HX 39 I? 189fc 
 
 MNIVIRSIIV OK CALirORNIA SAN DICCO 
 
 Imwwi— *i— — w iiiiiiiii 
 
 3 1822 01053 4055 
 
 Socialism of To - day 
 
 EMILE DE LAVELEYE 
 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 
 
 GODDARD a ORPEN
 
 ^ 

 
 NIVCRSI'V or tAlirORNIA SAN DIM 
 
 3 1822 01053 4055' JL 
 
 tJ^ 53^ 
 
 ■\ 'f
 
 THE 
 
 Socialism of To-day. 
 
 EMILEaDE laveleye, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF BELGILM, ETC., ETC, 
 
 Translated into English by 
 
 GODDARD H. ORPEN, 
 
 BARRI.STER-AT-LAW. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND 
 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 Hontfon : 
 
 FIELD AND TUER, THE LEADENHALL PRESS, E.G. 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO. ; HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO. 
 
 1686.
 
 FIELD & TUER, 
 
 THE LEADENHALL PRESS, E. C. 
 
 (T. 4183)
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Translator's Preface (ix.) 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF SOCIALISM, 
 
 Ubiquity of Socialism (xiii.) — What is Socialism? (xiv.)— Causes of the 
 origin and growth of Socialism (xv.) — Christianity and Socialism (xvi.) 
 — Socialistic utterances of the Fathers of the Church (xviii.) — Darwin- 
 ism the logical antithesis of both Christianity and Socialism (xix.) — 
 How religious Socialism became political (xx.) — The French Revolution 
 and social equality (xxi.) — Changes in the methods of production (xxii.) 
 — Mediceval craftsmen and modern factory-hands (xxv.) — Mediaeval 
 society stationary but stable (xxvii.) — Competition the cause at once of 
 progress and instability (xxviii.) — " The iron law of wages" (xxix. ) — 
 Internationalism (xxx.) — Summary of the situation created by economic 
 progress (xxxi. ) — Macaulay's prophecy (xxxii.) — Effect of the decay of 
 religious faith (xxxiii. ) — Political Economy, the arsenal of Socialism 
 (xxxiv. ) — Socialism gaining ground with the upper classes (xxxv.) — and 
 promoted by Militarism (xxxvi. ) — The true and the false in Socialism 
 (xxxvii.) — The demands of Socialism (xxxix.) — Effect of Socialism on 
 Political Economy (xlii. ) — Fundamental errors of Socialists (xliii. ) 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM IN GERMANY. 
 
 Coercive measures against Socialists (i) — Two Socialistic Associations 
 formed in Germany (2) — The Congress of Gotha, 1872, and its pro- 
 gramme (3) — Wide diffusion of Socialism in Germany (4).
 
 iv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FORERUNNERS : FICHTE AND MARLO. 
 
 Recent origin of Socialism in Germany (6) — Socialistic views of Fichte (7) 
 — The writings of Weitling (8) — Professor Winkelblech (Mario) : his 
 conversion to Socialism (9) — His contrast of the Pagan and the Chris- 
 tian principle in Political Economy (11) — His theory of property (ii) 
 — His views on the population question (12) — Diffusion of comfort the 
 best preventive of over-population (13). 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RODBERTUS-JAGETZOW. 
 
 General character of German Socialists (14) — Rodbertus, " the Ricardo of 
 Socialism" (15) — His theory of wages (16) — and of rent {17) — His 
 project of a system of exchange (18). 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KARL MARX. 
 
 Das Kapital: its faulty method (20) — Biographical facts concerning 
 Marx (21) — His writings (22) — His aim, to prove capital the result 
 of spoliation (23) — His theory of value (24) — The measure of value 
 {26) — His account of the origin of capital (27) — The capitalist's 
 methods of increasing profits (30) — " Surplus Value," the materializa- 
 tion of unpaid labour (31) — Maurice Block's attempted refutation (32) 
 — Fundamental error of Marx (34) — Value really springs from Utility 
 (35) — True theory of the value of labour (37) — Error of Marx as 
 to machines (38) — German and French Socialists contrasted (39)— 
 Superiority of Christianity as a factor of social reform (40). 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
 
 Lassalle, the " Messiah of Socialism" (42) — His early years (43)— Heine's 
 estimate of Lassalle (44) — The Countess of Hatzfeld's law-suit (45) — • 
 The insurrection at Dusseldorf, 1848 (46) — Lassalle's political views 
 (47) — His juridical and political writings (48) — Lassalle and Schulze- 
 Delitzsch (49) — Lassalle's project of marriage (51) — His tragic death 
 (53) — His theories : the " iron law of wages " (54) — How far true (57) 
 — Economic laws differ from cosmic laws (59) — Is it want or plenty 
 that tends to increase population ? (60) — Lassalle's views regarding 
 the antagonism between capitalists and labourers (62) — His remedy : 
 State-aided co-operation (64) — Bismarck's connection with Lassalle
 
 CONTENTS. V 
 
 (67) — Difficulties in the way of co-operative production (68) — Work- 
 ing men's Congress in Paris, 1876, and co-operation (71) Conditions 
 of successful co-operation (74) — Lassalle's views as to the ulterior 
 transformation of society {75)— Lassalle and Marx contrasted {78)— 
 Essential weakness of Lassalle's proposals (79). 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 
 
 Einseitigkeit (81) — The Conservative Socialist, the Economist, and the 
 Democratic Socialist (82) — Germany the typical ground of the war 
 between classes (83) — Rodbertus contrasted with Lassalle (84) — Pre- 
 sident von Gerlach and the Zunftreaction (85) — Professor Huber and 
 Councillor Wagener (87) — Prince Bismarck a type of the Conservative 
 Socialist (89) — His relations with the Katheder-Socialisten (91) — Views 
 of Rudolf Meyer, the most learned of Conservative Socialists (93) — 
 Aristotle and Montesquieu on the evils of inequality (94) — For whom 
 does machinery create leisure? (95) — Impracticable proposals of Con- 
 servative Socialists (96). 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. 
 
 Herr Stocker and the two associations founded by him (97) — Programme 
 of the party (99) — A Socialist Monarchy (loi) — Prussia, a soil suited 
 to State Socialism (103) — Proposed revival of trade-corporations (104) 
 — Herr Stocker's views as to the duty of the Protestant Church (106) 
 — ^Johann Most's attacks on the clergy (107) — Massenaustritt aus der 
 Landskirche (108) — The Evangelical Socialists and the Anti-Socialist 
 Bill (109) — PI err Todt's book: "Radical German Socialism and 
 Christian Society" (no) — M. Laurent and school-saving (113) — 
 Christianity, a living force (115). 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 
 
 The Red and the Black International (116) — Militant Catholics in France 
 (117) — Is the Gospel an authority for Socialism? (118) — Scientific 
 Materialism and Christianity (120) — Bishop Ketteler's Book : " The 
 Labour Question and Christianity" (121) — His sympathy with Lassalle 
 (122) — The theory of the " Labour-Commodity " (123) — Why dema- 
 gogues preach Atheistic Materialism (125) — Bishop Ketteler's remedy 
 (126) — Canon Moufang's electoral address, 1871 ; programme of Catho- 
 lico-Socialist reforms (129) — Die Christlich-sociale Blaetter (132) — In-
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 fluence of the Ultramontane Socialists (133) — The Catholic working 
 men's clubs (134) — Kolping's Vcreine (137) — Assembly of German 
 Catholics at Mayence, 1871 (139) — Relations of the Catholic Socialists 
 with the Social Democrats (140) — Associations due to Catholic Socialism 
 (141) — Double object of the movement (143) — The scarlet-coloured 
 beast of the Apocalypse (144). 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 
 
 Facts which gave rise to the International (146)— Communist Manifesto of 
 1847 (148) — Visit of French working men to the London Exhibition 
 of 1862 (149) — Foundation of the International, 1864 (150) — Its 
 Manifesto (151) — First Congress at Geneva, 1866(153) — Constitution 
 of the International (154)— The International begins to make its power 
 felt (155) — Congress at Lausanne, 1867 (156) — Congress at Brussels, 
 1868 (158)— Collectivism {161)— What is the Collectivity ? (164)— The 
 Slavic zadniga (165) — How the International gained adherents (166) 
 — Congress at Bale, 1869 (168) — Autonomous Co-operative Associations 
 (170) — Abolition of hereditary succession (171) — Bakunin appears on 
 the scene (172) — Spread of the International in 1870 (173) — Protests 
 against the Franco-Prussian war (174) — The International and the 
 Paris Commune (176) — Conference in London, 1871 (179) — The schism 
 in the International and the Congress at the Hague, 1872 (180) — Two 
 Internationals face to face, 1873 (182) — General Assembly of the 
 Autonomists at Brussels, 1874 (184) — Congress at Berne, 1876 (185) — 
 Congress at Ghent, 1877 (187) — Causes of the decline of the Inter- 
 national (189). 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 
 
 Amorphism (192) — Cosmical and social Palingenesis (193) — Biographical 
 sketch of Bakunin (196) — Foundation of " the Alliance of the Socialist 
 Democracy" (198)— Bakunin and the Commune (199) — Constitution 
 of the Alliance (200) — Its programme (201) — " Holy and wholesome 
 ignorance" (203) — "Pan-destruction" (204) — The Revolutionary 
 Catechism (205) — Netchaieff (206) — The assassination of Ivanofif (207) 
 — Romanoff, Pugatcheff, or Pestel? (208) — Influence of the International 
 in England (209) — in America (212) — in the Scandinavian countries 
 (213) — in Switzerland (216) — in Belgium (218) — in Holland (220) — in 
 Austria (220) — in Hungary (221) — in Italy (221) — "The Social Revo- 
 lution " at San Lupo (222) — Lady Internationalists (224) — Mazzini and
 
 CONTENTS. VU 
 
 the International (225) — Garibaldi and the Commune : Bakunin and 
 Italy (226) — The Socialistic press in Italy (228) — Socialistic manifestoes 
 (229) — Authoritarian Collectivists and Revolutionary Anarchists (230) 
 — The International in Spain (231) — Influence of Bakunin in Spain 
 (233) — The Insurrection of Carthagena, 1873 (235) — La Mano Nera 
 (236) — The International in Portugal (239) — Force no remedy (240) 
 — The sources of Nihilistic Socialism: the Hegelians (241) — Herzen 
 (242) — Russian Nihilism distinguished from Western Anarchism (243). 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 
 
 Different forms of Collectivism (244) — Colins, the Belgian CoUectivist : 
 sketch of his life {245) — His philosophical (246) — economical {247) 
 and historical views (249) — His idea of the definitive organization of 
 society (250) — Fran9ois Huet (253) — His views of social organiza- 
 tion : "the right to patrimony" (254) — Henry George: his "Pro- 
 gress and Poverty " (226) — Universal Collectivism: Schaeffle's "Quint- 
 essence of Socialism " {260) — Three Socialist groups in France (263) 
 — The programme of the Possibilists (264). 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 
 
 Are the Katheder-Socialisten really Socialists? (265) — Their statement of 
 the orthodox Economy (266) — and criticism thereof (267) — Their view 
 of the functions of the State (269) — The social question a question 
 of distribution (270) — Ethical side of Political Economy (271) — The 
 Old Economists contrasted with the New (272) — The Congress of 
 Economists in Germany (273) — Forerunners of the new school (275) 
 — First Congress of the new school at Eisenach, 1872 : Professor 
 Schmoller's address (276) — " The Association for Social Politics " 
 (277) — Recent writings by the New Economists (278) — Professor Wag- 
 ner's theory of economic development (279) — Property not an immutable 
 right (280) — The opinions of the New Economists not uniform (281) 
 — Professor Nasse's summary of the work of the new school (282) — 
 Its future (283). 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Three Socialistic movements in England (287) — Land Nationalization : 
 J. S. Mill's proposal (288) — Henry George : biographical sketch (289) 
 His statement of the social problem (291) — His answer (292) — His
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 critics (293) — Mr. Wallace's proposals (294) — His views as to com- 
 pensation (295) — "The right to choose a home" (296) — The Land 
 Nationalization Society (297) — The Land Restoration Leagues of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland (298) — Prospects of the movement 
 (299) — Christian Socialism : Maurice and Kingsley (300) — How 
 they differed from the Socialists of to-day (301) — Their connection 
 with the co-operative movement (302) — The Guild of St. Matthew 
 (303) — The Church and Socialism (304) — The Bible and Socialism 
 (305) — Political Economy and Christian Socialism (306) — " Socialism 
 by Taxation " (307) — The dwellings of the poor (308) — Government 
 workshops (309) — The Social Democratic Federation (311) — 
 Mr. Hyndman's book: "The Historical Basis of Socialism in Eng- 
 land" (312) — The theory of value (313) —Surplus value (314) — 
 Machines (315) — The Manifesto of the Social Democrats (317)— No 
 compensation (318) — The Collectivist State (321) — Revolution a con- 
 dition precedent (323) — Social Reformers (325) — The co-operative 
 movement (327) — Profit-sharing (329) — Socialism by evolution (331).
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 No apology is needed for bringing before English readers a   ^, - 
 translation of a work by so eminent a writer and so profound ■-■ ^'^^ 
 a thinker as M. de Laveleye, upon so important a question of 
 the day as Socialism. The term Socialist is an exceedingly 
 elastic one. It has been used to include a revolutionary 
 anarchist, like Bakunin, who seeks to destroy, by any and 
 every means, all States and all institutions, and to eradicate 
 utterly the very idea of authority, as well as a constructive 
 statesman of the conservative type, like Prince Bismarck, 
 whose aim is to concentrate much power and many functions 
 in the hands of a paternal government. There are Tory and 
 Radical Socialists, State and Communal Socialists, Christian 
 and Atheist Socialists, Socialists who are Collectivists, Com- 
 munists, or Anarchists, Socialists of the Chair, and " Socialists :; 
 of the Pothouse." Other shades and subdivisions might ' 
 easily be added, but under one or other of its numerous forms, 
 Socialism is daily gaining fresh adherents in almost all civilized 
 coiintries. The recruits of even the more extreme sections 
 are, moreover, no longer confined to the ranks of the unedu- 
 cated or the non-propertied classes. Even in England, among 
 persons whom it would be misleading to call Socialists, there 
 is an increasing dissatisfaction with our present industrial 
 system, a growing feeling that the old principle of laissez faire
 
 X TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 has in some cases been pushed too far, and that the conflict of 
 individual self-interests cannot always be relied upon to produce 
 the welfare of the whole. These ideas are more in the nature 
 of a feeling or sentiment than of a reasoned conviction. A 
 critical survey of the socialistic thought of Europe, such as 
 M. de Laveleye has made, is certainly well calculated to assist 
 the formation of a rational judgment. 
 
 There are, however, Socialists of several types in England 
 too, and, accordingly, I have ventured to add to M. de 
 Laveleye's account of European Socialism, a chapter on con- 
 temporary Socialism in England. In this chapter I have 
 endeavoured to give a faithful account of the three main 
 socialistic movements at present stirring amongst us, viz. the 
 movement for the Nationalization of the Land, which has taken 
 more forms than one, but which is mainly associated with the 
 name of Henry George ; the Christian Socialist movement, of 
 which the Guild of St. Matthew, marching far beyond the 
 position taken up by Maurice and Kingsley, represents the 
 van ; and the thorough-going Collectivist agitation of the 
 Social Democratic Federation, which aims at the complete 
 overthrow of the existing social, economical, and political order, 
 and the concentration of the land, and all the instruments of 
 production of the country in the hands of a democratic State. 
 These movements may as yet be small in comparison with 
 some of those on the continent described by M. de Laveleye ; 
 nevertheless, as a German writer, speaking of another matter, 
 once said, " Sirius may be larger than the Sun, but he does not 
 ripen our grapes," and in the same way to English readers, an 
 account of what is going on, perhaps without their knowing it, 
 in their midst, comparatively slight as the movements may be, 
 ought to be of some interest. 
 
 The time is indeed at hand when England, as well as other 
 democracies, if she is in any way to control her destinies, must 
 make up her mind not only as to the true goal of social 

 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. XI 
 
 organization to be kept in view, but also as to the best and 
 surest way of reaching that goal ; and every citizen who cares 
 for the'good of his fellow-men, who wishes to form an intelligent 
 opinion on the political proposals of the day, who desires to 
 exercise, in however humble a way, a wholesome influence on 
 the social development of his country, should endeavour to 
 understand at least the bearings of the problem. Beside this 
 problem, all questions touching the extension of the Franchise, 
 the abolition of the House of Lords, or even the reformation 
 of the House of Commons, sink into insignificance. The 
 decision of these latter points will merely answer the question, 
 what sort of servants shall the nation employ? The more 
 fundamental questions are : what sort of duties shall the nation 
 entrust to its servants? what sort of commands shall the 
 nation give ? 
 
 GODDARD H. ORPEN. 
 
 I, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF SOCIALISM. 
 
 WHEN Louis Reybaud, in 1853, wrote the article in the 
 Dictionttaire de V Economic Politique on '■'■ Socialism " 
 — a term to which he first gave currency — he believed that we 
 had heard the last of the disordered hallucinations of Socialists. 
 "Socialism is dead," he exclaimed; "to speak of it is to pro-'; 
 nounce its funeral oration." This was, in fact, the general 
 opinion some years ago. Systems of Socialism were then 
 studied only as curious examples of the aberrations of the 
 human mind. 
 
 To-day we have fallen into the opposite extreme : we see| 
 Socialism everywhere. The red spectre haunts our imagina-; 
 tions, and we fancy ourselves on the eve of a social cataclysm. 
 What is certain is, that Socialism has recently spread, under 
 various forms, to an extraordinary extent. In its violent form, 
 it is taking possession of the minds of almost all mining and 
 manufacturing operatives, and at this very moment it is 
 beginning to invade the rural districts. The agrarian move- 
 ment which lately agitated Ireland, which has just been 
 suppressed in Andalusia, and which is brcAving in other places, 
 is plainly inspired by socialistic ideas. In scientific garb, • 
 Socialism is transforming political economy and iLOCcupying;; 
 the greater number of professorial chairs in Germany and 
 Italy. Under the form of State Socialism, it sits in the 
 council-chamber of sovereigns ; and finally, under a Christian 
 form, it is making its influence felt in the hearts of the Catholic 
 clergy, and still more in the hearts of the ministers of the 
 different Protestant denominations. 
 
 b
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the debate which took place on the 23rd May,' 1878, 
 in the German ParUament, when the Anti-Sociahst Bill was 
 introduced by the Imperial Government, Deputy Joerg, one 
 of the most distinguished orators of Catholic Germany, very 
 justly said, " A movement almost imperceptible at its outset 
 has spread with unprecedented rapidity. This extraordinary 
 development of Socialism can only be accounted for by con- 
 sidering it as the consequence of the profound modifications 
 which have taken place in economic and social conditions. 
 Yes, modern civilization has its dark side, and that dark side 
 is~'Socralism. It will not disappear so long as civilization 
 continues to be what it now is. Socialism is not a plague 
 \ peculiar to Germany. It has taken up its head-quarters here, 
 ( and has received in our country its philosophical and scientific 
 education, but it is to be met with everywhere, it is a universal 
 evil." England alone seemed to be free from it ; but the extra- 
 ordinary success which has attended the schemes for the 
 nationalization of the land, and the publications of Mr. Henry 
 George and Mr. A. R. Wallace, prove that this immunity is a 
 thing of the past. 
 
 What is Socialism ? I have never met with either a clear 
 definition or even precise description of the word. Every one 
 is a Socialist in somebody's eyes. Since his agrarian legislation 
 for Ireland, Mr. Gladstone is considered by the Irish Con- 
 servatives as a Socialist of the worst type. Prince Bismarck, 
 . the friend of Lassalle and Schsefifle, the author of the terrible 
 I proposal for establishing, by means of the tobacco monopoly, 
 ' a superannuation fund for invalid workmen, can hardly defend 
 himself from the charge of being a Socialist; and, for the matter 
 of that, he readily avows that he is one. The statesmen in 
 France, who recently wished all the railways to be taken up 
 and worked by the State, were assuredly Socialists. Finally, 
 since the famous pamphlets of Bastiat, every out-and-out free- 
 trader and every rigid economist is firmly convmced that 
 whoever does not admit the wisdom of full freedom of com- 
 merce is infected with Socialism and Communism. Proudhon, 
 far from wishing to strengthen the action of the State, called 
 for its abolition under the name of "Anarchy." Was he not,
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 then, a Socialist ? After " the Days of June," in 1848, Proudhon 
 said to the magistrate who examined him, that he went to con- 
 template "the sublime horrors of tlie cannonade." "But," 
 said the magistrate, "are you not, then, a Socialist?" "Cer- 
 tainly." "Well, but what, then, is Socialism? " "It is," replied 
 Proudhon, " every aspiration towards the improvement of 
 society." " But in that case," very justly remarked the magis- 
 trate, "we are all Socialists." "That is precisely what I 
 think," rejoined Proudhon. 
 
 Proudhon's definition is too wide ; it omits two charac- 
 teristics. In the first place, every socialistic doctrine aims at 
 introducing greater equahty into social conditions; and secondly, 
 it tries to realize these reforms by the action of the law or \ 
 the State. Socialism _is_an^ equalizer and a leveller j and it \ 
 doe"s""n6r admit that mere liberty can usher in the reign of | 
 justice. All sensible economists recognize the existence of 
 many evils and iniquities in society ; but they think that these 
 evils will decrease under the influence of " natural laws " and 
 the beneficial results of laissez faire. Christianity condemns 
 riches and inequality with all the vehemence of Socialism ; but 
 it is not to the State that it looks for the establishment of the 
 reign of justice. The Socialist is a pessimist. He places in | 
 full relief the bad side of the social state. He points to the 
 strong crushing the weak, the rich making gain out of the 
 poor, inequality becoming harsher and more pronounced. He 
 aspires to an ideal where well-being will be allotted in propor- 
 tion to desert and to services rendered. The economist is 
 an optimist. He does not go so far as to pretend that all 
 is perfect ; but he thinks that man, in pursuing his individual 
 interests, advances the general weal as much as possible, and 
 that from the free play of all his self-regarding instincts there 
 will result a better order of things. Consequently, according 
 to him, the only thing to be done is to get rid of all shackles, 
 to reduce the action of the State to a minimum, and to interfere 
 in the way of government as little as possible. 
 
 Let us endeavour to point out the causes of the origin and '^ 
 growth of modern Socialism. ' 
 
 As soon as man had attained sufficient culture to be \
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 impressed with social evils, and at the same time to rise to 
 the idea of a more perfect order of things, dreams of social 
 reforms must have arisen in his mind. Accordingly, in all 
 epochs and in every land, after primitive equality had dis- 
 appeared, socialistic aspirations are to be met with, now under 
 the form of a protest against existing evil, now under that of 
 Utopian plans of social reconstruction. The most perfect 
 example of these Utopias is that wonderful worlc of Hellenic 
 Spiritualism, the Republic of Plato. But it was from Jud?ea 
 that there arose the most persistent protests against inequality 
 and the most ardent aspirations after justice that have ever 
 raised humanity out of the actual into the ideal. We feel the 
 J effect still. It is thence has come that leaven of revolution 
 which still moves the world. Job saw evil triumphant, and 
 yet believed in justice. Israel's prophets, while thundering 
 against iniquity, announced the good time coming. In the 
 Gospel, these ideas are expressed in that simple penetrating 
 language that has moved and transformed all who have hear^l 
 and understood it. " The Glad Tidings" (Etiayye'Atov) are 
 announced to the poor : the last shall be first and the first 
 last; blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the 
 earth ; woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your 
 consolation ; the kingdom of Heaven is at hand ; this genera- 
 tion shall not pass away till ye shall see the Son of Man 
 coming with power and great glory. It was on this earth 
 that the transformation was to take place. The early Chris- 
 tians all believed in the millennium. Instinctively, and as the 
 natural consequence of their faith, they established a system 
 of communism ; and in the Acts of the Apostles may be found 
 the touching picture of the disciples of Jesus living at Jerusalem 
 "with all things in common." 
 
 As time passed, and the idea of a " kingdom " on earth 
 had to be abandoned, men turned their eyes towards " another 
 world" in Heaven; nevertheless, that love of justice and 
 equality common to the Prophets and the Gospel still found 
 ominous utterance in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. 
 Whenever the people have taken up the Bible, and allowed 
 their minds to be thoroughly imbued with its teaching, they
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 have come forth strong with the spirit of reform and equaliza- 
 tion. Whenever the reUgious sentiment involves a belief in 
 divine justice, and a longing to see it realized here below, 
 it leads of necessity to the condemnation of the iniquity which 
 reigns in existing social relations, and, by a natural conse- 
 quence, to aspirations at once levelling and sociaHstic. During; 
 the Middle Ages, the communistic ideas of the Millenarians 
 were perpetuated by the Gnostics, by the disciples of Waldo, 
 by the Mendicant Orders, by the Taborites in Bohemia, by 
 the Anabaptists in Germany, and by the Levellers in England. 
 It was these ideas, too, that inspired all those dreams of a 
 perfect society, such as the Everlastmg Gospel of Joachim, 
 Abbot of Fiore in Calabria, the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, 
 the Civitas Soils of Campanella, the Oceana of Harrington, and 
 the Salente of Fenelon. As Dante says, St. Francis of Assisi 
 raised up and espoused Poverty, abandoned since the death 
 q£ Jesus Christ. Tlie convent, banishing all source of discord 
 and all distinction between " mine " and " thine," appeared, 
 as it were, the realization of the Christian ideal. The canonical 
 law itself says, Dulcissima reriwi possessio comimmis, and 
 all sects animated by a lofty spiritualism have always aspired 
 to transform society into a community of brothers and equals. 
 
 We find these ideas clearly expressed in a Flemish poem 
 of the thirteenth century written by Jacob Van Maerlant 
 (1235), and entitled Wapene, Marty n I where, alluding to the 
 Sachsen-Spiegel, he says : — 
 
 " Martyn, die deutsche Loy vertelt 
 Dat van onrechter Gewelt 
 Eygendom is comen." 
 
 ("Martin, the German law relates that from unrighteous 
 violence, ownership is come.") 
 
 Further on Maerlant exclaims : — 
 
 " Twee worde in die werelt syn : 
 Dats allene myn ende dyn. 
 Moeht men die verdriven, 
 Pays ende vrede bleve fyn ; 
 Het ware al vri, niemen eygin, 
 Manne metten wiven ; 
 Het waer gemene tarwe ende wyn."
 
 li 
 
 xvill INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (" Two words in the world there be, these simply mine and 
 thine. Could one take them away, peace there would be and 
 freedom. All then would be free ; none enslaved, nor man 
 nor woman ; both corn and wine would be in common.") 
 
 Whenever these ideas, borrowed from Christianity and 
 monasticism, reached the masses at a time when their suffer- 
 ings had become intolerable, they provoked risings and 
 massacres, such as those of the Shepherds and the Jacquerie 
 in France, the insurrection of Wat Tyler in England, and 
 that of John of Leyden m Germany.* 
 
 Let us now examine how Socialism, abandoning the 
 mystical region of communistic dreams and aspirations after 
 equality, has become the creed of a political party. Ideas 
 and microbes are in this respect alike, that they must find 
 favourable surroundings before they can thrive. These favour- 
 able surroundings have been produced by a variety of causes, 
 chief among which are the beliefs and aspirations of Chris- 
 tianity, the political principles embodied in our constitutions 
 and laws, and the changes in the methods of production. .Of 
 all the influences favourable to the development of Socialism, 
 the most potent has been the religious influence ; for it has pro- 
 duced in us certain sentiments which have long formed part 
 of our very nature, and in these sentiments the claims of 
 Sociahsm find at once a kind of instinctive origin and a 
 rational justification. 
 
 No one can deny that Christianity preaches the raising up 
 of the poor and the down-trodden. It inveighs against riches 
 as vehemently as the most radical Socialist. Need we recall 
 words graven in the memory of every one ? Even after her 
 alliance with absolute monarchy, the Catholic Church uttered 
 these words by the mouth of Bossuet " The murmurs of the 
 poor are just. Wherefore this inequality of conditions ? All are 
 made of the same clay, and there is no way to justify inequality 
 unless by saying that God has commended the poor unto the 
 
 * See The History of Socialism, Die Socialisten, by M. Quack, un- 
 fortunately not finished ; also that by M. B. Malon. 
 
 t See his sermon, " ^'wr les dispositions relativement atix ' nicessites 
 de la vie."
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 rich, and assigned to the former the means of Hvlng out of the 
 abundance of the latter, ut fiat equalitas., as St. Paul says." * 
 
 Bossuet has merely reproduced what may be read on every i > 
 page of the Christian Fathers. "The rich man is a thief"! ^ 
 (St. Basil). " The rich are robbers ; a kind of equality must 
 be effected by making gifts out of their abundance. Better all 
 things were in common " (St. Chrysostom). " Opulence is 
 always the product of a theft, committed, if not by the actual 
 possessor, by his ancestors" (St. Jerome). "Nature created 
 community; private property is the offspring of usurpation" 
 (St. Ambrose). "In strict justice, everything should belong 
 to all. Iniquity alone has created private property " (St^ 
 Clement). 
 
 Those ideas and sentiments which have given birth to 
 Socialism were thus deeply engraven upon our hearts and 
 minds by Christianity. It is impossible to read attentively the 
 prophecies of the Old Testament and the Gospels, and at the 
 same time to cast a glance at the existing economic conditions^ 
 without condemning the latter in the name of the Christian 
 ideal. Every Christian, who understands and earnestly accepts I 
 the teaching of his Master, is at heart a Socialist; and every] 
 Socialist, whatever may be his hatred against all religion, Bears 
 within himself an unconscious Christianity. Followers of Darwin^ 
 and those economists who maintain that human societies are 
 governed by natural laws to which a free course should be given, 
 are the real and only logical adversaries at once of Christianity 
 and of Socialism. According to Darwin, there is a tendency 
 towards improvement among living beings, because only those 
 survive in the struggle for existence which are best adapted to | 
 their circumstances. The strongest, the bravest, the best armed | 
 slowly eliminate the weaker, and thus are evolved races more 
 and more perfect. This optimism of the naturalist is the 
 foundation of all orthodox political economy. In societies of 
 men the goal is the greatest good of the greatest number, but 
 this is to be attained by allowing free scope to natural laws, 
 and not by trying to introduce any plans of reform of human 
 invention. '■^Laissezfaire, laissez passer." (Leave things alone, 
 
 * 2 Corinthians viii. 14. 
 
 /"
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I let them go on as they are doing.) In free competition the^ 
 I most able succeed, and this should be our desire. Nothing 
 could be more absurd than to endeavour, by misdirected 
 charity, to preserve those whom nature has condemned to 
 
 ij disappear, and thus place obstacles in the way of progress. 
 Yield place to the strong, for might makes right. 
 
 Christianity and Socialism hold quite another language. 
 They declare war against the strong, that is to say, the rich, 
 and aspire to raise up the poor and the down-trodden. They 
 subordinate these so-called natural laws to the law of Justice. 
 Let there be full liberty, but only under the guidance of right. 
 In the words of the Sermon on the Mount, " Blessed are they 
 which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall 
 be filled." It is impossible to understand by what strange 
 blindness Socialists adopt Darwinian theories, which condemn 
 their claims of equality, while at the same time they reject 
 Christianity, whence those claims have issued and whence 
 
 J J their justification may be found. At all events, we may 
 conclude that the religion which has shaped us all, advocates 
 as well as adversaries, has formulated in the clearest terms the 
 principles of Socialism, and that it is precisely in Christian 
 countries that socialistic doctrines have taken deepest root. 
 
 Let us now consider the way in which religious Socialism 
 has become the political Socialism of our day. When the 
 Declaration of Independence in the United States, and the 
 French Revolution, proclaimed the sovereignty of the people, 
 and inscribed the equality of men among the articles of the 
 constitution, the principle of the brotherhood of man descended 
 from the heights of the ideal and from the dreams of Utopia 
 to become thenceforth the watchword of the radical party in 
 every country to which the ideas that triumphed in America 
 and Paris have spread. Equality of political rights leads 
 
 i'i inevitably to the demand for equaUty of conditions, that 
 
 'is to say, the apportionment of well-being according to work 
 accomplished. Universal suffrage demands as its complement 
 universal well-being ; for it is a paradox that the people should 
 be at once wretched and sovereign. As Aristotle and Montes- 
 
 I't quieu so continually insist, democratic institutions presuppose
 
 TNTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXI 
 
 equality of conditions, for otherwise the poor elector will use 
 his vote to pass laws for the increase of his share of the good 
 things of life at the expense of the privileged classes. 
 
 M. Paul Janet, in his Origines die Socialisme, and M. Taine, 
 in his book on the Revolution, show how, after 1789, as with 
 Rousseau, the idea of political equality led to that of a greater 
 social equality, even without any reconstruction of society after 
 the manner of Baboeuf. The excellent Abbe Fauchet exclaims, 
 " Where is the wretch who wishes to see a continuation of this 
 atrocious regime, where the miserable are counted by millions 
 amid a handful of arrogant persons who have done nothing that 
 they should possess all ? " In the " Four Cries of a Patriot," 
 the question is asked, What is the good of a constitution for 
 a nation of skeletons ? and " a terrible insurrection of twenty 
 million indigent persons without property is announced." 
 Chaumette says, " We have destroyed the nobles and the 
 Capets, there remains still an aristocracy to overturn, that of 
 the rich." Chalier of Lyons, whose enthusiasm was so i 
 seductive to Michelet, says, " All pleasure is criminal as long ! 
 as the sans-cidottes suffer." Tallien desires "an equality full ' 
 and complete," and he proposes to send " to the bottom of 
 the dungeons " all proprietors, whom he styles public robbers. 
 One member of the convention, Fr. Dupont, reproduces the 
 doctrine of St. Paul, and maintains that " no individual in the 
 Republic should live without working." " Oblige every one to 
 do some work," says Saint-Just. " What right in the country 
 have those who do nothing in it ? " In a tolerably moderate 
 paper, UAvii des Lois, is met the fundamental doctrine of 
 contemporary Socialism, namely, that to . each should belong I 
 the fiill fruits of his labour. In an article by tfie proconsul 
 Foiiche, published at Antwerp on the 2nd of September, in the 
 year II., we read these words : " Whereas equality should not 
 become a deceitful illusion, and all citizens ought to have an 
 equal share in the advantages of society." Already Necker 
 had appreciated the gravity of the social question ; for he says 
 to the landowners in his book on the Corn Laws, " Are your 
 title deeds inscribed in the Code ? Have you brought your 
 land from a neighbouring planet ? No ; you enjoy your pos- 
 
 MbUntkaMJUMUWAVH^'"
 
 XXU INTRODUCTIOxV. 
 
 sessions by virtue of an agreement only." Elsewhere he thus 
 sums up the conflict between the rich and the poor : "It is an 
 obscure but terrible combat, in which the powerful, shielded 
 by the law, oppress the feeble, and where property crushes 
 labour by the weight of its prerogative. The capitalists have 
 the power of giving only the minimum salary in exchange for 
 labour. They always impose the law ; the labourers are obliged 
 to receive it." The idea which Montesquieu borrowed from 
 Aristotle, namely, that democracy should have for basis a grand 
 equality of conditions, is reproduced on all sides. Rabaud 
 Saint Etienne desires that equality of wealth should be 
 established, not by force, but by law, and should be main- 
 tained by laws calculated to prevent future inequalities^, " In 
 a well-ordered republic, no person would be without some 
 property" (Report of Barrere, 22 Floreal, year II.). "Wealth 
 and opulence should both disappear before the reign of 
 equality " (Order of the Commune of Paris, 3 Frimaire, 
 year III.). "A real equality is the ultimate aim of social 
 science " (Condorcet, Frogres de L Esprit Hiimain, II., 59). 
 "We wish to apply to politics the same equality that the 
 Gospel grants to Christians " (Baudot, quoted by Quinet, 
 Revolution Fraiicaise, II., 407). "Opulence is infamous" 
 (Saint-Just). "The richest Frenchman should not have an 
 income of more than 300 livres'" (Robespierre). " Ut redeat 
 miseris, abeat fortima stiperbis," is the motto of Marat's paper. 
 The idea of the French Revolution, freed from the extrava- 
 gances of the contest, is exactly summed up by the philosopher 
 Joubert, when he says, " Men are born unequal. It is the 
 great benefit of society to diminish this inequality as much as 
 possible, by granting to all security, a competency, education, 
 and help " {Pensees, XIV., Du Gouvernement et des Consti- 
 tutions, XXXVIIL). 
 
 At the very time that equal rights were granted to all men, 
 a change in the methods of production brought about a pro- 
 found alteration in the condition of the workers. By losing 
 their ancient guarantees they became more dependent ; and 
 while raised to the rank of sovereign in the political regime, in 
 the economic order they fell to the condition of hirelings.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XX 111 
 
 This should be clearly understood, as it is from these altered 
 circumstances that the Socialism of to-day has sprung. 
 
 The economic conditions of civilized societies have been , 
 completely changed since the end of the last century. The j| 
 "capitalistic" regime has been introduced. Capital, ever t 
 growing, has indeed increased the power of the means of pro- 
 duction and the aggregate of products tenfold, but at the same 
 time it has enslaved labour. The machine multiplies its 
 wonders, but it does not belong to the worker ; he is its slave, 
 not"its master. Formerly it was not so. Thanks to the 
 privileges of the trade guilds, labour was in olden time an \ 
 actual property. Now it has become an article of commerce, 
 the price of which rises or falls according to the demand, and 
 which sometimes fails to find a purchaser. Wages are now 
 often higher than formerly, but they are always uncertain and 
 changeable. When a stoppage of work, resulting from a crisis 
 which the labourer can neither foresee nor prevent, deprives 
 him of all means of subsistence, no person is obliged to 
 maintain him. He is free ; his wages have been paid ; and he 
 must look out for himself 
 
 The lot of the agricultural labourer and the portion of the 
 fruits of his labour which he might keep for himself were 
 formerly regulated by custom. The metayer system of co- 
 operation farming, the customs of perpetual leases, and of 
 payment of rent in kind, were not liable to change, and thet 
 future of the peasant was thus secured. His existence did not' 
 depend upon the stern law of competition. Rent, like wages, 
 is to-day determined by the law of supply and demand. No 
 doubt the serf was bound to the soil, but he had the right to 
 live and die upon it. To-day no legal tie binds the tenant to 
 the land which he improves. The landlord can remove him at 
 the end of his term, or he can raise the rent according as. the \^ 
 value of the land increases. 
 
 Formerly the commune was, as it were, a protecting parent 
 to the peasant ; it furnished the wood for building, repairing, 
 and heating his house, pasturage for his cattle, and also the 
 land from which he drew his sustenance. Every family or 
 community of families had their portion of the soil in considera-
 
 XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ti©n of certain fixed duties. The commune was far more 
 than a mere pohtical division of the territory. It was an 
 economic institution administered by those who constituted it. 
 In the towns, his trade guild was to the handicraftsman what 
 the commune was to the peasant ; it assured him work, a 
 market, and the means of making his hving. The administra- 
 tion of their joint interests, their social gatherings, and their 
 festivals formed a strong bond of union among workers of the 
 same trade. 
 
 For them also " their to-morrow " was assured. In the city 
 as in the country the producer retained in his own hands the 
 instruments of production. It was labour that then owned 
 / capital. Such a thing did not then exist as a mere wage-earner, 
 ! a man without bonds of interest either with his fellow-workrnen 
 I or with the land, without guarantee or security of any kind, 
 I living from day to day on what capital might grant him. To- 
 day this is the typical form under which labour, the principal 
 factor of production, appears. 
 
 In short, while formerly the condition of those whose arms 
 create all wealth was guaranteed by custom, it depends to-day 
 on the fluctuations of the market and on the force of competi- 
 tion, that is to say, in appearance at least, on the will of 
 landowners and capitalists. 
 
 We live under the regime of complete freedom of contract ; 
 but in every contract, he who supplies that which is essential to 
 a man to live by labour, namely, the land and the capital, will 
 dictate the terms of the bargain and will cause rent to be 
 \ \i brought to a maximum and wages to a minimum. Now that 
 all those traditional and customary barriers, which once 
 protected the weak and helpless, have fallen, the Darwinian law 
 of the " struggle for existence " reigns supreme in the economic 
 w^orld. The strongest wins the day, and the strongest, in this . 
 case, means the richest, • ' — ^'' '^-■ 
 
 Now if we consider the changes which industrial progress 
 has introduced among social conditions, we see that the same 
 economic influences which make men more equal, create, at the 
 same time, an antagonism between master and workmen, and 
 that thus the causes which bring about the triumph of 
 
 i
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 Democracy are likewise favourable to tlie advance of Social- 
 ism. 
 
 Consider how the industrial work of the Middle Ages was 
 carried on. Take, for example, the woollen trade, which in \ 
 England and in Flanders exported its produce to all parts of 1 
 the world, and which created powerful and populous towns. ;. 
 We can see the home life of the artisan with the help of some 
 graphic records. Seated at the loom, he weaves the cloth 
 while his children prepare the distaff by his side, and his wife 
 spins at her wheel. In this way the whole work was performed 
 at his domestic hearth. The master worked with his own 
 hands, aided by his family and some apprentices. He needed 
 but a trifling capital. The education, the social position, the 
 way of living and thinking of the master and his men were very 
 similar. The privileges of the guilds might produce some 
 discontent, but not such as would ever degenerate into class 
 antagonism, for both workman and employer belonged to the 
 same social stratum. No doubt towards the end of the 
 Middle Ages the increase of wealth and inequality introduced 
 some strife into the communes of Flanders, and still more into 
 those of Italy. The struggle, however, between the great and 
 the small, the fat and the lean, was only a rivalry between 
 trade guilds disputing certain political privileges among them- 
 selves ; it was not the radical antagonism of capitalist and 
 labourer, nor the claim for equality of social conditions. 
 
 To-day production is carried on by large industries pre- 
 senting completely different characteristics. The operatives i 
 are obliged to leave their homes and desert their famiHes. | 
 They must crowd into vast factories, collecting around the I 
 motive power which drives those innumerable and wonderful' 
 engines that multiply human strength ten and an hundred fold. ; 
 The factory hand, having only to use his muscles automatically, • 
 has sunk below the journeyman and the apprentice of former 
 days, while at the same time the director-in-chief of the factory 
 is raised far above the master-workman. Whether the factory 
 belongs to him or he is merely the manager of it, he disposes of 
 an enormous capital, and, like a general, he commands an army 
 of workmen ; he is either rich or he is richly paid ; he must
 
 1- 
 
 XXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 possess great technical knowledge, and have the will necessary 
 to make himself obeyed by his numerous employe's ; he must 
 know the needs of foreign countries, the extent of the market, 
 and the vicissitudes of commerce, not only in his own im- 
 mediate neighbourhood, but over the entire globe. For to-day 
 all countries are mutually dependent, and a crisis occurring even 
 over the seas, in either hemisphere, re-echoes everywhere in ruins 
 and failures. By his educationj his position, his way of life, by 
 the very necessity of exercising his authority, the head of a 
 factory belongs to quite another world from that in which the 
 operatives move. His Christian feelings as a man may lead 
 him to regard them as brothers ; nevertheless, he has nothing 
 in common with them, they are strangers to each other. In 
 vain he may wish to increase their wages or improve their 
 condition, he cannot do it. Competition forces him, in spite 
 of himself, to reduce the cost of production as much as 
 possible. 
 
 The_ relations which the present industrial system^ has 
 established between capitalist and labourer have been detailed 
 with perfect exactness by the celebrated mechanical engineer 
 and manufacturer, James Nasmyth, in his evidence before the 
 committee appointed in England to inquire into trades-unions. 
 He showed that it was for the advantage of trade that large 
 niihiBers of workmen should be seeking employment, becau se 
 the price of labour is thus lowered and with it the cost of 
 production. He added that he had frequently increased 
 his profits by putting apprentices to work in the place _of 
 grown-up workmen. When asked what he supposed had 
 become of the workmen thus dismissed, and their families, he 
 replied, "I do not know; I can only leave it to the action of 
 those natural laws which govern society." In speaklh"g tlius, 
 Nasmyth formulated the purely economic doctrine. Chris- 
 tianity, however, would have used other language, [i^ m iv^»t*l ' 
 Thus, while perfecting its methods and extending the use 
 of machinery and division of labour, the large system of 
 (\ manufacture has improved the condition oF'th'e lower classes 
 |i by giving them cheaper goods, but at the same time the gulf 
 i that separates capitalist and labourer has been increased. The
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xxvil* 
 
 handicraftsman, the small contractor, and the petty manu- 
 iacturer~are ^eing crushed out of existence by the great 
 factories. Those who have been called the lords of finance 
 and industry have become the masters of the economic world. 
 
 There is also another cause which gives rise to socialistic 
 aspirations, namely, the general instability of position, with the 
 anxieties and unmeasured expectations resulting therefrom. 
 This instability is produced by civil equality and free com- 
 merce. In the Middle Ages every one was indeed tied to 
 his place, but at the same time his future was assured to him. 
 The workman was protected against competition by the 
 privileges of his trade. There were no crises, no stoppages of 
 work. Labour had a certain known patronage which remained 
 always the same. The position of the shopkeeper was as 
 secure as that of the artisan, generations succeeding each other 
 behind the same counter and living in the same manner. Th^ 
 merchants who traded with foreign countries, such as Jacques- 
 Coeur in France, or the 'great Italian bankers, the Peruzzi — 
 first the friends and afterwards the unpaid creditors of 
 Edward III. and of England — were the only persons engaged 
 in trade who had greater means of moving about and enrichino- 
 themselves. Far above these, the feudal nobility, protected by 
 its arms, its castles, its wealth, and its caste prejudices, lived 
 in a world apart and unapproachable. 
 
 Society was thus completely bound up in the complicated 
 network of its own traditional customs. It was stationary 
 indeed, but it was stable. It_ was a system of classes, one 
 above another, similar to that which gave to ancient Egypt a 
 basis so solid and a duration so long, and which left there, as 
 well as here, such stupendous monuments. Our mediceval i 
 town-halls and cathedrals, in their indestructible massive- 
 ness, recall the pyrarnids and^TempIes of the valley of the 
 Nile. " '"' 
 
 The material condition of men is incontestably better '^ *"' 
 to-day. Formerly the sufferings of individuals were at times 
 extreme, because the violence of the great was not restrained 
 by the guiding and all-powerful arm of the State, nor were 
 commerce and science at hand to combat famine and disease. 
 
 t^
 
 XXVlll 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Society was continually harassed by local wars, and periodically 
 decimated by dearth and the plague; but in ordinary times 
 men's minds were calm, and, in the day of trial, resigned. All 
 those institutions of the Middle Ages, which were at once 
 impediments and protections, have disappeared. The pro- 
 clamation of liberty and equality for all has levelled the ground 
 upon which universal competition is now let loose. 
 
 This general competition is the cause of all progress, the 
 mainspring of our industrial activity, the source of 'all our 
 power; but it produces also incessant agitation, permanent 
 unrest, and general instability. Nobody contented with his 
 lot, nobody certain of his future. He who is rich strives to 
 amass more wealth ; he who lives by his labour trembles lest 
 he lose even his livelihood. Every one is free to create his 
 own destiny ; there are no longer close trades nor classes ; 
 equality of right is complete ; but inequality of fact remains, 
 ( to irritate all the more because nothing is beyond the aspira- 
 tion of anybody. There are more deceptions because more 
 hopes are awakened. All may succeed, but all do not succeed ; 
 and those who remain below envy and hate those who have 
 risen above them. 
 
 Formerly men were not so tormented by the desire to 
 change their condition, because they did not see their Avay to 
 do it. They had neither the ambition to rise, nor the thirst 
 for riches, because all this was beyond their reach. Their 
 destiny being settled here below, it was towards the other"*" 
 world that they directed their hopes. To-day they wish to be 
 happy in this world, and are bent on destroying everything 
 which offers an obstacle to the realization of the equal distri- 
 bution of terrestrial blessings. 
 
 At the same time, men nowadays seek after wealth with 
 far more avidity than formerly, because it forms the principal 
 class - distinction and procures far more enjoyment than 
 heretofore. Wealth supplies home comforts as well as the 
 most refined luxury, the pleasure of travelling over the 
 wide world, summers spent on breezy Alpine heights, 
 and winters by the enchanting shores of the Mediterranean ; 
 all this instead of the monotonous existence of the feudal
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxix 
 
 baron who could employ his surplus resources only in 
 maintaining a large band of followers. li>jday the_ old ' 
 friendly feelings between master and servant, landlord and 
 tenant, have disappeared. Owner and capitalist have but one 
 object in view, to increase their revenue, and in this they 
 only conform to the principles of orthodox economy; for it 
 is evident that from this ' eager pursuit of money, each day 
 becoming more universal, springs the rapid increase of the 
 general wealth. On the other hand, tenants and working men 
 of all kinds are beginning to be more and more imbued with 
 the truth of the terrible proverb, " Our master is our enemy." 1; 
 The class struggle which lately raged in Ireland in all its '■ 
 horror is still an exception ; but everywhere in Europe similar 
 sentiments are silently stirring the rural population. Go to 
 Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy — everywhere you will hear in the, 
 country districts words of suffering, hatred, and revolt. ^^ 
 
 Landed property has taken a new character without pre- 1 /WL 
 cedent in history. Ili primitive times, the land, being the " 
 collective property of the tribe, furnished each family with the 
 means of living by its own work. In feudal times, considered 
 theoretically as belonging to the sovereign, land became the 
 reward for having fulfilled certain functions, and it implied the 
 rendering of certain services, amongst others those of bearing 
 
 arms and of dispensing justice. To-day, freed from all bonds j i , ' 
 
 and duties, it has become a mere source of enjoyment to its 1 '" 
 possessor. The classes which work and those which enjoy 
 have thus become more and more strangers to each other, < 
 and with us, as in Rome, stranger (Jiostis) has conie to mean 
 enemy. 
 
 It is the much-vexed wages question which in our times 
 gives to Socialism the character of an acute inflammatory 
 disease. Formerly wages were regulated by custom, and 
 often even by official tariff. To-day they are fixed by free 
 competition, that is to say, by the proportion which exists 
 between the number of hands and the quantity of capital : 
 seeking employment. Here the law of Ricardo, that "iron 
 law" as the German Socialists term it, in accordance with 
 which wages tend to decrease to that fatal point which permits 
 
 c
 
 XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the workman merely to live and perpetuate his kind, comes 
 too often into operation. , As soon as this law, formulated by 
 economists, began to be understood by working men, they 
 said, " Since our wages depend upon the supply of our labour, 
 let us cease to work until we get higher wages." Hence those 
 strikes and coalitions on the Continent, in America, and 
 especially in England, which almost daily interrupt work and 
 interfere with every trade. Masters and men are in a state of 
 constant warfare, having their battles, their victories, and their 
 
 ; defeats. It is a dark and bitter civil war, wherein he wins who 
 can longest hold out without earning anything ; a struggle far 
 more cruel and more keen than that decided by bullets from 
 
 • a barricade ; one where all the furniture is pawned or sold, 
 
 \ where the savings of better times are gradually devoured, and 
 
 i where, at last, famine and misery besiege the home, and oblige 
 
 ' the wife and little ones to cry for mercy. 
 
 In the course of this volume it will be seen how freedom 
 of trade with foreign countries, joined to free competition at 
 home, gave rise to the International League of labourers. As 
 
 » > a consequence, this struggle between capital and labour is 
 extending everywhere. It may be said that among the 
 industrial nations, who now form one vast market, twp armies 
 stand facing each other; on the one side, the capitalists, on 
 the other, the labourers. 
 
 The International, no longer in existence as a regular 
 organization, still finds devoted and fanatical apostles to 
 spread its doctrines. It is due to their propaganda, either 
 
 V\ secret or avowed, that Socialism has invaded all countries. 
 
 1^ It has become a kmd of cosmopolitan religion. It oversteps 
 ■^ frontiers, it obliterates race-antipathies, and, above all, it 
 eradicates patriotism and tries to efface the very idea of it. 
 Fellow-countrymen are enemies if they are employers, foreigners 
 are brothers if they live by wages. From the moment that the 
 Republic was proclaimed in France, the German Socialists 
 declared against their own armies, and working men of 
 London, Pesth, Vienna, and Berlin applauded the struggles 
 and excused the crimes of the Commune. Economic con- 
 ditions being nearly the same in all countries, Socialism finds
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 everywhere the same grievances^- the same aspirations, and j ', 
 tlie" sam¥"TnBammable elements. Social ^^agitations^^^ unlike 
 political revolutions, are not local. They are universal, like '• 
 religious upheavals, because they address themselves to needs 
 that are generally felt, and to that covetousness which is every- 
 where dormant in the human mind. Socialism, no less than 
 religion, inspires proselytism, has its theorists and apostles, 
 and fills the hearts of its followers with a fanaticism sometimes 
 m3rstical, sometimes savage. Let us not be deceived by the 
 seeming calm which reigns to-day. The hatred is not 
 extinguished which so lately set fire to the four corners of 
 Paris, crying, " Down with all the monuments which remind 
 us of inequality." 
 
 To sum up, this is the situation created in modern societies j 
 by economic progress. It has freed working men from all i 
 bonds and has rescued them from the grasp of the guilds'; it 
 has increased their wages and their welfare, but at the same ^.^„^^ 
 time it has madeof them a class apart, grouping them in ii «*i/i/k 
 masses in vast factories and in particular districts ; it has «' 
 
 created in them new wants, and, above all, it has awakened ^■'*\r' 
 
 in them boundless aspirations, and has exposed them, without 
 protection or guarantee, to all the fluctuations of trade, so 
 often upset by changes of processes, by commercial crises, and 
 by stagnation of business. The peasant is freed from forced 
 labour^ is no longer bound to the soil, and his condition is 
 often better, but the liability to having his rent raised is for ; 
 him a source of constant disquietude, and a cause of enmity | 
 between him and his landlord. The real peril which menaces 
 our democratic societies will appear when the country labourers 
 and small farmers shall have learned to envy the lot of the 
 rich and to curse their own, as the industrial working men • 
 have already done. In a word, herein lies the danger : the 
 power of choosing legislators and, through them, of making 
 laws, is given to men who have no property and whose wages 
 are inevitably reduced to the lowest point. Equality of rights j 
 is proclaimed, while inequality of facts continues to exist, | 
 causing more sufferings and becoming all the more irritating. 
 De Tocqueville, the most clear-sighted theoretical writer
 
 xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on Democracy, in his study of it in America did not perceive 
 this danger, which, in truth, did not then exist ; but another 
 French writer, M. Dupont-White, who unites profoundness of 
 thought with a briUiant and original style, makes the danger 
 
 \ i clearly appear by citing a letter of Macaulay's, which reads like 
 
 ; j a prophecy. 
 
 In this letter, dated the 23rd of May, 1857, and addressed 
 to an"American, Macaulay says, that though for the moment 
 the immense tracts of unoccupied land in America may serve 
 to stave off the evil day, yet the time would come when the 
 rapid increase of population would produce the same economic 
 conditions there as here, the same crises, stoppages of work, 
 lowering of wages, and strikes, and that then the democratic 
 institutions of America would be put to the test. Wliat will 
 the issue be ? " It is quite plain," he says, " that your Govern- 
 ment will never be able to restrain a distressed and discontented 
 majority, for with you the majority is the Government, and has 
 the rich, who are always a minority, absolutely at its mercy." 
 And then he adds : — 
 
 "The day will come when, in the State of New York, a multitude of 
 people, not one of whom has had more than half a breakfast, or expects 
 to have more than half a dinner, will choose a Legislature. Is it, possible 
 to doubt what sort of Legislature will be chosen ? On one side is a states- 
 man preaching patience, respect for vested rights, strict observance of 
 public faith ; on the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of 
 capitalists and usurers, and asking why anybody should be permitted to 
 drink champagne and to ride in a carriage, while thousands of honest folks 
 are in want of necessaries. Which of the two candidates is likely to be 
 preferred by the working man who hears his children crying for more 
 bread ? I seriously apprehend that you will, in some such season of 
 adversity as I have described, do things which will prevent prosperity from 
 returning. Either some Ccesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of Govern- 
 ment with a strong hand, or your Republic will be as fearfully plundered 
 and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman 
 Empire was in the fifth ; with this difference — that the Huns and Vandals 
 who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns 
 and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country and by 
 your own institutions." 
 
 Macaulay wrote this twenty-seven years ago. We must not 
 forget that the Greek democracies passed through similar trials 
 and perished.
 
 '^ 
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 
 
 The right of inquiry which questions and doubts e\^erythin^, 
 impatience or contempt of all authority, and the shattering of 
 alT religious beUefs, have combined to embitter the social conflict, 
 and to destroy everything that could moderate it. Broken by 
 the oppression of ages, labourers formerly considered themselves 
 born to maintain the great by the fruits of their labour. "That ,• 
 they should be oppressed by the strongest, the richest, the { 
 cleverest, or the most influential, they considered as inevitable i i 
 as that they should suifer from rain and hail." * " Belief and 1 1 
 obedience were an inheritance," says Taine ; " a man was a 
 Christian and a subject, because he was so born. The Revolu- 
 tion came, saying. Arise ! you are the equals of your masters. 
 Quickly follows the question. Wherefore this iniquitous 
 division : opulence to the idle, and destitution to the workers ? 
 
 Christianity, which had introduced into the West ideas of : 
 equality and fraternity, at the same time enjoined patience an3 i -^> 
 submission, saying to the oppressed. This life is only a period 
 of probation ; obey those in power ; endure all privations with- 
 out murmuring, for they will be reckoned to you above, where 
 lies your real treasure. Iniquity triumphs on this earthj but J ,, 
 the kingdom of Heaven is the^ inheritance of those cast out *f* 
 here below. Thus the Gospel, which, by arousing in all a 
 thirst for justice, sowed the seed for social revolution, at the 
 same time averted the explosion, by opening a prospect for the 
 oppressed of endless felicity beyond the tomb. To-day, accord- ' > 
 ing as faith dies away, the people, ceasing to believe in these! | Air. 
 heavenly compensations, demand their share of happiness now. [ j ''■ 
 Not in Paradise, but in their present life do they require the' 
 realization of the promises of the Gospel. If they do not 
 receive what they think their due, or if they are wretched, they 
 can no longer console themselves by the reflection that their 
 sufferings, accepted with resignation, will be rewarded with an 
 hundredfold recompense. Were you to demonstrate to them 
 that the justice they dream of is a chimera, and that the actual 
 distribution of wealth is determined by inexorable natural laws^ 
 then, utterly desperate, they would exclaim with the Mille- i 
 narians, " Perish a society founded on iniquity, so that from \ 
 * Montigny, Memoires de Mirabeau.
 
 \l 
 
 ^ 
 
 xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 its ruins may arise a new world." Thus would be propagated 
 the Nihilists' creed. If those who foment violent revolutions 
 I try to extirpate every religious sentiment, it is because they know 
 that the best way of arousing a people is to take from them the 
 hope of finding in another world the justice denied to them on 
 earth. 
 
 Itjs not thatthe workers are worse off than formerly. But, 
 on the one hand, as capital constantly accumulates under the 
 form of stocks, bonds, or interest, paid by municipality or state, 
 the number of idle people rapidly increases, while, on the other 
 hand, it is precisely as men leave the extremest misery behin_d 
 them that they become most clamorous. As De Tocqueville 
 so admirably expresses it, nations revolt, not when they are most 
 oppressed, but, on the contrary, when the yoke which weighed 
 them down begins to grow lighter. In speaking of the end of 
 the eighteenth century, he says, "According as prosperity 
 began to dawn in France, men's minds appeared to become 
 more unquiet and disturbed ; public discontent was sharpened ; 
 hatred of all ancient institutions went on increasing, until the 
 nation was visibly on the verge of a revolution. One might 
 almost say that the French found their condition all the more 
 intolerable according as it became better. Such an opinion 
 might cause astonishment were it not that history is filled with 
 similar spectacles." * Is not this an accurate picture of what is 
 going on under our own eyes ? 
 
 It was at qne_time imagined^ that the means of combating 
 Socialism would be found in the teachings of Political Economy ; 
 but, on the contrary, it is precisely this science which has 
 furnished the Socialists of to-day with their most redoubtable 
 weapons. Instead of rejecting the conclusions of Economists, 
 as' was done by their predecessors, they accept them without 
 reserve and make use of them to demonstrate that present 
 social conditions are at variance with the principles of justice 
 and right. Economists have proved that all value and all 
 property are Serived'Trom labour ; it clearly follows, say the 
 Socialists, tliat wealth should belong to those who by their 
 labour created it, and that the entire value, that is to say the 
 
 * VAncien Rigime, ch. xvi.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 entire produce, should be the reward of him who brought it into 
 existence. Ricardo, Mill, and all the representatives of the 
 orthodox science, show that, under the sway of free competition, 
 in a country where wealth and population are both on the 
 increas~e7'the rent of the owner ^rnust continually augment, 
 while the wages of the labourer are reduced to the lowest 
 possible point. Socialists ask if such a partition_ of wealth,; 
 resulting from the pretended natural laws of society, is con- 
 formable to the principles of equitable distribution. It is 
 therefore Political Economy which has furnished a scientific 
 basis to Socialism,- en^tbling it to leave the region of com- 
 munistic aspirations and Otopian dreams. 
 
 Another thing that largely contributes to^th^e spread o f { 
 Socialism IsthaTiFTs "gradually gaining ground amongst the 
 upper and more educated classes. Many novels, much poetry, 
 along with books, lectures, and newspapers, are its unconscious 
 organs, although their authors are by no means Socialists. I 
 Among fhdse "favoured by the present order of things, the 
 number who maintain that " natural law" rules all for the best in 
 the best of all possible worlds is daily diminishing. Nearly all 
 now admit that " something should be done " for the labouring 
 classes, and those who would say with Gambetta that there 
 is no social question, are very few. In England, Germany, or 
 Italy mark the words uttered both in private and on solemn 
 public occasions alike by sovereigns, ministers, and party 
 leaders ; they are the first to commend the social question to 
 the study of legislators. The King of Italy and Prince Bismarck_ , j ^, , 
 at almost the same moment proclaimed it as the first duty of v 
 the crown, to ameliorate the condition of the labouring classes. 
 It is, in fact, difficult to maintain that he who uses the spade 
 m the country or the tool in a factory receives a sufficient 
 reward. In olden times the privileged classes could enjoy ' 
 their wealth without remorse, and calmly contemplate existing 
 inequality, because with Aristode they said, " There are in the 
 human species individuals as inferior to others as the body 
 is to the soul, or as animals are to men. x^dapted for corporeal 
 labour only, they are incapable of a higher occupation. Destined 
 by nature to slavery, there is nothing better for them to do than -
 
 XXXVl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to obey."* In the Middle Ages, the teachings of Christianity- 
 being still misunderstood, the feudal lord saw in the serf a 
 beast of burden divinely predestined to work for him. Now 
 that the principle of the equality of all men according to nature 
 and right has penetrated men's hearts and minds, we must shut 
 ourselves up in inhuman egoism or profound ignorance, if we 
 would remain unmoved by the claims of the labouring classes. 
 
 The great difference between the actual position of affairs 
 and anything history shows us, lies in the fact that the diffusion 
   of Socialism is enormously favoured by the press and by schools. 
 Education offered to all, even forced upon them, schools every- 
 i where open, and cheap books, pamphlets, and newspapers 
 I spread throughout the country ideas of radical reform. In the 
 Middle Ages the revolts of the peasants against oppression 
 were merely local and passing events ; and the same may be 
 said of those of the sixteenth century. Once they were 
 crushed, these aspirations towards equality disappeared as 
 though drowned in blood. To-day, however, this is no longer 
 the case. The energetic repression of the Revolution of June, 
 1848, and of the Commune of 187 1, served only to spread far 
 and wide the principles sought to be extinguished, and to 
 make them sink deeper into the hearts of the working classes. 
 Socialists_qf_all countries celebrate the i8th of March, the 
 anniversary of the proclamation of the Commune. If Socialism 
 is to be exterminated, it must be attacked in its origin and 
 in its methods of diffusion. It will be necessary to proscribe 
 Christianity, burn the Bible, teach with the ancient philosophers 
 that natural inequality justifies slavery; above all, no more 
 Vv5^ j I primary education and no newspapers. If the existing in- 
 equality of conditions is permanent and necessary, then to 
 spread the Gospel, to open a school, to establish a printing 
 press, and to extend the suffrage, are in so many ways to attack 
 the social order. 
 
 The rivalry, the wars, and the enormous armies of our 
 
 -, /| continental states hasten the progress of that very Socialism 
 
 I which tliey were specially intended to combat ; and this they 
 
 ji do in two ways. In the first place, they maintain and increase 
 
 . * Polit. i. 3.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXXVH 
 
 inequality both by devouring a large portion of the produce 
 which might go to improve the lot of the labourers, and by 
 enabling an increasing number of independent persons to live 
 on the interest of loans necessitated by wars and armaments.. 
 In the second place, forced service draws into the large towns, j; 
 always more or less active centres of socialistic ideas, all thai' 
 young men from the country districts, and through them these 'j 
 ideas penetrate into the hamlets where lately the feelings and 
 beliefs of the past were preserved intact. I do not believe 
 that, up to the present, the majority of soldiers have anywhere 
 been gained over to Socialism ; far from it ; bjut evidently here 
 lies the great danger for the existing order of things, which 
 depends, after all, upon the support of bayonets. If this last 
 rampart were carried, frightful convulsions would inevitably 
 ensue. 
 
 Let us now endeavour to separate what is true in Socialism 
 from what is false. 
 
 The foundation of all socialistic claims is the assertion that 
 the effect of the present social system is to increase inequality, 
 the condition of the labourers becoming daily worse, while the 
 wealth of the capitalists and landowners is always augmenting. 
 This assertion is only in part true. It is, no doubt, incontest- 
 able that capital is constantly increasing in all industrial com- 
 munities in proportion to their progress, and that the number 
 of those living upon their private incomes is also increasing, 
 albeit the rate of interest as well as of profits tends to decrease. 
 Since the improved processes of modern production are 
 executed more and more by means of machinery and fixed 
 capital of every kind, and as the holders of this capital draw   
 an income from it, it follows that the sum total of interest and 
 profits obtained by the upper classes is rapidly increasing. To 
 be convinced of this it is enough to glance at the enormous 
 spread of comfort and luxury in all countries among the well- 
 to-do classes. But it is not correct to say that the condition | 
 of the labourers gets worse. They have profited to some] 
 extent by the cheapness of manufactured goods. Except in 
 the great towns they are better lodged. They are everywhere 
 better clad, they have more pieces of furniture of every kind,
 
 XXXVIll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and their food is more varied. Their diet has, however, 
 become almost everywhere too exclusively vegetarian, because, 
 the increase of animals fit for food not having kept pace with 
 the increase of the population, meat has become too dear. 
 We can no longer say of our working classes as Caesar said 
 of the Germans, " Their food mainly consists of milk, cheese, 
 and meat." * What is, unfortunately, well founded among the 
 f ' grievances set forth by the Socialists, is that the condition of 
 
 11 the labourers has not improved in proportion to the inT;rease 
 of production, that the share obtained by them in the unex- 
 ampled development of wealth during this century is too small. 
 In support of this assertion I shall cite only three witnesses, 
 whose evidence is unimpeachable and who belong to the 
 country where capital has- increased most rapidly. Mr. Glad- 
 stone said in the House of Commons on the 13th February, 
 1843, '•' Itjs one of the most melancholy features in the social 
 state of our country that a constant accumulation of wealth in 
 the upper classes, and an increase of the luxuriousness of their 
 1 habits and of their means of enjoyment" should be accom- 
 panied by "a decrease in the consuming powers of the people, 
 and an increase of the pressure of privation and distress " 
 among the poorer classes. Professor Fawcett uses language 
 to the same effect : " Production has been stimulated beyond 
 the expectations of the most sanguine, and supplies of food 
 have been obtained from even the most distant countries in 
 much greater quantities than could have been anticipated ; 
 still, however, so far as the labourer is concerned, the age of 
 golden plenty seems as remote as ever, and in_the humble 
 homes of the poor a not less constant war has to be waged 
 
   against penury and want. From the bitter disappointment 
 
 f thus engendered there has riot unnaturally arisen a feeling of 
 
 deep distrust of the fundamental principles on which society 
 
 ■- is based." f Professor Cairnes speaks even more forcibly than 
 Mr. Fawcett : " The conclusion to which I am brought is 
 this — that, unequal as is the distribution of wealth already in 
 
 * De Bel. Gal. vi. 22. 
 
 t "Essays and Lectures on Social and Political Subjects," by Henry 
 and Millicent G. Fawcett (1872), p. 5.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 
 
 this country, the tendency of industrial progress, on the sup- 
 position that the present separation between individual classes 
 is maintained, is toward an inequality greater still." * 
 
 When, viewing from a distance and without bias the dis- 
 tribution of the good things of this world, one sees, on the one ,. 
 side, the workers reduced to the bare necessaries of irfe^=Tiot| 
 obtaining even them at the least crisis— and, on the other, tlie' 
 idle'and independent classes, in increasing numbers, enjoying^, 
 more and more refined comfort, it is impossible to pronounce., 
 this state of things conformable to justice, and we are forced to 
 exclaiih with Bossuet, "The murmurs of the poor are just. 
 Wherefore, O Lord, this inequality of conditions ? " Doubtless 
 it inay be answered that it has always been so, and cannot be 
 otherwise ; but this argument satisfies those only whose privileges 
 are thus confirmed. 
 
 Socialism demands that the labourer should reap the whole | , 
 fruits of his labour, and nothing seems more just. Still, if the l[ 
 produce is obtained with the help of two other factors, land and 
 capital, and if these do not belong to the labourer, he cannot 
 retain the entire product. Each factor must be rewarded, 
 otherwise it will refuse its aid. The solution consists in uniting 
 the three factors in the same person. 
 
 Socialism says, " At present, labour is subordinate to 
 capital; the contrary should be the case; capital should, 
 properly, be subordinate to labour." That is, no doubt, 
 desirable; but in order that it may be so, the requisites of 
 production must belong to him who works, the soil to the 
 cultivator, the tool or the machine to the artisan. That was 
 the case formerly to a great extent ; but how to attain it now, 
 under the system of production on a large scale — this is the 
 problem to be solved. 
 
 Socialism demands that wealth shall no longer be the privi- 
 lege of idleness, and that he that sows not shall not reap. 
 This is exactly what St. Paul so emphatically says: Qui non jj 
 laborat nee manducet : "If any will not work, neither shall he |j 
 eat." Man, like all living beings, has wants and certain means B 
 of Satisfying them. If he satisfies his wants without using the 
 * " Leading Principles of Political Economy " (1874), p. 340.
 
 xl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 appropriate means, itjcan only be by contravening natural law, 
 and owing to certain artificial laws, which allow some to live at 
 / the expense of others. This appears evident ; but these facts 
 ' are the consequence of private property and the right of 
 1, inheritance, and, until better are found, these institutions are 
 '' indispensable for stimulating industry. What must be dis- 
 covered is how to bring it about that, according to the desire 
 of St. Paul, and conformably to right and the ordinary course 
 of nature, the well-being of every individual may be in direct 
 ratio to his activity, and in inverse ratio to his idleness. 
 
 Machinery, say the Socialists, should emancipate the 
 
 labourer, and shorten his hours of work. The contrary is 
 
 nearer the fact. Machines enrich those who own them, iDut 
 
 render harder and more enslaving the task of those whom they 
 
 employ. The larger the capital sunk in the modern factory, 
 
 f the more urgent it is that there should be no stoppage of work, 
 
 K for, when work stops, interest is eaten up. Formerly night 
 
 ' I brought sleep to all, and Sunday brought rest. Now, on the 
 
 railway, on the steamer, in the mine, the factory, or the office, 
 
 ' work admits of hardly any truce or intermission. In the words 
 
 of Hamlet : 
 
 " What might be toward, that this sweaty haste 
 Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day ? " 
 
 Machinery will not fulfil its promises, nor bring men more 
 leisure, until it belongs to the workers who set it in motion. 
 On this point Socialists may quote the opinion of J. S. Mill, 
 who says : " It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions 
 yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being."' 
 
 Socialists maintain that the means of production are already 
 great enough to furnish all men with a sufficient competency, 
 if only the produce were more evenly divided ; and indeed, if 
 the number of things are reckoned up which are either useless 
 or superfluous, or even harmful, but which monopolize so large 
 a portion of the working hours, it may well be thought that 
 were those hours exclusively employed in the creation of useful 
 things, there would be enough to satisfy largely the needs of 
 all. Inequality gives rise to superfluity and luxury which divert
 
 INTRODUCTION. xH 
 
 capital andjabour from the production of necessaries ; hence 
 the destitution of the masses. " Were there no TiixilryT^said 
 Rousseau, "there would be no poor." "The fact that many 
 men are occupied in making clothes for one individual, is the 
 cause of there being many people without clothes." * 
 
 Supported by the rent theory as set forth by economic 
 science, Socialists reproach the actual system with having 
 poured into the hands of the landowners all the advantage 
 accruing from social improvement, in violation of the principle, 
 generally admitted, that labour is the source of property. Here, 
 again, they could cite the opinion of J. S. Mill, for he asks 
 that every increase of rent which does not result from' the 
 efforts of the owner — the unearned increment, as he calls it — I 
 should be handed over to the State. ' 
 
 Of all the economical phenomena of the present social 
 order, the one most vehemently attacked by Socialists is free ; 
 competition. This, they say, reduces the pay of the workman • 
 to thfe lowest point, lowers the quality of the articles sold, { 
 creates hostile interests, and does not even assure the promised j; 
 compensation of cheapness ; for the large manufactories ruin 
 the small ones, and thus acquire a monopoly of which they 
 take advantage to raise the prices. 
 
 Mill admits that while competition is the best security for /f 
 cheapness, if is by no means a guarantee of good quality. ; 
 But he proves clearly that if at times competition has the effect ' 
 of lowering wages when the offer of hands is excessive, it also 
 results in raising wages when capital increases faster than the 
 population, and at all times it has the incontestable advantage ; 
 of reducing the price of manufactured articles^ arid^ cbnse- 1 ?: 
 quently, as these are bought out of wages, it does, in effect, || 
 increase the remuneration of the labourer. If there were -* 
 no competition, the very thing for which Socialists like Marx 
 upbraid machines would happen, namely, the whole benefit 
 they confer would revert exclusively to their owners, while 
 now, thanks to competition, the public profit by the cheapness 
 of goods. Competition is merely liberty on economic soil. 
 It is competition that brings into play the most powerful 
 
 * Montesquieu, Esp. des Lois, vii. 6. 
 
 h^
 
 xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and only really efificacious incentive to all productive activity, 
 alI~good economic administration, and, above all, all improve- 
 ment. No doubt laws and regulations might modify the 
 conditions under which competition acts, so as to place com- 
 petitors more upon an equality, and to effect that, each man 
 possessing the requisites of production, no one should be 
 obliged to accept insufficient wages through fear of starvation. 
 True freedom of contract in that case existing, competition, 
 which is the indispensable mainspring of the economic world, 
 would be freed from the greater part of the disastrous effects 
 now laid to its charge. 
 
 Ranke, the historian, has shown how Protestantism, by its 
 very attacks upon the Papacy, provoked a reform in the bosom 
 of the Romish Church whereby new life was infused into her. 
 In the same way, the wisest Economists of our time have recog- 
 nized that the exaggerated, but often well founded, criticisms 
 passed upon our social system by Socialists, have been the 
 means of producing undoubted progress in Political Economy. 
 Thus Economists used to affirm that our social organization 
 /i was the result of "natural laws," and itself constituted "the 
 If natural order of things." It followed, as Cairnes observes, that 
 the well-to-do classes gathered from the writings of the Econo- 
 mists the comfortable conviction that the existing world was 
 not far off from perfection, and were thus led to reject without 
 examination any idea of a better organization as chimerical. 
 Nowadays most Economists recognize that everything con- 
 [ cerning the distribution of wealth is the result of laws and 
 ! customs which have varied at different times, and that, con- 
 ': sequently, a more strict application of justice might introduce 
 ; a great improvement. Formerly Economists occupied them- 
 selves principally with the increase of production , while they 
 merely described the distribution of wealth without examining 
 if it was conformable to justice, and studied labour merely as 
 the natural agent of production. To-day we recognize more 
 and more that the question which overshadows all others is 
 that of distribution, that every proble m must be considered, ~ 
 especially in its moral and juridical aspect, and that the just 
 reward of the workman is what is most important when con-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 sidering labour. Professor Schoenberg, one of the most dis- 
 tinguished Economists of Germany, says, "Sociahsm has 
 obhged Political Economy to recognize that it is not merely 
 the natural science of human egoism, but that it should formu- 
 late a system of moral administration {EthiscJie Wirthschqft) 
 for the mterests of society. 
 
 The fundamental error of most Socialists is not taking 
 sufificient" account of the fact that individual interest is the 
 indispensable incentive to labour and economy. It is true 
 that minds purified by the elevated principles of religion or 
 philosophy act upon sentiments of charity, devotion, and 
 honour; but for the regular production of wealth the stimulus i!%''5 
 of personal interest and"responsibility is needed. Hence a j; 
 communistic regime will always be an exception. But, on the 1 
 contrary, an organization realizing this desideratum of all 
 Socialists, "to the labourer the full enjoyment of the produce 
 of his labour," would ensure to economic activity the most 
 powerful stimulant and the most equitable reward. 
 
 Another error of the Socialists, and one far more disastrous 
 to their cause, is the belief that a successful insurrection would 
 lead to a new social organization being established by law. 
 No doubt a revolutionary assembly can easily destroy many 
 things, confiscate property, cut off heads, or absorb all rent 
 under the form of a land tax. But to introduce a collective 
 mode of carrying on industry, or to make a co-operative enter- 
 prise succeed, would be beyond its capabilities, because such 
 reforms, as J. S. Mill so admirably points out in his " Chapters 
 on Socialism," presuppose among workmen a higher degree of ji 
 moral and mental culture than they now possess, and which j' 
 they^ can acquire only by degrees. The impotence in the ;] 
 matter of economic reforms of even successful Socialist revolu- , . 
 tions, was clearly demonstrated by the absolute sterility, in this 
 respect, of the Paris Commune of 1871, and of the Spanish 
 Communes of Carthagena and Seville of 1873. 
 
 If the progress of humanity is not a chimera, if it is, like 
 the progress of democracy according to De Tocqueville, " the 
 fact the most continuous, the oldest, and the most permanent 
 in history," it follows that greater equality must eventually be 
 
 wyuK
 
 xliv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 established among men ; but social transformations are not__to 
 be accomplished by violence. Attempts at assassination and 
 insurrections can have but one result : that of provoking a 
 desperate repression, and restoring despotism. What an 
 amount of harm have the German regicides, Hoedel and 
 Nobiling, not done to the cause of which they professed them- 
 selves the champions ! If Socialists would set forth their ideas 
 persistently but moderately, using those powerful arguments 
 which economic science has placed in their hands, as was done 
 by J. S. Mill, and the former Austrian mirjister, Albert 
 Schaefifle, the governing classes would listen to them, for they 
 cannot divest themselves of the sentiments of even-handed 
 justice planted in their hearts by the Gospel. The Irish Land 
 
 i' Laws wrested by Mr. Gladstone even from the House of Lords, 
 show what decisive victories Socialism may obtain by peaceable 
 means. It is probable that it may be gradually introduced 
 into our laws by the increasing influence of what we call State 
 Socialism. Its weakness results from the fact that, being chiefly 
 
 j confined to the labouring classes, it seldom finds exponents 
 arnofig enlightened men such as Lassalle and Marx undoubtedly 
 
 i were. If, as formerly in Israel, there should arise prophets 
 burning with a righteous thirst for justice, Christian Socialism, 
 taking possession of men's minds, may bring about profound 
 changes in the economic world. But the enduring triumph_of 
 a violent Socialist revolution is impossible. Nevertheless, ^as 
 Nihilism, like burning lava, seethes throughout the underground 
 strata of society, and there keeps up a sort of diabolic destroy- 
 ing rage, it is possible that in some crisis, when authority is 
 powerless and repressive force paralyzed, the predictions of 
 the poet Hegesippe Moreau and M. Maxime du Camp may 
 be realized, and we may see our capitals ravaged by dynamite 
 and petroleum in a more ruthless and a more systematic manner 
 than even that which Paris experienced at the hands of the 
 Commune. 
 
 'i " :^ i , ' J » " f , 
 
 . 1/' , /, ,._ _■ ' ■■. ri..,l nr -ivt '..- V 
 
 \jiji,Ji hA^^J^.'
 
 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM IN GERMANY. 
 
 PRINCE BISMARCK said one day, in one of his strange 
 but vigorous speeches to the ParUament of the Empire, 
 that Germany had two foes to vanquish : Ultramontanism and 
 Sociahsm, or, as he sometimes expresses it in his familiar 
 Ian2;ua2;e, the Black International and the Red International. 
 In Germany, in fact, where not long since it might have been 
 said aggressive Socialism did not exist, Socialism has spread in 
 the last few years with an incredible rapidity, founding every- 
 where centres of propaganda, publishing numerous popular 
 newspapers, enrolling its adherents in innumerable societies, 
 which have their statutes, their regular assemblies, and their 
 public meetings, even conquering in open field several seats , 
 in the Imperial Parliament, and in many electoral colleges- 
 holding the balance of power disputed by the other parties. 
 To arrest this alarming advance, a new clause of the penal 
 code was presented to the Reichstag. It seemed borrowed 
 from similar provisions of the French laws, and declared that : 
 "Whosoever shall publicly excite the different classes of the 
 population against each other so as to disturb the public peace,   
 or shall, in like manner, attack the institution of marriage, of • 
 the family, or of property, either by speech or public writings, 
 shall be punished with imprisonment." Notwithstanding the per- 
 sonal intervention of Prince Bismarck and the earnest entreaty 
 
 B 
 
 //.
 
 2 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of the Minister of the Interior, no one rose to vote in favour 
 of the proposed clause. The shorthand report shows that this 
 result was received by the assembly with laughter. Since then 
 the two attempts against the life of the Emperor, repeated one 
 after the other by Hosdel and Nobiling, forced the hand^of 
 the Imperial Parliament, and an exceptional law of draconic 
 severity was put into operation against Socialism. During the 
 course of the debate, Count Eulenburg, Minister of the Interior 
 and Prussian Delegate to the Federal Council, in order to 
 defend the object of the law, explained very clearly the ideas 
 actually held by the Socialist party in Germany. As he was 
 not contradicted by those members of the Diet who represented 
 that particular shade of opinion, we may assume that lie 
 advanced nothing which was not correct on all points. 
 
 Before 1875, there existed in Germany two powerful 
 Socialist associations. The first was called the " General 
 Association of German Working Men " (der allgemeine deictsche 
 Arbeiterverein). Founded by Lassalle in 1863, it afterwards 
 had for president the deputy Schweizer, and then the deputy 
 Hasenclever. Its principal centre of activity was North Ger- 
 many. The sec ond was the " Social-democratic Working 
 Men's Party " (die Social-democratische Arbciterpartei), led by 
 two well-known deputies of the Reichstag, Herr Bebel and Herr 
 Liebknecht. Its adherents were chiefly in Saxony and Southern 
 Germany. The first took into account the ties of nationality^ 
 and claimed the intervention of the State in order to bring 
 about a gradual transformation of society ; the second, on the 
 contrary, expected the triumph of its cause only from a 
 revolutionary movement. 
 
 These two associations existed for a long time in open 
 hostility towards each other ; less, however, from the difference 
 of the aims they had in view than in consequence of personal 
 rivalry. Nevertheless, in May, 1875, ^^ the Congress of Gotha, 
 they amalgamated under the title of the " Socialist Working 
 Men's Party of Germany " (Socialistische Arheiterpai-tei Deiitsch- 
 lands). The deputy Hasenclever was nominated president ; 
 but the union did not last long, or was never complete, for as 
 early as tKe month of August following a separate meeting of 
 
 /:!
 
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM IN GERMANY. 3 
 
 the " General Association of German Working Men " was held 
 at Hamburg. 
 
 The congress of Gotha adopted a programme which very 
 concisely sums up the aspirations of German Socialism. The 
 following are some of the principal clauses : — 
 
 " Labour is the source of all wealth and civilization. Since general 
 productive laUour is rendered possible only by means of society, the entire 
 produce of labour belongs to society, that is, to all its members, by the 
 same right, and to each according to his reasonable needs, all being bound 
 to work. 
 
 " In existing society, the instruments of production are the monopoly of 
 the capitalist class j the dependence of the labouring classes which results 
 therefrom is the cause of misery and servitude in all forms. 
 
 " The emancipation of labour requires that the instruments of production 
 should become the collective property of society, and calls for the regulation 
 by society of all works, employment for the common weal, and a just 
 division of the produce of labour. 
 
 " The emancipation of labour must be the work of the labouring class, 
 in face of which all other classes are mere reactionary masses. 
 
 " Starting from these principles, the German Socialist working men's 
 party proposes to establish, by every legal means, a free State and a social- 
 istic society, to break in pieces the iron law of wages by doing away with 
 the system of working for hire, to put an end to methods of making gain 
 out of others (exploitaiivn), and to abolish all political and social ine- 
 quality. 
 
 "The German Socialist working men's party will act in the first 
 place on the lines of nationality, but it recognizes the international character 
 of the working men's movement, and is resolved to fulfil all the duties im- 
 posed upon working men by the sohdarity of their interests in order to 
 realize the brotherhood of all men." 
 
 This programme is almost the same as that formulated in 
 France, in 1848, by the Socialist group who tried to apply 
 Louis Blanc's ideas to the factories of the Luxembourg. Even 
 the famous formula, "To each according to his needs," reap- 
 pears here, although the experiment tried in France, in the case 
 of associations well adapted to ensure its success, had clearly 
 proved that distrust and discord were sown where the reign of 
 peace and brotherly love was to have been "established. " 
 
 I do not now discuss this programtiie ; I merely note the 
 facts. The German Socialist party does not confine itself to 
 stating general principles. Now that it has gained foothold on
 
 4 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 political soil, and sends representatives to Parliament, it 
 endeavours to make known the means by which it hopes to 
 realize the reforms it has in view. This is what it claims : — 
 
 " The German Socialist party demands, in order to pave theVay for the 
 solution of the social question, the creation of socialistic productive associa- 
 tions aided by the State, under the democratic control of the working 
 people. These productive associations for manufacture and agriculture 
 should be created on a sufficiently large scale to enable the socialistic 
 organization of labour to arise out of them. As basis of the State, it de- 
 mands direct and universal suffrage for all citizens of twenty years of age, 
 . in all elections both of State and Commune ; direct legislation, by the 
 people, including the decision of peace or war ; general liability to bear 
 arms and a militia composed of civilians instead of a standing army ; the 
 abohtion of all laws restricting the right of association, the right of assembly, 
 the free expression of opinion, free thought, and free inquiry ; gratuitous 
 justice administered by the people; compulsory education, the same foT' 
 all and given by the State ; and a declaration that religion is an object of 
 private concern," 
 
 This programme of practical politics does not contain any- 
 thing very subversive of order. All that it demands is found 
 either in Germany itself or in the neighbouring country of 
 Switzerland, except the aid to be given to productive associa- 
 tions, an experiment made in France in 1848, without any 
 success. With regard to the final object, "the Socialistic 
 organization of all labour," the terms are extremely vague. 
 What is the precise meaning of the word " Socialist," which 
 recurs so often, and what is this new organization they have in 
 view ? We shall endeavour to determine this by examining 
 the writings whence these ideas have come. It is a remarkable 
 thing, as was affirmed by the deputy Bamberger, that nowhere 
 ji have socialistic ideas found a more cordial welcome than.^iu 
 Germany. That, according to him, is owmg to the speculative 
 1 character of the nation, which is easily seduced by ideal visions 
 of Utopia. Not only do these visions allure almost all the 
 working men, but even the middle classes cannot resist them ; 
 and one often hears, " Well, perhaps all would be better so ; 
 1 ' why not try ? " Furthermore, Socialism has penetrated to the 
 i I upper classes ; it sits in academies ; it occupies professorial 
 chairs in universities, and it is scholars who have originated the 
 party cries which working men's associations now repeat ; it is"
 
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM IN GERMANY. 5 
 
 conservatives who have attacked " mammonism " and spoken 
 out the loudest against the abuses of " capitahsm." Nowhere 
 else is there anything like it to be seen. Let us examine 
 tlie books which have prepared the way for this remarkable 
 movement. '^
 
 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FORERUNNERS — FICHTE AND MARLO. 
 
 SOCIALISM, as a political party, is of very recent origin in 
 Germany. It dates only from 1863, when Lassaile 
 excited and organized the labourers' agitation. The profound 
 socialist movement which stirred the labouring classes in France, 
 during the last years of Louis-Philippe's reign, and particularly 
 after 1848, had raised but a feeble echo beyond the Rhine. 
 No German state, except Baden, was at all prepared to com- 
 prehend it. The institutions of the old regime had in part 
 disappeared, but its spirit and influence were still dominant. 
 The artisans were maintained and kept in check by the trade 
 guilds. The great factory system was still in its infancy, while 
 the rural labourers were as much under the influence of the 
 nobles as the serfs from whom they had sprung. The modern 
 proletarian was almost unknown. The lower classes had no 
 idea that one day they might obtain the suffrage and play a 
 part in politics. Never imagining that their fate could be 
 other than what it was, they resigned themselves to it as in the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 The French working men were full of the memories of the 
 French Revolution. Their fathers had been masters of 
 the State, why should not they become so? They were the 
 sovereign people— the only true and real sovereign — why live 
 in misery? The life of the German working man was far 
 harder, but was not that his allotted destiny ? He remembered 
 neither the equality of condition, based on collective property, 
 of primitive Germany, nor the peasant revolt of the sixteenth 
 century, so soon drowned in blood. He still felt the leaden
 
 THE FORERUNNERS — FICHTE AND MARLO. J 
 
 yoke which weighed upon Germany since the Thirty Years' 
 War, and had hardly opened his eyes to modern Hfe. He was 
 agitated by no spirit of revolt, no aspiration towards a better 
 order of things. The saying of Lassalle was true : while »(> 
 English and French working men dreamed of reforms, the j 
 German working man had to be awakened to the fact that he j 
 was miserable. Therefore the first socialistic writings made ' 
 but little stir when they appeared. 
 
 It was from France that came the first ideas of social 
 transformation and revolution. This was recognized by Karl 
 Marx, the most learned of German Socialists. " The emanci- 
 pation of Germany will be that of all humanity," he wrote 
 in a review, some numbers of which appeared in Paris in 1844; 
 " but when all is ready in Germany, the insurrection will only 
 wake at the crowing of the Gallic cock." * 
 
 To find the first manifestations of modern Socialism in 
 Germany, we must refer back to Kant's most famous disciple, 
 Fichte, who was inspired by the ideas of the French Revo- 
 lution, as he himself declares. In his " Materials for the 
 Justification of the French Revolution," he writes : " Property |i| 
 can have no other origin than labour. Whosoever does not [ j 
 work, has no right to obtain the means of existence from 
 society." In 1796 he proclaimed "the right to property." 
 He says in his "Principles of Natural Right," " Whosoever has 
 noFlIielneans of living is not bound to recognize or respect 
 the property of others, seeing that, as regards him, the prin- 
 ciples of the social contract have been violated. Every one 
 should have some property; society owes to all the means 
 of work, and all should work in order to live." In his book 
 on "The State in Accordance with Right" {Rechtstaat), he 
 foreshadows a collective organization which would realize 
 what he understands by right : " Labour and distribution 
 should be collectively organized ; every one "should receive 
 for a fixed amount of labour, a fixed amount of capital which 
 would constitute his property, according to right. Property 
 
 * Vide the Review Deittsch-Franzosische yahrbikher, published by 
 Arnold Ruge and Karl Marx, assisted by Hess, Engels, Herwegh, and 
 Bruno Bauer. -— ^
 
 8 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 will thus be made universal. No person should enjoy super- 
 fluities, as long as anybody lacks necessaries ; for the right of 
 property in objects of luxury can have no foundation until each 
 citizen has his share in the necessaries of life. Farmers and 
 labourers should form partnerships, so as to produce the most 
 with the least possible exertion." The essential ideas of the 
 ; Socialism of to-day, as regards both the notion of right and 
 • its realization, are contained in embryo in the foregoing lines, 
 \ which were manifestly inspired by Rousseau and the eighteenth 
 I century philosophers. 
 
