Considerations of an Open Letter to Labour

I am making considerations of my "Open Letter to Labour".

1. Write as Progradior [Frank Bennett]—worked with my hands since 9—I am now 53. Don't imagine you can right things in 2 minutes.

The Law must work itself out.

1A. Man a tool-using animal—Men themselves tools.

2. What are aristocrats? Skilled workmen.

3. Labour's mistake in advocating democracy.

4. The hereditary principle.

5. Machines and morals deprive man of his Soul.

6. Machine-products soulless. Aristocrats prefer few good things to many bad.

7. Room for everybody, unless they insist on trying to occupy same place at same time.

8. Interference of "education" has made China and India our natural enemies.

9. How industrialism has destroyed the artist—by multiplying small profits—creating non-productive middlemen and overhead charges—advertisement, etc.

10. Wars for markets—people bullied and lied into "patriotism". The fruits of victory.

11. Danger of dependence on foreign produce.

12. Capitalists not truly skilled workmen—but cheating gamblers.

13. Any man may be a king if he will be content with his own kingdom.

14. Refuse inferior products—insist on the best. But don't be persuaded by the capitalistic Press that you need false luxuries.

15. The need of a 'leisure class' to produce men of science and learning independent of popular pressure. How 'honour' saved chivalry, and how 'nobility' fell as soon as the nobles lost honour.

16. Labour must organize on aristocratic lines as feudalism and theocracy once did. The sons of the best men must be trained regardless of expense to occupy the most responsible posts. They must learn to regard themselves as bearing the heaviest burdens, to develop a code of true honour. They must be beyond temptation to betray mankind by assuring them and their children the best of everything, but put on their mettle by debarring the children from succession unless they satisfy severe tests of their competence.

17. "The slaves". No Society can thrive which fails to eliminate the weak. Protecting the unfit is a biological error. Labour's weakness is to use the herd-formula. Each man should be 'himself'; but form alliances with his peers in defence of their common rights and privileges, as the robber barons did once, and the bankers to-day. But Labour allows the most cowardly and selfish sections of society to do this instead of the skilled workmen.

18. Socialism a capitalistic stratagem for crystallising iniquity. Individual genius the savior of the race, always condemned by committee of nonentities. The 'patron', the peer of the artist in another line, the only helper of a man with original ideas.

19. Industrialism to be destroyed by refusing to make or to buy standard products. Every man's pride to be in possessing unique objects, and in being different from his neighbours. He must learn to do without any alleged comforts or "necessities of modern life" to be sufficient for himself.

20. The slave-spirit to be abhorred. The best men to avow their contempt for morality.

21. The vote. The man elected is he who pleases most people; i.e. who is most abjectly afraid of most people. The greatest leaders have been those most free from prejudice and superstitious fear; now-a-days such men are howled down—the Ugly Duckling. That is why the world lacks leaders to-day. Man must qualify for office by personal prowess—physical and mental; they must be independent of popular favour, which is as fickle and unjust as royal favour was of old. The blunders of a great man are less disastrous than the compromises of mediocrities. The ambition of Napoleon did less harm than the pacifism of Wilhelm II. Cromwell kept England safe; Jaurès exposed France to destruction. The aristocratic Mikado dismembered republican China, after its absolute emperors had preserved it in peace and prosperity for over 3,000 years.

22. Labour must therefore regard its members as individual aristocrats. It must train its best men to lead, and let them lead. It must trust them unreservedly, offer them power and wealth, with disgrace and death as the price of betrayal. It must not let the ignorant criticise those who know and can. It must demand proof of unselfish efficiency, above all, of originality, courage and firmness. It must establish a caste of leaders by the test of endurance and hardships, ability to take the initiative in all matters, indifference to public opinion, or their personal welfare, and loyalty to the duty of serving their fellows which is the price of the privilege of governing them.

23. All restrictions on 'vice', such as on the manufacture and sale of drink, to be abolished. Let Nature purge the race of the fools and the weaklings. But punish with greater severity all injuries done to others by drunkards, libertines, and the like.

