Page:Johann Jacoby - The Object of the Labor Movement - tr. Florence Kelley (1887).djvu/21

 20 based upon self-help shall be promoted and assisted."

The ultimate object of this process of development is: The abolition of wages-labor by the gradual transition from the wages system to that of co-operative labor.

Let us glance now in detail at the demands to be made of the State, i. e., the whole community of individuals.

First comes unrestricted freedom of opinion and the right to organize and hold meetings at will. The repeal of all laws framed for the purpose of limiting or, as the phrase goes, "regulating" liberty. Next, equal right of participation in public affairs for all, universal, direct suffrage and its corollary, universal direct participation of the people in legislation and administration. Further, free compulsory education in public secular institutions and the introduction of universal compulsory military training in place of standing army and militia. These two demands we combine because public instruction and the peoples' power of defense are most closely connected. For the conduct of war the primary need is money and efficient soldiers; both are secured by efficient schools. The wealth of a country depends upon the successful labor of its inhabitants, but work is the more successful the better the workman can calculate the success of what he undertakes, that is, the more intelligent he is. And the soldier, like the workman, will be more skillful in the performance of his task, the defense of his country. With us in Germany, as in most of the countries of Europe, nearly half of the nation's income is spent in preparation for war, while education and culture are put off with sums scarcely worth mentioning. Let us reverse the proportion and the people's wealth will multiply ten-fold without injury to our power of defense. A Minister of Education who understands his business is the best Minister of Finance and War.

For the working class especially, and that in the interest of the Commonwealth, we demand:

The wage-worker, too, must have time and leisure "to cultivate his intelligence and attend to the affairs of State." The Congress of English Trades Unions, held last year in Birmingham, recommended the eight-hour working day for all trades, and expressed its conviction that by this means "the physical and mental power of the workers will be increased and morality promoted and the number of the unemployed diminished."

Prohibition of the employment of Children and equal pay for equal work for Men and Women.

Both are necessary to prevent the further sinking of wages and to save the rising generation from deterioration.

Abolition of indirect Taxes and introduction of a Progressive Income Tax.

Every tax upon necessaries of life is a