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@@ -0,0 +1,16615 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of What is Property?, by P. J. Proudhon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: What is Property? + An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government + +Author: P. J. Proudhon + +Posting Date: July 10, 2008 [EBook #360] +Release Date: November, 1995 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT IS PROPERTY? *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Lough + + + + + +WHAT IS PROPERTY? + +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND OF GOVERNMENT + +By P. J. Proudhon + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + + P. J. PROUDHON: HIS LIFE AND HIS WORKS + + PREFACE + + FIRST MEMOIR + + CHAPTER I. + + METHOD PURSUED IN THIS WORK.--THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION + + + CHAPTER II. + + PROPERTY CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL RIGHT.--OCCUPATION AND CIVIL LAW + AS EFFICIENT BASES OF PROPERTY.--DEFINITIONS + % 1. Property as a Natural Right. + % 2. Occupation as the Title to Property. + % 3. Civil Law as the Foundation and Sanction of Property. + + + CHAPTER III. + + LABOR AS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE DOMAIN OF PROPERTY + % 1. The Land cannot be appropriated. + % 2. Universal Consent no Justification of Property. + % 3. Prescription gives no Title to Property. + % 4. Labor.--That Labor has no Inherent Power to appropriate + Natural Wealth. + % 5. That Labor leads to Equality of Property. + % 6. That in Society all Wages are Equal. + % 7. That Inequality of Powers is the Necessary Condition of + Equality of Fortunes. + % 8. That, from the stand-point of Justice, Labor destroys + Property. + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THAT PROPERTY IS IMPOSSIBLE + + DEMONSTRATION. AXIOM. + + Property is the Right of Increase claimed by the Proprietor over + any thing which he has stamped as his own. + + FIRST PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because it demands Something for Nothing. + + SECOND PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because, wherever it exists, Production + costs more than it is worth. + + THIRD PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because, with a given Capital, Production + is proportional to Labor, not to Property. + + FOURTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because it is Homicide. + + FIFTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because, if it exists, Society devours itself. + + Appendix to the Fifth Proposition. + + SIXTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because it is the Mother of Tyranny. + + SEVENTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because, in consuming its Receipts, it + loses them; in hoarding them, it nullifies them; and, in + using them as Capital, it turns them against Production. + + EIGHTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because its Power of Accumulation is + infinite, and is exercised only over Finite Quantities. + + NINTH PROPOSITION + Property is Impossible, because it is powerless against Property. + + TENTH PROPOSITION. + Property is Impossible, because it is the Negation of Equality. + + + CHAPTER V. + PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE IDEA OF JUSTICE AND IN JUSTICE, + AND A DETERMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT AND OF RIGHT. + + PART 1. + + % 1. Of the Moral Sense in Man and the Animals. + % 2. Of the First and Second Degrees of Sociability. + % 3. Of the Third Degree of Sociability. + + PART I 1. + % 1. Of the Causes of our Mistakes. The Origin of Property. + % 2. Characteristics of Communism and of Property. + % 3. Determination of the Third Form of Society. Conclusion. + + + SECOND MEMOIR + LETTER TO M. BLANQUI ON PROPERTY + + + + + +P. J. PROUDHON: HIS LIFE AND HIS WORKS. + +The correspondence [1] of P. J. Proudhon, the first volumes of which we +publish to-day, has been collected since his death by the faithful +and intelligent labors of his daughter, aided by a few friends. It was +incomplete when submitted to Sainte Beuve, but the portion with which +the illustrious academician became acquainted was sufficient to allow +him to estimate it as a whole with that soundness of judgment which +characterized him as a literary critic. + +He would, however, caution readers against accepting the biographer's +interpretation of the author's views as in any sense authoritative; +advising them, rather, to await the publication of the remainder +of Proudhon's writings, that they may form an opinion for +themselves.--Translator. + + +In an important work, which his habitual readers certainly have not +forgotten, although death did not allow him to finish it, Sainte Beuve +thus judges the correspondence of the great publicist:-- + +"The letters of Proudhon, even outside the circle of his particular +friends, will always be of value; we can always learn something from +them, and here is the proper place to determine the general character of +his correspondence. + +"It has always been large, especially since he became so celebrated; +and, to tell the truth, I am persuaded that, in the future, the +correspondence of Proudhon will be his principal, vital work, and that +most of his books will be only accessory to and corroborative of this. +At any rate, his books can be well understood only by the aid of his +letters and the continual explanations which he makes to those who +consult him in their doubt, and request him to define more clearly his +position. + +"There are, among celebrated people, many methods of correspondence. +There are those to whom letter-writing is a bore, and who, assailed with +questions and compliments, reply in the greatest haste, solely that the +job may be over with, and who return politeness for politeness, mingling +it with more or less wit. This kind of correspondence, though coming +from celebrated people, is insignificant and unworthy of collection and +classification. + +"After those who write letters in performance of a disagreeable duty, +and almost side by side with them in point of insignificance, I should +put those who write in a manner wholly external, wholly superficial, +devoted only to flattery, lavishing praise like gold, without counting +it; and those also who weigh every word, who reply formally and +pompously, with a view to fine phrases and effects. They exchange words +only, and choose them solely for their brilliancy and show. You think +it is you, individually, to whom they speak; but they are addressing +themselves in your person to the four corners of Europe. Such letters +are empty, and teach as nothing but theatrical execution and the +favorite pose of their writers. + +"I will not class among the latter the more prudent and sagacious +authors who, when writing to individuals, keep one eye on posterity. +We know that many who pursue this method have written long, finished, +charming, flattering, and tolerably natural letters. Beranger furnishes +us with the best example of this class. + +"Proudhon, however, is a man of entirely different nature and habits. +In writing, he thinks of nothing but his idea and the person whom he +addresses: ad rem et ad hominem. A man of conviction and doctrine, to +write does not weary him; to be questioned does not annoy him. When +approached, he cares only to know that your motive is not one of futile +curiosity, but the love of truth; he assumes you to be serious, he +replies, he examines your objections, sometimes verbally, sometimes +in writing; for, as he remarks, 'if there be some points which +correspondence can never settle, but which can be made clear by +conversation in two minutes, at other times just the opposite is the +case: an objection clearly stated in writing, a doubt well expressed, +which elicits a direct and positive reply, helps things along more than +ten hours of oral intercourse!' In writing to you he does not hesitate +to treat the subject anew; he unfolds to you the foundation and +superstructure of his thought: rarely does he confess himself +defeated--it is not his way; he holds to his position, but admits the +breaks, the variations, in short, the EVOLUTION of his mind. The history +of his mind is in his letters; there it must be sought. + +"Proudhon, whoever addresses him, is always ready; he quits the page +of the book on which he is at work to answer you with the same pen, and +that without losing patience, without getting confused, without +sparing or complaining of his ink; he is a public man, devoted to the +propagation of his idea by all methods, and the best method, with him, +is always the present one, the latest one. His very handwriting, bold, +uniform, legible, even in the most tiresome passages, betrays no haste, +no hurry to finish. Each line is accurate: nothing is left to chance; +the punctuation, very correct and a little emphatic and decided, +indicates with precision and delicate distinction all the links in the +chain of his argument. He is devoted entirely to you, to his business +and yours, while writing to you, and never to anything else. All the +letters of his which I have seen are serious: not one is commonplace. + +"But at the same time he is not at all artistic or affected; he does +not CONSTRUCT his letters, he does not revise them, he spends no time in +reading them over; we have a first draught, excellent and clear, a jet +from the fountain-head, but that is all. The new arguments, which he +discovers in support of his ideas and which opposition suggests to +him, are an agreeable surprise, and shed a light which we should vainly +search for even in his works. His correspondence differs essentially +from his books, in that it gives you no uneasiness; it places you in +the very heart of the man, explains him to you, and leaves you with an +impression of moral esteem and almost of intellectual security. We feel +his sincerity. I know of no one to whom he can be more fitly compared in +this respect than George Sand, whose correspondence is large, and at the +same time full of sincerity. His role and his nature correspond. If +he is writing to a young man who unbosoms himself to him in sceptical +anxiety, to a young woman who asks him to decide delicate questions of +conduct for her, his letter takes the form of a short moral essay, of a +father-confessor's advice. Has he perchance attended the theatre (a +rare thing for him) to witness one of Ponsart's comedies, or a drama of +Charles Edmond's, he feels bound to give an account of his impressions +to the friend to whom he is indebted for this pleasure, and his letter +becomes a literary and philosophical criticism, full of sense, and like +no other. His familiarity is suited to his correspondent; he affects no +rudeness. The terms of civility or affection which he employs towards +his correspondents are sober, measured, appropriate to each, and honest +in their simplicity and cordiality. When he speaks of morals and the +family, he seems at times like the patriarchs of the Bible. His command +of language is complete, and he never fails to avail himself of it. Now +and then a coarse word, a few personalities, too bitter and quite unjust +or injurious, will have to be suppressed in printing; time, however, as +it passes away, permits many things and renders them inoffensive. Am I +right in saying that Proudhon's correspondence, always substantial, will +one day be the most accessible and attractive portion of his works?" + + +Almost the whole of Proudhon's real biography is included in his +correspondence. Up to 1837, the date of the first letter which we have +been able to collect, his life, narrated by Sainte Beuve, from whom we +make numerous extracts, may be summed up in a few pages. + +Pierre Joseph Proudhon was born on the 15th of January, 1809, in +a suburb of Besancon, called Mouillere. His father and mother were +employed in the great brewery belonging to M. Renaud. His father, though +a cousin of the jurist Proudhon, the celebrated professor in the faculty +of Dijon, was a journeyman brewer. His mother, a genuine peasant, was a +common servant. She was an orderly person of great good sense; and, as +they who knew her say, a superior woman of HEROIC character,--to use the +expression of the venerable M. Weiss, the librarian at Besancon. She +it was especially that Proudhon resembled: she and his grandfather +Tournesi, the soldier peasant of whom his mother told him, and whose +courageous deeds he has described in his work on "Justice." Proudhon, +who always felt a great veneration for his mother Catharine, gave +her name to the elder of his daughters. In 1814, when Besancon was +blockaded, Mouillere, which stood in front of the walls of the town, was +destroyed in the defence of the place; and Proudhon's father established +a cooper's shop in a suburb of Battant, called Vignerons. Very honest, +but simple-minded and short-sighted, this cooper, the father of five +children, of whom Pierre Joseph was the eldest, passed his life in +poverty. At eight years of age, Proudhon either made himself useful in +the house, or tended the cattle out of doors. No one should fail to read +that beautiful and precious page of his work on "Justice," in which he +describes the rural sports which he enjoyed when a neatherd. At the age +of twelve, he was a cellar-boy in an inn. This, however, did not prevent +him from studying. + +His mother was greatly aided by M. Renaud, the former owner of the +brewery, who had at that time retired from business, and was engaged in +the education of his children. + +Proudhon entered school as a day-scholar in the sixth class. He was +necessarily irregular in his attendance; domestic cares and restraints +sometimes kept him from his classes. He succeeded nevertheless in his +studies; he showed great perseverance. His family were so poor that they +could not afford to furnish him with books; he was obliged to borrow +them from his comrades, and copy the text of his lessons. He has himself +told us that he was obliged to leave his wooden shoes outside the door, +that he might not disturb the classes with his noise; and that, having +no hat, he went to school bareheaded. One day, towards the close of his +studies, on returning from the distribution of the prizes, loaded with +crowns, he found nothing to eat in the house. + + +"In his eagerness for labor and his thirst for knowledge, Proudhon," +says Sainte Beuve, "was not content with the instruction of his +teachers. From his twelfth to his fourteenth year, he was a constant +frequenter of the town library. One curiosity led to another, and he +called for book after book, sometimes eight or ten at one sitting. The +learned librarian, the friend and almost the brother of Charles Nodier, +M. Weiss, approached him one day, and said, smiling, 'But, my little +friend, what do you wish to do with all these books?' The child raised +his head, eyed his questioner, and replied: 'What's that to you?' And +the good M. Weiss remembers it to this day." + + +Forced to earn his living, Proudhon could not continue his studies. He +entered a printing-office in Besancon as a proof-reader. Becoming, +soon after, a compositor, he made a tour of France in this capacity. At +Toulon, where he found himself without money and without work, he had a +scene with the mayor, which he describes in his work on "Justice." + +Sainte Beuve says that, after his tour of France, his service book being +filled with good certificates, Proudhon was promoted to the position +of foreman. But he does not tell us, for the reason that he had no +knowledge of a letter written by Fallot, of which we never heard until +six months since, that the printer at that time contemplated quitting +his trade in order to become a teacher. + +Towards 1829, Fallot, who was a little older than Proudhon, and +who, after having obtained the Suard pension in 1832, died in his +twenty-ninth year, while filling the position of assistant librarian at +the Institute, was charged, Protestant though he was, with the revisal +of a "Life of the Saints," which was published at Besancon. The book was +in Latin, and Fallot added some notes which also were in Latin. + + +"But," says Sainte Beuve, "it happened that some errors escaped his +attention, which Proudhon, then proof-reader in the printing office, +did not fail to point out to him. Surprised at finding so good a Latin +scholar in a workshop, he desired to make his acquaintance; and soon +there sprung up between them a most earnest and intimate friendship: a +friendship of the intellect and of the heart." + +Addressed to a printer between twenty-two and twenty-three years of age, +and predicting in formal terms his future fame, Fallot's letter seems to +us so interesting that we do not hesitate to reproduce it entire. + + +"PARIS, December 5, 1831. + +"MY DEAR PROUDHON,--YOU have a right to be surprised at, and even +dissatisfied with, my long delay in replying to your kind letter; I will +tell you the cause of it. It became necessary to forward an account of +your ideas to M. J. de Gray; to hear his objections, to reply to them, +and to await his definitive response, which reached me but a short time +ago; for M. J. is a sort of financial king, who takes no pains to be +punctual in dealing with poor devils like ourselves. I, too, am careless +in matters of business; I sometimes push my negligence even to disorder, +and the metaphysical musings which continually occupy my mind, added to +the amusements of Paris, render me the most incapable man in the world +for conducting a negotiation with despatch. + +"I have M. Jobard's decision; here it is: In his judgment, you are +too learned and clever for his children; he fears that you could not +accommodate your mind and character to the childish notions common +to their age and station. In short, he is what the world calls a good +father; that is, he wants to spoil his children, and, in order to do +this easily, he thinks fit to retain his present instructor, who is not +very learned, but who takes part in their games and joyous sports with +wonderful facility, who points out the letters of the alphabet to +the little girl, who takes the little boys to mass, and who, no less +obliging than the worthy Abbe P. of our acquaintance, would readily +dance for Madame's amusement. Such a profession would not suit you, you +who have a free, proud, and manly soul: you are refused; let us dismiss +the matter from our minds. Perhaps another time my solicitude will be +less unfortunate. I can only ask your pardon for having thought of thus +disposing of you almost without consulting you. I find my excuse in the +motives which guided me; I had in view your well-being and advancement +in the ways of this world. + +"I see in your letter, my comrade, through its brilliant witticisms and +beneath the frank and artless gayety with which you have sprinkled it, +a tinge of sadness and despondency which pains me. You are unhappy, my +friend: your present situation does not suit you; you cannot remain in +it, it was not made for you, it is beneath you; you ought, by all +means, to leave it, before its injurious influence begins to affect your +faculties, and before you become settled, as they say, in the ways of +your profession, were it possible that such a thing could ever happen, +which I flatly deny. You are unhappy; you have not yet entered upon the +path which Nature has marked out for you. But, faint-hearted soul, is +that a cause for despondency? Ought you to feel discouraged? Struggle, +morbleu, struggle persistently, and you will triumph. J. J. Rousseau +groped about for forty years before his genius was revealed to him. +You are not J. J Rousseau; but listen: I know not whether I should have +divined the author of "Emile" when he was twenty years of age, supposing +that I had been his contemporary, and had enjoyed the honor of his +acquaintance. But I have known you, I have loved you, I have divined +your future, if I may venture to say so; for the first time in my life, +I am going to risk a prophecy. Keep this letter, read it again fifteen +or twenty years hence, perhaps twenty-five, and if at that time the +prediction which I am about to make has not been fulfilled, burn it as +a piece of folly out of charity and respect for my memory. This is my +prediction: you will be, Proudhon, in spite of yourself, inevitably, +by the fact of your destiny, a writer, an author; you will be a +philosopher; you will be one of the lights of the century, and your name +will occupy a place in the annals of the nineteenth century, like those +of Gassendi, Descartes, Malebranche, and Bacon in the seventeenth, and +those of Diderot, Montesquieu, Helvetius. Locke, Hume, and Holbach in +the eighteenth. Such will be your lot! Do now what you will, set type in +a printing-office, bring up children, bury yourself in deep seclusion, +seek obscure and lonely villages, it is all one to me; you cannot escape +your destiny; you cannot divest yourself of your noblest feature, that +active, strong, and inquiring mind, with which you are endowed; your +place in the world has been appointed, and it cannot remain empty. Go +where you please, I expect you in Paris, talking philosophy and the +doctrines of Plato; you will have to come, whether you want to or not. +I, who say this to you, must feel very sure of it in order to be willing +to put it upon paper, since, without reward for my prophetic skill,--to +which, I assure you, I make not the slightest claim,--I run the risk of +passing for a hare-brained fellow, in case I prove to be mistaken: he +plays a bold game who risks his good sense upon his cards, in return +for the very trifling and insignificant merit of having divined a young +man's future. + +"When I say that I expect you in Paris, I use only a proverbial phrase +which you must not allow to mislead you as to my projects and plans. +To reside in Paris is disagreeable to me, very much so; and when this +fine-art fever which possesses me has left me, I shall abandon the place +without regret to seek a more peaceful residence in a provincial town, +provided always the town shall afford me the means of living, bread, a +bed, books, rest, and solitude. How I miss, my good Proudhon, that dark, +obscure, smoky chamber in which I dwelt in Besancon, and where we spent +so many pleasant hours in the discussion of philosophy! Do you remember +it? But that is now far away. Will that happy time ever return? Shall +we one day meet again? Here my life is restless, uncertain, precarious, +and, what is worse, indolent, illiterate, and vagrant. I do no work, I +live in idleness, I ramble about; I do not read, I no longer study; my +books are forsaken; now and then I glance over a few metaphysical works, +and after a days walk through dirty, filthy, crowded streets. I lie +down with empty head and tired body, to repeat the performance on the +following day. What is the object of these walks, you will ask. I make +visits, my friend; I hold interviews with stupid people. Then a fit of +curiosity seizes me, the least inquisitive of beings: there are museums, +libraries, assemblies, churches, palaces, gardens, and theatres to +visit. I am fond of pictures, fond of music, fond of sculpture; all +these are beautiful and good, but they cannot appease hunger, nor take +the place of my pleasant readings of Bailly, Hume, and Tennemann, which +I used to enjoy by my fireside when I was able to read. + +"But enough of complaints. Do not allow this letter to affect you too +much, and do not think that I give way to dejection or despondency; no, +I am a fatalist, and I believe in my star. I do not know yet what my +calling is, nor for what branch of polite literature I am best fitted; +I do not even know whether I am, or ever shall be, fitted for any: but +what matters it? I suffer, I labor, I dream, I enjoy, I think; and, in a +word, when my last hour strikes, I shall have lived. + +"Proudhon, I love you, I esteem you; and, believe me, these are not mere +phrases. What interest could I have in flattering and praising a poor +printer? Are you rich, that you may pay for courtiers? Have you a +sumptuous table, a dashing wife, and gold to scatter, in order to +attract them to your suite? Have you the glory, honors, credit, which +would render your acquaintance pleasing to their vanity and pride? No; +you are poor, obscure, abandoned; but, poor, obscure, and abandoned, +you have a friend, and a friend who knows all the obligations which that +word imposes upon honorable people, when they venture to assume it. That +friend is myself: put me to the test. + +"GUSTAVE FALLOT." + + +It appears from this letter that if, at this period, Proudhon had +already exhibited to the eyes of a clairvoyant friend his genius for +research and investigation, it was in the direction of philosophical, +rather than of economical and social, questions. + +Having become foreman in the house of Gauthier & Co., who carried on +a large printing establishment at Besancon, he corrected the proofs of +ecclesiastical writers, the Fathers of the Church. As they were printing +a Bible, a Vulgate, he was led to compare the Latin with the original +Hebrew. + + +"In this way," says Sainte Beuve, "he learned Hebrew by himself, and, +as everything was connected in his mind, he was led to the study of +comparative philology. As the house of Gauthier published many works +on Church history and theology, he came also to acquire, through this +desire of his to investigate everything, an extensive knowledge of +theology, which afterwards caused misinformed persons to think that he +had been in an ecclesiastical seminary." + + +Towards 1836, Proudhon left the house of Gauthier, and, in company +with an associate, established a small printing-office in Besancon. His +contribution to the partnership consisted, not so much in capital, as +in his knowledge of the trade. His partner committing suicide in 1838, +Proudhon was obliged to wind up the business, an operation which he did +not accomplish as quickly and as easily as he hoped. He was then urged +by his friends to enter the ranks of the competitors for the Suard +pension. This pension consisted of an income of fifteen hundred francs +bequeathed to the Academy of Besancon by Madame Suard, the widow of the +academician, to be given once in three years to the young man residing +in the department of Doubs, a bachelor of letters or of science, and +not possessing a fortune, whom the Academy of Besancon SHOULD DEEM BEST +FITTED FOR A LITERARY OR SCIENTIFIC CAREER, OR FOR THE STUDY OF LAW +OR OF MEDICINE. The first to win the Suard pension was Gustave Fallot. +Mauvais, who was a distinguished astronomer in the Academy of Sciences, +was the second. Proudhon aspired to be the third. To qualify himself, he +had to be received as a bachelor of letters, and was obliged to write a +letter to the Academy of Besancon. In a phrase of this letter, the terms +of which he had to modify, though he absolutely refused to change +its spirit, Proudhon expressed his firm resolve to labor for the +amelioration of the condition of his brothers, the working-men. + +The only thing which he had then published was an "Essay on General +Grammar," which appeared without the author's signature. While +reprinting, at Besancon, the "Primitive Elements of Languages, +Discovered by the Comparison of Hebrew roots with those of the Latin and +French," by the Abbe Bergier, Proudhon had enlarged the edition of his +"Essay on General Grammar." + +The date of the edition, 1837, proves that he did not at that time think +of competing for the Suard pension. In this work, which continued and +completed that of the Abbe Bergier, Proudhon adopted the same point +of view, that of Moses and of Biblical tradition. Two years later, in +February, 1839, being already in possession of the Suard pension, he +addressed to the Institute, as a competitor for the Volney prize, +a memoir entitled: "Studies in Grammatical Classification and the +Derivation of some French words." It was his first work, revised and +presented in another form. Four memoirs only were sent to the Institute, +none of which gained the prize. Two honorable mentions were granted, +one of them to memoir No. 4; that is, to P. J. Proudhon, printer at +Besancon. The judges were MM. Amedde Jaubert, Reinaud, and Burnouf. + + +"The committee," said the report presented at the annual meeting of the +five academies on Thursday, May 2, 1839, "has paid especial attention to +manuscripts No. 1 and No. 4. Still, it does not feel able to grant +the prize to either of these works, because they do not appear to +be sufficiently elaborated. The committee, which finds in No. 4 some +ingenious analyses, particularly in regard to the mechanism of the +Hebrew language, regrets that the author has resorted to hazardous +conjectures, and has sometimes forgotten the special recommendation of +the committee to pursue the experimental and comparative method." + + +Proudhon remembered this. He attended the lectures of Eugene Burnouf, +and, as soon as he became acquainted with the labors and discoveries of +Bopp and his successors, he definitively abandoned an hypothesis which +had been condemned by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres. +He then sold, for the value of the paper, the remaining copies of the +"Essay" published by him in 1837. In 1850, they were still lying in a +grocer's back-shop. + +A neighboring publisher then placed the edition on the market, with +the attractive name of Proudhon upon it. A lawsuit ensued, in which +the author was beaten. His enemies, and at that time there were many of +them, would have been glad to have proved him a renegade and a recanter. +Proudhon, in his work on "Justice," gives some interesting details of +this lawsuit. + +In possession of the Suard pension, Proudhon took part in the contest +proposed by the Academy of Besancon on the question of the utility +of the celebration of Sunday. His memoir obtained honorable mention, +together with a medal which was awarded him, in open session, on the +24th of August, 1839. The reporter of the committee, the Abbe Doney, +since made Bishop of Montauban, called attention to the unquestionable +superiority of his talent. + + +"But," says Sainte Beuve, "he reproached him with having adopted +dangerous theories, and with having touched upon questions of practical +politics and social organization, where upright intentions and zeal for +the public welfare cannot justify rash solutions." + + +Was it policy, we mean prudence, which induced Proudhon to screen his +ideas of equality behind the Mosaic law? Sainte Beuve, like many others, +seems to think so. But we remember perfectly well that, having asked +Proudhon, in August, 1848, if he did not consider himself indebted in +some respects to his fellow-countryman, Charles Fourier, we received +from him the following reply: "I have certainly read Fourier, and have +spoken of him more than once in my works; but, upon the whole, I do not +think that I owe anything to him. My real masters, those who have caused +fertile ideas to spring up in my mind, are three in number: first, the +Bible; next, Adam Smith; and last, Hegel." + +Freely confessed in the "Celebration of Sunday," the influence of the +Bible on Proudhon is no less manifest in his first memoir on property. +Proudhon undoubtedly brought to this work many ideas of his own; but +is not the very foundation of ancient Jewish law to be found in its +condemnation of usurious interest and its denial of the right of +personal appropriation of land? + +The first memoir on property appeared in 1840, under the title, "What is +Property? or an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government." +Proudhon dedicated it, in a letter which served as the preface, to the +Academy of Besancon. The latter, finding itself brought to trial by its +pensioner, took the affair to heart, and evoked it, says Sainte Beuve, +with all possible haste. + +The pension narrowly escaped being immediately withdrawn from the bold +defender of the principle of equality of conditions. M. Vivien, then +Minister of Justice, who was earnestly solicited to prosecute the +author, wished first to obtain the opinion of the economist, Blanqui, a +member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Proudhon having +presented to this academy a copy of his book, M. Blanqui was appointed +to review it. This review, though it opposed Proudhon's views, shielded +him. Treated as a savant by M. Blanqui, the author was not prosecuted. +He was always grateful to MM. Blanqui and Vivien for their handsome +conduct in the matter. + +M. Blanqui's review, which was partially reproduced by "Le Moniteur," on +the 7th of September, 1840, naturally led Proudhon to address to him, in +the form of a letter, his second memoir on property, which appeared +in April, 1841. Proudhon had endeavored, in his first memoir, to +demonstrate that the pursuit of equality of conditions is the true +principle of right and of government. In the "Letter to M. Blanqui," he +passes in review the numerous and varied methods by which this principle +gradually becomes realized in all societies, especially in modern +society. + +In 1842, a third memoir appeared, entitled, "A Notice to Proprietors, or +a Letter to M. Victor Considerant, Editor of 'La Phalange,' in Reply +to a Defence of Property." Here the influence of Adam Smith manifested +itself, and was frankly admitted. Did not Adam Smith find, in the +principle of equality, the first of all the laws which govern wages? +There are other laws, undoubtedly; but Proudhon considers them all as +springing from the principle of property, as he defined it in his first +memoir. Thus, in humanity, there are two principles,--one which leads us +to equality, another which separates us from it. By the former, we +treat each other as associates; by the latter, as strangers, not to say +enemies. This distinction, which is constantly met with throughout the +three memoirs, contained already, in germ, the idea which gave birth to +the "System of Economical Contradictions," which appeared in 1846, the +idea of antinomy or contre-loi. + +The "Notice to Proprietors" was seized by the magistrates of Besancon; +and Proudhon was summoned to appear before the assizes of Doubs within +a week. He read his written defence to the jurors in person, and was +acquitted. The jury, like M. Blanqui, viewed him only as a philosopher, +an inquirer, a savant. + +In 1843, Proudhon published the "Creation of Order in Humanity," a +large volume, which does not deal exclusively with questions of social +economy. Religion, philosophy, method, certainty, logic, and dialectics +are treated at considerable length. + +Released from his printing-office on the 1st of March of the same year, +Proudhon had to look for a chance to earn his living. Messrs. Gauthier +Bros., carriers by water between Mulhouse and Lyons, the eldest of whom +was Proudhon's companion in childhood, conceived the happy thought +of employing him, of utilizing his ability in their business, and in +settling the numerous points of difficulty which daily arose. Besides +the large number of accounts which his new duties required him to make +out, and which retarded the publication of the "System of Economical +Contradictions," until October, 1846, we ought to mention a work, which, +before it appeared in pamphlet form, was published in the "Revue des +Economistes,"--"Competition between Railroads and Navigable Ways." + +"Le Miserere, or the Repentance of a King," which he published in +March, 1845, in the "Revue Independante," during that Lenten season when +Lacordaire was preaching in Lyons, proves that, though devoting himself +with ardor to the study of economical problems, Proudhon had not lost +his interest in questions of religious history. Among his writings on +these questions, which he was unfortunately obliged to leave unfinished, +we may mention a nearly completed history of the early Christian +heresies, and of the struggle of Christianity against Caesarism. + +We have said that, in 1848, Proudhon recognized three masters. Having +no knowledge of the German language, he could not have read the works +of Hegel, which at that time had not been translated into French. It +was Charles Grun, a German, who had come to France to study the various +philosophical and socialistic systems, who gave him the substance of the +Hegelian ideas. During the winter of 1844-45, Charles Grun had some long +conversations with Proudhon, which determined, very decisively, not the +ideas, which belonged exclusively to the bisontin thinker, but the form +of the important work on which he labored after 1843, and which was +published in 1846 by Guillaumin. + +Hegel's great idea, which Proudhon appropriated, and which he +demonstrates with wonderful ability in the "System of Economical +Contradictions," is as follows: Antinomy, that is, the existence of two +laws or tendencies which are opposed to each other, is possible, +not only with two different things, but with one and the same thing. +Considered in their thesis, that is, in the law or tendency which +created them, all the economical categories are rational,--competition, +monopoly, the balance of trade, and property, as well as the division +of labor, machinery, taxation, and credit. But, like communism and +population, all these categories are antinomical; all are opposed, not +only to each other, but to themselves. All is opposition, and disorder +is born of this system of opposition. Hence, the sub-title of the +work,--"Philosophy of Misery." No category can be suppressed; the +opposition, antinomy, or contre-tendance, which exists in each of them, +cannot be suppressed. + +Where, then, lies the solution of the social problem? Influenced by the +Hegelian ideas, Proudhon began to look for it in a superior synthesis, +which should reconcile the thesis and antithesis. Afterwards, while at +work upon his book on "Justice," he saw that the antinomical terms do +not cancel each other, any more than the opposite poles of an electric +pile destroy each other; that they are the procreative cause of motion, +life, and progress; that the problem is to discover, not their fusion, +which would be death, but their equilibrium,--an equilibrium for ever +unstable, varying with the development of society. + +On the cover of the "System of Economical Contradictions," Proudhon +announced, as soon to appear, his "Solution of the Social Problem." This +work, upon which he was engaged when the Revolution of 1848 broke +out, had to be cut up into pamphlets and newspaper articles. The two +pamphlets, which he published in March, 1848, before he became editor +of "Le Representant du Peuple," bear the same title,--"Solution of the +Social Problem." The first, which is mainly a criticism of the early +acts of the provisional government, is notable from the fact that in +it Proudhon, in advance of all others, energetically opposed the +establishment of national workshops. The second, "Organization of +Credit and Circulation," sums up in a few pages his idea of economical +progress: a gradual reduction of interest, profit, rent, taxes, and +wages. All progress hitherto has been made in this manner; in this +manner it must continue to be made. Those workingmen who favor a nominal +increase of wages are, unconsciously following a back-track, opposed to +all their interests. + +After having published in "Le Representant du Peuple," the statutes of +the Bank of Exchange,--a bank which was to make no profits, since it +was to have no stockholders, and which, consequently, was to discount +commercial paper with out interest, charging only a commission +sufficient to defray its running expenses,--Proudhon endeavored, in +a number of articles, to explain its mechanism and necessity. These +articles have been collected in one volume, under the double title, +"Resume of the Social Question; Bank of Exchange." His other articles, +those which up to December, 1848, were inspired by the progress of +events, have been collected in another volume,--"Revolutionary Ideas." + +Almost unknown in March, 1848, and struck off in April from the list of +candidates for the Constituent Assembly by the delegation of workingmen +which sat at the Luxembourg, Proudhon had but a very small number of +votes at the general elections of April. At the complementary elections, +which were held in the early days of June, he was elected in Paris by +seventy-seven thousand votes. + +After the fatal days of June, he published an article on le terme, which +caused the first suspension of "Le Representant du Peuple." It was at +that time that he introduced a bill into the Assembly, which, being +referred to the Committee on the Finances, drew forth, first, the report +of M. Thiers, and then the speech which Proudhon delivered, on the +31st of July, in reply to this report. "Le Representant du Peuple," +reappearing a few days later, he wrote, a propos of the law requiring +journals to give bonds, his famous article on "The Malthusians" (August +10, 1848). + +Ten days afterwards, "Le Representant du Peuple," again suspended, +definitively ceased to appear. "Le Peuple," of which he was the +editor-in-chief, and the first number of which was issued in the early +part of September, appeared weekly at first, for want of sufficient +bonds; it afterwards appeared daily, with a double number once a week. +Before "Le Peuple" had obtained its first bond, Proudhon published a +remarkable pamphlet on the "Right to Labor,"--a right which he denied +in the form in which it was then affirmed. It was during the same +period that he proposed, at the Poissonniere banquet, his Toast to the +Revolution. + +Proudhon, who had been asked to preside at the banquet, refused, and +proposed in his stead, first, Ledru-Rollin, and then, in view of the +reluctance of the organizers of the banquet, the illustrious president +of the party of the Mountain, Lamennais. It was evidently his intention +to induce the representatives of the Extreme Left to proclaim at last +with him the Democratic and Social Republic. Lamennais being accepted by +the organizers, the Mountain promised to be present at the banquet. The +night before, all seemed right, when General Cavaignac replaced Minister +Senart by Minister Dufaure-Vivien. The Mountain, questioning the +government, proposed a vote of confidence in the old minister, and, +tacitly, of want of confidence in the new. Proudhon abstained from +voting on this proposition. The Mountain declared that it would not +attend the banquet, if Proudhon was to be present. Five Montagnards, +Mathieu of Drome at their head, went to the temporary office of "Le +Peuple" to notify him of this. "Citizen Proudhon," said they to the +organizers in his presence, "in abstaining from voting to-day on +the proposition of the Mountain, has betrayed the Republican cause." +Proudhon, vehemently questioned, began his defence by recalling, on +the one hand, the treatment which he had received from the dismissed +minister; and, on the other, the impartial conduct displayed towards him +in 1840 by M. Vivien, the new minister. He then attacked the Mountain by +telling its delegates that it sought only a pretext, and that really, in +spite of its professions of Socialism in private conversation, whether +with him or with the organizers of the banquet, it had not the courage +to publicly declare itself Socialist. + +On the following day, in his Toast to the Revolution, a toast which +was filled with allusions to the exciting scene of the night before, +Proudhon commenced his struggle against the Mountain. His duel with +Felix Pyat was one of the episodes of this struggle, which became less +bitter on Proudhon's side after the Mountain finally decided to publicly +proclaim the Democratic and Social Republic. The campaign for the +election of a President of the Republic had just begun. Proudhon made +a very sharp attack on the candidacy of Louis Bonaparte in a pamphlet +which is regarded as one of his literary chefs-d'oeuvre: the "Pamphlet +on the Presidency." An opponent of this institution, against which he +had voted in the Constituent Assembly, he at first decided to take no +part in the campaign. But soon seeing that he was thus increasing the +chances of Louis Bonaparte, and that if, as was not at all probable, the +latter should not obtain an absolute majority of the votes, the Assembly +would not fail to elect General Cavaignac, he espoused, for the sake of +form, the candidacy of Raspail, who was supported by his friends in +the Socialist Committee. Charles Delescluze, the editor-in-chief of +"La Revolution Democratique et Sociale," who could not forgive him for +having preferred Raspail to Ledru-Rollin, the candidate of the Mountain, +attacked him on the day after the election with a violence which +overstepped all bounds. At first, Proudhon had the wisdom to refrain +from answering him. At length, driven to an extremity, he became +aggressive himself, and Delescluze sent him his seconds. This time, +Proudhon positively refused to fight; he would not have fought with +Felix Pyat, had not his courage been called in question. + +On the 25th of January, 1849, Proudhon, rising from a sick bed, saw +that the existence of the Constituent Assembly was endangered by the +coalition of the monarchical parties with Louis Bonaparte, who was +already planning his coup d'Etat. He did not hesitate to openly attack +the man who had just received five millions of votes. He wanted to break +the idol; he succeeded only in getting prosecuted and condemned himself. +The prosecution demanded against him was authorized by a majority of the +Constituent Assembly, in spite of the speech which he delivered on that +occasion. Declared guilty by the jury, he was sentenced, in March, 1849, +to three years' imprisonment and the payment of a fine of ten thousand +francs. + +Proudhon had not abandoned for a single moment his project of a Bank of +Exchange, which was to operate without capital with a sufficient number +of merchants and manufacturers for adherents. This bank, which he then +called the Bank of the People, and around which he wished to gather the +numerous working-people's associations which had been formed since +the 24th of February, 1848, had already obtained a certain number of +subscribers and adherents, the latter to the number of thirty-seven +thousand. It was about to commence operations, when Proudhon's sentence +forced him to choose between imprisonment and exile. He did not hesitate +to abandon his project and return the money to the subscribers. He +explained the motives which led him to this decision in an article in +"Le Peuple." + +Having fled to Belgium, he remained there but a few days, going thence +to Paris, under an assumed name, to conceal himself in a house in the +Rue de Chabrol. From his hiding-place he sent articles almost every +day, signed and unsigned, to "Le Peuple." In the evening, dressed in a +blouse, he went to some secluded spot to take the air. Soon, emboldened +by habit, he risked an evening promenade upon the Boulevards, and +afterwards carried his imprudence so far as to take a stroll by daylight +in the neighborhood of the Gare du Nord. It was not long before he was +recognized by the police, who arrested him on the 6th of June, 1849, in +the Rue du Faubourg-Poissonniere. + +Taken to the office of the prefect of police, then to Sainte-Pelagie, +he was in the Conciergerie on the day of the 13th of June, 1849, which +ended with the violent suppression of "Le Peuple." He then began to +write the "Confessions of a Revolutionist," published towards the end +of the year. He had been again transferred to Sainte-Pelagie, when he +married, in December, 1849, Mlle. Euphrasie Piegard, a young working +girl whose hand he had requested in 1847. Madame Proudhon bore him four +daughters, of whom but two, Catherine and Stephanie, survived their +father. Stephanie died in 1873. + +In October, 1849, "Le Peuple" was replaced by a new journal, "La Voix +du Peuple," which Proudhon edited from his prison cell. In it were +published his discussions with Pierre Leroux and Bastiat. + +The political articles which he sent to "La Voix du Peuple" so +displeased the government finally, that it transferred him to Doullens, +where he was secretly confined for some time. Afterwards taken back +to Paris, to appear before the assizes of the Seine in reference to +an article in "La Voix du Peuple," he was defended by M. Cremieux and +acquitted. From the Conciergerie he went again to Sainte-Pelagie, where +he ended his three years in prison on the 6th of June, 1852. + +"La Voix du Peuple," suppressed before the promulgation of the law of +the 31st of May, had been replaced by a weekly sheet, "Le Peuple" of +1850. Established by the aid of the principal members of the Mountain, +this journal soon met with the fate of its predecessors. + +In 1851, several months before the coup d'Etat, Proudhon published the +"General Idea of the Revolution of the Nineteenth Century," in which, +after having shown the logical series of unitary governments,--from +monarchy, which is the first term, to the direct government of the +people, which is the last,--he opposes the ideal of an-archy or +self-government to the communistic or governmental ideal. + +At this period, the Socialist party, discouraged by the elections of +1849, which resulted in a greater conservative triumph than those of +1848, and justly angry with the national representative body which +had just passed the law of the 31st of May, 1850, demanded direct +legislation and direct government. Proudhon, who did not want, at any +price, the plebiscitary system which he had good reason to regard as +destructive of liberty, did not hesitate to point out, to those of his +friends who expected every thing from direct legislation, one of the +antinomies of universal suffrage. In so far as it is an institution +intended to achieve, for the benefit of the greatest number, the social +reforms to which landed suffrage is opposed, universal suffrage is +powerless; especially if it pretends to legislate or govern directly. +For, until the social reforms are accomplished, the greatest number is +of necessity the least enlightened, and consequently the least capable +of understanding and effecting reforms. In regard to the antinomy, +pointed out by him, of liberty and government,--whether the latter be +monarchic, aristocratic, or democratic in form,--Proudhon, whose chief +desire was to preserve liberty, naturally sought the solution in the +free contract. But though the free contract may be a practical solution +of purely economical questions, it cannot be made use of in politics. +Proudhon recognized this ten years later, when his beautiful study on +"War and Peace" led him to find in the FEDERATIVE PRINCIPLE the exact +equilibrium of liberty and government. + +"The Social Revolution Demonstrated by the Coup d' Etat" appeared in +1852, a few months after his release from prison. At that time, terror +prevailed to such an extent that no one was willing to publish his +book without express permission from the government. He succeeded in +obtaining this permission by writing to Louis Bonaparte a letter which +he published at the same time with the work. The latter being offered +for sale, Proudhon was warned that he would not be allowed to publish +any more books of the same character. At that time he entertained the +idea of writing a universal history entitled "Chronos." This project was +never fulfilled. + +Already the father of two children, and about to be presented with a +third, Proudhon was obliged to devise some immediate means of gaining a +living; he resumed his labors, and published, at first anonymously, the +"Manual of a Speculator in the Stock-Exchange." Later, in 1857, after +having completed the work, he did not hesitate to sign it, acknowledging +in the preface his indebtedness to his collaborator, G. Duchene. + +Meantime, he vainly sought permission to establish a journal, or review. +This permission was steadily refused him. The imperial government +always suspected him after the publication of the "Social Revolution +Demonstrated by the Coup d'Etat." + +Towards the end of 1853, Proudhon issued in Belgium a pamphlet entitled +"The Philosophy of Progress." Entirely inoffensive as it was, this +pamphlet, which he endeavored to send into France, was seized on the +frontier. Proudhon's complaints were of no avail. + +The empire gave grants after grants to large companies. A financial +society, having asked for the grant of a railroad in the east of France, +employed Proudhon to write several memoirs in support of this demand. +The grant was given to another company. The author was offered an +indemnity as compensation, to be paid (as was customary in such cases) +by the company which received the grant. It is needless to say that +Proudhon would accept nothing. Then, wishing to explain to the public, +as well as to the government, the end which he had in view, he +published the work entitled "Reforms to be Effected in the Management of +Railroads." + +Towards the end of 1854, Proudhon had already begun his book on +"Justice," when he had a violent attack of cholera, from which he +recovered with great difficulty. Ever afterwards his health was +delicate. + +At last, on the 22d of April, 1858, he published, in three large +volumes, the important work upon which he had labored since 1854. This +work had two titles: the first, "Justice in the Revolution and in the +Church;" the second, "New Principles of Practical Philosophy, addressed +to His Highness Monseigneur Mathieu, Cardinal-Archbishop of Besancon." +On the 27th of April, when there had scarcely been time to read the +work, an order was issued by the magistrate for its seizure; on the +28th the seizure was effected. To this first act of the magistracy, +the author of the incriminated book replied on the 11th of May in a +strongly-motived petition, demanding a revision of the concordat of +1802; or, in other words, a new adjustment of the relations between +Church and State. At bottom, this petition was but the logical +consequence of the work itself. An edition of a thousand copies being +published on the 17th of May, the "Petition to the Senate" was regarded +by the public prosecutor as an aggravation of the offence or offences +discovered in the body of the work to which it was an appendix, and was +seized in its turn on the 23d. On the first of June, the author appealed +to the Senate in a second "Petition," which was deposited with the +first in the office of the Secretary of the Assembly, the guardian and +guarantee, according to the constitution of 1852, of the principles +of '89. On the 2d of June, the two processes being united, Proudhon +appeared at the bar with his publisher, the printer of the book, and +the printer of the petition, to receive the sentence of the police +magistrate, which condemned him to three years' imprisonment, a fine of +four thousand francs, and the suppression of his work. It is needless +to say that the publisher and printers were also condemned by the sixth +chamber. + +Proudhon lodged an appeal; he wrote a memoir which the law of 1819, in +the absence of which he would have been liable to a new prosecution, +gave him the power to publish previous to the hearing. Having decided +to make use of the means which the law permitted, he urged in vain the +printers who were prosecuted with him to lend him their aid. He then +demanded of Attorney-General Chaix d'Est Ange a statement to the effect +that the twenty-third article of the law of the 17th of May, 1819, +allows a written defence, and that a printer runs no risk in printing +it. The attorney-general flatly refused. Proudhon then started for +Belgium, where he printed his defence, which could not, of course, cross +the French frontier. This memoir is entitled to rank with the best of +Beaumarchais's; it is entitled: "Justice prosecuted by the Church; +An Appeal from the Sentence passed upon P. J. Proudhon by the Police +Magistrate of the Seine, on the 2d of June, 1858." A very close +discussion of the grounds of the judgment of the sixth chamber, it was +at the same time an excellent resume of his great work. + +Once in Belgium, Proudhon did not fail to remain there. In 1859, after +the general amnesty which followed the Italian war, he at first thought +himself included in it. But the imperial government, consulted by his +friends, notified him that, in its opinion, and in spite of the contrary +advice of M. Faustin Helie, his condemnation was not of a political +character. Proudhon, thus classed by the government with the authors +of immoral works, thought it beneath his dignity to protest, and waited +patiently for the advent of 1863 to allow him to return to France. + +In Belgium, where he was not slow in forming new friendships, he +published in 1859-60, in separate parts, a new edition of his great work +on "Justice." Each number contained, in addition to the original text +carefully reviewed and corrected, numerous explanatory notes and some +"Tidings of the Revolution." In these tidings, which form a sort of +review of the progress of ideas in Europe, Proudhon sorrowfully +asserts that, after having for a long time marched at the head of the +progressive nations, France has become, without appearing to suspect it, +the most retrogressive of nations; and he considers her more than once +as seriously threatened with moral death. + +The Italian war led him to write a new work, which he published in 1861, +entitled "War and Peace." This work, in which, running counter to +a multitude of ideas accepted until then without examination, he +pronounced for the first time against the restoration of an aristocratic +and priestly Poland, and against the establishment of a unitary +government in Italy, created for him a multitude of enemies. Most of +his friends, disconcerted by his categorical affirmation of a right +of force, notified him that they decidedly disapproved of his new +publication. "You see," triumphantly cried those whom he had always +combated, "this man is only a sophist." + +Led by his previous studies to test every thing by the question of +right, Proudhon asks, in his "War and Peace," whether there is a real +right of which war is the vindication, and victory the demonstration. +This right, which he roughly calls the right of the strongest or the +right of force, and which is, after all, only the right of the most +worthy to the preference in certain definite cases, exists, says +Proudhon, independently of war. It cannot be legitimately vindicated +except where necessity clearly demands the subordination of one will to +another, and within the limits in which it exists; that is, without ever +involving the enslavement of one by the other. Among nations, the right +of the majority, which is only a corollary of the right of force, is +as unacceptable as universal monarchy. Hence, until equilibrium is +established and recognized between States or national forces, there must +be war. War, says Proudhon, is not always necessary to determine which +side is the strongest; and he has no trouble in proving this by examples +drawn from the family, the workshop, and elsewhere. Passing then to the +study of war, he proves that it by no means corresponds in practice to +that which it ought to be according to his theory of the right of force. +The systematic horrors of war naturally lead him to seek a cause for +it other than the vindication of this right; and then only does the +economist take it upon himself to denounce this cause to those who, like +himself, want peace. The necessity of finding abroad a compensation +for the misery resulting in every nation from the absence of economical +equilibrium, is, according to Proudhon, the ever real, though ever +concealed, cause of war. The pages devoted to this demonstration and to +his theory of poverty, which he clearly distinguishes from misery and +pauperism, shed entirely new light upon the philosophy of history. As +for the author's conclusion, it is a very simple one. Since the treaty +of Westphalia, and especially since the treaties of 1815, equilibrium +has been the international law of Europe. It remains now, not to destroy +it, but, while maintaining it, to labor peacefully, in every nation +protected by it, for the equilibrium of economical forces. The last line +of the book, evidently written to check imperial ambition, is: "Humanity +wants no more war." + +In 1861, after Garibaldi's expedition and the battle of Castelfidardo, +Proudhon immediately saw that the establishment of Italian unity would +be a severe blow to European equilibrium. It was chiefly in order to +maintain this equilibrium that he pronounced so energetically in +favor of Italian federation, even though it should be at first only +a federation of monarchs. In vain was it objected that, in being +established by France, Italian unity would break European equilibrium in +our favor. Proudhon, appealing to history, showed that every State which +breaks the equilibrium in its own favor only causes the other States to +combine against it, and thereby diminishes its influence and power. He +added that, nations being essentially selfish, Italy would not fail, +when opportunity offered, to place her interest above her gratitude. + +To maintain European equilibrium by diminishing great States and +multiplying small ones; to unite the latter in organized federations, +not for attack, but for defence; and with these federations, which, if +they were not republican already, would quickly become so, to hold in +check the great military monarchies,--such, in the beginning of 1861, +was the political programme of Proudhon. + +The object of the federations, he said, will be to guarantee, as far as +possible, the beneficent reign of peace; and they will have the +further effect of securing in every nation the triumph of liberty over +despotism. Where the largest unitary State is, there liberty is in the +greatest danger; further, if this State be democratic, despotism without +the counterpoise of majorities is to be feared. With the federation, it +is not so. The universal suffrage of the federal State is checked by the +universal suffrage of the federated States; and the latter is offset in +its turn by PROPERTY, the stronghold of liberty, which it tends, not to +destroy, but to balance with the institutions of MUTUALISM. + +All these ideas, and many others which were only hinted at in his +work on "War and Peace," were developed by Proudhon in his subsequent +publications, one of which has for its motto, "Reforms always, Utopias +never." The thinker had evidently finished his evolution. + +The Council of State of the canton of Vaud having offered prizes for +essays on the question of taxation, previously discussed at a congress +held at Lausanne, Proudhon entered the ranks and carried off the first +prize. His memoir was published in 1861 under the title of "The Theory +of Taxation." + +About the same time, he wrote at Brussels, in "L'Office de Publicite," +some remarkable articles on the question of literary property, which +was discussed at a congress held in Belgium, These articles must not be +confounded with "Literary Majorats," a more complete work on the same +subject, which was published in 1863, soon after his return to France. + +Arbitrarily excepted from the amnesty in 1859, Proudhon was pardoned two +years later by a special act. He did not wish to take advantage of this +favor, and seemed resolved to remain in Belgium until the 2d of June, +1863, the time when he was to acquire the privilege of prescription, +when an absurd and ridiculous riot, excited in Brussels by an article +published by him on federation and unity in Italy, induced him to hasten +his return to France. Stones were thrown against the house in which +he lived, in the Faubourg d'Ixelles. After having placed his wife and +daughters in safety among his friends at Brussels, he arrived in Paris +in September, 1862, and published there, "Federation and Italian Unity," +a pamphlet which naturally commences with the article which served as a +pretext for the rioters in Brussels. + +Among the works begun by Proudhon while in Belgium, which death did not +allow him to finish, we ought to mention a "History of Poland," which +will be published later; and, "The Theory of Property," which appeared +in 1865, before "The Gospels Annotated," and after the volume entitled +"The Principle of Art and its Social Destiny." + +The publications of Proudhon, in 1863, were: 1. "Literary Majorats: An +Examination of a Bill having for its object the Creation of a Perpetual +Monopoly for the Benefit of Authors, Inventors, and Artists;" 2. +"The Federative Principle and the Necessity of Re-establishing the +Revolutionary party;" 3. "The Sworn Democrats and the Refractories;" 4. +"Whether the Treaties of 1815 have ceased to exist? Acts of the Future +Congress." + +The disease which was destined to kill him grew worse and worse; but +Proudhon labored constantly!... A series of articles, published in 1864 +in "Le Messager de Paris," have been collected in a pamphlet under the +title of "New Observations on Italian Unity." He hoped to publish +during the same year his work on "The Political Capacity of the Working +Classes," but was unable to write the last chapter.... He grew weaker +continually. His doctor prescribed rest. In the month of August he went +to Franche-Comte, where he spent a month. Having returned to Paris, +he resumed his labor with difficulty.... From the month of December +onwards, the heart disease made rapid progress; the oppression became +insupportable, his legs were swollen, and he could not sleep.... + +On the 19th of January, 1865, he died, towards two o'clock in the +morning, in the arms of his wife, his sister-in-law, and the friend who +writes these lines.... + +The publication of his correspondence, to which his daughter Catherine +is faithfully devoted, will tend, no doubt, to increase his reputation +as a thinker, as a writer, and as an honest man. + +J. A. LANGLOIS. + + + + +PREFACE. + +The following letter served as a preface to the first edition of this +memoir:-- + + +"To the Members of the Academy of Besancon + +"PARIS, June 30, 1840. + + +"GENTLEMEN,--In the course of your debate of the 9th of May, 1833, +in regard to the triennial pension established by Madame Suard, you +expressed the following wish:-- + +"'The Academy requests the titulary to present it annually, during the +first fortnight in July, with a succinct and logical statement of the +various studies which he has pursued during the year which has just +expired.' + +"I now propose, gentlemen, to discharge this duty. + +"When I solicited your votes, I boldly avowed my intention to bend my +efforts to the discovery of some means of AMELIORATING THE PHYSICAL, +MORAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE MERE NUMEROUS AND POORER +CLASSES. This idea, foreign as it may have seemed to the object of my +candidacy, you received favorably; and, by the precious distinction with +which it has been your pleasure to honor me, you changed this formal +offer into an inviolable and sacred obligation. Thenceforth I understood +with how worthy and honorable a society I had to deal: my regard for +its enlightenment, my recognition of its benefits, my enthusiasm for its +glory, were unbounded. + +"Convinced at once that, in order to break loose from the beaten paths +of opinions and systems, it was necessary to proceed in my study of man +and society by scientific methods, and in a rigorous manner, I devoted +one year to philology and grammar; linguistics, or the natural history +of speech, being, of all the sciences, that which was best suited to +the character of my mind, seemed to bear the closest relation to the +researches which I was about to commence. A treatise, written at +this period upon one of the most interesting questions of comparative +grammar,[2] if it did not reveal the astonishing success, at least bore +witness to the thoroughness, of my labors. + +"Since that time, metaphysics and moral science have been my only +studies; my perception of the fact that these sciences, though badly +defined as to their object and not confined to their sphere, are, like +the natural sciences, susceptible of demonstration and certainty, has +already rewarded my efforts. + +"But, gentlemen, of all the masters whom I have followed, to none do +I owe so much as to you. Your co-operation, your programmes, your +instructions, in agreement with my secret wishes and most cherished +hopes, have at no time failed to enlighten me and to point out my road; +this memoir on property is the child of your thought. + +"In 1838, the Academy of Besancon proposed the following question: +TO WHAT CAUSES MUST WE ATTRIBUTE THE CONTINUALLY INCREASING NUMBER OF +SUICIDES, AND WHAT ARE THE PROPER MEANS FOR ARRESTING THE EFFECTS OF +THIS MORAL CONTAGION? + +"Thereby it asked, in less general terms, what was the cause of the +social evil, and what was its remedy? You admitted that yourselves, +gentlemen when your committee reported that the competitors had +enumerated with exactness the immediate and particular causes of +suicide, as well as the means of preventing each of them; but that +from this enumeration, chronicled with more or less skill, no positive +information had been gained, either as to the primary cause of the evil, +or as to its remedy. + +"In 1839, your programme, always original and varied in its academical +expression, became more exact. The investigations of 1838 had pointed +out, as the causes or rather as the symptoms of the social malady, +the neglect of the principles of religion and morality, the desire for +wealth, the passion for enjoyment, and political disturbances. All these +data were embodied by you in a single proposition: _THE UTILITY OF THE +CELEBRATION OF SUNDAY AS REGARDS HYGIENE, MORALITY, AND SOCIAL AND +POLITICAL RELATION_. + +"In a Christian tongue you asked, gentlemen, what was the true system +of society. A competitor [3] dared to maintain, and believed that he +had proved, that the institution of a day of rest at weekly intervals +is inseparably bound up with a political system based on the equality of +conditions; that without equality this institution is an anomaly and +an impossibility: that equality alone can revive this ancient and +mysterious keeping of the seventh day. This argument did not meet with +your approbation, since, without denying the relation pointed out by +the competitor, you judged, and rightly gentlemen, that the principle of +equality of conditions not being demonstrated, the ideas of the author +were nothing more than hypotheses. + +"Finally, gentlemen, this fundamental principle of equality you +presented for competition in the following terms: THE ECONOMICAL AND +MORAL CONSEQUENCES IN FRANCE UP TO THE PRESENT TIME, AND THOSE WHICH +SEEM LIKELY TO APPEAR IN FUTURE, OF THE LAW CONCERNING THE EQUAL +DIVISION OF HEREDITARY PROPERTY BETWEEN THE CHILDREN. + +"Instead of confining one to common places without breadth or +significance, it seems to me that your question should be developed as +follows:-- + +"If the law has been able to render the right of heredity common to +all the children of one father, can it not render it equal for all his +grandchildren and great-grandchildren? + +"If the law no longer heeds the age of any member of the family, can +it not, by the right of heredity, cease to heed it in the race, in the +tribe, in the nation? + +"Can equality, by the right of succession, be preserved between +citizens, as well as between cousins and brothers? In a word, can the +principle of succession become a principle of equality? + +"To sum up all these ideas in one inclusive question: What is the +principle of heredity? What are the foundations of inequality? What is +property? + +"Such, gentlemen, is the object of the memoir that I offer you to day. + +"If I have rightly grasped the object of your thought; if I succeed in +bringing to light a truth which is indisputable, but, from causes +which I am bold enough to claim to have explained, has always been +misunderstood; if by an infallible method of investigation, I establish +the dogma of equality of conditions; if I determine the principle +of civil law, the essence of justice, and the form of society; if I +annihilate property forever,--to you, gentlemen, will redound all the +glory, for it is to your aid and your inspiration that I owe it. + +"My purpose in this work is the application of method to the problems of +philosophy; every other intention is foreign to and even abusive of it. + +"I have spoken lightly of jurisprudence: I had the right; but I should +be unjust did I not distinguish between this pretended science and +the men who practise it. Devoted to studies both laborious and severe, +entitled in all respects to the esteem of their fellow-citizens by their +knowledge and eloquence our legists deserve but one reproach, that of an +excessive deference to arbitrary laws. + +"I have been pitiless in my criticism of the economists: for them +I confess that, in general, I have no liking. The arrogance and +the emptiness of their writings, their impertinent pride and their +unwarranted blunders, have disgusted me. Whoever, knowing them, pardons +them, may read them. + +"I have severely blamed the learned Christian Church: it was my duty. +This blame results from the facts which I call attention to: why has +the Church decreed concerning things which it does not understand? The +Church has erred in dogma and in morals; physics and mathematics +testify against her. It may be wrong for me to say it, but surely it +is unfortunate for Christianity that it is true. To restore religion, +gentlemen, it is necessary to condemn the Church. + +"Perhaps you will regret, gentlemen, that, in giving all my attention to +method and evidence, I have too much neglected form and style: in vain +should I have tried to do better. Literary hope and faith I have none. +The nineteenth century is, in my eyes, a genesic era, in which new +principles are elaborated, but in which nothing that is written shall +endure. That is the reason, in my opinion, why, among so many men of +talent, France to-day counts not one great writer. In a society like +ours, to seek for literary glory seems to me an anachronism. Of what +use is it to invoke an ancient sibyl when a muse is on the eve of birth? +Pitiable actors in a tragedy nearing its end, that which it behooves us +to do is to precipitate the catastrophe. The most deserving among us +is he who plays best this part. Well, I no longer aspire to this sad +success! + +"Why should I not confess it, gentlemen? I have aspired to your +suffrages and sought the title of your pensioner, hating all which +exists and full of projects for its destruction; I shall finish this +investigation in a spirit of calm and philosophical resignation. I have +derived more peace from the knowledge of the truth, than anger from the +feeling of oppression; and the most precious fruit that I could wish to +gather from this memoir would be the inspiration of my readers with that +tranquillity of soul which arises from the clear perception of evil and +its cause, and which is much more powerful than passion and enthusiasm. +My hatred of privilege and human authority was unbounded; perhaps at +times I have been guilty, in my indignation, of confounding persons and +things; at present I can only despise and complain; to cease to hate I +only needed to know. + +"It is for you now, gentlemen, whose mission and character are the +proclamation of the truth, it is for you to instruct the people, and to +tell them for what they ought to hope and what they ought to fear. The +people, incapable as yet of sound judgment as to what is best for them, +applaud indiscriminately the most opposite ideas, provided that in them +they get a taste of flattery: to them the laws of thought are like the +confines of the possible; to-day they can no more distinguish between a +savant and a sophist, than formerly they could tell a physician from +a sorcerer. 