PROBLEM OF MACHINE PRODUCTION.

Grey River Argus, 1 July 1922, Page 4

PROBLEM OF MACHINE PRODUCTION.

Some workers’ organisations curse, while others countenance, the minute sub-division of labour. Mr A. J. Penty, 1 ■whose thesis Mr Cole considers of the highest importance, says the question , of whether the subdivision of labour should be abolished or retained really turns on the issue between the rival ch ims of the Leisure and Work StatesIf our ideal be that of the Work State, we shall seek to make work as plea- ' ■ arable as possible, and, thorefo t , will ; demand t’tc abolition of the subdivision of labour. If, on Un l contrary, w i , look forward to the establishment of the Leisure State, we shall find ourselves inevitably committed to the sup port of tin' subdivision of labour, however much we deplore its evils. IL* holds the issue between the Leisure and Work States is the central ’ssue in the economic situation to-day. There is no single thing about which it is so urgent for us to make up our minds as this one; for upon it turns not onh< the whole question of the unemployed, but also the future of our civilisation. The intellectual justification both for the subdivision of labour and the uncontrolled use of machinery has hitherto been that in the long run it would emancipate m:.n. But now when this prophecy (hat machinery was destined to liberate mankind from the necessity of toil, shows some signs of being fulfilled, when for the moment we have produced enough and to spare, wo ar<‘ panic-stricken at the army’ of unemployed in our streets. The Governments refuse to. recognise how unemployment is due largely to the subdivision of labour and the unrestricted use of machinery, coupled with the surplus of proletarians with nothing but their labour to exchange for whatever the employer choose to give. A Socialist theory, we are told, that was expected to reconstruct society in order to ac commodate social arrangements to a state of things in which machinery, tended by a compar tively small number of manual workers, would be capable of supplying all needs, loaves its upholders at a loss to understand, and British Labour urged State factories as a remedy when products were accumulated : Iready. The action of Labour on this occasion, as on other occasions when the unemployed problem has been under consideration, proves conclusively, says Mr Penty, that the Labour movement as a whole thinks in the terms of the Work State. But, unfortunately, Socialist writers, upon whom they depend for their social theory, do not. They think in the terms of the Leisure State, and this is the reason why the Labour Party has found itself on the horns of a dilemma ever since it arrived at the House of Commons. And behind this perplexity is a denial of the problem of machinery. The machinery problem is certainly one that has got to bo solved, and the sooner workers realise its real import, its exploitation phases, ami see to it inventions do not become worse then famines, the better it will be for many millions. Shorter general working hours are obviously justifiable, desirable and beneficial, so let us get them as a first step to solving the problem.