Labour thoroughly well recognizes the productive power of the spirit of co-operation. In certain trades men work in squads, and the members of the squad share in agreed proportions the total price for the squad’s collective work. Many shops are paid on the output bonus system or on a “fellowship” basis. Under such conditions the earnings of the squad or shop, within the limits fixed for normal output, depend on the full co-operation of each member of the squad or shop. Co-operation is then recognized as a moral duty. It is almost invariably afforded without stint, if not it is sternly exacted. Many skilled men also paid on output are assisted by semi-skilled or unskilled “helpers” paid a fixed time wage, irrespective of output. Although the increased efforts of the “helpers” result in increased earnings only for the skilled men, in general co-operation is usually forthcoming from the “helpers,” and if not it is unconditionally demanded. There is no difficulty in identifying the doctrines to which the workers appeal in justification of their present attitude of non-co-operation with employers—they all come from Marxian Socialism. They are encountered everywhere in workshop, Trade Union branch and district committee, and form the foundations of belief amongst industrial democracy. The Marxian Argument against Co-operation Though it is not possible to crystallize the Marxian doctrines with absolute precision of language into a few lines of print, they may be stated in simple words, with tolerable accuracy, as follows: “Production is the process of applying labour-force to raw material, and the exchange or market value of the commodity which is the product is created by the labour-force expended by the labourer in working. That value, which solely results from the labour so expended, is measured by the time occupied by the labourer upon the production of the newly-created commodity in question. The labourer is paid by his employer a wage which represents the ‘exchange value’ of his ‘labour-force.’ But the employer has obtained the ‘use-value’ of the labour-force, and disposes of the newly-created product in the market at a selling price which, after making allowance for the costs of production before and after the application of labour-force, is higher than the wage paid to the labourer. The excess is ‘surplus value.’ This surplus value in primitive industry is appropriated wholly by the employer, but in industry more highly developed is apportioned out among the different classes of capitalists in the shape of ground rent, interest, manufacturers’ profits, and commercial profit.”