Pagina 246 de 2288

"You know that capital oppresses the laborer. The laborers with

us, the peasants, bear all the burden of labor, and are so placed

that however much they work they can't escape from their position

of beasts of burden. All the profits of labor, on which they

might improve their position, and gain leisure for themselves,

and after that education, all the surplus values are taken from

them by the capitalists. And society's so constituted that the

harder they work, the greater the profit of the merchants and

landowners, while they stay beasts of burden to the end. And that

state of things must be changed," he finished up, and he looked

questioningly at his brother.

"Yes, of course," said Konstantin, looking at the patch of red

that had come out on his brother's projecting cheekbones.

"And so we're founding a locksmiths' association, where all the

production and profit and the chief instruments of production

will be in common."

"Where is the association to be?" asked Konstantin Levin.