The Socialism of to-day

Bibliographic data

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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

144 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. to come to his aid. Clearly the supreme end is the triumph of the Church \ the rest is merely the means. This is a great end, and for those who are persuaded that the happiness of societies here below and the salvation of men in the life to come are bound up in it, it is the greatest of all ends. We can then conceive how it is that everything should be sacrificed to attain this end : nationality, fatherland, liberty, political institutions, economic prosperity—all these secondary good things to which usually so much value is attached. The Apocalypse tells us of a woman seated upon a scarlet coloured beast, and herself arrayed in a robe of purple and scarlet, “ having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness ; and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the abominations of the Earth.” “ And the woman which thou saw est,” says the Apocalypse, “ is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” The city designated in the Revelation is evidently Rome ; but, according to Protestant interpretations, it was Papal Rome that was meant. Certain modern mystics add a new interpretation. The woman arrayed in purple is the Papacy, which, in order that it may reign over peoples and kings, is taking up Socialism ; and the scarlet beast on which the woman is seated is the Red Democracy, which the Pope will make use of to overcome all resistance. It is not necessary to invoke the Apocalypse in order to prove a plain fact, namely, that the Church will not renounce, without a supreme struggle, the universal domination which it exercised in old times, and which it still hopes to regain. Inasmuch as the bourgeoisie, proud of its liberties, will not willingly resign them into the hands of the clergy, the Church must draw to itself the labourers in field and factory. How is this to be done? By speaking to them of their ills and promising them, as Socialism does, to apply a remedy in the shape of a more equitable distribution of the good things of this world. Nothing can be more easy for the Church : she has only to return to the traditions of the first centuries. Even in the Middle Ages, did not the mendicant monks, all imbued with communistic ideas, draw the people after them

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The Socialism of to-day

Monograph

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation