... Shaw can define the two interconnected aims of Fabianism
as 'the gradual extension of the franchise and the transfer of rent and
interest to the State.'"
As Mr. Barker may not be alone in a slight misinterpretation of Fabian
doctrine it may be well to take this opportunity of refuting the error.
He says that Fabianism advocates the socialisation of rent, and in
confirmation quotes Shaw's words "rent _and interest_"! That makes all
the difference. If the term rent is widened to include all differential
unearned incomes, from land, from ability, from opportunity (i.e.
special profits), interest includes all non-differential unearned
incomes, and thus the State is to be endowed, not with rents alone, but
with all unearned incomes.[52] It is true that the Fabians, throwing
over Marx's inaccurate term "surplus value," base their Socialism on the
Law of Rent, because, as they allege, this law negatives both equality
of income and earnings in proportion to labour, so long as private
ownership of land prevails. It is also true that they have directed
special attention to the unearned incomes of the "idle" landlord and
shareholder, because these are the typical feature of the modern system
of distribution, which indeed has come to the front since the time of
Marx, and because they furnish the answer to those who contend that
wealth is at present distributed approximately in accordance with
personal capacity or merit, and tacitly assume that "the rich" are all
of them great captains of industry who by enterprise and ability have
actually created their vast fortunes.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302