Page:Lily Gair Wilkinson - Revolutionary Socialism and the Woman's Movement.djvu/27

 24 and political ascendency of capitalism. If, on the other hand, the master class, in frenzy of fear at this growing power of their slaves, should throw out Adult Suffrage among other sops, then women, as well as men, educated by the revolutionary struggle in the industrial organisation, will know how to use the ballot. They will see clearly that not in the mending of the wages-system, but in its ending, lies their only hope. And straight for that end they will cast their votes.

Should the masters then be blind or mad enough to refuse to yield, they will merely court disaster. The day of that refusal must hasten the final action. The workers, united as a class of men and women long exploited for the benefit of a few, will retain their places as producers, but will in future utilise the means of production, no longer in the interests of that few, but in their own interests. This will be the General Lock-out of the Master Class and the introduction of Socialism.

With the establishment of Socialism and the abolition of Capitalism and the wages-system dependent thereon, women will at last be placed upon an equal footing in society with men. Men and women under Socialism will have equal access to the means of production. Each individual will be able to produce enough and to spare for individual needs. Thus one sex will no longer have power over another. Women, married or unmarried, will always have access to the means of producing the necessities and comforts of life, and will thus be able to gain an independent livelihood, when necessary, merely by taking part in social production.

This is not so under present conditions, and cannot be so, because access to the means of production is not free. The private owner stands between the worker and those things wherewith work is carried on and wealth produced. The wage-earner can only take part in production by first entering the labour market, there to be sold for a price. The conditions of the labour market being even harder for women than for men, working women when thrown upon their own resources to-day are in the most pitifully helpless state. The only means of escape from this is some kind of dependence upon men. The result too often is that a woman who is destitute is forced by her economic position to debase herself. Capitalism thus makes prostitution compulsory, and puts women at the mercy of men. Under Socialism there would be no such compulsion. Women would therefore, equally with men, have full opportunities of healthy development and independence.