 ' After Fichte must be mentioned the tailor Weitling, who 
 was deeply imbued with the ideas of Fourrier and Cabet. For 
 some years he endeavoured to promulgate them throughout 
 Switzerland and Southern Germany. In 1835 he published 
 his first work, entitled " Humanity as it is, and as it should 
 be." * In 1 84 1, at Vevey, he issued a German paper in which 
 he urged the working men to establish a democratic republic. 
 Finally, in a book published 'at Zurich (1842), entitled "The 
 Guarantees and Harmonies of Liberty," f he preached the 
 Communism of Babeuf and Rousseau. "Absolute equality," 
 he asserts, " can be established only by the total destruction of 
 the existing State organization. It can admit of administration 
 only, and not of government. Property, when first instituted, 
 was endurable ; it did not then take away from anybody the 
 right and the means of becoming a landowner, for there was no 
 money, while there was vacant land in abundance. From the 
 moment, however, that every free man could no longer appro- 
 priate a part of the soil, property has ceased to be a right. It 
 has become a crying evil, and the cause of the misery and 
 destitution of the masses. I bid you open your prisons and 
 say to those shut up there, ' You know no more than we what 
 property means ; let us combine our efforts to overturn these 
 walls, these hedges, these barriers, in order that the cause of 
 our enmity may disappear, and that we may live together as 
 brothers.' " This is, in the main, the language of Rousseau on 
 the origin of inequality. 
 
 * Die Menscheit, wie sie ist ttnd sein solle. 
 + Garantien und Harmonien der Freiheit.
 
 THE FORERUNNERS — FICHTE AND MARLO. 9 
 
 The writings of Weitling attracted but slight attention. 
 Possibly they helped to spread in Southern Germany the 
 revolutionary leaven which burst forth iu the insurrection at 
 Baden in 1848, but there was then no German Socialist 
 party. * 
 
 After the revolutionary movements of 1848 had resulted 
 throughout Europe in a period of reaction, the march of 
 socialistic ideas, completely arrested in France, at least in all 
 publications, began to assume a scientific character in Germany. 
 Under the name of Mario, Professor Winkelblech published, in /| 
 parts, an important work, which was still incomplete at his *i/ 
 death in 1859. This work is entitled "Investigations on the 
 Organization of Labour, or System of Universal Political 
 Economy. "t In a striking passage of the preface he relates (| 
 how he came to interest himself in social questions. '| 
 
 He was visiting the north of Europe in 1843, i'^ order to 
 study the progress of manufactures there. One day, just as he 
 was leaving the factory of Modum in Norway, he turned to 
 take a last look at the Alpine-like valley in which it is situated. 
 While he was contemplating the lovely scenery, a German 
 working man came up to him and begged him to carry home 
 a message for him. They engaged in conversation. The work- 
 man related his history, and showed how small were his wages, 
 and what privations he had to undergo in order to live upon 
 them. This made Mario reflect. How comes it, he asked 
 himself, that this charming valley, which seems a corner of 
 Paradise, should conceal such misery ? Is the fault in man or 
 in nature? "Until now I have been admiring the power of 
 machinery and the marvels of the factory, without ever inquiring 
 into the lot of those employed therein. I have been calculating 
 the amount of the products, without ever seeking to know how 
 
 * Among the German socialistic writings prior to 1848 may be also 
 cited, "Destruction and Reconstruction, or the Present and Future," by- 
 Michael (Stuttgart, 1846); "The Condition of the Working Classes inn 
 England," by Frederick Engels (Leipzig, 1845). This latter work con- | 
 tains some interesting facts Taken from the English inquiries into the •■ j 
 subject, and is in part the source from which Karl Marx drew his ideas. 
 
 + Untcrsuclmngen titer die Organisation der Arbeit oder System der 
 Wellcekonomie.
 
 10 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 many had no share in them." From that moment he took the 
 resokition to fathom this problem, and it left him no more 
 peace. 
 
 First he studied the condition of the different classes in the 
 civilized countries, and everywhere he found poverty, embar- 
 rassment, unrest ; suffering among employers as well as 
 employed, in the large towns, where dwelt luxury and opulence, 
 as well as in the peasant's cabin ; in the fertile plains of Bel- 
 gium and Lombardy, no less than on the mountainous regions 
 of Sweden and Bohemia. Seeking afterwards for the causes of 
 this wretched state of things, he convinced himself that it 
 
 I resulted not from nature and her laws, but from the laws and 
 institutions of man. He therefore came to the conclusion 
 that the only way to remedy the evils from which society suffers, 
 is to reform and improve social organization. His researches 
 convinced him that industrial improvements, however great 
 they might be, could never result in making comfort general. 
 The ulterior progress of civilization depended, therefore, upon 
 the advance of Political Economy, and accordingly he considered 
 this science as the most important of our day. Nothing can 
 
 \ be more true ; the economic question is at the bottom of all 
 our discussions. It is the claims of "those who have not" 
 which alarm " those who have " and imperil liberty. Plato said 
 that in every city there were, face to face, two hostile nations, 
 the rich and the poor, and modern democracies are disclosing 
 a similar situation. The Communists of Paris detested " the 
 Versaillists " far more than the Prussians; and in 1870 the 
 German Socialists expressed wishes in favour of the triumph 
 of the French Republic, and against the success of their own 
 country. 
 
 How comes it that in modern communities, with all their 
 opulence, there should be so much want and wretchedness ? 
 How is it that England, who weaves cloth enough to put a 
 girdle round the globe, should have so many poor in need of 
 clothes ? Science subdues the forces of nature, the power of 
 machinery is unbounded ; how is it, then, that so many families 
 lack the very necessaries of life ? Is it because labour does 
 not produce enough, or because the products are badly dis- 
 
 U
 
 THE FORERUNNERS — FICHTE AND MARLO. II 
 
 tributed ? Must the cause be sought for in the vices of indi- 
 viduals, or in the imperfections of the social system ? It was 
 to the elucidation of this problem that Mario dedicated fifteen 
 years of his life, and the three big volumes of his unfinished 
 work. It cannot be said that he was altogether successful, but 
 his book contains some original views. He draws a sound 
 comparison between what he calls the pagan and the Christian 
 principle in political economy. The pagan principle sacrifices 
 the masses in order to insure the pleasures and the splendour 
 of a restricted aristocracy, as in the ancient cities. The Christian 
 principle knows only equals, and demands that each should 
 have a share of the produce in proportion to his useful work. 
 The pagan method of making a profit out of the labourer has 
 taken several forms : at first slavery, then serfdom, forced 
 labour, the rights of the feudal lord. To-day there are practical 
 monopolies, " cornerings," privileges, and gambling speculations. 
 The Christian principle, on the contrary, according as it per- 
 meates our customs and laws, will inaugurate the reign of equity 
 upon earth, and will raise up the down-trodden classes, sacrificed 
 of old under the ancient re'gime. 
 
 The theory of property laid down by Mario is remarkable. 
 According to him, this right should be so established as to 
 insure the most profitable working of the forces of nature, and 
 at the same time to enable each individual to enjoy the fruits 
 of his own labour. Property based upon slavery is, therefore, 
 objectionable; in the first place, because, while withholding 
 from the labourer the incentive of personal interest, it offers no 
 other inducement to him to extort from Nature all she can give; 
 and secondly, because it does not insure to the slave the enjoy- 
 ment of the fruits of his labour. Large feudal estates, fettered 
 by the bonds of primogeniture and entail, may in certain respects 
 be favourable to the progress of agriculture, as asserted by the 
 English; but they have the great defect of excluding the 
 majority from all ownership in the soil, and, consequently, from 
 the enjoyment of the total produce of their labour. The ancient 
 collective ownership of the Germans, which was indivisible and 
 inalienable, had the advantage of assuring to each the possession 
 of the means of labour, but it was little favourable to produc-
 
 12 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tion, because it lessened the force of individual interest as an 
 incentive to work, and it did not lend itself to the varied com- 
 binations which arise from the modern organization of trade. 
 " Associated ownership " — that is to say, the same as exists in 
 the modern joint-stock companies — is, according to Mario, the 
 form which best suits intensive production. It unites the per- 
 manent character and the powerful means of production of 
 corporate ownership, to the advantages arising from the capa- 
 bility of division and transfer, and the individual nature of 
 parcelled-out private property. Hence the ever-increasing part 
 assumed by commercial and industrial societies in the economic 
 world. 
 
 Mario sets forth, with remarkable analytical force, the 
 advantages offered by associated ownership, as well for the 
 increase in the productivity of labour as for the improvement 
 of the condition of the labourers. He did not, however, foresee 
 all the obstacles which, in the present state of things, prevent 
 its becoming as general as might have been hoped, if only the 
 best side, which the author throws into such bold relief, were 
 taken into consideration. The solution which he reaches is in 
 reality borrowed from Fourrier; the Utopia of communistic 
 phalansteries appears from time to time as the ideal. Never- 
 theless, he has studied Political Economy most profoundly, and 
 in his deductions, often very ingenious, he scarcely ever ignores 
 economic principles. Unlike most reformers, he insists, as *"*^ 
 strongly as J. S. Mill, that the population question in reality 
 governs all others. Like Mill, or Joseph Garnier, he says : 
 accomplish the best imaginable reforms, spare nothing in order 
 to better the condition of the lower classes, adopt laws the best 
 calculated to further the growth of wealth and its equitable dis- 
 tribution, yet all your efforts will be in vain, if the population 
 increases faster than the means of subsistence. Industry will 
 in vain multiply her manufactured articles ; they are merely 
 accessories. The essential thing to know is whether each year 
 agriculture can obtain from the soil sufficient produce to enable 
 everybody at least to be fed. 
 
 Mario is entirely right on this point, but he relies too much 
 upon preventive measures, which, as experience has shown,
 
 THE FORERUNNERS— FICFITE AND MARLO. 1 3 
 
 encourage immorality, without arresting the increase of the 
 inhaLTtants, The only way to attain this object is to aim at 
 making education and property the inheritance of all. The 
 man who enjoys a little comfort, and has received some educa- 
 tion, at once becomes provident. He does not wish, by a 
 premature marriage, to devote both himself and his family to 
 certain misery. It is in France that population increases most 
 slowly — so slowly, in fact, that some are alarmed at it ; and it is 
 in France that land is divided among so large a number of 
 persons, that those who do not possess any form the minority. 
 Enlightened families in easy circumstances have so few children 
 that they are in danger of extinction. In Ireland, on the con- 
 trary, the peasants plunged in misery and ignorance swarm with 
 children. The more a man leads an intellectual life, the less 
 powerful does the animal nature become in him. The majority 
 of great men have left no posterity. The progress of enlighten- 
 ment and comfort is therefore the best antidote against a too 
 great increase of population, and, by a kind of social harmony, 
 the advance of civilization dispels the principal danger that 
 threatens its future. 
 
 \M>
 
 14 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RODBERTUS-JAGETZOW. 
 
 GERMAN Socialists of note have not drawn up the plan 
 of a new society. Unlike Sir Thomas More, Babeuf, 
 Fourrier, or Cabet, they do not present us with an ideal, a 
 Utopia, a perfect city which would be a Paradise on earth. 
 They have a profound knowledge of Political Economy and of 
 the facts proved by statistics. They have studied history, law, 
 , , the dead languages, and foreign literature. They belong to 
 7 the w^ell-to-do class, and are scholars by profession. They^o 
 not allow themselves to be led astray by the chimeras of others, 
 nor ^by those to which their own imagination may give birth. 
 They content themselves with criticising the classical works on 
 Political Economy, and with placing in strong relief tKe^evtls 
 of existing social conditions. Their -works have thus'tlie 
 same characteristics as those of Proudhon ; but though less 
 clear and brilliant, they have more coherence and solidity. 
 To disentangle their mistakes, sustained attention and pro- 
 found knowledge of economical principles are needed. 
 
 After Mario, there conies a writer little known outside 
 ,' f Germany, and seldom quoted, but whose few and brief writings 
 i i contain, as Dr. Rudolf Meyer very justly says,* all the ideas 
 
 * See Dr. Rudolf Meyer's remarkable work : "The Struggle for the 
 
 Emancipation of the Fourth Estate." {Die Etnancipatiotis-kampf des 
 
 vierte7i Standes.) The second edition has lately appeared. Hermann Bahr, 
 
 r^ Berlin, 1882. [An abstract of the opinions of Rodbertus, translated from 
 
 f the above work of Dr. Rudolf Meyer, will be found in the appendix to 
 
 [ Mr. Hyndman's book, "The Historical Basis of Socialism in England." 
 
 London, 1S83. Tr.']
 
 ROBBER TUS-JA GE TZO W. 
 
 15 
 
 which Marx and Lassalle have since unfolded, and which, 
 through them, have reverberated throughout the world. This 
 writer is Rodbertus-Jagetzow, Minister of Agriculture in Prussia 
 in 1848, who immediately after that epoch retired to his estates 
 and occupied himself with farming and with historical and 
 economical researches. He published no large theoretical 
 treatises, but only articles in the Reviews and Journals. His 
 system is expounded in letters addressed to his friend. Von 
 Kirchmann.* The famous agitator, Lassalle, was in regular 
 correspondence with Rodbertus to the end of his life, and 
 Marx borrowed from him the foundation of his theories. This 
 writer's small and too little known volume is certainly one of 
 the most original works that Germany has produced in the 
 matter of Political Economy, although the basis of his deductions 
 is, in my opinion, entirely erroneous. Rodbertus was not, it is 
 true, a Socialist, but, like Ricardo, he prepared the scientific 
 arsenal from which Socialism has obtained its weapons. We 
 cannot give here a complete analysis of the ideas of Rodbertus, 
 but can only indicate their leading points. 
 
 As he himself rightly says, his system is only the rigorous 
 application of the principle laid down by Adam Smit;h, and still 
 more rigorously formulated by Ricardo, that all wealth ought to 
 be considered economically as the product of labour, and as , 
 costing labour alone. Poverty and commercial crises, those'' 
 two great obstacles to the regular progress of well-being and 
 civilization, have, according to him, only one cause, which is 
 this : As long as the exchange of commodities and the division 
 of produce remain subject to laws of historical origin, and not 
 to those of reason, so long will the wages of the working classes 
 form a relatively smaller part of the national produce in pro- 
 portion as the productivity of labour increases. Rodbertus 
 arrived at this conclusion by the study of the economic influences 
 which regulate the rate of wages and of rent. 
 
 The working man, he says, brings on the market a perishable 
 
 1 
 
 zJidjtii. 
 
 urtw anvt'w' 
 
 * These letters were collected and published in 1875 under the title, 
 Zur Beleuchtung der socialen Frage. Rudolf Meyer has also recently (1S82) 
 brought out at Berlin (A. Klein, publisher) some letters and fragments of 
 Rodbertus that are worth reading.
 
 1 6 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 merchandise, namely, his labour. If he have neither land nor 
 capital to employ his labour, he must offer it to those who can 
 make use of it. How much will they give for his service^ ? 
 Forced by competition to produce at the least possible cost, 
 they will give no more than what is strictly necessary. But 
 what is strictly necessaiy is what is needed to enable the 
 labourer to subsist and to perpetuate Tiis kind. This is the 
 necessary wage of which Ricardo speaks, the standard minimum 
 i towards which, amid the oscillations induced by supply and 
 \ demand, wages actually gravitate. Suppose labour became 
 J more productive. The workman would produce more com- 
 modities in the day. It would follow that each of these 
 commodities would have cost less labour and would sell 
 cheaper. The workman who lives by the consumption of 
 these commodities would thus be able to maintain himself at 
 less expense, and consequently content himself with lower 
 wages. Rodbertus endeavours to render this clearer by an 
 example. A proprietor obtains from his land, by employing a 
 labourer, i6o bushels of wheat. Of this he gives eighty bushels 
 to the labourer, representing his necessary wage, and can keep 
 eighty bushels for himself. If by means of improved processes 
 he can gather in 240 bushels, he will have for his share 160, 
 and in this way the wage, which at first formed half the total 
 produce, v/ill be, when the labour has become more productive, 
 only one-third. As a matter of fact, since the invention of 
 steam, the aggregate of products created in civilized societies 
 has increased threefold, perhaps fivefold, while wages have not 
 . been augmented in proportion. This remark of Rodbertus is 
 just ; but the fact which he criticises cannot be otherwise under 
 ; the rule of our present laws and institutions. If products have 
 increased to such a degree, it is due to the fact that two or three 
 times as much capital is employed to-day as in the last century. 
 This capital must be remunerated, and thus it engrosses the 
 surplus production of which it is the source. When corn was 
 ground by means of hand-mills, almost all the produce was 
 distributed in wages. If, owing to the erection of a steam-mill, 
 only a third of the hands previously employed are needed, their 
 remuneration will absorb only a third of the produce, and the
 
 ROBBER TUS-JA GETZOIF. ly 
 
 other two-thirds will go to capital. The hands thrown out of 
 work by the introduction of the machine will find employment 
 elsewhere, and as consumers they will in part profit by the 
 lowering in price of the products, consequent on the employ- 
 ment of mechanical contrivances. It cannot be denied tliat 
 the working man is better fed, better lodged, and better clothed 
 to-"daylhan formerly. If, then, it is true that the aggregate of 
 wages bears a less proportion to the national produce, because 
 fixed capital, the source of the increased production, engrosses 
 an increasing share, the position of the labourer is, on the other 
 hand, improved, because competition, by bringing down the 
 selUng-price of commodities to a level with the cost of pro- 
 duction, causes all consumers to profit by the progress of 
 manufacture. 
 
 Rodbertus criticises in a very specious way the theory of 
 Ricardo that rent arises from the necessity of bringing into 
 cultivation more and more refractory land. According to him, , 
 rent arises simply from the increased productivity of labour, 
 and there would be rent even if all lands were equally fertile. 
 If a man by cultivating the soil can draw from it more than 
 is necessary for his subsistence, he can give up the surplus 
 to somebody else, and, if he does not own the land himself, 
 he will be obliged to give it to the owner. The landlord will 
 ask all he can get ; the amount which the tenant can pay will 
 depend on the quantity of produce, the price of this produce, 
 and the necessary cost of its production. Rent will increase 
 accordingly, if more is produced per acre, if the produce is 
 sold at a higher price, or if it is produced more economically. 
 Once more, it follows from this that the more productive 
 agricultural labour becomes, the more the landlord's share 
 increases, while that of the labourer, remaining the same, 
 will bear a less proportion to the total produce. 
 
 These deductions contain a portion of the truth. In fact, 
 in order that there should be rent, it is enough that land 
 should be the subject of a monopoly and should produce 
 more than suffices for the maintenance of him wlio cultivates 
 it. But Rodbertus has not paid attention to the fact that 
 if agricultural labour, by becoming more productive, brings 
 
 c
 
 iS THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 more commodities into the market, the price of these com- 
 modities will fall, consumers will profit thereby, and rent will 
 not rise. Mill, indeed, believes that in such a case rent would 
 be lowered. Ricardo was perfectly right in maintaining that 
 the cause of the rise of rent is the increase of population, 
 which, by requiring more food, brings about a rise in its price. 
 On the other hand, when there is no want of land, as is the 
 case in new countries, rent is almost nil, however productive 
 labour may be. The reason of this is evident : the farmer 
 will not consent to pay a high price for the enjoyment of a 
 farm which he can get almost for nothing elsewhere. What 
 remains true in the statement of Rodbertus is that every 
 invention, every process which lessens the cost of production, 
 permits of an increase of rent. This is a very important point, 
 which has not been clearly perceived, and which escaped even 
 Ricardo and Mill. 
 
 The capital mistake of Rodbertus, borrowed from him by 
 the other German Socialists, is that he makes labour the sole 
 source of value. He concludes from it that all commodities 
 ought to be exchanged on the footing of the amount of manual 
 labour each of them has exacted, and on this basis he has 
 sketched the project of a Loan Institution, which closely 
 resembles Proudhon's Bank of Exchange. The workman 
 deposits a commodity at the central depot ; this commodity 
 is valued according to the number of hours of labour normally 
 and on the average necessary to produce it. This is its natural 
 price. He receives in payment a credit-note representing these 
 hours of labour, and with this credit-note he can buy in the 
 common emporium any other commodity the price of which is 
 fixed in the same way. This, as may be seen, is putting into 
 practice the idea of Adam Smith, that labour, and not coin, 
 is the best common measure of values. In the multitude of 
 exchanges which take place, hours of labour would always be 
 bartered against hours of labour, or, as Bastiat expresses it, 
 services against services. The well-being of each person 
 would be proportioned to the part he had taken in the 
 national production, without any deduction to the profit of 
 an3'body. The power of buying would be in proportion to
 
 RODBERTUS-JAGErZOW. 1 9 
 
 the produce created, which amounts to saying that the producer //• 3 
 would be able to buy back his own product. We shall find 
 similar ideas in the writings of Karl Marx. In order to avoid 
 repetition, we shall postpone the discussion of them until after 
 having seen under what new form this writer expounds them.
 
 20 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 II 2. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KARL MARX. 
 
 KARL MARX is, beyond dispute, the most influential 
 Socialist writer of Germany; and his principal work, Das 
 Kapital, is considered even by his opponents as an original and 
 remarkable book. However, it is not to this work that Marx 
 owes his influence, for it was not written to be read by the people. 
 It is as abstract as a mathematical treatise and far more irksome 
 to read. It is a regular puzzle, because the author uses terms 
 in a peculiar sense, and builds up, by deduction after deduc- 
 tion, a complete system founded on definitions and hypotheses. 
 It requires a constant tension of mind to follow his reasonings, 
 in which certain words are always diverted from their usual 
 significations. 
 
 As Mr. Cliffe Leslie has very truly remarked. Das Kapital 
 is a striking example of the abuse of the deductive method, 
 so often employed by many Economists. The author starts 
 from certain axioms and formulas which he considers rigor- 
 ously true. From these he deduces the consequences which 
 they seem to involve, and thus he arrives at conclusions which 
 he presents as being as irrefutable as those of the exact sciences. 
 Nothing is more deceptive than this method, and it has 
 beguiled the best minds. In the moral and political sciences 
 language never succeeds in rendering with precision the 
 infinite variations of facts. Mathematical science alone can 
 do this, because its speculations are confined to abstract and 
 rigorously determined data. 
 
 In Political Economy, as in morals and politics, definitions 
 serve to give an idea of the subjects under discussion ; but 
 they cannot describe those subjects with sufficient exactness
 
 KARL MARX. 21 
 
 to enable conclusions to be drawn from them with certainty. 
 As M. H. Passy justly remarks, if too short, definitions are 
 false, because they do not take exceptions into account ; if too 
 long, they perplex and serve no purpose. The best plan is \ 
 to use words in their usual sense, to employ concrete terms 
 that everybody understands, and to avoid as far as possible;; 
 abstract and general expressions which give rise to frequent i 
 mistakes and bootless discussions. Thus contests are always 
 arising among economists as to what is to be understood by 
 "capital" and "rent." Why not simply say, food, machines, 
 tools, money or income, and the produce of land? It 
 would take a little longer, but it would be much more clear. 
 Bossuet and Pascal did not employ vague abstract terms ; they! ;' 
 always expressed themselves in an incisive and intelligible i 
 manner. To confine one's self to the language of the seventeenth [| 
 cerTtury would suffice to put an end to most of the misunder- 
 standings and idle discussions which encumber Political 
 Economy, and to render impossible such mistakes as are to 
 be found in Das Kapital. 
 
 What made Karl Marx one of the leaders of European 
 Socialism was that he was the founder and organizer of the || 
 International. There is nothing of the revolutionary agitator | 
 either in his writings or in his life. His books have the pre- 
 tension of being purely scientific, and his life, after some 
 stormy incidents, was that of a scholar pursuing his favourite 
 studies in peaceful seclusion. 
 
 Marx was born at Treves, on the 2nd May, 1818. His 
 father, a baptized Jew, was an inspector of mines. Karl, 
 studied law with great success at the university of Bonn, and 
 after returning to Treves, married, in 1843, Jenny von West- 
 phalen, sister of the Count von Westphalen, who had been 
 a member of the Manteuffel ministry, and who had recently 
 died. He refused the advantageous posts held out to him 
 in the service of the State in order to give himself entirely 
 up to studying Political Economy, and in particular the social!:' 
 question. Prosecuted by the Prussian Government for his j 
 extreme opinions, he took refuge in Paris, and there published, \i 
 jointly with Arnold Ruge, the Deutsch-Franzosische yahrlmcher, I
 
 22 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 and with Heinrich Heine, the journal Vorwdrts (Forwards). 
 // Expelled from France in 1844, and from Brussels in 1S48, 
 he returned to Germany, and took advantage of the liberty 
 gained there through the revolution of March to bring out^ 
 in company with his friend Wolff, a journal in which he 
 roughly handled the bourgeoisie. Prosecuted anew, he fled 
 for refuge to London, where he subsequently lived, dividing 
 his time between economical studies and the secret direction 
 of the International.* 
 
 As early as 1847, in a manifesto drawm up with the aid of 
 his friend Friedrich Engels, in the name of the German Com- 
 munists in London, Marx formulated the two principles which 
 \ still rule German and indeed European Socialism. He there 
 maintains, m the first place, that the interests of the working 
 I classes in their struggle against the capitalists, being every- 
 \ where the same, rise above the distinctions of nationality ; and, 
 1 in the second place, that working men should acquire political 
 I rights in order to break the yoke of the capitalists. We shall 
 not follow Marx throughout his active career ; to do so would 
 be to write the history of the International, which we shall 
 approach later on. It is only his ideas that we wish to make 
 known here. His ^\^-itings are not numerous. In 1847 he 
 published a very trenchant and often very just criticism of 
 Proudhon's Contradictions Economiques, under the title, Misere 
 de la Philosophie, Reponse a la Philosophie de la Misere, par 
 M. Proudhon (The Want of Philosophy, A Reply to M. Proud- 
 hon's Philosophy of Want). Marx disliked Proudhon, although 
 he came near to him on many points. In 1859 he published 
 " A Critique of Political Economy," a large part of which was 
 reproduced in his last work. Das Kapital, which appeared in 
 1867. t 
 
 Marx's whole system and the 830 pages of closely printed 
 
 * [Marx died on the 14th March, 1883.— T;-.] 
 , _t The second edition came out in 1873. M. J. Roy's French trans- 
 ; lation, which was revised and completed by the author, appeared in parts 
 I in 1875. The work has been translated into Russian. [The third German 
 ( edition was brought out by Friedrich Engels in 1883. An Enghsh trans- 
 i lation is promised shortly, which will include the unpublished second 
 part.-7>-.]
 
 KARL MARX. 23 
 
 matter which his book contains have for their aim to prove 
 that capital is necessarily the result of spoliation. The con- 'vf 
 elusion is, at Lotlom, the same as that summed up in the 
 famous aphorism of Brissot and of Proudhon : " Property is 
 Robbery." Still, whatever bitter words Marx may from time to ,, 
 time address to manufacturers and financiers, he does not mean 
 to apply them to individuals ; it is the system that he attacks. 
 As he says in his preface, " It is not a question of persons, 
 except so far as they are the embodiment of economic 
 categories. From my point of view, according to which the 
 evolution of the economic system of society may be likened to 
 the evolution of Nature, still less than from any other, can the 
 individual be held responsible for social conditions, whose 
 creature he must remain, however he may strive to free himself 
 from them." Marx evidendy here gives utterance to those 
 materialistic doctrines, so widely held to-day, which deny the 
 freedom and responsibility of individuals and of societies. 
 Every event, every individual action, is only the result^^of 
 inevitable forces. The influence a writer can hope to exercise 
 is, therefore, very small ; for " even when a community has 
 succeeded in discovering the course of the natural law that 
 regulates its advance, it can neither avoid the phases of its 
 natural development nor abolish them by decree, but it can 
 somewhat abridge their periods and diminish the evils that 
 come in their train." Whatever reservations one may have to ] 
 make as to this doctrine of fatalism, which is not even carried ' 
 to its logical conclusion, it nevertheless gives a very just 
 warning to revolutionary dreamers and enthusiasts who, like , 
 those of the eighteenth century, imagine that a few laws would ' 
 suffice to suppress all the evils from which society suffers, and 
 that a benevolent decree alone is needed to establish the 
 Golden Age upon earth. 
 
 We shall first of all state the ideas developed in this strange 
 book. Das Kapital, without discussing them in detail. It is 
 only when one has grasped the theory as a whole that one can 
 understand the sophisms upon which it rests. Marx Tjases his 
 system on principles formulated by economists of the highest 
 authority, Adam Smith, Ricardo, De Tracy, Bastiat, and the
 
 24 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 multitude of their followers. As we know, in reaction against 
 the physiocrats who used to derive all wealth from nature, 
 Smith asserts that labour is the sole source of value, fie 
 even wishes to make labour the measure of values. " Labour 
 alone," he says, " is the ultimate and real standard by which 
 the value of all commodities can at all times and places be 
 estimated and compared — equal quantities of labour, at a|l 
 times and places, may be said to be of equal value to the 
 labourer." This is precisely Bastiat's idea, when he affirms 
 that in societies it is services that are always exchanged for 
 services. Almost all economists, including M. Thiers, who on 
 this point is the mouthpiece of the generally received opinion, 
 maintain that the legitimate source of property is labour. 
 Admit this premiss, and Marx will prove with irrefutable logic 
 that capital is the product of spoliation. In short, if all value 
 proceeds solely from labour, the wealth produced ought to 
 belong entirely to the labourers, and if labour is the only 
 legitimate source of property, working men ought to be the only 
 proprietors. Those Economists who look upon labour as the 
 source of value and property cannot but admit the reasoning 
 of Marx. Like Proudhon, he builds up his deductions on a 
 definition of value. Let' us follow his chain of syllogisms, in 
 which one may recognize a disciple of Hegel. It is worth 
 while trying to understand these abstractions in their mathe- 
 matical dress when we reflect that, translated into common 
 language in petty socialist journals, they have become the 
 working man's catechism throughout Germany. 
 
 The wealth of communities, under the regime of capitalist 
 production, appears in the form of an immense accumulation 
 of merchandise. Wares, that is to say products intended for 
 exchange, are the elementary form of wealth in modern com- 
 munities. Every article which possesses any utility has "two 
 Kinds of value. It is valuable in so far as it answers by its 
 properties to any human need. That is its "value in use," 
 which ends in the consumption of commodities. It is also 
 valuable in so far as it permits its owner, by giving it up, 
 to obtain some other article which he desires. That is its 
 "value in exchange." These two values are far from always
 
 KARL MARX. 2$ 
 
 corresponding. Value in use depends solely on the intensity 
 of the need. A loaf of bread which can feed me for a day- 
 has a constant value as an article of consumption, but as an 
 article of exchange it varies with the amount of the harvest | 
 and the price of grain. Glasses which suit my eyesight may < 
 have a high value for me, while perhaps they would have no 
 value in exchange, because they might not suit any other eyes 
 than mine. 
 
 As regards value in use, all articles differ from one another 
 by reason of their qualities and the wants they are intended to 
 satisfy. As regards value in exchange, all articles have in 
 common the capability of being bartered one for the other or 
 for a certain sum of money. In respect of use, it would be 
 difficult to establish a relation between the sheep that we eat 
 and the horse that we ride ; in respect of exchange, however, 
 we may say that a horse is worth twenty sheep, if for a horse 
 we get ^40, and for a sheep ;Q2. 
 
 In primitive communities, as in India, according to Sir 
 Henry Maine, or during the "Middle Ages, it is value in use 
 that is principally considered, for as each group of families 
 produces almost all they consume, there is very little buying 
 and selling. Take a hamlet under Charlemagne, or a village 
 community in Russia or Servia : the men procure the articles of 
 food and the textile materials, make the tools, the agricultural 
 implements, and the house furniture, while the women prepare 
 the food and the clothes, spin the wool, hemp, and flax, and 
 even make the boots. There is almost no exchange. In com- 
 munities, when division of labour and of trades has taken place, 
 value in exchange is the principal thing ; for as nobody pro- 
 duces what he consumes, each must sell in order to buy. 
 Every product becomes an object for the market, and the ^ 
 important point to discover is what it is that gives value tojl 
 these objects intended for exchange. To this question Marx;j 
 does not hesitate to reply, with Adam Smith and Ricardo, that y 
 It is labour alone. ^ 
 
 * For an account of the theories of Karl Marx, the following writers may 
 lie consulted : — Heinrich von Sybel, Die Lehren des hcniigcii Socialismus ; 
 Eugen Jaeger, Der Modernc Socialismus ; Schajffle, Der Socialis?nus und
 
 26 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 In respect of value, says Marx, commodities intended for 
 exchange are merely crystallized labour. The unit of rabour 
 is an average day's work, which varies in different countries 
 and at different times, but which may be considered a fixed 
 quantity in a given community. More complicated labour, or 
 work which demands the higher faculties, must be considered 
 as simple labour raised to a higher power. A useful article, 
 i then, possesses value only because it represents labour. The 
 i things most necessary to existence, air and water, have iji 
 ^ general no value, because they can be obtained without labour. 
 i How, then, is the quantity of values represented by an article 
 to be measured ? By the quantity of " the substance creative 
 of value," that is to say of labour, that it contains. The quan- 
 V tity of labour is itself measured by the duration of the labour, 
 |: by days and hours. Here Marx makes a correction in the 
 jf theory of Smith and Ricardo, and forestalls an objection. It 
 might, in fact, be said that, if it is the duration of the labour that 
 creates the value of the products, a coat which took a tailor 
 twice as long to make as was necessary, would therefore be 
 twice as valuable. Not so, replies Marx ; the measure of the 
 value of things is the duration of the labour on the average re- 
 quisite, performed with the average amount of skill and dili- 
 gence, and in the normal industrial conditions at any giY(?n 
 time. If with the aid of a sewing machine a shirt can be made 
 in one day, that will be the measure of the value of a shirt, and 
 not the two or three days that were formerly necessary. Even 
 thus amended, the theory which makes labour the source of 
 value is entirely erroneous, as will be shown later on. We may 
 
 if here remark that, like all abstractions, these averages are wanT-"" 
 I ing'in scientific exactness. In truth, each kind of labour has 
 its own value, its own particular character. Is the day's labour 
 of a mason of precisely the same value as that of a carpenter, 
 a painter, a carver, a plumber, or a common labourer? Clearly 
 not. How, too, can they be compared unless by the wages 
 that each of these workmen receives ? It must be admitted, 
 
 der Kapitalismus ; Rud. Meyer, T>er Emancipationskampf des vierten 
 Standes ; and in French, the short but soHd study of M. Maurice Block, 
 
 Les Theoriciais dii Socialis7nc en Alkmagnc.
 
 tf** 
 
 KARL MARX. 2/ 
 
 then, that all wages are in exact proportion to the value of the 
 work done. But this is precisely what Marx disputes. 
 
 From these premises, our author concludes that labour 
 becomes more productive and creates more utilities all to no 
 purpose, it does not produce more values. In fact, if labour 
 measured by time is the sole source of value, articles manufac- 
 tured in greater quantity in the same lapse of time, all put 
 together, represent no more value, because each individual 
 article is worth less. By the strictly logical chain of these 
 abstractions we arrive at this singular result, that all the inven- 
 tions of science, all the improvements of manufacture, produce 
 more utilities, without increasing the sum total of values. 
 Bastiat had expressed a similar idea. 
 
 Let us now see how capital arises. According to Marx, it 
 is by no means from thrift or abstinence, as "the common 
 Political Economy " asserts. Nor is it any more from exchange^ 
 as idle people, seeing how merchants make rapid fortunes, are 
 apt to imagine. In fact, exchange is normally made on the 
 footing of equality, values against values ; and if by artifice or 
 skill Paul sells to Peter for ^5 a commodity worth only £,a^^ 
 Paul, it is true, gains ^i, but as Peter loses it, the community 
 is none the richer, no new value is created, no new capital 
 formed. This opinion, developed with great precision by J. 
 B. Say, is held by the greater number of Economists. Never- 
 theless, in my opinion, it is not well founded. Condillac was i 
 right when he asserted that in every exchange both parties || V- 
 gain, because each obtains the object which suits him best.* || ^-p^^^^ M;Uv{ 
 A lady, he says, sells some acres of land in order to purchase 
 a cashmere shawl, and is astonished at obtaining such a magni- 
 ficent article in exchange for such an ugly piece of meadow. 
 Each party gets what he wants, and is thus better satisfied. 
 Marx and J. B. Say look only at the value in exchange, 
 which, perhaps, does not increase in the act of exchange, 
 though an object, on the approach of those who have need of 
 
 * See " Commerce et le gouverneifient," by Condillac, Guillaumin's edi- 
 tion, p. 267. This little work, like the majority of those of the eighteenth 
 century, contains many just remarks, expressed with great clearness and 
 intelligence.
 
 11 
 
 28 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 it, does, in general, immediately acquire an extra value ; but in 
 my view, what it is especially necessary to consider is the value 
 in use, the utility, for ultimately everything comes to that. 
 Consumption is the final aim of the production and circulatioii 
 of wealth. Exchange brings everything to the place where it 
 answers the most intense needs — " the right ware in the right 
 place " — and thus it creates utilities which are real values. 
 
 To return to the system of Marx, capital, according to him, 
 comes into being in this way. The future capitalist presents 
 himself on the market of commodities provided with money. 
 First of all he buys machines, tools, raw materials, and then, 
 in order to work up the materials, he purchases the workman's 
 " labour-force," arbeitskraft, the sole source of all value. He 
 sets the labourer to work to change, by means of the tools and 
 machines, the raw materials into manufactured articles, and 
 sells them for more than they cost him to make. In this way 
 he obtains a greater value, " surplus value " {meht-werth). The 
 money, temporarily transformed into wages and merchandise, 
 reappears under its original form, but more or less increased in 
 amount ; it has brought forth young — capital is born. 
 
 This would seem to conflict with the principle laid ^own 
 above, that exchange does not create new value. The manu- 
 facturer has only made exchanges, and yet he finds himself in 
 possession of a greater value. The explanation of the mysterj' 
 is as follows. The capitalist pays for labour its exchange-value 
 and thus obtains its value in use. Labour-force has the unique 
 characteristic of producing more than it costs to be produced. 
 He who buys it and sets it to work for his gain, enjoys then the 
 source of all wealth. The capitalist pays for labour its value. 
 What is the value of labour ? Like all other merchandise, it is 
 worth what it costs in time and trouble to be produced, that is 
 to say, its cost of production. The cost of production of labour 
 is the food and different commodities necessary to support the 
 labourer and the children destined to succeed him. The value 
 of all these commodities is measured in its turn by the time that 
 it takes to produce them. In short, then, according to Marx, 
 the value of labour is equivalent to the sum of hours required 
 to create what the maintenance of the labourer demands. This
 
 KARL MARX. 29 
 
 is what the capitalist has to pay according to the principles of 
 exchange. 
 
 In reality, Marx merely explains here, in other terms, 
 Ricardo's law of wages. According to the English economist, 
 wages on the average always tend to approach that which is indis- \ 
 pensable for the existence of the labourers and for keeping up I 
 their number. If wages fall below this level, the less fortunate 
 working men die of privations, and then the demand for hands 
 causes wages to rise to the normal rate. If wages exceed this 
 level, the number of labourers increases, and the increased 
 supply of hands causes wages to fall. The average cost of 
 the maintenance of the labourer varies in different countries, 
 and according to the degree of civilization, but, whatever it 
 is, it constitutes the natural price of labour, its cost of 
 production. 
 
 Let us now disclose the mystery of iniquity whence flows, 
 according to the German Socialist, the terrible contrast of 
 poverty and opulence, pauperism gaining ground as capital is 
 amassed. To produce the commodities necessary for the , 
 existence of the labourer and his family during a day, a whole 
 day's work is not needed. Marx supposes that five or six , 
 hours would suffice. If, then, the labourer worked for himself, i| 
 he could obtain all he needed in a half-day, and the rest of his 
 time he might devote to leisure or to procuring superfluities"; 
 but the slave of antiquity, the serf of the Middle Ages, when 
 gaining his freedom in the existing social order, did not at the 
 same time acquire property. He is therefore obliged to place 
 himself in the service of those who possess the land and the 
 instruments of production. These naturally require him to !' 
 work for them the whole day of twelve hours or more. In six : 
 hours the labourer produces the equivalent of his subsistence ;|j 
 this is what Marx terms "the necessary labour ; " during the ' 
 remaining six hours he produces the " surplus value," the 
 ■;j!ehrtverth, to the profit of his employers. The capitalist 
 pays the labourer for his labour-power at its value, that is to 
 say, by giving him the amount of money which, representing six 
 hours' labour, permits him to buy the necessaries of life ; but 
 as he thus obtains the free disposal of this productive force for
 
 30 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 which he has paid, he acquires everything it produces during 
 the entire day. He therefore exchanges the produce of six 
 I hours against the labour of twelve hours, and puts iii^Tiis 
 ; pocket, as net profit, the produce of the six hours beyond tlie 
 " necessary labour." From this surplus, pocketed by the 
 employer, capital comes into being. 
 
 The capitalist has different methods of increasing his 
 profits. The first consists in multiplying the number of his 
 workmen. In fact, as many workmen as he employs, so many 
 times does he pocket the product of the six supplementary 
 hours of labour. If he employs only one workman^ bj deduct- 
 ing for himself the product of half a day's labour, he would 
 obtain only the bare means of living, like the workman himself- 
 If he employs two, he would have for his own consumption the 
 equivalent of what two workmen consume. The second method 
 is to lengthen the working day. The longer the labourer 
 works beyond the necessary time which represents his wages, 
 the greater the profit he brings to his master. Marx here 
 shows by detailed examples borrowed from the history of 
 manufacture and industrial legislation in England, that capital 
 and machinery necessarily tend to prolong the working day, and 
 that in order to arrest them in this course, the State has been 
 obliged to interfere with successive enactments limiting the 
 hours of labour. The third method consists in diminishing 
 the duration of the "necessary labour." If the workman could 
 produce in three hours what he needs for his subsistence, the 
 cost of his labour-power would be diminished by one half. 
 The capitalist would then obtain the full value of the labour of 
 twelve hours, in return for a sum of money equivalent to the 
 labour of three hours, that is to say, for half the wages. This 
 also seems to accord with Ricardo's law : if the workman's cost 
 of maintenance be lowered, wages would fall proportionately. 
 But how is the reduction in. the cost of maintenance to be 
 attained ? By rendering the labour which creates the articles 
 of the labourers' consumption more productive. As hours of 
 labour obtain the same price, no matter what they produce, if 
 twice as many articles can be made in the hour, each article 
 will cost one half less, and the labourer will have one half less
 
 KARL MARX. 31 
 
 to spend on his living ; he will therefore be able to sell his 
 labour-force for a remuneration reduced by one half. 
 
 All these deductions appear to be irrefutable, and Ave thus 
 arrive^ at tFis^ngular conclusion, that the more the employ- 
 ment of machines and of improved methods increases the 
 productivity of labour, the lower wages fall and the greater 
 the profits of the capitalist become. 
 
 Capital of itself does not create value, says Marx. The 
 work of manufacture only reproduces the value consumed. If 
 in order to make i cwt. of cotton yarn 5 qrs. are wanted, 
 because i qr. goes in waste, in the cost price the i cwt. will 
 be set down at the same price as the 5 qrs. If five shillings 
 represents the wear of the machine and ten the fuel, these 
 sums must also be added, and the selling price must be such 
 as to cover them completely. " The machine does not produce 
 value ; it merely transmits its own value to the articles which 
 it serves to fabricate." The profit must then proceed exclu- 
 sively from labour, the sole source of all value. 
 
 If after a bad harvest the price of cotton or corn increases, 
 although the labour employed in their cultivation remains the 
 same, the reason is that the cost of this same amount of labour, 
 being divided by a smaller number of bushels, gives for each 
 bushel a larger expenditure of labour. If, for example, by 
 means of a thousand days of labour I obtain a hundred bushels 
 of corn, each bushel will have a value equivalent to ten days of 
 labour ; if I get in only half that amount, each bushel will have 
 a value equivalent to twenty days of labour. 
 
 In short, all " surplus value " {inehrwerth), under whatever 
 form it is crystallized, whether as interest, rent, or profits, is 
 only the "materialization" of a certain duration of unpaid 
 labour. "The mystery of productive labour resolves itself 
 into this fact, that a certain quantity of labour is employed 
 without being paid for." " By itself capital is inert : it is dead 
 labour which can revive only by sucking, vampire-like, the 
 blood of living labour, and which lives and thrives with all the 
 more vigour the more blood it absorbs." 
 
 According to Marx, the capitalist regime is of recent origin. ; ;- 
 It dates from the sixt eenth century, when the large proprietors^   ;
 
 32 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 encroaching little by little upon the lands of the small farmers, 
 drove the surplus population into the towns, free indeed, but 
 deprived of the means of labour, and, consequently, forced to 
 place themselves at the service of those who had the means 
 of labour at their disposal. The suppression of individual 
 handicrafts and the invention of machinery have favoured the 
 development of the large industrial system, in which a few 
 capitalists, becommg more and more powerful, employ an ever- 
 increasing army of proletarians. Every augmentation of capital 
 calls for a proportionate increase in the number of w^orkmen. 
 " The accumulation of w^ealth at one pole of society advances 
 step by step with an accumulation, at the other pole, of the 
 poverty, servitude, and moral degradation of the class which, 
 out of its produce, brings capital into existence." 
 
 As we read Marx's book and feel ourselves shut up within 
 the iron bars of his logic, we are, as it were, a prey to ajijght- 
 mare, because, having admitted his premises, which are borrowed 
 from the most undoubted authorities, we know not how to 
 escape from his conclusions, and because, at the same tirne, 
 his wide and solid learning enables him to quote in support 
 of his theses striking extracts from a crowd of authors and 
 numerous telling facts, drawn from Parliamentary inquiries and 
 from the industrial and agricultural history of England. And 
 yet, when we go to the bottom of the matter and look around 
 us, we perceive that we have been enveloped in a skilful tissue 
 of errors and subtleties, intermingled with a few truths. Never- 
 theless, it is not easy to release ourselves, and if we admit the 
 theory of value circulated by Smith, Ricardo, Bastiat, and Carey, 
 we cannot do so without contradicting ourselves. 
 
 M. Maurice Block has tried to refute the chief basis of 
 Marx's system, which consists in the assertion that the labourer 
 produces his subsistence by the work of only a part of the day, 
 while the other part is monopolized by the employer, who keeps 
 the fruits of it for himself without compensation. The fact 
 alleged by Marx is, however, incontestable. It is perfectly true 
 that the employer does not give and cannot give to the employe 
 the full value of the product, for if he did, w^here could he 
 obtain the means of paying the interest on his capital, the rent
 
 M 
 
 ' I 
 
 KARL MARX. 33 
 
 of his land, and his profits, or the remuneration for his risks and 
 enefgy?^ " Proudhon, Hke Marx and long before him, maintained 
 that the destitution of the lower classes proceeds from the fact 
 that the labourer cannot purchase with his wages what he pro- 
 duces. The remark is true, but the fact cannot be otherwise, 
 unless the labourer, like the peasant proprietor, should work 
 his own property, being at the same time owner of the land, 
 the machines, the provisions and the materials necessary for 
 production. If he has to borrow these different agents, he 
 must deduct from what he produces the means of paying for [| 
 them, for nobody will lend them to him for nothing. If it i_s 
 the manufacturer who provides them, he must take from the 
 total produce of the workman's labour what will pay interest 
 on his advances. Who would accumulate capital or employ a 
 single labourer, if he did not reap any profit thereby ? 
 
 Like Proudhon, Marx then arrives, but without admitting 
 it, at the often refuted chimera of gratuitous credit. 
 
 ' The history of the social organizations of different periods 
 proves that the deduction of a portion of the fruits of labour 
 by those who have the indispensable requisites of productions ':' 
 at their disposal, has always taken place under one form or 
 another. Under the system of slavery, the slave-owner received ^' 
 the entire produce of the labour, and, giving to the slave what 
 Avas necessary for his support and to enable him to perpetuate 
 his race, kept all the rest for himself. It was as though the 
 slave worked part of the time for himself and the rest for his 
 master. Under the regime of the corvee, the peasant worked 
 two or three days on the land of his lord and the rest of the 
 time on his own. He was half enfranchised, but a part of what 
 he produced was levied on behalf of the signorial demesne. 
 With the metayer system, it was no longer the labour that was 
 divided between master and labourer, but the products of 
 labour, which comes in the end to the same thing. Modern 
 farming, in its turn, is only a transformation of the metayer 
 system, with this difference, that the farmer pays the land- 
 owner's share in money. Still he works part of his time for 
 his own subsistence and the remainder for that of his landlord, 
 who has given him the land. In the wage-earning classes the 
 
 D
 
 I 
 
 34 T//E SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 same fact reappears. For part of the day the workman works 
 to obtain the equivalent of his subsistence, viz. his wages, and 
 during the remaining time for the capitahst. The fact stated by 
 Marx is, then, quite true ; but it is not by economic subtleties 
 about the " surplus value " that an attack is to be made on' a 
 partition of produce which results from the laws of the state 
 and from the whole existing social organization. You can rob 
 a man of his property, but you will never induce him to give 
 up the enjoyment of it without receiving in exchange either 
 services, or products, or money. If, like Proudhon, you wish 
 that the producer were able to purchase his product, or to keep 
 the whole of it, make him a capitalist. Already in France, and 
 to a greater extent in Switzerland, unlike the case in England, 
 a great number of men, possessing land and instruments of 
 labour, can thus sit under their own vine and keep for them- 
 selves all the fruits of their labour, won from a soil which owes 
 nothing to anybody. Advance this movement by spreading 
   education and the habit of thrift, and the time will come when 
 jj all will have a share in property, either landed or industrial, 
 I and when all will be freed from the tax paid to capital, because 
 1 the capital will be their own. 
 
 Rent is a natural fact and interest a necessary one. You 
 cannot "therefore abolish them, but the labourer, by acquiring 
 ownership, can claim them for himself. 
 
 In the Middle Ages, in the trade-guilds, the artisan working 
 with his own hands was owner of the trade-capital, the instru- 
 ments of his labour. Accordingly, he retained the whole 
 produce. Some similar organization should be revived, but 
 under a different juridical form. 
 
 The fundamental error of Marx lies in the idea he con- 
 ceives of value, which, according to him, is always in propor- 
 tion to labour. He has certainly made the theory of Smith 
 and Ricardo much more plausible by saying that the value 
 of an article depends on the amount of labour " socially 
 necessary" to produce it. Thus, a chair has cost you three 
 days' labour ; but, on the average, it can be made in two days. 
 It will therefore be worth only the equivalent of two dajs' 
 labour. Even thus amended, the idea is false. We must
 
 KARL MARX. 35 
 
 insist on this point : it is the essence of the matter. A Uttle 
 
 patience in following these discussions, sometimes dry enougTi, j, 
 
 wilfbe rewarded when Ave reflect that they concern the very i,, ^^^ t*t>*»^ 
 
 foundations of the social order, and deal with questions vehe-|J -^ 
 
 mently debated in all ranks of the people and in the workshops 
 
 of the two hemispheres. 
 
 The following facts prove that value is not proportionate ij 
 to labour. In a day's hunting I kill a roebuck and you a hare. H ^ 
 They are the produce of equal efforts during the same period ; *| ^ 
 have" they the same value? No; the roebuck will feed me 
 for five days, the hare for only one. The value of the 
 former will, therefore, be five times greater than that of the 
 latter. The wine of Chateau-Lafitte is worth fifteen shillings 
 a bottle, and that of the next vineyard one shilling, and ^'^%r,,yiM^' 
 the former has not required twice as much labour as the latter. 
 The corn reaped on fertile land has more value than that 
 which comes from ungrateful soil, and yet it has cost " socially," 
 that is to say ordinarily and always, less labour. Butter sells 
 at eighteenpence per pound, and yet it is the almost spori- i\ A a^ 
 taneous product of the grass that the cow grazes. Thus we 
 sometimes obtain for the same amount of effort very unequal 
 values, and sometimes equal values for unequal quantities of 
 labour. Value, then, is not in proportion to labour. 
 
 Beyond question, labour is an essential element of value, 
 but wherever scarcity, that is to say natural or social monopoly, 
 intervenes — and where does it not?— labour is not the sole 
 element. 
 
 In reality, value springs from utility. We estimate things 
 according to the advantages that they obtain for us. An 
 individual good-for-nothing is a worthless fellow {un vaurien\. 
 The word "value" is etymologically connected with "valourj^"[| \. 
 for there was a time when men were valued according to their jj 
 bravery. To utility, we must add as a condition of value, 
 ra'rity. Corn is very useful, but it has no great value, because 
 it is very abundant. However, if we examine the matter 
 closely, we shall see that rarity is only a form of utility. The 
 more rare an article is, if it be necessary to me, the more 
 useful to me will be its possession. If, on the other hand, I
 
 36 777^ SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 can easily replace it, because it is found everywhere, the utility 
 of possessing it will be very small ; it will be equal, in fact, to 
 the trouble involved in procuring a similar article. 
 ^^ Water, it is said, is of the highest utility, and yet it has 
 I ('no value; therefore it is not utility that makes value. This 
 li objection, always repeated, depends on an ambiguity of language 
 ^ which has never been exposed, because it sounds very plausible. 
 ! The mistake lies in this : by water in the first sense is meant 
 water in general, the element, and in this sense it is of the 
 greatest utility, but it is also of the greatest value ; for a person 
 lost in the desert, a besieged town, a country ruined by drought, 
 would give anything to obtain some water. When it is said 
 that water has no value, a Specific portion of water is intended ; 
 and in this sense it has also very little utility. What is the 
 value of a pail of water at the river bank ? Nothing beyond 
 the trouble of fetching it. At the fourth story of a house it 
 is worth, perhaps, a penny or two, representing the pay of the 
 servant who has carried it up. In the middle of Sahara, to 
 the traveller who cannot at any price obtain it elsewhere, it 
 would be worth all the money in the world. Thus its value 
 would increase in the measure of its scarcity or in proportion 
 to the difficulty of replacing it. We may say, then, using words 
 in their usual sense, that an article has so much the more 
 value the more useful it is, whether as answering to an existing 
 want, or as dispensing with the expenditure of money or labour 
 necessary to procure a similar article. 
 
 All value presupposes some labour, for a man must at least 
 gather the fruit that nature offers to him ; but the value is not 
 in proportion to the labour, for if he picks a nut he will have 
 a much less valuable article than if he detaches a branch of 
 bananas. 
 
 Marx asserts that the value of the labour-force {arbeitskraft) 
 of the wage-earner is equal to the cost of its production, that 
 is to say to the maintenance of the labourer, and consequently 
 to the hours of labour "socially" necessary for the repro- 
 duction of this maintenance. If that be so, it is not easy to 
 see why Marx should attack capital, inasmuch as it pays labour 
 at its just value in giving it the " necessary wages " of Ricardo.
 
 KARL MARX. 
 
 0/ 
 
 The truth is that the value of labour is like that of everything 
 else^ in proportion to its utility. In a glass manufactory the 
 stoker receives three shillings a day, the glass-blower five, six, 
 or eight shillings, the skilled engraver ten to twelve shillings ; | 
 diamond-cutters at Amsterdam gain twenty to twenty-four I 
 shillings. The cost of maintenance of these different classes 
 of workmen is pretty nearly the same ; but the value of their 
 labour, and consequently of their produce, differs greatly, and 
 it is the higher in proportion as their abilities are more scarce 
 and in greater request. Suppose I want to get up from the 
 bottom of a well a chesf containing two cwts. of silver. Alone, 
 I cannot do it. Somebody comes, but will not help me 
 except on condition of sharing the contents of the chest. I 
 I cannot get aid elsewhere I will consent to the bargain, for 
 I still find in it a great advantage. In this case, the produce 
 of a day's labour would have been for each of the partners 
 one cwt. of silver. The value of labour for the employer is 
 then equal to the profit he makes out of it, and if he is com- 
 pelled by the scarcity of hands, that is also what he can give 
 as wages ; but, on the other hand, if the workman is forced 
 by the competition of his class to give his labour at any price, 
 he can content himself with what suffices for his maintenance. 
 The remuneration of wages, then, will fluctuate between a 
 maximum equivalent to the value of what it creates, less 
 interest and rent, and a minimum corresponding to the neces- 
 sary cost of maintenance. The law of supply and demand 
 will determine the oscillations between these two extremes. 
 From what has gone before, it results that, the more productive 
 labour becomes, the more its remuneration may be raised, if 
 the supply of hands does not lower wages. When this surplus 
 value, resulting from an increase of production, does not remain 
 in the hands of the wage-earner, it is not, as Marx says, the 
 capitalist who "pockets it." Competition soon reduces his 
 profits by lowering prices as much as possible, and in the last 
 analysis it is the consumers who benefit by industrial improve- 
 ments. 
 
 One of the odd things about Das Kapital is that it never 
 disciisses the influence exercised by competition, that ever 
 
 U^ tJ-.'' 
 
 J,'>4JJ!f-: 
 
 1 
 
 i««*4A.iUl^»l'. y^i" ■-■ V KB'fbUV »■(
 
 38 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ^v^ active equalizing agent for profits, wages, rent, and interest. This 
 ^ is reserved, it appears, for the second volume, never published ; 
 but this method of successive analyses, admissible in mathe- 
 matics, where one speculates about abstract data, gives entirely- 
 false results when applied to Political Economy, which is con- 
 cerned with facts. To affect to give a just idea of economic 
 phenomena, without speaking of competition, which is in 
 general their impelling force, is like attempting to explain the 
 terrestrial system while omitting gravitation, which is its moving 
 power. 
 
 Another error of Marx consists in asserting that capital is 
 dead labour, which revives and grows fat only at the expense 
 of living labour. Without doubt the products of former labour 
 applied to a new production — for instance, machines — are not 
 endowed with life. In themselves they are inert ; but if, 
 owing to them, the same muscular efforts can produce more 
 articles of utility, may we not say that they are productive ? A 
 man armed with a steel axe will do ten times more work than 
 a savage with his flint axe. Both tools are evidently inert; 
 but if with the former we obtain much more produce than 
 with the latter, ought we not to put it down to the superiority 
 of the steel instrument ? 
 
 In order to prove that capital does not produce, v^lue, 
 Marx~sho"WS that if by means of a new machine one can 
 manufacture twice as many articles, each of these articles TSeing 
 worth only half as much as before, the total value remains die 
 same. This is plausible, but false ; for the goal to attain is 
 the multiplication of useful articles quite irrespective of their 
 money value. The value in use is the important point. If 
 with a better instrument I obtain twice as many goods, I am 
 really twice as rich; for my comforts being doubled, I have 
 produced a double amount of real value. 
 
 As Bastiat well remarks, whenever we change " onerous 
 values for gratuitous values " humanity is enriched. If all the 
 necessaries of existence were as abundant as air and water, 
 their intrinsic value, that is to say, their capacity to satisfy our 
 wants, would be in no way diminished. They would exchange, 
 it is true, against very much less money, and their money value
 
 KARL MARX. 39 
 
 would almost entirely disappear ; but what of that ? Capital 
 and machinery operate in this way. They multiply useful 
 objects and diminish the cost of their production. They thus 
 contribute enormously to the growth of well-being ; they are ; 
 then essentially productive of wealth ; for, as Voltaire has very ' 
 well said, " Wealth consists in the abundance of useful or 
 agreeable things." 
 
 What is it that has freed man from want and made him the 
 master of the world? Not muscular strength. The savage 
 who wallows in the most degrading destitution wields as much 
 strength as the civilized man. No ; it is intellectual power 
 which, embodied in machines and in scientific processes, 
 creates twenty times more utilities for the same sum of effort. 
 Marx, measuring all values by the average amount of labour 
 that they have cost, would keep the whole product for the 
 labourer, leaving nothing whatever for the person who brings 
 to the joint work capital and intelligence, that is to say, the 
 principal producer. See to what flagrant injustice and manifest 
 absurdity an imperfect analysis leads ! If you do not re- 
 munerate the head of the business exceptionally well, you will 
 havelTinarL who will turn out dishonest or incapable, and you |i ^ ^ / 
 
 will lose your property. Whenever co-operative societies have ' 
 failed, it has always been through^tlie fault of the managers. 
   "in fine, we may say that the mighty and pretentious 
 attempt of Marx to overturn the foundations of existing society, 
 while relying on the veryjprinciples of Political Economy, has 
 failed, because he has only strung together a number of 
 abstract formulas, without ever going to the root of things. 
 Nevertheless, all those — and they are still numerous — who 
 admit the theories of Ricardo and Bastiat on labour, will be 
 unable to escape from the conclusions of the German Socialist 
 without inconsistencies. His deductions are perfectly logical ; 
 it is the starting-points of his reasonings, which he has borrowed 'j 
 from the most orthodox economists, that are false. 'i 
 
 If we compare the theoretical Socialists of Germany with 
 those of France, what a contrast we find ! The former are 
 incomparably more learned. As Lassalle said of himself, they 
 are armed with all the science of our times ; but they use it to 
 
 {-.f
 
 40 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 demonstrate dry abstractions. They lack the great spiritual 
 breath of the seventeenth and eighteenth' centuries. They 
 never invoke, like the heroes of the Reformation or of the French 
 Revolution, those great principles of truth, right, and justice 
 which touch the hearts of men. It is not by splitting haTrs 
 with dialectics, razor-sharp though they be, that the way is to 
 be prepared for a social transformation. 
 
 Bound to the earth by their materialistic doctrines, they 
 present us with no ideal to be realized. All that exists is, for 
 them, the result of necessary laws which govern" Hman 
 societies as immutably as celestial bodies. The French 
 Socialists are often ignorant, simple, and tricked by their own 
 fancies. Proudhon himself, in spite of his vigour of mind, had 
 received only an incomplete and ill-digested education. But 
 they are all human ; they dream of universal happiness in their 
 own way. They are, in fact, mistaken philanthropists. In spite 
 of their errors, or even their insanities, they have a noble aim : 
 to bring about the reign of brotherhood among men. They 
 are Utopian dreamers who have always condemned the violent 
 acts of the Jacobins, which the German Socialists, dry and 
 hard as a syllogism, are ready to renew. 
 
 How superior is Christianity, considered merely from the 
 point of view of a social reform, to all these systems, in which 
 either true charity or a just appreciation of facts is wanting ! 
 An infinite tenderness for the oppressed pervades the Gospel, 
 together with a sublime sentiment of social justice. The 
 essential truth which rises from the whole teaching of Christ is 
 that no improvement is possible without first making man him- 
 self better. Moral renovation ! There is the source of all true 
 progress. It is not by the criticism of economic doctrines, 
 however keen it may be, nor by a new form of association, be 
 it phalanstery or co-operative society, that we shall heal the 
 maladies of the existing social system. 
 
 It was by spreading throughout all ranks of society more 
 light and a higher morality that Christianity burst the bonds of 
 slavery. It will be through the~ same moral influences that 
 poverty will cease. No doubt, " the poor shall we always have 
 with us," because there will always be some incorrigibly idle
 
 KARL MARX. 4 1 
 
 people, and, as St. Paul says, " if a man work not neither shall //• 2 . 
 he eat ; " but as the upper classes learn to know their duties 
 better and to fulfil them better, as the working men, becoming 
 better educated, more moral, less slaves to their senses, attain 
 by labour and thrift to the possession of property, as science 
 goes on increasing the productivity of the agricultural and 
 industrial arts, pauperism and the extreme forms of destitution 
 will disappear — so far, at least, as they reach a whole class of 
 families and form one of the sores of our social order.
 
 42 " THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
 
 «. 2 . '; y7ERDINAND LASSALLE is looked upon by his disciples 
 X~^ as the Messiah of Socialism. During his life they 
 listened to him as to an oracle, and after his death thej 
 venerated him as a demi-god. To them he is the object of 
 a real worship. In 1874 they celebrated the tenth anniversary 
 of the day upon which he was taken from them, with cere- 
 monies which seemed like the rites of a new religion. Thej 
 do not hesitate even to compare him to Christ, and thej 
 believe that his doctrines will transform existing society as 
 Christianity has renovated the ancient world. 
 
 Lassalle did not, indeed, reveal to the world any new 
 truth. He only popularized ideas borrowed from Louis Blaiic, 
 Proudhon, Rodbertus, and above all, Karl Marx. But it is 
 V incontestable that it was the energy of his style, the rigour of 
 his polemics, and to a still greater degree his eloquence and 
 personal influence, which brought Socialism from the regions of 
 dreamy philanthropy and obscure books, little read and under- 
 stood, to throw it like a firebrand of strife and dispute on the 
 public streets and into the workshops. In two years his 
 burning words and fiery pen had stirred all Germany and 
 created the democratic sociaUst party. He exercised a fa.scina- 
 tion like Abelard, charming women and inflaming crowds. 
 He traversed the country, young, handsome, and eloquent, 
 "drawing the hearts of all after him," and left everywhere 
 enthusiastic disciples and admirers who formed the nucleus of 
 working men's societies. There is no example in our times of
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 43 
 
 an influence so great and so extended^ acquired in so^short 
 ajieriod. ' ■""■"" 
 
 Ferdinand Lassalle, like Karl Marx, was of Jewisli origin,* 
 and was born at Breslau on the nth of April, 182 q. His 
 father, a wholesale dealer, wished him to follow the same 
 business. After having brilliantly terminated his classical 
 studies at the college of his native town, he was sent to the 
 commercial school of Leipsic ; but utterly disgusted with this 
 class of study, he entered the university and occupied himself 
 with philology, philosophy, and law. His attention was early 
 attracted by economic facts ; for he relates in his book, 
 Bastlai-Schultze, that at the age of twelve he was astonished /, 
 to find his mother and sister buying in retail shops the same 
 goods his father sold wholesale. At the university he became! 
 an enthusiastic admirer of Fichte, and above all of Hegel, who 
 was his master in the high regions of thought. In politics he 
 adopted the ideas of Young Germany, and ranged himself on 
 the side of the most radical democrats, already known by the 
 name of " revolutionaries." 
 
 His university studies finished, he took up his abode on 
 the banks of the Rhine, and continued the works he had 
 begun. He had conceived the project of writing the history 1 
 of the Ionic school of ancient philosophy ; and in order to j 
 collect materials, and also to breathe the air of the great city I 
 
 * The Jews have been nearly everywhere the initiators or the propa- 
 gators orSbcialism. The reason is plain. Socialism is an energetic protest 
 against the iniquitous basis of the actual order of things, and an ardent 
 aspiration towards a better system where justice would reign supreme. 
 Now this is precisely the foundation of the Judaism of Job and the" 
 Prophets, and of that aspiration towards a Messiah whence Christianity 
 arose. M. Renan shows this clearly in the preface of his recent translation 
 of Ecclesiastes. 
 
 " The Jew is not resigned like the Christian. To the Christian, poverty 
 and humility are" virtues,- whiie -to thB-J^wllIey are iiiisTortune's td 'be 
 avoided. Abuse and violence, which find the Christian calm, enrage the 
 Jew. Hence it is that the Israelite element has in our time become an in- 
 fluence of reform and progress in all countries where it is to be found. The 
 Saint-Simonism and the industrial and financial mysticism of our days are, 
 in part at least, derived from it. In the revolutionary movements of 
 France, the Jewish element played an important part." 
 
 Iq the Jewish conception of the world, it is here below that the greatest 
 possible amount of justice should be realized. From which it follows that 
 present social arrangements should be at all hazards radically changed.
 
 44 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 where at that time all the new ideas took their rise, in 1845 he 
 visited Paris. 
 
 , He was cordially received by Heine, who was greatly 
 drawn to him from the similarity of their origin, their thoughts, 
 and the turn of their minds. Nevertheless the poet, whose 
 sharp penetration went to the bottom of all characters, perfectly 
 judged his brilliant countryman in a letter of introduction to 
 Varnhagen von Ense : " My friend, Herr Lassalle, who is the 
 bearer of this letter, is a young man of the most remarkable 
 intellectual gifts. He joins a strength of will and a dexterity 
 of action which are fairly astonishing, to the profoundest learn- 
 ing, the widest knowledge, and the quickest penetration I have 
 ever met with. He is a true child of the new era, knowing 
 nothing of that modesty and self-abnegation which we of the 
 old school affect with more or less hypocrisy. He belongs to 
 a new generation who desire to enjoy and to rule." Heine 
 compares Varnhagen and himself to grave-diggers charged 
 with the burial of the past, and to poor hens who, having 
 hatched duck's eggs, are amazed to see their ducklings take 
 to the water with such joy. 
 
 At Berlin," where Lassalle wished to establish himself as 
 2i privat docent, he became acquainted with all the literary, arid 
 scientific world, which received him most cordially. Humboldt 
 in particular took him into especial friendship, calling him 
 the "Youthful Prodigy" {Das Wunderkind). He recom- 
 mended him to his colleagues of the Institute of France, when 
 Lassalle made his second journey to Paris. Meantime, Lassalle 
 continued his book on Heraclitus, which, however, did not 
 appear until nine years later. 
 
 About this time, towards the end of 1845, he met at Berlin 
 a person who exercised a decided influence over his fate. The 
 Countess Sophie von Hatzfeld, nee Princess von Hatzfeld, was 
 engaged in a lawsuit with her husband. After some years 
 passed quietly in their hereditary chateau on the banks of the 
 , Sieg, or in their house in Dusseldorf, the incompatibility of 
 i their tempers had brought about a separation between them, 
 and the countess was suing for a pension proportional to her 
 rank and fortune. She was extremely quick-witted and elo-
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 45 
 
 quent, and had great independence of character. She eagerly 
 occupied herself with the political and social questions of the 
 day, not shrinking from the boldest ideas. Lassalle, who 
 resembled her in more than one respect, attached himself to 
 her from the first, and swore to obtain her rights for her. 
 Here must be related a strange incident, which his enemies 
 have often cited against him as a crime. 
 
 'The Baroness Meyendorf, who was very intimate with 
 Count Hatzfeld, had just left him and was stopping at Cologne. 
 She had with her a casket, in which Madame Hatzfeld believed 
 were enclosed certain documents of great importance in her 
 lawsuit. Two friends of Lassalle, Mendelssohn and Oppen- 
 heim by name, got into Madame Meyendorfs room at the 
 Hotel Mainzer Hof, and carried off the casket, which, as it 
 turned out, contained only jewels. When prosecuted for this 
 abstraction, Mendelssohn was condemned and Oppenheim was 
 acquitted. Lassalle being tried as accomplice and adviser, 
 pleaded his own defence in an eloquent speech wherein 
 Socialism clearly transpired. Found guilty by the jury, but 
 only by a majority of seven to five, the magistrates, who in 
 this case had to pronounce judgment, acquitted him, on the 
 ground that the abstraction of the casket had not taken place 
 by his orders, but only as a consequence of his suit against the 
 baroness. This happened in August, 1848. 
 
 As he belonged to the Dusseldorf bar, he continued to 
 conduct the Hatzfeld case, but it was only in 1854 that he 
 brought it to an end on terms very favourable to the countess. 
 During the same time he threw himself eagerly into the poli- 
 tical movements of this stormy period. He_ wrote in Karl 
 Marx's paper, the JVeue Rheinische Zeituiig, along with En^els, 
 Freiligrath, Schapper, Wolff, and other less noted writers. 
 
 These literary labours, however, were not enough for him ; 
 his ardent temperament urged him to action. On the occasion 
 of the conflict between the Prussian Chamber and the Minister 
 Manteufifel at Berlin, he endeavoured to organize resistance at 
 Dusseldorf against the coup d'etat by uniting the working men 
 and the bourgeoisie i and when a few representatives did refuse 
 to vote the taxes, he tried to affix seals to the coffers of the 
 
 li
 
 46 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 State. With several other influential citizens of that town, he 
 formed a committee of resistance, and issued proclamations 
 calling on the people to collect money and arms in order to 
 oppose the government. In November, 1848, when General 
 Drigalski proclaimed a state of siege in Dusseldorf, he was 
 arrested along with Cantador, head of the citizen guard, and 
 tried for having instigated civil war. It was not until the 3rd 
 of May, 1 849, that he appeared before the Court of Assizes, 
 when he defended himself with a boldness and an eloquence 
 that made a deep impression upon the jury. He fearlessly 
 invoked the principle of the French Revolution, the sovereignty 
 of the people. " I have neither the desire nor the right to be 
 acquitted," he exclaimed, " unless you admit a resort to arms 
 as the right and duty of the people." Like Robespierre, he 
 scorched with his burning irony the partisans of " passive 
 resistance." " That is the act of men who feel clearly the duty 
 of resistance, but at the same time are too cowardly to imperil 
 their lives in the matter. The crown confiscates the liberties 
 of the entire nation, and what does the National Assembly of 
 Prussia decree? Its displeasure ! It is impossible to under- 
 stand how an assembly composed of the people's representa- 
 tives can descend to such puerilities." 
 
 He was acquitted at the Assizes, but was prosecuted in the 
 police court for resistance to the police, and condemned to six 
 months' imprisonment. He employed the time in going 
 deeply into social questions. Almost every evening a work- 
 man named Kichniawy used to come, after his day's work, and 
 talk with him on these subjects till far into the night. 
 
 When liberated, he threw himself eagerly into the studyjjf 
 \). the epoch of the Reformation in Germany. He wished to un- 
 *^ derstand how it was that the religious wars had weakened his 
 country by dividing it, and thus to discover the best means 
 of reconstituting its unity. There resulted from these studies 
 a drama entitled Franz von Sickingen, mediocre as far as 
 literary merit goes, but curious as a political essay. He there 
 unfolds the idea, afterwards reproduced by Prince Bismarck,' 
 that great historical changes are always accomplished by " fire 
 and sword." He was a fanatic on the subject of German unfty.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 4/ 
 
 In 1859 he published a pamphlet entitled "The Italian War 
 and the Mission of Prussia." In it he exhibited to the 
 dernocracy of Germany the very plan of campaign that Prince 
 Bismarck submitted to the King of Prussia, and, as Chancellor, 
 put into execution seven years afterwards. 
 
 Alarmed by the victories of the French arms in Lombardy, 
 the King of Prussia, it may be remembered, was on the point 
 of marching an army on the Rhine in response to the urgent 
 appeals of the Emperor of Austria. "Absurd policy ! " exclaimed 
 Lassalle. " Let not our hatred of despotism blind us. Napo- 
 leon III. is fighting the battle of democracy and of Germany. 
 In favouring the construction of Italian unity he is hastening the 
 birth of German unity. Austria is the deadly and irreconcilable 
 foe of a united Germany. Prussia should therefore ally herself 
 with France against Austria, and should profit by this alliance 
 to gather all the German nations together under her hegemony." 
 
 Lassalle even made a journey to Italy, in company with 
 the Countess Hatzfeld, in order to see Garibaldi and to urge 
 him to march on Vienna, so that Italian and German unity 
 might both arise on the ruins of Austria. The King of Prussia, 
 faithful to his ally of the Confederation, did not relish these 
 ideas, although they were urged upon him by Bismarck ; and 
 Napoleon III. was forced to make the peace of Villafranca. In 
 1866, however, Lassalle's programme was realized step by step. 
 His friends the democrats opposed him, understanding him no 
 better than King William understood Bismarck in 1859. 
 
 About this time he left Dusseldorf for Berlin. As, however, 
 by reason of his condemnation, he was forbidden to live there, 
 he entered the town disguised as a carter. Subsequently, 
 through Humboldt, he obtained from the king permission to 
 reside there, in spite of Manteuffel's opposition. His devoted 
 friend, Countess Hatzfeld, followed him there, and they both 
 set themselves seriously to work, while enjoying at the same 
 time the society of scholars, men of letters, and philosophers. 
 Lassalle was elected member of the Society of Philosophy on 
 account of the merits of his work on Heraclitus of Ephesus, and 
 to him was assigned the duty of delivering an address on the 
 occasion of the fetes given in honour of Fichte. He drew a
 
 48 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 picture of modern philosophy in Germany, and endeavoured to 
 prove that the theories of Kant,Fichte, and Hegel were only the 
 logical development of the same system. The form of his dis- 
 course was too abstract, and did not please the public at all, 
 although he was careful to recall the fact that Fichte had pro- 
 phesied German unity, and had announced that one day the 
 German people would enjoy the liberty and equality proclaimed 
 by the French Revolution. He had a sort of worship for the 
 men of that time, and especially for Robespierre, often carrying 
 a cane given to him by his friend Forster, the historian, which 
 had once belonged to Robespierre. Like his model of '93, he 
 affected great elegance, and one of his critics said of him, that 
 he liked to have a chased handle to his Jacobin poignard, and 
 lace on his Phrygian cap. 
 
 In 1861 he published a literary study of Lessing, and a very 
 learned work on jurisprudence in two volumes, the "System of 
 Acquired Rights " {System der Erworbe7ie7i Rechte). Radical 
 ideas of reform obtrude themselves through the purely scientific 
 dissertations, as, for instance, when the existing system of 
 property and inheritance is severely criticised. In two political 
 pamphlets which appeared shortly afterwards, " The Essence of a 
 Constitution" ( Ueber Verfassungstuesen), and " Might and Right " 
 {Macht tmd Jiec/it), he takes up his favourite idea that in human 
 affairs it is force which always decides in the last resort. All 
 constitutional problems are summed up in this : Who is the 
 strongest ? If the Chambers cannot command efficacious 
 means of resistance, they lie at the mercy of the sovereign. 
 This theory, which has since widely spread, because certain 
 contemporary events have appeared to justify it, is open to 
 objection. It is true bayonets decide, but what puts bayonets 
 in motion if not ideas? Is it not the abstract principle of 
 nationality which has completely changed the map of Europe ? 
 Cavour created the unity of Italy, and Bismarck that of 
 Germany, because they carried out this idea, w^hile Napoleon I., 
 with all his prodigious victories and amazing genius, created 
 nothing durable, because he ignored and disregarded it ; and 
 unless Austria will frankly accept this principle, sooner or later 
 she will fall before it. e
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 49 
 
 It was only towards 1862 that Lassalle became the champion 
 of Sociahsm. It was the epoch of the struggle between the 
 Prussian Liberals and Prince Bismarck on the subject of the 
 reorganization of the army and the military estimates, which the ! 
 Chamber obstinately rejected for several years in succession. 
 The Liberals endeavoured to gain the support of the working 
 classes. Herr Schulze-Delitzsch had acquired an immense 
 influence over them by organizing throughout North Germany 
 mutual loan societies, co-operative societies for consumable 
 stores, and for the purchase of raw materials. He wished to 
 found them entirely upon the principle of " self-help," utterly 
 rejecting all aid from the State. Lassalle threw himself into 
 the movement in order to propound and defend those Socialist 
 ideas which we shall examine, and to the propagation of which 
 he gave himself up with an absorbing energy. During the 
 three years of his active apostleship he devoted his days and 
 nights to organizing meetings, delivering addresses, and writing 
 pamphlets. In this short period he succeeded in making of 
 Socialism, hitherto vaguely diffused among the masses, a com- 
 pact political party, having its recognized place in the electoral 
 arena. He alone accomplished in Germany what the Revo- 
 lution of February had done in France. 
 
 In the "Working Man's Programme" {Arbeiter-programm *) 
 he endeavoured to show that, just as the middle classes had 
 succeeded to the territorial aristocracy, so the " fourth estate," 
 the working class, by means of universal suffrage, were destined j \ 
 eventually to become the ruling power in the community. U 
 Prosecuted for having excited hatred between the different 
 classes of society, he defended himself with great skill in a 
 pamphlet entitled "Science and Working Men" {die Wissen- 
 schaft und die Arbeiter). "In 1848," said he, "the working 
 men were at the mercy of ignorant agitators. We should bring 
 science within their reach and instruct them, so that they may 
 learn where their real interests lie, and know how to act in 
 consequence." rin showing that, by the laws of historic evolution, 
 democracy must ultimately triumph, he had only maintained — 
 
 * [An excellent English translation of this address, by Mr. Edward 
 Peters, has recently appeared (London, 1SS4). — 7;-.]
 
 50 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 SO he averred — a thesis which was perhaps amenable to criticism 
 but not to the penal code. A general assembly of German 
 working men was to take place at Leipsic in 1863. He took 
 the opportunity to expound his views in an "open letter," 
 addressed to the central committee, which was answered in a 
 remarkable manner by Rodbertus-Jagetzow. Soon afterwards 
 he expanded them in an address delivered at one of the sittings 
 of the congress. 
 
 Far from retracting, he emphasized his views still further in 
 two writings which he published relative to the prosecutions" 
 directed against him.* His last publication, directed against 
 Herr Schulze-Delitsch,! is the most remarkable he ever wrote. 
 In it he developes his theories more at length than elsewhere, 
 and, at the same time, wields with amazing energy the bitter 
 weapon of irony. Sophistries are not lacking, but they are 
 concealed by the originality of his historical and economical 
 views. Proudhon himself never wTote anything more cutting ; 
 and Lassalle had a far greater knowledge of history and political 
 economy. He was not altogether wrong when he boastingly 
 said, " For every line that I write I am armed with all the 
 science of our times." Nevertheless, this publication is merely 
 a pamphlet and not a scientific book. His great works on 
 " Heraclitus " and on " Acquired Rights," however, lead one 
 to believe that he was capable of producing something of 
 durable value, but he had not the time. 
 
 Lassalle was killed in a duel in the month of August, 1864. 
 Bernhard Becker, formerly one of his disciples, has published 
 all that is accurately known about this event, and he justly 
 remarks that if Lassalle had lived more in conformity with his 
 democratic doctrines, he would not have ended so like an 
 adventurer. Nearly every year he used to go during the 
 summer to rest and recruit, sometimes to the seaside, some- 
 times to Switzerland, and usually accompanied by his faithful 
 friend the Countess of Hatzfeld. In 1863, after having founded 
 the " General Association of German Working Men," he pro- 
 
 * Der Lassalle' sche Criminal-process, 1853; and Der Hochveraths-process 
 under F. Lassalle. — Vertheidigungsrede vom 12 Marz, 1S64. 
 
 t Herr Bastiat-Schulze von Deliizsch oder Kapital und Arbeit.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 5 1 
 
 ceeded to Ostend. In 1864, on leaving for Switzerland, he 
 delegated to Otto Dammer the exercise of his functions as 
 president of the association. In June he delivered a great 
 address at a popular meeting in Frankfort. Having been con- 
 demned to a year's imprisonment for one of the pamphlets 
 which appeared in 1863, he had succeeded on appeal in getting 
 it reduced to half a year, and he was intending to deliver him- 
 self up at the beginning of winter. He passed the month of 
 June at Ems with the countess. In July she left for Wildbad, 
 while he went to the Rigi-Kaltbad, a favourite spot of his. 
 There one day he was visited by an English lady, who was 
 accompanied by a young girl he had met in Berlin, Helena 
 von Doenniges. 
 
 Lassalle was then thirty-nine years old. He was tall, slender, 
 and pale ; his black eyes shot fire ; his profile was refined and 
 proud; his conversation was brilliant, and when he was 
 animated, his eloquence carried all before it. He pleased 
 women, and was far from indifferent to them. Fraiilein von 
 Doenniges was of ruddy hue and very romantic, which was to 
 his taste. After a second interview at Wabern, near Berne, at 
 the house of the English lady with whom Helena was living, 
 they vowed to marry each other in spite of all obstacles. 
 Fraiilein von Doenniges foresaw some very serious objections 
 on the part of her father, an old Bavarian diplomatist, who 
 assuredly would not fancy the idea of having the notorious 
 Socialist for his son-in-law. Lassalle acquainted the Countess 
 of Hatzfeld with his projects, and she, after a {q.\n objections, 
 applied herself with an almost maternal devotion to making 
 them succeed.* 
 
 * All the details of the drama — the correspondence between Lassalle 
 and the countess, his letters to Fraiilein von Doenniges, as well as his 
 telegrams and various proceedings day by day and hour by hour — have been 
 published by Herr Bernhard Becker, under the title of Eiithullungcn iiber 
 die tragische Lebcnsende Ferdinaftd Lassalle's. The countess, who had 
 agreed with Becker, to have an account of Lassalle's death published, had 
 entrusted him with all the necessary pa]iers for that purpose. Afterwards, 
 having quarrelled with him, she demanded them back again ; but Becker 
 had taken copies of them, and he deemed it right to publish them in order 
 to make his former master better known. He alleges that the countess 
 acted the part of an outraged rival, and that she tried to prevent her friend's 
 marriage ; but the letters published by him would seem rather to prove the 
 contrary.
 
 52 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 On the 3rd of August, Helena returned to her father's 
 house at Geneva. Lassalle intended to go and see him, but 
 the Bavarian diplomatist absolutely refused to receive him ; 
 and when his wife informed him that there was a marriage in 
 view, his anger knew no bounds. He cursed his daughter, and 
 swore that he would never consent to such a union. Helena, 
 in despair, escaped from her father's house and threw herself 
 upon the protection of Lassalle, telling him to take her where 
 he would ; but he, not caring to enter the Doenniges family, as 
 it were, by the back door, brought her back to her mother. 
 With her ardour somewhat cooled by this deed of discretion, 
 and overcome by the entreaties of her whole family, the young 
 girl allowed herself to be taken away from Geneva, " despairing, 
 but resigned." 
 
 At this unexpected event Lassalle became utterly beside 
 himself. He was wounded in his vanity, always excessively- 
 strong. That he, the idol of women of rank, should be for- 
 gotten by a girl of twenty, who but yesterday swore eternal 
 faith to him, and who had given herself up to him utterly! 
 Impossible ! It was her cruel father who had carried her qff 
 and shut her up in spite of herself The question was how to 
 free her by any and every means. He called to his aid the 
 Countess of Hatzfeld and his friend Colonel Riistow, and they 
 did everything they could to move Herr von D(jenniges. 
 Lassalle hastened to Munich in order to get the minister for 
 foreign affairs to act on his behalf, and he promised to do so. 
 The countess herself went to Ketteler, the Archbishop of 
 Mayence, to beg him to interfere. The account of the inter- 
 view is amusing. The archbishop highly praised the Socialist 
 agitator; he took the deepest interest both in his scientific 
 labours and in his propagandist efforts, although he doubted 
 the possibility of applying his theories to practice. But how 
 could he, archbishop as he was, encourage the marriage of a 
 Catholic with a Jew ? If even Lassalle would be converted, 
 there might perhaps be some hope of success. 
 
 After all, it was too late. Overcome, as she says in her 
 memoirs, by the entreaties of her family, and in obedience to a 
 veritable moral compulsion, Helena suddenly decided to marry,
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 53 
 
 almost immediately, a young Wallachian Boyar, Baron Janko 
 von Racowitza, and she herself announced the fact to Lassalle. 
 The rage and despair of this haughty man were thus excited to 
 the utmost. Nothing can better depict the agitation of a fierce 
 and passionate nature than the letters which he wrote, during 
 this critical month of August, to his friends and to the girl who 
 was deserting him. Feverish telegrams despatched at every 
 instant, extraordinary proceedings, frenzied appeals, fits of 
 passion, journeys post-haste in all directions — it is a veritable 
 picture of modern life, nervous and overheated to excess. 
 
 Lassalle returned to Geneva towards the end of the month, 
 bearing a letter from the Bavarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 which he hoped might induce Herr von Doenniges to grant 
 him an interview with Helena. He was certain she would 
 never resist the power of his voice and personal influence ; but 
 she absolutely refused to see him. Enraged beyond all bounds, 
 he demanded satisfaction in insulting terms from Herr von 
 Doenniges. Racowitza presented himself to answer the chal- 
 lenge. His two seconds, Dr. Arndt and Count Kaiserlink, who 
 was to marry Helena's sister, demanded the return of all her 
 letters. Colonel Riistow and the Hungarian, General Bethlen, 
 who acted for Lassalle, absolutely refused. The duel was then 
 desired by both adversaries. It took place on the 28th August, 
 1864, in the neighbourhood of Carouge. Lassalle fell at the 
 first shot, mortally wounded. Three days later he died at the 
 Hotel Victoria in Geneva.* 
 
 The Countess Hatzfeld brought his remains back to Germany 
 by way of the Rhine. It was like a triumphal march. At 
 Mayence a most imposing ceremony was arranged, principally 
 by the care of the Catholic clergy. In order to put an end to 
 these manifestations, which were moving the Socialist body in 
 
 * The most exact details of the whole drama are to be found in a strange 
 volume lately published by Helena von Racowitza, Mcine Bcziehjingen zu 
 Ferdinand Lassalle (1879). The account confirms in almost every particular 
 that of Bernhard Becker. 
 
 Another book upon the same subject, Im Anschluss an die Jllemoircn 
 der Helena von Racowitza, has been published by M. A. Kutschbach 
 (Chemnitz, 1880). A Russian lady, moreover, has related a passage of 
 romance enacted between herself and Lassalle : VAmore nella vita di 
 Ferdinand Lassalle, trad, dal rtisso de Z. E. Florence, 1S78.
 
 54 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 all Germany, the police seized the coffin at Cologne in the 
 name of the family, and sent it to Breslau, where the^body_was 
 interred in the Jewish cemetery. 
 
 In the principal towns the working men's associations wished 
 to honour his memory by funeral ceremonies, at which he was 
 represented as the martyr and saint of Socialism. The im- 
 pression was so profound that numbers of the people believed, 
 and still believe, that he did not die, and that he will come 
 again in his glory, to preside over the great revolution and 
 reorganization of society. A Lassallian party arose, which has 
 continued in spite of all efforts to extinguish it, and which has 
 never been completely amalgamated with the International 
 Socialism of Karl Marx. 
 
 We shall try to exhibit the ideas of Lassalle as a whole, 
 without attempting to analyze his numberless publications, all 
 of which relate to special circumstances. 
 
 Can the working man, under the present social system, by 
 his own efforts better his condition, as asserted by Schulze- 
 Delitzsch? No, replied Lassalle, the "iron law" of wages 
 stands in the way. 
 
 What is this " iron law," das eherne Lohngesetz, which is the 
 foundation of all his deductions ? It is the law by virtue of 
 which, in existing society, and under the action of supply and 
 demand, the average wages of the working man are reduced to 
 the minimum necessary for existence and reproduction. That 
 is the level towards which wages, however they may fluctuate, 
 inevitably tend, without being able to remain, for any length 
 of time, either above or below it. Wages cannot long remain 
 above this line, for then, in consequence of the greater comfort 
 and ease of the working classes, the number of marriages and 
 births among them would increase, with the natural result that 
 the number of hands seeking employment would likewise 
   increase; and by their offering themselves for work in com- 
 petition with each other, the rate of wages would be brought 
 back to the same fatal point. Neither can they fall much 
 below this level, for then want and famine would bring in their 
 train increased mortality, emigration, diminution of marriages 
 and births, and, in consequence, a reduction of the number
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 55 
 
 seeking work. The supply of labourers being diminished, their 
 wages would be raised by competition among employers, and 
 in this way would soon be brought up again to the normal 
 rate. Periods of prosperity and of commercial crisis, which 
 constantly occur in trade, produce these oscillations ; but the 
 " iron law " always brings the labourer's recompense down to 
 the minimum upon which it is possible for him to live. This 
 minimum may, indeed, be modified in consequence of the 
 progress of industry. The standard of life of a working man, 
 and the wants which he deems absolutely necessary, have 
 certainly changed. Thus, in the Middle Ages, he wore no 
 underclothes and went barefoot, while to-day a shirt and a pair 
 of shoes are deemed indispensable. He uses more manufac- 
 tured articles, but eats less animal food. It is a question, then, 
 of the minimum of any given epoch, which will be that below 
 which the labourer would cease to marry and have children, or 
 be able to rear them. 
 
 " The iron law " of wages is simply a particular application ] \ 
 of the general law which governs the prices of goods, and 
 which is one of the commonplaces of Political Economy. In • 
 this connection a distinction must be made as to three classes 
 of objects. In the first place, there are certain articles which 
 cannot be reproduced at will, such as antique statues, the pic- 
 tures of the old masters, and natural curiosities. The price of 
 these articles is determined, not by the cost of production, 
 because they cannot be reproduced, but by what amateurs 
 choose to give for them. Other articles, again, may be multi- 
 plied within certain limits, but with increasing difficulty. In 
 this case it is the cost of production of those obtained under 
 the most difficult conditions which determines the general price. 
 Such, for example, are agricultural products. Finally, there is 
 a third kind of article which may be multiplied almost at will, 
 such as manufactured articles. The price of these will be 
 governed by the cost of producing them under the most favour- 
 able circumstances, that is, with the least outlay. Labour, 
 viewed as an article of merchandise, belongs clearly to this 
 third category, for the number of hands increases generally in 
 proportion to the demand. The price of labour, that is to say,
 
 56 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 wages, will be determined by the minimum which it costs to 
 maintain the labourer, a minimum which, in this case, answers 
 to the least cost of production of this particular merchandise, 
 the productive force of the labourer. 
 
 If such, concludes Lassalle, be the general law, those 
 institutions extolled by Herr Schulze-Delitzsch can succeed no 
 better than the old methods of Charity and Patronage, in per- 
 manently ameliorating the condition of the labouring classes. 
 The reason is this : so long as it is merely a question of a 
 limited number of working men, these will clearly derive an 
 advantage by obtaining the commodities they require, at a 
 cheaper rate and of a better quality, from a co-operative society ; 
 but if the majority of working men profited by these institu- 
 tions, the consequence would be that they would live in the 
 same way as they now do, only with less expense ; the minimum 
 cost of living, that is, the minimum cost of production of 
 labour, would be lowered ; and since this minimum is the level 
 towards which competition tends to reduce all wages, it follows 
 that wages would be lowered in proportion as the cost of 
 maintaining the labourer became less. It is thus that Lassalle 
 endeavours to show the futility of the efforts of Herr Schulze- 
 Delitzsch and other bourgeois philanthropists, who hope to 
 better the condition of the labouring classes, without altering 
 the actual organization of society. All those attempts, inspired 
 by the goodness of their hearts, come to grief against the 
 " iron law." 
 
