These broad principles about one’s way of living are very simple; our minds move freely among them. But the real interest is with the individual case, and the individual case is almost always complicated by the fact that the existing social and economic system is based upon conditions that the growing collective intelligence condemns1 as unjust and undesirable2, and that the constructive3 spirit in men now seeks to supersede4. We have to live in a provisional State while we dream of and work for a better one.
The ideal life for the ordinary man in a civilized5, that is to say a Socialist6, State would be in public employment or in private enterprise aiming at public recognition. But in our present world only a small minority can have that direct and honourable7 relation of public service in the work they do; most of the important business of the community is done upon the older and more tortuous8 private ownership system, and the great mass of men in socially useful employment find themselves working only indirectly9 for the community and directly for the profit of a private owner, or they themselves are private owners. Every man who has any money put by in the bank, or any money invested, is a private owner, and in so far as he draws interest or profit from this investment he is a social parasite10. It is in practice almost impossible to divest11 oneself of that parasitic12 quality however straightforward13 the general principle may be.
It is practically impossible for two equally valid14 sets of reasons. The first is that under existing conditions, saving and investment constitute the only way to rest and security in old age, to leisure, study and intellectual independence, to the safe upbringing of a family and the happiness of one’s weaker dependents. These are things that should not be left for the individual to provide; in the civilized state, the state itself will insure every citizen against these anxieties that now make the study of the City Article almost a duty. To abandon saving and investment to-day, and to do so is of course to abandon all insurance, is to become a driven and uncertain worker, to risk one’s personal freedom and culture and the upbringing and efficiency of one’s children. It is to lower the standard of one’s personal civilization, to think with less deliberation and less detachment, to fall away from that work of accumulating fine habits and beautiful and pleasant ways of living contributory to the coming State. And in the second place there is not only no return for such a sacrifice in anything won for Socialism, but for fine-thinking and living people to give up property is merely to let it pass into the hands of more egoistic possessors. Since at present things must be privately15 owned, it is better that they should be owned by people consciously working for social development and willing to use them to that end.
We have to live in the present system and under the conditions of the present system, while we work with all our power to change that system for a better one.
The case of Cadburys the cocoa and chocolate makers16, and the practical slavery under the Portuguese17 of the East African negroes who grow the raw material for Messrs. Cadbury, is an illuminating18 one in this connection. The Cadburys, like the Rowntrees, are well known as an energetic and public-spirited family, their social and industrial experiments at Bournville and their general social and political activities are broad and constructive in the best sense. But they find themselves in the peculiar19 dilemma20 that they must either abandon an important and profitable portion of their great manufacture or continue to buy produce grown under cruel and even horrible conditions. Their retirement21 from the branch of the cocoa and chocolate trade concerned would, under these circumstances, mean no diminution22 of the manufacture or of the horrors of this particular slavery; it would merely mean that less humanitarian23 manufacturers would step in to take up the abandoned trade. The self-righteous individualist would have no doubts about the question; he would keep his hands clean anyhow, retrench24 his social work, abandon the types of cocoa involved, and pass by on the other side. But indeed I do not believe we came into the mire25 of life simply to hold our hands up out of it. Messrs. Cadbury follow a better line; they keep their business going, and exert themselves in every way to let light into the secrets of Portuguese East Africa and to organize a better control of these labour cruelties. That I think is altogether the right course in this difficulty.
We cannot keep our hands clean in this world as it is. There is no excuse indeed for a life of fraud or any other positive fruitless wrong-doing or for a purely26 parasitic non-productive life, yet all but the fortunate few who are properly paid and recognized state servants must in financial and business matters do their best amidst and through institutions tainted27 with injustice28 and flawed with unrealities. All Socialists29 everywhere are like expeditionary soldiers far ahead of the main advance. The organized state that should own and administer their possessions for the general good has not arrived to take them over; and in the meanwhile they must act like its anticipatory30 agents according to their lights and make things ready for its coming.
The Believer then who is not in the public service, whose life lies among the operations of private enterprise, must work always on the supposition that the property he administers, the business in which he works, the profession he follows, is destined31 to be taken over and organized collectively for the commonweal and must be made ready for the taking over; that the private outlook he secures by investment, the provision he makes for his friends and children, are temporary, wasteful32, though at present unavoidable devices to be presently merged33 in and superseded34 by the broad and scientific previsions of the co-operative commonwealth35.
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1
condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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supersede
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| v.替代；充任 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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parasitic
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| adj.寄生的 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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humanitarian
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| n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者 | |
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retrench
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| v.节省，削减 | |
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mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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anticipatory
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| adj.预想的，预期的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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