62

THE  SOC/AL/SM  OF  TO-DAY.

Let  US  follow  still  further  the  exposition  of  the  ideas  of  the
German  agitator.*  Nowadays,  he  says,  in  order  to  produce
with  success,  large  capital  is  needful.  The  small  manufacturer,
the  petty  shopkeeper,  the  artisan,  vegetate  only,  crushed  by  the
competition  of  the  great  manufacturers.  The  labourer,  unable
to  be  an  independent  producer,  is  obliged  to  sell  his  labour
for  the  means  of  subsistence  ;  and  in  consideration  of  wages,
the  employer  obtains  the  entire  product  of  the  labour.  This
product  is  constantly  increasing,  according  as  processes  are
perfected,  and  as  science  is  applied  to  the  working  of  natural
resources  ;  but  the  labourer,  the  source  of  all  wealth,  does  not
profit  from  it.  It  all  goes  to  the  capitalist,  who  reaps  the  entire
benefit  of  industrial  progress.  The  labourer  is,  then,  deprived
of  almost  all  the  fruits  of  his  labour,  and  necessarily  so,  for  he
does  not  possess  the  capital  which  would  enable  him,  by  working
on  his  own  account,  to  keep  the  product  of  his  labour  for
himself.
Economists  point  out  that  the  relations  established  between
capitalist  and  labourer  must  be  perfectly  equitable,  since  they
are  established  by  a  free  contract  concluded  between  the  parties.
Not  so,  replies  Lassalle  ;  the  contract  is  free  only  in  appearance ­
  :  the  labourer,  not  being  himself  able  to  employ  his  hands,
must  hire  them  out  for  any  price  that  may  be  given  him,  being
constrained  by  hunger.  He  is  no  more  free  than  the  drowning
man  who  gives  all  he  possesses  to  one  who  merely  reaches  him
a  pole  to  pull  him  out  of  the  water.
But,  replies  the  Economist,  capital  itself  is  merely  accumulated ­
  labour  :  even  if  it  is  true  that  it  obtains  an  ever-increasing
portion,  this  is  only  the  fair  remuneration  of  intelligent  labour,
united  to  forethought,  abstinence,  and  thrift  True,  answers
Lassalle,  capital  arises  from  the  accumulation  of  the  products
of  previous  labour,  but  it  was  the  labour  of  those  who  have
not  obtained  the  capital,  namely,  the  workers,  and  not  the
labour  of  the  capitalists  who  have  obtained  it.  The  existing
*  See  besides  the  numerous  writings  of  Lassalle,  Die  bedrohliche  Entwickelung ­
  des  Socialismus  (The  Dangerous  Development  of  Socialism),  by
Rudolf  Meyer,  a  lucid  and  substantial  production;  Dermoderne  Socialismus
(Modern  Socialism),  by  Dr.  Eugen  Jaeger  ;  Die  lehren  des  heutigen  Socialismus ­
  (The  Lessons  of  Modern  Socialism),  by  H.  Von  Sybel.