(1) That some members of the capitalist class detest the capitalist system; that these regret their unsocial relation to the social body; and that while they are living under the capitalist system they are in somewhat the same difficulty that a democrat is in Russia. One can believe in democracy in Russia, but he can not practice democracy under the autocratic form of Russian government. So under Capitalism: one may believe in industrial democracy, but he cannot practice it under an industrial despotism.
(2) That some members of present society belong partly to the capitalist class and partly to the working class.
(The Theory of the Leisure Class, a brilliant book by Dr. Thorstein Veblen, helpful in understanding social parasites, is urged upon the reader’s attention. Also W. J. Ghent’s Mass and Class.)
[322]. “The government which has the right to do an act and has imposed upon it the duty of performing the act, must, according to the dictates of reason, be permitted to select the means.”—Supreme Court of the United States, March 7, 1819. See Supreme Court Reports, Vol. 17, pp. 409, 430.
[323]. Political Science and Constitutional Law, Vol. I., p. 87.
[324]. Sociology, pp. 45, 47.
[325]. “It is the peculiarity of the social struggle that it must be conducted by a collective whole ... EVERY SOCIETY [OR CLASS] MUST SECURE SOME SUITABLE ORGAN FOR CONDUCTING THE SOCIAL STRUGGLE.
“Thus the ruling classes, through their parliaments, exercise the legislative power and are able, by legal institutions, to further their interests at the cost of others.... Thus the rulers themselves forge the weapons with which the ruled and powerless classes successfully attack them and complete the natural process.”—Gumplowitz: Outlines of Sociology, pp. 145–146. Italics mine. G. R. K.
[326]. The Communist Manifesto.
[327]. Reread Chapter Seven, Section 4.