the 
 men, instead of coming out on strike, reduced their 
 output by half. Instead of sending four trams of 
 coal from a stall, two only were filled, and so on. The 
 management thus saw its output cut in half, while 
 its running expenses remained the same. A few 
 da}'s' experience of a profitable industry turned 
 into a losing one ended in the men winning hands 
 down." 
 
 Here, then, is the policy in all its nakedness, and 
 in all its impudence a policy which the sterling 
 good sense of the Trade Union Congress emphatically
 
 lli> ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 condemned in September I!H2. But it has its adher- 
 ents and its leaders, and already there have been 
 attempts to make a practical trial of it : although 
 its success could have but one result the material . 
 moral and political ruin of this country. 
 
 Happily there is a better way. The improvement 
 of the condition of labour and of the mass of the 
 nation can be obtained is being obtained by a 
 healthier and wiser policy. The labour force of a 
 country is in its essence one and indivisible : it 
 includes all those engaged in the work of production, 
 from the man whose brain organises, to the boy 
 whose hand fetches and carries. This is the first 
 point that Socialists and Syndicalists should realise. 
 In that labour force there are elements of varying 
 capacity and worth a second point to realise. 
 It is clearly unjust that men of all capacities should 
 receive an equal award : as unjust as that a man 
 of inferior capacity should hold a superior position. 
 In the harmoniously working community of the 
 future (to whose advent one confidently looks) each 
 man would rise to that position he was qualified by 
 nature, character, and his own efforts to occupy. 
 This would be a system of justice. It would also 
 recognise the spheres and rights of the factors in 
 production. Land, apart from questions of owner- 
 ship, would receive the rent to which its position 
 or fertility entitled it. Capital that i s - the \\ealth
 
 SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM 113 
 
 devoted to industrial purposes: accumulated by 
 thrift and abstinence, would be available for the 
 labour force, which would pay the rightful in- 
 terest for its use. Without this, wealth will not be 
 accumulated and the community will suffer. 
 
 To put it shortly, the system under which industry 
 has hitherto worked has been, and is, defective ; its 
 comparatively recent origin, its lack of precedents, or 
 experience to go back upon, have led to many mistakes 
 being made but that on the whole the system was 
 sound is proved by its capability for improvement ; 
 it is elastic, and it is progressive. Its defects have 
 been noted and remedies have been tried with success. 
 Its very successes have caused an impatience for 
 greater progress and a quicker pace towards per- 
 fection. The introduction of class warfare and 
 irritation can only prevent progress and slow down 
 the pace. An ignorance of economic laws or a 
 foolish opposition to their working has the same 
 effect. This is the lesson that the working classes 
 to their honour are learning ; the}* can see hope, 
 and they realise that a bright future depends on 
 steady evolution rather than on stormy revolution. 
 A broad outlook, a knowledge of history, a compari- 
 son of the condition of labour to-day with that of a 
 century or even of half a century ago, strengthens this 
 feeling. A knowledge of the advantage of working 
 for a skilful rather than an incompetent organiser
 
 114 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 impresses its own lesson, and proves the value of 
 the organiser's skill. Acquaintance with Economics. 
 teaching a knowledge of the truth about wages, 
 profits, interest, and rent, is giving a growing number 
 of people a hopeful future for which to strive. The 
 hopeless days of the Iron Law of Wages are over, 
 and it is becoming increasingly evident to the mass 
 of the population that thrift, not waste ; good organi- 
 sation, not revolutionary chatter; harmony, not 
 friction ; a freedom to rise to the position to which 
 a man's abilities entitle him, not the seizing of the 
 instruments of production, arc 1 the essentials for 
 the material well-being of every Englishman, and 
 the continuance of our Empire.
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 Trade Unions Congress, Manchester, 1913 
 FRENCH DELEGATE'S ADDRESS 
 
 (Printed ly permission. ) 
 
 M. JOTJHAUX said : Comrades, In bringing you 
 the fraternal greetings of the French working classes 
 who are grouped in the General Confederation of 
 French Workers, allow me first of all to join with 
 you in expressing our deepest sympathy in respect 
 of the misfortune which has happened to the English 
 proletariat through the events which have taken 
 place in Dublin. 
 
 In England, as in France and Germany, it is 
 always the proletariat which pays with its liberty 
 and its blood for any advances and conquests which 
 have been brought about. 
 
 The repression of the working classes b} T Capital 
 is an international factor, and the fight of the 
 working classes against this oppression likewise should 
 be an international one. 
 
 I rejoice to see the international bonds of solidarity, 
 of mutual interest becoming stronger day by day, 
 bringing the different movements and endeavours 
 of the workers' associations up to one level and to 
 one combined purpose. This is a sure sign that
 
 116 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 " race-hatred " and the " barriers " of nationality 
 nre fast disappearing in the ranks of the workers, 
 making place for a sentiment of International 
 Brotherhood which, in its development, will prove 
 the real reason for the disappearance of wars, which 
 always have been, and always must be. fraught 
 with dire consequences to the future of the inter- 
 national proletariat. 
 
 War, whatever the causes may be which produce 
 it, for the working classes has always been, and will 
 be, an occasion for sorrow and misery. A war always 
 is a set-back to the progress of civilisation. For 
 this reason, then, we should not hesitate to make 
 a stand against it. To combat the possibility of 
 future wars all available means ought to be con- 
 sidered as serving the purpose well if they will 
 prevent the horrors and sufferings of future wars. 
 
