Capitalism on trial

John Wheatley on Marx's labour theory of value

Or, extracts from How the Miners are Robbed: The Duke in the Dock: Startling Court Case
(1907) By John Wheatley - online here

[Who produces the wealth and who gains most from its
production? In a pamphlet written in 1907, John Wheatley
described an imaginary court case, with a coal master,
a landowner and several others being charged with "having
conspired together and robbed an old miner, Dick McGonnagle."

The pamphlet, How the Miners Are Robbed, had considerable
impact before the First World War. Its basic class analysis
remains valid for workers today as they are still being robbed.

In the following extracts from the pamphlet, the magistrate
interrogates the witnesses. The first person to enter the
witness box is the Coal master.]

[Magistrate = M, Prisoner = P]

The coal master

M: What is your name?

P: Frederick Michael Thomas Andrew Sucker, sir.

M: You have a great many names.

P: I protest, sir.

M: I did not ask your occupation. I desire to know how you
came to be possessed of so many names?

P: I can't answer your question, sir.

M: Ah! That sounds suspicious. Now will you kindly tell us
how much wealth you possess?

P: (Proudly) One million pounds, sir.

M: You must be an extremely able man. How did you come to have
a million pounds?

P: I made it, sir.

M: Ah! do you plead guilty to manufacturing coin?

P: (Indignantly) No, sir.

M: Then will you please tell us what you mean by saying you
made it?

P: I earned it in business, sir.

M: How long have you been in business?

P: Twenty years, sir.

M: You must be a very capable worker to have earned such a
huge sum in such a short time?

P (indignantly): I don't work, sir.

M: Ah! this is very interesting. You don't work and yet you have
told us that in twenty years you have earned one million pounds?

P: I own a colliery, sir.

M: What is a colliery?

P: A shaft sunk perhaps a hundred fathoms in the earth; also
various buildings and machinery for the production of coal.

M: Did you sink the shaft?

P: No, sir. I got men to do it.

M: Did you manufacture the machinery and erect the buildings?

P: No, sir. I am not a workman. I got others to work.

M: This is an extraordinary case. You say other men erected the
buildings, and manufactured the machinery, and sunk the shaft
and yet you own the colliery? Have the workmen no share in it?

P: No, sir. I am the sole owner.

M: I confess I can't understand. Do you mean to tell me that
those men put a colliery in full working order, and then
handed it over to you without retaining even a share of it
for themselves?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: They must have been very rich and generous, or very
foolish! Were they rich men?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: Had they many collieries?

P: Oh, none at all, sir. They were merely workmen.

M: What you mean by merely workmen?

P: Merely people who work for others.

M: Surely they must be generous people. Don't they require
collieries themselves?

P: They do, sir.

M: And they own no collieries?

P: No, sir; but I allow them to work in mine.

M: That is very kind of you, but of course not nearly so kind
as their act in giving the colliery to you. Do you find you
don't require the whole colliery yourself, that you can allow
others also to use it?

P: Oh, you don't understand sir. I don't work in my colliery. I
allow the workmen to do so.

M: Oh, I see. After those men handed over the colliery to you,
you found you had no use for it, and so returned it to them
to save them erecting another?

P: Oh no, no, sir. The colliery is still mine, but they work
in it.

M: Really, this is very confusing. You own a pit, which you
did not sink, and plant, which you did not manufacture nor
erect. You do not work in this colliery because you do not
want to work. Those who do not want to work own no colliery,
and yet they gave one to you. Did you beg of them to come and
work in your colliery, as you had no use for it?

P: Oh, not at all, sir. They begged me to allow them to work.

M: But why beg leave to use your colliery? Why not make one
for themselves, as they had done for you? But perhaps you make
them some allowance for working in your colliery and keeping
it in order?

P: Oh yes, sir. I pay them according to the amount of coal
they produce.

M: Well, that seems fair. Then I suppose those men will soon
become very rich? They will have the value of the coal they
produce, and the allowance you make to them for keeping your
colliery in order?

P: Oh no, sir. The coal they produce is mine.

M: What! They turn over the product of their labor to you? Don't
they require the value of this coal themselves?

P: Oh yes, sir. But it is my coal, having been produced in
my colliery.

M: My dear sir, you amuse me. Those men sank the pit, put
the colliery in working order, and dug the coal. Where is
your claim?

P: I gave them permission to do these things, sir.

M: You permitted them to sink the pit, and then you took the
pit; you permitted them to erect the plant, and then you took
the plant; you permitted them to dig the coal, and then you
took the coal. Is that it?

P: Yes, sir; but I paid them for doing these things.

M: How did you get money to pay them seeing you do no work?

P: I inherited ten thousand pounds from my father, and I used
some of this until the men produced the coal.

M: How did your father earn that money?

P: In the same way, sir, as I have converted that ten thousand
pounds into a million.

M: How have you done that?

P: By selling the coal.

M: Did the men employ you to sell the coal?

P: Oh no, sir; the coal was mine.

M: Really, your claim seemed so impertinent that I had not
taken it seriously. Did you pay over to the miners the amount
you received for the coal, less your salary?

P: No, sir. I merely paid them the least amount I could get
men to work for.

M: I must say this is puzzling. Why do these men require to
work for you?

P: Because, sir, they can't work without machinery which
costs money. We rich men having the money, and therefore the
machinery, and those men requiring to work or starve, they
must accept our terms.

M: Surely the State could provide all the capital required in
opening up mines; why should the people require to make terms
with you?

P: Oh, quite easily sir, but the State is ruled by Parliament,
which is composed of men like me. They are not such fools as
to injure themselves.

M: I did not think there were such stupid people in the world
as you describe those workingmen to be. How much coal does a
miner produce in a day?

P: About three tons, sir.

M: At what price do you sell this coal?

P: At ten shillings per ton, sir.

M: Now, if you will kindly tell us how much per day the miner
gets for the three tons of coal which you sell at thirty
shillings, we shall be able to judge how you treat him.

P: He receives about five shillings, sir.

M: Are you serious?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: What becomes of the remainder?

P: A small portion goes to maintaining [the cost of men] and
covering depreciation of machinery. The Duke gets a good slice
as rents and royalties. The remainder is my profit.

M: What are rents and royalties?

P: A sum charged by the Duke for allowing people to use
the land.

M: What! But never mind, I will examine him presently. Is this
how you have come to possess a million pounds and this old
man is in poverty? You have been selling his coal and holding
on to most of his money. Your father robbed his father in like
manner. With the proceeds of that robbery, and the fact that it
left him penniless, you have been enabled to rob this man. Were
it allowed to continue, your son would be richer than you were,
and his son would be as poor as he was. Therefore the power
of your family to make slaves of his family would increase
with each generation. Fortunately, this case may end your
outrageous scheme. Stand down until I have examined the others.

When prisoner Sucker had again taken his place between the
two constables in the dock, a middle-aged man of stout build
and a ruddy, well-fed, well-watered appearance, entered the
witness box to be examined. In answer to the Magistrate's
first question, he said his name was: The Duke of Hamilton.

M: Come, come, I asked your name, not your occupation!

P: That is my title, sir.

M: Your title may be a number when this case is finished. I
must warn you not to trifle with this Court. What is your name?

P: I don't use any name, your honor.

M: Do you work?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: What! Are you too a loafer?

P: No, sir. I don't require to work.

M: No successful robber does. Why don't you require to work?

P: I'm a wealthy man, sir.

M: How did you come to be wealthy seeing you don't work,
and that wealth is the product of labor?

P: I inherited my wealth, sir.

M: Did your father work for it?

P: No, sir; he too was a wealthy man.

M: Did your grandfather, or your great-grandfather, or any of
the family ever do any work?

P: No, sir.

M: How did they get wealth?

P: Oh, just as I get mine, sir.

M: How is that?

P: By allowing people to use my land.

M: How did you get land? Did you create it?

P: Oh no, sir. I believe God created it.

M: Did he create it for your ancestors?

P: I can't say, sir.

M: Surely you must know if He created it specially for your
ancestors, or whether the land was here before your ancestors
got possession of it?

P: It was always there, sir. My family got possession of it
only at the time of Robert the Bruce.

M: What right had they to take possession of the land?

P: It was given to them by Robert the Bruce.

M: But Bruce did not create the land, nor was it his to give
away. He had no right to do so, and you have no moral or legal
claim to it. Don't you work on this land?

