restoration of the guild system

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THE RESTORATION OF THEGILD SYSTEM


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THE RESTORATION OFTHE GILD SYSTEM

BYARTHUR T. PENTY

LONDON :SWAN SONNENSCHEIN AND CO., LTD.

25, HIGH STREET, BLOOMSBURY1906


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CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.


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TRUST THYSELF.


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PREFACE.

READERS of the following pages willprobably be aware that the idea ofrestoring the Gild system as a solution of theproblems presented by modern industrialismis to be found in the writings ofJohn Ruskin,who put forward the proposition many yearsago.

Unfortunately, however, as Ruskin failedto formulate any praKcal scheme showinghow the Gilds could be re-established insociety, the proposal has never been seriouslyconsidered by social reformers. Collectivismmay be said to have stepped into the breachby offering a plausible theory for the recon-struction of society on a co-operative basis,and Ruskin's suggestion was incontinentlyrelegated to the region of impractical dreams.My reason for reviving the idea is thatwhile I am persuaded that Collectivism isb


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viii PREFACEincapable of solving the social problem, theconviction is forced upon me that our onlyhope lies in some such direction as that fore-shadowed by Ruskin, and in the followingchapters I hope to show that it is not impos-sible to discover practical ways and means ofre-establishing the Gilds in our midst.In order to understand the full significanceof the present proposals they should be con-considered in conjunction with the theoryput forward by Mr. Edward Carpenter in Civilization, Its Cause and Cure. Indeedthe present volume aims at forging the linksrequired to connect the theory there enunci-ated with practical politics.Two other books which have an import-ant bearing on the subject, and might beread with advantage, are Carlyle's Past andPresent and Matthew Arnold's Cultureand Anarchy.HAMMERSMITH,

August, 1905.


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CONTENTSCHAP. PAGEI, THE COLLECTIVIST FORMULA ... I

II. SOCIAL EVOLUTION ...... 44III. THE SPHERE OF POLITICAL REFORM . 57IV. THE GILD SYSTEM 62V. HOW THE GILDS MAY BE RESTORED . 73vi. CONCLUSION 95

IX


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THE RESTORATION OF THEGILD SYSTEMCHAPTER I

THE COLLECTIVIST FORMULA

AMONG the schemes which have beenput forward as solutions of the socialproblem, Collectivism,

1by reason of its closerelationship to current problems, has alonesecured any measure of popularity. Havingdiscovered that unfettered individual com-

petition is not a principle to which the regu-1 Collectivism is better known as Socialism. I prefer to

use the term Collectivism because it is subject to lessconfusion. Socialism as a general term has been applied attimes to a variety of movements aiming at the establish-ment of an ideal state. It has been associated with sectsas different in aims and methods as are Communists, An-archists, and Collectivists ; while men as diverse andantagonistic in their views as Karl Marx, William Morris,Edward Bellamy, Robert Owen, Keir Hardie, Grant

B


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2 THE COLLECTIVISTlation of industry may be entrusted, politicalphilosophers rush to the opposite extreme,and propose to remedy the defect, first by theregulation, and finally by the nationalizationof land, capital, and the means of productionand exchange ; which measures, we are told,by changing the basis of society from a com-petitive to a co-operative one, will, by pro-viding the necessary conditions, eradicateevery disease from the body politic.Such a remedywould be perfectly reasonableif the evil to be combated were that of com-petition. But it is not. It is true that com-petition,

as it manifests itself in modernsociety,is a force of social disintegration. But this isnot because it is necessarily an evil thing;but because the conditions under which it is

to-day pursued are intrinsically bad. That thecompetition of to-day differs from that of thepast, we unconsciously recognize when weAllen and Bernard Shaw have called themselves Socialists.Collectivism is a definitely formulated scheme of reform,developed within the last twenty years, which, owing tothe superior logic of its position, has beaten all rivalSocialistic theories out of the field. In a word the termCollectivism may be said to indicate the generally acceptedmeans of arriving at the Socialist ideal.


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FORMULA 3speak of commercial competition. Competi-tion as it existed under the Gild System, whenhours and conditions of labour, prices, etc.,were fixed,was necessarily a matter of quality;for when no producer was allowed to com-pete on the lower plane of cheapness, com-petition took the form of a rivalry in respectto the'greater usefulness or beauty ofthe thingproduced. With the passing of the control ofindustry from the hands of the craft-mastersinto those of the financier and the abolitionof the regulations of the Gilds, the era ofcom-mercial competition was inaugurated, andwhat was formerly a healthy and stimulatingfactor became a dangerous and disintegratingreactionary force; for competition betweenfinanciers means a competition for cheapness,to which all other considerations must besacrificed.

For the sake of clearness, therefore, we willdefine the terms competition and commercial-ism, as follows: Commercialism means thecontrol of industry by the financier (as op-posed to the master craftsman) while com-petition means the rivalry of producers.

Viewing Collectivism in this light, we find f


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4 THE COLLECTIVISTthat it seeks to eliminate, not commercialism,but competition. In so doing it establishesmore securely than ever the worst features ofthe present system. The mere transferenceof the control of industry from the hands ofthe capitalist into those ofthe state, can make

; no essential difference to the nature of the; industry affefted. In Belgium, for example,where the bread-making and shirt-makingindustries have been nationalized, it has beenfound impossible to abolish sweating, or tointroduce a shorter working day. 1 Thisabandonment ofthe principle of social justiceat the outset doubtless foreshadows its aban-donment for ever; since, as Colledtivists be-come more and more concerned with practicalpolitics, the difficulties of asserting theirideals, together with the establishment oftheir system of organization, will likewise bemore and more increased. Moreover, afterits establishment, the difficulties of reformingany State Department are well known; andhow shall society be prevented from acquiesc-ing in the present commercial abuses, under

1 The Social Unrest; Studies in Labour and SocialistMovements, by John Graham Brooks.


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FORMULA 5a colledtivist regime, and treating them as in-evitable evils?

This question is a very pertinent one, since,according to the economics of Collectivism,every industry nationalized must be made topay, and a Government charged with theadministration of any industry would becomeinterested in its continuance as a business,quite apart from its usefulness or otherwise,or whether or no it had been called into exist-ence by some temporary and artificial needof modern civilization. Thus the Govern-ment at the present time, having nationalizedthe telegraphs, becomes interested in the con-tinuance of gambling, the use of the systemin connection with the turf and the marketsbeing its real basis of support, and not thecomparatively insignificant percentage ofwork undertaken in respeft to the morehuman agencies which require it. Again,were existing railways nationalized, Govern-ment would become interested in the con-tinuance of wasteful cross distribution, calledinto existence by the competition of traders.Similarly, the gradual development of muni-cipal trading and manufacture would tend to


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6 THE COLLECTIVISTmilitate against the depopulation of towns.And this conservative tendency is inevitable,since Collectivism can only maintain itsground as a national system so long as itjustifies the claims of its advocates to financialsoundness.

Co-operation in its inception aimed at theestablishment of an ideal commonwealth,but the co-operative ideal has long since de-parted from the movement, and little but ascramble for dividends remains. In like man-ner it is not unreasonable to suppose thatCollectivism, having made its appeal forpopular support on the grounds of its capa-city to earn profits for the public, would suffera similar degeneration. The electorate, intheir profit-making zeal, would certainly notremedy abuses if their dividends were to belowered, for they would still retain the super-stition that only by producing dividends couldtheir finances be kept in a healthy condition.Inasmuch as the ultimate control of industrywould rest in the hands of the financier, pro-duction for profit and not for use would con-tinue. For what other test can there be of afinancier's skill except his ability to produceprofits?


