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BOLSHEVIK POLITICAL ECONOMY
69
On the other hand, the innumerable inventions of modem
times have given to men an undreamed-of mastery over
nature, and have opened out to those who can avail
themselves of such inventions possibilities of enjoyment and of
all sorts of pleasurable sensations of which humanity was
previously unaware. The improved means of
communication, the marvels of science adapted to the uses of practical,
everyday life, and the many devices which counteract the
limitations of time and space and multiply the phvsical and
intellectual powers of men—the world and all that is in it
belongs to those who are possessed of wealth. It therefore
becomes all the more imperative to satisfy the requirements
of justice inborn in men regarding an equitable, harmonious,
and beneficial distribution of wealth. Thus the problem has
a double bearing : (1) 011 the principle of justice, and (2) on
political economy.
The principle of justice involves the consideration of
merit. Personal capacity, initiative, and energy should be
adequately rewarded in order to maintain an incentive to
useful work, but to what extent in each separate case
remains to be seen. Modern life is interdependent and
interwoven with the many and various services rendered by the
one to the other. The isolated individual is like a drop of
water in a mill-stream, unable to perform any work without
the co-operation of all the other drops of water forming the
whole force of the stream itself. The association of different
factors in the production of wealth plays such a prominent
part that in forming an idea about the proper distribution
of wealth this cannot be left out of account. The formula
that riches should be enjoyed according to personal merit
does not entirely meet the case. In the present state of
culture and civilisation the individual cannot be considered
atomistically—each for himself—but must be regarded in
the light of his relationship to State and Society as a whole.
It is the fable of Menenius Agrippa all over again. Different
organs perform different functions, but each one is necessary
for bringing about the phenomenon of human life, or, from
an economic point of view, for producing wealth. Manual
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