24. Make (even primary) education entirely optional; concentrate all effort on those individuals who demand knowledge. Help everybody to find his own level, instead of trying to impose the same on all alike. Avoid dogmatic teaching; confine it to presenting the facts. Allow evolution to follow its course of producing 'varieties'; don't assume that we know which of them will prove fit to survive; above all, don't make sure that none will survive by crystallysing the type we happen to favour personally! Conditions of earth-life might so change that reading and writing become as useless as trail-craft has already become.

25. Repeal all laws which assume that mankind is a herd of cattle. State insurance, pauper laws, registrations, conscription. But also legislation "favouring" trades-unions in so far as the unfit workman is thereby artificially equalized with the fit. To yoke a lame mule with a race horse is to injure both.

26. The solidarity of Labour has helped it in the past only in appearance. In reality, conditions to-day are worse than ever; time would have done more and more wisely. Capital revenged its panic by a world-war, and labour is bound tighter than before the first strikes.

The true policy would have been to assert the aristocracy of labour, organizing it into a quasi military body, drilled to absolute discipline with commanders in power to wage open war against the exploiters with the right of ruthless sacrifice of life when the exigencies of battle called for such.

27. The land must be made free to small holders, and the tenants assisted when necessary. Thus the country secures a supply of food independent of imports, and of a stock of healthy open-air children.

28. The restricts of marriage must be abolished; women must be made economically independent of men. The state must guarantee at least six months entire repose to all pregnant women. It must establish colonies in country districts for the free support of any children whose mothers are willing to let them go there.

29. Prostitution is to be suppressed as being a form of slavery; women are to be encouraged to love as they will by removing the social and economic penalties of so doing. Abortion is to be punished as selfish and cowardly, a slave's vice; the present conditions which make the crime so common, being altered as above indicated.

30. All laws which assist men to obtain undue influence upon others must be repealed; e.g. the bankruptcy laws, the libel laws, and the divorce laws.

31. Usury must be discouraged by making the lender a partner of the borrower, proportionally liable with him in case of loss. (There could thus be no bar to loans contracted to finance sound speculations.)

32, The currency must be restored to a metallic basis, with a unit of denomination equal to the market value of the metal in it, and a token coinage of denominations equal to not more than double that value.

33. Gambling is to be encouraged as a means of eliminating the imbecile. But it must be prohibited when it affects other people without their consent. Thus, stock gambling in food and industrial products must be stopped; this can be done by outlawing "futures" and purchases of securities which are not delivered to the buyer. Any financial transaction which manifestly inconveniences the state is to be treated as treason, and punished with death.

34. All restrictions on manufacturing and commerce to be removed. Customs to be abolished. "Protection" merely protects the unfit. "Dumping" must be met by "Swadeshi" tactics, which any truly self-respecting nation will be proud to adapt; also by the determination to do without such things as tend to destroy the independence and the self-supporting, self-sufficing character of the state.

35. Physical hardihood, and willingness to fight, as essential qualifications for full civil rights in the case of male citizens. Two years' voluntary training, to include military instruction, between the ages of 16 and 18, entitle the boy to a course of advanced teaching in his own profession during these two years, and to an old-age pension double that of other citizens, forfeit if he commit any crime or refuse to join the colours on case of war.

26. There should be a professional army and navy for those whose temperament it suits.

37. The police shall interfere with civil liberty in two cases only: firstly, when any individual demands redress against aggression of any sort—including the bullying of boys and girls by fanatical parents. Secondly, when the peace is menaced by bands of persons associated for the purpose of imposing their ideas by force upon their neighbours.

38. There shall be no uniform wage; the worker shall make a free contract with his employer to receive a fixed percentage of the value of what he produces. (Actuaries shall prepare scales to serve as guides.) But the minimum wage shall be such as is required for decent comfort, with a surplus for amusements and investments.

39. Idleness in a workman, (when habitual) shall be regarded as a sign that he is unfit for that class of work. Government psychologists shall investigate his case, till they find him a job which it is a pleasure to him to do. If he prove incurable he must be put to force unskilled labour and segregated from civil life, as being of a degenerate type such as evolution eliminates.

But proper education, as outlined above, will make the wastrel a rare monster.

Deliberate idleness, "to make more work", is imbecile. Why not blow up cities?

To "make work" speed up, create a surplus of wealth, flood the country with money and insist on your fair share.

