Page:Platform and Constitution of the Socialistic Labor Party (1885).pdf/2



Labor being the self-evident creator of all wealth and civilization, it is but equitable that those who perform all labor and thus create all wealth should enjoy the product of their toil.

But this is rendered impossible by the modern system of production, which, since the discovery of steam-power and since the general introduction of machines, is in all branches of industry carried with such gigantic means and appliances as but a few are able to possess.

The present industrial system is coöperative in one respect only, which is: That not, as in former times, the individual works alone and for his own account, but dozens, hundreds and thousands of men work together in shops, in mines, on huge farms and lands, coöperating according to the most efficient division of labor, while the fruits of this cööperative labor are not reaped by the workers themselves, but are in a great measure appropriated by the owners of the means of production.

This system, by gradually extinguishing the middle class of people, necessarily separates society into two classes: The class of the wage-workers, and that of the great bosses,

it brings forth as its natural outgrowths:

The planlessness and reckless rate of production.

The waste of human and natural forces.

The commercial and industrial crisis.

The constant uncertainty of the material existence of the wage-workers.

The misery of the laboring masses.

The accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.

These conditions which tinder the present industrial system cannot but become more and more aggravated, are inconsistent with the interests of mankind, and with the principles of justice and true democracy, as they destroy these rights which the Declaration of Independence of the United States hold to be inalienable in all men; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These conditions shorten and imperil life by want and misery. They destroy liberty because the economical subjection of the wage-workers to the owners of the means of production leads immediately to their political dependence upon the same sources, and finally frustrate the pursuit of happiness, which is never possible when life and personal liberty are constantly endangered.

In order therefore to abolish these humiliating conditions, we strive to introduce the perfect system of coöperaiive production—that is, we demand that the workers obtain the undivided product of their toil,

This being only feasible by securing to the workers control of the means of production,

We demand:

That the land, the instruments of production (machines, factories, etc.,) and all the products of labor become the common property of the whole people; and,

That all production be organized coöperatively, and be carried on under the direction of the commonwealth; as also the coöperative distribution of the products in accordance with the service rendered, and with the just needs of the individuals.

And to realize our demands, we strive by all proper means to gain control of the political power.