Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/838

 822 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

institution. In general this may be designated as the "right to employment," and should be distinguished both from the "right to work" advocated by the revolution of 1848 in France and from the socialistic theory of the rights of laborers.

Louis Blanc's advocacy of the " right to work " and the establishment of "national workshops" in 1848 recognized intuitively that the right to work depended upon the perfection of organization. Consequently the two planks of the revolution- ary platform were the " right to work " and the " organization of labor." The former depended on the latter. But the plan of organization thus ethically preconceived could by no means survive. It was absurdly simple and military. Eleven laborers formed an " escouade " with an " escouadier " at their head, five escouades a brigade with a brigadier, four brigades a lieu- tenancy, four lieutenancies a company, and as many companies under one chief as were necessary." Apart from the reputed hostility of the French government which administered these workshops, they, of course, could not have competed with the highly disciplined organization of the " trust " which natural selection has since evolved. The state was here, as with the cooperative association, attempting to create an ethical institu- tion where only a coercive one could survive. The case is dif- ferent, however, after the final victory of the trust or monopoly. In this case the coercive sanctions have been organized and preserved by the struggle for life, and are fitted to the work in hand. Ethical considerations are now only questions of such structural amendment as will give the laborers security within the perfected and victorious organization. The device of compul- sory or legal arbitration, as adopted in Australian colonies, is a step in this direction. Public ownership of monopolies is proba- ble in many cases, but where it has hitherto been adopted the motive has not been mainly the provision of rights for employes, but the improvement and cheapening of the service for the public. Civil-service reform is a crude guaranty of the right to employment in the public service, but it again lacks fitness for industry, since it is an artificial check on the heads of

' See Singer, Das Recht an/ Arbeit (Wien, 1894), p. 44.