XXXVl

INTRODUCTION.

to  obey.”  *  In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  teachings  of  Christianity
being  still  misunderstood,  the  feudal  lord  saw  in  the  serf  a
beast  of  burden  divinely  predestined  to  work  for  him.  Now
that  the  principle  of  the  equality  of  all  men  according  to  nature
and  right  has  penetrated  men’s  hearts  and  minds,  we  must  shut
ourselves  up  in  inhuman  egoism  or  profound  ignorance,  if  we
would  remain  unmoved  by  the  claims  of  the  labouring  classes.
The  great  difference  between  the  actual  position  of  affairs
and  anything  history  shows  us,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  diffusion
of  Socialism  is  enormously  favoured  by  the  press  and  by  schools.
Education  offered  to  all,  even  forced  upon  them,  schools  everywhere ­
  open,  and  cheap  books,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers
spread  throughout  the  country  ideas  of  radical  reform.  In  the
Middle  Ages  the  revolts  of  the  peasants  against  oppression
were  merely  local  and  passing  events  ;  and  the  same  may  be
said  of  those  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Once  they  were
crushed,  these  aspirations  towards  equality  disappeared  as
thohgh  drowned  in  blood.  To-day,  however,  this  is  no  longer
the  case.  The  energetic  repression  of  the  Revolution  of  June,
1848,  and  of  the  Commune  of  1871,  served  only  to  spread  far
and  wide  the  principles  sought  to  be  extinguished,  and  to
make  them  sink  deeper  into  the  hearts  of  the  working  classes.
Socialists  of  all  countries  celebrate  the  i8th  of  March,  the
anniversary  of  the  proclamation  of  the  Commune.  If  Socialism
is  to  be  exterminated,  it  must  be  attacked  in  its  origin  and
in  its  methods  of  diffusion.  It  will  be  necessary  to  proscribe
Christianity,  burn  the  Bible,  teach  with  the  ancient  philosophers
that  natural  inequality  justifies  slavery;  above  all,  no  more
primary  education  and  no  newspapers.  If  the  existing  inequality ­
  of  conditions  is  permanent  and  necessary,  then  to
spread  the  Gospel,  to  open  a  school,  to  establish  a  printing
press,  and  to  extend  the  suffrage,  are  in  so  many  ways  to  attack
the  social  order.
The  rivalry,  the  wars,  and  the  enormous  armies  of  our
continental  states  hasten  the  progress  of  that  very  Socialism
which  they  were  specially  intended  to  combat  ;  and  this  they
do  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place,  they  maintain  and  increase
*  Polit.  \.  3.