The Exploiter—His Status and Limitations.

Industrial Unionist, Volume 1, Issue 9, 1 October 1913, Page 2

The Exploiter —His Status and Limitations.

“ Tell me what you have sow n to-day, and 1 wall tell you what you shall reap to-morrow.” Accepting this as a truism, with how much greater force must this apply to the vast collective body we name society ? The deeds and omissions of one generation are the harvest of the next. The present paradoxical economic position of the gre%t mass of humanity fully illustrates this line of thought. A society possessing almost unthinkable potentialities for comfort, culture, and happiness, is condemned by force of bequeathed environment, to lead the life of famished swine. Strong, indeed, were the fetters forged which bind our lives to-day! But as the dawn penetrates the blackest night, so at last on martyred humanity breaks the consciousness of coming struggle and ultimate victory. Under the brightening eyes, and into the tightening grasp of labour, science, all-conquering, thrusts the instrument of final emancipation. Yet science takes nothing for granted. Its problems must be dissected, analysed, and resolved into their component parts. Then does the constructive part of the work commence. Thus only has man flung wide the gates of knowledge, and become in very truth, “ master of the earth.”

And nov r for us —the disinherited, but for whose labor these things had never been —remains the great and crowning achievement: the economic emancipation of our class, which comprises the majority of all society; our aspiration is nothing less than the liberation of all humanity, and the ushering in of a real and sane civilisation. When, where, and how, shall the stupendous task commence ?

The task, brother, has long been begun. Side by side with the evolution of the present system, the heralds of the coming time have voiced their mission, and writ their message large, that all who run may read. Back from the despotisms of antiquity come the shouts and sobs of freedom-seeking slaves. Anon, we hear the voices of Ball, Tyler, Bade; of the runaway serfs; the early trade unionists; the Paris communists; these and a thousand more ring out across the years. The work is more than begun! And upon us is now surging the conviction that to our day and generation falls the duty of completing that, for which in past years many of the noblest proletarians have sacrificed their loves, liberties, and lives. This, then, is the answer, in all times and in all lands: but as to how: that is the question which we alone must answer. Admitting that self-reliance and clearness of vision are all-essential, then plainly our duty is to first ascertain the exact means and methods whereby the oppressor obtains and holds his powder. The question then becomes one of class solidarity and tactics only. That this includes the cultivation of constructice and administrative qualities goes within saying. Away back in the dawn of our present civilisation few' individuals had more than the garments which protected their bodies from the cold, a mud and sapling hut to shelter them, and last, but not least, the primitive implements of war, the chase, and husbandry; and under such conditions, in a state of barbaric ignorance, face to face with untamed nature, life w r as a daily struggle for sustenance. Hot that chronic semi-starvation w r as the lot of any, for the seashore, the woods, and the rivers were the monopoly of none. Fish, nuts, game, and berries were there for all. But man’s means for obtaining these were not greatly superior to those of the wild creatures around him. All the available labor of the tribe or family produced only sufficient of bare necessaries for immedate requirements. Then, as to-day, mother earth supplied all raw material. Each man fashioned his own weapons, his own tools of production. Thus in early communities we see that the production of all utilities was due solely to human thought and

(By PROLETARIAN)

labor. During this period while primitive labor failed to produce any considerable margin over its own the. exploiting class modestly declined to make its appearance. Yet, on the whole, these early communities managed to live with full stomachs and contented minds.

Gradually as men devoted themselves to regular useful labor, the development of husbandry demanded more security from raids and pillage. So, by slow degrees, the more influential and warlike minority became the recognised fighting leaders and defenders of the tribe and village. But from defender to oppressor is only a short stage, and here it is worth noting that though “Might is Bight,” it need not necessarily be brute force. I venture to suggest that the very foundations for human enslavement were laid, not by the man of violence, but by the influence of the self-constituted High-brow of the age; the mystery man. The greater the ignorance the larger his 'powers. To the primitive folk all happenings were due to good and bad spirits. Only the mystery man could intercede. He was at once the sham protector and real despot. He was able to command obedience and respect, and for him were reserved the choice portions of early labor’s products. The first High-brow; the first receiver of surplus value the first historical fakir on record —right through the centuries his type has cursed humanity. His stock-in-trade: Deception, Intrigue, and Pseudolearning; his sphere, the Tribal Council, the Temple, the Church, the State. In rotation Mystery man, Priest, Statesman, and Fakir-politician. Thus in the tribal communes the inevitable happened. The priest and the “strong-arm man” effected a coalition. Little by little, the wide, free lands of the old communism were seized by the grasping hand of might, slowly, the bulk of the people sank into slavery, and the reign of private property and of the state commenced. In comparing the present with the past, the fundamental causes of class subjection are seen to be,,without exception, always the same, credulous faith on the one hand, with chicanery, backed by organised violence, on the other. Billing classes spare no pains, neglect no artifice, which tends to impress upon their subjects that mode of thought, and code of morals, best calculated to render them patient and submissive. As in the past, the spoken word of the Church was the all powerful medium. So, to-day, is the written word of an unscrupulous, degraded, and subsidised Press.

Bight down the centuries Priests, Teachers, Philosophers, Legalists, Dramatists, Song-makers, Orators, and writters, have been utilised to mould the beliefs, hopes, and fears of every successive generation. The second arm of the exploiter depends mainly for its strength upon the efficiency of the first. Intimidation has ever been the ready instrument in his hands, “from the dungeon and rack down to the policeman’s baton and tortures of the third degree. History proves, with no exception, that whenever a dominant class believes its supremacy to be really endangered, : it is prepared to shed the blood of the people absolutely without hesitation or compunction. That the ruling class of the world is now preparing for a possible approaching emergency in this direction, is plain to all w r ho penetrate the flimsy prefences of class politicians and militarists the world * over. The bulwarks of class rule must remain the

same to the end while the exploited, becoming con.scioiis, have now 7 an entirely new role to play. Any ] reliance upon the good faith, honour, or possibility «*of justice from a dominant class is absolutely fatal to a subject class in its fight for freedom. When this sane fact has sufficiently permeated the proletarian mind neither guile no violence will long avail the exploiter. _