Trade unionism seems to have the same
moderating effect upon society as a wide diffusion of private property.
In fact the gains of trade unionism are to the worker on a par with
private property to its owner. The owner regards his property as a
protective dyke between himself and a ruthless biological struggle for
existence; his property means liberty and opportunity to escape
dictation by another man, an employer or "boss," or at least a chance to
bide his time until a satisfactory alternative has presented itself for
his choice. The French peasants in 1871 who flocked to the army of the
government of Versailles to suppress the Commune of Paris (the first
attempt in history of a proletarian dictatorship), did so because they
felt that were the workingmen to triumph and abolish private property,
they, the peasants, would lose a support in their daily struggle for
life for the preservation of which it was worth endangering life itself.
And having acquired relative protection in their private property, small
though it might be, they were unwilling to permit something which were
it to succeed would lose them their all.
Pages:
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438