Jack London
American novelist and journalist (1876 to 1916); author of The People of the Abyss.
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What they believe
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The English people have a bright future, but much of their mismanaging political machinery belongs on the scrap heap
For the English, so far as manhood and womanhood and health and happiness go, I see a broad and smiling future. But for a great deal of the political machinery, which at present mismanages for them, I see nothing else than the scrap heap.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1902–1903This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 18 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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The English people have a bright future, but much of their mismanaging political machinery belongs on the scrap heap
For the English, so far as manhood and womanhood and health and happiness go, I see a broad and smiling future. But for a great deal of the political machinery, which at present mismanages for them, I see nothing else than the scrap heap.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Civilisation raised productive power but failed the average man because of mismanagement
Then arises the third and inexorable question: If Civilisation has increased the producing power of the average man, why has it not bettered the lot of the average man? There can be one answer only—MISMANAGEMENT.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
The Empire should be abolished if it loses England money, or run so the average man shares its profit
If it is a loss, it must be done away with. If it is a profit, it must be managed so that the average man comes in for a share of the profit.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
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Society must be reorganised under a capable management, since the present one is incapable
In short, society must be reorganised, and a capable management put at the head. That the present management is incapable, there can be no discussion.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
England's ruling management has criminally mismanaged and will inevitably be swept away
It is inevitable that this management, which has grossly and criminally mismanaged, shall be swept away. Not only has it been wasteful and inefficient, but it has misappropriated the funds.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Despite a hundredfold rise in productive power, the civilised poor live worse than the Innuit
Civilisation has increased man’s producing power an hundred-fold, and through mismanagement the men of Civilisation live worse than the beasts, and have less to eat and wear and protect them from the elements than the savage Innuit in a frigid climate who lives to-day as he lived in the stone age ten thousand years ago.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Preaching temperance to the poor is useless, as their drinking is itself an effect of prior miseries
It is of no avail to preach temperance and teetotalism to these people. The drink habit may be the cause of many miseries; but it is, in turn, the effect of other and prior miseries.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
People who flee one-room slum homes for the public-house should be pitied, not blamed
Now such a room as I have described is not home but horror; and the men and women who flee away from it to the public-house are to be pitied, not blamed.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Settlement houses, missions and charities for the poor are failures and cannot be otherwise
Their college settlements, missions, charities, and what not, are failures. In the nature of things they cannot but be failures.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Where workers outnumber jobs, widespread thrift among workers would only drive wages down
In short, thrift negates thrift. If every worker in England should heed the preachers of thrift and cut expenditure in half, the condition of there being more men to work than there is work to do would swiftly cut wages in half.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
A civilisation based on property inevitably treats property crimes as worse than crimes against persons
In a civilisation frankly materialistic and based upon property, not soul, it is inevitable that property shall be exalted over soul, that crimes against property shall be considered far more serious than crimes against the person.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Whether a worker counts as inefficient is set by the demand for labour, not by the worker
It must be understood that efficiency is not determined by the workers themselves, but is determined by the demand for labour.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
The casual ward robs men by paying less for their labour than capitalist employers do
On the part of the authorities it is sheer robbery. They give the men far less for their labour than do the capitalistic employers.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
What is not good enough for you is not good enough for other men, whatever political economy says
Political economy and the survival of the fittest can go hang if they say otherwise. What is not good enough for you is not good enough for other men, and there’s no more to be said.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
If this is the best civilisation can do, savagery would be better than the machine and the Abyss
If this is the best that civilisation can do for the human, then give us howling and naked savagery. Far better to be a people of the wilderness and desert, of the cave and the squatting-place, than to be a people of the machine and the Abyss.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
England's poor toil and die so that its armed forces can be fed, clothed and armed
And that they should be well fed, well clothed, and well armed, and have ships to hurl them to the ends of the earth, the East End of London, and the “East End” of all England, toils and rots and dies.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Ghetto children have every quality for noble adulthood, but the Ghetto destroys those qualities
The children of the Ghetto possess all the qualities which make for noble manhood and womanhood; but the Ghetto itself, like an infuriated tigress turning on its young, turns upon and destroys all these qualities, blots out the light and laughter, and moulds those it does not kill into sodden and forlorn creatures, uncouth, degraded, and wretched below the beasts of the field.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
Workers' opposition to a child-labour ban shows many adults are paid less than a living wage
When 514,000 workers oppose a resolution prohibiting child-labour under fifteen, it is evident that a less-than-living wage is being paid to an immense number of the adult workers of the country.
The People of the Abyss (1903) Said c. 1902–1903
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