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FORMULA 7In a word Collectivism means State Com- /

mercialism.So long as the people are attached to their

present habits of life and thought, and pos-sess the same ill-regulated tastes, a State De-partment, charged with the administration ofindustry, would be just as much at the mercyof supply and demand as at present, while thefluctuations of taste would be just as disturb-ing to them as the fluctuations of publicopinion are to the politician.This brings us to the great political fallacyof the ColleCtivist doctrine namely, the as-sumption that Government should be con-ducted solely in the interests of man in hiscapacity as consumer a superstition whichhas survived the Manchester School; for alittle consideration will convince us that in atrue social system the aim of Government,would not be to exalt either producer or con-/sumer at the expense of the other, but to/maintain a balance ofpower between the two]The policy of exalting the consumer at theexpense of the producer would be perfectlysound, if the evils of the present day werecaused by the tyranny of the producer. But


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8 THE COLLECTIVISTis it so? It is true that trade is in such ahopeless condition that the consumer is verymuch at the mercy ofunscrupulous producers.The cause of this, however, is not to be foundin the preference of producers generally forcrooked ways, but in the tyranny of con-sumers which forces the majority of producersto adopt malpractices in self-defence. Doubt-less all trade abuses have in their origin beenthe work of individual producers. They grow,in the first place, because without privilegesthe more honourable producers are powerlessto suppress them, and secondly, because con-sumers generally are so wanting in loyalty tohonest producers, and are so ready to believethat they can get sixpennyworth of stufffor threepence, that they deliberately placethemselves in the hands of the worst type ofproducer. In every department of life thesuccessful man is he who can lead the publicto believe they are getting something fornothing, and generally speaking, ifconsumersare defrauded by producers, it is because theydeserve to be. The truth of this statementwill be attested by all who, in any departmentof industry, have made efforts to raise its


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io THE COLLECTIVISTshadows, not the abolition of poverty in ourmidst, by the direction of industry passinginto the hands of wise administrators, but thefinal abandonment of all standards of qualityin production, owing to the complete sub-jeftion of all producers to the demoralizing

f tyranny of an uninstrufted majority. 1This commercial notion of Government

solely in the interests of consumers leads theCollectivist into strange company. It leadshim to acquiesce in such a pernicious systemas the division of labor. Ruskin claimed thatthe subje


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FORMULA iiducer. From this standpoint a man's health,mental and moral, must depend upon the;amount of pleasure he can take in his work./But we deprive the worker of this means ofhappiness and strive to replace it by such in-stitutions as free libraries and popular lectures,which all lie outside the sphere of his reallife. This policy would appear to be basedon the idea that man should live a consciousdouble life. In the first place he must submitto any indignity he may be called upon tosuffer by the prevailing system of industry,and secondly, he should aim in his leisuretime at self-improvement. He thus destroysin the morning what he has built over-night^Like a mad sculler who pulls both ways atonce he describes a rapid circle, and giddilyimagines he is making immense progress for-ward. To unite these warring forces in manand to make him once more simple, harmon-ious and whole, he must again be regardedfirst and foremost in his capacity as producer*Another reason for the primary considera-tion of the producer, which should be inter-esting to the democrat is that to legislate onthe basis that all are consumers, while only


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12 THE COLLECTIVISTsome are

producers,is obviously to put apremium upon idleness, for only the idleconsume without producing. This funda-mental defet of reasoning has thus rendered

possible the paradox that while the Man-chester School expended its moral indignationin protesting against idleness and luxury, bythe very measures it advocated have idlenessand luxury been mainly increased.Let us pass on to a consideration of theprinciples of Collectivism in their applicationto particular problems. { With regard to thequestion of Trusts, ColleCtivists assert thatindustries will become more and more subjedtto their domination, and that the State is thento step in and nationalize them.Now, if we look at the matter carefully,we shall find that the development of industryinto Trusts is by no means universal. It holdsgood in

those branches ofindustry

whichdeal with the supply of raw materials, in dis-tribution, in railways and other monopolies,in the branches of production where mechan-ism plays an all important part and whichcommand universal markets. On the otherhand, there are branches of industry where


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FORMULA 13no such development can be traced. It doesnot apply to those industries which, in thenature of things, rely upon local markets, suchas the building trades; nor to those in whichthe element of taste enters, as the furnishingand clothing trades. It is true that the largecapitalist exists in these trades, but this doesnot mean that the small builder, furnisherand clothier will eventually be thrust out ofthe market. The big contractor exists in thebuilding trades, not because he can producemore cheaply than the smaller one, as a care-ful comparison of prices would show; nor isit because the work is better done, his raisond'etre is rather to be found in the circum-stance that large building contracts can onlybe undertaken by builders possessed of largecapital. Again, the existence of large firmsin the furnishing and clothing trades cannotbe taken as an indication of the growth ofefficiency in those trades, such reduction ofcost as has taken place having been obtainedin the main at the expense of true efficiency;while again, the growth of large retail housesis in no sense due to a reduction of prices,rather has it been due in some measure to


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i 4 THE COLLECTIVISTthe same causes which brought the largebuilding firms into existence, and to thesystem of advertising which leads an ignor-ant public to suppose they are getting asuperior article for their money. Nay, if wego further into the matter, we shall find thatso far from these huge organizations securingahigher degree

ofefficiency

inproductionthan smaller firms, they owe their very exist-ence to the general degradation of industry

to the fact that the craftsman has so de-clined in skill, that he has become the cat's-paw of capitalism. It is only where crafts-manship has declined, and the skilled craftsmanhas been replaced by the mechanical drudge,that capitalist control secures a firm foothold.It cannot be insisted upon too strongly thatcapitalist organization, whether private orpublic, is built upon and presupposes thedegradation of the craftsman. Being organ-ized for the production of indifferent work,they are normally working incapable of any-thing else; for in the production of goodwork, the craftsman must have liberty tofollow the line of a consecutive traditiona condition which capitalist organization


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FORMULA 15denies, its function being not to develop atradition of design in handicraft but to adjustthe efforts of the craftsman to the whims ofa capricious public.This view, which was originally formedfrom personal observation and experience ofthe conditions now obtaining in industry, isamply corroborated by the testimony ofPrince Kropotkin. In Fields, Factoriesand Workshops, he says: The petty tradesat Paris so much prevail over the factoriesthat the average number of workman em-ployed in the 98,000 factories and workshopsof Paris is less than six, while the number ofpersons employed in workshops which haveless than five operatives is almost twice aslarge as the number of persons employed inthe large establishments. In fad:, Paris is agreat bee-hive where hundreds and thousandsof men and women fabricate in small work-shops all possible varieties of goods whichrequire taste, skill and invention. Thesesmall workshops, in which artistic finish andrapidity of work are so much praised, neces-sarily stimulate the mental powers of theproducer; and we may safely admit that if


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1 6 THE COLLECTIVIST/ the Paris workmen are generally considered,and really are, more developed intelleftuallythan the workers of any other Europeancapital, this is due to a great extent to thework they are engaged in ... and the ques-tion naturally arises: Must all this skill, allthis intelligence, be swept away by thefaftory, instead of becoming a new fertilesource of progress under a better organiza-tion of production? must all this inventive-ness of the worker disappear before thefactory levelling? and if it must, would sucha transformation be a progress as so manyeconomists,who have only studied figures andnot human beings, are ready to maintain?

Kropotkin here lays his finger on the weakpoint of modern sociological theories. Theyare based upon estimates of figures rather thanestimates of men. The correct statement ofthis issue is perhaps to be found in the di6tumthat organization on a large scale securesefficiency up to a certain point, which variesin each industry, and when that point isreached, degeneration sets in. On the onehand the quality of the work declines, whileon the other, administrative expenses show a


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FORMULA 17tendency to increase out of their proper pro-portion, owing to the fact that personal con-trol gradually disappears; and this is probablyone of the causes which oblige many largefirms gradually to adopt sweating practices.Expenses must be cut down somewhere, andthe workers have to suffer.And now that we have found Collectivistprognostications respecting the future of the

Faftory system to be based upon insufficientdata, let us turn to Collectivist opinions re-specting the future of machinery ; in thisconnection we observe that Collectivismteaches that machinery will be used more inthe future than at present. The circumstancethat many who identify themselves with Col-lectivism hold to the idea of William Morris,and quote him on sundry occasions, in nowise affects the Collectivist position, whichis antagonistic to that held by Morris. Mor-ris's opposition to machinery was based inthe first place upon the perception that there /is no temperament in work produced by ma- /chinery, and in the next upon a recognition/of the principle that its use tended to sepa-';rate the artist and craftsman more widely than j

c I


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1 8 THE COLLECTIVISTever, whereas the restoration of industry tohealth demands their reunion.But how is a reunion possible under a Col-leftivist regime ? Surely if social evolutionhas separated the artist and craftsman, furtherprogress along present lines must tend toseparate them still further, and not to drawthem together. Hence it is we feel justifiedin identifying Collectivism with the mechan-ical ideal of industry.

