How we Live and how we Might Live

How we Live and how we Might Live

The work contrasts the present mode of life—dominated by competitive struggle and perpetual warfare in its many forms—with a vision of an alternative society organized around cooperation and shared prosperity. It argues that the term “revolution” need not imply violent upheaval but signifies a fundamental change in the basis of society. Under the current system, competition masquerades as progress while actually creating waste, fostering inequality, and enslaving both the rich and the poor. This competitive state manifests on three levels: between nations engaged in economic warfare for global markets, between capitalist enterprises that oversupply goods in a relentless scramble for profit, and between workers who are forced to compete for scarce employment opportunities. The text contends that the modern capitalist framework prioritizes profit over genuine human need, reducing labor to a mere commodity exchanged under conditions that perpetuate poverty, degradation, and a constant fear of starvation among the working class. It criticizes how profit-driven production leads to the exploitation and degradation of both producers and consumers, as well as the destruction of cultural, environmental, and aesthetic values. Large-scale exploitation not only dehumanizes workers but also robs society of the potential to enjoy leisure, art, culture, and a healthy environment. In contrast to this, the author envisions a future society where the forces of industry and technology are directed toward human welfare rather than profit. In this envisioned society, the surplus produced by labor would be used to secure conditions that allow every individual a healthy body, a vigilant mind, fulfilling work, and a beautiful environment. The work asserts that once people realize their potential when freed from the compulsion of competition, they can collaborate to create a community where every individual contributes according to their ability and receives according to their need. The transformation hinges on replacing the current system of forced competition with one of cooperative labor, where social organization is oriented toward meeting genuine human needs rather than maximizing private profit. The author emphasizes that organization among workers is essential for dismantling the power of profit monopolies, making possible an economic order that abolishes artificial scarcity and the accompanying systemic waste. This reordering would involve rethinking the roles of machinery and industrial methods, not to intensify labor but to free humans for creative and fulfilling pursuits, thus fostering a richer intellectual and cultural life. Ultimately, the text presents a critique of civilization that valorizes constant struggle and wastefulness, advocating instead for a rational reorganization of society. Such an arrangement would provide stability, genuine leisure, and the opportunity for individuals to develop both physically and mentally, thus achieving a higher quality of life wherein labor is a means of creative self-expression rather than a source of degradation and alienation.

By William Morris · First published 1884 · Genre: Political Philosophy, Utopian Literature, Social Criticism · 10,452 words

First lines

THE word Revolution, which we Socialists are so often forced to use, has a terrible sound in most people's ears, even when we have explained to them that it does not necessarily mean a change accompanied by riot and all kinds of violence, and cannot mean a change made mechanically and in the teeth of opinion by a group of men who have somehow managed to seize on the executive power for the moment. Even when we explain that we use the word revolution in its etymological sense, and mean by it a change in the basis of society, people are scared at the idea of such a vast change, and beg that you will speak of reform and not revolution. As, however, we Socialists do not at all mean by our word revolution what these worthy people mean by their word reform, I can't help thinking that it would be a mistake to use it, whatever projects we might conceal beneath its harmless envelope. So we will stick to our word, which means a change of the basis of society; it may frighten people, but it will at least warn them that there is something to be frightened about, which will be no less dangerous for being ignored; and also it may encourage some people, and will mean to them at least not a fear, but a hope.

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Tags

utopian · socialism · ideological · visionary · political critique · industrial criticism · communal living · social justice · radical thought · craftsmanship · historical context · idealism

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How we Live and how we Might Live is listed on Textopian as an essay by William Morris, dated 1884 CE.

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