 This reasoning, based upon the generally accepted prin- 
 
 ; ciples of orthodox Political Economy, brought upon Lassalle 
 
 \ the most virulent attacks from the national Liberal papers. He 
 
 'replied to them no less violently.* He had no difficulty in 
 
 proving that the theory of wages described by him, however 
 
 disheartening it might seem, was merely that of the masters 
 
 of Political Economy, of Adam Smith, J. B. Say, Ricardo, 
 
 J. S. Mill, Rau, Roscher, Zachariae, and of all their disciples. 
 
 Even before them, Turgot had formulated the same idea in 
 
 that wonderful language, clear as a crystal, of the eighteenth 
 
 * Zur Arheitcrfraqe, Rede zti Leipzig, am i6 April, 1863. Rede zu 
 Frankfurt, am 17 tind 19 Mai, 1S63.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 57 
 
 century : " The simple working man," he says, " who has only 
 his two hands, possesses nothing unless he is able to sell his 
 labour to others. He may sell it cheap or dear, but the price, 
 more or less high, does not depend on himself alone \ it is 
 the result of the bargain he makes with his employer. This 
 latter pays as little as he possibly can, and since he can choose 
 from among a vast number of labourers, he prefers the one 
 who will work at the lowest rate. The labourers are thus 
 obliged to lower their prices in competition with one another. 
 In every kind of labour it must therefore result — and such is 
 actually the case — that the wages of the labourer are limited 
 to the exact amount necessary to keep him alive." These few 
 lines contain the whole system of Marx and of Lassalle. 
 
 Let us now examine how far the famous "iron law" is 
 conformable with truth. But first, there is a preliminary 
 remark to make. The majority of modern economists main- 
 tain that the influences which govern wages are natural laws 
 which are as immutable as those which rule physical pheno- 
 mena, and that it is therefore useless and even absurd to try 
 to change them. That is, however, an entirely erroneous way 
 to view the matter. True it is that, given the present social 
 organization, with the existing manners and customs, results 
 merely of our past history, the laws which govern wages are 
 their " natural " consequence. But these facts and institutions, 
 of which they are the consequence, are contingent facts, pro- 
 ceeding from the free-will of man. The men who are their 
 authors can alter them, as they have so often done in the 
 course of ages, and then the " natural " results would be quite 
 different. There is, therefore, in Political Economy, no necessary 
 chain of facts over which w^e have no control, as is the case 
 in* the physical world in the midst of which we live. We 
 submit to the cosmical laws, we make the social laws. The 
 former are unchangeable, and find their causes in the con- 
 stitution of the universe ; while the latter alter from age to 
 age, according as the march of history gives birth to new types 
 of civilization. 
 
 This being admitted, it remains to be seen if, in the present 
 social state, the " iron law " is realized with that fatal strictness
 
 58 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 described by Lassalle, following in the footsteps of Ricardo, 
 Smith, and Turgot. In the first place, it is clearly true that 
 the rate of wages cannot long remain below what is indis- 
 pensable to enable the labourers to live and rear children, 
 otherwise their numbers would be rapidly diminished. It is 
 not that we see them die of starvation, as in the famines of 
 the Middle Ages, and even under Louis XIV. ; but, as Friederich 
 Lange says, they die of the same causes as in ordinary times, 
 only they disappear more rapidly.* Now it is a woman in 
 : childbirth who succumbs to the cold, and now an infant who 
 ' perishes because the milk it takes is not sufficiently nourishing. 
 ( Diseases become rapidly fatal, since they fasten on constitu- 
 \ tions already enfeebled ; and thus the mortality increases 
 without being noticed. This is precisely what occurred during 
 the siege of Paris. Scarcely any one literally died of hunger, 
 because charity increased in proportion to the suffering, 
 and yet the number of deaths considerably increased, while 
 that of the births diminished. Prolonged industrial crises, 
 and displacements or transformations in any particular 
 trade, act in the same manner, when they bring about a 
 reduction of wages. From this side, then, " the iron law " is 
 a stern reality. 
 
 But, on the other hand, is it true that wages can never rise 
 above the minimum indispensable for existence, and that, in 
 consequence, all the efforts of philanthropists to better the 
 condition of the great masses are, as Lassalle asserts, a delusion 
 or a sham ? 
 
 Mill was so convinced of the truth of this principle, that 
 he did not wish agricultural labourers to be given even a strip 
 of land where they might grow a few vegetables by working in 
 their spare hours. The only result, he maintains, would be 
 that, after his day's work was over, the labourer would dig 
 in his own garden in the evening, by moonlight, and on 
 holidays, and that by thus obtaining some increase of food 
 he would be able to sell his labour all the cheaper. Hence 
 increase of work and lower wages would be the effect of a 
 
 * Friederich-Albert Lange, Die Ai-bciterfrage (The Labour Question), 
 third edition, Winterthur, 1875, p. 164.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
 
 59 
 
 measure which, at first sight, would seem such a good thing 
 for the rural day-labourers. 
 
 If " economic laws " acted, as is affirmed, with the same 
 inexorable rigour as cosmic laws, then the reasoning of Mill 
 and Lassalle would be unassailable; but man is a free agent, '' '^ 
 obeying various motives, and his conduct varies according to 
 his T)'eliefs"~ahd hopes, and according to the ruling ideas and:, 
 the institutions in vogue around him. A greater amount of I 
 comfort among working men will bring about a decrease in 
 wages only if they avail themselves of it to increase exception- 
 ally the number of their children. Now this result is so far 
 from being necessary that the greater proportion of observed 
 facts would seem to warrant the opposite conclusion. Wan,t [   
 and misery carry off many children, but, indirectly, they also 
 cause a large number of births. Easy circumstances, on the ; 
 contrary, by inducing foresight, retard marriages, and render 
 them less prolific. Is not the proof of it to be found in 
 Ireland, where, forty years ago, the population swarmed in the 
 midst of the most abject destitution, and in the very word 
 proletaire itself, which signifies at once miserable and pro- 
 creator of children? It is not observed that those working 
 men whose condition has been improved by the philanthropy 
 of their masters have larger families than others. In Flanders, 
 where, in consequence of the density of the population, wages 
 in the country districts have fallen to an average of seven 
 shillings a week, many labourers draw a supplement of food 
 from a few perches of land which they rent at a price which 
 is often excessive. Now, whatever Mill may say to the con- 
 trary, those who obtain these strips of land are subject to less 
 privations than those who have none, and it is not observed 
 that they have any more children. When employers build 
 houses for their operatives, and let them^aFa^lnodefate'^ reiif, 
 they cannot profit thereby to reduce wages, for the number 1 ' 
 of hands is not, in consequence, increased. Better still, let •■ 
 large hotels * be built, where labourers can find food and 
 
 * As examples, we may cite the Faniilistcre of Guise, established by 
 M. Godin-Lemaire, and the Hotel Louise, organized by M. Jules d'Andri- 
 mont, director of the colUery of Hasard, near Liege. Tliis latter institution. 
 
 i i 
 
 CM'a
 
 60 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 lodging with innocent amusement for a half or a third of what 
 they earn per day. It follows that they would enjoy greater ease 
 and comfort than their comrades in the same category', that 
 they would acquire better habits, would lay up a small capital, 
 and thus would not be in such haste to throw themselves into 
 the miseries of a too early marriage. In drawing nearer to 
 the middle classes, they would acquire their instincts of order 
 and prudence. 
 
 As those Economists have seen who have best analyzed 
 this difficult problem, Mill in England and Joseph Gamier in 
 France, it all comes back to the question whether it is want 
 or plenty which urges on the increase of population. If 
 greater comfort leads necessarily to a corresponding increase 
 in the number of labourers, then there is no salvation. The 
 " iron law " will act in all its rigour. The minimum of suB- 
 sistence will be the eternal destiny of the greater number. 
 For, as Mill puts it, you may adopt institutions, the most 
 favourable to the labourer ; you may devise whatever division 
 you please of wealth and products, the time will come when 
 the earth will be no longer able to support all those upon it. 
 If, on the contrary, the acquisition of property, and the greater 
 degree of comfort resulting therefrom, retard marriages and 
 diminish the number of births, then it may be affirmed that 
 the measures taken in favour of the labouring classes will end 
 in the permanent improvement of their condition, and will 
 
 the good results of which I can closely observe, obtained the medal of 
 honour at the Universal Exhibition of Vienna in 1873. For I fr. 50 c. 
 a day, the labourer can have two breakfasts, a dinner, and a supper; he 
 gets his lodging, heating, and lighting, and has his washing done for him. 
 In the hotel he has a cafe, a reading-room, and a casino where there is 
 music, and where the evenings may be spent. He can take whatever 
 meal he likes at a separate table, there being no common board. The 
 labourer thus preserves a complete independence, and is in no wise treated 
 as if in barracks. The collier gets from four to five francs for a day of eight 
 hours, even more if trade is brisk. Thus he has two-thirds of his wages at 
 his disposal for his accessory needs. He is consequently not reduced to 
 the minimum necessary for existence. See Philanthropic sociale h PExpo- 
 sitioti de Vienne, hy Leon d'Andrimont. [As to "the Familistere at 
 Guise," see a lecture by M. Godin, translated into English by Mr. E. V. 
 Neale, and issued as a pamphlet by the Central Co-operative Board, 
 Manchester.— 7>.]
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 6l 
 
 thus lead to the solution of the problem. Observed facts in 
 France would lead to this conclusion. 
 
 In fact, France, along with Switzerland and Norway, is the 
 country in which property is distributed amongst the greatest 
 number of holders, and well-being is most equally divided, and 
 it is also the country in which population increases most slowly, -w^; A/u*^';^: 
 During the last twenty years, notwithstanding the most terrible C^e./6 
 convulsions, wealth has increased there more than anywhere 
 else, while the population has remained almost stationary. In 
 Germany there is much less comfort among the people ; the 
 labourer, especially in the rural parts, is far worse paid. Not- 
 withstanding the great progress of industry and of agriculture, 
 which have had to struggle against a naturally sterile soil, the 
 counFfy is still poor; and yet the population is doubled every 
 fifty-four years. It increases at the same rate in England, 
 where the number of landowners is small and that of the 
 labourers very large. 
 
 When Arthur Young travelled in France, and saw the soil 
 divided amongst a vast number of lidlders", he predicted the 
 country would be transformed into a rabbit-warren. The very 
 reverse has occurred. The population increases so slowly that 
 now and again there come cries of alarm. M. Le'once de 
 Lavergne was himself startled at it. Nevertheless, he who had 
 so well analyzed the writings of the eighteenth century econo- 
 mists, should not have forgotten Quesnay's profound maxim, 
 which sums up the whole question in two words : " Be less 
 anxious for the increase of population than for the increase of 
 incomes." That Napoleon should reply to Madame de Stael, 
 when she asked what woman he most admired, " The one who 
 has most children," is perfectly comprehensible ; for what a 
 conqueror needs is plenty of food for powder ; but what an , 
 Economist should have in view is the happiness of men, and 
 not their number. Far better there should be a few families^ !, 
 thinly peopling a district, and living in abundance, than com- 
 pact masses swarming in squalor. France fulfils in a wonderful 
 way the hopes of Malthus, of Mill, and of Joseph Gamier, and | 
 she offers the most striking refutation of the "iron law" of 
 Lassalle.
 
 62 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Let us follow still further the exposition of the ideas of the 
 German agitator.* Nowadays, he says, in order to produce 
 with success, large capital is needful. " The small maiiulacturen 
 the petty shopkeeper, the artisan, vegetate only, crushed by "the 
 competition of the great manufacturers. The labourer, unable 
 to be an independent producer, is obliged to sell his labour" 
 for the means of subsistence ; and in consideration of wages, 
 the employer obtains the entire product of the labour. This 
 product is constantly increasing, according as processes are 
 perfected, and as science is applied to the working of natural 
 resources ; but the labourer, the source of all wealth, does not 
 profit from it. It all goes to the capitalist, who reaps the entire 
 benefit of industrial progress. The labourer is, then, deprived 
 of almost all the fruits of his labour, and necessarily so, for he 
 does not possess the capital which would enable him, by working 
 on his own account, to keep the product of his labour for 
 himself 
 
 Economists point out that the relations established between 
 capitalist and labourer must be perfectly equitable, since they 
 are established by a free contract concluded between the parties. 
 Not so, replies Lassalle ; the contract is free only in appear- 
 ance : the labourer, not being himself able to employ his hands, 
 must hire them out for any price that may be given him, being 
 constrained by hunger. He is no more free than the drowning 
 man who gives all he possesses to one who merely reaches him 
 a pole to pull him out of the water. 
 
 But, replies the Economist, capital itself is merely accumu 
 lated labour : even if it is true that it obtains an ever-increasins: 
 portion, this is only the fair remuneration of intelligent labour, 
 united to forethought, abstinence, and thrift. True, answers 
 Lassalle, capital arises from the accumulation of the products 
 of previous labour, but it was the labour of those who have 
 not obtained the capital, namely, the workers, and not the 
 labour of the capitalists who have obtained it. The existing 
 
 * See besides the numerous writings of Lassalle, Die bcdrohliche Ent- 
 7vickelung des Socialismiis (The Dangerous Development of Socialism), by 
 Rudolf Meyer, a lucid and substantial production ; Der moderne Socialismus 
 (Modern Socialism), by Dr. Eugen Jaeger ; Die Lehren des heutigen Social- 
 ismus (The Lessons of Modern Socialism), by H, Von Sybel.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 63 
 
 social order is the direct result of the ancient regime which, 
 by keeping all property in the hands of the privileged classes, 
 forced all others, directly or indirectly, to give up to the rich 
 and the strong the best part of their gains. Liberty was pro- j 
 claimed only after they had monopolized everything. The 
 working man, while politically free, is, economically considered, 
 as dependent as the serf of the Middle Ages. Like him, he 
 is obliged to deliver up the ever-increasing product of his 
 labour in exchange for the strict necessaries of life, and it is 
 thus that his employers have been enabled to accumulate their 
 capital. Their wealth being the fruit of the labour of others, \ 
 " property " should to-day be called "altruity." Eigenthum ist \ 
 Fremde?ithuin. 
 
 But at least, replies the Economist, you would not deny 
 that the head of a business has a right to some reward for his 
 skill, his care, and his management, and at the same time 
 should have a premium to cover his possible losses. The 
 profit of the manufacturer is, in reality, merely a higher salary 
 than that of the others, and it is such because it is the reward 
 of the most essential service, because the success of the concern 
 depends upon it, and because it is only contingent. That is 
 true, says Lassalle, management should have its wages ; but 
 in great companies is it the directors who enjoy the greatest 
 benefits? No, it is the shareholders, who do nothing. In 
 private enterprises, the remuneration of the owner is quite out 
 of proportion to the service rendered. As regards the risk 
 that is to be covered by a premium, it exists for Tom, Dick, 
 and Harry, but not for the entire class of heads of firms, con- 
 sidered as a whole. What Tom loses Dick gains ; and statistics 
 prove that the total of profits is increasing and is enormous. 
 TJie class of capitalists, therefore, receive a premium for a risk 
 that does not really exist. And~besides, the fact that there is 
 a risk proves a defect in the industrial organization. What 
 should be done, then, is not to pay a premium, but to obviate 
 the necessity of paying one. This would result from a better 
 organization, and what this is Lassalle proceeds to show. 
 
 Nowadays the labourer is completely at the mercy of 
 capital. It is the world upside down. Properly, asserts Lassalle, 
 
 lidASi. lA ^
 
 64 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 capital should be at the service of labour. Man created capital 
 to help him in his work ; it is not necessary that he should 
 work for the benefit of capital. It is well for him to make 
 capital, but not to have " capital made out of him." Instead 
 of wages, always reduced to the minimum by the " iron law," 
 the labourer should get the entire produce of his labour 
 
 Capital and labour should cease to make warupon each 
 other ; they should live in peace and act in unison. The solu- 
 tion is plain : let them be united in the same person. In order 
 to obtain this result, which would effect the transformation of 
 existing society, there is no need to seek what is new, nor to 
 rush into Utopias. It would suffice to favour the development 
 of institutions already working under our eyes in different 
 countries. These are co-operative societies of production. 
 The labourers are there the owners of the capital ; they direct 
 the enterprise and receive all the profits. Thus, capital is the 
 servant of labour, and the workman receives as remuneration 
 the entire product of his work. Societies of this kind, which 
 have been founded in Paris and England, and of which those 
 established by the "Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale" are the 
 best known, prove, beyond doubt, the possibihty of success 
 for these combinations. But the only way of insuring their 
 progress, and of thus changing the face of society, is to largely 
 increase their number ; and for that purpose the intervention 
 of the State is necessary. When Schulze-Delitzsch rejects such 
 intervention, says Lassalle, he has " a mere night-watchman's " 
 idea of the State. * 
 
 According to Lassalle, the role of the State is not merely 
 that of maintaining order, but also of furthering all the great 
 enterprises of civilization. And this, he declares, is what the' 
 State has always done. Is it not to the intervention of the 
 State that we owe our roads, harbours, canals, postal and tele- 
 graph systems, and our schools ? When the construction of a 
 railway is in question, does not the State frequently grant a ^ 
 
 * [Lassalle calls this a night-watchman's idea, or a policeman's idea, 
 " because it represents to itself the State from the point of view of a police- 
 man, whose whole function consists in preventing robbery and burglary." 
 Arbeiter-programm, Peters' translation, p. 53. — Tr.\
 
 FEUD IN AND LASS ALL E. 65 
 
 subsidy, or guarantee a minimum interest to the company ? It 
 would require a smaller advance for co-operative societies than 
 for railways. Lassalle estimated that one hundred millions of 
 thalers would suffice for Prussia, and added that it would cost 
 the tax-payers nothing. According to him, there should be one 
 grand central bank established, having a monopoly of the 
 issue of notes, so that it could easily circulate three hundred 
 million thalers upon a reserve of one-third. Thus it would 
 have, for the purpose of loans to co-operative societies, two 
 hundred millon thalers, which would have cost it nothing. 
 These societies should first be established in the districts best 
 adapted to them by reason of the nature of the trade carried 
 on in them, the density of the population, and the disposition 
 of the labourers. Gradually other societies would be founded 
 in all branches of labour, and even in the rural districts. 
 
 Agriculture, when conducted on a large scale, yields a 
 larger net produce ; but it has this drawback, it is incompatible 
 with small properties. Agricultural co-operation would reunite 
 the advantages of the petite and of the gi'mide culture, and thus 
 transform the entire agrarian system to the advantage of the 
 whole community. With one hundred millions of thalers, the 
 necessary industrial capital could be supplied to four hundred 
 thousand working men, and with the annual interest, at five per 
 cent., namely, five millions, the benefits of the association 
 might be annually extended to twenty thousand new work- 
 ins men and their families. These societies would establish 
 among themselves relations of joint responsibility and credit, 
 which would insure to them great solidity. Thus, after thcf 
 lapse of a short time, instead of offering a spectacle of capi-   
 talists and labourers hostile to each other, the nation would be . 
 entirely composed of working-men capitalists, grouped together/ 
 according to their trades. Tlie State would by no means have 
 to play the part of director or contractor of industry : far less, 
 indeed, than it does at present in the case of the railways 
 which it works. All it would have to do would be to examine 
 and approve the statutes of the societies, and to exercise a 
 control sufficient for the security of the funds advanced. Each 
 week the workmen would receive the wages usual in the 
 
 F
 
 66 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 locality, and, at the end of the year, the profits would be 
 distributed as a dividend. 
 
 Risk and the chances of loss would disappear, because 
 manufacture, instead of producing haphazard, would proceed 
 on a combined principle in response to known wants. What 
 a contrast there is to-day between the admirable order which 
 reigns in every factory, and the anarchy which desolates 
 the industrial world ! In each factory, the master sees that 
 nothing useless is made ; in order to make fifty four-wheeled 
 waggons only two hundred tires are prepared. But if it is a 
 question of supplying the general demand, which is unknown, 
 each manufacturer produces according to guess, and then tries 
 to sell his whole stock in competition with others. There 
 follow, of course, monetary and commercial crises from over- 
 production, and thus equilibrium is restored. This is secured, 
 however, only at the cost of immense losses to the masters, 
 and of stoppages of work, yet more disastrous to the operatives. 
 These crises, this suffering, would be avoided if, the demand 
 being known, by means of statistics, the various associations 
 would come to a mutual understanding in order to meet it. 
 ^ The activity of the various branches of production would be 
 regulated with as much precision as are the different Kinds 
 of work in one of our present factories. 
 
 Already there are great metal foundries in which a whole 
 series of technical operations is performed, linked together into 
 one organic whole, which extracts the ore and the coal from 
 the ground, and turns out completely finished locomotives, 
 ships, and machines of all kinds. Krupp's works in Germany, 
 those of Le Creusot in France, and of Seraing in Belgium are 
 examples of these admirable combinations. This is the system 
 which should be extended to the whole community. Then 
 the productive capital and all the instruments of production 
 would belong permanently to the different societies grouped 
 in trade corporations. Newly invented methods of production 
 would become the property of the societies, private individuals, 
 as such, not having the working of them. On the other hand, 
 all articles of consumption, or their price, would be divided 
 among those who had contributed to produce them, exactly as
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 6/ 
 
 takes place to-day, only upon a more equitable basis. The 
 general welfare would be much greater, not only because 
 distribution would be more equitable, but also because pro- 
 duction would be on a much larger scale. One of Lassalle's 
 disciples, Baron Schweiter, gives the leading principles of the 
 scheme in a small pamphlet published after the death of the 
 master, under the title of "The dead Schulze against the 
 living Lassalle." * Losses at present arising from works under- 
 taken at haphazard, and consequently often useless, would be 
 avoided; efforts which now merely result in ruining com- 
 petitors would then be directed towards ends profitable to all ; 
 the labour of workmen would be more productive, because, since 
 the whole product would belong to them, they would try, in 
 emulation with one another, to render it as large as possible ; 
 and finally, the idle, not being able to live without work, 
 would enter the ranks of the great army of producers, which 
 henceforward would comprise all citizens. 
 
 Lassalle succeeded in winning over to his ideas two of the ' 
 most eminent men, in their different ways, of contemporary \ \ 
 Germany — Ketteler, bishop of Mayence, and Prince Bismafctc. { | 
 In the sitting of the 17th of September, 1878, the Imperial 
 Chancellor spoke of his connection with Lassalle ; he said that 
 he had never met a more agreeable talker, and that he should 
 have been delighted to have him for a neighbour in the country. 
 He appears still to share the faith of the celebrated agitator in 
 co-operative societies endowed by the State. 
 
 At this same sitting, he said, " I did, in fact, consult with j . 
 Lassalle upon the subject of the aid to be given by government ' 
 to co-operative societies ; and even to-day I cannot think that it 
 would be a useless thing. I do not know if it was the effect of 
 Lassalle's reasoning or the result of my own experience in 
 England, during my sojourn there in 1862, but I have always 
 thought that by organizing co-operative societies, such as 
 obtain in that country, a real improvement might be effected 
 in the condition of the labourers. I conferred with His 
 Majesty, who takes a deep interest in the working classes, and 
 the King gave a sum of money large enough to make an experi- 
 * Der iodte Schuhcgegen den lebendcn Lassalle.
 
 68 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ment. I am amazed that I should be reproached \vithjiaving 
 [/interested myself in the solution of the soaaT" question. "''Tiie 
 I real reproach to which I am exposed is that I have not per- 
 il severed and conducted this work to a successful issue. But it 
   did not belong to my ministerial department, and time failed 
 me. War and foreign politics demanded my attention. These 
 attempts at co-operative societies failed for want of sound 
 practical organization. As far as production was concerned 
 all went well ; but on the commercial side it was otherwise, 
 and the difficulties were so many that they have hitherto proved 
 insurmountable. Possibly the cause may have been in the 
 workmen's want of confidence in their managers and superiors. 
 In England this confidence does really exist, and co-operative 
 societies flourish. At all events, I cannot understand why_J 
 should be reproached for making some experiments which 
 His Majesty has paid for out of his private purse." 
 
 It will be seen that Lassalle's plans of social reform did not 
 imply any violent revolution. It was, in fact, the idea de- 
 veloped as early as 1841, by Louis Blanc, in his work, "The 
 Organization of Labour," but with this difference, that instead 
 of attacking the principles of Political Economy, the German 
 reformer invoked them in aid of his demand for the trans- 
 formation of the existing order of things. If Lassalle's object 
 is considered, namely, the multiplication of co-operative 
 societies of production, it may be affirmed that no one would 
 object to it. The solution would be perfect, since capital and 
 labour being united in the same hands, all hostility between 
 these two factors of production would disappear.* But is the 
 
 * At the eighth congress of co-operative societies, which was held at 
 Glasgow in April, 1S76, under the presidency of Mr. Edward Caird, pro- 
 fessor in that city, Mr. Hodgson, Professor of Political Economy in the 
 University of Edinburgh, veiy clearly explained the advantages of co- 
 lt operation. Capital and labour are indispensable ; but if represented by 
 i; two classes, capitalists and labourers, they will be in constant strife. If 
 \\ there be but one class, possessing both factors of production, antagonism is 
 1 \ no longer possible. Mr. Hodgson hoped to see co-operation take the place 
 ' of trade-unionism. Trade unions are machines of war, co-operation is an 
 advance towards peace in the centre of the factory. Mr. Holyoake affirmed 
 that the sympathy of "unionists" for co-operation was becoming more 
 lively, and he hoped that, little by little, they would enter into the co- 
 operative movement. In fact, this movement is extending in England.
 
 \kj- 
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 69 
 
 instrument of the social renovation, dreamed of by Lassalle 
 and Louis Blanc, viz. the co-operative society of production, 
 really practicable, and can it be hoped that, even if generously 
 and, if needful, gratuitously aided by the State, it could com,-^ I | 
 pete successfully with private enterprises so as to supplant ; ' 
 them? This is the essential point on which everything ^ | 
 depends. 
 
 "Tn a small article, entitled "The Delusions of Co-operative 
 Societies" (1866), M. Cernuschi, who, in order to study this 
 question better, had worked three butchers' shops, points out, 
 with that clearness which characterizes all his writings, the 
 grave difficulties in the way of the application of the system. 
 These are, firstly, the great complexity of the accounts ; and 
 secondly, the difficulty of looking after the managers and   ^ Uf 
 ensuring their honesty and activity. M. Cernuschi quotes the _^/ .|^ec'-^ 
 
 following extract from an English pamphlet, " Checks on Co- 
 operative Storekeepers:" — " Among the difficulties encountered 
 by the co-operative movement, none has had more disastrous 
 consequences than that of finding an efficacious means of 
 superintending the accounts of the co-operative stores." The 
 selection of managers, however, is really the great difficulty. 
 The head of a private business is directly interested in ihell )■ 
 good administration of his affairs, but the manager is only in- ! : . 
 directly interested. The former, in that he receives the profits, ji ; 
 will be far more active than the latter, who has a fixed salar)^ ' ",'' 
 There is one essential truth wHchre^^^ shouM jiever 
 
 forget,"narnely, that the incentive to production has always 
 been^and will always be," persbnal interest and respohslbility. 
 Self-devotion has its own ' pla-ce," and a very large" one, in life"; 
 charity, duty, and patriotism have their heroes and their 
 martyrs; but, in the factory and in the sphere of material 
 interests, these virtues would soon get wearied at seeing idle- 
 ness and selfishness taking advantage of them. The monk, it 
 is true, works for and enriches his monastery; arid communism, ' 
 
 —See the admirable work of George Howell, " Conflict of Capital and 
 Labour," 1878. [See also a little book, full of information on the subject, 
 entitled "Working Men Co-operators," by Arthur H. Dyke Acland and 
 Benjamin Jones (bath members of the Central Co-operative Board), 
 London, 1884. — Tr.] 
 
 i {Tl^^e*! 
 
 ^*)f>/./
 
 70 
 
 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 i called impracticable, is practised under our very eyes and with 
 
 1 1 such success in Catholic countries that, if the civil government 
 
 lidid not take precautions, the religious bodies would speedily 
 
 •i absorb everything. But here, again, self-interest Js brought 
 
 into play, only the object it seeks after is situated in heaven. 
 
 In joint-stock companies the same difficulty exists with 
 regard to the choice of managers as that encountered by 
 co-operative societies. The incentive of private interest is 
 weakened, but the directors are well paid. They usually have 
 a share of the profits, and they may be changed if they manage 
 the business badly; hence they are interested in doing well. 
 Furthermore, as the most capable men are chosen, they are 
 almost always superior to manufacturers who work on then- 
 own account, and thus their greater capacity compensates for 
 the more feeble action of personal interest. The majority 
 of co-operative societies have succumbed, on the contrary, 
 through the shortcomings of their managers. The reason is 
 
 evident. 
 
 Co-operation as compared to individual enterprise is repub- 
 lican government succeeding to despotic rule. History, and 
 even contemporary facts, prove that many qualities are needful" 
 
 : I in a people before republican institutions can succeed among 
 
 1 1 them. In order to conduct a commercial or industrial enter- 
 prise properly, certain special aptitudes are indispensable; and 
 if working men were to choose one of their number, these 
 aptitudes would frequently be found wanting in him. His 
 authority would be disputed, and his equals would not obey 
 him properly. Enthusiasm for the work undertaken would 
 keep the co-operators to their duty for some time ; but sooner 
 or later they would tire, devotion to their principles would cool 
 down, incompatibilities of temper would manifest themselves, 
 and dissensions or the incapacity of managers would finally 
 lead to the dissolution of the society. In order to have a 
 
   capable director, it would be necessary to pay him well ; he 
 would straightway become a bourgeois, living like a bourgeois, 
 a fact which would at once excite the jealousy of his comrades. 
 His salary would be about equal to the profits of the single 
 
 • owner, and thus no saving would be effected. This draw-
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE, 7 1 
 
 back does not exist in large enterprises operating in hundreds 
 of thousands, because the salaries of the directors form only 
 a small fraction of the total transactions ; but co-operative 
 societies, founded on the savings of working men, would almost 
 always be very small undertakings. 
 
 These objections, inherent to the co-operative system, were 
 clearly pointed out even by its partisans at the debates of the 
 working men's congress, which met in Paris in October, 1876 ; 
 at the same time a remarkable progress in the economic 
 education of the French labouring classes was put beyond 
 a doubt. Thus the congress at once admitted the payment 
 of interest and even a dividend upon capital, thus abandoning 
 the chimera, so long cherished, of gratuitous credit. Citizen 
 Nicaise, reporter to the sixth commission, uttered some very 
 sensible words on this head : " Cabet's maxim, from each 
 according to his strength, to each according to his needs, does not 
 suit us because it is unjust. If I must work, I who am sober 
 and Industrious, for him whose laziness is as great as his 
 appetite is enormous, I should be tempted, unless I were a 
 saint, to conceal my power of working in order to satisfy that 
 desire of better living which is inherent in human nature. 
 Saint-Simon, in the midst of errors which do not here concern 
 us, enunciated a far superior principle : To each individual \ 
 according to his capacity, to each capacity according to its works. \ ; 
 We accept this rule." The principle upon which Louis Blanc 
 wished'"to'Tbund the co-operative factory is here distinctly 
 repudiated, while the efficacy of individual interest as an in- 
 centive to action is placed in a clear light. That is the 
 necessary foundation of all economic work, of all administra- 
 tion, and of all political organization. Everywhere human 
 affairs will be well or ill carried on, in proportion as the 
 responsibility of each is well or ill defined. "We believe that 
 we shall be more in unison with the general opinion of 
 worluhg men," continued Citizen Nicaise, " in founding bur f 
 associations upon the principle of paying interest and even   
 dividends upon capital. If the savings of the working men do '> 
 not find an advantageous investment in the associations, they 
 will continue to take a direction more to their interest, and the
 
 72 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 associations must recommence their race for capital, or must 
 accept the money of capitahsts." 
 
 Citizen Nicaise^ and another working man, Citizen Masquin, 
 who belonged to the " Co-operative Society of Printers," 
 ,1 showed that the principal cause of the frequent mishaps 
 encountered by these associations was the bad choice ^f 
 managers. " The prime cause of their ill success," said the 
 former, " is the inexperience of the associates and their in- 
 aptitude for business. Their great anxiety has always been to 
 produce, without even knowing how the products were to be 
 sold off. Hence the endless mistakes in the choice of 
 managers. Generally the best workmen were chosen, which 
 deprived the factory of useful hands, and confided to them a 
 business for which they had none of the required qualities. 
 " The society is formed and the factory opened," said Citizen 
 Masquin, " then the difficulties begin. A capable man is 
 wanted as manager, but the capable men have already got 
 situations, and it is in vain you offer them the same salaries ; 
 they hesitate because they dread the responsibility, and are 
 afraid that the business may not succeed. In many societies 
 the first comer has been chosen, and they have smashed." 
 
 In this same congress the working men recognized and 
 proclaimed a fact of experience, which is the death-blow to 
 Lassalle's great plan for social renovation, namely, that loaos 
 from the State are the ruin of working men's associatigiis. If 
 it really only needed the few millions of pounds demanded by 
 the German Socialist to transform all the working men into 
 capitalists enjoying the integral product of their labour, where 
 is the parliament that would not vote them gladly? Forty 
 millions of pounds, nay, twice that sum, even without interest, 
 would be little to accomplish this happy and peaceful revolu- 
 tion, which would avoid the risk of bloody and far more costly 
 revolutions in the future ; but it is an established fact — money 
 advanced by the State brings misfortune. 
 
 In this same working men's congress of 1876, the citizen 
 Finance, a positivist and opponent of even the principle of co- 
 operation, showed, statistics in hand, that, of all the associa- 
 tions which were subsidized by the State in 184S, only one
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
 
 7Z 
 
 Still existed.* The partisans of co-operation also recognized 
 that, in order to succeed, their system must develop itself with- 
 out State aid. " The subsidies of the State," said Citizen 
 Nicaise, *' were disastrous to the associations which accepted 
 them. Their failure has demonstrated that the system of sub- 
 sidies is bad, and that only the energy and perseverance of the 
 associates, depending upon themselves alone, can solve the 
 problem. Money one has not earned slips easily through the   
 fingers; one takes it less into account than that which, saved ^^|^^ 
 out of necessary expenses, represents privations endured in ' 
 order to make up the contribution to the society." Careless- 
 ness in the preservation of borrowed money is not the only 
 cause of the shipwreck of all subsidized societies ; there is 
 another and a still more serious one. In order to manage 
 capital well and make the best use of it, there is wanted, in the 
 first place, the same quahties of order and economy as for its 
 creation, and others in addition more rare and more difficult 
 to practise. He who has been unable to amass capital out of 
 his savings will be still less able to keep it and turn it to 
 account. It is precisely by exerting themselves to collect 
 the capital that the associates will acquire the commercial 
 experience indispensable to their success. 
 
 It is not hy lending money to those whom it wants to help 
 that the State can instil into them the ability to use it advan- 
 tageously, in the midst of the numberless difficulties of the 
 industrial struggle. Thus, then, facts interpreted by their 
 
 * T^hese facts, especially as they were stated by working men, are so ' 
 instructive, that it is worth while reproducing them in detail. In 1848 the" 
 Constituent Assembly voted, in July, that is after the revolution of June, a 
 subsidy of three millions of francs in order to encourage the formation of 
 working men's associations. Six hundred applications, half coming from 
 Paris alone, were made to the commission entrusted with the distribution 
 of the funds, of which only fifty-six were accepted. In Paris, thirty associa- 
 tions, twenty-seven of which were composed of working men, comprising 
 in all 434 associates, received 890,500 francs. Within six months, three 
 of the Parisian associations failed ; and of the 434 associates, seventy-four 
 resigned, fifteen were excluded, and there were eleven changes of managers. 
 In July, 185 1, eighteen associations had ceased to exist. One year later, 
 twelve others had vanished. In 1865 four were still extant, and had 
 been more or less successful. In 1875 there was but a single one left, 
 that of the file-cutters, which, as Citizen Finance remarked, was unrepre- 
 sented at the congress. 
 
 iiiAi^'- 
 
 C/vC«^v2^ 
 
 Ka^h, 
 
 1
 
 74 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 causes have demonstrated that Lassalle was wrong in demand- 
 ing State aid for the multipUcation of working men's associations. 
 It would have been to condemn them to inevitable ruin. Every 
 reform which aims at suddenly transforming the social order 
 will fail, because the very elements of the transformation are 
 lacking. 
 
 Must we, then, despair of the future success of co-operative 
 societies? I do not think so. According as working men 
 understand better what is necessary to their success, we shall 
 see more and more of them arise and prosper.* The working 
 man, on becoming an associate-capitalist, and receiving a pro- 
 portional part of the profits, will work better than a mere wage- 
 earner. The produce will therefore be greater — a most vital 
 consideration. But there remain three difficulties to overcome. 
 In the first place, good managers must be found, and to enable 
 this to be done they must be well paid. Secondly, co-opera- 
 tion associates not only sums of capital, but also men ; it is, 
 therefore, essential that a spirit of mutual support and good 
 understanding should reign among them. Finally, since co- 
 operation is republicanism applied to industry, the virtue which 
 enables republics to live must be there, namely, obedience to 
 established law and authority. There is, therefore, a whole 
 economic education to be achieved, for which time is necessary. 
 
 * In America, where the working men are paid higher wages, they are 
 better prepared to take part in the direction of industrial enterprises, and 
 frequent examples of successful co-operative societies of production are met 
 with. The following are a few taken from Scrilmei's Monthly Magazine, and 
 from M. Limousin's paper, Bulletin dti Afouvement Social :— The Beaverfall 
 Co-operative Foundry, in Pennsylvania, was founded in 1872 upon a small 
 capital of 4000 dollars (about ;^8oo). It now has 16,000 dollars (^3200) 
 capital, and pays upon eachshare an annual dividend of 1 2 to 1 5 per cent. The 
 society comprises twenty-seven members. The Somerset Co-operative Fotmdry 
 Company, in Massachusetts, was established in 1867, with thirty associates 
 and a capital of 14,000 dollars (^2800). Now, its fifty-three members have 
 a capital of 30,000 dollars (^6000), with a reserve fund of 28,000 dollars, 
 and the dividends occasionally rose to 44 per cent. The Equitable Co- 
 operative Foundry of Rochester, in New York State, began in 1869 vvith 
 20,000 dollars (^^5000), now it has 100,000 dollars (r{;'25, 000), derived 
 from accumulated profits. Some co-operative societies of production have 
 succeeded in England, Germany, Italy, and Belgium. See the annual re- 
 ports of Herr Schulze-Delitzsch ; " History of Co-operation," by G. Holy- 
 oake ; and M. Leond 'Andrimont's book, Le Mouvement Co-operatif en 
 Belgiipie.
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 75 
 
 The object to be attained is evidently that capital and 
 labour should be united in the same hands, under the system 
 of production on a large scale, as was formerly the case in the 
 corporations, or as is the case to-day with the peasant pro- 
 prietor. This may be accomplished by means of the joint- , 
 stock company, provided the capital be represented by shares , . ^^ 
 of a very small value. Suppose, for example, a great mill worth )/ -^ 
 thousands of pounds, but with shares of the value of four 
 pounds only : the workmen, and the employes of every grade 
 might acquire these shares out of their savings ; they would 
 thus become shareholders, and, as such, owners of the mill. 
 Would not such a joint-stock company become thenceforth a 
 true co-operative society ? It would have all the advantages 
 of one, without presenting the same difficulties. It would be, 
 above all, an association of capital. The men would be asso- 
 ciated merely voluntarily and temporarily, in the character of 
 shareholders, and it is easier to hold capital together than men. 
 The joint-stock company would thus serve as a stepping-stone j, 
 to co-operation,* but this, however, need not prevent select H 
 workmen from at once trying the latter. The mere attempt ;l 
 will do them good. Even in the event of failure, they will have ' 
 acquired experience, habits of order and economy, familiarity 
 with business, and a practical knowledge of economic questions, 
 no less desirable in their own interest than in that of social 
 order. 
 
 Lassalle did not believe that co-operative societies would of 
 themselves bring about "the solution of the social question." \ 
 " I have never used that expression," he says, " because the | 
 transformation of society will be the work of centuries, and of 
 a whole series of measures and reforms which will be evolved . 
 organically out of each other. I have approved of co-opera- 
 tion merely as one means of improving the condition of the 
 
 * It is stated in the report of an English society, " The North of Eng- 
 land Industrial and Coal Company, Limited," that several co-operative 
 societies are large shareholders in the concern, which possesses blast- 
 furnaces and rotatory puddling ovens at Carlton, coal mines in Durham, 
 and smelting works at Cleveland. Here is the stepping-stone between the 
 joint-stock company and the co-operative society.
 
 76 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 labourer." According to him, property, as at present existing, 
 is only a passing "historical category." 
 
 Property as at present constituted, he asserts, consists in 
 drawing an income, without working, from land or capitarwKTch 
 the law attributes to you. Property according to natural ri^ht, 
 on the contrary, should have no other foundation than labour. 
 Far from wishing to abolish property, his only aim, he says, js 
 to establish real individual ownership, proportional to usejiil 
 services. He invokes, for the support of his system, the theory 
 of Smith and Ricardo, which makes all wealth spring from 
 labour alone. He says, with Bastiat, that what should be paid 
 for in the product is not the forces of nature, but the labour of 
 man. The services of natural agents are, or should be, gratuitous. 
 Thus Bastiat, through ignoring certain truths established by his 
 predecessors, actually furnished arms to Socialism, which he 
 considered it his special mission to combat. 
 
 According to Lassalle, when productive societies shall have 
 embraced"all citizens, they will become proprietors of both land 
 and capital, and the working man, on taking his place in the 
 factory, will obtain a life-interest in the instruments of his labour, 
 or of such portion of the social wealth as shall correspond to 
 f his work. This work will be suited to his ability, and his 
 remuneration will be equal to the product of his labour. This, 
 as may be seen, is nothmg else than the famous formula of 
 Saint-Simon, invoked at the working men's congress in Paris 
 in 1876: "To each individual according to his capacity, to 
 each capacity according to its works." 
 
 Lassalle respects no more than Saint-Simon the principle 
 of hereditary "succession as it exists to-day. It is, he says, no 
 longer a living institution, having its roots in the moral and 
 juridical sentiment of the time, but rather a dead tradittoh, wKich 
 at every moment is being disturbed by the legislator or restficted 
 in its application. The Romans created testamentary succes- 
 sion, because they believed the will of the deceased passed into 
 the person of the heir thus designated. The Germans, Tirom 
 whom we derived the law of succession ab intestato, looked 
 upon the patrimony as belonging, not to the immediate suc- 
 cessor, but conjointly to the whole family, and thus the son, on
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 'J'J 
 
 the death of his father, only took into his hands the administra- 
 tion of goods of which he was already co-proprietor. The ideas 
 of the Romans and those of the Germans have become utterly 
 foreign to us, and the principle of hereditary succession is no 
 longer rooted in our beliefs. 
 
 ' Herr H. von Sybel replied to Lassalle that it is with 
 hereditary succession as with royalty. Nations no longer 
 believe in divine right, and nevertheless they still keep their 
 kings, because experience has shown that constitutional mon- 
 archy guarantees in a convenient way public liberty and pros- 
 perity. Hereditary succession is no longer the object of a 
 superstitious worship, and accordingly statesmen can restrict 
 the degrees of inheritance and impose duties upon succession ; 
 but it is an excellent means of stimulating work and the 
 formation of capital, and it is upon this ground that it is 
 preserved. 
 
 Lassalle thought with the Saint-Simonians that the golden 
 age lies before us. His pantheistic conception of history led 
 him to beheve that, in consequence of an inherent law, 
 humanity is destined to reach, step by step, a state in which 
 the working man will enjoy all those advantages possessed to- 
 day by the boiirgeoisie, and in which, consequently, there would 
 be but one class, obtaining, by the aid of science, ample satisfac- 
 tion of all its needs through moderate and wholesome labour. 
 Every man could thus attain all the intellectual and moral 
 development of which nature had made him capable. The 
 social organization would no longer be a hindrance to any one, 
 but would be for all a support and a means of advancement. 
 
 As may easily be believed, the ideas of Lassalle do not 
 present any very great originality. His views of social recon- 
 struction are borrowed from Saint-Simon and Louis Blanc, his 
 criticism of Political Economy from Karl Marx. Nevertheless, 
 the'study of his writings is not devoid of utility, because in 
 more than one point he has shown that the generally received 
 economic theories are superficial, badly formulated, or even 
 entirely erroneous. Thus, his discussion upon the mode in 
 which capital is formed is very remarkable, and so is his picture 
 of the origin and economic development of society. 
 
 V^
 
 y8 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 As recrards the means of attaining the reaHzation of that 
 social transformation of which he dreamed, Lassalle com- 
 pletely separated himself from Marx. As Dr. Rudolf Meyer 
 very justly observes, Marx considers all Europe, Lassalle sees 
 Germany alone. The former is international and cosmopolitan, 
 the latter national and German. Marx held that no social 
 reform was possible in an isolated state ; it was only after a 
 universal revolution had overturned every throne and every 
 altar that equality could be estabUshed. Lassalle, on the con- 
 trary, wished to introduce reforms peacefully into a single state, 
 to serve as a model which others would be obliged to imitate. 
 This State was to be United Germany. He even hoped, like 
 the physiocrats of the eighteenth century, that some sovereign 
 or some great minister would perceive that he had every interest 
 in gaining the affection of his people, by bettering their condi- 
 tion. It is the Utopia of Imperial Socialism, such as Louis 
 Napoleon imagined in his prison of Ham, and such as, they say, 
 Prince Bismarck dreams of to-day. Lassalle held, and not with- 
 out reason, that a bourgeois republic would be less ready than a 
 monarchy to accept radical reforms, since such reforms would 
 necessarily diminish the preponderance of the leisured classes, 
 while they might increase the popularity and authority of the 
 sovereign. Lassalle was a clear-sighted politician with a keen 
 historical sense. As early as 1859 he foresaw and hastened 
 by his wishes the struggle between Prussia and Austria, and, 
 though he died in 1864, he predicted the war between France 
 and Germany. 
 
 He was by no means an obstinate doctrinaire, as republicans 
 
 often are. He understood that the same institutions, even if 
 
 republican, could not be equally suitable to all the peoples of 
 
 the globe, different as they are in manners, social condition, 
 
 and intellectual development. Fanatical as he was about co- 
 
 f, operation, he believed it would take at least two centuries — 
 
 \ Rodbertus said five — to bring about the complete transforma- 
 
 i tion of society and the suppression of the system of working 
 
 I for wages. It was not, therefore, by means of any violent 
 
 revolution that he believed his projects might be realized. 
 
 In this respect he separated himself completely from his
 
 FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
 
 79 
 
 pet heroes, the men of the 
 taught him the theory of 
 moments " throu 
 
 French revolution. 
 
 Hegel 
 
 had: 
 
 organic 
 
 evolution, and of those 
 successive "moments" tiirough which the historical " process "|[ 
 must pass. He had a lively sympathy for Prince Bismarck 
 who was, in fact, soon going to execute his political programme 
 by founding German unity upon the humiliation of Austria, and 
 by introducing direct universal suffrage for the elections to the 
 central parliament. Some time before his death, in 1S64, he 
 endeavoured to see him, and he even made his partisans vote 
 in favour of the man who as yet only represented the principle 
 of monarchical authority, founded upon a Spartan military 
 system which embraced the entire nation. 
 
 Up to the present his dream has not been realized. Prince 
 Bismarck has approached Socialism, but he"has not yet put 
 down the principle of wages. Lassalle understood, tetter than 
 those Socialists from whom he borrowed his plans of reform, 
 that society cannot be transformed with the stroke of a magi- 
 cian's wand ; nevertheless, he expected too much from the 
 initiative of the State. The essential truth, which must be 
 repeated to the working classes, and which is slowly penetrating 
 thein", is, that changes in the organization of society never are 
 and never will be accomplished otherwise than slowly, and that 
 it is impossible to achieve a social revolution by decrees in the 
 same way as a political revolution. Give to Karl Marx or to 
 Lassalle full power to dispose of the land, the capital, and all 
 the wealth of the country at their pleasure, and to make them 
 " collective property," yet the corporations of working men or 
 the social factories to whom the instruments of labour would be 
 entrusted, would not be capable of organizing and directing 
 production. Even picked working men succeed only very 
 exceptionally in making co-operative productive associations 
 prosperous, while they always fail when the working men do 
 not themselves form their own capital. No doubt those 
 economists are mistaken who imagine that the laws which now 
 govern economic facts are immutable, because they are natural 
 laws. History and geography demonstrate that human societies 
 have lived and still live under conditions very different and very 
 variable. Humanity has probably not reached the final end 
 
 L-^-aI ^[ 

 
 80 . THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of its career, and in a thousand years laws and institutions will 
 be very different from what they are to-day. The visible 
 and universal progress of democracy enables us to foresee that 
 there will be more equality. But just as in geology we have 
 abandoned the theories of great cosmic revolutions and succes- 
 sive epochs of creation, in order to admit that those amazing 
 changes of which our globe has been the theatre were accom- 
 plished slowly and insensibly by the constant action of the 
 ordinary forces of nature, so in sociology, we are coming to 
 believe that profound modifications can and will introduce 
 themselves into the social organization, but that they will take 
 place slowly and insensibly, according as men acquire more 
 intelligence, more learning, a higher sense of right, and a more 
 complete Icnowledge of the conditions of economic production. 
 
 ^vvty li^ eUrM-
 
 ( Si ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 
 
 THE words "Socialist" and "Conservative" seem to clash 
 wTien"imited."Does not the one wish to destroy all that 
 the other desires to preserve ? Nevertheless, there is a party 
 which has adopted this denomination, and it is not too much 
 to say that, up to a certain point, Prince Bismarck is its most 
 illustrious representative. 
 
 The German mind, above all things, seeks to escape the 
 
 reproach of Ehiseifigkett, that is to say, the habit of viewing 
 
 things from one side alone. In general, objects have a light 
 
 and a dark side. He who perceives only the side illumined 
 
 by the sun will see everything rose-coloured ; he who stays 
 
 on the shady side will see everything black. If any one happens 
 
 to make the circuit of the object, he will maintain that it is at 
 
 once white and black, light and dark, and in these apparent 
 
 contradictions there will be a kind of logic and a reflex of 
 
 reality. It is thus the Conservative Socialist has sprung into 
 
 being. Read some of his pages, and you will think that they 
 
 were written bv an irreconcilable foe of social order : read 
 
 further, and you will meet a man in whose eyes all reform is 
 
 a mistake, and all progress a step towards barbarism. Take 
 
 Prince Bismarck ; no man could show with more force and 
 
 precision the transformations of all kinds which give a new 
 
 aspect to our epoch. As he has acted a conspicuous role in 
 
 this change, he may be called one of the great revolutionaries 
 
 of our times. And yet, in certain aspects, he is the very type 
 
 cf the feudal lord, governing his vassals with a hand of iron — 
 
 G
 
 82 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 for their good, he is convinced ; but it is their good as he 
 understands it, and reaHzed by him and not by them. 
 
 Existing society, hi the period of transition through which 
 we are passing, also presents some striking contrasts. No 
 doubt science, as applied to production, astonishes us with' its 
 marvels. Each international exhibition, more magnificent than 
 its predecessors, exhausts our admiration more and more. The 
 rich are infinitely richer than formerly, the well-to-do classes are 
 far more numerous, and the labourer himself is certainly better 
 provided with comforts than heretofore. Nevertheless, the 
 misery in the manufacturing centres cannot be denied. What 
 want, what suffering, whenever a prolonged crisis restricts the 
 demand for labour and lowers the rate of wages ! It is the 
 description of these evils, attributed to competition, which 
 forms the starting-point for all shades of Socialism. The 
 ,' greater part of Karl Marx's famous book. Das Kapital, is 
 nothing more than an abstract of the miserable and everi 
 ^ revolting facts which are proved by English parliamentary 
 documents. The Conservative Socialists accept as exact this 
 sombre picture of our present social state, while they refer its 
 cause to industrialism and "bankocracy." 
 
 In order to remedy these disorders three systems are 
 advocated. 
 
 The Economist says : Let natural laws have their course. 
 Liberty cures the wounds she causes. Open a free career to 
 individual initiative, and all will be for the best in the best 
 of all possible worlds. 
 
 The Democratic Socialist asserts that happiness and justice 
 will be established as soon as the instruments of production 
 shall be made collective property. 
 
 Finally, the Conservative Socialist sees salvation only in 
 I the return to those institutions which, under the old regime, 
 I guaranteed order and quiet to men. Free trade, free com- 
 I petition, free usury; these, according to him, are the plagues 
 that bring evil to all societies upon which they fasten them- 
 n selves. 
 
 One of the leaders of the Liberal party in the German 
 Parliament, Herr Ludwig Bamberger, justly points out a singular
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 83 
 
 fact in the situation of his country. Germany, he says, has 
 become the "typical ground" of the war of classes. True 
 SociaUsm exists elsewhere, in France, in England, in Italy; 
 but in those countries, at least all whose interests are menaced 
 unite to defend their interests. Germany alone presents the 
 spectacle of numerous groups of persons, rich, noble, learned, 
 and pious, declaring war against the bourgeoisie. Country 
 gendemen attack capital, no doubt to improve their farming ; 
 professors declare that the road to opulence passes close by the 
 prison ; and finally, bishops conspire with demagogues. There 
 alone, he says, is seen the strange sight of persons who, with 
 a frivolity most aristocratic, make a game of undermining the 
 foundations of social order, in the pretended interests of religion 
 and morality. 
 
 This phenomenon, noticed by Herr Bamberger, appears to 
 me to have two causes : first, the dread of " one-sidedness," as 
 I have already mentioned, and, in the case of some, the scien- 
 tific spirit ; and secondly, the exigencies of electoral struggles. 
 When there are two parties already opposed to each other, and 
 a third appears commanding many votes, it will belong to the 
 one which is ready to make the most concessions in order to 
 gain its support. The Socialists command seven hundred 
 thousand votes; is it to be wondered at if Ultramontanes and 
 the Feudal party endeavour to gain their support against the 
 Liberals," tHeir present opponents.?. Whatever Herr Bamberger 
 may say, such alliances as these have been seen in all countries. 
 
 The origin of Conservative Socialism mav be referred to 
 Rodbertus-Jagetzow, because he was the first to give a scienr 
 tific~l)asis to socialistic criticism. Prince Bismarck, in the 
 tribune^ of the German parliament, recently praised this solitarj^ 
 thinker, whose inliuence has been so great, although his name 
 has not reached the ears of the masses. He has been justly u 
 styled the Ricardo of Socialism. His work, which appeared 
 in 1842, Zur Erkentniss iinsere Staatstnirthschaftlichcn Zustande 
 (" Explanation of our Economic Situation "), already contained 
 in germ the ideas of which others have since made use, and 
 which he himself developed in his other book, Zur Beleuchtung 
 der sociakn Frage. In fragments of his notes and in a part 
 
 \t
 
 84 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of his correspondence with Lassalle, published by A. V/agner,* 
 he shows in what respect he may be called conservative. 
 " Our ways of understanding law and the philosophy of history," 
 he writes, in speaking of Lassalle, "were similar, in that we 
 did not consider the succession of social and political forms 
 as exhausted by the establishment of the constitutional or the 
 representative system. We were both convinced that, by 
 placing ourselves at the point of view of a philosophy of law 
 more ideal and rigorous than that received to-day, we should 
 observe imperfections in property as at present applied to land 
 and capital, and we should discern a form of appropriation 
 purer and more equitable, by virtue of which the share of 
 each would be proportional to services rendered. In practice 
 we were unable to agree," adds Rodbertus. " Lassalle, as we 
 know, wished to change the condition of working men in a 
 short time, by making them join associations of production, 
 founded by means of State aid. I wished to preserve the 
 principle of wages, while supposing a reform to be undertaken 
 by the State. Lassalle wished to make a political party out 
 of the Socialist party, and for this purpose he demanded 
 universal suffrage. I wished to confine its action to the purely 
 scientific and economic ground." 
 
 Lassalle was an ardent agitator who believed the goal 
 would soon be reached, while Rodbertus understood so well 
 the slowness of social transformations, that it was only after 
 3 the lapse of five centuries that he looked for the realization 
 of his ideal — property in proportion to labour. Rodbertus 
 approached the present "Agrarian" party in that he defended 
 energetically the agricultural interests, which he maintained 
 were sacrificed to the financiers. As he himself farmed his 
 property at Jagetzow, he, like Von Thuenen, understood 
 thoroughly all questions relating to rural economy, but, unlike 
 the " Agrarians," he did not hope to re-establish the regime of 
 times past. 
 
 The most retrograde shade of Conservative Socialism was 
 
 * Briefe vo?i Ferdinand Lassalle an Karl Rodbertus-yagetzoiv ?nit einer 
 Einleihing vott Adolph Wagner. Berlin, 1870 (Letters of F. Lassalle to 
 K. Rodbertus-Jagetzow, with an introduction by Adolph Wagner).
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 8$ 
 
 represented by President von Gerlach, who, under the name 
 of Rundschauer (Spectator), treated the social question in the 
 Kreuzzeiiung (Journal of the Cross), the organ of the feudal 
 party. He endeavoured to show that landowners and labourers 
 are alike sacrificed to the errors of economic liberalism and to 
 the art of usury ( Wuche7-kunst\ which characterize our times. 
 He wished, above all, to maintain the land system still in vogue 
 in Eastern Prussia, where the peasants live and work, as 
 formerly, under the rod of their seigneurs ; and he demanded 
 that the artisan class, at once workers and owners of the 
 instruments of their labour, should be protected against the 
 encroachments of the large system of industry, which is dividing 
 the world of production into two distinct and hostile classes, 
 capitalists and wage-earners. 
 
 One of Marx's principal arguments consists in showing how 
 competition for low prices brings about the fatal triumph of 
 great establishments, which, rising upon the ruins of small 
 manufactures, reconstruct a feudalism of finance and industry 
 based upon the serfage, not of law, but of fact, of the pro- 
 letariat. President von Gerlach developes the same thesis, 
 but he draws a different conclusion from Marx. The only 
 means of saving the artisan is, according to him, to reconstruct 
 a class in which capital and labour shall be united, and to 
 re-establish corporations created by law and armed with a 
 monopoly, as in the Middle Ages. 
 
 This is the main point upon which the two champions of 
 Social Catholicism in France recently split. Both wanted 
 trade corporations ; but M. Perin declared for freedom in 
 trade, while M. de Mun maintained that then there would be 
 no real reform, no appreciable change in the present system. 
 It is certain that, along with serious inconveniences and certain 
 abuses, the corporation offered real advantages ; but it must 
 not be supposed that the past can be recalled at will. The 
 same cause that makes institutions perish prevents their being 
 born again. If the products of the corporation are dearer, 
 foreign competition will kill it. The only way to make them 
 live artificially would be to apply the system of the tobacco 
 excise, I do not believe that if it should be necessary to 
 
 1
 
 86 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 subject all industries to this strait-waistcoat, any nation would 
 submit to it. 
 
 Lassalle, replying to Gerlach, shows clearly how chimerical 
 are these dreams of restoring the past. " Given," he says, 
 " the organic force of the large industrial system, it is as 
 impossible to arrest its course as to stop streams from flowing 
 into a river and helping to swell it. But, just as we may 
 possess ourselves of the force of the stream and take advantage 
 of it, so we may utilize the very development of the large 
 industrial system in order to reconstitute a middle class of 
 working-men capitalists, as in the old corporations, though 
 founded upon another basis. It is more in conformity with 
 the philosophy of history to make use of the forces resulting 
 from the natural evolution of civilization in order to attain 
 our ends, than to attempt to put on the drag, which would 
 moreover be quite useless." 
 
 The Gerlach group has been designated under the name 
 of Zunftreaction — "reaction in favour of corporations." Two 
 well-known writers, who defend the same general ideas. Pro- 
 fessor 'Huber and Councillor Wagener, separate themselves 
 from Gerlach upon this point. 
 
 If there is a social question, says Professor Huber, it |s 
 because wages are too often insufficient ; and why is this ? 
 Because the lowering in the price of manufactured articles, 
 resulting from diminution in the cost of production, is always 
 obtained by the reduction of wages. In point of fact this is 
 far from correct. 
 
 It would be better, adds Huber, to arrive at the same result 
 by a diminution of profits. It is not by virtue of any moral, 
 rational, or economic law that one of the parties who joins in 
 the production of wealth should always be sacrificed to the 
 other. The remuneration of labour should not be fixed in an 
 arbitrary manner, but by equity. Now equity demands that, 
 when capital has received its interest, and labour its wages, the 
 surplus profit should be divided between the two parties in 
 proportion to their services. But who shall fix this share ? It 
 could only be by a sort of jury of true men, in which masters 
 and workmen should be equally represented, and the decisions
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 8/ 
 
 of which should have legal force. The distribution of wealth 
 would thus be regulated, no more, as nowadays, by the rude 
 conflict of interests, that is to say, in reality by the law 
 of the strongest, but as in the ancient corporations, by a 
 principle of justice. Of course it is not proposed to re-estabhsh 
 the trade guilds, with their monopolies and restrictions, but to 
 subject the whole economic world to an industrial bureaucracy, 
 and to a collection of tribunals, which would be new organs of 
 law. This system is clearly inspired by a love of justice, only 
 it would be very difficult of applicat ion in the existing economic 
 world. 
 
 Professor Huber is dead, but Councillor Wagener still lives, 
 and has even become a most influential personage ; for, it is 
 said, the Imperial Chancellor gladly consults him in economic 
 matters.* 
 
 This is what President Gerlach wrote in reply to Councillor 
 Wagener, who must not be confounded with another well- 
 known Economist, Adolf Wagner, the eminent professor of the 
 University of Berlin : " Nothing can arrest this potent solvent 
 which we see at work under our eyes and which is sweeping 
 away all ancient institutions. The trade guilds of olden times 
 cannot be re-established, but the labour question really 
 consists in discovering an industrial organization which shall 
 guarantee, as of old, the rights of the labourer, who is at 
 
 * To Herr Wagener has been attributed a work entitled Die Lbsung 
 dcr socialen Frage vom Standpimkt dcr Wirklichkeit und Praxis von 
 ciiicm praktischen Staatsmannc, 1878. In 1874 he was sent to the 
 economic-socialist congress of Eisenach by Prince Bismarck, as he men- 
 tioned in his speech of the 17th September, 1879. In 1863 he wrote for 
 the ultra-conservative newspaper, the Krcuzzeitimg. The author of the 
 work, Die Losimg, has developed the principle of "Socialistic Royalty." 
 " Monarchical institutions," he says, "can only have an assured future by 
 returning to their original form, and showing themselves, in theory as well 
 as in practice, the shield of the weak and the protector of the wretched. 
 As Stein has said, royalty must again strike its roots into the deep soil ^ 
 of the masses of the people. The monarchy of the future must be a' 
 Socialistic monarchy or it will cease to exist. If monarcliy seeks its 
 supports amongst the lords of industry, the princes of the Stock Exchange, ^ 
 and the ranks of the upper ten thousand, its authority will diminish and 
 it will end by foundering in that great democratic storm which will put 
 the people in the place of the aristocracy and the organs of science in 
 that of the ministers of religion." Is not this the very programme of 
 prince Bismarck ?
 
 88 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 present too much isolated. Upon the solution of this question 
 
 depend the future of States and the fate of civilization. It 
 
 remains to be seen whether the different classes of society 
 
 have enough forethought, energy, and wisdom to contribute to 
 
 the constitution of a new order of things. If they give proof 
 
 Il of these qualities, they will be governed by free mstitutions and 
 
 ?.; elected rulers ; if not, they will be kept down by the iron hand 
 
 pof Csesarism." Herr Wagener, like Prof. Huber, advocated 
 
 \^ the immediate formation of trade councils, in which working 
 
 men should have their representatives, and which should be 
 
 invested with the right of settling wages. In England it is 
 
 well known that, in cases of strikes, masters and men often 
 
 submit their differences to arbitration. The proposal, then, is 
 
 to create a body of permanent arbitrators, and to give an 
 
 executive force to their decisions. 
 
 From 1866 to 1S70 foreign affairs absorbed all attention, 
 and orthodox Political Economy was all-powerful in the 
 councils of the Government and in the Chambers. It was 
 there represented by distinguished men, such as the Minister 
 Delbruck, the Deputies Lasker, Braun, Bamberger, Julius 
 Faucher, etc. It is to their influence that are due the abolition 
 of laws against usury, a policy of free-trade shown by the 
 reduction or suppression of certain custom duties and the 
 monetary reform, upon the basis of a gold standard, necessitating 
 the forced sale of silver. The Imperial Chancellor did not 
 interfere, because "it did not belong to his department." But 
 his ideas are not by any means those of the orthodox economy. 
 The Protectionists have always placed their hopes in him, and 
 he recently proved, by bringing about an increase of the 
 custom duties, that he is on their side.* 
 
 * In 1876 I was present in Eisenach at the " Social Science Congress" 
 of the Kathedersocialisten. In the first sitting Herr Rudolf Meyer rose 
 to propose that the question of German industry, and of the means of 
 remedying the intense crisis through which it was passing, should be placed 
 
 ■, on the orders of the day. As Herr Meyer was a friend of Councillor 
 Wagener, it got noised about that he had been sent to Eisenach by the 
 
 ; Chancellor in order to obtain a vote in favour of protection. To escape 
 the danger it was ruled from the chair that, since the question was not "on 
 the programme of the congress, it could not be discussed. We may add 
 
 ' that this supposition was unfounded, for shortly afterwards Herr Meyer
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 89 
 
 Prince Bismarck is, in realit}^, a type of the Conservative 
 Socialist. It were superfluous to prove in what respects he is 
 Conservative ; but his SociaHsm consists in his admitting that 
 there is a social question, and that an effort must be made to 
 solve it. Now, everything is contained in this. The orthodox 
 Economist does not, indeed, say that everything under the sun 
 is perfect, for statistical science is too strong for him ; but he 
 pretends that all the relations of human life are best adjusted, 
 by allowing the utmost free play to the activity of individuals, 
 actuated by motives of self-interest. That being the case, the 
 State has nothing to do but to strike off the last shackles which 
 still fetter universal competition, both at home and abroad. 
 But that is by no means Bismarck's opinion. Not in vain 
 did he listen with such relish to Lassalle's conversation, that 
 he would have liked to have him as his next door neighbour 
 and daily companion in the country. Lassalle's red mark has 1 
 left a visible stain on Bismarck's white uniform ; and, believing | 
 that it is just and right to improve the condition of the j 
 labouring classes, he thinks it is the duty of the State to assist ' 
 and relieve them. Lassalle asked the State for 100,000,000 
 thalers for the purpose of reconstructing the existing social 
 system by the foundation of productive co-operative societies. 
 And although Bismarck feels aggrieved that any one should 
 have thought him capable of treating a sum of 7000 thalers 
 as a mere trifle, he is far from repudiating Lassalle's idea. 
 
 " If some one," he said, in the sitting of the German 
 Parliament on the 17th September, 1877, "wished to attempt 
 a great enterprise of this kind, it is quite possible that he 
 would need 100,000,000 thalers. Besides, the idea itself does 
 not strike me as absolutely preposterous and absurd. In the 
 Ministry of Agriculture we make experiments as to the 
 different systems of cultivation. We do the same in our 
 manufactures. Would it not be a good thing to try the like 
 experiments in respect of human labour, and to attempt, by 
 
 was condemned to eighteen months' imprisonment for attacks against the 
 Chancellor, and, in order to escape this severe penalty, he fled abroad. 
 He ought to receive our warmest thanks for having compiled one of the 
 most instructive books that can be read, and which should be carefully 
 studied by any one wishing to understand our times.
 
 90 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 bettering the condition of the working man, to solve th^ 
 question which, though usually called Democratic Socialism, 
 I should prefer to speak of simply as the social question? 
 The only reproach that could be urged against me for not 
 having pursued this course, is that I have not persevered till I 
 reached a satisfactory result. But I have not had time enough 
 to devote to it ; for foreign politics have engrossed the whole 
 of my attention. But the moment I have time and opportunity, 
 I am resolved to renew these efforts, which, however people 
 may blame me for them, I claim some credit for attempting." 
 In this speech he is defending himself against the charge of 
 having, in furtherance of his designs, employed certain Socialist 
 agents. But he recognizes the existence of a great problem, the 
 greatest, perhaps, of the present day, and he is not disinclined 
 to accept the ideas of Rodbertus and Lassalle. 
 
 In another speech he says still more distinctly that the 
 function of the King, that is, of the State, is to elevate the 
 labouring classes. In 1865 he introduced to the King a 
 deputation of working men from Wustegiersdorf, in Silesia, who 
 wished personally to lay their grievances before their sovereign. 
 Being attacked on this score, he replied, in the very midst of 
 the Prussian Parliament, " Gentlemen, the Kings of Prussia 
 have never aimed at being the kings of the rich. Frederick the 
 Great used to say, ' When I am king I will be a true beggars' 
 king,' meaning, from the first, to stand up for the protection of 
 the poor. Our kings have remained true to this principle. 
 They have promoted the emancipation of the serf, and have 
 thus created a prosperous class of peasants. Perhaps too — 
 they are, at any rate, making it the object of their serious 
 efforts — they will succeed in contributing something to the 
 improvement of the working man's condition." 
 
 These words sum up the programme of the party ojF 
 Monarchical Christian Socialists, which has just appeared on 
 the scene with a grand display of learning and eloquence. 
 Again, Prince Bismarck's socialistic proclivities were displayed 
 in the question of the purchase of all railways by the State. 
 The arguments advanced in support of this proposal may be 
 applied to many other industries ; for the successful working of 
 
 J
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 9 1 
 
 a great net-work of iron roads is one of the most complicated 
 of industrial enterprises. It requires special knowledge, not 
 only for the maintenance of the line, but also for the choice 
 and construction of the rolling-stock. It needs administrative 
 capacity to organize the staff of officials, and get them to work 
 together, as well as sound commercial judgment to regulate 
 the scale of charges. In a word, all those qualities must be 
 combined which go to make up at once the manufacturer and 
 the merchant. Consequently, if the State is to undertake this 
 duty, which is one of the most difficult to be found in the 
 whole sphere of industry, it might, a fortiori, be intrusted with 
 the working of the mines of Saarbriick or of the Harz Mountains, 
 the cultivation of lands, as in the case of the State farms, and, 
 in fact, the production of all the principle articles of commerce, 
 whether in the shape of raw materials or manufactured goods. 
 There is no reason for stopping short anywhere in this direction. 
 The only logical conclusion is, that we should place every 
 industry under the direct control of the State, which is, in fact, 
 the ideal of the extreme Socialist. 
 
 Latterly, Prince Bismarck's socialistic tendencies have become 
 still more marked, and he now chooses his advisers in economic 
 matters from the extreme left of the Katheder-socialisten 
 (" Socialists of the Chair"). In the spring of 1877, during his : 
 solitude at Varzin, it is said that he employed himself in pro- 
 foundly studying social questions. One- cannot help admiring . 
 the resolution of this statesman, who, in the midst of the painful 
 preoccupations of a foreign policy so full of difficulties, devotes 
 months and years to the search of means for the amelioration 
 of the condition of the labouring classes. I know no more 
 decisive proof of the actual importance of the problem. Be- 
 sides his private secretary, Herr Lothar BUcher, the Chancellor 
 has several times consulted Herr Adolf Wagner, Professor in 
 the University of Berlin, whose theory of property is funda- 
 mentally the same as that of Rodbertus and Dr. Schjeffle, 
 former minister in Austria, whose recent work, the " Quintes- 
 sence of Socialism," places him in the ranks of Socialists. We 
 all know that, as a result of his meditations and conversations, 
 Prince Bismarck presented to the Prussian Parliament a pro-
 
 92 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ject for the creation of a general insurance fund for disabled 
 workmen, to be supported by the proceeds of the tobacco 
 monopoly and by subscriptions levied from employers. The 
 tax upon tobacco would thus become the patrimony of the 
 poor, according to Herr Wagner's expression. There could 
 not, in fact, be a better tax than that which hits a harmful 
 substance ; and since in France a fund and a palace have been 
 founded for disabled soldiers, and, in England, one for disabled 
 sailors, it is not easy to see why Germany should not do as 
 much for disabled labourers ; for he who has passed his life in 
 using some tool, or following the plough, is surely as worthy of 
 interest as he who has devoted his days to the carrying of a 
 gun or the loading of a cannon. I think the Chamber was 
 wrong in rejecting Bismarck's proposal, but those who main- 
 tained that the measure was essentially socialistic were per-^ 
 fectly right. In a lengthy speech delivered on the 3rd January, 
 
 '" 1882, Bismarck said : " I have already explained the system 
 which I am come to uphold, according to the instructions of His 
 Majesty the Emperor. We wish to establish a state of things 
 in which no one can say, ' I exist only to bear social burdens, 
 and nobody takes thought of my fate.' Our dynasty has for a 
 long time been endeavouring to reach this object. Frederick 
 the Great already described this mission in saying, ' I am king of 
 the beggars,' and he realized it in administering strict justice. 
 Frederick William III. gave freedom to the peasants. Our 
 present sovereign is animated by the noble ambition to put a 
 hand, in his old age, to the work of assuring to the least 
 favoured and weakest of our fellow-citizens, if not the .sanje 
 rights that were seventy years ago .granted to the peasantry, at 
 least a decided amelioration in their condition, in order that 
 these poor fellow-citizens may, in the future, feel assured that 
 they can count upon the help of the State." The whole theory 
 of State Socialism and of " a Sociahst monarch " is summed 
 up in this passage. 
 
 During these last years the camp of the Conservative 
 Socialists has been broken up. Some have gone to swell the 
 ranks of the " Agrarians ; " others, terrified at the progress of 
 demagogic Socialism, have become retrograde Conservatives 3
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 93 
 
 and, finally, others have rallied to the group of Evangelical 
 Socialists, with whom we shall soon become acquainted. 
 Nevertheless, the most learned among them, Herr Rudolf 
 Meyer, whose curious work, the Emancipations-kampf des vier- 
 ten Standcs, we have already cited, summarizes in this book the 
 programme of his shade of thought, which he had in part 
 explained at the Congress of the Kathedersocialisten, in 1872, 
 at Eisenach. Herr Meyer declares, first of all, for the main- 
 tenance of universal suffrage. It is, he says, the best way to \ 
 initiate the Fourth Estate, the people, to the realities of political 
 life, and to preserve them from hopeless chimeras. The example 
 of the Third Estate in France is highly instructive upon this 
 point. Unable to take any part in the direction of public 
 affairs, of which they had no experience, they dreamed of 
 absolute reforms, conceived by the imagination, and deduced 
 to their logical conclusion. The idea of Herr Meyer is correct. 
 It is borrowed from De Tocqueville, who expands it admirably 
 in the chapter of his Ancien Regime, entitled " How, about the 
 middle of the eighteenth century, men of letters became the 
 principal politicians of the country, and the effects which 
 resulted therefrom." It cannot, however, be said that in 
 Germany universal suffrage has preserved the labouring classes 
 from the spirit of revolution. It is, nevertheless, true that it 
 has brought them down from the golden cloudland of Utopia, 
 in order to marshal them upon the battle-field of private 
 interests. This, however, is neither more convenient nor more 
 reassuring to their employers. 
 
 The Conservative Herr Meyer invokes the opinion of 
 Rodbertus in order to demonstrate that the State should \\ 
 regulate the distribution of wealth according to justice. Here- [ f 
 tofore all efforts have been directed to the increase of produc- 
 tion. At a certain point, however, the question of distribution 
 becomes the more important. When the development of trade 
 results in creating, on the one side, an extremely wealthy class, 
 and, on the other, a numerous class of proletarians, it may be 
 said that the true order of things is disturbed. The consequence 
 and characteristic symptom of this disorder is the appearance 
 of demoralizing luxury, pushing the privileged few who revel in
 
 94 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 it into sensuality, and exciting, among those deprived of it, 
 envy, hatred, and the spirit of revolt. 
 
 Herr Meyer here joins hands with Montesquieu, who recurs 
 again and again to the idea that excessive inequality should be 
 prevented from dividing the nations, as it were, into two hostile 
 peoples ; and he devotes the sixth and seventh chapters of the 
 fifth book of the Esprit des Lois to the elucidation of this 
 point. " It is not enough," he says, " in a good democracy 
 that the portions of land should be equal ; they must also be 
 small, as among the Romans." One might add, as in France 
 to-day. A rural democracy, if only it were an enlightened one, 
 would give to Europe a solid base upon which to found free 
 institutions, and would save it from social upheavals. Montes- 
 quieu borrowed his maxims from antiquity, for Aristotle con- 
 tinually recurs to it. " Inequality," he says {Pol.., b, v. ch. i.), 
 "is the cause of all revolutions, for no compensation can make 
 up for inequality." ' " Men, equal in " one Irespect,' wis^gTo Fe 
 equal in everything. Equal in liberty, they demanded absolute 
 equality. Not obtaining it, they imagine themselves cheated 
 of their rights, and they rise in rebellion." The only means of 
 preventing revolutions, according to Aristotle, is to maintain a 
 certain amount of equality. " Cause even the poor to have a 
 small inheritance." That is precisely what was done, in great 
 measure, by the laws of the French Revolution. " A State," 
 once more says the Stagyrite, " according to the wish of nature, 
 should be composed of elements which approach as near as 
 possible to equality." He then shows that in a State where 
 there are but two classes, the rich and the poor, conflicts are 
 inevitable. "The conqueror," he adds, "looks upon the 
 government as the price of victory, and uses it to oppress and 
 despoil the vanquished." Therefore, when Rudolf Meyer and 
 Rodbertus demand that laws should favour equality and main- 
 tain it, they only reproduce the thesis of Montesquieu and 
 Aristotle. But how is this great object to be gained without 
 sacrificing all liberty? Here fies the grand problem. For 
 want of solving it, the ancient democracies perished in anarchy. 
 
 Rodbertus admits that slavery was legitimate in ancient 
 times. In order that the highest culture should be developed,
 
 CONSERVATIVE SOCIALISTS. 95 
 
 it was necessary, he thinks, that the forced labour of the greater 
 number should afford leisure to the free men. At that period 
 the quantity of produce was always in proportion to the means 
 of production, as this consisted solely of the hands of the 
 slaves. If the number of these was increased, consumption 
 increased in proportion, and thus the surplus which maintained 
 leisure remained at a minimum. To-day work is done by iron 
 workmen, consuming coal and not wheat ; their power is 
 unlimited, and they will never call upon the rights of man to 
 demand their enfranchisement. 
 
 When the water-wheel, coming from the East, was introduced 
 for the first time into the Western world, towards the end of 
 the Roman Republic, a Greek poet, named Antiparos, com- 
 posed some verses which the Anthology has preserved for us, 
 and which recount, in a most charming manner, the cause of 
 the economic progress accomplished in the last two thousand 
 years : " Slaves who turn the millstone, spare your hands and 
 sleep in peace. In vain the shrill voice of the cock shall 
 announce the daylight ; sleep on. By order of Demeter, the 
 labour of young girls is performed by the Naiads, and now they 
 leap, shining and light, upon the wheel as it revolves. They 
 drag around the axle with its spokes, and put in motion the 
 great stone which turns round and round. Let us live the 
 happy life of our fathers, and enjoy, without labour, the bless- 
 ings the goddess showers upon us." Thus machinery creates 
 leisure; but who shall enjoy it? That is the point. Three 
 cases might occur. Either this leisure will liberate from all 
 work a larger and larger number of persons, the working day 
 of those who continue to labour remaining the same ; or no 
 one will have increased leisure, as the idle hours will be em- 
 ployed in making objects of luxury ; or, once more, as Antiparos 
 fancied, machinery will benefit the labourers by lessening their 
 task, and an increase of leisure will accrue to all, even to the 
 workers. In the interest, not of the increase of production, 
 " ufc of the progress of civilization, it was to be hoped that this 
 latter hypothesis would be realized. But in reality it is usually 
 either the first or second case which happens. 
 
 The Conservative, like the Cathohc Socialists, develop
 
 9^ THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 /a. 2. M general ideas of a very elevated character, and sometimes most 
 just ; but, upon the ground of concrete reforms, the two groups 
 appear equally confused and impracticable. Herr Meyer asks 
 that heavy taxes should be imposed upon all profits from trade 
 and banking. He calls for the re-establishment of the laws 
 against usury ; he would even limit the interest payable upon 
 all capital not worked by its owner. He appears not to see 
 that in thus limiting the free scope of industry, he would hurt 
 the interests of the landed proprietors which he desires to 
 protect. He also wishes that the functions of the State should 
 be vastly extended. 
 
 The State, according to him, should first of all oblige all 
 manufacturers to build houses for their men. It should itself 
 house all its employes. It should pay its own men well, in 
 order that this rate of wages should be forced, so to speak, 
 upon individuals, and it should regulate the length of the 
 working day in proportion to the difficulty and fatigue of the 
 work. The acquisition of property by those who no^v possess 
 none should in every way be facilitated. As M. Thiers said, 
 upon every acre owned by a peasant will be found a gun ready 
 to defend property. Each trade should be obliged to have a 
 superannuation and a relief fund, and the employer should be 
 bound to contribute a share equal to the united contributions 
 of all his workmen. There should, finally, be a " council of 
 experts," to reconcile differences arising between masters and 
 men, and a court of arbitration to decide disputes not settled 
 by means of compromise. Some of these measures are good ; 
 but others are impossible of execution, such as the restriction 
 of the interest of capital employed in banking and trade. 
 Taken as a whole, the programme appears mean, especially 
 side by side with the recital of motives which precede it. 
 This is not to be wondered at ; for it is far easier to point to 
 the ideal to be attained, than to indicate the means of reach- 
 ing it.
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. 
 
 THE party of Monarchical Christian Socialists is of recent ii. i. oz 
 date. ^It'was formed by" the ^energetic action of the 
 leader of tlie anti-Semitic movement, Herr Stocker, one of the 
 coui:t preachers, and a clergyman of the conservative and 
 orthodox type. It seems clearly to have been thie example of 
 the Catholic clergy that led the Protestant ministers in this 
 direction.* They, too, wished, on their side, to acquire..- 
 influence over the labouring classes, by concerning themselves   ' 
 with their grievances and making themselves the mouthpiece 
 of some of their ideas. The main difference was that, while 
 the Catholic clergy acted with a view to opposition and to 
 secure the election of deputies hostile to the Kultur-Kampf, 
 the ministers of the State Church wished to strengthen the 
 monarchical sentiment in the people and to extend the powers 
 of royalty. Therefore they vigorously opposed the Fortschritt- 
 Fartei, the party of progress, that is to say, the Liberals, whOj 
 taking England as their model, wished to restrict the action of 
 the State, and to entrust the management of affairs to the will 
 
 * A Protestant newspaper, Die Neue Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, thus 
 expresses itself on this point (October, 1878): "The Romish Church, by 
 opposing the anti-Socialist law, will appear as the defender of the rights of 
 the people. The Evangelical Church, which is hardly rejoresented^in 
 Parliament, is lootv'^riiponlislhe'any'ordSpoUsi^^ it hot fhe'cluty of 
 
 every'Ti'otestant to endeavour toefface this impression by devoting himself 
 to the interests of the people? If Protestantism believes that it has no 
 interest in the social question — the greatest question of our day and of the 
 future — if it does not take it up with heart and soul, it will lose all influence 
 over the lower classes, who will fall away towards Catholicism, or even 
 towards infidel hberalism." 
 
 H
 
 98 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of Parliament. The Evangelical Socialist party resembled the 
 French Legitimists, in that they held up to admiration, as the 
 type of government, the reign of Frederick II., and still more 
 that of his father, the brutal churl whom Carl^le admired so 
 excessively, who kept his kingdom and his family under the 
 rod, but who was very pious after his fashion, and an excellent 
 Economist. 
 
 Stocker founded two associations : first of all, the " Central 
 Union for Social Reform," * and then the " Christian Social 
 "Working Ivlen's Party. "| Although the same ideas and nearly 
 the same persons had directed the formation of the two groups, 
 their aims were very different. The Union for Social Reform 
 was to be composed of well-to-do and educated men, such as 
 ministers of the Church, professors, manufacturers, and land- 
 owners, who would join in seeking for means of conciliating 
 the anarchic classes through reforms inspired by the spirit of 
 Christianity. Hitherto the partisans of corporations, the 
 " Agrarians," all who demand protection for national labour, 
 not only were unable to agree so as to combine their efforts, 
 but even opposed and neutralized each other's action. It was 
 necessary, then, to show how these tendencies harmonize with 
 one another, and to point out the superior principle that 
 justifies them and binds them together. 
 
 What is called cultivated society is so far from compre- 
 hending the true mission of Christianity that, when Minister 
 Stocker first took up the Social question, all the Hberal and 
 progressist papers protested against this Miicker-socialistnuSj 
 this " sham socialism." It was therefore imperative to combat 
 the materialism of the upper classes and the atheism of the 
 people, and to renew the religious conception of the world and 
 society. It was necessary, in the first place, for the clergy to 
 extend a helping hand to the labourers, in order to rally them 
 to Christianity, and this Avas to be the work of the Christian 
 Social Working Men's Party ; while, in the second place, it was 
 incumbent on the friends of the people, among the upper 
 ranks, to combine in order to forestall revolution by reforms. 
 
 * Central Verein fiir Social-reform, 
 t Christlich-sociale Arbeiterpartei.
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. 99 
 
 At the same time a newspaper was established, Der Staats- 
 Socialist, which had for its epitaph these words : " The social 
 question exists, and it can only be solved by a strong 
 monarchical State resting on the moral and religious factors of 
 the national hfe ; " meaning, apparently, " with the aid of the 
 evangelical clergy." 
 
 The existence of danger to society in Germany certainly 
 cannot be denied. It seems to menace the public order ; for 
 the two atteinpts at regicide by Hoedel and Nobiling are 
 generally laid at the door of Socialism. Three means of 
 dealing with it present themselves ; firstly, to ignore the 
 danger altogether and lull one's self in an imperturbable 
 optimism, while repeating, " laissez faire, laissez passer, the 
 world will get along all right by itself" — this is the advice of 
 the Economists ; secondly, to repress to the utmost, to prohibit 
 newspapers, dissolve associations, and thus try to extirpate the 
 evil by force — this is what the government desires : or, lastly, 
 to disarm the popular wrath by endeavouring to better the 
 condition of the workers. This is the system practically tried 
 at Mulhouse by Herr Dolfus and his friends. He has lately 
 explained it to the Imperial Parliament, and to it he attributes 
 the absence of revolutionary Socialism in Alsace. It is the 
 method recommended by the Staats-Socialist. 
 
 The programme of the party which it was intended to 
 establish was as follows : — 
 
 General principles : "The Christian Social Working Men's 
 Party is founded on the basis oF the Chrts'tian faith and loyalty 
 to King and Fatherland. It rejects the social democracy as 
 impracticable, unchristian, and unpatriotic. It is intended to 
 constitute a peaceful organization of labourers, in order to 
 prepare practical reforms in harmony with the other elements 
 of the national life. Its aim is to diminish the distance which 
 separates rich from poor, and to establish economic security." 
 The programme calls upon the State to create separate trade 
 corporations according to the particular trades, but com- 
 pulsorily constituted throughout the empire, and supported 
 by stringent regulations as to the admission of apprentices. 
 Committees of arbitration shall be constituted, and their
 
 lOO THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 decisions shall have legal validity. — Compulsory creation of 
 provident funds for widows, orphans, and disabled workmen. — 
 The trade corporations shall defend the interests of the work- 
 men in their relations with their employers. — Prohibition of 
 all labour on Sundays. — Prevention of the employment of 
 children and married women in factories. — The normal daj^_of 
 labour to be fixed according to the nature of the work. These 
 rules ought to be made the object of international conventions. 
 Utitil this has been done it is advisable to protect labour 
 against the competition of countries where similar measures 
 do not exist. Stringent rules against insanitary condition of 
 factories.- — State and Communal property should be worked in 
 the interests of the labourers, and should be extended so far 
 as can be done with economy. — A progressive income-tax, to 
 replace the indirect taxes which fall mainly upon the labouring 
 classes. — Heavy taxes on luxuries. — A progressive succession 
 duty, according to the extent of the inheritance and the 
 distance of relationship. 
 
 The programme calls upon the clergy to take an active and 
 earnest part in all efforts made for improving the lot of the 
 labourer in its material, intellectual, moral, and religious 
 aspects. It adjures the well-to-do classes to hold out a helping 
 hand to the proletarians, to support all laws which are favour- 
 able to them, and to aid in augmenting their welfare by giving 
 them good wages and reducing as far as possible the hours of 
 labour. Every one should aid in the creation of the new trade 
 corporations, which are destined to supply the place of what- 
 ever good there was in the ancient guilds, and should endeavour 
 to induce the labourers to observe all honourable conduct, to 
 shun coarse pleasures, and to put Cliristian sentiments into 
 practice in their family life. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the articles of this programme are 
 inspired by the love of humanity. But would it be possible 
 to apply them to the complications of modern industry without 
 creating disorganization ? The principal proposal is the 
 re-establishment, under another name, of the old trade-guilds. 
 But the diiSculty already pointed out immediately arises : are 
 these to be close corporations, and are they to enjoy a mono-
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. lOI 
 
 poly ? For instance, are the drapers to have the sole right of 
 manufacturing cloth? If you grant them this privilege, the 
 master will no longer be able to recruit his staff from whatever 
 source he chooses. What then becomes of freedom of trade ? 
 How are these monopolies to be reconciled with the constant 
 progress of the methods of manufacture and the varying 
 number of workpeople required ? If, on the other hand, the 
 law maintains liberty, these trade corporations become simply 
 the English trades unions, which are certainly powerful 
 machines of war for organizing strikes and coalitions, but 
 which do not contain the elements of a new organization of 
 labour. At any rate, this programme contains one very just 
 observation, namely, that all these measures of protection in 
 favour of the working classes ought to be enacted as part of 
 an international agreement. Thus, England, France, and the 
 majority of European States prohibit the labour of children in 
 factories, while certain countries, under pretext of respecting 
 liberty, still refuse to do so. Is it not too bad that the English 
 and French manufacturers should be the victims of the equity 
 of their country's laws, and that others should take advantage 
 of the inhumanity of the legislation under which they live, to 
 employ young children, and thus doom them to untimely 
 infirmities, in order to be able to sell cheaper than elsewhere ? 
 
 The States of Europe, owing to the facility of communica- 
 tion, make, in reality, only one nation. They ought, then, by 
 means of Interriafional conventions, to secure uniformity of 
 laws ; otherwise the independent and non-concerted action of 
 one country will cause disturbance in all the others. As the 
 mutual relations of economic interests become continually 
 more intimate, international law should continually embrace 
 more objects. 
 
 The Monarchical Christian Socialists have no expectations 
 of seeing their programme adopted by existing, parliaments 
 where the liberal middle classes predominate. . Accordingly, 
 they have turned towards the king, and what they dream of is 
 a Socialist Monarchy. In the same way, in France, Napoleon 
 III., imbued with the Sociahstic ideas that he had developed 
 in his early writings, wished to play the part of Emperor of the
 
 102 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 peasants and working men. In ancient Greece, the " tyrants," 
 ;■ that is to say, the dictators, usually got possession of power 
 i| by placing themselves at the head of the poor against the rich. 
 i| It was thus that Coesar, at Rome, hoped to establish absolute 
 power. In the Middle Ages, in France, the king was looked 
 upon as the protector of the people and the communes against 
 the feudal lords. To-day the Monarchical Socialists invite the 
 sovereign to fulfil a similar mission, but this time against the 
 financial and industrial middle classes who exercise the privileges 
 of the landed aristocracy. They invoke the authority of Lorenz 
 von Stein, the eminent professor at Vienna : " Every monarchy," 
 he said, " will be no more than an empty shadow, and will 
 give place to a republic, or be transformed into a military 
 despotism, unless, imbued with the moral dignity of its role, 
 it takes the initiation in the matter of social reforms." What 
 good can a constitutional sovereign do, when he is at the 
 mercy of the parties who in turn dispose of the majority? 
 And what are these parties ? Coalitions of interests, groups of 
 cliques, representatives and agents of selfish class interests, 
 who make use of power only to work to their own advantage 
 the making of the laws and the framing of the budget. The 
 king alone can rise superior to this conflict of ambitions and 
 greedy desires, so as to represent the permanent interests of 
 the nation ; he alone can take in hand the cause of the 
 oppressed, because he alone draws no profit from their degra- 
 dation. Such is the language of the Christian Socialists in 
 Germany. 
 
 This ideal of a good despot, assuring to each his share of 
 terrestrial happiness, has a certain Messianic charm about it," 
 which may allure, especially when the parliamentary machine 
 becomes effete or breaks up. But who will guarantee that the 
 '1 despot shall not be a fool, an idiot, or a vicious wretch? 
 Csesarism was too unsuccessful to induce men to return to it, 
 at least voluntarily. However, the Christian Socialists certainly 
 express very well the idea that the Emperor William himself 
 has conceived of his mission. He has a horror of government 
 by majorities ; he readily listens to the grievances of the 
 labourers ; and, as we have seen, he spends money out of his
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. IO3 
 
 private purse in making Socialistic experiments. It is also the 
 long-cherished dream of Prince Bismarck, who, it is said, is 
 preparing to realize it soon (December, 18S2). 
 