 The General Federation of French Workers has 
 never failed to smooth out any international com- 
 plications which have arisen. Let us recall the 
 serious tension which existed in the year I'.too 
 between the English and the French nations ; that 
 between France and Germany in lt>] I ; the Balkan 
 War in 1!)12 ; and lastly the campaign which we 
 have waged in France against th<' reintroduction 
 of the three years of military service. 
 
 The Government has revenged itself by inflicting 
 heavy terms of imprisonment upon those of our
 
 APPENDIX A 117 
 
 members who have been recognised as ardent 
 advocates of anti-militarism. It is not, however, 
 by such repression that the work of our Trade 
 Unions will be turned aside, for to us they represent 
 not only the fulfilment of our corporate desires, 
 but a mission more largely humane to realise the 
 liberty of Labour by the suppression of the official 
 and employer classes. 
 
 The immediate results are of the greatest import- 
 ance to us, as they will show how to procure for 
 the worker an increased liberty and better conditions. 
 They will instil in the hearts of the workers the desire 
 for a larger share of this world's goods, and will 
 constitute that stimulus which is required to incite 
 the workers to act in unison to secure for them 
 their proper share of the general welfare. 
 
 We desire that the Trade Unionist should be a 
 progressive factor in our social status ; he has been 
 trained that, even if he be a passive factor to- 
 day, he becomes an active factor to-morrow, and 
 our endeavours are directed towards developing in 
 him the principles of direct action, which is a char- 
 acteristic of our form of industrial disputes. 
 
 We are of opinion that only through their own 
 personal efforts and endeavours will the workers 
 be able to bring about any improvements. 
 
 Only by the development and use of their strength 
 which their occupation affords them can they
 
 118 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 realise their hopes. They should never surrender 
 their weapons. 
 
 Direct action is opposed to the renunciation of 
 personal effort characterised by permanent delegation 
 by which the power of the determining value and 
 creative force for all progress and conquests is 
 consigned to a small number. 
 
 It is for the worker to retain for himself the 
 mastery of the hour when his personal effort, blended 
 in the general effort of his fellow- workers or his 
 class, will become effective. It is the expression, so 
 to speak, and confirmation of history history which 
 tells us that real progress has been deliberately 
 realised by persistent preliminary work, of mis- 
 sionary enterprise, and organisation. Direct action 
 condemns the indolence and indifference common in 
 every individual, to whatever class he may belong. 
 Every one of them, as a fact, accustoms himself only 
 too easily to leave the actual effort to others, or to 
 a power outside his o\\ n volition : it is opposed to 
 the comfortable state in which he looks to immobilise 
 himself, to Providence for the realisation of his 
 desires and wishes. 
 
 Many workers rely upon more active and bolder 
 comrades, whose cares and efforts are centred in 
 obtaining for these self-same colleagues of the 
 workshop better wages and conditions, while the 
 farmer, the merchant, the industrial magnate expect
 
 APPENDIX A 11'.) 
 
 from the State such measure of protection as will 
 secure them peace and success in their enterprises. 
 This is on the part of every one of them a sign of 
 barren incompetence, a proof of want of courage, 
 and a lack of initiative. 
 
 Any class of persons incapable of acting on their 
 own behalf, or for those around them, fully deserves 
 to fail. 
 
 All the virtue of direct action is contained in this, 
 that it proves to be a reaction against our usual 
 practices, and shows us once more the exception 
 the exception that proves the rule. That exception 
 we discover in the upheavals of history, where, to 
 all appearances, the laborious care of preparation is 
 succeeded by some sudden, and, it may be, abortive 
 revolution. We find it too in the immense changes 
 brought about by a wave of passion. But these 
 passions and this agitation too soon extinguished, 
 often amid disorganisation and incoherence, are 
 responsible for the set-backs and disappointments 
 \vhich mark our tardy progress. 
 
 Thanks to the centralisation by which it can 
 organise and co-ordinate these fleeting outbreaks 
 of passion and discontent, Syndicalism is able to 
 substitute conscious and continuous action. 
 
 Without doubt the worker in his task of organisa- 
 tion, and his struggle to secure those rights which 
 properly belong to his class, is moved by divers
 
 1:20 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 aspirations ; his action sometimes is wanting in 
 singleness of aim and the spirit of continuity ; it 
 lacks logic ; not infrequently it reaches a state when 
 between its practice and its theory there is a great 
 gulf fixed. Often he is forced by circumstances to 
 listen to dictates remote from the pretensions of 
 his declared policy of autonomy and independence. 
 His daily practice reveals little rectitude, and to all 
 appearances the general tendency of direct action 
 (that is known as Syndicalism) bears in itself the 
 seeds of its own dissolution, and that the people 
 must recognise the necessity for that permanent 
 delegation of functions and power of reform repre- 
 sented by the modern State. 
 
 To appreciate this more fully, we must not fail 
 to make due allowance for the influential power 
 wielded by the institutions of Government and the 
 employing classes. The force of such influences 
 cannot be shaken oil' in a day, and the task is even 
 one of greater difficulty to the working class, bruised 
 and o] (pressed as it is by the pressure- that is placed 
 upon it. Syndicalism, if it compromises with the 
 enemy, fails to recognise the legitimacy of the force 
 which it holds in check. It is. in its essence, the 
 negation of the employers' right. It is. for us. 
 equally the negation of the central authority, as it 
 is that of all organised compression and repression. 
 