'Inconsiderately accepting, gathering together, and +accumulating everything that is new, regarding all reports as true and +indubitable, at the breath or ring of novelty they assemble like bees at +the sound of a basin.' [4] + +"May you, gentlemen, desire equality as I myself desire it; may you, +for the eternal happiness of our country, become its propagators and its +heralds; may I be the last of your pensioners! Of all the wishes that +I can frame, that, gentlemen, is the most worthy of you and the most +honorable for me. + +"I am, with the profoundest respect and the most earnest gratitude, + +"Your pensioner, + +"P. J. PROUDHON." + + +Two months after the receipt of this letter, the Academy, in its debate +of August 24th, replied to the address of its pensioner by a note, the +text of which I give below:-- + + +"A member calls the attention of the Academy to a pamphlet, published +last June by the titulary of the Suard pension, entitled, "What is +property?" and dedicated by the author to the Academy. He is of the +opinion that the society owes it to justice, to example, and to its +own dignity, to publicly disavow all responsibility for the anti-social +doctrines contained in this publication. In consequence he demands: + +"1. That the Academy disavow and condemn, in the most formal manner, +the work of the Suard pensioner, as having been published without its +assent, and as attributing to it opinions diametrically opposed to the +principles of each of its members; + +"2. That the pensioner be charged, in case he should publish a second +edition of his book, to omit the dedication; + +"3. That this judgment of the Academy be placed upon the records. + +"These three propositions, put to vote, are adopted." + + +After this ludicrous decree, which its authors thought to render +powerful by giving it the form of a contradiction, I can only beg the +reader not to measure the intelligence of my compatriots by that of our +Academy. + +While my patrons in the social and political sciences were fulminating +anathemas against my brochure, a man, who was a stranger to +Franche-Comte, who did not know me, who might even have regarded himself +as personally attacked by the too sharp judgment which I had passed upon +the economists, a publicist as learned as he was modest, loved by the +people whose sorrows he felt, honored by the power which he sought to +enlighten without flattering or disgracing it, M. Blanqui--member of the +Institute, professor of political economy, defender of property--took up +my defence before his associates and before the ministry, and saved me +from the blows of a justice which is always blind, because it is always +ignorant. + +It seems to me that the reader will peruse with pleasure the letter +which M. Blanqui did me the honor to write to me upon the publication +of my second memoir, a letter as honorable to its author as it is +flattering to him to whom it is addressed. + + + +"PARIS, May 1, 1841. + +"MONSIEUR,--I hasten to thank you for forwarding to me your second +memoir upon property. I have read it with all the interest that an +acquaintance with the first would naturally inspire. I am very glad that +you have modified somewhat the rudeness of form which gave to a work +of such gravity the manner and appearance of a pamphlet; for you quite +frightened me, sir, and your talent was needed to reassure me in regard +to your intentions. One does not expend so much real knowledge with +the purpose of inflaming his country. This proposition, now coming into +notice--PROPERTY IS ROBBERY!--was of a nature to repel from your book +even those serious minds who do not judge by appearances, had you +persisted in maintaining it in its rude simplicity. But if you have +softened the form, you are none the less faithful to the ground-work +of your doctrines; and although you have done me the honor to give me a +share in this perilous teaching, I cannot accept a partnership which, +as far as talent goes, would surely be a credit to me, but which would +compromise me in all other respects. + +"I agree with you in one thing only; namely, that all kinds of property +get too frequently abused in this world. But I do not reason from the +abuse to the abolition,--an heroic remedy too much like death, which +cures all evils. I will go farther: I will confess that, of all abuses, +the most hateful to me are those of property; but once more, there is +a remedy for this evil without violating it, all the more without +destroying it. If the present laws allow abuse, we can reconstruct them. +Our civil code is not the Koran; it is not wrong to examine it. Change, +then, the laws which govern the use of property, but be sparing of +anathemas; for, logically, where is the honest man whose hands are +entirely clean? Do you think that one can be a robber without knowing +it, without wishing it, without suspecting it? Do you not admit that +society in its present state, like every man, has in its constitution +all kinds of virtues and vices inherited from our ancestors? Is +property, then, in your eyes a thing so simple and so abstract that you +can re-knead and equalize it, if I may so speak, in your metaphysical +mill? One who has said as many excellent and practical things as occur +in these two beautiful and paradoxical improvisations of yours cannot +be a pure and unwavering utopist. You are too well acquainted with the +economical and academical phraseology to play with the hard words +of revolutions. I believe, then, that you have handled property as +Rousseau, eighty years ago, handled letters, with a magnificent and +poetical display of wit and knowledge. Such, at least, is my opinion. + +"That is what I said to the Institute at the time when I presented my +report upon your book. I knew that they wished to proceed against you in +the courts; you perhaps do not know by how narrow a chance I succeeded +in preventing them. [5] What chagrin I should always have felt, if +the king's counsel, that is to say, the intellectual executioner, had +followed in my very tracks to attack your book and annoy your person! I +actually passed two terrible nights, and I succeeded in restraining +the secular arm only by showing that your book was an academical +dissertation, and not the manifesto of an incendiary. Your style is too +lofty ever to be of service to the madmen who in discussing the gravest +questions of our social order, use paving-stones as their weapons. But +see to it, sir, that ere long they do not come, in spite of you, to +seek for ammunition in this formidable arsenal, and that your +vigorous metaphysics falls not into the hands of some sophist of the +market-place, who might discuss the question in the presence of a +starving audience: we should have pillage for conclusion and peroration. + +"I feel as deeply as you, sir, the abuses which you point out; but I +have so great an affection for order,--not that common and strait-laced +order with which the police are satisfied, but the majestic and imposing +order of human societies,--that I sometimes find myself embarrassed +in attacking certain abuses. I like to rebuild with one hand when I am +compelled to destroy with the other. In pruning an old tree, we guard +against destruction of the buds and fruit. You know that as well as any +one. You are a wise and learned man; you have a thoughtful mind. The +terms by which you characterize the fanatics of our day are strong +enough to reassure the most suspicious imaginations as to your +intentions; but you conclude in favor of the abolition of property! You +wish to abolish the most powerful motor of the human mind; you attack +the paternal sentiment in its sweetest illusions; with one word you +arrest the formation of capital, and we build henceforth upon the sand +instead of on a rock. That I cannot agree to; and for that reason I +have criticised your book, so full of beautiful pages, so brilliant with +knowledge and fervor! + +"I wish, sir, that my impaired health would permit me to examine with +you, page by page, the memoir which you have done me the honor to +address to me publicly and personally; I think I could offer some +important criticisms. For the moment, I must content myself with +thanking you for the kind words in which you have seen fit to speak of +me. We each possess the merit of sincerity; I desire also the merit +of prudence. You know how deep-seated is the disease under which the +working-people are suffering; I know how many noble hearts beat under +those rude garments, and I feel an irresistible and fraternal sympathy +with the thousands of brave people who rise early in the morning to +labor, to pay their taxes, and to make our country strong. I try to +serve and enlighten them, whereas some endeavor to mislead them. You +have not written directly for them. You have issued two magnificent +manifestoes, the second more guarded than the first; issue a third more +guarded than the second, and you will take high rank in science, whose +first precept is calmness and impartiality. + +"Farewell, sir! No man's esteem for another can exceed mine for you. + +"BLANQUI." + + +I should certainly take some exceptions to this noble and eloquent +letter; but I confess that I am more inclined to realize the prediction +with which it terminates than to augment needlessly the number of +my antagonists. So much controversy fatigues and wearies me. The +intelligence expended in the warfare of words is like that employed in +battle: it is intelligence wasted. M. Blanqui acknowledges that property +is abused in many harmful ways; I call PROPERTY the sum these abuses +exclusively. To each of us property seems a polygon whose angles need +knocking off; but, the operation performed, M. Blanqui maintains +that the figure will still be a polygon (an hypothesis admitted in +mathematics, although not proven), while I consider that this figure +will be a circle. Honest people can at least understand one another. + +For the rest, I allow that, in the present state of the question, the +mind may legitimately hesitate before deciding in favor of the abolition +of property. To gain the victory for one's cause, it does not suffice +simply to overthrow a principle generally recognized, which has the +indisputable merit of systematically recapitulating our political +theories; it is also necessary to establish the opposite principle, and +to formulate the system which must proceed from it. Still further, it +is necessary to show the method by which the new system will satisfy +all the moral and political needs which induced the establishment of +the first. On the following conditions, then, of subsequent evidence, +depends the correctness of my preceding arguments:-- + +The discovery of a system of absolute equality in which all existing +institutions, save property, or the sum of the abuses of property, +not only may find a place, but may themselves serve as instruments +of equality: individual liberty, the division of power, the public +ministry, the jury system, administrative and judicial organization, the +unity and completeness of instruction, marriage, the family, heredity +in direct and collateral succession, the right of sale and exchange, the +right to make a will, and even birthright,--a system which, better than +property, guarantees the formation of capital and keeps up the courage +of all; which, from a superior point of view, explains, corrects, and +completes the theories of association hitherto proposed, from Plato +and Pythagoras to Babeuf, Saint Simon, and Fourier; a system, finally, +which, serving as a means of transition, is immediately applicable. + +A work so vast requires, I am aware, the united efforts of twenty +Montesquieus; nevertheless, if it is not given to a single man to +finish, a single one can commence, the enterprise. The road that he +shall traverse will suffice to show the end and assure the result. + + + + + +WHAT IS PROPERTY? OR, + +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND OF GOVERNMENT. + + + + +FIRST MEMOIR. + + _Adversus hostem aeterna auctertas esto._ + + Against the enemy, revendication is eternal. LAW OF THE + TWELVE TABLES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. METHOD PURSUED IN THIS WORK.--THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION. + +If I were asked to answer the following question: WHAT IS SLAVERY? and I +should answer in one word, IT IS MURDER, my meaning would be understood +at once. No extended argument would be required to show that the power +to take from a man his thought, his will, his personality, is a power of +life and death; and that to enslave a man is to kill him. Why, then, to +this other question: WHAT IS PROPERTY! may I not likewise answer, IT +IS ROBBERY, without the certainty of being misunderstood; the second +proposition being no other than a transformation of the first? + +I undertake to discuss the vital principle of our government and our +institutions, property: I am in my right. I may be mistaken in the +conclusion which shall result from my investigations: I am in my right. +I think best to place the last thought of my book first: still am I in +my right. + +Such an author teaches that property is a civil right, born of +occupation and sanctioned by law; another maintains that it is a natural +right, originating in labor,--and both of these doctrines, totally +opposed as they may seem, are encouraged and applauded. I contend that +neither labor, nor occupation, nor law, can create property; that it is +an effect without a cause: am I censurable? + +But murmurs arise! + +PROPERTY IS ROBBERY! That is the war-cry of '93! That is the signal of +revolutions! + +Reader, calm yourself: I am no agent of discord, no firebrand of +sedition. I anticipate history by a few days; I disclose a truth whose +development we may try in vain to arrest; I write the preamble of +our future constitution. This proposition which seems to you +blasphemous--PROPERTY IS ROBBERY--would, if our prejudices allowed us +to consider it, be recognized as the lightning-rod to shield us from the +coming thunderbolt; but too many interests stand in the way!... Alas! +philosophy will not change the course of events: destiny will fulfill +itself regardless of prophecy. Besides, must not justice be done and our +education be finished? + +PROPERTY IS ROBBERY!... What a revolution in human ideas! PROPRIETOR and +ROBBER have been at all times expressions as contradictory as the beings +whom they designate are hostile; all languages have perpetuated this +opposition. On what authority, then, do you venture to attack universal +consent, and give the lie to the human race? Who are you, that you +should question the judgment of the nations and the ages? + +Of what consequence to you, reader, is my obscure individuality? I +live, like you, in a century in which reason submits only to fact and +to evidence. My name, like yours, is TRUTH-SEEKER. [6] My mission is +written in these words of the law: SPEAK WITHOUT HATRED AND WITHOUT +FEAR; TELL THAT WHICH THOU KNOWEST! The work of our race is to build the +temple of science, and this science includes man and Nature. Now, truth +reveals itself to all; to-day to Newton and Pascal, tomorrow to +the herdsman in the valley and the journeyman in the shop. Each one +contributes his stone to the edifice; and, his task accomplished, +disappears. Eternity precedes us, eternity follows us: between two +infinites, of what account is one poor mortal that the century should +inquire about him? + +Disregard then, reader, my title and my character, and attend only to my +arguments. It is in accordance with universal consent that I undertake +to correct universal error; from the OPINION of the human race I appeal +to its FAITH. Have the courage to follow me; and, if your will is +untrammelled, if your conscience is free, if your mind can unite two +propositions and deduce a third therefrom, my ideas will inevitably +become yours. In beginning by giving you my last word, it was my purpose +to warn you, not to defy you; for I am certain that, if you read me, you +will be compelled to assent. The things of which I am to speak are so +simple and clear that you will be astonished at not having perceived +them before, and you will say: "I have neglected to think." Others offer +you the spectacle of genius wresting Nature's secrets from her, and +unfolding before you her sublime messages; you will find here only a +series of experiments upon JUSTICE and RIGHT a sort of verification of +the weights and measures of your conscience. The operations shall be +conducted under your very eyes; and you shall weigh the result. + +Nevertheless, I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the +abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, +nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I +leave the business of governing the world. + +One day I asked myself: Why is there so much sorrow and misery in +society? Must man always be wretched? And not satisfied with the +explanations given by the reformers,--these attributing the general +distress to governmental cowardice and incapacity, those to conspirators +and emeutes, still others to ignorance and general corruption,--and +weary of the interminable quarrels of the tribune and the press, I +sought to fathom the matter myself. I have consulted the masters of +science; I have read a hundred volumes of philosophy, law, political +economy, and history: would to God that I had lived in a century in +which so much reading had been useless! I have made every effort to +obtain exact information, comparing doctrines, replying to objections, +continually constructing equations and reductions from arguments, and +weighing thousands of syllogisms in the scales of the most rigorous +logic. In this laborious work, I have collected many interesting facts +which I shall share with my friends and the public as soon as I have +leisure. But I must say that I recognized at once that we had never +understood the meaning of these words, so common and yet so sacred: +JUSTICE, EQUITY, LIBERTY; that concerning each of these principles our +ideas have been utterly obscure; and, in fact, that this ignorance was +the sole cause, both of the poverty that devours us, and of all the +calamities that have ever afflicted the human race. + +My mind was frightened by this strange result: I doubted my reason. +What! said I, that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor insight +penetrated, you have discovered! Wretch, mistake not the visions of +your diseased brain for the truths of science! Do you not know (great +philosophers have said so) that in points of practical morality +universal error is a contradiction? + +I resolved then to test my arguments; and in entering upon this new +labor I sought an answer to the following questions: Is it possible +that humanity can have been so long and so universally mistaken in the +application of moral principles? How and why could it be mistaken? How +can its error, being universal, be capable of correction? + +These questions, on the solution of which depended the certainty of my +conclusions, offered no lengthy resistance to analysis. It will be seen, +in chapter V. of this work, that in morals, as in all other branches of +knowledge, the gravest errors are the dogmas of science; that, even in +works of justice, to be mistaken is a privilege which ennobles man; and +that whatever philosophical merit may attach to me is infinitely small. +To name a thing is easy: the difficulty is to discern it before its +appearance. In giving expression to the last stage of an idea,--an idea +which permeates all minds, which to-morrow will be proclaimed by another +if I fail to announce it to-day,--I can claim no merit save that of +priority of utterance. Do we eulogize the man who first perceives the +dawn? + +Yes: all men believe and repeat that equality of conditions is identical +with equality of rights; that PROPERTY and ROBBERY are synonymous terms; +that every social advantage accorded, or rather usurped, in the name of +superior talent or service, is iniquity and extortion. All men in their +hearts, I say, bear witness to these truths; they need only to be made +to understand it. + +Before entering directly upon the question before me, I must say a word +of the road that I shall traverse. When Pascal approached a geometrical +problem, he invented a method of solution; to solve a problem in +philosophy a method is equally necessary. Well, by how much do the +problems of which philosophy treats surpass in the gravity of their +results those discussed by geometry! How much more imperatively, then, +do they demand for their solution a profound and rigorous analysis! + +It is a fact placed for ever beyond doubt, say the modern psychologists, +that every perception received by the mind is determined by certain +general laws which govern the mind; is moulded, so to speak, in certain +types pre-existing in our understanding, and which constitutes its +original condition. Hence, say they, if the mind has no innate IDEAS, +it has at least innate FORMS. Thus, for example, every phenomenon is of +necessity conceived by us as happening in TIME and SPACE,--that compels +us to infer a CAUSE of its occurrence; every thing which exists implies +the ideas of SUBSTANCE, MODE, RELATION, NUMBER, &C.; in a word, we form +no idea which is not related to some one of the general principles of +reason, independent of which nothing exists. + +These axioms of the understanding, add the psychologists, these +fundamental types, by which all our judgments and ideas are inevitably +shaped, and which our sensations serve only to illuminate, are known +in the schools as CATEGORIES. Their primordial existence in the mind is +to-day demonstrated; they need only to be systematized and catalogued. +Aristotle recognized ten; Kant increased the number to fifteen; M. +Cousin has reduced it to three, to two, to one; and the indisputable +glory of this professor will be due to the fact that, if he has not +discovered the true theory of categories, he has, at least, seen more +clearly than any one else the vast importance of this question,--the +greatest and perhaps the only one with which metaphysics has to deal. + +I confess that I disbelieve in the innateness, not only of IDEAS, but +also of FORMS or LAWS of our understanding; and I hold the metaphysics +of Reid and Kant to be still farther removed from the truth than that of +Aristotle. However, as I do not wish to enter here into a discussion of +the mind, a task which would demand much labor and be of no interest to +the public, I shall admit the hypothesis that our most general and +most necessary ideas--such as time, space, substance, and cause--exist +originally in the mind; or, at least, are derived immediately from its +constitution. + +But it is a psychological fact none the less true, and one to which the +philosophers have paid too little attention, that habit, like a second +nature, has the power of fixing in the mind new categorical forms +derived from the appearances which impress us, and by them usually +stripped of objective reality, but whose influence over our judgments +is no less predetermining than that of the original categories. Hence +we reason by the ETERNAL and ABSOLUTE laws of our mind, and at the same +time by the secondary rules, ordinarily faulty, which are suggested to +us by imperfect observation. This is the most fecund source of false +prejudices, and the permanent and often invincible cause of a multitude +of errors. The bias resulting from these prejudices is so strong that +often, even when we are fighting against a principle which our mind +thinks false, which is repugnant to our reason, and which our conscience +disapproves, we defend it without knowing it, we reason in accordance +with it, and we obey it while attacking it. Enclosed within a circle, +our mind revolves about itself, until a new observation, creating within +us new ideas, brings to view an external principle which delivers us +from the phantom by which our imagination is possessed. + +Thus, we know to-day that, by the laws of a universal magnetism whose +cause is still unknown, two bodies (no obstacle intervening) tend to +unite by an accelerated impelling force which we call GRAVITATION. It is +gravitation which causes unsupported bodies to fall to the ground, which +gives them weight, and which fastens us to the earth on which we live. +Ignorance of this cause was the sole obstacle which prevented the +ancients from believing in the antipodes. "Can you not see," said St. +Augustine after Lactantius, "that, if there were men under our feet, +their heads would point downward, and that they would fall into the +sky?" The bishop of Hippo, who thought the earth flat because it +appeared so to the eye, supposed in consequence that, if we should +connect by straight lines the zenith with the nadir in different places, +these lines would be parallel with each other; and in the direction +of these lines he traced every movement from above to below. Thence he +naturally concluded that the stars were rolling torches set in the vault +of the sky; that, if left to themselves, they would fall to the earth in +a shower of fire; that the earth was one vast plain, forming the lower +portion of the world, &c. If he had been asked by what the world itself +was sustained, he would have answered that he did not know, but that +to God nothing is impossible. Such were the ideas of St. Augustine in +regard to space and movement, ideas fixed within him by a prejudice +derived from an appearance, and which had become with him a general and +categorical rule of judgment. Of the reason why bodies fall his mind +knew nothing; he could only say that a body falls because it falls. + +With us the idea of a fall is more complex: to the general ideas of +space and movement which it implies, we add that of attraction or +direction towards a centre, which gives us the higher idea of cause. But +if physics has fully corrected our judgment in this respect, we still +make use of the prejudice of St. Augustine; and when we say that a thing +has FALLEN, we do not mean simply and in general that there has been +an effect of gravitation, but specially and in particular that it is +towards the earth, and FROM ABOVE TO BELOW, that this movement has taken +place. Our mind is enlightened in vain; the imagination prevails, and +our language remains forever incorrigible. To DESCEND FROM HEAVEN is as +incorrect an expression as to MOUNT TO HEAVEN; and yet this expression +will live as long as men use language. + +All these phrases--FROM ABOVE TO BELOW; TO DESCEND FROM HEAVEN; TO FALL +FROM THE CLOUDS, &C.--are henceforth harmless, because we know how to +rectify them in practice; but let us deign to consider for a moment how +much they have retarded the progress of science. If, indeed, it be a +matter of little importance to statistics, mechanics, hydrodynamics, and +ballistics, that the true cause of the fall of bodies should be known, +and that our ideas of the general movements in space should be exact, +it is quite otherwise when we undertake to explain the system of the +universe, the cause of tides, the shape of the earth, and its position +in the heavens: to understand these things we must leave the circle +of appearances. In all ages there have been ingenious mechanicians, +excellent architects, skilful artillerymen: any error, into which it was +possible for them to fall in regard to the rotundity of the earth and +gravitation, in no wise retarded the development of their art; the +solidity of their buildings and accuracy of their aim was not affected +by it. But sooner or later they were forced to grapple with phenomena, +which the supposed parallelism of all perpendiculars erected from the +earth's surface rendered inexplicable: then also commenced a struggle +between the prejudices, which for centuries had sufficed in daily +practice, and the unprecedented opinions which the testimony of the eyes +seemed to contradict. + +Thus, on the one hand, the falsest judgments, whether based on isolated +facts or only on appearances, always embrace some truths whose sphere, +whether large or small, affords room for a certain number of inferences, +beyond which we fall into absurdity. The ideas of St. Augustine, for +example, contained the following truths: that bodies fall towards the +earth, that they fall in a straight line, that either the sun or the +earth moves, that either the sky or the earth turns, &c. These general +facts always have been true; our science has added nothing to them. But, +on the other hand, it being necessary to account for every thing, we are +obliged to seek for principles more and more comprehensive: that is why +we have had to abandon successively, first the opinion that the world +was flat, then the theory which regards it as the stationary centre of +the universe, &c. + +If we pass now from physical nature to the moral world, we still find +ourselves subject to the same deceptions of appearance, to the same +influences of spontaneity and habit. But the distinguishing feature of +this second division of our knowledge is, on the one hand, the good +or the evil which we derive from our opinions; and, on the other, the +obstinacy with which we defend the prejudice which is tormenting and +killing us. + +Whatever theory we embrace in regard to the shape of the earth and the +cause of its weight, the physics of the globe does not suffer; and, +as for us, our social economy can derive therefrom neither profit nor +damage. But it is in us and through us that the laws of our moral nature +work; now, these laws cannot be executed without our deliberate aid, +and, consequently, unless we know them. If, then, our science of moral +laws is false, it is evident that, while desiring our own good, we are +accomplishing our own evil; if it is only incomplete, it may suffice for +a time for our social progress, but in the long run it will lead us +into a wrong road, and will finally precipitate us into an abyss of +calamities. + +Then it is that we need to exercise our highest judgments; and, be it +said to our glory, they are never found wanting: but then also commences +a furious struggle between old prejudices and new ideas. Days of +conflagration and anguish! We are told of the time when, with the same +beliefs, with the same institutions, all the world seemed happy: why +complain of these beliefs; why banish these institutions? We are slow to +admit that that happy age served the precise purpose of developing the +principle of evil which lay dormant in society; we accuse men and gods, +the powers of earth and the forces of Nature. Instead of seeking the +cause of the evil in his mind and heart, man blames his masters, his +rivals, his neighbors, and himself; nations arm themselves, and slay +and exterminate each other, until equilibrium is restored by the vast +depopulation, and peace again arises from the ashes of the combatants. +So loath is humanity to touch the customs of its ancestors, and to +change the laws framed by the founders of communities, and confirmed by +the faithful observance of the ages. + +_Nihil motum ex antiquo probabile est_: Distrust all innovations, wrote +Titus Livius. Undoubtedly it would be better were man not compelled to +change: but what! because he is born ignorant, because he exists only +on condition of gradual self-instruction, must he abjure the light, +abdicate his reason, and abandon himself to fortune? Perfect health is +better than convalescence: should the sick man, therefore, refuse to +be cured? Reform, reform! cried, ages since, John the Baptist and Jesus +Christ. Reform, reform! cried our fathers, fifty years ago; and for a +long time to come we shall shout, Reform, reform! + +Seeing the misery of my age, I said to myself: Among the principles that +support society, there is one which it does not understand, which its +ignorance has vitiated, and which causes all the evil that exists. This +principle is the most ancient of all; for it is a characteristic of +revolutions to tear down the most modern principles, and to respect +those of long-standing. Now the evil by which we suffer is anterior to +all revolutions. This principle, impaired by our ignorance, is honored +and cherished; for if it were not cherished it would harm nobody, it +would be without influence. + +But this principle, right in its purpose, but misunderstood: this +principle, as old as humanity, what is it? Can it be religion? + +All men believe in God: this dogma belongs at once to their conscience +and their mind. To humanity God is a fact as primitive, an idea as +inevitable, a principle as necessary as are the categorical ideas of +cause, substance, time, and space to our understanding. God is proven to +us by the conscience prior to any inference of the mind; just as the +sun is proven to us by the testimony of the senses prior to all the +arguments of physics. We discover phenomena and laws by observation and +experience; only this deeper sense reveals to us existence. Humanity +believes that God is; but, in believing in God, what does it believe? In +a word, what is God? + +The nature of this notion of Divinity,--this primitive, universal +notion, born in the race,--the human mind has not yet fathomed. At each +step that we take in our investigation of Nature and of causes, the idea +of God is extended and exalted; the farther science advances, the more +God seems to grow and broaden. Anthropomorphism and idolatry constituted +of necessity the faith of the mind in its youth, the theology of infancy +and poesy. A harmless error, if they had not endeavored to make it a +rule of conduct, and if they had been wise enough to respect the +liberty of thought. But having made God in his own image, man wished +to appropriate him still farther; not satisfied with disfiguring the +Almighty, he treated him as his patrimony, his goods, his possessions. +God, pictured in monstrous forms, became throughout the world the +property of man and of the State. Such was the origin of the corruption +of morals by religion, and the source of pious feuds and holy wars. +Thank Heaven! we have learned to allow every one his own beliefs; we +seek for moral laws outside the pale of religion. Instead of legislating +as to the nature and attributes of God, the dogmas of theology, and +the destiny of our souls, we wisely wait for science to tell us what to +reject and what to accept. God, soul, religion,--eternal objects of +our unwearied thought and our most fatal aberrations, terrible +problems whose solution, for ever attempted, for ever remains +unaccomplished,--concerning all these questions we may still be +mistaken, but at least our error is harmless. With liberty in religion, +and the separation of the spiritual from the temporal power, the +influence of religious ideas upon the progress of society is purely +negative; no law, no political or civil institution being founded on +religion. Neglect of duties imposed by religion may increase the general +corruption, but it is not the primary cause; it is only an auxiliary or +result. It is universally admitted, and especially in the matter +which now engages our attention, that the cause of the inequality +of conditions among men--of pauperism, of universal misery, and of +governmental embarrassments--can no longer be traced to religion: we +must go farther back, and dig still deeper. + +But what is there in man older and deeper than the religious sentiment? + +There is man himself; that is, volition and conscience, free-will and +law, eternally antagonistic. Man is at war with himself: why? + +"Man," say the theologians, "transgressed in the beginning; our race +is guilty of an ancient offence. For this transgression humanity has +fallen; error and ignorance have become its sustenance. Read history, +you will find universal proof of this necessity for evil in the +permanent misery of nations. Man suffers and always will suffer; his +disease is hereditary and constitutional. Use palliatives, employ +emollients; there is no remedy." + +Nor is this argument peculiar to the theologians; we find it +expressed in equivalent language in the philosophical writings of the +materialists, believers in infinite perfectibility. Destutt de Tracy +teaches formally that poverty, crime, and war are the inevitable +conditions of our social state; necessary evils, against which it would +be folly to revolt. So, call it NECESSITY OF EVIL or ORIGINAL DEPRAVITY, +it is at bottom the same philosophy. + +"The first man transgressed." If the votaries of the Bible interpreted +it faithfully, they would say: MAN ORIGINALLY TRANSGRESSED, that is, +made a mistake; for TO TRANSGRESS, TO FAIL, TO MAKE A MISTAKE, all mean +the same thing. + +"The consequences of Adam's transgression are inherited by the race; +the first is ignorance." Truly, the race, like the individual, is born +ignorant; but, in regard to a multitude of questions, even in the moral +and political spheres, this ignorance of the race has been dispelled: +who says that it will not depart altogether? Mankind makes continual +progress toward truth, and light ever triumphs over darkness. Our +disease is not, then, absolutely incurable, and the theory of the +theologians is worse than inadequate; it is ridiculous, since it is +reducible to this tautology: "Man errs, because he errs." While the true +statement is this: "Man errs, because he learns." + +Now, if man arrives at a knowledge of all that he needs to know, it is +reasonable to believe that, ceasing to err, he will cease to suffer. + +But if we question the doctors as to this law, said to be engraved upon +the heart of man, we shall immediately see that they dispute about a +matter of which they know nothing; that, concerning the most important +questions, there are almost as many opinions as authors; that we find +no two agreeing as to the best form of government, the principle of +authority, and the nature of right; that all sail hap-hazard upon a +shoreless and bottomless sea, abandoned to the guidance of their private +opinions which they modestly take to be right reason. And, in view +of this medley of contradictory opinions, we say: "The object of our +investigations is the law, the determination of the social principle. +Now, the politicians, that is, the social scientists, do not understand +each other; then the error lies in themselves; and, as every error has +a reality for its object, we must look in their books to find the truth +which they have unconsciously deposited there." + +Now, of what do the lawyers and the publicists treat? Of JUSTICE, +EQUITY, LIBERTY, NATURAL LAW, CIVIL LAWS, &c. But what is justice? +What is its principle, its character, its formula? To this question our +doctors evidently have no reply; for otherwise their science, starting +with a principle clear and well defined, would quit the region of +probabilities, and all disputes would end. + +What is justice? The theologians answer: "All justice comes from God." +That is true; but we know no more than before. + +The philosophers ought to be better informed: they have argued so much +about justice and injustice! Unhappily, an examination proves that their +knowledge amounts to nothing, and that with them--as with the savages +whose every prayer to the sun is simply _O! O!