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THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

those  distant  countries  where  it  had  been  kept  up  ?  Is  not
this  another  application  of  the  Darwinian  law  ?  It  may  perhaps ­
  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  Bâle  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,
and  individual  property  is  nothing  else  than  the  iniquitous
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  International ­
  to  constitute  this  State  by  the  “  solidarization  ”  of  the
Communes  throughout  the  world,  and  this  presupposes  a  reorganization ­
  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  individuals. ­
  Total  destruction  of  all  that  exists,  and,  in  the  new
world,  as  the  organic  cell  and  primordial  element  of  reconstruction, ­
  not,  as  before,  the  human  personality,  but  the
“  amorphous  ”  (shapeless)  Commune,  and  thus  humanity  is  to
be  rendered  like  a  confused  mass  of  confei-vœ,  or  a  nebula  in