 Between the employer class and the State, on the
 
 APPENDIX A 121 
 
 one hand, and the wage-earners on the other, there 
 is a state of war of perpetual skirmishes and 
 " guerilla " engagements, and on every occasion of 
 conflict the stronger, for the time being, is the victor, 
 while the weaker is overborne in the struggle. So 
 long as victory is for the stronger the workers must 
 see to it that strength shall be theirs. Till that end 
 is achieved the proletariat must alternately impose 
 its will and submit to compromise, which, in most 
 cases, will never assume the form of a definite 
 treaty. 
 
 This power which must be secured can only be 
 acquired by the accumulation of fragmentary 
 forces, developed, strengthened, centralized by the 
 exercise of mind and character ; by the training of 
 organisations in action, and perfected by the practice 
 of self-reliance. The weapons of the working 
 classes are as man}' as they are various. They can 
 be applied in manifold and diverse directions, but 
 the}' require, for their efficient handling, rapidity 
 of action and ever-ready initiative. It is in their 
 application that the groups can demonstrate their 
 originality, based on technical skill and the psy- 
 chology of their profession ; their perspicacity and 
 their vigour. 
 
 The economic conditions pertaining at the 
 moment will decide the form and nature of the 
 conflict ; whether the shock will be slight or violent
 
 122 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 will depend on the strength of the opposing forces 
 and the cohesive qualities of the members of the 
 Union. Nevertheless, in spite of these differences, 
 it will be direct fiction, so long as the interested 
 parties resort only to the power of their class, and 
 to their own will to decide for peace or for Mar, and 
 to determine what attitude shall be taken up by 
 their members. 
 
 Agitation, strikes, " sabotage," boycott these 
 are the weapons in the hands of the workers : even 
 the forms themselves of direct action. With each, 
 as with all, it is the worker alone who decides for 
 himself. So, too, it is by the means at his disposal, 
 by his function, and his role that he decides the 
 nature of his activities and his method of fighting. 
 
 To declare a strike, the most courageous and far- 
 seeing members must secure the consent of all the 
 rest. All must be ready for the sustained and con- 
 sidered effort required of each. Success depends 
 upon the will-power and resistance of each individual 
 strike. The result shows the amount of pressure 
 brought to bear on the opposing forces by the 
 combatants. 
 
 Sabotage demands from its authors an individual 
 effort, a considered act calculated to exercise an 
 influence on subsequent events closely allied to 
 the matter in hand. 
 
 The .Boycott supposes that among the working
 
 APPENDIX A 123 
 
 class there exists a firm determination to apply 
 pressure that shall deflect its members from their 
 accustomed habits. 
 
 An agitation of public opinion can only be created 
 by the personal efforts of a number of people, and 
 the result is measured by the sum of their personal 
 activity. In every case it is the worker rousing 
 himself to action, driven by instinct, guided by 
 reason, strengthened by organisation, fortified by 
 numerous examples, carried along by the wave, 
 strong in the recollection of former victories. 
 
 Success belongs to the boldest and most tenacious, 
 and direct action proceeds from boldness and tenacity. 
 As it is the synonym for the struggle, it exposes 
 every one to cuts and bruises, but it is the mani- 
 festation of an ever-alert will power, and the 
 constant protest of a working class perpetually in 
 motion. 
 
 A conflict thus engaged upon borrows from the 
 combatants the means to success ; it can repose 
 only upon themselves, and it is an action directly 
 exercised on the opposing forces. It exalts them 
 by developing their personal valour, by the educa- 
 tion of their will, so that we may say even that it 
 transforms them . 
 
 The adversaries of the working classes do not 
 under-estimate the value of direct action. They 
 know that the day on which it becomes the sole
 
 1:24 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 principle of the movement, their omnipotence, their 
 reign will be over, for on that day the workers will 
 no longer resemble a flock, of which the directing 
 and possessing classes are the shepherds. 
 
 Then there will be a class of Morkers assuring its 
 own happiness, no longer expectant of the State 
 as an embodiment of Providence, nor of that other 
 ' fc Providence " the employer class. 
 
 Happiness is not, however, a gift. It is to be won, 
 to be achieved by direct action. P>y this method 
 the '' Confederation Generale " of France has 
 obtained for the workers of the Republic both social 
 and corporate benefits. To-day, in a nation of 
 enthusiastic and ardent temperaments, more than 
 000,000 rebels are enrolled under its banner against 
 the existing order of things. Opposed to these are 
 ranged but eight organisations of workers, to whom 
 direct aci ion is unacceptable. This infinitesimal 
 minority apart, it is the method which impels the 
 great mass of our workers. It lias welded them into 
 unity ; it has created in them a common ink-rest 
 and a common aspiration which has united and 
 coalesced the men [for] the final combat the 
 General Strike of Expropriation, which will replace 
 in the hands of the workers the instruments of 
 production. 
 
 Then, and then only, will the international 
 workers be able to live in harmony in a society
 
 APPENDIX B 125 
 
 from whence militarism and the exploitation of 
 man by man has been driven out. 
 
 Long live the International Union of Workers ! 
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 Trade Unions Congress, Manchester, 1913 
 GERMAN DELEGATE'S ADDRESS 
 
 (Printed by permission.) 
 
