the greater industries within reach
of buyers with small salaries. That bad cloth may be sold to ill-paid
workers, garments are made by tailors who are satisfied with a
starvation wage! Eastern lands in a backward state are exploited by the
West, in order that, under the capitalist system, workers in a few
privileged industries may obtain certain limited comforts of life.

The evil of the present system is therefore not that the "surplus-value"
of production goes to the capitalist, as Rodbertus and Marx said, thus
narrowing the Socialist conception and the general view of the
capitalist system; the surplus-value itself is but a consequence of
deeper causes. The evil lies _in the possibility of a surplus-value
existing_, instead of a simple surplus not consumed by each generation;
for, that a surplus-value should exist, means that men, women and
children are compelled by hunger to sell their labour for a small part
of what this labour produces, and still more so, of what their labour is
capable of producing: But this evil will last as long as the instruments
of production belong to the few. As long as men are compelled to pay a
heavy tribute to property holders for the right of cultivating land or
putting machinery into action, and the owners of the land and the
machine are free to produce what bids fair to bring them in the largest
profits--rather than the greatest amount of useful
commodities--well-being can only be temporarily guaranteed to a very
few; it is only to be bought by the poverty of a large section of
society. It is not sufficient to distribute the profits realized by a
trade in equal parts, if at the same time thousands of other workers are
exploited. It is a case of PRODUCING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF GOODS
NECESSARY TO THE WELL-BEING OF ALL, WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE WASTE OF
HUMAN ENERGY.

This generalized aim cannot be the aim of a private owner; and this is
why society as a whole, if it takes this view of production as its
ideal, will be compelled to expropriate all that enhances well-being
while producing wealth. It will have to take possession of land,
factories, mines, means of communication, etc., and besides, it will
have to study what products will promote general well-being, as well as
the ways and means of an adequate production.

II

How many hours a day will man have to work to produce nourishing food, a
comfortable home, and necessary clothing for his family? This question
has often preo