charge of a steward, so as to be himself free for a political or philosophical life."[1] A little farther on he wrote: "It is manifest, then, that the master ought to be the source of excellence in the slave; but not merely because he possesses the art which trains him in his duties."[2] This clearly expresses the point of view of the urban consumer, who finds it very tiresome to be obliged to pay any attention whatever to the conditions of production.[3]
As to the slave, he needs very limited virtues. "He only needs enough to prevent him neglecting his work through intemperance or idleness." He should be treated with "more indulgence even than children," although certain people consider that slaves are deprived of reason and are only fit to receive orders.[4]
It is quite easy to see that during a considerable period the moderns also did not think that there was anything more to be said about workers than Aristotle had said; they must be given orders, corrected with gentleness, like children, and treated as passive instruments who do not need to think. Revolutionary Syndicalism would be impossible if the world of the workers were under the
- ↑ Aristotle, Politics, book i. chap. vii. 4–5.
- ↑ Aristotle, op. cit. book i. chap. v. 13, 14.
- ↑ Xenophon, who represents in everything a conception of Greek life very much earlier than the time in which he lived, discusses the proper method of training an overseer for a farm (Economics, pp. 12–14). Marx remarks that Xenophon speaks of the division of labour in the workshop, and that appears to him to show a middle-class instinct (Capital, vol. i. p. 159, col. 1); I myself think that it characterises an observer who understood the importance of production, an importance of which Plato had no comprehension. In the Memorabilia (book ii. p. 7) Socrates advises a citizen who had to look after a large family, to set up a workshop with the family; J. Flach supposes that this was something new (Leçon du 19 avril 1907): it seems to me to be rather a return to more ancient Customs. The historians of philosophy appear to me to have been very hostile to Xenophon because he is too much of an old Greek. Plato suits them much better since he is more of an aristocrat, and consequently more detached from production.
- ↑ Aristotle, op. cit. book i. chap. v. 9 and 11.