 MR CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FELLOW 
 WORKERS, The German Trade Unions have gladly 
 accepted the kind and fraternal invitation tendered 
 to them by your Parliamentary Committee, and they 
 have instructed me to convey to you their hearty 
 thanks for the invitation, and best wishes for your 
 organisation. They gladly accepted your invitation, 
 not merely because they desire their delegates to 
 transmit the German workers' brotherly greetings 
 to our fellow-workers in the British Trade Union 
 movement, but chiefly because they feel our presence 
 here at the British Parliament of Labour will 
 demonstrate the fact that in their thoughts and 
 aims the Germans and British workers are one. 
 Neither languages nor political boundaries shall 
 keep us divided. In spite of all those whose personal 
 interests are in the direction of fomenting strife
 
 12G ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 between the labouring classes of our two lands, 
 who would even commit the crime of instigating 
 war, we are here to-day to loudly proclaim our 
 mutual, our common interests, which demand our 
 brotherly co-operation if we want to successfully 
 combat modern Capitalism. Our fight in all lands 
 is directed against organised capital, which is all 
 the better able to exploit the workers the less they 
 are united, and which is constantly at work in the 
 interests of the upper classes to keep us in the 
 dangers of war. We are happy to know, however, 
 that the working men of this country want peace, 
 and you may rest assured that the German workers, 
 too, are out for peace, and I am convinced that war 
 will be an impossible thing as soon as the toiling 
 classes of our respective countries are unanimous 
 on this matter. 
 
 You certainly do not expect us to give a definite 
 opinion on what we have seen and learned, which 
 is a great deal, whilst in your midst. We shall 
 instead, with your worthy chairman's permission, 
 give a brief sketch of our own movement. We do 
 not want you to think that by quoting these details 
 we wish to play the schoolmaster, but \ve believe 
 that it will interest you to have an insight into 
 our own methods and ideas. It is scarcely twenty 
 rears since our fellow-unionists, full of astonishment 
 and admiration for vour industrial movement,
 
 APPENDIX B 127 
 
 almost gave up hopes of ever being able to build 
 up as powerful and efficient a movement as they 
 witnessed in your country. By the way, conditions 
 as they existed at that time did not permit of us 
 entertaining any such hopes. Trade Unions had 
 been started as early as 1865, Trade Unions which 
 recognised the principle of the class-war. In 1878, 
 however, the so-called Anti-Socialist law was passed 
 which entirely did away with our organisations for 
 the time being. This law was enforced in the most 
 brutal manner possible up to 1890, but we had, in 
 the meantime, commenced to reorganise, more or 
 less secret!}', some of our trade societies. How- 
 ever, there was no uniformity of any kind at that 
 period, and a great number of merely local unions, 
 or societies covering individual small trades, were 
 brought into being. 
 
 Immediately after the downfall of that infamous 
 law, we set to work earnestly and systematically 
 for the purpose of building up a strong and united 
 movement. I think, Mr Chairman, I am not ex- 
 aggerating if I say that we have made the impossible 
 possible, and that to-day we are in no way behind 
 the great trade union movement of the United 
 Kingdom, especially if we take into consideration 
 the industrial development of our respective 
 countries. 
 
 In 1801, after the repeal of the Anti-Socialist law,
 
 128 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 we started with a total membership of 277,659, 
 distributed over 62 national and independent loeal 
 unions. The total funds of this much too large 
 number of unions scarcely reached the amount of 
 22,000. At the end of last year (1912) we had 
 declined to 47 national unions, and there was no 
 " localistic " union worth mentioning, while our 
 affiliated membership had gone up to 2,559,000, 
 including 222,300 female members. These unions 
 report an annual income of 4,012,000, and their 
 funds amount to 4,040,01 MI. 
 
 Within a comparatively brief space of time we 
 have thus succeeded in concentrating our movement, 
 amalgamating tlio different trades into closely- 
 centralised national unions, and thereby making 
 them more powerful and effective. It would be a 
 great mistake to believe that all this had been 
 achieved without much opposition on the part of 
 the Government or the employing class. Let me 
 quote a fe\v comparative figures : In 1890 our 
 unions spent 52,000 on strikes and lock-outs, 
 while in 1912 6.34.000 won- spent for the same 
 purpose. Tn 1910 this item amounted to t9S(.0()0. 
 
 The figures just quoted are those covering the 
 so-called General Commission of German Trade 
 Unions, the bona-fide national centre of our industrial 
 movement. Unfortunately, however, some of the 
 German workers have allowed themselves to be led
 
 APPENDIX B 129 
 
 astray by rival unions by the Liberal and Christian 
 or Clerical Trade Societies. 
 
 The daily life and struggles of their unions had 
 soon taught the German worker that Socialism 
 the collective ownership of all means of production 
 and distribution presents the only final solution 
 of our social problems, and that, consequently, the 
 Social Democratic Party must be their mouthpiece 
 in the political field. The Liberal Party, as well as 
 the Centre or political party of the Catholic Church, 
 have, on the other hand, organised their separate 
 unions, to be used for their various political purposes. 
 These unions, fortunately, have never reached the 
 importance and power they desired. The Liberal, 
 or Hirsch-Duncker, Unions numbered 109,000 mem- 
 bers at the beginning of this year, and 344,600 
 members were organised in the Christian Unions, 
 while the total membership of all three groups 
 amounted to 3,256,000. 
 
 These figures only relate to industrial workers ; 
 they do not include about 800,000 clerks, shop- 
 assistants, and similar employees who arc organ- 
 ised in benefit societies. These societies cannot be 
 classed with trade unions of any tendency for they 
 refuse to recognise the strike as a last resource in 
 case of a dispute otherwise we would number more 
 than four millions of organised workers in Germany. 
 
