The Socialism of to-day

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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

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172 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 per haps 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 Inter national to constitute this State by the “ solidarization ” of the Communes throughout the world, and this presupposes a re organization 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 indi viduals. Total destruction of all that exists, and, in the new world, as the organic cell and primordial element of recon struction, 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

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