British Socialism: An Examination of Its Doctrines, Policy, Aims and Practical ProposalsBarker, J. Ellis
History
British Socialism: An Examination of Its Doctrines, Policy, Aims and Practical Proposals
Barker, J. Ellis
Socialism; Socialism -- Great Britain
The two estimates agree in this, that the Socialist family of five
should receive in wages _1,000l._ per annum, or about _3l. 10s._ per
working day. In another chapter we shall learn that in the Socialist
State only the young and strong would work, and they would work, as we
have seen in the foregoing pages, between three and four hours a day.
In other words, the worker who earns now, say, _10d._ an hour, would,
under the Socialist commonwealth, receive _1l._ per hour. Who would
not be a Socialist?
A leading German Socialist has endeavoured to gauge the effect of
Socialism upon the working classes. In making his calculations he has
borne in mind the necessity of providing for the wear and tear of
capital, and for other expenditure, and he has arrived at the
conclusion: "A generous sick insurance will have to be set up, as well
as an invalid and old-age insurance for all incapacitated workers, &c.
Thus we see that not much will remain for the raising of the wages
from the present income of the capitalists, even if capital were
confiscated at a stroke, still less if we were to compensate the
capitalists. It will consequently be necessary, in order to be able to
raise the wages, to raise at the same time the production far above
its present level."[364]
The value of high wages lies in the produce they buy. It is of course
quite clear that a nation, in order to consume more, must also produce
more. It would be interesting to know whether leading Socialists, such
as Messrs. Bax, Quelch, and Hazell, who must be acquainted with the
sober estimates of the German Socialists, honestly believe that under
a Socialist _regime_ _1,000l._ per annum will be available per family,
or whether these statements have only been made to obtain supporters
on the not very honourable principle, _Vulgus vult decipi,
decipiatur_.
Let us now look into the practical proposals of the Socialists to the
workers.
In the official programme of the Social-Democratic Federation[365] the
following "Immediate Reforms" concerning the workers are demanded:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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