Posted by rich s
on November 3, 2009, 12:13 pm, in reply to "The Great Money Trick"
'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' is a great book. Set in the early 1900's the experiences of Owen, the socialist amongst a group of painter/decorators, are becoming more and more reminiscent of socialists in the modern workplace.
I have used 'The Great Money trick' to explain capitalism to my colleagues.
--Previous Message--
: The Great Money Trick - from one of my
: favourite books The Ragged Trousered
: Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
:
: ‘Money is the cause of poverty because it is
: the device by which those who are too lazy
: to work are enabled to rob the workers of
: the fruits of their labour.’
:
: ‘Prove it,’ said Crass.
:
: Owen slowly folded up the piece of newspaper
: he had been reading and put it into his
: pocket.
:
: ‘All right,’ he replied. ‘I’ll show you how
: the Great Money Trick is worked.’
:
: Owen opened his dinner basket and took from
: it two slices of bread but as these were not
: sufficient, he requested that anyone who had
: some bread left would give it to him. They
: gave him several pieces, which he placed in
: a heap on a clean piece of paper, and,
: having borrowed the pocket knives they used
: to cut and eat their dinners with from
: Easton, Harlow and Philpot, he addressed
: them as follows:
:
: ‘These pieces of bread represent the raw
: materials which exist naturally in and on
: the earth for the use of mankind; they were
: not made by any human being, but were
: created by the Great Spirit for the benefit
: and sustenance of all, the same as were the
: air and the light of the sun.’
:
: ... ‘Now,’ continued Owen, ‘I am a
: capitalist; or, rather, I represent the
: landlord and capitalist class. That is to
: say, all these raw materials belong to me.
: It does not matter for our present argument
: how I obtained possession of them, or
: whether I have any real right to them; the
: only thing that matters now is the admitted
: fact that all the raw materials which are
: necessary for the production of the
: necessaries of life are now the property of
: the Landlord and Capitalist class. I am that
: class: all these raw materials belong to
: me.’
:
: ... ‘Now you three represent the Working
: Class: you have nothing – and for my part,
: although I have all these raw materials,
: they are of no use to me – what I need is –
: the things that can be made out of these raw
: materials by Work: but as I am too lazy to
: work myself, I have invented the Money Trick
: to make you work for me. But first I must
: explain that I possess something else beside
: the raw materials. These three knives
: represent – all the machinery of production;
: the factories, tools, railways, and so
: forth, without which the necessaries of life
: cannot be produced in abundance. And these
: three coins’ – taking three halfpennies from
: his pocket – ‘represent my Money Capital.’
:
: ‘But before we go any further,’ said Owen,
: interrupting himself, ‘it is most important
: that you remember that I am not supposed to
: be merely “a” capitalist. I represent the
: whole Capitalist Class. You are not supposed
: to be just three workers – you represent the
: whole Working Class.’
:
: ... Owen proceeded to cut up one of the
: slices of bread into a number of little
: square blocks.
:
: ‘These represent the things which are
: produced by labour, aided by machinery, from
: the raw materials. We will suppose that
: three of these blocks represent – a week’s
: work. We will suppose that a week’s work is
: worth – one pound: and we will suppose that
: each of these ha’pennies is a sovereign. ...
:
: ‘Now this is the way the trick works -’
:
: ... Owen now addressed himself to the
: working classes as represented by Philpot,
: Harlow and Easton.
:
: ‘You say that you are all in need of
: employment, and as I am the kind-hearted
: capitalist class I am going to invest all my
: money in various industries, so as to give
: you Plenty of Work. I shall pay each of you
: one pound per week, and a week’s work is –
: you must each produce three of these square
: blocks. For doing this work you will each
: receive your wages; the money will be your
: own, to do as you like with, and the things
: you produce will of course be mine, to do as
: I like with. You will each take one of these
: machines and as soon as you have done a
: week’s work, you shall have your money.’
:
: The Working Classes accordingly set to work,
: and the Capitalist class sat down and
: watched them. As soon as they had finished,
: they passed the nine little blocks to Owen,
: who placed them on a piece of paper by his
: side and paid the workers their wages.
:
: ‘These blocks represent the necessaries of
: life. You can’t live without some of these
: things, but as they belong to me, you will
: have to buy them from me: my price for these
: blocks is – one pound each.’
:
: As the working classes were in need of the
: necessaries of life and as they could not
: eat, drink or wear the useless money, they
: were compelled to agree to the kind
: Capitalist’s terms. They each bought back
: and at once consumed one-third of the
: produce of their labour. The capitalist
: class also devoured two of the square
: blocks, and so the net result of the week’s
: work was that the kind capitalist had
: consumed two pounds worth of the things
: produced by the labour of the others, and
: reckoning the squares at their market value
: of one pound each, he had more than doubled
: his capital, for he still possessed the
: three pounds in money and in addition four
: pounds worth of goods. As for the working
: classes, Philpot, Harlow and Easton, having
: each consumed the pound’s worth of
: necessaries they had bought with their
: wages, they were again in precisely the same
: condition as when they started work – they
: had nothing.
:
: This process was repeated several times: for
: each week’s work the producers were paid
: their wages. They kept on working and
: spending all their earnings. The
: kind-hearted capitalist consumed twice as
: much as any one of them and his pile of
: wealth continually increased. In a little
: while – reckoning the little squares at
: their market value of one pound each – he
: was worth about one hundred pounds, and the
: working classes were still in the same
: condition as when they began, and were still
: tearing into their work as if their lives
: depended upon it.
:
: After a while the rest of the crowd began to
: laugh, and their merriment increased when
: the kind-hearted capitalist, just after
: having sold a pound’s worth of necessaries
: to each of his workers, suddenly took their
: tools – the Machinery of Production – the
: knives away from them, and informed them
: that as owing to Over Production all his
: store-houses were glutted with the
: necessaries of life, he had decided to close
: down the works.
:
: ‘Well, and what the bloody ‘ell are we to do
: now?’ demanded Philpot.
:
: ‘That’s not my business,’ replied the
: kind-hearted capitalist. ‘I’ve paid you your
: wages, and provided you with Plenty of Work
: for a long time past. I have no more work
: for you to do at present. Come round again
: in a few months’ time and I’ll see what I
: can do for you.’
:
: ‘But what about the necessaries of life?’
: demanded Harlow. ‘We must have something to
: eat.’
:
: ‘Of course you must,’ replied the
: capitalist, affably; ‘and I shall be very
: pleased to sell you some.’
:
: ‘But we ain’t got no bloody money!’
:
: ‘Well, you can’t expect me to give you my
: goods for nothing! You didn’t work for me
: for nothing, you know. I paid you for your
: work and you should have saved something:
: you should have been thrifty like me. Look
: how I have got on by being thrifty!’
:
: The unemployed looked blankly at each other,
: but the rest of the crowd only laughed; and
: then the three unemployed began to abuse the
: kind-hearted Capitalist, demanding that he
: should give them some of the necessaries of
: life that he had piled up in his warehouses,
: or to be allowed to work and produce some
: more for their own needs; and even
: threatened to take some of the things by
: force if he did not comply with their
: demands. But the kind-hearted Capitalist
: told them not to be insolent, and spoke to
: them about honesty, and said if they were
: not careful he would have their faces
: battered in for them by the police, or if
: necessary he would call out the military and
: have them shot down like dogs, the same as
: he had done before at Featherstone and
: Belfast.
:
: [Robert Tressell, ‘The Ragged Trousered
: Philanthropists’]
:
:
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