“First we will separate those who not only do nothing, but do not even pretend to be of any use; people who would consider themselves disgraced if they by any chance did any useful work. This class includes tramps, beggars, the ‘Aristocracy’, ‘Society’ people, great landowners, and generally all those possessed of hereditary wealth.”
As he spoke he drew a vertical line across one end of the oblong.
| 1 | |
| Tramps | |
| Beggars | |
| Society | |
| People | |
| Aristoc- | |
| racy | |
| Great | |
| Landowners | |
| All those | |
| possessed | |
| of | |
| hereditary | |
| wealth |
“These people do absolutely nothing except devour or enjoy the things produced by the labours of others.
“Our next division represents those who do work of a kind—‘mental’ work if you like to call it so—work that benefits themselves and harms other people. Employers—or rather Exploiters of Labour; Thieves, Swindlers, Pickpockets; profit seeking share-holders; burglars; Bishops; Financiers; Capitalists, and those persons humorously called ‘Ministers’ of religion. If you remember that the word ‘minister’ means ‘servant’ you will be able to see the joke.
| 1 | 2 | |
| Tramps | Exploiters | |
| Beggars | of Labour | |
| Society | Thieves | |
| People | Swindlers | |
| Aristoc- | Pickpockets | |
| racy | Burglars | |
| Great | Bishops | |
| Landowners | Financiers | |
| All those | Capitalists | |
| possessed | Share- | |
| of | holders | |
| hereditary | Ministers | |
| wealth | of religion |
“None of these people produce anything themselves, but by means of cunning and scheming they contrive between them to obtain possession of a very large portion of the things produced by the labour of others.
“Number three stands for those who work for wages or salaries, doing unnecessary work. That is, producing things or doing things which—though useful and necessary to the Imbecile System—cannot be described as the necessaries of life or the benefits of civilization. This is the largest section of all. It comprises Commercial Travellers, Canvassers, Insurance agents, commission agents, the great number of Shop Assistants, the majority of clerks, workmen employed in the construction and adornment of business premises, people occupied with what they call ‘Business’, which means being very busy without producing anything. Then there is a vast army of people engaged in designing, composing, painting or printing advertisements, things which are for the most part of no utility whatever, the object of most advertisements is merely to persuade people to buy from one firm rather than from another. If you want some butter it doesn’t matter whether you buy it from Brown or Jones or Robinson.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Tramps | Exploiters | All those | |
| Beggars | of Labour | engaged in | |
| Society | Thieves | unnecessary | |
| People | Swindlers | work | |
| Aristoc- | Pickpockets | ||
| racy | Burglars | ||
| Great | Bishops | ||
| Landowners | Financiers | ||
| All those | Capitalists | ||
| possessed | Share- | ||
| of | holders | ||
| hereditary | Ministers | ||
| wealth | of religion |
During the delivery of this part of the lecture, the audience began to manifest symptoms of impatience and dissent. Perceiving this, Owen, speaking very rapidly, continued: