the masses by a few.

With this principle we need not further concern ourselves. It is an academic appendage to the socialist doctrine, and at the present time is not stressed by socialists. The majority of socialists now concede that while economic forces have been important in history, social, religious, and political forces are also important. In view of this admission, the chief importance of the doctrine of the economic interpretation of history is its theoretical connection with the two great cornerstones of socialism: the theory of surplus value, and the theory of class struggle.

127. THEORY OF SURPLUS VALUE.--Marx claimed that practically all wealth has been created by the laborers alone, and that all persons other than laborers are parasites. To those who have carefully studied Chapter VIII the error of this claim must appear self-evident, nevertheless, this concept of value is the basis of all socialist attacks upon government and industry. Marx developed this theory as follows:

The value of an article is determined solely by the amount of labor expended upon its production. But although the laborer creates all wealth, the capitalist is enabled, by virtue of his monopolistic control over the instruments of production, to prevent this wealth from going entirely to the laborer. [Footnote: By "capitalists" socialism means not only individuals with money to loan, but "employers" in general, whether middlemen, entrepreneurs, or true capitalists. ] Socialism declares that the capitalist holds the laborer in virtual slavery, the laborer receiving only enough of the wealth created by him to enable him to keep alive, while the surplus of this wealth goes to the capitalist. The capitalist is thus a parasite who performs no useful task, but robs the laborers of the fruits of their industry. Marx did not regard profits as reward for business enterprise, but called them "plunder." Capitalism, according to this view, is a system of theft, involving "misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, and exploitation."

128. CLASS STRUGGLE.--Marx declared that the capitalistic system was doomed to destruction. He maintained that as time went on, wealth would tend to concentrate more and more in the hands of the capitalist or employing class. Trusts and monopolies would become more common, and gradually capitalism would become so unwieldy and so unworkable a mechanism that it would finally fall to pieces of its own weight. Crises, panics, and trade depressions were supposed to be indications of this inevitable disaster.

The tendency for wealth to concentrate in the hands of a few was to be accompanied by the growing poverty of the masses. Marx believed that the middle classes would eventually disappear, leaving only the wealthy employers and the miserable laborers. The individuals comprising these two classes would steadily draw apart into two great armies which were destined to battle to the death. Socialism denies that employers and laborers have anything in common, and insists that between these two groups a struggle must go on until the employing class is abolished.

129. WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE AIM OF SOCIALISM?--Nothing could here be more important than to know the ultimate aim of socialism, nevertheless, there is among socialists no agreement as to the framework of the system which they expect to substitute for capitalism. All socialists desire collective ownership and direction of the instruments of production, but beyond this there is practically nothing in the way of a constructive socialist program. Generally, it is declared that when capitalism has been abolished, the working classes will organize industry on the basis of communal ownership. In the socialist commonwealth there is to be no class struggle, for the reason that there are to be no classes. There is to be a just distribution of wealth, together with an abolition of poverty,