Excerpt from Red Rose Pamphlets: No; 5-13

The condition of England at the present time may properly be described as one of political agitation. That is to say, people are much more concerned about the duties of other people than about the performance of their own. While the masters of industry are complaining bitterly of the encroachments of the trade unions and the reckless extravagance of the working man, the working man himself is being filled with bitter hatred of the capitalist while he mutters demands for regulation of his power. Agitation in all its forms is being fostered by modern electioneering methods, by both the great political parties and by the newspapers of every political complexion. It is clear that such a state of things must be ephemeral. No great state can exist except by virtue of the deepest social affection, the most sincere cc-operation and mutual regard. The present state of agitation has already brought us to the verge of a crisis in the important sphere of industry. But the labour troubles of the last few years will have served a good purpose if they have convinced our statesmen that a proper industrial policy can be pursued only by those who have sound political motives, and a clear idea of national aims. It is one thing to plunge into the chaos of our industrial centres, to see a mass of suffering and degradation, and to appoint factory inspectors for its relief; it is quite another thing to appreciate the causes which make this relief necessary and to seek to reform the existing system without regarding any part of that system as necessary or inevitable. No man can be regarded as a serious statesman who shirks facing the central fact in modern politics. The crisis in industry is the heart and centre, the controlling factor, of the situation.

Here lies the problem waiting for solution, and here precisely is the difficulty we are in duty bound to overcome. If we find the way to surmount this obstacle to progress we shall found a new tradition Until the obstacle is surmounted, decay and not progress is the word we must use if we would accurately describe the state of our civilisation. But if we can find the way to establish a new tradition by our triumph over a single difficulty we shall supply that Vital essence without which the most perfect system is useless, which itself also can mould into practical shape any system it inspires. It is, then, in the hope of making a practical experiment and of founding a tradition that we set out to examine the condition of industry. The industrial system, as we know it, is of recent origin. The vast population of this country has grown up in poverty and misery in consequence of the system and our education and morality have been profoundly modified in obedience to those who invented or who control it: It is, in consequence, very difficult for us to understand that the evils we see around us are due to man's folly and not to the decrees of a cruel fate. And yet it becomes obvious to anyone who has studied history that most of the evils of the system are preventible by the application of perfectly sound and perfectly simple principles.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.