A71 Appeal to tJic Young. II 



and, after many experiments, many sleepless nights, 

 you are at length master of this valuable discovery. 

 You make use of it, and the result surpasses your 

 expectations. Ten, twenty thousand "hands" are 

 thrown out upon the streets ! Those who remain, 

 most of them children, will be reduced to mere ma- 

 chines ! Three, four, ten masters will make their 

 fortunes and will drink deep on the strength of it. . . . 

 Is this your dream ? 



Finally, you study recent industrial advances, and 

 you see that the seamstress has gained nothing, abso- 

 lutely nothing, by the invention of the sewing ma- 

 chine; that the laborer in the St. Gothard tunnel 

 dies of anchylosis, notwithstanding diamond drills ; 

 that the mason and the day laborer are out of work 

 just as before at the foot of the Giffard lifts. If you 

 discuss social problems with the same independence 

 of spirit which has guided you in your mechanical 

 investigations, you necessarily come to the conclusion 

 that under the domination of private property and 

 wage-slavery, every new invention, far from increas- 

 ing the well-being of the w^orker, only makes his 

 slavery heavier, his labor more degrading, the periods 

 of slack work more frequent, the crisis sharper, and 

 that the man who already has every conceivable 

 pleasure for himself is the only one who profits by it. 



What will you do when you have once come to this 

 conclusion ? Either you will begin by silencing your 

 conscience by sophisms ; then one fine day you will 

 bid farewell to the honest dreams of your youth and 

 you will try to obtain, for yourself, what commands 

 pleasure and enjoyment — you will then go over to 

 the camp of the exploiters. Or if you have a tender 

 heart you will say to yourself, " No, this is not the 

 time for inventions. Let us work first to transform 

 the domain of production. When private property 

 is put an end to, then each new advance in industry 

 will be made for the benefit of all mankind ; and this 



