Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (fiction novels to read .txt) 📕

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During the delivery of this pert of the lecture, the audience began to

manifest symptoms of impatience and dissent. Perceiving this, Owen,

speaking very rapidly, continued:

`If you go down town, you will see half a dozen drapers’ shops within

a stone’s-throw of each other - often even next door to each other -

all selling the same things. You can’t possibly think that all those

shops are really necessary? You know that one of them would serve the

purpose for which they are all intended - to store and serve as a

centre for the distribution of the things that are made by work. If

you will admit that five out of the six shops are not really

necessary, you must also admit that the men who built them, and the

salesmen and women or other assistants engaged in them, and the men

who design and write and print their advertisements are all doing

unnecessary work; all really wasting their time and labour, time and

labour that might be employed in helping to produce these things that

we are at present short of. You must admit that none of these people

are engaged in producing either the necessaries of life or the

benefits of civilization. They buy them, and sell them, and handle

them, and haggle over, them, and display them, in the plate glass

windows of “Stores” and “Emporiums” and make profit out of them, and

use them, but these people themselves produce nothing that is

necessary to life or happiness, and the things that some of them do

produce are only necessary to the present imbecile system.’

`What the ‘ell sort of a bloody system do you think we ought to ‘ave,

then?’ interrupted the man on the pail.

`Yes: you’re very good at finding fault,’ sneered Slyme, `but why

don’t you tell us ‘ow it’s all going to be put right?’

`Well, that’s not what we’re talking about now, is it?’ replied Owen.

`At present we’re only trying to find out how it is that there is not

sufficient produced for everyone to have enough of the things that are

made by work. Although most of the people in number three work very

hard, they produce Nothing.’

`This is a lot of bloody rot!’ exclaimed Crass, impatiently.

`Even if there is more shops than what’s actually necessary,’ cried

Harlow, `it all helps people to get a livin’! If half of ‘em was shut

up, it would just mean that all them what works there would be out of

a job. Live and let live, I say: all these things makes work.’

`‘Ear, ‘ear,’ shouted the man behind the moat.

`Yes, I know it makes “work”,’ replied Owen, `but we can’t live on

mere “work”, you know. To live in comfort we need a sufficiency of

the things that can be made by work. A man might work very hard and

yet be wasting his time if he were not producing something necessary

or useful.

`Why are there so many shops and stores and emporiums? Do you imagine

they exist for the purpose of giving those who build them, or work in

them, a chance to earn a living? Nothing of the sort. They are

carried on, and exorbitant prices are charged for the articles they

sell, to enable the proprietors to amass fortunes, and to pay

extortionate rents to the landlords. That is why the wages and

salaries of nearly all those who do the work created by these

businesses are cut down to the lowest possible point.’

`We knows all about that,’ said Crass, `but you can’t get away from it

that all these things makes Work; and that’s what we wants - Plenty of

Work.’

Cries of `‘Ear, ‘ear,’ and expressions of dissent from the views

expressed by the lecturer resounded through the room, nearly everyone

speaking at the same time. After a while, when the row had in some

measure subsided, Owen resumed:

`Nature has not provided ready-made all the things necessary for the

life and happiness of mankind. In order to obtain these things we

have to Work. The only rational labour is that which is directed to

the creation of those things. Any kind of work which does not help us

to attain this object is a ridiculous, idiotic, criminal, imbecile,

waste of time.

`That is what the great army of people represented by division number

three are doing at present: they are all very busy - working very

hard - but to all useful intents and purposes they are doing Nothing.’

`Well, all right,’ said Harlow. `‘Ave it yer own way, but there’s no

need to keep on repeating the same thing over an’ over again.’

`The next division,’ resumed Owen, `stands for those who are engaged

in really useful work - the production of the benefits of

civilization - the necessaries, refinements and comforts of life.’

1 2 3 4

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| Tramps | Exploiters | All those | All those | |

| Beggars | of Labour | engaged in | engaged in | |

| Society | Thieves | unnecessary | necessary | U |

| People | Swindlers | work | work - the | N |

| Aristoc- | Pickpockets | | production | E |

| racy | Burglars | | of the | M |

| Great | Bishops | | benefits | P |

| Landowners | Financiers | | of | L |

| All those | Capitalists | | civiliz- | O |

| possessed | Share- | | ation | Y |

| of | holders | | | E |

| hereditary | Ministers | | | D |

| wealth | of religion | | | |

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`Hooray!’ shouted Philpot, leading off a cheer which was taken up

enthusiastically by the crowd, `Hooray! This is where WE comes in,’

he added, nodding his head and winking his goggle eyes at the meeting.

