Christianity and Capitalism
Occasionally, when we pick up a newspaper, we are confronted with the reported utterance of some representative of the Church.
At this stage of scientific and industrial development the Church is very little thought about. It no longer commands the attention of large masses of the community. In fact it is continually seeking new methods of enticing people back into the light of the Lord and out of the darkness of barbaric superstition.
The priesthood now dabbles in such things as foreign policy, economics and politics generally. We read, at intervals, that another ecclesiastic has voiced his inexpert views on some aspect of everyday life.
Recently it was reported that an attack has been made by the Church of England Youth Council upon the discipline in post-war factories.
“What happens,” asks their report, “to the boy who leaves school for factory believing in the dignity of labour and in a fair return for a fair wage? ”
It supplies its own answer quoted from an observer in a London engineering factory:—-
“The boy finds that everything about the factory contradicts his belief. Everybody expects him to dodge work as much as possible. If he works steadily he is regarded as an oddity, a despised master’s man, toadying to the bosses. “The foreman winks at slackness. It is unknown for anyone to work voluntarily for one minute after the hooter has gone unless on official overtime.” (Daily Express, 11th June, 1947.)
The whole wording of the report is familiar. It is of the same type as other reports made from time to time by the supporters of the capitalist system. In the first sentence we have the foolish reference lo the “dignity of labour.” A man who has worked in an engineering factory for a number of years has no reason to think of his daily routine as dignified. It usually consists of being awakened by an alarm-clock before his sleep has completed its proper function, dressing himself in his dirty, smelly garments, bolting his breakfast (if any) and rushing to the factory to clock-on. He is afraid of being a few minutes late in case he should have the equivalent of a quarter of an hour deducted from his wages. This latter is the procedure at such times as the present when engineers are required to bolster the export trade. In times of economic depression the loss of a minute would furnish the master with sufficient excuse to dispense with the wage-slave’s services altogether. During the war, when it was necessary for the worker to supply the materials necessary for maintaining the supremacy of British capitalism, it was possible to be hours late. No notice was taken.
When the worker has performed all these degrading formalities he then proceeds to his bench or machine where he goes through the depressing and monotonous actions from the point where he left off the previous evening. All this in an environment of dirt and discomfort, but above all one of extreme monotony. In an atmosphere like this the officers of the Church expect a boy, fresh from school, to preserve a pure and righteous outlook presupposing, apparently, that he entered the factory in this condition in the first place. It would be interesting to discover the source of supply of these miraculous youths.
Let us examine the position as it really is through the eyes of a worker instead of through the eyes of a religious observer. The boys to whom the report refers are of the working-class. They may enter the engineering trade, through inclination, but being workers it is obvious that they must sell their mental and physical energies somewhere in order to live. Very few boys who take up engineering like this do so because of their intense interest in mechanical matters. They do it because, due to the specialised training required, they can, when fully qualified tradesmen, obtain a higher wage than a boy who has started life as an errand-boy.
In the days before mass-production the wages paid to engineers were relatively much higher compared with those paid to other types of labour than they are now, the reason being that capitalist competition has become so intense that many operations have become universally simplified to such an extent that no great skill is required to perform them.
Apprenticeships arc of much less value now, and since much less training is required, it follows that this type of labour-power is more plentiful, more competition exists between workers, and wages therefore tend to suffer in comparison with other branches of industry.
Perhaps the reader who is not familiar with the subject will now understand the tendency towards work-dodging.
If we accept the fact that the boy enters the factory because of economic necessity and he finds his environment to be one of monotony and drudgery, there is little cause for wonder that he rebels against these conditions. He does all he can to compensate for his unhappy position.
The report did not mention that production is carried on primarily for the profit of the capitalists, nor that this is inseparable from capitalism. Profits are made by the exploitation of the working-class. Surely this vital point ought not to have been missed by those who drew up the report! The report also ignores the constant drive by the employers to capture markets and maintain profits by trying to get the workers to turn out more commodities in a given time than they were able to before.
It requires very little imagination on the part of the reader to understand the effect which this speeding-up has upon the worker. He becomes mentally and physically exhausted and develops a tendency to dodge work as much as possible. In factories where supervision is very strict work-dodging becomes practically impossible. Hence the increase in the number of thugs, spivs and gangsters. If there is any possibility of making a living easily and unlawfully the modern working-class youth has every incentive to try it.
The report goes on to say: “The boy may have been taught in church, home and school to respect other people’s property, but at work he finds that scrounging is almost universal.” This, presumably, refers to the practice of removing small quantities of the master’s plant and material either for sale or personal use. It is by no means a novelty from the point of view of the managements. They employ uniformed men to stand at the gates of the factory to look out for suspicious bundles and bulges underneath the coats of the workers. As the report says, this is commonly understood and is brought about by the conflict of interests between employer and employee. One owns the means of wealth production and distribution and the other owns nothing but his ability to work.
Towards the end of the column there is a paragraph which says: “In general everything about the atmosphere of the works, other than the friendliness of the people, conflicts with everything which a normal young Christian boy or girl has been taught.” This statement is quite correct. The friendliness of the workshop is not to be denied, but it is a friendship arising from human beings who, subconsciously at my rate, are aware of the, conflict of interests. The pilfering is one-sided arid rarely lakes place between worker and worker.
The Church could hardly he expected to appreciate the day-to-day struggle of the workers. It is too much out of contact with reality, and the solution which it offers is not acceptable to intelligent men and women.
The object of the Socialist Party of Great Britain is to point out to the working-class the nature of the class-struggle and the only way in which workers can solve their problems. Study our case and compare it with those, of other political parties. Socialism, the common ownership and democratic control of the means of life, is the, only solution.
Rid the world of capitalism and society will rid itself of the evils of capitalism, including war, unemployment, poverty, thugs and parsons.
CHESTER