Civilization, Medieval; Culture; Progress; Social history
All society is organized under the guild system, and every man must
be a registered member of one guild or another. The guild of the
farmers is the largest, and usually it is to this that those citizens
belong who are officials or professional men. Then there are guilds of
metal-workers of all kinds, cloth-makers, builders, artists, etc. When
a Walled Town is founded with small numbers the list of guilds is very
small, but as the town increases so do the guilds, and the different
industries organize their own groups. A guild is an artificial family
made up of all those of a common interest. Its objects are: human
fellowship, coöperation, mutual aid in illness or misfortune, the
maintaining of the highest standard in the product of all its members,
prevention of inordinate profits, regulation of the relationship
between masters, journeymen and apprentices, the standardizing of wages
and profits, craft training and education, the maintenance of and
common participation in religious services, and finally the purchase
of raw materials and the ownership and maintenance of large and costly
machinery in the few cases where that is employed.
In the Walled Town the division between capital and labour does not
and can not exist. Since production is for use, not profit, since
competition is impossible under the guild system, and since no
advertising is permitted beyond a sign-board (and they are sometimes
most notable works of art, these painted and gilded and carven signs),
exploitation, whether of labour or markets, is unknown. One of the
fundamental points in the town charters is the definite prohibition
of the “unearned increment.” Money may not be taken or paid for the
use of money, except within each guild, and here only under what are
practically emergency conditions, the rate of interest never exceeding
three per cent. Every guild has its own fund, made up from dues,
bequests, and a percentage of profits on the sale by the guild of such
surplus products as may be handed over to its officers for disposal;
but this fund cannot be invested at interest outside the walls nor is
any portion available for other than guild members, except that the
town may use it for current expenses in anticipation of the regular
land-taxes (or rent), paying three per cent therefor, and returning it
within the space of a year. The system is practically a restoration of
the guild system of the Middle Ages, and any one may find for himself
further details by referring to the many books on the subject; _e. g._
those of William Morris, Arthur Penty and Prince Kropotkin. It is the
precise antithesis of collectivism, socialism and trades-unionism of
whatever form.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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