The Labor enquirer., 1884-11-08
MANIFESTO
ofthe Scottish Land and Labor Branch
Of the Democratic Fed
GRAFTON.
EpINBuRGH, October, 1854.

i We ask you to join hands with us in
spreading the principles Of our League,
and to work steaHastly for the attain
ment Of its objects, which are simply
these
Il GO To restore to the people the land,
the primary source OF wealth and
f2) To make accessible toSthe workers
the mechanical instruments wherewith
to win from the land the raw material,
and to shape it into goods for the use
and enjoyment of all.
You will say, This is Socialism" No
doubt it is. BUTT does not mean dis
order and violence, as you are told by N
those who want to mislead you.
The social position of the workers, all
,over the world, is growing more deplora-
BILE every day, and this at a time when
the Wealth of Nations" that IS, the,
riches OLA minority of landlords and
capitalists, are constantly on theincrease.
This shows you that whatever profits
the rich make, they make at the expense
of the poori of you, the working classes.
of you, the muscle and sinews of the
nation
Instead of enjoying the efruits Of your
labor. you must leave them IN the hands
of those whose share in the work is as
small as their share in the spoil is big.
What you get out of itin the shape of
wages is no more than what is necessary
to keep you alive, and hardly able to
work while you are living. Not having
the tools and machinery, which are in
dispensable to-day for the making of
goods, you must hire yourself away like
slaves to those who call these things
their property. ..s
The land in possession of your lords
and the machinerSin possession of your
masters, brings you down to laboring
kinds, to. toiling, empty, mechanical
hands. The more you work the surer
will your wages fall, and the less will
you be able to buy in the market the
very goods your hands have fashioned
and the more of machinery there is in
vented, the more of you are thrown out
as useless into the gutter. Your skill as
craftsmen is fast becoming thing of the
past Your wives and children are COM
peting with you as minders ofselfacting
machinery, and you are left to the mer-
ciless chances of an over. crowded labor
market, helpless and hopeless proleta-
rians in the strictest sense of the word.
Society is thus divided into two classes
the rich and the poor-the capitalists
and the workers-the privileged and4he
disniherited7-the boufgeoisie and the
proletariat. b.
As the one can only gain at the expense
of the other, there is war between these
two classes. however peaceful things
NAV look. There is war even in the
camp of each separate class the capital
lists seeking to destroy each other, and
the workers being forced to fight among
themselves for living; and the waste
and misery which this inhuman struggle
of all against each entails, especially
upon the workers, is growing un bearable
to thinking men.
There is no help against this in mere
political jugglery between the ruling
parties, who hold among them the land
and the instruments of labor. The strife
is social one, and can only be settled
by soHialistic means and methods. If
you udo not want to be wholly pauperized
as class, to be lodged in warehouses,
and to be driven like cattle, you must go
beyond the political economy, whose
victims you are; you must make an end
of wages slavery, and go in for an organ
ization of society based on the co-opera-
ton of all for the benefit of each. - .
This is ", hat Socialism means. 1t will
bring Peace, Being and Order, in
place of Anarchy, Misery and Strife. 1t
will abolish classes, and consequently,
class-rule, class-hatred and class -distinc-
tion twill make an end forever of bad
housing, undertaking and overwork, and
will give everyone, fair chance of life
of health, culture and happiness.
To obtain this end the one thing need
ful is the combination of the workers.
You who create all wealth must learn to
understand that Socialism. means the
change from fighting each other for life
like beasts, to working to
like men. You must get
other and to agree betwe
change must be made, al
made. ~.
Working men and wol a.
come into our league al
these matters. They 49,
to you, for On your righ a.
of them depends not on. .... .av1 auu,
that of your children, but the fate of the
coming generations of workers
By joining our league you combine with
us for Freedom
The EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
d.