Cannibals all! or, Slaves without mastersFitzhugh, George
General
Cannibals all! or, Slaves without masters
Fitzhugh, George
Slave labor; Slavery -- Justification; Slavery -- United States; Working class
An apology is due for not attempting to translate the term
prolétaires in the above passage, but every one familiar with the
condition of modern free societies, is aware that it is absolutely
untranslateable. It is an indispensable word in modern times, and
the impossibility of avoiding its use is a stronger proof of the
failure of free societies, than the invention of the phrase
Sociology, which Mr. Fitzhugh regards in this light. It ought to
be unhesitatingly introduced into the English language; it can
boast of a very respectable Latin descent; it occurs in the XII
Tables, and originally signified a person of the lowest class, too
poor to pay taxes, and unable to serve the State otherwise than by
raising children and thus increasing the population[10]--a very
doubtful service in modern Europe.
We return to Mr. Robert du Var:
"It must be remarked, that what is called pauperism, this sore,
this ulcer, which infests, and more and more consumes the body
social, could not exist in the same degree amongst the nations of
antiquity. It is a phenomenon which could only arise as the
consequence of the transformation of slavery into serfdom, and of
serfdom into free labor (_prolétariat_.) * * * In antiquity, every
one, whether free or not, citizen or slave, was always connected
with some centre which ensured at least his material support."[11]
"As a result of the individual liberty, independent of any central
power, proclaimed by Christianity, favored and developed by the
instincts of the Northern barbarians, legitimated and transformed
into a social doctrine by the institution of Communes, was formed
and agglomerated throughout Europe an innumerable population,
having no material connection with the regular society, and having
for itself nothing but the most naked liberty, that is to say,
misery, poverty, isolation. Thence issued the poor, the beggars,
the thieves--in one word, parias of every description, with whom
society was compelled to compound, willingly or reluctantly, by
the foundation of establishments intended to palliate the bleeding
wound of the pauperism which had been engendered by liberty."[12]
"From whatever point the modern system is regarded, it seems
impossible not to recognize that the Politico-economical rule of
free competition is the negation, as its name indicates, of all
ties and communion of interests between the members of society.
Free competition is a free field open to every individual,
provided or not with the elements necessary and indispensable to
its manifestations; free competition, in a word, is liberty, but
liberty without other rule than the material and moral force, of
which each one may be able to dispose in the presence of the
thousand causes which produce a difference in the position of
individuals."[13]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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