The old hand tool was used by a single worker—and owned by him who used it.
The machine requires a thousand or ten thousand workers to operate it, but they do not own it, and what they produce with it does not go to them, but to the capitalist who does own it.
The workers who use the machine are the slaves of the capitalist who owns it.
They can only work by his permission.
The capitalist is a capitalist solely for profit—without profit he would not be in business an instant. That is his first and only consideration.
In the capitalist system profit is prior to and more important than the life or liberty of the workingman.
The capitalist’s profit first, last and always. He owns the tools and only allows the worker to use them on condition that he can extract a satisfactory profit from his labor. If he cannot do this the tools are not allowed to be used—he locks them up and waits.
The capitalist does no work himself; that is, no useful or necessary work. He spends his time watching other parasites in the capitalist game of “dog eat dog,” or in idleness or dissipation. The workers who use his tools give him all the wealth they produce and he allows them a sufficient wage to keep them in working order.
The wage is to the worker what oil is to the machine.
The machine cannot run without lubricant and the worker cannot work and reproduce himself without being fed, clothed and housed; this is his lubricant and the amount he requires to keep him in running order regulates his wage.