264

THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

The  Evolutionist-Collectivists  or  Possibilists  are  much  the
most  numerous  among  the  Socialist  working  men,  and  they
are  continually  gaining  ground  on  the  Irreconcilables,  the  Anarchists ­
  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  emancipation ­
  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  prepress  ;
(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  Progra7nme.
‘  (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  speeial  regulations  of  factories.  (8)
Revision  of  all  contracts  that  have  alienated  public  property  (e.g.  banks,  railways, ­
  mines),  and  the  management  of  the  State  workshops  to  be  entrusted
to  those  working  in  them.  (9)  Abolition  of  indirect  taxes,  and  the  substitution ­
  of  a  progressive  tax  on  all  incomes  exceeding  3000  frs.  (;¿'i2o).
Suppression  of  all  hereditary  succession,  except  in  the  direct  line  to  the
extent  of  20,000  frs.  {£^qo).  (io)  Reconstitution  of  Communal  property,
(il)  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.”