m which they see no other
means of escape.

But far more demoralising than his poverty in its influence upon the
English working-man is the insecurity of his position, the necessity of
living upon wages from hand to mouth, that in short which makes a
proletarian of him. The smaller peasants in Germany are usually poor,
and often suffer want, but they are less at the mercy of accident, they
have at least something secure. The proletarian, who has nothing but his
two hands, who consumes to-day what he earned yesterday, who is subject
to every possible chance, and has not the slightest guarantee for being
able to earn the barest necessities of life, whom every crisis, every
whim of his employer may deprive of bread, this proletarian is placed in
the most revolting, inhuman position conceivable for a human being. The
slave is assured of a bare livelihood by the self-interest of his master,
the serf has at least a scrap of land on which to live; each has at worst
a guarantee for life itself. But the proletarian must depend upon
himself alone, and is yet prevented from so applying his abilities as to
be able to rely upon them. Everything that the proletarian can do to
improve his position is but a drop in the ocean compared with the floods
of varying chances to which he is exposed, over which he has not the
slightest control. He is the passive subject of all possible
combinations of circumstances, and must count himself fortunate when he
has saved his life even for a short time; and his character and way of
living are naturally shaped by these conditions. Either he seeks to keep
his head above water in this whirlpool, to rescue his manhood, and this
he can do solely in rebellion {116} against the class which plunders him
so mercilessly and then abandons him to his fate, which strives to hold
him in this position so demoralising to a human being; or he gives up the
struggle against his fate as hopeless, and strives to profit, so far as
he can, by the most favourable moment. To save is unavailing, for at the
utmost he cannot save more than suffices to sustain life for a short
time, while if he falls out of work, it is for no brief period. To
accumulate lasting property for himself is impossible; and if it were
not, he would only cease to be a working-man and another would take his
place. What better thing can he do, then, when he gets high wages, than
live well upon them? The English bourgeoisie is violently scandalis