J52  THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.
principle  was  applied  to  mines  and  quarries,  to  forests,  and
even  to  arable  land.  The  grounds  of  this  resolution  were
stated  as  follows:—“Considering  that  the  necessities  of  production ­
  and  the  application  of  agricultural  science  call  for
cultivation  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  and  require  the  introduction ­
  of  machines  and  the  organization  of  combined  labour
in  agriculture,  and  that,  moreover,  economic  evolution  itself
tends  in  the  same  direction,—that,  therefore,  property  in  the  j
soil  and  agricultural  labour  ought  to  be  treated  on  the  same
footing  as  mining  labour  and  property  in  the  subsoil;  that,  ;
moreover,  the  productive  quality  of  the  soil  is  the  original  ^
material  of  all  products,  the  primitive  source  of  all  wealth,
without  being  itself  the  product  of  anybody's  labour  ;  that  the
alienation  to  individuals  of  this  indispensable  original  material  |
makes  all  society  pay  tribute  to  those  to  whom  it  is  alienated  ;—  i
the  congress  thinks  that  the  course  of  economic  evolution  will  ¿
make  the  collective  ownership  of  arable  land  a  social  necessity,
and  that  the  land  will  be  granted  out  to  companies  of  labourers,  ¡
under  conditions  of  guaranty  for  society  and  for  the  cultivator,  ç
analogous  to  those  necessary  in  the  case  of  mines  and  railways.”  á
Observe  how  this  language  differs  from  that  of  revolutionaries  1
of  Jacobin  traditions.  The  influence  of  the  positivist  school,  ■
which  prides  itself  on  preaching  respect  for  natural  laws,  is  ;
plainly  felt.  It  is  not  revolution,  but  “  evolution  ”  which  will  j
lead  society  to  “  collectivism  ;  ”  not  the  decrees  of  a  convention,
  but  “  social  necessities  ”  that  will  bring  about  the  trans-  |
fornlation.  The  congress,  moreover,  retains  the  reserve  of  /
philosophic  doubt  ;  it  does  not  affirm,  it  “  thinks  ”  that  matters  ,
will  thus  come  to  pass.  The  declarations  of  the  congress,  ’
although  reduced  to  a  mere  expression  of  opinion,  were  not
carried  without  vigorous  opposition.
M.  Tolain  urgently  defended  private  property  in  land,  at
the  risk  of  seeming  reactionary.  The  idea  of  the  collective
ownership  of  arable  land  had  been  readily  adopted  by  many
Englishmen,  under  the  name  of  “nationalization  of  the  land.
As  a  few  aristocratic  families  own  almost  the  whole  extent  o  j
the  British  Isles,  to  assign  property  in  land,  there,  to  the  State
seems  to  be  a  measure  which  does  not  offer  insurmountab  e