The root of our present evil is that we buy and sell.
Ultimately, we are all busy buying and selling one another.
It began with Judas, and goes on in the wage-system.
Men sell themselves for a wage, and employers look out for a
bargain.
And employers are bought by financiers, and financiers are sold to
the devil.
— Get thou behind me, Satan! —
That was just what Satan wanted to do,
for then nobody would have their eye on him.
And Jesus never looked round.
That is the great reproach we have against him.
He was frightened to look round
and see Satan bargaining the world away
and men, and the bread of men
behind his back
with satanically inspired financiers.
If Jesus had kept a sharp eye on Satan,
and refused to let so many things happen behind his back
we shouldn’t be where we are now.
Come, Satan, don’t go dodging behind my back any longer.
If you’ve got the goods, come forward, boy, and let’s see’em.
I’m perfectly willing to strike a decent bargain.
But I’m not having any dodging going on behind my back.
What we want is some sort of communism
not based on wages, nor profits, nor any sort of buying and selling
but on a religion of life.