Criminality and economic conditions

by Willem Adriaan Bonger

The cause of this fear is obvious. The capitalist who is ruined, and the stock-holder whose securities become valueless, see themselves thereby deprived of everything that makes life worth living, power, luxury, importance, etc., while the possibility of recovery without capital seems very small. This is especially true of the first two groups of the bourgeoisie. Nevertheless the position of the liberal professions is not very stable, though it is somewhat more so than that of the other groups.

Whence does the bourgeoisie recruit itself? In great part from the descendants of the bourgeoisie, in a less degree from the other classes. If a “petit-bourgeois” or a proletarian finds himself incorporated into the ranks of the bourgeoisie it is by virtue of extraordinary circumstances. They may reach this station because they have qualities which especially fit them to direct capitalistic enterprises; but in this case circumstances must arise to bring their capacity to light and give them a chance to develop it.

Although a relatively small number succeed in passing from another class to that of the bourgeoisie, this does not prevent nearly all from [[266]]having an ardent desire to enrich themselves and from seizing every opportunity which may help them attain this end. (The only exception is found in those workers who understand that the historic task of the working class is to found a society where there shall be neither rich nor poor.) A man will often start a factory or a shop without having either capital or ability, in the hope of raising himself in the social scale; and unless the circumstances are extraordinarily favorable failure follows almost immediately. This applies also quite as strongly to the capitalists who for one reason or another have failed in business; they try to gain success in another branch at any cost, even if capital and ability are lacking. But such a course can only retard their fall, and they end infallibly by sinking permanently to the rank of the proletarian.

What I have just been saying brings out strongly the character of the present process of production. Production is not undertaken for the sake of consumption, but for profit, so that the man who believes that he has a good chance to improve his condition goes to work to produce, without asking himself whether there is need of his products, or whether he can meet the required conditions.

As to the relation of the bourgeoisie, as a class, to other classes, and especially to the proletariat, a few words will suffice after the exposition I have given of present economic conditions. “In every nation there are two nations.” These words describe the relations in question. From their mode of life the bourgeoisie and the proletariat remain strangers to one another.[4] The bourgeoisie, having arrived at a wrong idea of the present system, do not consider the proletariat as the class which sustains society by its toil, but as a necessary evil. According to the bourgeois every strike is a diminution of his rights, an encroachment upon his property. In the political field the bourgeoisie, notwithstanding its intrinsic divisions, acts as a unit against the proletarians; a fact which does not prevent there being opposing interests within the class: in the first place the contest of the different groups of capitalists (manufacturers against agrarians, etc.) and then the opposing interests of the manufacturers within each group. [[267]]

B. The Petty Bourgeoisie.

In reality the line of demarcation between the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie is not drawn with the precision desirable for a theoretical exposition. Just as there are numerous gradations in the bourgeoisie, so are there in the petty bourgeoisie.

It is the petty bourgeoisie which has among its different classes the most ancient traditions. There was a time when it was strong and powerful. But the development of capitalism has changed all that. Industrialism has arisen and undermined the petty bourgeoisie. In the combat the small capitalist must eventually go down. He has not, like his adversaries, scientific forces at his disposal, has no great credit, cannot, in consequence of the insufficiency of his capital, make use of new inventions; in short, his arms are inferior to those of his antagonists. All this does not make him renounce the contest at once; on the contrary, it arouses him to bring all his forces into play. In consequence of his position in the economic life he has no breadth of view. He cannot comprehend that what earned bread for his ancestors during so many years will some day fail. This is the reason that, as soon as large capital enters into the competition, the small manufacturer overdrives himself, and not only himself but his workmen also, and further, attempts to lower wages, lengthen the working day, and introduce women and children to take the place of men. Competition forces the merchant to take advantage of his customers in all sorts of ways, a fact which gives commerce its character; for the art of commerce is to buy cheap and sell dear. Hence there is opposition between the merchant and the manufacturer on the one hand, and between merchant and customer on the other. This is why the merchant is led to depreciate the article he buys, and to praise that which he is selling. This tendency naturally becomes stronger as competition becomes fiercer. Advertising, a system of deceit, is invented to draw purchasers at any cost; and the point is even reached where men no longer give exact weight (“My competitors do not give it,” says the merchant to himself), and sell goods of poorer quality than represented. This is why commerce has a moral code of its own.

However, notwithstanding their desperate resistance, the situation of the petty bourgeoisie becomes worse and worse, and this has important social consequences, for example, the increase of the labor of women outside of their own homes. Whole groups of the petty bourgeoisie are so fallen into decadence that the plane of their existence [[268]]has become the same as that of the proletariat, or has even fallen below it. Finally the contest with the large capitalist means not simply degradation to the petty bourgeois, but absolute ruin. When a crisis comes the small capitalists are the first to feel the shock. Their ruin may come in various ways; their business may be annihilated altogether—in which case they are permanently reduced to the ranks of the proletariat—or it may become dependent upon great capital under the name of home industry, i.e. wage labor masked under the appearance of independence. Only those who have been able to save a part of their capital from the wreck can try fortune once more in another branch of industry where great capital has not yet begun to compete, but they are sure to be pursued and finally overtaken by their enemy.

As in the case of the bourgeoisie, the relations which the different members of the petty bourgeoisie have among themselves are determined by the economic system; fierce competition, life in a little circle where ideas cannot be broadened, all this breeds envy, hatred, and meanness.[5]