 Many millions of agricultural workers are un- 
 i
 
 130 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 organised at the present moment. Recognising the 
 necessity of organising these workers as well, we 
 have recently started to do for them what has been 
 done for many other trades. Three years ago we 
 appointed five permanent officers for the new 
 National Union of Agricultural Workers, and they 
 were the first members of this Union which to-day 
 lias more than 20.000 paying members. This has 
 been possible in spite of the fact that our agricultural 
 workers have been held in semi-slavery for hundreds 
 of years, and that they, even to-day, are subject 
 to the most reactionary laws and regulations. The 
 National Centre of German Trade Unions, of which 
 Mr I^egien is the president, spends about 5000 a 
 year on behalf of the Agricultural Workers' Union 
 and on behalf of a National Union of Domestic 
 Servants, which has been established in the same 
 \vay. The latter union now has about 0000 
 members. 
 
 The class-conscious workers organised in our 
 unions fight for democracy on the political, or 
 Socialism on the industrial field. They are. there- 
 fore, bitterly opposed by the Government and its 
 many allies. Indeed. I believe there is no country 
 \\ here antagonism between organised Labour and 
 tin* Government is keener than it is in Germany. 
 \Ve never uo to see members of the Government 
 ;ind thev never come to us. although out of 3 ( J7
 
 APPENDIX B 131 
 
 members of Parliament we have 111 Social-Demo- 
 crats, and out of a total vote of 11 millions cast at 
 the last General Election we polled more than four 
 millions and a quarter for the party of Labour. 
 Our opponents are still too strong for us, mainly 
 because the Liberals of our country have no desire 
 to help to overthrow the absolute rule of the Con- 
 servatives or Feudalists ; the}' are themselves too 
 much afraid of the workers. 
 
 We are, all the same, full of hope for the future. 
 We sincerely trust that the International Labour 
 movement will finally triumph over all its opponents 
 and obstacles. We have to-day an international 
 combination of trade unions which embraces eigh- 
 teen countries and seven and a half millions trade 
 union members, including your General Federation 
 of Trade Unions. Our international co-operation is 
 being developed and improved year by year, teaching 
 the workers of all lands the necessity of getting 
 acquainted with each other, of learning from each 
 other, and of fighting for the same objects and aims. 
 
 Want of time, unfortunately, prevents me telling 
 you about many other aspects of our Labour move- 
 ment. Every union has its weekly paper delivered 
 free to all its members. The unions of all cities 
 of any importance have their own Labour Temples, 
 attached to which are hostelries for our travelling 
 members, legal advice offices for the workers, the 
 i*
 
 132 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 latter in charge of men from the rank and file whom 
 we trained at our own school. For other trade 
 union officer*, old and young, we have a separate 
 school. Our political party has 90 daily papers, 
 printed in 62 printing establishments owned by the 
 Party, and in almost every case the building where 
 the printing plant is put up is also owned by 
 the Party. Our trade union papers have a circula- 
 tion of about three million copies per week, and our 
 Socialist dailies alone have more than 1 .;">()(), 000 
 regular subscribers. P>y the way, we believe a 
 worker to be little better than a blackleg if he sup- 
 ports the Capitalist Press instead of subscribing to 
 the paper belonging to his own class. There are 
 more than 7000 Socialist City and Town Councillors 
 in Germany, and our iniluence is thus felt in all 
 parts of public life. The Co-operative movement, 
 too, is developing very rapidly. 
 
 We have, after many experiences of all sorts, 
 learned to combine m the three fields of Labour's 
 struggle in the trade unions, in our own political 
 party, and in the Co-operative movement. These 
 three movements to-day work hand in hand, and 
 German Labour presents a united front to its 
 opponents. \Ve sincerely hope the same unity of 
 purpose and action \\ill soon be brought about 
 among the \vorkers of all lands. With this end 
 in view we have much pleasure in inviting your
 
 APPENDIX C 133 
 
 Congress to send representatives to our next triennial 
 Trade Unions Congress, which assembles in June 
 next year. We have handed an official invitation 
 to our friend Bowerman, the secretary of your 
 Parliamentary Committee. A better mutual under- 
 standing among the working classes of our countries, 
 a permanent and close co-operation of our organisa- 
 tions, I trust, Mr Chairman, will do much in assuring 
 peace among our great nations, and materially assist 
 us to build up an irresistible organisation of Labour. 
 We again thank you heartily for your invitation 
 and truly British hospitality, and hope to be able 
 to receive your delegates in our midst at the next 
 German Trade Unions Congress. 
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 TABLE OF FIGURES FROM " THE CASE FOR THE 
 LABOUR PARTY : A HANDBOOK OF FACTS AND 
 FIGURES FOR WORKERS," PAGE 58 
 
 WAGES 
 
 " By use of Index numbers the Board of Trade 
 have compiled a return showing the course of Wages 
 and Prices of the necessaries of life since 1850.
 
 134 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Fixing the rate of wages and average wholesale 
 prices for that year at 100, Wages and Priees for 
 subsequent years are set out in percentage of those 
 prevailing in that year. 
 
 Yuir. 
 
 1850 . 
 
 1 855 . 
 
 1 800 . 
 
 1805 . 
 
 1870 . 
 
 1 875 . 
 
 1SSO . 
 
 1 885 . 
 
 1800 . 
 
 1 805 . 
 
 1000 . 
 
 1005 . 
 
 1000 . 
 
 1007 . 
 
 Xot(.'.- -The Table ends at 1007. Since then 
 Waijc* showed a decrease of one in 1008. and of the 
 same amount in lOO'.i; during 1010 and 1011 there 
 was a slight rise of about one-half. 
 
 /V/VY-.S went up two and a half between 1007 and 
 1008. then remained fairly stationary during 1000 ; 
 in 1010 they rose about one and a half, since when 
 thev have tended to fall. 
 
 Wat/c 
 
 
 Price*. 
 
