A B C of modern socialism

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years ago I saw the indefinite continuation of wagery under State Socialism; I see it still. There can, be no escape from wagery except by the change of status which follows the definite and conscious refusal to sell labour as a commodity. For a man’s work, be it never so lowly, is part of himself, and in consequence he sells part of himself when he sells his labour at a price. That, of course, is the wage contract.

The Change of Status

Now a change of status may and does mean many things, but above all it implies a change from servitude to partnership. If a man does not work for a wage he becomes, in some sense hereafter to be defined, a partner: exercises a legal and recognised share in control. From being cabined, cribbed and confined in an economic system that lives, and can only live, by a class struggle, he emerges into the freedom and personal expansion which is found in the fellowship of equals. The truth of this has not yet penetrated the minds of the wage-earmers. They still hug the delusion that freedom is only found in the political franchise. Political democracy is good and necessary; but democracy is equally essential in factory and workshop. Personality and wagery are mutually repugnant. Capitalism is only interested in the wage-earner’s personality so far as it improves the quality of the labour commodity.

It is significant that the demand for wage abolition and the concept of function appeared almost simultaneously in economic thought. Piety must