/ It may be said that the solution of ourproblems is to be found in a further devel-opment towards mechanical perfection, andthis contention would be perfectly reasonableif the object of man's existence were to makecotton and buttons as cheaply as possible ;but considering that man has a soul whichcraves some satisfaction, and that the progressof mechanical invention degrades and stulti-fies it by making man more and more theslave of the machine, we feel justified in as-serting that real progress lies along otherlines. Up to a certain point it is true thatmechanical invention is for the benefit of thecommunity, but such inventions must be dis-tinguished from the mass of mechanical con-


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FORMULA 19trivances which are the humble slaves ofcommercialism, and witnesses to the diseasedstate of society. To invent a machine to re-duce the amount of drudgery in the worldmay reasonably be claimed as an achievementof Science ; but to reduce all labour to thelevel of drudgery, to exploit Science for com-mercial purposes, is an entirely different mat-ter. Machinery being a means to an end,we may test its social utility by consideringthe desirability or otherwise of the ends it is jto serve. And what are the ends which have '/determined the application of machinery to /modern industry? Not the satisfaction of/human needs, or the production of beautiful'things, but primarily -the satisfaction of themoney-making instinct, which, it goes with-]out saying, is undesirable. There are verylfew things which machinery can do as well 1as hand labour, and so far as my personalknowledge extends, there is nothing it cando better. Hand rivetted boilers are preferredto machine rivetted ones ; while the mostdelicate scientific instruments have to be madeby hand. In fact, wherever careful fitting isvalued the superiority of handwork is ac-


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20 THE COLLECTIVISTknowledged. In the crafts, on the otherhand, machinery is valueless, except for heavywork, such as sawing timber; though evenhere, where timber is exposed to view, it

, suffers in comparison with hand sawing andhewing, which has more temperament about

lit. In production, therefore, the only ulti-/' mate use of machinery to the community isthat in certain heavy work it saves labour,which, considered from the point of view ofthe development of the physique of the race,is of very questionable advantage ; or that itreduces the cost of production. This again,however, is a doubtful advantage, since theincrease of material possessions beyond a cer-tain point is extremely undesirable. Withoutmachinery there would be plenty for all andto spare, if it were not for the greed of in-dividuals; and machinery, by facilitating theproduction of goods in immense quantities,so far from eliminating the spirit of avariceby satisfying it, appears only to give it a cu-mulative force. Machinery has erected themost effective class barrier yet devised. Again,considered in relation to locomotion the bene-fits of mechanism are very doubtful. If rail-


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FORMULA 21ways

and steamboats havebrought Chicagonearer to London, the world is more com-

monplace in consequence, and it is very muchopen to question whether the romance, thebeauty, and the mystery of the world whichmechanism seems so happy in destroyingmay not in the long run prove to be thethings most worth possessing, and the hurryand dispatch which are everywhere wel-comed as the heralds of progress, admittedto be illusory.Then Colletivists are in a quandary overthe Fiscal Question. Finding themselves un-able to accept either the position of the Pro-tectionists or that of the Free Traders, theFabian Society has formulated a schemewhich is supposed to harmonize .with theprinciples of Collectivism. In the tract en-titled Fabianism and the Fiscal Question,the Society suggests, as a solution for the pre-sent crisis, that the trading fleet between our-selves and the colonies be imperialized, whenthe conveyance of goods might be made freeto all. Surely this would not lead towardsCollectivism; rather would it intensify oneof the worst evils of the present system which


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22 THE COLLECTIVISTCollectivism proposes to cure namely, theevil of cross distribution.

This brings me to the question of universalmarkets, which Colle6tivists generally assumeto be a permanent facftor in industry.To some extent, of course, this will be so,and we must at the outset differentiate be-tween a certain legitimate trade which inthe nature of things must always exist, andits present abnormal development, which canonly be regarded as symptomatic of disease.That India should export tea to us appearsquite reasonable, but why we should exportcotton goods to India is not so clear. Theformer is a natural trade, because climaticconditions will not permit us to grow our owntea. The latter, however, is not ultimatelyrooted in actuality, but owes its existence tothe creation of artificial conditions, to thecircumstance that machinery for the purposewas first invented in Lancashire, and to thefact that we exploited foreign markets for ourbenefit in consequence. But this may notlast. In the long run India must be able tomanufacture cotton goods for herself, if thetest to be applied is merely that of compara-


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FORMULA 23tive cost, but when we remember that thereare other faftors in production which oughtto be considered, and which will be takeninto account when man re-awakens to the factthat profit is not the Alpha and Omega ofpro-duction, the change is certain. The re-estab-lishments ofjust standards ofquality in produc-tion by the revival of art and the restorationof a sense of morality in trade demand thesubstitution of local for universal markets.Of this there can be no question. For it isevident that one at least of the conditions ofthe restoration of the moral sense in trade isthat the cash nexus be supplanted by thepersonal nexus in trade relation, and this can Ionly be possible under social conditions inwhich producer and consumer are known toeach other. While again it may be arguedthat so long as universal markets are regardedas essential to trade, industry must continueto be of a speculative character, owing to thecircumstance that supply precedes demand.To reverse this unnatural order of things isessential to production for use, and this in-volves, among other things, the restorationof local markets.


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24 THE COLLECTIVISTIn like manner the necessities ofArt demand

the restoration of local markets. If beauty isever to be restored, and the ordinary thingsof life are to be once more beautiful, it iscertain that local markets will have to berestored. If Art were healthy the wholesaleimportation of articles of foreign manufacturewould not obtain. An artistic public would,for the most part, demand goods of localmanufacture, the beauty of which reflectedthose experiences common to their own life.Thus the English would not import JapaneseArt, to any extent, recognizing that, thoughJapanese Art is admirable in Japan, it is yetso entirely out of sympathy with WesternArt as to introduce an element of discordwhen placed in an English room ; while again,for the same reason, the Japanese would notimport English Art.A possible objection to this assumption isthat in the most vigorous periods of art a con-siderable trade was carried on in exchangingthe artistic works of different countries,that, in fact, many of the finest examplesof craftsmanship which were distributed overEurope in the Middle Ages and earlier often


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FORMULA 25emanated from one centre. For instance,carved ivories were mostly made in Alex-andria, and so far from the trade which ex-isted in them acting in a way derogatory tothe interests of Art, they, as a matter of fact,exercised a very stimulating influence uponthe art of the age. To this I answer, that sucha trade, which exists for the exchange oftreasure, is a fundamentally different thingfrom a trade which exchanges the ordinarycommodities of life, since while the formermay operate to widen the outlook in theartistic sense, the effect of the latter is toprecipitate all traditions of design into hope-less confusion and anarchy, because, whencarried on on a large scale, production forforeign markets does not take the form ofsending to other countries specimens of thebest craftsmanship which a nation can pro-duce, but of supplying cheap imitations ofthe genuine and native craftsmanship to otherlands a most ruinous commerce ; for whileabroad the underselling of native craftsman-ship tends to destroy the living traditions ofthose countries, its operations are no lessharmful at home, by their tendency to con-


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26 THE COLLECTIVISTfuse rather than consolidate a national tradi-tion of design.In the long run a universal trade in every-day commodities could only be favourable toArt on the assumption that internationalismwere the condition ofhealthy artistic activity.And this is not so. An international art wouldinvolve the gradual elimination of all that isof local and provincial interest ; and whenthis elimination is complete there is very littleleft. It would not be untrue to say that theRenaissance failed because its ideas were in-ternational, it strove to eliminate all that wasof merely local interest in art, and the resultwas a final and complete imbecility such asnever before existed. 1

Similarly, when we turn to consider thefinancial side of Collectivism we discoversimilar fallacies. The nationalization of capi-tal does not recommend itself to us as asolution of present day financial difficulties,since, according to one point of view the

1 In this connection it may be interesting to observe thatthe abandonment of the international ideal of the Renais-sance and an acceptance of national and local traditionsunderlies much of the success of the present architecturalrevival.


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FORMULA 27economic difficulty arises not so much froman unequal distribution of wealth as from thefact that so much of the labour of the com-munity produces not wealth but illth, touse Ruskin's word. The capital we accountfor in the columns of the ledger is, indeed,only of a very theoretical charafter. For, inspite of statistical calculations (which to allappearances may be used to prove anythingit is desired to prove), we are not becomingricher, but poorer every year, and this webelieve is to be accounted for by our systemof finance, which, not studying things, but/only the profit and loss account of them, failsto distinguish between what are assets andwhat are liabilities.As an illustration of what I mean let us

take a concrete instance Tramways. Nowit is evident that from the point of view ofthe private capitalist, whose aim is the makingof profit, that the possession of a tramway isto be reckoned as an asset. From the point ofview of the community, however, it is alto-gether different. A municipal tramway isnpt an asset, but a liability in the nationalledger. It is true that the possession of a


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28 THE COLLECTIVISTtramway by a municipality enables the com-munity to intercept profits which otherwisewould swell the pockets of the private capi-talist, but this does not constitute such atramway a public asset ; it merely decreasesthe liability. A tramway is a liability becauseit is not one of the ultimate needs of humansociety, but an artificial one, arising throughthe abnormal growth of big towns and crossdistribution. If a man has to travel fromNew Cross to the City every day for employ-ment he helps the tramway to pay its divi-dends, but he is the poorer for having to takethe journey. He is perhaps richer by the timehe saves as compared with the time he wouldlose in having to walk. But the fad: that aman lives in one part of the town and worksin another is itself an evil reduced to theterms of national finance it is a liability, andno juggling of figures can make it into any-thing else. Hence it is that while conveni-ence may suggest the expediency of munici-palities owning their own tramways, we arenot justified in reckoning them as nationalassets, or in supposing that the change fromprivate to public ownership is a step in thesolution of the social problem.


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3o THE COLLECTIVISTever since the commencement of the era ofcommercialism, we have individually andcollectively proceeded upon the principle ofletting posterity take care of itself, thatsociety has become burdened with the main-tenance of an ever increasing number ofinstitutions to satisfy the temporary needs ofsociety, that we are becoming poorer. 1Closely allied to the foregoing financialfallacy, and in some measure the cause of it,is the more or less unconscious acceptanceby Colledlivists of the opinion held by theUtilitarian Philosophers that the expenditureof surplus wealth upon art does not operatein the interests of the community. This isan error since from the point of view ofnational finance such expenditure provides asafety valve which prevents internal compli-cations. The cutting down of expenditureupon Art does not, as Political Economists

1 Local taxation rose from 17,000,000 in 1869 to40,000,000 in 1900, owing to increase of expenditure inPoor Law, Education, Police, Burial Boards, Street Im-

provements, Sewerage, Isolation Hospitals, Port SanitaryAuthorities, Lunatic Asylums, Baths, Washhouses, Road-making, Lighting, etc. H. T. Muggeridge, Pamphlet onthe Anti-Municipal Conspiracy.


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FORMULA 31appear to argue, benefit the people, owing tothe direction of surplus wealth into new pro-ductive enterprises, rather in the long runhas it proved to have the opposite effect ofaggravating the problem. Let us take anillustration.A hundred men are engaged in production;let us make an artificial distinction, and saythat seventy-five are engaged in the produc-tion of physical necessities, and twenty-fivein the production of art (using the word artto indicate those things which do not direCtlycontribute to the maintenance of the body).A machine is invented which enables fiftymen to do the work which hitherto hadgiven employment to seventy-five. Thebalance of production is now destroyed, forthere will be a hundred men competing forseventy-five places. It is evident, therefore, ifthe balance in production is to be restored,one of two things must be done; either thehours of labour must be reduced all round,or the surplus profit created (be it in thehands of Consumer or Producer), must beused in employing the twenty-five displacedmenupontheproduction of Art. Other faCtors


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32 THE COLLECTIVISTmay come in and modify the problem, suchas the increased demand for utilities owingto their reduced price, but they are relativelyinsignificant owing to the fact that as it isnot customary under such circumstances toraise the wages of the workers, the limit ofthe consumption of utilities is practicallyfixed. Neglecting this arrangement to pro-vide employment for the displaced twenty-five men, disease is spread throughout industryby the destruction of the balance betweendemand and supply. They must find employ-ment somehow, and so it happens under ourcommercial society they are used for fightingpurposes, becoming travellers or touts in thecompetitive warfare for the trade which isnow insufficient to give employment to allwould-be workers. The benefit which theinvention of the machine should bring tosociety is thus lost. The ultimate effect isnot to cheapen but to increase the cost ofcommodities, since it tends to swallow upeven the normal profits in fighting machinery,and prices have to be raised, or the qualitylowered to make up the difference.But the evil does not end here. For now,


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FORMULA 33when the markets are filled to overflowing,there can be no mistaking the evil resultingfrom the practice to which an almost religioussanction has been given by our PoliticalEconomists, of systematically re-investingsurplus wealth in new productive enterprises,since it tends to reduce wages by the over-capitalization of industry in addition to rais-ing the cost of commodities. The congestedstate ofour markets makes it exceedingly dif-ficult for new industrial enterprises to be suc-cessfully floated. Investment is consequentlytaking the form of converting private busi-nesses into limited liability Companies. Thusa private business with a real capital of say50,000 is floated as a Company with anominal capital0^75,000; theextra^T25,ooo

going in goodwill and promotion expenses.And now that the business has more Capitalit will be apparent that to maintain the samedividends as hitherto (necessary to maintaincredit, if for nothing else), expenses must bereduced in every direction. Hence it gener-ally happens that when a private firm is con-verted into a Company, unless a strong TradeUnion exists, wages are cut down; if a UnionD


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34 THE COLLECTIVISTprevents this, the old men are discharged tomake room for younger and more energeticones, while no opportunity is lost of increas-ing the price of commodities to the publicor of adulterating the article to reduce itscost.

This, it is safe to say, is substantially whatis taking place to-day. Yet, on the whole,Colle&ivists, while incidentally regrettingthe reduction of wages, welcome the changeas a step towards the nationalization of capital.To me, however, this change wears a differentaspect, for it is obvious that so long as we con-tinue to accept the present principle offinancethat all capital should produce interestand to harbour the utilitarian fallacy thatexpenditure upon Art is a dead loss to thecommunity,the over-capitalization ofindustrymust tend to increase. The fundamental fatis that so long as the present principles offinance remain unchallenged, the mere trans-ference of capital from private to publicownership can have no appreciable efFecT: onthe problem, since a public body acceptingthese theories must, like a private manufac-turer, put the interests of capital before the


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FORMULA 35interests of life and between these two thereis eternal conflict. jThe current commercial practice of re-investing dividends is dire


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36 THE COLLECTIVISTpay dividends ? Why should it always be as-sumed that what is intended for use shouldyield a profit, and what is intended for luxurynot? Why, for instance, in municipal ex-penditure should it be assumed that housesfor the working classes should be self-sup-porting, while art galleries and free librariesare a charge upon the rates? Why should notsome of the money which is spent upon thesethings be spent in making municipal housesmore beautiful ? And if it be right for onething not to pay dividends, why not another ?

Frankly, I can see no reason, except thesuperstition of financiers and the fatal ten-dency of all things to crystallize into formulas.In the case cited, a more generous expendi-ture upon such things as municipal houseswould do more to encourage Art than ex-penditure upon art galleries, if at the sametime means could be devised

whereby gen-uine and not commercial architects could beemployed to build them. It is certain thatthe substantially-built houses and cottages ofthe past were never built to earn dividends,and we shall never be able to house thepoorest classes so long as we do expect these


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FORMULA 37returns. The fact is that in really healthyfinance', as in life, there is no formula, and it isprecisely because modern reformers havenever seriously questioned the truth of mo-dern principles offinance that they are power-less to introduce really effective measures ofsocial reform.

Another instance of the failure of Collect-ivism comes out in the Fabian tract entitledTwentieth Century Politics, a policy ofNational Efficiency, by Mr. Sidney Webb.In this tract Mr. Webb gives an outline ofwhat he considers should constitute the poli-tical programme of a really progressive re-form party. After dealing separately withparticular reforms, Mr. Webb passes on toconsider ways and means of effecting them.And here he is beaten. For the life of himhe cannot see where the impetus to carrythem into effect is to come from. And so, indesperation, he proposes a measure to arti-ficially stimulate political activity, whichis worthy of Punch, but is quite wastedin a Fabian Tract.

