Graham R (Ed.) - Anarchism - A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One - From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)

116/ ANARCHISM
course of the machine; he lowers it and the cage turns back in the twinkling of an eye;
he raises it, he lowers it again with a giddy swiftness. All attention. he fo llows with
his eyes fixed on the wall an indicator that shows him, on a small scale, at which point
of the shaft the cage is at each second of its progress; as soon as the indicator has
reached a certain level he suddenly stops the course of the cage, not a yard higher nor
lower than the required spot. And no sooner have the colliers unloaded their
coal-wagons, and pushed empty ones instead, than he reverses the lever and again
sends the cage back into space.
During eight or ten consecutive hours he must pay the closest attention. Should
his brain relax fo r a moment, the cage would inevitably strike against the gear, break
its wheels, snap the rope, crush men, and obstruct work in the mine. Should he waste
three seconds at each touch of the lever, in our modern perfected mines, the extraction
would be reduced from twenty to fifty tons a day.
Is it he who is of greatest use in the mine Or, is it perhaps the boy who signals
to him from below to raise the cage Is it the miner at the bottom of the shaft, who
risks his life every instant, and who will some day be killed by fire-damp Or is it the
engineer, who would lose the layer of coal, and would cause the miners to dig on
rock by a simple mistake in his calculations And lastly, is it the mine owner who has
put all his capital into the mine, and who has perhaps, contrary to expert advice asserted
that excellent coal would be found there
All the miners engaged in this mine contribute to the extraction of coal in proportion
to their strength, their energy, their knowledge, their intelligence, and their
skill. And we may say that all have thl' right to live , to satisf'; their needs, and even
their whims, when the necessaries of life have been secured fo r all. But how can we
appraise their work
And, moreover, is the coal they have extracted their work Is it not also the work
of men who have built the railway leading to the mine and the roads that radiate
from all its stations Is it not also the work of those that have tilled and sown the
fields, extracted iron, cut wood in the forests, built the machines that burn coal, and
so on
No distinction can be drawn between the work of each man. Measuring the
work by its results leads us to absurdity; dividing and measuring them by the hours
spent on the work also leads us to absurdity. One thing remains: put the needs above
the works, and first of all recognize the right to live, and later on, to the comforts of
life, fo r all those who take their share in production.