Books: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

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`This Administrative Body would have control of the different State
Departments. There would be a Department of Agriculture, a Department
of Railways and so on, each with its minister and staff.

`All these Members of Parliament would be the relatives - in some
cases the mothers and fathers of those in the Industrial Service, and
they would be relied upon to see that the conditions of that service
were the best possible.

`As for the different branches of the State Service, they could be
organized on somewhat the same lines as the different branches of the
Public Service are now - like the Navy, the Post Office and as the
State Railways in some other countries, or as are the different
branches of the Military Army, with the difference that all promotions
will be from the ranks, by examinations, and by merit only. As every
recruit will have had the same class of education they will all have
absolute equality of opportunity and the men who would attain to
positions of authority would be the best men, and not as at present,
the worst.'

`How do you make that out?' demanded Crass.

`Under the present system, the men who become masters and employers
succeed because they are cunning and selfish, not because they
understand or are capable of doing the work out of which they make
their money. Most of the employers in the building trade for instance
would be incapable of doing any skilled work. Very few of them would
be worth their salt as journeymen. The only work they do is to scheme
to reap the benefit of the labour of others.

`The men who now become managers and foremen are selected not because
of their ability as craftsmen, but because they are good slave-drivers
and useful producers of profit for their employers.'

`How are you goin' to prevent the selfish and cunnin', as you call
'em, from gettin' on top THEN as they do now?' said Harlow.

`The fact that all workers will receive the same pay, no matter what
class of work they are engaged in, or what their position, will ensure
our getting the very best man to do all the higher work and to
organize our business.'

Crass laughed: `What! Everybody to get the same wages?'

`Yes: there will be such an enormous quantity of everything produced,
that their wages will enable everyone to purchase abundance of
everything they require. Even if some were paid more than others they
would not be able to spend it. There would be no need to save it, and
as there will be no starving poor, there will be no one to give it
away to. If it were possible to save and accumulate money it would
bring into being an idle class, living on their fellows: it would lead
to the downfall of our system, and a return to the same anarchy that
exists at present. Besides, if higher wages were paid to those
engaged in the higher work or occupying positions of authority it
would prevent our getting the best men. Unfit persons would try for
the positions because of the higher pay. That is what happens now.
Under the present system men intrigue for and obtain or are
pitchforked into positions for which they have no natural ability at
all; the only reason they desire these positions is because of the
salaries attached to them. These fellows get the money and the work
is done by underpaid subordinates whom the world never hears of.
Under Socialism, this money incentive will be done away with, and
consequently the only men who will try for these positions will be
those who, being naturally fitted for the work, would like to do it.
For instance a man who is a born organizer will not refuse to
undertake such work because he will not be paid more for it. Such a
man will desire to do it and will esteem it a privilege to be allowed
to do it. He will revel in it. To think out all the details of some
undertaking, to plan and scheme and organize, is not work for a man
like that. It is a pleasure. But for a man who has sought and
secured such a position, not because he liked the work, but because he
liked the salary - such work as this would be unpleasant labour.
Under Socialism the unfit man would not apply for that post but would
strive after some other for which he was fit and which he would
therefore desire and enjoy. There are some men who would rather have
charge of and organize and be responsible for work than do it with
their hands. There are others who would rather do delicate or
difficult or artistic work, than plain work. A man who is a born
artist would rather paint a frieze or a picture or carve a statue than
he would do plain work, or take charge of and direct the labour of
others. And there are another sort of men who would rather do
ordinary plain work than take charge, or attempt higher branches for
which they have neither liking or natural talent.

`But there is one thing - a most important point that you seem to
entirely lose sight of, and that is, that all these different kinds
and classes are equal in one respect - THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY NECESSARY.
Each is a necessary and indispensable part of the whole; therefore
everyone who has done his full share of necessary work is justly
entitled to a full share of the results. The men who put the slates
on are just as indispensable as the men who lay the foundations. The
work of the men who build the walls and make the doors is just as
necessary as the work of the men who decorate the cornice. None of
them would be of much use without the architect, and the plans of the
architect would come to nothing, his building would be a mere castle
in the air, if it were not for the other workers. Each part of the
work is equally necessary, useful and indispensable if the building is
to he perfected. Some of these men work harder with their brains than
with their hands and some work harder with their hands than with their
brains, BUT EACH ONE DOES HIS FULL SHARE OF THE WORK. This truth will
be recognized and acted upon by those who build up and maintain the
fabric of our Co-operative Commonwealth. Every man who does his full
share of the useful and necessary work according to his abilities
shall have his full share of the total result. Herein will be its
great difference from the present system, under which it is possible
for the cunning and selfish ones to take advantage of the simplicity
of others and rob them of part of the fruits of their labour. As for
those who will be engaged in the higher branches, they will be
sufficiently rewarded by being privileged to do the work they are
fitted for and enjoy. The only men and women who are capable of good
and great work of any kind are those who, being naturally fit for it,
love the work for its own sake and not for the money it brings them.
Under the present system, many men who have no need of money produce
great works, not for gain but for pleasure: their wealth enables them
to follow their natural inclinations. Under the present system many
men and women capable of great works are prevented from giving
expression to their powers by poverty and lack of opportunity: they
live in sorrow and die heartbroken, and the community is the loser.
These are the men and women who will be our artists, sculptors,
architects, engineers and captains of industry.

