--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So long as we have wage slavery,\"…" description: "\"“So long as we have wage slavery,\" answered Schliemann, \"it matters not in the least how debasing and repulsive a task may be, it is easy to find peopl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08c/upton-sinclair-4341_human-existence_so-long-as-we-have-wage-slavery-answered_2898460.png" --- # So long as we have wage slavery," answered Schliemann, "it… ![“So long as we have wage slavery," answered Schliemann, "it matters not in the least how debasing and repulsive a task may be, it is easy to find people to perform it. But just as soon as labor is set free, then the price of such work will begin to rise. So one by one the old, dingy, and unsanitary…” quote by Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08c/upton-sinclair-4341_human-existence_so-long-as-we-have-wage-slavery-answered_2898460.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08c/upton-sinclair-4341_human-existence_so-long-as-we-have-wage-slavery-answered_2898460.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08c/upton-sinclair-4341_human-existence_so-long-as-we-have-wage-slavery-answered_2898460.png) > ““So long as we have wage slavery," answered Schliemann, "it matters not in the least how debasing and repulsive a task may be, it is easy to find people to perform it. But just as soon as labor is set free, then the price of such work will begin to rise. So one by one the old, dingy, and unsanitary factories will come down— it will be cheaper to build new; and so the steamships will be provided with stoking machinery , and so the dangerous trades will be made safe, or substitutes will be found for their products. In exactly the same way, as the citizens of our Industrial Republic become refined, year by year the cost of slaughterhouse products will increase; until eventually those who want to eat meat will have to do their own killing— and how long do you think the custom would survive then?— To go on to another item— one of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption; and one of the consequences of civic administration by ignorant and vicious politicians, is that preventable diseases kill off half our population. And even if science were allowed to try, it could do little, because the majority of human beings are not yet human beings at all, but simply machines for the creating of wealth for others. They are penned up in filthy houses and left to rot and stew in misery, and the conditions of their life make them ill faster than all the doctors in the world could heal them; and so, of course, they remain as centers of contagion , poisoning the lives of all of us, and making happiness impossible for even the most selfish. For this reason I would seriously maintain that all the medical and surgical discoveries that science can make in the future will be of less importance than the application of the knowledge we already possess, when the disinherited of the earth have established their right to a human existence.”” [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When workers are forced into exploitative labor, they accept degrading jobs; freeing labor raises costs, prompting safer conditions and societal reforms, but systemic inequality persists without political change. **In simple terms:** Wage slavery leads to demeaning work; freedom raises costs and improves safety, yet inequality remains. Key Takeaway Address labor exploitation and demand political reform. Themes labor exploitation economic inequality industrialization public health political corruption Mood critical hopeful Type sociopolitical motivational When to use this quote - workers' rights movements - policy advocacy - public health reforms - education campaigns Key Concepts capitalism social justice public health human rights Questions to Reflect On - How can societies ensure fair wages while maintaining economic growth? - What role does political accountability play in improving public health? A Different Perspective Progress can be slowed by entrenched interests and resistance to change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Human existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-existence/) [Political corruption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-corruption/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) ## Related quotes > [One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-necessary-accompaniments-of-capitalism-in-a-democracy-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the earth were it not for misgovernment and a diversion of his energies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/how-soon-the-labor-of-men-would-make-a-paradise-of-the-earth-were-it/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“If capital is privately controlled, then people are going to have to rent themselves in order to survive. 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We have to think about the wage slavery of migrant workers and salary slavery of those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/monsanto-doesn-t-care-about-feeding-the-world-we-have-to-think-about/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“The struggle against slavery went on forever, the struggle for women's rights has been going on for centuries, the effort to overcome"wage slavery"—that's been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-struggle-against-slavery-went-on-forever-the-struggle-for-women-s/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“Laziness can be a value on its own for those who want to show supremacy through contempt for work and wish to be free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/laziness-can-be-a-value-on-its-own-for-those-who-want-to-show/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [All official and liberal science defends wage-slavery, whereas Marxism has declared relentless war on that slavery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-official-and-liberal-science-defends-wage-slavery-whereas-marxism/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The American people deserve integrity in our institutions, not political corruption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-paulina-luna/the-american-people-deserve-integrity-in-our-institutions-not/) [Anna Paulina Luna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-paulina-luna/) > [“Then there was Buddha meddling in, telling all of the Hindu, Hebrew, Christian and Islamic gods and demons that they were nothing more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-james-pritchard/then-there-was-buddha-meddling-in-telling-all-of-the-hindu-hebrew/) [Andrew James Pritchard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-james-pritchard/) > [Political corruption is endemic all over this country, in some places worse than others, right? 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So America was a place of which lovers and young people dreamed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/in-that-country-rich-or-poor-a-man-was-free-so-america-was-a-place-of/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [“Study and think and improve your mind, and keep it clear of all this fog of hatred and propaganda”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/study-and-think-and-improve-your-mind-and-keep-it-clear-of-all-this/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/the-private-control-of-credit-is-the-modern-form-of-slavery/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [“When one comes to the ultra-modern profession of advertising," responded Schliemann—"the science of persuading people to buy what they do not want—he is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/when-one-comes-to-the-ultra-modern-profession-of-advertising/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) [Explore all 112 Upton Sinclair quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) ## More Human existence quotes > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [“No revelation can be other than partial. 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But just as soon as labor is set free, then the price of such work will begin to rise. So one by one the old, dingy, and unsanitary factories will come down— it will be cheaper to build new; and so the steamships will be provided with stoking machinery , and so the dangerous trades will be made safe, or substitutes will be found for their products. In exactly the same way, as the citizens of our Industrial Republic become refined, year by year the cost of slaughterhouse products will increase; until eventually those who want to eat meat will have to do their own killing— and how long do you think the custom would survive then?— To go on to another item— one of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption; and one of the consequences of civic administration by ignorant and vicious politicians, is that preventable diseases kill off half our population. And even if science were allowed to try, it could do little, because the majority of human beings are not yet human beings at all, but simply machines for the creating of wealth for others. They are penned up in filthy houses and left to rot and stew in misery, and the conditions of their life make them ill faster than all the doctors in the world could heal them; and so, of course, they remain as centers of contagion , poisoning the lives of all of us, and making happiness impossible for even the most selfish. 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