 It must, moreover, be added that Prussia is a soil admirably 
 prepared for the growth of State Socialism. No modern nation 
 reproduces more completely the type of the Greek cities, in 
 which the welfare of the individual is subordinate to that of the 
 civic State. Under the energetic rule of Frederick II., the 
 PVussian State has become a vast political machine which takes ; 
 possession of its subjects from childhood, at first in the schools, ' 
 and then in the army, in order to mould them according to its 
 wants. The Prussian civil code already sanctions some of the 
 articles of the programme of the Christian Socialists. The 
 following clauses are found in the Preussische Allgemeine 
 Landrecht (Tit. xix., 2nd part) : —   
 
 "§ I. It is the duty of the State to see to the food and main- 
 tenance of those citizens who cannot provide it for themselves, 
 nor obtain it from those who are legally bound to provide it. 
 § 2. To those who cannot find employment, work shall be 
 assigned suitable to their strength and ability. § 3. Those 
 who from indolence or taste for idleness, or from any other 
 vicious disposition, neglect to provide themselves with the 
 means of subsistence, shall be obliged to execute useful works 
 under surveyance. § 6. The State has the right and is 
 obliged to create institutions for restraining at once both pau- 
 perism and prodigality. § 7. Everything that can have the 
 effect of inducing idleness, especially in the lower classes, or 
 that is likely to divert people from labour, is absolutely for- 
 bidden. § 10. Communal authorities are bound to maintain 
 their poor. §11. It is their duty to inquire into the causes 
 of destitution, and to notify them to the higher authorities, in 
 order that a remedy may be appHed." Might not all this be 
 mistaken for the text of the law of a " Christian Salentum " ? 
 The precept of St. Paul, " If any will not work, neither shall 
 he eat," qui non laborat 7iec manducet, is here transformed into 
 an article of the code. Idleness is a misdemeanour. The 
 right to relief, as in the law of Elizabeth, and the right of 
 labour, as in 1848, are equally recognized, and the tutelary
 
 I04 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 role of the State is clearly confessed. The Socialistic bearing 
 of the Prussian code cannot be mistaken. 
 
 The main object to attain, according to the Social 
 Christians, who agree in this respect with the " Social Conser- 
 vatives," is the organization of trade corporations. It is in 
 this way alone that the present wage-system can be modified. 
 Privy Councillor F. Reuleaux, who at the time of the Exhibi- 
 tion of Philadelphia pointed out in so inexorable but so useful 
 a way the imperfections of German industry, also believes that 
 the organization of corporations is indispensably required for 
 the training of skilled apprentices. He is anxious that the 
 corporations should form themselves freely and without mo- 
 nopoly, but under State patronage. The Staats-Socialist 
 demands, on the other hand, that the organization should be 
 compulsorily imposed on all trades ; in this way alone, it thinks, 
 can the labourer be enabled to defend his interests eft'ectively. 
 The trade corporations would have their representatives in 
 parliament, and the intervention in politics of the workmen 
 thus organized would be more useful than it is at present, when 
 it takes place under a party badge. Sismondi also spoke 
 highly of this system of representation which existed in many 
 of the mediaeval towns. In the same way, in England still, 
 the universities have their special members. When the com- 
 position of the Senate was being discussed in France, it was 
 proposed to introduce into it representatives of the great public 
 bodies — those, for instance, of trade and commerce. Although 
 this idea is foreign to our present forms of government, it 
 should not be lightly rejected. If it is true that the govern- 
 ment ought to be the expression, not of the arbitrary will of the 
 majority, but of the lights, the wisdom, and the true interests of 
 the nation, the representation of great bodies and great indus- 
 tries, in at least one of the Chambers, would offer inestimable 
 advantages. 
 
 The Staats-Socialist proposes, as a model, the American 
 association of engine-drivers. This association counts 192 
 branches and 14,000 members. It is based on Christian 
 sentiment. Its motto is, "I)o to others as ye would that they 
 should do to you : such is the fulfilment of the law." Its
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. IO5 
 
 meetings commence with prayer, and the Bible Ues on the 
 table of the council. Those addicted to drink are inexorably 
 excluded. The association possesses an insurance fund which 
 pays 3000 dollars to the widow or orphans of a deceased 
 member, and in this way more than a miUion dollars have been 
 distributed. It has not taken part in any strike, but the number 
 and union of its members constitute a force with which, the 
 railway companies have to reckon. The corporate spirit, and 
 the sense of honour resulting therefrom, are guarantees of good 
 behaviour and good work. The engine-drivers, the public, and 
 the companies themselves have only to be congratulated on 
 these happy results, and it would be a good thing if similar 
 results could be obtained in all trades. This, however, is a 
 free association, founded on the initiation of its members. If 
 the State were to try to found similar associations by authority 
 it would probably fail, and by giving them a monopoly it 
 would quickly disorganize the present working of industries. 
 
 Some attempts at establishing trade corporations have 
 actually been made in Germany. Thus, at Osnabriick, the 
 artisans formed a corporation under the inspiration and patron- 
 age of the burgomaster, Herr Miquel, and the Staats-Socialist of 
 the 5th October, 1878, published their statutes. According to 
 the report of Councillor F. Reuleaux, the watchmakers of all 
 Germany formed an association represented by a central com- 
 mittee of delegates, and formulated regulations for the admission 
 of apprentices. At the present time they are occupied in 
 introducing the methods of manufacture employed in the 
 United States. The engravers, the potters, the tinsmiths, the 
 engineers, all followed this example. Their principal aim is to 
 train up good workmen and to arouse the corporate spirit. 
 Councillor Reuleaux praises these efforts, because he sees in 
 them a means of raising German workmen to a level with those 
 of England or America. Recently, however, the greater 
 number of these associations were dissolved by virtue of 
 the new Anti-Socialist law. 
 
 The " Central Union for Social Reform" obtained the ad- 
 hesion and even the co-operation of several well-known econo- 
 mists, such as Professor Adolf Wagner, of Berlin University ;
 
 106 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Dr. Schsefifle, former Minister of Finance in Austria, and author 
 of Socialismtis tend Capitalismus ; Hcrr Adolf Samter, banker at 
 Konigsberg ; and Professor von Scheel.* But in order to 
 f influence the masses, as the Cathohc Socialists have done, the 
 ' assistance of the clergy was needed ; and it was to gain this 
 i assistance that the founders of the movement, Herren StocTcer 
 I and Todt, directed all their efforts. According to them, the 
 duty of ecclesiastics, and even of the Protestant Church as a 
 body, was to take part in discussions on the social question. 
 This question, they said, embraces the whole of humanity. The 
 Social Democracy rests on materialism and propagates atheism, 
 while Liberalism and so-called Positive Science, by endeavour- 
 ing to eradicate the religious sentiment, supply it with weapons. 
 Who is to defend this precious treasure, if not the pastor ? 
 Christ came to bring the "glad tidings" to the poor; His 
 disciples and apostles ought to do likewise. They ought to 
 search out the causes of the ills of the lower classes, in order to 
 find the remedy. Political Economy can alone throw light 
 upon these difficult questions, and it must accordingly be 
 sedulously studied. The clergy ought unceasingly to remind 
 the State and the upper classes of the duty imposed upon them 
 by the law of the Gospel in respect of their destitute brethren. 
 The passion for accumulating riches is becoming more and 
 more the characteristic of our age. This " Mammonism" is 
 the enemy of Christianity, and must be unwearyingly com- 
 bated. 
 
 The people are turning away from the Church, because it 
 offers them only barren abstract formulas. Let her descend to 
 the sphere of reality, let her speak to the people of what 
 occupies their thoughts, and she will regain her influence. Why 
 should the workman hearken to the atheist demagogue who 
 brings to him a cheerless doctrine, hostile to righteousness, 
 rather than to the priest who offers him the Gospel ? But in 
 order to counteract the demagogic agitators, the clergy must 
 have some knowledge of the questions they discuss and the 
 arguments they invoke. They ought, therefore, to follow the 
 
 * See Herr von Scheel's excellent book, Unsere sociale politische 
 Parteien ("Our Social Political Parties").
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. 10/ 
 
 course of Social Science at the universities. Theology and 
 Political Economy are mutually connected by the closest ties.* 
 It is only by means of Social Economy that the full scope of 
 Christianity and its power of healing the ills of modern society 
 can be properly appreciated. 
 
 The higher dignitaries of the Evangelical Church held aloof \ 
 from the movement, or mdeed were hostile to it ; but the^ :! 
 common clergy were stirred by it. More than seven hundred^ 
 ministers sent in their adhesion to the " Central Union for 
 Social Reform." Dr. Kogel, one of the Court preachers, Dr. "* 
 Blichsel, the superintendent-general, and Dr. Bauer strongly 
 urged the Protestant clergy to take up the Social question. 
 Dr. Stocker displayed wonderful courage. He attended public 
 meetings at Berlin, where he confronted the most fanatical 
 elements of the Socialist Demagogy, and sometimes, by sheer 
 force of eloquence, he won cheers from the hostile crowd. He 
 was attacked with extraordinary violence by Herr Most, one 
 of the leaders of Berlinese Socialism, and a deputy to the 
 Imperial Parliament. It is not easy to form any idea of the 
 tone of these philippics, which were one long series of invec- 
 tives against Christianity and its ministers, ending with the 
 glorification of atheism. " The Social Democracy will not 
 recede," cried Herr Most in one of his speeches ; " it will 
 pursue its course and accomplish its designs, even though 
 " all priestdom " {das gesamvite PfaffentJmni) should rise against 
 it, like a' cloud of locusts, thick enough to darken the sun. ' 
 The Social Democracy knows that the days of Christianity are ' 
 numbered, and that the time is not far distant when we shall i 
 say to the priests, ' Settle your account with Heaven, for your i 
 hour is come.' " Inasmuch as Herr Stocker and his friends j 
 were making an appeal to religious sentiments, and were ^ 
 endeavouring to show that it was in the principles and senti- 
 ments of Christianity that the solution of the social troubles 
 would be found. Deputy Most organized an agitation for the 
 
 * See Herr Todt's study, entitled Der Irnere Zusammenhang und die 
 noth^vendige Verbmditng zwischen detn Sttidhan der Thcologie und dcm 
 Shidhtm der Socialwissenschaftcn ("The Intimate Relation and Necessary 
 Connection between the Stud)- of Theology and that of the Social Sciences ").
 
 I08 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 purpose of inducing working men formally to renounce the 
 Church {Massenaiistrltt mis dei' Kirche). " It is long," he said, 
 " since you have placed foot inside a temple, and since you 
 have had anything to do with these gentlemen of the black 
 frock. But that is not enough. They still number you amongst 
 their flocks, and on this ground they claim to shear you. An 
 end must be put to this. Declare openly that you leave the 
 Church. Array yourselves under the banner of Science, which 
 absolutely rejects all superstitions." At the close of these 
 meetings, manifestoes declaring that they abandoned the Estab- 
 lished Church were presented for the signature of those present. 
 As a type of these reunions, we may take the meeting of 
 women, which was held on the 6th February, 1878, in the 
 salon of Madame Renz. Men were relentlessly excluded from 
 I the audience. The room was crowded. Madame Hahn, wno 
 \ had previously founded an association of working men's wives, 
 I which was dissolved by the police in 1875, acted as president. 
 ' Near her sat Dr. Wangemann, who had come to defend the 
 ideas of the Social Christians, and Deputy Most. Huge red 
 placards affixed to the wall bore the words, Massenaustritt 
 aus der Landskirche (" Secession in a body from the State 
 Church "). An address from Deputy Most opened the pro- 
 ceedings. He was glad to see the women taking up the social 
 cause. Their support made the future sure. " Women, far 
 I ( more than men, are the slaves and victims of capital. Now, 
 { J when it is clear that nothing can resist the progress of demo- 
 cracy, Court preachers and other ecclesiastics are insinuating 
 themselves into our ranks in order to found a new party and 
 divide our forces. The best way of putting a stop to these 
 manoeuvres is to leave the Church in a body." The next 
 speaker, Madame Hahn, enumerated all the infamies of the 
 priesthood. " My religion," she exclaimed, " is Socialism, and 
 it alone is truth, morality, justice, and brotherhood. Down 
 with the priests of every robe and every hue ! The first reform 
 to be accomplished is to change all churches into good habi- 
 tations for working men." Dr. Wangemann replied that 
 Christianity had elevated woman. In the course of his mis- 
 sions, he had found abundant proof that rehgion alone ensured
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. IO9 
 
 happy marriages and inspired the husband with respect for 
 his wife. After he had developed these ideas, Most repUed 
 to him : " I do not deny the good effect of Christianity on 
 savages, and therefore I would urge many missionaries and 
 court preachers to go and deliver their sermons to Hottentots. 
 With civilized people they can only produce weariness and 
 annoyance." The meeting broke up half an hour after mid- 
 night, when the ladies left, singing the Marseillaise of Audorff. 
 
 The formation of the Social Evangelical party was re- 
 ceived by the Liberal press in almost as hostile a way as 
 by the demagogue papers. " We prefer," said one newspaper^ 
 "socialists in blouse to socialists in surplice." The official!! 
 and Conservative press, on the other hand, praised the 
 attempt. " We are glad," wrote the Norddeiitsche Allgemeine ' 
 Zeihing,' " to see men who are enlightened, patriotic, and 
 devoted to the monarchy, bravely confronting the atheistic 
 and anarchic movement which is daily gaining ground. It is 
 a mistake for the upper classes to shut their eyes to the danger. 
 Let them support the efforts of these men, who are placing 
 themselves in the van in defence of all that we hold dear. It 
 would be well if local societies, animated with the same spirit, 
 were formed in all parts of the country." This was, in fact, 
 what the evangelical party of social reform were endeavouring 
 to do. They showed the most praiseworthy activity. Besides 
 frequent and well-attended conferences at Berlin, when the 
 different points of the programme were discussed, they sent 
 missionaries into the provinces to convene meetings, explain 
 the objects to be pursued, and found local associations. In this 
 way they succeeded in forming, in many districts, groups of 
 well-to-do persons, who were disposed to take up the social 
 question in both its theoretical and practical aspect. But they 
 had much less hold on the lower classes than the Catholic 
 circles had. Obedient to the word of command, all the 
 Catholic priests were engaged in the work, while the Protestant , 
 pastors acted in an isolated way and in accordance with their i 
 own convenience and convictions. 
 
 The attempts against the life of the Emperor and the pre- 
 sentation of the Anti-Socialist Bill placed the Social Evangelical
 
 110 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 party in a most delicate and difficult position. Its founders 
 were court preachers. How could it refrain from applauding 
 the employment of the most stringent means against savages 
 who were impelled, by a barbarous and stupid fanaticism, to 
 commit a crime, abominable in itself and, in any case, useless 
 for the furtherance of their designs ? The Staats-Socialist had 
 proclaimed itself monarchical and conservative. Could it reject 
 a law presented in the name of the very principles which it 
 had undertaken to defend ? It actually did so, nevertheless ; 
 and in so doing it showed both foresight and courage, It savv 
 in the outrages a proof that it had not exaggerated the danger 
 to be apprehended from the Socialist demagogy ; but it rejected 
 the Anti-Socialist law, because, without removing the evil, it 
 would cause it to disappear from sight, and thus postpone the 
 application of a remedy, and because it would have the dis- 
 astrous effect of hindering the upper classes from doing their 
 duty to those dependent on them. It may be questioned if 
 the Staats-Socialist and the Social Evangelical party, in spite 
 of the ties connecting them with the Court, will escape the 
 rigorous measures which are striking in all directions associa- 
 tions and papers concerned with the social question. The 
 object pursued by the Government is, apparently, to enforce 
 complete silence on this subject, in order that the police may 
 be able to boast that they have established order and peace. 
 Silent ium pacem appellaiit. 
 
 To get a complete idea of the tendencies and principles 
 that presided over the formation of the Social Evangelical 
 party, one should read Herr Todt's book on " Radical German 
 Socialism and Christian Society." * It has had a great success, 
 and two editions of it were sold off in a few months. It would 
 be interesting to compare it with the book of M. Frangois 
 Huet, Le Regne social dii christianisme, published in 1852, in 
 the same spirit and on a similar plan. Herr Todt places the 
 following epigraph at the head of his work : " Whoever would 
 understand the social question and contribute to its solution 
 must have on his right hand the works on Political Economy, 
 
 * De!' radikale detitsche Socialismiis und die Christlichc Gesellschaft, by 
 RodolfTodt. Wittemburg, 1878.
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. Ill 
 
 and on his left the literature of Scientific Socialism, and must 
 keep the New Testament open before him." Political Economy, 
 he adds, plays the part of anatomy : it makes known the con- 
 struction of the social body. SociaHsm is the pathology which 
 describes the malady, and the Gospel is the therapeutics which 
 apply the remedy. 
 
 Is it not remarkable that the Christian countries are pre- | 
 cisely those which have evolved Socialism ? What is the reason \ 
 of that? According to Herr Todt, it is because Socialism has ; 
 its root in Christianity : only it has gone astray from it. It is ' 
 the fruit of the Gospel, but it has become corrupt. In reality, 
 according to Herr Todt, Socialism springs from the sentiment 
 of revolt, produced by the sight of the contrast between the 
 existing economical constitution of society and a certain ideal 
 of justice and equality. Hence arises the desire to remove this 
 contrast by a radical reform of the social order. Christianity 
 also condemns the present world, where selfishness and evil 
 passions prevail, and announces the "new kingdom" where 
 the first shall be last, where charity shall make all men brothers, 
 and where the earth shall belong to the peaceful and lowly. 
 The true Christian endeavours to correct himself and reform 
 his surroundings according to the divine command. Whoever 
 then asserts, like the Positivist or Economist, that the actual 
 course of events is necessary, fatal, and conformable to natural 
 laws, places himself in opposition to the teaching of Jesus. 
 He, on the other hand, conforms to that teaching who aims at 
 improvement and perfection in everything. Moreover, accord- 
 ing to Herr Todt, every Christian who is in" earnest with his > 
 faith has a Socialistic vein in him, and every Socialist, however ' 
 bitter his hatred of religion may be, has an unconscious Chris- 
 tianity in his heart. Radical Socialism, however, preaches 1 
 atheism and communism, and in so doing is far off from the 
 Gospel. 
 
 We must, not, however, deceive ourselves, says our author ; 
 Socialism is not, as is commonly supposed, a mere passing 
 malady which will disappear as it came. It will grow and 
 spread. There have been outbursts of Sociahsm at different 
 epochs, when the sufferings of the people became intolerable,
 
 
 1 1 2 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DA Y. 
 
 as at the time of the Jacquerie in France, of Wat Tyler in 
 England, and, in the sixteenth century, of the peasants' war in 
 Germany. To-day the lot of the lower classesjs much imp rove d, 
 and yet it is at this moment that the disease is showing itself. 
 It appears even in countries where easy circumstances are 
 general, as in the United States. Poverty, then, is noFTts 
 cause, but rather the contrast between the ideal and the actual. 
 What will make it spread and endure is, in the second place, 
 the diffusion of a certain amount of natural science and poli- 
 tical economy ; and lastly, the constant and rapid means of 
 communication between man and man — the railways, the post, 
 and, above all, the press. 
 
 When a revolutionary movement starts from a few leaders, 
 it is possible to put an end to the danger by suppressing thern. 
 But when a profound fermentation takes hold of the masses, it 
 is of no use to get rid of the leaders : others will always be 
 found to fill their places. It is too late in the day to suppress 
 all liberties. People will put up with an exceptional regime 
 during a critical period, but no civilized State in the West will 
 any longer submit definitively to absolution and a state of siege. 
 We may see, moreover, by the case of Russia, that security is 
 not to be obtained in this way. According to Herr Todt, 
 Christianity alone can reconcile the antagonistic classes, the 
 rich and the poor, by filling their hearts with brotherly love 
 and the sense of justice. 
 
 Examining in succession the several articles of the pro- 
 gramme of Radical Socialism, our author compares them with 
 the principles of the Gospel, and points out in what they agree 
 with it and in what they differ from it. This study of the social 
 bearing of Christianity indicates clearly the close relations 
 which exist between Political Economy and religious ideas. 
 
 We cannot discuss here the numerous questions raised by 
 this comparison. We believe it may be said that the funda- 
 mental idea of the Social Evangelical group is correct. To dis- 
 arm popular animosities, the upper classes, commencing with 
 the leaders of the State, must concern themselves with every- 
 thing that can better the lot of the masses. Christian charity 
 must be translated into facts. Formerly, this duty was thought
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. II3 
 
 to be performed by almsgiving, and no doubt the giving of 
 alms will always be indispensable in certain cases ; but if too 
 easily attained or too abundant, alms degrade the recipients, 
 and if transformed into an institution, they encourage idleness. 
 Economic science proves that it is not so easy to do good. 
 What is wanted is to put the labourer in the way of bettering his 
 condition by means of his own efforts, and with this object to 
 multiply those institutions which raise and civilize him, such as 
 working men's clubs, free libraries, savings banks, schools for 
 adults, industrial schools. The energy of philanthropists and 
 patrons may be usefully employed in founding these institu- 
 tions in all directions. 
 
 Herren Stocker and Todt are right : the upper classes, by ' 
 their practical materialism, exercise a disastrous influence over 
 those beneath them. Luxury devours capital, the accumula- 
 tion of which would have raised wages. It puffs up vanity, 
 upsets fortunes, excites the envy and stirs up the hatred of men 
 who often lack the very necessaries of existence. Simplicity of 
 living, application to work, high moral and intellectual culture 
 — these are the examples that ought to be set before the eyes 
 of the people. Those who dispose of the net produce of a 
 country ought to employ their superfluity, not in refining their 
 own pleasures nor in satisfying their pride, but in works of 
 general utility and for the good of their fellow-beings. What 
 M. Dolfus has done at Mulhouse, and M. Siegfried at Havre, 
 shows how a beginning may be made. I may also mention 
 another example well known in Belgium, and which deserves 
 to be equally known abroad, as it shows how much good may 
 be done at the initiation of a single individual. In 1866, M. 
 Laurent, professor of law at the University of Ghent, conceived 
 the idea of introducing habits of thrift among the children in 
 the primary schools of that town. He went about from school 
 to school, explaining to masters and pupils the economic ad- 
 vantages, and especially the moral benefits, which accrue from 
 habits of saving. Carried away by his earnest and sympathetic 
 language, the children, sou by sou, placed their little savings 
 in the hands of the master, who, as soon as they had in this 
 way put together one franc, procured for them a savings bank 
 
 I
 
 114 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 pass book. Five years afterwards, in 1871, out of 10,671 pupils, 
 the number of pass-books was 8000, and since then the pro- 
 portion has increased. 
 
 This may be the beginning of a transformation in the social 
 situation. Once the working man attains to the possession of 
 capital, he becomes immediately converted to ideas of order, 
 and the enemy of any revolutionary movement which might 
 take away from him his hardly won savings. This result can 
 only be arrived at by teaching him thrift from his childhood, so 
 that he may form the habit of saving. Afterwards, when he 
 has acquired the habit of useless or harmful spending, better 
 counsels will remain without fruit. The only capital that will 
 be preserved is that which the labourer has himself created. 
 It is in vain to make loans to working men, as Lassalle de- 
 manded should be done, or as the German Emperor, under 
 the inspiration of Prince Bismarck, actually did; they would be 
 soon swallowed up, because the aptitude for making a good use 
 thereof would be wanting. He alone who knows how to create 
 capital will be in a position to manage, preserve, and increase 
 it. The working men's societies, to which the French Govern- 
 ment, in 1848, made advances, soon collapsed. The only ones 
 that can maintain themselves are those which, like the pioneers 
 of Rochdale, have formed their own capital by means of order 
 and economy. The system of school saving, as may be seen 
 in the reports of M. de Malarce, has been introduced into 
 many towns in different countries, and notably in France. If 
 it can be made general, the benefits which will result from it 
 are incalculable. What is most distressing, when one considers 
 the condition of the labouring classes, is not so much the in- 
 sufficiency of wages, as the bad use which is too often made of 
 them. An increase in remuneration results, for the most part, 
 in merely increasing the amount spent in drink, and thus~in 
 further degrading the workman. It is in vain to preach 
 economy to grown men. Thrift is a virtue of habit, and it is 
 from childhood that it must be inculcated. 
 
 Through the initiation of M. Laurent, there were also 
 established at Ghent working men's clubs, where the factory 
 operatives could assemble to listen to debates, to go through
 
 EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. II5 
 
 gymnastic exercises, to sing in choruses, to act plays, and to H. "i-q'^ 
 read the papers and books* Soon tliere were also established 
 four clubs for factory women in different parts of the town, 
 where the young girls found similar means of moral and intel- 
 lectual culture. The touching and instructive book of M. 
 Laurent, Societes ouvrieres de Gaud., must be consulted for the 
 details of what takes place at these reunions of workwomen 
 and the happy effects that they produce. Truly this is a work 
 of Christian economy, such as Herren Stocker and Todt 
 recommend. 
 
 No doubt several of the articles in the programme of the 
 Social Evangelical party give rise to serious objections ; but 
 the general spirit is excellent. The ruling classes, and even 
 ministers of religion, cannot be too often reminded of the 
 duties of enUghtened and practical charity imposed upon them 
 by the position they occupy. It is also true that the force of 
 the teaching of Jesus in the world is not exhausted. Its 
 enemies repeat that now may be seen once more how religions 
 die. I do not believe it. Dogma will occupy a diminishing 
 place, but the moral and juridical influence of Christianity will 
 increase. The faith of the Evangelical Socialists may be 
 Slimmed up in these words of Emmanuel Fichte : " Christianity 
 still bears in its bosom a renovating power of which the world 
 has no conception. Hitherto it has acted only on individuals, 
 and indirectly, through them, on the State. But whoever can 
 appreciate its inward action, either from the standpoint of a 
 believer, or from that of an independent, thinker, will admit 
 that it will one day become the immanent and organizing force 
 of society, and then it will reveal itself to the world in all the 
 depth of its conceptions and in all the wealth of its power for 
 good." 
 
 * These clubs were in want of premises. M. Laurent, having gained 
 by his work on School Saving the Guinard prize of 10,000 francs, "in- ;, ; 
 tended to reward the work or invention best calculated to improve the 
 material or the moral position of the working classes," gave this sum to 
 aid in building suitable premises, and he added to it the author's profits on ', ■, 
 his great treatise on Civil Law. Unwearied brain-worker, he gave to his ' "' 
 brothers of hand-labour the fruit of half a century's toil.
 
 Il6 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 
 
 I'- T N former chapters we have given an account of the 
 
 X doctrines of the masters of German Sociahsm, Lassalle 
 and Karl Marx. But in order to understand the power of this 
 great movement of ideas against which the German Empire, in 
 the midst of all its triumphs, deems that exceptional measures 
 are necessary, it must be studied in all its varieties, and these 
 varieties are numerous. There are Democratic Socialists, In- 
 ternational Socialists, Christian Socialists and Social Christians, 
 Catholic Socialists, State Socialists, Socialists of the Chair, and 
 many more besides. It is the Catholic Socialists whose ideas 
 we shall now endeavour to make known. 
 
 An Italian diplomatist. Baron Blanc, a man of great pene- 
 tration, and one who had constant intercourse with Cavour, 
 often told me how this great and far-seeing patriot had predicted 
 that one day Ultramontanism would ally itself with Socialism. 
 M. Blanc himself confidently believed this. Prince Bismarck, 
 too, has many a time spoken of the union of the Red with the 
 Black International, and in its good as well as its bad sense 
 • the saying is true. The two doctrines, Catholicism and Socialism, 
 \ : do, in fact, both place their ideal above and beyond the father- 
 land, and dream of the establishment of a new order of things 
 in which the same principles shall reign everywhere. Whether 
 , it be a virtue or a fault, both are ready to sacrifice nationality 
 to universality. The predictions of Cavour and Bismarck seem 
 to-day to be realized. In Germany the Catholic Socialistic 
 movement can now count fifteen years of existence. At the 
 last elections for the Imperial Parliament, Socialists and Ultra-
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. WJ 
 
 montanes voted together wherever they were in a minority, and 
 at the second ballot they came to an understanding among 
 themselves to get in that one of the candidates of either party 
 who had received the largest number of votes. The Catholic 
 papers declare openly that rather than come to terms with the 
 Chancellor they will support the most extreme parties, and in 
 the debate upon the Anti-Socialist law the Ultramontane 
 centre declared at the outset that it would not accept it under 
 any form, no matter how amended. Bismarck may well main- 
 tain that the alliance of the two Internationals is an accomplished 
 fact ; it is even said that his object in entering upon relations 
 with Rome was to break up their union. 
 
 In France it would appear that the militant Catholics, the 
 only ones who really constitute a political party, are entering 
 upon the same course. Recently the paper which wields the 
 greatest influence among them, and which is at the same time 
 looked upon with most favour in Rome, published a complete 
 plan of social reforms, destined to put an end to the " disorder 
 of the existing industrial regime." The general idea was indi- 
 cated in the book of a distinguished Economist, M. Perin,* 
 professor at the Catholic University of Louvain ; but up to this 
 they seem to have confined themselves to a Platonic aspiration ' 
 towards a return to the economic institutions of the Middle 
 Ages. Now, on the contrary, the question is to devise a ' 
 programme of practical reforms which will rally the labouring 
 classes around it. M. Perin and the Count de Mun both said 
 as much, with all the eloquence which the subject inspires, at 
 the congress of Catholic labourers lately assembled at Chartres. 
 Everywhere, under the most various forms, working men's clubs 
 and associations are founded, where these ideas are made known 
 and spread. As, however, in France, Democratic Socialism 
 fights in the front rank of the great anti-clerical army. Catholic 
 Socialism can scarcely borrow anything from it, or grant it any 
 support. But in Germany, where every shade of Socialism 
 flourishes^ this remarkable and most important evolution may 
 be observed. 
 
 * La Richessc dans les socictes chretiennes. See also another work by 
 M. Perin, Les Doctrines economiques depuis un siicle.
 
 Il8 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Already in 1863, at the Munich Congress of CathoHc 
 savants, the illustrious theologian Doellinger maintained that 
 Catholic associations should grapple with the social question".'" 
 Soon afterwards, an eminent prelate, the Bishop of Mayence, 
 Monseigneur Ketteler, published a book upon the same subject, 
 which made a great stir, and which was entitled Die Arbeiter- 
 frage und das Kristenthiim (" The Labour Question and 
 Christianity"). He showed that, upon certain points. Social- 
 ism and Christianity were in accord. In reality the idea was 
 not altogether new. In the Middle Ages, the Jacquerie in 
 France, and the revolted peasantry of the sixteenth century in 
 Germany, invoked the Gospel. The men of the French Revo- 
 lution, who dreamed of something more than the establishment 
 of liberty and civil equality, did the same ; and, in his cynical 
 language, Camille Desmoulins called Jesus the first of the 
 sans-ailottes. After 1848 French Socialists frequently cited 
 the Christian Fathers in support of their doctrines ; and a 
 Communist, Villegardelle, who was not wanting in intelligence, 
 compiled a whole volume of extracts from their writings to 
 prove that private property should be unhesitatingly abolished.* 
 
 In 1852, twelve years before the Bishop of Mayence, 
 Francois Huet, a Catholic philosopher of rare merit, issued a 
 volume, Le Regne Social du Christianisme, where may be found 
 explained, with greater clearness, method, and science, those 
 ideas which are to-day promulgated by the Catholic Socialists. 
 It is beyond question the best book upon the subject which 
 has yet appeared. 
 
 When the Gospel is appealed to in favour of Communism 
 or Socialism, this is at once right and wrong. If it be intended 
 that Christianity enjoins any particular social or political or- 
 ganization, this is a mistake. What Christ preached was a 
 change of heart, internal reformation. He did not dream of 
 modifying surrounding institutions ; they were about to disap- 
 pear in a cosmical revolution of which the Evangelists have left 
 us a terrible picture. It was " in another world and under 
 
 * Histoire des idces socialcs avant la Revohttion, by F. Villegardelle. 
 See also, for the same period and style of thought, U Evangile devant le 
 Steele, by Simon Granger.
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. II9 
 
 another heaven" that the ideal He announced was to be reahzed. 
 " My kingdom is not of this world," Christ used to say. The 
 element of truth in the assertion is that the Gospel, like the 
 prophets of the Old Testament, is full of a spirit of brotherhood 
 and equality. The " glad tidings (emyye'Aiov) of the kingdom " 
 is announced to the poor. In the " kingdom " the first shall 
 be last. " Blessed be they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, for they shall be filled." What profound words, 
 overflowing with that tender love for the afflicted which has 
 been called charity ! 
 
 Whatever the enemies of Christianity may say, it is beyond 
 question from the gospel that the movement for the emancipa- , 
 tion of the lower classes has come, which, after having little byi' 
 little abolished slavery and serfage, proclaimed equality first by 
 the American and then by the French Revolution. All that 
 is done to elevate the lowly and to lighten the burden of the 
 poor is conformable to the teachings of Christ ; and thus 
 Socialism, in its general tendency, and in so far as it only 
 aspires, according to the St. Simonian formula, " to ameliorate 
 the moral, intellectual, and material condition of the greatest 
 number," proceeds evidently from Christian inspiration. No 
 more can it be denied that those words in which Christ preached 
 charity, brotherly love, and indifference to the world, when 
 interpreted by absolute idealism and excessive asceticism, have 
 resulted naturally in communism ; a communism not merely ^ 
 such as was practised in Jerusalem by the immediate followers 
 of Christ, but such as may still be seen under our very eyes in 
 the thousands of convents that fill with increasing numbers both 
 town and country. The Church has never condemned that t ; 
 social regime from which private property is banished, and ij 
 even the idea of mine and thine proscribed as an outrage on '( 
 brotherhood. On the contrary, even its most politic doctors, 
 such as Bossuet, have seen therein the ideal of the Christian 
 life. No doubt they were only thinking of a communism 
 voluntarily practised. But if such be the ideal, is not the wish 
 to make it adopted by all reasonable? At all events, it is 
 certain that if those who attack the actual organization of our ^ • 
 society wish to seek arms in the writings of the Christian Fathers7j 
 
 7u>
 
 I20 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 they will find there an inexhaustible arsenal. Upon this ground 
 Catholicism and Socialism may easily meet ; it is sufficient if 
 they merely remember their antecedents and return to their 
 principles.* 
 
 There is no stranger aberration than that of the levelling 
 Democrats who attack Christianity and adopt the doctrines of 
 scientific materialism. If the existing social organization is to 
 be changed, it must be by invoking certain rights that have 
 been ignored, and by showing another ideal to be attained. It 
 is a spiritualist philosophy alone that seeks, among abstract 
 ideas of justice and rational order, for the notion of a right 
 superior to any recognized at present, and one to which all 
 existing rights ought to be subject. It is Christianity which 
 has put into the minds of the Western world the idea of the 
 " kingdom," that is, an ideal world completely different from 
 this world of ours. Socialism and Christianity both aspire to 
 so change things that justice shall reign everywhere. 
 
 Scientific materialism will say, after the manner of Pilate, 
 What is justice? It cares only for the facts it verifies; and 
 when these facts recur with regularity and sequence, it calls 
 them natural laws which must be submitted to. How can a 
 right be conceived which is contrary to facts, that is, to natural 
 laws ? In the struggle for existence the best armed succeed ; 
 the feeble disappear leaving no posterity, and thus progress is 
 attained by natural selection. The Economist, who confines 
 
 * In the sermons of Eossuet there are numerous passages which 
 Socialists might take as a text for their demands. For example, in the 
 Sermon sur la dignite dcs panvres dans PEglise, he says, "God has sent 
 me, says the Saviour, to preach the Gospel to the poor — Evangelisare 
 paiiperibus niisit me. The rich are tolerated only in order that they may 
 assist the poor. This is why, in the primitive Church, everything was in 
 common, so that none should be guilty of leaving any one in want. For 
 what injustice, my brethren, that the poor should bear the whole burden, 
 and that the whole weight of misery should fall on their shoulders ! If they 
 complain and murmur against Divine Providence — Lord ! let me say it — it 
 is not without some colour of justice ; for, as we are all kneaded of the 
 same lump, and there cannot be much difference between clay and clay, 
 why do we see, on the one side, joy, honour, and affluence, and, on the 
 other, sorrow and despair, extreme want, and, more often still, contempt 
 and servitude? Why should one lucky individual live in abundance and be 
 able to satisfy his every little useless fancy, while some unfortunate wretch, 
 a man as much as he, cannot maintain his poor family, nor allay the pangs 
 of hunger that devour them ? "
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 121 
 
 himself to merely noting facts without having any ideal in view, 
 holds similar language. Throw down all obstacles, establish 
 liberty in everything for everybody, and, among individuals 
 given over to universal competition, the most skilful must 
 succeed. They will become the richest and most powerful. 
 This is what the welfare of society demands, and that constitutes 
 justice. 
 
 Malthus was the precursor of Darwin, who, indeed, fully 
 recognized the fact. When Malthus speaks of those for whom 
 there is no place at the banquet of life, and whom nature is \ 
 not slow to eliminate, he is applying, in advance, the theory 
 of the struggle for existence. Christianity reaches out a hand 
 towards the unfortunate and demands a place for the disin- 
 herited. Darwinism and the orthodox economy tell them that 
 they are in the way, and that their business is to disappear. 
 Darwinism submits to the actual, in the name of natural law 
 and necessity. In the name of the ideal, Christianity rebels 
 against the actual, and hopes to subordinate it to the dictates 
 of reason and justice. 
 
 We shall see, in analyzing Bishop Ketteler's book, how it ; 
 is that the Social Democrats prefer atheistic materialism, |i 
 which logically justifies the enslaving of the people, to Chris- 
 tianity, which calls them to freedom. 
 
 The B ishop of Mayence was looked upon as the most 
 eminent prelate of the Catholic hierarchy in Germany. His 
 recent death has left a blank which has not been filled since. 
 In his book, "The Labour Question and Christianity," in | 
 order to paint the evils of existing society, he borrows the i 
 colours and even the expressions of Lassalle. Like him, he \ 
 considers Liberalism and the Political Economy of Manchester, '. 
 das Manchestei'thum, responsible for these evils. The French 
 Ultramontanes of to-day express the same Ideas and hold 
 exactly the same language. Thus at Chartres, in the Congress 
 of the Catholic unions, Count de Mun spoke of the " social 
 claims of the Catholic labourers," and of a return to the 
 "ancient organization of labour." He depicted modern 
 society precisely as the SociaHsts do: "The thirst of specu- 
 latioiPconsumes everything; a merciless struggle has taken
 
 122 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the place of healthy emulation, the small crafts are being crushed 
 out, professional work is decaying, wages are being disgrace- 
 fully lowered, pauperism is spreading like a hideous leprosy, 
 the oppressed labourer feels his heart swelling with an im- 
 placable hatred, and he has no safety but in resistance, no 
 help but in war. Coalitions and strikes take the place of 
 organized labour. Laissez faire, laissez passer ; this is the 
 decree of Liberalism, "this is revolutionary liberty ; and it has 
 but one name — the liberty of might." * These lines seem 
 borrowed from Bishop Ketteler's own book. 
 
 The Bishop of Mayence did not conceal his sympathy for 
 Lassalle, at the time even when he was founding and organ- 
 izing the Socialist party in Germany. When the Countess 
 Hatzfeld visited him to solicit his aid in removing the obstacles 
 which stood in the way of the marriage of I^assalle, a non- 
 converted Jew, with the daughter of a Bavarian diplomatist 
 who would not hear of it, Bishop Ketteler highly praised the 
 speeches and enterprise of the famous agitator. The social 
 question, said the prelate, is far more serious than these 
 political questions which fill newspapers and. parliaments with 
 their" endless debates. These latter interest the bourgeois 
 alone ; the other concerns the very existence of the masses. 
 For the working man, the question is to find the means of 
 living. This idea is continually repeated in the German 
 Socialist papers under this " realistic " formula : " The social 
 question is a stomach question" {Die sociale Frage ist eine 
 Magenfrage)^ 
 
 Upon what does the condition of the labourer depend.^ 
 
 * As it is important to show to what point the French Ul tramontanes 
 use the same language and tactics as the German, we may cite another 
 passage from the speech of Count de Man : " Liberty, gentlemen ! Where 
 is it ? I hear it spoken of on all hands, but what I see is people confis- 
 cating it to their own profit. And if I look for it in what touches you most 
 keenly, in what you have most at heart, in this great labour question, 
 which contains all others, and which has given rise to the social as well 
 as the political battle of our days, if I look there for the traces of liberty, 
 I discover more than anywhere else this revolutionary counterfeit. I hea r 
 ; the absolute liberty of labour proclaimed as the very prin ciple of th e 
 ! enffahchiserrient of tTie people, and, in practice, I see itresuTtin the sl avery 
 j of the labourers ! Tjehtlemen, you are artisans and tir'adesmefi"; tell'me if 
 '* I am mistaken ! ..."
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 23 
 
 Evidently upon the rate of his wages. And upon what does 
 the rate of wages depend? Upon the law of supply and 
 demand, replies the prelate with the Economists, that is upon 
 the iron law, the eherne Lohngezetz, as Lassalle expresses it. 
 Fonnerlyj_says the bishop, the future of the labourer was 
 guaranteed by the trade guilds. Labour constituted a pra;_^ 
 perty which"the~regulations of the guild preserved from the 
 fluctuations of the market and the strife of competition. To- 
 day this is no longer so ; labour is now treated as a com- 
 modity in the market {Die Arbeit ist eine Waare), and, as 
 such, it is subject to the laws which govern other commodities. 
 The price of commodities rises and falls according as they 
 are in greater or less demand ; but it tends to approach the 
 level of the cost of production. In order to get ahead of 
 his competitors, the manufacturer is therefore obliged to reduce 
 this cost as much as possible so as to be able to offer his 
 wares cheaper than others do. The cost of production of 
 this labour-commodity is the food and maintenance of the 
 labourer. There would consequently be a universal and 
 necessary tendency to reduce to the minimum the cost of 
 the labourer's maintenance. The employer who can obtain 1 
 from his workmen the largest amount of useful exertion at '■ 
 the~least expense will carry the day. In^_tlie__present state 1 
 of' things this is a mathematical or mechanical law which 
 destroys at once the good intentions of masters and the resist- [ 
 ance of men, Hence, concludes the Bishop of Mayence, it \ 
 cannot be denied that the whole existence of the labouring 
 population — who constitute the greater part of humanity — the 
 daily bread of the father and his family is subject to the 
 fluctuations of a market, disturbed by endless crises. " This 
 is the slave market open all over modern Europe, fashioned" 
 according to the model sketched by our enlightened and 
 anti-Christian liberalism, and our humanist freemasonry." 
 
 is "it not curious to find at the head of Monseigneur von 
 Ketteler's book the theory of " the labour-commodity," Arbeit 
 Waare, which, expanded with a vast display of scientific 
 analyses and algebraic formulas, is the very basis of Karl Marx's 
 famous book, Das Kapital, the Gospel of German Socialism ?
 
 124 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 What are the causes of the intolerable condition of the 
 labouring class ? According to the bishop, there are two 
 principal ones. In the first place, the utter suppression of 
 all organization of labour. Formerly a sort of contract existed 
 between society and the labourer ; the artisan satisfied the 
 needs of society, and society, in exchange, guaranteed to him, 
 by means of the guild regulations, both work and wages. To- 
 day he is abandoned without hope to the mercy of the capi- 
 talist. In the second place, the more and more general use 
 of machinery and the development of the large system of 
 manufacturing are always lessening the number of artisans 
 who can dispose of a small private capital, and increasing 
 that of the wage-earners who depend entirely upon the ever- 
 varying demand for their work. 
 
 Having indicated the causes of the evil, Monseigneur von 
 Ketteler seeks the remedies. They will never be found, he 
 says, in liberty, as is often imagined. For the labourer, liberty 
 [ consists in offering his labour at a discount and in dying of 
 hunger, if his labour is not needed. Free trade merely sub- 
 jects him to the competition of countries where wages are 
 lowest. You speak of " self-help," and you expect the working 
 man to raise himself by his own efforts. That is all very well 
 for a few, the fortunate and best endowed, who may be able 
 to make for themselves a place in the ranks of the masters ; 
 but can the others cease to be wage-earners, and are not 
 wages governed by the " iron law," as demonstrated by Lassalle 
 and Ricardo ? 
 
 All the fine speeches of infidel LiberaHsm will not per- 
 suade the working men that they should resign themselves 
 to living in privation, while those who make profit out of 
 them enjoy all the refinements of luxury and sensuality. 
 Christianity alone can reconcile the lower classes to that 
 inequality of condition which is inevitable here below. 
 
 The true beUever will accept without bitterness and even 
 with joy the heaviest trials of a life of labour, because he 
 expects them to ensure him eternal happiness. Christianity 
 inspires a spirit of self-sacrifice, of obedience, of order. It 
 condemns drunkenness, evil ways, debauchery, and rebellion.
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 25 
 
 The Christian workman -will therefore be hardworking, sub- 
 missive to his masters, sober, always satisfied, and respectful 
 towards all in authority over him. 
 
 This perfectly correct idea of Bishop Ketteler makes it 
 clear why demagogues preach atheistic materialism. The 
 natural instinct of man impels him to seek his own happiness, 
 and if the hope of finding it in another world, where justice 
 reigns, is taken away from him, he will seek it here. If matter 
 IS all that exists, then, at all cost, he must have material andj I 
 immediate enjoyment. The working men will say, We have^ 
 heard enough of your promised heavenly joys. We will cash 
 no more of these bills upon another world ; it is in this world, 
 the only real one, that we wish to have happiness. Right is 
 an empty word ; might decides everything. We are the most 
 numerous, and if we can come to an understanding among 
 ourselves we shall be the strongest, and thus we shall be in 
 the right. Royalty, magistracies, creeds, armies, parliaments- 
 all these institutions were created by our masters in order to 
 enslave and exploit us. Everything must be overthrown, even 
 by fire and sword, if needful, in order that we may taste these 
 pleasures in which capitalists, enriched with our spoils, have 
 too long rioted. 
 
 On the one hand, as we have seen, atheistic materialism, ^ |v^ 
 by denying the ideal and all abstract right, deprives the claims ' '^ 
 of the proletariat of all sound basis, and on this account the 
 friends of the people should reject it ; but on the other hand, 
 by annihilating all hope of a future life, where unalloyed bliss 
 would compensate for the fleeting trials of this world, it insti- 
 gates the masses to overturn the established social system, in 
 order, amidst the general ruin, to gain possession of wealth 
 and the material joys that wealth can provide. It is, therefore, 1 1 
 evident that those who desire a violent social revolution are 1 1 
 interested in spreading atheism, and that those who spread!.! 
 this doctrine are furnishing the revolutionary Socialists with ' 
 arms. 
 
 Christianity preaches the common brotherhood of all men,;! ^-^ ,^^y^ 
 the mutual love and equality of all ; it, honours labour, because;' U , 
 
 labour alone gives man a chance to live ; it reinstates the poor jiM,^ ►
 
 126 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 man and denounces the rich idler. There is, therefore, no more 
 soHd foundation for the demand of reforms on behalf of the 
 disinherited classes. 
 
 And yet Social Democracy repudiates it, and tries to crush 
 fit, because, Tjy opening up the prospect of a future Tife,' it" tenHs 
 to make men resigned to the ills of the present one. No 
 doctrine is more calculated than atheistic materialism, to in- 
 flame the hearts of working men with rage and hatred against 
 the system of society which determines their present con- 
 dition, and therefore it is that the apostles of anarchical 
 revolution adopt and propagate it as their gospel. Accord- 
 ingly, in Russia, we see that Atheism gives birth to Nihilism, 
 which arms itself with the dagger, and avails itself of incen- 
 diarism, and all those perfected means of destruction that 
 science invents. 
 
 So long as his object is merely to show the beneficent in- 
 fluence which the application of Christian principles to social 
 problems would effect, the Bishop of Mayence writes pages of 
 eloquence and pathos. But as soon as he is obliged to come 
 down to the lower regions of Political Economy, and point out 
 the practical means of improving the condition of the working 
 men, he becomes involved in difficulties. He even has to 
 borrow from Lassalle the idea of productive co-operative asso- 
 ciations, by means of which that Socialist agitator promised to 
 effect a complete transformation of the social organism. 
 
 The danger of the actual situation comes from the antago- 
 nism between capital and labour. But if the same individual 
 is at once capitalist and labourer, harmony is established. If 
 the present wage-earner could but own a part of the mill, the 
 farm, the railway, or the mine, where he is employed, he would 
 receive a share of the profits, over and above his wages. The 
 war between classes would cease, because there would be only 
 one class, every capitalist working, and every working man 
 possessing capital. The ultimate object, therefore, is to collect 
 all the instruments of production in the hands of co-operative 
 societies, in order to establish, in the great industries of modern 
 times, organization of labour, similar to that of the trade-guilds 
 of the Middle Ages. To attain this object, the Bishop of
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 12/ 
 
 Mayence, like Lassalle, thinks that the " self-help " of Herr 
 Schulze-Dehtsch, that is to say, the savings of the working men 
 themselves, will not be sufficient. But, while the Socialist 
 agitator demands a hundred millions of thalers from the State 
 to reform the existing order of things, the Catholic prelate 
 appeals to Christian charity. 
 
 The social question, he says, is closely connected with 
 Christianity. Is not the first and great commandment of the 
 Gospel to love our fellow-men and aid those who suffer? 
 Should we not sacrifice everything in order to fulfil it ? But how 
 is this duty, which Christ imposes upon us in such pressing and 
 even menacing language, to be performed? Experience has 
 shown that it cannot be done by alms alone ; and, inasmuch 
 as economic laws always reduce wages to an insufficient mini- 
 mum, the end can only be attained by putting the labourer in 
 the way of bettering his condition by the utilization of capital 
 belonging to him. 
 
 " May God in His goodness," cries Von Ketteler, " bring all 
 good Catholics to adopt this idea of co-operative associations 
 of production, upon the basis of Christianity ! Thus alone can 
 salvation be brought to the labouring classes. The freedom 
 promised by Liberalism is like Dead Sea fruit, fair on the out- 
 sideBut diTst and ashes within. Liberalism proclaims freedom , 
 of contract ; but for the labourer without capital, it is merely 
 freedom to die of hunger ; for how can he live, if he does not 
 accept whatever conditions may be imposed upon him ? Free- 
 dom to go where he likes, Fi'eiziigigkeit, is another meaningless 
 phrase ; for is not the working man who has a wife and 
 children tied to the spot where he is settled ? How can he 
 seek employment elsewhere, when he lacks the means of 
 satisfying his first needs ? Freedom of labour ; what is it, 
 except the competition of labourers reducing their wages to the 
 lowest point? Freejrade_^; what other result has it except to 
 ena|)le the rich to buy what they want in the cheapest market, 
 and tbreduce the working man to tlie level of those who can 
 substst upon the least? Christianity, practically applied, can 
 alone bring it about that these liberties, of which capitalists 
 now "reap the entire profit, may also benefit the laboureirs.
 
 128 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Catholic charity has already established countless institutions 
 of every kind : convents, schools, refuges, hospitals, succour 
 for all needs and all infirmities ! To-day it is the labourers 
 to whom aid must come. This is the special mission of 
 Catholicism." 
 , Monseigneur von Ketteler ends his book with the most 
 1 earnest appeals to the rich manufacturers and nobility. " For- 
 I merly it was the nobility who enriched the Church and the 
 monasteries. Nothing now could be more pleasing to God 
 and more conformable to the spirit of Christianity, than to 
 constitute an association which should have for its object the 
 founding of co-operative societies of production in those dis- 
 tricts where the condition of the labourers is the worst." It is 
 evident that the Bishop of Mayence believed, with Lassalle, 
 that to insure the success of co-operative societies, it was suffi- 
 cient to advance them funds. Like Prince Bismarck, who has 
 lately acknowledged it in the tribune of the German Parlia- 
 ment, Von Ketteler had been completely gained over to this 
 idea by the brilliant Socialist, "one of the most intelligent and 
 most charming men I ever met," added the Chancellor, who 
 still has faith in co-operative societies. In a former chapter, 
 when discussing the plans of reform of this seductive agitator, 
 I pointed out the difficulties which this kind of association has 
 to encounter. The French labourers described them accurately 
 in their Congress in Paris in 1876. 
 
 Such elevated thoughts, uttered by so eminent a prelate, 
 and moreover developed with undeniable eloquence, were 
 bound to produce a profound impression upon the German 
 Catholic clergy. Christian charity, no doubt, prompted them 
 to receive the new doctrine kindly ; but as they soon preached 
 it to the electors of universal suffrage, it may well be thought 
 that they saw in it the means of gaining allies among the 
 labourers in their struggle against the government. The 
 Kulturkampf and the May laws having driven the clergy to 
 extremity, they did not hesitate to hold out a hand to the 
 Socialists. An entire programme of Catholico-Socialist reforms 
 was elaborated. A canon of the cathedral of Mayence, a 
 learned priest and a clever orator, the Dom capiUtlar
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 29 
 
 Moufang, explained it at an electoral meeting, on the 27th of 
 February, 1871. His address is a regular exposition of econo- 
 mico-religious principles, and as it is the creed of the party, it 
 is important to study it in some detail. 
 
 Canon Moufang starts from the facts which he looks upon 
 as proved by his bishop. The wages of the labourers are in- 
 sufficient, and their condition is not such as either humanity or 
 Christianity requires that it should be. The evil comes from 
 the application of Ricardo's " iron law." " Self-help " is power- 
 less^To'femedy it, and even Catholic charity does not suffice 
 for tBe gigantic task. The State must therefore intervene.. 
 But how can the State cure evils which appear to result from 
 the laws of economy ? The canon does not hesitate to name 
 four ways : by the protection of the law, by pecuniary aid, by 
 the reduction of fiscal and military charges, and finally and 
 above all by limiting the tyranny of capital. Canon Moufang • 
 explains each of these points, which, at first sight, do not fail 
 to puzzle and even somewhat to disturb Economists, as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 (i) The State is not to organize labour by means of a 
 general law. It is for the labourers themselves to form asso- 
 ciations, to draw up regulations and a constitution of labour in 
 every trade and every industry. The State should then in- 
 tervene to give these regulations the force of law, as in the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 The mission of the State is to guarantee the rights of 
 every one. It protects landed property. By means of mort- 
 gage-offices, it gives full security to creditors. By means of 
 commercial tribunals, it enables suits arising from commerce 
 to be quickly decided. In like manner it should protect the 
 property of the labourer which consists of his laboun It must 
 proFect the strength and time of the working man {Arbeitski-aft 
 und Arbeitszeit) against the injustice of the " iron law," which, 
 after using up his muscles, abandons him when he is old and 
 decrepid upon the bed of poverty. The length of the working 
 day'should be regulated by the State, and all work forbidden 
 on Sundays. Man is not a machine. He is made in the 
 image of God, whom he should learn to know and to serve ; 
 
 K
 
 130 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 hence some leisure hours are needful to him. They are granted 
 even to the beasts of burden. Rest on Sunday is demanded by 
 the laws of hygiene no less than by Divine law. 
 
 The State should fix the rate of wages. This, it is objected, 
 is to interfere with freedom of contract ; but freedom of coii- 
 tract must not be allowed to go the length of threatening the 
 labourer's very means of subsistence. True, the laws of supply 
 and demand settle the price of commodities ; but the labourer's 
 skill in work, his Ai-beitskraft, is not a commodity ; it is his 
 very life, his whole being. A protection, as efficacious as that 
 granted to the fundholder, who regularly receives his quarterly 
 interest, is here imperatively required. 
 
 The master says : " Trade is stagnant ; in order to sell 
 I must lower my prices, therefore I reduce wages ; " and he 
 offers such as are insufficient to live upon. What can an 
 isolated working man do ? Die of hunger or beg for alms. 
 These ultimate extremities are contrary to all sentiments of 
 justice and humanity. The State should put a stop to the 
 system which allows them. 
 
 In developing these ideas, the canon finds language worthy 
 of the Christian Fathers. But he omits to say how the State 
 is to force the manufacturer to pay wages which wall leave him 
 the loser, or how markets are to be opened for him when his 
 goods encumber his storehouses. The only means is to force 
 consumers to pay a remunerative price to manufacturers. But 
 suppose the consumers are as pinched for money as the others ? 
 Then it can only be said it is the fault of society. 
 
 The labour of women and children should be forbidden by 
 law. It is supposed to increase the resources of the family — 
 labourers themselves think so — but this is an error. A certain 
 number of hours of labour is needful for a certain result. "If 
 they are not performed by women and children, men will per- 
 form them, and higher wages will be obtained, which will be 
 divided just the same among the labourers. According to the 
 i laws of nature, which have been sanctified by Christianity, 
 the man should earn by his labour the daily bread of his 
 family, and the woman should take care of the home and bring 
 up the cliildren. To send women and young girls into the
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 
 
 131 
 
 midst of the immoral surroundings of the factory, is to destroy 
 the Christian family. 
 
 The union of all these measures should constitute the 
 " Labour Code," just as there is a commercial code, a 
 maritime code, and a civil code. It should regulate the 
 relations between apprentices and masters, manufacturers 
 and workmen. The existing anarchy would then cease. A 
 social order, not exactly identical with that which formerly 
 existed, but based on the same principles, would be re- 
 established. Is it to be wondered at, adds the orator, that 
 the demands of the people are sometimes unreasonable, agd 
 their accusations often too violent, when we reflect that nothing 
 whatever is done for them ? 
 
 (2) Like Lassalle, Canon Moufang demands that the State 
 should advance money to working men's societies. When rich 
 capitalists make a railway, the State often guarantees them 
 interest or subsidizes the undertaking. Why should it not 
 give the same advantages to working men ? They have even 
 a better claim ; for, with them, it is not a question of aggran- 
 dizement, but of life. " I am no partisan of M. Louis Blanc's 
 ■workshops," said Herr Moufang, "but when a sound associa- 
 tion of working men is in need of aid, I cannot see why the 
 State should refuse to grant it. What is equitable for the 
 rich is equitable for the poor also." The Canon of Mayence 
 cathedral omits to mention in what respect his associations 
 differ from those of M. Louis Blanc. The difference probably 
 consists in the fact that the associations proposed by the canon 
 would be founded on a ground-work of Catholic principles, ad 
 viajoram Dei gloriajn. 
 
 (3) The State ought to reduce the taxes and military 
 burdens which weigh so heavily upon the laBoufen The 
 independent gentleman, with thousands in his purse, pays 
 hardly any taxes, while the worker, who has only his scanty 
 wage, sees it still furdier reduced by direct and indirect 
 taxation, to say nothing of the fact that the best years of his 
 life are taken for service in the army. Distributive justice calls 
 for radical reforms on this point. Militarism^ is the curse of 
 Germany. _^^ 
 
 liiMA'-^
 
 132 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 (4) Finally, the State ought to place restrictions on the 
 tyranny of capital. I attack neither wealth nor the wealthy, 
 says the canon, for Holy Scripture says wealth and poverty 
 come from God ; but what I condemn is the methods by 
 which these owners of thousands and millions enrich them- 
 selves to-day. Whence come these tens of thousands so 
 rapidly acquired by those who toil not ? They are deducted 
 from the produce of the labour of the workers, who have to 
 pay the incomes of these huge fortunes obtained originally by 
 gambling on the Stock Exchange or by dishonest speculations. 
 In thus speaking, Canon Moufang was plainly inspired and 
 embittered by reminiscences of the Schwindeljahre, the years 
 of mad speculation which followed 1871 ; but in this case, too, 
 it would have been well if he had not confined himself to 
 eloquent tirades against "the tyranny of capital," but had 
 indicated the means of putting an end to these iniquities. 
 
 Such is the programme of the reforms which the Canon of 
 Mayence calls for from the State. It hardly differs from that 
 formulated by the Socialists, except that Herr Moufang more 
 often invokes the Holy Scriptures. He is quite right to praise 
 the Christian ideal. But what is to be done if the co-operative 
 societies consume the capital advanced to them, and if the 
 manufacturers cease producing when they are unable to meet 
 the wages imposed ? The reforming canon does not concern 
 himself with these details. 
 
 A paper founded under the inspiration of Herr Moufang, 
 Die Christlich-sociale Blaetter, has developed this programme 
 more exclusively on the economical side. Like the Socialists, 
 \ it vehemently attacks the Political Economy of the Manchester 
 I School, Das Majichesterthum. We must have done with these 
 economical theories, says the Catholic journal, which exercise 
 so grievous an influence on the public and private life of our 
 times. These " Manchestrists " classify labour, the principal 
 factor of civilization, under the same head as the natural 
 agents. According to them, it is only a manifestation of the 
 powers inherent in matter, like the attraction or gravitation of 
 bodies. They speak of the laws which regulate the production 
 and the distribution of wealth in the same way as of the neces-
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 33 
 
 sary laws which determine the sequence of natural phenomena. 
 'nTe~consequence is that it is impossible to apply the notion of 
 ju'stice and right to the relations of capital and labour. These 
 relations are, they say, regulated by the fatal law of supply and 
 demand which it is vain to seek to modify. What would be 
 the good of invoking an alleged right which it is absolutely 
 impossible to apply ? Labour is a commodity, the price of 
 which is fixed in the same way as that of all other commodities, 
 by the free bargaining of the two parties. Christianity or 
 Catholicism have no more business here than if it was a 
 question of physics or astronomy. This is the way in which 
 Liberal economics come to deny any rights to the workers. 
 
 The Catholico- Socialist print further accuses Economists of 
 having completely misunderstood the principle of property in 
 deriving it from labour. Property, it asserts, is a principle 
 {moment) which is subordinate to labour neither in its origin 
 nor in its importance. Liberalism has, then, falsified all the 
 bases of a true civilization, labour, property, liberty, right, and 
 justice. The influence of this pernicious doctrine must be 
 broken and annihilated. It leads to revolution. The first 
 thing to do is to re-establish the corporations, to regulate 
 industry, to fix wages by law, while creating a special magis- 
 tracy to enforce the articles of the " Labour Code " {Arbeits- 
 recht). 
 
 It is easy to understand the success which doctrines of this 
 sort must have met with among that portion of the labouring 
 class which was not yet completely won over to the anti- 
 religious and atheistic movement preached by the democratic 
 agitators. They were simply the ideas of Marx and Lassalle, 
 invested with a slight Catholic varnish, and connected, by a 
 few quotations, with the teachings of the Fathers of the Church. 
 By attacking Liberalism, Political Economy, and the industrial , 
 system, the Ultramontanes, disguised as Socialists or sincerely ' 
 converted to Socialism, gained the adhesion of two very 
 numerous classes that the Social Democrats were unable to 
 reach. In the first place, they won over the rural proprietors, 
 aii3 especially the petty aristocracy of the country districts, 
 " the squireens," who, not sharing in the growing wealth of 
 
 \
 
 134 ^-^■5' SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the large towns, saw, with bitter jealousy, influence and money 
 passing to the large manufacturers, bankers, shareholders, pro- 
 moters of joint-stock companies, and all those Stock Exchange 
 speculators who thenceforth, throughout " industrialized " 
 Germany, began to take the lead. The denunciation of the 
 abuses of capital was much to the taste of this party of 
 " rurals," who thus imbibed a sort of reactionary and feudal 
 Socialism. According to them, not a line that Marx had 
 written against capital was too violent. Of course, this 
 "Agrarian" party had no idea of an Agrarian law, unless 
 it could be applied exclusively to the funds of the Stock 
 Exchange and to the Jews, whom they especially detested. 
 The second stratum of adherents to which the Ultramontane 
 ChristUch-socialen penetrated was composed of the Catholic 
 peasantry. The generals of the Kulturkampfy who persecuted 
 the priests and the beliefs of the peasants, \vere Liberals and 
 Economists. The Catholic country folk were therefore pleased 
 to see Liberalism and Political Economy attacked. They found 
 the burdens of taxation and military service overwhelming, 
 and Canon Moufang had inscribed in his programme that 
 they must be largely reduced. As to the "iron law" and 
 Ricardo, they probably accepted their bishop's teaching on 
 trust. 
 
 We shall now proceed to show that the words of Canon 
 Moufang and Bishop Ketteler have not fallen upon stony 
 places, but, like the seed that fell on good ground, they have 
 brought forth fruit an hundred-fold. We shall principally 
 follow the information collected with extreme care in a book, 
 replete with facts, by Dr. Rudolf Meyer, "The Struggle for 
 the Emancipation of the Fourth Estate." * 
 
 The first reunion of the Ultramontane Socialist, or — as 
 they used to call themselves^ — Christian Social ( Christlich- 
 sociale) clubs, took place at Crefeld, in June, 1868. Only 
 three clubs were represented. They adopted as then- organ 
 a journal edited with considerable skill by Herr Schings, a 
 clergyman at Aix-la-Chapelle, Die Christlich-sociale Blaetter. 
 By the next year the number of clubs had considerably 
 * Dcr Emancipationskampf des Vierten Standes.
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 35 
 
 increased. In the general assembly, which took place on the 
 9th of September, 1869, it was decided to form a special 
 committee for the purpose of founding Christian Social clubs, 
 having for their object " the moral and economical improve- 
 ment of the working classes." This committee was composed 
 of Herr Gronheid, a vicar of Munster, Professor Schulze of 
 Paderborn, and Baron von Schorlemer-Alst, one of the most 
 influential leaders of "the centre" — i.e., the Ultramontane 
 party — in the German Parliament. In the first manifesto of 
 this committee it placed itself under the patronage of the 
 Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Germany which was 
 held at Fulda, in this very month of September, and which 
 had specially occupied itself with the social question. 
 
 The report presented by one of the bishops at the con- 
 ference of Fulda defined the attitude to be taken by the 
 clergy on this question. Doubtless, it said, the clergy cannot 
 directly and officially engage in the foundation of working men's 
 associations ; but it is the duty of the Church to awaken the 
 sympathy of the ecclesiastical body for the labouring classes. 
 The clergy are too often indifferent, because they are not 
 aware of the imminence and gravity of the danger to which 
 social sufferings give rise. They do not appreciate the full 
 importance of the social question, nor do they see clearly the 
 remedies. In the training given to members of the clergy, in 
 philosophy,^ and in matters touching their pastoral mission, the 
 labour question must no longer be omitted. It is highly 
 desirable that some ecclesiastics should devote themselves 
 specially to the study of Political Economy. It would be well 
 to give them travelling funds, in order to enable them to study, 
 on the spot, the wants of foreign labourers, and the means 
 employed to provide for them. They ought, above all, with 
 this object in view, to visit France, where, it would appear, the 
 scope of the religious and moral " moment " is better under- 
 stood than elsewhere. Certain Economists affirm that there is ( I 
 no social question; but the bishops hold other language" 1 1 
 Most assuredly there is a social question, they say, and a very'^ 
 serious one ; our priests must study it, and make it the means 
 of extending the influence of their ministry. Is it necessary
 
 136 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 to ask whether the bishops or the economists will exercise the 
 greater influence over the people ? 
 
 The Christlich-sociale Blaetter soon published the principles 
 which were to preside over the organization of the Catholic 
 Social Associations. These statutes are in several respects 
 worthy of attention. No member of these associations can 
 /belong at the same time to a Social Democratic cFub. Every 
 Christian Social Association must cleave closely to the Church' : 
 extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. It should place itself under the 
 patronage of St. Joseph, and should celebrate the anniversary 
 of its foundation with religious festivals. A priest ought not 
 to be selected as president, but some sound person who has 
 the full confidence of the clergy. Persons of property, and 
 even employers of labour, may be appointed honorary mem- 
 bers, but must not have any voice in the management of the 
 association. Even the appearance of being " taken in tow by 
 capital " {im schlepptau des Kapitals) must be carefully aVoided. 
 Coalitions and strikes should not be absolutely condemned, 
 for that would involve the loss of all influence over the working 
 men. Moreover, in the existing industrial system, working 
 men have no other means of defending themselves and of 
 making their rights respected. It is best to exclude politics, 
 except when the interests of the Church are at stake, when the 
 associations should throw themselves into the contest with all 
 their strength. Meetings should be convened on Sundays, for 
 the discussion of all matters concerning the social question. 
 Associations of journeymen, those of factory operatives, and 
 those of rural labourers, form the three main branches of the 
 grand social confederation, and between them a close alliance 
 should be established. 
 
 This, as may be seen, opened up an ambitious prospect. 
 The idea was nothing short of combining in one general 
 federation, submissive to the Church, the living forces of the 
 labourers in both workshop and field throughout all Germany. 
 It was something more than an imperiufn in imperio ; it. was 
 society itself, brigaded and drilled by ecclesiastics, who were 
 to be versed at once in theology and political economy. 
 
 The central committee fixed with great wisdom the limit of
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 3/ 
 
 action of each group. Local autonomy with unity of action in 
 the interests of the Church, such is the principle. No one of our 
 associations, said the committee, is to imagine that it can bring 
 a ready-made solution of the most difficult problem set before 
 the modern world, or to presume to enjoin upon others, as a 
 Messianic revelation, the particular organization which it may 
 have thought the best. Each Christian Social association 
 ought to be allowed full freedom of action within the sphere 
 which it has chosen for itself. It is its business to look after 
 the wants of its members and the local necessities. To impose 
 the same regulations upon all would be to shut out the future, 
 and to cut the roots of all independent growth. These associa- 
 tions will not be the instruments which the Church will employ 
 to solve definitely the difficulties in the way of the organization 
 of a better and truly Christian society. When the hour shall 
 have come, the Head of Catholicism will himself designate 
 the ministers into whose hands this duty may be assigned in 
 all confidence. 
 
 These mystical hopes please the masses. Moreover, it -i 
 was a splendid idea, and one which certainly cannot injure the 
 influence of the clergy, to entrust to the Pope the economic ; 
 transformation of society. The holy father is here presented ; 
 as a new Messiah, who will fulfil the promises of the millennium, 
 by precipitating into the abyss Ricardo, Malthus, "the iron 
 law," Bamberger, and the whole of Liberal " Manchesterdom." 
 
 The Catholic Social party succeeded in gaining, all at 
 once, a considerable number of adherents by adopting Kol- 
 ping's " Catholic journeyman clubs " {Katholische Gesellvereine). 
 In 1847 a well-informed and pious artisan, named Kolping, 
 had the idea of uniting the journeymen in associations, having 
 for their objects the cultivation of moral and religious senti- 
 ments, and the defence of their interests. Owing to the 
 apostolate of "Father {Vatej-) Kolping," as he was called, 
 these clubs were established in all directions. In_^822, when 
 the Christian Socialists adopted them, they numbered upwards 
 of seventy thousand members. Peasant clubs {Bauernvereine) 
 were soon afterwards formed in the most Catholic parts, as in 
 Bavaria and Westphalia. Their objects were to defend the
 
 138 
 
 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 rights of the country folk and to obtain a reduction of military 
 service and of the taxes that burdened the land. Among the 
 resolutions passed at the general assembly of the peasant 
 clubs of Bavaria, held at Deggendorf, in October, 187 1, maj 
 be found the following passage : " We detest with all our soul 
 the military system which is looked upon as the principal thing 
 for which all else should be sacrificed. It absorbs the livinaf 
 forces of labour, even when they are most indispensable for 
 production, as at harvest-time. Yet the army exists for the 
 , ., nation, and not the nation for the army, just in the same way 
 
 , . ^ I as the government for the people, and not the people for the 
 
 ,,..A i\, I f government." 
 
 In the general assembly of Christian Social Associations, 
 held at Essen, on the 29th June, 1870, Herr Witte, one of the 
 delegates, thus enumerates the forces at their disposal : " Fif- 
 teen thousand Catholic peasants are already federated in 
 Bavaria. Fifteen thousand farms form a solid basis of opera- 
 tions from which to obtain possession of the country districts. 
 We shall soon have as many, or even more, in Westphalia and 
 in the Rhine country. A hundred thousand master-workmen 
 range themselves under our flag, and eighty thousand gallant 
 journeymen of the Kolpings-Vereine offer us their services. 
 Our societies will soon count their members by hundreds of 
 thousands. We have already a goodly army, and it is only the 
 commencement. Thirty thousand German priests have just 
 put their hands to the work. I foresee a brilliant future." 
 
 AU this army, of w'hich the orator spoke, was sent forth to 
 the ballot by the clergy, and at the elections by universal 
 suffrage for the Imperial Parliament, in 1870, it gained more 
 than one victory. Thus, at Elberfeld, it beat the Social 
 Democrats, although the latter were on their own ground. In 
 ,1871 a ministerial rescript pronounced the dissolution of the 
 peasant clubs of Westphaha, as constituting illegal political 
 associations. They were, however, immediately reconstituted 
 under the name of " Union of Westphalian Peasants " ( West- 
 falische Bauertiverein), and, under the presidency of that mem- 
 ber of the Ultramontane Centre whom we have already men- 
 tioned, Baron von Schorlemer-Alst, the number of members
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 1 39 
 
 rapidly increased. It was the declaration of war against the 
 " laws of May " and the policy of Prince Bismarck. 
 
 The Bishop of Mayence did not abandon his work. He 
 urged his clergy to study unremittingly the social question. 
 In 187 1 he sent a monitorial circular to all the priests of his 
 diocese, directing them to prepare exact statistics as to the 
 condition of the working men of their respective parishes. In 
 the general assembly of German Catholics which was held at 
 Mayence, in September, 187 1, under the inspiration of Mon- 
 seigneur von Ketteler, the labour question was considered at 
 length. The following are some of the resolutions passed on 
 the subject : — It is necessary to determine, by means of a 
 committee of inquiry composed of workmen and employers, 
 the exact moral and material condition of the labouring classes, 
 in order that the legislature may be able to enact a code of 
 labour [Arbeitsrecht). Landed property, trade, and commerce 
 enjoy juridical protection, and yet the rights of labour are not 
 recognized, although labourers form ninety per cent, of the 
 population. The assembly urgently calls for the establishment 
 of Christian Social Associations for master-workmen, factory 
 hands, young men, women, and young girls, and it reminds the 
 well-to-do classes that it is their bounden duty to come liberally 
 in aid of these institutions. The assembly deplores the condition | j 
 of labourers' dwellings, which are a scandal for a Christian |1| 
 country, and it insists energetically that societies should bejl 
 formed for the erection of healthy and cheap habitations. A 
 proposition censuring strikes was rejected by a large majority. 
 
 The foregoing account will suffice to show the spirit that 
 animates the Catholic Socialist movement. The work com- 
 menced by Monseigneur von Ketteler has made considerable 
 progress in these last few years. The clergy have everywhere 
 devoted themselves to it with ardour, because it affords a means 
 of gaining adherents, in the struggles of the Kiilturkampf, to the 
 profit of the Church and against the government. Among 
 those who march in the first rank, may be mentioned, at the 
 head Herr Schings, a rector, and Herr Kronenberg, a vicar, at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle; Herr Laaf, vicar at Essen; and Herr E. Klein, 
 the Dom-capitular of Paderborn. Their efforts tended to bring
 
 I40 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the party nearer and nearer to the Social Democrats. For the 
 purpose of marching together to the poll, the two parties would 
 come to an understanding; but when it was a question of 
 organizing societies, the conflict of principle inevitably arose. 
 Thus, in February, 1878, a general meeting of delegates from 
 the miners' associations was held at Essen. The formation of 
 a vast federation, which was to unite the miners of all Germany, 
 was under discussion. An oratorical combat of the most lively 
 kind soon began between the vicar Laaf and the Socialist 
 agitator Herr Hasselmann, whose burning words and incisive 
 manner are always enthusiastically received at meetings of 
 working men. " Since you have taken the ' Destruction of 
 Christianity ' for your watchword at Berlin," said the vicar Laaf^ 
 " we can no longer act with you." Herr Hasselmann replied 
 by citing the example of Monseigneur von Ketteler, who had 
 acted in a very friendly way towards an association of working 
 men in the cigar trade, though founded by the Social Democrat 
 Fritsche.* The following day Herr Hasselmann's paper, Die 
 Volksstimme, declared tliat the miners had got the scent of the 
 tricks of these intriguers in the black robe, and that they would 
 not stand any " Chaplainocracy." On their side, the Catholic 
 Socialist journals of the province, the Tremonia of Dortmund^ 
 the Essener Blaetter, the Essener Volkszeitung, the Rheinisch- 
 Westfalischer Volksfreund, fired all their artillery on the Social 
 Democrats. The two parties disputed the balance of electoral 
 power held in this district by the working men, who were 
 employed in large numbers in the coal-mines and iron-works 
 there. " Miners, follow not the flag of the Democrats," 
 exclaimed the Christlich-socialeji in chorus ; " it will lead you to 
 your ruin. Range yourselves in a body under the banner of 
 the Cross. Therein lies salvation." 
 
 We have sketched the main features of this debate, because 
 
 * This Herr Fritsche has been elected a deputy. It was on his testi- 
 mony that Herr Bebel relied, in a debate in the German Parliament, when 
 spealving of the advances made by Prince Bismarck to the Socialist party. 
 " I have not the honour of knowing Herr Fritsche," replied the Chancellor. 
 " But he is a deputy," several members exclaimed, amid shouts of laughter. 
 " Ifhe is a deputy," continued Prince Bismarck, "he is incapable of telling 
 an untruth, and I adjure him to prove that he has had any relations with 
 me."
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. I4I 
 
 it depicts the situation. A real understanding is impossible 
 between the Social Democrats, who preach atheism with a view 
 to upsetting the throne, the Church, and all established 
 authority, and the Ultramontane Socialists, who desire to 
 strengthen authority with a view to concentrating it in the 
 hands of the bishops and the Pope. But both parties address 
 themselves to the working men, tell them their grievances, 
 propose remedies for the ills from which they suffer, and put the 
 responsibility for all their wrongs upon the shoulders of the 
 Liberal middle classes, "who exploit the people without pity or 
 mercy." They are thus found together in opposition and give 
 their votes for each other. 
 
 The associations created under the influence of Catholic i 
 Socialism are veritably innumerable, without, of course, counting I ; 
 convents, which are their ideal type. Dr. Rudolf Meyer haslj 
 taken a great deal of trouble for the purpose of obtaining, not 
 full statistics, but merely an enumeration of their different 
 species, and he avows that he has found it impossible to draw 
 up a complete list. Nevertheless, his classification, as it 
 stands, is of considerable length. It embraces the following 
 institutions : — ^Catholic journeyman associations {Kathoiische , 
 Gesellenvereine) after Kolping's model. They count more than 
 eighty thousand members, and exist in almost all Catholic 
 towns. Their meetings take place on Sundays, and aim at 
 intellectual and moral culture. They sometimes include 
 savings banks, and, at Berlin, they have founded an academy 
 for the cultivation of taste in artistic manufactures. — Catholic 
 apprentice associations. They are connected with those of the 
 journeymen. They have usually schools on Sundays ; that of 
 Cologne, for example, having more than six hundred pupils. 
 — Catholic associations of master-workmen. For the purpose 
 of keeping up good feeling, these are pledged to take the 
 sacrament together at least once a month. — Catholic associa- 
 tions of factory girls, under the patronage of St. Paul. — Catholic 
 associations of mining operatives. These are very numerous 
 in the coal-basin of the Roer. They usually possess a mutual 
 aid fund. Meetings take place for the discussion of their 
 interests. The object is the cultivation of religious and social
 
 142 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 sentiments. — Peasant associations. They are divided into 
 two principal groups : that of Bavaria, whose organ is the 
 Baiieriizeitung, and that of WestphaUa, whose paper is called 
 the Westfalischer Bauer. The Bavarian group must count 
 twenty thousand members. In the reunion of the Westphalian 
 group, held during the summer of 1878, under the presidency 
 of Baron von Schorlemer-Alst, the total of twelve thousand 
 members was reached, including two thousand adhesions 
 obtained that year. — Christian Social associations. They 
 receive members from all classes, as their object is simply to 
 discuss the social question and to propagate the movement. 
 They have spread everywhere, and the number of their 
 members is very large. — Catholic aid-associations for working 
 men. They make loans without interest. — Catholic associations 
 for maidservants and workwomen. — Catholic savings and 
 credit associations, under the patronage of St. Joseph or St. 
 Boniface, framed on the model of those of Herr Schulze- 
 Delitzsch. — Working men's associations for production. These 
 are not numerous. — Associations for diffusing Hterature on the 
 social question from the Catholic point of view. — Building 
 societies. — Catholic associations for the wives and daughters of 
 working men, etc., etc. The whole movement is represented 
 by a great number of newspapers. The two best and most 
 influential are, for Northern Germany, the Christlich-Sociale 
 Blaetter, published at Aix-la-Chapelle under the management 
 of Herr Schings; and for Southern Germany, the Arbeiter- 
 Fretmd, which appears at Munich under the direction of Herr 
 Schimpf. 
 , If we enter into somewhat minute details, it is to show 
 
 I the power of the Catholic Socialists. The strength of this 
 1^ party in the Imperial Parliament increases at each election, 
 * and It "lias become one of the principal factors of German 
 politics, the effects of which are felt throughout Europe. Its 
 influence will enable us to understand better why Prince 
 Bismarck, if he has not yet "gone to Canossa," has at any rate 
 permitted the Pope's nuncio to come to Kissingen. The 
 alliance of Democratic and Catholic Socialism is evidently the 
 principal danger that threatens the whole work of the chan"
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. 
 
 143 
 
 cellor. These two sections, labouring side by side, enemies 
 wHen they contend for their cohorts of working men, but alHes 
 when they lead them to the poll, are both rapidly gaining 
 ground. With the democrats, no understanding can be 
 thought of; their hostility is absolute. But with the Catholics, 
 an accord is not impossible, by means of concessions on both 
 sides. As Bismarck has very justly remarked, in politics, the 
 do lit des is always concealed at the bottom of every com- 
 promise ; only the pohcy of Rome has never failed to exact 
 much and to yield very little; while Prince Bismarck is not 
 in the habit of treating on this footing. 
 
 It is difficult to utter an impartial judgment on this extra- 
 ordinary movement that we have endeavoured to describe. 
 It would, I beheve, be unjust to assert that the commiseration 
 for the lot of the labourers and the socialistic ideas expressed 
 by the clergy are only a comedy enacted with the object of 
 gaining power. A charitable priest must be sincerely touched 
 with the evils which the working classes suffer in the crowded i 
 industrial centres. If he has read the Fathers of the Church, 
 he will mark with indignation how little their precepts serve 
 as a guide amid the facts of modern life. With the ideal of 
 Christian charity in his heart, what must he think of the 
 economic world, ruled, as it is, by this hard law of competition, 
 which is no other than the animal struggle for existence? 
 From the pulpit, the good pastor must say to us, " Treat thy 
 brother as thyself" But the manufacturer replies to him, " If 
 I do not reduce the cost of production and wages to the lowest 
 point, I shall not be able to sell either in the home or the 
 foreign market, and we shall all lose our livelihood." 
 
 No doubt Bishop Ketteler has been touched with the 
 grace of Socialism through reading Lassalle, as Prince Bismarck 
 was by listening to his words. But yet, when we see the vast 
 masses of these innumerable associations guided and inspired 
 with a view to the poll, and the clergy unhesitatingly allying 
 themselves to these Democrats who have sworn, against ; 
 Christianitv, a Hannibal's oath, we can no longer believe that | 
 this whole campaign, so skilfully planned, has no other in- 1 
 spiration than love for one's neighbour and no other aim than ''>
 
 144 ^^-^ SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 to come to his aid. Clearly the supreme end is the triumph 
 of the Church ; the rest is merely the means. This is a great 
 end, and for those who are persuaded that the happiness of 
 societies here below and the salvation of men in the life to 
 come are bound up in it, it is the greatest of all ends. We 
 can then conceive how it is that everything should be sacrificed 
 to attain this end : nationality, fatherland, liberty, political 
 institutions, economic prosperity — all these secondary good 
 things to which usually so much value is attached. 
 
 The Apocalypse tells us of a woman seated upon a scarlet 
 coloured beast, and herself arrayed in a robe of purple and 
 scarlet, "having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations 
 and filthiness ; and upon her forehead was a name written, 
 Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the abominations 
 of the Earth." " And the woman which thou sawest," says 
 the Apocalypse, " is that great city, which reigneth over the 
 kings of the earth." The city designated in the Revelation is 
 evidently Rome ; but, according to Protestant interpretations, 
 it was Papal Rome that was meant. Certain modern mystics 
 add a new interpretation. The woman arrayed in purple is 
 the Papacy, which, in order that it may reign over peoples 
 and kings, is taking up Socialism ; and the scarlet beast on 
 which the woman is seated is the Red Democracy, which the 
 Pope will make use of to overcome all resistance. 
 
 It is not necessary to invoke the Apocalypse in order to 
 
 prove a plain fact, namely, that the Church will not renounce, 
 
 L without a supreme struggle, the universal domination which 
 
 u it exercised in old times, and which it still hopes to regain. 
 
 ' Inasmuch as the bourgeoisie, proud of its liberties, will not 
 
 willingly resign them into the hands of the clergy, the Church 
 
 must draw to itself the labourers in field and factory. How 
 
 is this to be done? By speaking to them of their ills and 
 
 promising them, as Socialism does, to apply a remedy in the 
 
 shape of a more equitable distribution of the good things 
 
 of this world. Nothing can be more easy for the Church : 
 
 she has only to return to the traditions of the first centuries. 
 
 Even in the Middle Ages, did not the mendicant monks, all 
 
 imbued with communistic ideas, draw the people after them
 
 CATHOLIC SOCIALISTS. I45 
 
 in all parts ? It seems as though a new evolution were being 
 prepared under our e3'es throughout the entire world, namely, 
 the alliance of Catholicism and Socialism against the Liberal 
 bourgeoisie, their common enemy. As long as the clergy 
 retain hopes of regaining power, they will stand by the 
 principle of authority; but if they are forced to believe them- 
 selves definitively deprived of political influence and menaced 
 in their privileges, they will do as in Germany, ask arms of 
 Socialism. What a strange power is the Church ! In its 
 origin it was a levelling and even communistic democracy, and 
 now it presents at Rome the most perfect type of theocratic 
 absolutism.
 
 146 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 
 
 H. Q. Cf3 WT^ often speak of the International, and generally with- 
 V V out knowing either its constitution or its history. We 
 fancy that we see the hand of this terrible society in all the acts 
 of violence of Socialism : strikes, insurrections, incendiary fires 
 in our cities, as in Paris ; bombs, as at Florence and Pisa ; 
 attempts at regicide, as at Berlin, Naples, Madrid, or St. Peters- 
 burg. It is the red spectre everywhere present, everywhere 
 threatening, and secretly undermining the fabric of the society 
 in which we live. The International, however, never was a 
 secret society. Its head-quarters were well known. Its pro- 
 clamations were signed and published ; and, in short, it is the 
 form to which the present Socialistic movement must logicajly 
 come. Is not everything in our days becoming international ? 
 Have we not international exhibitions, banks of international 
 credit, international tariffs for the post, the telegraphs, and the 
 railways, international treaties for the extradition of criminals, 
 for commercial law, for certain usages of war, for exchange, 
 and international financial societies without number ? 
 
 " Internationalism " is the natural consequence of the great 
 
 1[ process of assimilation which is taking place throughout the 
 1 world. Nations are becoming more and more like each other, 
 " and their mutual relations more and more close. The same 
 economic and religious problems, the same commercial and 
 industrial crises, the same class antagonisms, the same struggles 
 between capitalists and labourers arise in all civilized countries, 
 whether their form of government be republican or monarchical. 
 The " solidarity" of nations is no longer an empty ghrase. So
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 47 
 
 real is it, especially in economic matters, that a purely local 
 occurrence may have far-reaching results in both hemispheres. 
 Germany adopts a gold currency, for example, and immediately 
 the miner in the Rocky Mountains finds the value of his produce 
 diminished ; the English officer, quartered near the Himalayas, 
 can no longer remit his savings to London without suffering an 
 enormous loss ; and the trade of England with India and South 
 America is profoundly disturbed. Again, the spirit of enterprise 
 awakes in America, and instantly, in spite of a bad harvest, 
 European trade revives, prices mount up, factories, which had 
 long stood idle, recommence work, and the crisis, which for five 
 years had paralyzed production, gives place to a new era of 
 activity and prosperity. As different nations tend to become 
 one single family, all forms of social activity must consequently 
 take an international character. 
 
 "The International owed its origin to the following series of 
 facts and inferences. Owing to the cheapness of transport and \ 
 the lowering of custom-duties, the western countries form only 
 one single market, in which, through the action of competition, 
 prices are maintained nearly on a level. Production takes place 
 on similar conditions : the same processes, the same machines, 
 the same raw materials. It is, then, only by reducing the rate of 
 wages that the cost price can be diminished. The manufacturer | 
 is naturally led to this, in order to gain a foreigiT outlet foFTiis \ 
 goods. But then, other manufacturers, menaced by the impor- ^ 
 tation of foreign merchandise, are obliged, in their turn, to 
 lower the price of labour, in order to avoid loss of custom and 
 having to cease working. In vain the workmen try to resist by 
 coalitions and strikes. The manufacturer can <presentT61them :; 
 this incontrovertible argument: "If I do not reduce your' 
 wages, one of two things will happen : I may either keejD up the 
 selling-price of my goods, in which case there will be no sale 
 for them, as my competitors, who pay lower wages, can offer 
 their goods cheaper ; or I may lower my prices, and then I 
 shall be selling at a loss, my capital will gradually be eaten up, 
 and I shall be ruined and have to close the factory. Where 
 then will you find work? I am therefore forced, in spite of 
 myself, to reduce wages to the rate paid by my conp^Lnors."
 
 148 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The conclusion to be drawn from this reasoning is that the 
 working men of one country, in order to resist a lowering 
 of wages, must enter into an understanding with those of other 
 countries. It is at the starting-point of the reduction that 
 opposition must be made, and if it takes place in a foreign 
 country, then in that foreign country resistance must be 
 organized. It is therefore easy to see how the cosmopolitan 
 character of capital, the facility of transport and exchange, and 
 the identity of manufacturing processes naturally lead to an 
 international association of working men. 
 
 Another circumstance of a more special character led in the 
 same direction. Sometimes English employers, when their 
 workmen refused the conditions offered to them and went out 
 on strike, imported foreign workmen — Germans, Belgians, or 
 Danes — who were ready to take less wages. They even 
 threatened to introduce Chinese coolies, who, subsisting on 
 rice, can live in comfort on sixpence a day. How were the 
 workmen to escape from this competition imported from with- 
 out? Obviously, by forming an understanding with foreign 
 workmen, by proving to them that the interests of all labourers 
 are mutually dependent, and by inducing them accordingly to 
 refuse any offers that employers of another country might make 
 to them. Clearly the International grew, at the outset, on 
 economical ground and under the influence of the new condi- 
 tions of modern industry. 
 
 This is proved beyond question by the fact that the Inter- 
 national came into being immediately after the holding of the 
 International Exhibition at London, in 1862. At least it was 
 then that it took bodily shape, for the idea, in its theoretical 
 form, dates from much earlier. In 1847 there was held in 
 London an assembly of German Communists under the direc- 
 tion of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who had just published 
 his book on the condition of working men in England. A 
 . manifesto was printed in several languages. The programme 
 ; adopted'may be summarized as follows : — Abolition of private 
 ^ property ; centralization of credit in the hands of the State by 
 means of a national bank ; agricultural operations on a large 
 scale to be carried on according to a scientific plan, and industry 
 
 II
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 49 
 
 to be handed over to national factories. It was, however, 
 added that the transformation of existing society would not take 
 place according to the preconceived ideas of any reformer, but 
 onllie initiation of the entire labouring class. The manifesto 
 closed with the appeal : " Proletarians of all countries, unite ! " 
 This idea of uniting all associations of working men into one 
 universal interdependent federation has been attributed to a 
 Frenchwoman, Jeanne Derouin. It was decided to call an 
 International Congress of working men at Brussels in the 
 following year; but the revolutionary movements of 1848 and 
 the subsequent reaction prevented this from being done, and 
 the idea remained in abeyance for fourteen years. 
 
 In 1862 certain manufacturers, such as M. Arles-Dufour, 
 and certain newspapers, such as Le Temps and L Opinion 
 Naiionale, started the idea that it would be a good thing to 
 send delegates from the French working men to the London 
 Exhibition. " The visit to their comrades in England," said 
 L^ Opinion Nationale, "would establish mutual relations in every 
 way advantageous. While they would be able to get an idea 
 of the great artistic and industrial works at the Exhibition, they 
 would at the same time feel more strongly the mutual interests 
 which bind the working men of both countries together; the 
 old leaven of international discord would settle down, and 
 national jealousy would give place to a healthy fraternal emula- 
 tion." The whole programme of the International is summed 
 up in these lines ; but the manufacturers little foresaw the 
 manner in which it was going to be carried out. Napoleon 
 III. appeared to be very favourable to the sending of the 
 delegates to London. He allowed them to be chosen by 
 universal suffrage among the members of the several trades, 
 and, naturally, those who spoke the strongest on the rights of 
 labour were chosen. By the Emperor's orders, their journey 
 was facilitated in every way. At that time Napoleon still 
 dreamed of relying, for the maintenance of his Empire, on the 
 working men and peasants, and of thus coping with the liberal 
 middle classes. 
 
