Full text : The Socialism of to-day

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THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

yourselves  or  die  of  starvation.’  The  society  of  the  future  will
say  to  us,  ‘  Live,  work,  love.’  ”  The  Circle  for  Social  Studies
of  Rome  published  its  programme  (July,  1878),  containing  the
following  principles—(i)  Abolition  of  all  privilege  ;  (2)  Productive ­
  labour  the  only  legitimate  source  of  wealth  ;  (3)  The
instruments  of  production  to  be  the  property  of  the  labourer  ;
(4)  Emancipation  and  “  reintegration  of  the  individual  and
collective  man.”  In  June,  1878,  the  Internationalist  federation
of  Rimini  sent  forth  a  manifesto,  saying,  “No  more  privileged
property,  but  collectivism,  that  is  to  say,  possession  in  common
of  land  and  of  all  instruments  of  production  ;  bread,  wealth,
education,  justice,  liberty  for  all.  The  land  to  him  who  tills
it,  the  machine  to  him  who  uses  it,  and  the  house  to  him  who
inhabits  it.”  Confused  amalgam  of  communism  and  individualism. ­
  In  a  manifesto  of  the  Internationalists  of  Montonero,
Antignani,  Ardenza,  and  San-Jacobo,  the  theory  of  anarchism
is  clearly  formulated.  “  The  State  is  the  negation  of  liberty  ;
for,  no  matter  who  commands,  all  serve.  Authority  creates
nothing  and  corrupts  everything.  Every  State,  however
democratic,  is  an  instrument  of  despotism.  The  best  government ­
  is  one  which  succeeds  in  rendering  itself  useless.  Merely
to  change  the  political  régime  is  of  no  use.  A  man  has  a  thorn
in  his  foot  ;  he  thinks  to  ease  himself  by  changing  his  boots,
but  he  suffers  all  the  more.  It  is  the  thorn  he  must  get  rid  of
The  free  man  in  the  free  commune  ;  and  throughout  humanity
nothing  but  federated  communes—that  is  the  future.”
Among  Italian  Socialists,  as  everywhere  in  Europe  to-day,
there  are  two  parties  :  that  of  the  “Authoritarian  Collectivists,”
who  call  for  State  Intervention  ;  and  that  of  the  “  Revolutionary
Anarchists,”  who  desire  the  destruction  of  the  State  and  the
abolition  of  all  authority.  I  borrow  from  M.  B.  Malon’s
“  History  of  Socialism  ”  two  extracts  which  sufficiently  describe
these  two  varieties.  The  following  are,  in  the  first  place,  the
principles  of  the  Collectivists,  originally  published  in  the
Fovero,  and  afterwards  adopted  by  the  Plebe  of  Milan  (1877).
(1)  Collective  ownership  of  land  and  of  the  means  of  production  ;
(2)  Substitution  of  a  free  and  equal  family  for  the  moral
oppressive  family  in  which  the  wife  and  children  are  the
slaves  of  the  husband  and  father  ;
            
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