lyQ the socialism of TO-DAY. 
equality, or even the application of the maxim, “to each 
according to his needs;" while Collectivism claims to assure 
to every one the integral enjoyment of the product of his labour. 
Thus the true and, in reality, the sole incentive to economical 
activity, namely, personal interest, which is entirely abolished 
by the first system, is in some degree maintained by the second. 
Phe principle of Communism leads to consumption in common, 
as in the family, or rather as in the convent or the barracks; 
while Collectivism is consistent with the separate existence of 
families. Communists would absolutely abolish the right of 
hereditary succession ; whereas Collectivists preserve it as to 
everything not belonging to the State. 
The question of the right of succession was keenly discussed 
at the Congress of Bâle. The Collectivists, represented chiefly 
by De Paepe, invoked the very strong arguments habitually 
made use of in favour of the hereditary transmission of property. 
Suppose a person makes himself a fortune by deductions, not 
out of the produce of another person’s labour, but out of that 
of his own, and by depriving himself of certain pleasures ; is it 
not fair that he should be able to transmit his savings to his 
children? Will not this power evidently be an incentive to 
work and a check upon squandering, and therefore a gam to 
society as a whole ? If everybody receives a thorough educa 
tion and the means of production, individual inheritance cannot 
violate rational equality. Although there was a strong current 
of Communism in the congress, the abolition of the right of 
inheritance obtained only thirty-two votes out of sixty-eight, 
and consequently it was treated as rejected. 
It would interrupt this rapid sketch of events too much to 
discuss thoroughly the theoretical ideas admitted by the Inter 
national. I shall limit myself to two summary remarks. The 
new social organization, longed for by Collectivism, supposes 
that agricultural and industrial enterprises would pass into the 
hands of autonomous co-operative associations. But will these 
associations be able to subsist on an exclusively republican 
and elective basis, without the principle of authority and of 
the hierarchy at present represented by the master? In the 
factory, as on board ship, discipline and obedience are indis-