Recognizing that the Local GovernmentBoard has always to be coercing its local


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38 THE COLLECTIVISTauthorities to secure the National minimum,Mr. Webb says: for anything beyond thatminimum, the wise minister would minglepremiums with his pressure. He would byhis public speeches, by personal interviewswith mayors and town clerks, and by thedepartmental publications, set on foot theutmost possible emulation among the variouslocal governing bodies, as to which couldmake the greatest strides in municipal ac-tivity. We already have the different townscompared, quarter by quarter, in respeft totheir death rates, but at present only crudely,unscientifically,

andperfunftorily. Whyshould not the Local Government Board

avowedly put all the local governing bodiesof each class into honorary competition withone another by an annual investigation ofmunicipal efficiency, working out their sta-tistical marks for excellence in drainage,water supply, paving, cleansing, watchingand lighting, housing, hospital accommoda-tion, medical service, sickness experienceand mortality, and publicly classifying themall according to the result of the examina-tion ? Nay, a ministry keenly inspired with


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FORMULA 39a passion for national efficiency^ would callinto play every possible incentive to local im-provement. The King might give a ' Shieldof Honour ' to the local authority which hadmade the greatest progress in the year, toge-ther with a knighthood to the mayor and aCompanionship of the Bath to the clerk, theengineer, and the medical officer of health.On the other hand, the six or eight districtswhich stood at the bottom' of the list wouldbe held up to public opprobrium, while theofficial report on their shortcomings mightbe sent by post to every local elector, in thehope that public discussion would induce theinhabitants to choose more competent ad-ministrators. (Presumably Mr. Webb wouldaccept Mr. Mallock's definition of the mo-dern conception of progress, as an improve-ment which can be tested by statistics, justas education is an improvement that can betested by examinations.)The most interesting of all the contradic-tions in which Collectivism has become in-volved, and which more than any other ex-poses the weakness of the position of itsadvocates is one which during the late war


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40 THE COLLECTIVISTsplit the party in two ; for while all Collec-tivists recognized that the war was a com-mercial one, waged in the interests of un-scrupulous South African financiers, only partof them declared against it on the groundsof its manifest injustice, the remainder argu-ing that the best policy for Collecftivists wasto allow the war to run its course, for thereason that as internationalism and not na-tionalism was the condition of the future, aunited South Africa would, notwithstandingthe present injustice, hasten the CollecStivistmillenium.Now both these positions are valid accord-ing to the theories of Collectivism. The firstis a necessary deduction from the positionCollecSHvists have assumed respecting themorality of trade. Recognizing the growthof capitalism to be the cause of the presentevils in society, they were perfectly justifiedin opposing its encroachments. Yet, takingtheir stand on this ground, they come intocollision with their own theory of socialevolution, which teaches them that the growthof capitalistic control and of internationalismis a necessary step in the development of


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42 THE COLLECTIVISTimpossible from the point of view of socialre-constru6tion, was yet the only way of im-pressing certain broad truths on the nationalmind. It has indeed set forces in motionwhich may yet be turned in the direction oftrue social re-construction . But just as Liber-alism failed because it had to use the pluto-cracy as the force with which to effe6t itspurpose, so Colleftivism must fail because ithas had to make its appeal to the crowd.

Feeling comes nearer to truth than logic,and in the hesitation of the masses to respondto his appeal, the Colledtivist may, if he will,see the condemnation of his own measures.The people would be right in negleftingthis appeal; in so a6ting there is unconsciouswisdom. The people feel instinctively thatGovernment is not their affair ; it leads themout of their depth, and with true inspirationhitherto they have refused to interfere wherethey cannot understand. They are right alsoin another and profounder sense. Not onlyis their indifference a sign that politics havemoved out of contact with aftuality, but theyinstincftively feel that Utopia does not liealong the road the ColleCtivist indicates; for


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FORMULA 43in its appeal Collectivism made one greatand fundamental error. It has sought toremedy the evils occasioned by the individualavarice of the few by an appeal to the avariceof the many as if Satan could cast outSatan.


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CHAPTER IISOCIAL EVOLUTION

^ I AHE underlying cause of this failure ofX Collectivism to fulfil the conditions re-quired for the establishment of a sound socialsystem is that in concentrating its attentiontoo exclusively upon the material evils ex-isting in Society it loses sight of the spiritualside of the problem; for indeed, rightly con-sidered, the evils which the Colleftivist seeksto eradicate are ultimately nothing but themore obtrusive symptoms of an internal spi-ritual disease. Religion, art and philosophyhave in these latter days suffered a seriousdecline, and the social problem, as popularlyunderstood, is the attendant symptom.The truth of this is borne in upon us whenwe view the present state of things from thestandpoint of social evolution. We may thensee how the growth of this external material


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 45problem coincides at every point with aninternal spiritual decline, which separatingreligion, art and philosophy from life, hasplunged Society into the throes of material-ism, with its concomitants of ugliness andmoney-making, the reckless pursuit of whichthroughout the nineteenth century has leftus for our heritage the Rings, Trusts andMonopolies which exploit Society to-day.For had the spiritual forces in Society notdwindled into impotence, social evolutionwould not thus have tended towards the ig-noble ideal of Collectivism, but towards thatfiner individualism upon which the Socialismof the future must be founded.To understand how these things are re-lated we must go back to the time of theRenaissance in Italy, when the effort wasmade to graft the ideas of antiquity upon theChristian nations of Europe. The civiliza-tion of the Middle Ages was undoubtedly alapse from that of Paganism, in that thefreedom of thought formerly permitted waseverywhere stamped out by the dogmas ofChristianity. Yet, strangely enough, thoughfrom one point of view this lapse is to be


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 47ordinated to these attributes of

perfection.The result of this condition of things, in itsreaction upon Society, was that men foundit possible to put into practice the dictumLove thy neighbour as thyself ; and theprinciple of mutual aid became everywhererecognized in the structure of society. Eachsection of the community had its own appro-priate duties to perform, while any confusionof function was jealously guarded against. Inthe cities the craftsmen and merchants wereorganized into gilds ; the former for theirmutual protection and education, and for themaintenance of fine standards of quality inproduction, and the latter for facilitating theexchange and distribution of merchandise.On the other hand, the land held in largefeofs under the feudal system by the nobilitywas formed and administered on a carefullyorganized system, while the political statusof each individual was defined and guaranteedby feudal law and the universal code of mo-rality supplied by the teachings, and enforcedby the authority of the Roman Church.

Similarly, when we consider the externallife of that age, what most impresses us is the


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48 SOCIAL EVOLUTIONmarvellous and universal beauty ofeverythingthat has survived to our own time. Themediaeval period was not only great in itsarchitecture, but the very humblest forms ofcraftsmanship, even the utensils, were beauti-ful. What a contrast to our day, where ugli-ness is just as universal. It matters littlewhere we look, in the city or the suburb, inthe garden or in the house ; at our dress orour furnishings; wherever modernity is tobe found, vulgarity is also there. For thisugliness knows no exception save in the workof an insignificant and cultivated minoritywho are in conscious opposition to the presentorder of society. The Renaissance broughtabout this change by cutting at the roots oftradition l which hitherto had been the sup-port of the Middle Ages.The sense of a consecutive tradition has so

1 In a traditional art each product has a substance andcontent to which the greatest individual artists cannothope to attain it is the result of organic process of thoughtand work. A great artist might make a little advance, apoor artist might stand a little behind, but the work as awhole was customary, and was shaped and perfected by alife-experience whose span was centuries. MediaevalArt, by Professor W. R. Lethaby.


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 49completely disappeared from modern life,that it is difficult for most of us to realizewhat it means. To greater or lesser extent inthe form or custom or habit it is always pre-sent with us in debased forms. Yet this isa different thing from that living traditionwhich survived until the Renaissance, themeaning ofwhich will be best understood byconsidering its relation to the arts.Tradition then, in relation to the arts, maybe defined as a current language of design,and, indeed, design in the Middle Agesbears a striking resemblance to the languageof speech, in that the faculty of design wasnot as it is to-day, the exclusive possession ofa caste a body of men who give prescrip-tions for the craftsman to dispense but, likelanguage, was a common possession of thewhole people. Certain traditional ways ofworking, certain ideas of design and techniquewere universally recognized, so that whenthe craftsman was called upon to design hewas not, like his modern successor, compelledto create something out of nothing, but hadthis tradition ready to hand as the vehicle ofexpression understood by all. It was thusE


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5o SOCIAL EVOLUTIONthat the arts and crafts of former times wereidentical the artist was always a craftsman,while the craftsman was always an artist. Inthe production of architecture no architect:was employed in the modern sense to con-ceive and supervise every detail, since asevery craftsman was in some degree an artist,it was the practice of each craft to supply itsown details and ornaments, the craftsmanbeing subject only to such general control aswas necessary to secure a unity of effect.Architecture was thus a great co-operativeart, the expression of the national life andcharacter.We realize, perhaps, more fully what tradi-tion means when we compare the conditionsof craftsmanship in those days with thosewhich obtain to-day. The modern craftsman,deprived of the guidance of a healthy tradi-tion, is surrounded on all sides by forms whichhave persisted, though debased and vulgar-ized, while the thought which created themhas been lost. Consequently, he uses themnot merely without any perception of theirmeaning, but as he does not realize that theyever had any meaning, he has as much chance


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 51of

making himselfintelligibleas a man whose

speech is a hopeless jargon of all tongues,and who has lost the capacity of realizingthat any word he uses has ever actually hada definite meaning.In these circumstances the designer orcraftsman of to-day has a task of far greatermagnitude to perform in order to producecreditable work than had his predecessors. Itis not merely a question of possessing goodtaste, since before he can design he must re-cover for himself a language of expression.He must, therefore, be not merely an artist,but an etymologist of forms, so to speak,in addition. How, then, can we wonder iflittle good work is produced?

