A correspondent asks a number of questions on matters of general interest to propagandists. Questions and answers are given below.
(1) The Working Class.
Question: "What percentage of the total population are really members of the working class?”
Answer: The working class consists of all those people who, not owning sufficient property to be able to live without working are compelled to sell their labour power, their mental and physical energies, to an employer in order to live. These and their dependents form the working class. As the definition covers not only the industrial workers, but also technical, professional, supervisory and managerial workers it will readily be seen that in an advanced capitalist country like Great Britain the working class and their dependents constitute the great majority of the population.
How large is the proportion of working class to the rest of the population can be seen from the estimate made by Dr. Bowley and Sir Josiah Stamp in “The National Income, 1924" (Published by Clarendon Press, 1927).
On page 12 they estimate that in 1924, out of 20,300,000 “occupied persons," 76 per cent. were wage earners, and 14 per cent. salary earners, total 90 per cent.; leaving 10 per cent, for the rest of the occupied persons. This 10 per cent. was made up of 6 per cent. “Independent Workers" and 4 per cent. “Employers, Farmers, and Professional." ("Independent Worker" means one-man businesses, etc.)
Carr-Saunders and Caradog Jones, in the “Social Structure of England and Wales" (Oxford University Press, 1927) reproduce the above figures (p. 63) and add the illustration that, on an average, there are about 24 employees to every employer.
Some qualifications need to be made. The above estimates refer to “occupied persons" only, and do not include children, wives, and other dependents who are not “occupied." If we assume that the average number of dependents of a wage-earner or salary-earner is roughly the same as the average number of dependents of an employer or of an “independent worker," we can say that the total population of all ages is divided in the same proportion as the occupied persons.
In other words, taking every man, woman and child in the country, 90 per cent. can be described as “working class," 6 per cent. “Independent," and 4 per cent. “farmers, employers, or professional/’ (“Professional" means doctors, barristers, free-lance journalists, etc.)
It is not known how many property owners who need not work actually do so and are reckoned among the above 90 per cent.
(2) Who Owns the Means of Production and Distribution?
The position is that the great bulk of the accumulated property of all kinds (including money) is held by a very small part of the population, either direct, or through their ownership of the shares of companies. A small proportion of shares in companies is owned by workers. There are also independent persons (owners of one-man businesses) who own a small part of the total property.
Carr-Saunders and Caradog Jones, in their “Social Structure of England and Wales," reproduce and comment on various estimates of the ownership of accumulated wealth. They use Sir Josiah Stamp’s estimates to show that in 1919—
about two-thirds of the wealth is held by just under 400.000 people (or less than 1 per cent. of the total population) and one-third of the wealth by 36,000 people (or less than 1 in 1,000 of the total population). (P. 114.)
Taking “occupied persons" instead of the total population, Sir Josiah Stamp’s calculations show that—
about 2½ per cent. of occupied persons over 20 hold about two-thirds of the wealth, and about 2½ in 1,000 hold one-third of the wealth, (p. 114.)
They quote Professor Henry Clay that—
64 per cent., or rather less than two-thirds of the wealth is in the hands of 1.7 per cent. of persons holding property.
These people (“1.7 per cent. of the persons holding property") represent only 0.85 of the whole population (p. 116).
According to Clay, at the other end of the scale—
96.2 per cent. of persons have only 17.22 per cent, of the national capital, (p. 116.)
Sir Leo Chiozza Money showed before the War, in his “Riches and Poverty" (Third edition, p. 72), that—
about one-seventieth of the population owns far more than one-half of the entire accumulated wealth, public or private, of the United Kingdom.
Mr. Hargreaves Parkinson, of “The Economist," in his “The Small Investor" (Blackie aqd Son, Ltd., 1930), shows that the total accumulated resources of “small investors" amount to only about 10 per cent. to 14 per cent. of the total wealth of the country. Under “small investors" he includes the owners of all kinds of savings, including Post Office savings deposits, Trade Union Thrift Funds, Co-operative Society Funds, etc. These “small investors," he says, represent at least 75 per cent. of the total population (p. 110).
In other words, according to Mr. Parkinson, more than three-quarters of the population own only about one-eighth of the wealth. The other seven-eighths is owned by less than one quarter of the population.
(3) What Percentage of all Wealth is Owned by Banks and Insurance Companies ?
We have no means of ascertaining easily what is the total value of all the property owned by Banks and Insurance Companies.
It must, of course, be remembered that the property of the Banks and Insurance Companies is actually the property of the shareholders, depositors and insured persons, and is, therefore, already reckoned in the estimates given in reply to question (2).
(4) The Workers' Wages.
“ What is the average wage of the workers in Great Britain?"
Colin Clark, M.A., in “The National Income (1924-1931)," states that Bowley and Stamp estimated the average earnings of 12 million wage-earners in 1924 at £122, while Clark himself estimated £116 ("The National Income," published by McMillan, 1932, p. 61).
