Necessary Step

In an essay written in 1935, Dr. Joseph Need ham extolled the Stuart reign—especially Bishop Andrewes and his paternal opposition to enclosures—because of the misery they inflicted on the people. Speaking of Ricardo, who was attacked for lacking such a "humanitarian" criticism of capitalism, Marx said:

"The reproach moved against him, that he has an eye only to the development of productive forces regardless of 'human being' . . . strikes precisely his strong point. The development of the productive forces of social labour is the historical task and privilege of capital. It is precisely in this way that it unconsciously creates the material requirements for a higher mode of production."

If today we wanted to go back to the Middle Ages in order to avoid the suffering of the "industrial revolution," we should stand much where K.L.G. and Q.E.A. stand. They forget that if they are, as they infer-redly claim to be, Marxists, then they believe that the material advances we have made since then, though they are not yet used for the benefit of mankind will be so some day! And that they would be still in the realm of fancy but for capitalism. Charles's aristocratic monopolies and autocratically imposed taxes were impediments to the free development of capitalism in its infancy, and therefore impediments to social progress.