The National Being: Some Thoughts on an Irish PolityRussell, George William
Philosophy
The National Being: Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity
Russell, George William
Cooperation; Ireland -- Economic conditions; Ireland -- Politics and government
we analyze the problem it appears to be to the farmer's interests to
support democratic movements in the cities, certainly up to the point
where every worker in the towns has a wage which enables himself and his
family to eat all they require for health. It is also to the interests
of farmers to support any system of distribution of goods which
eliminates the element of profit in the sale. After the farmer gets his
price it is to his interests that food should be increased in cost as
little as possible when the article is transferred to the consumer,
because if farm produce has to bear too many profits it will be
expensive for the consumer, and there will be a lessened demand. So
associations like the co-operative stores, which aim at the elimination
of the element of profit in distribution, should be approved of by the
farmers.
Now we come to the townsman again. Is it his interest to support the
farmers in his own country or to regard the world as his farm? The
argument on the economic side is not so clear, but it is, I think,
just as sound. If agriculture is neglected in any country the rural
population pour into the towns. The country becomes a fountain of
blackleg labor. Rural labor has no traditions of trade unionism, and
takes any work at any price. There are fewer people engaged in producing
food, and its cost rises. Food must be imported from abroad; and there
is national insecurity, as in times of war their is always the danger of
the trade routes overseas being blocked by an enemy, and this again has
to be provided against by heavy expenditure for militarist purposes. The
farther away an army is from its base the more insecure is its
position, and the same thing is true in the industrial life of nations.
International trade there must always be. It is one of the means by
which the larger solidarity of humanity is to be achieved; but that will
never come about until there is a nobler and more human life within the
states, and we must begin by perfecting national life before we consider
empires and world federations. So in this essay only the national being
is considered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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