Friedrich Adolf Sorge

“ But who is it actually, who drives the owner of small means from his house, from his soil? Is it the Socialist? It is the large capitalist, the large landowner! As the magnet attracts iron filings, so large capital attracts the small sums around it. And the same capitalists, who plie their tentacles in all directions, in order to seize, what they can get, try to persuade the small owners, to beware of Socialism, this being ready to tear their property from them. ”

“ At the bottom of our institutions there is a remnant of slavery; as soon as capital will cease to govern, wages-labor and this rest of slavery will be abolished.
Freedom and equality will then be no longer empty and cheap phrases, but will have a meaning; when all men are really free and equal, they will honor and advance one another. The working man will then no longer be deprived of the fruit of his work, his property, and everybody who will work, will be able to spend a good deal more for food, clothing, lodging, recreation, pleasure and instruction, than he can spend at present. ”

“ Nobody ever thought of caring for such things, and it is my firm belief, that a business man, in our days, who would show any consideration for the welfare of his fellowmen in his transactions, would be certain to become a laughingstock. Egoism rules supreme. Everybody thinks of his own welfare, and does not care, whether, by doing so, he destroys the welfare of others. "What business have I, to care for others, if I am comfortable." In spite of the prevalence of Egoism, the common interest of mankind is irrepressibly gaining ground. ”

“ More and more people unite to cultivate it, more and more associations are formed, the activity of the state and community is extending its influence over more and more objects. Who would have thougt in former times of all the different associations, which are formed to day to advance any number of common interests of every description? Who had an idea in former years, that whole countries would be cut in all directions by railroads, that telegraphs would communicate news to the remotest parts of the world in an instant; who could predict the admirable development of our system of mails? ”

“ As things stand to-day, they are! Might is right, and by the title of such right the slaveowner considers the fruit of the work of his slaves his property; by this right, in former times, the feudal landowner made his serfs work for his employment and benefit. Slavery is injustice; serfdom is injustice; so the right which capital claims to the work of the worker is injustice. ”

“ The root of all these is Communism. They represent the victory of common interests over hideous Egoism.
To turn institutions of common interest to the use of all, is the tendency of the age, and however people may curse at communism, they are bent to obey its mandates. Everywhere common interests press their claims and communism, proudly elvating its head, marches on triumphantly with all conditions of human life in its attendance.
He who declares himself an ennemy of communism, declares himself an ennemy of common interests, an ennemy of humanity and mankind! ”

“ And who would deny that, if it is everybody's duty to work, if the production of unnecessary, nay even of injurious, articles is abolished, if production is organised in conformity with the real wants and pleasures of mankind—who would deny, I ask, that the standard of life of the whole human, race might be raised infinitely above its present grade, that the great mass of human beings might enter into that sphere of life worthy of a human being, from which they have been rigorously excluded so far? ”

“ But now, who creates these riches which fall to those who never worked, or whose work hardly deserves the name of work? Who else, but that self-same working-class?
For industry and work scarcely a living! Riches for those who never or seldom did anything useful! Do you call that just? Can you approve of such a state of things? I know you cannot. No sensible man can approve of it. And now say what you may against Socialists—in this point they are right. ”

“ If I chose I could mention here a thousand other things, but the above named common institutions will be sufficient. Now all these institutions are nothing but Communism. For Communism is nothing but the principle of the common interests of society. In every-day life everybody looks out for his own interest, even at the cost, of his fellow-men; here cold, ugly egoism is dominant. The large cotton mills have ruined thousands and thousands of weavers; but who cares for hundreds of honest, industrious, happy people who are ruined by one mill? ”

“ In France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain, and now in England—everywhere throughout the civilised world Socialism has taken root. Everywhere it has begun the struggle against capital, monopoly, and class rule, and its victory is assured. Concerning Socialism there might be said what was said in olden times about Christianity: If it is bad it will die of its own badness; if it is good it will conquer the world in spite of all persecutions!
And Socialism will conquer the world. Its principles will carry the whole human race to a higher state of perfection. ”

“ Socialism has been attacked and incriminated at all times, but never with more animosity than recently. Socialists are reproached of every kind of wickedness: of the tendency to do away with property, marriage, family, to pollute every thing that is sacred; they have been even accused of arson and murder. And why not? If we look at the originators of those incriminations, we are not the least astonished, for they have to defend privileges and monopolies, which in reality are in danger, if drawn to the broad daylight and handled by the Socialists ”

“ Socialists do not object to acquisitions made by honest work; on the contrary, they try to secure the product of work to the worker himself, and to protect it from the clutches of those who hitherto have been accustomed, not to work themselves, but only to draw profit from the work of others, and who, in doing so, are not content with a small part, but try to take the lion’s share as it is in the fable. ”

“ The greater number of mechanics, who have a little shop of their own and work on a small scale, have to battle with poverty and care. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of mechanics fail in this battle; they give up their small establishment and turn wages-laborers. One manufacturer on a large scale deprives hundreds of small mechanics of their independent existence. As things stand to day, only those will succeed in the great struggle for life, in the universal competition, who command large means, a great amount of capital. ”