Similarly we find the absence or degrada-tion of tradition exercises its baneful influencein every department of life, for just as thecraftsman cannot design beautifully becausehe has lost hold of a living tradition of design,so men are unnatural and inhuman becausethey have lost the art of right living, spon-taneity and instinct having given place toconventions and fashions which exercise anintangible tyranny over their victims. Inci-


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52 SOCIAL EVOLUTIONdentally I would refer to the corroborativetestimony of Mr. Bernard Shaw, who em-phasizes the same truth in Man and Super-man. Mr. Shawobserves that English criticsdisapproved of Zola's works not because theyconsidered them immoral, but because neverhaving been taught to speak decently aboutsuch things, they were without a language bywhich to express their ideas.To return to our subject: I said that theRenaissance, by cutting at the roots of tradi-tion, brought about the changed state ofthings we see around us to-day. In seekingto liberate man from the fetters of the MiddleAges the Renaissance unfortunately destroyedwhat was really good and valuable.Without minimizing in the least the ulti-mate benefits which the growth of the spiritofcriticism stimulated by the Renaissance hasin store for the human race, the developmentof that spirit has so far been attended withdisastrous consequences. It is admitted thatby undermining the authority of the Churchand the Bible, criticism has largely destroyedthe spirit of consecration to ideals, but it isnot generally recognized that this same spirit


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 53operating upon the arts has brought abouttheir decline, by separating them from life.First we see the gradual formation of canonsoftaste; then follows the growth ofacademieswhich impose rigid classical standards uponthe people, and finally, tradition, which hashitherto been the source of vitality in thearts, is everywhere extinguished and a com-plete divorce is effected between Art andLife.

Art, ceasing to be the vehicle of expressionfor the whole people, now becomes a play-thing for the connoisseur and the dilettante^hidden away in galleries and museums, whileLife, having lost the power of refined expres-sion, crystallizes into conventions and be-comes ugly in all its manifestations.

Simultaneously with this separation of artfrom life comes the separation of the artistfrom the craftsman. The fine arts havingturned their back upon their humble breth-ren, craftsmanship everywhere_ degeneratesinto manufa&ure uniformity having sup-planted variety as the ideal of production,machines are invented for multiplying wares.Factories are built to contain the machinery,


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54 SOCIAL EVOLUTIONand labour is organized for the purpose

ofworking it, while universal markets arisethrough thedesire of avaricious manufacturersto find some temporary escape from the evilsof over-production. And now, when supplyhas got ahead of demand, comes a completedivorce between production and use owingto the circumstance that under such condi-tions, speculation, and not human need, be-comes the motive force of production. Busi-ness and money-making become the all-ab-sorbing interest of life, while democracy takesits rise in the seething discontent engenderedby the growth of such conditions simultan-eously with the degeneration of the Gildsinto close corporations, and the subsequentexclusion of the journeyman, who is therebydeprived of the position he formerly held inthe social scheme.

Such would appear to be the true inter-pretation of social evolution Religion, Artand Philosophy having separated themselvesfrom life, business,money-making and politics,hitherto subordinated to the pursuit of theseother attributes of perfection, become the allabsorbing interests of life. To this reversal


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SOCIAL EVOLUTION 55of the natural order of things is to be attri-buted the growth of the social problem.What the future has in store for us it isindeed difficult to say. It would seem thatthe present system is doomed to collapsethrough its own internal rottenness. Com-mercialism will reap as it has sown a socialcatastrophe is clearly its fit and proper har-vest. For a century we have been putting offthe evil consequences of unregulated pro-duction by dumping our surpluses in foreignmarkets; but this cannot continue indefinitely,for the problem which on a small scale shouldhave been boldly faced a century ago, whenmachinery was first introduced, will have tobe dealt with on a gigantic scale. The for-eigner, who was once our customer, has nowbecome our competitor ; and so instead ofexpanding markets we have to face the pro-blem of contracting markets. The appearancetherefore of a large and ever-increasing un-employed class becomes inevitable. The prob-ability is that this phenomenon will make itsappearance in America, where industrial con-ditions are fast ripening for such a catastrophe.Until quite recently America was occupied


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56 SOCIAL EVOLUTIONnot so much in the produdtion of wares as inmanufacture of machinery. It is obvious thatwhen all this machinery becomes engaged inactual production the output available forexportation will be enormously increased ;and it is stated on very good authority thatthe competition we have already experiencedfrom America is as nothing in comparisonwith what we are likely to encounter duringthe next few years. Meanwhile, the growthof Trusts, Combines and Monopolies, byeliminating the waste consequent upon com-petition, tends in the same direction.Under these circumstances, we shall be welladvised to prepare for eventualities. Thoughunable to save existing society, it may yet bepossible to build something out of its ruins.


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CHAPTER IIITHE SPHERE OF POLITICAL REFORM

IN passing to the constructive side of ourtheme, it is first necessary to realize clearlythat as commercialism, not competition, isthe evil from which modern society suffers;the real battles of reform are to be fought inthe industrial, not in the political arena. Toabolish commercialism it is necessary to trans-fer the control of industry from the hands ofthe financier into those of the craftsman, andas this change is ultimately dependent uponsuch things as the recovery of a more scru-pulous honesty

in respeft to our trade relation-ships, the restoration of living traditions ofhandicraft, and the emergence of nobler con-ceptions of life in general, it is evident thatthe nature of the reforms is such as to placethe centre of gravity of the reform move-

l ment outside the sphere of politics.


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POLITICAL REFORM 50dition of success is a more generous andmagnanimous spirit than is customary to-day; in a word, we should not expecT: toomuch for our money, since, until the spiritof soqiety is changed in this respect, therecan be no possibility of returning to simplerconditions of life. Until then sweating, jerry-work, dishonesty and quackery will remainwith us, and the producers will continue tobe slave-driven.The evil, moreover, does not end here.The attendant symptom of this pernicioussystem is that with our minds bent alwaysupon making bargains, it comes about thatless regard is paid to the intrinsic value thanto the market value of things, and we thuscreate conditions under which the gulf separ-ating the two is ever widening, until finallythe anti-climax of the ideal of wealth ac-cumulation is reached in the circumstancethat it becomes daily more impossible to buythings worth possessing. To reverse this un-natural order, therefore, and to let our choicebe determined by the intrinsic value than tothe market value of things, is the secondcondition of successful expenditure.


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,

60 THE SPHERE OFThere are two directions in which an im-mediate increase of expenditure is called for

in the national interest. In the first placethere can be no doubt that a serious attemptshould be made to revive agriculture 1 in thiscountry, for apart from its temporary com-mercial value, agriculture has an intrinsicvalue as a faftor in the national life, in thatit strengthens the economic position of thecountry at its base. Secondly, a substantialincrease should be made in our national ex-penditure upon art, particularly by a more

. generous and sympathetic patronage of thehumbler crafts; for not only would such ex-penditure tend to relieve the pressure ofcompetition, but since the true root andbasis of all art lies in the health and vigourof the handicrafts, a force would be definitelyset in motion which would at once regener-ate industry and restore beauty to life in-

1 This issue will be found exhaustively dealt with inthe recently issued Fabian Tradl entitled The Revivalof Agriculture, with which I feel perfectly in accord. Itremains, however, to be said, that the principles underly-ing this trat are not in harmony with the formulateddogma to which members of the Fabian Society are askedto subscribe.


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POLITICAL REFORM 61dustry and beauty being two of the mostpowerful faftors in the spiritual regenerationof the race.

In answer to some who complained thatAthens was over-adorned, even as a proud andvain woman tricks herself out with jewels,Pericles replied that superfluous wealthshould be laid out on such works as, whenexecuted, would be eternal monuments ofthe glory of their city, works which, duringtheir execution, would diffuse a universalplenty; for as so many kinds of labour andsuch a variety of instruments and materialswere requisite to these undertakings, everyart would be exerted, every hand employed,almost the whole city would be in pay, andbe at the same time both adorned and sup-ported by itself. Such was the old-timesolution of the unemployed problem; boththe spiritual and material needs of the peopleare here provided for.