 At London the English working men gave the most cordial 
 welcoipie,|.Q.,". their brothers of J^raspe." On the 5th of August
 
 150 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 they organized a fete of "international fraternization" at the 
 Freemasons' Tavern. The speeches were by no means violent. 
 On the question of wages, it was said, working men should 
 combine ; but, to smoothen difficulties, they ought also to enter 
 into some arrangement with their employers. According as 
 machinery was improved, there would be a smaller demand for 
 labour; a proportionate reduction of wages would therefore 
 be threatened. How was a sufficient remuneration to be 
 Y secured to the labourer ? It was a difficult problem, the solu- 
 j tion of which required the attention of historians, philosophers, 
 jj statesmen, employers, and labourers of all countries, Pinally, 
 they proposed to create committees of working men "as a 
 medium for the interchange of ideas on questions of interna- 
 tional trade." The conception of a universal association 
 appears here in embryo. Two years afterwards it saw the 
 light. 
 
 On the 28th of September, 1864, a great meeting of working 
 men of all nations was held at St. Martin's Hall, London, under 
 the presidency of Professor Beesly. M. Tolain spoke in the 
 name of France. Karl Marx was the real inspirer of the 
 movement, though Mazzini's secretary, Major Wolff, assisted 
 ! him — a fact which has given rise to the statement that Mazzini 
 I was the founder of the International. So far was this from 
 being the case that he only joined it with distrust, and soon 
 left it. The meeting appointed a provisional committee to 
 draw up the statutes of the association, to be submitted to the 
 Universal Congress, which was expected to meet at Brussels in 
 the following year. In this committee England, France, Italy, 
 Poland, Switzerland, and Germany were represented ; and 
 afterwards delegates from other countries were admitted. They 
 were fifty in all. They adopted none of the ways of a secret 
 so'ciety.' On the contrary, it was by publicity that they hoped 
 to carry on their propaganda. Their office was in London : 
 Nor 18, Greek Street, Soho. The statutes that were drawn up 
 were, after all, by no means revolutionary ; indeed, it might 
 have been supposed to be a society for the study of social 
 questions. A general council was appointed, with Odger for 
 president ; Wheeler, treasurer ; Cremer, secretary ; and includ-
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 151 
 
 ing Le Lubez for France, Wolff for Italy, Marx for Germany, 
 Holtorp for Poland, and Jung for Switzerland. In order to 
 cover expenses, a fund was opened. They raised, it is said, 
 ^-^ sterling : a small sum to shake the world. 
 
 Mazzini, by his secretary, Wolff, proposed a highly centralized 
 organization, which would entrust the entire management to the 
 leaders. Marx took the other side, arguing that such a system 
 might suit a political conspiracy, plotting to overthrow a govern- 
 ment, but that it would not avail for combining a very large num- 
 ber of working men's societies established in different countries : 
 and under different conditions. In order to succeed, they must 
 be satisfied with a lax federal tie, and above all must respect local 
 independence. Far from acting in the dark, their success de- , 
 pended on the greatest possible publicity. Mazzini was a mere \ 
 politician, and did not understand social questions. Having 
 passed his life in hatching plots, he could not see anything out- 
 side of " Carbonarism." Marx, who had a profound knowledge 
 of PoHtical Economy, had no difficulty in showing that, if a few 
 barricades and a bold stroke might sometimes be sufficient to 
 overthrow a dynasty and proclaim a republic, that was not the 
 way to introduce modifications with regard to the holding of 
 property, the organization of labour, or the basis of the distribu- 
 tion of wealth. Marx carried the day. Soon, in his turn, he 
 too was to be opposed and cast off as too dictatorial. Mazzini 
 and his followers seceded. 
 
 The very skilful and comparatively moderate manifesto, 
 drawn up by the general council, embodied the ideas of Marx. 
 In a speech in Parliament on the 16th of April, 1863, Mr.W 
 Gladstone had said that during the last twenty years the con- 
 dition of the working man had hardly improved, and that in , \ 
 many cases the struggle for existence had become more difificult 1 \ 
 for him, while the growth of the national wealth from trade and 
 commerce had been unprecedented, and that, for example, the 
 exports had been multiplied threefold. The manifesto cited 
 this speech and drew from it the conclusion that means must 
 be adopted for increasing the share of labour. The normal 
 working day must, in the first place, be limited to ten hours, in 
 order to give the labourer some leisure for the development "of
 
 152 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 his faculties, and also to avoid over-production and a glutted 
 market. The success of certain co-operative societies proves 
 that working men can manage even a large concern without 
 the direction of an employer. The conclusion may therefore 
 be drawn that wage-earning is a transitory form of labour, and 
 that it will soon give place to the system of association. This 
 system, by securing to the workman the entire product of his 
 labour, will stimulate his zeal and conduce to his welfare. To 
 attain this end, an understanding amongst all workmen is 
 required. Hence the establishment of the International Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 This manifesto contained nothing alarming. Michael 
 Chevalier or J. S. Mill, who had both spoken of the' principle 
 of association in similar terms, might have signed it. The 
 International also affirmed that " the emancipation of the 
 labourers must be the work of the labourers themselves. This 
 idea seemed an application of the principle of " self-help ; " if 
 enlisted for the new association, even in France, the sympathies 
 of many distinguished men who little suspected how it was to 
 be interpreted later on. This affords a new proof of the fact, 
 frequently observed, that revolutionary movements always ^o 
 ori increasing in violence. . The originators . of. tlie movemg^t 
 are quickly left behind. They are thought lukewarm and are 
 soon looked upon as traitors. They are replaced by the more 
 fanatical, who, in their turn, are pushed aside, until the fmal 
 abyss is reached to which wild revolutionary logic inevitably 
 leads. 
 
 TJie progress of the new^ association was at first very slow. 
 A few English working men's societies joined it; but the 
 Italians established in London, though at first giving in their 
 adherence, soon afterward, by the advice of Mazzini, withdrew. 
 The delegate Lefort, sent by the general council to Paris, was 
 badly received. Tolain and Fribourg, who had come to 
 London to explain the situation, could not agree with Le Lubez, 
 who sent in his resignation. Harmony was aimed, atj and the 
 result was discord. The congress which was to have met at 
 Brussels did not take place, but, in its stead, an ordinary con- 
 ference was held in London, in the month of September, The
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF TILE LNTERNATLONAL. 1 53 
 
 delegates from the Continent brought discouraging news. 
 Except in Switzerland, adhesions were rare. The Belgian 
 delegates complained of the apathy of their countrymen ; the 
 French, of the vexatious interference of the police ; the Italians, 
 of the hostility of Mazzini's followers. Itwas determined to 
 hold a General Congress next year at Geneva. 
 
 The first sitting did, in fact, take place bn the 3rd of Sep- 
 tember, 1866, at Geneva, under the ' presidency of Jung, who 
 represented the General Council. There were in all only sixty 
 delegates, seventeen of whom were French. Besides Jung, 
 the General Council had sent Odger, Cremer, Eccarius, and 
 Carter. The statutes drawn up in London under the inspira- 
 tion of IVTarx were" adopted almost without change. They 
 were very skilfully conceived. They presented a well-planned 
 application of the federal system and of voting by several 
 stages. Local initiative was respected, while the central 
 authority, emanating from the several federated groups, was to 
 direct the whole. These statutes were framed so as not to 
 alarm Governments and to avoid the risk of suppression by the 
 law. 
 
 The association is founded, says the first article, to provide 
 a centre of communication and co-operation between working 
 men of different countries who have the same end in view, 
 namely, " the joint action, the advancement, and the complete 
 emancipation of the working class." The Association, and all 
 societies and individuals joining it, recognize truth, justice, and 
 morality as the basis of their conduct, and take for their motto, 
 " No duties without rights and no rights without duties." 
 These were golden words. How could the tribunals think for 
 a moment of prosecuting such an association ? 
 
 The unit of the Association is the section. A section is 
 composed of the working men of a particular locality or trade 
 who become members and unite in order to study and defend 
 their common interests. All the sections of a region are 
 grouped so as to form a federation. Lastly, the statutes say, 
 " as the utility of the General Council will be the greater in 
 proportion as its acfon is less diffused, the members of the 
 International Association ought to make every effort to estab-
 
 154 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 lish, in each country, a National Association of all Societies 
 existing therein." 
 
 Thus the International was to be constructed like a pyramid, 
 founded on the territorial division of existing Society : at the 
 base of all was the commune ; then, from the grouping of com- 
 munes, the province; from the grouping of provinces, the 
 nation ; and, to crown all, from the grouping of nations, 
 humanity. It was a grand idea, recalling that of the Catholic 
 Church; but for want of the principle of authority and 
 obedience, the national grouping of sections was never accom- 
 plished, even in France or Germany. 
 
 Each section and each federation names a committee, 
 which is connected with the General Council. Every month 
 each committee sends a report on the position of the Associa- 
 tions within its jurisdiction. The General Council is elected 
 by the representatives of the federations. Each congress 
 determines the time and place of the next congress, while the 
 General Council setdes beforehand the questions for discussion, 
 and presents a report on the proceedings of the year. It also 
 issues a circular concerned with everything likely to interest 
 working men : offers of, and demands for, labour ; wages ; the 
 progress of co-operative societies ; the situation of the working 
 classes in different countries. It is in permanent relation with 
 local societies. It chooses from its members the president, 
 the secretary, and the treasurer of the association. To meet 
 the ordinary expenses of the staff and of publications, a sub- 
 scription is called for. The members pay, in the first place, 
 from the time of joining, half a franc a year for the general 
 fund, and, in addition, from one to two francs for the local 
 section or federation. To assist strikes, further resources must 
 be obtained. By a very cleverly conceived rule, every society 
 that wished to affiliate itself was allowed to retain its own 
 organization. In this way working men's societies of all kinds 
 could be absorbed, provided they simply declared their 
 adhesion to the principles of the International. 
 
 The debates and the resolutions of the first congress were 
 moderate. The more radical motions were not carried. The 
 French group represented " the left," and the Germans " the
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 55 
 
 extreme left." The English kept to what was possible under 
 existing circumstances. Should all religions be condemned as 
 hostile to the emancipation of the labourer ? The congress 
 refused to pronounce upon the question, the subject not 
 entering into the circle of their inquiries. Ought only working 
 men to be admitted ? The French wished to exclude inexor- 
 ably " the brain-workers," the lawyers and the journalists, " all 
 those fine talkers " who make a trade of agitation. The 
 English and the Germans opposed this. It would, in fact, have 
 been to expel all those who had created and were directing the 
 International. 
 
 The congress also refused to adopt any particular plan of 
 social reorganization, and limited itself to formulating general 
 principles. It thought that, by means of free co-operation, 
 power and capital would at length pass into the hands of 
 working men. However, it urged trades unions not to content 
 themselves with seeking higher wages, but to unite in order to 
 obtain " the complete emancipation of the labourer." A wish 
 was expressed in favour of the independence of Poland ; but a 
 motion " to stigmatize Russian despotism " was not admitted. 
 It was also decided to aim at the general reduction of the 
 normal working day to eight hours. Children's labour could 
 not be entirely prohibited, but it must not exceed a few hours 
 a day, the rest of the time being devoted to education, which 
 the employers were bound to provide. A portion, however, of 
 the children's wages might be deducted to pay their teachers. 
 Finally, resolutions were voted in favour of direct taxation and 
 the suppression of standing armies. This was a reminiscence 
 of the Peace Congress. 
 
 In 1867 the International began to make its power felt. 
 Its victories date from this epoch. The Parisian workers in 
 bronze had formed a union since the year 1864, immediately 
 after the abolition of the law forbidding coalitions. In 
 February, 1867, they struck work, and the employers resolved 
 on a " lock out," which threw five thousand workmen out of 
 employment. Three of their delegates went to London to ask 
 aid of the International. The assistance they obtained was 
 scanty enough ; but the employers, thinking that money was 
 
 WO^
 
 156 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 abundant, gave in. This victory obtained for the association 
 a large number of adhesions throughout France. In England 
 other measures brought in recruits. In certain trades, the 
 employers, threatened by strikes, brought workmen over from 
 Belgium and Germany. The International immediately set 
 to work. It succeeded in arresting the departure of further 
 detachments of workmen, and as to those already employed, 
 it induced them to return to their own country on having thj^ir 
 expenses paid and getting something over for themselves. A 
 whole batch of Germans, warned at the moment of landing, 
 returned home on the first opportunity. The trades' unions, 
 which hitherto had confined their operations exclusively to 
 England, now understood the object of the International, and 
 a certain number of them joined it. Recruiting recommenced 
 in Germany, where it had been arrested in the preceding year 
 by the war between Austria and Prussia, and was carried on 
 to a considerable extent in Switzerland, especially in the 
 French cantons. Several Socialist newspapers, too, placed 
 their services at the disposal of the International.* 
 
 The second congress held its sittings at Lausanne, from the 
 2nd to the 8th September, 1867. Radical ideas began to find 
 utterance, though as yet they did not prevail ..^NeitheF 
 abolition of hereditary succession nor the adoption of collective 
 property was voted, but only the taking up by the State of the 
 railways, " in order to destroy the monopoly of the great 
 companies, which, by subjecting the working class to their 
 arbitrary rules, attack at once both the dignity of man and the 
 liberty of the individual." Except for this curious clause, which 
 looks as if it had been drawn up by a dismissed engineer, 
 there is nothing very revolutionary in this motion. Indeed, 
 Governments vie with each other in putting it into practice. 
 The congress did not even approve of gratuitous education, 
 
 * Among these were : in France, La Fourmi, V Association, Le Congres 
 otivrier, La Mutualite ; in Germany, the Sozial-Demokrat and the Deutsche 
 Arbeiter-Zeitting of Berlin, the A'ordstej'ii of Hamburg, the Correspondent 
 of Leipzig ; in London, the Workmaii's Advocate, edited by Eccarius, 
 and the Jnternational Courier, written both in Enghsh and in French ; 
 in Belgium, La Tribune du peuplc. The International also found organs in 
 Italy, Spain and America.
 
 Tim RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 57 
 
 It decided that the first duty of parents being to instruct their 
 children, the State should only pay for them when they cannot 
 pay for themselves. The most orthodox economist, even the 
 most opposed to State intervention, could not ask for anything 
 better. 
 
 Contrary to the opinions expressed at Geneva, the Congress 
 of Lausanne showed much distrust in respect of co-operative 
 societies, " because they tend to create a fourth estate with a 
 fifth estate below them more miserable still." The objection 
 appears a strange one. If the working men co-operators are 
 in a better situation than the others, is that a reason for pro- 
 scribing the Association ? Is it not rather the reverse } Must 
 we condemn all reform which is only partial, and can we in 
 practice obtain any other ? The congress, however, wished 
 to persuade the proletariat, " that the social transformation 
 could not be effected in a radical and permanent way, except 
 by means acting on society as a whole and conformable to 
 reciprocity and justice." It was agreed that "in order to 
 prevent the associations from contributing to the maintenance 
 of inequality, it was necessary to abolish, as far as possible, the 
 levy made by capital on labour, that is to say, to introduce the 
 idea of mutuality and federation." This appears to mean that 
 interest should be abolished; but then, the co-operators, 
 getting no advantage by increasing their deposits, would give 
 up saving, and all increase in the means of production would 
 be arrested. So long as the formation of capital remains the 
 result of a voluntary act, inasmuch as that act constitutes a 
 sacrifice, it will not take place without reward. On the field 
 of battle men will die for their country. In the workshop' 
 they will not deny themselves that others may enjoy. Heroism 
 and self-abnegation are sublime virtues ; but they will never be 
 the" moving forces of the economic world. 
 
 An important question arose : Ought the International to 
 confine itself exclusively to economic ground, or was it its 
 interest to make common cause with that party of the bour- 
 geoisie who aim at political reforms and the establishment of 
 a republic, if need be by means of revolution ? Karl Marx 
 would have wished to limit the activity of the association to
 
 158 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the labour question ; they would thus have more chance of 
 escaping repression and of attaining some practical results. 
 After much discussion, it was decided that " social emancipa- 
 tion was inseparable from political emancipation ; " and they 
 accordingly sent delegates to the Congress of Peace and 
 Liberty, which was at that moment sitting at Geneva. 
 
 The old revolutionary spirit, which believes that everything 
 can be settled by a few bold strokes, and which has no idea 
 of the difficulties presented by social questions, predominated 
 at this congress. These old-fashioned Jacobins let loose the 
 storms, provoke reactions, and thus retard the economic 
 progress, that is to say, the improvement of the lot of the 
 greatest number, which is the important thing to attain. 
 
 ^ The rapid extension of the International in France alarmed 
 the imperial Government, and prosecutions were commenced. 
 In March, 1868, a certain number of the leaders were con- 
 demned, but only to a fine of one hundred francs, for the 
 offence of having joined, not a secret, but an unauthorized 
 society. The speech of the public prosecutor was full of 
 indulgence and even sympathy ; for the Imperial Government 
 still hoped to rally the working men to its side. The only 
 effect of this appearance of repression was to attract attention 
 to the International and to make it more popular. "Govern- 
 ment persecution," said the Council-General a short time after- 
 • wards, " far from killing the International, has given it a new 
 I impetus, by putting an end to the unwholesome coquetting 
 I of the empire with the working class." In Germany, too, the 
 Association made rapid progress at this period. A great many 
 trades unions {Gewerk-Verehie) were established there. In 
 the month of August an assembly of the representatives of 
 one hundred and twenty working men's societies took place 
 at Nuremberg, and they decided to affiliate themselves to the 
 International. It also penetrated into Spain. In Switzerland 
 its popularity spread widely, because it had enabled some 
 bricklayers at Geneva to obtain increased wages. 
 
 The third congress met at Brussels, at the Circus Theatre, 
 from the 5th to the nth of September, 1868. Ninety-eight dele- 
 gates represented England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy,
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 59 
 
 Spain, and Switzerland. A full report of the proceedings was 
 published in a Socialist newspaper of Brussels, Le Peuple Beige. 
 Upon each question on the order of the day, a report was pre- 
 sented. The discussions were in general brief and not very 
 animated, and the resolutions drawn up by the central com- 
 mittee were carried without modification. It was only on Jhe 
 question of property in land that differences of opinion arose. 
 The first question that occupied the congress was that of war. 
 The incident of the cession of Luxembourg, prevented by the 
 veto of Prussia, and the attitude of the ministers of Napoleon 
 III., caused apprehension of a collision between France and 
 Germany. The formula circulated by the Peace Societies, 
 " War against war ! " served as the text of several speeches, in 
 which the French delegates energetically affirmed that the 
 people in France rejected all idea of an attack upon Prussia. 
 On their side, the Germans proposed a resolution that a war 
 between France and Germany would be a civil war for the 
 benefit of Russia.* The congress had even the simplicity to 
 believe that working men could put a stop to any fresh war. 
 Their scheme was as follows : — " The social body cannot live if 
 production cease for a certain time. It would be sufficient, 
 then, for the producers to stop producing to render impossible 
 the enterprises of personal and despotic governments." Thus 
 when war is threatened, a universal strike is the remedy. Alas ! 
 it cannot be applied. In existing conditions it is capital, and 
 not labour, that commands. If the labourer ceases to work, 
 society, it is true, will perish, but the labourer will be the first 
 to die, for he lives from day to day. The idea of a universal 
 strike, which reappears from time to time, is an impossibility. 
 
 * The preamble of this resolution is worth noting: — "Considering 
 that justice ought to regulate the mutual relations of natural groups, peoples, 
 and nations, as well as those of individuals ; that the primary cause of war 
 is the want of economic equilibrium ; that war has always been the reason 
 of the strongest,' and not the sanction of right ; tliat it strengthens 
 despotism and stifles liberty ; that by spreading ruin and desolation among 
 families, and demoralization wherever the armies concentrate, war main- 
 tains and perpetuates ignorance and misery ; that the expenditure of the 
 blood and treasure of peoples has served only to maintain among them the 
 savage instincts of man in a state of nature ; — the International Congress of 
 Working Men, assembled at Brussels, declares its most energetic protest 
 against war."
 
 l60 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 On the question of machines, the discussions were some- 
 what confused. The delegates could not, like ignotaffi 
 labourers, condemn the use of the improved machines that dis- 
 coveries of sciences were placing at the service of industr}^ 
 On the contrary, they prided themselves on having no other 
 religion than that of science. To proscribe machines logically 
 involves breaking up the plough, the shuttle, the spade — in a 
 word, all tools, and returning to the age of stone. Nobody 
 called for the suppression of machines; but the majority of the 
 congress appeared to be convinced that the employment of 
 machines diminishes the demand for labour, and consequently 
 reduces wages, though all the facts hitherto ascertained prove 
 the contrary. Finally, the following resolution was adopted : — 
 " That it was only by co-operative societies and a system of 
 mutual credit that the producers could become themselves the 
 owners of machines ; meanwhile, as matters were, working men, 
 constituted into societies of resistance, might interfere with 
 advantage to prevent the introduction of machines, without 
 certain guarantees and compensations to the labourer." 
 
 The principal end aimed at by the International appears 
 clearly in the deb)ate on the question of strikes. Graglia, the 
 delegate from Geneva, showed that the masons' strike had suc- 
 ceeded because the employers beheved that considerable funds 
 had been sent from England, France, and Belgium. Working 
 men in every country should, he said, combine in sections and 
 form provident funds, which might on occasion become defence 
 funds. In every town groups should be formed, and should 
 be all united by an international tie, and the whole labouring 
 class should come to the aid of those who resist, " in order to 
 defend the rights of labour." In this way there would be no 
 more strikes, for employers, convinced beforehand that they 
 should have to give way, would yield before there was any 
 need of having recourse to strikes. Such was the original idea 
 of the International, but the later adherents considered it 
 narrow and mean. It was, in fact, the idea of the English 
 trades unions, which, accepting wages as a fact, simply 
 endeavoured to raise them as high as possible. According, 
 however, to the continental Internationalists, the object to aim
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF TILE INTERNATIONAL. l6l 
 
 at was, not the increase of wages, but the aboHtion of the 
 wages system by a radical transformation of the social order. 
 ComBinations and strikes were only makeshifts, while awaiting 
 something better. The following were the declarations adopted 
 on this subject : — " Strikes are not a means of completely eman- 
 cipating the labourer, but they are often a necessity in the 
 existing conflict between capital and labour. It is therefore 
 advisable to subject strikes to certain conditions as to organiza- 
 tion, opportuneness, and propriety. With regard to the organi- 
 zation of strikes, in those trades which have not, as yet, 
 societies of resistance, mutual aid societies, or assurance funds 
 against stoppage of work, it is advisable to create these insti- 
 tutions, and then to make them mutually interdependent in all 
 trades and in all countries. In a word, it is necessary to carry 
 on in this direction the work undertaken by the International, 
 and to endeavour to make the whole proletariat join the asso- 
 ciation ; it is also advisable to appoint a committee in each 
 district from the delegates of the different federated groups, to 
 judge of the opportuneness andpropriety of impending strikes." 
 This, as may be seen, was a complete plan of campaign. The 
 association did not wish strikes to be lightly undertaken, 
 because, in the first place, it would be bound to aid them, 
 which would be often impossible ; and secondly, because, if 
 they should fail, its prestige would be seriously affected. How- 
 ever, this council of arbiters, that it wished to establish, does 
 not appear to have ever regularly exercised its functions. 
 
 It was at the Congress of Brussels that the change which 
 came over the International first became manifest. At the out- 
 set, it was only going to be a vast society of resistance for 
 maintaining or raising the rate of wages, a sort of Universal 
 Trades Union. But3°^^ ^^ began to dream of completely 
 transforming society by suppressing the wage "syrtem7" this 
 modern form of slavery?'" How was This to be "done? By 
 assigning all the means of production to the " collectivity." 
 This is the new doctrine, "Collectivism." The relentless 
 criticism of Proudhon had rendered Communism quite un- 
 popular. The Congress of Lausanne had already decided that 
 the railways should belong to the State. At Brussels the same
 
 1 62 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 pnnciple was applied to mines and quarries, to forests, and 
 even to arable land. The grounds of this resolution were 
 stated as follows : — "Considering that the necessities of pro- 
 duction and the application of agricultural science call for 
 cultivation conducted on a large scale, and require the intro- 
 duction of machines and the organization of combined labour 
 in agriculture, and that, moreover, economic evolution itself 
 tends in the same direction, — that, therefore, property in the 
 soil and agricultural labour ought to be treated on the same 
 footing as mining labour and property in the subsoil ; that, 
 moreover, the productive quality of the soil is the original 
 material of all products, the primitive source of all wealth, 
 without being itself the product of anybody's labour ; that the 
 alienation to individuals of this indispensable original material 
 makes all societypaytribute to those to whom it is alienated ; — 
 the congress thinks that the course of economic evolution will 
 make the collective ownership of arable land a social necessity, 
 and that the land will be granted out to companies of labourers, 
 under conditions of guaranty for society and for the cultivator, 
 analogous to those necessary in the case of mines and railways." 
 Observe how this language differs from that of revolutionaries 
 of Jacobin traditions. The influence of the positivist school, 
 which prides itself on preaching respect for natural laws, is 
 plainly felt. It is not revolution, but "evolution" which will 
 lead society to " collectivism ; " not the decrees of a conven- 
 tion, but "social necessities" that will bring about the trans- 
 formation. 'The congress, moreover, retains the reserve of 
 philosophic doubt ; it does not affirm, it " thinks " that matters 
 will thus come to pass. The declarations of the congress, 
 although reduced to a mere expression of opinion, were not 
 carried without vigorous opposition. 
 
 M. Tolain urgently defended private property in land, at 
 the risk of seeming reactionary. The idea of the collective 
 ownership of arable land had been readily adopted by many 
 ^? Englishmen, under the name of "nationalization of the land." 
 As a few aristocratic families own almost the whole extent of 
 the British Isles, to assign property in land, there, to the State 
 seems to be a measure which does not offer insurmountable
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 63 
 
 difficulties, and which, in appearance, would have some analo- 
 gies to the'confiscation of the property of the Emigres an3 of 
 the"clergy in 1793. In the last letter which I received from 
 J. "S. Mill, he explained to me that the working classes in 
 England were opposed to peasant properties, which he and his 
 friend Thornton advocated, because the more proprietors there 
 were, 'the greater opposition would be given to all schemes 
 of expropriation. M. Tolain, representing France, where there 
 are**niore than five millions of small proprietors, well knew that 
 collectivism, applied to agricultural land, would excite there - 
 
 a formidable opposition. Besides, he maintained that it was u^Miu to^ 
 above all things necessary to preserve individuality; that, the -hn C-u.?.<L 
 improvement of the individual being the supreme end, indi- 
 viduality should not be sacrificed to the idol of the community. 
 We meet here the foundation of Proudhon's ideas, as opposed 
 to the current ideas of the Communists. His sturdy hatred of 
 the State, his eloquent tirades in favour of anarchy, that is to 
 say, of the abdication of the State as the orthodox economists 
 desire it, have left a profound impression upon the minds of a 
 portion of the working classes. 
 
 Socialists of the old school, like Louis Blanc, and " the 
 Socialists of the Chair " to-day, are always invoking State 
 action ; whereas the Internationalists avoid the very mention 
 of the name. They speak of the collectivity, of the Commune, 
 of working men's associations, of decentralization, and their 
 ideal seems to be a federation of autonomous co-operative 
 societies.. So far as the incoherence and ignorance personified 
 in the Commune of 1871 were able to express any idea, it was 
 this same notion which predominated. It explains their 
 hesitation, and, in the main, their inaction in the matter of 
 social reforms. When people believe that the State has for its 
 mission to model society after some ideal of justice, they make 
 a revolution, and place in power a Committee of Public Safety, 
 which cuts, amputates, and legislates without mercy, so as to 
 give to the social body the wished-for form. But when, like 
 the Internationalists, under the influence of positivism and the 
 methods of the natural sciences, they admit that transforma- 
 tions are effected by " social necessities " and " economic
 
 1 64 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 evolution " in the midst of free Communes and autonomous 
 groups, they are logically reduced to impotence. Why inter- 
 fere with the action of "natural laws"? The only thing to 
 be done is "to fire the towns," so as to illuminate the 
 question ! 
 
 It was the Congress of Brussels that explained with the 
 greatest detail the economic programme of the International. 
 Let us pause a moment in order to examine it more closely. 
 The land, it affirms, ought to belong to "the collectivity." 
 What does this word include ? Inasmuch as the division into 
 separate States is to disappear, it probably means " the 
 human collectivity," the whole of humanity. I shall then 
 be co-proprietor of the land of the Zulus and of the Esquimaux, 
 as they will be of the field I cultivate. Will this domiiiium of 
 humanity be merely nominal, like that Avhich the sovereign 
 still possesses in England over all the soil of the British Isles ? 
 If this be so, matters would be left as they are, with one fiction 
 added. Will it, on the contrary, be an effective dominium with 
 receipt of revenue and selection of occupants ? We are, then, 
 brought to a conception hardly intelligible and absolutely 
 unworkable. When we read their statements of reasons, we 
 see that they do not know where to stop. Who is to dispose 
 of the lands : the human race, the State, the Commune, or 
 the Agricultural Co-operative Association ? Nothing definite 
 is said on the subject. W^ill rent be abolished ? Apparently 
 so ; but then, what inequality between those who, with equal 
 labour, obtain from fertile land eighty bushels of wheat, and 
 those who extract from refractory soil only forty bushels of 
 rye ? In short, assign the property in land to the collectivity, 
 whatever it may be, and you will thus have secured neither 
 justice, nor equality, nor happiness for all 
 
 The Economist cannot, like the Physicist, check the truth 
 of his conceptions by experiments in a laboratory, but he can 
 judge of the effect of certain institutions by the study of com- 
 parative legislation. There are countries where the system 
 advocated by the Congress of Brussels is found in vigour. In 
 certain provinces of India and in Egypt, the soil virtually 
 belongs to the State, for it draws nearly the whole net produce.
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF TILE LNTERNATIONAL. 1 65 
 
 In Italy, too, the reform is half accomplished ; for the State, the 
 " ProvincesTari'd^ the Coinmune'Tevyj' B|; way oT taxes; thirty, forty, 
 and even fiifty per cent, of the land reveriue. It is, ffiefefbre, 
 the same as if they had got possession of half the property. 
 Is the tiller of the soil in these countries any the happier ? 
 No j" the poverty of the rural districts is extreme. To give the' 
 ownership of land to the State would simply be to impose a 
 single tax, as was formerly advocated by the Physiocrats, and 
 recently by MM. de Girardin and Menier. The general 
 character of our societies would not be in the least modified. 
 Rent, consumed to-day by landowners, would then be swal- 
 lowed up by State officials. This is precisely what the 
 Proudhonian Anarchists, the desperate opponents of the 
 " State-Divinity," fought against. They, accordingly, proposed 
 to entrust the land to rural associations. But here also 
 experience, that supreme authority which the Sociologists 
 always quote, gives serious warnings on the subject of " the 
 natural laws of social evolution." 
 
 The system of which the International Anarchists dream 
 is not^^T Utopia. It was formerly general ' in France, arid it 
 still exists to-day with the Slavs of the Danube and of the 
 Balkans. Thefe the land is worked and owned by autonomous 
 associations, which are very justly termed by Austrian writers 
 Hauscovununionen, "House or Family Communities." When I 
 visited the zadrugas of Servia and Croatia, I too, like M. Le Play 
 and like the great apostle of Danubian Slavism, Monseigneur 
 Strossmayer, was beguiled by the charms of this ruraTlife, so 
 simple, so sweet, so poetic. ' In seeing a whole associated 
 group, men and women, working in common in the fields, or | 
 preparing the hemp and the wool for their clothes, in the late ,' 
 evening, the music of the guzla accompanying the song of the j 
 Servian };omancero, one might fancy one's self transported among 
 the nymphs and swains of the Golden Age.*™; " Natural 
 Evolution," however, is undermining these frarernal insti- 
 
 * See the author's study on " Family Communities " in his book Les 
 Formes primitives de la propriete, 2nd edit. p. 201. [This worlt has been 
 translated into Enghsh by Mr. Marriott (" Primitive Property." London, 
 Macmillan, 1878). — Jr.]
 
 1 66 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tutions, based though they are on family ties and immemorial 
 traditions. When what we call progress comes to shake this 
 patriarchal life from its torpor, and new wants come into 
 being, the associates no longer care to labour for the common 
 weal ; they demand a partition. Little by little the spirit of 
 individualism is destroying the Slavic zadruga, as before, in the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it brought about the 
 disappearance of the communities of ancient France. When 
 isolated, are the families happier? Far from it. Often they 
 hav^e to sell their properties and lapse into poverty. Still 
 they wish for freedom and independence, even at the price_of 
 the responsibilities and disappointments thereby engendered. 
 Before another half-century, when railways and modern in- 
 dustry shall have developed the wealth of Southern Slavonia, 
 the ancient equality will have given way to the opposition 
 between capitalism and wage-earning, as in our western 
 countries. We may regret the fact, but it cannot be denied ; 
 existing tendencies seem fatal to rural communities. They 
 endure only when they rest on a religious sentiment of a 
 perfervid type, as at Oneida or among the Trappists. 
 
 During the year 1869 the International spread with 
 extraordinary rapidity. There was a great ferment among 
 the working classes throughout Europe, and particularly in 
 France, where, after the May elections, the Government, 
 doubtless with the object of rallying the middle classes to its 
 side, had given complete liberty to the violent language of 
 the clubs. Strikes took place all over Europe, and in many 
 parts, notably at Seraing in Belgium, and at Creusot in 
 France, they ended in skirmishes and bloodshed. All these 
 strikes brought recruits to the International in the hope of 
 getting aid. Usually they did not succeed, for the great 
 association was not rich ; but in the early days of excitement 
 it was supposed to be powerful, and it caused employers to 
 make concessions, just as if it were really so. 
 
 How adhesions to the International were made may be clearly 
 seen from the answer of the prisoner Bastin, at the time of the 
 trial of May, 1870. "I am accused," he said to the president, 
 " of having joined a secret society. I deny it expressly. True,
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 6/ 
 
 I am a member of the International ; but it is not a secret 
 society. The circumstances under which I joined it are as 
 follows : — At the time of the strike of the ironfounders, one of 
 our friends said to us at a meeting, ' We have formed a society 
 of resistance, but we have something more to do, and that is, 
 to join the International.' He then read the statutes to us, 
 and we recognized that they were good, and that there would 
 be no harm in joining. The matter was put to the vote, and 
 to the number of 1200 we joined the International." Another 
 prisoner, Duval, the future general of the Commune, repeated 
 a similar case : " Thirty-six of our masters, out of forty-seven, 
 refused our claims. Several of them replied, ' We shall wait, 
 untrTyou are starving.' In the face of this contemptuous 
 treatment, the next meeting voted and signed a strike a 
 outran ce. We swore on our honour not to take work until 
 our claims had been admitted. A motion was made with 
 regard to the International. The eight or nine hundred 
 members present joined in a body, signed their adhesion 
 during the sitting, and straightway appointed four delegates 
 to represent them at the federal council of Paris." 
 
 In the month of July, 1869, the silk-winders of Lyons went 
 out on strike. Their committee wrote to the general council 
 of London, to signify their adhesion to the International in 
 theiFowh name, and in that of the 8000 members of their 
 bodyT They added, " that in order to keep within the French 
 law, the new adherents would not constitute any organization 
 in France. They would simply send their annual subscription 
 as a lump sum to the general council." In Belgium the 
 woollen operatives of Verviers, the cotton-hands of Ghent, the 
 miners of Hainault, and the workers in a large number of 
 the trades of Brussels joined in the mass. A Flemish journal, 
 the Werker, was started. Holland was invaded in its turn. The 
 German associations assembled at Nuremberg were affiliated. 
 In Italy, as in France, prosecutions only drew the attention 
 of working men to the International. It gained a footing in 
 Vienna, where the Wiener Arbeiter-Zeitiing was established, also 
 at Pesth, and in the principal towns of Spain, while it extended 
 its ramifications in America as far as California. The reports
 
 1 68 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 read at the first sittings of the Congress of Bale stated all 
 this progress. The Times wrote on the subject : " We must 
 go back to the origin of Christianity or to the epoch of the 
 barbarian invasions to meet with a movement analogous to 
 that of the working men to-day, and it seems to threaten 
 existing civilization with a fate similar to that inflicted by the 
 northern hordes on the ancient world." It was, in truth, the 
 moment of expansion, soon to be followed by a no less rapid 
 decay. 
 
 The Congress of Bale, which held its sittings from the 5th 
 to the 12th of September, 1869, had nothing fierce about it. It 
 borrowed from the beautiful country, which it had honoured 
 with its choice, that idyllic character which all its meetings 
 spontaneously took. The delegates, eighty in number, were 
 received by the members of both town and country sections in 
 Bale at the Cafe Natmial. A procession of about two thousand 
 persons marched with music and banners across the town to 
 the garden of a brasserie, where each took his place while the 
 society of the Griitli sang. The address of welcome to 
 the delegates was pronounced by citizen Bauhin,~who was at 
 the same time president of the Bale sections and attorney- 
 general of the canton — a combination of functions which 
 appears to have caused no astonishment. 
 
 After hearing the reports, the congress took up again the 
 questions already decided at Brussels, namely, the question of 
 landed property and that of societies for strikes. They were 
 naturally determined in the same way by fifty-four ayes against 
 four noes, and thirteen abstentions. The following resolution 
 1 was adopted : — "The congress declares that society has the 
 right of abolishing individual property in the soil and of assign- 
 ing it to the community." It is a strange thing that no congress 
 I of the International ever yet concerned itself with houses and 
 industrial capital, factories, buildings, machines, floating capital. 
 In the speeches it is often said that the labourer ought to be 
 the owner of the instrument of his labour ; but how, by virtue 
 of what arrangements, and of what industrial organization ? — 
 this seems never to have troubled them at all. 
 
 M. Tolain spoke in favour of individual property. Your
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 69 
 
 collectivity, he said, is an unknown abstraction, and yet you 
 seek to impose it on us. The individual is the only concrete 
 thing, and everything inconsistent with his free developraejit 
 isT)ad. We find in everybody the wish to be his own master 
 and to enjoy his independence. In attributing all the evils of 
 humanity to the right of property, you are taking effect for 
 cause. Will the collectivity have more intelligence than the 
 individual in directing profitable works? Is it not to individual 
 initiative that all progress is due ? M. Tolain was only a 
 "mutualist," not a ''collectivist." 
 
 Another Frenchman, named Langlois, a former disciple of 
 Proudhon, and delegate of the metal-turners, while claiming 
 that rents should belong to the State, uttered some prophetic 
 words : " Socialism will be ruined, through alienating all the 
 country populations, if the decisions taken at Brussels, in their 
 absence and without consulting them, are to be maintained. 
 We shall see once more, as in 1848, the peasants rising in a 
 body against the town labourers and rendering illusory the 
 triumph of the revolution. If you were masters would you be 
 ready to effect any work likely to live.'* The State as collective /,' 
 proprietor of the land, would mean a State that would force | 
 everybody to work, that would enrol armies of labourers by i 
 squads under the command of engineers and overseers, and | 
 that would create a hierarchy of forced labour. Is this result 
 so desirable that to attain it we ought to sacrifice liberty ? " 
 
 A delegate of Brussels, Cesar De Paepe, made a report on 
 this subject which indicates a close study of economic facts 
 and theories. It enables us to see in what Collectivism differs 
 from Communism, In the CoUectivist system, neither the State 
 nor the Commune conducts operations. The State preserves 
 the eminent domain, but it abandons the management of labour 
 to co-operative societies, under certain conditions, such as pay- 
 ment of a rent, security against dilapidations, and equitable 
 rules. With regard to railways, for instance, when the State 
 at once owns and works them, as in Belgium, it is a case of 
 Communism ; but when it makes a concession of the working 
 of its property, as is desired in Italy, it is Collectivism. With 
 respect to the remuneration of labour, Communism desires
 
 . I 
 
 i ; 
 
 170 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 equality, or even the application of the maxim, "to each 
 according to his needs ; " while Collectivism claims to assure 
 to every one the integral enjoyment of the product of his labour. 
 Thus the true and, in reality, the sole incentive to economical 
 activity, namely, personal interest, which is entirely abolished 
 by the first system, is in some degree maintained by the second. 
 The principle of Communism leads to consumption in common, 
 as in the family, or rather as in the convent or the barracks ; 
 while Collectivism is consistent with the separate existence of 
 families. Communists would absolutely abolish the right of 
 hereditary succession ; whereas CoUectivists preserve It as to 
 everything not belonging to the State. 
 
 The question of the right of succession was keenly discussed 
 at the Congress of Bale. The CoUectivists, represented chiefly 
 by De Paepe, invoked the very strong arguments habitually 
 made use of in favour of the hereditary transmission of property. 
 Suppose a person makes himself a fortune by deductions, not 
 out of the produce of another person's labour, but out of that 
 of his own, and by depriving himself of certain pleasures ; is it 
 not fair that he should be able to transmit his savings to his 
 children ? Will not this power evidently be an incentive to 
 work and a check upon squandering, and therefore a gain to 
 society as a whole ? If everybody receives a thorough educa- 
 tion and the means of production, individual inheritance cannot 
 violate rational equality. Although there was a strong current 
 of Communism in the congress, the abolition of the right of 
 inheritance obtained only thirty-two votes out of sixty-eight, 
 and consequently it was treated as rejected. 
 
 It would interrupt this rapid sketch of events too much to 
 discuss thoroughly the theoretical ideas admitted by the Inter- 
 national. I shall limit myself to two summary remarks. The 
 new social organization, longed for by Collectivism, supposes 
 that agricultural and industrial enterprises would pass into the 
 hands of autonomous co-operative associations. But will these 
 associations be able to subsist on an exclusively republican 
 and elective basis, without the principle of authority and of 
 the hierarchy at present represented by the master? In the 
 factory, as on board ship, discipline and obedience are indis-
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL, lyi 
 
 pensable. How are they to be preserved among equals? 
 To-day the employer expels the workman who does not work : 
 this is the stimulus. In the new social organization expulsion 
 can hardly be included ; must recourse, then, be had to the 
 prison ? At present the proprietor is interested in preserving 
 his capital and in improving his apparatus. The co-operative 
 members will be much less interested, since they will be only 
 usufructuaries, and the responsibility for deteriorations will fall 
 on society in general. At bottom the economic problem„i§ 
 nothing but the organization of responsibility and of justice. 
 The' Collectivists are ready to swear by Darwin : they ought, 
 then, to admit that, in the struggle for existence, the best con- 
 stituted organisms will at last prevail. Let instruction be given 
 to the working man, and every possible facility for forming pro- 
 ductive societies : when they shall thus have " fair play," if 
 Collectivism is worth more than IndividuaHsm, their associations 
 will supplant private enterprises, and the new re'gime will be 
 established by a gradual and slow evolution, just as all economic 
 transformations are made. If, on the contrary, their principle 
 is inferior in respect of the stimulus to activity of labour, to the 
 formation of capital, and to industrial progress, even should 
 they succeed in establishing it by a forcible revolution, it would 
 not last : it would disappear, as every inferior organism suc- 
 cumbs when placed in contact with a superior organism. 
 
 The Communists demand the abolition of hereditary suc- 
 cession. This is no new thing ; it has already been tried. In 
 the Middle Ages there was no succession in the case of the 
 serfs in mortmain. In order to defeat the claims of the 
 superior lord, they formed themselves into corporations. These 
 co-operative societies were perpetual civil persons who con- 
 tinued in possession without interruption, and thus there was 
 no inheritance. The same system exists to-day among the 
 Southern Slavs. Hereditary succession only applies to strictly 
 personal effects. Land and all the instruments of labour are 
 the collective property of groups in which deaths never cause 
 a succession. Is not this the ideal that certain Collectivists 
 have in view ? How comes it that it has vanished at the touch 
 of modern civilization, and that it is even now disappearing in
 
 1/2 -THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 those distant countries where it had been kept up ? Is not 
 this another appUcation of the Darwinian law ? It may per- 
 haps be objected that monasteries, where reigns not merely 
 Collectivism, but absolute Communism, have grown prodigiously 
 in numbers and in wealth. This is true; but there we find 
 celibacy in this world and a vision of heaven in the next, facts 
 which make all the difference. Moreover, is it to monasticism 
 that the Congress of Bale wished to lead humanity ? 
 
 It was at this same congress that Bakunin, who was going 
 to launch the International on a decidedly revolutionary course, 
 first appeared on the scene. The Russian agitator represented 
 at once the silk-winders of Lyons and the machinists of Naples. 
 This was Internationalism in practice. He did not trouble 
 himself in seeking after new forms for the society of the future. 
 The sole end to pursue was, he said, the destruction, root 
 and branch, of the existing social order. Out of the ruins 
 there would arise, by virtue of spontaneous generation, a better 
 organization. " I desire," he added, " the application of the 
 collective principle, not merely to land, but to all kinds of 
 property, by means of a universal social liquidation ; and by 
 social liquidation I mean the abolition of the political and 
 juridical State. The individual depends upon the collectivity, 
 \i and individual property is nothing else than "the iniquitous 
 I appropriation of the fruits of collective labour. I call for the 
 destruction of all national and territorial States, and, upon 
 their ruins, the foundation of an international State composed 
 of the millions of workers. It will be the role of the Inter- 
 national to constitute this State by the " solidarization " of the 
 Communes throughout the world, and this presupposes a re- 
 organization of society from top to bottom." Thus there are 
 to be no more nations, no more States, no more political or 
 judicial institutions, no more private property, no God, no 
 ; religious worship, not even any free and independent indi- 
 !J viduals. Total destruction of all that exists, and, in the new 
 world, as the organic cell and primordial element of recon- 
 struction, not, as before, the human personality, but the 
 " amorphous " (shapeless) Commune, and thus humanity is to 
 be rendered like a confused mass of confervce, or a nebula in
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. lyT, 
 
 process of formation. This, it appears, is Nihilism. Here we 
 can detect the origin of IHat tTieory of the autonomous Com- 
 mune which appeared at the time of the revolution of the iSth 
 of IViarch, nobody knew from whence. Foreigners, and notably 
 Prince Bismarck, thought they saw in it The demand of greate;r 
 independence for the Communes, a thing which appeared to 
 them very much wanted in France, where centralization is 
 pushed to an extreme. Was it not, moreover, the reform 
 desired by Economists, by admirers of America, by neo-con- 
 servatives, in a word, by all the opponents of State omnipo- 
 tence ? In truth, it was quite another matter. If we are to 
 find any meaning in the acts and manifestoes of the Commune 
 of the 1 8th of March, we may discern there, it seems, the 
 reflex of the theories of Bakunin. 
 
 During the year 1870 the International continued to grow \ jl 
 and to spread. It penetrated to the extreme ends of Europe, 
 into Denmark, into Portugal, and even across the Atlantic. , ; 
 Cameron, delegate of the National Labour Union of the \ t 
 United States, had brought to the Congress of Bale the | 
 adhesion of 800,000 " Unionists." A Russian section was 
 established in Switzerland. At Pesth the Gazette universelle 
 des travaiUeurs appeared. Socialist newspapers multiplied pn 
 all sides,* and seemed to spring out of the ground. Whenever 
 a section was formed, it immediately obtained the adhesion of 
 the existing working men's societies, whatever their nature 
 might be. In Europe and America the number of simple 
 adherents was probably to be counted in millions. The vacil- 
 lating policy of Napoleon III., which seemed to announce the 
 tottering and the fall of the Imperial regime, stirred the revo- 
 lutionary party to activity. Of the two ideas which had given 
 birth to the International, the"* one' aiming at the raising of 
 wages by combinations and strikes, the other seeking the 
 
 * Such as the Federacion at Barcelona, the Egiiagliaiiza at Naples, the ,j 
 Jornal do trahallio and the Tribima at Lisbon, the Clamor do povo at Oporto, | 
 the Internationale at Brussels, the Mirabeau at Verviers, the Devoir at \ 
 Liege, the Werkman at Amsterdam, the Volksblad at Rotterdam. In \ 
 France there were the Travail, the Reforme, and the Tribune popidaire. 
 In Germany the Social Democratic party was definitively constituted at 
 Eisenach, and started the Volksstaat at Leipzig.
 
 174 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 transformation of the social order, if necessary, by means of 
 revolution, it was the latter which, from 1869, got the upper 
 hand, and, as always happens, under the most marked and 
 violent form. 
 
 Meanwhile the International protested energetically against 
 the war of 1870, both at Paris, at London, and in Germany. 
 On the 1 2th of July the Parisian federation published a mani- 
 festo addressed to the workers of all countries, but principally 
 to their "brothers of Germany," of which the following is an 
 extract : — " To the beUicose cries of those who are themselves 
 exempt from the blood-tax, or who find in the public misfor- 
 tunes a source of new speculations, we oppose our emphatic 
 protest, we who wish for peace, labour, and liberty. War is the 
 ///indirect means by which Governments stifle the liberties of 
 I lithe people." The general council, in its turn, addressed a 
 manifesto to the members of the International in Europe and 
 in the United States. It was probably drawn up by Marx, 
 1 and contains some noteworthy passages. " The people of 
 I Paris have protested against the war with so much energy that 
 I the Prefect of Police has forbidden all expression of opinion in 
 the streets. Whatever, then, may be the issue of the war, the 
 funeral knell of the Second Empire has already sounded in 
 i Paris. ... If the working classes of Germany permit the 
 •' present war to lose its purely defensive character and to de- 
 generate into an offensive war against the people of France, 
 victory or defeat will be equally disastrous. All the miseries 
 that desolated Germany after its war of independence will be 
 reproduced with accumulated force." The general council then 
 quoted several addresses to the French working men published 
 by German sections. At Chemnitz 50,000 Saxon working men 
 sent words of sympathy to their French brothers. " 
 
 The Berlin section, replying to the Paris manifesto, said, 
 "With heart and hand we adhere to your proclamation. We 
 solemnly vow that neither beat of drum, nor thunder of cannon, 
 nor victory, nor defeat shall divert us from our efforts to estab- 
 lish the union of the workers of all countries." The manifesto 
 added, " The single fact that, while official P>ance and Germany 
 are rushing into a fratricidal war, the German and French
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF TILE INTERNATIONAL. 1 75 
 
 working men are interchanging messages of peace and brother 
 hood — this grand fact, without precedent in the history of the 
 past, enables us to foresee a brighter future. It shows that 
 a new society is arising whose International role will be peace, 
 because the basis of nations will be everywhere the same, 
 namely, labour." 
 
 After Sedan and the fall of the Empire, a movement of 
 sympathy in favour of the French Republic took place in all 
 the~^ections of the International, even in Germany. On the 
 5th of September the German Social Democrats, assembled at 
 Brunswick, published a manifesto containing the following 
 passage : — " It is Germany's interest to conclude a peace which 
 France can accept with honour. It is asserted that the annexa- 
 tion of Alsace and Lorraine will preserve us for ever from a war 
 with France. It is, on the contrary, the surest way to trans'^ 
 form into a European institution and to perpetuate in United 
 Germany the system of military despotism. Peace on such 
 terms will be only a truce, until France shall be strong enough 
 to reconquer her lost provinces. The war of 1870 bears in its 
 train a war between Germany and Russia, as certainly as the 
 war of 1866 bore that of 1870. Unless a revolution breaks 
 out in Russia beforehand, which seems improbable, the war 
 between Germany and Russia may be looked upon as a cer- 
 tainty. If we take Alsace and Lorraine from France, she will 
 ally herself to Russia. It would be useless to point out the 
 deplorable consequences." These warnings by no means 
 pleased the general in command, Vogel von Falkenstein, who, I j 
 by virtue of the state of siege, sent the leaders to dream of the 1 1 
 coming peace in the casements of Konigsberg. 
 
 I have endeavoured by these extracts to throw light on 
 the cosmopolitan tendency of the International. It is, in fact, . _ 
 one of the characteristic traits of modern Socialism. It is 1 1 
 clea,rly derived from the ideas of the Manchester school and i 
 ultimately from the teachings of Political Economy, which 
 always considers the good of humanity and readily forgets 
 the existence of separate States. Establish universal free 
 trade, say the Economists, abolish custom-houses and stand- 
 ing armies, make the laws everywhere identical, and soon 
 
 
 ^X'
 
 1/6 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY, 
 
 all nations will form only one single family. Capital and 
 labour will pass indifferently from one country to another 
 in search of the best remuneration. Already many English 
 people, taking the lead of other nations, look upon the whole 
 globe as their country, and pass the summer in the Alps, the 
 winter at Nice, or Cairo, or Madeira, choosing the best climate 
 and the pleasantest places. There is no illusion about it. 
 /( We are drawing towards_ cosmopolitanism. Patriotism ^„js 
 I everywhere becoming less exclusive and consequently less 
 intense. How many people are now ready to say, Ubi bene, 
 ibi patria / But if, in this respect, the International is inspired 
 by the present economic movement, and if it execrates war 
 i between nations, we must not forget that it substitutes the 
 universal strife of labour against capital. The enemy is no 
 longer the foreigner, but the employer, the factory lord.* 
 This is the reason why these brotherly effusions, that one 
 would imagine were borrowed from the speeches, suffused 
 with Christianity, of the Peace Congresses, are often accom- 
 panied by language of rage and hate which calls to mind 
 the death-chaunt of cannibals. 
 
 What was the part taken by the International in the revolu- 
 tion of theiStliof KTarcli ? M. de Molinari, who watched from 
 near at hand the Socialist movement at Paris, affirms that the 
 association, as such, took no part in it,t and all known facts 
 
 * To quote one extract in illustration of this phase of thought : 
 "Fatherland, a phrase, a folly! Humanity, a fact, a truth. Invented 
 by.priei5t_s_and kings, like Jhe mythical God, the fatherland has, only 
 
 Iseryed for penning up human cattle within separate enclosures, where 
 they may be shorn and bled under the very hands of their masters, for 
 the greater profit of these latter and in the name of the unclean fetish. 
 
 " To-day we have had enough of it. Nations are brothers. Kings 
 and their hangers-on are the sole enemies. Enough of bloodshed, enough 
 of imbecility. Nations, countries are no longer more than words. France 
 is dead. Humanity takes her place. The Utopia of Anacharsis Clootz is 
 becoming a reality. Nationality, the result of birth, is an evil. Let it 
 perish. To be born in thTs 'place or that, the result of pure chance, decides 
 whether we are to be friends or enemies. Let us repudiate this stupicf 
 lottery of which we have hitherto been the dupes. Our country is every- 
 where, where we can live and work in freedom. Peoples, workers, the 
 light is spreading. Open your eyes ! Down with the Despots ! Away 
 with Tyrants! France is dead. Long live humanity!" (Jules Nostag, 
 alias Ruffier, in the Rei'olution politique et sociak, i6th April, 1871.) 
 
 t Le Motivement socialiste ct les reunions publiques, by M. de Alolinari,
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. I'J'J 
 
 seem to bear out this opinion. A certain number of Inter- 
 nationalists figured among the members of the Commune, 
 notably Amouroux, Avrial, Beslay, Dereure, Frankel, Malon, 
 Pindy, Varlin, Serailler, Theisz, and Vaillant ; but they had 
 joined it on personal grounds. The ties which bound the 
 different sections of the International together were too lax 
 for the requirements of revolutionary action. 
 
 From the official reports of the proceedings of the Inter- 
 national during the siege of Paris and the Commune, I glean 
 the following. In thesitting of the 15th of February, 187 1, 
 Frankel said, " The events since the 4th of September have 
 dispersed the International. We have still a certain moral 
 force, if not in France generally, at least in Paris ; but for 
 the want of organization we lack material force. Many mem- 
 bers do not grasp the aim of the association." On the 
 ist of March a commission was deputed to the central com- 
 mittee of the National Guard ; but their action was altogether 
 individual, and they could not speak in the name of the asso- 
 ciation. At another sitting, Aubry, delegate of Rouen, said, 
 " The revolution of the i8th of March is altogether social, and 
 all the French newspapers mention the International as having 
 seized powei"; but we know that this is not the case." In the 
 manifesto to the labourers, voted at the same sitting, less 
 radical reforms are demanded, such as the organization of 
 
 p. 205. A confirmation of M. de Molinari's opinion may be found in a 
 very curious pamphlet published in London, in 1872, by the refugees of 
 the Commune, namely, Arnould, Cournet, Dereure, Ranvier, and Vaillant. 
 It is an indictment against the International. " The International used to 
 be thought powerful because it was believed to represent the revolution. 
 It has, however, shown itself timid, divided, parliamentary. ... Its 
 constitution, its mode of determining its action by means of a congress of 
 delegates, have made it a parliamentary rather than an executive institu- 
 tion. . . . P'rom fear of identifying itself with the principles of the Com- 
 mune, it has committed suicide. . . . Hitherto, in spite of manifestoes and 
 declarations, the different branches of the International have prudently 
 abstained from the armed conflict. It was in their individual capacity that 
 a few of its members mingled with the combatants." It is to he observed 
 that the authors of this pamphlet call themselves ex-members of the general 
 council of the International. An Italian Socialist, O. Gnocchi-Viani, author 
 of the book Le Tre Internationale, has published a pamphlet entitled 
 V Internationale nella Comune di Parigi, Milan, 1879, in which he proves 
 the hostility that reigned between the International and the Commune. 
 
 N
 
 178 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 credit, free, secular, and compulsory education, tlie right of 
 public meeting, freedom of association, liberty of the press, 
 and the organization of public services by municipal authority. 
 The general council, in its proclamation of the 9th of Sep- 
 tember, 1870, urgently advised the labourers to respect the 
 government which had been established, in order to save at 
 least the republic and liberty. " The situation of the French 
 labourers," it is there stated, *' is most difficult ; any attempt 
 to overthrow the present government, in the middle of this 
 terrible crisis, and while the enemy is at the gates of Paris, 
 would be a detestable piece of folly." Marx did not beheve 
 in the triumph of the Commune, and he said as much in his 
 letters to his French friends. On account of this, the more 
 violent roundly accused the "German Jew" of having sold 
 himself to Bismarck. About this time, Becker, a friend of 
 Marx, wrote the following : — " The organization of the prole- 
 tariat is not sufficiently complete, and the principles of the 
 Socialist democracy are not sufficiently spread and understood 
 to enable a red republic to be firmly established. The radical 
 transformation of the old society and the inauguration of a new 
 historic epoch require time ; it will be the work of successive 
 generations." 
 
 After the fall of the Commune several branches of the 
 International, and even the general council in London, sent 
 forth manifestoes attesting their sympathy and admiration for 
 "the glorious vanquished." The address of the general 
 council, published on the 30th of May, under the title La 
 Guerre civile en France, is a long statement of the facts which 
 brought about the revolution of the i8th of March. It is a 
 curious apology. What the Commune wanted, it said, was 
 to establish a government founded on truly democratic and 
 above all economic principles, by restoring to municipal 
 authority the too numerous functions exercised to-day by 
 the State. We are, then, asked to believe that it was simply 
 a question of imitating the system at work in the United 
 States and in Switzerland. If public monuments were burned, 
 it was as a means of defence, just as is done in all wars. The 
 absolute incapacity of the Commune in the matter of social
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. IJC) 
 
 reforms is explained as follows : — " The workers did not expect 
 miracles from the Commune. They had no cut-and-dried 
 Utopias to introduce by popular decree. They well knew 
 that, in order to realize their emancipation, and at the same 
 time to preserve the noble form towards which actual society 
 is advancing by its own economic forces, they would have to 
 go through long struggles, and a whole series of historic steps 
 which would transform both circumstances and men. They 
 had not to apply an ideal, but to free the elements of the 
 new society from the crumbling ruins of the old." We here 
 recognize Marx and the historico-economic school, the spirit 
 of which differs completely from that of Jacobinism, which 
 imagines that a social transformation can be improvised by 
 force of decrees. We may, however, reply to the chiefs of 
 the International, If existing society must give birth to the 
 society of the future by virtue of " its own economic forces," 
 and by '"a series of historic steps," why employ violence, 
 insurrections, and force ? You should condemn these methods 
 of the old revolutionaries, which lead to nothing. 
 
 Soon the opposition between these two doctrines, the his- 
 torico-scientific Socialism on the one hand, and the Socialism 
 of the ignorant and the violent on the other, was to lead to a 
 schism in the International, and consequently to its fall. 
 
 In 187 1 there was no congress ; but a conference of dele- 
 gates assembled in London on the 27th of September. They 
 did not occupy themselves with theoretical questions, but with 
 the means of propaganda. They recommended the following : 
 the study of the best means of attracting the rural labourers, 
 the organization of female sections, the international union of 
 working men's associations by means of trade corporations, the 
 collection of statistics on the position of labourers, and the 
 taking part in politics by working men, even in alliance with 
 middle-class Radicalism. This conference simply registered 
 the ideas of Marx, who in reality directed the general council. 
 This was quite natural ; he was infinitely superior to his col- 
 leagues by reason both of his knowledge and of his practical jj 
 mind. But his dictatorship could not fail to arouse bitter oppo- . 
 sition among the numerous groups, belonging as they did to ( j
 
 l8o THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 different nationalities and influenced by divergent currents ot 
 thought. The signal for revolt was hoisted at Neuchatel. 
 Certain sections of working men at Locle and at Chaux-de- 
 Fonds, under the direction of an active leader, James Guil- 
 laume, revolted against the excessive authority claimed by the 
 general council, and, separating themselves from the other groups 
 of French-speaking Switzerland, established the Federation of 
 the Jura. They were called FederaUsts or Autonomists. The 
 Blanquists, representing the Jacobin tradition, also rose very 
 vehemently against " the German Jew's theory of historic 
 evolution." Lastly, the most ardent in their opposition were 
 the Anarchists who followed Bakunin. At the Congress ofthe 
 Peace League, which met at Berne in 1869, under the 
 presidency of Victor Hugo, Bakunin had proposed a vote 
 approving of atheism and communism. Beaten by a large 
 majority, he then founded the " Alliance of the Social Demo- 
 cracy." On the other hand, the general council forbade the 
 sections of the International to take any particular name, and 
 reserved to itself the right of suspending or dissolving any 
 sections disobeying this order. 
 
 The Congress of the Hague (from the 2nd to the 7th of 
 September, 1872) was the battle-field where these opposing 
 tendencies clashed together. There were sixty-five delegates, 
 of whom four represented Holland, eight Belgium, two 
 Denmark, eight Germany, seven Switzerland, eleven France, 
 four Spain, one Portugal, one Hungary, ten England, one 
 Ireland, six America, and one Australia, The fight arose on 
 the question of the powers of the general council, the 
 ' Autonomists wishing to reduce it to a mere committee of 
 inquiry. Guillaume attacked Marx to his face. "There 
 are some," he said, "who assert that the International is the 
 invention of a clever man, endowed with infallibility in all 
 social and political matters, whom nobody has any right to 
 oppose. Our association would therefore have merely to obey 
 the despotic commands of a council formed to maintain this 
 new orthodoxy. According to us, on the contrary, the 
 International sprang spontaneously from the economic cir- 
 cumstances of the times, and we want no Pope to judge
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. l8l 
 
 our heresies." Marx carried the majority with him ; and the 
 general council, far from being suppressed, was given the right 
 of suspending sections and even federations, saving appeal to 
 congress. This decision excited the warmest protests. The 
 Blanquists, including, Ranvier, Cournet, and Vaillant, left the 
 congress. Then followed an inquiry into the case of Bakunin 
 and Guillaume. Both were declared excluded, as having been 
 shown to belong to " the Alliance," a secret society founded on 
 statutes completely opposed to those of the International. 
 Marx"also obtained a decision that the seat of the general 
 council should be transferred to New York, He hoped thus to 
 take it away from the causes of division which threatened it in 
 Europe. The reason he gave was that this would be a means 
 of gaining over the working men of the United States, who in 
 that democratic republic, would be able to get possession of 
 the power, and thus give practical effect to social reforms. 
 
 The Congress of the Hague gave the death-blow to the Inter- 
 national. As in the midst of the Paris Commune, personal 
 jealousies did their usual work of disorganization. Those who, 
 taking no account of natural necessities, wish to completely ; 
 eliminate the principle of authority, are instantly punished for \ \ 
 their folly by the ruin of their work. It is in the nature of '^( 
 things that the most capable should succeed to the direction 
 and command. If tlie ignorant, who are also the envious, 
 resist, anarchy and disintegration ensue. 
 
 Immediately after the Congress of the Hague, "the Juras- 
 sians " raised the standard of revolt. They convoked at St. 
 Imier a separatist congress, which declared that it refused to 
 abide by the decisions of the Hague, and that it continued to 
 consider Bakunin and Guillaume as members of the Inter- 
 national. On the other hand, the new general council, having 
 removed to New York, pubhshed, on the 20th of October, 1872, 
 an address in which it explained the necessity of a central 
 power, and endeavoured to show that the struggle against the 
 organized forces of the bourgeoisie could not be carried on 
 under the banner of " anarchy." Nevertheless, the resistance 
 against this far-seated authority, which" resembled a new 
 papacy, j^became general. Guillaume, in a pamphlet entitled
 
 1 82 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 " The International Federation of the Jura," summed up the 
 grievances of the Autonomists. The general council replied by 
 excommunications. It excluded in succession the women's 
 association founded in New York by Mrs. Woodhull and Mrs. 
 Clafflin, the two priestesses of Free Love, the Belgian federation 
 of Brussels, the Spanish federation of Cordova, and that ot 
 London, all of which had decided to reject the decisions of the 
 Hague, and it refused to recognize an Italian federation which 
 had not conformed to the statutes. The International of Marx 
 thus lost, little by little, all influence in the Latin countries. 
 There only remained a few of the faithful in Fngland, Germariy, 
 and America. In order to rally its scattered forces, it convoked 
 a general congress at Geneva, for the 8th of September, 1873. 
 On their side, the dissenting Autonomists decided to assemble 
 in the same town, on the 2nd of September. We have, there- 
 fore, two Internationals face to face. 
 
 Twenty-eight delegates attended the congress of Autono- 
 mists. They commenced by reading reports on the situation 
 in the different countries. The representative of Spain, Farga 
 Pelissier, was the only one who could give favourable news. 
 There were, he said, more than seven hundred different 
 associations there with fifty thousand members, and soon the 
 working men in the large towns would rise en masse to bring 
 about the triumph of anarchy. It was evident that Bakunin 
 was the aposde of Socialism in Spain.* The news from other 
 countries was discouraging. The divisions among the leaders 
 had arrested the propaganda. The debates in the congress were 
 uninteresting. The Autonomists had no difficulty in making 
 their ideas prevail, and the general council was abolished 
 amid the enthusiastic applause of the assembly. No more 
 authority, no more directorship, such is the ideal. Each 
 
 * As early as 1871 and 1872, such an active socialistic propagandism 
 was carried on in Spain that the Minister for Foreign Afiairs of King 
 Amadeo sent to all the diplomatic agents a circular note, dated the 9th of 
 February, 1872, proposing that the Governments should take common action 
 to suppress the movement everywhere. Lord Granville in reply pointed 
 out, as an objection to this proposal, that the laws of England admitted the 
 right of asylum, and the project of a crusade fell through. The disturb- 
 ances of which the peninsula was soon afterwards the theatre, prove, 
 however, that the danger was not imaginary.
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 83 
 
 congress is to fix the place where the next congress shall meet, 
 and the federation there shall take charge of the correspon- 
 dence, serve as intermediary and prepare questions for 
 discussion. No contribution shall be demanded. In short, 
 no government, no budget. They almost attained the absolute 
 perfection which consists in abolishing everything. 
 
 Van den Abeele raised an objection. " We Hollanders," 
 he said, "are partisans of the experimental method. A central 
 power is a bad thing. Let us try the formation of three 
 committees. I admit the principle of anarchy ; but are we 
 strong enough to apply it forthwith ? " " What ! " replied the 
 French delegate, Brousse, " you wish to destroy this authoritarian 
 structure ? Anarchy is your programme, and yet you shrink 
 before the consequences of your principles ! Another blow, 
 and the whole pile will tumble." They worked, in fact, to 
 bury their association. Their principles were about to produce 
 the natural results. From impotence they were going to pass 
 to non-existence. 
 
 Eccarius, the former lieutenant of Marx, from whom he had 
 recently separated, and the only person of any weight among the 
 " autonomists " present, summed up the history of the Inter- 
 national in a few words of his closing address. " The old 
 International, the first stone of which was laid at St. Martin's 
 Hall on the 28th of September, 1864, and the building of which j \ 
 was completed at the Congress of Geneva in 1866, has ceased ' ' 
 to exist. That which we now establish is entirely distinct from 
 it. The initiative came from the trades unions of London, who 
 wished us to concern ourselves with politics, and the Proud- 
 honians, who wished us to have nothing to do with them. 
 The former desired to apply the principles of trades unionism, 
 that is to say, the rising of wages by means of combinations and 
 strikes ; whereas the latter sought to realize their theories of 
 social reconstruction. At Bale, the Proudhonians succumbed, 
 but at the same time the unionist element was destroyed by 
 personal rivalries among the members of the general council. 
 At Paris, on the other hand, the unionists carried the day over 
 the heads of the Proudhonians. In 1870 a reconciliation 
 might perhaps have been brought about, but the outbreak of
 
 1 84 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the war put obstacles in the way. Aheady, before the Congress 
 of the Hague, the council was divided into two hostile parties, 
 and when it obtained the right of exclusion, it gave the death- 
 blow to the old Association." 
 
 The International of the Marxists held its session from 
 the 8th to the 13th of September. Marx himself took no part 
 in it. There were only about thirty delegates, representing 
 Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Holland. The 
 fact that Germany, where Socialism was making such prodigious 
 strides, was represented by only one delegate, Burckhart, proves 
 what little influence the association exercised. Two principal 
 questions were debated : first, ought the working classes to 
 take part in political contests, or to abstain and silently 
 prepare the way for the social revolution ? It was decided, 
 as had been done before, that they ought to engage in politics, 
 and, if need be, unite with the middle classes to obtain any 
 reforms useful to the workers. Secondly, it was resolved that 
 working men ought to associate everywhere in trade corpora- 
 tions, which should form national federations, these federa- 
 tions themselves uniting so as to keep up a universal league 
 in each trade. It would be the part of this league to give 
 constant information as to the state of labour, and to defend 
 the interests of labour in the different countries. This, as may 
 be seen, is the parent idea of the International, reappearing 
 in a specialized form and applied to each trade. This congress 
 was the last organized by the Marxists. Their leader, the 
 author of the famous book. Das Kapital, seems since then 
 to have retired completely from active life, in order to prepare, 
 in his retreat in London, the second volume of his work." * 
 
 The Autonomists convened a general assembly at Brussels 
 on the 7th of November, 1874. From the official report it 
 appears that the assembly was international in name alone. 
 There were only about twenty delegates, all Belgians, except 
 Gomez for Spain, Switzguebel for the Federation of the Jura, 
 
 * [This had not been published at the time of Marx's death (14th of March, 
 1883) ; but it is believed that he had practically completed the second 
 volume and had commenced the third. These two volumes will, it is said, 
 be brought out by Friedrich Engels. — 7>.]
 
 niE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL, 1 85 
 
 and Eccarius for the Bethnal Green branch in London. The 
 report contains a remarkable address from the " ItaUan Com- 
 mittee for the Social Revolution." This address gives a 
 faithful picture of the peculiar character of the Socialist move- 
 ment in Italy, and it further proves that it is not well to 
 exclude such a movement from common rights, by depriving 
 it of the power of acting openly. The address contains the 
 following extracts : — " The Italian masses, being inclined to 
 conspiracy, accept the International only with great distrust 
 . . . tHis organization in the light of day is absurd. . . . 
 Freedom ofspeech, the right of assembly, liberty of the press, 
 and all the other liberties inscribed on the Italian Statute-book, 
 are so many snares of which our enemies know how to make 
 use. Therefore, from all parts the demand arises for a radical 
 change of system, and already a vast and solid revolutionary 
 Socialist conspiracy is beginning to push its roots down to the 
 lowest stratum of the Italian proletariat. . . . Wholesale sup- 
 pression, decreed by the government, has led us to an abso- 
 lutely secret conspiracy. As this organization is far superior 
 to the former one, we may congratulate ourselves that persecu- 
 tions have put an end to the public International. We shall 
 continue to march along the secret path that we have adopted, 
 as the only one which can lead us to our final goal, the Social 
 revolution." Suppression tried in Germany has had similar 
 results. Socialism, instead of acting openly, has been trans- 
 formed into a conspiracy, the advance of which is equally 
 rapid, as the recent elections have shown, and the danger of 
 which is far more real. Liberty has a double advantage : it 
 soon reveals the impotence and the nothingness of false 
 doctrines ; and, on the other hand, it warns Conservatives to 
 keep on their guard and to introduce reforms demanded by 
 justice and the general weal. 
 
 The eighth congress, which met at Berne, on the 26th 
 October, 1876, was no more International than the j)receding. 
 It was composed almost exclusively of delegates from the 
 Federation of the Jura, to whom were added a Belgian, two 
 Spaniards, two Frenchmen, and some Italians. The reports 
 from the different countries stated that the International saw
 
 1 86 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 its numbers diminishing on all sides. The void was coming. 
 The famous Association was dying. To save it, it was resolved 
 to convoke for next year, at Ghent, a universal congress of 
 Socialism. It was hoped that in this way they might regain 
 lost ground. In the report I find nothing Avorth mentioning 
 except a discussion between the Belgian delegate, Cesar de 
 Paepe, who defended the State, and the Italian delegate, 
 Malatesta, who in the name of the "anarchists" demanded its 
 abolition. It is curious to observe how far the anarchist 
 ideas resemble those of the rigid economists. " Society," says 
 Malatesta, " is not an artificial aggregation brought about by 
 force, or by the contact of individuals by nature mutually re- 
 pellent. It is a living organic body, of which men are the 
 cellules, contributing individually and collectively to the life 
 and growth of the whole. It is regulated by laws which are 
 immanent, necessary, and immutable, as are all natural laws. 
 There is no social pact, but there is certainly a social law. 
 What, then, is the State ? An excrescence " — the economists 
 say a canker — " which lives at the expense of the social body, 
 and which has no other object and no other effect than to 
 organize and keep up the exploitation of the workers. This 
 is our reason for wishing to destroy the State. How, then, 
 
 \ shall society be organized? We cannot know. We utterly 
 
 ' distrust all Utopian solutions. Nor do we want any artificial, 
 fantastic, anti-scientific Socialism, nor any " Sociahsm of the 
 
 , study," and we shall oppose such Socialism as reactionary. 
 
 ■' Our single aim must be to destroy the State. It will then 
 be for the free and fertile action of the natural laws of Society 
 to accomplish the destinies of humanity." This is an ex- 
 pression of the ideas which tend more and more to predominate 
 among Socialists in France, Italy, and Spain. The influence 
 of positivism and Herbert Spencer is manifest. 
 
 Before attending the universal congress at Ghent the 
 Anarchists assembled in Belgium, at Verviers, from the 5th to 
 the 8th of September, 1877. To this assembly, 'which included 
 in all about ten foreign delegates, the pompous name of the 
 " Ninth General Congress of the International Working Men's 
 Association " was given. The questions discussed display a
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 8/ 
 
 curious simplicity. For instance : " In whatever country the 
 Proletariat triumph, it is absolutely necessary to extend this 
 triumph to all other countries." It is not said how. " What 
 are the best means of realizing as quickly as possible revolu- 
 tionary Socialist action ? " They pass to the order of the 
 day. " What are the methods of propaganda for les compagnons 
 d'Egypte 'I " The point remains open. 
 
 At Ghent, on the 9th of September, 1877, the "Universal 
 Socialist Congress " opened. A procession of about four 
 thousand working men marched across the town to the sound 
 of "the Marseillaise," with the red flag borne in the van. 
 The police did not interfere, and the public looked on indiffer- 
 ently. Nobody was alarmed, ^and order was not disturbed 
 for a moment. The sittings were declared public, but nobody 
 attended, not even the working men enrolled in the Inter- 
 national. There were forty-six delegates belonging to different 
 nationalities, but the majority represented only insignificant 
 groups. It was hoped to reconcile the Anarchists and the 
 Authoritarians, but a conflict soon arose on the subject of the 
 State, and of the part to be taken by working men in politics. 
 Liebknecht, deputy of the German Reichstag, and Cesar de 
 Paepe maintained that the functions of the State should be 
 extended ; that it ought to become the proprietor of all the 
 requisites of labour, and that in the meantime it was the 
 working men's interest to take part in political struggles 
 and to obtain successive improvements in their lot. James 
 Guillaume, the founder of the Federation of the Jura, defended 
 the thesis of the Autonomists. Capital and productive wealth 
 ought to belong to societies of working men, that is to say, 
 to trade corporations. This ideal can be attained only by 
 revolution. Working men have nothing to expect from political | 
 parties, even the most radical; they have always deceived thej 
 people and used them to their own advantage. The parlia- 
 mentary system and universal suffrage are a snare and a 
 delusion. As to improvements in detail, they are only a 
 danger. By giving a ce;i-tain amount of satisfaction to the 
 people, they deaden revolutionary sentiments. 
 
 De Paepe, in replying to James Guillaume, reproduced a 

 
 1 88 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 profound thought, admirably expressed by De Tocqueville, in 
 the seventeenth chapter ol C Ancien Regime : " When the people 
 are overwhelmed with misery, they are resigned. It is when 
 they begin to hold up their heads and to look above them, that 
 they are impelled to insurrection." 
 
 When the votes were taken, the Anarchists found themselves 
 in a minority. They then declared that the principles of the 
 two schools were too opposed for common action, and the 
 schism was definitively established. The anarchical principle 
 had accomplished its work of dissolution. The second Inter- 
 national disappeared like that of Marx., The word is still 
 frequently employed to designate certain groups of aggressive 
 Socialism, but there now no longer exists any universal associa- 
 tion to which this name can be apphed. Its ghost, however, 
 survives and continues to act as if it still had some reality. It 
 is true, indeed, that the International was never more than a 
 shade, that is to say, an idea which was unable to take bodily 
 form. 
 
 Let us now sum up this sketch of the rise and fall of the 
 International. As one of its leaders, Eccarius, said, it was 
 born of the union of two tendencies : that of the English trades 
 unions, aiming at an increase of wages by means of combina- 
 tions and strikes, on the practical economic ground, and that 
 of French and German Socialism, looking forward to a radical 
 change of the existing social order. The first of these ten- 
 dencies predominated up to 1869. Since then, and especially 
 after the fall of the Commune, the revolutionary element g'of 
 the upper hand. What made the success of the International'^ 
 so rapid and, in appearance, so alarming, was that it answered 
 to that sentiment of discontent and revolt which has gradually 
 spread among the labouring classes of all countries. The 
 same irritations, the same aspirations everywhere fermenting, 
 it was not difficult to establish among them a bond of union ; 
 but the real power at the disposal of the Association was always 
 insignificant. It never knew, even approximately, the number 
 of its adherents. As M. Fribourg, one of its former members, 
 said, one affiliated oneself to the International "as one takes a 
 glass of wine." From 1866 to 1870^ the greater number of
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 1 89 
 
 Working Men's Societies and of individual Socialists declared 
 their adhesibfi, and tliaT'was all. Thus, as we have seen, 
 Cameron, delegate of the United States at the Congress of 
 Bale, brought the adhesion, in a body, of 800,000 working 
 men, but these adhesions were absolutely platonic. They 
 brought to the Association neither authority nor money. 
 
 It is generally supposed that the International played^ an 
 important part in the strikes which became so numerous for 
 some years. This is a mistake. Very often, no doubt, those 
 on strike belonged nominally to the International. But, in the 
 first place, the leaders of the International looked upon a strike 
 only as a makeshift ; secondly, they feared to advise it, know- 
 ing that a defeat would greatly injure their credit ; and lastly, 
 they were absolutely deficient in resources.* It was not the 
 International which fomented the strikes; it was the strikes 
 that developed the International. 
 
 The causes of the rapid decline of the famous Association 
 are easy to discover, and they are instructive. First of all, as 
 the organizer of strikes, its principal and most practical end, it 
 proved itself timid and impotent. The various bodies of 
 working men were not slow to perceive this, and gave it up. 
 Next, it had taken for motto, " Emancipation of the workers 
 by the workers themselves." It was intended, then, to do 
 without the bourgeois-radicals, " the palaverers," " the adven- 
 turers," who, when the revolution was made, would step into 
 power and leave the working men as they were before. The 
 majority of the delegates were nevertheless bourgeois ; but, in 
 reality, the sentiment of revolt against the aristocratic direction 
 of the more intelligent members always persisted, and it fastened 
 principally on Karl Marx, the true founder of the International, 
 and tlie only political brain that it contained. But to keep in ' 
 existence a vast association embracing very numerous groups 
 
 * Some curious details on this subject may be found in the works of M. 
 Oscar Testut : V Internationale au ban de f Europe and V Internationale 
 (Paris, Lachaud, 1873). On every occasion the general council either 
 avowed that it had no money, or sent altogether insignificant sjms. The 
 poorest F2nglish trades union has a better filled treasury. In every congress, 
 means of collecting the subscriptions, which were only ten centimes a year, 
 were sought in vain.
 
 1 90 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of different nationalities, and influenced sometimes by divergent 
 currents of ideas, to make use of publicity as the sole means 
 of propaganda, and yet to escape the repressive laws of different 
 States, was evidently no easy task. How could it possibly have 
 lasted after the only man capable of directing it had been 
 ostracized ? The cause of the failure was not accidental ; it 
 was part of the very essence of the attempt. The proletariat 
 jwill not follow middle-class radicals, because political liberties, 
 republican institutions, and even universal suffrage, which the 
 latter claim or are ready to decree, do not change the relations 
 of capital and labour. On the other hand, the working man is 
 evidently incapable of directing a revolutionary movement which 
 is to solve the thousand difificulties created by any complete 
 change in the economic order. Revolutionary Socialism thus 
 leads to an insoluble dilemma and to practical impotence, 
 
 A further cause contributed to the rapid fall of the Inter- 
 national, namely, personal jealousies. As in the midst oT^tlie 
 Commune of 187 1, there were divisions of opinion, there were 
 suspicions and hard words, and soon followed final secessions. 
 No authority was set over it ; all understanding became im- 
 possible ; the association fell to pieces in anarchy, and, to use 
 a vulgar but expressive word, in a "mess." There is yet 
 another warning. What ! you want to abolish the State and 
 suppress the industrial head, and you count upon order arising 
 spontaneously from the free action of federal corporations ? 
 But if you, who constitute apparently the pick of the working 
 class, if you were unable to come to a sufficient understanding 
 with each other to keep going a society which demanded from 
 you no sacrifice, and which had only one aim desired by all, 
 "war against accursed capital," how do you suppose that 
 ordinary working men will remain united, when, in their daily 
 life, they shall have to regulate constantly opposed interests, 
 and to take decisions touching each other's remuneration? 
 You were unwilling to submit to a general council which 
 imposed no task upon you ; how, in the workshop, will you 
 obey the orders of your chiefs who will have to determine your 
 duties and direct your labour ? 
 
 The International is dead, not through the severity of the
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. IQI 
 
 laws nor the persecution of rulers, but from anaemia. Never- i^.l. -^3 
 theless, its career, short as it was, has left in the life of to-day 
 traces that will not soon disappear. It has given a formidable 
 impetus to aggressive Socialism, especially in the Latin countries. 
 It has made of the antagonism of employes against employers 
 a chronic evil, by persuading the former that they constitute a 
 class hopelessly destined to misery and want through the unjust 
 privileges of the latter. We shall see this more clearly still by 
 following the development of the International in the different 
 States.* 
 
 * For the historyof the International, the best book, beyond contradiction, 
 is the Emancipationskampf dcs viertm Standes,\>j \<.\xA.o\{ Meyer, a Con- 
 servative Socialist. See also Histoire dii Sbdalisnie, by B. Malon (Veladini, 
 Lugano, 1879). P^or the later developments and present position, in the 
 several European States and in America, of the Socialistic movement to 
 which the International gave rise, see the recent work of Dr. Zacher, 
 Government Assessor in Germany, entitled Die Rothe Internationale (Berlin, 
 18S4).— Jr.]
 
 192 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 
 
 /2, 5.^>? TTZHEN Dante descended through the circles of the 
 V V Inferno and reached the lowest depths of the " city 
 without hope," he found himself face to face with the awful 
 sovereign of the revolted angels : 
 
 " U Imperador del dolorosa regno." 
 
 So, when we penetrate to the lowest stratum of Revolutionary 
 Socialism, we meet Bakunin. It is impossible to go further, 
 for he is the apostle of universal destruction, of absolute An- 
 archism, or, as he himself terras his doctrine, of " iVmorphism." 
 He it was who, borrowing the name and the organization of 
 the International, spread Anarchic Socialism throughout the 
 Latin countries. His were the ideas which, as we have shown, 
 prevailed in the Commune of Paris, and it is his ideas which 
 to-day form the basis of the programmes adopted by the 
 > \\ majority of Socialist Associations in Italy, in Switzerland, in 
 1 ; ' Belgium, in Spain, and even in France. What are these ideas, 
 whence do they come, and who is Bakunin? It is worth 
 knowing, for this is the foe that for many a day existing society 
 will have to combat. 
 
 Proudhon was a brilliant dialectician, but he had clear 
 ideas upon nothing, and consequently he is full of contra- 
 dictions. On the one hand, he abolishes private property and 
 leaves to individuals possession only ; what possession — for 
 life, for periods of years, or revocable at any moment? — he 
 does not say, but in any case the State will be the collective 
 owner, and all the requisites of production will be concentrated 
 in the State. On the other hand, pushing the hostility of
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 1 93 
 
 Economists to State intervention to an extreme, he ends by 
 crying up "anarchy," that is to say, the suppression of the 
 State. He extols individuahsm and Hberty. Order will result, 
 he asserts, from the initiative of individuals freed from the 
 shackles of all kinds which at present impede and crush them. 
 Bakunin reproduces these ideas, but he clothes them in Russian 
 garb. He demands the collective ownership of the soil and 
 orthe instruments of production, but he confers it upon the 
 Commune in like manner as such ownership exists with regard 
 to land in the villages of Great Russia. He desires " anarchy," 
 but with a sort of mystic enthusiasm quite foreign to Proudhon. 
 He dreams of the total destruction of all existing institutions, 
 and the formation of an " amorphous " society ; that is to say, a 
 society without any form, which means, in reality, a return to 
 the savage state. To attain this end, there is wanted a revolu- 
 tion knowing no pity— a revolution which, by fire and sword, 
 will extirpate to the very last traces the old social order. The 
 final aim, then, is Collectivism, or, better still, " Amorphism," 
 and the means of attaining it "pan-destruction." 
 
 It might be supposed that these were the ideas of a raving 
 lunatic, but they are not without precedent in the history of 
 human thought. At certain troublous epochs the souls of 
 thpse who yearn for the ideal bemoan and are indignant at the 
 evils and iniquities that afflict the human race. They catch a 
 glimpse of a better order where justice will reign supreme, but 
 they believe that it can never be attained by slow and successive 
 reforms. They, therefore, look for the destruction of the old 
 order, so that from its ruins the regenerated order may arise. 
 Such was the idea of primitive Christianity. In order that the 
 Kingdom of Heaven might come, this perverse world must 
 perish ; not, it is true, by a political or social revolution, but by 
 a cosmical catastrophe. Everything was to be consumed, not 
 by the torch of the incendiary, as certain Anarchists wish 
 to-day, but by fire from heaven. 
 
 " Dies irae, dies ilia 
 
 Solvet sseclum in favilla." * 
 
 * The idea of palingenesis arose from the problem of evil. The just 
 
 O
 
 194 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The early Christians for a long time expected the " pan- 
 destruction " and the coming of the Kingdom. Buf as the 
 
 suffer, the wicked triumph, the world is full of strife : whence does this 
 arise if God is good and just? The question is profoundly treated in the 
 splendid poem of Job, as M. Renan has so well pointed out. The never- 
 ending controversy between optimism and pessimism was taken up by 
 Voltaire and Rousseau, with reference to the famous poem on the earth- 
 quake at Lisbon. The belief that the world, fundamentally bad, mus.t 
 perish in flames, in order to make way for a new heaven and" a" new eartlj, 
 is found in all the old religions. In Mazdeism the successive cycles of the 
 ' development of humanity on earth end in a general conflagration, followed 
 by a universal renewal. In the Wolospa of the Eddas the palingenesis is 
 conceived almost exactly as in our Gospels : — 
 
 {Signs of the Doom.) 
 
 " The sun shall grow black. 
 The earth shall sink into the sea. 
 The bright stars shall vanish from the heavens. 
 
 Smoke and fire shall gush forth. 
 
 The terrible flame shall play against the very sky." 
 
 ( The Sibyl of the zvorld to come.) 
 
 " I can see earth rise a second time, fresh and green out of the sea. 
 The waters are falling, the erne hovering over them. 
 
 The bird that hunts the fish in the mountain streams. 
 The fields unsown shall yield their fruit ; 
 All ills shall be healed at the coming of Balder. 
 
 The Anses shall meet on the Field of Ith, 
 
 And do judgments under the mighty Tree of the world." 
 
 [I have taken this translation of the Sibyl's prophecy from the reconstructed 
 version of the Wolospa in the admirable work of Messrs. Vigfusson and 
 Powell {Corpus Poeticum Boreale, vol. ii. 625). These learned editors 
 think that the lines, "Then there shall come One yet mightier, Though I 
 dare not name him," evidently alluding to the coming of Christ, belong to 
 a separate poem, the shorter Wolospa, which they have also pieced together. 
 — T;-.] In the splendid lines of Virgil's fourth Eclogue are to be found the 
 echo of the aspirations after a new world met with in all antiquity and 
 especially in the Sibylline songs : — 
 
 " Magnus ab integro sgeclorum nascitur ordo. 
 Jam nova progenies cselo demittitur alto. 
 . . . ae toto surget gens aurea mundo. 
 . . . omnis feret omnia tellus." 
 
 Virgil depicts the regeneration of Nature ; the Edda and the Gospel dwell 
 rather on social regeneration and the triumph of Justice. Fourier has also 
 his palingenesis with its anti-lions, its anti-whales, and its ocean of lemon- 
 ade ; but we may prefer the Wolospa and the Gospel. Pierre Leroux, in 
 his book V Ihimaniti, ii. 6, has well pointed out how the ideas of palin- 
 genesis, common to all antiquity, are connected with astrology and with 
 certain theories about cosmical periods.
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 
 
 195 
 
 end of the world did not come, those who persisted in these 
 hopes, the Millenarians, were declared heretics. The Anchor- 
 ites "and the Ascetics, too, fled from a world hopelessly given 
 up to evil Finally, the same thought inspired Rousseau in 
 his famous Essays on Letters, and on the Origin of Inequality. 
 Jean-Jacques was struck with the evils and iniquities of the 
 sqcial order. Civil institutions consecrate inequality and pro- 
 perty, whence spring the servitude and misery of the masses. 
 Science, art, and literature, of which we are so proud, are they 
 not the agents of demoralization ? Civilization is the source 
 of all evils. What is the remedy ? Rousseau sees only one, 
 and that he believes impossible : a return to the primitive state. 
 We must, then, as Voltaire put it, return to the woods and go 
 on all fours. 
 
 The Revolutionists of to-day reproduce the same train of 
 reasoning. Formerly they called for universal suffrage and 
 the republic, as the panacea against the social disorder. These 
 institutions exist in America, together with commercial auto- 
 nomy and complete liberty; nevertheless, the progress of 
 civilization is bringing about the same situation there as in 
 monarchical Europe. The Utopian systems of Robert Owen, 
 Fourier, Cabet, and Louis Blanc have been tried, and have 
 failed. The difficulty of economic reforms has been demon- 
 strated by science and by facts. Must we wait until the 
 gradual development of education and of equality brings about 
 a better situation? But then we shall have to endure, per- 
 haps for some centuries, the hell that at present exists. No, 
 it is too much. Accursed be society ! Down with its institu- 
 tions and its laws ! Let us overthrow all that is, and, according 
 to Rousseau's wish, go back again to the savage state. 
 
 This genesis of the extreme revolutionary idea in the West 
 takes,^m the case of Bakunin, a peculiar tone of exaltation 
 and mysticism that springs, I believe, from the Russian charac- 
 ter. Whether it is the effect of race or of social surroundings, 
 we see social phenomena produced in Russia which would 
 seem impossible with other nations. Thus, as one knows, 
 there is in Russia a considerable sect who, in spite of severe 
 penalties, practise systematically the self-inflicted mutilation of 
 
 h^l 
 
 (l^'^
 
 196 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Origen. I visited at St. Petersburg, near the corn-market, a 
 street almost exclusively inhabited by small bankers belonging 
 to this eccentric sect. The determination, the self-forgetful 
 ness, the audacity of the Nihilists, compared with whose con- 
 spiracies the plots of Carbonarism are merely child's play, are 
 a fact so foreign to our nature that we can hardly understand it. 
 Yet it is with these sentiments, which seem so contrary to nature, 
 that Bakunin has succeeded in inspiring his partisans, as well in 
 western countries as in his native land. Is it not strange that 
 this Muscovite, whose intelligence and learning are by no 
 means remarkable, should have succeeded in originating a 
 movement of ideas which plays so important a role in the 
 march of contemporary events ? Not only is he the father of 
 Nihilism in Russia, but he has been the apostle of International 
 Anarchic Socialism throughout the south of Europe, and it is 
 the substance of his doctrines that we meet in those of the 
 Paris Revolution of the i8th of March. 
 
