The Socialism of to-day

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 835096955

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-28834

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Laveleye, Émile de

Title:: The Socialism of to-day

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Field & Tuer

Year of publication:: 1884

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XLIV, 331 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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124 TUE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. What are the causes of the intolerable condition of the labouring class ? According to the bishop, there are two principal ones. In the first place, the utter suppression of all organization of labour. Formerly a sort of contract existed between society and the labourer ; the artisan satisfied the needs of society, and society, in exchange, guaranteed to him, by means of the guild regulations, both work and wages. 1 o- day he is abandoned without hope to the mercy of the capi talist. In the second place, the more and more general use of machinery and the development of the large system of manufacturing are always lessening the number of artisans who can dispose of a small private capital, and increasing that of the wage-earners who depend entirely upon the ever- varying demand for their work. Having indicated the causes of the evil, Monseigneur von Ketteler seeks the remedies. They will never be found, he says, in liberty, as is often imagined. For the labourer, liberty consists in offering his labour at a discount and in dying of hunger, if his labour is not needed. Free trade merely sub jects him to the competition of countries where wages are lowest. You speak of “ self-help,” and you expect the working man to raise himself by his own efforts. That is all very well for a few, the fortunate and best endowed, who may be able to make for themselves a place in the ranks of the masters ; but can the others cease to be wage-earners, and are not wages governed by the “iron law,” as demonstrated by Lassalle and Ricardo? All the fine speeches of infidel Liberalism will not per suade the working men that they should resign themselves to living in privation, while those who make profit out of them enjoy all the refinements of luxury and sensuality. Christianity alone can reconcile the lower classes to that inequality of condition which is inevitable here below. The true believer will accept without bitterness and even with joy the heaviest trials of a life of labour, because he expects them to ensure him eternal happiness. Christianity inspires a spirit of self-sacrifice, of obedience, of order. It condemns drunkenness, evil ways, debauchery, and rebellion.

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