“ A manufacturer is a man whose whole income consists of value squeezed out of the workmen, and whose whole occupation is based on forced, unnatural labor, exhausting whole generations of men. ”
Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894). copy citation
Author | Leo Tolstoy |
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Source | The Kingdom of God Is Within You |
Topic | occupation value |
Date | 1894 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Constance Garnett |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4602/pg4602-images.html |
Context
“And if he spends a thousandth part of his stolen wealth on some public institution, a hospital or museum or school, then he is even regarded as the benefactor of the people on the exploitation and corruption of whom his whole prosperity has been founded: if he sacrifices, too, a portion of his ill-gotten gains on a Church and the poor, then he is an exemplary Christian.
A manufacturer is a man whose whole income consists of value squeezed out of the workmen, and whose whole occupation is based on forced, unnatural labor, exhausting whole generations of men. It would seem obvious that if this man professes any Christian or liberal principles, he must first of all give up ruining human lives for his own profit. But by the existing theory he is promoting industry, and he ought not to abandon his pursuit.”
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