40. Legislation shall bear constantly in mind the first principle "do what thou wilt"; its object shall be to assist each individual citizen to accomplish his will, as education has assisted him to discover his nature.

It shall not restrict any man from damaging himself on the ground that he owes the state service; or even from damaging others, so long as that damage depends on their own consent. Thus, armed robbery is to be repressed. But racing and procuring are not to be made unlawful, on the theory that those who indulge in betting and wenching injure themselves. They have the right to do so; but a right to protection against alien pressure to do so.

It shall prevent any attempts of any man or any body of men to acquire power and privileges which are not paid for by the acceptance of the appropriate responsibility, as in the case of the "caste" of skilled workmen.

41. The laws shall be remodelled fundamentally on First Principles. They shall be simplified to the utmost: the only offence is to restrict the Will of another, but this may be dome in many ways and degrees. Thus murder restricts the primary will of a man to live, while slander restricts only that to be known accurately by his fellows: the penalties must differ accordingly. In civil suits the costs shall be shared by both parties equally, each paying into court the amount he is prepared to spend, and the total applied to defray charges. Thus, the rich cannot fight down the poor by weight of counsel; all his wealth does is to secure fuller consideration of the case.

42. The laws shall be made by a small staff of skilled workmen who have made a special study of the Law of Thelema, of the laws of all nations, of history, and of philosophy. They shall be drafted by skilled grammarians in such words as the simplest minds can grasp clearly, and for this purpose submitted to a number of illiterates for revision. They shall be administered appointed for life, highly-salaried, irremovable, sworn to take no part in social or political life, but to live like hermits, mingling with mankind only when summoned to do justice.

43. The king shall be he who proves himself physically, mentally and morally the strongest, wisest, and most self-sure of the skilled workmen. He shall be tested annually, and abdicate as soon as he begins to fail. If he have daughters his throne shall pass to him who by personal prowess wins the love of the eldest, provided he be qualified as in the first class.

The king shall have absolute power, so long as he restrict not any individual. He shall appoint his ministers, and they their subordinates, each by the system he thinks best. (If the king prove weak or vicious, he will fail all the sooner in the annual test of his continued fitness).

44. The revenue shall be raised by the endowment of the Crown with land; provinces, municipalities, etc. shall be allotted estates in the same way. External loans, and the holding of internal loans by foreigners, shall be forbidden as against self-sufficiency. State monies shall be administered by a department of financial experts, who shall be sworn for life to personal poverty, and executed publicly should their expenses exceed the minimum required by decency. But they shall be denoted by a special badge of honour, and venerated in every way by the community.

45. The state shall not acquire foreign territory, or intervene in the affairs of other states, unless in the case of war between these such that the issue might lead to attack on itself, in which circumstance it shall be lawful to render aid to the weaker. It shall not consider whether its actual relations with the stranger be friendly, but support the side where need is.

46. It shall not allow aliens to possess property in the state, or to live in it for more than one month in a year. Marriage with aliens shall forfeit citizenship.

Aliens already domiciled when this constitution comes into force shall be expatriated, with full compensation.

Aliens are defined as those whose race, sub-race, or nationality, is not that of the bulk of the citizens.

Thus in Australia, all Chinese, Jews, naturalized Italians, and Indians, although born in England, would go.

47. Religious propaganda, social movements, political agitations, shall be only permitted on proof that their principles are not repugnant to individual liberty as provided by the Law of Thelema.

The practice of all religions shall be permitted, but the use of supernatural threats or promises to influence the will of another person unduly shall be held fraud and duress in the one, punishable with imprisonment, and in the other self-disrespect, demanding a course of treatment in a State Asylum for training the Will an developing the sense of self-hood.

48. Freedom of speech shall be absolute, except it be abused to advocate the restriction of the rights of the individual. The Press shall not be prostitutes, as heretofore, to deceive and enslave, nor shall it degrade its editors and contributors by compelling them to make their convictions subservient to the schemes of the proprietors. This shall be secured by the prohibition of advertisements, and by the publication of a State newspaper (at the lowest price current) containing the news of the day, and nothing else, without comment of any kind.