_--it is a cry of +admiration, love, and enthusiasm; but who does not know that the sun +attaches little meaning to the interjection O! That is exactly our +position toward the philosophers in regard to justice. Justice, they +say, is a DAUGHTER OF HEAVEN; A LIGHT WHICH ILLUMINES EVERY MAN THAT +COMES INTO THE WORLD; THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PREROGATIVE OF OUR NATURE; +THAT WHICH DISTINGUISHES US FROM THE BEASTS AND LIKENS US TO GOD--and +a thousand other similar things. What, I ask, does this pious litany +amount to? To the prayer of the savages: O! + +All the most reasonable teachings of human wisdom concerning justice are +summed up in that famous adage: DO UNTO OTHERS THAT WHICH YOU WOULD THAT +OTHERS SHOULD DO UNTO YOU; DO NOT UNTO OTHERS THAT WHICH YOU WOULD +NOT THAT OTHERS SHOULD DO UNTO YOU. But this rule of moral practice is +unscientific: what have I a right to wish that others should do or not +do to me? It is of no use to tell me that my duty is equal to my right, +unless I am told at the same time what my right is. + +Let us try to arrive at something more precise and positive. + +Justice is the central star which governs societies, the pole around +which the political world revolves, the principle and the regulator of +all transactions. Nothing takes place between men save in the name of +RIGHT; nothing without the invocation of justice. Justice is not the +work of the law: on the contrary, the law is only a declaration and +application of JUSTICE in all circumstances where men are liable to come +in contact. If, then, the idea that we form of justice and right were +ill-defined, if it were imperfect or even false, it is clear that all +our legislative applications would be wrong, our institutions vicious, +our politics erroneous: consequently there would be disorder and social +chaos. + +This hypothesis of the perversion of justice in our minds, and, as a +necessary result, in our acts, becomes a demonstrated fact when it is +shown that the opinions of men have not borne a constant relation to the +notion of justice and its applications; that at different periods they +have undergone modifications: in a word, that there has been progress +in ideas. Now, that is what history proves by the most overwhelming +testimony. + +Eighteen Hundred years ago, the world, under the rule of the Caesars, +exhausted itself in slavery, superstition, and voluptuousness. The +people--intoxicated and, as it were, stupefied by their long-continued +orgies--had lost the very notion of right and duty: war and dissipation +by turns swept them away; usury and the labor of machines (that is of +slaves), by depriving them of the means of subsistence, hindered them +from continuing the species. Barbarism sprang up again, in a hideous +form, from this mass of corruption, and spread like a devouring leprosy +over the depopulated provinces. The wise foresaw the downfall of the +empire, but could devise no remedy. What could they think indeed? To +save this old society it would have been necessary to change the objects +of public esteem and veneration, and to abolish the rights affirmed by +a justice purely secular; they said: "Rome has conquered through her +politics and her gods; any change in theology and public opinion would +be folly and sacrilege. Rome, merciful toward conquered nations, though +binding them in chains, spared their lives; slaves are the most fertile +source of her wealth; freedom of the nations would be the negation of +her rights and the ruin of her finances. Rome, in fact, enveloped in the +pleasures and gorged with the spoils of the universe, is kept alive by +victory and government; her luxury and her pleasures are the price of +her conquests: she can neither abdicate nor dispossess herself." +Thus Rome had the facts and the law on her side. Her pretensions were +justified by universal custom and the law of nations. Her institutions +were based upon idolatry in religion, slavery in the State, and +epicurism in private life; to touch those was to shake society to its +foundations, and, to use our modern expression, to open the abyss of +revolutions. So the idea occurred to no one; and yet humanity was dying +in blood and luxury. + +All at once a man appeared, calling himself The Word of God. It is not +known to this day who he was, whence he came, nor what suggested to +him his ideas. He went about proclaiming everywhere that the end of the +existing society was at hand, that the world was about to experience a +new birth; that the priests were vipers, the lawyers ignoramuses, +and the philosophers hypocrites and liars; that master and slave +were equals, that usury and every thing akin to it was robbery, that +proprietors and idlers would one day burn, while the poor and pure in +heart would find a haven of peace. + +This man--The Word of God--was denounced and arrested as a public enemy +by the priests and the lawyers, who well understood how to induce the +people to demand his death. But this judicial murder, though it put the +finishing stroke to their crimes, did not destroy the doctrinal seeds +which The Word of God had sown. After his death, his original disciples +travelled about in all directions, preaching what they called the GOOD +NEWS, creating in their turn millions of missionaries; and, when their +task seemed to be accomplished, dying by the sword of Roman justice. +This persistent agitation, the war of the executioners and martyrs, +lasted nearly three centuries, ending in the conversion of the world. +Idolatry was destroyed, slavery abolished, dissolution made room for a +more austere morality, and the contempt for wealth was sometimes pushed +almost to privation. + +Society was saved by the negation of its own principles, by a revolution +in its religion, and by violation of its most sacred rights. In this +revolution, the idea of justice spread to an extent that had not before +been dreamed of, never to return to its original limits. Heretofore +justice had existed only for the masters; [7] it then commenced to exist +for the slaves. + +Nevertheless, the new religion at that time had borne by no means all +its fruits. There was a perceptible improvement of the public morals, +and a partial release from oppression; but, other than that, the SEEDS +SOWN BY THE SON OF MAN, having fallen into idolatrous hearts, had +produced nothing save innumerable discords and a quasi-poetical +mythology. Instead of developing into their practical consequences the +principles of morality and government taught by The Word of God, his +followers busied themselves in speculations as to his birth, his origin, +his person, and his actions; they discussed his parables, and from the +conflict of the most extravagant opinions upon unanswerable questions +and texts which no one understood, was born THEOLOGY,--which may be +defined as the SCIENCE OF THE INFINITELY ABSURD. + +The truth of CHRISTIANITY did not survive the age of the apostles; the +GOSPEL, commented upon and symbolized by the Greeks and Latins, loaded +with pagan fables, became literally a mass of contradictions; and to +this day the reign of the INFALLIBLE CHURCH has been a long era of +darkness. It is said that the GATES OF HELL will not always prevail, +that THE WORD OF GOD will return, and that one day men will know truth +and justice; but that will be the death of Greek and Roman Catholicism, +just as in the light of science disappeared the caprices of opinion. + +The monsters which the successors of the apostles were bent on +destroying, frightened for a moment, reappeared gradually, thanks to the +crazy fanaticism, and sometimes the deliberate connivance, of priests +and theologians. The history of the enfranchisement of the French +communes offers constantly the spectacle of the ideas of justice and +liberty spreading among the people, in spite of the combined efforts of +kings, nobles, and clergy. In the year 1789 of the Christian era, the +French nation, divided by caste, poor and oppressed, struggled in the +triple net of royal absolutism, the tyranny of nobles and parliaments, +and priestly intolerance. There was the right of the king and the right +of the priest, the right of the patrician and the right of the plebeian; +there were the privileges of birth, province, communes, corporations, +and trades; and, at the bottom of all, violence, immorality, and misery. +For some time they talked of reformation; those who apparently desired +it most favoring it only for their own profit, and the people who were +to be the gainers expecting little and saying nothing. For a long +time these poor people, either from distrust, incredulity, or despair, +hesitated to ask for their rights: it is said that the habit of serving +had taken the courage away from those old communes, which in the middle +ages were so bold. + +Finally a book appeared, summing up the whole matter in these two +propositions: WHAT IS THE THIRD ESTATE?--NOTHING. WHAT OUGHT IT +TO BE?--EVERY THING. Some one added by way of comment: WHAT IS THE +KING?--THE SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE. + +This was a sudden revelation: the veil was torn aside, a thick bandage +fell from all eyes. The people commenced to reason thus:-- + +If the king is our servant, he ought to report to us; + +If he ought to report to us, he is subject to control; + +If he can be controlled, he is responsible; + +If he is responsible, he is punishable; + +If he is punishable, he ought to be punished according to his merits; + +If he ought to be punished according to his merits, he can be punished +with death. + +Five years after the publication of the brochure of Sieyes, the third +estate was every thing; the king, the nobility, the clergy, were no +more. In 1793, the nation, without stopping at the constitutional +fiction of the inviolability of the sovereign, conducted Louis XVI. to +the scaffold; in 1830, it accompanied Charles X. to Cherbourg. In each +case, it may have erred, in fact, in its judgment of the offence; but, +in right, the logic which led to its action was irreproachable. The +people, in punishing their sovereign, did precisely that which the +government of July was so severely censured for failing to do when it +refused to execute Louis Bonaparte after the affair of Strasburg: they +struck the true culprit. It was an application of the common law, a +solemn decree of justice enforcing the penal laws. [8] + +The spirit which gave rise to the movement of '89 was a spirit of +negation; that, of itself, proves that the order of things which was +substituted for the old system was not methodical or well-considered; +that, born of anger and hatred, it could not have the effect of a +science based on observation and study; that its foundations, in a word, +were not derived from a profound knowledge of the laws of Nature and +society. Thus the people found that the republic, among the so-called +new institutions, was acting on the very principles against which they +had fought, and was swayed by all the prejudices which they had intended +to destroy. We congratulate ourselves, with inconsiderate enthusiasm, +on the glorious French Revolution, the regeneration of 1789, the great +changes that have been effected, and the reversion of institutions: a +delusion, a delusion! + +When our ideas on any subject, material, intellectual, or social, +undergo a thorough change in consequence of new observations, I call +that movement of the mind REVOLUTION. If the ideas are simply extended +or modified, there is only PROGRESS. Thus the system of Ptolemy was a +step in astronomical progress, that of Copernicus was a revolution. So, +in 1789, there was struggle and progress; revolution there was none. An +examination of the reforms which were attempted proves this. + +The nation, so long a victim of monarchical selfishness, thought to +deliver itself for ever by declaring that it alone was sovereign. But +what was monarchy? The sovereignty of one man. What is democracy? The +sovereignty of the nation, or, rather, of the national majority. But it +is, in both cases, the sovereignty of man instead of the sovereignty of +the law, the sovereignty of the will instead of the sovereignty of the +reason; in one word, the passions instead of justice. Undoubtedly, when +a nation passes from the monarchical to the democratic state, there +is progress, because in multiplying the sovereigns we increase the +opportunities of the reason to substitute itself for the will; but in +reality there is no revolution in the government, since the principle +remains the same. Now, we have the proof to-day that, with the most +perfect democracy, we cannot be free. [9] + +Nor is that all. The nation-king cannot exercise its sovereignty itself; +it is obliged to delegate it to agents: this is constantly reiterated by +those who seek to win its favor. Be these agents five, ten, one hundred, +or a thousand, of what consequence is the number; and what matters the +name? It is always the government of man, the rule of will and caprice. +I ask what this pretended revolution has revolutionized? + +We know, too, how this sovereignty was exercised; first by the +Convention, then by the Directory, afterwards confiscated by the Consul. +As for the Emperor, the strong man so much adored and mourned by the +nation, he never wanted to be dependent on it; but, as if intending to +set its sovereignty at defiance, he dared to demand its suffrage: that +is, its abdication, the abdication of this inalienable sovereignty; and +he obtained it. + +But what is sovereignty? It is, they say, the POWER TO MAKE LAW. [10] +Another absurdity, a relic of despotism. The nation had long seen kings +issuing their commands in this form: FOR SUCH IS OUR PLEASURE; it wished +to taste in its turn the pleasure of making laws. For fifty years it +has brought them forth by myriads; always, be it understood, through the +agency of representatives. The play is far from ended. + +The definition of sovereignty was derived from the definition of the +law. The law, they said, is THE EXPRESSION OF THE WILL OF THE SOVEREIGN: +then, under a monarchy, the law is the expression of the will of the +king; in a republic, the law is the expression of the will of the +people. Aside from the difference in the number of wills, the two +systems are exactly identical: both share the same error, namely, that +the law is the expression of a will; it ought to be the expression of +a fact. Moreover they followed good leaders: they took the citizen of +Geneva for their prophet, and the contrat social for their Koran. + +Bias and prejudice are apparent in all the phrases of the new +legislators. The nation had suffered from a multitude of exclusions and +privileges; its representatives issued the following declaration: ALL +MEN ARE EQUAL BY NATURE AND BEFORE THE LAW; an ambiguous and redundant +declaration. MEN ARE EQUAL BY NATURE: does that mean that they are equal +in size, beauty, talents, and virtue? No; they meant, then, political +and civil equality. Then it would have been sufficient to have said: ALL +MEN ARE EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW. + +But what is equality before the law? Neither the constitution of 1790, +nor that of '93, nor the granted charter, nor the accepted charter, have +defined it accurately. All imply an inequality in fortune and station +incompatible with even a shadow of equality in rights. In this respect +it may be said that all our constitutions have been faithful expressions +of the popular will: I am going, to prove it. + +Formerly the people were excluded from civil and military offices; it +was considered a wonder when the following high-sounding article +was inserted in the Declaration of Rights: "All citizens are equally +eligible to office; free nations know no qualifications in their choice +of officers save virtues and talents." + +They certainly ought to have admired so beautiful an idea: they admired +a piece of nonsense. Why! the sovereign people, legislators, and +reformers, see in public offices, to speak plainly, only opportunities +for pecuniary advancement. And, because it regards them as a source of +profit, it decrees the eligibility of citizens. For of what use would +this precaution be, if there were nothing to gain by it? No one would +think of ordaining that none but astronomers and geographers should be +pilots, nor of prohibiting stutterers from acting at the theatre and +the opera. The nation was still aping the kings: like them it wished +to award the lucrative positions to its friends and flatterers. +Unfortunately, and this last feature completes the resemblance, the +nation did not control the list of livings; that was in the hands of its +agents and representatives. They, on the other hand, took care not to +thwart the will of their gracious sovereign. + +This edifying article of the Declaration of Rights, retained in the +charters of 1814 and 1830, implies several kinds of civil inequality; +that is, of inequality before the law: inequality of station, since the +public functions are sought only for the consideration and emoluments +which they bring; inequality of wealth, since, if it had been desired +to equalize fortunes, public service would have been regarded as a duty, +not as a reward; inequality of privilege, the law not stating what +it means by TALENTS and VIRTUES. Under the empire, virtue and talent +consisted simply in military bravery and devotion to the emperor; that +was shown when Napoleon created his nobility, and attempted to connect +it with the ancients. To-day, the man who pays taxes to the amount +of two hundred francs is virtuous; the talented man is the honest +pickpocket: such truths as these are accounted trivial. + +The people finally legalized property. God forgive them, for they +knew not what they did! For fifty years they have suffered for their +miserable folly. But how came the people, whose voice, they tell us, +is the voice of God, and whose conscience is infallible,--how came the +people to err? How happens it that, when seeking liberty and equality, +they fell back into privilege and slavery? Always through copying the +ancient regime. + +Formerly, the nobility and the clergy contributed towards the expenses +of the State only by voluntary aid and gratuitous gift; their property +could not be seized even for debt,--while the plebeian, overwhelmed by +taxes and statute-labor, was continually tormented, now by the +king's tax-gatherers, now by those of the nobles and clergy. He whose +possessions were subject to mortmain could neither bequeath nor inherit +property; he was treated like the animals, whose services and offspring +belong to their master by right of accession. The people wanted the +conditions of OWNERSHIP to be alike for all; they thought that every one +should ENJOY AND FREELY DISPOSE OF HIS POSSESSIONS HIS INCOME AND THE +FRUIT OF HIS LABOR AND INDUSTRY. The people did not invent property; but +as they had not the same privileges in regard to it, which the nobles +and clergy possessed, they decreed that the right should be exercised +by all under the same conditions. The more obnoxious forms of +property--statute-labor, mortmain, maitrise, and exclusion from public +office--have disappeared; the conditions of its enjoyment have been +modified: the principle still remains the same. There has been progress +in the regulation of the right; there has been no revolution. + +These, then, are the three fundamental principles of modern society, +established one after another by the movements of 1789 and 1830: 1. +SOVEREIGNTY OF THE HUMAN WILL; in short, DESPOTISM. 2. INEQUALITY OF +WEALTH AND RANK. 3. PROPERTY--above JUSTICE, always invoked as the +guardian angel of sovereigns, nobles, and proprietors; JUSTICE, the +general, primitive, categorical law of all society. + +We must ascertain whether the ideas of DESPOTISM, CIVIL INEQUALITY +and PROPERTY, are in harmony with the primitive notion of JUSTICE, and +necessarily follow from it,--assuming various forms according to the +condition, position, and relation of persons; or whether they are not +rather the illegitimate result of a confusion of different things, a +fatal association of ideas. And since justice deals especially with the +questions of government, the condition of persons, and the possession +of things, we must ascertain under what conditions, judging by universal +opinion and the progress of the human mind, government is just, the +condition of citizens is just, and the possession of things is just; +then, striking out every thing which fails to meet these conditions, +the result will at once tell us what legitimate government is, what the +legitimate condition of citizens is, and what the legitimate possession +of things is; and finally, as the last result of the analysis, what +JUSTICE is. + +Is the authority of man over man just? + +Everybody answers, "No; the authority of man is only the authority of +the law, which ought to be justice and truth." The private will counts +for nothing in government, which consists, first, in discovering truth +and justice in order to make the law; and, second, in superintending the +execution of this law. I do not now inquire whether our constitutional +form of government satisfies these conditions; whether, for example, the +will of the ministry never influences the declaration and interpretation +of the law; or whether our deputies, in their debates, are more intent +on conquering by argument than by force of numbers: it is enough for me +that my definition of a good government is allowed to be correct. This +idea is exact. Yet we see that nothing seems more just to the Oriental +nations than the despotism of their sovereigns; that, with the ancients +and in the opinion of the philosophers themselves, slavery was just; +that in the middle ages the nobles, the priests, and the bishops felt +justified in holding slaves; that Louis XIV. thought that he was right +when he said, "The State! I am the State;" and that Napoleon deemed it +a crime for the State to oppose his will. The idea of justice, then, +applied to sovereignty and government, has not always been what it is +to-day; it has gone on developing and shaping itself by degrees, until +it has arrived at its present state. But has it reached its last phase? +I think not: only, as the last obstacle to be overcome arises from the +institution of property which we have kept intact, in order to finish +the reform in government and consummate the revolution, this very +institution we must attack. + +Is political and civil inequality just? + +Some say yes; others no. To the first I would reply that, when the +people abolished all privileges of birth and caste, they did it, in all +probability, because it was for their advantage; why then do they favor +the privileges of fortune more than those of rank and race? Because, say +they, political inequality is a result of property; and without property +society is impossible: thus the question just raised becomes a question +of property. To the second I content myself with this remark: If you +wish to enjoy political equality, abolish property; otherwise, why do +you complain? + +Is property just? + +Everybody answers without hesitation, "Yes, property is just." I say +everybody, for up to the present time no one who thoroughly understood +the meaning of his words has answered no. For it is no easy thing to +reply understandingly to such a question; only time and experience can +furnish an answer. Now, this answer is given; it is for us to understand +it. I undertake to prove it. + +We are to proceed with the demonstration in the following order:-- + +I. We dispute not at all, we refute nobody, we deny nothing; we accept +as sound all the arguments alleged in favor of property, and confine +ourselves to a search for its principle, in order that we may then +ascertain whether this principle is faithfully expressed by property. In +fact, property being defensible on no ground save that of justice, the +idea, or at least the intention, of justice must of necessity underlie +all the arguments that have been made in defence of property; and, as on +the other hand the right of property is only exercised over those things +which can be appreciated by the senses, justice, secretly objectifying +itself, so to speak, must take the shape of an algebraic formula. + +By this method of investigation, we soon see that every argument which +has been invented in behalf of property, WHATEVER IT MAY BE, always and +of necessity leads to equality; that is, to the negation of property. + +The first part covers two chapters: one treating of occupation, the +foundation of our right; the other, of labor and talent, considered as +causes of property and social inequality. + +The first of these chapters will prove that the right of occupation +OBSTRUCTS property; the second that the right of labor DESTROYS it. + +II. Property, then, being of necessity conceived as existing only in +connection with equality, it remains to find out why, in spite of this +necessity of logic, equality does not exist. This new investigation also +covers two chapters: in the first, considering the fact of property in +itself, we inquire whether this fact is real, whether it exists, whether +it is possible; for it would imply a contradiction, were these two +opposite forms of society, equality and inequality, both possible. Then +we discover, singularly enough, that property may indeed manifest +itself accidentally; but that, as an institution and principle, it is +mathematically impossible. So that the axiom of the school--ab actu ad +posse valet consecutio: from the actual to the possible the inference is +good--is given the lie as far as property is concerned. + +Finally, in the last chapter, calling psychology to our aid, and +probing man's nature to the bottom, we shall disclose the principle of +JUSTICE--its formula and character; we shall state with precision the +organic law of society; we shall explain the origin of property, the +causes of its establishment, its long life, and its approaching death; +we shall definitively establish its identity with robbery. And, after +having shown that these three prejudices--THE SOVEREIGNTY OF MAN, THE +INEQUALITY OF CONDITIONS, AND PROPERTY--are one and the same; that they +may be taken for each other, and are reciprocally convertible,--we +shall have no trouble in inferring therefrom, by the principle +of contradiction, the basis of government and right. There our +investigations will end, reserving the right to continue them in future +works. + +The importance of the subject which engages our attention is recognized +by all minds. + + +"Property," says M. Hennequin, "is the creative and conservative +principle of civil society. Property is one of those basic institutions, +new theories concerning which cannot be presented too soon; for it must +not be forgotten, and the publicist and statesman must know, that on the +answer to the question whether property is the principle or the result +of social order, whether it is to be considered as a cause or an effect, +depends all morality, and, consequently, all the authority of human +institutions." + + +These words are a challenge to all men of hope and faith; but, although +the cause of equality is a noble one, no one has yet picked up the +gauntlet thrown down by the advocates of property; no one has been +courageous enough to enter upon the struggle. The spurious learning of +haughty jurisprudence, and the absurd aphorisms of a political economy +controlled by property have puzzled the most generous minds; it is a +sort of password among the most influential friends of liberty and +the interests of the people that EQUALITY IS A CHIMERA! So many false +theories and meaningless analogies influence minds otherwise keen, +but which are unconsciously controlled by popular prejudice. Equality +advances every day--fit aequalitas. Soldiers of liberty, shall we desert +our flag in the hour of triumph? + +A defender of equality, I shall speak without bitterness and without +anger; with the independence becoming a philosopher, with the courage +and firmness of a free man. May I, in this momentous struggle, carry +into all hearts the light with which I am filled; and show, by the +success of my argument, that equality failed to conquer by the sword +only that it might conquer by the pen! + + + + +CHAPTER II. PROPERTY CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL RIGHT + + PROPERTY CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL RIGHT.--OCCUPATION AND + CIVIL LAW AS EFFICIENT BASES OF PROPERTY. DEFINITIONS. + +The Roman law defined property as the right to use and abuse one's own +within the limits of the law--jus utendi et abutendi re sua, quatenus +juris ratio patitur. A justification of the word ABUSE has been +attempted, on the ground that it signifies, not senseless and immoral +abuse, but only absolute domain. Vain distinction! invented as an excuse +for property, and powerless against the frenzy of possession, which it +neither prevents nor represses. The proprietor may, if he chooses, allow +his crops to rot under foot; sow his field with salt; milk his cows +on the sand; change his vineyard into a desert, and use his +vegetable-garden as a park: do these things constitute abuse, or not? In +the matter of property, use and abuse are necessarily indistinguishable. + +According to the Declaration of Rights, published as a preface to the +Constitution of '93, property is "the right to enjoy and dispose at +will of one's goods, one's income, and the fruit of one's labor and +industry." + +Code Napoleon, article 544: "Property is the right to enjoy and dispose +of things in the most absolute manner, provided we do not overstep the +limits prescribed by the laws and regulations." + +These two definitions do not differ from that of the Roman law: all +give the proprietor an absolute right over a thing; and as for the +restriction imposed by the code,--PROVIDED WE DO NOT OVERSTEP THE LIMITS +PRESCRIBED BY THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS,--its object is not to limit +property, but to prevent the domain of one proprietor from interfering +with that of another. That is a confirmation of the principle, not a +limitation of it. + +There are different kinds of property: 1. Property pure and simple, the +dominant and seigniorial power over a thing; or, as they term it, NAKED +PROPERTY. 2. POSSESSION. "Possession," says Duranton, "is a matter of +fact, not of right." Toullier: "Property is a right, a legal power; +possession is a fact." The tenant, the farmer, the commandite, the +usufructuary, are possessors; the owner who lets and lends for use, the +heir who is to come into possession on the death of a usufructuary, are +proprietors. If I may venture the comparison: a lover is a possessor, a +husband is a proprietor. + +This double definition of property--domain and possession--is of the +highest importance; and it must be clearly understood, in order to +comprehend what is to follow. + +From the distinction between possession and property arise two sorts of +rights: the jus in re, the right in a thing, the right by which I may +reclaim the property which I have acquired, in whatever hands I find +it; and the jus ad rem, the right TO a thing, which gives me a claim to +become a proprietor. Thus the right of the partners to a marriage over +each other's person is the jus in re; that of two who are betrothed is +only the jus ad rem. In the first, possession and property are united; +the second includes only naked property. With me who, as a laborer, +have a right to the possession of the products of Nature and my own +industry,--and who, as a proletaire, enjoy none of them,--it is by +virtue of the jus ad rem that I demand admittance to the jus in re. + +This distinction between the jus in re and the jus ad rem is the basis +of the famous distinction between possessoire and petitoire,--actual +categories of jurisprudence, the whole of which is included within their +vast boundaries. Petitoire refers to every thing relating to property; +possessoire to that relating to possession. In writing this memoir +against property, I bring against universal society an action petitoire: +I prove that those who do not possess to-day are proprietors by the same +title as those who do possess; but, instead of inferring therefrom +that property should be shared by all, I demand, in the name of general +security, its entire abolition. If I fail to win my case, there is +nothing left for us (the proletarian class and myself) but to cut our +throats: we can ask nothing more from the justice of nations; for, as +the code of procedure (art 26) tells us in its energetic style, THE +PLAINTIFF WHO HAS BEEN NON-SUITED IN AN ACTION PETITOIRE, IS DEBARRED +THEREBY FROM BRINGING AN ACTION POSSESSOIRE. If, on the contrary, I gain +the case, we must then commence an action possessoire, that we may be +reinstated in the enjoyment of the wealth of which we are deprived by +property. I hope that we shall not be forced to that extremity; but +these two actions cannot be prosecuted at once, such a course being +prohibited by the same code of procedure. + +Before going to the heart of the question, it will not be useless to +offer a few preliminary remarks. + +% 1.--Property as a Natural Right. + +The Declaration of Rights has placed property in its list of the natural +and inalienable rights of man, four in all: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, PROPERTY, +SECURITY. What rule did the legislators of '93 follow in compiling +this list? None. They laid down principles, just as they discussed +sovereignty and the laws; from a general point of view, and according to +their own opinion. They did every thing in their own blind way. + +If we can believe Toullier: "The absolute rights can be reduced to +three: SECURITY, LIBERTY, PROPERTY." Equality is eliminated by the +Rennes professor; why? Is it because LIBERTY implies it, or because +property prohibits it? On this point the author of "Droit Civil +Explique" is silent: it has not even occurred to him that the matter is +under discussion. + +Nevertheless, if we compare these three or four rights with each other, +we find that property bears no resemblance whatever to the others; +that for the majority of citizens it exists only potentially, and as a +dormant faculty without exercise; that for the others, who do enjoy it, +it is susceptible of certain transactions and modifications which do +not harmonize with the idea of a natural right; that, in practice, +governments, tribunals, and laws do not respect it; and finally that +everybody, spontaneously and with one voice, regards it as chimerical. + +Liberty is inviolable. I can neither sell nor alienate my liberty; +every contract, every condition of a contract, which has in view the +alienation or suspension of liberty, is null: the slave, when he plants +his foot upon the soil of liberty, at that moment becomes a free man. +When society seizes a malefactor and deprives him of his liberty, it is +a case of legitimate defence: whoever violates the social compact by the +commission of a crime declares himself a public enemy; in attacking the +liberty of others, he compels them to take away his own. Liberty is the +original condition of man; to renounce liberty is to renounce the nature +of man: after that, how could we perform the acts of man? + +Likewise, equality before the law suffers neither restriction nor +exception. All Frenchmen are equally eligible to office: consequently, +in the presence of this equality, condition and family have, in many +cases, no influence upon choice. The poorest citizen can obtain judgment +in the courts against one occupying the most exalted station. Let the +millionaire, Ahab, build a chateau upon the vineyard of Naboth: the +court will have the power, according to the circumstances, to order the +destruction of the chateau, though it has cost millions; and to force +the trespasser to restore the vineyard to its original state, and pay +the damages. The law wishes all property, that has been legitimately +acquired, to be kept inviolate without regard to value, and without +respect for persons. + +The charter demands, it is true, for the exercise of certain political +rights, certain conditions of fortune and capacity; but all publicists +know that the legislator's intention was not to establish a privilege, +but to take security. Provided the conditions fixed by law are complied +with, every citizen may be an elector, and every elector eligible. The +right, once acquired, is the same for all; the law compares neither +persons nor votes. I do not ask now whether this system is the best; it +is enough that, in the opinion of the charter and in the eyes of every +one, equality before the law is absolute, and, like liberty, admits of +no compromise. + +It is the same with the right of security. Society promises its members +no half-way protection, no sham defence; it binds itself to them as +they bind themselves to it. It does not say to them, "I will shield +you, provided it costs me nothing; I will protect you, if I run no risks +thereby." It says, "I will defend you against everybody; I will save and +avenge you, or perish myself." + +The whole strength of the State is at the service of each citizen; the +obligation which binds them together is absolute. + +How different with property! Worshipped by all, it is acknowledged by +none: laws, morals, customs, public and private conscience, all plot its +death and ruin. + +To meet the expenses of government, which has armies to support, tasks +to perform, and officers to pay, taxes are needed. Let all contribute to +these expenses: nothing more just. But why should the rich pay more than +the poor? That is just, they say, because they possess more. I confess +that such justice is beyond my comprehension. + +Why are taxes paid? To protect all in the exercise of their natural +rights--liberty, equality, security, and property; to maintain order in +the State; to furnish the public with useful and pleasant conveniences. + +Now, does it cost more to defend the rich man's life and liberty than +the poor man's? Who, in time of invasion, famine, or plague, causes +more trouble,--the large proprietor who escapes the evil without +the assistance of the State, or the laborer who sits in his cottage +unprotected from danger? + +Is public order endangered more by the worthy citizen, or by the artisan +and journeyman? Why, the police have more to fear from a few hundred +laborers, out of work, than from two hundred thousand electors! + +Does the man of large income appreciate more keenly than the poor man +national festivities, clean streets, and beautiful monuments? + +Why, he prefers his country-seat to all the popular pleasures; and when +he wants to enjoy himself, he does not wait for the greased pole! + +One of two things is true: either the proportional tax affords greater +security to the larger tax-payers, or else it is a wrong. + +Because, if property is a natural right, as the Declaration of '93 +declares, all that belongs to me by virtue of this right is as sacred as +my person; it is my blood, my life, myself: whoever touches it offends +the apple of my eye. My income of one hundred thousand francs is as +inviolable as the grisette's daily wage of seventy-five centimes; her +attic is no more sacred than my suite of