A B C of modern socialism
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liberation of mankind. A liberation, be it noted, that is now within our grasp, since we have conquered economic scarcity. The existing economic system (even if it assume the form of State Socialism) stands in the way of our transition to assured abundance.
Certain ethical conclusions flow from this. The first is obvious: in a functional society, in which equality is predicated, the vast majority of the nation, known as the wage-earners, must be released from the vile system of valuing and paying for their labour on a commodity basis. It is, in fact, a system of servitude, creating a class struggle repugnant to functional theory and practice. Whatever differences in remuneration may persist, or whatever technical hierarchy may be evolved, the equality of industrial partnership must be established. For it is only in that functional equality that human dignity and self-respect can be attained. The ethical point is really found in the destruction of the wage mentality, which at present unhappily dominates master and man alike. It is the unconscious cause of present discontents.
The New Values
The ethical student of the future will discover new social values apart from wage abolition. A new panorama of life will enchant him. He will see man loyal to function because function is his instrument of liberation. But any ethical code would call upon man to declare the purpose of his liberation. ‘What would you do with your enfranchised life?’? There are those who take a