 If 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 131-2 
 
 1 10 
 
 2 
 
 28' 
 
 127 
 
 5 
 
 31-2 
 
 134 
 
 1 
 
 24-7 
 
 Id 
 
 4 ] 
 
 24-7 
 
 148 
 
 8 ] 
 
 14-3 
 
 140 
 
 4 
 
 03-5 
 
 101 
 
 3 
 
 03-5 
 
 150 
 
 2 
 
 80-5 
 
 178 
 
 7 
 
 07-4 
 
 173 
 
 3 
 
 03-5 
 
 175 
 
 7 J 
 
 oo-o 
 
 181 
 
 7 
 
 03-0 "
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 135 
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 DIAGRAM SHOWING THE THEORY or PROFITS 
 IN A STAPLE INDUSTRY 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 \IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 G 
 
 EXPLANATION : 
 Block A indicates the selling price. 
 
 Blocks B to G indicate manufacturers of varying 
 degrees of efficiency : the shaded portions 
 mark profits, the unshaded portions mark the 
 cost of production selling price being made 
 up of cost of production plus profit. (Note. The 
 selling price must be at the same rate for all
 
 136 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 quantities of a staple commodity sold in the 
 same market.) 
 
 Block B indicates what occurs in the case of the least 
 efficient manufacturer : small amount of profit, 
 great cost of production. 
 
 Block G indicates low cost of production, com- 
 paratively high profit made by the most efficient 
 manufacturer this high profit being possible 
 owing to the inefficiency of B. 
 
 If you could restrict the industry to manufacturers 
 of the highest efficiency (say 'Blocks F and G in the 
 diagram) the cost to the buyer might be reduced 
 to the white space in Block E i.e. in this instance 
 would be diminished by nearly one-third. Moreover, 
 if other things remained constant, the greater output 
 required of manufacturers of the F and G class would 
 enable them to manufacture more cheaply the ex- 
 perience in modern business being, the greater the 
 output, the less the cost. 
 
 Note. Generally speaking, it is the employers 
 of the B class who are sweaters, and employ people 
 under inferior conditions. The employers of G 
 class have well-organised, well-equipped factories, 
 and know the advantage of treating their workpeople 
 well.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Agricultural Stage, the 5 
 Amsterdam, a trading Centre, 2 
 Amsterdam, the Bank of, 2 
 Aristotle on Chrematistics, 14 
 Aristotle on Economics, 14 
 Aristotle on necessity of leisure, 
 
 15, 10 
 Aristotle on necessity of leisure, 
 
 lesson to modern democracy, 
 
 16 
 Aristotle on payment of interest, 
 
 9, 10 
 Aristotle on the origin of the 
 
 State, 13 
 Arnold, Dr, on evil effects of the 
 
 Industrial Revolution, 41 
 
 Bargaining, Individual and Col- 
 lective, 103-106 
 Betting and Gambling, cost of, 
 
 to labour, 98 
 Black Monday, cost of ,to Labour, 
 
 98 
 
 Blanc, Louis (1811-1882), 59-01 
 Blanc, Louis, link between 
 Middle-Class Socialism and 
 State Socialism, 59 
 Blanc's Workshops, 59, 60 
 Blatchford, Robert, 87-93 
 Blatcht'ord's Mcrric Eiiyland, 87- 
 
 90 
 rtritainjor tlic /iriti-sh, 90 
 
 Canon Law, attempt to set up 
 Kingdom of God on Earth, 10 
 
 Canon Law, teaching as to in- 
 terest, 10 
 
 Capitalism, 35 
 
 Capitalism, Elasticity of, 38, 
 
 Chrematistics, 14 
 
 Class warfare, basis of Syndi- 
 calism, 107, 120-121 
 
 Cobden, Richard, on effects of 
 Industrial Revolution, 41 
 
 Commercial and Industrial Stage, 
 the, 6 
 
 Conjunctur, 69-70 
 
 Continuity in Social and Eco- 
 nomic Development, 20 
 
 Co-operation legalised by the 
 Industrial and Provident 
 Partnership Act, 1851, 105 
 
 Domestic System, the, 7 
 
 Economic interpretation of 
 
 history, 74-76 
 Economic Man, the, 31 
 Economic Theories of India, 
 
 Palestine, and Greece, 9 
 Economic Theory of the Canon 
 
 Law, 10, 17, 18 
 Economics, Aristotle on, 14 
 Economist, semi-conscious, 1, 8 
 Economist, the conscious, 1, 2, 8 
 Economist, unconscious, 1, 8 
 Economists, divergence between 
 
 their early doctrines and the 
 
 interests of the wage-earners, 
 
 43
 
 138 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Employers and Employed, 
 
 development in relations bc- 
 
 t wet li. 102- KMi 
 Kngels, F., foretells the end of the. 
 
