Ebook The Passion of Labour

They realised that the citizens Of these islands were threatened by a grim equality of hunger, and the Old economics of inequality suddenly seemed to be as mad and inconsequent as a neuropath's dream. The Government unquestionably diluted our equality as they diluted our beer. But at least they did establish the principle that a human being's rights as regards the necessaries of life should be measured by his needs rather than by his banking account. Labour calls for the perpetuation and development of the equalities Of war-time. It does not proclaim a class-war any more than Lord Rhondda proclaimed a class-war when he introduced the coupon system. It is moved by no ignoble jealousy Of riches and comfort. All that it contends is that a nation can afford anything except a chronic plague of poverty, and that, if it were true (as certain reactionaries affirm) that there is not enough comfort to go round, then it would be the duty of the State to ration comfort as it has rationed sugar. For before the interests of any individual citizen come the interests of national defence. In a nation at war national defence means defence against foreign enemies. In a nation at peace it means defence against those more permanently dangerous enemies — ignorance, poverty, and ill-health. The cost of defending the citizens in the mass from these three enemies should be a first charge on the national wealth. Many rich men ex pressed their willingness to spend their last shilling in order to defeat the Germans. Labour insists that we should also be ready to Spend our last shilling in order to make an end of poverty and ignorance.