In his 1900 novel, Love and Mrs. Lewisham, H. G. Wells describes a debate between an educated young socialist whippersnapper and his uncle, a plumber:

His uncle’s controversial methods were coarse in the extreme. Socialists, he said, were thieves. The object of Socialism was to take away what a man earned and give it to ‘a lot of lazy scoundrels.’ Also rich people were necessary. ‘If there weren’t well-off people, how d’ye think I’d get a livin’? Hey? And where’d you be then?’ Socialism, his uncle assured him was ‘got up’ by agitators. ‘They get money out of young Gabies like you, and they spend it in champagne.’ And thereafter he met Mr. Lewisham’s arguments with the word ‘Champagne’ uttered in an irritating voice, followed by a luscious pantomime of drinking.