apartments. The tax is not +levied in proportion to strength, size, or skill: no more should it be +levied in proportion to property. + +If, then, the State takes more from me, let it give me more in return, +or cease to talk of equality of rights; for otherwise, society is +established, not to defend property, but to destroy it. The State, +through the proportional tax, becomes the chief of robbers; the State +sets the example of systematic pillage: the State should be brought to +the bar of justice at the head of those hideous brigands, that execrable +mob which it now kills from motives of professional jealousy. + +But, they say, the courts and the police force are established to +restrain this mob; government is a company, not exactly for insurance, +for it does not insure, but for vengeance and repression. The premium +which this company exacts, the tax, is divided in proportion to +property; that is, in proportion to the trouble which each piece of +property occasions the avengers and repressers paid by the government. + +This is any thing but the absolute and inalienable right of property. +Under this system the poor and the rich distrust, and make war upon, +each other. But what is the object of the war? Property. So that +property is necessarily accompanied by war upon property. The liberty +and security of the rich do not suffer from the liberty and security +of the poor; far from that, they mutually strengthen and sustain each +other. The rich man's right of property, on the contrary, has to be +continually defended against the poor man's desire for property. What +a contradiction! In England they have a poor-rate: they wish me to pay +this tax. But what relation exists between my natural and inalienable +right of property and the hunger from which ten million wretched people +are suffering? When religion commands us to assist our fellows, it +speaks in the name of charity, not in the name of law. The obligation +of benevolence, imposed upon me by Christian morality, cannot be imposed +upon me as a political tax for the benefit of any person or poor-house. +I will give alms when I see fit to do so, when the sufferings of others +excite in me that sympathy of which philosophers talk, and in which I do +not believe: I will not be forced to bestow them. No one is obliged to +do more than comply with this injunction: IN THE EXERCISE OF YOUR OWN +RIGHTS DO NOT ENCROACH UPON THE RIGHTS OF ANOTHER; an injunction which +is the exact definition of liberty. Now, my possessions are my own; +no one has a claim upon them: I object to the placing of the third +theological virtue in the order of the day. + +Everybody, in France, demands the conversion of the five per cent. +bonds; they demand thereby the complete sacrifice of one species of +property. They have the right to do it, if public necessity requires it; +but where is the just indemnity promised by the charter? Not only +does none exist, but this indemnity is not even possible; for, if the +indemnity were equal to the property sacrificed, the conversion would be +useless. + +The State occupies the same position to-day toward the bondholders +that the city of Calais did, when besieged by Edward III, toward its +notables. The English conqueror consented to spare its inhabitants, +provided it would surrender to him its most distinguished citizens to do +with as he pleased. Eustache and several others offered themselves; it +was noble in them, and our ministers should recommend their example to +the bondholders. But had the city the right to surrender them? Assuredly +not. The right to security is absolute; the country can require no one +to sacrifice himself. The soldier standing guard within the enemy's +range is no exception to this rule. Wherever a citizen stands guard, +the country stands guard with him: to-day it is the turn of the one, +to-morrow of the other. When danger and devotion are common, flight is +parricide. No one has the right to flee from danger; no one can serve +as a scapegoat. The maxim of Caiaphas--IT IS RIGHT THAT A MAN SHOULD DIE +FOR HIS NATION--is that of the populace and of tyrants; the two extremes +of social degradation. + +It is said that all perpetual annuities are essentially redeemable. This +maxim of civil law, applied to the State, is good for those who wish to +return to the natural equality of labor and wealth; but, from the point +of view of the proprietor, and in the mouth of conversionists, it is +the language of bankrupts. The State is not only a borrower, it is an +insurer and guardian of property; granting the best of security, it +assures the most inviolable possession. How, then, can it force open the +hands of its creditors, who have confidence in it, and then talk to +them of public order and security of property? The State, in such +an operation, is not a debtor who discharges his debt; it is a +stock-company which allures its stockholders into a trap, and there, +contrary to its authentic promise, exacts from them twenty, thirty, or +forty per cent. of the interest on their capital. + +That is not all. The State is a university of citizens joined together +under a common law by an act of society. This act secures all in the +possession of their property; guarantees to one his field, to another +his vineyard, to a third his rents, and to the bondholder, who might +have bought real estate but who preferred to come to the assistance of +the treasury, his bonds. The State cannot demand, without offering an +equivalent, the sacrifice of an acre of the field or a corner of the +vineyard; still less can it lower rents: why should it have the right +to diminish the interest on bonds? This right could not justly exist, +unless the bondholder could invest his funds elsewhere to equal +advantage; but being confined to the State, where can he find a place to +invest them, since the cause of conversion, that is, the power to borrow +to better advantage, lies in the State? That is why a government, based +on the principle of property, cannot redeem its annuities without the +consent of their holders. + +The money deposited with the republic is property which it has no right +to touch while other kinds of property are respected; to force +their redemption is to violate the social contract, and outlaw the +bondholders. + +The whole controversy as to the conversion of bonds finally reduces +itself to this:-- + +QUESTION. Is it just to reduce to misery forty-five thousand families +who derive an income from their bonds of one hundred francs or less? + +ANSWER. Is it just to compel seven or eight millions of tax-payers to +pay a tax of five francs, when they should pay only three? It is clear, +in the first place, that the reply is in reality no reply; but, to make +the wrong more apparent, let us change it thus: Is it just to endanger +the lives of one hundred thousand men, when we can save them by +surrendering one hundred heads to the enemy? Reader, decide! + +All this is clearly understood by the defenders of the present system. +Yet, nevertheless, sooner or later, the conversion will be effected +and property be violated, because no other course is possible; because +property, regarded as a right, and not being a right, must of right +perish; because the force of events, the laws of conscience, and +physical and mathematical necessity must, in the end, destroy this +illusion of our minds. + +To sum up: liberty is an absolute right, because it is to man what +impenetrability is to matter,--a sine qua non of existence; equality +is an absolute right, because without equality there is no society; +security is an absolute right, because in the eyes of every man his own +liberty and life are as precious as another's. These three rights are +absolute; that is, susceptible of neither increase nor diminution; +because in society each associate receives as much as he gives,--liberty +for liberty, equality for equality, security for security, body for +body, soul for soul, in life and in death. + +But property, in its derivative sense, and by the definitions of law, is +a right outside of society; for it is clear that, if the wealth of each +was social wealth, the conditions would be equal for all, and it would +be a contradiction to say: PROPERTY IS A MAN'S RIGHT TO DISPOSE AT WILL +OF SOCIAL PROPERTY. Then if we are associated for the sake of liberty, +equality, and security, we are not associated for the sake of property; +then if property is a NATURAL right, this natural right is not SOCIAL, +but ANTI-SOCIAL. Property and society are utterly irreconcilable +institutions. It is as impossible to associate two proprietors as to +join two magnets by their opposite poles. Either society must perish, or +it must destroy property. + +If property is a natural, absolute, imprescriptible, and inalienable +right, why, in all ages, has there been so much speculation as to its +origin?--for this is one of its distinguishing characteristics. The +origin of a natural right! Good God! who ever inquired into the origin +of the rights of liberty, security, or equality? They exist by the same +right that we exist; they are born with us, they live and die with us. +With property it is very different, indeed. By law, property can exist +without a proprietor, like a quality without a subject. It exists for +the human being who as yet is not, and for the octogenarian who is no +more. And yet, in spite of these wonderful prerogatives which savor +of the eternal and the infinite, they have never found the origin of +property; the doctors still disagree. On one point only are they in +harmony: namely, that the validity of the right of property depends upon +the authenticity of its origin. But this harmony is their condemnation. +Why have they acknowledged the right before settling the question of +origin? + +Certain classes do not relish investigation into the pretended titles to +property, and its fabulous and perhaps scandalous history. They wish to +hold to this proposition: that property is a fact; that it always has +been, and always will be. With that proposition the savant Proudhon [11] +commenced his "Treatise on the Right of Usufruct," regarding the origin +of property as a useless question. Perhaps I would subscribe to this +doctrine, believing it inspired by a commendable love of peace, were +all my fellow-citizens in comfortable circumstances; but, no! I will not +subscribe to it. + +The titles on which they pretend to base the right of property are two +in number: OCCUPATION and LABOR. I shall examine them successively, +under all their aspects and in detail; and I remind the reader that, +to whatever authority we appeal, I shall prove beyond a doubt that +property, to be just and possible, must necessarily have equality for +its condition. + + +% 2.--Occupation, as the Title to Property. + +It is remarkable that, at those meetings of the State Council at which +the Code was discussed, no controversy arose as to the origin and +principle of property. All the articles of Vol. II., Book 2, concerning +property and the right of accession, were passed without opposition or +amendment. Bonaparte, who on other questions had given his legists so +much trouble, had nothing to say about property. Be not surprised at it: +in the eyes of that man, the most selfish and wilful person that ever +lived, property was the first of rights, just as submission to authority +was the most holy of duties. + +The right of OCCUPATION, or of the FIRST OCCUPANT, is that which results +from the actual, physical, real possession of a thing. I occupy a +piece of land; the presumption is, that I am the proprietor, until +the contrary is proved. We know that originally such a right cannot be +legitimate unless it is reciprocal; the jurists say as much. + +Cicero compares the earth to a vast theatre: _Quemadmodum theatrum cum +commune sit, recte tamen dici potest ejus esse eum locum quem quisque +occuparit_. + +This passage is all that ancient philosophy has to say about the origin +of property. + +The theatre, says Cicero, is common to all; nevertheless, the place that +each one occupies is called HIS OWN; that is, it is a place POSSESSED, +not a place APPROPRIATED. This comparison annihilates property; +moreover, it implies equality. Can I, in a theatre, occupy at the same +time one place in the pit, another in the boxes, and a third in the +gallery? Not unless I have three bodies, like Geryon, or can exist +in different places at the same time, as is related of the magician +Apollonius. + +According to Cicero, no one has a right to more than he needs: such +is the true interpretation of his famous axiom--_suum quidque cujusque +sit_, to each one that which belongs to him--an axiom that has been +strangely applied. That which belongs to each is not that which each MAY +possess, but that which each HAS A RIGHT to possess. Now, what have we a +right to possess? That which is required for our labor and consumption; +Cicero's comparison of the earth to a theatre proves it. According to +that, each one may take what place he will, may beautify and adorn it, +if he can; it is allowable: but he must never allow himself to overstep +the limit which separates him from another. The doctrine of Cicero leads +directly to equality; for, occupation being pure toleration, if the +toleration is mutual (and it cannot be otherwise) the possessions are +equal. + +Grotius rushes into history; but what kind of reasoning is that which +seeks the origin of a right, said to be natural, elsewhere than in +Nature? This is the method of the ancients: the fact exists, then it +is necessary, then it is just, then its antecedents are just also. +Nevertheless, let us look into it. + +"Originally, all things were common and undivided; they were the +property of all." Let us go no farther. Grotius tells us how this +original communism came to an end through ambition and cupidity; how the +age of gold was followed by the age of iron, &c. So that property rested +first on war and conquest, then on treaties and agreements. But either +these treaties and agreements distributed wealth equally, as did the +original communism (the only method of distribution with which the +barbarians were acquainted, and the only form of justice of which they +could conceive; and then the question of origin assumes this form: +how did equality afterwards disappear?)--or else these treaties and +agreements were forced by the strong upon the weak, and in that case +they are null; the tacit consent of posterity does not make them valid, +and we live in a permanent condition of iniquity and fraud. + +We never can conceive how the equality of conditions, having once +existed, could afterwards have passed away. What was the cause of such +degeneration? The instincts of the animals are unchangeable, as well +as the differences of species; to suppose original equality in human +society is to admit by implication that the present inequality is +a degeneration from the nature of this society,--a thing which the +defenders of property cannot explain. But I infer therefrom that, if +Providence placed the first human beings in a condition of equality, it +was an indication of its desires, a model that it wished them to realize +in other forms; just as the religious sentiment, which it planted in +their hearts, has developed and manifested itself in various ways. Man +has but one nature, constant and unalterable: he pursues it through +instinct, he wanders from it through reflection, he returns to it +through judgment; who shall say that we are not returning now? According +to Grotius, man has abandoned equality; according to me, he will yet +return to it. How came he to abandon it? Why will he return to it? These +are questions for future consideration. + +Reid writes as follows:-- + +"The right of property is not innate, but acquired. It is not grounded +upon the constitution of man, but upon his actions. Writers on +jurisprudence have explained its origin in a manner that may satisfy +every man of common understanding. + +"The earth is given to men in common for the purposes of life, by the +bounty of Heaven. But to divide it, and appropriate one part of its +produce to one, another part to another, must be the work of men +who have power and understanding given them, by which every man may +accommodate himself, WITHOUT HURT TO ANY OTHER. + +"This common right of every man to what the earth produces, before it +be occupied and appropriated by others, was, by ancient moralists, very +properly compared to the right which every citizen had to the public +theatre, where every man that came might occupy an empty seat, and +thereby acquire a right to it while the entertainment lasted; but no man +had a right to dispossess another. + +"The earth is a great theatre, furnished by the Almighty, with perfect +wisdom and goodness, for the entertainment and employment of all +mankind. Here every man has a right to accommodate himself as a +spectator, and to perform his part as an actor; but without hurt to +others." + + +Consequences of Reid's doctrine. + +1. That the portion which each one appropriates may wrong no one, it +must be equal to the quotient of the total amount of property to be +shared, divided by the number of those who are to share it; + +2. The number of places being of necessity equal at all times to that +of the spectators, no spectator can occupy two places, nor can any actor +play several parts; + +3. Whenever a spectator comes in or goes out, the places of all contract +or enlarge correspondingly: for, says Reid, "THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY +IS NOT INNATE, BUT ACQUIRED;" consequently, it is not absolute; +consequently, the occupancy on which it is based, being a conditional +fact, cannot endow this right with a stability which it does not possess +itself. This seems to have been the thought of the Edinburgh professor +when he added:-- + + +"A right to life implies a right to the necessary means of life; and +that justice, which forbids the taking away the life of an innocent man, +forbids no less the taking from him the necessary means of life. He has +the same right to defend the one as the other. To hinder another man's +innocent labor, or to deprive him of the fruit of it, is an injustice +of the same kind, and has the same effect as to put him in fetters or in +prison, and is equally a just object of resentment." + + +Thus the chief of the Scotch school, without considering at all the +inequality of skill or labor, posits a priori the equality of the means +of labor, abandoning thereafter to each laborer the care of his own +person, after the eternal axiom: WHOSO DOES WELL, SHALL FARE WELL. + +The philosopher Reid is lacking, not in knowledge of the principle, but +in courage to pursue it to its ultimate. If the right of life is equal, +the right of labor is equal, and so is the right of occupancy. Would +it not be criminal, were some islanders to repulse, in the name of +property, the unfortunate victims of a shipwreck struggling to reach +the shore? The very idea of such cruelty sickens the imagination. The +proprietor, like Robinson Crusoe on his island, wards off with pike and +musket the proletaire washed overboard by the wave of civilization, and +seeking to gain a foothold upon the rocks of property. "Give me work!" +cries he with all his might to the proprietor: "don't drive me away, I +will work for you at any price." "I do not need your services," replies +the proprietor, showing the end of his pike or the barrel of his gun. +"Lower my rent at least." "I need my income to live upon." "How can +I pay you, when I can get no work?" "That is your business." Then the +unfortunate proletaire abandons himself to the waves; or, if he attempts +to land upon the shore of property, the proprietor takes aim, and kills +him. + +We have just listened to a spiritualist; we will now question a +materialist, then an eclectic: and having completed the circle of +philosophy, we will turn next to law. + +According to Destutt de Tracy, property is a necessity of our nature. +That this necessity involves unpleasant consequences, it would be +folly to deny. But these consequences are necessary evils which do not +invalidate the principle; so that it is as unreasonable to rebel against +property on account of the abuses which it generates, as to complain +of life because it is sure to end in death. This brutal and pitiless +philosophy promises at least frank and close reasoning. Let us see if it +keeps its promise. + + +"We talk very gravely about the conditions of property,... as if it was +our province to decide what constitutes property.... It would seem, to +hear certain philosophers and legislators, that at a certain moment, +spontaneously and without cause, people began to use the words THINE and +MINE; and that they might have, or ought to have, dispensed with them. +But THINE and MINE were never invented." + + +A philosopher yourself, you are too realistic. THINE and MINE do not +necessarily refer to self, as they do when I say your philosophy, and my +equality; for your philosophy is you philosophizing, and my equality is +I professing equality. THINE and MINE oftener indicate a relation,--YOUR +country, YOUR parish, YOUR tailor, YOUR milkmaid; MY chamber, MY seat at +the theatre, MY company and MY battalion in the National Guard. In the +former sense, we may sometimes say MY labor, MY skill, MY virtue; never +MY grandeur nor MY majesty: in the latter sense only, MY field, MY +house, MY vineyard, MY capital,--precisely as the banker's clerk says +MY cash-box. In short, THINE and MINE are signs and expressions of +personal, but equal, rights; applied to things outside of us, they +indicate possession, function, use, not property. + +It does not seem possible, but, nevertheless, I shall prove, by +quotations, that the whole theory of our author is based upon this +paltry equivocation. + + +"Prior to all covenants, men are, not exactly, as Hobbes says, in a +state of HOSTILITY, but of ESTRANGEMENT. In this state, justice and +injustice are unknown; the rights of one bear no relation to the rights +of another. All have as many rights as needs, and all feel it their duty +to satisfy those needs by any means at their command." + + +Grant it; whether true or false, it matters not. Destutt de Tracy cannot +escape equality. On this theory, men, while in a state of ESTRANGEMENT, +are under no obligations to each other; they all have the right +to satisfy their needs without regard to the needs of others, and +consequently the right to exercise their power over Nature, each +according to his strength and ability. That involves the greatest +inequality of wealth. Inequality of conditions, then, is the +characteristic feature of estrangement or barbarism: the exact opposite +of Rousseau's idea. + +But let us look farther:-- + + +"Restrictions of these rights and this duty commence at the time when +covenants, either implied or expressed, are agreed upon. Then appears +for the first time justice and injustice; that is, the balance between +the rights of one and the rights of another, which up to that time were +necessarily equal." + +Listen: RIGHTS WERE EQUAL; that means that each individual had the right +to SATISFY HIS NEEDS WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS. In other +words, that all had the right to injure each other; that there was no +right save force and cunning. They injured each other, not only by war +and pillage, but also by usurpation and appropriation. Now, in order to +abolish this equal right to use force and stratagem,--this equal +right to do evil, the sole source of the inequality of benefits and +injuries,--they commenced to make COVENANTS EITHER IMPLIED OR EXPRESSED, +and established a balance. Then these agreements and this balance +were intended to secure to all equal comfort; then, by the law of +contradictions, if isolation is the principle of inequality, society +must produce equality. The social balance is the equalization of the +strong and the weak; for, while they are not equals, they are strangers; +they can form no associations,--they live as enemies. Then, if +inequality of conditions is a necessary evil, so is isolation, for +society and inequality are incompatible with each other. Then, if +society is the true condition of man's existence, so is equality also. +This conclusion cannot be avoided. + +This being so, how is it that, ever since the establishment of this +balance, inequality has been on the increase? How is it that justice and +isolation always accompany each other? Destutt de Tracy shall reply:-- + + +"NEEDS and MEANS, RIGHTS and DUTIES, are products of the will. If man +willed nothing, these would not exist. But to have needs and means, +rights and duties, is to HAVE, to POSSESS, something. They are so many +kinds of property, using the word in its most general sense: they are +things which belong to us." + + +Shameful equivocation, not justified by the necessity for +generalization! The word PROPERTY has two meanings: 1. It designates the +quality which makes a thing what it is; the attribute which is peculiar +to it, and especially distinguishes it. We use it in this sense when we +say THE PROPERTIES OF THE TRIANGLE or of NUMBERS; THE PROPERTY OF THE +MAGNET, &c. 2. It expresses the right of absolute control over a thing +by a free and intelligent being. It is used in this sense by writers +on jurisprudence. Thus, in the phrase, IRON ACQUIRES THE PROPERTY OF A +MAGNET, the word PROPERTY does not convey the same idea that it does in +this one: _I HAVE ACQUIRED THIS MAGNET AS MY PROPERTY_. To tell a poor +man that he HAS property because he HAS arms and legs,--that the hunger +from which he suffers, and his power to sleep in the open air are his +property,--is to play upon words, and to add insult to injury. + + +"The sole basis of the idea of property is the idea of personality. As +soon as property is born at all, it is born, of necessity, in all its +fulness. As soon as an individual knows HIMSELF,--his moral personality, +his capacities of enjoyment, suffering, and action,--he necessarily +sees also that this SELF is exclusive proprietor of the body in which +it dwells, its organs, their powers, faculties, &c.... Inasmuch as +artificial and conventional property exists, there must be natural +property also; for nothing can exist in art without its counterpart in +Nature." + + +We ought to admire the honesty and judgment of philosophers! Man has +properties; that is, in the first acceptation of the term, faculties. He +has property; that is, in its second acceptation, the right of domain. +He has, then, the property of the property of being proprietor. How +ashamed I should be to notice such foolishness, were I here considering +only the authority of Destutt de Tracy! But the entire human race, since +the origination of society and language, when metaphysics and dialectics +were first born, has been guilty of this puerile confusion of thought. +All which man could call his own was identified in his mind with his +person. He considered it as his property, his wealth; a part of himself, +a member of his body, a faculty of his mind. The possession of things +was likened to property in the powers of the body and mind; and on this +false analogy was based the right of property,--THE IMITATION OF NATURE +BY ART, as Destutt de Tracy so elegantly puts it. + +But why did not this ideologist perceive that man is not proprietor even +of his own faculties? Man has powers, attributes, capacities; they are +given him by Nature that he may live, learn, and love: he does not own +them, but has only the use of them; and he can make no use of them that +does not harmonize with Nature's laws. If he had absolute mastery over +his faculties, he could avoid hunger and cold; he could eat unstintedly, +and walk through fire; he could move mountains, walk a hundred leagues +in a minute, cure without medicines and by the sole force of his will, +and could make himself immortal. He could say, "I wish to produce," and +his tasks would be finished with the words; he could say. "I wish to +know," and he would know; "I love," and he would enjoy. What then? Man +is not master of himself, but may be of his surroundings. Let him use +the wealth of Nature, since he can live only by its use; but let him +abandon his pretensions to the title of proprietor, and remember that he +is called so only metaphorically. + +To sum up: Destutt de Tracy classes together the external PRODUCTIONS of +nature and art, and the POWERS or FACULTIES of man, making both of them +species of property; and upon this equivocation he hopes to establish, +so firmly that it can never be disturbed, the right of property. But +of these different kinds of property some are INNATE, as memory, +imagination, strength, and beauty; while others are ACQUIRED, as land, +water, and forests. In the state of Nature or isolation, the strongest +and most skilful (that is, those best provided with innate property) +stand the best chance of obtaining acquired property. Now, it is to +prevent this encroachment and the war which results therefrom, that +a balance (justice) has been employed, and covenants (implied or +expressed) agreed upon: it is to correct, as far as possible, inequality +of innate property by equality of acquired property. As long as the +division remains unequal, so long the partners remain enemies; and it +is the purpose of the covenants to reform this state of things. Thus +we have, on the one hand, isolation, inequality, enmity, war, robbery, +murder; on the other, society, equality, fraternity, peace, and love. +Choose between them! + +M. Joseph Dutens--a physician, engineer, and geometrician, but a very +poor legist, and no philosopher at all--is the author of a "Philosophy +of Political Economy," in which he felt it his duty to break lances in +behalf of property. His reasoning seems to be borrowed from Destutt +de Tracy. He commences with this definition of property, worthy of +Sganarelle: "Property is the right by which a thing is one's own." +Literally translated: Property is the right of property. + +After getting entangled a few times on the subjects of will, liberty, +and personality; after having distinguished between IMMATERIAL-NATURAL +property, and MATERIAL-NATURAL property, a distinction similar to +Destutt de Tracy's of innate and acquired property,--M. Joseph Dutens +concludes with these two general propositions: 1. Property is a natural +and inalienable right of every man; 2. Inequality of property is a +necessary result of Nature,--which propositions are convertible into a +simpler one: All men have an equal right of unequal property. + +He rebukes M. de Sismondi for having taught that landed property has no +other basis than law and conventionality; and he says himself, speaking +of the respect which people feel for property, that "their good sense +reveals to them the nature of the ORIGINAL CONTRACT made between society +and proprietors." + +He confounds property with possession, communism with equality, the just +with the natural, and the natural with the possible. Now he takes these +different ideas to be equivalents; now he seems to distinguish between +them, so much so that it would be infinitely easier to refute him than +to understand him. Attracted first by the title of the work, "Philosophy +of Political Economy," I have found, among the author's obscurities, +only the most ordinary ideas. For that reason I will not speak of him. + +M. Cousin, in his "Moral Philosophy," page 15, teaches that all +morality, all laws, all rights are given to man with this injunction: +"FREE BEING, REMAIN FREE." Bravo! master; I wish to remain free if I +can. He continues:-- + +"Our principle is true; it is good, it is social. Do not fear to push it +to its ultimate. + +"1. If the human person is sacred, its whole nature is sacred; and +particularly its interior actions, its feelings, its thoughts, its +voluntary decisions. This accounts for the respect due to philosophy, +religion, the arts industry, commerce, and to all the results of +liberty. I say respect, not simply toleration; for we do not tolerate a +right, we respect it." + +I bow my head before this philosophy. + + +"2. My liberty, which is sacred, needs for its objective action an +instrument which we call the body: the body participates then in the +sacredness of liberty; it is then inviolable. This is the basis of the +principle of individual liberty. + +"3. My liberty needs, for its objective action, material to work upon; +in other words, property or a thing. This thing or property naturally +participates then in the inviolability of my person. For instance, I +take possession of an object which has become necessary and useful in +the outward manifestation of my liberty. I say, 'This object is +mine since it belongs to no one else; consequently, I possess it +legitimately.' So the legitimacy of possession rests on two conditions. +First, I possess only as a free being. Suppress free activity, you +destroy my power to labor. Now it is only by labor that I can use this +property or thing, and it is only by using it that I possess it. Free +activity is then the principle of the right of property. But that alone +does not legitimate possession. All men are free; all can use property +by labor. Does that mean that all men have a right to all property? Not +at all. To possess legitimately, I must not only labor and produce in +my capacity of a free being, but I must also be the first to occupy the +property. In short, if labor and production are the principle of the +right of property, the fact of first occupancy is its indispensable +condition. + +"4. I possess legitimately: then I have the right to use my property as +I see fit. I have also the right to give it away. I have also the right +to bequeath it; for if I decide to make a donation, my decision is as +valid after my death as during my life." + +In fact, to become a proprietor, in M. Cousin's opinion, one must take +possession by occupation and labor. I maintain that the element of time +must be considered also; for if the first occupants have occupied every +thing, what are the new comers to do? What will become of them, having +an instrument with which to work, but no material to work upon? +Must they devour each other? A terrible extremity, unforeseen by +philosophical prudence; for the reason that great geniuses neglect +little things. + +Notice also that M. Cousin says that neither occupation nor labor, taken +separately, can legitimate the right of property; and that it is born +only from the union of the two. This is one of M. Cousin's eclectic +turns, which he, more than any one else, should take pains to +avoid. Instead of proceeding by the method of analysis, comparison, +elimination, and reduction (the only means of discovering the truth amid +the various forms of thought and whimsical opinions), he jumbles +all systems together, and then, declaring each both right and wrong, +exclaims: "There you have the truth." + +But, adhering to my promise, I will not refute him. I will only prove, +by all the arguments with which he justifies the right of property, the +principle of equality which kills it. As I have already said, my sole +intent is this: to show at the bottom of all these positions that +inevitable major, EQUALITY; hoping hereafter to show that the principle +of property vitiates the very elements of economical, moral, and +governmental science, thus leading it in the wrong direction. + +Well, is it not true, from M. Cousin's point of view, that, if the +liberty of man is sacred, it is equally sacred in all individuals; that, +if it needs property for its objective action, that is, for its life, +the appropriation of material is equally necessary for all; that, if I +wish to be respected in my right of appropriation, I must respect +others in theirs; and, consequently, that though, in the sphere of the +infinite, a person's power of appropriation is limited only by +himself, in the sphere of the finite this same power is limited by the +mathematical relation between the number of persons and the space which +they occupy? Does it not follow that if one individual cannot prevent +another--his fellow-man--from appropriating an amount of material equal +to his own, no more can he prevent individuals yet to come; because, +while individuality passes away, universality persists, and eternal laws +cannot be determined by a partial view of their manifestations? Must we +not conclude, therefore, that whenever a person is born, the others must +crowd closer together; and, by reciprocity of obligation, that if the +new comer is afterwards to become an heir, the right of succession does +not give him the right of accumulation, but only the right of choice? + +I have followed M. Cousin so far as to imitate his style, and I am +ashamed of it. Do we need such high-sounding terms, such sonorous +phrases, to say such simple things? Man needs to labor in order to live; +consequently, he needs tools to work with and materials to work upon. +His need to produce constitutes his right to produce. Now, this right is +guaranteed him by his fellows, with whom he makes an agreement to that +effect. One hundred thousand men settle in a large country like France +with no inhabitants: each man has a right to 1/100,000 of the land. If +the number of possessors increases, each one's portion diminishes in +consequence; so that, if the number of inhabitants rises to thirty-four +millions, each one will have a right only to 1/34,000,000. Now, +so regulate the police system and the government, labor, exchange, +inheritance, &c., that the means of labor shall be shared by all +equally, and that each individual shall be free; and then society will +be perfect. + +Of all the defenders of property, M. Cousin has gone the farthest. He +has maintained against the economists that labor does not establish the +right of property unless preceded by occupation, and against the jurists +that the civil law can determine and apply a natural right, but cannot +create it. In fact, it is not sufficient to say, "The right of property +is demonstrated by the existence of property; the function of the civil +law is purely declaratory." To say that, is to confess that there is +no reply to those who question the legitimacy of the fact itself. +Every right must be justifiable in itself, or by some antecedent right; +property is no exception. For this reason, M. Cousin has sought to base +it upon the SANCTITY of the human personality, and the act by which the +will assimilates a thing. "Once touched by man," says one of M. Cousin's +disciples, "things receive from him a character which transforms and +humanizes them." I confess, for my part, that I have no faith in this +magic, and that I know of nothing less holy than the will of man. But +this theory, fragile as it seems to psychology as well as jurisprudence, +is nevertheless more philosophical and profound than those theories +which are based upon labor or the authority of the law. Now, we have +just seen to what this theory of which we are speaking leads,--to the +equality implied in the terms of its statement. + +But perhaps philosophy views things from too lofty a standpoint, and +is not sufficiently practical; perhaps from the exalted summit of +speculation men seem so small to the metaphysician that he cannot +distinguish between them; perhaps, indeed, the equality of conditions is +one of those principles which are very true and sublime as generalities, +but which it would be ridiculous and even dangerous to attempt to +rigorously apply to the customs of life and to social transactions. +Undoubtedly, this is a case which calls for imitation of the wise +reserve of moralists and jurists, who warn us against carrying things to +extremes, and who advise us to suspect every definition; because there +is not one, they say, which cannot be utterly destroyed by developing +its disastrous results--_Omnis definitio in jure civili periculosa +est: parum est enim ut non subverti possit_. Equality of conditions,--a +terrible dogma in the ears of the proprietor, a consoling truth at +the poor-man's sick-bed, a frightful reality under the knife of the +anatomist,--equality of conditions, established in the political, civil, +and industrial spheres, is only an alluring impossibility, an inviting +bait, a satanic delusion. + +It is never my intention to surprise my reader. I detest, as I do death, +the man who employs subterfuge in his words and conduct. From the first +page of this book, I have expressed myself so plainly and decidedly that +all can see the tendency of my thought and hopes; and they will do me +the justice to say, that it would be difficult to exhibit more frankness +and more boldness at the same time. I do not hesitate to declare that +the time is not far distant when this reserve, now so much admired in +philosophers--this happy medium so strongly recommended by professors of +moral and political science--will be regarded as the disgraceful feature +of a science without principle, and as the seal of its reprobation. In +legislation and morals, as well as in geometry, axioms are absolute, +definitions are certain; and all the results of a principle are to be +accepted, provided they are logically deduced. Deplorable pride! We know +nothing of our nature, and we charge our blunders to it; and, in a +fit of unaffected ignorance, cry out, "The truth is in doubt, the +best definition defines nothing!" We shall know some time whether this +distressing uncertainty of jurisprudence arises from the nature of +its investigations, or from our prejudices; whether, to explain social +phenomena, it is not enough to change our hypothesis, as did Copernicus +when he reversed the system of Ptolemy. + +But what will be said when I show, as I soon shall, that this same +jurisprudence continually tries to base property upon equality? What +reply can be made? + + + +% 3.