BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 169, 6 April 1918, Page 13

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Guild Soolalism, In hig "Old Worlds for New: A Study ot the Post Industrial State" (London, Alien and Unwin), Mr. Arthur J. Pentv Bet? forth a project of industrial anil social reconstruction which he claims • should ho put into operation after the war advocating ft revival of the ~, E y st «m of the Middle Ages. Ho holds that ,the already existing State activity in connection with the organisation of industry will tend, after the war, not so much to Collectivism, as generally understood, but to a State regulation of prices. He says:— _ Whether Government interference with lnclustiy is to be regarded us Collectivlst or not, all depends "upon the nature of, the interference itself. If its aim be to take the direction of industry out .of private hands, and to place it in the •hands of officials, then it is Collectivist; but if, on the contrary, its aim be to protect the public or the workers against capitalist, abuses, then the State is .merely resuming the functions which in the Middle Ages were performed by the guilds, and which, in the future, will be performed by the revived guilds. Onco embarked upon a policy of regulating prices tho State will, as the system extends, finds itself compelled; to seek the re-creation of the guilds in order to give , practical effect to its intentions. He then proceeds to explain that it was to guard society against , the evils of 1 an unregulated currency that the guilds wero instituted in tho past. The guild legislators realised tnat a currency, when unregulated, lent itself to manipulations for profit, and being determined to .restrict currency to its legitimate use as a means of exchange, they sought a remedy in fixed prices. Once grasp the economic necessity of fixed prices and the whole- range' of guild regulations, becomes intelligible. In order to fix prices, it becomes necessary to establish a standard of quality. As a standard quality cannot' be defined finally in,the termsjaf law, it is;nece'ssary, in order to uphold a standard, to place, authority in the hands ,of craftmasters—a consensus of opinion among whom constitutes the final Court of Appeal. In order to ensure a supply of masters it is necessary to train apprentices, to regulate tho size of the workshop, hours of labour, the volume of 1 production, and the like. The first linkin this chain of economic necessity has already been forged, the rest is only a matter of time. Mr..Penty discusses at length various phases and features of the Guild system, and deals incidentally with many industrial and social—and politicalproblems of the time. Ho has scant sympathy with the scientific organisation of industry, and is specially eevero on the, 1 Fabians, and especially that very gentleman Mr. Sidney Webb, for having, so lie maintains, coquetted with the latter-day movement in favour of what, so he says, only.results in objectionable "speeding up'* methods. Mr. Penty is even'mora sarcastic, upon Fabian'theories than Mr. H. G. Wells has been since the latter gentleman -and his erstwhile Fabian friends'fell out. • Of course (says Mr. Penty) it is easy to understand why Fabianjfem should have degenerated in, this vvay. In its anxiety to find an immediate remedy for the problems Of poverty it ignored the claims of art and. philosophy, not ev«rs practical problem has a metaphysical, problem- behind it f • airtj that .the needs ,6f art in industry are identical with thy 6 needs of human nature. Further, it to some extent to be explained by the artificial lives which members of the Fal/ian Society leftd, Mr; Webb is typical.. At first as a Civil Servant,,, and then ,as a man of private means, he has lived a Sheltered life-far removed from ;Oie storm and stress of things,, while 'Jais legal training was the ■ very worst imaginable for intensifying in 'mm sympathies which were never too strpng. AnA so with the Fabian Society as 1?* fflr too intellectual and too little hnirjan ever to get to grips with the- realities of life, whilst the occupations of its members are for the'most part of too artificial a nature to give .them a; fund of first-hand experience. To be caydid, the FaUans are the last people l/i this world to find a remedv for the- 'evils which afflict society. They ' are -too' much a part of the saiiie disease. 'Ilie author has evidently been greatly/ influenced by the writings of Ituskin ' find William Mori-is. Quite lluskiniau, for instance, ■ is his attitude towards machinery. 110 is courageous enough to advocate a State limitation of the 1 use of machinery, which could, he considers, bo effected by a restoration of the guilds. To many, Mr. Penty's scheme will savour of-an attempt to put back. the.clock, but lie writes with great- earnestness and most -evident sincerity, and displays an almost ingeuuotis. confidence in the ultimate success of what to many may appear a mere Utopian dream. On the subject, however, of increasing .the number of working agriculturists and arresting the ilever-coasing tendency of tho people to flock to tho cities and to prefer urban to rural employment, he makes some practical and apparently useful suggestions. His book provides much food for profitable thought, even should many of his readers consider that it is impossible, to reconstitute the whoii structure of.modem industrial lifo on the linos which he is so sanguine will lead to such widespread contentment and happiness. (N.Z. price, 4s. 6d.)