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| Title | The road to power, or, the constructive elements of socialism |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
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| Publisher | Literature Bureau of the Workers' International Industrial Union |
| Place of Creation (TGN) |
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| Date | 1919 |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Extent | 33 pages: chart; 17 cm. |
| Original Item Location | HX86.D25 1919 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304529~S11 |
| Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | This item is in the public domain and may be used freely. |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Image 11 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | uhlib_12374394_010.jpg |
| Transcript | CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS OF SOCIALISM 9 domination of a people by another; that the enslavement and exploitation of a people by Rome was made possible only by the superior and well organized economic resources and the disciplined armies of the conquerors. The economic foundation of Rome was predicated on organized Slavery; and even the classic period of Letters and Art in Greece and Rome, that as yet uneclipsed period of splendour, was reared upon the backs of slaves. With the decay and fall of Slavery, the marvellous splendour and the political and military power of Rome also collapsed. The same tendencies are also detectable, when examining Feudalism. Here we note the unlimited power of social control vested in the same feudality, which through its ownership or tenure of the land—the then main agent of production—exerted practically an undivided influence over every detail in the life of its subjects. By virtue of this economic control—land ownership— the feudal lord was actually elevated to the position of arbitrator over the life, happiness and prosperity of his serfs. He held their destinies in the hollow of his hand, because he monopolized the wherewith of life—the land. And when we make an investigation of Capitalism, the by far preponderant role played by the economic element of the capitalists' power in present society is easily discernible. Here we are compelled to admit that the class divisions of today, similar to the ones of yore, are fundamentally economic or property divisions. Furthermore, that the influence of a class is not measured by the degree of its productivity, or the proportion of its work for the social welfare, etc., but mainly by the economic power in its control. To illustrate, in society today the nigh illimitable and colossal dimensions of the workers' productive faculties are easily recognized and acknowledged by everyone. At the same time, the relatively insignificant and |