The Socialism of to-day

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 835096955

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-28834

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Laveleye, Émile de

Title:: The Socialism of to-day

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Field & Tuer

Year of publication:: 1884

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XLIV, 331 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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222 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. Socialism is invading the country parts ; an exceptional thing 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 latifundia, 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 régime. 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 poverty, 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 fiag 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. Applause follows. The women demand the immediate partition of the lands. The leaders reply, “You have arms, you are free. Make the partition for yourselves.”

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