P: Oh no, sir. I've already explained I don't require to
work. I allow thousands of others to do so.

M: Why don't they work on their own land?

P: They have none, sir.

M: What! Do you claim all the land in the district?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And must those men use your land or starve?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: I hope you don't act as the other prisoner does with his
machinery. Is your permission granted on condition that they
hand over to you a share of what they produce?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: Do they do so?

P: Certainly, sir. They must do so or starve.

M: (soliloquizing): I now see the need for an Eternal Hell. What
share of miner's coal do you claim?

P: I usually obtain in Royalty on each man's work a sum equal
to half what he gets for working.

M: That means when a miner produces three tons of coal he
gives you one?

P: Yes, sir.

M: If there be twenty thousand miners working on your land,
each man must give you every third hutch he fills?

P: Yes, sir.

M: So that again assuming you have twenty thousand miners
working on your land, it takes ten thousand of them to earn
as much as you draw?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And these ten thousand men must risk their lives in the
bowels of the earth while you may be enjoying yourself anywhere?

P: Yes, sir.

M: What sort of men are they?

P: Hardheaded, intelligent men, sir. (Loud laughter in Court,
which was instantly suppressed.)

M: Why don't they take over the land themselves, nationalize
it? Then you could no longer rob them of one third of what
they produced?

P: Oh, that would never do, sir. That would be Socialism. They
prefer to continue paying royalty to me.

M: But even to take advantage of their simplicity is a terrible
crime. Are you not ashamed to do so?

P: Certainly not, sir. It is within the law.

M: Who made the laws?

P: The class to which I belong, and they made no mistakes, sir.

M: If they have not, you make one if you think that this Court
will judge your class by the laws they made. Why a community
should permit itself to be infested by characters like you
passes my comprehension. Please take your place in the dock
until I have heard the evidence against you. The first witness
called was the complainer, Dick McGonnagle.

Old Dick's evidence

M: What age are you, Dick?

D: Fifty-two, your honor.

M: Dear me! you look eighty at least!

D: I've had to work very hard, your honor.

M: How long have you worked in the mines?

D: 40 years, your honor.

M: Have you worked regularly?

D: On an average five days a week, your honor.

M: How much coal do you produce each day?

D: About three tons, your honor.

M: Dear me! You should be a very wealthy man. In 40 years you
must have produced something like 30,000 tons?

D: I am not good at figures, your honor.

M: I am told that this coal is sold at ten shillings per ton?

D: I don't know, your honor.

M: Then I suppose you are not aware that the market price of
the coal you have produced would be £15,000?

D: I was not aware of that, your honor.

M: What wages have you received?

D: On an average, 25 shillings a week.

M: Great heavens! That means you have been swindled out of
nearly £12,500! What became of that £12,500 of which you have
been robbed?

D: I don't know, your honor. (Counsel explained that it would
be proved the prisoners divided it amongst them, and even
robbed the old man afterwards of part of the small share he
had received.)

M: Are you still employed in the mines?

D: Yes, your honor.

M: Don't you find it difficult even to walk to the pit?

D: Yes, your honor. I must now leave half an hour earlier than
formerly, as I have to rest for breath at every 100 yards.

M: How do you get to the coalface after descending the pit?

D: A young man wheels me in a hutch, your honor.

M: And dumps you down there to dig your coal?

D: Yes, your honor.

M: And when you have dug it these men steal it from you?

D: Yes, your honor.

M: Have your fellow-workmen ever stolen from you?

D: Only once, your honor. A man "pinched" a hutch of mine,
and he was hunted from the pit. This man called the Duke has
"pinched" every third hutch I have filled for 40 years, and
I think he should be hunted. (After hearing evidence from a
"Socialist" against the prisoners and from a Clergyman in their
defense the Magistrate rose to deliver judgment.) He said he
had no difficulty in finding the prisoners guilty. They had
admitted their guilt. He felt, however, that no punishment
which that Court could condemn them to would be sufficient for
such terrible crimes. He would, therefore, send them to the
Lowest Court for punishment, and ordered that they be taken
there at once.

Court Officer: Where is the Lowest Court, your honor?

Magistrate: I forget exactly. Ask the clergyman.

from Histomat: Adventures in Historical Materialism by Snowball