Note 228 — Chapter XXI · Fundamental Laws of Socialistic Society.

A French workingman, who has returned home from San Francisco, writes: “I would have never believed that I would be able to practice all the trades that I have practiced in California. I had been firmly convinced that I was good for nothing except printing. But in the midst of these adventurers who change their trade more readily than their shirt, I did as the others. Since mining was not sufficiently remunerative, I left and moved into the city. Here I successively became typographer, slater, plumber, etc. As a result of this experience of being fit for all tasks, I feel less of a mollusc and more of a human being.” Karl Marx—Capital. Vol. I.