Humanity is only poor because the products of our labor are seized by a few owners
If all manufactures through our whole social system, the labor, the discoveries and the inventions of our ancestors profit chiefly the bourgeois few, it is none the less certain that mankind in general, aided by the the machines which it already possesses, could already procure an existence of wealth and ease for every one of its members. Truly, we are rich—far richer than we think; rich in what we already possess, and even richer in the possibilities of production of our actual mechanical capabilities; richest of all in what we might win from the soil, from our manufactures, from our science, from our technical knowledge, were they but applied to bringing about the well-being of all.
In our civilized societies we are rich. Why then are the many poor? It is because the means of production all have been seized by a few bourgeois in the course of human history. Taking advantage of alleged rights acquired in the past, these few appropriate today the majority of the products of human labor, and then squander them in the most stupid and shameful way. Having reduced the masses to a point at which they do not have the means of subsistence for a month, or even for a week in advance, the few can allow the many to work, only on the condition of themselves receiving the greater share. These few prevent the remainder of humanity from producing the things they need, and force them to produce not the necessaries of life for all, but whatever offers the greatest profits for the bourgeoisie.
References
- Kropotkin, Peter. (1892). The Conquest of Bread Chapter 1. Our riches (p. 48).