These amounts are equivalent to about 46s. and 45s. a week. They do not allow for deductions for sickness and holidays.
Since 1924 wages have fallen appreciably; according to Dr. Bowley by 3 per cent. up to 1931. This would make the average wage now about 44s.
(5) Unemployment and the Poor Law.
“ What percentage of the population is unemployed and in receipt of public assistance?"
On May 22nd, 1933, the total number of unemployed on the Registers of Employment Exchanges in Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 2,653,852. (See “Labour Gazette," June, p. 207.)
This represented 20.5 per cent. (one in five) of the insured workers.
It represented nearly 6 per cent. of the total population. (There are, of course, an unknown number of unemployed who are not insured and not registered. )
The number of persons in receipt of poor relief in England and Wales (both outdoor relief and relief in institutions) was 1,340,638 at the end of December, 1932.
This represented about 3.3 per cent. of the total population of England and Wales. (See “Labour Gazette," March, 1933, p. 84.)
It includes, of course, a large number of persons registered at the Employment Exchanges as unemployed. With their dependents these number nearly 400,000.
(6) Who are the Buyers of Shares ?
“ Who are the institutions of people who buy or oversubscribe the usual large issues of shares ?"
Except by having inside knowledge of the subscriptions to particular issues of shares it is not possible to have direct information which would answer this question.
A general indication of the position, however, is given by Mr. Hargreaves Parkinson in “The Small Investor." He estimates' that small investors (who, with their dependents, represent over three-quarters of the population) own shares totalling between £500 millions and £750 millions, and that they buy shares in normal times at the rate of between £20 millions and £40 millions a year.
Divided over the whole number of persons these amounts are trifling.
How small they are can be seen by comparing them with the total holdings of shares, and with the total amount of new shares bought each year by the big investors.
"The Bankers' Magazine" keeps an index of the average price of 365 representative securities. These 365, which represent only part of the total number of securities quoted on the Stock Exchange, had a total market price in June of £6,249 millions, i.e., about ten times as much as the total shareholdings of the “small investors.”
The “Stock Exchange Official Intelligence (1931)" states that at the end of 1929 there were 108,698 companies having share capital totalling £5,200 millions (p. 2023).
Whereas the “small investors," according to Mr. Parkinson, buy shares worth only £20 to £40 millions a year, the total amount of capital of new companies registered in 1928 and 1929 was £237 millions and £240 millions (“Intelligence,” p. 2023).
The bulk of the shares are bought and held by Banks, Insurance Companies, trading and industrial concerns, investment trusts, etc., and by wealthy individuals.
(7) Wages and Wealth Production.
“ What percentage of the wealth produced by the workers is returned to them as wages?"
Colin Clark, M.A., in his "The National Income, 1924-1931," estimated that in 1929 the wage-earners received 39.9 per cent, of the total national income (excluding income from abroad, i.e., from foreign investments, etc.).
Salary earners received 22.5 per cent. Rent of land and buildings accounted for 7.8 per cent., and profit and interest accounted for 29.7 per cent. (p. 72).
In other words, the wage and salary earners, who represent nine-tenths of the population, received just over three-fifths of the total national income.
The wage-earners, who represent three-quarters of the population, received only two-fifths.
These figures relate to the whole number of wage earners, irrespective of whether they are engaged in wealth production or whether they are engaged in financial, trading, and other activities.
Taking Manufacturing and Mining Industries only, the Committee on Finance Industry (MacMillan Committee) in its Report (1931) published tables showing that earnings represent just over one-half of the wealth produced in those industries. (52 per cent. in 1906-7 and 55 per cent. in 1924.) (See p. 313.)
In 1924 the average net product per person employed was £220, while average earnings was £120. This means that each person employed was producing a surplus of £100 a year, over and above his own pay and after meeting all the raw material and other costs.
(8) Wealth and Waste.
“ What percentage of workers are engaged in luxury or useless or redundant occupations?"
An attempt to estimate this percentage is made in our pamphlet, “Socialism," to which our correspondent is referred.
(9) The Churches and Property.
“What percentage of all wealth is owned by religious organisations?"
We have no information on this subject.
(10) The Cost of the Armed Forces, etc.
“What percentage of the total income is devoted to the upkeep of army, navy and police?"
The cost of Police pay in 1931 was about £15,600,000. (See Report of Committee of National Expenditure, 1931, p. 42.)
The Army, Navy and Air Estimates for 1932-33 amounted to about £104 millions.
Taking the two figures together, we have a grand total of £120 millions.
Colin Clark estimated the total national income in 1931 at £3,322 millions. Therefore, the cost of the army, navy, air force and police represents about 4 per cent. of the total national income.
Edgar Hardcastle
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