Chapter 26: The Secret of Primitive Accumulation

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Long, long ago there were two sorts of people; one, the diligent, intelligent, and, above all, frugal elite; the other, lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living. The legend of theological original sin tells how we came to be condemned to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow; but the history of economic original sin reveals to us that there are people to whom this sweating is by no means essential. Never mind! Thus it came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort had at last nothing to sell except their own skins. And from this original sin dates the poverty of the great majority who, despite
all their labour, have nothing to sell but themselves, and the wealth of the few that increases constantly, although they have long ceased to work. Such insipid childishness is everyday preached