2.—Harmony of Interests.
Labor, organized on a basis of complete freedom and democratic equality, with one for all and all for one, will call forth a rivalry and a desire to create that are nowhere met with under the present industrial system; and this joy of creation will enhance the productivity of labor.
Since all work for one another, they are interested in having all objects well made and with as little waste of time and strength as possible, be it to save labor, or to gain time for the manufacture of new products destined to satisfy higher demands. This common interest will cause all to seek to improve, simplify and hasten the process of work. The ambition to discover and invent will be stimulated to the highest degree, and people will endeavour to outdo each other in new ideas and suggestions.[212] So the opposite of what is claimed by the opponents of Socialism will be true. How many discoverers and inventors perish in bourgeois society! How many are exploited and cast aside! If intelligence and talent were to hold the foremost place in bourgeois society, instead of property, the greater part of the employers would have to make way for their workingmen, foremen, mechanics, engineers, chemists, etc. These are the men who, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, have made the discoveries, inventions, and improvements that are applied by the man with the full purse. How many thousands of discoverers and inventors have failed because they could not find a man who would furnish the money to carry out their discoveries and inventions, and how many meritorious discoverers and inventors are crushed by the social misery of daily life, is quite beyond our calculation. Not the persons endowed with a quick intelligence and a clear brain are masters of the world, but those endowed with ample means, which does not imply that a clear brain and a full purse cannot belong to the same person.
Everyone engaged in practical life knows with how much suspicion the workingmen regard every improvement, every new invention that is introduced to-day; and their suspicion is entirely justified. For, as a rule, not the workers but the employers are the only ones to derive any advantage from it. The worker must fear that the new machine, or the improvement, will make him superfluous and turn him out into the street. Instead of joyfully acclaiming a new invention that is a credit to humanity and ought to be a boon to him, he curses it. Many an improvement in the process of production invented by workingmen has never been introduced. The inventor keeps his invention to himself, because he fears that it will harm him, instead of benefiting him. Such are the natural results of conflicting interests.[213]
In Socialistic society the conflict of interests will be removed. Everyone will develop his abilities to serve himself and will thereby serve society. At present, satisfaction of personal egotism and service of society usually are extremes that exclude each other. In the new society these extremes will not exist. Satisfaction of personal egotism and service of society will be harmonious; they will coincide.[214]
The splendid influence of such a status of morals is obvious. The productivity of labor will rapidly increase. Especially will the productivity of labor grow, because the dissemination of forces among hundreds of thousands of tiny manufacturers with imperfect tools and insufficient means, will cease. It has been previously shown among how many small, medium-sized and large manufactories German industry is disseminated. By gathering in all the small and medium-sized manufactories into manufacture on a large scale in great establishments that will be furnished with all the most modern technical improvements, a tremendous waste of effort, time, material of all kinds (light, heat, etc.), and space will be removed, and the productivity of labor will be heightened. The difference that exists between the productivity of small, medium-sized and large manufactories, may be illustrated by an example from the industrial census of Massachusetts of 1890. There the factories in ten chief branches of industry are divided into three classes. Those that produced less than 40,000 dollars’ worth were placed in the lower class; those that produced between 40,000 and 150,000 dollars’ worth in the middle class, and those that produced over 150,000 dollars’ worth, in the upper class. This division presented the following figures:
| Number of Establishments | Percentage of all Establisments | Value of Production | Percentage of entire Value of Production | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower class | 2,042 | 55.2 | 51,660,617 | 9.4 |
| Middle class | 968 | 26.2 | 106,868,635 | 19.5 |
| Upper class | 686 | 18.6 | 390,817,300 | 71.1 |
| 3,696 | 100.— | 549,346,552 | 100.— |
Twice the number of small factories, compared to the large and medium-sized ones, turned out only 9.4 per cent. of the entire production, while the large factories, which formed only 23 per cent. of the total number, produced almost 2½ times the quantity of all the others. But even the large establishments could be organized much more rationally still, so that the total production might yield a still far greater quantity.
