Existing
society, Thomas More argued, is nothing but:
[A] conspiracy
of the rich to advance their own interests under the pretext of
organising society. They think up all sorts of tricks and
dodges,
first for keeping their ill-gotten gains, and then for exploiting the
poor by buying their labour as cheaply as possible. Once the rich
have decided that these tricks and dodges shall be
officially
recognised by society - which includes the poor as well as the rich -
they acquire the force of law. Thus an unscrupulous minority is led
by its insatiable greed to monopolise what would havebeen enough to
supply the needs of the whole population. - Sir Thomas More,
1516, as quoted by David Harvey in Spaces of Hope (2000),
in the Appendix., p.279.
March 2001