49. Incitement to crime shall be held graver than the crime itself, complicating it by the attempt to pervert another will, and to evade personal responsibility. Thus, the statesman who blundered into the world-war are less guilty than the capitalist newspapers, who planned to break the back of the Labour movement by arranging to massacre the workmen and plunge the planet into poverty!

Newspapers shall be repressed on proof of deliberate falsehood, misrepresentation, or misleading statements; also of suppressing or minimising facts so as to bias judgment; and lastly, for persistence in advocating the selfish schemes of the proprietors, and thus failing to do "the true will" of a newspaper, which is to present events to the public with accuracy, impartiality, and in proper perspective and proportion.

50. Guilds and trades unions, such as doctors and bricklayers, shall not abuse the power of concerted action by persecuting "scabs", even on the pretext that such men are public enemies. The quack may restrict his patient's will to live by his incompetence, and the non-union bricklayer hinder the Will of the public to do social justice by helping to break a strike whose object was to open people's eyes to an iniquity. But even so, the many shall not overwhelm the few, since every original Word is heresy, every original Deed revolution. Their right is to publish their plea with that of their opponent, leaving the public to decide which is right.

51. There is no need to enter in detail each particular problem that is presented to us by Life, whose variety is inexhaustible, whose each case changes constantly, flashing from facet to facet so swiftly that we are dazzled by its coruscating beauty. But I have chosen a few of the obviously important and fundamental riddles of our times, and shown how their solution, which has derisively defied the greatest minds in history, is simple enough in the light of Thelema. It is indeed almost a truism that the only possible way to treat things is to allow them to fulfil their own true nature, The only line of criticism is to ask if we should then allow free course to evil and folly. The answer is simply that evil and folly are ideas which only exist in relation to our own private convictions as to "Right" and "Wise", mindful of "wicked" Bradlaugh and "crazy" Fourier. This "evil" means no more than opposed to the speaker's own welfare; yet, since it is real to him, he must set his will against it. But this is no argument against the Law of Thelema; "evil" proves that Law. If two stars should collide, it would argue that one or both had somehow strayed from the proper orbit. So with men; conflict proves error from the true Will. We are all unique; if each man kept to his own Way this phantom "evil" would never arise. The evident remedy is to put every man back to his true course; so long as he blunders about, he is sure to create further trouble.

Observe that the Law solves our problems without the least reference to any man's theories. It applies the single simple standard of fitness; every function must fulfil itself freely.

With a little practice one learns how to use this Law in every circumstance. Occasionally one finds the true Will of a person or a thing so disguised that it deceives one; but one is quickly corrected by the failure of one's attempted adjustments.

One must also be careful not to reckon success by one's own standards; one is not one-self adjusted to the new arrangements, however heartily one has accepted the principle. But experience proves that the more people mind their own business, the more they leave you in peace to mind yours; their disapproval of them soon turns to relief to be rid of them! Thus, the more you emancipate them, the more you emancipate yourself. And the more men attend to themselves, the less they collide; one begins to see that murder is not the true will of any man, but the distortion of it evoked by its frantic efforts to escape from a tangle of wreckage resulting from a complex collision of circumstances. It is but one short step from that to appreciate that "Every man and every woman is a star"; each is a Soul unique, eternal, individual, supreme—of one essence with every such other, yet diverse from any of them in its form and its Purpose.

This is the only sane reading of the Oracle, "Trust the People". Who knows this has had no fear in grasping all problems with resolute hand, and pulling the false knots loose. He can make no mistakes; the Law is independent of him; its action is guaranteed by the nature of the Universe itself, no less than that of Gravitation.

Arise and dream no more, thou sluggard Labour! Thou art not that blind dangerous brute, feared only for thy hugeness. Learn this: thou art a galaxy of Gods, each one a match (did he but know it) for any of the oppressors. Thou art still drugged with the last desperate opiats—democracy; they know that while you are fool enough to believe that a mob can govern, you will remain contented with the paste-board crown.

Nay, but arise and answer: We are men even as ye; each one of us is equal to each of you; more also, we are allies, army by army we go forth with banners, and our least army outnumbers your whole horde. We smile, we offer peace; —

Hark, that impatient murmur!

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[Yorke Collection NS 94]