XVlll 
INTROD UCTION 
(“ Two words in the world there be, these simply rrnne and 
thine. Could one take them away, peace there would be and 
freedom. All then would be free ; none enslaved, nor man 
nor woman ; both corn and wine would be in common.”) 
Whenever these ideas, borrowed from Christianity and 
monasticism, reached the masses at a time when their suffer 
ings had become intolerable, they provoked risings and 
massacres, such as those of the Shepherds and the Jacquerie 
in France, the insurrection of Wat Tyler in England, and 
that of John of Leyden in Germany.* 
Let us now examine how Socialism, abandoning the 
mystical region of communistic dreams and aspirations after 
equality, has become the creed of a political party. Ideas 
and microbes are in this respect alike, that they must find 
favourable surroundings before they can thrive. These favour 
able surroundings have been produced by a variety of causes, 
chief among which are the beliefs and aspirations of Chris 
tianity, the political principles embodied in our constitutions 
and laws, and the changes in the methods of production. Of 
all the influences favourable to the development of Socialism, 
the most potent has been the religious influence j for it has pro 
duced in us certain sentiments which have long formed part 
of our very nature, and in these sentiments the claims of 
Socialism find at once a kind of instinctive origin and a 
rational justification. 
No one can deny that Christianity preaches the raising up 
of the poor and the down-trodden. It inveighs against riches 
as vehemently as the most radical Socialist. Need we recall 
words graven in the memory of every one ? Even after her 
alliance with absolute monarchy, the Catholic Church uttered 
these words by the mouth of Bossuet “ The murmurs of the 
poor are just. Wherefore this inequality of conditions ? All are 
made of the same clay, and there is no way to justify inequality 
unless by saying that God has commended the poor unto the 
* See The History of Socialism, Die Socialisten, by M. Quack, un 
fortunately not finished ; also that by M. B. Malón. , . , 
t See his sermon, “ Sur les dispositions relativement aux necessites 
de la vie."