Socialism -- Great Britain; Unemployed -- Great Britain; Working class -- Great Britain
(4) That the director of each of the Co-operative estates shall
encourage the workers to make their homes and work-places as healthful,
convenient, and beautiful as possible, giving them _advice_ as to how
this can best be done, and _assistance_ in doing it.
(5) That for work done co-operatively no money wages shall be paid, the
equivalent of such work being the _whole net produce_ of the labour.
This will be--the provision of comfortable homes, abundance of good
food and fuel, with a good supply of clothing, the latter being chosen
by each person from a variety of suitable material and design kept in
the stores. In addition to this, the children would all receive the
best education, and as they grew up would each be trained in accordance
with their faculties or tastes, in two or three useful occupations.
At least four-fifths of all the work on the estate _shall be done for
home consumption, not for sale_.
(6) Every worker will be enabled to employ his spare time for his
own use or profit, so as to obtain any luxuries or pleasures he
might desire. Some would have land on which to raise choice fruits
or vegetables for sale; others a workshop; the young women might
do dressmaking, or open shops for the supply of small luxuries not
produced co-operatively. All they required would be supplied at
wholesale price, to be repaid by instalments out of the profits.
On this subject Mr. Mills well remarks: “I can easily imagine that
for the sake of the retriever, the pigeons, the tobacco, the poultry
or rabbits, the greenhouse, the bicycle, the piano, the library, the
concert, or the theatre, many morning and evening industries would
spring up quickly, without any other stimulus from the director than
that which exists in every human heart. The acquisition of the luxuries
of life might well be left to the ingenuity and activity of private
enterprise.”
I would myself further suggest that the rules and restrictions on these
estates should be as few as possible, and only such as are absolutely
essential for the comfort and well-being of all. Especially should
all healthful amusements and social enjoyments be provided for; while
such serious offences as repeated drunkenness, immorality, or violence
should be punished by absolute dismissal or expulsion.
It should be made quite clear from the first that these estates or
colonies are established for the provision of _permanent and enjoyable
homes_ for all who desired to take advantage of them, _not_ as mere
temporary shelters in times of depression. There would, of course,
be no compulsion to remain, but anyone who was dissatisfied with his
surroundings and left could not again be admitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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