The Commonweal/Volume 1/Number 1/The Manifesto of the Socialist League

THE MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIALIST LEAGUE.

Fellow Citizens,

We come before you as a body advocating the principles ⟨of⟩ Revolutionary International Socialism; that is, we seek a change ⟨of⟩ the basis of Society—a change which would destroy the distinctions ⟨of⟩ classes and nationalities.

As the civilized world is at present constituted, there are two classes of Society—the one possessing wealth and the instruments of its production, the other producing wealth by means of those instruments but only by the leave and for the use of the possessing classes.

These two classes are necessarily in antagonism to one another. The possessing class, or non-producers, can only live as a class on the unpaid labour of the producers—the more unpaid labour they can wring out of them, the richer they will be; therefore the producing class—the workers—are driven to strive to better themselves at ⟨the⟩ expense of the possessing class, and the conflict between the two ⟨is⟩ ceaseless. Sometimes it takes the form of open rebellion, sometimes of strikes, sometimes of mere widespread mendicancy and crime; but it is always going on in form or other, though it may not always be obvious to the thoughtless looker-on.

We have spoken of unpaid labour; it is necessary to explain what that means. The sole possession of the producing class in the power of labour inherent in their bodies; but surprise, as we have already said, the rich classes possess all the instruments of labour, that is, the land, capital, and machinery, the producers or workers are forced to ⟨sell⟩ their sole possession, the power of labour, on such terms as the possessing class will grant them.

These terms are, that after they have produced enough to keep them in working order, and enable them to beget children to take their places when they are worn out, the surplus of their products shall belong to the possessors of property, which bargain is based on the fact that every man working in a civilised community can produce more that he needs for his own sustenance.

This relation of the possessing class to the working class is the essential basis of the system of producing for a profit, on which our modern Society is founded. The way in which it works is as follows. The manufacturer produces to sell at a profit to the broker or factory, who in his turn makes a profit out of his dealings with the merchant who again sells for a profit to the retailer, who must make his profits out of the general public, aided by various degrees of fraud and adulteration and the ignorance of the value and quality of goods to which this system has reduced the consumer.

The profit-grinding system in maintained by competition, or veiled war, not only between the conflicting classes, but also within the classes themselves: there is always war among the workers for bare subsistence, and among their masters, the employers and middle-men, for the share of the profit wrung out of the workers; lastly, there is competition always, and sometimes open war, among the nations of the civilised world for their share of the world-market. For ⟨many⟩, indeed, all the rivalries of nations have been reduced to this too—a degrading struggle for their share of the spoils of the barbarous (illegible text) used at home for that purpose of increasing the riches of the ⟨rich⟩ and the poverty of the poor.

For, owning to the fact that goods are made primarily to sell, and only secondarily for use, labour is wasted on all hands; since the pursuit of profit compels the manufacturer competing with his fellows to force his wastes on the markets by means of their cheapness, whether there is any real demand for them or not. In the words of the Communist manifesto of 1847:—

“Cheap goods are their artillery for battering down Chinese walls and for overcoming the obstinate hatred entertained against foreigners by (illegible text) nations: under penalty of ruin the Bourgeosie (illegible text) by competition the universal adoption of their system of (illegible text) they force all nations to accept what is called civilisation (illegible text) become Bourgeois—and thus the middle-class shapes the world (illegible text) its own image.”

Moreover, the whole method of distribution under this system is (illegible text) of waste; for its employs whole armies of clerks, travellers, shop-(illegible text), advertisers, and what not, merely for the sake of shifting money then one person's pocket to another's; and this waste in production (illegible text) waste in distribution, added to the maintenance of the useless lives of the possessing and non-producing class, must all be paid for out of the products of the workers, and is a ceaseless burden on their lives.

Therefore the necessary results of this so-called civilisation are only (illegible text) obvious in the lives of its slaves, the working-class—in the anxiety and want of leisure amidst which they toil, in the squalor and (illegible text) in those parts of our great towns where they dwell; in the degradation of their bodies, their wretched health, and the shortness of their lives; in the terrible brutality so common among them and which is indeed but the reflection of the cynical selfishness found among the well-to-do classes, a brutality as hideous as the other; and lastly, in the crowd of criminals who are as much manufacturers of our commercial system as the cheap and nasty wares which are made at (illegible text) for the consumption and the enslavement of the poor.

What remedy, then, do we propose for this failure of our civilisation, which is now admitted by almost all thoughtful people?

We have already shown that the workers, although they produce all the wealth of society, have no control over its production or distribution: the people, who are the only really organic part of society, are treated as a mere appendage to capital—as a part of its machinery. This must be altered from the foundation: the land, the capital, the machinery, factories, workshops, stores, means of transit, mines, banking, all means of production and distribution of wealth, most be declared and treated as the common property of all. (illegible text) will then receive the full value of his labour, without (illegible text) for the profit of a master, and as all will have to work, and the (illegible text) by the pursuit of profit will be at an end, (illegible text) of labour necessary for every individual to (illegible text) in order (illegible text) on the essential work of the world will be reduced to something like two or three hours daily; so (illegible text) will have abundant leisure for following intellectual (illegible text) to his nature.

