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

Industrialization And Socialism / 35
2. That all production being necessarily collective, the labourer is entitled to a
share of the products and profits commensurate with his labour;
3. That all accumulated capital being social property, no one can be its exclusive
proprietor.
These inferences are unavoidable; these alone would suffice to revolutionize our
whole economical system, and change our institutions and our laws ...
Just as the creation of every instrument of production is the result of collective
fo rce, so also are a man's talent and knowledge the product of universal intelligence
and of general knowledge slowly accumulated by a number of masters, and through
the aid of many inferior industries. When the physician has paid fo r his teachers, his
books, his diplomas, and all the other items of his educational expenses, he has no
more paid for his talent than the capitalist pays fo r his house and land when he gives
his employees their wages ...
The labouring people can buy neither the cloth which they weave, nor the fu rniture
which they manufacture, nor the metal which they fo rge, nor the jewels which
they cut, nor the prints which they engrave. They can procure neither the wheat
which they plant, nor the wine which they grow, nor the flesh of the animals which
they raise. They are allowed neither to dwell in the houses which they build, nor to
attend the plays which their labour supports, nor to enjoy the rest which their body
requires. And why Because the right of increase does not permit these things to be
sold at the cost-price, which is all that labourers can afford to pay. On the signs of
those magnificent warehouses which he in his poverty admires, the labourer reads in
large letters: "This is thy work, and thou shalt not have it."
...[llndustry, under the influence of property ... endeavors to produce a great
deal in a short time, because the greater the amount of products, and the shorter the
time of production, the less each product costs. As soon as a demand begins to be
felt, the fa ctories fill up, and everybody goes to work. Then business is lively, and
both governors and governed rejoice. But the more they work today, the more idle
will they be hereafter; the more they laugh, the more they shall weep. Under the rule
of property, the flowers of industry are woven into none but fu neral wreaths. The labourer
digs his own grave.
If the factory stops running, the manufacturer has to pay interest on his capital
the same as before. He naturally tries, then, to continue production by lessening expenses.
Then comes the lowering of wages; the introduction of machinery; the employment
of women and children to do the work of men; bad workmen, and
wretched work. They still produce, because the decreased cost creates a larger mar-