The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-08-06
The Present Unemployment and Marxism.
By DINO BONARDI in "AyANTP-MIan
By ELMER 7. ALLISON.


The crisis which is now appearing |
in its most definite form was foreseen
and denounced by Socialism as one OF
those types of collective sacrifice tol
which the lack of method in hour
geois production inevitably leads. =.
Marxism, understood in its most prop
er function of guide for the interpre-
tation of social phenomena, gained
headway as time went on; and since
the war it has been the torch to guide
Socialism through darkness, to set it
again upon its way, and to foresee So
lutions for the most intricate situa-
tions. From the outbreak of the war,
it pointed out the whole imperialist
character of the conflagration, and
viewed it in the light of an economic
crisis of over-production. For Social
ism, the war was nothing bu. the
means by which two groups of ma
tions, overloaded with goods as a
natural result of rapid production
methods and free competition, set out
to conquer rev markets for goods
produced in excess of their needs.
Rapidly in the course Of the war, when
the demands of the armies almost
completely absorbed the production
of the various countries, the crisis OF
over-production became one Of under
production, and practically the whole
world had to suffer for lack of eff
ficiency in production. The aim Of the
industrial bourgeoisie was fulfilled
even at the price of all the bloodshed
on the battlefields, and the value OF
| goods which had deprecated in 1911
rose rapidly to giddy heights. All In
| dustry began to breathe again: goods
that had been lying in storage await
| ing decay were now brought out ant
their value was restored by the needs
| of war. In this way every branch o.
/ industry was suddenly revived beyon(
expectation; moreover, the arrest O
importation raised the value Of good
competing against foreign merchant
Use, and thus rivulets of gold FLOWED
into industries of every kind ant
| color.
4. As soon as the war was oyer, th'
I crisis Of under-production was agali
in full swing. The five years battle
which is still going on consumed an i'm
4 mense amount of human labor, and il
4 addition, the storehouses were empty
/ the cry of the bourgeoisie was then
Produce more, consume less. From
I the start of the war up to tn
!, armistice, and from that time on unit
4 the seizure of the factories, (by tn
4 workers in Italy in 1920) the specie
of unemployment did not appear; tn
men We're employed first in the army
\ then in the shops. The Socialist an
proletarian conquest of the eight-hou
day has forced industry to take on
larger number of workers in order t
{ obtain all the forces necessary for tn
once more increased demands of pre-
! duction. But shorter hours, AZ well a
| increased wages, rapidly produced i
D industry the feeling that private pre-
I! fits could not be as great as might /
81 desired.
Il After-war Effects.
VI And this is where we find Il
development of reaction, fatal, nece
: sary, and MARKHAM in the absolu
2 sense. Capital, instead of increasin
u is being restricted by the new habi
y and new attitude of the working clas
d and can no longer safely and free
It develop its function of social explc
i tation. The State, inevitable interpr
o ter and executor of the demands al
(. interests of capitalism, is heading Il
RI reaction against the workers and su
vi pressing them with all the brutality
l. its power, in order to return to t
a economic situation which existed b
le fore the war. Men are of minor il
le portance-it is the consolidated inte
= ests which come first Of all; t
kI system is still expressing its deman
le in full. And unemployment starts
h, The cost of living, which has reach
70 unbelievable heights, counteracts t
TX actual amount Of increase in wag,
1t and--while the productive process l
,e sulting from the crisis Of under-pl
,e duction Is turning towards over-pr
TX duction-this situation is producing
is crisis Of consumption. The CO
IS, sumers cannot consume any more |
g. cause Of the unprecedented lack
ct proportion between the cost Of nee,
a stiles, and their own purchase
ee power. The equilibrium between &C
ps sumption and purchasing power h
at been destroyed. And who is to blam
The worker, perhaps? No, but I
he officially indorsed him--that was 7
On necessary--yet subtle and poweri
ut propaganda was set in motion by