`I wish to call the chairman to horder,’ said the man on the pail.

When Owen had finished writing in the list of occupations several

members of the audience rose to point out that those engaged in the

production of beer had been omitted. Owen rectified this serious

oversight and proceeded:

`As most of the people in number four are out of work at least one

quarter of their time, we must reduce the size of this division by one

fourth - so. The grey part represents the unemployed.’

`But some of those in number three are often unemployed as well,’ said

Harlow.

Yes: but as THEY produce nothing even when they are at work we need

not trouble to classify them unemployed, because our present purpose

is only to discover the reason why there is not enough produced for

everyone to enjoy abundance; and this - the Present System of

conducting our affairs - is the reason of the shortage - the cause of

poverty. When you reflect that all the other people are devouring the

things produced by those in number four - can you wonder that there is

not plenty for all?’

`“Devouring” is a good word,’ said Philpot, and the others laughed.

The lecturer now drew a small square upon the wall below the other

drawing. This square he filled in solid black.

1 2 3 4

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| Tramps | Exploiters | All those | All those | |

| Beggars | of Labour | engaged in | engaged in | |

| Society | Thieves | unnecessary | necessary | U |

| People | Swindlers | work | work - the | N |

| Aristoc- | Pickpockets | | production | E |

| racy | Burglars | | of the | M |

| Great | Bishops | | benefits | P |

| Landowners | Financiers | | of | L |

| All those | Capitalists | | civiliz- | O |

| possessed | Share- | | ation | Y |

| of | holders | | | E |

| hereditary | Ministers | | | D |

| wealth | of religion | | | |

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##############

##############

##############

This represents the total ##############

of the things produced by ##############

the people in division 4. ##############

`This represents the total amount of the benefits of civilization and

necessaries of life produced by the people in number four. We now

proceed to “Share Out” the things in the same way as they are actually

divided amongst the different classes of the population under the

present imbecile system.

`As the people in divisions one and two are universally considered to

be the most worthy and deserving we give them - two-thirds of the

whole.

`The remainder we give to be “Shared Out” amongst the people

represented by divisions three and four.

1 2 3 4

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| Tramps | Exploiters | All those | All those | |

| Beggars | of Labour | engaged in | engaged in | |

| Society | Thieves | unnecessary | necessary | U |

| People | Swindlers | work | work - the | N |

| Aristoc- | Pickpockets | | production | E |

| racy | Burglars | | of the | M |

| Great | Bishops | | benefits | P |

| Landowners | Financiers | | of | L |

| All those | Capitalists | | civiliz- | O |

| possessed | Share- | | ation | Y |

| of | holders | | | E |

| hereditary | Ministers | | | D |

| wealth | of religion | | | |

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___________ ____________/ ___________ ___________/

/ /

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How the things produced by the people in division 4 are `shared

out’ amongst the different classes of the population.

`Now you mustn’t run away with the idea that the people in three and

four take their share quietly and divide the things equally between

them. Not at all. Some get very little, some none, some more than a

fair share. It is in these two divisions that the ferocious “Battle

of Life” ranges most fiercely; and of course in this battle the weak

and the virtuous fare the worst. Even those whose exceptional

abilities or opportunities enable them to succeed, are compelled to

practise selfishness, because a man of exceptional ability who was not

selfish would devote his abilities to relieving the manifest

sufferings of others, and not to his own profit, and if he did the

former he would not be successful in the sense that the world

understands the word. All those who really seek to “Love their

neighbour as themselves”, or to return good for evil, the gentle, the

kind, and all those who refrain from doing to others the things they

would not like to suffer themselves; all these are of necessity found

amongst the vanquished; because only the worst - only those who are

aggressive, cunning, selfish and mean are fitted to survive. And all

these people in numbers three and four are so fully occupied in this

dreadful struggle to secure a little, that but few of them pause to

inquire why there are not more of the things they are fighting for, or

why it is necessary to fight like this at all!’

For a few minutes silence prevailed, each man’s mind being busy trying

to think of some objection to the lecturer’s arguments.

`How could the small number of people in number one and two consume as

much as you’ve given ‘em in your drorin’?’ demanded Crass.

`They don’t actually consume all of