210

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  Bâle  (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  progressive
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  Bâle,  Applegarth,  president  of  the
General  Association  of  Carpenters,  announced  that  the  eighl
hundred  thousand  members  of  the  trades  unions  were  a
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  pure  y
platonic  adhesions  brought  little  resources  or  power  to  the
association.  It  tried  to  found  sections  directly  in  the  manu
factoring  towns,  and  in  a  congress  held  with  this  object  a
Manchester,  in  July,  1873,  under  the  presidency  of
the  red  flag  was  adopted  for  the  Britannic  federation,
red  flag,”  said  the  preamble,  “  is  the  symbol  of  blood  shed

♦  [The  Land  Reformers  of  the  present  day  in  England  are  no  long_^
^;=tinp-uished  by  this  respect  for  property.—See  tnfra^  bociahs

all  distinguished  by
England.”—Tr.\