agents and unproductive idlers, the enormous profits that they are realizing every day to the detriment of all, upon production and consumption. Let us make over to the state, which is the association of all interests, the monopoly of the great industries, the monopoly of banks, of railroads and communications, the assurances, etc. In these measures only is safety and a remedy. A law of later date would regulate the indemnities to be accorded."

Babeuf imagined a voluntary formation of national property, a communistic state gradually growing up in old society, and a voluntary adoption of community life by a great portion of the people. The draught of an economical decree adopted by the conspiracy for equality, says in Article III. :-" Citizens, who by voluntary abandonment of their possessions will become members of the national community, shall not be subjected to any painful labour, if they have attained their fortieth year, and if they did not exercise a mechanical art before the publication of the present decree."

Fourier, although allowing capital, labour, and intelligence to take each a due share in the wealth of the community, which is very far from realizing pure Communism, nevertheless makes considerable concessions to the principle of community of goods; for in his phalansterè the following four regulations are enforced : -1. A minimum is secured to every artizan and labourer; 2. All children, even those under four years of age, are maintained at the expense of the state; 3. Capital will receive an equal rate of interest; 4. The rich will be induced to work.

The Saint Simonian establishment at Menilmontant aimed at the abolition of domestic life by accustoming its forty members, even the grandest amongst them, to the duties of proletarians.

As first steps to the introduction of Communism must also be regarded all associations of workmen, all co-operative societies, all modes of equitable exchange, all arrangements for the participation of workmen in the profits of their employers.

The direct participation of labour in the profits of capital, or of capitalists in the formation of workmen's associations, being the mildest and easiest application of Communism, has always been a favourite theme with a great number of social theorists. We consequently find Louis Blanc counselling capitalists to

invest money in the workmen's associations of 1848. But we are, on the other hand, not a little astonished to find Mr. Brand, the present Speaker of the House of Commons, following in the path of socialism by advocating the participation of the labourers on his estate in the profits derived from his property. One must, however, be grateful, and rejoice in the salutary mistake made by the distinguished parliamentarian, which, though it betrays the interests of his own class, will always be remembered by the communists as a little step towards the realization of their cherished doctrine.

Of other associations which actually to some extent put into practice the principles of Communism, must be reckoned the many co-operative societies now existing in all countries, both in industry and agriculture, and both for consumption and production.

The following four instances of the practice of community life and communistic arrangements, being instructive for the student of sociology, deserve attention :

1. Pastor Oberlin proved the advantages of association; when wood became dear, he had a public stove constructed, where all food that was required was cooked; the consumption of fuel was, of course, much less than in separate fires.

2. The communities of the Moravian Brethren have existed for upwards of three hundred years. They contain on an average from 1,000 to 1,200 members; that of Zeist, near Utrecht, in Holland, contains 3,500. There are others in Moravia, in Saxony, and one in the Black Forest, in Germany. They practise community of property to a great extent, and live in separate families either in separate houses or in associated homes.

3. Among the Arabs there is a sort of family Communism, extending to two or three generations,-grandfather, father, and married children.

4. A co-operative farm is said to have existed for upwards of sixty years in Glen Spean, Inverness-shire. Sixteen farmers joined in the purchase of 3,000 sheep, and rented in common a large tract of mountain land; they each possess one horse and four milch cows, and they unite in the various operations connected with the concern. It has met with remarkable success. The benefits derived from having a community of goods

are set forth by Cabet in these words :-"The living in common constitutes a universal and mutual guarantee against misfortune and accidents, securing to each food, clothes, lodging, and the means to marry and to bring up a family, under the only condition of moderate work. The social system which will realize equality and fraternity will also prevent cupidity and ambition; it will render vice and crime scarcely possible; it will secure peace and concord, and will finally give happiness and contentment to regenerated mankind."

The economical advantages derived from living in common are pointed out by Fourier, who says:-" If association is applied to all the details of domestic and rural life, there will be found a medium saving of nine-tenths of the whole expenses, besides the hands which will be spared and become available in other employments."

Robert Owen sees in Communism the means of destroying selfishnes, and says:-"The communistic life will effectually destroy the selfish privacy of families. The men of the New Moral World will live in public; their food will be eaten at public tables; separate houses will be replaced by huge dormitories. For individuals and families, private property will have no existence; each person will become a part of a colony; all will share alike in the common wealth—the fruit of their common labour."

Sir Thomas More considers Communism to be the means of eradicating pauperism and establishing true national wealth, saying:-" In all other places it is visible, that, while people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public: and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently; for in other commonwealths, every man knows that, unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger ; so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to those of the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that, if care is taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is * "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth."-Cor. x. 24.

poor, none in necessity; and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich.”

Babeuf expects the consolidation of Communism by its own action and moral influence, saying:-" The greater the extent of territory a community embraces, the stronger is the guarantee it offers to each part of the territory against dearth and scarcity of every kind. Moreover, from such a great and frequent intercommunication of men and things, ought necessarily to spring up a strong feeling of fraternity and devotion, so general and so strong, that it is to be presumed no human force could either invade such a country or destroy its institution of equality, once they are firmly established."

PART III.

Of the Reorganization of Society.

CHAPTER XXVIII.-LABOUR.

"The New Moral World will raise the standard on which is written in burning letters the words of St. Paul, "Unless ye work, neither shall ye eat."-ROBERT OWEN.

OOKING attentively at the inscription of the flag thus

boldly unfurled by the great social reformer and philanthropist, we perceive that the words written on it in flaming letters have a double meaning, indicating both the necessity and duty of labour. Of the first, Karl Marx, the intrepid warrior against capital, and able advocate of the emancipation of the working classes of all countries, says :-" Useful labour, producing articles of value, is the inevitable condition of man's existence, independent of all forms of society; it is the eternal necessity of nature, in order to carry on the continual exchange of matter between man and nature, and thus becomes the indispensable sustainer of human life itself."

That the necessity of labour is at the same time a blessing to us, we learn from Babeuf, who says:-" Work is the common debt of all, and it is also the curb of the passions."

The corresponding duty of labour, which goes hand in hand with the imperative obligation of work, is mentioned by all social reformers. Babeuf refers to it in these words :-"Nature has imposed on each person the obligation to work; nobody could without crime evade his share of the common labour." The words, branding the withdrawal from labour as a crime,