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CHAPTER IVTHE GILD SYSTEM

^ I AHE conclusion to be deduced from theJL last chapter was that the wise expend-

iture of surplus wealth, and, indeed, allexercise of wisdom, demands that man be

I spiritually regenerated.It is obvious that by spiritual regenerationsomething very different is meant from themorbid and sickly sentimentality which veryoften passes for spirituality to-day; rathermust we be understood to mean the recovery

by society of that sense of the large pro-portion of things as Pater calls it, which inall great ages of spiritual aftivity was in agreater or less degree the common possessionof the whole people, and while giving a mana new scale of values may be said to com-pletely change the individual nature. In thisconne&ion it is well to remember that though


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THE GILD SYSTEM 63in one sense the individual nature isunchange-able, the fact remains that the intellectualatmosphere which we breathe will determinethe particular mode in which it will expressitself; and that whereas a prejudiced andsectarian atmosphere, by refusing the highernature its medium of expression, will encour-age the expression of the lower nature, so awider outlook on life, an atmosphere in whichthe nature and essential unity of things aremore clearly discerned, will by transmutingvalues keep the selfish motives more effec-tually in subjection. It is thus that therecovery of the sense of the large proportionof things by the individual members of thecommunity must precede all substantial re-form. It is this sense which is the greatsocializer, making always for Collective ac-tion. There can be no Socialism without it.No better example could be found of theway in which its absence militates againstsocial reform than the common attitude ofsociological thinkers towards the present pro-posal of re-establishing the Gild system insociety. One and all of them, without furtherinquiry, dismiss Ruskin's proposal as a hark-


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64 THE GILD SYSTEMing back to Mediaevalism merely becausethe links which separated his proposals frompractical politics were not in his day capableof being forged. In all this we see thatcharadteristic failure of the modern mind todistinguish clearly between what is immedi-ately practicable, and what must ultimately

its incapacity to ad-just the demands of the present to the needsof thejuture.Tested by such principles the restorationofthe Gilds will appear not merely reasonablebut inevitable. Being social, religious, andpolitical as well as industrial institutions, theGilds postulated in their organization theessential unity of life. And so, just as it iscertain that the reattainment of intelle6tualunity must precede the reorganization ofsociety on a Co-operative basis, it is equallycertain that the same or similar forms ofsocial organization will be necessary again inthe future.

For the present we shall regard themmerely as political and industrial organiza-tions, for these are the aspedts which im-mediately concern us. The question of their


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THE GILD SYSTEM 65restoration as

religiousand social

organiza-tions is outside the scope of the presentvolume, depending as it does upon the set-tlement of many theological and scientificquestions which we do not feel qualified todiscuss. To give the reader some idea ofwhat the Gild system really was one cannotperhaps do better than quote from a leftureby Professor Lethaby on Technical Educa-tion in the Building Trade (for thoughthis has particular reference to the buildingtrades, the same conditions obtained in everytrade), and to supplement this by adding therules of the Cloth Weavers of Flanders asgiven by William Morris in Architecture,Industry and Wealth.In the Middle Ages, says ProfessorLethaby, the masons' and carpenters' gildswere faculties or colleges of education inthose arts, and every town was, so to say, acraft university. Corporations of masons,carpenters, and the like, were established inthe town; each craft aspired to have a collegehall. The universities themselves had beenwell named by a recent historian ' Scholars'Gilds.' The gild which recognized all the


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66 THE GILD SYSTEMcustoms of its trade guaranteed the relationsof the apprentice and master craftsman withwhom he was placed; but he was really ap-prenticed to the craft as a whole, and ultim-ately to the city, whose freedom he engagedto take up. He was, in fal, a graduate ofhis craft college and wore its robes. At alater stage the apprentice became a com-panion or a bachelor of his art, or by pro-ducing a masterwork, the thesis of his craft,he was admitted a master. Only then was hepermitted to become an employer of labouror was admitted as one of the governing bodyof his college. As a citizen, City dignitieswere open to him. He might become themaster in building some abbey or cathedral,or as king's mason become a member of theroyal household, the acknowledged greatmaster of his time in mason-craft. Withsuch a system was it so very wonderful thatthe buildings of the Middle Ages, whichwere indeed wonderful, should have beenproduced?Let us now glance at the rules of theCloth Weavers of Flanders. No master toemploy more than three journeymen in his


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THE GILD SYSTEM 67workshop; no one under any pretence tohave more than one workshop ; the wagesfixed per day, and the number of hours also;no work should be done on holidays; if piece-work (which was allowed) the price per yardfixed, but only so much and no more to bedone in a day. No one allowed to buy woolprivately, but at open sales duly announced.No mixing of wools allowed; the man whouses English wool (the best) not to have anyother on his premises. English and foreigncloth not allowed to be sold. Workmen notbelonging to the Commune not admittedunless hands fell short. Most of these rulesand many others may be considered to havebeen made in the direct interest of the work-men. Now for the safeguards to the public.The workman must prove that he knows hiscraft duly; he serves as apprentice first, andthen as journeyman, after which he is ad-mitted as a master if he can manage capitalenough to set up three looms besides hisown, which of course he could generally do.Width ofweb is settled; colour of list accord-ing to quality; no work to be done in a frostor bad light. All cloth must be ' walked ' or


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68 THE GILD SYSTEM' fulled ' a certain time, and to a certainwidth, and so on and so on. Finally, everypiece of cloth must stand the test of examina-tion, and if it fall short, goes back to themaker, who is fined; if it comes up to thestandard it is marked as satisfactory.The point to remember in all this is thatthe individual craftsman was privileged, andprivileged he must be if he is to remain aconscientious producer. For privilege notonly protected him from unscrupulous rivalsbut also secured him leisure at his work avery necessary condition of good work. Theframers of these regulations grasped one greatsociological fact which is not clearly under-stood to-day, namely, that rogues are verydangerous men and that it is impossible tokeep control over them by granting thatmeasure of liberty which permits of unfaircompetition. I say unfair competition, be-cause the Gilds did not aim at the suppressionof competition, but at that particular form ofit which we designate commercial competi-tion. By preventing the lower competitionfor cheapness the plane of the struggle wasraised and a competition of quality was the


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70 THE GILD SYSTEMworld is embedded is a change or growthcoincident with the growth of property andthe ideas flowing from it, does it not followthat so long as this crust of conventionalityremains the nationalization of the land mustremain impracticable, since, so long as thepeople are addicted to their present habitsand modes of life they will rally to the sup-port of a system the abolition of which wouldindividually threaten their social existence.As to the form which the Government ofthe future will take it is not improbable thatthe division of function between the Upperand Lower Chambers will continue, with thisdifference, that whereas the lower chamberwould be elected by the people in theirprivate capacity the members of the UpperChamber would be nominated by the Gilds.Such an arrangement would seem to securefor democracy what at present it appears tobe incapable ofsecuring for itself the leader-ship of the best and wisest. Accurate think-ing does not readily lend itself to platform

/ oratory, and so it happens that owing to adisability to enforce their views at publicmeetings the community is deprived of the


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THE GILD SYSTEM 71services of a large seflion of the most thought-ful members of the community. The crea-tion, however, of an upper chamber whosemembers were the nominees of the Gildswould remedy this defect by removing ora-tory from the list of necessary qualificationsfor political life, and with the wisest at thehelm the present anarchic tendencies ofdemocracy would be checked; the principleof authority on a popular basis would bethereby established, while a balance of powerbetween the various interests on the Statewould be automatically maintained.Should this prediction prove to be a trueone, and should Society again revert to theGild system, we shall be in a position torealize their value more adequately. Withour knowledge of the consequences of un-fettered individual competition, society willbe able to guard itself more securely againstthe growth of those evils of which we havehad so bitter an experience. And so whilethe prospect of social salvation inspires uswith hope, it may be well to remember thatsociety is not to be saved by the establish-ment of any social regime, since, until each


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72 THE GILD SYSTEMindividual member of society has sufficientmoral courage to resist the temptation topursue his own private ends at the expenseof the commonweal, and possesses the mentaloutlook necessary to enable him at all timesto know in what direction the best interestsof the community lie, social institutions onceestablished will tend inevitably to degenerate,for inasmuch as all institutions are but theexpression of national life and character, theintegrity of the individual can alone securethe integrity of the State.


