Those classes who have sanctioned and approved the con-
scription of men, cannot on any moral ground object to the
conscription of money -- expropriation of property owners for
national purposes. Indeed the latter has justifications which
cannot be invoked for the former.

Not only must we assure to all our workers an income on
which a reasonable life can be led: we must also create condi-
tions in which work ceases to be mere drudgery under a ruling
class, whether of bureaucrats or capitalists. By taking over
the management of industry the workers will be realizing free-
dom and democracy in their daily labour. The nationalization
of industry will not subject the workers to the discipline of a
bureaucratic machine, but enable them through the Unions to
organize production in the interest of all. State ownership of
the means of production, balanced by the control of industry
by organized Labour, offers the best, and indeed the only guar-
antee of individual freedom in an industrial society.

In the case of the Post Office we already have the first half
of the principle -- ownership by the State -- and there is now a
powerful movement towards the second half -- management by
the workers.

As to the practicability of the minimum income indicated
above, the economic facts of the war prove conclusively that
a minimum real income of a pound a day, present value, for
every worker is quite attainable. The country is spending
eight millions a day on the war alone. Very nearly the whole
of the wealth represented by that sum, together with the wealth
necessary for the support of the civilian population, is created
by the labour of not much more than eight million workers.
In peace time there are not more than fifteen million avail-
able workers, including men, women and children. More than
half of this number is now withdrawn for the army or unpro-
ductive army work, like munitions. Making every allowance
for such of the army as do productive work, the support of the
army and the country now falls upon half the usual available
workers, the half which includes the older people and the
children. This calculation is not seriously affected by the
argument that we are "living on credit." It is not true, in
the sense that we are consuming wealth that we are not now
creating, save to a very tiny extent. The amount that America
sends to us "on credit" is about offset by the amount that we
send to our Allies "on credit." And although the Government
may pay for its purchases by money borrowed from the capital-
ist, that is merely in order to preserve the capitalist system.
The actual material -- munitions, clothing, etc. -- is made by
the workers now, not taken by some magic from past or future
stores. And while it may be true that we are making war
material instead of renewing necessary plant, we have official

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