Is it meant that we shall destroy the means of production—the mills, mines, forests, railroads and such things?
Certainly not. The means of production are material, mechanical things. They are not a form of society.
What then? Are we to “destroy society”? Are we to turn society upside down, inside out and “other end to,”—suddenly—“some dark night,” so to speak?
Not at all.
Here is what we must do:—Rapidly, just as rapidly as possible we must destroy the present class-labor form of society called capitalism,—and to do this we must strike at and strike out the foundation of the capitalist form of society.
But what is the foundation of this capitalist class-labor form of society?
As already pointed out, the foundation of capitalism is the institution of private property in the means of production.
The capitalists, the employers, the ruling class, stand legally between the means of production and the users of the means of production; thus a legal obstruction is raised between the workers and the things they work with in getting a living.
The capitalist class legally control the conditions under which the workers may use the means of production.
The capitalist class are in a legalized parasitic relation or connection to the means of production.