The Struggle for Existence

CLEARING THE GROUND

CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM

 

The Means of Life. 

Man cannot live without food, fuel, clothing and shelter. He cannot live well without homes, books, pictures, music, literature, gardens, places of pleasure, and transportation for himself and his belongings, together with the leisure for their enjoyment.

Their Sources. 

Nature has provided in abundance the raw materials out of which the skill and industry of the workers may provide all these things, and the great improvements of modern industry have so increased the productive power of the workers that abundance for all can be produced and the working day so shortened that there will be ample leisure for

all.

Monopoly. 

But the lands, tools, shops, storehouses and transportation lines are legally owned by the few, and the many can use none of these things except with the consent of the few who are the legal owners. 

The many cannot live except they use these things to produce the means of life, and hence it is that the many cannot live at all except on terms named by the few. 1

 

Tyranny. 

The legal owners, moreover, do not consent that the workers shall use either the natural resources or the tools of industry except the legal owners keep control of both the natural resources and the tools of industry while in use, and so the few reserve to themselves the right of mastery over the many while using them and hence the many must live as the servants of the few, or not at all. 2

 

Inequality. 

Again, the legal owners of the lands, tools, shops, store houses and transportation lines, appropriate to themselves the total product of the industries, consenting that the workers shall have for themselves and those dependent on them only the barest subsistence. 

The legal owners do not guarantee that the workers shall always have an opportunity to be employed, even on these terms. 

The legal owners insist on the right to employ" whom they will, for such hours as the legal owners shall name, requiring such speed in the work as the legal owners shall choose, and paying such wages as the legal owners shall determine.

 

1. "The time once was when the ownership and control of property were largely coincident. We have been gradually, and for the most part unconsciously, growing away from these conditions in our endeavor to secure economies of modern production, and at the same time retain the institution of private property unchanged." Jones: Economic Crises, p. 52.

2. "The possession of the means of livelihood gives to the capitalists the control of the government, the press, the pulpit, and the schools, and enables them to reduce the workingmen to a state of intellectual, physical and social inferiority, political subservience and virtual slavery." National Platform of the Socialist Party of America, adopted at Indianapolis, 1901.

 

"The whole system of capitalistic production is based on the fact that the workman sells his labor power as a commodity." Marx: Capital, p. 431.

 

"There is no principle of justice which gives first terms [conditions] into the hands of one individual as if they were his alone. When they lapse into his possession, the slip must be corrected at once." Bascom: Sociology, p. 228.

 

No Legal Right to Life. 

If the legal owners choose to refuse employment to a particular worker, He is not admitted, under capitalism, or under the laws of any country on earth, to have any legal right to an opportunity of any sort to earn a living of any kind, not necessarily because of any fault of his, but simply because "no one hath hired him."3 

If the worker proves himself of great value to his master, his master may improve the lot of such a worker not because of any regard for that particular worker, or because of any lack of regard for other workers, but simply be- cause it pays the master better to do so.

 

Inherited Mastery and Servitude. 

A child born in the family of the legal owner may inherit productive property, and through this private ownership by inheritance of land and tools, which other must use, he is born to be their master as they are to be his servants, again, not because of the fault of either the servant or the master but because this is inherent in capitalism.

 

All this results in the great wealth of the few who, create no wealth, and  the great poverty of the many, who create all wealth.

 

V 3. "The four cardinal tenets of Trade Unionism the world over are:

(1) That employs shall have the right to say how long they shall work.

(2) How much work they shall turn out.

(3) How much they shall get for it.

(4) Who shall be employed. The Trade Unionist declares in the abstract that these principles are non-arbitral.

The critical examination of the demands made by the modern Trade Unionist will show that they contain the seed of industrial destruction."

This is taken from a secret circular mailed only to employers of labor by the American Manufacturers' Association.

The circular argues at length in opposition to these propositions, contending that the employers only shall determine the length of the day's work, the amount of the product required, and the wages to be paid, and insists that if the workingmen are to be heard on these questions it means industrial destruction.

The able-bodied man without money and begging for employment may be jailed as a vagrant in every State in the Union.

 

Collectivism. 

