FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
75 
The object to be attained is evidently that capital and 
labour should be united in the same hands, under the system 
of production on a large scale, as was formerly the case in the 
corporations, or as is the case to-day with the peasant pro 
prietor. This may be accomplished by means of the joint- 
stock company, provided the capital be represented by shares 
of a very small value. Suppose, for example, a great mill worth 
thousands of pounds, but with shares of the value of four 
pounds only : the workmen, and the employés of every grade 
might acquire these shares out of their savings j they would 
thus become shareholders, and, as such, owners of the mill. 
Would not such a joint-stock company become thenceforth a 
true co-operative society ? It would have all the advantages 
of one, without presenting the same difficulties. It would be, 
above all, an association of capital. The men would be asso 
ciated merely voluntarily and temporarily, in the character of 
shareholders, and it is easier to hold capital together than men. 
The joint-stock company would thus serve as a stepping-stone 
to co-operation,* but this, however, need not prevent select 
workmen from at once trying the latter. The mere attempt 
will do them good. Even in the event of failure, they will have 
acquired experience, habits of order and economy, familiarity 
with business, and a practical knowledge of economic questions, 
no less desirable in their own interest than in that of social 
order. 
Lassalle did not believe that co-operative societies would of 
themselves bring about “ the solution of the social question.” 
“ I have never used that expression,” he says, “ because the 
transformation of society will be the work of centuries, and of 
a whole series of measures and reforms which will be evolved 
organically out of each other. I have approved of co-opera 
tion merely as one means of improving the condition of the 
* It is stated in the report of an English society, “ The North of Eng 
land Industrial and Coal Comply, Limited," that several co-operative 
societies are large shareholders in the concern, which possesses blast 
furnaces and rotatory puddling ovens at Carlton, coal mines in Durham, 
and smelting works at Cleveland. Here is the stepping-stone between the 
joint-stock company and the co-operative society.