CAPITALISM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 96, 26 April 1933, Page 10

CAPITALISM

“FACTORY OF POVERTY” DEBATE IN THE COMMONS THE AGE OF PLENTY LONDON, March 9. Private members’ day in the House of Commons yesterday produced a powerful debate on the subject of the capitalist system. Mr. J. Maxton opened the debate, and his persona! popularity ensured no interruption of a dramatic performance. ‘‘My resolution," he said, “is purely destructive. I have been definitely driven to the conclusion that before the central problem concerning the people of this country can be started to be solved, the first and necessary thing is to have the people of this country persuaded that their belief in the existing social order must go, and that society must be rebuilt from the foundations on entirely different principles.M The prosperous conditions which people were always being told would return had never existed, so far as the poor were concerned. When trade was flourishing and the Empire expanding the people at home were always in desperate poverty. “The basic cause of the trouble,’’ he continued, “is that the people are poor. Every proposal to make them less poor is rejected and repulsed with scorn. You refuse to do anything to alleviate the existing condition of things, and always we are told that nothing can be done without bringing the existing system down in collapse. L agree that that is so.” Poverty Worse Than Ever Fortunately, we were once again in a revolutionary age, marked by the familiar signs of a revolutionary temper. Throughout the world existing institutions and the moral code on which they were foilnded were collapsing. In July, 1931, there were 10 months’ stock of commodities in the world. In July, 1931, there were 21 years’ stocks. The age of plenty had arrived, and yet poverty was worse than ever. The whole cause of this illogicality was that the people were poor, and if the trouble was to be cured the first step was to give the people more. He was told that it could not be done; and he agreed that it could not be done—under a capitalist system. That was why this system must be destroyed. “For good or for ill. you cannot go back into the past. Y'ou have got to make up your minds that the present cannot continue. Y’ou have to make up your minds to go into the future boldly and with courage. Unless this Hou»c can plan for an age of plenty, in which all will participate, then the

people outside are going to sweep up and wipe us and our institutions out of the way and create their own social order in their own way and by their own methods.” (Cheers.) Property-owning Democracy This challenge was taken up at once in two excellent speeches from Mr. T. J. O’Connor and Mr. Hopkinson. Mr. O’Connor propounded the counter-theory of a property-owning democracy—a practical development of capitalism which, whatever might be said, had enormously improved the lot of the wage-earners. The way to extend the capitalist class was to con cent rate upon leaving people as much as possible to spend instead of taking as much as possible to be spent by the State. He sketched out a complete scheme for bringing this ideal to pass. There should be an all-in insurance scheme; improved collective bargaining; experiments in the shortening of hours in selected trades; the admission of industrial securities to the trustee list; the formation of a corporation to restore mobility to labour by organising the easy disposal of house property. Always an Ananias Mr. Hopkinson (Independent, Mossley) declared himself diametrically opposed to the views put forward by Mr. Maxton, though he recognised his deep sincerity. The experiment of a cooperative commonwealth was tried 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, and, as far as we could ascertain, the society worked admirably for a time until at length it admitted to its circle a gentleman and his wife, named Ananias and Sapphira. Then it failed lamen tably because they kept back half of the price. Surely that was the history of Socialistic and Communistic com munities all through the ages. As long as there was a great ideal as a motive for their actions they succeeded, but sooner or later there came an Ananias and Sapphira to keep back half the price. He had tried out democratic ownership of capital, and so far as his experience went there was no harm in it provided there was not democratic control. (Laughter). Many years ago he had decided that real happiness could be won only if those who ran industry did so for the reward of sue cess and not of personal gain. £305.000,000 in Benefits For the Government, Major Tryon said that in a period of universal peril, this country stood more fast than any other in the world. (Hear, hear.) He hardly thought that in this moment of world-wide peril the one country that was standing resolute and firm could be expected to adopt the sweeping resolution submitted to it. (Hear, hear.) Our form of capitalism was paying out £125,000,000 a year in pensions to the aged or unfortunate, £131,000,000 to the casualties of industry, and £47,000,000 in benefits of various kinds borne on the rates. The motion was rejected by 225 votes to 42.