 State, ilti 
 Extravagance not confined to the 
 
 middle and np[>cr elasses, 98 
 
 Federation of Employers, 1()6 
 Federation of Trade Unions, 
 
 in,"), K.it) 
 
 Fourier, Anti-Capitalist, 53 
 Fourier, FrangoLs Marie Charles 
 
 (1772-1S37), 43, 57-58 
 France, Commencement of 
 
 Socialism in, .14 
 France, Revolution in 1S48, 54 
 French Delegate at Trade Unions 
 
 Congress, 1913, speech of, 115 
 
 German Delegate at Trade Unions 
 Congress, 1913, sjteech of, 125 
 
 Germany and Proletarian 
 Socialism, 01 
 
 Guild Law, 
 
 Guild System, the, 
 
 Hallas, Eldred, /> Socialism 
 
 Po.^tbh, '. 93 
 Holland, Struggle with England, 
 
 o 
 
 Hunting Stage, the, 3 
 
 Industrial and Provident Part- 
 nership Act, the, legalised Co- 
 o|X>ration and led on to Lim- 
 ited Liability, 1<5 
 Industrial Revolution, the, 7, 
 
 33-34. 39-42 
 
 lnt^rnnti:>n<il, Th< . 72-73 
 Iron Law of wanes, 00-09. 114 
 Issue now i> between (.'lass War 
 and Industrial Harmony, 1<I7 
 
 .lew t he only man who could 
 legally charge interest on 
 money loans, 1 1 
 
 ,/ it* \<itur(r, and the Physio- 
 crats, 28 
 
 Labour. Theory of the Physio- 
 crats, 28 
 
 Lassalle accepts the Iron l,aw 
 of wages, hence position of 
 Labour is hoj>eless, 09 
 
 Lassalle Ferdinand (1825-1804), 
 05-70 
 
 Lassalle founds Social Demo- 
 cratic Party, 06 
 
 Jx-eds Strike ('l 913-1914), 91 note 
 
 Levine, l)r Louis, Tin L/iboiir 
 Muni/it ht in Frnnre, 1(12 
 
 Limited Liability Policy, 105 
 
 Malthus (1700-1834), Pojnilation 
 
 and Wages, 31, 40 
 Mann, Tom, " Who is to control 
 
 Industry '.' " 108 
 Marx, Karl (1818-1883), 71-80 
 Marx, Karl, Doctrines examined, 
 
 76-86 
 Marx, Karl. International 
 
 Socialism, 23, 71 
 Marx, Karl, on Surplus Value, 81- 
 
 80 
 
 Maurice, F. D. (180.1-1872), 48-53 
 Maurice takes up the cause of 
 
 the Workers, 43 
 M'Clure, W. S., Social i.on, 90 
 Mercantile System, or Poliev of 
 
 Power, 24-27 
 
 Miners' Xext Step. the. lii'.i- 1 1 1 
 Mirabeau, the Great Power ol a 
 
 United Proletariate, I'i2 
 Money, 9 
 Moses, economic teaching of, 
 
 10-11
 
 INDEX 
 
 139 
 
 North, Sir Dudley (1044-1690), 
 
 27-28 
 
 Owen, Robert (1771-1858), 44-48 
 Owen, Robert, takes up the cause 
 of the Workers, 43 
 
 Pastoral Stage, the, 4 
 Paterson, William (1058-1719), 2 
 Petty, Sir William (1023-1087), 
 
 27-28 
 
 Physiocrats, 28-30 
 Physiocrats and Jus Naturae, 28 
 Physiocrats and Produit Net, 29 
 Plato, origin of the State, 12 
 Post Office Unrest (1913), 91 
 
 note 
 Produit Net, 29 
 
 Renaissance, the, and Nation- 
 ality, 22 
 
 Ricardo, David (1772-1823), 
 wished to re-write the Wealth 
 of Nations, 31 
 
 Rodbertus, Johann Karl (1805- 
 1875), 01-05 
 
 Rodbertus allows that organising 
 ability counts, but being a free 
 gift of nature, its reward should 
 be small, 02 
 
 Rodbertus exaggerates Ricardo's 
 theory of labour and value, 02 
 
 Rodbertus, Three Great Stages of 
 Economic Development, 04-65 
 
 Sabotage, 102. 122 
 
 St Simon, Claude Henri, C'ointc 
 
 de (1700-1825), 43, 55-50 
 St Simon, Anti-Capitalist, 53 
 St Simon, great contribution, 
 
 the need for all to work, 55 
 Slavery, basis of ancient politics, 
 
 11 
 
 Slavery, effects of this to-day, 12 
 Smith,' Adam (1723-1790), 27, 
 
 30-31 
 
 Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 30 
 Socialism a modern movement, 
 
 33 
 
 Socialisin Possible ? /., 93 
 Socialism, present-day, 87-100 
 Socialism, rise of, 30, 39 
 Socialism, rise of, in France, 53 
 Socialist Ideals high, but the 
 
 policy to attain them faulty, 90 
 Socialists, early mistake was in 
 
 demanding abolition of private 
 
 property instead of limitation, 
 
 61 
 Socialists, the early, did influence 
 
 economic thought for good, GO 
 Standard of living, necessity for 
 
 raising, 41 
 State, to end, 90 
 Strikes, irritation, 102, 110, 122 
 Strikes, sympathetic, 106 
 Surplus Value, 81-86 
 Syndicalism, 100-114 
 Syndicalism a new word, 101 
 Syndicalism and its policy, 107- 
 
 112 
 
 Syndicalism an impudent pro- 
 posal, 109 
 Syndicalism, Class War its basis, 
 
 "107 
 Syndicalism, Dr Arthur Shadwell 
 
 on, 101 
 Syndicalism, history of the 
 
 movement of, Dr Louis 
 
 Levine, 102 
 Syndicalism, Ramsay Macclonald 
 
 "on, 100 
 Syndicalism, the policy of the 
 
 Confederation Cienerale du 
 
 Travail, 101 
 Syndicalism, The Tiincv on, 100
 
 140 ECONOMICS AND SYNDICALISM 
 
 Trade Cycle-. :>7 
 
 Trad.- t'iiinns. |nj. 1 ur> 
 
 Trade rnions Cnimros, l'.il:i; 
 
 s|H-eehes nt" FiTtichaiul(5ennan \\'a^es Ktnul Themy. liT-OH 
 
 llelou :le-, 1 1 ,~>. 1 2"> \VilliaTll tlie ( 'i -11 () lUTor and 
 
 Kuro|>e,i ii I "nit y. l! 1 
 
 I'nity in Church and Mite. '2^- U'orUiiiii Men's College. LoiKlon. 
 21 founded l>v F. I). Mauriee, 50
 
 THE 
 
 CAMBRIDGE MANUALS 
 
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 59 Ancient Stained and Painted Glass. By F. S. Eden. 
 80 A Grammar of English Heraldry. By W. H. St J. Hope, 
 Litt.D. 
 
