“In a Socialist State, if a laborer in ten hours can produce five pairs of shoes, he could not have as his reward for that labor five pairs of shoes. For while he was making these shoes, educational work had to be done, hospitals had to be operated, the mentally and physically incapable had to be cared for—all socially necessary labor had to be carried on; and the cost of the maintenance of these things is a part of the cost of the social product.”
Richardson goes on to calculate how much the shoemaker “might get” for his product; but he entirely overlooks the very grave possibility that after all the items which Mrs. Besant and he have enumerated, and all of Deville’s “etcetera” have been deducted, the worker “might get” nothing at all.
In short, are we not justified in questioning the wisdom of this scheme? Under the present system the wages of a worker represents a first charge against the business, and profits, interests and rent can be paid only out of what is left (if anything is left) after he has secured his share.
The adoption of the Socialist system would change all this. The worker might get a beggarly “subsistence wage,” to keep him alive and able to work, but nothing else would be paid to him until all the expenses of the State, including the cost of its numberless agents and officials, had been deducted. Justly does Schaffle say (“The Quintessence of Socialism,” p. 122): “The leading promise of social democracy is practically and theoretically untenable; it is a delusive bait for the extreme individualistic fanatic craving for equality among the masses.”
After seeing all this, John, do you think it possible that the condition of the worker could be improved by the adoption of Socialist methods? In view of the very dubious prospect of a possible “bonus,” what do you think of a man who would go to the lengths that Spargo goes in his attempt to befuddle the brain of those who are too ignorant, or too careless, to investigate this question for themselves. Under Socialism, Spargo says (“Socialism,” p. 236): “If Jones prefers objets d’art, and Smith prefers fast horses or a steam yacht, each will be free to follow his inclination so far as his resources will permit.”
Let us be thankful for this concession! We shall in this respect, at least, be no worse off than we are to-day. At the present moment Jones can buy his art objects, and Smith his fast horses or his steam yacht, if the “resources” of Smith and Jones will permit. The question in which we are interested, John, is not what you and Jones will be permitted to do, but what you will be able to do, and I sadly fear that Spargo, who must know the logical effects of Socialism, had a good laugh at your expense when he penned those words.
CHAPTER XI
IS WRETCHEDNESS INCREASING?
My dear John,
If you listen to a Socialist speaker, or pick up a Socialist periodical, you are pretty certain to come face to face with the assertion that “the poor are now growing poorer and the rich richer every day.” If you ask for further particulars, you will soon discover that the chief reason why Socialists believe that this is what is happening is because Karl Marx predicted that it is what was going to happen.
The great founder of Socialism was very certain that the development of capitalism would tend to produce constantly-increasing “wretchedness, oppression, slavery, degeneracy, and exploitation” of the working class (“Capital,” p. 790); and while a few writers, like Kirkup in the “History of Socialism” (p. 386), admit that “Marx made a serious mistake,” because “facts and reasonable expectations combine clearly to indicate that the democracy ... is marked by a growing intellectual, moral and political capacity, and by an increasing freedom and prosperity,” the great mass of Socialists agree with Snowden’s assertion (“The Socialist’s Budget,” p. 8) that “the few cannot be rich without making the many poor.”