The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-06-04

phenomenon, Inat IL lS dil inNaiiapie
companion to the capitalist form Of
society. Wherever there is exploita-
ton, .there is also unemployment, to
a greater or lesser degree.
The reason for this is clear. Capital
lists take from the workers a por-
tion Of their products. This is the
profit of the capitalist. Hence it fol-
lows that the workers as a whole
can never buy back what they have
produced. Markets must be obtained
| for what the workers cannot con-
sumo (the portion representing the
profit of the capitalist). Since this
process takes place in all countries
and since the markets available are
limited, there arise periods OF over
production, when production must
stop and workers be thrown out OF
work. Gradually the markets "ad-
/ Just" themselves, a part of the work
ers are put back to work, and the
cycle begins over again.
The capitalist, however, is always
bent on improving his methods OF
production. This denotes higher pro-
fit and the elimination of workers
from the immediate process. These
workers are gradually absorbed by
the industry expanding as the result
of the improvement, or find employ
ment in other industries. Further
more, there are seasonal industries,
such as farming, logging, textile in
dustries etc., in which the workers
are employed only fraction Of the
year. Then there are hordes
of poorly paid alien workers, who
are moved from one country to the
other, as "need" arises.
The result of this condition in
capitalist society is that there "nor-
mally" are one million workers un-
employed in the Uniteds States the
whole year round, two million work.
ing only part time. This is during
the best periods. There was an ex-
ception during the war, when every
available man was turned into an
instrument for killing or for produ-
cling tools for killing. Industrious or
not industrious, lazy or not lazy, this
condition cannot be obviated as long
as capitalism exist. This phenomenon
is universal, unemployment moving
like wave from one country to the
other, during critical periods. Thus,
in twenty countries in the world,
there were about 100000 unem-
ployed in 1910; 100000 on 1914;
33,O0O,OOO in 1919.
This is the curse that follows the
worker from the cradle to the grave.
This is what stares at him from
every nook at every moment Of his
life. Unemployment, periods of idle
ness, times of earning no money,
when bread is unobtainable, when
wife and children must 60 hungry,
when the sole occupation of the day
is tramping from shop to shop, from
mill to mill, hearing the same ans
wer: NO HELP WANTED! Unem-
ployment, when workers must 90
hungry although there is a scarcity
Of products. Unemployment when
workers willing to toll must remain
idle. Unemployment when crime and
disease increase, women are driven
to prostitution, men to scabbing,
children to stealing, because there is
not enough profit for the capitalist.
Unemployment, when press, church,
school and lecture platform, law
making bodies and public authorities,
assail the jobless, as being shiftless,
vicious, capable Of any crime. Un-
employment, which undermines al
mans confidence in himself, and
makes him ashamed Of himself
which makes him feel superfluous
in the world! Unemployment, the
brutal, tyrannical ogre of the capital
list system!
And the way out?
There are many ways suggested.
Capitalists and capitalist apologists
insist that there are always the poor
among us that they are natural, un-
avoidable children Of the system
but that the system is correct. Cap
italists and capitalist apologists, con-
sequently, offer soup kitchens, bread |
lines, charity bazaars, Y. M. C. A.
dormitories, work camps, poor houses,
work houses, reformatories, jails and
penitenciaries as palliatives. This is
but the sequence Of the steps they
adopt, in approaching the problem) |
Capitalists, regarding the unemployed |
as inevitable, only seek to tide over
especially critical times, by feeding
them just enough to keep them alive.
The unemployed, furthermore, have
another duty to perform by their
very unemployment. Their existence
tends to lower the wages Of those
still working. The unemployed are
held up as a threat to workers on
the Job. The capitalists use the army