"THE TYRANNY OF CAPITALISTS."

NZ Truth, Issue 571, 27 May 1916, Page 8

"THE TYRANNY OF CAPITALISTS."

Dear "Truth."— ln your Issue of April 29 "Honestas" oskß if the following tea covert reference to direct, action or Industrial unionism, as apart from the political movement: 1: But it Is probable tho working classes In time to come * . . may interpret tbo best means for bettering their condition. The answer 'depends upon the construetJohNDlaced upon the. terms used, which muHtlxj read m the light of the^context, also quoted, and, from which the prophetic hint was deduced. The context reads: The time will como when the worker will begin to estimate, at Its rco4 significance what is tho worth of tho phrase, "Tho tyranny of capitalists," and as he la hlnuself, by tho naturo of his occupation, lntorested In the prices of that which he produces, he will ask himself whether his money wages! are really Increased by tho actions of his union, and if they are, Whether the gain be not, after all, really nominal, because the prico is enhanced to himself, and whether the political body of which he Is now an effectual member, and tbo economic progress of his class, are not really imperilled by tho limitation* of trades unionism? Tho writer clearly dmrms that tho system of trades unionism does not and cannot accomplish, through tho limitations Involved by the mothods used, economic salvation. Tho methods being clearly depleted as moving m a circumscribed cyclo of constant repetition. What Is the real significance of the phrase "Tho tyranny of capitalists?*' I gather his meaning to bo that, while the attention of tho working classes is (directed to tho seeming causo of their IJU-condltlon as contained In the phraso •■The tyranny of capitalists" 1b that It smpllca nothing apart from tho people themselves, and cannot accomplish anything as a slogan, inasmuch as it would and doos ; Involvo tho people fighting themselves. Th© term capitalfat, 1» th«so tlaya particularly, Is only ft question of degree So-called thrift In »ny Individual under the present system constitutes that Individual a capitalist to tho extent of his thrift! ness as roprosentod by the symbols £ a. d. This pbauo of the question is ludicrously comic, and Is well illustrated by an eld hen, who very laboriously and with deep cunning hides her neat m which to lay her treasures, and than, directly ■ho has doposi ted them cackles load *nd long to inform tho world at largo thoy are In that particular spot, and may be had for tha fetching. And so It is In tho world ot ""capital.l* 1 The old |icn» scratch and scrape to produce their golden egg and lay it In tho bank.*! thus eupplylng tho financier with Htock, free gratis and for nothing, for tho use ct the captains of Industry, whllo tht financier, that kins of Illusionists, gathers m tho surplus golden egg» which fee terras Intercut. None of you, old lions, wlah to lo*o your bit of interest £o you? It's a sacred institution. isn't

it? yea, and it's the grand delusion and you hug it closely. So then, some day, m the time to come, spoken of m the prophetic hint, when the workers set about interpreting the "best means" for bettering their condition, it will be borne m upon them that tho policy of trades unionism is the most ridiculous method of endeavoring to better their conditions through the medium of a higher wage and ever higher wage, as the more money used m any enterprise means, under the present system, more J interest to be paid. No matter what | yousell your.labor product for, you will eventually buy it back plus the higher factory- expenses and the higher interest involved. It is now becoming clear that the best means of interpreting: the best means of bettering' the working class conditions are not being employed, and this, for the reason that the material or physical side of life and the question (that is food and shelter conditions) does not exist apart from the mental. Intellectual, moral and spiritual aspects of the question at issue, and m their relationships to humanity at large. "As a man thinketh, so he is." The term "best means" involves the highest ideals that can be conceived,' and a sovereign principle, as apart from mere systema of policy, and that is summed up In the one word Co-oper-ation. Co-operation m its full and complete interpretation, very distinct from the pseudo-co-operative associations, semi-productive or distributive, j and those especially designed to safeguard some particular associations of Interests, m order, by v means of monopoly, to prey financially > upon those outside the pale of the association. True co-operation . will bo based upon realised knowledge of inter-dependency, and true regurd for the rights and welfare of others. Before this will be achieved the self-sufficiency and concelt, consequent upon a money competence, must be realised and affirmed by the collective spirit as caddish, snobbishness, the lowest possible form of selfish meanness, a positive low-down Ideal that destroys every vestige of j nobility of character. Those afflicted with this scourge have no compunc- | Uon In preying upon the blood, tears. I toll and misery of- others, despising.! those they rob and force, by their systoms of governments, politics, finance and financial usury into the ranks of outcast humanity. It is these — vipers they are — who have established the ideal of "respectability," the basic prlnciplo of which is the cash nexus system, and who. incidentally clothing .themselves with the cloak of religion, have enthroned "Gold" the outward and visible sign -of the god Mammon. These are they who delude the workers by tho juggling of flnanco, who jjrush them, despise them and keep them down. Theso are the elite, the bon-ton, the precious blue-blooded society darlings, the beloved of the religious world, as pillars of tho churches! These be your gods, O Israel! The lumps of the money sieve whose "style" is regulated by their money power and are thus automatically graded into exclusive and inclusive "sets," coteries, etc, from the multl -millionaires down to the £40 a year people, who In turn look down upon the work-house Inmates. The struggle to-day Is embodied In the attempt to secure sufficient of tho "outward and visible sign" as the open "sesame" into tbo Immediate "one grade up" superior sot This is a somowhat difficult proposition, savoring the efforts of a squirrel trying to climb hla revolving cage, Instinctively he dim be. The law of gravitation says, at the bottom of the cage you shall remain. Reason would dictate his position, but he does not reason. Ho assumes from appearances that be can climb, and essays the attempt time after time, with always tho samo result This is about tho position of the workers when they try to attempt to better their conditions through tbo medium of a higher wage, leaving at the Borne tlmo their products as the property of Iho captains of Industry for the money consideration they have collectively bargained for through their trades union. Tho higher cost of production Is Immediately tacked on to tho finished product plus an increase of proportionate interest As each section of workers buy each other's produce and sometimes their own also, thoy aro noon bock Into the position of "as you were." with an additional cost of interest charged up to them, constituting

the germ of another spasm m the near future, for the cycle with the heavier charges added each time more quickly becomes complete. Thus it is that the political body and the economic progress of his class are * imperilled by these limitations — the limitations o£ trades unionism. Rusktn affirmed m one of his letters to a Tyne-sider, that when the people knew what they wanted, then, they would get it. Exactly so, for no policy exists apart from the people. Time-serving politicians, backed up by (heir system of legalised force, will continue to bluff the people into adopting the policies' they choose to lay down, and the people may deceive themselves into believing and hoping that their politicians will do this, that and the other, for, as old Tolstoy said, "They will do anything for the people, but gt»t off their backs." But when the people, the working class, interpret the best means of bettering their condition, it will be, by minding their own business and keeping it m their own hands, and running it m the best interests of the whole community, instead of allowing it to be run m the interests of the select few. When this Is done, then will dawn the tlay of economic freedom, thetij will be ushered In the Co-opera-tive- Commonwealth, the working together for the common weal. To protect this would be something worth fighting for, for a State of this description would not let its warriors either hunger or thirst. The salvation of the so-call«d superior (?) classes is as much to be, desired as the salvation of the inferior (?) classes, for Its meanness is of the nature of Hell and is no more to be envied than the lot of the common worker or, the ladies of the pavement Inasmuch as the character of the robbed is superior to that of the robber. — Yours, etc., THE PROPHET. Upper Hutt,