Capitalism is not nearly as ‘efficient’ as it claims. Here, Stuart Chase looks at the immense waste, human, temporal, and natural, in capitalist production and distribution.

Waste and the Machine Age by Stuart Chase. League for Industrial Democracy, New York. 1931.

Contents: Introduction, Part I) Some Observations About Wastes and Wants, The Problem of Society, The Lesson of the War, Fuel Control, What Is Waste?, The Wants of Man, The Minimum Budget, Output of the Present System, Is There Enough to Go Around?, The Measurement of Waste, Part II) Concrete Wastes of Production and Distribution, The Waste of Idleness, Wastes in Consumption or “Illth”, Man Power Wastes in Consumption, Wastes in Production, Wastes in Distribution, Natural Resources , A Summary, And Finally, Part III) A Billion Wild Horses, Slaves and Philosophers, From James Watt to the Billion Horses, Robots and Jobs, Leaning Towers, The Drain on Natural Resources, The Two-Hour War, The Balance Sheet, Taming The Horses, Bibliography. 68 pages.

The League for Industrial Democracy (LID) was the successor to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. Founded in 1921 to provide ‘Education for a New Social Order Based on Production for Public Use and Not for Private Profit’ many of its activists were around the Socialist Party. In 1922 ‘Socialist Review’ developed into ‘Labor Age’ and Norman Thomas became director. Some of its leading members would go on to form the Conference for Progressive Labor Action in 1929 led by A.J. Muste. The LID produced a number of important pamphlets and studies through their Labor Publication Society and throughout much of the 1930s served as the base for the ‘Militant’ faction of the SP.

Access to original book: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015022736881