(illegible text) method of production and distribution would (illegible text) to live decently, and free from the sordid anxieties for (illegible text) which at present weigh so heavily on the greatest part of mankind.

But, moreover, men's social and moral relations would be seriously modified by this gain of economical freedom, and by the collapse of the superstitions, moral and other, which necessarily accompany a state of economical slavery: the test of duty would now rest on the fulfilment of clear and well-defined obligations to the community rather than on the moulding of the individual character and actions to some preconceived standard outside social responsibilities.

Our modern bourgeois property-marriage, maintained as it is by its necessary complement, universal venal prostitution would give place to kindly and human relations between the sexes.

Education freed from the trammels of commercialism on the one and superstition on the other, would become a reasonable drawing (illegible text) of men's varied faculties in order to fit them for a life of social intercourse and happiness; for mere work would no longer be proposed as the end of life, but happiness for each and all.

Only by such fundamental changes in the life of man, only by the transformation of Civilisation into Socialism, can those miseries of the world before-mentioned be mended.

As to mere politics, Absolutism, Constitutionalism, Republicanism, have all been tried in our day and under our present social system, and all have alike failed in dealing with the real evils of life.

But, on the other hand, will certain incomplete (illegible text) of social (illegible text) now before the public solve the question.

Co-operation so-called—that is, competitive co-operation for profit—would merely increase the number of small joint-stock capitalists, under the mask of creating an aristocracy of labour, while it would intensify the severity of labour by its temptations to overwork.

Nationalisation of the latid alone, which many earnest and sincere (illegible text) are now preaching, would be useless so long as labour was subject to the fleecing of surplus value inevitable under the Capitalist system.

The better solution would be that State Socialism, but whatever name ⟨it may⟩ be called, whose aim it would be to snake concessions to the (illegible text) class while leaving the present system of capital and wages (illegible text): no number of merely administrative changes until the workers are in possession of all political power, would (illegible text) real approach to Socialism.

The Socialist League therefore aims at the realisation of complete Revolutionary Socialism, and well knows that this can never happen ⟨in⟩ any one country without the help of the workers in all civilisations. For us neither geographical boundaries, political history, race, nor creed makes rivals or enemies; for us there are no nation but our varied masses of workers and friends, whose mutual sympathies are checked or perverted by groups of master and fleecers whose interest is to stir up rivalries and hatreds between the dwellers in different (illegible text).

It is clear that for all these oppressed and cheated masses of workers and their masters a great change is preparing: the dominant classes are uneasy, anxious, touched in conscience even, s to the condition of those they govern; the markets of the world ar being competed on with an eagerness never before known; everything points to the fact that the great commercial system is becoming unmanageable, and is slipping from the grasp of its present rulers.

The one change possible out of all this is Socialism. As chattel slavery passed into serfdom, and serfdom into the so-called free-labour system, so most surely will this latter pass into social order.

To the realisation of this change the Socialist League addresses itself with all earnestness. As a means thereto it will do all in its power towards the education of the people in the principles of this great cause, and will strive to organise those who will accept this education so that when the crisis comes, which the march of events is preparing there may be a body of men ready to step into their due places and deal with and direct the irresistible movement.

Close fellowship with each other, and steady purpose for the advancement of the Cause, will naturally bring about the organisation and discipline amongst ourselves absolutely necessary to success; but we shall look to it that there shall be no distinctions of rank or dignity amongst us to give opportunities for the selfish ambition of leadership which has so often injured the cause of the workers. We are working for equality and brotherhood for all the world, and it is only through equality and brotherhood that we can make our work effective.

Let us all strive, the, towards this end of realising the (illegible text) towards social order, the only cause worthy the attention of the workers of all that are proffered to them; let us work in that cause patiently, yet hopefully, and not shrink from making sacrifices to Industry in learning its principles, industry in teaching them, are most necessary to our progress; but to these we must add, if we wish to avoid speedy failure, frankness and fraternal trust in each other, and single-hearted devotion to the religion of Socialism, the only religion which the Socialist League professes.

Signatures of the Provisional Council of the Socialist League.

W. (illegible text) Adams.
Edward Aveling
Eleanor Marx Aveling.
Robert Bannee.
E. Bedfort Ban.
Thomas Binning.
H. Charles.
William J. Clark.
J. Cooper
E. T. Craig.
Charles J. Faulkner.
W. Hudson.
Frank Kitz.
Joseph Lane.
Frederic Lessner.
Thomas Maguire (Leeds).
J. L. Mahon.
S. Mainwaring.
James Mayor (Glasgow).
William Morris.
C. Mowbray.
Andreas Scheu (Edinburgh).
Edward Watson.