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  sufferings ­
  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  favourable ­
  surroundings  have  been  produced  by  a  variety  of  causes,
chief  among  which  are  the  beliefs  and  aspirations  of  Christianity, ­
  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  produced ­
  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,  unfortunately ­
  not  finished  ;  also  that  by  M.  B.  Malón.  ,  .  ,
t  See  his  sermon,  “  Sur  les  dispositions  relativement  aux  necessites
de  la  vie."