How much time can be gained by placing production on a rational basis? That has been shown by interesting calculations made by Th. Hertzka, in his book on “The Laws of Social Evolution,” published in 1886. He calculated how much time and labor power would be needful to satisfy the demands of the population of Austria, which was 22 millions strong at the time. For this purpose, Hertzka investigated the productivity of the large establishments in the various lines of industry and based his calculations on the results. This calculation includes the farming of 10½ million hectares of cultivated soil and 3 million hectares of pasturage, which should suffice to supply said population with meat and the products of agriculture. Furthermore, Hertzka included in his calculation the building of homes, in such a manner that every family might have their own house, with a space of 150 square meters, for a period of fifty years. It was found that, for agriculture, building, the production of flour and sugar, coal-mining, iron and machine industry, the clothing industry, and the chemical industry, 615,000 workers would be needed, who would have to work throughout the year for the present average number of hours daily. But these 615,000 workers formed only 12.3 per cent. of the able-bodied population of Austria, not counting the women, nor the male inhabitants under 16 or over 50. If the 5 million men available at the time of the calculation were employed like the 615,000, each of them would have to work only 36.9 days, about six weeks annually, to supply the most needful requirements for 22 million human beings. But, if we assume 300 work-days annually, instead of 37, we find that, under the new organization it would be necessary to work only 1⅜ hours daily to supply the most necessary requirements.
Hertzka also takes the requirements of luxury of the better situated classes into consideration and finds that the manufacture of such articles, to supply the demands of 22 million people, would require 315,000 more workers. According to Hertzka, then, about 1 million workers, 20 per cent. of the able-bodied male population of Austria, excluding those under 16 and over 50, would be needed to supply the entire needs of the population in sixty days. If we again take the entire able-bodied male population into consideration, we find that they would have to perform only about 2½ hours of work daily.[215]
This calculation will not surprise anyone who is well acquainted with existing conditions. If we furthermore assume that, with such a short work-day, only the sick and the invalids must be excluded, while men over 50 might still work, and youths under 16 might be active to some extent, and that the women might also serve in industry, except those who are engaged in child-rearing, the preparation of food, etc., we find that the hours of work might be shortened still more, or that the demands might be greatly increased. Nor will any one deny that tremendous, incalculable progress may still be made in perfecting the process of production, a factor that will create further advantages. On the other hand, many requirements will be satisfied that only a small minority can satisfy to-day, and, with the higher development of civilization, new requirements will arise that will also have to be satisfied. It must be iterated and reiterated: The new society will not elect to lead a proletarian existence. It will demand the existence of a highly civilized people for all its members from the first to the last. But it shall not only satisfy all the material requirements, it shall also grant to all ample opportunity and time for the study of science and art, and for recreation.
[212] “The force of rivalry that leads to supreme efforts to win the praise and admiration of others, has been shown by experience to be a useful one wherever persons compete with one another, even in regard to frivolous matters and such matters from which the public derives no benefit. But a rivalry as to who can best serve the common welfare, is a sort of competition that Socialists do not repudiate.”—John Stuart Mill, “Political Economy.” Every society, every organization of persons having the same aims and a common cause, also furnishes many examples of a nobler endeavor that leads to no material success but to a purely ideal one. The persons vieing with each other are indeed impelled by the ambition of serving the common cause and of winning recognition. But this sort of ambition is a virtue since it serves the common good and at the same time gives satisfaction to the individual. Ambition is harmful only when it is satisfied at the expense of others or to the detriment of society.
[213] v. Thuenen—“The Isolated State,” says: “The conflicting interests are the reason why proletarians and possessors are hostile to one another and will remain unreconciled as long as the discord in their interests has not been removed. Not only by the wealth of the employer, but also by invention in manufactory, by the building of roads and railways, and by the opening of new markets, the national income may be greatly increased. But in our present social order the workingman derives no benefit from this increase. His status remains the same, and the entire increase in income falls to the share of the employers, capitalists and landlords.” This last sentence is an almost verbal anticipation of a declaration by Gladstone in the English parliament, in 1884. He said: “This intoxicating growth of wealth and power (experienced by England during the last twenty years) has been limited exclusively to the possessing classes;” and v. Thuenen says: “in the separation of the worker from his product the evil lies.”—Morelly says in his “Principles of Legislation”: “Property divides us into two classes, the rich and the poor. The former love their property and do not care to defend the state. The latter can not love their fatherland for it gives them nothing but misery. But under Communism every one loves his fatherland for by it everyone obtains life and happiness.”
[214] In weighing the advantages and disadvantages of Communism, John Stuart Mill says in his “Political Economy”: “No field can be more favorable to this conception (that public interest and private interest are identical) than a communistic association. All the ambition as well as the physical and mental activity, that is at present directed upon the pursuit of sporadic and selfish interests, would demand a different sphere of activity, and would find it in the service of the common good of society.”
[215] In his “False Doctrines,” Eugen Richter ridicules the enormous shortening of the hours of work predicted by us that would result if all were obliged to work and if the process of production were organized in accordance with the highest technical development. He tries to belittle the productivity of large manufacture and to enlarge the importance of small manufacture, in order to assert that it would not be possible to produce the required amount. To make Socialism seem impossible the upholders of the present “order” must try to discredit the advantages of their own social system.