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CHAPTER VHOW THE GILDS MAY BE RESTORED

PASSING on now to consider the pro-blem of ways and means of re-introduc-ing the Gild System, the first fact we mustgrasp is that the Gilds cannot be re-estab-lished by further evolution upon the linesalong which society is now travelling, but bythe development of those forces which runcounter to what maybe considered the normalline of social evolution.Of these, the first force which will be in-strumental in restoring the Gilds is the TradeUnion movement.

Alreadythe unions with

their elaborate organizations exercise manyof the functions which were performed bythe Gilds; such, for instance, as the regula-tion of wages and hours of labour, in additionto the more social duty of giving timely helpto the sick and unfortunate. Like the Gilds,


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74 HOW THE GILDSthe Unions have grown from small begin-nings, until they now control whole trades.Like the Gilds also, they are not politicalcreations, but voluntary organizations whichhave arisen spontaneously to protect theweaker members of society against the op-pression of the more powerful. In three re-spects only, as industrial organizations, arethey differentiated from the Gilds. In thefirst place, they accept no responsibility forthe quality of the wares they produce. Se-condly, masters are not permitted to becomemembers of these organizations; and thirdly,they do not possess monopolies in their sepa-rate trades.Of course, these are very important differ-ences differences in fact which for the timebeing are insurmountable. The circumstancethat modern industry is so completely in thegrip of the financier and speculator is alonesufficient to prevent any speedy transforma-tion of the Unions into Gilds, since so longas it exists it is difficult to see how mastersand men could belong to the same organiza-tion. The question, therefore, which we re-quire to answer is this : Will industry con-


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MAY BE RESTORED 75tinue to be controlled by the financier, or arethere grounds for supposing that the master-craftsman will supplant him in the future?My answer to this question is, that wehave very good grounds for supposing thatthe craftsman will supplant the financier.Speculation brings its own ruin. It is alreadyruining the workman, and in proportion as itsucceeds in this it will undermine effective de-mand, and so ultimately destroy thevery sourceof its dividends. This prediction is based onthe assumption that society will quietlyacquiesce in the operation of the speculator,but the probability being, as has already beenshown, that a revolution will result, the ruinwill be considerably hastened. Meanwhile,there are two agencies at work in modernsociety which are destined to supplant thelarge factory by the small workshop. Thefirst of these is the increasing use which ismade of electricity for the distribution ofpower at a cheap rate, and the second is thegradual raising of the standard of taste andcraftsmanship.

Respecting these, it is easy to see thatjust as the introduction of steam power


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76 HOW THE GILDScreated the

large fa6tory by concentratingindustry, so eleftricity, by facilitating thedistribution of power, will render possiblethe small workshop in the future. It is truethat the growth of the fadtory system pre-ceded the introduction of steam power andmachinery. This, however, in turn was pre-ceded by a decline in craftsmanship which,by substituting uniformity for variety in thepractice of industry, made such developmentpossible. And so it may fairly be assumedthat just in proportion as the standard oftaste and craftsmanship is raised, the factorysystem will tend to disappear. The pra6ticeof good craftsmanship demands that care betaken with the quality of the work; it de-mands that work be done leisurely; that theworker shall receive a fair price for his workand that he shall have security of employ-ment. All these things commercialism andthe faftory system deny him and must denyhim, for the two are essentially antagonistic.The victory of the one must mean the deathof the other. 1

1 A possible objection to this is that the raising of thestandard of taste will not affedt the engineering trades.


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MAY BE RESTORED 77This brings us to the consideration of the

second force which is preparing the way forthe restoration of the Gilds, namely, the Artsand Crafts movement, which exists to pro-mote the revival of handicraft. Recognizingthat the true root and basis of all art lies inthe handicrafts, and that under modern con-ditions the artist and craftsman have, to theirmutual detriment, become fatally separated,the Arts and Crafts movement sought toremedy this defect by promoting their re-union.

Writing on the Revival of Handicrafts andDesign,1 Mr. Walter Crane says: The move-ment indeed represents, in some sense, a re-volt against the hard mechanical life and itsinsensibility to beauty (quite another thingto ornament). It is a protest against that so-called industrial progress which producesshoddy wares, the cheapness of which is paidThe answer is that the engineering trades will shrinkimmeasurably in the future. The growth of the engineer-ing trades corresponds with the growth of artificial con-ditions of life, and as life in the future will be lived undersimpler conditions, they will shrink proportionately.1 Arts and Crafts Essays. A collection of essays bymembers of the Arts and Crafts Society.


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78 HOW THE GILDSfor by the lives of their producers and thedegradation of their users. It is a protestagainst the turning of men into machines,against artificial distinctions in art, and againstmaking the immediate market value, or pos-sibly of profit, the chief test of artistic merit.It also advances the claim of all and each tothe common possession of beauty in thingscommon and familiar, and would awaken thesense of this beauty, deadened and depressedas it now too often is, either on the one handby luxurious superfluities, or on the otherby the absence of the commonest necessitiesand the gnawing anxiety for the means oflivelihood; not to speak of the every-dayugliness to which we have accustomed oureyes, confused by the flood of false taste ordarkened by the hurried life ofmodern townsin which huge aggregations of humanityexist, equally removed from both art andnature, and their kindly and refining in-fluences. It asserts, moreover, the value of thepractice of handicraft as a good training forthe faculties, and as a most valuable counter-action to that overstraining of purely mental


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MAY BE RESTORED 79effort under the fierce competitive conditionsof the day; apart from the very wholesomeand real pleasure in the fashioning of a thingwith claims to art and beauty, the strugglewith and triumph over technical necessitieswhich refuse to be gainsaid. And, finally,thus claiming for man this primitive andcommon delight in common things madebeautiful, it makes, through art, the greatsocializer for a common and kindred life, forsympathetic and healthy fellowship, and de-mands conditions under which your artistand craftsman shall be free. c See how a great a matter a little firekindleth.' Some may think this is an ex-tensive programme a remote ideal for apurely artistic movement to touch. Yet if therevival of art and handicraft is not a meretheatrical and imitative impulse; if it is notmerely to gratify a passing whim of fashion,or demand of commerce; if it has reality androots of its own; if it is not merely a littleglow of colour at the end of a sombre dayit can hardly mean less than what I havewritten. It must mean either the sunset orthe dawn.


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8o HOW THE GILDSWe do not, of course, need to take this

war-cry at its face value. It is one thing todeclare a principle, it is another to reduce itto practice. And looking at the Arts andCrafts movement to-day it seems to resemblethe sunset rather than the dawn. It cannotbe denied that up to the present, while themovement has succeeded in popularizing theidea, it has for the most part failed to reduceit to praftice. A favoured few, possessed ofmeans or social advantages, have succeeded inestablishing themselves before the public, butthe number is comparatively insignificant.The majority, after struggling for a few years,have lost heart, and a depression of the move-ment has followed in consequence.

Sunset, however, is followed by dawn, andwhile we frankly recognize that the move-ment is suffering from a reaction, we are notjustified in concluding that failure is its in-evitable doom:

Tasks in hours of insight willedCan be through hours of gloom fulfilled,says Matthew Arnold. The movement is for-tifying itself upon more impregnable strong-


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MAY BE RESTORED 81holds, for viewed from the inside it may beseen that the centre of gravity of the move-ment is being slowly transferred from artisticand dilettante circles to the trade. Hithertothe movement has suffered from weakness inthree directions. The first was its isolationfrom the trade; the second, the general ab-sence of intellectual patronage fashionhaving been the guiding and controlling in-fluence with the vast majority of its patrons;and the third has been lack ofknowledge asto the sociological bearings of the movement,such as would have enabled it to direct itsenergies in the most effective way.The gulf which has hitherto separated themovement from the trade shows a tendencyto become bridged over. In many directionsthere are signs that the trade is being gradu-ally leavened; the wave of feeling whichcreated the Arts and Crafts movement has atlength reached the workers, and there is goodreason to believe that the first condition ofwidespread success namely, the co-opera-tion and goodwill of the trade will ere longbe attained. 1

1 In this connection special mention should be made ofG


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82 HOW THE GILDSThe patronage afforded to the crafts byfashionable circles, if it has not altogether

ceased, is rapidly decreasing, and though, inthe general absence of intelligent patronagethe Arts and Crafts movement has everyreason to be grateful to fashion for keepingthe flame alive, we are persuaded that thewithdrawal of such patronage will prove tobe no evil, since, so long as the movementaccustomed itself to look to fashion for itssupport, the work produced must necessarilybe of an exotic nature, while

restoration of the guild system

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