The Alaska socialist., 1914-01-30
SOCIALIST LETTERS
LuzinesS &Dirty Work
 Under Socialism

Dear friend Charles,
 1t is said that under Socialism lazi- ness" would find fertile soil and that nobody would be willing to do the dirty work" So say our friends" the oppon ents, and argue that would make Social ism not only undesirable, but also pre- vent its realization. ''Men are generally too sensible" !" that's about the refrain, to allow the bringing about of such conditions
 Let's examine the first objection. Let us imagine we lived in the Socialist Commonwealth. Here is a man too lazy to work. What would be the conseq- uence? He could not live by begging, inasmuch as he would not fl nd anybody foolish enough 0 hand him much as crumb, for the simple reason that the Socialist Commonwealth guaranteed ev- eryone of its members, capable of work ing, the right to work and the full pro- duct of his labor, but also the right to be lazy" If a individual desired to produce only as much s just 10 protect himself from starvation, it would be his concern. Socialism is not compulsory institution. But you rest assured that such men are vanishing exceptions, and even these exceptions can only be indiv- iduals in whose upper stories" some thing is not altogether in order. On the whole, we need not worry about such exceptions. We know the power of tn influence of environment on men, and the '1aggard'' will not be satisfied with dry bread when he sees that all his neighbors are living on roasts.
 The incentive to work is the necessity the desire to live. Toasted sausages 0 not hang in the air, pastries do not grow on elderberry bushes, nor a hats or houses be fshed from streams. As ex- plained to you in a former letter, with the necessity t o produce t h means of life comes wholly unconsciously and s matter of fact he desire evermore to develop and improve the methods for the production of these necessaries of life, so thet in ever shorter time, with ever less exertion ever greater quantities may be produced.
 Work under Socialism would there fore not be the nerve-racking drudgery that it is under capitalism, but a joy, which for the first time in the history of mankind would make possible of real izalion the old German proverb, Work sweetens life"
 Now to the question, Under Social ism who shall perform the dirty work The question could be easily answered by pointing to the development of mach inery, throgh the citing of the fact that some dirty work which was formerly - before machinery appeared quite q T unpleasant task for men, is today per formed by an iron colleague; and may therefore justly be expected that this development of machinery and the general progress of invention will not cease under Socialism. For instance, the modern sewerage system connected with the plumbing In houses, has made tn e surely unpleasant work of emptying privvies thing of the past This is only one of the many examples which I could cite, But shall throw light on the ques- ton from different angle
 What is "dirty work" any way? Wash day for our women is surely no clean and pleasant work, but they perform i t nevertheless without murnur, because it is necessary. Modern public 1aundries, equipped with the moat perfect machine will, under Socialism relieve our women of this dirty work. Even at present many women of the prosperous classes would not think of tolerating the lapn dry i'll the home. and they have their wash done i'll '1aundries
 Much dirty work" today is performed not by common" badly paid workers, but by highly educated and well situated