 Michael Bakunin was born in 18 14, in the government of 
 Twer, near Moscow. His family belongs to the Russian aris- 
 tocracy. One of his uncles had been an ambassador under 
 Catherine II., and he was cousin by marriage of the General 
 Muravieff, whom the Poles call " the hangman of Poland." 
 He studied at the School of Artillery in St. Petersburg, and 
 entered the service as an officer. Quartered with his battery 
 in the Polish provinces, the sight of the regime of absolute 
 repression to which these provinces were subjected filled his 
 heart with the hatred of despotism. He resigned his com- 
 mission and went to reside at Moscow, where he studied 
 (i philosophy with Belinski. Towards 1846 he went to Germany, 
 
 i where Hegelian ideas captivated him, and he threw himself 
 into the extreme left of that school of thought in which a 
 powerful revolutionary leaven was then fermenting. In 1847 
 he went to Paris, where he met George Sand and Proudhon ; 
 but he was soon expelled from France, probably on account of 
 the violence of his speeches. Returning to Germany, he took 
 an active part in the insurrections which at that time burst forth 
 in many places, and in the spring of 1849 he was one of the 
 leaders of the rising at Dresden, when the revolutionary party
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 1 97 
 
 occupied the town for three day's. He was taken prisoner and 
 concTemned to death. This sentehce was commuted for per- 
 petual imprisonment, which he at first underwent in an Austrian 
 fortress, but afterwards, having been claimed by Russia, he was 
 shut up in the fort of Petropavloffski, at St. Petersburg. There 
 he remained for eight years. Imprisonment produced the same 
 effect upon him as upon Blanqui. It transformed in him the 
 revolutionary idea into fanaticism and a kind of religion. He 
 actually compared himself to Prometheus, the Titan benefactor 
 of men, chained to a rock in the Caucasus by the orders of the 
 Tsar of Olympus. He even thought, they say, of making a 
 drama on the subject, and he used sometimes, later on, to chant 
 the plaint of the Ocean Nymphs coming to console the victnn 
 of the vengeance of Zeus. Bakunin, of course, was the modern 
 Prometheus, who brought to men the light of truth. 
 
 Alexander II. commuted the perpetual imprisonment for 
 exile in Siberia, where Bakunin arrived in 1857. He found 
 there, as governor, Muravieff-Amurski, a cousin of the other 
 Muravieff, and consequently his own connection. He thus 
 enjoyed, it appears, exceptional favours and complete liberty. 
 Katkoff, the famous journalist of Moscow, and former friend 
 of Bakunin, has alleged that he has letters of Bakunin which 
 prove that he used to take money from tradesmen on the 
 understanding that he would recommend them to the governor. 
 He obtained leave to visit the whole of Siberia, in order to make 
 known its resources. Having arrived at the port of Nikq- 
 laieffski, he succeeded in getting on board ship, and in 1861 
 reached England, by way of Japan and America. He wrote in 
 the famous newspaper, the Kolokol (the Bell), edited by Herzen 
 and Ogareff. At the time of the Polish insurrection in 1863, 
 he wished to go to Lithuania to raise the peasants there, but 
 he was unable to get further than Malmoe, in Sweden. Soon 
 afterwards, about 1865, we find him in Italy, fomenting and 
 organizing Socialism. He then for some time placed his 
 activity at the service of the International, but he never 
 admitted its expectation of a brighter future from the reform 
 of existing institutions. What he longed for was their 
 destruction.
 
 198 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 At the Congress of the League of Peace and Liberty, which 
 assembled at Berne in 1869, under the presidency of Victor 
 Hugo, Bakunin with some of his friends attempted to carry 
 resolutions in favour of Communism. He obtained only thirty 
 votes against eighty. Indignant at the imbeciUty and cowardice 
 of the bourgeois democrats, he founded a new society which 
 was to carry out his ideas, " the Alliance of the Socialist 
 Democracy." 
 
 One extract from its programme will suffice to enable its 
 tendencies to be understood: "The Alliance declares itself 
 |i atheistic. It desires the final and complete abolition of classes, 
 '■'' and the political^ economical, and social equalization of the two 
 sexes. It wishes that land, instruments of production, and all 
 other capital should become the collective property of society 
 as a whole, and should only be utilized by the workers, that i_s, 
 by agricultural and industrial associations. It recognizes that 
 all political and authoritative States actually existing must dis- 
 appear in the universal union of free associations." 
 
 How to realize this radical change? Evidently by force 
 employed without truce and without mercy. The Bakunists 
 did not disguise the matter at all. One of them, Jaclard, 
 exclaimed in this congress intended to establish universal 
 peace, "You wish to preserve existing institutions in orderjo 
 reform them ? Vain endeavour ! They can only be the instru- 
 ments of tyranny and spoliation. We, we alone are logical ; we 
 wish to destroy everything. We separate ourselves from you, 
 and warn you : War you shall have, and it will be a terrible one. 
 It will array itself against all that exists. Yes, we must away 
 with the bourgeoisie and its institutions. It is only on their 
 smoking ruins that the definitive Republic can be based. It is 
 on the ruins smeared, I will not say with their blood— it is long 
 since they have had any in their veins— but with their accumu- 
 lated filth, that we shall plant the standard of the Social 
 Revolution." 
 
 The Alliance resolved to join the International, but the 
 general council of the latter refused to admit it, on the ground 
 that the Alliance, which also proclaimed itself International, 
 could not, as such, enter into its ranks. The Alliance accord-
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 1 99 
 
 ingly pronounced its dissolution, and its sections were separately 
 admitted into the great association. Settled at Geneva, Bakunin 
 started there the journal Egalitc. By his articles in the F?'ogres 
 of Locle, he induced the Socialists of the Jura to separate them- 
 selves from the radicals of French-speaking Switzerland. He 
 thus" created there the group of " Autonomists," in opposition 
 to the Authoritarians, or followers of Marx. His ideas, brought 
 by members of the International to Spain, spread there with 
 extraordinary rapidity. The " Anarchists " gained ground also 
 among the French Socialists. 
 
 On the 28th of September, 1870, Bakunin organized an insur- 
 rection at Lyons, which failed through an accumulation of folly. 
 He had prepared the decree which was to pronounce the 
 abolition of the State, but, as his opponent Marx said, two 
 companies of bourgeois National Guards were sufficient to send 
 him flying to Geneva. In a pamphlet entitled " Letters to a 
 Frenchman" (September, 1870) he set forth the line of action 
 that he wished to see adopted by the Revolutionists in France, 
 and which the revolution of the i8th of March was in fact about 
 to follow to the letter. The principal points of this programme 
 are the following : — " The insurgent Capital forms itself into a 
 Commune. The federation of the barricades is maintained in 
 permanence. The communal council is formed of delegates, 
 one for each barricade or ward : deputies who are responsible 
 and always revocable. The council chooses from its members 
 separate executive committees for each department of the 
 revolutionary administrative of the Commune." " The Capital 
 declares that, all central government being abolished, it 
 renounces the government of the provinces. It will invite the 
 other communes, both urban and rural, to organize themselves 
 ' revolutionarily,' and to send, to a place to be named, delegates 
 with imperative and revocable mandate, in order to establish 
 the federation of the autonomous communes and to organize 
 the revolutionary force necessary to triumph over the reaction. 
 This organization is not limited to the insurgent country. 
 Other provinces or countries may join in it. The communes 
 which pronounce for the reaction shall be excluded from it." 
 
 Except that he ignored the principle of nationaUties, that
 
 200 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 factor of ethnographical units which, far from being played out, 
 is in full activity to-day, the re'gime here proposed by Bakunin 
 is no other than that which is in full force in Switzerlarid and in 
 the United States. By a singular change, the revolutionaries 
 of to-day desire to push federalism even to the subdivision of 
 a country, the very crime against " France one and indivisible " 
 which sent the Girondists to the guillotine. 
 
 As we have seen, in 1872 Marx caused Bakunin to be 
 expelled from the International. The next year, when the JFede- 
 ration of the Jura had constituted a new universal association, 
 Bakunin retired from militant life and lived near Locarno, in a 
 little villa given to him by his old friend Cafiero. His health 
 was thoroughly shattered. He went to Berne so as to be under 
 ; the care of his friend Vogt, a physician, and on the and of Jul)',, 
 1876, he died there. His writings are neither numerous nor 
 important. The two principal ones are entitled L Empire 
 KnoutO'gertrianique et la Revolution Sociale, and La Theologie 
 politique de Mazzini et V Internationale. Like all apostles, it 
 was by oral propaganda, by the enthusiastic disciples which he 
 made, and by the institutions which he created, that his influence 
 made itself felt. Let us see what were these institutions, and 
 what were the doctrines they were to spread. 
 
 The Alliance of the Socialist Democracy, founded by 
 Bakunin in 1869, was a society half public, like the Interna- 
 tional, and half secret, like Carbonarism. It was composed of 
 three sections. The first was formed by the "International 
 brothers" to the number of one hundred. They were the 
 leaders of the movement ; they were known to each other, but 
 they were not made known to the uninitiated. "Their only 
 country was the universal revolution, their only enemies the 
 reaction." They must accept the programme in all its con- 
 quences, theoretical and practical, unite with intelligence and 
 discretion the most absolute revolutionary passion, and be 
 regular "dare-devils." The second section was composed of 
 the " National brothers," who were appointed by the Interna- 
 tional brothers, whose duty was to prepare the revolution in 
 their respective countries, independently, and who were to be 
 kept in ignorance of the very existence of an International
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 201 
 
 organization. The third section embraced all the simple 
 adherents who enrolled themselves in local Socialist associa- 
 tions, figured in the congresses, and constituted the grand army 
 of the insurrection. 
 
 The Alliance starts from the idea "that revolutions are 
 made HeTtTier by individuals nor by secret societies. They 
 come, as it were, of themselves, produced by the movement of 
 ideas and events. All that a secret society can do is to spread 
 among the masses ideas which may instigate them to revolution, 
 and afterwards^ to constitute a revolutionary directorate, capable 
 of guiding the insurrection when it breaks out. For the inter- 
 national organization of the Revolution, a hundred devoted and 
 closely united men are sufficient." By a flagrant inconsistency, 
 Bakunin, who preached anarchy and who rebelled against Marx 
 and his General Council, because they arrogated to themselves 
 too much authority, here returns to the ideas of Mazzini, and 
 creates a highly centralized organization, on the model of the 
 Society of the Jesuits, having, like it, the hilt of the sword in 
 the hands of one man and the point everywhere. All appoint- 
 ments and all initiatives were to come from the head centre. 
 
 The International aimed at the raising of wages and social 
 reform by means of discussion, propaganda, the press, in a word, 
 by means of publicity. Bakunin, on the contrary, returned to 
 the old methods of conspiracy. This system may succeed in a 
 country despotically governed, where the object is to substitute 
 a better political regime; but in free countries, which, like 
 Switzerland and France, govern themselves and where it only 
 remains to introduce economic reforms, who is to be over- 
 thrown ? Is it those chosen by universal suffrage ? In place 
 of anarchism, then, it is a dictatorship that you are going to 
 establish. You may have discovered the most perfect social 
 system, for example, absolute amorphism and unlimited col- 
 lectivism, yet you would not be able to establish it or make it 
 work, if the masses who are to practise it have not even an 
 idea of it. A dictator, were he all-powerful, would lose his 
 labour. 
 
 The programme of the Alliance is no other than that of 
 Nihilism. " The Association of the International brothers," it
 
 202 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 declares, '' desires a universal revolution, at once social, philo- 
 sophical, economical, and political, in order that the existing 
 order of things — which is founded on property, on exploitation, 
 on the principle of authority, whether religious, metaphysical, 
 doctrinaire after the manner of the bou?'geoisie, or revolutionary 
 after the manner of the Jacobins — may be absolutely over- 
 thrown, so that not one stone of it shall remain upon another, 
 first throughout Europe, and then in the rest of the world. 
 Raising the cry of ' Peace for the workers ! Liberty for the 
 oppressed ! ' and ' Death to tyrants, exploiters, and patrons of all 
 f kinds ! ' we wish to destroy all States and all Churches, with 
 ! all their institutions and laws, religious, political, juridical, finan- 
 j - cial, magisterial, academical, economical, and social, in order 
 I \ that all these millions of poor human beings, who are cheated, 
 enslaved, overworked, and exploited — having been at last 
 delivered from their masters and benefactors, whether official 
 or officious, whether associations or individuals — may hence- 
 forth and for ever breathe in absolute freedom." This is plainly 
 Rousseau's idea, expressed with the emphasis of the Oriental 
 and the violence of the Tartar. Man, especially the worker, 
 is crushed by the immense superstructure of the social edifice 
 which the centuries have piled. up. How to free him? There 
 is only one way : to hurl it all down and level it even with the 
 ground. Everything must be swept away so as to produce 
 "perfect amorphism;" for if one single ancient form be 
 preserved, " it will become the embryo from which all the old 
 social iniquities will spring up again." 
 
 Still, however perfect this amorphism may be, to whatever 
 extreme the work of destruction may be pushed, there will yet 
 remain some men hving and working beside each other. What 
 political tie will unite them ? How will property and the dis- 
 tribution of products be regulated ? In the programme of the 
 Alliance, we can find only vague indications on this head. 
 The ideal of the future is evidently borrowed from what exists 
 in Russia to-day. Land will be the collective property of the 
 Commune, which will distribute it among the inhabitants. 
 Industrial workers will be associated in " artel," that is to say, 
 in co-operative societies. But it is a crime to attempt at pre-
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 203 
 
 sent to forecast the organization of the future. " All reasonings 
 about the future are criminal, because they hinder destruction 
 pure and simple, and fetter the progress of the revolution." 
 
 In his Paroles addressees aux Etudiants, Bakunin, like 
 Rousseau, attacks science and education, and cries up " holy ^ 
 aria"wholesome ignoraiice." The Russian people, he says, are 
 now in the" saiiie "condition as in the days of the Tsar Alexis, 
 father of Peter the Great, when Stenka Razine, the Cossack 
 Chief of the Brigands, placed himself at the head of a formid- 
 able insurrection. The great mass of our young men without 
 any defined position (declasses), who already lead the life of 
 the people, will form a sort of collective and, consequently, 
 invincible Stenka Razine, and will bring about the final 
 emancipation. But they must leave the schools and universi-fj 
 ties and live with the people, in order 16 "promote theirll 
 deliverance. "Give no thought to this useless knowledgeln j 
 the name of which men try to tie your hands." " The brigand 
 is the true hero, the avenger of the people, the irreconcilable 
 enemy of the State, the true revolutionist in action, without 
 phrases or rhetoric borrowed from books." 
 
 It is evident that Bakunin had read Schiller and had some 
 recollection of Karl von Moor. Marx, who used to laugh at 
 his opponent's bombastic rhetoric, remarked that as regards 
 brigands, there were none in Russia — outside the Government 
 at least — except some poor devils who carried on the trade of 
 horse-stealing, to the profit of certain commercial enterprises, 
 which paid, moreover, very good dividends. Nevertheless, it 
 is true that, when the social mechanism drives the masses to 
 despair, brigands multiply and become popular, as has been 
 the case for some time in Sicily and Calabria. But in Russia 
 it is the middle class, and not the people, who feel themselves 
 oppressed ; and it is revolutionists, and not brigands, that the 
 bourgeoisie supply. 
 
 In another fly-sheet, printed at Geneva, in Russian and for 
 Russia, entitled "The Principles of the Revolution," Bakunin 
 indicates the means to be employed for overthrowing every- 
 thing and estabUshing amorphism. "Admitting," he says, "no 
 other activity than that of destruction, we declare that the
 
 204 'rHE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 forms in which that activity should express itself may be 
 widely varied : poison, poignard, running noose. The revolu- 
 tion sanctifies all means without distinction." These means 
 will appear somewhat superannuated to-day, but ten years ago 
 petroleum and dynamite did not yet occupy, in the revolution- 
 ary arsenal, the position now assured to them by their proved 
 efficiency. To attain to " pan-destruction," the first requisite 
 is " a series of outrages and of audacious and even mad enter- 
 prises, striking terror into the powerful and arousing the people, 
 till they believe in the triumph of the Revolution." Does not 
 this infernal programme seem like a hideous dream ? — and yet 
 the various attempts at assassination which take place almost 
 daily in Russia and elsewhere prove that it is being carried out 
 to the letter. It is incomprehensible how this frightful work of 
 \ pan-destruction can inspire persons belonging to the well-to-do 
 : classes with that savage fanaticism which leads them to sacrifice 
 j their own lives in order to kill those whom the Vehmgericht 
 \ condemns to death. In the West, regicides are not wanting, 
 1 and they act under the sway of this same hatred of the social 
 order, but they have no accomplices, and the criminal idea 
 springs from a sort of sickly fermentation in disordered brains : 
 the two regicides of Berlin, the two of Madrid, and the one of 
 Naples all displayed the same characteristics. In Russia the 
 assassins are intelligent, well-informed, determined persons, and 
 they act in obedience to a vast association which is everywhere 
 , present, but which, nevertheless, baffles the most persisten); 
 i' efforts of the police. There must be a force of mystical_exalta- 
 tion in the Russian character 'ivhicli Kas disappeared elsewhere. 
 To find a similar phenomenon, we must go back to the 
 partisans of the " Old Man of the Mountain," in the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 The organization of the party has not remained unknown ; 
 it was formulated by Bakunin in the *' Revolutionary Cate- 
 chism," written in cipher, but read by the public prosecutor at 
 the trial of Netchaieff, on the 8th of July, 187 1. The following 
 are extracts from it : — "The revolutionist is a man under a vow. 
 He ought to have no personal interests, no business, no feelings, 
 no property. He ought to be entirely absorbed in one single
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 205 
 
 interest, one single thought, one single passion — the Revolution. 
 . . . He has only one aim, one science^destruction. For that, 
 and for nothing else, he studies mechanics, physics, chemistry, 
 and sometimes medicine. With the same object, he observes 
 men, characters, the situations and all the conditions of the social 
 order. He despises and detests existing morality. For him, 
 everything is moral that helps on the triumph of the Revo- 
 lution, everything is immoral and criminal that hinders it. 
 Between him and society there is war — war to the death, inces- 
 sant, irreconcilable. He ought to be ready to die, to endure 
 torture, and with his own hands to kill all who place obstacles 
 in the way of the Revolution. So much the worse for him if he 
 has in this world any ties of relationship, of friendship, of love ! 
 He is no true revolutionist if these attachments stay his arm. 
 Nevertheless, he must live in the midst of society, feigning to 
 be what he is not. He must penetrate everywhere, among the 
 upper classes as well as among the middle — into the merchant's 
 shop, into the church, into the Government offices, into the 
 army, into the literary world, into the detective force, and even 
 into the imperial palace. . . . He must prepare a list of those who 
 are condemned to death, and despatch them in the order of 
 their relative misdoings. A new member can only be admitted 
 into "the Association by a unanimous vote, and after his qualities 
 have been proved, not by words merely, but by deeds. Each 
 ' companion ' should have under his control several revolution- 
 ists of the second or third degree, not wholly initiated. He 
 should consider them as part of the revolutionary capital placed 
 at his disposal, and he should expend them economically and so 
 as to abstract the greatest possible profit out of them. . . . The 
 most valuable element are women who are completely initiated, 
 and who accept our whole programme. Without their aid we 
 can effect nothing." 
 
 Bakunin's instructions have been followed out to the letter 
 in this respect, in Russia. As a matter of fact, in all the con- 
 spiracies there we find rich and cultured women, even daughters 
 of State functionaries, of military officers, and of nobles. The 
 secret is so well kept that when the police lay hands on the 
 Nihilists they never succeed in tracking out the main body of 
 
 '' s
 
 206 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the association from the fragment that they seize. The Ni 
 hilists penetrate everywhere : they shrink from no means of 
 executing the sentence of the secret tribunal. When they are 
 shot or hung, they die without repenting, and they defy both 
 judge and executioner. A real dread of them weighs upon the 
 upper ranks of society in Russia, especially since the terrible 
 death of the Emperor Alexander. The life of the present 
 sovereign is in constant danger. It is hard to say which is the 
 more astonishing, the audacity of the Nihilists or the impo- 
 tence of the police. 
 
 The trial of Netchaieff also enables us to learn how the 
 association enlisted its partisans. Netchaieff was Bakunin's 
 lieutenant. Ogarefif had dedicated to him, in Herzen's Kolokol^ 
 a poem entitled "The Student," which has exercised a great 
 influence over the revolutionary youth of Russia. Each of 
 them learned it by heart, and it is the model they endeavour to 
 reahze. In this little poem the student devotes himself to 
 science and to the redemption of the people. He is hunted 
 down by the police of the Tsar and by the hatred of the 
 Boyars. He adopts the poor and nomad life of a vagabond 
 {skitanie), saying to the peasants from morn till eve, " Arise, 
 in union and with courage ! " He was condemned to penal 
 servitude in Siberia, where he died repeating, " The people 
 must win land and liberty : Zemlia e Volyia." This watchword 
 became the title of a newspaper secretly published, up to quite 
 recently, by the Nihihsts. 
 
 In September, 1865, Netchaieff, whom Ogareff's poetry 
 surrounded with the halo of an apostle and a martyr, arrived 
 at Moscow. There he entered into relations with the students 
 at the Academy of Agriculture. He made some recruits and 
 formed a committee, which he called "The Russian Branch of 
 the International Working Men's Association." He gave them 
 some instructions on the organization of the Secret Society. 
 The document was taken and read at the trial. The following 
 is a remarkable extract : — " The organization is founded on 
 confidence towards the individual. No member knows in 
 what degree he stands from the centre. Obedience to the 
 orders of the committee must be absolute, without hesitation
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 20/ 
 
 or demur." Four of the young men initiated received orders 
 to enlist fresh adherents and to form each a small independent 
 section. Among them was a student of the Academy of Agri- 
 culture, named Ivanoff, who was devoting himself to works of 
 charity with the exaltation of a saint. He was much esteemed 
 by his fellow-students and had great influence among them. 
 He had organized aid funds for poor students ; he used to 
 devote all his spare time to teaching the children of the 
 peasants, and he habitually stinted himself in order to give to 
 others. He believed, however, that individual beneficence 
 could only assist a few unfortunates, and that nothing but 
 a social revolution could put an end to the misery that exists. 
 
 Netchaieff and Ivanoff did not long pull together. Netchaieff 
 had some revolutionary proclamations posted up in the cheap 
 boarding-houses that Ivanoff had organized for poor students. 
 These were in consequence shut up, and the managers sent 
 into exile. Ivanoff was much distressed at this, and announced 
 his intention of quitting the Association. Then, in fear lest he 
 should betray the secret, Netchaieff and two other members, 
 Pryoff and Nicolaiefif, though hitherto friends of Ivanoff, enticed 
 him one evening into a quiet garden, under pretext of digging 
 up a secret press, and then they shot him dead with a revolver 
 and threw his body into a pond. 
 
 To take another instance of a similar nature. The Congress 
 of the International, which was going to unite at the Hague in 
 1872, wished, under the inspiration of Marx, to exclude Baku- 
 nin, and in order to convict him of having founded a secret 
 society with statutes contrary to those of the International, 
 a Russian exile, Utin, was commissioned to draw up a report 
 on the Netchaieff affair. Utin, in order to perform his task, 
 took up his abode at Zurich. One evening, as he was walking 
 about near the lake, he was attacked by eight persons who 
 spoke the Slav language. These men, after having, as they 
 believed, beaten him to death, were going to throw him into 
 the water, when he was rescued by the arrival of some students 
 of the University. We may therefore conclude, not only from 
 the statutes of the Alliance, but from its acts, that it does not 
 shrink from the assassination of its members.
 
 208 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 When Alexander II. decreed the aboHtion of serfdom in 
 1861, Bakunin was in hopes that he was going to be the Tsar 
 of the peasants, Zemsky Tsar, a name which he gave him in 
 the Kolokol. Alexander was to break with the traditions of 
 Peter the Great, who had introduced into holy Russia the 
 hateful institutions of the West, and to substitute for them the 
 equal laws of the Slavs. " Unhappily," said he, " Alexander 
 is German, and as such he will never understand the Russia 
 of the peasants, Zemskjmi Rossiu." In a pamphlet entitled 
 Romanoff, Pugatcheff, or Pestel (1862), he says, "Whom shall 
 we follow? Romanoff, that is to say, Alexander II.; Pugatcheff, 
 that is to say, a military chief, such as he who directed the 
 insurrection of the Cossacks against Catherine ; or Pestel, that 
 is to say, a conspirator who would have killed the Emperor ? " 
 Pestel was one of the leaders of the conspiracy against 
 Nicholas I., in 1825. He was arrested and hung. Bakunin 
 explains with savage enthusiasm the programme of Panslavism. 
 "Oh! war against the Germans," he cries, ""is a good work 
 and one indispensable for the Slavs. We must restore liberty 
 to our brothers of Poland, of Lithuania, and of the Ukraine, 
 and march in a body to the deliverance of the Slavs, who groan 
 under the yoke of Teutons and Turks. Alliance with Italy, 
 Hungary, Roumania, and Greece against Prussia, Austria, and 
 Turkey. Realization of the cherished dream of all Slavs : the 
 constitution of the grand free Panslavic Federation." At this 
 time Bakunin was still imbued with the narrow idea of 
 nationalities. It was afterwards that he rose to the higher 
 conception of the suppression of States, to be henceforth re- 
 placed by the amorphism of federal autonomous Communes 
 Still hatred for the Germans was, so to speak, in his blood. 
 It was never extinguished, and, in particular, it disclosed itseTf, 
 bitter and implacable, in the struggle with Marx. It was 
 Bakunin who took the lead in the International from 1870, and 
 when it lost all its influence, through the divisions of parties, it 
 was the Bakunist Alliance that organized in Europe the propa- 
 ganda of revolutionary Sociahsm. 
 
 It is in the two countries where the working classes are best 
 organized for the struggle, England and Germany, that the
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 209 
 
 International has bad least influence. It was founded in 
 tondoirj^TtTricluded in it^ general council some of the leaders 
 of the working men's movement in England ; among others, 
 Odger, Applegarth, Lucraft, and Hales ; many trades unions 
 expressed their sympathy for the Association, and several even 
 joined it. But they did not furnish it with much money, and 
 they have not borrowed from it the revolutionary spirit. This 
 is well shown in a letter of one of the members of the Inter- 
 national, Eugene Dupont, dated the ist of January, 1870. 
 "The initiative of the revolution," he writes, "must come 
 from France, but it is in England that it will be accomplished 
 in the most radical manner. The peasant proprietor has dis- 
 appeared there, and landed property is in the hands of a few 
 persons. Industry is carried on by the concentration of large 
 sums of capital ; it is there that capitalism has developed most 
 largely, and has thus prepared the causes of its own destruction; 
 but it will be foreigners who will have to set the ball rolling. 
 The English have all the material necessary for the social 
 revolution, but they lack the spirit of generalization and revolu- 
 tionary fervour." In a book by Onslow York (Hep worth 
 Dixon), " The Secret History of the International," the con- 
 trast between French and English, as it was manifested in 
 the early congresses of the International, is well brought out. 
 " I want," says the Frenchman, " to lay down true principles / 
 andTo found a society in which justice shall reign." " As for 
 me," says the Englishman, " what I seek is better wages and 
 the Nine Hours' Bill." The Frenchman mutters aside, " What 
 a sorry beast it is, this John Bull ! no ideas, no syntheses, no 
 imagination ! He will never light the torch and lead the 
 world." 
 
 By 1867 the International counted nearly thirty thousand 
 members in England. The general congress of Trades Unions, 
 which assembled at Birmingham, pledged all the English asso- 
 ciations to affiliate themselves to it. One of the resolutions 
 declared "that the extension of the principle of free trade 
 is producing universal competition, in which the principal 
 weapon is the lowering of wages; that defence societies, in 
 order to succeed, ought to have an understanding with those 
 
 p
 
 2IO THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of other countries ; and that the principles of the International 
 will lead to a lasting peace between the nations of the world." 
 
 The principle of collectivism as applied to land, adopted 
 at the Congresses of Brussels (1868) and of Bale (1869), was 
 included in the programme of the advanced party of Land 
 Reform. " Seeing that the monopoly of landed property is the 
 source of all the evils, social, moral, and political, from which 
 society suffers ; and that the only remedy is to restore the 
 land to its legitimate heir : the land shall be held by the State, 
 which shall grant the use of it on conditions to be hereafter 
 determined. The existing proprietors shall receive by way of 
 indemnity Government stocks. The abolition of the standing 
 army, the profits of the national bank, and a direct progiessive 
 tax, replacing all other taxes, shall furnish the necessary 
 resources for this reform." Even in these extreme propositions 
 the juridical spirit of the English is seen. On the Continent, 
 when it is proposed to confiscate property, there is no question 
 of indemnifying proprietors. What ! these bandits, who have 
 been robbing the people for all these ages, are we to pay them 
 more ! They may think themselves lucky if we leave them 
 their skins. In England respect for property survives even at 
 the moment when it is being abolished, and an equitable 
 indemnity is accorded in consols." * 
 
 At the Congress of Bale, Applegarth, president of the 
 General Association of Carpenters, announced that the eight 
 hundred thousand members of the trades unions were all 
 devoted to the International. In 1870 it was affirmed that 
 two hundred and thirty working men's societies, with ninety- 
 five thousand members, were affiliated. But these purely 
 platonic adhesions brought little resources or power to the 
 association. It tried to found sections directly in the manu- 
 facturing towns, and in a congress held with this object at 
 Manchester, in July, 1873, under the presidency of Vickery, 
 the red flag was adopted for the Britannic federation. " The 
 red flag," said the preamble, "is the symbol of blood shed by 
 
 * [The Land Reformers of the present day in England areno longer 
 all distinguished by this respect for property. — See infra, "Socialism in 
 England."— TV, J
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 2 1 1 
 
 the people for liberty. Adopted by Socialists of all countries, 
 it represents the unity and fraternity of the races of men, 
 while the national banners represent hostility and war between 
 the different States." Up to the present John Bull, " this 
 stupid animal," does not seem to have grasped the beauty of 
 this theory of colours. When the red flag appears in meetings 
 and processions in England, it is almost always borne by 
 foreigners. 
 
 After the schism of the Hague, Eccarius and Hales 
 abandoned Marx. The most violent became Bakunists. The 
 great mass of the working men, limiting their views to the 
 present time and to the horizon of their island, remained 
 within the local movement of their trades unions. The 
 International has, however, instilled into them a sympathy for 
 revolutionary agitations abroad, and the idea of collective 
 ownership of the soil at home. It is said that they are now 
 becoming more Socialistic, and that they are rising to " the 
 synthetical idea ; " but it is not easy to measure the strength 
 of this underground evolution. "The Annual of Socialism" 
 {Jahrhich der Soziahoissenschafi), of Dr. Ludwig Richter, in 
 reviewing the progress of Socialism in civilized countries in 
 1879, makes no mention of England, "because there is nothing 
 to^TflXliBqiitTt."* 
 
 Although the International was the outcome of German 
 Socialism, since it was Marx who formulated its principles 
 and created its organization, its influence in Germany has been 
 still less than in England. In speaking in former chapters of 
 Lassalle and Marx, we have sketched the growth of Socialistic 
 ideas in Germany ; we therefore need not recur to it again. 
 The movement was too independent and too powerful to obey 
 the action of an association which had neither its head- 
 quarters nor its roots in the country. Many working men's 
 societies sent to the International good wishes and even 
 adhesions, but they took from it neither their doctrines nor 
 their watchwords, t 
 
 * [An account of existing socialistic movements in England will be 
 found appended to this work. — 7>.] 
 
 t [In a book, Die Rothe Internationale, by Dr. Zacher, Government
 
 212 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The case was otherwise in America. The introduction 
 and the progress of miUtant SociaUsm there were due in great 
 part to' the International. Long previously various systems 
 of social organization had been tried there, some proceeding 
 from Protestant sects, as the Mormons and the Communists 
 of Oneida ; others from French sects of 1848, as the Icarians 
 of Cabet and the Phalansterians of Considerant. But these 
 attempts at reform aimed at giving an example of a more 
 equitable social order, and not at organizing the struggle of 
 labour against capital. This was what the International did. 
 A general federation of working men's societies was formed 
 under the name of the " National Labour Union." It entered 
 into relations with the general council of the International, 
 and sent delegates to its congresses. German emigrants 
 spread the ideas of Lassalle and Marx throughout the States 
 of the Union, and created sections of the International ajt 
 San Francisco, Chicago, and other places. The National 
 Labour Union, in its fifth congress, held at Cincinnati on the 
 15th of April, 1870, resolved to adopt the principles of tKe 
 International J and the American federation of the section 
 of the International, which assembled in congress at Phila- 
 delphia in April, 1874, declared that they accepted the 
 resolutions of the Hague. 
 
 Grievous strikes, the intensity of the industrial crisis, and 
 above all personal disputes among the leaders, led to a rapid 
 
 Assessor in Germany (Berlin, 1884), an account is given of the two con- 
 gresses held by the German Social Democrats since the passing of the 
 Anti-Socialist law. The first was^h^id, at Wyden, near Ossingen, in 
 Switzerland, from the 20th to the 23rd of August, 1880, ancj is remarkable 
 for the definitive schism which then occurred between the radical group, 
 represented by Johann Most and Hasselmann, and the so-called moderate 
 party, headed by Bebel and Liebknecht. The second congress assembled 
 at Copenhagen on the 29th of March, 1883, and was attended by sixty 
 delegates. They congratulated themselves that, in spite of the Excep- 
 tional Law and persecution of all kinds, they could look forward with 
 hope and confidence to the future ; and they passed a resolution to the 
 effect that they had no confidence in the ruling classes, but were convinced 
 that the so-called social reform was only a ruse to divert the working 
 classes from the right course. Dr. Zacher says that the Anti-Socialist 
 legislation has entirely suppressed all overt agitation, and that the secret 
 agitation which has taken us place "can hardly be said to be really more 
 formidable." — TV.]
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 21 3 
 
 decline of the power of the International. The general 
 council, which, in accordance with the decision of the Congress 
 of the Hague, had fixed its seat at New York, exercised no 
 influence there and soon ceased to exist. Nevertheless, the 
 seeds sown by the International grew apace. The struggle 
 of labourers against capitalists is organized everywhere to-day, 
 and the Labour newspapers constantly notify strikes. In the 
 late elections in California a large number of Socialists were 
 returned. Macaulay's famous prophecy of the barbarians that 
 will one day appear in the midst of the American cities does 
 not seem so improbable as it did thirty years ago. The 
 remarkable book, " Progress and Poverty," recently published 
 by Mr. Henry George, at San Francisco, graphically describes 
 the circumstances that are bringing these " barbarians " into 
 existence. 
 
 The only efficacious preservative against revolutionary 
 Socialism is the diffusion of property. A new proof of this 
 is presented by the fact that, in the Scandinavian countries, 
 the International was the less successful in proportion as the 
 agrarian system was the more democratic ; that is to say, not 
 at all in Norway, to a small extent in Sweden, and more in 
 Denmark. The International penetrated into Denmark in 
 the spring of 187 1, a short time after the fall of the Commune. 
 The a^DOStle of the association was Pio, a retired military 
 officer. He found a devoted lieutenant in Paul Geleff, who 
 useid to write in an Ultramontane newspaper, Heiindal. Geleff 
 went through the different towns preaching the " glad tidings," 
 and he succeeded in founding sections in the greater number 
 of them, at Aalborg, Randers, Aarhuus, Skanderborg, Horsens, 
 Odense, and Nakskov. At the beginning of 1872 these sections 
 already counted eight thousand members, of whom five 
 thousand belonged to the capital. Many women joined the 
 movement. Numerous strikes took place from this time forth. 
 Pio and Geleff convoked a great meeting in the open air on 
 the Nordenfeld, but the police prohibited it. They came to 
 blows, and blood was shed. The leaders were arrested and 
 condemned to several years' imprisonment. At the same time, 
 a decree of the Minister of Justice, having in view article
 
 214 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 87 of the Code, interdicted the " International Association 
 of Labourers " in Denmark. The measure proved illusory. 
 The Socialists constituted themselves under the name of the 
 " Democratic Association of Working Men," and found in 
 a cabinet-maker, named Pihl, an energetic and dexterous 
 leader. 
 
 Numerous meetings took place from time to time in the 
 open air after the English fashion. On the 5th of June, 1874, 
 more than fifteen thousand working men belonging to the 
 different sections of the International assembled at Diirgarten, 
 in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Trade banners and twenty- 
 two red flags floated to the wind. Universal suffrage exists 
 in Denmark, but there is only one large town, the capital, and 
 the "peasants, of whom many are proprietors, form in the 
 Chamber the democratic party. They demand the strictest 
 economy and simplicity of manners, and they object to the 
 expenditure made in the towns. They constitute a solid 
 barrier against sudden and violent innovations. The Liberal 
 party has also endeavoured to gain influence with the working 
 men. MM. Rimestod and Sonne have favoured the establish- 
 ment of working men's associations, similar to those founded 
 in Germany, under the inspiration of Schulze-Delitzsch and 
 Max Hirsch. There are already more than a hundred of them 
 scattered throughout the country. The Socialist party was 
 rudely shaken by the dishonesty of its two chiefs, Pio and 
 Geleff", who, under pretext of founding an experimental colony 
 in America, embezzled the funds of the Association. A female 
 writer, Jacquette Liljenkrantz, stands at the head of the 
 labour movement, to which she has devoted her pen, her 
 time, and her resources. In many parts, following the example 
 in Russia, women are beginning to take an active part in 
 Socialist intrigues. 
 
 In Sweden the ground is still less favourable for the de- 
 velopment of Socialism, for eighty-five per cent, of the popula- 
 tion inhabit the country, and the families of the cultivators 
 still manufacture many of the articles which they require, such 
 as utensils, tools, farming implements, cloth, and coarse stuffs. 
 The large system of industry exists only in some districts.
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 2 1 5 
 
 The country is admirably administered ; education reaches all 
 classes, and well-being is real and widely diffused. Sweden 
 and Norway have seemed to me to be the happiest countries 
 in^Europe, and lEe'^bsl worthy of being so. No doubt 
 Socialistic ideas have penetrated there as everywhere else, and 
 from time to time strikes break out, especially among the ' 
 miners ; but the International has been unable to take deep 
 root. Axel Krook, a rival of Schulze-Delitzsch, has brought 
 about the establishment of co-operative societies both of pro- 
 duction and of distribution. 
 
 In Norway the famous association has had still less suc- 
 cess. In September, 1873, Jansen, a working saddler from 
 Copenhagen, went to Christiania to preach Socialism. Nobody 
 would let him a room, not even the innkeepers. At last, in 
 the environs of Tyreholmen, he was able to hold an open-air 
 meeting, at which thirty persons were present. Hagen, a Nor- 
 wegian carpenter, joined him in spreading Socialistic ideas, 
 while basing them on Christianity. Some students followed 
 them, and a society was founded. Nevertheless, these pro- 
 pagandist efforts met with no support. A German Socialist 
 newspaper at Hamburg thus gloomily sums up the results of 
 this campaign : " It becomes more and more evident that 
 Norway is a very ungrateful field for any efforts for the im- 
 provement of the lot of humanity." 
 
 The examples of Switzerland and Belgium prove that ' 
 nothing js more efficacious for attenuating the dangers of \ , 
 Socialism than liberty. It was in these two countries that the '^ \ 
 International used to hold its congresses ; its propaganda was 1; 
 in no way interfered with ; it enjoyed the most absolute liberty 
 of assembly, of the press, of association, and of speech, and 
 yet order was never seriously disturbed. In France, where there 
 was no right of assembly or of association, and where the 
 International was twice prosecuted and finally interdicted, 
 matters ended in the Commune. In Italy, prosecutions, trials, 
 convictions, exceptional measures, have not been wanting, and 
 there have been disturbances, insurrections, and frightful assassi- 
 nations. In Spain, where there has been still more rigorous 
 suppression, the majority of the large towns fell into the hands
 
 2l6 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of the insurgent Cantonalists. In Germany there have been 
 repeated attempts at regicide ; finally, in Russia, where all 
 freedom is suppressed, there have been unheard-of crimes and 
 a situation worse than a revolution, for it is Society itself that 
 is in a state of siege. 
 
 In every country there exist two parties : that which wishes 
 to conserve what is, or even to re-establish what has been ; 
 and that which seeks to reform, and sometimes, in its im- 
 patience, to destroy everything. Just as the motion of the 
 earth is the resultant of centripetal and centrifugal forces, so 
 Society moves on under the combined action of the spirit of 
 conservation and the spirit of reform. Try to suppress them, 
 and you will provoke alternately revolutions and reactions. 
 Give them free play, and progress will be fulfilled by means 
 of a series of compromises and reforms, as in England, Belgium, 
 and Switzerland. 
 
 Switzerland seemed to present a soil admirably prepared for 
 Sociahsm. As early as 1843 Weitling had preached Com- 
 munism there. The refugees of the insurrections of 1848 
 had founded associations there, amongst others those of the 
 " German Brothers " {^Deutsche Briider). The Griitliverein, 
 which had a newspaper, the Griltlianer, and sections in the 
 majority of the cantons, was gained over to the ideas of 
 the Socialist democrats. The Russians Bakunin and Utin, the 
 Italians Rosetti and Ghalino, and agitators banished from all 
 countries, arrived in Switzerland, the only asylum which remained 
 to them on the Continent. Johann Philippe Becker, a friend 
 of Marx, was here the apostle of the International. In 1864 
 he succeeded in founding the first section of the Association, 
 and soon sections were established in the majority of the towns 
 and industrial centres. At one time there were thirty-two in 
 Geneva alone. Becker also published a journal, der Vorhote, 
 and attached to it a central committee whose action was not 
 confined to Switzerland. 
 
 In the French-speaking cantons the sections grouped them- 
 selves under the name of the Federation de la Suisse romattde; 
 but soon the contest between Marx and Bakunin found its 
 echo among them. The sections of the Jura pronounced for
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 21/ 
 
 Bakunin, and the majority of those of Geneva against him. 
 Thus two federations were constituted. The working men's 
 societies of German Switzerland assembled in general congress 
 at Olten in 1873, ^"^ ^"^ Winterthur in 1874. The pro- 
 gramme adopted was very moderate. There was no question 
 of collectivism, but merely of the regulation of labour in the 
 manufactories, and of the means of intellectual and technical 
 culture. The Socialists of the Jura, however, guided by James 
 Guillaume, adopted the extreme ideas of Bakunism. It was 
 in this centre that the Avant-garde was published, a paper which 
 was condemned at Geneva on account of an article on regicide 
 by a refugee named Brousse. For this group, to destroy and 
 to kill appear to be the sole means of improving human affairs. 
 On this point I may quote a curious passage from the number 
 of the Bulletin of the Federation of the Jura, which appeared on 
 the 4th of March, 1876. A group of French refugees resident 
 at New York, calling themselves Authoritarian Revolutionists, 
 demanded, in a manifesto, that in future all reactionaries should 
 be killed without mercy. The Bulletin replied that hatred is 
 a bad counsellor, that the reactionaries were to be counted 
 by millions, and that they consisted not only of magistrates, 
 priests, officials, and proprietors, but also of the great mass 
 of the people, who did not at all understand humanitarian 
 collectivism. Universal suffrage, said the Bulletin, would hardly 
 give us half a million of votes : we should accordingly have 
 to cut the throats of all the rest, which would be impossible. 
 The essential point is to rid ourselves of the leaders : for this 
 a few thousand heads would suffice. 
 
 Violent language of this kind causes little uneasiness in 
 Switzerland. No repression or interference is attempted. New 
 SociaHstic journals and societies come and go. The best of 
 their forces is employed in self-destruction, and the social order 
 seems in no wise imperilled. It is true that society there rests 
 on a very wide and very democratic basis. Not only is there 
 universal suffrage in Switzerland, but there is also direct govern- 
 melTrT)y assembly of the whole people (^Landsgemeinde), as in 
 the primitive cantons, or by the referendum or plebiscite, as 
 in the other cantons. In the revision of the Federal Constitu-
 
 2l8 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tion of 1874 as many as 535,000 electors, or ninety per cent, 
 of the whole number, recorded their votes. The collective 
 property of the Commune is also to be found in existence 
 under the old institution of the Albnends. There is no standing 
 army, hardly any taxation, and few police. The Commune is 
 autonomous, and the Canton is formed by the federation of the 
 Communes. What more could "Anarchism" require? It 
 is true that they have not yet got Bakunin's " Amorphism." * 
 
 The International gained a footing in Belgium in 1865 ; 
 but it was not until December, 1866, that the first section was 
 constituted, at Liege. We see in the report of the delegate, 
 De Paepe, at the Congress of Lausanne, that a very active 
 section had been founded at Brussels, and that the working 
 men's societies of Ghent and Antwerp were connected with 
 it. At the Congress of Brussels in 1868 the delegate Frere 
 announced that several very large sections had been formed 
 in the coal-basin of Charleroi, and that at Verviers " the free 
 labourers " had joined and had even started a newspaper, the 
 Mirabeau, which, strange to say, still exists. At Bruges a 
 section was formed with a journal called the Vooruii, and soon 
 afterwards there appeared at Antwerp the Werkei; which exer- 
 cised a great influence over the working men in the Flemish 
 towns. In December all the sections formed a federation. 
 A general council of sixteen members was chosen and a journal 
 started, the Internationale. The sections were grouped accord- 
 ing to the coal-basins, and were all to send delegates to the 
 general congress held every year. It was almost a reproduc- 
 tion of the parent association. The strikes and conflicts which 
 resulted therefrom, in the neighbourhood of Charleroi and 
 
 * [In Switzerland, according to Dr. Zacher {Die rothc Internationale), 
 the entire body of Socialists of all shades, in 1880, hardly numbered 15,000 
 out of a population of three millions. They have been unable to organize their 
 forces owing to internal dissensions between the various sections, the split 
 between the Most-Hasselmann and Bebel-Liebknecht groups of Germany 
 finding its counterpart in Switzerland. In September, 1S83, a congress 
 (Allgemein Schweizerischer Arbeitertag) was held at Zurich, at which 176 
 delegates were present, and an executive committee was formed with the 
 object of uniting the several groups, viz. the Griitlianer, the Gewerkschaftler, 
 the German Working Men's Unions (Deutsche Arbeitervereine), the Swiss 
 Social Democrats, and the German Social Democrats. By the middle of 
 November, 1883, it had, however, enrolled only 36S0 members. — Tr.]^
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 2ig 
 
 Seraing, attracted a great deal of attention to the International. 
 The leaders, however, were unwilling to encourage strikes, for 
 fear they should fail. Thus, at the second National Congress 
 of Antwerp, which sat from the ist to the 15th of August, 1873, 
 it was resolved that the federations should make every prepara- 
 tion for the universal strike, but that it was necessary to give 
 up entirely partial strikes, except " in a case of legitimate 
 defence." 
 
 At the time of its greatest diffusion the International 
 counted eight federations : those, namely, of Brussels, Ghent, 
 Antwerp, Liege, the Vesdre, the Borinage, the Centre, and 
 Charleroi. As to the number of members, it has been variously 
 estimated from one to two hundred thousand ; but as member- 
 ship is acquired by a purely platonic adhesion, exact statistics 
 are impossible. However, the organization has been more 
 complete here than anywhere else. After the schism of the 
 Hague, the Belgian Internationalists pronounced against the 
 exclusion of Bakunin, without however adhering to his doctrines. 
 Since the Universal Association has ceased to operate, the 
 Belgian Socialists have attempted to reconstitute it on a national 
 basis. Two tendencies exist : some, like the German Socialists, 
 wish to obtain power by means of the elections, and they call 
 for universal suffrage and common action with the bourgeois 
 radicals ; others, represented by the newspaper Ze Mirabeau, 
 assert, like the Nihilists, that it is necessary to begin by de- 
 stroying everything. " Whoever," says this journal, " has not 
 borne the rags of wretchedness cannot desire the true revolu- 
 tion. The labourer alone can bring it about. All weapons 
 are employed against him ; be it so : an eye for an eye and a 
 tooth for a tooth. Let us put in operation fire, sword, poison, 
 and petroleum. Let us make a tabula rasa. Let us level to 
 the ground this rotten society based on our misery and oiir 
 ignorance. As conquerors, we shall build up a new society 
 founded on labour and justice." 
 
 Prosecutions on account of these appeals to violence having 
 only given them a notoriety that they would not otherwise have 
 possessed, all interference with them has ceased. During the 
 past few years Socialism does not appear to have gained \\
 
 220 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ground. Nevertheless, Belgium presents conditions excep- 
 tionally favourable to its development. The number of 
 working men is very considerable, and as the population is the 
 most dense in Europe, wages are lower than in the other 
 western countries. 
 
 The International did not penetrate into Holland until 
 towards 1869. A section was constituted at Amsterdam with 
 a paper, De Standaart des Folks. It soon began to radiate and 
 to found other sections in the principal towns — at Arnhem, 
 Utrecht, Haarlem, Leeuwaarden, and Rotterdam. A general 
 association, Hei Nederlandsch Werklieden-Verbond, was estab- 
 lished with the intention of grouping all the working men's 
 societies of the country. But the local spirit of individuality, 
 which is very pronounced in Holland, put numerous obstacles 
 in the way. After the first period of expansion and enthusiasm, 
 the International, even before its disappearance, lost a portion 
 of its conquests. The Socialistic movement is still, however, 
 represented by a few groups and by the newspapers Oost en 
 West and Recht voor alien. Here, too, complete liberty has 
 prevented any explosion. 
 
 Socialism percolated from Germany into Austria as early as 
 1866. The International endeavoured to organize it as early 
 as 1868, principally by means of the apostolate of Bernar3t 
 Becker. In order to demand universal suifrage, it instigated, 
 on several occasions, meetings at which thousands of working 
 men were present. Its organ was the Arheiter Blatt. In 
 January, 1869, the number of members was at least twenty 
 thousand, of whom Vienna supplied ten thousand. In February 
 of this same year the great association of Tehee working men 
 joined it and extended its ramifications to Prague. In February 
 the SociaUsts convoked a great gathering in which about thirty 
 thousand persons took part. On the 13th of December, the day 
 of the opening of Parliament, more than a hundred thousand 
 working men congregated in front of the palace where the Parlia- 
 ment met, and eleven delegates were admitted to present a peti- 
 tion to the president of the council. Count Taafe. This caused 
 alarm. Prosecutions were ordered and some sentences pro- 
 nounced. The police left the Socialist journals and associations
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 221 
 
 no longer in peace. The two leading papers, Gleichheit and 
 Volkswille, after having been frequently seized and suspended, 
 at last ceased to appear. 
 
 In Hungary, where there is greater liberty, a propagandist 
 committee was formed, and a newspaper, the Allgemeine Arbeiter 
 Zeitung, was published in German and in Magyar. In June, 
 187 1, a great demonstration was held in honour of the 
 Commune. The workmen, leaving work, marched through the 
 streets of Pesth bearing crape and black flags. Prosecutions 
 for high treason followed, and the ringleader, Sigmund Polliker, 
 was condemned to six months' imprisonment. Nevertheless, 
 Socialistic propaganda penetrated into all the towns of the 
 empire, and, what is very unusual, at one time it seemed to 
 make head even in the rural districts. Socialist societies of 
 peasants were formed in the villages of Carinthia under the 
 name of Freie Bauernvereine ; they had an organ, der 
 Bauernwille, edited by Karl Achar, a farmer's son ; but the 
 animosities and reciprocal accusations of the two principal 
 leaders, Oberwinder and Scheu, checked their progress. The 
 ideas spread by the International have still a considerable 
 number of partisans among the working men of the different 
 provinces of Austria-Hungary, but their attitude has latterly 
 become less revolutionary. The conflict of races, always so 
 fierce, effects a diversion. 
 
 What is called the labour movement is very active in Italy. 
 When I visited the country in 1879 I found in the towns a 
 great number of working men's societies : people's banks, 
 under the direction of the well-known Deputy Luzzatti, the 
 " Italian Schulze-Delitzsch ; " aid societies, often under the 
 patronage of a great name, such as Pepoli at Bologna, and 
 Teano at Rome ; co-operative societies ; societies for the 
 study of social subjects; trades unions, to say nothing of repub- 
 lican circles, secret societies, and the famous Cinvii Barsanti* 
 
 * In 1874 a riot took place in the barracks of Pavia, and Sergeant 
 Barsanti, considered as the leader of the affair, was shot. It was 
 asserted that he had nothing to do with it, seeing that he was absent from 
 the barracks ; and in order to rehabilitr.te his memory, the revolutionists 
 created associations bearing his name — Circoli Barsanti. Their aim was 
 to attract soldiers and non-commissioned officers, in order to enrol them in 
 their party.
 
 222 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Socialism is invading the country parts ; an exceptional thirig 
 in Europe, save perhaps in Spain. The peasantry are reduced 
 to extreme poverty through excessive rent and taxes. Wages 
 are entirely insufficient. The agricultural labourers live crowded 
 together in straggling villages, and obtain only an intermittent 
 employment. Thus a rural proletariat is formed, more 
 miserable even than that of the industrial centres. Shut out 
 from ownership by the latifimdia, they become the enemies 
 of a social order which is crushing them. Elsewhere, and 
 notably in France, in agricultural gatherings, in assemblies and 
 in the army, the country folk are the mainstay of the existing 
 regime. In Italy a serious danger will arise when revolutionary 
 ideas shall have been carried into the army by the sons of the 
 peasantry. 
 
 Some recent trials show clearly the two aspects of Socialism 
 in Italy, namely, the rural Socialism produced by po^'erty, and 
 the cosmopolitan Socialism of Nihilism. The first occurrence 
 was as follows: At the beginning of April, 1877, some thirty 
 persons, who came nobody knows whence, used to meet every 
 evening in a house which they had hired at San Lupo, a village 
 in the province of Benevento. On the night of the 6th of April 
 the carabineers who were watching the house are fired at, and 
 two of them fall, severely wounded. After this exploit the band 
 advance towards the neighbouring village of Letino, with a red 
 and black flag at their head. They take possession of the 
 town-hall. The councillors demand their discharge ; it is given 
 to them in these terms : "We, the undersigned, hereby declare 
 that we have seized the municipality of Letino by armed force 
 in the name of the social revolution." Then follow the 
 signatures. They carry out to the market-place, to the foot of 
 the cross that stands there, the cadastral surveys and civil 
 registers, and set them on fire. The peasants quickly crowd 
 around, while one of the insurgents makes a great speech. He 
 explains that the movement is a general one, and that the 
 people are free. The king is fallen and the social republic 
 proclaimed. i^pplause follows. The women demand the 
 immediate partition of the lands. The leaders reply, "You 
 have arms, you are free. Make the partition for yourselves."
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 223 
 
 The cur^, Fortini, who was also a municipal councillor, mounts 
 on the pedestal of the cross and says that these men, who are 
 come to establish equality, are the true apostles of the Lord, 
 and that this is the meaning of the Gospel. He then places 
 himself at the head of the band and leads them to the 
 neighbouring village of Gallo, crying, " Long live the Social 
 Revolution." 
 
 The cure of Gallo, Tamburini, comes forward to receive 
 them and presents them to his flock. " Fear nothing," he says, 
 " they are honest folk; there has been a change of government 
 and a burning of the registers." {Buona genie ; non temete. 
 Cambiamento di governo ed incendio di carte.) The crowd 
 appear delighted. The muskets of the national guard are 
 distributed among them. The registers are carried out to the 
 public square and make a great blaze. In the mill the people 
 destroy the hated instrument for calculating the tax to be paid 
 for the grinding. The enthusiasm reaches its height. The 
 vicar embraces the leader, who wears a red belt. The women 
 weep for joy. No more taxes, no more rent; everybody 
 equal ; general emancipation ! But soon they hear that the 
 troops are approaching. The band flies for safety into the 
 forest of Matesa. Unhappily, the elements are less merciful 
 than the peasants. Everything is buried in snow, and the cold 
 is intense. The liberators die of hunger. They are taken, and, 
 in the month of August, 1878, they are brought up at the 
 
 Assizes of Capua. The leaders were Count G , of Imola, 
 
 C , a doctor of law, and M , a chemist. The two cures 
 
 were included among the thirty-seven prisoners. 
 
 The upshot of the adventure was not the least extraordinary 
 part. The counsel for the accused pleaded that the matter was 
 a political offence, and was covered by the amnesty granted by 
 King Humbert on coming to the throne. The jury acquitted 
 them. Meanwhile one of the carabineers had died and the 
 other was crippled for life. Was it not like a page of romance ? 
 It gives food for reflection, however. It proves how readily; 
 the idea of a social revolution, even when presented | '\ 
 under an almost burlesque form, is accepted by the rural 
 populations and their clergy. Small agrarian insurrections, 
 
 i
 
 224 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 causing bloodshed, are constantly breaking out both in the 
 north and in the south. In 1882 that of Calatabiano, in Sicily, 
 threatened to extend. As Marquis Pepoli, speaking of the 
 troubles of Budrio and Molinella, said, it is empty stomachs 
 that revolt. The captain of carabineers who put down these 
 disorders replied to the prefect, " E questmie di fame ; " " It 
 is a question of hunger." It is not uncommon to see muni- 
 cipal authorities favouring these risings. To take one character- 
 istic incident from many others, at San Giovanni-Rotondo, in 
 La Puglia, the mayor used to give Socialistic conferences, and 
 the municipality used to have the reports printed and circulated 
 at its own expense. At San Nicandio and at Lezina the 
 mayors urge the peasants to divide the lands amongst them- 
 selves. When property is the privilege of the few, spoliation 
 becomes the wish of the many. 
 
 Next, with regard to the cosmopolitan and Nihilistic 
 Socialism — a case against an association of Internationalists 
 was recently tried at Florence. The prisoners, to the number 
 of fifteen, were almost all very intelligent working men. They 
 had been enlisted by two ladies, one of whom, Madame 
 Kulischofif, is a Russian, and the other, Madame Pezzi, is an 
 Italian. Madame Kulischoff is very well informed. She 
 speaks several languages, pursues scientific studies, and has 
 been through the course of the university of Pisa. At the 
 court of Assizes she was full of witticisms. When the indict- 
 ment was being distributed, " Quite right," she said ; " hand 
 round the libretto before the performance begins." She boldly 
 proclaimed her Communistic theories on all subjects. Madame 
 Pezzi was at the head of the Florentine section of Lady Inter- 
 nationalists. Natta, the principal prisoner, is a very able 
 engineer. He developed the programme of the Socialist party 
 to which he belongs. He desires anarchy, collectivism, the 
 destruction of the juridical family, and the abohtion of all 
 official religions. It is easy to recognize the teaching of 
 Bakunin. 
 
 In all parts of Italy I was informed that Socialism is gaining 
 over the working men and the youth of the nation. At Naples 
 the students said to me, "The most advanced of us are no 
 
 y
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 225 
 
 longer mere republicans. Of what avail to overthrow a king 
 more devoted to his country than the best president ? Many 
 of us, however, are Socialists." At Bologna, the Prefect, 
 Marquis Gravina, said to me, "I do not think that there are 
 more than five hundred working men regularly affiliated to 
 the International, but almost all of them have adopted its 
 ideas." In the working men's societies visited by me I 
 heard repeatedly, " Those who do nothing live in opulence ; 
 we labour and yet we are in extreme want. That cannot 
 last." 
 
 The first working men's societies in Italy, dating from 1848, 
 were founded under the inspiration of Mazzini. In 1863 they 
 numbered 453 with 111,608 members, and in 1875 more than 
 1000 with about 200,000 associates. A good many of them — 
 over 300 — were federated so as to constitute the " Fraternal 
 Union of Working Men's Societies " {Societa operate italiane 
 affratellate). They have a managing committee sitting at Rome, 
 where a congress is held almost every year. Mazzini, after his 
 secession from the International, became more and more hostile 
 to it in proportion as the influence of Bakunin over it increased. 
 He reproached it, in the first place, for denying the notion of 
 God, the sole basis of right in the name of which the labourers 
 could demand justice ; secondly, for suppressing the Father- 
 land, the essential form of human brotherhood ; and lastly, for 
 abolishing property, the sole incentive to the production of 
 more than men require for their immediate wants, and conse- 
 quently the sole agent of economic progress. He did not 
 reject social reforms. On the contrary, he sought for a system 
 which would ensure the union of capital and labour, and would 
 transform property without abolishing it ; but he had a horror 
 of Communism. He condemned with indignation the Com- 
 mune of Paris, just as, in 1848, he had cursed " the days of 
 June." The Anarchists reproached him bitterly for doing so, 
 and Bakunin undertook to " settle " him in his pamphlet 
 entitled "The Political Theology of Mazzini and the Inter- 
 national." * 
 
 Mazzini was not an Economist. He looked for salvation to 
 
 * Published in 1871, without name of printer or place of publication. 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 the elevating influence of Republican institutions. His disciples 
 have inherited his hatred against the International. Alberto 
 Mario, one of the best known leaders of the Republican party, 
 never misses an opportunity of violently attacking the Inter- 
 nationalists, whom he calls incendiaries and assassins. Gari- 
 baldi was less attached to the Republic, and more inclined 
 towards Socialism, without connecting himself with any 
 particular system. He regretted the fall of the Commune. 
 In a letter published by the Gazettina rosa in 1873, he says, 
 " The defeat of the Commune of Paris is a misfortune for 
 humanity, for it leaves us the burden of a standing army, 
 which every party that wishes to gain the upper hand will 
 make use of ... I say it with pride : I am an Internationalist, 
 and if an association of demons were constituted to fight the 
 priests and despotism, I would enrol myself in its ranks." 
 After the death of Mazzini, Mazzinians and Garibaldians united 
 in order to found a vast association which was to embrace all 
 the democrats of the peninsula. They took the name of / 
 franchi cafoni. Their journal was the Spartacus. This grand 
 project could not be realized, and the cafoni have almost all 
 drifted towards Socialism. 
 
 It was Bakunin who brought the International into Italy. 
 In 1865 he formed there a group of very active Socialists, who 
 published the newspaper Liberia e Giustizia, and formed the 
 Neapolitan section of the International. In 1867 sections 
 were established at Genoa and at Milan. The " sons of 
 labour" at Catania affiliated themselves in 1868. In 1869 a 
 central section was formed at Naples, which addressed an 
 appeal to the other sections to constitute a national federa- 
 tion ; but the police interfered with prosecutions. In 1870 
 and 1 87 1 numerous sections were established in the Romagna, 
 and were federated under the name Fascio Operaio. On the 
 12th of March, 1872, they held a congress at Bologna, at which 
 thirteen towns were represented. On the 6th of August the 
 delegates of the Fascio Operaio assembled again at Rimini, in 
 order to declare, "in the face of the labourers of the whole 
 world," that the Italian federation broke away from the general 
 council of the International. The Italian Socialists separated
 
 BAKUNIN JHE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 22/ 
 
 themselves definitively from Marx, and pronounced in favour of 
 Bakunin, who had been, in fact, their Messiah. 
 
 Even since the International has ceased to exist the name 
 has continued to be given to all Socialistic associations in Italy, 
 and, for that matter, they call themselves " Sections of the Italian 
 Federation of the International Association of Labourers." 
 Their number has not ceased to increase, and they may be 
 said to exist in all the towns. Latterly, in order to escape 
 the severity of the police, they have taken the name of " Circles 
 for Social Studies." From time to time they issue manifestoes, 
 and occasionally they assemble in regional congresses. They 
 carry on an active propaganda. Although the Italian Statute- 
 book did not proclaim liberty of association at the same time 
 as the other essential liberties, the exercise of the right has 
 become customary, and is recognized in practice as guaranteed 
 by the constitution. To attack the associations called inter- 
 national, jurisprudence has been obliged to look upon them 
 as associations of malefactors preparing crimes against common 
 right, such as assassination and robbery. It is on this ground 
 that they have been dissolved and their members prosecuted. 
 In 1874 proceedings were taken to arrest all the provincial 
 commissions, to dissolve by force all the sections, and to 
 sequester their registers and papers. The juries, however, 
 often brought in an acquittal. The prosecutions served only 
 to transform the associations into secret societies — a trans- 
 formation which greatly augments their prestige, their influence, 
 and their popularity, for they thus answer much better to the 
 habits of conspiracy engrained in the people. * 
 
 In a letter written from Locarno, on the 5th of April, 1S72, 
 to Francesco Mora, at Madrid, Bakunin thus described the 
 Socialistic movement in Italy : " You are doubtless aware 
 that the International and our dear Alliance have lately 
 taken a great development in Italy. Hitherto it was not 
 revolutionary instincts that were wanting, but organization 
 
 * For the history of the International in Italy, in addition to the book 
 already cited of Rudolf Meyer, the following may be consulted : — L Inter- 
 nazionale e lo Stato, by Eugenic Forni ; Storia deW Internazionale, by 
 Tullio Martello ; and the Jahrbuch der Soziahtissenschajt of Dr. Ludwig 
 Richter, 1879 and 1880.
 
 228 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 and the revolutionary idea. Both are now estabhshed so 
 thoroughly that, next to Spain, Italy is perhaps the most 
 revolutionary country in the world. There is in Italy what 
 is wanting elsewhere : a youth, ardent, energetic, without 
 career, with no outlet, and which, in spite of their bourgeois 
 origin, are not morally and intellectually worn out as in other 
 countries. To-day they throw themselves headlong into revo- 
 lutionary Socialism with our whole programme, the programme 
 of the Alliance. Mazzini, our ' genial ' and powerful antagonist, 
 is dead, and the Mazzinian party completely disorganized ; 
 while Garibaldi allows himself more and more to be drawn 
 along by this youth of Italy, who bear his name indeed, but who 
 go ahead infinitely faster and further than he." 
 
 As Bakunin says, the elements of revolution exist in Italy ; 
 but what renders a revolution almost impossible there is the 
 want of a revolutionary capital. The Americans were well 
 advised to place the head-quarters of their States in small 
 towns. The French Republicans, with less foresight, have 
 made a great mistake in bringing back the Chambers to Paris. 
 The malaria, which renders Rome uninhabitable during part 
 of the year, will preserve it for some time longer from the 
 danger of becoming the seat of a new Commune. 
 
 Socialist newspapers have swarmed in Italy, thanks to the 
 complete liberty of the press. But they are short-lived, for 
 want of subscribers : they die as soon as they have devoured 
 the small funds provided by some enthusiastic group. La 
 Plebe of Milan is, however, an exception ; it has been in 
 existence for fifteen years. Signor Cusumano, a young and 
 learned professor of the University of Palermo, has made a 
 list of the " red " journals which have come and gone. The 
 total exceeds eighty.* 
 
 I borrow from Rudolf Meyer some extracts from news- 
 papers which show the tendencies of extreme Socialism. In 
 
 * Some of the names of these papers are characteristic : for instance, 
 // Commit7iardo, of Fano ; Satano, VAteo and II Ladro (the Robber), of 
 Livorno ; La Canaglia, of Pavia ; II Lticifero, of Ancona; Spartaco and 
 La Campana, of Naples ; V Egnaglianza and La Giustizia, of Girgenti ; 
 // Petrolio, of Ferrara ; // Povero, of Palermo ; VAnticristo, of Milan ; and 
 // Proletario, of Turin.
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 229 
 
 the first place, war to the whole religious idea : " God," says 
 the Proletario, "is the people's greatest enemy; for He has 
 cursed labour." " No more faith nor obedience to the super- 
 natural," says the Almanaco Republicano ; "it is only on this 
 condition that materialistic democracy will be able to construct 
 a new society." "One's country," says the Campana, "is an 
 empty abstraction, in the name of which kings instigate 
 peoples to cut each other's throats." Speaking of the cosmo- 
 politan idea, the Fiebe is indignant at the Italia irredenta 
 movement : " What ! " it says, " you want to go to war with 
 Austria to take from her a part of Tyrol and Trieste ? nay, 
 look at our terra redenta, our freed territory : people die on 
 it of pellagra and hunger." No more government, no more 
 authority, nothing but anarchy ; such is the final aim. " The 
 new era," says the Campana, "will establish the free expansion 
 of all human aspirations. All authority, human or Divine, must 
 disappear, from God down to the meanest agent of police." 
 
 The following are extracts from socialistic manifestoes. In 
 that of the Internationalists of La Puglia, dated August, 1878, 
 we read: "The end to be attained is to assure to men thai 
 most complete happiness possible, by the full development oif 
 all tEeif faculties. The woman ought to be the companion of 
 the man, not a slave or an instrument of pleasure. Love) 
 ou^ht to be free and relieved from all codes and rituals. Every 
 one ought to receive a complete education, so as to enable 
 him to select the function for which he is suited. The free 
 federation of individuals, of groups, of associations, and of 
 communes, forms the confederacy of the human race. The 
 revolution is not a conspiracy which seeks to change the face 
 of society in a day, but a permanent struggle, material, moral, 
 and intellectual, against the existing organization, in order to 
 put in its place free association." On the 6th of May, 1877, 
 the lady Internationalists of the female sections of the Romagna 
 and of Naples addressed a manifesto to all the working women 
 of the peninsula : " Our wages," they said, " being insufificient, 
 we have to depend on men for subsistence. The emancipation 
 of women is at bottom the emancipation of working men ; both 
 are the victims of capital. ^Existing society says to us, ' Sell
 
 230 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 yourselves or die of starvation.' The society of the future will 
 say to us, * Live, work, love.' " The Circle for Social Studies 
 of Rome published its programme (July, 1878), containing the 
 following principles — (i) Abolition of all privilege j (2) Pro- 
 ductive labour the only legitimate source of wealth ; (3) The 
 instruments of production to be the property of the labourer ; 
 (4) Emancipation and " reintegration of the individual and 
 collective man." In June, 1878, the Internationalist federation 
 of Rimini sent forth a manifesto, saying, " No more privileged 
 property, but collectivism, that is to say, possession in common 
 of land and of all instruments of production ; bread, wealth, 
 education, justice, liberty for all. The land to him who tills 
 it, the machine to him who uses it, and the house to him who 
 inhabits it." Confused amalgam of communism and individual- 
 ism. In a manifesto of the Internationalists of Montenero, 
 Antignani, Ardenza, and San-Jacobo, the theory of anarchism 
 is clearly formulated. " The State is the negation of liberty ; 
 for, no matter who commands, all serve. Authority creates 
 nothing and corrupts everything. Every State, however 
 democratic, is an instrument of despotism. The best govern- 
 i; ment is one which succeeds in rendering itself useless. Merely 
 '1 to change the political regime is of no use. A man has a thorn 
 in his foot ; he thinks to ease himself by changing his boots, 
 but he suffers all the more. It is the thorn he must get rid of 
 The free man in the free commune ; and throughout humanity 
 nothing but federated communes — that is the future." 
 
 Among Italian Socialists, as everywhere in Europe to-day, 
 there are two parties : that of the "Authoritarian Collectivists," 
 who call for State Intervention ; and that of the " Revolutionary 
 Anarchists," who desire the destruction of the State and the 
 abolition of all authority. I borrow from M. B. Malon's 
 " History of Socialism " two extracts which sufficiently describe 
 these two varieties. The following are, in the first place, the 
 principles of the Collectivists, originally pubhshed in the 
 Fovero, and afterwards adopted by the Flebe of Milan (1877). 
 
 ( 1 ) Collective ownership of land and of the means of production ; 
 
 (2) Substitution of a free and equal family for the moral and 
 
 oppressive family in which the wife and children are the 
 slaves of the husband and father ;
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 23 1 
 
 (3) Substitution, for the existing State, of a social organism based on 
 
 the most absolute autonomy of groups and of federal com- 
 munes, with a view to the organization of the public services, 
 the thorough cultivation of the land, the beautifying of the 
 globe, and the happiness of all ; 
 
 (4) Civil, political, and economical equality of all human beings, with- 
 
 out distinction of sex, colour, race, or nationality ; 
 
 (5) Guarantee of individual independence by enabling each producer 
 
 to possess the surplus value obtained by his labour on the 
 raw material worked up by him ; 
 
 (6) The assurance that each member of society shall receive, at the 
 
 collective cost, both a general and a professional education 
 on a level with the sum of the knowledge of his times. 
 
 In the programme of the " Federation of the Marches and 
 of Umbria" may be found an indication of the object aimed at 
 by the Anarchists : — 
 
 " Seeing that the emancipation of the labourer ought to be 
 the work of the labourer himself : that, inasmuch as he does 
 not wish to be led by any superior authority, the labourer is 
 essentially anti-authoritarian and anarchic ; that the emanci- 
 pation of the labourer has for aim equality of rights and duties 
 and the abolition of classes; that this emancipation is impos- 
 sible with the existing organization of the State and of property ; 
 that the destruction of the State, in all its forms, is the grand 
 aim of the social revolution, which strives to transform society 
 on the basis of anarchy and collectivism . . . " — Except 
 for the idea of pan-destruction the rest is very vague. An 
 anarchist, Costa, explains the matter in a letter to the Egaliic 
 of Paris (1878) : "As to doctrines, we may say that we have 
 few of them. We are anarchists, that is all. We wish that 
 every one should have the opportunity of making known his 
 wants aiid the means of satisfying them ; in a word, that every 
 one shoidd be able to do as he likes^ Nothing, in truth, is more 
 desirable than this universal liberty; but how to realize it? 
 Destroy everything — that is the sole practical plan suggested. 
 
 These extracts suffice to show that the programme of 
 militant Socialism in Italy is, at bottom, no other than that 
 of Bakunin. The same is the case in Spain. 
 
 The history of the International in Spain is as tragic as it 
 is instructive. Although there are few working men engaged 
 
 ^^AWUiaeyifvX^i^S^ ^X:if
 
 232 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 in large factories, the Alliance made rapid conquests there. 
 At one time, as the result of successful insurrections, it had 
 several large towns in its hands, but it soon succumbed in the 
 midst of the disorder and anarchy it had created. Up to 
 about 1867, the labour movement, directed by the newspaper 
 the Obrero, was in no way revolutionary; it aimed at the 
 establishment of societies for mutual aid, for savings, and for 
 production. After the overthrow of the throne of Isabella the 
 International sent delegates to Spain, who were well received. 
 On the 2ist of October, 1868, the general council addressed 
 a manifesto to the Spanish working men, urging them to 
 demand social reforms. " Without economic equality," it said, 
 "the political liberty offered you is a snare. Without the 
 overthrow of existing civil institutions, even the republic will 
 profit you nothing. What you must aim at is the social 
 revolution." At the congress of the International, which met 
 at Brussels, a Spanish delegate, Sarro Magallan, of Barcelona, 
 was present. On the 2nd of March, 1867, in this great indus- 
 trial town, the first section was founded, and a newspaper, the 
 Fede?-adoTi, published. Soon a central section was established 
 at Madrid. The principal leaders were Morago and Francesco 
 Mora, who also edited a newspaper. La Solidaridad. The 
 police commenced prosecutions ; but nevertheless, the number 
 of the sections rapidly increased, and at the close of 1869 
 there were 195 of them, with more than twenty thousand 
 members.* Curiously enough, a very active section was 
 established at Palma, in the island of Majorca, with its organ, 
 La 'yusticia Sociale. The agricultural labourers took part in 
 the movement, and formed groups, especially in Andalusia, 
 where the latificndia exclude the cultivators from the posses- 
 sion of the land, and reduce them to an insufficient wage. 
 
 In February, 1872, the minister Sagasta, frightened at Jlie 
 
 * Visiting Spain in 1S69, I was present at several sittings of these 
 Socialistic clubs. They were usually held in churches erected for religious 
 worship. From the pulpit, the orators attacked all that had been previously 
 venerated there : God, religion, the priests, the rich. The speeches were at 
 white heat, but the listeners remained calm. Many women were seated on 
 the floor, working, suckling their babes, and listening attentively, as to a 
 sermon. It was the very picture of '93.
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 233 
 
 rapid j^rogress of the association, sent a circular to the pro- 
 vincial governors, directing them to extirpate it at ail costs, 
 and He even ina'de proposals to Tofetgn governments with a 
 view~fo' organizing a European crusade. The leaders of the 
 International were obliged to seek refuge in Portugal At the 
 same time the split took place in the Socialist camp. The 
 adherents of Bakunin's Alliance wished to obtain the direction 
 of the movement. They established a newspaper at Madrid, 
 El Condenado, the programme of which was summed up in 
 these three words : Atheism, Anarchy, Collectivism. 
 
 After tlie schism of the Hague, between Marx and Bakunin, 
 the great majority of the Spanish Internationalists declared for 
 the latter. A regional congress was convened at Cordova, in 
 DecemGer, 1872. It resulted in the formation of an inde- 
 pendent federation, which issued a manifesto addressed to 
 " its brothers throughout the whole world," invoking their aid. 
 It concluded with these words: — "The Social Liquidation 
 for ever ! Long live the International ! All Hail Solidarity, 
 Anarchy, and Collectivism ! " The partisans of Marx, his 
 son-in-law Lafargue, and Farga, founded the " New Federa- 
 tion of Madrid," to which they endeavoured to rally thei'- 
 troops, who had been thrown into confusion by the anathemas 
 and accusations of the two contesting parties. The Marxists 
 wished, however, to remain on economic ground, while the 
 Bakunists joined the bourgeois radicals for the purpose of over- 
 throwing King Amadeo and establishing a republic. At the 
 time of the repression of the insurrection of 1872, at Madrid, 
 the Emancipacio7i, the organ of the Marxists, thus expressed 
 its opinion: "We know enough of the personnel of the re- 
 publican party to assert that this movement is only one of 
 a series of revolutionary attempts by which the rank and file 
 of the bourgeoisie are seeking to look after their own interests, 
 and which cost the workers so much bloodshed, without 
 enabling them to gain any benefit. We can only repeat to our . 
 friends : The emancipation of the labourers must be the work 1 
 of "the^ labourers themselves. Every revolution conducted by | 
 the bourgeoisie can be useful only to the bourgeoisie.''' These 
 wordslvere not heeded. After the abdication of King Amadeo,
 
 234 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 which took place on the loth of February, 1873, the Anarchist 
 party induced the labourers to enter into an aUiance with the 
 Radicals, in order to prepare for a new revolution. 
 
 The report of the Spanish delegate, Garcia Vinas, to the 
 Congress of Geneva, in September, 1873, informs us of the 
 strength of the International at that time. It counted 270 
 regional federations, comprising 557 trade-sections and 117 
 sections of independent working men, making a total of 674 
 sections with about 300,000 associates. There were several 
 Socialist journals, all of which advocated Bakunin's programme, 
 Anarchy or Communalism, that is to say, the absolute inde- 
 
 : pendence of each commune. Their attacks on religion were 
 of extraordinary violence.* Most of them spoke of rekindling 
 the flames of Paris, as may be seen in the following peroration 
 taken from an article in the Petroleo ; — " And if force prevents 
 
 : us from attaining our object, which is to sit in our turn at the 
 banquet of life, then the avenger, dreaded by the privileged 
 classes. Petroleum, will come to our aid, not merely to accom- 
 plish the work of destruction, but at the same time to perform 
 an act of holy and supreme justice. A levelling even with the 
 ground, if need be by means of axe and fire, this is what the 
 dignity of the proletariat, for so long trampled under foot, 
 imperatively demands." 
 
 In Andalusia, in the Estremadura, and in the province of 
 Badajoz the peasants made a partition of the lands. Canton- 
 aUst insurrections broke out. It was a counterfeit Commune of 
 Paris. On the 13th of February, 1873, thirty thousand working 
 men assembled at Barcelona, proclaimed the Federal Republic, 
 and fixed, by authority, the duration of labour and the rate of 
 wages. On the 8th of March there was a rising at Malaga, the 
 
 * The following is an extract from the journal, Los Deca??iisados : — 
 
 ^ " Deliver us at last from that phantom called God, who is good only for 
 
 "\ frightening little children. Religions are only trades intended to en'alole 
 
 those mountebanks of priests, as Dupuis calls them, to grow fat at the 
 
 ;! people's expense. That is our programme. Moreover, before putting it 
 
 i into execution, there will be needed a good blood-letting, brief but copious. 
 
 The rotten boughs must be lopped off the social tree in order that it may 
 
 develop. Tremble, ye bourgeois who have fattened on our toil ! Give 
 
 place to the shirtless, the decaniisados. Your tyranny is nearly done. Our 
 
 black flag is unfurled, and it will lead us to victory."
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 235 
 
 garrison allowed itself to be disarmed, and the barracks were 
 set on fire. Meanwhile newly installed republicans governed 
 the Spanish Republic. Castelar, Sunar, Pi y Margall, and 
 Salmeron were in power, but they were denounced as traitors. 
 On the 7 th of July there was a general strike in the industrial 
 town of Alcoy. They came to blows. The Alcade and some 
 gendarmes defended themselves for some days in the buildings 
 of the municipality. The insurgents took as hostages some 
 priests and some manufacturers. The Alcade and the gen- 
 darmes were made prisoners and then put to death by the 
 crowd, and six public edifices were burnt to the ground. 
 
 On the 12th of July the great insurrection of Carthagena 
 broke out. The sailors and marines fraternized wnth the 
 Socialists, and the ironclads fell into their hands. General 
 Contreras put himself at their head and bombarded the town 
 of Almeria. He would probably have got possession of the 
 other seaports, had it not been for the intervention of the 
 foreign fleets. By the 20th of July, the Cantonalists, with whom 
 the gendarmerie and the troops had fraternized, were masters 
 of the province of Castellon. A committee of public safety 
 ruled at Seville. The duration of the working day was limited 
 to eight hours. The relations between masters and workmen 
 were"toT5e regulated on the principle of "absolute liberty."^ 
 In order to prepare for the " social Hquidation," all rents were 
 reduced by one-half, the property of the churches was confis- 
 cated, and all pensions were abolished. All closed factories 
 and workshops, as well as all uncultivated lands, were assigned 
 to'ffibse who could turn them to account. At Granada the 
 Cantonahsts resolved that the churches should be sold, that 
 the bells should be melted and the metal made into coins, and 
 that an overwhelming tax should be levied on the rich. At 
 Carmona there was a battle in the streets which lasted the 
 entire day. Cadiz, Murcia, San Fernando, Valencia, and 
 Salamanca also joined the Cantonalist movement. It seemed 
 on the point of being everywhere triumphant; but these 
 revolutionists, who proclaimed anarchy, through anarchy were 
 destined to fall. Amid the general disorganization, the orders 
 of the "leaders were not obeyed. The insurgents had no real
 
 236 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 force at their command. General Pavia had only to collect 
 some faithful troops and lead them to the attack from the 
 outside provinces, in order to gain the submission, in a very 
 short time, of all the insurgent cities. At Seville the Anarchists 
 defended themselves with great determination, and in order to 
 imitate in everything their brothers of Paris, they "fired," by 
 means of petroleum, the buildings which they had to abandon. 
 To regain Carthagena, a very strong place, the naval arsenal of 
 which supplied formidable means of defence, a regular siege, 
 which lasted up to January, 1874, was found necessary. The 
 last episode of the drama, during the same month, was a bloody 
 conflict in the streets of Barcelona, in which the Cantonalists 
 fought with the energy of despair. 
 
 The movement closed, as usual, with an " i8th Brumaire." 
 General Pavia, after subduing the Cantonalists, acted in concert 
 with General Serrano. He sent a note to Salmeron, President 
 of the Cortes, begging him to dissolve the assembly. The 
 deputies appointed Castelar dictator amid transports of inde- 
 scribable enthusiasm, and swore to die in their seats. A com- 
 pany of fusiliers entered the hall ; shots were fired, and the 
 confusion reached its height. Half an hour afterwards, all was 
 over : Serrano was dictator, and soon King Alphonso mounted 
 the throne of his ancestors. This episode is instructive. It 
 shows once more how anarchy leads to a coup d'etat. 
 
 Suppressed for some years in consequence of the bloody 
 executions of 1873, Socialistic propaganda before long recom- 
 menced their subterraneous work, and above all made many 
 recruits in the rural parts of Andalusia, where there are the same 
 agrarian grievances as in Ireland. The recent discovery in 
 February, 1883, of the Secret Society, La Matio Neva ("The 
 Black Hand "), disclosed the aim pursued by the anarchists. 
 Their principles are those of the International, but their means 
 of action are evidently borrowed from Russian Nihilism. The 
 number of members appears to be very considerable in all the 
 towns of Southern Spain. It will be useful to sum up here the 
 details given by the Spanish journals. The principal centres 
 of agitation are Xeres, Grazelema, Ubrique, and Arcos de la 
 Frontera. There have been more than fourteen sentences of
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 237 
 
 death pronounced by the Mano Nera and executed in the same 
 way as the agrarian murders in Ireland. It is asserted that in 
 Andalusia and the neighbouring provinces of Estremadura, 
 Jaen, and Murcia, without counting the rest of Spain, there are 
 130 federations with 340 sections and 42,000 members in the 
 rural parts. 
 
 The organizers of the Black Hand declare in their statutes 
 that the society has for its aim the defence of the poor and 
 oppressed against their robbers and executioners who exploit 
 them and tyrannize over them. " The land," they add, " exists 
 for the common welfare of mankind, all of whom have an equal 
 right to possess it. It was created by the productive activity 
 of the labourers. The existing social organization is absurd 
 and criminal : it is the workers who produce everything and 
 the rich idlers hold them in their clutches. It js impossible, 
 therefore, to feel too profound a hatred against all political 
 parties, for they are all equally contemptible. All property 
 acquired by the labour of another is illegitimate, whether it 
 proceeds from rent or interest, and none is legitimate except 
 that which results from direct personal labour usefully employed. 
 Consequently, the Society declares the rich outside the law of 
 nations, and proclaims that in order to fight them as they 
 deserve all means are good and necessary, not excepting sword 
 or fire or even slander." * 
 
 The association affirms that it acts in concert with all 
 those of similar character established in other countries. The 
 organic statutes are short and categorical. The general sanc- 
 
 * In the fourteenth century SociaHsm in England expressed similar ideas, 
 with the exception of the appeal to force. The following are the words 
 that Froissart puts in the mouth of John Bull, "the mad priest of Kent," 
 speaking in the name of the peasants: — "Good people, things will never 
 go well in England so long as goods be not in common, and so long as 
 there be villains and gentlemen. By what right are they whom we call 
 lords greater folk than we ? Why do they hold us in serfage ? If. we all 
 came of the same father and mother, of Adam and Eve, how can they say 
 or prove that they are better than we, if it be not that they make us gain by 
 our toil what they spend in their pride ? They are clothed in velvet and 
 warm in their furs and ermines, while we are covered with rags. They 
 have wines and spices and fair bread, while we have rye, thin oats, and straw, 
 and water to drink. They have leisure and fine houses ; and we have pain 
 and labour, the rain and the wind in the fields. And yet it is of us and our 
 toil that these men hold their state."
 
 238 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tion of the decisions of the association is the penalty of death. 
 The association is essentially secret. Whoever reveals, throuo-h 
 imprudence or bad faith, any of its acts within his knowledge, 
 is held in suspicion for an unlimited period or put to death, 
 according to the gravity of the matter revealed. Every order 
 given to a member must be performed, and whoever avoids 
 any work entrusted to him is looked upon as a traitor. Every 
 member must regulate his public conduct so as to conceal his 
 relations to the association and his sympathies with it. Every 
 member must undergo a noviciate, he must furnish positive 
 proofs of his sincerity, and it is only after trial that he is 
 allowed to present himself before the initiated of the group of 
 which he is to form a member. All these precautions are 
 taken to avoid treachery. After hearing the new member, the 
 vote is taken. No one is admitted a member except on a 
 unanimous vote. 
 
 The statutes of the "popular" or secret tribunal resemble 
 those of NihiHsm. They commence with the followino- 
 preamble : — 
 
 "Whereas bourgeois governments, by putting the Inter- 
 national beyond the pale of the law, have prevented the peace- 
 able solution of the Social question, it is advisable to establish 
 a secret revolutionary organization. Victory is still far distant. 
 The bourgeois continue to commit their crimes; they must 
 therefore be punished ; and as the confederates are determined 
 to carry out this purpose, they have commissioned a popular 
 tribunal to condemn and chastise the crimes of the bourgeoisie. 
 The members of the revolutionary tribunal must belong to 
 the International, and must be capable of carrying out the duty 
 that they accept. The bourgeois shall be punished by all 
 possible methods, by fire, sword, poison, or in any other way." 
 The ordinary meetings of the tribunal take place on the 
 first of each month. Their object is to receive reports of the 
 reprisals made by the several members against the bourgeoisie, 
 and of the advantages offered by the several modes of execution 
 adopted; to examine what reforms might be usefully introduced 
 into the association, and to give instructions to the members. 
 Every member of a group is bound to submit to it, without delay.
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 239 
 
 his ideas and views on the best methods of incendiarism, assas- 
 sination, poisoning, and in general on every means of injuring the 
 bourgeois. Every member pays a subscription of five centimes 
 a week for the costs of correspondence. Heavy disbursements 
 are recovered by means of an assessment, and in the case 
 of extraordinary expenses recourse is had to the federation 
 Punishment must only be inflicted at the propitious moment, 
 and the member must know how to profit by favourable 
 opportunities. Reprisals ought to be directed against property 
 whenever it is impossible to reach persons. No one is bound 
 to act in case of physical impossibility or personal incapacity ; 
 but whoever accepts a particular duty must accomplish it under 
 penalty of death. Whoever permanently abstains from acting 
 is declared to be " fallen," and is expelled from the Society. 
 He is placed under the strict supervision of the tribunal, and 
 on the first sign of treachery incurs the penalty of death. No 
 consideration of friendship or relationship can stay the putting 
 to death of a traitor. The life of a brother or a father, if it 
 puts a considerable number of persons in danger, must on no 
 account be respected. Whenever the group of one locality 
 cannot execute the sentence of death pronounced against a 
 traitor, the members of other localities are charged with its 
 execution. They surprise their victim and kill him without 
 pity. 
 
 The International penetrated into Portugal about 1872, and 
 since then it has counted there a considerable number of 
 sections and several organs, among others the Jornal do tra- 
 balho, the Tribuna and O Rebate at Lisbon, the Clamor do povo 
 and O Protesto at Oporto. Dr. Anthelo de Quental, revolutionary 
 Socialist candidate of Circle 93, has recently (1880) published 
 a manifesto adopting collectivism. The Portuguese Social- 
 ists assemble in congress every year. Their programme is 
 " anarchism " of a mild kind, without any threats of expropria- 
 tion, massacre, or petroleum. Several causes explain this less 
 aggressive attitude. The Portuguese are less violent than the 
 Spaniards, the economic situation of their country is better, 
 and, finally, a very large measure of liberty has prevented 
 the explosion of rage elsewhere exasperated by repression.
 
 240 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The absolute impotence and sterility of the Communes at 
 Paris and in Spain clearly prove that Socialism, though it may 
 snatch a victory by surprise, is unable to draw profit from its 
 momentary triumph. A political revolution is often an easy 
 matter ; social evolution is inevitable ; but a Socialistic revolu- 
 tion is impossible, for the simple reason that the economic face 
 of society cannot be changed in a day, or by force. Neverthe- 
 less, many governments certainly act exactly as if they \vished«):o 
 provoke a terrible overthrow. In fact, on the one hand, ever- 
 growing military systems and more and more crushing taxes are 
 reducing the people to ruin and driving them to despair ; while, 
 on the other hand, every manifestation of their sufferings. J.nd 
 all their wishes for reform are mercilessly suppressed. 
 
 Socialism, even in a militant form, exists to-day, as we have 
 seen, everywhere ; but while in free countries, such as England, 
 Switzerland, or Belgium, it organizes congresses and banquets, 
 where it speechifies, sings, drinks, and smokes, in States where 
 it is persecuted to the death, as in Russia, it has recourse to the 
 dagger, to incendiarism, to poison, and to dynamite. A govern- 
 ment which refuses to grant liberty has against it all those who 
 claim liberty, from the best citizens to the worst scoundrels. 
 Let it grant liberty, and its only enemies will be those, who 
 deserve the hulks, that is to say, happily still, a very insignifi- 
 cant number. 
 
 Intelligent revolutionists see clearly that coercion gives them 
 weapons. On this subject. Citizen Brousse, author of the article 
 in the Avant-garde, which was condemned at Geneva in 1878, 
 says as follows : — " Our aim being the destruction of the State, 
 we ought not to wish for the Republic which would give to the 
 State a solid foundation, such as it has in Switzerland and in 
 the United States. The form of government most advantageous 
 to us is that which we can most easily destroy, that is, the 
 restoration of the legitimist monarchy. . . . Relying on the 
 results of Sociological science, we maintain that the Conservative 
 Republic, which is about to be established in France on the 
 ruins of radicalism, being the final advance which the State can 
 make, will cement, to the great detriment of the proletariat of 
 Europe an indissoluble alliance between all the elements of the
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NUHLISM. 24 1 
 
 bourgeoisie. The return to the regime of a bygone age would, 
 on the contrary, perpetuate the divisions of the bourgeoisie and 
 their intestine struggles, thus reopening to our profit the era of 
 revolutions." * Nothing could be more true. Socialism, when 
 isolated, is not to be dreaded ; but in the event of a political 
 revolution or a great reverse in a foreign war, the anarchists will 
 be ready once more to profit by the collapse of power. 
 
