to the land in order to live and agreeing to the ownership of the earth by these Lords, naturally became subject to them, and were bound to the soil as serfs.
In modern days the great mass of the people earn bread by the industries, as distinguished from Agriculture, and must have access to the machines in order to live. The industries concentrate into the hands of a few men (the Lords of Industry) and the people agreeing to their ownership became subjected to them.
The ancient serfs could not move from place to place—it now remains for the Plutocrats to limit the rights of the workers to change from industry to industry, thus establishing a condition of serfdom equal with that of the Middle Ages.
In England, under present war conditions, with the industries concentrated under the control of the Cabinet, we may see Industrial Feudalism in operation—the workers cannot quit work or change their occupations without first obtaining permission to do so. Industrial Feudalism is the last calamity to man, from which we must drop back to savagery, unless an aroused and class conscious proletariat shall rescue civilization by the institution of the Industrial Democracy.
A. E. W.
THE SLAVE CLASSES
Ever since it was discovered that a man could produce from the ground more than enough to feed himself, there have been slaves; and the very day the first slave was driven to his task two classes set themselves up in human society—the masters, who owned and enjoyed, and the slaves, who toiled and suffered—a master class and a slave class. The earliest slaves were communal property and worked in the fields, but when the industries were separated and private property was instituted the slaves also became private property. They were bartered and sold just like any other commodity and the degree of happiness or comfort they experienced depended upon the