--Civil Law as the Foundation and Sanction of Property. + +Pothier seems to think that property, like royalty, exists by divine +right. He traces back its origin to God himself--ab Jove principium. He +begins in this way:-- + + +"God is the absolute ruler of the universe and all that it contains: +_Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus, orbis et universi qui habitant in +eo_. For the human race he has created the earth and all its creatures, +and has given it a control over them subordinate only to his own. 'Thou +madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put +all things under his feet,' says the Psalmist. God accompanied this gift +with these words, addressed to our first parents after the creation: 'Be +fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth,'" &c. + + +After this magnificent introduction, who would refuse to believe the +human race to be an immense family living in brotherly union, and +under the protection of a venerable father? But, heavens! are brothers +enemies? Are fathers unnatural, and children prodigal? + +GOD GAVE THE EARTH TO THE HUMAN RACE: why then have I received none? HE +HAS PUT ALL THINGS UNDER MY FEET,--and I have not where to lay my head! +MULTIPLY, he tells us through his interpreter, Pothier. Ah, learned +Pothier! that is as easy to do as to say; but you must give moss to the +bird for its nest. + + +"The human race having multiplied, men divided among themselves the +earth and most of the things upon it; that which fell to each, from that +time exclusively belonged to him. That was the origin of the right of +property." + + +Say, rather, the right of possession. Men lived in a state of communism; +whether positive or negative it matters little. Then there was no +property, not even private possession. The genesis and growth of +possession gradually forcing people to labor for their support, they +agreed either formally or tacitly,--it makes no difference which,--that +the laborer should be sole proprietor of the fruit of his labor; that +is, they simply declared the fact that thereafter none could live +without working. It necessarily followed that, to obtain equality of +products, there must be equality of labor; and that, to obtain equality +of labor, there must be equality of facilities for labor. Whoever +without labor got possession, by force or by strategy, of another's +means of subsistence, destroyed equality, and placed himself above or +outside of the law. Whoever monopolized the means of production on the +ground of greater industry, also destroyed equality. Equality being then +the expression of right, whoever violated it was UNJUST. + +Thus, labor gives birth to private possession; the right in a thing--jus +in re. But in what thing? Evidently IN THE PRODUCT, not IN THE SOIL. +So the Arabs have always understood it; and so, according to Caesar and +Tacitus, the Germans formerly held. "The Arabs," says M. de Sismondi, +"who admit a man's property in the flocks which he has raised, do not +refuse the crop to him who planted the seed; but they do not see why +another, his equal, should not have a right to plant in his turn. +The inequality which results from the pretended right of the first +occupant seems to them to be based on no principle of justice; and when +all the land falls into the hands of a certain number of inhabitants, +there results a monopoly in their favor against the rest of the nation, +to which they do not wish to submit." + +Well, they have shared the land. I admit that therefrom results a more +powerful organization of labor; and that this method of distribution, +fixed and durable, is advantageous to production: but how could this +division give to each a transferable right of property in a thing +to which all had an inalienable right of possession? In the terms +of jurisprudence, this metamorphosis from possessor to proprietor is +legally impossible; it implies in the jurisdiction of the courts the +union of possessoire and petitoire; and the mutual concessions of those +who share the land are nothing less than traffic in natural rights. The +original cultivators of the land, who were also the original makers of +the law, were not as learned as our legislators, I admit; and had +they been, they could not have done worse: they did not foresee the +consequences of the transformation of the right of private possession +into the right of absolute property. But why have not those, who in +later times have established the distinction between jus in re and jus +ad rem, applied it to the principle of property itself? + +Let me call the attention of the writers on jurisprudence to their own +maxims. + +The right of property, provided it can have a cause, can have but +one--_Dominium non potest nisi ex una causa contingere_. I can possess +by several titles; I can become proprietor by only one--_Non ut ex +pluribus causis idem nobis deberi potest, ita ex pluribus causis idem +potest nostrum esse_. The field which I have cleared, which I cultivate, +on which I have built my house, which supports myself, my family, and +my livestock, I can possess: 1st. As the original occupant; 2d. As a +laborer; 3d. By virtue of the social contract which assigns it to me as +my share. + +But none of these titles confer upon me the right of property. For, if I +attempt to base it upon occupancy, society can reply, "I am the original +occupant." If I appeal to my labor, it will say, "It is only on that +condition that you possess." If I speak of agreements, it will respond, +"These agreements establish only your right of use." Such, however, are +the only titles which proprietors advance. They never have been able +to discover any others. Indeed, every right--it is Pothier who says +it--supposes a producing cause in the person who enjoys it; but in man +who lives and dies, in this son of earth who passes away like a +shadow, there exists, with respect to external things, only titles of +possession, not one title of property. Why, then, has society recognized +a right injurious to itself, where there is no producing cause? Why, +in according possession, has it also conceded property? Why has the law +sanctioned this abuse of power? + +The German Ancillon replies thus:-- + + +"Some philosophers pretend that man, in employing his forces upon a +natural object,--say a field or a tree,--acquires a right only to the +improvements which he makes, to the form which he gives to the object, +not to the object itself. Useless distinction! If the form could be +separated from the object, perhaps there would be room for question; but +as this is almost always impossible, the application of man's strength +to the different parts of the visible world is the foundation of the +right of property, the primary origin of riches." + + +Vain pretext! If the form cannot be separated from the object, nor +property from possession, possession must be shared; in any case, +society reserves the right to fix the conditions of property. Let us +suppose that an appropriated farm yields a gross income of ten thousand +francs; and, as very seldom happens, that this farm cannot be divided. +Let us suppose farther that, by economical calculation, the annual +expenses of a family are three thousand francs: the possessor of this +farm should be obliged to guard his reputation as a good father of a +family, by paying to society ten thousand francs,--less the total +costs of cultivation, and the three thousand francs required for the +maintenance of his family. This payment is not rent, it is an indemnity. + +What sort of justice is it, then, which makes such laws as this:-- + + +"Whereas, since labor so changes the form of a thing that the form +and substance cannot be separated without destroying the thing itself, +either society must be disinherited, or the laborer must lose the fruit +of his labor; and + +"Whereas, in every other case, property in raw material would give a +title to added improvements, minus their cost; and whereas, in this +instance, property in improvements ought to give a title to the +principal; + +"Therefore, the right of appropriation by labor shall never be admitted +against individuals, but only against society." + +In such a way do legislators always reason in regard to property. + +The law is intended to protect men's mutual rights,--that is, the rights +of each against each, and each against all; and, as if a proportion +could exist with less than four terms, the law-makers always disregard +the latter. As long as man is opposed to man, property offsets property, +and the two forces balance each other; as soon as man is isolated, that +is, opposed to the society which he himself represents, jurisprudence is +at fault: Themis has lost one scale of her balance. + +Listen to the professor of Rennes, the learned Toullier:-- + + +"How could this claim, made valid by occupation, become stable and +permanent property, which might continue to stand, and which might be +reclaimed after the first occupant had relinquished possession? + +"Agriculture was a natural consequence of the multiplication of the +human race, and agriculture, in its turn, favors population, and +necessitates the establishment of permanent property; for who would +take the trouble to plough and sow, if he were not certain that he would +reap?" + + +To satisfy the husbandman, it was sufficient to guarantee him possession +of his crop; admit even that he should have been protected in his right +of occupation of land, as long as he remained its cultivator. That was +all that he had a right to expect; that was all that the advance of +civilization demanded. But property, property! the right of escheat over +lands which one neither occupies nor cultivates,--who had authority to +grant it? who pretended to have it? + + +"Agriculture alone was not sufficient to establish permanent property; +positive laws were needed, and magistrates to execute them; in a word, +the civil State was needed. + +"The multiplication of the human race had rendered agriculture +necessary; the need of securing to the cultivator the fruit of his labor +made permanent property necessary, and also laws for its protection. So +we are indebted to property for the creation of the civil State." + + +Yes, of our civil State, as you have made it; a State which, at first, +was despotism, then monarchy, then aristocracy, today democracy, and +always tyranny. + + +"Without the ties of property it never would have been possible to +subordinate men to the wholesome yoke of the law; and without permanent +property the earth would have remained a vast forest. Let us admit, +then, with the most careful writers, that if transient property, or +the right of preference resulting from occupation, existed prior to +the establishment of civil society, permanent property, as we know it +to-day, is the work of civil law. It is the civil law which holds that, +when once acquired, property can be lost only by the action of +the proprietor, and that it exists even after the proprietor has +relinquished possession of the thing, and it has fallen into the hands +of a third party. + +"Thus property and possession, which originally were confounded, became +through the civil law two distinct and independent things; two things +which, in the language of the law, have nothing whatever in common. In +this we see what a wonderful change has been effected in property, and +to what an extent Nature has been altered by the civil laws." + +Thus the law, in establishing property, has not been the expression of a +psychological fact, the development of a natural law, the application of +a moral principle. It has literally CREATED a right outside of its own +province. It has realized an abstraction, a metaphor, a fiction; and +that without deigning to look at the consequences, without considering +the disadvantages, without inquiring whether it was right or wrong. + +It has sanctioned selfishness; it has indorsed monstrous pretensions; +it has received with favor impious vows, as if it were able to fill up a +bottomless pit, and to satiate hell! Blind law; the law of the ignorant +man; a law which is not a law; the voice of discord, deceit, and +blood! This it is which, continually revived, reinstated, rejuvenated, +restored, re-enforced--as the palladium of society--has troubled the +consciences of the people, has obscured the minds of the masters, and +has induced all the catastrophes which have befallen nations. + +This it is which Christianity has condemned, but which its ignorant +ministers deify; who have as little desire to study Nature and man, as +ability to read their Scriptures. + +But, indeed, what guide did the law follow in creating the domain of +property? What principle directed it? What was its standard? + +Would you believe it? It was equality. + +Agriculture was the foundation of territorial possession, and the +original cause of property. It was of no use to secure to the farmer the +fruit of his labor, unless the means of production were at the same time +secured to him. To fortify the weak against the invasion of the strong, +to suppress spoliation and fraud, the necessity was felt of establishing +between possessors permanent lines of division, insuperable obstacles. +Every year saw the people multiply, and the cupidity of the husbandman +increase: it was thought best to put a bridle on ambition by setting +boundaries which ambition would in vain attempt to overstep. Thus the +soil came to be appropriated through need of the equality which is +essential to public security and peaceable possession. Undoubtedly the +division was never geographically equal; a multitude of rights, some +founded in Nature, but wrongly interpreted and still more wrongly +applied, inheritance, gift, and exchange; others, like the privileges +of birth and position, the illegitimate creations of ignorance and brute +force,--all operated to prevent absolute equality. But, nevertheless, +the principle remained the same: equality had sanctioned possession; +equality sanctioned property. + +The husbandman needed each year a field to sow; what more convenient and +simple arrangement for the barbarians,--instead of indulging in annual +quarrels and fights, instead of continually moving their houses, +furniture, and families from spot to spot,--than to assign to each +individual a fixed and inalienable estate? + +It was not right that the soldier, on returning from an expedition, +should find himself dispossessed on account of the services which he had +just rendered to his country; his estate ought to be restored to him. It +became, therefore, customary to retain property by intent alone--_nudo +animo;_ it could be sacrificed only with the consent and by the action +of the proprietor. + +It was necessary that the equality in the division should be kept up +from one generation to another, without a new distribution of the land +upon the death of each family; it appeared therefore natural and just +that children and parents, according to the degree of relationship +which they bore to the deceased, should be the heirs of their ancestors. +Thence came, in the first place, the feudal and patriarchal custom of +recognizing only one heir; then, by a quite contrary application of the +principle of equality, the admission of all the children to a share in +their father's estate, and, very recently also among us, the definitive +abolition of the right of primogeniture. + +But what is there in common between these rude outlines of instinctive +organization and the true social science? How could these men, who never +had the faintest idea of statistics, valuation, or political economy, +furnish us with principles of legislation? + +"The law," says a modern writer on jurisprudence, "is the expression of +a social want, the declaration of a fact: the legislator does not make +it, he declares it. 'This definition is not exact. The law is a method +by which social wants must be satisfied; the people do not vote it, the +legislator does not express it: the savant discovers and formulates it." +But in fact, the law, according to M. Ch. Comte, who has devoted half a +volume to its definition, was in the beginning only the EXPRESSION OF +A WANT, and the indication of the means of supplying it; and up to this +time it has been nothing else. The legists--with mechanical fidelity, +full of obstinacy, enemies of philosophy, buried in literalities--have +always mistaken for the last word of science that which was only the +inconsiderate aspiration of men who, to be sure, were well-meaning, but +wanting in foresight. + +They did not foresee, these old founders of the domain of property, that +the perpetual and absolute right to retain one's estate,--a right which +seemed to them equitable, because it was common,--involves the right to +transfer, sell, give, gain, and lose it; that it tends, consequently, +to nothing less than the destruction of that equality which they +established it to maintain. And though they should have foreseen it, +they disregarded it; the present want occupied their whole attention, +and, as ordinarily happens in such cases, the disadvantages were at +first scarcely perceptible, and they passed unnoticed. + +They did not foresee, these ingenuous legislators, that if property is +retainable by intent alone--_nudo animo_--it carries with it the right +to let, to lease, to loan at interest, to profit by exchange, to settle +annuities, and to levy a tax on a field which intent reserves, while the +body is busy elsewhere. + +They did not foresee, these fathers of our jurisprudence, that, if +the right of inheritance is any thing other than Nature's method of +preserving equality of wealth, families will soon become victims of the +most disastrous exclusions; and society, pierced to the heart by one of +its most sacred principles, will come to its death through opulence and +misery. [12] + +Under whatever form of government we live, it can always be said that +_le mort saisit le vif;_ that is, that inheritance and succession will +last for ever, whoever may be the recognized heir. But the St. Simonians +wish the heir to be designated by the magistrate; others wish him to +be chosen by the deceased, or assumed by the law to be so chosen: the +essential point is that Nature's wish be satisfied, so far as the law of +equality allows. + +To-day the real controller of inheritance is chance or caprice; now, in +matters of legislation, chance and caprice cannot be accepted as guides. +It is for the purpose of avoiding the manifold disturbances which +follow in the wake of chance that Nature, after having created us equal, +suggests to us the principle of heredity; which serves as a voice by +which society asks us to choose, from among all our brothers, him whom +we judge best fitted to complete our unfinished work. + + +They did not foresee.... But why need I go farther? + +The consequences are plain enough, and this is not the time to criticise +the whole Code. + +The history of property among the ancient nations is, then, simply a +matter of research and curiosity. It is a rule of jurisprudence that the +fact does not substantiate the right. Now, property is no exception to +this rule: then the universal recognition of the right of property +does not legitimate the right of property. Man is mistaken as to the +constitution of society, the nature of right, and the application of +justice; just as he was mistaken regarding the cause of meteors and the +movement of the heavenly bodies. His old opinions cannot be taken for +articles of faith. Of what consequence is it to us that the Indian race +was divided into four classes; that, on the banks of the Nile and the +Ganges, blood and position formerly determined the distribution of the +land; that the Greeks and Romans placed property under the protection +of the gods; that they accompanied with religious ceremonies the work +of partitioning the land and appraising their goods? The variety of the +forms of privilege does not sanction injustice. The faith of Jupiter, +the proprietor, [13] proves no more against the equality of citizens, +than do the mysteries of Venus, the wanton, against conjugal chastity. + + +The authority of the human race is of no effect as evidence in favor +of the right of property, because this right, resting of necessity upon +equality, contradicts its principle; the decision of the religions which +have sanctioned it is of no effect, because in all ages the priest +has submitted to the prince, and the gods have always spoken as the +politicians desired; the social advantages, attributed to property, +cannot be cited in its behalf, because they all spring from the +principle of equality of possession. + +What means, then, this dithyramb upon property? + + +"The right of property is the most important of human institutions."... + + +Yes; as monarchy is the most glorious. + + +"The original cause of man's prosperity upon earth." + + +Because justice was supposed to be its principle. + + +"Property became the legitimate end of his ambition, the hope of his +existence, the shelter of his family; in a word, the corner-stone of the +domestic dwelling, of communities, and of the political State." + + +Possession alone produced all that. + + +"Eternal principle,--" + + +Property is eternal, like every negation,-- + + +"Of all social and civil institutions." + + +For that reason, every institution and every law based on property will +perish. + + +"It is a boon as precious as liberty." + + +For the rich proprietor. + + +"In fact, the cause of the cultivation of the habitable earth." + +If the cultivator ceased to be a tenant, would the land be worse cared +for? + + +"The guarantee and the morality of labor." + + +Under the regime of property, labor is not a condition, but a privilege. + + +"The application of justice." + + +What is justice without equality of fortunes? A balance with false +weights. + + +"All morality,--" + + +A famished stomach knows no morality,-- + + +"All public order,--" + + +Certainly, the preservation of property,-- + +"Rest on the right of property." [14] + + +Corner-stone of all which is, stumbling-block of all which ought to +be,--such is property. + + +To sum up and conclude:-- + +Not only does occupation lead to equality, it PREVENTS property. For, +since every man, from the fact of his existence, has the right of +occupation, and, in order to live, must have material for cultivation +on which he may labor; and since, on the other hand, the number of +occupants varies continually with the births and deaths,--it follows +that the quantity of material which each laborer may claim varies +with the number of occupants; consequently, that occupation is always +subordinate to population. Finally, that, inasmuch as possession, in +right, can never remain fixed, it is impossible, in fact, that it can +ever become property. + +Every occupant is, then, necessarily a possessor or usufructuary,--a +function which excludes proprietorship. Now, this is the right of the +usufructuary: he is responsible for the thing entrusted to him; he +must use it in conformity with general utility, with a view to its +preservation and development; he has no power to transform it, to +diminish it, or to change its nature; he cannot so divide the usufruct +that another shall perform the labor while he receives the product. In a +word, the usufructuary is under the supervision of society, submitted to +the condition of labor and the law of equality. + +Thus is annihilated the Roman definition of property--THE RIGHT OF USE +AND ABUSE--an immorality born of violence, the most monstrous pretension +that the civil laws ever sanctioned. Man receives his usufruct from the +hands of society, which alone is the permanent possessor. The individual +passes away, society is deathless. + +What a profound disgust fills my soul while discussing such simple +truths! Do we doubt these things to-day? Will it be necessary to again +take arms for their triumph? And can force, in default of reason, alone +introduce them into our laws? + +ALL HAVE AN EQUAL RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY. + +THE AMOUNT OCCUPIED BEING MEASURED, NOT BY THE WILL, BUT BY THE VARIABLE +CONDITIONS OF SPACE AND NUMBER, PROPERTY CANNOT EXIST. + +This no code has ever expressed; this no constitution can admit! These +are axioms which the civil law and the law of nations deny!..... + +But I hear the exclamations of the partisans of another system: "Labor, +labor! that is the basis of property!" + +Reader, do not be deceived. This new basis of property is worse than the +first, and I shall soon have to ask your pardon for having demonstrated +things clearer, and refuted pretensions more unjust, than any which we +have yet considered. + + + + +CHAPTER III. LABOR AS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE DOMAIN OF PROPERTY. + +Nearly all the modern writers on jurisprudence, taking their cue from +the economists, have abandoned the theory of first occupancy as a too +dangerous one, and have adopted that which regards property as born of +labor. In this they are deluded; they reason in a circle. To labor it is +necessary to occupy, says M. Cousin. + +Consequently, I have added in my turn, all having an equal right of +occupancy, to labor it is necessary to submit to equality. "The rich," +exclaims Jean Jacques, "have the arrogance to say, 'I built this wall; I +earned this land by my labor.' Who set you the tasks? we may reply, and +by what right do you demand payment from us for labor which we did not +impose upon you?" All sophistry falls to the ground in the presence of +this argument. + +But the partisans of labor do not see that their system is an absolute +contradiction of the Code, all the articles and provisions of which +suppose property to be based upon the fact of first occupancy. If labor, +through the appropriation which results from it, alone gives birth to +property, the Civil Code lies, the charter is a falsehood, our whole +social system is a violation of right. To this conclusion shall we come, +at the end of the discussion which is to occupy our attention in this +chapter and the following one, both as to the right of labor and the +fact of property. We shall see, on the one hand, our legislation in +opposition to itself; and, on the other hand, our new jurisprudence in +opposition both to its own principle and to our legislation. + +I have asserted that the system which bases property upon labor implies, +no less than that which bases it upon occupation, the equality of +fortunes; and the reader must be impatient to learn how I propose to +deduce this law of equality from the inequality of skill and faculties: +directly his curiosity shall be satisfied. But it is proper that I +should call his attention for a moment to this remarkable feature of +the process; to wit, the substitution of labor for occupation as the +principle of property; and that I should pass rapidly in review some +of the prejudices to which proprietors are accustomed to appeal, which +legislation has sanctioned, and which the system of labor completely +overthrows. + +Reader, were you ever present at the examination of a criminal? Have +you watched his tricks, his turns, his evasions, his distinctions, his +equivocations? Beaten, all his assertions overthrown, pursued like +a fallow deer by the in exorable judge, tracked from hypothesis +to hypothesis,--he makes a statement, he corrects it, retracts it, +contradicts it, he exhausts all the tricks of dialectics, more subtle, +more ingenious a thousand times than he who invented the seventy-two +forms of the syllogism. So acts the proprietor when called upon +to defend his right. At first he refuses to reply, he exclaims, he +threatens, he defies; then, forced to accept the discussion, he +arms himself with chicanery, he surrounds himself with formidable +artillery,--crossing his fire, opposing one by one and all together +occupation, possession, limitation, covenants, immemorial custom, and +universal consent. Conquered on this ground, the proprietor, like a +wounded boar, turns on his pursuers. "I have done more than occupy," +he cries with terrible emotion; "I have labored, produced, improved, +transformed, CREATED. This house, these fields, these trees are the work +of my hands; I changed these brambles into a vineyard, and this bush +into a fig-tree; and to-day I reap the harvest of my labors. I have +enriched the soil with my sweat; I have paid those men who, had they not +had the work which I gave them, would have died of hunger. No one +shared with me the trouble and expense; no one shall share with me the +benefits." + +You have labored, proprietor! why then do you speak of original +occupancy? What, were you not sure of your right, or did you hope to +deceive men, and make justice an illusion? Make haste, then, to acquaint +us with your mode of defence, for the judgment will be final; and you +know it to be a question of restitution. + +You have labored! but what is there in common between the labor which +duty compels you to perform, and the appropriation of things in which +there is a common interest? Do you not know that domain over the soil, +like that over air and light, cannot be lost by prescription? + +You have labored! have you never made others labor? Why, then, have they +lost in laboring for you what you have gained in not laboring for them? + +You have labored! very well; but let us see the results of your labor. +We will count, weigh, and measure them. It will be the judgment of +Balthasar; for I swear by balance, level, and square, that if you have +appropriated another's labor in any way whatsoever, you shall restore it +every stroke. + +Thus, the principle of occupation is abandoned; no longer is it said, +"The land belongs to him who first gets possession of it." Property, +forced into its first intrenchment, repudiates its old adage; justice, +ashamed, retracts her maxims, and sorrow lowers her bandage over her +blushing cheeks. And it was but yesterday that this progress in social +philosophy began: fifty centuries required for the extirpation of a +lie! During this lamentable period, how many usurpations have been +sanctioned, how many invasions glorified, how many conquests celebrated! +The absent dispossessed, the poor banished, the hungry excluded by +wealth, which is so ready and bold in action! Jealousies and wars, +incendiarism and bloodshed, among the nations! But henceforth, thanks +to the age and its spirit, it is to be admitted that the earth is not a +prize to be won in a race; in the absence of any other obstacle, there +is a place for everybody under the sun. Each one may harness his goat +to the bearn, drive his cattle to pasture, sow a corner of a field, and +bake his bread by his own fireside. + +But, no; each one cannot do these things. I hear it proclaimed on all +sides, "Glory to labor and industry! to each according to his capacity; +to each capacity according to its results!" And I see three-fourths of +the human race again despoiled, the labor of a few being a scourge to +the labor of the rest. + + +"The problem is solved," exclaims M. Hennequin. "Property, the daughter +of labor, can be enjoyed at present and in the future only under the +protection of the laws. It has its origin in natural law; it derives its +power from civil law; and from the union of these two ideas, LABOR and +PROTECTION, positive legislation results."... + + +Ah! THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED! PROPERTY IS THE DAUGHTER OF LABOR! What, +then, is the right of accession, and the right of succession, and the +right of donation, &c., if not the right to become a proprietor by +simple occupancy? What are your laws concerning the age of majority, +emancipation, guardianship, and interdiction, if not the various +conditions by which he who is already a laborer gains or loses the right +of occupancy; that is, property? + +Being unable, at this time, to enter upon a detailed discussion of the +Code, I shall content myself with examining the three arguments oftenest +resorted to in support of property. 1. APPROPRIATION, or the formation +of property by possession; 2. THE CONSENT OF MANKIND; 3. PRESCRIPTION. I +shall then inquire into the effects of labor upon the relative condition +of the laborers and upon property. + + + +% 1.--The Land cannot be Appropriated. + +"It would seem that lands capable of cultivation ought to be regarded +as natural wealth, since they are not of human creation, but Nature's +gratuitous gift to man; but inasmuch as this wealth is not fugitive, +like the air and water,--inasmuch as a field is a fixed and limited +space which certain men have been able to appropriate, to the +exclusion of all others who in their turn have consented to this +appropriation,--the land, which was a natural and gratuitous gift, +has become social wealth, for the use of which we ought to pay."