2 52 THE SOC/AL/SM OE TO-DAY. 
tion of associations of capitalists, those of labourers being alone 
permitted ; and competition of the community itself with indi 
vidual trading. The chief measure of the latter species con 
sisted in the limitation of the right of hereditary succession to 
the direct line (the power of making a will being preserved), the 
diversion to the public use of all other successions ab intestate, 
and the imposition of a heavy tax on all testamentary 
successions. 
By means of all these measures taken together, society 
would put into practice the principles of liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, and, at the same time, would render impossible all 
“exploitation” of labour by private capital. 
The disciples of Colins assert that in such a social system 
there would be complete harmony between intelligence and 
property. All would have an inalienable share in the land ; 
all would at least have the necessaries of life, would enjoy some 
leisure, and would possess the intellectual and material means 
of happiness on earth. A society, thus founded on principles 
unquestionably just, need not fear the freest examination. 
Being conformable to reason, and guaranteeing to each indi 
vidual the maximum of well-being compatible with his nature, 
if any of its members should be miserable, he would have but 
himself to blame. Who, then, would dream of overthrowing a 
system which would injure nobody and would give satisfaction 
to all ? 
Although the disciples of Colins have succeeded in giving 
some precision to the idea of Collectivism, there are many 
points in their system, and those the most important, which 
remain obscure. The land and part of the capital are to 
belong to “the collectivity;” but what part of the capital is 
to be collective, and what is the collectivity—the Commune, 
the State, or the human race ? The farms in the country 
districts are to be let for thirty years. Very good; that would 
be to apply generally what the State does at present in Prussia, 
for example, where it possesses numerous domains, which it 
lets on the best terms in the interest, first, of good husbandry, 
and, secondly, of the public treasury. But how are mines, 
manufactures of all kinds, and railways to be managed?