FACTS VERSUS THEORIES

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1928, Page 8

FACTS VERSUS THEORIES

(By J. G. LECKi.E in “Stead’s Review.”) i'liQ number of proposals which have been f9rm.uh.lted for the solution of the social and industrial problem are innumerable. ...According to some of these theories., it is the duty oil' the State or community to find work or bread for the unemployed, .and-.in order to avoid “ wage slavery ” labour should be paid in produce, not in wages. The writers who postulate this theory forget that it has already been put in practice, and by Australians, too, with disastrous results. Wq are still arguing in a circle,' for these “ basic principles ’’ are identical with those formulated by William Lane inpre than thirty years ago. It was after the great shearers’ strike in Queensland that this labour leader formed a Communistic Society, whose members emigrated to Paraguay, South America,, where they started the “New Australia,” settlement, in which work would be found for all, and at the same rate*of remuneration. It. was a scheme of: “ human brotherhood.” No, money was destined to circulate in. this community; all the workers were paid in credits, which they could exchange, for commodities at the communal store. Of course, ownership by the community of the moans of production and exchange ” was a basic principle of- this settlement. But in their anxiety to demonstrate the feasibility of' their scheme of human brotherhood th ( e eriunciators of the doctrine .forgot to, take into account certain inherent traits of human nature—traits wit!-' which, we were all endowed If or a very useful purpose. There, is an. old English proverb, “Give a man a rock which he can call his own, and he will turn, it into a garden,” Conversely, ‘there is a Spanish proverb, “The ass which has many owners is eaten b the wolves,” The one indicates the result' of private ownership, the other of ownership by the community. The man wh.o cultivates his own garden views every individual plant with the eye of an artist. He carefully tends every leaf and branch, and looks with pride and affection on the outcome of his labour. Very different is tl,ie attitude of the worker in a communistic settlement. To .give an instance from the New Australia ■oloiiy above referred to. The members off this settlement, soon after starting work, possessed a fine herd of cattle. r Some time afterwards they thought it was time to take stock of their property, and the herd was mustered for the purpose. Alas! instead of the increase on which they had based their hopes, it was found that the herd had dwindled away in a remarkable manner. “Everybody’s business is nobody’s business”; no one took a special interest in the herd , it simply..belonged to the community. In consequence, the. cattle strayed away and were, lost; the native Paraguayans killed or stole them; many were stricken by the, disease, so prevalent in that climate, but no one felt that it. was his particular duty to attend fo them, and so on, The “ass with many owners” had been killed by the wolves.

In a communistic settlement it was found that no one took any heart in ids work; dawdling and shirking wem; flic order of the day.' How could it-hr otherwise when there was no incentive to increased work, which brought U° increased reward; while on the o.thei hand there was no fear of dismissal in a community where work .must he found for everyone. • When methods of discipline and punishment for shirkers were tried, they only led to a rebellion;, ideas of discipline had never entered into the plans ol those who formulated the communistic scheme of human brotherhood. r i he writer lived for ' six ■ months on the New Australia settlement and many years in its immediate vicinity, and knows whereof lie speaks. At one time he was an ardent , advocate of ownership by the community, abolition of “ wage slavery,” dictatorship by the proletariat, and all the similar claptrap by which the victim of the labour agitator is misled. He was effectually cured of all such ideas by what he sav in New Australia,

Another communistic colony, based on practically the same principles as New Australia, was founded by a party of Americans in Tojiolobampo, Mexico. The members of this colony were in continual disagreement among themselves (this seems to be always the case in communist colonies), and the endless quarrels ended in misery, bankruptcy, and dissolution. It was an exact repetition of New Australia. At least another hundred of Socialist

colonies in America have had the same late.

Instead of the abolition of capitalism (already tried in Russia with disastrous results), wl,iy not try the American plan of converting the worker himself iir'u a, capitalist? We hear the soapbox orators in 'the parks and on the wharves, loud in the denunciation of the capitalist, but which of these orators would refuse the chance ol becoming a capitalist himself if it were offered him? There is no more capitalistic country in the Avorld than America, and none in which the worker is better paid. To bring it to a finer point; there is no greater capitalist in the world than Henry Ford, and no employer who pays better wages or treats his employees better. There aro workers in Ford’s factory worth from 40,000 to 00,000 dollars, Saved out of their wages arid increased by careful investment (capitalism). It is a common fallacy of labour agitators and amateur writers ori political economy to look on capital and labour as- the sole factors in industrial life. They (forget the important part played by brains. Without brains to direct them, neither capital nor labour, nor both combined, could effect much. A famous captain of labour has declared— “ Brains, capital, and labour, are the three legs of a three-legged stool ; all are equally necessary, and the man who tries to create dissensions between any two is the enemy of all three.” But no provision is made in ■a. communistic settlement for the encouragement and reward of brains. In the New Australia settlement, the first to desert it were the men with brains, for they felt that they w r ere not obtaining theii due reward. They left to work foi the despised capitalist, who was- willing to/pay them well, leaving behind them The shiftless and incompetent to carry on the work, with disastrous results. Could a James "Watt or an Edison . ever lia-ve arisen in a communistic settlement? But foi the steam engine, as perfected hv Watt, modern industry could scarcely exist, and the work initiated by his brains continues long alter his death. Heie brains have a decided advantage over labour.

The communist agitator lauds his system as the climax of liberty. Wherever an attempt has been made to put it into practice it has proved to be the worst kind of slavery. Under, communism, which guarantees (on paper) work to all, it is quite impossible to find remunerative employment for every man at lii.s own trade. Oulj such work ca.n be allotted as is available. The schoolmaster may be compelled to work with the hoe in a scorching sun, or the skilled blacksmith may he set to work digging drains. If this, and other limitations necessarily imposed by a communistic system on the worker, aie not worse trian slavery, the write 1 docs not know what is. And this is exactly- what happened in New Australia and other Socialistic colonies'. These are facts, not theories.