 If the sovereigns of Europe wish to disarm Socialism, they 
 will not succeed in doing so by exceptional laws, as in Germany, 
 nor by casemates and Siberia, as in Russia. Let them put an 
 end to this detestable antagonism of State against State, which 
 is the curse of our times; let them reduce their armies and 
 diminish their taxes, and then they may fearlessly give complete 
 libe~rlyTo_a happier people. The vision of Utopia will riot dis- 
 . appear, for it is older than Plato, and Society will continue to 
 be transformed as has been the case since prehistoric times ; 
 but the Utopia will no longer be a dream of universal destruc- 
 tion, and the transformations will take place peacefully. 
 
 If, now, we endeavour to reach the sources of Nihilistic 
 Socialism, we shall meet, on the one hand,lhe levelHng philo- 
 sophers of the last century — Jean Jacques Rousseau, MorellX 
 Mably, Brissot, Helvetius; and the Socialists of the present 
 century — Owen, St. Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, Louis Blanc; |i 
 and, on the other hand, the German philosophers, Hegel, W, 
 Feuerbach, and Schopenhauer. Marx and Lassalle, Herzen jH 
 and Bakunin, were at the outset enthusiastic Hegelians. In a lj[ 
 very strange book, which dates from 1845, Der Einzige und sein 
 EigentJium ("The Individual and his Property"), written by Max 
 Stirner, one inay see Hegelianism ending in ' the deification of 
 iLgoism, and absolutely denying everything else. Stirner takes 
 for his epigraph the following verse of one of Goethe's songs : ';' 
 Ich habe ineine Sache auf 7iichts gestellt ("I rest my hopes,: 
 on nothing"). His doctrine is summed up in the following t:^ 
 words of the preface : " My affair is neither the divine nor the | 
 human, neither the true, nor the good, nor liberty, etc., but my 
 own : myself and my interest, nothing more." In th. case of 
 
 * L'Etat a Versailles et dans P Association dcs Travail leins, by Brousse 
 London, 1873, without the name of the publisher. 
 
 R
 
 242 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Herzen we can perceive better than anywhere else the nexus 
 of ideas that leads to Nihilism. Before 1848, after escaping 
 from Russia, he was intoxicated with aspirations after equality. 
 When the revolution of February, which had seemed about to 
 realize his aspirations, also became as bourgeois as that of 1830, 
 he raised a cry of rage against Society in a writing entitled 
 Aprh la tempete. "Perish the old world! Welcome Chaos 
 and Destruction. Give place to the future." * 
 
 In another publication, also dating from the close of 1848, 
 " The Republic One and Indivisible," he shows that the new 
 form of government is " the last dream of the old world," and 
 that it will do nothing towards realizing the grand principle of 
 social justice, namely, that the labourer ought not and cannot 
 work for another. " The end of cannibalism is at hand. \^^hat 
 delays it is that the working man is not conscious of his strength, 
 and the peasant is still more behindhand. But when peasant 
 and working man join hands, then good-bye to your luxury, to 
 your civilization ; then the exploitation of the masses for the 
 profit of the few shall have seen its last days. Already now the 
 exploitation of man by man is drawing to a close, for nobody 
 any longer believes it just." He hoped then that, as in the 
 palingenesis, on the ruins of the condemned social structure a 
 new humanity would arise free and happy. "The spring-time 
 will come. A fresh young life will grow on the tombs of the 
 dead generations, the victims of iniquity. Peoples full of 
 energy, incoherent indeed, but healthy, will arise, and a new 
 volume of the world's history will be opened." Towards the 
 close of his life, Herzen understood that it was not enough to 
 destroy institutions or reduce the monuments of the past to 
 ashes, but that it was men's sentiments that must be changed. 
 In the last letter that he wrote to Bakunin, he disputed the 
 formula which they had both formerly believed true. Die zersto- 
 rende Lust ist eine schaffende Lust ("The spirit of destruction is 
 the spirit of reconstruction"). "We dash forward," he said, " fol- 
 
 * The bitter contrast to be met with in Paris between the expansion of 
 wealth and the sufferings of poverty inspired Hegesippe Moreau, as early 
 as 1833, with a paroxysm of savage hatred, which made him desire to see 
 the great capital given over to the flames. See his poem entitled V Hivcr. 
 (See also an article by M. Mangin, Econ. Fran^ais, 22nd of April, 1882.)
 
 BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 243 
 
 lowing the unknown God of Destruction, and we stumble over it.. i.<=j2. 
 broken treasures, rolling confusedly amid the ashes and ruins 
 of all things. But even when the powder shall have blown up 
 the bourgeois world, after the smoke shall have cleared away 
 and the ashes shall have been removed, the world will appear 
 again, modified perhaps, but still bourgeois. And why ? 
 Because we are not ready ; because neither the constructive 
 mind nor the new organization are sufficiently prepared." 
 
 The character of the Russian Nihilists has been, as we know, 
 depicted in Turgenieff 's novel, " Virgin Soil ; " and afterwards 
 more closely in that of Tchernicheffski, " What's to be done ? " 
 But Russian NihiUsm must not be confounded with our western ^   
 type. M. Arnaudo, in his book on "Nihilism and the Nihilists " 
 (1B81), analyzes very clearly the elements which make up the 
 revolutionary party in Russia. It is at bottom only a bitter and ' 
 desperate protest against despotism, and, if we may beheve the 
 solemn manifesto published by the press of the Narodnaya 
 Volyia, on the 24th of March, after the tragical death of the 
 Emperor Alexander, what the Nihilists demand is the summon- 
 ing of a Constitutional Assembly, to the decisions of which 
 they promise to submit. 
 
 In Western Europe neither revolutions, nor constituent 
 assemblies, nor republics change in the smallest degree the 
 capitalistic organization of Society; it is, therefore, the social 
 order itself that anarchism wishes to annihilate with all its 
 institutions and all its organs. But for that, there is wanted 
 more than the flames of petroleum and the explosions of dyna- 
 mite ; more even than the fire from heaven announced in the 
 Gospels ; it is the heart and mind of man that must be raised. 
 As John Stuart Mill said in his " Chapters on Socialism/' 
 favourable as they are to the claims of the labouring classes, 
 every organization better than that which at present exists 
 supposes, on the part of those who will be charged with putting 
 it into practice, a higher spirit of justice and a better apprecia- 
 tion of their true interests than are commonly to be found 
 to-day.
 
 244 ^-^^ SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 
 
 THE word Collectivism is quite modern, but the idea forms 
 part of every system of Radical Socialism. iBLadical 
 Socialism would either abolish altogether, or restrict witliin 
 narrow limits, the right of hereditary succession, even in the 
 direct line, because its effect is to increase inequality, and to 
 give to the heirs the enjoyment of property which they have 
 not produced themselves — an effect contrary to the principle 
 of distributive justice, which derives property, and consequently 
 the right to its enjoyment, from personal labour. If the right 
 of hereditary succession were abolished or limited, the property 
 thus left without an heir would lapse, as it does at present, to" 
 the State, or through the State to the Commune, and in this 
 way collective property would necessarily arise. 
 
 Collectivism may be conceived more or less completely 
 
 applied, according as the State is endowed with the ownership 
 
 |-' of the soil alone, as is proposed in England in the schemes for 
 
 ''■' " land nationalization ; " or also with the ownership of all fixed 
 
 :., capital ; or even with that of circulating capital as well, in this 
 
 ' case leaving to individuals the power of acquiring objects of 
 
 enjoyment only as the immediate product of labour. 
 
 The St. Simonians went deeper than anybody towards the 
 root of this probTem. Without stopping to trace the plan of 
 any ideal organization, as Fourier, Cabet, or even Louis Blanc 
 did, and without relying on the doctrines of political economy, 
 as Marx and i assalle have since so skilfully done, they at once 
 I \ attacked the principle of hereditary succession, upon which, in 
 ' point of fact, everything depends.
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 245 
 
 What constitutes Collectivism will be better understood if 
 we analyze the system as presented by the writers who have 
 most clearly explained it. M. Louis Blanc, in his book "The 
 Organization of Labour," advocates a kind of collectivist 
 svstem, according to which the State should take possession o{ 
 all the means of production — the land, mmes, factories, etc. — m 
 order to entrust the working of them to associations of labourers. 
 But Louis Blanc's ideal was Communism, with the formula, 
 " To each according to his wants ; from each according to his 
 strength," while the CoUectivists admit that recompense should 
 be proportioned to work done, which is the principle of indi- 
 vidual responsibility. Moreover, Louis Blanc did not attempt 
 to determine what form the society of the future should take. 
 
 In the writings of Colins, a Belgian Socialist, and still more 
 in the developments of his theories by his disciples, Agathon 
 de Potter, Hugentobler, and Borda, Collectivism takes a form 
 easier to grasp, especially in all that concerns agrarian organiza- 
 tion. The following is a summary of their theories, preceded 
 by a short sketch of their master's life. 
 
 Jean-Guillaume-Cesar-Alexandre-Hippolyte Baron de CoHns 
 was born at Brussels on the 24th of December, 1783, and was 
 the son of the Chevalier Colins, of Ham. He was, it is said, 
 descended from Charles the Bold, as St. Simon was from 
 CKarTemagne. He was brought up exclusively by his mother 
 untfr he was seven and a half years old, when his father sent 
 him for education to an old friend of his, a former Jesuit, and 
 vicar at Dison. He was enrolled as a volunteer in the French 
 army at the time when the descent on England was about to 
 take place, and he won all his steps on the field of battle. In 
 1819 he settled at Havana as a doctor. He returned to 
 France immediately after the revolution of 1830. The sight of 
 the tricolour flag recalled to him his youth, and he became 
 associated with the Bonapartist conspiracy. He continued 
 very intimate with Joseph Bonaparte, whom, it appears, he won 
 over to his ideas of reform. In 1833 he took up again his 
 scientific studies, attending courses in Paris in all the faculties, 
 and published in 1835 his first work, entitled Le Fade Social. 
 In it he already formulated Collectivism, and one of the articles
 
 246 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 of his scheme of reform is, " Immovable property belongs 
 to all." 
 
 In 1848 Colins was accused of having participated in the 
 revolution of June, but was pardoned. He died at Paris on 
 the 1 2th of November, 1859, after having published a great 
 number of works and leaving numerous manuscripts afterwards 
 brought out by his disciples.* 
 
 Colins and his disciples attach great importance to their 
 philosophical views, on which they assert their whole system, 
 which they call "Rational Socialism," is founded; but here 
 the want of special study is clearly felt. They admit the im- 
 mortality of our spiritual being, which they call, by a strange 
 abuse of language, "Sensibility," while they deny the existence 
 of a Deity. They are eager to prove that ^our~notions oT 
 morality, justice, and equality of rights are based solely on the 
 permanence of the human personality, but they fail to perceive 
 that the pursuit of a rational order implies an ideal and an 
 origin outside of ourselves. They are, then, at once Spiritualists 
 and Atheists. 
 
 All men, they say, are equal, as being all formed by the 
 union of a " sensibility " to an organism. All men are brothers, 
 as having all the same origin. Man alone, among all animate 
 beings, is responsible for his actions, for he alone is a conscious 
 
 * The following are his principal works : — 
 
 Le Facte Sociale, 2 vols., 8vo, 1835. 
 
 V]i.conomie poUtiqite source des revolutions et des utopies pretendues 
 Sociales, 3 vols., i2mo, 1856-57. 
 
 Qtiest-ce que la science Sociale ? 3 vols., 8vo, 1851-54. 
 
 La Societe nouvelle, sa nScessite, 2 vols., 8vo, 1857, 
 
 La Souverainete, 2 vols., 8vo, 1857-58. 
 
 La Science Sociale, 5 vols., 8vo, 1857. 
 
 La Justice daizs la Science, hors PEglise et hors la Revolution, 5 vols 
 8vo, i86i. ^ 
 
 Colins also wrote in 1848 in certain journals : La Revolution demo- 
 cratique et Sociale, the Tribunal des Feuples, and the Fresse. 
 
 He left numerous manuscripts, the publication of which has been com- 
 menced by his disciples. In this way the Fhilosophie de ravenir, the organ 
 of the Rational Socialists, has published, among other works, the fourth 
 volume of Colins' L'Ecojiomie politique ; two volumes of his Science Sociale 
 the sixth and the eleventh ; different minor works, such as the Cholera 
 moral, Qui done est peuple ? Exavien critique de la decadence de I'Attgle- 
 terre, by Ledru-Rollin, IJimpSt pratique cot?Jirr?iant la theorie, etc., etc. 
 The editors of the Fhilosophie de I'avenir announce that they will publish 
 in succession all the manuscripts left by the master.
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 247 
 
 intelligent and free agent. In opposition to the physical 
 order, where necessity reigns supreme, there is a moral order, 
 an order of justice and freedom. 
 
 As man is a responsible agent, his every action must in- 
 fallibly and inevitably be rewarded or punished according as 
 it does or does not conform to the rules imposed by his con- 
 science ; and this sanction, in order to be inevitable, must take 
 place in a subsequent existence. 
 
 The aggregate of indisputable reasonings constitutes " im- 
 personal reason," which, when looked upon as prescribing 
 a rule of action, may be called "sovereignty." 
 
 From the " immateriality of the sensibility " flow, according 
 to Colins, other consequences touching man's relations to the 
 material world, that is to say, touching his social economy. 
 Man alone, he says, works ; man alone is an agent, properly so 
 called. The material world is the patient on which man acts 
 with the aim of producing something. Originally there existed 
 only man and the earth on which he lived : on the one hand, 
 labour; and on the other, the soil or raw material, without 
 which all labour would be impossible. But from the joint 
 action of these two elements of production there soon came 
 into being wealth of a peculiar kind, in which labour was, as it 
 were, accumulated, which was movable and separate from the 
 soil. This was capital. It assists production and is the hand- 
 maid of labour, but in order to make use of it, a material to 
 which it can be applied is indispensable. From the necessity 
 to which man is subject for a material on which to expend his 
 labour, there results, according to Colins, the following impor- 
 tant consequence : Labour is free when the raw material, the 
 soil, belongs to it ; otherwise it is enslaved. Man therefore 
 can, in fact, only exercise his energy with the permission of the jj 
 owners^of the raw material; and he who requires the authority j 
 of another before he can act is clearly not free. In order, then, { 
 that all the members of the community should become per- 
 manent proprietors of the national soil, the soil must be 
 collectively appropriated. 
 
 The collective appropriation of the soil implies, in the first 
 place, that it should be at the disposal of all who wish to
 
 248 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. ' 
 
 utilize it ; and secondly, that the rent, paid by the tenants 
 to the community, should be expended for the common benefit 
 of all. According to the Belgian Socialist, there are only two 
 entirely distinct methods of holding land : first, that adopted at 
 the present day, in which the soil is given up to individuals, or 
 to certain classes of individuals, and labour is enslaved ; 
 secondly, the system of the future, under which the soil will be 
 collective property, and labour will be free. 
 
 The above relates to the production of wealth. Let us now 
 consider the way in which Rational Socialism regulates its 
 distribution. 
 
 When labour is free — as is necessarily the case when the 
 land is accessible to all — every one can live without being 
 obliged to accept wages from anybody. In that case, a man 
 would work for others only if they offered him, as wages, more 
 than he could gain by working for himself This situation is 
 expressed in economic terms by saying that then wages would 
 tend to a maximum, and when it exists, the distribution of 
 wealth is so affected that the larger share of the product goes 
 to labour and the ' smaller to capital. But when labour is 
 enslaved, the labourers are forced, under pain of starvation, to 
 compete with one another in offering their labour to those who 
 possess land and capital ; and then their wages fall to what is 
 strictly necessary for existence and reproduction ; while if the 
 holders of wealth do not need labour, the unemployed labourers 
 must disappear. Wages, then, tend to a minimum, and the dis- 
 tribution of wealth takes place in such a way that the greater 
 part goes to the landowners and capitalists, and the smaller 
 to the labourers. When labour is free, every man's wealth 
 increases in proportion to the toil he has expended ; but when 
 labour is enslaved, his wealth grows in proportion to the capital 
 h^ has accumulated. 
 
 From these two opposite modes of distribution flow, accord- 
 ing to Colins, the two following consequences, each of which 
 has reference to one or other of the two systems of holding 
 land above described. When land is owned by individuals, 
 the wealth of one class of the community and the poverty of 
 the other increase in parallel lines, and in proportion to the
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 249 
 
 growth of intellectual power ; but when land is collectively 
 appropriated, the wealth of all increases in proportion to the 
 activity of each, and to the advance of civilization. 
 
 Cohns has also developed some original views on the 
 history of communities, which have been reproduced by M. L. 
 de Potter in his Didionnaire Rationnel. 
 
 At the first, the supremacy of brute force is established : 
 the father of the family rules, the strongest of the tribe com- 
 mands. But in a tolerably large community, this kind of 
 supremacy can never long endure, for he who is at one time 
 the strongest cannot always remain such. What does he do, 
 then ? In order to continue master, he converts, as Rousseau 
 says, his strength into a right, and obedience to him into a duty. 
 With this object in view, he asserts that there exisfs" an anthro- 
 pomorphic almighty being, called God ; that God has revealed 
 rules of action, and has appointed him the infallible lawgiver 
 and interpreter of this revelation ; that God has endowed every 
 man with an immortal soul ; and, finally, that man will be 
 rewarded or punished in a future life, according as he has 
 or has not regulated his conduct by the revealed law. 
 
 It is not enough, however, for the legislator to assert these 
 dogmas ; he must further preserve them from examination, and 
 this is done by maintaining ignorance and repressing thought. 
 Theocratic sovereignty, or the divine right of kings, is thus 
 established, and a feudal aristocracy arises. This is the historic 
 period, called by Rational Socialism " the period of social 
 ignorance and of compressibility of examination." 
 
 After a longer or shorter interval, in consequence of the 
 growth of intelligence, the discoveries thereby made, and the 
 increasing facility of communication between nations, it becomes 
 impossible to repress all examination entirely. Then the super- 
 human basis of society is disputed, and its authority falls to 
 the ground. The divine right of kings loses its theocratic mask, 
 and the government is transformed into a mere supremacy of 
 force — that is to say, of the majority of the people. Aristocratic 
 society becomes bourgeois, and enters upon the historic period 
 of " ignorance and incompressibility of examination." 
 
 Society, then, becomes profoundly agitated and disorganized.
 
 250 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The principles which used to insure the obedience of the masses 
 lose their sway. Everything is examined, and scepticism pre- 
 vails. This unfettered examination ends in the denial of all 
 supernatural sanctions, of the personality of the Deity, and of 
 the immortality of the soul (to mention only these points), and 
 leads to the affirmation of materialism. Then, personal interest 
 becomes a stronger force, with an ever-increasing number of 
 individuals than ideas of order and of devotion to principle, 
 and a situation is brought about thus defined by Colins : " An 
 epoch of social ignorance, in which immorality increases in 
 proportion to the growth of intelligence." 
 
 As pauperism simultaneously increases in the same propor- 
 tions, it follows that the bourgeois form of society cannot last. 
 In one way or another it soon falls to pieces, and the supre- 
 macy of divine right is restored, until a new revolution ushers 
 in once more the triumph of the bourgeoisie. Society cannot 
 escape from this vicious circle in which it has revolved from the 
 first, until, as the result of the invention and development of 
 the press, and of the absolute impossibility of restricting the 
 examination of old beliefs consequent thereon, all reversion to 
 the theocratic form of government has become radically im- 
 possible. When that time comes, humanity must either perish 
 
 ; in anarchy, or organize itself conformably to scientific reason. 
 
 '^It is then that humanity will enter on the last period of its 
 historical development, the period of " knowledge," which will 
 endure as long as the human race can exist on the globe. 
 According to Colins, then, a theocratic regime is order founded 
 on despotism, a democratic regime is liberty engendering 
 anarchy, while the rational or " logocratic " regime would 
 secure, at the same time, both liberty and order. 
 
 Hereafter, according to the Belgian Socialist, society will be 
 definitively organized as follows : — All men being by right 
 equal, they ought all to be placed in the same position with 
 regard to labour. Man is free, and his labour should be free 
 also. .To effect this, matter should be subordinated to intelli- 
 gence, labour should own both land and capital, and then wages 
 would be at a maximum. All men are brothers, for they have 
 a common origin ; hence, if any are unable to provide for them-
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 25 I 
 
 selves, society should take care of them. In the intellectual 
 world there should be a social distribution of knowledge to all, 
 and in the material world a social appropriation of the land and 
 of a large portion of the wealth acquired by past generations, 
 and transformed into capital. 
 
 Society should give, at the expense of all, a thorough theore- 
 tical and practical education to the young, who would thus be _ 
 enabled to learn, by means of the physical sciences, how to act   
 upon matter, so as to turn it to the best advantage, and, by , 
 means of the moral sciences, how to behave towards their ; 
 fellow-men. When they leave the establishments of public 1 
 education, on coming of age, the youths should go through a I 
 sort of probation or apprenticeship for active life, by passing a 
 certain period in the service of the State, thus repaying for the 
 protection accorded to them during their minorities. When 
 those of full age enter into society as active members, each of 
 them should receive as a portion a sum of money taken from 
 the State surplus. At this time three different careers would 
 open before the worker : he could either work on his own 
 account, or in association with others, or, if he should wish to 
 avoid all risks, he could hire himself to another worker who 
 would direct the enterprise. If he should choose either of the 
 first two careers, society should give him either land or capital 
 to turn to account. For this purpose, the land would be 
 divided into farms of greater or less dimensions according to 
 the locality, the wants of the inhabitants, and the requirements 
 of agriculture. The farms, with the plant necessary to work 
 them, should be let to the highest bidder, who should be for- 
 bidden to sublet. Society should also lend capital, so as to 
 oblige private capitalists not to exact a higher rate of interest 
 than that fixed by law. 
 
 CoHns further designed certain other measures intended 
 either to assure the predominance of labour over capital — in 
 other words, to raise wages as high as possible — or to stimulate 
 the activity of each individual member of society to the highest 
 degree. Measures of the former kind were, the abolition of 
 perpetual interest, and the substitution of annuities durmg the 
 life of the creditor as a means of repaying debts; the prohibi-
 
 252 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tion of associations of capitalists, those of labourers being alone 
 permitted ; and competition of the community itself with indi- 
 vidual trading. The chief measure of the latter species con- 
 sisted in the limitation of the right of hereditary succession to 
 the direct line (the power of making a will being preserved), the 
 diversion to the public use of all other successions ab intestato, 
 and the imposition of a heavy tax on all testamentary 
 successions. 
 
 By means of all these measures taken together, society 
 would put into practice the principles of liberty, equality, and 
 fraternity, and, at the same time, would render impossible all 
 " exploitation " of labour by private capital. 
 
 The disciples of Colins assert that in such a social system 
 f j! *^^.!'".? jyoul*^. be complete harmony between intelligence and 
 ;! ( property. All would have an inalienable share in the land ; 
 all would at least have the necessaries of life, would enjoy some 
 leisure, and would possess the intellectual and material means 
 of happiness on earth. A society, thus founded on principles 
 unquestionably just, need not fear the freest examination. 
 Being conformable to reason, and guaranteeing to each indi- 
 vidual the maximum of well-being compatible wth his nature, 
 if any of its members should be miserable, he would have but 
 himself to blame. Who, then, would dream of overthrowing a 
 system which would injure nobody and would give satisfaction 
 to all ? 
 
 Although the disciples of Colins have succeeded in giving 
 some precision to the idea of Collectivism, there are many 
 points in their system, and those the most important, which 
 remain obscure. The land and part of the capital are to 
 belong to "the collectivity;" but what part of the capital is 
 to be collective, and what is the collectivity — the Commune, 
 the State, or the human race? The farms in the country 
 districts are to be let for thirty years. Very good ; that would 
 be to apply generally what the State does at present in Prussia, 
 for example, where it possesses numerous domains, which it 
 lets on the best terms in the interest, first, of good husbandr)', 
 and, secondly, of the public treasury. But how are mines, 
 manufactures of all kinds, and railways to be managed?
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 253 
 
 Every individual on attaining majority is to be given a portion 
 to enable him to work independently and exclusively for his 
 own profit ; but will not this portion, paid probably in money, 
 be foolishly spent, to the injury of the young generation and 
 of the whole community? If Collectivism is to be anything 
 more than land nationalization, and if it is to be applied to 
 manufacture, it assumes the success of co-operative societies 
 in winning the business of manufacture from the capitalist 
 regime. But in that case the difficulties already pointed out 
 in analyzing Lassalle's projects of reform will inevitably arise. 
 
 In a charming book, entitled Le Rigne Social da Christian- 
 is?ne, FranQois Huet has expressed ideas very similar to those 
 of the disciples of Colins, but he has borrowed them directly 
 from the lofty moral teaching of Platonism and Christianity. 
 This work, every page of which glows with a burning love of 
 justice, contains a complete theory of society — a sociology 
 based on Christianity, Avhich has not met with the attention 
 it deserves, because it is too full of Christianity for Socialists, 
 and too full of Socialism for Christians. 
 
 Frangois Huet was born in 1 814, at the town of Villeau, 
 in Beauce, and died at Paris in 1869. When a pupil at the 
 Stanislas College he obtained by hard work amid the keenest 
 competition the most unprecedented success. At the age of 
 twenty-two he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the 
 University of Ghent, a post which he retained up to 1850. 
 He was the disciple of a spiritualist philosopher, a man of 
 very vigorous intellect, Bordas-Demoulin, and, through him, 
 of Descartes and Plato. Protesting to the last against Ultra- 
 montanism and its new dogmas, they were the last Gallicans 
 of the school of Pascal and Bossuet. About the year 1846 
 his philosophical studies led Huet to approach social ques- 
 tions, as has been the case with most of the philosophers of 
 our times : for example, Jules Simon, Janet, Caro, in France ; 
 Herbert Spencer in England ; Fichte and the followers of 
 Hegel in Germany ; Rosmini and Mamiani in Italy. At 
 Ghent, Huet collected around him a group of pupils, among 
 whom was the author of this book, and from before 1848 we 
 thoroughly studied, each with his own preferences, the various
 
 254 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 systems of social reform. It was in the discussions which 
 took place among this band of friends, all of them imbued 
 with their master's ideas of equality, that the author formed 
 his convictions on the social question, which have varied 
 little since then, and which contemporary events have served 
 only to confirm. Huet also published, in 1864, La Scietice 
 de r Esprit. He presided over the education of Prince Milan, 
 now King of Servia, and even followed him to Belgrade. 
 Having returned to Paris to undergo treatment for a severe 
 disease, he died from the effects of a surgical operation. His 
 friends have erected a monument to his memory in the cemetery 
 of Mount Parnassus. 
 
 I shall here mention only those views of Huet which 
 relate to social organization. For the basis of his system he 
 takes the principles of 1789, and endeavours to realizein 
 everything the motto, " Liberty, Equality, Fraternify." ""TIis 
 ideas, on this point were, without his knowing it, similar to 
 those of Fichte as contained in the book already mentioned, 
 " Materials for justifying the French Revolution." The 
 following is a summary of them : — Men are by right equal. 
 The^ individual ought to be able freely to develop himself; 
 but property is a necessary condition of liberty. Property 
 is, therefore, a natural right, and as such should belong to 
 everybody. 
 
 "Either words have no meaning, or to place property among natural 
 rights impUes that the original investitive title to the good things of the 
 earth is the quality of humanity ; that the quality of humanity gives rise 
 in itself to an immediate right to a determinate share in these good things ; 
 an original property which would become for everybody the source, the 
 foundation, and the means of obtaining all the rest. This is the direct 
 consequence of the right to live. Is not this right the same for all, and 
 do not all equally need the means of living? Has not everybody, born 
 in the image of God, a right to his original patrimony, to this magnificent 
 present from God ? By reason of his place in the series of the generations 
 of men, has not every man also a right to the capital handed down by his 
 forefathers, the joint acquisition of men ? Nobody ought to live at another's 
 expense. Every man who has not forfeited it has the right to live free. 
 It is his right that his subsistence, his labour, should not be dependent 
 on the good will of others ; and however free he may be in his person, if 
 he does not possess, of natural right, anything in advance, any capital,
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 255 
 
 if he is not a proprietor, by virtue of his being a man and a worker, he 
 can produce, he can live, only by the permission of his fellow-men ; he 
 must fall into a veritable slavery. It has been said, and it cannot be said 
 too often, property is an absolute condition of freedom. Why, then, out 
 of a general right, build up a monstrous privilege ? Why refuse to recog- 
 nize in humanity the first, the most sacred title to the possession of 
 things ? " * 
 
 According to Huet's s}^stem, the natural right to property 
 would be realized in the " right to patrimony," by virtue of 
 which every person in a position to labour would obtain a 
 share in the general wealth. " Every year a division should 
 be made of the patrimonial property left ownerless through 
 deaths. All the young people of either sex, who during 
 this year reach the age of either fourteen or twenty-five years, 
 should obtain a share, the share of each person of full age 
 being double the share of each minor." The right of hereditary 
 succession is abolished, but gifts by will or inter vivos are 
 authorized. Each person, however, can dispose only of pro- 
 perty acquired by his own labour, and not of that received 
 by way of gift or legacy. This goes to increase the common 
 patrimony, " Continuously fed from an inexhaustible source, 
 the general patrimony would be composed, at any given time, 
 of all the ancient patrimonial property and of all the subsequent 
 accumulations of capital ; for as these accumulations could 
 only once change hands by way of gift, at the deaths of the 
 donees they would go to swell the mass of the original 
 patrimony. 
 
 Levelling Socialist as Huet is when he claims for all 
 an equal right of accession to property, he is a thorough indi- 
 vidualist on the question of the organization of labour. He 
 rejects all State intervention ; he does not like even cor- 
 porations holding industrial capital. The individual, put in 
 possession of "his patrimony," may work by himself, or in 
 partnership with others, provided he do so freely, without any 
 privileges or close corporations. 
 
 * In support of his thesis, Huet cites numerous authorities, and amongst 
 others, Chateaubriand. " Wages are only a prolonged slavery " {Ess. Hist, 
 sur la Liti. AngL, t. ii. p. 392). " Without individual property nobody is 
 free. Whoever has no property cannot be independent. Property is 
 nothing else but liberty " {Memoires d' outre-tonibe) .
 
 256 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 In a very simple society, depending principally on agri- 
 culture, it would not be impossible to put in practice "the 
 right to patrimony." In my book La Propriete et ses formes 
 prwiitives* I have shown how this actually takes place in 
 the Russian mir, in the dessa of Java, in the Swiss allmc7id, 
 and in the periodic partition of Communal lands which existed 
 everywhere in the infancy of agriculture ; but how is this system 
 to be applied to our present social state, without the interven- 
 tion of permanent trade corporations or co-operative societies ? 
 This is what neither Huet nor Colins enables us to under- 
 stand. The merit of his book, Le Regjie Social du Christianisme, 
 consists, not in this summary scheme of social reorganization, 
 which I have often discussed with him without his ever being 
 able to formulate it clearly, but in the principles of justice, 
 which he explains in a luminous way, while connecting them 
 closely with the traditions of the Old Testament and the 
 Gospel. 
 
 The system of " Land Nationalization," according to which 
 
 the collective principle is applied only to land, has found a 
 
 certain number of adherents in England, even among very 
 
 distinguished minds, as, for example, the eminent naturalTst, 
 
 Mr. A. R. Wallace. t It has never been explained in a more 
 
 .brilliant style than in the book of an American writer, Mr. Henry 
 
 . George, called " Progress and Poverty." Numerous editions 
 
 ; of this work have been sold both in the United States and jn 
 
 h England. It has been translated into several languages and 
 
 '8 discussed in almost all the English and American reviews and 
 
 newspapers. It produced so great an impression that the 
 
 author has been asked to explain his theories before an 
 
 assembly of some of the clergy of the Established Church, and 
 
 dissenting ministers and university professors have presided at 
 
 conferences and organized meetings to spread his ideas. In 
 
 this book, animated with the spirit of levelling Christianity and 
 
 written with great talent, Mr. George proposes " to seek the law 
 
 which associates i^overty with progress, and increases want 
 
 * This book has been translated into English. London, Macmillan, 1878. 
 t See his "Land Nationalization: its Necessity and its Aims," London, 
 1882.
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION 257 
 
 with advancing wealth " in all civilized communities. Thirty 
 years ago, he says, he saw California in its infancy. There was i 
 little capital, no machines, iio good roads, no large cities ; the ' 
 settler inhabited a log-cabin ; but every one could make a living, 
 and there were no beggars. To-day San Francisco is a wealthy 
 town, where dwell millionnaires, and where their palaces rise in , 
 all directions. Capital is abundant and is accumulating with \ 
 unprecedented rapidity ; meanwhile wages have fallen more 
 than one-half, and in the streets lined with princely mansions, 
 lit with gas, and thronged with liveried equipages, beggars wait 
 for the passer-by, and "the more hideous Huns and fiercer 
 Vandals," of whom Macaulay prophesied, become every day 
 more numerous. Go where you may, the same contrast will 
 strike you : where capital is most abundant, there also is the 'j 
 deepest poverty — look, for example, at London or Paris. In 
 primitive communities, reckoned as poor, and where, in fact, 
 capital is scarce, there is no great wealth, indeed, but there is 
 no destitution. Economic history presents similar facts. 
 Formerly, when all works were carried on by hand. Society, 
 considered as a whole, was poor, but the labourer had work 
 assured to him by which he could obtain a living. To-day ; 
 machines produce useful articles in abundance and with iTiaFvel- S 
 lous ease. The forest-tree is sawn into planks and transformed I 
 into doors or window-frames, without the touch of the hand of | 
 man, save to guide the engines which do the work. In cotton * 
 or woollen factories, the mule-jenny, tended by one workman, 
 spins as much yarn as fifteen hundred workwomen could 
 formerly have done. Cyclopean steam-hammers forge huge 
 masses of steel, while mechanical contrivances of extreme 
 delicacy make watches at a wonderfully small cost. Augers 
 with diamond-points pierce the rocks. Gas, petroleum, elec- 
 tricity, light us for almost nothing. Highly finished engines 
 perform all agricultural operations ; while railways and steam- 
 ships bear to us from the slopes of the Flimalayas and from the 
 far West the harvests of virgin soils. 
 
 It is beyond dispute that human labour, aided by these 
 powerful and marvellous machines, amply suffices to assure to 
 all the inhabitants of civilized countries the mil satibiacclon of 
 
 s
 
 258 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 all their material wants. How is it, then, that poverty continues 
 in our midst and reaches the very producers of all this wealth ? 
 Has the progress of civilization for its inevitable result the 
 creation of pauperism ? 
 
 Mr. George tries to show that economists are mistaken in 
 attributing this excessive inequality to what they call the law of 
 wages and the law of population. They maintain that if wages 
 are insufficient, it is, firstly, because there is not enough capital 
 destined for the support of labour ; and next, because the too 
 rapid increase of population reduces the share of each labourer 
 to the bare necessaries of life or even lower. Mr, George dis- 
 putes both these propositions. The labourer, he maintains, 
 lives on the product of his labour and not upon capital ; if, then, 
 a portion of his product was not taken away from him, he 
 would be better off in proportion as labour became more 
 productive ; and as to the law of Malthus, it is inapplicable to 
 man, for of all living beings he alone can augment without 
 limit the production of all that is necessary for his subsistence. 
 Extreme inequality proceeds, according to Mr. George, solely 
 from rent, which swallows up all the advantages of economic 
 progress. There are three factors of production : land, labour, 
 and capital. Each is remunerated by a part of the produce which 
 is called, in the case of land, rent ; in the case of labour, wages ; 
 and in the case of capital, interest. The produce is, therefore, 
 equivalent to rent, plus wages, plus interest. If rent increases, 
 wages and interest will be less ; for the produce minus rent is 
 equivalent to wages plus interest. In proportion as population 
 and wealth increase, the price of food rises, and consequently 
 the rent of land which produces the food also rises. Improve- 
 ments in the arts which diminish the cost of production also 
 contribute to increase the profits of the farmer, and, soon after- 
 wards, the income of the landowner. The rise in rent may be 
 checked by improved methods of agriculture, which create more 
 produce, or by the cheapness of means of transport, which 
 enable food to be brought from a sparsely peopled country to a 
 densely peopled one ; but these checks to the rise of rent are 
 only temporary. The general increase of population causes 
 them little by little to disappear. The clear gain from all
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 259 
 
 improvements and from all progress finds its way at last into 
 the pockets of the landowners. The labourer gains no advan- 
 tage therefrom, and as living becomes more difficult as the price 
 of food rises, there results privation for the working classes and 
 destitution for those least well off. When in California, to 
 recall Mr. George's illustration, there was land for any one who 
 wished to take it, rent did not exist, and the labourer enjoyed 
 the entire product of his labour. To-day, in order to obtain 
 access to the natural agents and raw materials upon which to 
 work, he must abandon to rent everything beyond the bare 
 necessaries. 
 
 To prevent poverty from increasing side by side with wealth, ' 
 Mr.~TJeorge sees only one remedy, namely, to make over the 
 ownership "of the land to the State. To accomplish this reform, 1] 
 he says, it is not necessary to have recourse to expropriation ; 'j 
 it will be enough to raise the land-tax so as to absorb rent, as 
 is done in certain provinces in India where the State is, in con- 
 sequence, looked upon as the proprietor of the land. All other 
 taxes might then be abolished, and trade, freed from all 
 shackles, would receive such an impetus that general well-being 
 would result. This idea of a rent-tax is at bottom the same as 
 that of the Physiocrats, a single tax on land. 
 
 Towards the close of his life, J. S. Mill proposed that the 
 State should take the whole increase of rent which was due to 
 the collective progress of society and not to the individual 
 efforts of the proprietor. A French landowner, M. Edgard 
 Baron, in his " Protest against the Abusive Extension of the 
 Right of Property," has uttered ideas similar to those of Mr. 
 George. 
 
 I believe that it is a mistake to see in rent the principal cause 
 of inequality. In so far as it levies the exceptional produce of 
 the more fertile land, it establishes, on the contrary, equality 
 among the cultivators of lands which differ in productivity. 
 Were it not for rent, the cultivator of fertile soil would obtain 
 for the same effort a much greater remuneration than the man 
 who worked refractory land. It is capital, ever growing, which 
 engrosses a larger and larger share of the total product. 
 Formerly the principal factor was labour. Now, in proportion 
 
 ~f 
 
 ! i
 
 260 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 as the means of production have been improved, there is need 
 of more capital ; this capital, represented by mortgages, shares, 
 and bonds, permits its holders to live, not on rent, but on 
 profits and interest. The rate of interest tends to diminish in 
 proportion as the amount of capital increases, but the total 
 amount of interest is augmented. It follows, as Rodbertus has 
 shown, that the total share of wages diminishes relatively to 
 that of rent and interest. 
 
 Collectivism applied to land only, and having no other 
 
 ' effect than to make rent payable to the State, would be of 
 
 : comparatively easy application, for it would leave the present 
 
 ;j organization of Society entirely intact. But it Avould be by no 
 
 means the same thing with Collectivism universjally applied, as 
 
 demanded by most contemporary Socialists. 1 An outline of 
 
 this system was presented by M. de Paepe to the Congress of 
 
 the International at Brussels in 1868, and also to that at Bale 
 
 in 1869 ; but, so far as the author is aware, the only publication 
 
 in which the scheme has been explained and treated in a 
 
 scientific way is a little pamphlet entitled Quintessenz des 
 
 Socialismiis* It is an extract from a large work on Sociology : 
 
 Bau unci Leben des Socialen Korpers, by Dr. Albert Schgefifle, 
 
 former Minister of Finance in Austria, and one of the most 
 
 eminent of German economists. 
 
 Let us endeavour, with the aid of Dr. Schceffle's analysis, to 
 get a true idea of the Social state desired by the thorough-going 
 Collectivists. We must beware of confounding this system 
 with the ancfent communistic Utopias, the ideal of which was 
 a Trappist monastery, with common labour, common living, 
 and the common enjoyment of produce quite irrespective of 
 individual work done, as, in fact, takes place in family life. 
 Collectivism, on the contrary, admits of the breaking up of the 
 community into families, and, by apportioning remuneration to 
 produce obtained, it seeks to preserve the incentive of private 
 interest. In a CoUectivist State, there would be as many 
 co-operative societies as there are principal branches of labour : 
 agricultural societies, transport societies, and manufacturing 
 societies of all kinds. Farms, mines, railways, factories, work- 
 * Translated into French by M. B. Malon.
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 26 1 
 
 shops, in theory the collective property of the State, would, in 
 practTce,~l)e handed over to corporations of working men, who 
 would manage them in the same way as joint-stock companies 
 do-to-day. Workmen would be paid in proportion to the 
 amount and the quality of their work. They would, therefore, 
 have the same incentive as at present to bring to their labour 
 the virtues of energy and carefulness. The difference would 
 be that, on the one hand, they would obtain the full product of 
 their labour, as nothing would have to be deducted for rent, 
 interest, or profits, and, on the other hand, everybody would be 
 obliged to work, as the means of production, having ceased to 
 be private property, would no longer furnish private incomes, 
 such as at present permit people to live in idleness. 
 
 In primitive societies, where every man owns the instruments 
 of production, his plot of land, his loom, or his tool, private , '"' , 
 property realizes the aim of justice, which consists In "allowing ji ^*^- 
 evefymari"' to"" enjoy the entire fruits of his labour. But under 
 the regime of industrial production on a large scaTe and large 
 landed estates, with their concomitants of wage-earning and 
 tenant-farming, the remuneration of labour is reduced to a 
 minimum by the competition for land or for employment, that 
 is'to say, by the tolls levied by the possessors of land and capital. 
 Collectivism, by means of the system of co-operative production 
 necessitated by the employment of machines, aims at realizing 
 the results of generalized private property, namely, the assurance 
 of the full enjoyment of the produce to the producer. Every- 
 thing relating to the means of transport and to the circulating 
 medium, whether money or credit, would become a pubhc 
 department. Dr. Schaeffle even supposes the realization of a 
 general scheme of remuneration and exchange, like that suggested 
 by Proudhon and Marx, and which would be of the following 
 natut-e. In accordance with the theory of those economists who 
 consider labour the exclusive source of value, the workman 
 would receive for each article the price of as many hours of 
 labour as, " on the average," were required for the manufacture 
 of the article. The price would be paid in labour-notes exchange- 
 able for goods. The goods for sale would be deposited in public 
 warehouses or co-operative stores, where they would be ex-
 
 262 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 changed for the labour-notes and the labour-notes for them. 
 This mechanism of exchange is ingenious. The larger co-opera- 
 tive stores in London give some idea of it, though they do not 
 form an integral part of Collectivism. A more accurate con- 
 ception of the system would be gained by supposing that the 
 " Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale " had been so successful that 
 everything had passed into their hands — lands, houses, shops, 
 factories, and working establishments of all kinds— and that all 
 other districts had followed the example of Rochdale. 
 
 Collectivism does not involve the complete abolition of 
 hereditary succession ; but as all immovable property woiild 
 belong to either State, Communes, or Corporations, and as every 
 man would be obliged to live henceforth by the trade he 
 exercised or by the function he fulfilled, it would follow that 
 the power of accumulation would be very much reduced, and 
 that the right of inheritance would be limited to movables. 
 
 Dr. Schaeffle seems almost to believe that such an ideal 
 might be realized in the future ; at any rate, he points out clearly 
 the condition of ultimate success. No Socialist reform, he says, 
 can succeed which ignores the psychological fact on which the 
 individualistic system at present rests, namely, that private 
 1 interest is the great incentive to production. It is not by formal 
 \ rules, nor by appeals to sentiments of duty and honour, that we 
 
 I can secure the care and zeal necessary for producing as much 
 as possible at the lowest cost, without waste of time or material. 
 I The main difficulty lies in the efficient management of large 
 1 industrial enterprises. It is through the want of good manage-^ 
 I ment that so many co-operative societies have failed. Collec- 
 tivism assumes that bodies of working men are capable of 
 carrying on collective industries with as much success as enter- 
 prises based on private property. Once they have given proof 
 of this, the triumph of the new organization will only be a ques- 
 tion of time ; but so long as the labouring classes do not show 
 themselves capable of doing without the guidance of masters, 
 i all attempts at hastening, by revolutionary means, the advent 
 of the new order of things will only end in lamentable failure. 
 Collectivism, also called by its advocates Com/fmnisme liber- 
 taire, has become the watchword of revolutionary Socialism 
 
 ^
 
 COLLECTIVISM AND LAND NATIONALIZATION. 263 
 
 throughout all Europe, as is shown by the manifestoes and 
 programmes occasionally published ; but among Collectivists 
 there are several degrees, and, as usually happens, those most I 
 nearly related hate each other the most cordially. According 1 
 to information that I owe to_ the courtesy of M. B. Malon, the 
 author of a good history of Socialism, and himself one of the 
 leaders of the movement in Paris, the Collectivist party in 
 France may be approximately divided as follows : — At the 
 extreme left are the Anarchists or Nihilists, of whom Prince 
 Krapotkine may be taken as the ideal type. Their idea of 
 " Anarchy " resembles that of Proudhon, but they are more 
 directly connected with Bakunin, who, by means of secret 
 societies formed from the remnants of the International, has 
 spread the ideas of Russian Nihilism throughout all Socialist 
 circles. The Anarchists are not numerous, but they are very 
 fanatical, and their extreme members shrink from no means — 
 petroleum, fire, bombs, dynamite, even assassination, as has 
 recently been shown in Andalusia. Their creed does not, 
 however, make much progress in France, because the French 
 genius likes clear ideas and a programme carefully thought 
 out, and containing a plan of reform easy to grasp. The 
 Collectivists, properly so called, may be themselves divided 
 into two groups, especially since the Congress held at St. 
 Etienne in September, 1882 : (i) the Irreconcilable Collec- 
 tivists, who look for a revolutionary movement like the 
 Jacobins of old ; and (2) the Evolutionist-CoUectivists, who 
 are beginning to accept as a truth the doctrine of science, that 
 changes in the social order, as in nature, are only brought about 
 slowly and by a process of evolution. These latter are called ' 
 " Possibilists," because they are anxious to make their claims 
 in a legal manner, and to take part in elections, not merely as 
 a protest, but also with the aim of making their ideas prevail in 
 Parliament and in the Municipal Councils. In this they follow 
 the course adopted by the German Socialists, who have thus 
 succeeded, not only in sending representatives to the Reichstag, 
 but also in inducing the Government — partly, no doubt, out of 
 consideration for the large number of Socialist votes — to take 
 up the question of social reforms.
 
 264 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The Evolutionist-CoUectivists or Possibilists are much the 
 most nmnerous among the Socialist working men, and they 
 are continually gaining ground on the Irreconcilables, the Anar- 
 chists and Jacobins, who look upon them as traitors and 
 cowards. In order to give a more precise idea of their 
 principles, I shall here reproduce the most important passages 
 from one of their programmes issued at the National Congress 
 at Havre in 1880 : — 
 
 "Whereas the emancipation of the productive classes is the emancipa- 
 tion of all human beings irrespective of sex or race, and whereas the producers 
 can never be really free until they possess the means of production, and 
 whereas there are only two forms under which the means of production can 
 belong to them : (i) the individual form, which has never existed as a general 
 fact, and which is being more and more circumscribed by industrial progress ; 
 {2) the collective form, the material and intellectual elements of which are 
 furnished by the very growth of capitalistic society : the French Socialist 
 working men, while announcing, as the aim of their efforts regarding the 
 economic order, a return to the collective ownership of all the means of 
 production, have decided to take part in elections with the following 
 programme 
 
 " Economic Programme. 
 
 " (i) One day of rest in the week ; reduction of the labour of adults_to 
 eight hours per day ; prohibition of the employment of children under 
 fourteen years of age in factories. (2) A minimum rate of wages to be fixed 
 by law every year according to the local price of food. (3) Equal wages^ 
 for the two sexes, for equal work. (4) General, scientific, and professional 
 education of all children, who should be maintained at the cost of the State 
 and the Communes. (5) Maintenance by the Community of old people 
 and disabled workmen. (6) Liability of employers for accidents. (7) 
 Workmen to have a voice as to the special regulations of factories. (8) 
 Revision of all contracts that have alienated public property {e.g. banks, rail- 
 ways, mines), and the management of the State workshops to be entrusted 
 to those working in them. {9) Abolition of indirect taxes, and the substitu- 
 tion of a progressive tax on all incomes exceeding 3000 frs. {£^izo). 
 Suppression of all hereditary succession, except in the direct line to the 
 extent of 20,000 frs. (;!f8oo). (10) Reconstitution of Communal property, 
 (li) Application by the municipalities of funds at their disposal to the 
 construction on Communal lands of buildings of various kinds, such as 
 working men's houses, stores for the deposit of goods, etc., to be let to the 
 inhabitants without profit to the municipalities."
 
 ( 265 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 
 
 THIS study of contemporary Socialism would not be com- /j, 2, 
 plete without some account of the Economists of the 
 new school called Kaiheder-Socialisten* or Socialists of the 
 Chair. Like Socialists, they admit, in the first place, that the 
 distribution of wealth ought to be regulated more than it is by [j 
 principles of equity, and in particular that the labourers ought 
 to receive a larger share ; and, secondly, that this result cannot 
 be obtained as the effect of liberty and what are called natural 
 laws, but only through the action of the legislature and the 
 State. If the wish to see greater equality reign amongst men, 
 an3^ the conviction that this ideal can only be realized by the 
 intervention of the Legislature constitute Socialism, then the 
 Economists of the new school are Socialists. 
 
 The Socialists of the Chair differ from the Economists of 
 the old school in their view of the foundation, the method, the 
 mission, and the conclusions of economic science. 
 
 Let us see how they themselves explain the points which 
 separate them from the orthodox doctrine, j 
 
 * This name was given in Germany to the Economists of the new school 
 by their opponents, and notably by M. Eras, because they professed, in the 
 Chairs of the Universities, doctrines with Socialistic tendencies. 
 
 t We shall here mainly follow : Adolf Held, Uebcr den gegentvartigen 
 Principienstreit in der A'ationalixko7ioiiiie ; Gustav Schonberg, Die Volks- 
 wirthschaffslehre ; Gustav SchmoUer, Ueber einige Griindfragen dcs Rechts 
 und der Volksimrthschaft ; Contzen, Die Aufgabe der Vo/kszvirthschafts- 
 lehre ; Wagner, Die Sociale Frage ; L. Luzzatti, Die Nationalakonotnischen 
 Schtden Italiens und ihre Cont7-oversen ; Vito Cusumano, Le Scuole econo- 
 miche dclla Germania ; Dr. Moritz Block, Die Quintessenz der Katheder- 
 socialisinus ; Friedrich von Boerenbach, Die Social IVisscnschaften ; Oppen- 
 heim, Der A'af/ieder-sociaiis?niis. Lastly, an unpublished study of Professor 
 Eheberg, for which I have to thank him specially.
 
 266 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 The successors of Adam Smith, such as Ricardo, McCulloch, 
 J. B. Say, and the whole " EngUsh School," followed the de- 
 ductive method. This school starts from certain views regarding 
 man and nature, which it announces as axioms, and from which 
 it draws all its conclusions. Rossi put this method in a clear 
 light when he said that " Political Economy, in so far as it lays 
 down general propositions, is a science of reason rather than a 
 science of observation. It has for its aim reasoned knowledge 
 of the relations which flow from the nature of things. ... It 
 seeks for its laws, while relying on the general and constant 
 facts of human nature." * 
 
 In this system, man is treated as a being who pursues at all 
 times and places his individual interest. Actuated by this 
 motive, which is good in itself, since it is the principle of his 
 preservation, each man seeks what is useful for himself, and 
 what this is nobody can discern better than he. If, then, he is 
 ■free to do as he chooses, he will succeed in procuring for him- 
 \ self all the happiness which it is given him to attain. Hitherto 
 the State has always placed restrictions on the full expansion of 
 economic forces ; but remove these restrictions, and, all men 
 advancing freely to the pursuit of well-being, the true order will 
 be established in the world. Universal competition, free from 
 restraint, brings each individual to the place which suits him 
 best, and enables him to obtain the appropriate reward for his 
 labour. As Montesquieu says, "it is competition that fixes the 
 proper price of merchandise." It is the infallible regulator of 
 the industrial world. It is a sort of providential law which 
 makes order and justice reign in the complicated relations of 
 human societies. Let the State refrain from all interference in 
 human affairs, let entire freedom be given to property, capital, 
 labour, trade, and callings, and the production of wealth will 
 reach the highest pitch, and thus the general welfare will become 
 as great as possible. The legislator should not trouble himself 
 about the distribution of wealth ; it will take place conformably 
 to natural laws and to free conventions, A single phrase, 
 uttered by Gournay in the last century, sums up the whole 
 doctrine : Laissez faire, laissez passer. 
 
 * Cours d'economie politique. Lesson II., year 1836.
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 26/ 
 
 With this theory, the problems relating to the government 
 of societies are wonderfully simplified. The statesman has 
 only to fold his arms. The world will go on of itself to its 
 appointed end. It is the optimism of Leibnitz and of the 
 eighteenth century transported into Political Economy. Rely- 
 ing o"n this philosophical doctrine, Economists declare certain 
 general principles applicable in all times and to all peoples, 
 because they are absolute truths. 
 
 Political Economy was essentially cosmopolitan. It took 
 no account of the division of men into separate nations, nor of 
 the diversity of interests that may arise therefrom, any more 
 than it busied itself with the particular wants and conditions 
 resulting from the history of the different States. It saw only 
 the good of humanity considered as one large family, just as 
 every abstract science and every universal religion, particularly 
 Christianity, had done. 
 
 Having thus expounded the old doctrine, the new Econo- 
 mists proceed to criticise it. They accuse it of taking a one- 
 sided view of things. Without doubt, they say, man pursues 
 his own interest, but more than one motive acts on his mind 
 and regulates his actions. By the side of egoism there is the ^ 
 sentiment of collectivity, the gememsinn, the social instinct, | 
 which is manifested in the formation of the family, the Com- 
 mune, and the State. Man is not like the brute, that knows 
 only the satisfaction of its wants ; he is a moral being, who 
 understands obedience to duty, and who, from his religious or 
 philosophical training, is often induced to sacrifice his satisfac- 
 tions, his welfare, and even his life, for his country, for humanity, 
 for truth, and for God. It is, therefore, a mistake to base a 
 series of deductions on the aphorism that man acts solely under 
 the sway of a single motive, self-interest. These " general and 
 constant facts of human nature," from which Rossi would 
 deduce economic laws, are imaginary. In different countries, 
 at different epochs, men obey motives which are not always the 
 same, seeing that they spring from different ideas of well-being, 
 right, morality, and justice. The savage procures the where- 
 withal to live by hunting and devouring, at need, even his 
 fellows ; the citizen of antiquity, by reducing them to slavery, 
 
 \
 
 268 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 in order to live on the fruit of their toil; the modern man 
 attains the same result by paying them wages. 
 
 Inasmuch as, at different stages of civilization, men have 
 different wants, different motives, and different methods 
 for the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, 
 it follows that economic problems do not admit of these 
 general and a priori solutions which economic science is called 
 upon to supply, and which it has too often ventured to offer. 
 The question must always be examined relatively to a given 
 country, and thus it is necessary to summon statistics and 
 history in aid of Political Economy. Hence the historical 
 and " realistic " method, as the Katheder-Socialisten call it, that 
 is to say, a method founded on facts.* Similarly in politics, 
 it is generally admitted that the question is, not to discover an 
 ideal constitution suitable to man in the abstract, but the forms 
 of government most in harmony with the traditions, the lights, 
 the temperament, and the wants of this or that particular 
 country. 
 
 According to the Kat/ieder-Socialisten, it is a further mistake 
 to allege, as Bastiat has done in his " Harmonies of Political 
 Economy," that the general order results from the free play of 
 personal interests, and that consequently the mere removal of 
 all fetters will suffice to distribute welfare in proportion to the 
 ^ efforts of each individual. Personal interest leads men to 
 iniquity and spoliation ; it must, therefore, be restrained an'd 
 not given free scope : and this is the proper mission, in the 
 first place, of morality, and then of the State, as the organ of 
 justice. 
 
 True, if men were perfect and desired only what is right, 
 
 ! . liberty of itself would secure the reign of order ; but, taking men 
 
 1 1 as they are, their unrestrained self-interests lead to antagonism, 
 
 not to harmony. The employer wishes for a fall in wages, the 
 
 workman for a rise. The landowner endeavours to raise the 
 
 rent, the farmer to get it reduced. Everywhere the strongest 
 
 * Although in France no new school of economics has been formed as 
 in Germany, England, and Italy, yet many writers adopt the historical and 
 " realistic " method with a soundness of learning and a wealth of knowledge 
 unsurpassed. It will suffice to mention the works of MM. Leonce de 
 Lavergne, Wolowski, Victor Bonnet, and Paul Leroy-Beaulieu.
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 269 
 
 or the most dexterous prevails, and in the struggle of conflicting 
 interests, nobody troubles himself with the dictates of morality I 
 and justice. It is precisely in England, where all restrictions I 
 have been abolished, and where the most absolute industrial 
 liberty reigns, that the war of classes, the antagonism of 
 masters and workmen, is seen in the most glaring form and 
 under the most alarming aspect. It is also in this country, 
 for so long the home of laissez faire, that, latterly, the inter- 
 vention of the State has been most frequently invoked to 
 suppress the abuses of the powerful and to protect the weak. 
 After having disarmed the central power, new duties are 
 every day conferred upon it. Is not this a proof that the 
 economic doctrine of absolute liberty affords no complete 
 solution of the problem ? 
 
 The new Economists do not profess that horror of the State 
 which led their predecessors to call it, at one time, a canker, 
 at another a necessary evil. For them, on the contrary, the 
 State, representing the best of the nation, is the supreme organ 
 of right and instrument of justice. Emanating from the living 
 forces and intellectual aspirations of the country, it is charged 
 with favouring their development in all directions. As history 
 proves, it is the most powerful agent of civilization and progress. 
 The liberty of the individual ought to be respected and even 
 fostered, but it should be subordinated to the rules of morahty 
 and equity, and these rules, which become more and more 
 strict in proportion as men's ideas of the good and the just 
 become purer, ought to be enforced by the State. 
 
 Industrial liberty is an excellent thing. Free trade, free 
 labour, and freedom of contract have largely contributed to 
 increase the production of wealth. All obstacles to liberty, if 
 any still exist, must therefore be overthrown ; but it is the 
 duty of the State to interfere whenever the manifestations of 
 individual interest come into conflict with the humane and 
 civilizing mission of political economy so as to bring about the 
 oppression and degradation of the lower classes of society. 
 The State has, therefore, a double mission : in the first place, 
 to maintain liberty within the limits marked out by law and 
 morality ; and secondly, to lend its assistance wherever the
 
 2/0 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ultimate aim, which is social progress, can be better attained 
 with such assistance than by individual efforts, whether it be 
 a question of the improvement of harbours, the facilitation of 
 means of transport, the development of education, the en- 
 couragement of the arts and sciences, or the promotion of any 
 other object of general utility. 
 
 The intervention of the State ought not to be always 
 rejected, as the rigid Economists wish, nor always admitted, as 
 certain SociaUsts demand; each case ought to be separately 
 examined, having regard to the wants to be satisfied and the 
 resources of private energy. Only it is a mistake to suppose 
 that the role of the State will be curtailed as civilization 
 advances. It is of a different kind to-day from what it was 
 under the patriarchal or despotic regime, but it is' ever 
 extending according as new paths open out to human actmty, 
 and as the appreciation of what is lawful and what is not 
 becomes clearer. This opinion has also been expounded in 
 France with great force by M. Dupont-White^ in his book 
 L'Individu et F'Etat. 
 
 The Katheder-Socialisten also blame orthodox Economists 
 
 or confining themselves too exclusively to questions touching 
 
 the production of wealth, and for having neglected those 
 
 concerning its distribution and consumption. They assert 
 
 that the strict Economists have looked upon man as a mere 
 
 productive force, without sufficiently considering his destiny 
 
 and his obligations as a moral and intelligent being. According 
 
 - to them, thanks to the wonders wrought by science, industry 
 
 could already produce enough for all, if all labour were usefully 
 
 employed, and if so many human efforts were not wasted in 
 
 satisfying spurious and even vicious desires. The great 
 
 problem of our times, what is called the social question^ is 
 
 primarily a question of distribution. 
 
 The labouring classes wish to better their lot and to obtain 
 
 ' a larger share of the wealth created by the joint operation of 
 
 capital and labour. The important point to discover is, within 
 
 i-what limits and under what conditions this is possible. In 
 
 'tview of the evils which disturb and threaten the social order, 
 
 three systems have been proposed: first, a return to the past
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 27 1 
 
 and the re-establishment of the ancient regime; secondly, 
 Sociahsm, which looks for a radical change of the social order; 
 and lastly, the orthodox economy, which believes that every- 
 thing will be set to rights by means of liberty and the action of 
 natural laws. According to the Katheder-Socialisten, none of 
 these three systems will resolve the difficulties which trouble 
 the present epoch. A return to the past is impossible, a general 
 and sudden modification of society is equally impossible, and 
 to invoke liberty is, on this point, to cheat one's self with empty 
 words ; for it is a question of right, of the statute-book, and of 
 social organization. Distribution is effected not only by virtue 
 of contracts, which ought, of course, to be free, but mainly by 
 virtue of the laws of the State and the moral sentiments, of 
 which it is necessary to estimate the influence "and judge the 
 equity. 
 
 It has been a mistake to investigate economical problems 
 from an isolated standpoint ; they are closely connected with 
 psychology, religion, morals, law, customs, and history. It is, 
 therefore, necessary to take all these elements into account, and 
 not to be contented with the uniform and superficial formula of 
 laissez faire. The class antagonism, which has been from all 
 time at the bottom of political revolutions, reappears to-day 
 with more serious features than ever. It seems to imperil the j 
 future of civilization. There is no use in denying the evil ; it 
 is far better to study it under all its forms, and to endeavour to 
 apply a remedy to it by means of successive and rational 
 reforms. It is to morals, to the sentiment of justice, and to 
 Christian charity that we must look for inspiration. Political 
 Economy ought to be an ethical science. 
 
 The Sociahsts of the Chair difi"er altogether from the old 
 school in their view of the nature and limits of the right of 
 property. The orthodox Economists speak of " property " as 
 if it were an absolute right, perfectly defined and always iden- 
 tical. The new Economists assert, on the contrary, that this 
 right has assumed very different forms in relation to the 
 modes of production of each epoch ; that in like manner it is 
 called upon to undergo new changes ; that it can never be 
 considered as absolute, since it exists only ^""^^"geheral
 
 272 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 interest; and that, consequently, it should be subjected to 
 such limitations and forms as the progress of civilization, which 
 is the purpose of its existence, may from time to time require. 
 
 In short, while the old Economists, starting from certain 
 abstract principles, believed that they could attain, by the 
 deductive method, to conclusions of absolute truth and uni- 
 versal application, the Katheder-Socialisten, basing their science 
 on the facts of experience, past and present, draw from Jh^jn, 
 by the inductive and historical method, only relative solutions 
 which have to be modified according to the state of society to 
 which they are to be applied. The former, convinced that 
 the natural order which presides over physical phenomena 
 must also govern human societies, assert that, when all artificial 
 fetters are removed, there will result, from the free play of 
 inclinations, a harmony of interests, and from the complete 
 I enfranchisement of individuals a better social organization, the 
 fullest well-being, and the most equitable distribution of wealth. 
 The latter think, on the contrary, that, in the economic field as 
 amongst animals, in the struggle for existence "aiid in tKecon- 
 [flict of selfish interests, the strongest will crush or exploTl 'the 
 i weakest, unless the State, as the organ of justice, intervene to 
 j secure to each what is his due. They add that the State ought 
 / fo contribute to the progress of civilization, and to accept, as 
 its chief mission, the amelioration of the moral, intellectual, and 
 materiar condition of the labouring classes. Finally, instead of 
 declaring, with the orthodox Economists, that unlimited liberty 
 is sufficient to put an end to social conflicts, they assert that a 
 series of reforms and improvements, inspired by sentiments of 
 equity, is indispensable, if we are to escape from civil dissen- 
 sions and from the despotism which they inevitably bring in 
 their train. They admit that Socialism has rendered a real 
 service by calling attention to the evils and iniquities of the 
 existing social order, and by awakening in the hearts of all 
 good men the desire to apply a remedy. 
 
 It is especially in Germany that the new school has 
 developed. The reason is that Political Economy has been 
 there included among the " cameralistic " sciences, that is to 
 say, those which have the State for their object. It has, there-
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 2/3 
 
 fore, never been treated as an isolated branch of knowledge, 
 regulated by special laws. Even the orthodox disciples of the 
 English school — as, for instance, Rau — have never ignored the 
 strict ties which bind it to the other social sciences, and notably 
 to politics, and they have readily invoked facts and history. 
 Ever since the ideas of Adam Smith and his disciples com- 
 menced to spread in Germany, they have met with critics there, 
 such as Professor Lueder and Count Soden, who regarded as 
 important, not the mere growth of wealth, but the general pro- 
 gress of civilization. Next have followed Von Thiinen, Adam 
 Miiller, Charles Bernhardi, List, Lorenz Stein, Roscher, Knies, 
 Hildebrand, Hermann, and to-day their name is legion : Nasse, 
 SchmoUer, Brentano, Schoenberg, Roesler, Diihring, Wagner, 
 Schasffle, Cohn, Von Scheel, Samter, Engel. 
 
 The principles of the orthodox economy have had in 
 Germany, as their organ in point of practical application, the 
 Congress of Economists ( Volkswirthschaftlicher Congress), 
 which assembles each year in a different town, and exercises 
 considerable influence at first on opinion and then on legisla- 
 tion. Itjs to this influence that is due the aboUtion of the 
 greater number of restrictive regulations and, consequently, the 
 establishment of freedom as to professions, domicil, loans at 
 interest, the subdivision of properties, and also the successive 
 custom-house reforms in the direction of free trade. Owing to 
 the scientific and technical knowledge, widely spread by public 
 educational establishments, owing also to the easy and abun- 
 dant production of coal in Westphalia, providing a cheap 
 motive-power, tlj^g. large system of industry has taken such rapid 
 strides, that soon Germany will vie with France and even wdth 
 England. But, as an inevitable consequence, the labour 
 question is coming to the front. We have already seen 
 how Marx and Lassalle caused the Socialist movement to 
 arise out of the same economic conditions. 
 
 One section of the Economists have remained faithful to 
 the principle of natural laws and non-intervention of the State. 
 Others, on the contrary, were struck with the contrast presented 
 by the extraordinary increase of wealth side by side with the 
 simultaneous development of the proletariat. They were 
 
 T
 
 274 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 \[ finally persuaded that notions of morality and right ought to 
 \\ preside over the distribution of wealth. They gave up the 
 1 1 belief that free competition, even if pushed to its final liiKiits 
 1 1 and applied to international trade, would suffice to establish 
 \ amongst men a rational and equitable order. Without admit- 
 ting the exaggerations and the conclusions of the Socialists, 
 and especially their appeals to a revolution, they accepted the 
 principle which is the foundation of the Socialists' claims. In 
 c^ceding that, "in the struggle for existence," the free play of 
 conflicting interests does not bring about a division of wealtH 
 conformable to justice, and does not assign to the labourer d 
 reward proportioned to the part he takes in production, they 
 were logically led to call for the action of the State and the 
 Legislature, not exactly in the same way as the Socialists — in 
 order to effect a radical change in the civil laws, and especially 
 as regards the rights of property and of inheritance — but in 
 order to protect the weak and to fight against the hard conse- 
 quences of the new industrial regime. The opponents of the 
 new school were, therefore, not wrong in saying that their 
 doctrine was only a timid Socialism which shrank from its 
 logical consequences.* Moreover, some of the adherents of 
 the new doctrine, and those not the least considerable, 
 approach closer and closer to what may be called scientific 
 Socialism, as opposed to Utopian or revolutionary Socialism. 
 Amongst these may be mentioned Adolf Samter, Lange, 
 Diihring, Von Scheel, Wagner, Schsefifle, and, in Italy, Loria. 
 It is true that at the other extremity, towards the right, are 
 
 * At the Congress of the Socialists of the Chair, which met at Eisenach 
 in October, 1S75, one of the professors whom I met there told me that 
 Bismarck was also of this opinion. This professor was a member of a 
 deputation that went to the Chancellor to explain the wants of the uni- 
 versity. Prince Bismarck received them in the most cordial manner, and 
 invited them to dinner. Among the guests were several " Excellencies." 
 "You will allow," said the Chancellor to them, "that for to-day Science 
 takes precedence of everybody. Monsieur Professor, be so good as to offer 
 j your arm to Madame de Bismarck." During the repast, he said to Professor 
 \ X , " You are, I suppose, a Kathcdcr-Socialist .? " " Yes, your Excel- 
 lency." "And why not simply Socialist? I too am a Socialist; but, 
 unhappily, I have not time to take up the question. Certainly, however, 
 : there is much to be done for the labourers." The Chancellor then, as 
 
 c Professor X told me, explained his ideas on the subject in a few 
 
 * vigorous and fresh words, going to the very root of the social problem.
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 
 
 275 
 
 found scholars whose authority is even less contested, such as 
 Roscher, Nasse, Conrad, and Von Sybel. It is none the less 
 true that the members of the new school pass by insensible 
 shades^^z^'//^ descensus Averni — from the borders of orthodoxy 
 to the confines of Radical Socialism. 
 
 The SociaHsm of the Chair may be said to have taken 
 bodily form, and to have been established as a special doctrine 
 in the annual reunions of the Association for " Social Politics " 
 {Sozial politik), the first of which took place on the 6th of 
 October, 1872. It is hardly necessary to say, however, that 
 similar ideas had been previously expressed in Germany, 
 France, and England. We may mention in particular God- 
 win's "Political Justice," 1793; Sismondi's Nouveaux prin- 
 cipeTWTconomie politique^ 1S27 ; and his Etudes sur T economic 
 politique, 1836; A. Buret's La Mish'e des classes laborieuses en 
 Fra?ice et e}i Angleterre ; Lorenz Stein's Der Socialismus des 
 heufigen Frankreichs, 1842;* also the " History of the Petty 
 Crafts in Germany during the Nineteenth Century," f by 
 G. Schmoller, Professor at the University of Halle, then of 
 Strasburg, and now of Berlin, in which book he has well 
 brought out the relative character of economic phenomena; 
 and another work by the same author, in which, while examin- 
 ing a tax on income, he has admirably indicated the influence 
 of morals on Political Economy. Again, G. Schonberg, Pro- 
 fessor at the University of Tiibingen, in his much-discussed 
 works on the industrial regime in our epoch and in the 
 Middle Ages, J admitted the necessity of protective interven- 
 
 * I may also mention an article that I published in 1848, in a Belgian 
 review, the Flandre Liberate, in which I came to the conclusions now 
 held by the Extreme Left of the Socialists of the Chair. It is a critical 
 examination of the letters then recently published by Michael Chevalier 
 on the organization of labour. M. Chevalier, in order to bring about the 
 solution of the social question, recommends thrift, property, and association. 
 I replied, "Thrift is an excellent thing, but to render it possible for the 
 labourer, there must be a more equitable distribution of produce ; property 
 is a still better thing, but it must be made universal ; association is perfect, 
 but it ought to be based on the recognition of the natural right of appro- 
 priation common to all." I was inspired by the "Natural Right" of 
 Ahrens, by Fichte's book on the French Revolution, and, above all, by the 
 ideas of our eminent professor at the University of Ghent, Francois Huet. 
 
 t Znr Geschickte der deutschen Kleingewerbe im xixten yahrhunderte. 
 
 X Arbeitsainter and Deutsche Zunftwesen im Mittelalier, 1868. 
 
 f^l/^') 
 
 *»/.■•<> 
 
 
 A/ A tev
 
 276 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tion on the part of authority. This point of view was further 
 developed with great force by Adolf Wagner, professor at the 
 University of Berlin, in his famous address on the Social 
 Question,* in an article on private property, and in his 
 " Financial Science." f Furthermore, A. Rosier, professor at 
 Rostock, in his critical works on the fundamental principles of 
 Adam Smith ; Brentano, professor at the University of Breslau, 
 and now of Strasburg, in his fine book on the Working Men's 
 Guilds of our epoch ; \ Held, professor at Bonn and after- 
 wards at Berlin, in his article on the present conflict of 
 principles in Political Economy ; § and Engel, the eminent 
 director of the Bureau of Statistics at Berlin, in an article written 
 in 1867 on the contract of hiring labour, have all admitted 
 that the notion of what is just and fair should preside over and 
 influence free contract. I am citing only the principal works 
 which prepared the way for the new school. Afterwards, when 
 these doctrines became the subjects of polemics, numerous 
 publications appeared on both sides. 
 
 The idea of gathering together the partisans of the new 
 Economic School in an annual congress emanated, it is said, 
 from Roscher. The session of 1872 at Eisenach was a great 
 success, and excited considerable attention. Besides the pro- 
 fessors already named, the following were to be seen there : — 
 Nasse of Bonn, Gneist of Berlin, Knapp of Leipzig, Conrad 
 of Halle, Hildebrand of Jena, Holtzendorf of Berlin, now of 
 Munich, Knies of Heidelberg, Neumann of Basel, now of 
 Tiibingen, and, in addition, a large number of deputies, states- 
 men, higher officials, proprietors, and eminent men. Professor 
 Schmoller, in his opening address, freely admitted that there 
 was, in our times, a social question. " The marked division 
 of classes in the midst of existing society," he said, ''the open 
 war between masters 'and workmen, between owners andjpro- 
 letariahs, and the danger, still distant but threatening the 
 future, of a social revolution, have for some years caused 
 
 * Die Sozialc Frage, 1872. 
 
 t Raii'sche Lehrbuch der Fmanzwissenschaft, 1870. 
 
 X Arbeittr gilden der Gegemvart, 187 1. 
 
 § Gegenwdrtige Principienstreit in der Nationalcekonoviie.
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 277 
 
 doubts to arise as to the truth and definitive triumph of the 
 economic doctrines represented by the congress of Economists ; 
 and on all sides it is questioned whether absolute freedom of 
 labour and the complete abolition of the antiquated regulations 
 of the Middle Ages will bring about that perfectly happy 
 situation which the believers in laissez /aire have so enthusi- 
 astically predicted." While separating himself from the old 
 optimism of the Manchester party {Das Manchesterthum), 
 Schmoller was careful to show that he did not accept the con- 
 clusions of the Socialists. "ThougF~by no means satisfied," 
 he said, " with existing social condTtfohs, and convinced of the 
 necessity of reforms, we preach neither the upsetting of science 
 nor the overthrow of the existing social order, and we protest 
 against all socialistic experiments. All the great advances 
 shown in history have been the results of the work of ages. 
 The existing economic legislation, the present methods of pro- 
 duction, the psychological conditions of the different classes, 
 ought to be the basis of our reforming energy. We demand 
 neither the abolition of industrial freedom nor the suppression 
 of the wage system; but we do not wish, out of respect for 
 abstract principles, to allow the most crying abuses to become 
 daily worse, and to permit so-called freedom of contract to 
 end in the actual exploitation of the labourer. We do not 
 desire the State to advance money to working men in order 
 that they may make experiments on systems inevitably destined 
 to fail, but we demand that it should concern itself, in an 
 altogether new spirit, with their instruction and training, and 
 should see that labour is not conducted under conditions 
 which must have for their inevitable effect the degradation 
 of the labourer." Duriii'g the session of 1872 three papers 
 gave rise to profound discussions : one, by Brentano, on 
 Factory Legislation; a second, by Schmoller, on Strikes and 
 Trades Unions ; and a third, by Engel, on Labourers' Dwellings 
 ( Wohnungsnoth). 
 
 In the session of 1873 the Socialists of the Chair formed 
 themselves definitively into an "Association for Social Politics" 
 ( Verehifilr Sozial politik), which has met, generally at Eisenach, 
 almost every year since. The way in which the papers to be
 
 2/8 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 read at the meetings are prepared may serve as an example 
 for scientific institutions of a similar kind. The questions to be 
 treated are selected beforehand, and those who have specially- 
 studied them are chosen to make reports upon them. Each 
 question gives rise to a report and a counter-report, which form 
 complete works on the subject. The association has, in this 
 way, been able to publish twenty-two monographs, which have 
 enriched economic literature with studies of a permanent value, 
 to say nothing of the oral discussion and polemics to which 
 they afterwards gave rise. 
 
 The partisans of the classical doctrines did not treat the 
 innovators tenderly. They reproached them with not appre- 
 ciating the pure truth of the science which they were called to 
 profess, and with separating themselves from radical Socialism 
 only by reservations which their principles did not justify. 
 Political Economy, by deducing its propositions from certain 
 axioms, and maintaining that order results spontaneously from 
 the free action of natural laws, enabled a very clear and simple 
 science to be formed without any great effort, and one which 
 solved all difficulties by the uniform receipt of laissez faire. 
 The new school, on the other hand, admitting only relative 
 solutions, and such as are justified by the study of history and 
 statistics, required wide research. It is easy to understand 
 that the orthodox, disturbed in the peaceful possession of what 
 they had asserted to be absolute truths, would be very much 
 irritated with the heretics. The conflict still continues ; but it 
 may safely be said that, except in France, the Socialism of the 
 chair is almost everywhere predominant to-day. 
 
 The doctrines of the new school have lately been expounded 
 in a masterly work, published under the direction of "Herr 
 Gustav Schonberg, and entitled Hmidhich der politiscjien 
 CEconomi'e ("Ma.xmal of Political Economy"). It is a collective 
 work, in which each of the different subjects is treated by some 
 Economist of repute who has made it his special study. In 
 order to properly understand the ideas of the heretics, it is 
 necessary to read also a pamphlet * by Professor Schmoller 
 
 * Ueber eim'ge Grtmdfragen des Rechts tuid der Volksivi rthschaft (" On 
 Certain Fundamental Questions of Law and Political Economy ").
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 279 
 
 which is a sort of programme, pubhshed in reply to the attacks 
 of Deputy Professor Treitschke ; also an outline of the course 
 of lectures of Professor Adolf Held, so prematurely and in so 
 tragic a manner lost to science ; and finally, the great work of 
 Professor Adolf Wagner, Lehrbiich der politischeii (Ekonomie., of 
 which a single octavo volume of 775 pages, devoted to the 
 exposition of principles {Grundlegung), has appeared. The 
 three concluding chapters treat economic problems from the 
 juridical side. The titles they bear indicate their importance : 
 " Economic Organization," " The State and its Economic In- 
 fluence," " Law considered in so far as it regulates Economic 
 Relations." 
 
 Wagner considers, in the first place, man seeking to satisfy 
 his wants by means of labour. But man lives in society, and 
 society cannot exist unless the State preserves order therein, 
 and establishes a juridical basis for the mutual relations of 
 men. This juridical basis is the civil law, from which results 
 the economic organization of society. The old Economists 
 strongly protest against all artificial organizations. They 
 seem to forget that the law which rules us is the result of a 
 reasoned elaboration of the primitive Roman law, developed 
 during a thousand years, by successive generations of juris- 
 consults. The so-called natural order of which they are always 
 speaking, so far from being the effect of nature, is the result 
 of human, and consequently artificial, laws. 
 
 According to Professor Wagner, the economic development 
 of a people depends in part on the progress of the technical 
 processes of the different industries, and in part on the state of 
 the laws which serve as the basis and measure of the economic 
 activity of individuals. The great juridical institutions, the 
 influence of which in political economy it is necessary to study, 
 are, says the learned professor of Berlin, individual liberty, 
 property, and the right of contract, hereditary succession, and 
 the consideration due to vested rights. The principles accord- 
 ing to which these institutions are regulated are not immutable ; 
 they have given way to transformations and historical develop- 
 ments. Changes in technical processes lead almost always to 
 a change in juridical institutions; thus the development of
 
 280 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 trade has produced an entirely new industrial law. In the 
 same way, modifications of the law produce modifications in 
 the processes ; so that Signor Minghetti could say with truth 
 that every great period of economic progress rests on a corre- 
 sponding juridical system. 
 
 In a profound study on Liberty and Property, Professor 
 Wagner shows the decisive influence exercised on the produc- 
 tion of wealth, and to a still greater degree on its distribution by 
 the different forms with which history has successively clothed 
 these two rights. We may thus see the intimate relations which 
 bind Political Economy to law, especially in the details of the 
 different agrarian systems in operation in different countries 
 and at different periods. Professor Wagner here brings out an 
 essential truth, too often forgotten, namely, that property^ is not 
 a right presenting always identical, and, so to speak, necessary 
 characteristics. It has varied at all times, according to the 
 social surroundings in the midst of which it is recognized^, 
 according to the processes of labour in vogue, and even accord- 
 ing to the objects to which it is applied.* So long as men live 
 on the produce of the chase or their flocks, and even so long as 
 agriculture is essentially "extensive," the soil belongs in common 
 to the whole tribe. In proportion as methods of cultivation 
 improve, become more " intensive," and consequently require 
 the employment of more capital, and as, at the same time, 
 cattle occupy a smaller place in the rural economy and meat in 
 food, private property successively extends until it swallows up 
 altogether the communal property of the villages, both pasture 
 and forest, and thus leaves nothing for the collective use. The 
 benefice, the fief, the mensal lands of the Church, the domain 
 of the convents, the holdings of the coloni, the possessions 
 subject to mortmain, property under all its forms, in the feudal 
 system, had a precarious character, either for life or at least 
 in some way limited, which radically distinguishes it from 
 
 * I have myself endeavoured to demonstrate this fact in my book, La 
 Propriete et ses formes primitives. Adolf Samter, a banker of Kbnigsberg, 
 who found time to write some excellent books, expounds similar ideas in 
 a work recently published under the title Frivat-Eigentlmm tind gesell- 
 schaftliches Eigenthtim (" Private Property and Social Property").
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 28 1 
 
 the absolute and exclusive quiritarian ownership adopted by 
 modern law. 
 
 Property in articles of consumption is quite a different thing 
 from property in instruments of production. To the latter ought 
 to be applied in all its force the reservation imposed, even by the 
 Roman law, on the right of using and abusing {Jus utendi et 
 abutendi re sud, quateniis juris ratio patitur), in so far, that is to 
 . say, as is permitted by the very considerations which originated 
 the right, namely, considerations of general utility. While as 
 far as articles of consumption are concerned, the old regula- 
 tions, such as the imposition of sumptuary laws and restrictions 
 as to dress and the fixing of prices by authority have dis- 
 appeared, limitations set to the free use of immovable property 
 tend to multiply and become more strict. Thus, more and 
 more stringent laws are everywhere made concerning the clear- 
 ing of woods, the employment of machines, the using of rivers, 
 the organization of labour in factories. In towns, proprietors 
 are not allowed to build until their plans have been approved 
 by authority ; they may be compelled to pull down buildings 
 pronounced dangerous to life or health, and they are not allowed 
 to carry on any trade which is a nuisance to their neighbours. 
 Property in mines is subjected to still more numerous restric- 
 tions. Finally, owners are expropriated, not only for works of 
 public utility, but even, as in the expropriation by means of the 
 taxation of districts, in order to permit the Commune or the 
 State to cover the cost of an improvement. These are some 
 applications of the Roman formula, Quafenus juris ratio 
 patitur. 
 
 The Economists of the new school are far from holding the 
 same opinions on all subjects. On the contrary, they are much 
 more divided among themselves than the classical Economists, 
 for the very reason that they reject the uniform creed as to 
 natural laws and universal laissez /aire. Thus, Adolf Wagner 
 calls for limitations on private ownership, and an extension of 
 collective ownership that few of his colleagues accept. In the 
 session at Bremen, when the resumption of the railways by the 
 State was discussed, A. Wagner and A. Held declared in favour 
 of it, Nasse and Brentano against it.
 
 282 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Schmoller advocates a system of corporations of working 
 men that many of the others attack. Two points, however, are 
 to be found in the programmes of all : first, the increased inter- 
 f vention of the law or of the State in the economic world; 
 { secondly, the intellectual and material elevation of the labour- 
 I ing classes. " When men of science," Held truly remarks, 
 * " concern themselves warmly and in an entirely disinterested 
 way wnth the good of the labourers, ought not their action to be 
 taken in good part, especially in the face of the indifference or 
 even hostility of public opinion? It is too common for the 
 privileged classes to consider the labourers as born to serv^ 
 them, and to nourish in their hearts the sentiments of the" 
 Brahmin towards the Pariah. From want of thought and from 
 never trying to look at the matter from the labourer's stand- 
 point, employers are apt to be hard and unjust. Have we not 
 done a useful thing in showing that there is nothing immoral 
 nor revolutionary in the desire of the labourers to get an increase 
 of wages and a diminution of the working hours ? " 
 
 At the opening of the session of October, 1882, Professor 
 Nasse, an Economist whose learning and moderation are 
 recognized throughout the scientific world, sums up the work 
 of the new school in the following terms : — " Ten years have 
 passed away since the 'Association for Social Politics' assembled 
 for the first time at Eisenach, in order to devote itself to the 
 study of the social question. Its object was to oppose the 
 tendencies which had theretofore prevailed, in the press and in 
 public opinion, on economic subjects. The formation of our 
 Association was a protest against that narrow individualism 
 which thinks that the most difficult problems of economic 
 legislation may be solved by simply invoking the most complete 
 freedom of action to individual interests, and which ignores the 
 mission of moral culture incumbent on the State in the region 
 of Political Economy. The Association was specially directed 
 against that optimism which shuts its eyes to the urgent necessity 
 of examining this formidable problem known as the social ques- 
 tion. It was an appeal and a warning which issued from the 
 juridical and moral conscience of almost all Germany, and whicK, 
 I think I may safely assert, has completely modified the ten-
 
 THE SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. 283 
 
 dencies of public opinion. The change has, indeed, been so /i.^,Q2 
 profound that many of those who had risen up to fight the 
 exclusive theory of the entirely beneficent action of competi- 
 tion now feel obliged to attack the confidence, which is 
 becoming more and more widespread, in the omnipotence of 
 legislation and the State." 
 
 The new school is called to render great services. Neither 
 the classical economy nor Socialism can serve as guide in the 
 difficult work of bettering the condition of the labouring classes, 
 and in gradually introducing a more equitable distribution of 
 wealth. On th e one hand, the orthodox economy, by persuad- 
 ing the ruling and well-to-do classes that the existing social order 
 is as perfect as it can be, and that in any case unrestricted liberty- 
 will answer every need, gives them ground for denying that there 
 is any social question, and induces them to reject as chimerical 
 all aspirations towards a regime more conformable to justice. 
 On The" other hand, the scientific Socialism of St. Simon, of 
 Marx, and of Lassalle has clearly pointed out the evils of 
 modern society and the feebleness of all attempts at disputing 
 their reality ; but when, going beyond criticism, these Socialists 
 give utterance to their views of reform and reconstruction, they 
 fail, because they do not take sufficient account of the teachings 
 of history and the innate sentiments of humanity. Seeing in 
 existing society nothing but evil, they are blindly optimistic as 
 to the future. They do not sufficiently realize that, in order to 
 arrive at a better order of things, the men who are called to 
 establish and maintain it must themselves be made better, and 
 that the first step is to purify and elevate current ideas as to 
 duty and right. This is a work of long dm'ation, reserved for 
 the Socialism of the Chair. It will undertake it, armed with an 
 accurate knowledge of the facts proved by history and statistics, 
 and animated with the desire to aid in establishing amongst 
 men that reign of justice and that kingdom of God, of which 
 Plato caught a glimpse, and which the prophets of Israel and 
 Jesus have announced to the world.
 
 SOCIALISM IN EISIGLAND. 
 
 BY 
 
 GODDARD H. ORPEN
 
 
 hJ^.^^ ( 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 r\ 
 
 1^. 
 
 D 
 
 '^^4 t-^irv 
 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 For good or for evil, England no longer enjoys an immunity P. ;v5^ 
 from Socialism or socialistic propaganda. I do not allude to 
 what has been called the socialistic tendency of recent legisla- 
 tion,* important as that tendency is as showing the growing 
 confidence of democracy in officialism. I allude to more active 
 and further reaching, if for the moment less effective, socialistic 
 movements. There is, in the first place, the movement for the 
 " Nationalization of the Land," which has recently received a 
 great impetus from the writings of Mr. Henry George. Secondly, 
 there is the movement of " Christian Socialism," which is to-day 
 advancing far beyond what Maurice and Kingsley, who were the 
 first to call themselves Christian Socialists, ever had in view. 
 Finally, there is the out-and-out Collectivist agitation conducted 
 by the members of the Social Democratic Federation, who may 
 be looked upon as the disciples of Karl Marx in England, f 
 There are, no doubt, some individual Anarchists in this country, 
 but they are not an organized body. There is every reason to 
 
 * Mr. Herbert Spencer, the great apostle of Individualism, has recently ' 
 inveighed against this tendency in articles in the monthly reviews on the 
 " New Toryism," the "Coming Slavery," etc. These articles have been 
 collected and published as a book : "The Man versus the State" (1884). ;; 
 A society also has been formed, called the Liberty and Property Defence 
 League, "for resisting over-legislation, for maintaining freedom of con- 
 tract, and for advocating Individualism as opposed to Socialism, entirely 
 irrespective of party politics." Central offices, 4, Westminster Chambers. 
 
 t Miss Eleanor Marx, one of the daughters of Karl Marx, is a prominent 
 member of the Federation. She contributes to I'o-day, its monthly 
 magazine, a "Record of the International Popular Movement,"
 
 288 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 suppose that the explosions of dynamite which have recently 
 occurred in England were the work of Irish- American Revolu- 
 tionists, who are actuated by a special hatred of England and 
 English rule in Ireland, and not by any general anarchic idea 
 such as was preached by Bakunin throughout Southern Europe. 
 Of Anarchism in England, therefore, I happily have no occasion 
 to speak ; but I propose to give an account of the present aims 
 and positions of the three socialistic movements to which I have 
 made allusion. 
 
 The idea of land nationalization as a remedy for some of the 
 evils of modern times is not a new one. According to the late 
 Mr.^Arnold Toynbee, it originated with James Mill, who was 
 led to it by his observations on the systems of land tenure and 
 revenue in India ; but there is reason to believe that the idea 
 is much older.* As a practical proposal, land nationalization 
 in a modified form first attracted attention when put forward, in 
 1870, by the Laud Tenure Reform Association, of which John 
 Stuart Mill was the moving spirit. The fourth article of the 
 programme of this Association was as follows : — 
 
 " To claim, for the benefit of the State, the interception by taxation of 
 the future unearned increase of the rent of land (so far as the same can be 
 ascertained), or a great part of that increase, which is continually taking 
 place, without any effort or outlay by the proprietors, merely through the 
 growth of population and wealth ; reserving to owners the option of 
 relinquishing their property to the State at the market value which it may 
 have acquired at the time when this principle may be adopted by the 
 Legislature." 
 
 Mill defended this special taxation of land mainly on the 
 ground that land is a natural monopoly ; that in every pros- 
 perous community, quite apart from any efforts of the owners, 
 it tends to rise in value ; and that this rise in value, being due 
 to the community, ought to accrue to the community. The 
 Association did not, however, propose to disturb landowTiers in 
 their past acquisitions, but only to tax future unearned increases 
 
 * Mr. Hyndman ("Historical Basis of Socialism," p. 448) mentions a 
 pamphlet by Thomas Spence, of Newcastle, published a hundred years ago, 
 which formulated a complete scheme of land nationalization by the action of 
 parishes and municipalities.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 289 
 
 of rent, and it offered to any landowner, who might prefer to 
 relinquish his land, its full selling value. This would still be 
 advantageous to the nation, " since an individual never gives, 
 in present money, for a remote profit, anything like what that 
 profit is worth to the State, which is immortal." * Whatever 
 may be thought of the practicability of this proposal, it is not 
 nearly so open to the charge of injustice as most of the schemes 
 of land nationalization which are propounded to-day. All that 
 can be said against it is, that unearned increment is not a 
 peculiarity of property in land : it occurs, for instance, in rail- 
 way shares, which often increase in value solely " through the 
 growth of population and wealth." We hear little, however, 
 about this particular proposal to-day, partly because far more 
 drastic measures are being pressed upon our attention, and 
 partly, perhaps, because agricultural land in England has 
 recently been falling in value — receiving, in fact, an unearned 
 decrement — and its early recovery is a matter of doubt. 
 