--SAY: +POLITICAL ECONOMY. + + +Was I wrong in saying, at the beginning of this chapter, that the +economists are the very worst authorities in matters of legislation and +philosophy? It is the FATHER of this class of men who clearly states +the question, How can the supplies of Nature, the wealth created by +Providence, become private property? and who replies by so gross an +equivocation that we scarcely know which the author lacks, sense or +honesty. What, I ask, has the fixed and solid nature of the earth to do +with the right of appropriation? I can understand that a thing LIMITED +and STATIONARY, like the land, offers greater chances for appropriation +than the water or the sunshine; that it is easier to exercise the right +of domain over the soil than over the atmosphere: but we are not dealing +with the difficulty of the thing, and Say confounds the right with the +possibility. We do not ask why the earth has been appropriated to a +greater extent than the sea and the air; we want to know by what right +man has appropriated wealth WHICH HE DID NOT CREATE, AND WHICH NATURE +GAVE TO HIM GRATUITOUSLY. + +Say, then, did not solve the question which he asked. But if he had +solved it, if the explanation which he has given us were as satisfactory +as it is illogical, we should know no better than before who has a right +to exact payment for the use of the soil, of this wealth which is not +man's handiwork. Who is entitled to the rent of the land? The producer +of the land, without doubt. Who made the land? God. Then, proprietor, +retire! + +But the creator of the land does not sell it: he gives it; and, in +giving it, he is no respecter of persons. Why, then, are some of his +children regarded as legitimate, while others are treated as bastards? +If the equality of shares was an original right, why is the inequality +of conditions a posthumous right? + +Say gives us to understand that if the air and the water were not of a +FUGITIVE nature, they would have been appropriated. Let me observe in +passing that this is more than an hypothesis; it is a reality. Men have +appropriated the air and the water, I will not say as often as they +could, but as often as they have been allowed to. + +The Portuguese, having discovered the route to India by the Cape of +Good Hope, pretended to have the sole right to that route; and Grotius, +consulted in regard to this matter by the Dutch who refused to recognize +this right, wrote expressly for this occasion his treatise on +the "Freedom of the Seas," to prove that the sea is not liable to +appropriation. + +The right to hunt and fish used always to be confined to lords and +proprietors; to-day it is leased by the government and communes to +whoever can pay the license-fee and the rent. To regulate hunting and +fishing is an excellent idea, but to make it a subject of sale is to +create a monopoly of air and water. + +What is a passport? A universal recommendation of the traveller's +person; a certificate of security for himself and his property. The +treasury, whose nature it is to spoil the best things, has made the +passport a means of espionage and a tax. Is not this a sale of the right +to travel? + +Finally, it is permissible neither to draw water from a spring situated +in another's grounds without the permission of the proprietor, because +by the right of accession the spring belongs to the possessor of the +soil, if there is no other claim; nor to pass a day on his premises +without paying a tax; nor to look at a court, a garden, or an orchard, +without the consent of the proprietor; nor to stroll in a park or an +enclosure against the owner's will: every one is allowed to shut himself +up and to fence himself in. All these prohibitions are so many positive +interdictions, not only of the land, but of the air and water. We who +belong to the proletaire class: property excommunicates us! _Terra, et +aqua, et aere, et igne interdicti sumus_. + +Men could not appropriate the most fixed of all the elements without +appropriating the three others; since, by French and Roman law, property +in the surface carries with it property from zenith to nadir--_Cujus +est solum, ejus est usque ad caelum_. Now, if the use of water, air, +and fire excludes property, so does the use of the soil. This chain of +reasoning seems to have been presented by M. Ch. Comte, in his "Treatise +on Property," chap. 5. + + +"If a man should be deprived of air for a few moments only, he would +cease to exist, and a partial deprivation would cause him severe +suffering; a partial or complete deprivation of food would produce like +effects upon him though less suddenly; it would be the same, at least +in certain climates! were he deprived of all clothing and shelter.... To +sustain life, then, man needs continually to appropriate many different +things. But these things do not exist in like proportions. Some, such as +the light of the stars, the atmosphere of the earth, the water composing +the seas and oceans, exist in such large quantities that men cannot +perceive any sensible increase or diminution; each one can appropriate +as much as his needs require without detracting from the enjoyment of +others, without causing them the least harm. Things of this sort are, so +to speak, the common property of the human race; the only duty imposed +upon each individual in this regard is that of infringing not at all +upon the rights of others." + + +Let us complete the argument of M. Ch. Comte. A man who should be +prohibited from walking in the highways, from resting in the fields, +from taking shelter in caves, from lighting fires, from picking berries, +from gathering herbs and boiling them in a bit of baked clay,--such +a man could not live. Consequently the earth--like water, air, and +light--is a primary object of necessity which each has a right to use +freely, without infringing another's right. Why, then, is the earth +appropriated? M. Ch. Comte's reply is a curious one. Say pretends that +it is because it is not FUGITIVE; M. Ch. Comte assures us that it +is because it is not INFINITE. The land is limited in amount. Then, +according to M. Ch. Comte, it ought to be appropriated. It would +seem, on the contrary, that he ought to say, Then it ought not to be +appropriated. Because, no matter how large a quantity of air or light +any one appropriates, no one is damaged thereby; there always remains +enough for all. With the soil, it is very different. Lay hold who will, +or who can, of the sun's rays, the passing breeze, or the sea's billows; +he has my consent, and my pardon for his bad intentions. But let any +living man dare to change his right of territorial possession into the +right of property, and I will declare war upon him, and wage it to the +death! + +M. Ch. Comte's argument disproves his position. "Among the things +necessary to the preservation of life," he says, "there are some which +exist in such large quantities that they are inexhaustible; others which +exist in lesser quantities, and can satisfy the wants of only a certain +number of persons. The former are called COMMON, the latter PRIVATE." + +This reasoning is not strictly logical. Water, air, and light are +COMMON things, not because they are INEXHAUSTIBLE, but because they are +INDISPENSABLE; and so indispensable that for that very reason Nature +has created them in quantities almost infinite, in order that their +plentifulness might prevent their appropriation. Likewise the land +is indispensable to our existence,--consequently a common thing, +consequently insusceptible of appropriation; but land is much scarcer +than the other elements, therefore its use must be regulated, not for +the profit of a few, but in the interest and for the security of all. + +In a word, equality of rights is proved by equality of needs. Now, +equality of rights, in the case of a commodity which is limited in +amount, can be realized only by equality of possession. An agrarian law +underlies M. Ch. Comte's arguments. + +From whatever point we view this question of property--provided we go +to the bottom of it--we reach equality. I will not insist farther on +the distinction between things which can, and things which cannot, be +appropriated. On this point, economists and legists talk worse than +nonsense. The Civil Code, after having defined property, says nothing +about susceptibility of appropriation; and if it speaks of things which +are in THE MARKET, it always does so without enumerating or describing +them. However, light is not wanting. There are some few maxims such as +these: _Ad reges potestas omnium pertinet, ad singulos proprietas; Omnia +rex imperio possidet, singula dominio_. Social sovereignty opposed to +private property!--might not that be called a prophecy of equality, a +republican oracle? Examples crowd upon us: once the possessions of +the church, the estates of the crown, the fiefs of the nobility +were inalienable and imprescriptible. If, instead of abolishing this +privilege, the Constituent had extended it to every individual; if +it had declared that the right of labor, like liberty, can never be +forfeited,--at that moment the revolution would have been consummated, +and we could now devote ourselves to improvement in other directions. + + + +% 2.--Universal Consent no Justification of Property. + +In the extract from Say, quoted above, it is not clear whether the +author means to base the right of property on the stationary character +of the soil, or on the consent which he thinks all men have granted +to this appropriation. His language is such that it may mean either +of these things, or both at once; which entitles us to assume that the +author intended to say, "The right of property resulting originally from +the exercise of the will, the stability of the soil permitted it to be +applied to the land, and universal consent has since sanctioned this +application." + +However that may be, can men legitimate property by mutual consent? I +say, no. Such a contract, though drafted by Grotius, Montesquieu, and J. +J. Rousseau, though signed by the whole human race, would be null in the +eyes of justice, and an act to enforce it would be illegal. Man can +no more give up labor than liberty. Now, to recognize the right of +territorial property is to give up labor, since it is to relinquish +the means of labor; it is to traffic in a natural right, and divest +ourselves of manhood. + +But I wish that this consent, of which so much is made, had been given, +either tacitly or formally. What would have been the result? Evidently, +the surrenders would have been reciprocal; no right would have been +abandoned without the receipt of an equivalent in exchange. We thus come +back to equality again,--the sine qua non of appropriation; so that, +after having justified property by universal consent, that is, by +equality, we are obliged to justify the inequality of conditions by +property. Never shall we extricate ourselves from this dilemma. Indeed, +if, in the terms of the social compact, property has equality for its +condition, at the moment when equality ceases to exist, the compact is +broken and all property becomes usurpation. We gain nothing, then, by +this pretended consent of mankind. + + + +% 3.--Prescription Gives No Title to Property. + +The right of property was the origin of evil on the earth, the first +link in the long chain of crimes and misfortunes which the human race +has endured since its birth. The delusion of prescription is the fatal +charm thrown over the intellect, the death sentence breathed into the +conscience, to arrest man's progress towards truth, and bolster up the +worship of error. + +The Code defines prescription thus: "The process of gaining and losing +through the lapse of time." In applying this definition to ideas and +beliefs, we may use the word PRESCRIPTION to denote the everlasting +prejudice in favor of old superstitions, whatever be their object; the +opposition, often furious and bloody, with which new light has always +been received, and which makes the sage a martyr. Not a principle, not a +discovery, not a generous thought but has met, at its entrance into the +world, with a formidable barrier of preconceived opinions, seeming +like a conspiracy of all old prejudices. Prescriptions against reason, +prescriptions against facts, prescriptions against every truth hitherto +unknown,--that is the sum and substance of the _statu quo_ philosophy, +the watchword of conservatives throughout the centuries. + +When the evangelical reform was broached to the world, there was +prescription in favor of violence, debauchery, and selfishness; when +Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, and their disciples reconstructed philosophy +and the sciences, there was prescription in favor of the Aristotelian +philosophy; when our fathers of '89 demanded liberty and equality, there +was prescription in favor of tyranny and privilege. "There always have +been proprietors and there always will be:" it is with this profound +utterance, the final effort of selfishness dying in its last ditch, +that the friends of social inequality hope to repel the attacks of their +adversaries; thinking undoubtedly that ideas, like property, can be lost +by prescription. + +Enlightened to-day by the triumphal march of science, taught by the most +glorious successes to question our own opinions, we receive with favor +and applause the observer of Nature, who, by a thousand experiments +based upon the most profound analysis, pursues a new principle, a law +hitherto undiscovered. We take care to repel no idea, no fact, under the +pretext that abler men than ourselves lived in former days, who did not +notice the same phenomena, nor grasp the same analogies. Why do we not +preserve a like attitude towards political and philosophical questions? +Why this ridiculous mania for affirming that every thing has been said, +which means that we know all about mental and moral science? Why is +the proverb, THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN, applied exclusively to +metaphysical investigations? + +Because we still study philosophy with the imagination, instead of by +observation and method; because fancy and will are universally regarded +as judges, in the place of arguments and facts,--it has been impossible +to this day to distinguish the charlatan from the philosopher, the +savant from the impostor. Since the days of Solomon and Pythagoras, +imagination has been exhausted in guessing out social and psychological +laws; all systems have been proposed. Looked at in this light, it is +probably true that EVERY THING HAS BEEN SAID; but it is no less true +that EVERY THING REMAINS TO BE PROVED. In politics (to take only this +branch of philosophy), in politics every one is governed in his choice +of party by his passion and his interests; the mind is submitted to the +impositions of the will,--there is no knowledge, there is not even a +shadow of certainty. In this way, general ignorance produces general +tyranny; and while liberty of thought is written in the charter, slavery +of thought, under the name of MAJORITY RULE, is decreed by the charter. + +In order to confine myself to the civil prescription of which the Code +speaks, I shall refrain from beginning a discussion upon this worn-out +objection brought forward by proprietors; it would be too tiresome +and declamatory. Everybody knows that there are rights which cannot be +prescribed; and, as for those things which can be gained through the +lapse of time, no one is ignorant of the fact that prescription requires +certain conditions, the omission of one of which renders it null. If it +is true, for example, that the proprietor's possession has been CIVIL, +PUBLIC, PEACEABLE, and UNINTERRUPTED, it is none the less true that +it is not based on a just title; since the only titles which it can +show--occupation and labor--prove as much for the proletaire who +demands, as for the proprietor who defends. Further, this possession is +DISHONEST, since it is founded on a violation of right, which prevents +prescription, according to the saying of St. Paul--_Nunquam in +usucapionibus juris error possessori prodest_. The violation of right +lies either in the fact that the holder possesses as proprietor, while +he should possess only as usufructuary; or in the fact that he has +purchased a thing which no one had a right to transfer or sell. + +Another reason why prescription cannot be adduced in favor of property +(a reason borrowed from jurisprudence) is that the right to possess +real estate is a part of a universal right which has never been totally +destroyed even at the most critical periods; and the proletaire, in +order to regain the power to exercise it fully, has only to prove that +he has always exercised it in part. + +He, for example, who has the universal right to possess, give, exchange, +loan, let, sell, transform, or destroy a thing, preserves the integrity +of this right by the sole act of loaning, though he has never shown his +authority in any other manner. Likewise we shall see that EQUALITY OF +POSSESSIONS, EQUALITY OF RIGHTS, LIBERTY, WILL, PERSONALITY, are so +many identical expressions of one and the same idea,--the RIGHT OF +PRESERVATION and DEVELOPMENT; in a word, the right of life, against +which there can be no prescription until the human race has vanished +from the face of the earth. + +Finally, as to the time required for prescription, it would be +superfluous to show that the right of property in general cannot be +acquired by simple possession for ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand, +or one hundred thousand years; and that, so long as there exists a human +head capable of understanding and combating the right of property, this +right will never be prescribed. For principles of jurisprudence and +axioms of reason are different from accidental and contingent facts. +One man's possession can prescribe against another man's possession; but +just as the possessor cannot prescribe against himself, so reason has +always the faculty of change and reformation. Past error is not binding +on the future. Reason is always the same eternal force. The institution +of property, the work of ignorant reason, may be abrogated by a more +enlightened reason. Consequently, property cannot be established by +prescription. This is so certain and so true, that on it rests the +maxim that in the matter of prescription a violation of right goes for +nothing. + +But I should be recreant to my method, and the reader would have the +right to accuse me of charlatanism and bad faith, if I had nothing +further to advance concerning prescription. I showed, in the first +place, that appropriation of land is illegal; and that, supposing it to +be legal, it must be accompanied by equality of property. I have shown, +in the second place, that universal consent proves nothing in favor +of property; and that, if it proves any thing, it proves equality of +property. I have yet to show that prescription, if admissible at all, +presupposes equality of property. + +This demonstration will be neither long nor difficult. I need only to +call attention to the reasons why prescription was introduced. + + +"Prescription," says Dunod, "seems repugnant to natural equity, which +permits no one either to deprive another of his possessions without his +knowledge and consent, or to enrich himself at another's expense. But as +it might often happen, in the absence of prescription, that one who had +honestly earned would be ousted after long possession; and even that +he who had received a thing from its rightful owner, or who had been +legitimately relieved from all obligations, would, on losing his title, +be liable to be dispossessed or subjected again,--the public welfare +demanded that a term should be fixed, after the expiration of which no +one should be allowed to disturb actual possessors, or reassert rights +too long neglected.... The civil law, in regulating prescription, has +aimed, then, only to perfect natural law, and to supplement the law of +nations; and as it is founded on the public good, which should always be +considered before individual welfare,--_bono publico usucapio introducta +est_,--it should be regarded with favor, provided the conditions +required by the law are fulfilled." + +Toullier, in his "Civil Law," says: "In order that the question of +proprietorship may not remain too long unsettled, and thereby injure the +public welfare, disturbing the peace of families and the stability of +social transactions, the law has fixed a time when all claims shall be +cancelled, and possession shall regain its ancient prerogative through +its transformation into property." + + +Cassiodorus said of property, that it was the only safe harbor in +which to seek shelter from the tempests of chicanery and the gales of +avarice--_Hic unus inter humanas pro cellas portus, quem si homines +fervida voluntate praeterierint; in undosis semper jurgiis errabunt_. + +Thus, in the opinion of the authors, prescription is a means of +preserving public order; a restoration in certain cases of the original +mode of acquiring property; a fiction of the civil law which derives +all its force from the necessity of settling differences which otherwise +would never end. For, as Grotius says, time has no power to produce +effects; all things happen in time, but nothing is done by time. +Prescription, or the right of acquisition through the lapse of time, is, +therefore, a fiction of the law, conventionally adopted. + +But all property necessarily originated in prescription, or, as the +Latins say, in _usucapion;_ that is, in continued possession. + +I ask, then, in the first place, how possession can become property by +the lapse of time? Continue possession as long as you wish, continue +it for years and for centuries, you never can give duration--which of +itself creates nothing, changes nothing, modifies nothing--the power +to change the usufructuary into a proprietor. Let the civil law secure +against chance-comers the honest possessor who has held his position +for many years,--that only confirms a right already respected; and +prescription, applied in this way, simply means that possession which +has continued for twenty, thirty, or a hundred years shall be retained +by the occupant. But when the law declares that the lapse of time +changes possessor into proprietor, it supposes that a right can be +created without a producing cause; it unwarrantably alters the character +of the subject; it legislates on a matter not open to legislation; it +exceeds its own powers. Public order and private security ask only +that possession shall be protected. Why has the law created property? +Prescription was simply security for the future; why has the law made it +a matter of privilege? + +Thus the origin of prescription is identical with that of property +itself; and since the latter can legitimate itself only when accompanied +by equality, prescription is but another of the thousand forms which the +necessity of maintaining this precious equality has taken. And this is +no vain induction, no far-fetched inference. The proof is written in all +the codes. + +And, indeed, if all nations, through their instinct of justice and their +conservative nature, have recognized the utility and the necessity +of prescription; and if their design has been to guard thereby the +interests of the possessor,--could they not do something for the absent +citizen, separated from his family and his country by commerce, war, or +captivity, and in no position to exercise his right of possession? No. +Also, at the same time that prescription was introduced into the laws, +it was admitted that property is preserved by intent alone,--_nudo +animo_. Now, if property is preserved by intent alone, if it can be +lost only by the action of the proprietor, what can be the use of +prescription? How does the law dare to presume that the proprietor, who +preserves by intent alone, intended to abandon that which he has allowed +to be prescribed? What lapse of time can warrant such a conjecture; +and by what right does the law punish the absence of the proprietor by +depriving him of his goods? What then! we found but a moment since that +prescription and property were identical; and now we find that they are +mutually destructive! + +Grotius, who perceived this difficulty, replied so singularly that his +words deserve to be quoted: _Bene sperandum de hominibus, ac propterea +non putandum eos hoc esse animo ut, rei caducae causa, hominem alterum +velint in perpetuo peccato versari, quo d evitari saepe non poterit sine +tali derelictione_. + +"Where is the man," he says, "with so unchristian a soul that, for a +trifle, he would perpetuate the trespass of a possessor, which would +inevitably be the result if he did not consent to abandon his right?" By +the Eternal! I am that man. Though a million proprietors should burn for +it in hell, I lay the blame on them for depriving me of my portion of +this world's goods. To this powerful consideration Grotius rejoins, that +it is better to abandon a disputed right than to go to law, disturb the +peace of nations, and stir up the flames of civil war. I accept, if you +wish it, this argument, provided you indemnify me. But if this indemnity +is refused me, what do I, a proletaire, care for the tranquillity and +security of the rich? I care as little for PUBLIC ORDER as for the +proprietor's safety. I ask to live a laborer; otherwise I will die a +warrior. + +Whichever way we turn, we shall come to the conclusion that prescription +is a contradiction of property; or rather that prescription and property +are two forms of the same principle, but two forms which serve to +correct each other; and ancient and modern jurisprudence did not make +the least of its blunders in pretending to reconcile them. Indeed, if +we see in the institution of property only a desire to secure to +each individual his share of the soil and his right to labor; in the +distinction between naked property and possession only an asylum for +absentees, orphans, and all who do not know, or cannot maintain, their +rights; in prescription only a means, either of defence against unjust +pretensions and encroachments, or of settlement of the differences +caused by the removal of possessors,--we shall recognize in these +various forms of human justice the spontaneous efforts of the mind to +come to the aid of the social instinct; we shall see in this protection +of all rights the sentiment of equality, a constant levelling tendency. +And, looking deeper, we shall find in the very exaggeration of these +principles the confirmation of our doctrine; because, if equality of +conditions and universal association are not soon realized, it will be +owing to the obstacle thrown for the time in the way of the common sense +of the people by the stupidity of legislators and judges; and also to +the fact that, while society in its original state was illuminated with +a flash of truth, the early speculations of its leaders could bring +forth nothing but darkness. + +After the first covenants, after the first draughts of laws and +constitutions, which were the expression of man's primary needs, the +legislator's duty was to reform the errors of legislation; to complete +that which was defective; to harmonize, by superior definitions, those +things which seemed to conflict. Instead of that, they halted at the +literal meaning of the laws, content to play the subordinate part of +commentators and scholiasts. Taking the inspirations of the human mind, +at that time necessarily weak and faulty, for axioms of eternal and +unquestionable truth,--influenced by public opinion, enslaved by the +popular religion,--they have invariably started with the principle +(following in this respect the example of the theologians) that that is +infallibly true which has been admitted by all persons, in all places, +and at all times--_quod ab omnibus, quod ubique, quod semper;_ as if a +general but spontaneous opinion was any thing more than an indication of +the truth. Let us not be deceived: the opinion of all nations may serve +to authenticate the perception of a fact, the vague sentiment of a law; +it can teach us nothing about either fact or law. The consent of mankind +is an indication of Nature; not, as Cicero says, a law of Nature. Under +the indication is hidden the truth, which faith can believe, but only +thought can know. Such has been the constant progress of the human mind +in regard to physical phenomena and the creations of genius: how can +it be otherwise with the facts of conscience and the rules of human +conduct? + + + +% 4.--Labor--That Labor Has No Inherent Power to Appropriate Natural +Wealth. + + +We shall show by the maxims of political economy and law, that is, by +the authorities recognized by property,-- + +1. That labor has no inherent power to appropriate natural wealth. + +2. That, if we admit that labor has this power, we are led directly to +equality of property,--whatever the kind of labor, however scarce the +product, or unequal the ability of the laborers. + +3. That, in the order of justice, labor DESTROYS property. + +Following the example of our opponents, and that we may leave no +obstacles in the path, let us examine the question in the strongest +possible light. + +M. Ch. Comte says, in his "Treatise on Property:"-- + + +"France, considered as a nation, has a territory which is her own." + + +France, as an individuality, possesses a territory which she cultivates; +it is not her property. Nations are related to each other as individuals +are: they are commoners and workers; it is an abuse of language to call +them proprietors. The right of use and abuse belongs no more to nations +than to men; and the time will come when a war waged for the purpose of +checking a nation in its abuse of the soil will be regarded as a holy +war. + +Thus, M. Ch. Comte--who undertakes to explain how property comes into +existence, and who starts with the supposition that a nation is a +proprietor--falls into that error known as BEGGING THE QUESTION; a +mistake which vitiates his whole argument. + +If the reader thinks it is pushing logic too far to question a nation's +right of property in the territory which it possesses, I will simply +remind him of the fact that at all ages the results of the fictitious +right of national property have been pretensions to suzerainty, +tributes, monarchical privileges, statute-labor, quotas of men and +money, supplies of merchandise, &c.; ending finally in refusals to pay +taxes, insurrections, wars, and depopulations. + + +"Scattered through this territory are extended tracts of land, which +have not been converted into individual property. These lands, which +consist mainly of forests, belong to the whole population, and the +government, which receives the revenues, uses or ought to use them in +the interest of all." + +OUGHT TO USE is well said: a lie is avoided thereby. + +"Let them be offered for sale...." + + +Why offered for sale? Who has a right to sell them? Even were the nation +proprietor, can the generation of to-day dispossess the generation of +to-morrow? The nation, in its function of usufructuary, possesses +them; the government rules, superintends, and protects them. If it also +granted lands, it could grant only their use; it has no right to sell +them or transfer them in any way whatever. Not being a proprietor, how +can it transmit property? + + +"Suppose some industrious man buys a portion, a large swamp for example. +This would be no usurpation, since the public would receive the exact +value through the hands of the government, and would be as rich after +the sale as before." + + +How ridiculous! What! because a prodigal, imprudent, incompetent +official sells the State's possessions, while I, a ward of the State,--I +who have neither an advisory nor a deliberative voice in the State +councils,--while I am allowed to make no opposition to the sale, +this sale is right and legal! The guardians of the nation waste its +substance, and it has no redress! I have received, you tell me, through +the hands of the government my share of the proceeds of the sale: but, +in the first place, I did not wish to sell; and, had I wished to, I +could not have sold. I had not the right. And then I do not see that I +am benefited by the sale. My guardians have dressed up some soldiers, +repaired an old fortress, erected in their pride some costly but +worthless monument,--then they have exploded some fireworks and set up a +greased pole! What does all that amount to in comparison with my loss? + +The purchaser draws boundaries, fences himself in, and says, "This is +mine; each one by himself, each one for himself." Here, then, is a piece +of land upon which, henceforth, no one has a right to step, save +the proprietor and his friends; which can benefit nobody, save the +proprietor and his servants. Let these sales multiply, and soon the +people--who have been neither able nor willing to sell, and who have +received none of the proceeds of the sale--will have nowhere to rest, +no place of shelter, no ground to till. They will die of hunger at +the proprietor's door, on the edge of that property which was their +birthright; and the proprietor, watching them die, will exclaim, "So +perish idlers and vagrants!" + +To reconcile us to the proprietor's usurpation, M. Ch. Comte assumes the +lands to be of little value at the time of sale. + + +"The importance of these usurpations should not be exaggerated: they +should be measured by the number of men which the occupied land would +support, and by the means which it would furnish them. + +"It is evident, for instance, that if a piece of land which is worth +to-day one thousand francs was worth only five centimes when it was +usurped, we really lose only the value of five centimes. A square league +of earth would be hardly sufficient to support a savage in distress; +to-day it supplies one thousand persons with the means of existence. +Nine hundred and ninety-nine parts of this land is the legitimate +property of the possessors; only one-thousandth of the value has been +usurped." + + +A peasant admitted one day, at confession, that he had destroyed a +document which declared him a debtor to the amount of three hundred +francs. Said the father confessor, "You must return these three hundred +francs." "No," replied the peasant, "I will return a penny to pay for +the paper." + +M. Ch. Comte's logic resembles this peasant's honesty. The soil has not +only an integrant and actual value, it has also a potential value,--a +value of the future,--which depends on our ability to make it valuable, +and to employ it in our work. Destroy a bill of exchange, a promissory +note, an annuity deed,--as a paper you destroy almost no value at all; +but with this paper you destroy your title, and, in losing your title, +you deprive yourself of your goods. Destroy the land, or, what is the +same thing, sell it,--you not only transfer one, two, or several crops, +but you annihilate all the products that you could derive from it; you +and your children and your children's children. + +When M. Ch. Comte, the apostle of property and the eulogist of labor, +supposes an alienation of the soil on the part of the government, we +must not think that he does so without reason and for no purpose; it +is a necessary part of his position. As he rejected the theory of +occupancy, and as he knew, moreover, that labor could not constitute the +right in the absence of a previous permission to occupy, he was obliged +to connect this permission with the authority of the government, which +means that property is based upon the sovereignty of the people; +in other words, upon universal consent. This theory we have already +considered. + +To say that property is the daughter of labor, and then to give labor +material on which to exercise itself, is, if I am not mistaken, to +reason in a circle. Contradictions will result from it. + + +"A piece of land of a certain size produces food enough to supply a man +for one day. If the possessor, through his labor, discovers some method +of making it produce enough for two days, he doubles its value. This +new value is his work, his creation: it is taken from nobody; it is his +property." + + +I maintain that the possessor is paid for his trouble and industry in +his doubled crop, but that he acquires no right to the land. "Let +the laborer have the fruits of his labor." Very good; but I do not +understand that property in products carries with it property in raw +material. Does the skill of the fisherman, who on the same coast +can catch more fish than his fellows, make him proprietor of the +fishing-grounds? Can the expertness of a hunter ever be regarded as +a property-title to a game-forest? The analogy is perfect,--the +industrious cultivator finds the reward of his industry in the abundancy +and superiority of his crop. If he has made improvements in the soil, he +has the possessor's right of preference. Never, under any circumstances, +can he be allowed to claim a property-title to the soil which he +cultivates, on the ground of his skill as a cultivator. + +To change possession into property, something is needed besides labor, +without which a man would cease to be proprietor as soon as he ceased +to be a laborer. Now, the law bases property upon immemorial, +unquestionable possession; that is, prescription. Labor is only the +sensible sign, the physical act, by which occupation is manifested. If, +then, the cultivator remains proprietor after he has ceased to labor +and produce; if his possession, first conceded, then tolerated, finally +becomes inalienable,--it happens by permission of the civil law, and by +virtue of the principle of occupancy. So true is this, that there is not +a bill of sale, not a farm lease, not an annuity, but implies it. I will +quote only one example. + +How do we measure the value of land? By its product. If a piece of land +yields one thousand francs, we say that at five per cent. it is worth +twenty thousand francs; at four per cent. twenty-five thousand francs, +&c.; which means, in other words, that in twenty or twenty-five years' +time the purchaser would recover in full the amount originally paid for +the land. If, then, after a certain length of time, the price of a piece +of land has been wholly recovered, why does the purchaser continue to be +proprietor? Because of the right of occupancy, in the absence of which +every sale would be a redemption. + +The theory of appropriation by labor is, then, a contradiction of the +Code; and when the partisans of this theory pretend to explain the laws +thereby, they contradict themselves. + + +"If men succeed in fertilizing land hitherto unproductive, or even +death-producing, like certain swamps, they create thereby property in +all its completeness." + + +What good does it do to magnify an expression, and play with +equivocations, as if we expected to change the reality thereby? THEY +CREATE PROPERTY IN ALL ITS COMPLETENESS. You mean that they create a +productive capacity which formerly did not exist; but this capacity +cannot be created without material to support it. The substance of the +soil remains the same; only its qualities and modifications are changed. +Man has created every thing--every thing save the material itself. Now, +I maintain that this material he can only possess and use, on condition +of permanent labor,--granting, for the time being, his right of property +in things which he has produced. + +This, then, is the first point settled: property in product, if we grant +so much, does not carry with it property in the means of production; +that seems to me to need no further demonstration. There is no +difference between the soldier who possesses his arms, the mason +who possesses the materials committed to his care, the fisherman who +possesses the water, the hunter who possesses the fields and forests, +and the cultivator who possesses the lands: all, if you say so, are +proprietors of their products--not one is proprietor of the means of +production. The right to product is exclusive--jus in re; the right to +means is common--jus ad rem. + + + +% 5.