The Labor enquirer., 1884-08-16
#E DENVER 8aTURDAY AUGUST IS

To teschines o$ szeat Hosia ali1lic wlites1
He - very ~ MI fhak tie radatidI
Of The woEksrs y nj DIS tp c7sr-oon
| sumption of msat liqncrr, nor q the pre-
J. ence or absenes Il or ftom olIce Of lib
erals or conservative; rspublians 81
| democrats. Il y the opnion of thfI
writer. who has mAds ! study of ths
origin and proeren of society that unled1
modern society win - to this evil, Il
must die. aJustice or Death" must be
giyen or suffered.
The language Of this extract Is rsthsr
obscure, but the meaning is quite clear.
When closely read it viii be found to
contain many Of the criticisms employed
| by Socialists, and : near approach TO the
solution advocated By them. It Is moi
dificnlt to divine Why the writer. should
use obscure language II there is any
thing strange il Is that he sho uld give VI
such a good chance Of using his clever
book to 50 plainly ysupportour arguments
An analysis Of the question amounts
to this: The necessity for engaging in
production has been an evil in 80 far as
| it has made one class Of society subservi-
ent to another While the human ami
NAL is in low stage Of development it
detests labor perhaps became labor
must be done and forces it upon some
weaker animal, his slave or his wife in
olden times, his employees, and the pub
| lie generally in modern times. But labor
has alec been beneficial to society for as,
man grows more enlightened he aban-
dons the custom of Staying his fellows
and the lower animals, and finds his,
chief pleasure in the labor which he
formerly hated. To engage in such labor
a revolution in mans nature is necessary.
In primitive times he is restless and ex-
citable; and, consequently, unless under
compulsion, he cannot devote himself to
tasks which require regularity of per
formance or palnstaking carefulness of
execution, he therefore compels some
person of less strength or less cunning
to do that which is distasteful to himself.
In other words, the class which has most
strength or cunning lives upon the labor
of some weaker class. Then our friend
points out the unhappy results of this
system.
We have no longer slaves or serfs(2,
but we have men who work for wages,
who are constrained to perpetual toll,
which is often excessive and dangerous.
Art which existed among primitive
modes of production, is driven from the
people by modern industrialism (while
dominated by capitalism. J. The laborer
performs only q minute portion of some
thing, he is reduced to q machine, he
ceases to be an artist because instead OF
making something and beautifying it to
his own taste he learns to do one small
part of something and for years he re-
peats the same movem ents endlessly.
Hence are born a large class of workers
who show signs of degeneration of Gus
toms and appearances which reminds
one of brutes.
! do not at present care to argue
whether men who become mere
machines are Slaves and serfso or not
What / wish to point out is the great
similarity between DR.. Letourneau's con
illusions conclusions reached after wide
reading-and our own principles. The
doctors conclusions and our principles
may both be summed up thus Modern
industrialism degrades the work ers, who
are the largest class; while it cherishes
the savage instinct Of acquisition by su-
perior strength (cunning) among the
masters. The effects upon the whole of
society is such that the death of this
civilization is inevitable sunless by
granting Justice and substituting Free
Association" for wage labor.
Now to find the meaning of "Justice"
and Free Association" The only mean
ing of Justice which suggests itself tome
iscompliance with the conditions which
most pleasure. Perhaps q Christian give
could find some more pretentious looking
definition, but only believe in what !
know. What does "Free Association"
mean? Quite clearly our friend wants
wage-labor abolished, which can only be
achieved by Social Revolution which
will abolish class distinctions and recon-
struct society upon basis of absolute
economical equality, i. e., the productive
agents land and the apparatus
of production-sh be used for the,
benefit and enjoyment of all alike.
These I hold to be the only legitimate
linferences which can be drawn from DR..
Charles Letourneau's opinions of the
I"unhappy effects of industry"
| There IL, after all, nothing peculiar
about Letourneau's opinions of "our 30
called civilization" Such an opinion
may be gotten from reading almost any
great writer who has criticized society
and who has compared the characterica
| of modern society with that of ancient
societies. / do not mean to say that all
great writers are Socialists, but rather
that the writings of a vast number o.
great men point to Socialism,
Too many of our best minds have beer