Posted by rippon on November 3, 2009, 10:10 am, in reply to "The Great Money Trick"

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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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