Labour policy—false and true : $b A study in economic history and industrial economicsMacassey, Lynden Livingston
History
Labour policy—false and true : $b A study in economic history and industrial economics
Macassey, Lynden Livingston
Industrial policy -- Great Britain; Labor economics -- Great Britain; Labour Party (Great Britain)
“The continuous and rapid growth of monopolistic control of
industry by Capitalism increases the power of private owners
to manipulate the prices of all the necessaries of life, thus
reducing consumers to despair. On the other hand, there is the
growing unwillingness of organized labour any longer to support
a system of production which keeps them in subjection and does
not even enable them to raise effectively their standard of
life. The consequent intolerableness of Capitalism renders
every day more urgent the reconstruction of industry on the
lines of Socialization.
“Socialization will proceed, step by step, from one industry
to another, according as circumstances in each country may
permit. Objectionable as private profit-making enterprise is
to Socialists, they will refrain from destroying it in any
industry until they are in a position to replace it by a more
efficient form of organization. Such a gradual process of
Socialization excludes, in general, expropriation of private
ownership without compensation; not only because it would be
inequitable to cause suffering to selected individuals, but
also because a process of confiscation would disturb capitalist
enterprise in industries in which Socialization was not
immediately practicable. The funds required for compensation
will be derived from taxation of private property, including
capital levies, income-tax and death duties, and the limitation
of inheritances for the benefit of the State.
“In a community of highly developed economic life, with an
extensive population largely aggregated in urban centres,
Socialization takes three main forms—namely, national,
municipal and co-operative.
“For instance, whatever may be provided for the administration
of agriculture, the ownership of land should be national,
provision being made for the maintenance and security of
peasant cultivators, wherever such exist. Other industries of
supreme national importance, such as the transport system, the
generation of electricity and mines, should also be national.
But the management of a large number of industries and services
will be in the hands of the municipalities and other local
authorities, and federations of these, not only the provision
of water and gas and the distribution of electricity, but also,
in some countries, the provision of food, clothing and housing.
The production and distribution of household supplies of every
kind will form, for the most part, the sphere of the consumer’s
co-operative societies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account