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 6 Cash and Credit. By D. A. Barker. 
 
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 86 Economics and Syndicalism. By Prof. A. W. Kirkaldy. 
 
 LITERARY HISTORY 
 
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 12 English Dialects from the Eighth Century to the Present 
 
 Day. By W. W. Skeat, Litt.D., D.C.L., F.B.A. 
 
 22 King Arthur in History and Legend. By Prof. W. Lewis 
 
 Jones, M.A. 
 54 The Icelandic Sagas. By W. A. Craigie, LL.D. 
 
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 33 The Ballad in Literature. By T. F. Henderson. 
 
 37 Goethe and the Twentieth Century. By Prof. J. G. 
 
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 66 Mysticism in English Literature. By Miss C. F. E. 
 
 Spurgeon. 
 
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 57 Comparative Religion. By Dr F. B. Jevons. 
 
 69 Plato : Moral and Political Ideals. By Mrs J. Adam. 
 
 26 The Moral Life and Moral Worth. By Prof. Sorley, Litt.D. 
 3 The English Puritans. By John Brown, D.D. 
 
 1 1 An Historical Account of the Rise and Development of 
 Prcsbyterianism in Scotland. By the Rt Hon. the 
 Lord Balfour of Burleigh. K.T., G.C.M.G. 
 
 41 Mctho.lism. By Rev. H. B. Workman. D.LIt. 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 38 Life in the Medieval University. By R. S. Rait, M.A.
 
 LAW 
 
 13 The Administration of Justice in Criminal Matters (in 
 England and Wales). By G. Glover Alexander, M.A., 
 LL.M. 
 
 BIOLOGY 
 
 1 The Coming of Evolution. By Prof. J. W. Judd, C.B., F.R.S. 
 
 2 Heredity in the Light of Recent Research. By L. Don- 
 
 caster, Sc.D. 
 25 Primitive Animals. By Geoffrey Smith, M.A. 
 
 73 The Life-story of Insects. By Prof. G. H. Carpenter. 
 
 48 The Individual in the Animal Kingdom. By J. S. Huxley, 
 B.A. 
 
 27 Life in the Sea. By James [ohnstone, B.Sc. 
 75 Pearls. By Prof. W. J. Dakin. 
 
 28 The Migration of Birds. By T. A. Coward. 
 36 Spiders. By C. Warburton, M.A. 
 
 61 Bees and Wasps. By O. H. Latter, M.A. 
 46 House Flies. By C. G. Hewitt, D.Sc. 
 
 32 Earthworms and their Allies. By F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. 
 
 74 The Flea. By H. Russell. 
 
 64 The Wanderings of Animals. By H. F. Gadow, F.R.S. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY 
 
 20 The Wanderings of Peoples. By Dr A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. 
 
 29 Prehistoric Man. By Dr W. L. H. Duckworth. 
 
 GEOLOGY 
 
 35 Rocks and t'neir Origins. By Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole. 
 
 44 The Work of Rain and Rivers. By T. G. Bonney, Sc.D. 
 
 7 The Natural History of Coal. By Dr E. A. Newell Arber. 
 
 30 The Natural History of Clay. By Alfred B. Searle. 
 
 34 The Origin of Earthquakes. By C. Davison, Sc.D., F.G.S. 
 
 62 Submerged Forests. By Clement Reid, F.R.S. 
 72 The Fertility of the Soil. By E. J. Russell, D.Sc. 
 
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 5 Plant-Animals : a Study in Symbiosis. By Prof. F. W. 
 
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 10 Plant-Life on Land. By Prof. F. O. Bower, Sc.D.. F.R.S. 
 19 Links witli the Past in the Plant- World. By Prof. A. C. 
 
 Seward, F.R.S.
 
 PHYSICS 
 
 52 The Earth. By Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S. 
 
 53 The Atmosphere. By A. J. Berry, M.A. 
 
 81 The Sun. By Prof. R. A. Sampson. D.Sc., F.R.S. 
 65 Beyond the Atom. By John Cox, M.A. 
 
 55 The Physical Basis of Music. By A. Wood, M.A 
 
 71 Natural Sources of Energy. By Prof. A. H. Gibson, D.Sc. 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 14 An Introduction to Experimental Psychology. By Dr C. S. 
 
 Myers. 
 
 45 The Psychology of Insanity. By Bernard Hart, M.D. 
 77 The Beautiful. By Vernon Lee. 
 
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 31 The Modern Locomotive. ByC. Edgar Allen, A. M.I. Meek E. 
 
 56 The Modern Warship. By E. L. Attwood. 
 
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 E. Ferguson, B.Sc. 
 
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 63 Wireless Telegraphy. By Prof. C. L. Fortescue, M.A. 
 
 58 The Story of a Loaf of Bread. By Prof. T. B. Wood, M.A. 
 
 47 Brewing. By A. Chaston Chapman, F.I.C. 
 
 82 Coal-Mining. By T. C. Cantrill. 
 
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