`Under the present system there are men at the head of affairs whose
only object is the accumulation of money. Some of them possess great
abilities and the system has practically compelled them to employ
those abilities for their own selfish ends to the hurt of the
community. Some of them have built up great fortunes out of the sweat
and blood and tears of men and women and little children. For those
who delight in such work as this, there will be no place in our
Co-operative Commonwealth.'

`Is there any more questions?' demanded Philpot.

`Yes,' said Harlow. `If there won't be no extry pay and if anybody
will have all they need for just doing their part of the work, what
encouragement will there be for anyone to worry his brains out trying
to invent some new machine, or make some new discovery?'

`Well,' said Barrington, `I think that's covered by the last answer,
but if it were found necessary - which is highly improbable - to offer
some material reward in addition to the respect, esteem or honour that
would be enjoyed by the author of an invention that was a boon to the
community, it could be arranged by allowing him to retire before the
expiration of his twenty-five years service. The boon he had
conferred on the community by the invention, would be considered
equivalent to so many years work. But a man like that would not
desire to cease working; that sort go on working all their lives, for
love. There's Edison for instance. He is one of the very few
inventors who have made money out of their work; he is a rich man, but
the only use his wealth seems to be to him is to procure himself
facilities for going on with his work; his life is a round of what
some people would call painful labour: but it is not painful labour to
him; it's just pleasure, he works for the love of it. Another way
would be to absolve a man of that sort from the necessity of ordinary
work, so as to give him a chance to get on with other inventions. It
would be to the interests of the community to encourage him in every
way and to place materials and facilities at his disposal.

`But you must remember that even under the present system, Honour and
Praise are held to be greater than money. How many soldiers would
prefer money to the honour of wearing the intrinsically valueless
Victoria Cross?

`Even now men think less of money than they do of the respect, esteem
or honour they are able to procure with it. Many men spend the
greater part of their lives striving to accumulate money, and when
they have succeeded, they proceed to spend it to obtain the respect of
their fellow-men. Some of them spend thousands of pounds for the
honour of being able to write "MP" after their names. Others buy
titles. Others pay huge sums to gain admission to exclusive circles
of society. Others give the money away in charity, or found libraries
or universities. The reason they do these things is that they desire
to be applauded and honoured by their fellow-men.

`This desire is strongest in the most capable men - the men of genius.
Therefore, under Socialism the principal incentive to great work will
be the same as now - Honour and Praise. But, under the present
system, Honour and Praise can be bought with money, and it does not
matter much how the money was obtained.

`Under Socialism it will be different. The Cross of Honour and the
Laurel Crown will not be bought and sold for filthy lucre. They will
be the supreme rewards of Virtue and of Talent.'

`Anyone else like to be flattened Out?' inquired Philpot.

`What would you do with them what spends all their money in drink?'
asked Slyme.

`I might reasonably ask you, "What's done with them or what you
propose to do with them now?" There are many men and women whose
lives are so full of toil and sorrow and the misery caused by abject
poverty, who are so shut out from all that makes life worth living,
that the time they spend in the public house is the only ray of
sunshine in their cheerless lives. Their mental and material poverty
is so great that they are deprived of and incapable of understanding
the intellectual and social pleasures of civilization... Under
Socialism there will be no such class as this. Everyone will be
educated, and social life and rational pleasure will be within the
reach of all. Therefore we do not believe that there will be such a
class. Any individuals who abandoned themselves to such a course
would be avoided by their fellows; but if they became very degraded,
we should still remember that they were our brother men and women, and
we should regard them as suffering from a disease inherited from their
uncivilized forefathers and try to cure them by placing them under
some restraint: in an institute for instance.'

`Another good way to deal with 'em,' said Harlow, `would be to allow
them double pay, so as they could drink themselves to death. We could
do without the likes of them.'

`Call the next case,' said Philpot.

`This 'ere abundance that you're always talking about,' said Crass,
you can't be sure that it would be possible to produce all that.
You're only assoomin' that it could be done.'

Barrington pointed to the still visible outlines of the `Hoblong' that
Owen had drawn on the wall to illustrate a previous lecture.