On the other hand, the Socialist insist the lands, tools, shops, store-houses and transportation lines, so far as they are collectively used by all of the people, ought to be owned by all of the people.4 

Then the many would not depend on the few, for the consent of the few, for the many to stay alive; nor would the many be obliged to bargain with the few in order to secure the opportunity to produce the means of life, such things as food, fuel, clothing and shelter.

Democracy. 

Again, the Socialists contend that those who do the world's work ought themselves to manage the work they do. 

Then the relation of mastery and servitude would cease, and self govern-ment would extend to the field of every day's activities and control by the common voice of all the toilers all the interests held in common by all the toilers.

 

Equality. 

And finally, the Socialists contend that, all men and women shall have an equal oppor tunity to become workers, if they shall so choose, 5 with equal voice in the management of industries carried on with the collective use of the collectively owned lands, tools, shops, store-houses and transportation lines, with the products belonging to the workers be divided among them as the workers alone shall determine.

4. "The Socialist Party of America, in national convention assembled, reaffirms its adherence to the principles of International Socialism, and declares its aim to be the organization of the working class, and those in sympathy with it, into a political party, with the object of conquering the powers of government and using them for the purpose of transforming the present system of private ownership of the means of production and distribution into a collective ownership by the entire people." National Platform of the Socialist Party of America, adopted at Indianapolis, 1901.

 

5. "Not only do we owe it to ourselves to pursue a serious calling, but likewise to society at large. The man who refuses to work in some way or other lives at others' expense. This is no less true of one who idly spends his inheritance than of the professional beggar or thief. From the legal point of view the former consumes what belongs to him and does no wrong; from the moral standpoint, however that is, in reality he accepts the products of others without making any return; he lives as a parasite at the table of the people, without helping to defray the costs." Paulsen: A System of Ethics, p. 533

 

Under Socialism. 

Then, inasmuch as all men and women would have the opportunity to be producers, with the free use of the lands, tools, shops, store- houses and transportation lines; and inasmuch as no one would then have the power, through private owner- ship of the industries, where others toil, or through the private management of the industries, where others are employed, or through the private appropriation of the products which others produce, either to enrich himself or to exercise the power of mastery over others, then the great unmerited poverty of the many and the great unearned wealth of the few, together with all industrial despotism, must disappear.6

 

Summary. 

1. Capitalism is the private ownership by the few of what the many must collectively use. 

Socialism is the collective ownership by the many of what the many must collectively use.

2. Capitalism is the private management, by the few, of the work which the many must do collectively. 

Socialism is the collective, democratic management by the many, of the work which the many must do collectively.

3. Capitalism is the private appropriation, by the few, of the products of the many with no one able to produce without the consent of some private owner. 

Socialism is the appropriation, by the many, for the individual and private possession and use of the many, of the products produced by themselves, with equal opportunity for all men and women to be producers, if they shall so choose. 

Capitalism involves the unmerited wealth of those who are idle, and the unmerited poverty of those who are the creators of all wealth. 

Socialism involves the wealth of those who merit wealth by becoming its producers, and the poverty of those, only, if such there be, who, having the opportunity to live in comfort, choose rather the merited poverty, the fruits of voluntary idleness.

6. "Property [in the means of production] is today a lie for the majority of men, a robbery for the minority. Socialism would make property the possession of everyone. It would convert it into a truth, secure to the worker within society the full proceeds of his labor and destroy the capitalistic system of plunder from its foundation. * * * Our end is: The free democracy with equal economic and political rights; the free society with associative labor. The welfare of all is for us the one end of the state and society." Liebknecht: Socialism, What It Is and What It Seeks to Accomplish, p. 23.

So then

 

By what process did capitalism come to be?

How did the few get possession of the natural resources and of the tools which all must use or perish ?

Why do the many submit to this needless tyranny of the few?

Why do the many continue to surrender the wealth their toil produces to make millionaires of others while they remain in such pitiless poverty themselves?

Whence come these proposals of the Socialists?

On what grounds do they rest their claims?

By what process has the movement grown in power?

What defense has their position among the thoughtful and sincere students of affairs?

What effect will the coming of Socialism have on the most serious interests of life and the great social problems of the hour?

Can these proposals of the Socialists be adopted, and if so, by what means can a worker contribute most to a peaceful and speedy victory of the Socialists ?