“ Now it is capital which appropriates the greater part of it, leaving to the workers, who form by far the greater number, only so much of it that they may keep alive. They are treated like bees; they are robbed of the honey they make. This class is excluded from enjoying the blessings of civilisation; the greater part of their product is taken by capital.
What right has the owner of a beehive to rob the bees of the fruit of their industry and labour? They are his property, his is the might. ”

“ But—is not capital as necessary as labour? Can labour produce anything without capital? There must be raw material, there must be tools, there must be machines, there must be workshops, warehouses, and so forth; there must be soil to be tilled, &c. What can mere labour do without all these? But labour existed before capital, and made the tools, workshops, &c. Is it necessary that capital, now the foundation of successful labour, which has been produced by labour, should be owned by a few individuals? Has this minority a right to continue to take the best part of what labour produces? ”

“ You cannot, because such an idea never entered the head of a Socialist. I should not wonder, if you yourself have not thought sometimes, considering the means and ways, by which many amass their riches, it would be only just and right, to take that illgotten wealth from the rascally owner, but it is a firm principle of Socialism, never to mingle with personal property, in order to investigate its origin, or to arrange it in a different way. ”

“ Now if the wage-labourers of the cities and manufacturing places will be ready to lead the van in the struggle for the interest of labour, the rest of the whole working-class have no right to put themselves in the position of idle, indifferent, or even grudging and hostile spectators. On the contrary, it is the duty of the whole working-class to participate in this struggle, for this war is carried on in the interest of all workers, and the wage-labourers who have taken up the gauntlet are the Pioneers for the human race. ”

“ It taken care of, they might have become useful members of human society; as it is, many of them turn criminals. Do you think, the poor workman does not feel that, would not like to help and prevent it, if it were in his power? Verily it is high time for remedy! But a majority of the working-class succeed in seeing their efforts crowned, they lead a happy family-life. If they do not succeed—whose fault is it? Is it the fault of the Socialists?
If a rich man keeps a mistress, if his gold enriches the keepers of bad houses, is it the fault of the Socialists that his family-life is destroyed? ”

“ The Socialists take the side of the labor. They maintain, that it is everybody's duty to work, unless he be sick or crippled. They maintain that, whoever is able to work and is not willing to do it, has no right to enjoy the fruits of the industry and labor of others.
If capitalists attempt to justify their way of making profit, by saying, that they have to run risks sometimes, that a part of their property might occasionally be lost, we answer, that labor has nothing to do with that. ”

“ Socialism only teaches the way in which in a future time people will try to re-establish justice and a more equal condition of life for the whole community; while the owners of small property are being robbed of the little they own, not by Socialists—they have neither the power nor the desire to do so—but by the rich capitalists. ”

“ If it is beastly to dethrone in marriage the money or personal profits, to replace love to her righteous place again—the Socialists may be called beasts. They will stand by their belief, that, if two people are united by real love, their union is sacred by that love; if there is no love—you may as well dissolve the outward tie. This persuasion Socialists share with the most enlightened spirits, with the greatest poets and philosophers. ”

“ But do the Socialists not go too far in their zeal? It would, certainly, be well and just if it could be accomplished, that those who toil and work should be liberated from care and want, and those who have been idle so far should be forced to work also. But are not the Socialists enemies of the property-holders, and is not everybody who owns property threatened to lose it by the Socialists, should they come into power—so much so that he would have to face penury and want? ”

“ Foremost and above all it seems to be certain that the Socialists intend to divide all property. Everybody who owns anything must give up what he owns; this whole mass has to be divided equally among all the people, and each person may use his part just as he likes. After a while, when some have used up their allotted part and a new disproportion of property has arisen, a new division will be made; and so on. Especially the money and the soil are to be divided,—this is what some people say concerning Socialism. ”

“ Long enough a future state of bliss has been held out to suffering mankind, in which they would be rewarded for all the wants and sufferings and pains of this world, and the time has come, when most people have lost confidence in such empty promises. They demand an amelioration, not words, not promises, but facts. They do not want to expect with resignation what may come after death, they demand a change of their unfortunate situation, while living on earth.
The Socialists and they only promote, as much as possible, the interests of the workers. ”

“ Whoever works to make a living, has the same interest, that the wages-laborer has, and should assist the latter in his struggle for the right of labor against the encroachments of capital.
On the other hand, are the wages-laborers to be blamed, if they do, what all other people do, if they sell the only article they have for sale, their working power, as dear as they can? Occasionally they may raise a good price, and there may be instances, in which the petty manufacturer suffers. ”

“ He may spend his own as he chooses. But—these sums of money are not used simply to be spent, but to bring interest, to increase, if possible, the wealth of the possessor. Does he himself want to work, to do something useful? Far from it. His money works for him, his money makes money, as the saying is; or in plain English, his money is the channel through which the earnings of other industrious people flow into his pockets. Socialists call all kinds of property in this respect "capital," this expression comprising all means for production. ”

“ As far as anything is the personal property of a person he may enjoy it as he chooses; nobody has a right to interfere. But as soon as he tries to use this property to enslave other people, he steps over his domain and must be checked. For I think it is acknowledged among civilised people that nobody has a wright of ownership over his fellowmen. Slavery has been abolished, serfdom has been abolished, so the power which capital exercises now will be abolished: its place will be occupied by the natural and sacred right of the worker to the proceeds of his work. ”