Socialism and Democracy in EuropeOrth, Samuel Peter
History
Socialism and Democracy in Europe
Orth, Samuel Peter
Democracy; Socialism
The capitalistic mode of production, because it has the creation of
profit for its sole object, therefore favors the larger capital, and
is based upon the divorcement of the majority of the people from the
instruments of production and the concentration of these instruments
in the hands of a minority. Society is thus divided into two opposite
classes: one, the capitalists and their sleeping partners, the
landlords and loanmongers, holding in their hands the means of
production, distribution, and exchange, and being, therefore, able to
command the labor of others; the other, the working-class, the
wage-earners, the proletariat, possessing nothing but their
labor-power, and being consequently forced by necessity to work for
the former.
The social division thus produced becomes wider and deeper with every
new advance in the application of labor-saving machinery. It is most
clearly recognizable, however, in the times of industrial and
commercial crises, when, in consequence of the present chaotic
conditions of carrying on national and international industry,
production periodically comes to a standstill, and a number of the few
remaining independent producers are thrown into the ranks of the
proletariat. Thus, while on one hand there is incessantly going on an
accumulation of capital, wealth, and power into a steadily diminishing
number of hands, there is, on the other hand, a constantly growing
insecurity of livelihood for the mass of wage-earners, an increasing
disparity between human wants and the opportunity of acquiring the
means for their satisfaction, and a steady physical and mental
deterioration among the more poverty-stricken of the population.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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