`Even under the present silly system of restricted production, with
the majority of the population engaged in useless, unproductive,
unnecessary work, and large numbers never doing any work at all, there
is enough produced to go all round after a fashion. More than enough,
for in consequence of what they call "Over-Production", the markets
are periodically glutted with commodities of all kinds, and then for a
time the factories are closed and production ceases. And yet we can
all manage to exist - after a fashion. This proves that if productive
industry were organized on the lines advocated by Socialists there
could be produced such a prodigious quantity of everything, that
everyone could live in plenty and comfort. The problem of how to
produce sufficient for all to enjoy abundance is already solved: the
problem that then remains is - How to get rid of those whose greed and
callous indifference to the sufferings of others, prevents it being
done.'

`Yes! and you'll never be able to get rid of 'em, mate,' cried Crass,
triumphantly - and the man with the copper wire stitches in his boot
said that it couldn't be done.

`Well, we mean to have a good try, anyhow,' said Barrington.

Crass and most of the others tried hard to think of something to say
in defence of the existing state of affairs, or against the proposals
put forward by the lecturer; but finding nothing, they maintained a
sullen and gloomy silence. The man with the copper wire stitches in
his boot in particular appeared to be very much upset; perhaps he was
afraid that if the things advocated by the speaker ever came to pass
he would not have any boots at all. To assume that he had some such
thought as this, is the only rational way to account for his
hostility, for in his case no change could have been for the worse
unless it reduced him to almost absolute nakedness and starvation.

To judge by their unwillingness to consider any proposals to alter the
present system, one might have supposed that they were afraid of
losing something, instead of having nothing to lose - except their
poverty.

It was not till the chairman had made several urgent appeals for more
questions that Crass brightened up: a glad smile slowly spread over
and illuminated his greasy visage: he had at last thought of a most
serious and insurmountable obstacle to the establishment of the
Co-operative Commonwealth.

`What,' he demanded, in a loud voice, `what are you goin' to do, in
this 'ere Socialist Republic of yours, with them wot WON'T WORK'!"

As Crass flung this bombshell into the Socialist camp, the miserable,
ragged-trousered crew around him could scarce forbear a cheer; but the
more intelligent part of the audience only laughed.

`We don't believe that there will be any such people as that,' said
Barrington.

`There's plenty of 'em about now, anyway,' sneered Crass.

`You can't change 'uman nature, you know,' cried the man behind the
moat, and the one who had the copper wire stitches in his boot laughed
scornfully.

`Yes, I know there are plenty such now,' rejoined Barrington. `It's
only what is to be expected, considering that practically all workers
live in poverty, and are regarded with contempt. The conditions under
which most of the work is done at present are so unpleasant and
degrading that everyone refuses to do any unless they are compelled;
none of us here, for instance, would continue to work for Rushton if
it were not for the fact that we have either to do so or starve; and
when we do work we only just earn enough to keep body and soul
together. Under the present system everybody who can possibly manage
to do so avoids doing any work, the only difference being that some
people do their loafing better than others. The aristocracy are too
lazy to work, but they seem to get on all right; they have their
tenants to work for them. Rushton is too lazy to work, so he has
arranged that we and Nimrod shall work instead, and he fares much
better than any of us who do work. Then there is another kind of
loafers who go about begging and occasionally starving rather than
submit to such abominable conditions as are offered to them. These
last are generally not much worse off than we are and they are often
better off. At present, people have everything to gain and but little
to lose by refusing to work. Under Socialism it would be just the
reverse; the conditions of labour would be so pleasant, the hours of
obligatory work so few, and the reward so great, that it is absurd to
imagine that any one would be so foolish as to incur the contempt of
his fellows and make himself a social outcast by refusing to do the
small share of work demanded of him by the community of which he was a
member.

`As for what we should do to such individuals if there did happen to
be some, I can assure you that we would not treat them as you treat
them now. We would not dress them up in silk and satin and broadcloth
and fine linen: we would not embellish them, as you do, with jewels of
gold and jewels of silver and with precious stones; neither should we
allow them to fare sumptuously every day. Our method of dealing with
them would be quite different from yours. In the Co-operative
Commonwealth there will be no place for loafers; whether they call
themselves aristocrats or tramps, those who are too lazy to work shall
have no share in the things that are produced by the labour of others.
Those who do nothing shall have nothing. If any man will not work,
neither shall he eat. Under the present system a man who is really
too lazy to work may stop you in the street and tell you that he
cannot get employment. For all you know, he may be telling the truth,
and if you have any feeling and are able, you will help him. But in
the Socialist State no one would have such an excuse, because everyone
that was willing would be welcome to come and help in the work of
producing wealth and happiness for all, and afterwards he would also
be welcome to his full share of the results.'

`Any more complaints?' inquired the chairman, breaking the gloomy
silence that followed.

