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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IO THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. many had no share in them.” From that moment he took the resolution 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 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-

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