To answer these, questions is the purpose of this article.

 

Ask your self these questions.

1. What are the means of life?

2. What are the means of producing the means of life ?

3. Are the means of production and the workers, ready and able to use the means of production, abundant? Defend your reply.

4. If so, why do not the workers proceed to produce and keep for their own use sufficient for their needs?

5. Why are the workers obliged to get the consent of those who do not work before they are able to produce the means of life ?

6. To what relation must all workers now submit before they are permitted to earn a living for themselves and families?

7. Are the children of the workers born to be the servants of others?

8. What results from this dependence and subordination of those who work as related to those who do not work?

9. Give three points of contrast between what prevails under capitalism and what would prevail under Socialism.

“The immortality of the soul is one of Plato’s favourite topics.” —Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy

Plato (c. 427-347 B.C.E.) was a pagan Greek philosopher. He was born in Athens to an aristocratic family and received the customary education of a well-to-do Greek youth. He was greatly influenced by the celebrated philosopher Socrates and by the followers of Pythagoras, a philosopher and mathematician.

QUICK FACTS

( Plato is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western culture.

( As a young man, he took an interest in politics but became deeply disillusioned.

( He later wrote on such topics as ethics, justice, knowledge, moderation, piety, the soul, and valor.

( Plato’s most distinguished pupil was Aristotle, who became an educator, philosopher, and scientist.

AFTER traveling about in the Mediterranean basin and engaging in the politics of Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily, Plato returned to Athens, where he founded the Academy. Often referred to as Europe’s first university, the Academy became a focal point for mathematical and philosophical research.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

The teachings of Plato have profoundly influenced the religious beliefs of millions of people, including pro- fessed Christians, many of whom wrongly assume that these beliefs are based on the Bible. Foremost among Plato’s teachings is the concept that humans have an immortal soul that survives the death of the physical body. Plato had a deep interest in life after death.

The book Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy says that “the immortality of the soul is one of Plato’s favorite topics.” He was firmly convinced that “the soul outlives its present incarnation, to be duly rewarded or punished” in the afterlife, based on how the person lived while on earth.

 

Although Plato popularized the notion of the immortal soul, he was not the first to adopt it. In its various forms, the concept had long permeated pagan religion, including that of Egypt and Babylon

HOW DID PLATO’S TEACHINGS SPREAD?

During the nine centuries that Plato’s Academy functioned, from 387 B.C.E. to 529 C.E., it was highly influential. Platonic thought became popular in lands dominated by Greece and Rome. The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria adopted Platonism, as did many religious leaders within Christendom. As a result, pagan philosophical concepts, including the immortality of the soul, crept into the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.

“All Christian theology is dependent, to an extent at least, on contemporary Greek philosophy, primarily Platonism,” says The Anchor Bible Dictionary, “but some Christian thinkers . . . merit the title of Christian Platonists.” Compare what the following sources say.

What Plato said: “[At death,] that which is the real self of each of us, and which we term the immortal soul, departs to the presence of other gods, there . . . to render its account,—a prospect to be faced with courage by the good, but with uttermost dread by the evil.” —Plato—Laws, Book XII.

What the Bible says: The soul is the person himself or the life that he enjoys. Even animals are souls. At death, the soul ceases to exist. Consider the follow- ing scriptures: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” —1 Corinthians 15:45. “God went on to say: ‘Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth.’” —Genesis 1:24. “Let my soul die.”—Numbers 23:10. “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.”—Ezekiel 18:4.

Clearly, the Bible does not teach that the soul survives the death of the physical body. So ask yourself, ‘Are my beliefs based on the Bible or the philosophy of Plato?’ ˛

The Bible teaches that the dead are asleep, as it were, awaiting a res- urrection. (Ecclesiastes 9:5; John 11:11-14; Acts 24:15) In contrast, so-called immortal souls cannot die and would need no resurrection.

“The notion of the soul surviving after death is not readily discernible in the Bible.”—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

“Only in the post-biblical period did a clear and firm belief in the immortality of the soul take hold . . . and become one of the cornerstones of the Jewish and Christian faiths.” —Encyclopaedia Judaica.

“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation . . . and is accordingly no- where expressly taught in Holy Scripture.”—The Jewish Encyclopedia.