 The publication of " Progress and Poverty," early in 1881, 
 gave a great impetus to the land nationalization movement. 
 Its^author, Henry George,f was born at Philadelphia, on the 
 2nd of September, 1839, of American parents. His father 
 was desirous of giving him a thorough education, but the lad 
 was self-willed and preferred to study in his own way. " They 
 teach nothing at the Academy that I don't know or think I 
 know already," he said, and accordingly he Avas not sent to 
 school after his twelfth year. When he was sixteen he went as 
 cabin boy in a sailing-ship to India, because " he had read so 
 much about that unhappy country " and wished to investigate for 
 himself the state of affairs there. For some years he led a roving 
 life without any settled employment. In 1858 he worked his 
 way on a merchant-vessel to San Francisco, and spent the next 
 three years in unsuccessful mining enterprises. Finally, in 1861, 
 he settled down in San Francisco, where he was successively 
 
 * See J. S. Mill's papers on Land Tenure in the fourth volume of his 
 "Dissertations and Discussions." 
 
 t I have gleaned most of these biographical facts from a recently- 
 published sketch of Mr. George's life by Mr. Henry Rose, editor of the 
 Hull Express. 
 
 U
 
 290 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 connected with more than one newspaper, first as a compositor 
 and afterwards as managing editor.* 
 
 As early as 1869 Mr. George made the land question his 
 special study, and in 187 1 he published a pamphlet entitled 
 " Our Land and Land Policy." Many of his peculiar economic 
 theories— those, for instance, on the laws of wages, interest, and 
 population — are, perhaps, largely due to a hasty generalization 
 from what he saw going on in California, where there was 
 originally fertile and even gold-producing land to spare, but 
 where small settlements were rapidly developing into towns and 
 cities, and " the tramp was appearing with the locomotive." In 
 1878 a minor official position gave him leisure to develop his 
 theories in his great work, " Progress and Poverty." In October, 
 1 88 1, Mr. George came to this country as correspondent of 
 the Irish World, a paper which represents the revolutionary 
 Separatists among the Irish-Americans. In June, 1882, he 
 lectured in the Rotunda, Dublin, on the Irish Land Question ; 
 but as he advocated the abolition of private property in land 
 as opposed to a peasant proprietary, the aim of the Land 
 Leaguers, he did not succeed in making many converts. Early 
 in the present year (1884) Mr. George again visited England in 
 order to undertake a lecturing campaign under the auspices of 
 the Land Reform Union. A large meeting was held in St. 
 James's Hall, London, on the 9th of January, when the chair 
 was taken by Mr. Labouchere, M.P. Mr. George also addressed 
 meetings in Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edin- 
 burgh, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge, and other places ; but although 
 he frequently carried his audience with him, the lecturing tour 
 
 * About this time (1865) Mr. George drew up a set of rules for his 
 future conduct in the form of a little essay, which is published by his admiring 
 biographer as " throwing so much light " on the character and career of 
 his hero. In it he says: — "I. am constantly longing for vyealth. . . . 
 "Wealth would bring me comforts and luxuries which I cannot now obtain ; 
 it would give me more congenial employments and associates ; it would 
 enable me to cultivate my mind, and exert to a fuller extent my powers ; it 
 •would give me the ability to minister to the comfort and enjoyment of those 
 whom I love most; and therefore it is my principal object in life to obtain 
 wealth, or at least more of it than I have at present." He then expresses 
 disgust at the little progress he has made in the past towards attaining this 
 end, and makes the good resolution to amend his ways in the future.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 29 1 
 
 excited less attention than might have been expected, and was 
 a financial failure. . 
 
 Mr. George's book, however, has been an undoubted success. |; 
 Its author appears as the prophet of a new revelation. His 1 
 calrh assumption of infallibility, his brilliant bursts of eloquence, t 
 his keen sympathy for the poor, his religious fervour, and the ' 
 very audacity of his proposal are exceedingly attractive to many 
 minds. The book, too, is one which can be read by the people. 
 They may not follow all Mr. George's scientific or unscientific 
 analyses, but they are touched by his moral enthusiasm and 
 burning eloquence, and they can appreciate the apparent 
 simplTcity of his proposal. For he is not over-revolutionary. 
 He does not propose, as the Socialists do, to overthrow the 
 existing order of society. He is not, properly speaking, a 
 Soci alist at all. Who would not welcome his " simple yet sove- 
 reign remedy " if, as he says, it " will raise wages, increase the 
 earnings of capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish poverty, give 
 remunerative employment to whoever wishes it, afford free 
 scope to human powers, lessen crime, elevate morals, and taste, 
 and intelligence, purify government, and carry civilization to 
 yet nobler heights " ? 
 
 Mr. George proposes "to seek the law which associates 
 poverty with progress, and increases want with advancing 
 wealth." Even in thus stating his problem, Mr. George begs 
 an important question. Poverty persists indeed, but, according 
 to all the best statistical authorities, it is diminishing. Mr. 
 Giififerij for instance, the president of the Statistical Society, 
 comparing the present time with fifty years ago, calculates that ' 
 the workman now gets from fifty to one hundred per cent, more 
 mOney-wages for twenty per cent, less work,* while, with the 
 exception of meat and house-rent, the main items in his 
 expenditure have decreased. The inference that the working 
 classes are much better off is, he says, " fully supported by 
 statistics showing a decline in the rate of mortality, an increase 
 of the consumption of articles in general use, an improvement 
 in general education, a diminution of crime and pauperism, a 
 vast increase of the number of depositors in savings banks, and 
 * See his Inaugural Address to the Statistical Society (1883).
 
 292 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 other evidences of general well-being. Finally, the increase of 
 the return to capital has not been in any way in proportion, the 
 yield on the same amount of capital being less than it was, and 
 the capital itself being more diffused, while the remuneration 
 of labour has enormously increased." It is quite true, however, 
 I that a vast amount of want and misery exists side by side with 
 I a general increase in well-being. We have not to do merely 
 with averages, important as they undoubtedly are as showing 
 the general tendency. As long as there are two or three 
 millions of people in extreme want, it is poor satisfaction to 
 think that vast numbers of other people have more than they 
 quite know what to do with. This inequality of wealth, even 
 if diminishing, is certainly large enough to constitute a great 
 social evil. What is its cause, and what is its remedy? If 
 Mr. George has really answered these questions, he has done 
 a great service to humanity. 
 
 To put his answer shortly, Mr. George finds that rent 
 swallows up the whole benefit of increased production in every 
 progressive community, while the returns to labour and capital 
 are stationary or even diminishing. His remedy is to make 
 li land common property, and his mode of applying the remedy 
 jl is to confiscate rent by taxation. By rent, Mr. George means 
 f the whole annual value of land, less " the clearly distinguishable 
 improvements made within a moderate period." It appears, 
 then, that the working man has been making a mistake in 
 supposing that "his master is the enemy," or at least in 
 thinking that it is his employer who, in the shape of profits, 
 gets the lion's share of the produce. Of the three elements 
 into which profits are divisible — compensation for risk, wages 
 of superintendence, and return for the use of capital— the first, 
 according to Mr. George, need not be considered in deter- 
 mining the law of the distribution of wealth, as risk is elimi- 
 nated in the totality of transactions ; the second is rightly called 
 " wages," and should, he thinks, be classed with the wages of 
 the ordinary labourer ; while the return for the use of capital 
 is interest which, according to Mr. George, is likewise reducible 
 to the law of wsges, rising and falling with the rise and fall of 
 wages. Hence Mr. George concludes that the primary division
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 293 
 
 of wealth is dual, not tripartite ; capital is but a form of labour, 
 and the law to be sought is the law which divides the produce 
 between rent and wages. Accepting Ricardo's law of rent, Mr. 
 George finds as a corollary that wages also depend on the 
 margin of cultivation, but inversely to rent, so that, as the 
 margin of cultivation lowers, rent rises and wages fall. Finally, \ 
 he finds that increase in population, improvements in the arts, 
 — everything, in short, that augments the productive power of 
 labour — tends to advance rent and not to advance wages. 
 Hence it appears that the employer, whether capitalist or not,' 
 and the labourer are not the real antagonists, but factory lord 
 and factory hand are both ground down by the common enemy 
 of mankind, the landowner. 
 
 It is unnecessary to expose the long chain of fallacies by 
 which Mr. George arrives at this surprising result. The critics 
 of his book have been sufficiently numerous. M. de Laveleye 
 has made some remarks upon it in a former chapter, and a 
 more detailed criticism by the same writer will be found in the 
 Co?itemporary Revieiu for November, 1882. Mr. John Rae's 
 recent work on " Contemporary Socialism " comprises a long 
 chapter vigorously criticising " Progress and Poverty." Mr. 
 Mallock has also entered the lists against the prophet of San 
 Francisco.* His other critics include the Duke of Argyle, 
 Lord Bramwell, Professor Fawcett, Mr. Frederic Harrison, the 
 late Mr. Arnold Toynbee, and his fellow-countryman, Professor 
 F. Walker. Mr. George's last book, " Social Problems," per- 
 haps because it has less pretensions to the character of a 
 scientific work, is, in the main, less unsatisfactory and more 
 suggestive than its more ambitious predecessor. It is worth 
 noting, however, that Mr. George is advancing in revolutionary 
 ideas. He now apparently advocates the repudiation of 
 public debts, as resting, like private property in land, "on 
 the preposterous assumption that one generation may bind 
 another." f 
 
 Before noticing the societies which have been formed for 
 carrying out Mr. George's ideas, it will be convenient to give 
 
 * See his "Property and Progress," ch. i. (Murray, London, 1884). 
 t " Social Problems," p. 154 (Kegan Paul, 1S84).
 
 294 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 an account of the rival scheme of land nationalization proposed 
 by Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, the celebrated naturalist. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. Wallace published his book, " Land Nation- 
 ; alization ; its necessity and its aims," with the object of showing 
 I that "a properly guarded system of Occupying Ownership under 
 
 1 1 the State" would afford a complete remedy for the evils of 
 landlordism, and of explaining how the change may be prac- 
 tically effected " with no real injury to existing landowners," 
 and " without producing any one of the evil results generally 
 thought to be inseparable from a system of land nationalization." 
 In the earlier chapters of his book Mr. Wallace discusses the 
 causes of poverty in the midst of wealth, and illustrates the 
 evils resulting from Irish, English, and Scotch landlordism 
 
 % mainly by quotations or compilations from well-known writers. 
 He then contrasts the system of Occupying Ownership wrth 
 that of Landlordism, and endeavours to show that "just in pro- 
 portion as the cultivator of land has a, permanent interest in it, 
 is he well off, happy, and contented." Mr. Wallace's method 
 is an induction from facts, but he claims the support of Mr. 
 George's deductive reasoning, which, he says, is " founded on 
 the admitted principles of Political Economy, and the general 
 facts of social and industrial development." Finally, in his 
 last chapter, after maintaining that Free Trade in land, as 
 advocated by many English Liberals, would merely have the 
 effect of increasing the large estates and intensifying the evils 
 of Landlordism, Mr. Wallace propounds his own solution of 
 the question, which may be summarized as follows : — The State 
 must be the sole owner of the land. The tenants under the 
 State must have a permanent tenure, and must be subject to no 
 restrictions as to cultivating, selling, or transferring their holdings; 
 but sub-letting must be absolutely prohibited, and mortgages 
 strictly limited. The ownership of the State is not to be merely 
 nominal, as in England to-day, but is to involve the receipt 
 of a perpetual quit-rent in respect of the inherent value of the 
 land. The amount of this quit-rent will be determined in the 
 following way : — An elaborate valuation of every separate plot 
 of land in the United Kingdom will have to be made, and the 
 annual or rental value so fixed must be divided into two parts,
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 295 
 
 the one representing the " inherent value," which would depend 
 on natural conditions, means of communication, nearness to 
 markets, etc., and the other consisting of the " additional value " 
 given to the land by landlords and occupiers, such as build- 
 ings, fences, and permanent improvements. The former part 
 will be the " quit-rent •"' henceforth payable to the State, and 
 will be liable to periodic revision ; the latter will be the annual 
 value of the " tenant-right," as Mr. Wallace calls it, which is 
 always to remain the property of the future holder of the land. 
 
 As in future no sub-letting will be allowed, the " tenant- 
 right " of all lands not in the actual occupation of the present 
 landlords will have to be sold. The present tenants will have 
 a right of pre-emption, and, in the absence of agreement with 
 the present landlords, the amount to be paid will be fixed 
 by local Land Courts. When required, this sum will be 
 advanced to the tenant by authorized Loan Societies or muni- 
 cipal authorities, to be repaid by means of terminable rent- 
 charges. Once the " tenant-right " has been thus purchased, 
 the purchaser will become the tenant of the State, subject 
 to the quit-rent, and the " tenant-right " will thenceforth be 
 freely saleable. 
 
 Mr. Wallace differs from most other modern advocates of 
 land nationalization in admitting that " existing landowners 
 and their expectant heirs must be compensated." * This, hfe 
 thinks, may be fairly and adequately done by the State securing 
 to the existing landowner and " to any heir or heirs of his who 
 may be living at the passing of the Act, or who may be born at 
 any time before the decease of the said owner," an annuity 
 equivalent to the annual value of the portion of his property 
 appropriated by the State, t This proposal evidently springs 
 from a sense of justice in Mr. Wallace which is lacking in Mr. 
 
 * Nevertheless, Miss Helen Taylor finds it compatible with her sense of 
 consistency to take an active part both in the Society formed for advo- 
 cating Mr. Wallace's views and in that which owes its inspiration to the 
 writings of Henry George. She is also on the committee of the Social 
 Democratic Federation. 
 
 t In the programme of the Land Nationalization Society the annuity is 
 restricted to the landlord and " such of his heirs as may have been alive at 
 the passing of the Act."
 
 296 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 George, who, starting from the premiss that landlords are 
 robbers, does not see why they should be compensated for 
 being deprived of their powers to rob. The only sound 
 principle, hoAvever, is that acknowledged by J. S. Mill, who, 
 when advocating a radical change in the Irish Land Laws, 
 said : " Existing pecuniary interests which have the sanction of 
 law ought to be respected. An equivalent ought to be given 
 for the bare pecuniary value of all mischievous rights which 
 landlords or any others are required to part with." Mr. 
 Wallace, indeed, labours hard to prove that, with the compen- 
 sation he proposes, his scheme would do no injury to existing 
 landlords. But no amount of ingenuity can make out that the 
 ownership of an annuity of ^100 for one, two, or three lives is 
 of the same pecuniary value as the ownership in fee of land 
 producing a net annual income of ;^ioo. The practical 
 difference would be that the owner of the annuity, if he were a 
 prudent man, would capitalize a portion of it, and in this way 
 his net available income would be diminished. | 
 
 Mr. Wallace does not propose that any limit should be 
 placed to the amount of land which an individual may hold, 
 thinking that the prohibition of sub-letting would render all 
 other legislative restriction unnecessary. One of his most 
 distinguished disciples. Professor F. W. Newman, however, 
 would render it illegal for any one person to hold more than 
 five hundred acres. This modern Gracchus is somewhat less 
 tender than Mr. Wallace with regard to vested interests. He 
 compares Mr. Wallace's proposal to the, Sibyl's offer to King 
 Tarquin. If not listened to, less favourable terms will be 
 offered next time. 
 
 The most original and characteristic part of Mr. Wallace's 
 scheme is that by which he proposes to remedy the overpopu- 
 lation of towns, and draw back the people to the country, by 
 offering to every one a free choice of cheap land. " Every 
 Englishman," he says, "should be allowed otice in his life to 
 select a plot of land for his personal occupation. His right of 
 choice will, of course, be limited to agricultural or waste land ; 
 it will also be limited to land bordered by public roads 
 affording access to it ; it will further be limited to a quantity of
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 297 
 
 not less than one acre or more than five acres, and will cease 
 on any estate from which a fixed proportion, say ten per cent, 
 of the whole, has been taken, while it should not apply at all 
 to very small holdings ; and finally, it will be limited by 
 proximity to the dwelling of the occupier of the land, so as to 
 subject him to no unnecessary annoyance." All questions 
 arising out of this curious, but in many ways attractive, scheme 
 (and they would be numerous) would be settled by local 
 courts of the same character as the Sub-Commissions under the 
 Irish Land Act. Mr. Wallace calculates that perhaps, as a 
 maximum, one and a half million families would take advantage 
 of this right of pre-emption, to the extent of three million acres, 
 or one-tenth of the whole agricultural land of the country, 
 within the first ten years. 
 
 A society called the " Land Nationalization Society " has 
 been formed under the presidency of Mr. Wallace, with the 
 object of carrying out his scheme. In his address at the third 
 annual meeting of this Society, held in June, 1884, Mr. 
 Wallace maintained that Mr. George's remedy — the appropria- 
 tion of the whole ground-rent for common purposes — would 
 not have the effect of redressing the fundamental wrong, the 
 monopoly of land by the few, nor of securing the fundamental 
 necessity, free access for all to the land. " It would not," he 
 said " give the labourers land, and therefore would not raise 
 wages. It would tend, on the contrary, to intensify the 
 monopoly of land, because the landlords, possessing the houses 
 and other improvements as well as the land, would raise the 
 price of these improvements to recover what they had lost in 
 taxation. And this could not be prevented, because the 
 owners of a necessary of life are masters of the situation, and 
 can command any prices which those who must have these 
 necessaries are able to pay. It is, therefore, absolutely im- 
 possible that such a course as Mr. George proposes should 
 produce any good whatever." 
 
 Mr. Wallace's Society has lost some of its most energetic 
 members, who were unable " to concur with its consideration 
 to landlords or other principles." These seceders, early m 
 1883, formed the "Land Reform Union," a society already
 
 298 SOCIALISM IM ENGLAND. 
 
 mentioned as having organized Mr. George's lecturing cam- 
 paign. This society, which has lately taken the name of the 
 " Enghsh Land Restoration League," derives its inspiration 
 from "Progress and Poverty." It has at present only two 
 branches actually formed, one at Plymouth, and one in the 
 borough of Finsbury (London) ; but Mr. Verinder, the secre- 
 tary of the League, informs me that " arrangements are nearly 
 completed for branches in Carlisle, and among the English and 
 American residents in Paris." He further says that kindred 
 Leagues, not actually branches, exist at Hull, Birmingham, 
 Leeds, etc. This League differs from Mr. Wallace's Society on 
 the question of compensation, by declaring that it " cannot 
 tolerate the idea that the people of England shall be compelled 
 to buy back the land which is theirs by natural right, or^ to 
 compensate those who now appropriate their earnings for the 
 loss of power to appropriate those earnings in future." Fol- 
 lowing Mr. George, it proposes " to increase taxation on land 
 until the whole annual value is taken for the public benefit." 
 
 A " Scottish Land Restoration League " has also been 
 formed in the present year on similar lines to its English 
 sister. Both Leagues seem to be influenced by the Christian 
 Socialist movement; but what in the English programme 
 appears as an abstract right, is called in the Scotch manifesto 
 " a gift fresh from the Creator to each generation whom He 
 calls into being." The Scotch manifesto, too, magnariimously 
 says that it will not raise the question of how much compensa- 
 tion the landlords should pay to those who have been for so 
 long "unjustly disinherited." 
 
 An attempt has been made to form a similar League in 
 Ireland, at Belfast, and Mr. Michael Davitt, the original 
 founder of the Land League, though he does not appear to have 
 connected himself with the "Irish Land Restoration Society," 
 has long been known to advocate the socialistic system as 
 opposed to the " reactionary views " of Mr. Parnell, who has 
 always aimed at the establishment of a peasant proprietary. 
 There are not wanting some signs of a split on this question 
 among the Irish agrarian reformers, but Mr. Parnell has the 
 farmers with him almost to a man. They want to get their
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 299 
 
 holdings for nothing, and have no idea of virtually paying rent 
 to the State — not even to an Irish Republic — in aid of, or in 
 substitution for, the general taxation of the community. It is 
 just possible that the labourers, who are beginning to find out 
 thaflhey have gained no benefit from the recent agrarian 
 legislation, and who assert with truth that the farmers are far 
 har(5ef "masters than the landlords, may be led to adopt the 
 SocTalistic programme; but their present ideal is a better 
 cottagV and a plot of land. When they get the franchise they 
 may make their voices better heard; but they lack "the 
 sinews of war," an essential for any successful agitation in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Indeed, neither farmers nor agricultural labourers in any of 
 the three countries are likely to swell the cry for land nationali- 
 zation. In Scotland, the country perhaps most favourable 
 to it, the Highland Land Law Reform Association, which 
 lately (September, 1884) held a gathering of the clans at 
 Dingwall, on behalf of the unfortunate Highland Crofters, is 
 a far more influential organization than the Scottish Land 
 Restoration League. Its programme, however, is not socialistic 
 in any proper sense of the term. It^ merely asks for a law, 
 somewhat similar to the Irish Land Act, to enable the Crofters 
 to recover rights which they have but recently lost. Radical 
 changes in the English Land Laws are pretty widely desired, 
 but there is great divergence of opinion as to the direction 
 which the particular changes should take. In 1882 the 
 Trades Union Congress passed a resolution in favour of land 
 nationalization, but this resolution was rescinded last year at 
 Nottingham ; and this year the congress at Aberdeen, while 
 calling for a measure which would " provide for greater security 
 of tenure, compensation for improvements, and bringing the 
 land within the reach of the people," rejected an amendment 
 intended to embody the principle of land nationalization. The 
 Co-operative Congresses have given no encouragement to any 
 scheme which does not embody the principle of compensation. 
 Indeed, the question of compensation gives rise to an awkward 
 dilemma : Without compensation, nationalization of the larid is 
 flagrantly unjust and quite hopeless ; with compensation, its
 
 300 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 benefits are remote and doubtful. Of course, this does not 
 apply to the case of new countries making grants of land in the 
 first instance. It certainly seems desirable that our colonies, 
 for example, should not part with the fee simple of their lands, 
 and the Land Nationalization movement, which is active in 
 New Zealand and New South Wales, is more likely to succeed 
 with them than with us. There is much to be said, too, in 
 favour of the " municipalization " of lands in the neighbourhood 
 of growing towns, where the unearned increment is often 
 enormous, and where it is particularly important not to allow 
 private rights to grow up which interfere with the good of the 
 community. Into this question, however, I cannot now enter, 
 but must pass on to the second socialistic movement which I 
 propose to consider. 
 
 Christian Socialism may be said to have originated in 
 England in 1848, when Charles Kingsley, Frederick Denison 
 Maurice, Tom Hughes, Mr. Ludlow, and some others started 
 the Christian Socialist newspaper, issued a series of tracts, 
 and formed a society for promoting co-operative associations. 
 The leaders of the movement do not appear to have been 
 influenced by the writings of Lammenais, who was one of the 
 first Christian Socialists of modern times, and whose burning 
 denunciations of the capitalistic system have never been sur- 
 ' passed ; still less can they be connected wdth the Utopian 
 Reformers, such as Cabet and St. Simon. The idea of intro- 
 ducing Christianity as an active factor and guiding principle in 
 business life, appears to have suggested itself spontaneously to 
 an earnest band of noble-minded and unselfish churchmen, as 
 a means of coping with the wide-spread distress and discontent 
 which existed in England at the time, and which had raised a 
 threatening voice in the Chartist agitation. They had no 
 definite socialistic scheme in view, but they were profoundly 
 impressed with the evils of unrestricted competition, and 
 dreaded above all things the ascendency of the Manchester 
 School with — to use Kingsley's extravagant language — its 
 " narrow, conceited, hypocritical, anarchic, and atheistic 
 scheme of the universe." " I do not see my way further than 
 this," said Maurice; "competition is put forth as the law of the
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 3OI 
 
 universe. That is a lie. The time has come for us to declare 
 that it is a lie by word and deed. I see no way but associating 
 for work instead of for strikes." " It is my belief," said 
 Kingsle)^ " that not self-interest but self-sacrifice is the only 
 law upon which human society can be grounded with any hope 
 of prosperity and permanence." 
 
 They differed from Socialists generally in that they did not 
 look to the State for the regeneration of the social system. 
 Maurice, indeed, had a theory that the State could not be 
 communistic, but was "by nature and law conservative of 
 individual rights and individual possessions," and that it was 
 only by accident, as it were, and by going out of its own more 
 peculiar sphere, that it was compelled to recognize another 
 principle, as in the case of the factory children ; while the 
 Church, on the other hand, was " communistic in principle, and 
 conservative of property and individual rights only by accident, 
 bound to recognize them, but not as its own special work." In 
 the union of Church and State, accordingly, Maurice saw the 
 true~lusion of the principles of communism and of property. 
 It i¥true that Kingsley publicly called himself a Chartist, and 
 in one of his letters, written under the famous pseudonym of 
 " Parson Lot," said that his only quarrel with the Charter was 
 that it did not go far enough in reform ; but he immediately 
 explained his meaning by adding that the mistake the Chartists 
 made was in fancying that legislative reform was social reform, 
 and that men's hearts could be changed by Act of Parliament. 
 At the time, he was, perhaps, prepared to grant all the points of 
 the Charter, but neither then nor afterwards was it to political 
 action that either he or any of those who worked with him 
 looked for the salvation of the labourers. They sought no 
 State-aid for their co-operative societies, but merely a fair 
 field. Even private individuals could do little. They might 
 "boycott" the slop-shops which adopted the "sweating 
 system ; " they might encourage the growth of associations and 
 deal exclusively with them ; the rich might even provide healthy 
 workshops at a low, fair rent ; but, in the main, the workers must 
 fight their own battle, aided only by " Him whose everlasting 
 Fatherhood is the sole ground of all human brotherhood."
 
 302 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 The connection between the Christian SociaHst efforts of 
 Maurice and Kingsley and their friends, and the co-operative 
 movement out of which the present co-operative organization 
 has grown up, is very candidly stated by Mr. E. V. Neale, who 
 was concerned in the Christian Sociahst movement of 1848, and 
 is now the venerable general secretary of the Co-operative Union. 
 In a letter published by Professor R. T. Ely,* Mr. Neale says 
 that the two movements were "independent of each other in 
 their origin, though they have subsequently, to a certain extent 
 coalesced." The Rochdale Pioneers, who gave the first 
 impulse to the distributive societies in 1844, were Owenite 
 rather than Christian, and it was not until the beginning of 1850 
 that the " Society for promoting Working Men's Associations " 
 was started in London under the presidency of Mr. Maurice. 
 Most of the societies formed under the special influence of the 
 Christian Socialists in London failed from one cause or another, 
 and, as Mr. Neale says, " had it not been for the growth of 
 distributive co-operation in the north, the movement would 
 have been at an end in England." The efforts of the Christian 
 Socialists were, however, not without fruit. It was mainly 
 through their instrumentality that a most desirable change in 
 the law as to Industrial and Provident societies was effected 
 in 1852, and when the first steps towards the present organi- 
 zation had been taken, the influence of Maurice and Kingsley 
 was undoubtedly felt in the moral and broadly Christian tone 
 infused throughout the movement. f 
 
 The Christian Socialists of to-day in England maintain that 
 they are but carrying out the teachings of Maurice and Kings- 
 ley, though the more advanced add that they are doing so in 
 the light of the economic investigations of Karl Marx, LassalTe, 
 and Henry George. Many of them are far more radical in 
 their aims than their Continental namesakes, whether of the 
 school of Bishop Ketteler or of that of Dr. Stocker, The most 
 extreme section is represented by the "Guild of St. Matthew," 
 
 * See his "French and German Socialism in modern times" (1883), 
 p. 2^2. 
 
 t See the "Manual for Co-operators," edited by Thomas Hughes, Q.C., 
 and E. V. Neale, and published for the Central Co-operative Board.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 303 
 
 a society which was started some seven years ago for the purpose 
 of making the Church a more Hving and potent force among 
 tlie people. In a letter which I have recently received from 
 the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam, who is the warden of the Guild, 
 he says :— " Our position towards Maurice and Kingsley is that 
 of enthusiastic disciples. We know that some of their experi- 
 ments were failures, but we think we are carrying out their 
 principles more faithfully than those who merely go in for 
 co-operation." While disclaiming any authority to speak for 
 Christian Socialists generally, Mr. Headlam continues : — 
 
 " Roughly speaking, I should say that a Christian Socialist believes 
 that the Church — the whole body of the Baptized — is intended to be an 
 organized Society for the promotion of righteousness, and that when the 
 officers and members recognize that, the distribution of wealth will be 
 absolutely different from what it is at present. Meanwhile, believing in the 
 State as also a sacred institution, we use all our efforts to get such laws 
 made as will tend to bring about a better distribution: e.g. to get rid of 
 private property in land, eventually ; at once to re-impose the four-shilling 
 tax on present value, and claim all unearned increment ; progressive income- 
 tax ; free schools with free dinners, etc. We show to all Christians who 
 would ' suffer ' by these measures that they are really measures to help them 
 to live the life of brotherhood, which, in the present complicated state of 
 ' civilization,' it is very difficult for them to do, even if they wish to do so ; 
 for we believe that all little societies, whether Co-operative or Communistic, 
 are really only helping themselves at the cost of those outside, while the 
 present anarchy lasts. ... I always find that the first thing wanted is to 
 convince an ordinary Christian that Jesus Christ was a secular worker, and 
 that the Kingdom of Heaven of which He spoke meant the Church on 
 earth. If you can once get rid of the ' other worldliness ' which forms the 
 religion of so many people, half — more than half — the battle is won.' 
 
 *' In accordance with this view, Mr. Headlam delivered a lecture before 
 a branch of the Secular Society (published as a pamphlet : "The Secular 
 work of Jesus Christ, His Apostles, and the Church of England"), empha- 
 sizing the Secular side of the reported sayings and doings of Jesus, mini- 
 mizing the supernatural element in the miracles, which indeed he seems to 
 assimilate to the triumphs of science over nature, and maintaining that the 
 Church — or at any rate the Guild of St. Matthew — and the Secular Society 
 are working towards the same end : the good of humanity in this world. 
 At the same time, the Guild is what is called "High Church," and not 
 " Broad Church." Mr. Headlam's readiness to see the good (as he under- 
 stands it) in persons from whom he differs fundamentally on theological 
 points, his fearless denunciation of the Blasphemy Laws, and his staunch 
 advocacy of the removal of " the last remaining religious disability," the 
 Parliamentary Oath, are worthy of all praise.
 
 304 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Mr. Headlam has evidently discovered what M. de Laveleye 
 has so well pointed out, that Christianity, though containing 
 in itself the germs of socialistic ideas, by inculcating patience 
 and submission, and by pointing to a recompense beyond the 
 tomb, is, as usually taught, antagonistic to the full flowering of 
 Socialism. He, however, instead of endeavouring to eradicate 
 the religious sentiment after the manner of the revolutionary 
 Socialists, tries to arouse " divine discontent " by secularizing 
 Christianity. 
 
 The advanced Christian Socialists call for the Disestablish- 
 ment of the Church, and its organization on a democratic basis. 
 They think that their principles would gain wide acceptance 
 among the new ministers thus appointed. They believe that 
 in the doctrines and traditions of the Church, properly inter- 
 preted, they possess a lever to move the minds of the faithful 
 such as the Secularists with their "dismal creed" can never 
 obtain ; they confidently look forward to such a religious re- 
 vival, imbued with the new social ethics — to such a develop- 
 ment of what Mr. George calls a " deep, definite, intense 
 religious faith, so clear, so burning, as utterly to melt away the 
 thought of self" — that the question of the reconstruction of 
 society on socialistic lines will ere long accomplish itself with- 
 out the necessity of any physical compulsion; and they are 
 not without hope that even the stony hearts of many land- 
 lords and capitalists will be so softened by the potent solvent 
 of neo-Christian charity, that they will be ready ^to surrender all 
 their goods to feed the poor. 
 
 As I have already mentioned, the Christian Socialists of " the 
 extreme left " entirely accept the teaching of Mr. George as to 
 Land Nationalization, and reject the idea, that the landowners 
 have any just claim to compensation. They say, indeed, 
 that the principle of taxing land up to the full annual value, 
 though pushed on as rapidly as may be, will inevitably be so 
 gradually applied, that the hardship on individual landowners 
 will not be so great as might at first sight appear ; but they do 
 not shrink from answering the question of compensation frankly 
 in the negative, and they even retort the charge of confiscation 
 and robbery on the landowners. To those who use the argu-
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 305 
 
 merit that the rights of landlords and capitalists, however 
 mischievous they may be, have had the sanction of the law and, 
 at least prior to the dawn of the social revolution, of public 
 opinion, and that therefore the possessors of these rights should 
 not be treated as robbers, and be deprived of their legal 
 property without compensation, the Christian Socialists reply 
 by quoting the precedent of Jesus driving the hucksters and 
 money-changers out of the Temple, where their presence had 
 received the sanction of the religious authorities and did not 
 offend public opinion. In short, the merchants were forcibly 
 deprived of their vested interests without compensation, and 
 called " thieves " to boot. They further quote the strong 
 denunciatory language of the Founder of Christianity against 
 the " respectable " classes of Jewish Society, accusing them of 
 the very iniquities charged to-day against the rich. All this is 
 not without considerable force as an argiimentum ad Chris- 
 tianu/fi, but even the Christian may, I think, reply that the 
 prophet of San Francisco is not the Prophet of Nazareth, and 
 is not entitled to assume the divine anger, or to act or speak 
 with divine authority. 
 
 The above statements are partly gleaned from the Report 
 of the Guild of St. Matthew which has recently appeared. By 
 way of further elucidating the position of the Guild towards 
 Socialism and Christianity, I take from the same Report the 
 following extracts : — 
 
 "The two fundamental propositions which underlie Socialist teaching 
 are certainly Christian principles : first, every man should work. There 
 should be no idle class ; no class of those who consume but do not produce ; 
 no privileged body allowed to live upon the produce of others' labour 
 without rendering a due equivalent. What is this but Christian teaching? 
 St. Paul's labour law, if strictly applied to modern society, would effect a 
 social revolution. ' If any will not work neither shall he eat.' * In 
 
 
 * 2 T/iess. iii. 10. Herbert Spencer, in the " Coming Slavery," quotes 
 this text as "simply a Christian enunciation of that xmiversal law of 
 Nature . . . that a creature not energetic enough to maintain itself must 
 die," though with apparent inconsistency in the next sentence he slates 
 that the Christian law was to be "artificially enforced." Surely the 
 Apostle meant to enunciate a moral rule of conduct, and not a physical 
 law: that no one should "eat any man's bread for nought," but should 
 work, as St. Paul himself did, night and day, that "he mi^ht not be 
 
 X
 
 306 SOCIALISM IN- ENGLAND. 
 
 a truly Christian society the food supply of the wilfully idle would be cut 
 off; in modern society a man is often honoured in inverse proportion to 
 the amount of useful work he does. . . . Secondly, the produce of labour 
 fnu^t be distributed on a much more equitable system than at present. The 
 landlord and the capitalist, say the Socialists, secure by far too great a share 
 of the value created by labour." 
 
 This claim, they say, sounds strangely like St. Paul's dictum : 
 " The husbandman that laboureth must be ^q first to partake 
 of the fruits " — a text which was often quoted by the Catholic 
 priests in Ireland in the days of the Land League — and they 
 endeavour to parallel the Socialist indictment against capi- 
 talism by the utterances of the Hebrew prophets and the 
 Christian Apostles.* 
 
 The Christian Socialists do not, as a rule, base their Socialism 
 on Political Economy. A little pamphlet called the " Grammar 
 of Socialism " represents the somewhat hazy views of the 
 moderate section. Its motto, "Sirs, ye are brethren; why 
 do ye wrong one to another ? " indicates its spirit. The general 
 idea is that great riches are a great evil, that it is impossible, 
 consistently with the principle of brotherhood, for the rich man 
 to enjoy his goods while there is so much misery and want in 
 the world, and the practical suggestion is that " the transforming 
 force of public spirit " should be so brought to bear upon the 
 rich as to induce them to distribute all beyond their "due 
 shafe^^ahiong tlie poor.f The hearts of these men are sounder 
 
 chargeable to any man." The words should be translated, "neither let 
 him eat " (the bread of charity). The allusion is " to alms collected in the 
 Church for the poor " (Bp. Wordsworth). 
 
 * They quote Jer. ii. 34, v. 26, xxii. 13 ; Eccl. v. 13, etc. ; i Tim. 
 vi. 9 ; James v. i -4, etc. 
 
 t In further illustration of the spirit of the less extreme section, I may 
 quote the following passage from a sermon on Christian Socialism by the 
 Rev. J. W. Horsley, M.A., Chaplain of H. M. Prison, Clerkenwell, 
 preached before the Guild of St. Allmn: — "Do I dream only, and are 
 dreams never fulfilled, when I see the many doing what now only the few 
 attempt, becoming poor for the sake of the poor, and thus more truly becom- 
 ing rich? I see the curse transferred from poverty to luxury, from humility 
 to pride. I see the workhouse crumbling to dust, and the prisons tottering 
 to decay ; ail hospitals free ; orphanages, almshouses, on every side ; guilds 
 for every profession and calling, but none for any class ; poverty wearing 
 no badge save that of blessing, and riches not distinguished save by honour- 
 able deeds of philanthropy, self-denial, and love." Mr. Horsley looks 
 forward to a system of State Socialism, but says that Christians should not 
 wait for its introduction.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 307 
 
 than their heads. They discountenance the work of the Charity 
 Organization Society, and virtually justify " indiscriminate 
 charity," by assimilating it to the sun which is made to shine 
 alike upon the evil and the good. Again, the Church Reformer, 
 the organ of the Guild of St. Matthew, says : " We learnt our 
 Socialism, not from Das Kapital, but from the New Testament ; 
 Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus, and not Karl Marx or 
 Friedrich Engels, were its teachers." Nevertheless, both the 
 Church Reformer and the Christian Socialist, another paper 
 representing the left wing, read into the Bible the scientific 
 theories of Karl Marx and Henry George. 
 
 One of the members of the Guild, however, the Rev. Pro- 
 fessor Symes, of University College, Nottingham, is a Political 
 Economist of repute. In a paper entitled "Socialism by Taxa- 
 tion," read before a clerical audience at Charing Cross Hotel, 
 in January last. Professor Symes very frankly put the question 
 of a more equitable distribution of wealth under the simple 
 formula of " Taking from the rich and giving to the poor." 
 This IS morally justified as follows : — "A man has a natural right 
 to the produce of his own labours, but when he ^ needs the 
 co-operation of others, they have a corresponding right to offer 
 their own terms." This is precisely what landlords, capitalists, 
 and employers of labour say, but the Professor means to put 
 the words into the mouth of the nation. The nation has a 
 right to say to the manufacturer, You may live amongst us 
 and enjoy all the advantages of our civilization, but if you make | 
 a large fortune we shall take a considerable portion of it to be * 
 expended for "the victims of our complex life." If you do not !; 
 like our terms, there are plenty of unoccupied spots in the i 
 world where you call practice individualism to your heart's 
 content. Such is, in brief, the moral justification of taxing the 
 rich for the benefit of the poor. From the economic point of 
 view, it is necessary to distinguish taxes which fall on rent, 
 interest, and earnuigs respectively. Taxes on rent are eco- 
 nomically unobjectionable. They are mere transfers of wealth. 
 They do not of themselves render the land less productive, nor 
 will they cause a rise in rent, unless, indeed, where the land has 
 been previously under-rented (a not unimportant exception for
 
 308 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 <h 
 
 t*A*«A*' 
 
 l:lf 
 
 t 
 
 the consideration of tenant-farmers). The Professor, though 
 approving of Mr. George's scheme of taxing land almost up to 
 its full value as an ideal to be aimed at, utters a wise word of 
 caution against the sudden imposition of so gigantic a land tax. 
 This would not only cause hardship to landlords, but would 
 also shake the sense of security in ail kinds of property, and 
 would lead to a great change in the character of the demand 
 for commodities which, however desirable in the abstract, would 
 work great injury to many skilled labourers. As to taxes on 
 f'"interest, the Professor cannot agree with those who speak as if 
 capital was of no* assistance to labour. A tax falling on interest 
 would tend to drive capital abroad, and is therefore inexpedient^, 
 A tax on the earnings of commercial and professional people 
 is, however, not open to the same economic objection, at least 
 not in the same degree ; for it is far easier to transfer abroad 
 capital than ability. Accordingly, Mr. Symes advocates a 
 progressive income-tax to be gradually increased in severit}^. 
 The curious result, then, of the teaching of the " dismal 
 science," even in the hands of a Socialistic clergyman, is that a 
 tax on earnings, the produce of labour, and the reward of the 
 industrious, is advocated, while a tax on the spurious progeny 
 of infamous capital, the result of spoliation and the support of 
 the idle, is acknowledged to be inexpedient. Nevertheless, 
 the Professor's economical analysis is, in the main, correct ; 
 but the question whether taxation on a large scale on these 
 lines is expedient (apart from all consideration of its justice, 
 the highest expediency) depends on a variety of circumstances, 
 not the least important of which is, what is it intended that 
 the State should do with the vast funds so raised ? Will it in 
 the long run make a better use of them than the private indi- 
 viduals from whom they are taken ? 
 
 Mr. Symes advocates " the use of pubHc money for the direct 
 amelioration of the dwellings of the poor and the circumstances 
 of their children." Differing, however, as we shall see, from 
 the Social Democratic Federation, he would " let the improved 
 dwelhngs at competition rents," but he says " they would cease 
 to command monopoly prices." To get rid of monopoly or 
 scarcity prices altogether would be impossible with competition
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 309 
 
 rents, as there could not be an unlimited supply of houses in 
 the most desirable situations, but probably Professor Symes 
 means that the improved houses should be built in as suitable 
 positions as may be in numbers proportional to the poor in 
 each district. The competition rents would no doubt be 
 lowered as the supply of houses increased, but it is certain that 
 the transaction would result in a huge pecuniary loss to the 
 State. Perhaps this is not a fatal objection in Professor Symes' 
 eyes, for he further believes that " it would be desirable to incur 
 some pecuniary loss in establishing government workshops 
 which should partly mitigate the uncertainties of modern 
 industrialism." How State workshops would have this result 
 is not made clear. Of course, if the State undertook to provide 
 work for those out of employment, much of the uncertainty of 
 finding employment would, for a time at least, disappear. But 
 at what cost and with what ulterior consequences ? At the 
 immediate cost of the tax-payers, and ultimately at that of the 
 nation as well, for, as Professor Symes admits, " the expense 
 would, on the average, be greater than the waste involved in 
 the existing industrialism." But this is not all or nearly all. 
 Just at the moment when, owing to a glut in the market, manu- 
 facturers would be lessening their production, labourers, thrown 
 out of employment, would be demanding work at the hands of 
 the State in increasing numbers. The State would be obliged 
 to extend its operations to meet, not a demand for commodities, 
 but the excessive supply of labour ; and the period of equili- 
 brium would be indefinitely postponed. Indeed, to remedy the 
 confusion worse confounded, the cry of the Collectivists, that 
 the State should take into its possession and management all 
 the land, capital, machinery, and credit of the country, would 
 become irresistible. 
 
 Itjs impossible to estimate with any approach to accujacy 
 the influence of this movement among the clergy of the Church 
 of England. Mr. Headlam tells me that it is certainly spreading 
 among them, though he admits that he could not name fifty 
 who would call themselves" Christian Socialists." The roll of' 
 the Guild of St. Matthew now contains 119 names, of which 
 forty-five are those of clerical members. The increasing atten-
 
 310 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 tion given to social subjects in the Church Congresses, the 
 revival of guilds and of religious communities in the Church of 
 England, most of which are Socialistic in principle, and many 
 of the latter — the brotherhoods and sisterhoods — even Com- 
 munistic in practice, seem to bear out Mr. Headlam's statement. 
 Among the various Dissenting communities, . too., .Christian 
 Socialism appears to be gaining ground, though they have no 
 such organized Socialist body as the Guild of St. Matthew, nor 
 do they share its peculiar views as to the nature of theft. 
 Dr. Parker, in opening the autumn session (1884) of the 
 Congregational Union, said, " The land could not always be 
 held as it was in England to-day. But the rearrangement of 
 its tenure must express in its altered and popularized terms the 
 moral preparedness of the people, and therefore have no taint 
 of injustice to proprietors." He is also stated to have said that 
 he and his party "would abet and sanction no pubHc burglary," 
 and to have bidden his hearers beware lest " the word Christian 
 be only the handle with which the knife SociaHsm is worked." 
 I have now to notice a socialistic movement conducted by 
 a group of men who differ widely from all other sections of 
 Socialists in England : a ^roup of men in whose eyes Lord 
 Salisbury is a " marauder," Mr. Chamberlain a " slave-driver," 
 and the leaders of the Trades Unions — that '' aristocracy" of 
 labour " — the hireling tools of the capitahsts ; a group who think 
 that Mr. George is " tilting at windmills," and look upon him 
 as, except on one point (the " windmills "), " a typical middle- 
 class reformer, believing in the virtues of free contract and com- 
 petition ; " who sneer at the Christian Socialists, and " utterly 
 despise the other world with all its stage properties ; " who have 
 accepted Das Kapital as their Bible, and who look for anew 
 world " presenting itself," as their ablest writer, Mr. Belfort Bax, 
 says, "in industry as Co-operative Communism, in politics as 
 International Republicanism, and in religion as Atheistic 
 Humanism," — a world which they fondly hope will be brought 
 forth "after the agonized throes of Revolution." This group of 
 ll persons, of whom Mr. William Morris, the famous poet and 
 \( artist,* and Miss Helen Taylor, step-daughter of J. S. Mill, were 
 
 * Mr. Morris has written, in his usual charming style, a little pamphlet
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 3 1 1 
 
 previously the best known, belong to a society called the " Social \ \ 
 De{nocratic Federation." \ 
 
 T his soci ety was originally formed in 1881, under the name 
 of the " Democratic Federation." It appears to have been 
 suggested by the success of the Irish Land League, and origin- 
 ally it acted mainly in concert with that body. It was not until 
 1883 that the Federation declared itself openly a Socialist body, 
 and" issued its manifesto in the form of a pamphlet entitled 
 " Socialism made Plain." The Federation carries on an active 
 propaganda by means of pamphlets, lectures, public meetings 
 in the parks and elsewhere, and conducts a weekly newspaper 
 called Justice, and a monthly magazine called To-day. I 
 have no means of estimating the number of its members. In 
 answer to an inquiry on the subject, Mr. C. Fitzgerald, assistant 
 secretary, writes to me (3rd of Sept., 1884) as follows : — 
 
 "We have at the present moment twenty-one branches ; six new ones 
 forming, and there are in addition over twenty pioneer classes, as we call 
 them, composed of young men who are studying Socialism for the purpose 
 of forming the nuclei of future branches in their localities. Since October, 
 1883, our progress has been remarkable. It is not possible to give any () 
 approxijtnate estimate of our numbers, for the reason that thousands who \\ 
 would join us are kept back by the fear of losing employment, as too many/j 
 have done already." 
 
 Mr. Hyndman, one of the most active members of the 
 Federation, has advocated its programme by voice and pen. 
 He recently engaged in a public debate with Mr. Bradlaugh on 
 the subject, " Will Socialism benefit the English People P'^n 
 which Mr. Bradlaugh, by contrast at least, appeared as the 
 champion of the rights of property.* Mr. Hyndman is the 
 
 called "Art and Socialism," with much of which it is impossible not to 
 sympathize. He states his claim on behalf of labour thus : — " It is right 
 and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth 
 doing, and be of itself pleasant to do ; and which should be done under 
 such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious." 
 This is an ideal much to be desired, but is it likely to be realized by the 
 State-marshalled industrial armies which Mr. Morris and his friends wish to 
 enrol by universal conscription ? Mr. Morris says that we gave up Art three 
 centuries ago for what we thought was light and freedom, but that it has 
 turned out to be light and freedom for the few alone. Does he really think 
 that by surrendering such light and freedom as we possess we shall bring 
 about a new renaissance in Art ? The Socialist regime, whatever it may be, 
 is certainly not calculated to encourage individuality. 
 
 * A verbatim report of this debate has been issued by the Freethought
 
 312 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 author of a number of pamphlets and brochures, but his most 
 considerable work is a book entitled " The Historical Basis 
 of Socialism in England," written to aid the work of the 
 Federation. 
 
 This book, as its name implies, is mainly historical, but it 
 contains two chapters, one on " Labour and Surplus Value," 
 and another on the " Great Machine Industry," which are 
 almost entirely concerned with economics. TJie whole work, 
 especially the economical part, is, as the author acknowledges, 
 largely derived from the writings of Karl Marx, Rodbertus, and 
 Friedrich Engels. The historical part gives a sketch oFthe 
 social and economical development of England from the 
 fifteenth century to the present time.* It is of necessity a 
 dark picture, but Mr. Hyndman has deepened the shadows 
 and left only such lights as make the shadows by contrast 
 darker still. As a scientific study it is greatly disfigured by 
 the constant ascription of evil motives to landlords, capitalists, 
 free-traders, and generally all persons — and they are many — 
 with whom Mr. Hyndman does not agree. In the economic 
 portion may be found, though somewhat spoilt in the borrowing, 
 all those theories of Karl Marx, of which M. de Laveleye has 
 given an account. 
 
 First of all there is the Marxist theory of value, which Mr. 
 Hyndman expresses as follows : — " Human labour-force applied 
 to commodities reckoned useful in existing social conditions 
 constitutes the basis of exchange-value ; the quantity of labour- 
 force socially necessary to produce such commodities and 
 bring them forward for exchange, constitutes the measure of 
 their relative exchange-value," this labour-force being itself 
 measured by "the time during which it is exerted." In 
 
 Publishing Company, London. Many of Mr. Bradlaugh's arguments were 
 
 ; unanswerable and were, of course, left unanswered. For instance, lie jput 
 
 j' a case to this effect : — " Suppose I want to start an agitation against j^our 
 
 ; Collectivist system. Will your Socialist State grant me lecture Imlls'Tor the 
 
 purpose of denouncing it ? Will it give me a printing press to enable 
 
 me to publish books and papers advocating a new revolution to overthrow 
 
 Socialism ? If not, and if all land, machinery, capital, and credit is to 
 
 belong to the State, what becomes of freedom of speech ? 
 
 * A very suggestive, though unhappily fragmentary, sketch of the 
 period from 1760 will be found in Mr. Arnold Toynbee's " Industrial 
 Revolution in England " (1884).
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 3 1 3 
 
 somewhat plainer language, labour is the sole source of value, 
 and the amount of time during which labour of average 
 efficiency, making use of the best methods known to the age, 
 must be exerted to produce a useful commodity is the measure 
 of the exchange-value of that commodity. The leading error 
 in this theory is that it ignores the part played by utility in 
 determining value. It admits, indeed, that an article to have 
 any value must be useful, but it asserts that value is in propor- 
 tion to labour and to nothing else ; whereas, as M. de Laveleye 
 has pointed out, value really springs from utility, including in 
 that term the element of rarity. It is not easy to express the 
 law of value, as usually explained by Economists to-day, in a 
 few words, but perhaps it may be said with sufficient accuracy 
 that where the element of rarity exercises little influence, where 
 the commodity can be multiplied indefinitely, its normal value 
 will tend to equal the expenses of its production, in which 
 expenses the wages of labour, including earnings of management, 
 are an important but not the sole element ; but even in this case 
 these expenses of production, owing to the laws of increasing 
 and of diminishing return, will be partly determined by the 
 extent of the demand : a gradually increasing demand reducing 
 the expenses of production, where the former law applies, 
 as in the case of those manufactured articles in which raw 
 material is a small element, and augmenting them, where the 
 latter applies as in the case of agricultural produce ; and this 
 demand is itself determined by the relative utility of the com- 
 modity in existing social conditions. When, however, the 
 commodity is one that cannot be reproduced, its value will 
 depend solely upon the demand for it, that is, upon its relative 
 social utility. 
 
 Next, we meet with the famous theory of " Surplus Value," 
 on which great stress is laid, and which, summarizing Mr. 
 Hyndman's account, may be briefly stated as follows : — Labour- 
 force, alone of commodities, has the remarkable quality of 
 being the source of additional exchange-value : its consumption, 
 in fact, creating more than its own value or cost of production. 
 The labourer, being divorced from the means of production, is 
 obliged to sell his labour- force for what it will fetch. The capi-
 
 314 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 talist, therefore, in the competition of the market, is enabled to 
 buy the labour-force for a starvation wage, a wage just sufficient 
 to enable the labourer to subsist and perpetuate his race. But 
 the labourer in three or four hours' work replaces the labour- 
 value represented by his wages, and the produce of the remain- 
 ing six or seven hours' labour constitutes the surplus value 
 which " makes capital breed," pays the capitalist, the landlord, 
 the banker, the broker, the shopkeeper, the merchant, and 
 in short enables "idle "people to live on the produce of unpaid 
 labour. Thus, capital is not the result of saving or abstinence, 
 as the orthodox Economists " do vainly talk," but arises from 
 the produce of unpaid labour. " To the carnal eye," says Mr. 
 Belfort Bax, who, as far as he goes, is a much clearer exponent 
 of the ideas of Karl Marx than Mr. Hyndman, " the abstinence 
 of a Nathaniel Rothschild is below the '■^minimum visible.'" 
 Certainly it is no great merit on his part, but whatever the 
 niillionnaire accumulates he abstains from spending unproduc- 
 tively. 
 
 What is true inthis theory of surplus value is no new reve- 
 lation. Every one knows that the labourer does not get the 
 whole value of the product in his wages. As long as lan3 ah9" 
 capital are owned by some individuals, and not by all, nay, as 
 long as special business abilities are the property of a few, so 
 long will labourers, who are without these requisites of produc- 
 tion, have to pay for their use. It is unnecessary for me to 
 discuss the " iron law " of wages which is summoned in aid of 
 the surplus value theory. M. de Laveleye has shown what a 
 small element of truth there is in it. There is only one point I 
 need notice. Mr. Hyndman says," The higher wages which some 
 workers get than others do not vitiate this (the bare-subsistence 
 theory). Complex labour is at most a multiple of simple 
 labour." It would seem, therefore, that the "complex 
 labourer," who earns thirty shillings a week, requires three 
 times as many loaves to keep him in working order as the 
 " simple labourer," who, for the same number of hours' work, 
 gets only ten shillings a week. And again, as the value of 
 commodities depends on the quantity of labour-force, measured 
 by time, " socially necessary " to produce them, the product of
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 3 I 5 
 
 the complex labourer in the above case will exchange for no 
 more than that of the simple labourer, although the capitalist, 
 who is usually credited with cunning, has expended three times 
 the amount of wages in procuring it. If, as would appear 
 from the corresponding passage in Das Kapital, the meaning 
 is that, in the case of skilled labour, the cost of education or 
 apprenticeship must be taken into consideration, it may be 
 replied that this cost, if spread over the average working-life 
 of the skilled labourer, would by no means eat up the excess 
 of his wages over those of the ordinary labourer. And in the 
 next place, the duration of time of this apprenticeship, added 
 to the duration of the working-life of the skilled labourer, 
 would by no means measure the far greater value of his 
 aggregate product as compared with the value of the aggregate 
 product of the ordinary labourer. 
 
 As to machines, Mr. Hyndman says that they add no ydue 
 to the commodities produced beyond the equivalent of the 
 wear and tear of the machine, or, in other words, the amount 
 of labour needed to put the machine in as good a condition as 
 before. Of course, if the same quantity of human labour is 
 employed, he admits that the machine produces a far greater 
 amount of wealth ; but none of it, he maintains, goes to the 
 workers. On the contrary, by aiding in the accumulation of 
 capital, machinery merely serves to rivet tighter their chains. 
 Both the direct and the indirect effect of machines is to 
 depreciate the value of labour-force. Their introduction turns 
 labourers out of employment with less aptitude for work of a 
 different nature, and thus creates a permanent over-population 
 in the face of increasing wealth — " an industrial army of 
 reserve " ready to be absorbed by capital " into the whirl of 
 production during times of expansion only to be thrown work- 
 less on the streets in periods of collapse." There is absolutely 
 no redeeming feature. True, machinery^ lowers_ the price 
 of commodities, but, so far as this affects the labourer, wages are 
 reduced by the same amount, leaving a relatively larger surplus 
 value for the capitalist. 
 
 Much of what Mr. Hyndman says as to the effects of 
 machinery and the large industrial system on the operatives is
 
 3l6 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 perfectly true, but it is misleading, to say the least, to affirm 
 that machinery adds nothing to value. In the firsr place, 
 wherever there is a monopoly — and quite apart from patents 
 and combinations, the sagacious and enterprising employer, by 
 always adopting the most improved machinery, will have 
 advantages in the nature of a monopoly — machines do add to 
 exchange-value ; and secondly, the important thing to consider 
 is the use-value, the utilities created by the machines, to which, 
 indeed, modern civilization owes most of its increased wealth. 
 While it is true that manual labourers have not shared to the 
 extent one would wish in the increased produce due to 
 machinery, it is not true that they do not share in it at all. 
 They benefit by the cheapening of articles of their consump- 
 tion, "and it is not the case that wages are necessarily lowered 
 in , proportion. On the contrary, as we have seen, money- 
 wages have largely increased in the last fifty years, while this 
 cheapening process has been going on. 
 
 It is unnecessary to criticise Mr. Hyndman's theories 
 further. M. de Laveleye has already dealt with them by 
 anticipation. But, however false Mr. Hyndman's analysis may 
 be, however exaggerated his picture of the present, however 
 incorrect his estimate of the future, after making all allowances 
 the fact still remains that our present industrial system is far 
 from perfect. There is a growing dissatisfaction, not confined 
 to the poor and the Social Democrats alone, with th^ 'present 
 distribution of wealth ; an increasing conviction that the 
 manual labourers do not obtain the share to which they are 
 justly entitled in the wealth which they help to produce ; an 
 ever-deepening belief, not merely that the profits of the 
 employer are sometimes inordinately high and the wages of 
 .the labourer often disgracefully low, but that the present 
 isystem, which seems inevitably to breed antagonism between 
 femployer and employed, and which too often leaves the latter 
 at the mercy of the former,' is radically at fault. How to 
 change this system for the better is really becoming a vital 
 question. Let us see what answer the Social Democrats give. 
 The objects of the Federation may be found most concisely 
 stated in their manifesto, entitled " Socialism made Plain."
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 3 1 7 
 
 As we have seen, following Karl Marx, they base everything 
 on the fundamental proposition, dealt with by M. de Laveleye, 
 that " all wealth is due to labour, and therefore," they say, " to 
 the labourer all wealth is due." Thirty thousand persons, 
 they assert, though with considerable inaccuracy,* own the 
 lanH'of Great Britain. They therefore call for the Nationaliza- 
 tion'bf the Land. 
 
 
 " We claim that land in country and land in towns, mines, parks, 
 mountains, moors, should be owned by the people for the people, to be 
 held, used, built over, and cultivated upon such terms as the people them- 
 selves see fit to ordain. The handful of marauders who now hold 
 possession have, and can have, no right save brute force against the tens of 
 millions whom they wrong." 
 
 But, after all, the landlords are not the worst. They get 
 only ;^6o,ooo,ooo out of a total ^^^i, 000,000, 000 robbed from 
 the workers, t 
 
 " The few thousand persons who own the National Debt . . . exact 
 ;f28,ooo,ooo yearly from the labour of their countrymen for nothing ; the 
 shareholders, who have been allowed to lay hands upon our great railway 
 communications, take a still larger sum. Above all, the active capitalist 
 class, the loan-mongers, the farmers, the mine-exploiters, the contractors, 
 the middle-men, the factory-lords — these, the modern slave-drivers, these 
 are they who, through their money, machmery,"capiral7aiJ3"cre3rt7"to 
 every advance in human knowledge, every improvement in human 
 dexterity, into an engine for accumulating wealth out of other men's 
 labo_ur,,.and for exacting more and yet more surplus value out of the wage- 
 slaves whom they employ. So long as the means of production, either of 
 raw materials or of manufactured goods, are the monopoly of a class, so 
 long must the labourers on the farm, in the mine, or in the factory sell 
 themselves for a bare subsistence wage. As land must in future be a 
 national possession, so must the other means of producing and distributing 
 wealth. . . . 
 
 * The Parliamentary Return of 1872 gives the total number of land- 
 owners in Great Britain and Ireland as 1,173,724. Apart from Ireland, 
 there were in Great Britain (in round numbers) 234,000 owners of between 
 I and 100 acres ; 47,000 owners of lOO acres and upwards ; while there 
 were no less than 816,000 owners of less than one acre. These last must 
 have been mainly owners of town holdings, as their aggregate rental 
 amounts to ;^35,ooo,coo. 
 
 t Apart from the theory involved in the expression " robbed from the 
 workers," it is right to state that the figures from which the sum of 
 ;i^i, 000,000,000 is arrived at are by no means admitted by the best 
 statistical authorities.
 
 3l8 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 "As stepping-stones to a happier period, we urge for immediate 
 adoption : — 
 
 " The Compulsory Construction of healthy artisans' and agricultural 
 labourers' dwellings in proportion to the population, such dwellings to be 
 let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone. 
 
 " Free Compulsory Education for all classes, together with the 
 provision of at least one wholesome mdal a day in each school. 
 
 " Eight Hours or less to be the normal working day in all trades. 
 
 " Cumulative Taxation upon all incomes above a fixed minimum 
 not exceeding £^yx) a year. 
 
 " State Appropriation of Railw^ays with or without compensa- 
 tion." (Compensation is a detail to be avoided if possible.) 
 
 "The establishment of National Banks, which shall absorb all 
 private institutions that derive a profit from operations in money or credit." 
 (The process of absorption is not described.) 
 
 "Rapid Extinction of the National Debt " (it is not said how, but 
 apparently " rapid extinction " is a euphemism for " repudiation "). 
 
 "Nationalization of the Land, and organization of agricultural 
 and industrial armies under State control on co-operative principles." 
 
 Nothing is said about compensation to existing landowners, 
 capitalists, and owners of property generally, because, 
 apparently, none is intended. They are to be expropriated, 
 if not by more summary methods, by means of the cumulative 
 taxation above advocated. This appears still more plainly in 
 the "Summary of the Principles of Socialism," signed by the 
 whole Executive Committee of the Democratic Federation, 
 where, after explaining rather more fully the objects of the 
 League, they say : — 
 
 " But this is confiscation. Far from it, it is restitution. Those who 
 cry for compensation for past robbery, and shriek confiscation because 
 the right to rob in future is challenged, should bear in mind that the 
 men and women whom we would compensate are those who are now 
 stumbling half-clothed and half-fed from a pauper cradle to a pauper 
 grave, in order that capitalists and landlords may live in luxury and excess. 
 The dead have passed beyond compensation ; it will be well if the living 
 do not call for vengeance on their behalf. Our first principle as Socialists 
 is that all should be well fed, well housed, well educated. For this object, 
 we urge forward the Revolution, which our enemies hysterically shriek at, 
 and frantically try to dam back." 
 
 Let there be no mistake about it. The means which they 
 advocate and exult in, to bring about the consummation which 
 they desire, are what most persons call wholesale rapine and
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 319 
 
 plunder. It is as they say, " a class war," in its literal and 
 terrible sense, to which they are urging the people. 
 
 I do not propose to criticise in detail all " the stepping- 
 stones to a happier period " above mentioned. I believe that, 
 so far as they depend for their efficacy on the principle of 
 plunder, they will be rejected, as soon as they are understood, 
 by the overwhelming majority of the working classes of this 
 country. The three first articles of the New Charter, however, 
 are not necessarily revolutionary in any proper sense of the 
 term ; the only question is whether they would be beneficial. 
 As to the compulsory construction of labourers' dwellings " in 
 proportion to the population, to be let at rents to cover the cost 
 of construction and maintenance alone," unless — as, indeed, 
 appears to be intended — the sites are to be obtained as part of the 
 " spoils of war," it is by no means certain that the State, with 
 all its inevitable jobbery, incompetence, and extravagance, is 
 the best agency for providing labourers with good houses at low 
 rents. In any case, on ]\Ir. Hyndman's own principle of the 
 bare-subsistence wage, the net result, under existing economic 
 conditions, would be to benefit the " slave-drivers " by lowering 
 the rate of wages. All thinking persons, however, are fully 
 convinced that stringent measures are imperatively called for to 
 put an end to the scandalous way in which large numbers of 
 the labourers in town and country are housed. The question 
 is beset with difficulties, but it seems to me that such measures, 
 so far as they require a change in the law, should take the 
 direction of obliging those who profit by the letting of houses, 
 to see that they fulfil certain mijiimuin sanitary requirements, 
 or, in the alternative, to surrender them up at a price to be 
 determined having regard to that obligation, rather than that of 
 calling in an elaborate State machinery for any large construc- 
 tive effort. Persons should not be allowed '"'to profit by 
 their own wrong," but it is better, where possible, to enforce 
 individual responsibility than to su[)ersede it by officialism. As 
 to " free education " with " one wholesome meal a day," this 
 too, as far as the parents are concerned, would seem, on Mr. 
 Hyndman's principles, to be equivalent to a rate in aid of 
 wages ; for what the parents gain by having their children's
 
 320 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 education and partial maintenance paid for them, they would 
 of course, on " the bare subsistence " principle, lose in wages. 
 I, however, am inclined to think .that Mr. Hyndman's proposal 
 might be temporarily adopted in the case of the very poor with 
 a balance of advantage. The chief danger would be the 
 weakening of the parents' sense of responsibility for the proper 
 bringing up of their children; but, seeing how very weak this 
 sense of responsibihty, in the class in question, already is, and, 
 under existing conditions, necessarily must be, I believe that 
 the danger alluded to would be out-balanced by the great gain 
 of having a new generation rising up amongst us better taught 
 and better fed than their fathers, and having therefore a higher 
 " standard of comfort." As to the eight hours normal working 
 day, this is of course a perfectly legitimate object for working 
 men to combine for, and it would no doubt be extreniely 
 beneficial if it did not result in driving trade from the countjry. 
 To obviate this, the rule should be made an international one. 
 Until that can be secured, a legislative remedy might be worse 
 than the disease. 
 
 It is unnecessary to examine the remaining " stepping 
 stones." Were the consummation ever so devoutly to be wished 
 — which it is not — there is a preliminary question to be asked : 
 Is the nation or are the workers prepared to usher in any new 
 regime at the cost of wholesale plunder and rapine — plunder 
 and rapine, too, not only of the rich and of the much-abused 
 middle classes, but of hundreds of thousands — nay, millions — 
 of the so-called "wage slaves " themselves ? The working men 
 who have invested their hard-won savings in Building Societies, 
 in Savings Banks, in Friendly Societies of all kinds, or who 
 have sums standing to their credit in the Co-operative Stores, 
 will find themselves expropriated equally with the Rothschilds. 
 The small proprietor, the tenant farmer who has invested 
 capital in his holding, must go the way of the Duke of 
 Westminster. Every one who has anything to lose must lose 
 it, and be no better off under the new regime than if he had 
 been an idle beggar all his days. To put it on no higher 
 ground, will all these consent to the suggested confiscation ? 
 
 Apart, however, from the great and indelible moral wrong,
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 321 
 
 more important than the mere material loss, involved in the 
 means proposed, is the end in view in itself desirable ? Shorter 
 hours of labour, more leisure, a more equal distribution of wealth, 
 the'substitution of an "intelligently ordered co-operation for 
 existence " for the present " physically disordered struggle for 
 existence " — all this sounds very inviting. Let us see what are ' 
 the probabilities of obtaining it, and, apart from the initial cost, 
 what price must we pay for its maintenance. 
 
 The Social Democrats never attempt to give any clear notion 
 of the working of the Collectivist State, either because they have 
 formed none themselves, or because a frank statement would 
 expose its absurdity. All they say is that land, mines, and all raw 
 materials ; railways, shipping, and all means of communication ; 
 factories, machinery, and all instruments of production — all 
 the land and capital of the country, in short — is to be con- 
 centrated in the hands of a democratic State, and the work 
 of production, distribution, and exchange is to be carried on 
 by "agricultural and industrial armies under State control." 
 Competition will, it seems, be merged in the huge State 
 monopoly, and exchange will be effected, in some undescribed 
 way, without profit. Every article produced will, I suppose, be 
 ticketed as equivalent to so many hours' labour, and will be inter- 
 changeable with labour-notes in some such way as suggested by 
 Rodbertus.* As nobody will have any private capital, everybody 
 will have to enlist in the service of the State ; and to produce the 
 wealth necessary to secure a reasonable competence, something 
 like two hours' work a day will, they maintain, suffice. There 
 will be a great saving, they say, in the wages of superintendence 
 and in the costs of distribution. The superintendents — includ- 
 ing, I presume, the whole hierarchy of State officials who are to 
 organize labour — are to be remunerated on the same basis as that 
 of productive labourers, pure and simple.! This little admission 
 — which is, indeed, only the logical consequence of the Socialist 
 theory of value — enables us to form an estimate of the probable 
 efficiency with which the gigantic task of organization will be 
 
 * See supra. Chapter III. 
 
 t See Mr. Bax's article, "The Modern Revolution," in To-day, for 
 July, 1884, pp. 7i» 72. 
 
 Y
 
 322 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 carried on, and in itself suffices to demonstrate the utter futility 
 and imbecility of the whole scheme. "It noa^ s^ern^" adds 
 Mr. Bax, "to those accustomed to the presenf system, an injustice 
 that the clever doctor, advocate, artist, author, or composer 
 should be able to absorb no more of the good things of life than 
 the man of average ability. This is only one of the countless 
 instances of custom perverting the mental, or rather moral, 
 
 vision The natural and unperverted moral sense would 
 
 seem to declare for the very reverse, namely, that inasmuch as 
 the gifted man is placed by nature on a higher level than the 
 ordinary man, .... he should the rather forego a portion of his 
 own legitimate share. The utmost, however, that is contemplated 
 by the Socialist is his being placed on an equal economical foot- 
 ing with his naturally inferior brother." This principle of 
 remuneration may suit the unperverted moral sense of angels 
 in Dreamland, but it is idle to pretend that, without a moral 
 revolution far more radical than the material revolution of the 
 Socialists, such a principle would promote Invention, Imagina- 
 tion, Science, Art, and Literature, to say nothing of material 
 wealth, amongst ordinary human beings. 
 
 It appears that, after all, individual production for profit 
 will not be prohibited in the CoUectivist state. " Prohibitory 
 laws," says Mr. Bax,* " will be quite unnecessary when private 
 enterprise ceases to be profitable, as it must when the whole of 
 the means of production, distribution, and credit on a large 
 scale are in the possession of the people themselves." Ac- 
 cordingly, he answers an objection of M. Leroy-Beaulieu, 
 namely, that " under the CoUectivist regime no one would be 
 allowed to mend his neighbour's trousers or shirt for a monetary 
 consideration," by the statement that " all those who desire to 
 make a living by an individuahstic mending of shirts and 
 trousers will be allowed full liberty to satisfy their aspirations." 
 With characteristic confidence he adds, " We will not vouch 
 for their being much patronized, for the probability of repairs 
 of this character being executed better, more rapidly, and with 
 less expenditure of labour in the State or communal factory is 
 
 * See his criticism of M. Leroy-Beaulieu's " Collectivisme " in To day 
 (September, 1884), pp. 297, 298.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 323 
 
 sreat." We bes leave to differ from Mr. Bax's estimate of the 
 relative efficiency of the CoUectivist factory as compared with 
 the individualist owner of a needle and thread, but it is more 
 important to observe that, in the absence of prohibitory laws, 
 the old " profit-mongering, competitive, individualistic system" 
 will be sure to creep in again. In process of time, even if a 
 counter-revolution does not hasten matters, energetic individuals, 
 in spite of the levelling system of remuneration, will amass capital 
 by working overtime. They will then compete with the State 
 in production, and, unless we read history all awrong, they will 
 in the end prevail. 
 
 Thus it appears that the CoUectivist experiment can only 
 be tried: after the sacrifice of national honour; the experiment 
 itseff^ if workable at all, would deprive life of most of what 
 makes 'life endurable, and sooner or later it would inevitably 
 fail lind" leave" us centuries behind even our present stage of 
 development. 
 
 "Moreover, the Social Democrats of England are never tired 
 of asserting — what, indeed, is sufficiently obvious — that a forcible 
 revolution will be necessary before they can try their Collectiyist 
 scheme. It cannot, they say, Hke the systems of Owen arjid^ 
 Fourier, be tried experimentally on a small scale. They there- 
 fore lay themselves open to the strictures passe(i by J. S. Mill 
 on the Revolutionary Socialists of the Continent in respect of 
 the similar schemes proposed by them. " It must be acknow- 
 ledged," he says, " that those who would play this game on the 
 strength of their own private opinion, unconfirmed as yet by 
 any experimental verification — who would forcibly deprive all 
 who have now a comfortable physical existence of their only 
 present means of preserving it, and would brave the frightful 
 bloodshed and misery that would ensue if the attempt was 
 resisted — must have a serene confidence in their own wisdom 
 on the one hand, and a recklessness of other people's sufferings 
 on the other, which Robespierre and St. Just, hitherto the 
 typical instances of those united attributes, scarcely came up 
 
 to." * 
 
 Unless a great change comes over the workers of England, 
 
 * '* Chapters on Socialism," Fortnightly Rcvim (April, 1879).
 
 324 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 they will never consent to have the Collectivist experiment tried 
 upon them. They have always shown a jealousy, in the main a 
 wholesome one, of State interference ; and though more inclined 
 of late to trust officialism in some matters, they will never consent 
 to surrender to any government, however democratically con- 
 stituted, the entire regulation of the whole economy of life. 
 Possibly the Germans, who have long been accustomed to a 
 bureaucratic regime — an excellent one of its kind — may submit 
 to the growth of State Socialism among them, and the experi- 
 ment will be watched with great interest by many of us ; but 
 the love of personal liberty, with all its accompanying draw- 
 backs, and the sense of self-reliance, are too deeply engraved in 
 the English nature to render possible even the modified form 
 of State help likely to be adopted in Germany. 
 
 Indeed, the feelings I speak of, though more noticeable 
 with us/* are not confined to Englishmen ; they are shared in 
 a greater or less degree by the whole civilized world ; and a 
 true analysis would, I think, show that it is these feelings which 
 have driven many of those most profoundly dissatisfied with 
 the present social regime to adopt the principle of Anarchism 
 or Amorphism — a principle which Mr. Hyndman justly calls 
 " Individualism run mad " — rather than any form of centralized 
 or authoritarian Collectivism or Communism. Bakunin, in 
 fact, bears the same relation to Karl Marx that Herbert 
 Spencer does to the modern State Socialist. Though starting 
 with a very different estimate of the present regime, and 
 moving on a very different plane, they each represent a revolt 
 from what they severally think would be an excessive inter- 
 ference of centralized authority. 
 
 Nevertheless, these two ideas of Anarchism and of cen- 
 tralized Socialism, though separated theoretically by the whole 
 diameter of economic being, if reduced to practice in the 
 
 * The difference between the English and the French workman was once 
 more brought into strong rehef at the Working IVIen's Conference held at 
 Paris last year, and attended by Messrs. Broadhurst, Shipton, and others, as 
 delegates from the Trades Unions. The English official report states that 
 at one time the Conference looked as though it would fail : "The point of 
 difference was the extent to which the State should be asked to protect 
 labour." 
 
 \
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 325 
 
 present stage of civilization, would probably be found not very 
 far apart. They have in common the absolute abolition, that 
 is, the forcible destruction, root and branch, of the existing 
 social economical and political order, and it would require the 
 mind of a sibyl to foresee the shape which, after the chaos, the 
 pahngenesis will assume. 
 
 Mn Matthew Arnold once said, " No individual life can be 
 truly prosperous passed in the midst of those who suffer. To 
 the noble soul it cannot be happy, to the ignoble it cannot be 
 safe." There are many noble souls, outside the Social Demo- 
 cratic Federation, who feel this truth profoundly. They, how- 
 ever, may be called Social Reformers rather than Socialists. 
 They admit many counts of the indictment drawn against the 
 existing industrialism by the Revolutionary Socialists, but they 
 say that these latter, by their reckless exaggerations, only 
 obscure the facts; by aggravating the existing antagonism 
 between employers and employed, only shut the door to the 
 reconciliation of their interests ; and, by urging on a hopeless 
 and hideous revolution, only postpone reform. The position 
 of Radicals who have accepted the teaching of the new Political 
 Economy is well stated by the late Mr. Arnold Toynbee, one 
 of its most ardent representatives. " The Radical Creed, as I 
 understand it," he says, " is this : We have not abandoned our 
 old belief in liberty, justice, and self-help, but we say that under- 
 certain conditions the people cannot help themselves, and that 
 then they should be helped by the State representing directly 
 the whole people. In giving this State help, we make thre'e 
 conditions : first, the matter must be one of primary social 
 importance ; next, it must be proved to be practicable ; thirdly, 
 the State interference must not diminish self-reliance. . . . We 
 differ from Tory Socialism in so far as we are in favour, not of 
 paternal, but of fraternal government, and we differ from Cori- 
 tinental Socialism, because we accept the principle of private 
 property and repudiate confiscation and violence." 
 
 Ir\^ spite of the efforts of the Social Democrats, the conflict 
 of classes is not nearly so bitter as it used to be even a few 
 years ago. Trades Unionism, apart from its action in providing 
 Benefit Societies, is no longer looked upon as other than a 
 
 Y 3
 
 326 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 justifiable and commendable means of putting workmen more 
 on an equality with their employers in the matter of contracts, 
 and trade disputes are more often referred to Boards of Con- 
 ciliation or to arbitration than formerly. The well-to-do 
 classes, including even the " marauders " and " slave-drivers " 
 in Parliament, are beginning to look upon the labour question 
 with far more sympathy for the labourer than either they or 
 their fathers used to do. This is shown, amongst other ways, 
 by the change which is stealing over the old Political Economy, 
 by the growing interest taken in the proceedings of all con- 
 gresses and societies which occupy themselves with the dis- 
 cussion of social problems, by the increasing space devoted to 
 social subjects in contemporary literature, and by the greater 
 attention given by the Legislature to questions affecting the 
 good of the working classes. As I write, I come across an 
 account in the Pall Mall Gazette (September 8th) by Mr. 
 Frederic Harrison, of a new industrial inquiry set on foot by an 
 anonymous gentleman of Edinburgh, who has given ;^iooo 
 " to make some provision for keeping before the public mind 
 this vital question, namely : — What are the best means, con- 
 sistent with equity and justice, for bringing about a more equal 
 division of the accumulated wealth of the country, and a more 
 equal division of the daily products of industry between Capital 
 and Labour, so that it may become possible for all to enjoy ^a 
 fair share of material comfort and intellectual culture, possible 
 for all to lead a dignified life, and less difficult for all to lead 
 a good life." A conference of a large number of representative 
 men is to be held next January for the discussion of this 
 question, and meantime statistics bearing upon it are being 
 carefully collected. 
 
 Many Social Reformers go one step further with Socialists. 
 Not only do they admit much of the Socialist indictment against 
 the present industrial system, but they agree with the Socialists 
 in thinking that the only ultimate solution of the question will 
 be found in the union of Capital and Labour in the same hands. 
 It is in the method of bringing about this solution, and in tlTe 
 form of its realization, that Social Reformers definitively part 
 company with Socialists. The latter say that nothing short of
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 32/ 
 
 revolution, peaceful or bloody, will be effectual. The labourers 
 must, by force, if necessary, take possession of the land and 
 capital of the country and expropriate without compensation 
 the present holders. Production for profit must be abolished, 
 competition done away with, and the work of production and 
 exchange must be carried on, in some undefined way, by 
 "industrial and agricultural armies" marshalled by the State. 
 Social Reformers, on the other hand, say that a revolution of 
 this kind, apart from its gross injustice and accompanying Reign 
 of Terror, if successful at all, would be ineffectual, and could 
 only lead to anarchy, reaction, and despotism; that the real 
 revolution, if such it is to be called, must take place in the 
 minds and hearts of men; that this revolution can only be 
 brought about gradually, must, in short, be an evolution, and 
 is, in fact, going on at present ; and, finally, that they do not 
 consider production for profit necessarily a crime, nor com- 
 petition necessarily an evil, while they look upon the vast 
 extension of State action contemplated by Socialists as giving 
 the death-blow to progress and substituting comparative slavery 
 for comparative freedom. 
 
 There is no panacea for the maladies Avhich affect society. 
 They must be subjected to various influences, moral and intel- 
 lectual as well as material. But of all the influences likely to 
 benefit the social organism on its industrial side, the co-opera- 
 tivelnovement is the most promising. It is a purely democratic 
 movernent which, without revolution and without State-aid, 
 has for its aim to resolve the discords that exist between dis- 
 tributors and consumers, and between employers and employed, 
 and also to promote the material, moral, and intellectual 
 elevation of the working classes. 
 
 It is worth considering, for a moment, the wonderful strides 
 which this movement has made in the forty years which have 
 elapsed since the " Equitable Pioneers " subscribed their ^28 
 and opened their store on the principle of dividing profits on 
 the amount of purchases. According to the Registrar's returns )* 
 for i8g2, there were then in the United Kingdom 1346 Co- 
 operative Societies, doing an annual trade of ;^2 6, 6 16,000, out 
 of which they were making a profit of ;^2, 100,000. These
 
 328 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 figures include the productive and the wholesale societies as 
 well as the distributive stores, but, as yet, the productive 
 societies bear a small proportion to the others. According to 
 the returns sent in for 1883, there were thirty-four productive 
 societies, including ten corn-mills, doing an annual business of 
 over ;j^i, 7 20,000. Their aggregate capital was a little over 
 half a million, and their profits upon this were ;^6i,ooo, or an 
 average, after covering all losses, of twelve per cent. From 
 fifteen to eighteen of these productive societies are known to 
 be based upon the principle of copartnership with the workers 
 in shares, in profits, and in management. 
 
 Co-operative distribution, useful work as it is in many wa^s 
 doing, will never of itself create a new industrial order, will 
 never make the workman his own employer. It is, however, a 
 valuable means towards that end. It habituates working men 
 to thrift, it teaches them business habits, it inspires them with 
 mutual confidence, it is an ever-growing moral and intellectual 
 educational agency, and it promotes "the saving of joint capital 
 by joint action for joint purposes." One of the most important 
 of these joint purposes is the establishment of productive co- 
 operative enterprises. There are considerable differences of 
 opinion both as to the principles upon which such productive 
 enterprises should be founded, and as to the best agencies for 
 carrying them on. Into these questions I cannot enter here, 
 but I may be permitted to express the hope that whatever plan 
 is ultimately adopted, wherever the distinction of employer and 
 employed remains, the co-operative employers will see their 
 way to giving their workmen a direct interest in the results of 
 their labour, otherwise the most important principle of true 
 co-operation will be infringed. How can working men expect 
 employers to admit them to a participation in profits, if they 
 themselves, in their capacity of employers, "do not as they 
 would be done by ? " * 
 
 Strictly speaking, the term " Co-operative Production " 
 
 * Why Socialist employers, who express such virtuous indignation at the 
 " wage-slave " system, and who think that profits are the produce of unpaid 
 labour, do not adopt this principle, if only as a pis-alter, is — for them to 
 explain.
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 329 
 
 should be confined to cases where the workpeople engaged 
 not only share in profits, but supply at least a portion of the 
 capital, and have a voice in the management of the concern. 
 But as capital and business abilities are precisely what work- 
 men as a rule lack, it is important to notice an industrial system 
 in which these elements are not essential in the first instance, 
 but may be gradually acquired, and which thus forms a step- 
 ping-stone to true Co-operation. This is the system of Profit- 
 Sharing or Industrial Partnership, according to which workmen, 
 over and above their ordinary wages, participate directly in the 
 profits which their labour contributes to produce. This system, 
 which has been ably advocated of late by Mr. Sedley Taylor,* 
 has the great advantage of being capable of application to 
 existing firms while retaining the present management, and 
 without any diminution to the employer of the profits which he 
 had previously been obtaining. The fund in which the work- 
 men are to participate may be confined to the surplus profits 
 created by the increased efificiency of their work under the 
 stimulus of part-ownership. For a full exposition of the merits 
 of this system, and for instances of its successful working, 
 I must refer my readers to Mr. Taylor's valuable book and to 
 the authorities mentioned below. f 
 
 Mr. G. J. Holyoake, at the recent Co-operative Congress, 
 suggested that Trades Unions should " make it an obligation to 
 refuse to work where participation of profits did not prevail, or, 
 at any rate, to give a preference to such firms as should adopt 
 the principle 3 " and a writer in a recent number of the West- 
 
 * His valuable essays on the subject have recently been collected and 
 published as a book, "Profit-Sharing" (Kegan Paul, 1884). At the Co- 
 operative Congress at Derby this year, Mr. Taylor, who delivered the 
 Inaugural Address, chose profit-sharing for his theme. 
 
 ■\ '■^ Leclaire, Biographic cTun Homme Utile, hy M. Charles Robert 
 (Paris, 1878) ; " A Brief Sketch of the Maison^Leclaire," by iMiss M. H. 
 Hart (London, 405, Oxford Street, 1882). Miss Hart is the indefatigable 
 honorary secretary of the " Decorative Co-operators' Association," founded 
 two years ago on the principle of the AJaison Leclaire. As to profit- 
 sharing applied to agriculture, besides Mr. Taylor's book, see Pare's " Co- 
 operative Agriculture" (Longmans, 1870); "The History of Ralahine 
 and Co-operative Farming," by E. T. Craig ; " The Land and the 
 Labourers," by the Rev. C. W. Stubbs (1S84).
 
 330 _ SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
 
 minster Reviezv * expressed a similar idea. It would hardly 
 augur well for the future of profit-sharing if it were forced upon 
 employers by unionist strikes ; but if the Trades Unions 
 pronounced emphatically in its favour, it is probable that many 
 employers would be encouraged to give it a fair trial, and if 
 the system was found to work well, it would gradually win its 
 way to general adoption. Indeed, in more ways than one there 
 is much to be hoped from an understanding between Co- 
 operators and Trades Unionists. The two bodies are to a 
 large extent composed of the same individuals, and they have 
 fundamentally the same end in view, namely, the material 
 and moral elevation of the working men who join them ; 
 though the means which they employ are very different. 
 If Trades Unions would combine with the Co-operative organi- 
 zation and devote some of their capital to promoting Co- 
 operative production and making it successful, they would be 
 doing much towards the emancipation of the wage-earner in 
 the only complete manner, namely, by making him his own 
 employer. There are not wanting indications that the leaders 
 of the Unionists are fully alive to the importance of the Co- 
 operative movement, and are prepared to recommend any 
 assistance in their power to its development. 
 
 I have introduced this brief notice of the Co-operative 
 movement, in a chapter concerned with Socialism, because 
 I am convinced that in the development of this movement, 
 especially on its productive side, and in the wide extension of 
 the system of profit-sharing, will be found the most promising, 
 the most just, and the most permanently efficacious means of 
 putting an end to the antagonism between employers and 
 employed, and of overcoming the worst of those evils of our 
 present industrial system which Socialism, in all its forms, has 
 arisen to attack. If it be said that when Co-operation becomes 
 general the old evils will arise again under the form of com- 
 petition between the different societies, I think it may be 
 answered that some competition there will probably be, and in 
 the interest of the consumer, that is to say, of everybody, it is 
 
 * See the article entitled " Co-operation or Spoliation," in the number 
 for April, 1SS4.
 
 / 
 
 SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 33 I 
 
 well that it should be so,' for "wherever competition is not, 
 monopoly is ; " but if the present organization of the Co-opera- 
 tive Societies be continued, with such modifications as changing 
 conditions may suggest, there is good reason to expect that it 
 will supply such a regulative principle as will prevent, or at 
 least largely mitigate, the evils which spring from the present 
 economic anarchy : such as the general instability of individual 
 traders, and the recurrent crises resulting from relative over- 
 production. The Central Committee might, for instance, give 
 accurate statistics as to the amount of produce, and forecast 
 approximately the demand, in the various departments of con- 
 sumption. If it be said that this is Socialism, be it so ; but it 
 is a Socialism which will have grown up spontaneously from 
 within, in a form suited to its environment, not one suddenly 
 imposed from without on unprepared soil ; it will retain, while 
 it will control, " the motive power which has hitherto worked 
 the social machinery ; " it will be dependent upon Self-help 
 not State-help ; and it will, as the Bishop of Durham puts it, 
 make '' self-reliant men," not " spoon-fed children." It is an 
 advantage of Co-operation, not a drawback, that " it cannot 
 advance further than the minds and morals of the people 
 engaged in it, nor faster than honest and competent men and 
 women can be found to manage its concerns." For this very 
 reason, every advance will be sure, will pave the way for 
 further advance, and need fear no retrogression. "Whereas, 
 were the most ideally perfect socialistic State — even such as 
 " the idle singer of an empty day '"' might dream of — put into 
 operation to-morrow, it would inevitably collapse and lead to 
 anarchy and despotism, because " the minds and morals of the 
 people " would not have been prepared for it. 
 
 THE END.
 
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 pean commerce. 
 
 ( 6 )
 
 LORD BEACONSFIELD ON THE CONSTITUTION . 
 
 " What is he ? " and " A Vindication of the 
 
 English Constitution." By -Disraeli the Younger." 
 [The Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G.] Edited with an anecdotical preface by 
 Francis Hitchman, author of " The Public Life of the Earl of Bea- 
 consfield," &c. LONDON: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 
 E.G. [Two-and-Sixpence. 
 
 MR. HITCHMAN'S Introduction contains agreat number of 
 highly interesting and hitherto unpublished facts con- 
 cerning the Disraeli family. 
 
 Dickens Memento. 
 
 LONDON: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, E.G. 
 
 [Seven-and-Sixpence. 
 
 A BEAUTIFULLY printed and luxuriously got-up book of 
 special value to the Dickens collector. In three separate 
 divisions, the text includes primarily a reprint of the catalogue 
 of the Dickens sale, at v/hich it may be remembered almost fabu- 
 lous sums were realised. Mr. Francis Phillimore contributes a 
 gossipy and interesting introduction, and Mr. John F. Dexter 
 a lengthy, learned, and exhaustive paper on book rarities, sub- 
 titled " Hints to Dickens Collectors." 
 
 Bewick Memento (Illustrated). 
 
 LONDON: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, E.G. 
 
 [Ten-and-Sixpence. 
 
 A BEAUTIFULLY printed and luxuriously got-up book of 
 special value to the Bewick collector. Mr. Robert Robin- 
 son, who contributes the introduction, writes with a full know- 
 ledge of his subject. The additional illustrations, including 
 the humorously treated frontispiece of " Cows Angling " — all 
 charming specimens of Bewick's skill with the graver — are first 
 impressions from blocks hitherto not printed from. 
 
 " Without a rival as a birthday or wedding present." 
 
 When is your Birthday ? or a Year of Good 
 
 Wishes. Set of Twelve Designs by Edwin J. Ellis, with Sonnets 
 by the Artist. LONDON : Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, E.G. 
 
 [Twenty-one Shillings. 
 
 " In every way attractive." — Harper's Magazine. 
 
 Prince Pertinax : A Fairy Tale. By Mrs. Geo. 
 
 Hooper, Authoress of " The House of Raby," " Arbell," &q. Illus- 
 trated with Twenty-six drawings in sepia by Margaret L. Hooper and 
 Margarey May. A charming present. LONDON : Field &■ Tuer, 
 The Leadenhall Press, E.G. [Twenty-one Shillings. 
 
 " A most attractive volume." — The Times. 
 
 Bygone Beauties : " A select Series of Ten 
 
 Portraits of Ladies of Rank and Fashion," from paintings by 
 John Hoppner, r.a., engraved by Gharles Wilkin; annotated by 
 Andrew W. Tuer. LONDON: Field 6- Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 
 E.G. [Large Folio, Twenty-one Shillings. 
 
 ( 7 )
 
 ojlD 
 
 CITIES 
 
 Ajidtiie, Cities oFTo-J)A.y. 
 HZKPS OT 
 
 Ou^intCots 
 
 Ha ni -c olouridfrontispiege 
 
 One ShillJTid. 
 
 Old London Street Cries, and the Cries of 
 
 TO-DAY, with Heaps of Quaint Cuts, including Hand-coloured Front- 
 ispiece. By Andrew W. Tuer, Author of " Bartolozzi and his 
 Works," <S-c. LONDON: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, E.C. 
 
 [One Shilling. 
 ERY amusing. Charmingly pretty. A wonderful shilling's- 
 worth. [The above is a facsimile of show-bill. 
 
 V 
 
 " With Bad Paper, one's Best is impossible." 
 
 The Author's Paper Pad (issued by the Proprietors of 
 The Leadenhall Press.) Contains, in block form, fifty sheets 
 of paper, fibrous and difficult to tear as a piece of linen, over 
 which — being of unusual but not painful smoothness — the 
 pen slips with perfect freedom. Easily detachable, the size 
 of the sheets is about 7iX8f in., and the price is only that 
 usually charged for common scribbling paper. The Author's 
 Paper Pad may be comfortably used, whether at the desk, 
 held in the hand, or resting on the knee. As being most 
 convenient for both author and compositor, the paper is 
 ruled the narrow way, and of course on one side only. — 
 Sixpence each, ^j-per dozen, ruled or plain. 
 
 { 8 ) 
 
 \
 
 uc souTHi m m niiT;Ai i irrary r acuity 
 
 AA 000 347 964 9 
 
 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 University of California, San Diego 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 NOV 2 R 1973 
 
 
   ' : ; ■- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CI 39 
 
 UCSD Libr.