Page:Eleven Blind Leaders (1910?).pdf/20

 be effected through "government ownership." As I shall show you presently, that transformation can be brought about only by means of a working class organization designed for that purpose and shaped in accordance with economic evolution.

Another "step towards socialism" suggested by Kennedy and Simons is that ofLABOR LEGISLATION.

Kennedy argued from the history of the English "Factory Acts" to prove his contention that "labor laws" had resulted in much benefit to the working class of that country, and that they were a vital part of the political program of the workers. He referred to Karl Marx' "Capital" as authority for this conclusion, but did not produce from that book the facts showing the movement in detail and the underlying forces that impelled the capitalist class of England to alleviate the working conditions of their slaves.

Marx shows that conditions in the factories of England in the early years of the nineteenth century resulted in a frightful degeneracy of the English workers in many industries. This threatened the industrial supremacy of England, and called forth loud protests not only from the organized workers, but also from various reformers and philanthropic employers who were not so directly affected as those against whom the "Factory Acts" were aimed. But Marx also shows that these factory laws—particularly those limiting the work day for children, were desperately opposed by the capitalists, and were generally worded in such a way by Parliament that they could be easily evaded after they were passed. I quote from Chapter X, beginning with page 307, of the Chas. H. Kerr & Co. edition of "Capital":

"According to capitalistic anthropology, the age of childhood ended at 10, or at the outset, at 11. The more nearly the time approached for the coming into full force of the 'Factory Act,' the fatal year 1836, the