[189] Plato already recognized the results of such conditions. He wrote: “A state in which classes exist is not one single state but two. The poor form one, and the rich form the other. Both dwell together, but always way-lay one another. Finally the ruling class becomes unable to wage a war, for then it depends upon the masses whom, when armed, it fears more than the enemy.”—Plato, The State. Aristotle says: “Widespread poverty is an evil, for it can hardly be prevented that such persons become promoters of disorder.”
[190] Natural History of the Creation.
[191] A similar thought is expressed by Plato in his “State”: “Crimes are caused by ignorance, by bad education and institutions of the state.” Plato was better acquainted with the nature of society than many of his learned followers two thousand and three hundred years later. That is not very encouraging.
[192] M. Sursky—New facts concerning the economic causes of crime. “New Era.”
[193] H. Herz—Crime and Criminals in Austria. The author says: “The prevailing economic status must be taken into consideration in the judgment of crime. The organization of production and consumption and the distribution of wealth has a marked influence on crime in many ways.”
[CHAPTER XVII.
The Process of Concentration in Capitalistic Industry.]
[1.—The Displacement of Agriculture by Industry.]
The capitalistic system of production not only dominates the social organization but also the political organization. It influences and controls the thoughts and sentiments of society. Capitalism is the ruling power. The capitalist is lord and master of the proletarian, whose labor power he buys as a commodity to be applied and made use of, at a price that oscillates according to supply and demand and the cost of production, as with every other commodity. But the capitalist does not buy labor power “to please God,” or to render a service to the workingman—as he sometimes seeks to present it—but to obtain surplus value by it, which he pockets in the form of profit, interest and rent. This surplus value squeezed out of the workingman—inasmuch as it is not spent by the employer for his personal enjoyment—is crystallized into capital, and enables him steadily to enlarge his plant, to improve the process of production, and to employ more labor power. Thereby again he becomes enabled to encounter his weaker competitor, as a horseman, clad in armor, might encounter an unarmed pedestrian, and to destroy him.
This unequal struggle is developing more and more in all domains, and woman, furnishing the cheapest labor power, beside the child, plays an important part in this struggle. The result of these conditions is, that the line of demarcation becomes sharper between a relatively small number of powerful capitalists and the great mass of non-possessors of capital, who depend upon the daily sale of their labor power. With this development the position of the middle classes is becoming more and more unfavorable.