`I don't want anyone to think that I am blaming any of these
present-day loafers,' Barrington added. `The wealthy ones cannot be
expected voluntarily to come and work under existing conditions and if
they were to do so they would be doing more harm than good - they
would be doing some poor wretches out of employment. They are not to
be blamed; the people who are to blame are the working classes
themselves, who demand and vote for the continuance of the present
system. As for the other class of loafers - those at the bottom, the
tramps and people of that sort, if they were to become sober and
industrious tomorrow, they also would be doing more harm than good to
the other workers; it would increase the competition for work. If all
the loafers in Mugsborough could suddenly be transformed into decent
house painters next week, Nimrod might be able to cut down the wages
another penny an hour. I don't wish to speak disrespectfully of these
tramps at all. Some of them are such simply because they would rather
starve than submit to the degrading conditions that we submit to, they
do not see the force of being bullied and chased, and driven about in
order to gain semi-starvation and rags. They are able to get those
without working; and I sometimes think that they are more worthy of
respect and are altogether a nobler type of beings than a lot of
broken-spirited wretches like ourselves, who are always at the mercy
of our masters, and always in dread of the sack.'

`Any more questions?' said the chairman.

`Do you mean to say as the time will ever come when the gentry will
mix up on equal terms with the likes of us?' demanded the man behind
the moat, scornfully.

`Oh, no,' replied the lecturer. When we get Socialism there won't be
any people like us. Everybody will be civilized.'

The man behind the moat did not seem very satisfied with this answer,
and told the others that he could not see anything to laugh at.

`Is there any more questions?' cried Philpot. `Now is your chance to
get some of your own back, but don't hall speak at once.'

`I should like to know who's goin' to do all the dirty work?' said
Slyme. `If everyone is to be allowed to choose 'is own trade, who'd
be fool enough to choose to be a scavenger, a sweep, a dustman or a
sewer man? nobody wouldn't want to do such jobs as them and everyone
would be after the soft jobs.'

`Of course,' cried Crass, eagerly clutching at this last straw. `The
thing sounds all right till you comes to look into it, but it wouldn't
never work!'

`It would be very easy to deal with any difficulty of that sort,'
replied Barrington, `if it were found that too many people were
desirous of pursuing certain callings, it would be known that the
conditions attached to those kinds of work were unfairly easy, as
compared with other lines, so the conditions in those trades would be
made more severe. A higher degree of skill would be required. If we
found that too many persons wished to be doctors, architects,
engineers and so forth, we would increase the severity of the
examinations. This would scare away all but the most gifted and
enthusiastic. We should thus at one stroke reduce the number of
applicants and secure the very best men for the work - we should have
better doctors, better architects, better engineers than before.

`As regards those disagreeable tasks for which there was a difficulty
in obtaining volunteers, we should adopt the opposite means. Suppose
that six hours was the general thing; and we found that we could not
get any sewer men; we should reduce the hours of labour in that
department to four, or if necessary to two, in order to compensate for
the disagreeable nature of the work.

`Another way out of such difficulties would be to have a separate
division of the Industrial army to do all such work, and to make it
obligatory for every man to put in his first year of State service as
a member of this corps. There would be no hardship in that. Everyone
gets the benefit of such work; there would be no injustice in
requiring everyone to share. This would have the effect also of
stimulating invention; it would be to everyone's interest to think out
means of doing away with such kinds of work and there is no doubt that
most of it will be done by machinery in some way or other. A few
years ago the only way to light up the streets of a town was to go
round to each separate gas lamp and light each jet, one at a time:
now, we press a few buttons and light up the town with electricity.
In the future we shall probably be able to press a button and flush
the sewers.'

`What about religion?' said Slyme. `I suppose there won't be no
churches nor chapels; we shall all have to be atheists.'

`Everybody will be perfectly free to enjoy their own opinions and to
practise any religion they like; but no religion or sect will be
maintained by the State. If any congregation or body of people wish
to have a building for their own exclusive use as a church or chapel
or lecture hall it will be supplied to them by the State on the same
terms as those upon which dwelling houses will be supplied; the State
will construct the special kind of building and the congregation will
have to pay the rent, the amount to be based on the cost of
construction, in paper money of course. As far as the embellishment
or decoration of such places is concerned, there will of course be
nothing to prevent the members of the congregation if they wish from
doing any such work as that themselves in their own spare time of
which they will have plenty.'

`If everybody's got to do their share of work, where's the minister
and clergymen to come from?'

`There are at least three ways out of that difficulty. First,
ministers of religion could be drawn from the ranks of the Veterans -
men over forty-five years old who had completed their term of State
service. You must remember that these will not be worn out wrecks, as
too many of the working classes are at that age now. They will have
had good food and clothing and good general conditions all their
lives; and consequently they will be in the very prime of life. They
will be younger than many of us now are at thirty; they will be ideal
men for the positions we are speaking of. All well educated in their
youth, and all will have had plenty of leisure for self culture during
the years of their State service and they will have the additional
recommendation that their congregation will not be required to pay
anything for their services.