A draft for Slavery of our Time. 1899-1900

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910)
A draft for Slavery of our Time. 1899-1900
Partly autograph manuscript, a section of Slavery of our Time, n.p., n.d. [1899-1900].

In Russian. One page, 225 x 182mm, the text principally in the hand of Tolstoy's daughter Tatiana, revised in Tolstoy's autograph with a number of cancellations and four insertions comprising approximately 35 words, foliated '42'; [with] an early translation into German of the page. Provenance: Stargardt, 25 March 2014, lot 363.

A draft for Slavery of our Time. The passage comes from chapter VI (of XV), 'The failure of the socialist ideal'.

'... that free men would, without compulsion, continue to produce them. There is no doubt that Krupp, with the present division of labour, makes admirable cannons very quickly and artfully; N. M. very quickly and artfully produces silk materials; X, Y, and Z. produce toilet-scents, powder to preserve the complexion, or glazed packs of cards, and K. produces whiskyy of choice flavour, etc.; and, no doubt, both for those who want these articles and for the owners of the factories in which they are made it is very advantageous. But cannons and scents and whisky are wanted by those who wish to obtain control of the Chinese market, or who like to get drunk, or are concerned about their complexions; but there will be some who consider the production of these articles harmful. And there will always be people who consider that besides these articles, exhibitions, academies, beer and beef are unnecessary and even harmful. How are these people to be made to participate in the production of such articles? / But even if a means could be found to get all to agree to produce certain articles (though there is no such means, and can be none, except coercion), who, in a free society, without capitalistic production, competition, and its law of supply and demand, will decide which articles are to have the preference?' (Tr. by Aylmer Maude).

As recounted in the first chapter, Tolstoy's immediate stimulus for writing Slavery of our Time was a conversation with a goods porter on the Moscow-Kazan railway, who revealed that he had worked for 37 consecutive hours. The resulting treatise is an outraged indictment of modern economic practices, concluding with the ringing question 'What should each man do?'. Publication was initially planned for the Northern Courier, but this was cancelled because of likely state sanctions, and instead it was first published in an English translation by Aylmer Maude in 1900.

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