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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26o THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. as the means of production have been improved, there is need of more capital ; this capital, represented by mortgages, shares, and bonds, permits its holders to live, not on rent, but on profits and interest. The rate of interest tends to diminish in proportion as the amount of capital increases, but the total amount of interest is augmented. It follows, as Rodbertus has shown, that the total share of wages diminishes relatively to that of rent and interest. Collectivism applied to land only, and having no other effect than to make rent payable to the State, would be of comparatively easy application, for it would leave the present organization of Society entirely intact. But it would be by no means the same thing with Collectivism universally applied, as demanded by most contemporary Socialists. An outline of this system was presented by M. de Paepe to the Congress of the International at Brussels in 1868, and also to that at Bâle in 1869 ; but, so far as the author is aware, the only publication in which the scheme has been explained and treated in a scientific way is a little pamphlet entitled Quintessenz des Socialismus.* It is an extract from a large work on Sociology : Bau und Leben des Socialen Körpers, by Dr. Albert Schæffle, former Minister of Finance in Austria, and one of the most eminent of German economists. Let us endeavour, with the aid of Dr. Schæffle’s analysis, to get a true idea of the Social state desired by the thorough-going Collectivists. We must beware of confounding this system with the ancient communistic Utopias, the ideal of which was a Trappist monastery, with common labour, common living, and the common enjoyment of produce quite irrespective of individual work done, as, in fact, takes place in family life- Collectivism, on the contrary, admits of the breaking up of the community into families, and, by apportioning remuneration to produce obtained, it seeks to preserve the incentive of private interest. In a Collectivist State, there would be as many co-operative societies as there are principal branches of labour : agricultural societies, transport societies, and manufacturing societies of all kinds. Farms, mines, railways, factories, work- * Translated into French by M. B. Malón.

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