href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@3608@3608-h@3608-h-11.htm.html#chap31" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">The Deserter

32   The Veteran 33   The Soldier's Children 34   The Beginning of the End 35   Facing the 'Problem' 36   The OBS 37   A Brilliant Epigram 38   The Brigands' Cave 39   The Brigands at Work 40   Vive la System! 41   The Easter Offering. The Beano Meeting 42   June 43   The Good Old Summer-time 44   The Beano 45   The Great Oration 46   The 'Sixty-five' 47   The Ghouls 48   The Wise men of the East 49   The Undesired 50   Sundered 51   The Widow's Son 52   'It's a Far, Far Better Thing that I do, than I have Ever Done' 53   Barrington Finds a Situation 54   The End

Preface

In writing this book my intention was to present, in the form of an interesting story, a faithful picture of working-class life--more especially of those engaged in the Building trades--in a small town in the south of England.

I wished to describe the relations existing between the workmen and their employers, the attitude and feelings of these two classes towards each other; their circumstances when at work and when out of employment; their pleasures, their intellectual outlook, their religious and political opinions and ideals.

The action of the story covers a period of only a little over twelve months, but in order that the picture might be complete it was necessary to describe how the workers are circumstanced at all periods of their lives, from the cradle to the grave. Therefore the characters include women and children, a young boy--the apprentice--some improvers, journeymen in the prime of life, and worn-out old men.

I designed to show the conditions relating from poverty and unemployment: to expose the futility of the measures taken to deal with them and to indicate what I believe to be the only real remedy, namely--Socialism. I intended to explain what Socialists understand by the word 'poverty': to define the Socialist theory of the causes of poverty, and to explain how Socialists propose to abolish poverty.

It may be objected that, considering the number of books dealing with these subjects already existing, such a work as this was uncalled for. The answer is that not only are the majority of people opposed to Socialism, but a very brief conversation with an average anti-socialist is sufficient to show that he does not know what Socialism means. The same is true of all the anti-socialist writers and the 'great statesmen' who make anti-socialist speeches: unless we believe that they are deliberate liars and imposters, who to serve their own interests labour to mislead other people, we must conclude that they do not understand Socialism. There is no other possible explanation of the extraordinary