This is a book that everyone should read; it is very relevant to our times. Below is a short extract to give you a taste of this wonderful and insightful book.
The Great Money Trick
'Money is the cause
of poverty because it is the device by which those who are too lazy to work are
enabled to rob the workers of the fruits of their labour.’
'Prove it,’ said
Crass.
Owen slowly folded up the piece of newspaper he had been reading and put it
into his pocket.
‘All right,’ he replied. ‘I’ll show you how the Great Money Trick is worked.’
Owen opened his dinner basket and took from it two slices of bread but as these
were not sufficient, he requested that anyone who had some bread left would
give it to him. They gave him several pieces, which he placed in a heap on a
clean piece of paper, and, having borrowed the pocket knives they used to cut
and eat their dinners with from Easton, Harlow and Philpot, he addressed them
as follows:
‘These pieces of bread represent the raw materials which exist naturally in and
on the earth for the use of mankind; they were not made by any human being, but
were created by the Great Spirit for the benefit and sustenance of all, the
same as were the air and the light of the sun.’
... ‘Now,’ continued Owen, ‘I am a capitalist; or, rather, I represent the
landlord and capitalist class. That is to say, all these raw materials belong
to me. It does not matter for our present argument how I obtained possession of
them, or whether I have any real right to them; the only thing that matters now
is the admitted fact that all the raw materials which are necessary for the
production of the necessaries of life are now the property of the Landlord and
Capitalist class. I am that class: all these raw materials belong to me.’
... ‘Now you three represent the Working Class: you have nothing – and for my
part, although I have all these raw materials, they are of no use to me – what
I need is – the things that can be made out of these raw materials by Work: but
as I am too lazy to work myself, I have invented the Money Trick to make you
work for me. But first I must explain that I possess something else beside the
raw materials. These three knives represent – all the machinery of production;
the factories, tools, railways, and so forth, without which the necessaries of
life cannot be produced in abundance. And these three coins’ – taking three
halfpennies from his pocket – ‘represent my Money Capital.’
‘But before we go any further,’ said Owen, interrupting himself, ‘it is most
important that you remember that I am not supposed to be merely “a” capitalist.
I represent the whole Capitalist Class. You are not supposed to be just three
workers – you represent the whole Working Class.’
... Owen proceeded to cut up one of the slices of bread into a number of little
square blocks.
‘These represent the things which are produced by labour, aided by machinery,
from the raw materials. We will suppose that three of these blocks represent –
a week’s work. We will suppose that a week’s work is worth – one pound: and we
will suppose that each of these ha’pennies is a sovereign. ...
‘Now this is the way the trick works -’
... Owen now addressed himself to the working classes as represented by
Philpot, Harlow and Easton.
‘You say that you are all in need of employment, and as I am the kind-hearted
capitalist class I am going to invest all my money in various industries, so as
to give you Plenty of Work. I shall pay each of you one pound per week, and a
week’s work is – you must each produce three of these square blocks. For doing
this work you will each receive your wages; the money will be your own, to do
as you like with, and the things you produce will of course be mine, to do as I
like with. You will each take one of these machines and as soon as you have
done a week’s work, you shall have your money.’
The Working Classes accordingly set to work, and the Capitalist class sat down
and watched them. As soon as they had finished, they passed the nine little
blocks to Owen, who placed them on a piece of paper by his side and paid the
workers their wages.
‘These blocks represent the necessaries of life. You can’t live without some of
these things, but as they belong to me, you will have to buy them from me: my
price for these blocks is – one pound each.’
As the working classes were in need of the necessaries of life and as they
could not eat, drink or wear the useless money, they were compelled to agree to
the kind Capitalist’s terms. They each bought back and at once consumed
one-third of the produce of their labour. The capitalist class also devoured
two of the square blocks, and so the net result of the week’s work was that the
kind capitalist had consumed two pounds worth of the things produced by the
labour of the others, and reckoning the squares at their market value of one
pound each, he had more than doubled his capital, for he still possessed the
three pounds in money and in addition four pounds worth of goods. As for the
working classes, Philpot, Harlow and Easton, having each consumed the pound’s
worth of necessaries they had bought with their wages, they were again in
precisely the same condition as when they started work – they had nothing.
This process was repeated several times: for each week’s work the producers
were paid their wages. They kept on working and spending all their earnings.
The kind-hearted capitalist consumed twice as much as any one of them and his
pile of wealth continually increased. In a little while – reckoning the little
squares at their market value of one pound each – he was worth about one
hundred pounds, and the working classes were still in the same condition as
when they began, and were still tearing into their work as if their lives
depended upon it.
After a while the rest of the crowd began to laugh, and their merriment
increased when the kind-hearted capitalist, just after having sold a pound’s
worth of necessaries to each of his workers, suddenly took their tools – the
Machinery of Production – the knives away from them, and informed them that as
owing to Over Production all his store-houses were glutted with the necessaries
of life, he had decided to close down the works.
‘Well, and what the bloody ‘ell are we to do now?’ demanded Philpot.
‘That’s not my
business,’ replied the kind-hearted capitalist. ‘I’ve paid you your wages, and
provided you with Plenty of Work for a long time past. I have no more work for
you to do at present. Come round again in a few months’ time and I’ll see what
I can do for you.’
‘But what about the necessaries of life?’ demanded Harlow. ‘We must have
something to eat.’
‘Of course you must,’ replied the capitalist, affably; ‘and I shall be very
pleased to sell you some.’
‘But we ain’t got no bloody money!’
‘Well, you can’t expect me to give you my goods for nothing! You didn’t work
for me for nothing, you know. I paid you for your work and you should have
saved something: you should have been thrifty like me. Look how I have got on
by being thrifty!’
The unemployed looked blankly at each other, but the rest of the crowd only
laughed; and then the three unemployed began to abuse the kind-hearted
Capitalist, demanding that he should give them some of the necessaries of life
that he had piled up in his warehouses, or to be allowed to work and produce
some more for their own needs; and even threatened to take some of the things
by force if he did not comply with their demands. But the kind-hearted
Capitalist told them not to be insolent, and spoke to them about honesty, and
said if they were not careful he would have their faces battered in for them by
the police, or if necessary he would call out the military and have them shot
down like dogs, the same as he had done before at Featherstone and Belfast.'
Extract from The Ragged Trousered
Philanthropists
by
Robert Tressell
