A Free Society – Albert Parsons (1884)

From ‘The Alarm: A Socialistic Weekly’, “Workingmen of All Countries, Unite!”, Chicago, December 6, 1884, edited by A. R. Parsons

The change from the present method of obtaining one’s living is inevitable, because it has become a necessity. We now live under the pay system, in which if you can’t pay you can’t have. Everything has a price set upon it; earth, air, light and water all have their price. And how does it work? Let the starving multitudes answer. Love, honor, fame, ambition, all the noblest and holiest aspirations and sentiments of humanity are bartered and sold.

Everything is upon the market for sale; all is merchandise and commerce. Land, the prime necessity of existence, is held for a price, and the starving, homeless millions, perish because they cannot pay it. Food, raiment and shelter exist in super-abundance, but are withheld for the price. The productive and distributive forces of nature, united with the power and ingenuity of man are reserved for a price. And humanity perishes from disease, crime and ignorance because of its enforced, artificial poverty.

The mental, moral, intellectual and physical qualities are dwarfed, stunted and crushed, to maintain the price. This is slavery; the enslavement of man to his own powers: Ought it continue; can it continue? The change is inevitable because necessary, from the pay to the free system. Free land, air, light and water. Free access to all the productive and distributive forces will alone free the minds and bodies of men.

There are certain things which are priceless, among which is life, liberty and happiness, and these are the things which the society of the future, the free society, will guarantee to all without money and without price. Buying and selling is but another name for robbing and killing. When labor is no longer for sale, it will be forever free. The way out of the house of bondage is to no longer buy or sell.