26o
THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY.
as the means of production have been improved, there is need
of more capital ; this capital, represented by mortgages, shares,
and bonds, permits its holders to live, not on rent, but on
profits and interest. The rate of interest tends to diminish in
proportion as the amount of capital increases, but the total
amount of interest is augmented. It follows, as Rodbertus has
shown, that the total share of wages diminishes relatively to
that of rent and interest.
Collectivism applied to land only, and having no other
effect than to make rent payable to the State, would be of
comparatively easy application, for it would leave the present
organization of Society entirely intact. But it would be by no
means the same thing with Collectivism universally applied, as
demanded by most contemporary Socialists. An outline of
this system was presented by M. de Paepe to the Congress of
the International at Brussels in 1868, and also to that at Bâle
in 1869 ; but, so far as the author is aware, the only publication
in which the scheme has been explained and treated in a
scientific way is a little pamphlet entitled Quintessenz des
Socialismus.* It is an extract from a large work on Sociology :
Bau und Leben des Socialen Körpers, by Dr. Albert Schæffle,
former Minister of Finance in Austria, and one of the most
eminent of German economists.
Let us endeavour, with the aid of Dr. Schæffle’s analysis, to
get a true idea of the Social state desired by the thorough-going
Collectivists. We must beware of confounding this system
with the ancient communistic Utopias, the ideal of which was
a Trappist monastery, with common labour, common living,
and the common enjoyment of produce quite irrespective of
individual work done, as, in fact, takes place in family life-
Collectivism, on the contrary, admits of the breaking up of the
community into families, and, by apportioning remuneration to
produce obtained, it seeks to preserve the incentive of private
interest. In a Collectivist State, there would be as many
co-operative societies as there are principal branches of labour :
agricultural societies, transport societies, and manufacturing
societies of all kinds. Farms, mines, railways, factories, work-
* Translated into French by M. B. Malón.
