Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-04-27

VIII illlu lie ldSh lIililltely lacllUdteu
because of their aggregation, because of
their more complete organization under
the system of partial cooperation which
is being adopted - witness these
Unions or TRUSTS" by the profit
mongerng class, now they see profits
forced by competition to a minimum.
That Capitalism would die self-immo-
lated was pointed out by Marx very
clearly, though when he forecast its fu-
ture the signs of its collapse were not so
evident as they are to-day, when he
who runs may read To successful pro-
duction for profit two things are essen
tlal-cheap labor and good customers.
The capitalist conspiracy to cut down
wages, whether directly or indirectly,
has been successful, but its success has
been of very equivocal nature. Cut
ting down wages means losing custom
ers A reduction in wages means a re
duction in the purchasing power of the
workers. Hence arises the absurdity
we witness of overproduction side by
side with under consumption -- the
workers standing idle because they
have produced too much and victims to
all kinds of disease resultant from in
sufficient nourshment-in other words,
from consuming too little. Cutting
down wages and thus limiting the mar
ket for commodities then reducing pro-
duction to adapt it to the limited mar
ket is like whiting away at both ends
OF stick. In course of time there is no
stick left to whittle. We might have
already reached that interesting crisis
in the economical development of cap
alism if it had not been for our foreign
markets; but these are now closing to
us, for with the spread of knowledge of
the arts ard sciences all nations are
learning to produce, each for itself, the
commodities they consume. The fever
ish anxiety to find new foreign mar
kets is significant sign of the times.
But the gain of Burmah and Central
Africa will not recompense the loss of
the United States for all kinds of manu-
factures, of India for our cottons, of
Australia and other colonies for all
manner of commodities which they
once imported from the home country,
which they are learning to manufacture
for themselves.
The most significant sign of the times
is that widespread spirit of revolt
amongst the workers against the capt.
alst class, against those who once full
filled the functions of captains of indus
try, but who are unable any longer
witness the army of unemployed--to Or
game the industrial army. Whilst
they performed this duty, spite of their
brutality to those under their command,
which had to be checked by Factory
Acts and other Legislative measures, the
privileges Of their position were not
called in question as they are disputed
now in face of their philanthropies and
phylacteries, in spite Of their aifectation
of courtesy to the masses whenever
they mount the political platform or
harangue them from the hustings. The
identity of history asserts itself. Under
the feudal system the privileged classes
were military captains in military So
ciety, as the capitalist class were once
and are still supposed to be captains of
industry in our industrial society. That
spirit of revolt which eliminated in the
overthrow of feudalism was only stirred
when the privileged classes had no
longer any useful function to fulfill,
when they exacted rights and per-
formed no duties. So it is to-day. The
capitalist class clngs to its right to mo-
nopolize all instruments and means of
production, but is incapable of per-
forming the duty of organizing la
Dor. The result is inevitable. They
will be deprived of what they are
pleased to call their rights, for there
are no rights to the enjoyment of
which duties are not attached. 1t is al
most pitiable to listen to their confes-
slons of impotence to perform such du-
ties. They tell these starving disbanded
soldiery-the unemployed-that they
cannot lead them any longer to indus
trial victory, that they cannot provide
them even the scantiest rations and bar
rack room. All they can do is to organ
ize small force to prevent them from
resorting to the usual expedient of dis
banded soldiery, from going on maraud-
ingsexpeditions on their own account.
They will not let them earn their bread,
but they will prevent them from steal
ing it, or punish them for the attempt.
But very soon they will be unable to
organize even the police establishment
which they nickname government.
Some day the men in blue and in red will
refuse to obey their orders to bludgeon
or bay0net their starving brothers.
They will side with them, and together
they will overthrow an outworn system,
and in place of capitalism, Socialism,
the collective ownership of the imple-
ments of production, will be established.
Hopeful indeed, are all the signs of
the times, full of sorrows and suffering
as the period of change is, and, indeed,
must be. Courage, comrades, the flu
ture is ours. Hunter Watts IN Lon
don Justice