--That Labor leads to Equality of Property. + +Admit, however, that labor gives a right of property in material. + +Why is not this principle universal? Why is the benefit of this +pretended law confined to a few and denied to the mass of laborers? +A philosopher, arguing that all animals sprang up formerly out of the +earth warmed by the rays of the sun, almost like mushrooms, on being +asked why the earth no longer yielded crops of that nature, replied: +"Because it is old, and has lost its fertility." Has labor, once so +fecund, likewise become sterile? Why does the tenant no longer acquire +through his labor the land which was formerly acquired by the labor of +the proprietor? + +"Because," they say, "it is already appropriated." That is no answer. A +farm yields fifty bushels per hectare; the skill and labor of the tenant +double this product: the increase is created by the tenant. Suppose the +owner, in a spirit of moderation rarely met with, does not go to the +extent of absorbing this product by raising the rent, but allows the +cultivator to enjoy the results of his labor; even then justice is not +satisfied. The tenant, by improving the land, has imparted a new value +to the property; he, therefore, has a right to a part of the property. +If the farm was originally worth one hundred thousand francs, and if +by the labor of the tenant its value has risen to one hundred and fifty +thousand francs, the tenant, who produced this extra value, is the +legitimate proprietor of one-third of the farm. M. Ch. Comte could not +have pronounced this doctrine false, for it was he who said:-- + + +"Men who increase the fertility of the earth are no less useful to their +fellow-men, than if they should create new land." + + +Why, then, is not this rule applicable to the man who improves the land, +as well as to him who clears it? The labor of the former makes the land +worth one; that of the latter makes it worth two: both create equal +values. Why not accord to both equal property? I defy any one to +refute this argument, without again falling back on the right of first +occupancy. + +"But," it will be said, "even if your wish should be granted, property +would not be distributed much more evenly than now. Land does not go on +increasing in value for ever; after two or three seasons it attains its +maximum fertility. That which is added by the agricultural art results +rather from the progress of science and the diffusion of knowledge, than +from the skill of the cultivator. Consequently, the addition of a +few laborers to the mass of proprietors would be no argument against +property." + +This discussion would, indeed, prove a well-nigh useless one, if our +labors culminated in simply extending land-privilege and industrial +monopoly; in emancipating only a few hundred laborers out of the +millions of proletaires. But this also is a misconception of our real +thought, and does but prove the general lack of intelligence and logic. + +If the laborer, who adds to the value of a thing, has a right of +property in it, he who maintains this value acquires the same right. +For what is maintenance? It is incessant addition,--continuous creation. +What is it to cultivate? It is to give the soil its value every year; +it is, by annually renewed creation, to prevent the diminution or +destruction of the value of a piece of land. Admitting, then, that +property is rational and legitimate,--admitting that rent is equitable +and just,--I say that he who cultivates acquires property by as good a +title as he who clears, or he who improves; and that every time a tenant +pays his rent, he obtains a fraction of property in the land entrusted +to his care, the denominator of which is equal to the proportion of rent +paid. Unless you admit this, you fall into absolutism and tyranny; you +recognize class privileges; you sanction slavery. + +Whoever labors becomes a proprietor--this is an inevitable deduction +from the acknowledged principles of political economy and jurisprudence. +And when I say proprietor, I do not mean simply (as do our hypocritical +economists) proprietor of his allowance, his salary, his wages,--I mean +proprietor of the value which he creates, and by which the master alone +profits. + +As all this relates to the theory of wages and of the distribution of +products,--and as this matter never has been even partially cleared +up,--I ask permission to insist on it: this discussion will not +be useless to the work in hand. Many persons talk of admitting +working-people to a share in the products and profits; but in +their minds this participation is pure benevolence: they have never +shown--perhaps never suspected--that it was a natural, necessary right, +inherent in labor, and inseparable from the function of producer, even +in the lowest forms of his work. + +This is my proposition: THE LABORER RETAINS, EVEN AFTER HE HAS RECEIVED +HIS WAGES, A NATURAL RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN THE THING WHICH HE HAS +PRODUCED. + +I again quote M. Ch. Comte:-- + +"Some laborers are employed in draining marshes, in cutting down trees +and brushwood,--in a word, in cleaning up the soil. They increase the +value, they make the amount of property larger; they are paid for +the value which they add in the form of food and daily wages: it then +becomes the property of the capitalist." + + +The price is not sufficient: the labor of the workers has created a +value; now this value is their property. But they have neither sold +nor exchanged it; and you, capitalist, you have not earned it. That you +should have a partial right to the whole, in return for the materials +that you have furnished and the provisions that you have supplied, is +perfectly just. You contributed to the production, you ought to share in +the enjoyment. But your right does not annihilate that of the laborers, +who, in spite of you, have been your colleagues in the work of +production. Why do you talk of wages? The money with which you pay +the wages of the laborers remunerates them for only a few years of the +perpetual possession which they have abandoned to you. Wages is the cost +of the daily maintenance and refreshment of the laborer. You are wrong +in calling it the price of a sale. The workingman has sold nothing; he +knows neither his right, nor the extent of the concession which he has +made to you, nor the meaning of the contract which you pretend to +have made with him. On his side, utter ignorance; on yours, error and +surprise, not to say deceit and fraud. + +Let us make this clearer by another and more striking example. + +No one is ignorant of the difficulties that are met with in the +conversion of untilled land into arable and productive land. These +difficulties are so great, that usually an isolated man would perish +before he could put the soil in a condition to yield him even the most +meagre living. To that end are needed the united and combined efforts of +society, and all the resources of industry. M. Ch. Comte quotes on this +subject numerous and well-authenticated facts, little thinking that he +is amassing testimony against his own system. + +Let us suppose that a colony of twenty or thirty families establishes +itself in a wild district, covered with underbrush and forests; and from +which, by agreement, the natives consent to withdraw. Each one of these +families possesses a moderate but sufficient amount of capital, of such +a nature as a colonist would be apt to choose,--animals, seeds, tools, +and a little money and food. The land having been divided, each one +settles himself as comfortably as possible, and begins to clear away the +portion allotted to him. But after a few weeks of fatigue, such as they +never before have known, of inconceivable suffering, of ruinous and +almost useless labor, our colonists begin to complain of their trade; +their condition seems hard to them; they curse their sad existence. + +Suddenly, one of the shrewdest among them kills a pig, cures a part of +the meat; and, resolved to sacrifice the rest of his provisions, goes to +find his companions in misery. "Friends," he begins in a very benevolent +tone, "how much trouble it costs you to do a little work and live +uncomfortably! A fortnight of labor has reduced you to your last +extremity!... Let us make an arrangement by which you shall all profit. +I offer you provisions and wine: you shall get so much every day; +we will work together, and, zounds! my friends, we will be happy and +contented!" + +Would it be possible for empty stomachs to resist such an invitation? +The hungriest of them follow the treacherous tempter. They go to work; +the charm of society, emulation, joy, and mutual assistance double their +strength; the work can be seen to advance. Singing and laughing, they +subdue Nature. In a short time, the soil is thoroughly changed; the +mellowed earth waits only for the seed. That done, the proprietor pays +his laborers, who, on going away, return him their thanks, and grieve +that the happy days which they have spent with him are over. + +Others follow this example, always with the same success. Then, these +installed, the rest disperse,--each one returns to his grubbing. But, +while grubbing, it is necessary to live. While they have been clearing +away for their neighbor, they have done no clearing for themselves. One +year's seed-time and harvest is already gone. They had calculated that +in lending their labor they could not but gain, since they would save +their own provisions; and, while living better, would get still more +money. False calculation! they have created for another the means +wherewith to produce, and have created nothing for themselves. The +difficulties of clearing remain the same; their clothing wears out, +their provisions give out; soon their purse becomes empty for the profit +of the individual for whom they have worked, and who alone can furnish +the provisions which they need, since he alone is in a position to +produce them. Then, when the poor grubber has exhausted his resources, +the man with the provisions (like the wolf in the fable, who scents his +victim from afar) again comes forward. One he offers to employ again by +the day; from another he offers to buy at a favorable price a piece of +his bad land, which is not, and never can be, of any use to him: that +is, he uses the labor of one man to cultivate the field of another +for his own benefit. So that at the end of twenty years, of thirty +individuals originally equal in point of wealth, five or six have +become proprietors of the whole district, while the rest have been +philanthropically dispossessed! + +In this century of bourgeoisie morality, in which I have had the honor +to be born, the moral sense is so debased that I should not be at all +surprised if I were asked, by many a worthy proprietor, what I see +in this that is unjust and illegitimate? Debased creature! galvanized +corpse! how can I expect to convince you, if you cannot tell robbery +when I show it to you? A man, by soft and insinuating words, discovers +the secret of taxing others that he may establish himself; then, once +enriched by their united efforts, he refuses, on the very conditions +which he himself dictated, to advance the well-being of those who made +his fortune for him: and you ask how such conduct is fraudulent! Under +the pretext that he has paid his laborers, that he owes them nothing +more, that he has nothing to gain by putting himself at the service of +others, while his own occupations claim his attention,--he refuses, I +say, to aid others in getting a foothold, as he was aided in getting his +own; and when, in the impotence of their isolation, these poor laborers +are compelled to sell their birthright, he--this ungrateful proprietor, +this knavish upstart--stands ready to put the finishing touch to their +deprivation and their ruin. And you think that just? Take care! + +I read in your startled countenance the reproach of a guilty conscience, +much more clearly than the innocent astonishment of involuntary +ignorance. + +"The capitalist," they say, "has paid the laborers their DAILY WAGES." +To be accurate, it must be said that the capitalist has paid as many +times one day's wage as he has employed laborers each day,--which is not +at all the same thing. For he has paid nothing for that immense +power which results from the union and harmony of laborers, and +the convergence and simultaneousness of their efforts. Two hundred +grenadiers stood the obelisk of Luxor upon its base in a few hours; do +you suppose that one man could have accomplished the same task in two +hundred days? Nevertheless, on the books of the capitalist, the amount +of wages paid would have been the same. Well, a desert to prepare for +cultivation, a house to build, a factory to run,--all these are +obelisks to erect, mountains to move. The smallest fortune, the most +insignificant establishment, the setting in motion of the lowest +industry, demand the concurrence of so many different kinds of labor and +skill, that one man could not possibly execute the whole of them. It +is astonishing that the economists never have called attention to this +fact. Strike a balance, then, between the capitalist's receipts and his +payments. + +The laborer needs a salary which will enable him to live while he works; +for unless he consumes, he cannot produce. Whoever employs a man owes +him maintenance and support, or wages enough to procure the same. +That is the first thing to be done in all production. I admit, for the +moment, that in this respect the capitalist has discharged his duty. + +It is necessary that the laborer should find in his production, in +addition to his present support, a guarantee of his future support; +otherwise the source of production would dry up, and his productive +capacity would become exhausted: in other words, the labor accomplished +must give birth perpetually to new labor--such is the universal law of +reproduction. In this way, the proprietor of a farm finds: 1. In his +crops, means, not only of supporting himself and his family, but of +maintaining and improving his capital, of feeding his live-stock--in a +word, means of new labor and continual reproduction; 2. In his ownership +of a productive agency, a permanent basis of cultivation and labor. + +But he who lends his services,--what is his basis of cultivation? + +The proprietor's presumed need of him, and the unwarranted supposition +that he wishes to employ him. Just as the commoner once held his land by +the munificence and condescension of the lord, so to-day the working-man +holds his labor by the condescension and necessities of the master +and proprietor: that is what is called possession by a precarious [15] +title. But this precarious condition is an injustice, for it implies +an inequality in the bargain. The laborer's wages exceed but little his +running expenses, and do not assure him wages for to-morrow; while the +capitalist finds in the instrument produced by the laborer a pledge of +independence and security for the future. + + +Now, this reproductive leaven--this eternal germ of life, +this preparation of the land and manufacture of implements for +production--constitutes the debt of the capitalist to the producer, +which he never pays; and it is this fraudulent denial which causes the +poverty of the laborer, the luxury of idleness, and the inequality of +conditions. This it is, above all other things, which has been so fitly +named the exploitation of man by man. + +One of three things must be done. Either the laborer must be given a +portion of the product in addition to his wages; or the employer must +render the laborer an equivalent in productive service; or else he +must pledge himself to employ him for ever. Division of the product, +reciprocity of service, or guarantee of perpetual labor,--from the +adoption of one of these courses the capitalist cannot escape. But it +is evident that he cannot satisfy the second and third of these +conditions--he can neither put himself at the service of the thousands +of working-men, who, directly or indirectly, have aided him in +establishing himself, nor employ them all for ever. He has no other +course left him, then, but a division of the property. But if the +property is divided, all conditions will be equal--there will be no more +large capitalists or large proprietors. + +Consequently, when M. Ch. Comte--following out his hypothesis--shows +us his capitalist acquiring one after another the products of his +employees' labor, he sinks deeper and deeper into the mire; and, as his +argument does not change, our reply of course remains the same. + + +"Other laborers are employed in building: some quarry the stone, others +transport it, others cut it, and still others put it in place. Each +of them adds a certain value to the material which passes through his +hands; and this value, the product of his labor, is his property. He +sells it, as fast as he creates it, to the proprietor of the building, +who pays him for it in food and wages." + + +_Divide et impera_--divide, and you shall command; divide, and you +shall grow rich; divide, and you shall deceive men, you shall daze their +minds, you shall mock at justice! Separate laborers from each other, +perhaps each one's daily wage exceeds the value of each individual's +product; but that is not the question under consideration. A force of +one thousand men working twenty days has been paid the same wages that +one would be paid for working fifty-five years; but this force of +one thousand has done in twenty days what a single man could not have +accomplished, though he had labored for a million centuries. Is the +exchange an equitable one? Once more, no; when you have paid all the +individual forces, the collective force still remains to be paid. + +Consequently, there remains always a right of collective property which +you have not acquired, and which you enjoy unjustly. + +Admit that twenty days' wages suffice to feed, lodge, and clothe this +multitude for twenty days: thrown out of employment at the end of that +time, what will become of them, if, as fast as they create, they abandon +their creations to the proprietors who will soon discharge them? While +the proprietor, firm in his position (thanks to the aid of all the +laborers), dwells in security, and fears no lack of labor or bread, +the laborer's only dependence is upon the benevolence of this same +proprietor, to whom he has sold and surrendered his liberty. If, then, +the proprietor, shielding himself behind his comfort and his rights, +refuses to employ the laborer, how can the laborer live? He has ploughed +an excellent field, and cannot sow it; he has built an elegant and +commodious house, and cannot live in it; he has produced all, and can +enjoy nothing. + +Labor leads us to equality. Every step that we take brings us nearer to +it; and if laborers had equal strength, diligence, and industry, clearly +their fortunes would be equal also. Indeed, if, as is pretended,--and +as we have admitted,--the laborer is proprietor of the value which he +creates, it follows:-- + +1. That the laborer acquires at the expense of the idle proprietor; + +2. That all production being necessarily collective, the laborer is +entitled to a share of the products and profits commensurate with his +labor; + +3. That all accumulated capital being social property, no one can be its +exclusive proprietor. + +These inferences are unavoidable; these alone would suffice to +revolutionize our whole economical system, and change our institutions +and our laws. Why do the very persons, who laid down this principle, now +refuse to be guided by it? Why do the Says, the Comtes, the Hennequins, +and others--after having said that property is born of labor--seek to +fix it by occupation and prescription? + +But let us leave these sophists to their contradictions and blindness. +The good sense of the people will do justice to their equivocations. +Let us make haste to enlighten it, and show it the true path. Equality +approaches; already between it and us but a short distance intervenes: +to-morrow even this distance will have been traversed. + + + +% 6.--That in Society all Wages are Equal. + +When the St. Simonians, the Fourierists, and, in general, all who in our +day are connected with social economy and reform, inscribe upon their +banner,-- + + +"TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS CAPACITY, TO EACH CAPACITY ACCORDING TO ITS +RESULTS" (St. Simon); + +"TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS CAPITAL, HIS LABOR, AND HIS SKILL" +(Fourier),-- + +they mean--although they do not say so in so many words--that the +products of Nature procured by labor and industry are a reward, a palm, +a crown offered to all kinds of preeminence and superiority. They regard +the land as an immense arena in which prizes are contended for,--no +longer, it is true, with lances and swords, by force and by treachery; +but by acquired wealth, by knowledge, talent, and by virtue itself. In +a word, they mean--and everybody agrees with them--that the greatest +capacity is entitled to the greatest reward; and, to use the +mercantile phraseology,--which has, at least, the merit of being +straightforward,--that salaries must be governed by capacity and its +results. + +The disciples of these two self-styled reformers cannot deny that such +is their thought; for, in doing so, they would contradict their +official interpretations, and would destroy the unity of their systems. +Furthermore, such a denial on their part is not to be feared. The +two sects glory in laying down as a principle inequality of +conditions,--reasoning from Nature, who, they say, intended the +inequality of capacities. They boast only of one thing; namely, that +their political system is so perfect, that the social inequalities +always correspond with the natural inequalities. They no more trouble +themselves to inquire whether inequality of conditions--I mean of +salaries--is possible, than they do to fix a measure of capacity.[1] + +[1] In St. Simon's system, the St.-Simonian priest determines the +capacity of each by virtue of his pontifical infallibility, in imitation +of the Roman Church: in Fourier's, the ranks and merits are decided by +vote, in imitation of the constitutional regime. + +Clearly, the great man is an object of ridicule to the reader; he did +not mean to tell his secret. + + +"To each according to his capacity, to each capacity according to its +results." + +"To each according to his capital, his labor, and his skill." + + +Since the death of St. Simon and Fourier, not one among their numerous +disciples has attempted to give to the public a scientific demonstration +of this grand maxim; and I would wager a hundred to one that no +Fourierist even suspects that this biform aphorism is susceptible of two +interpretations. + + +"To each according to his capacity, to each capacity according to its +results." + +"To each according to his capital, his labor, and his skill." + + +This proposition, taken, as they say, _in sensu obvio_--in the sense +usually attributed to it--is false, absurd, unjust, contradictory, +hostile to liberty, friendly to tyranny, anti-social, and was unluckily +framed under the express influence of the property idea. + +And, first, CAPITAL must be crossed off the list of elements which are +entitled to a reward. The Fourierists--as far as I have been able to +learn from a few of their pamphlets--deny the right of occupancy, and +recognize no basis of property save labor. Starting with a like premise, +they would have seen--had they reasoned upon the matter--that capital is +a source of production to its proprietor only by virtue of the right of +occupancy, and that this production is therefore illegitimate. Indeed, +if labor is the sole basis of property, I cease to be proprietor of my +field as soon as I receive rent for it from another. This we have +shown beyond all cavil. It is the same with all capital; so that to put +capital in an enterprise, is, by the law's decision, to exchange it +for an equivalent sum in products. I will not enter again upon this +now useless discussion, since I propose, in the following chapter, to +exhaust the subject of PRODUCTION BY CAPITAL. + +Thus, capital can be exchanged, but cannot be a source of income. + +LABOR and SKILL remain; or, as St. Simon puts it, RESULTS and +CAPACITIES. I will examine them successively. + +Should wages be governed by labor? In other words, is it just that +he who does the most should get the most? I beg the reader to pay the +closest attention to this point. + +To solve the problem with one stroke, we have only to ask ourselves +the following question: "Is labor a CONDITION or a STRUGGLE?" The reply +seems plain. + +God said to man, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,"--that +is, thou shalt produce thy own bread: with more or less ease, according +to thy skill in directing and combining thy efforts, thou shalt labor. +God did not say, "Thou shalt quarrel with thy neighbor for thy bread;" +but, "Thou shalt labor by the side of thy neighbor, and ye shall dwell +together in harmony." Let us develop the meaning of this law, the +extreme simplicity of which renders it liable to misconstruction. + +In labor, two things must be noticed and distinguished: ASSOCIATION and +AVAILABLE MATERIAL. + +In so far as laborers are associated, they are equal; and it involves a +contradiction to say that one should be paid more than another. For, +as the product of one laborer can be paid for only in the product of +another laborer, if the two products are unequal, the remainder--or the +difference between the greater and the smaller--will not be acquired +by society; and, therefore, not being exchanged, will not affect the +equality of wages. There will result, it is true, in favor of the +stronger laborer a natural inequality, but not a social inequality; no +one having suffered by his strength and productive energy. In a word, +society exchanges only equal products--that is, rewards no labor save +that performed for her benefit; consequently, she pays all laborers +equally: with what they produce outside of her sphere she has no more to +do, than with the difference in their voices and their hair. + +I seem to be positing the principle of inequality: the reverse of this +is the truth. The total amount of labor which can be performed for +society (that is, of labor susceptible of exchange), being, within a +given space, as much greater as the laborers are more numerous, and as +the task assigned to each is less in magnitude,--it follows that natural +inequality neutralizes itself in proportion as association extends, and +as the quantity of consumable values produced thereby increases. So that +in society the only thing which could bring back the inequality of labor +would be the right of occupancy,--the right of property. + +Now, suppose that this daily social task consists in the ploughing, +hoeing, or reaping of two square decameters, and that the average time +required to accomplish it is seven hours: one laborer will finish it in +six hours, another will require eight; the majority, however, will work +seven. But provided each one furnishes the quantity of labor demanded of +him, whatever be the time he employs, they are entitled to equal wages. + +Shall the laborer who is capable of finishing his task in six hours have +the right, on the ground of superior strength and activity, to usurp +the task of the less skilful laborer, and thus rob him of his labor and +bread? Who dares maintain such a proposition? He who finishes before the +others may rest, if he chooses; he may devote himself to useful exercise +and labors for the maintenance of his strength, and the culture of his +mind, and the pleasure of his life. This he can do without injury to any +one: but let him confine himself to services which affect him solely. +Vigor, genius, diligence, and all the personal advantages which result +therefrom, are the work of Nature and, to a certain extent, of the +individual; society awards them the esteem which they merit: but the +wages which it pays them is measured, not by their power, but by their +production. Now, the product of each is limited by the right of all. + +If the soil were infinite in extent, and the amount of available +material were exhaustless, even then we could not accept this maxim,--TO +EACH ACCORDING TO HIS LABOR. And why? Because society, I repeat, +whatever be the number of its subjects, is forced to pay them all the +same wages, since she pays them only in their own products. Only, on the +hypothesis just made, inasmuch as the strong cannot be prevented from +using all their advantages, the inconveniences of natural inequality +would reappear in the very bosom of social equality. But the land, +considering the productive power of its inhabitants and their ability to +multiply, is very limited; further, by the immense variety of products +and the extreme division of labor, the social task is made easy of +accomplishment. Now, through this limitation of things producible, and +through the ease of producing them, the law of absolute equality takes +effect. + +Yes, life is a struggle. But this struggle is not between man and +man--it is between man and Nature; and it is each one's duty to take +his share in it. If, in the struggle, the strong come to the aid of the +weak, their kindness deserves praise and love; but their aid must be +accepted as a free gift,--not imposed by force, nor offered at a +price. All have the same career before them, neither too long nor too +difficult; whoever finishes it finds his reward at the end: it is not +necessary to get there first. + +In printing-offices, where the laborers usually work by the job, the +compositor receives so much per thousand letters set; the pressman so +much per thousand sheets printed. There, as elsewhere, inequalities +of talent and skill are to be found. When there is no prospect of dull +times (for printing and typesetting, like all other trades, sometimes +come to a stand-still), every one is free to work his hardest, and exert +his faculties to the utmost: he who does more gets more; he who does +less gets less. When business slackens, compositors and pressmen divide +up their labor; all monopolists are detested as no better than robbers +or traitors. + +There is a philosophy in the action of these printers, to which +neither economists nor legists have ever risen. If our legislators had +introduced into their codes the principle of distributive justice +which governs printing-offices; if they had observed the popular +instincts,--not for the sake of servile imitation, but in order to +reform and generalize them,--long ere this liberty and equality would +have been established on an immovable basis, and we should not now +be disputing about the right of property and the necessity of social +distinctions. + +It has been calculated that if labor were equally shared by the whole +number of able-bodied individuals, the average working-day of each +individual, in France, would not exceed five hours. This being so, how +can we presume to talk of the inequality of laborers? It is the LABOR of +Robert Macaire that causes inequality. + +The principle, TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS LABOR, interpreted to mean, WHO +WORKS MOST SHOULD RECEIVE MOST, is based, therefore, on two palpable +errors: one, an error in economy, that in the labor of society tasks +must necessarily be unequal; the other, an error in physics, that there +is no limit to the amount of producible things. + +"But," it will be said, "suppose there are some people who wish to +perform only half of their task?"... Is that very embarrassing? Probably +they are satisfied with half of their salary. Paid according to the +labor that they had performed, of what could they complain? and what +injury would they do to others? In this sense, it is fair to apply the +maxim,--TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS RESULTS. It is the law of equality +itself. + +Further, numerous difficulties, relative to the police system and the +organization of industry, might be raised here. I will reply to them all +with this one sentence,--that they must all be solved by the principle +of equality. Thus, some one might observe, "Here is a task which cannot +be postponed without detriment to production. Ought society to suffer +from the negligence of a few? and will she not venture--out of respect +for the right of labor--to assure with her own hands the product which +they refuse her? In such a case, to whom will the salary belong?" + +To society; who will be allowed to perform the labor, either herself, or +through her representatives, but always in such a way that the general +equality shall never be violated, and that only the idler shall be +punished for his idleness. Further, if society may not use excessive +severity towards her lazy members, she has a right, in self-defence, to +guard against abuses. + +But every industry needs--they will add--leaders, instructors, +superintendents, &c. Will these be engaged in the general task? No; +since their task is to lead, instruct, and superintend. But they must be +chosen from the laborers by the laborers themselves, and must fulfil +the conditions of eligibility. It is the same with all public functions, +whether of administration or instruction. + +Then, article first of the universal constitution will be:-- + +"The limited quantity of available material proves the necessity of +dividing the labor among the whole number of laborers. The capacity, +given to all, of accomplishing a social task,--that is, an equal +task,--and the impossibility of paying one laborer save in the products +of another, justify the equality of wages." + + + +% 7.--That Inequality of Powers is the Necessary Condition of Equality +of Fortunes. + +It is objected,--and this objection constitutes the second part of the +St. Simonian, and the third part of the Fourierstic, maxims,-- + +"That all kinds of labor cannot be executed with equal ease. Some +require great superiority of skill and intelligence; and on this +superiority is based the price. The artist, the savant, the poet, the +statesman, are esteemed only because of their excellence; and this +excellence destroys all similitude between them and other men: in the +presence of these heights of science and genius the law of equality +disappears. Now, if equality is not absolute, there is no equality. +From the poet we descend to the novelist; from the sculptor to the +stonecutter; from the architect to the mason; from the chemist to the +cook, &c. Capacities are classified and subdivided into orders, genera, +and species. The extremes of talent are connected by intermediate +talents. Humanity is a vast hierarchy, in which the individual estimates +himself by comparison, and fixes his price by the value placed upon his +product by the public." + +This objection always has seemed a formidable one. It is the +stumbling-block of the economists, as well as of the defenders of +equality. It has led the former into egregious blunders, and has caused +the latter to utter incredible platitudes. Gracchus Babeuf wished all +superiority to be STRINGENTLY REPRESSED, and even PERSECUTED AS A SOCIAL +CALAMITY. To establish his communistic edifice, he lowered all citizens +to the stature of the smallest. Ignorant eclectics have been known to +object to the inequality of knowledge, and I should not be surprised if +some one should yet rebel against the inequality of virtue. Aristotle +was banished, Socrates drank the hemlock, Epaminondas was called to +account, for having proved superior in intelligence and virtue to some +dissolute and foolish demagogues. Such follies will be re-enacted, so +long as the inequality of fortunes justifies a populace, blinded and +oppressed by the wealthy, in fearing the elevation of new tyrants to +power. + +Nothing seems more unnatural than that which we examine too closely, and +often nothing seems less like the truth than the truth itself. On the +other hand, according to J. J. Rousseau, "it takes a great deal of +philosophy to enable us to observe once what we see every day;" and, +according to d'Alembert, "the ordinary truths of life make but little +impression on men, unless their attention is especially called to them." +The father of the school of economists (Say), from whom I borrow these +two quotations, might have profited by them; but he who laughs at the +blind should wear spectacles, and he who notices him is near-sighted. + +Strange! that which has frightened so many minds is not, after all, +an objection to equality--it is the very condition on which equality +exists!... + +Natural inequality the condition of equality of fortunes!... What +a paradox!... I repeat my assertion, that no one may think I have +blundered--inequality of powers is the sine qua non of equality of +fortunes. + +There are two things to be considered in society--FUNCTIONS and +RELATIONS. + +I. FUNCTIONS. Every laborer is supposed to be capable of performing the +task assigned to him; or, to use a common expression, "every workman +must know his trade." The workman equal to his work,--there is an +equation between functionary and function. + +In society, functions are not alike; there must be, then, different +capacities. Further,--certain functions demand greater intelligence +and powers; then there are people of superior mind and talent. For +the performance of work necessarily involves a workman: from the need +springs the idea, and the idea makes the producer. We only know what our +senses long for and our intelligence demands; we have no keen desire +for things of which we cannot conceive, and the greater our powers of +conception, the greater our capabilities of production. + +Thus, functions arising from needs, needs from desires, and desires +from spontaneous perception and imagination, the same intelligence which +imagines can also produce; consequently, no labor is superior to the +laborer. In a word, if the function calls out the functionary, it is +because the functionary exists before the function. + +Let us admire Nature's economy. With regard to these various needs which +she has given us, and which the isolated man cannot satisfy unaided, +Nature has granted to the race a power refused to the individual. This +gives rise to the principle of the DIVISION OF LABOR,--a principle +founded on the SPECIALITY OF VOCATIONS. + +The satisfaction of some needs demands of man continual creation; +while others can, by the labor of a single individual, be satisfied for +millions of men through thousands of centuries. For example, the need of +clothing and food requires perpetual reproduction; while a knowledge +of the system of the universe may be acquired for ever by two or +three highly-gifted men. The perpetual current of rivers supports our +commerce, and runs our machinery; but the sun, alone in the midst of +space, gives light to the whole world. Nature, who might create +Platos and Virgils, Newtons and Cuviers, as she creates husbandmen and +shepherds, does not see fit to do so; choosing rather to proportion the +rarity of genius to the duration of its products, and to balance the +number of capacities by the competency of each one of them. + +I do not inquire here whether the distance which separates one man from +another, in point of talent and intelligence, arises from the deplorable +condition of civilization, nor whether that which is now called the +INEQUALITY OF POWERS would be in an ideal society any thing more than +a DIVERSITY OF POWERS. I take the worst view of the matter; and, that +I may not be accused of tergiversation and evasion of difficulties, I +acknowledge all the inequalities that any one can desire. [16] + + +Certain philosophers, in love with the levelling idea, maintain that all +minds are equal, and that all differences are the result of education. +I am no believer, I confess, in this doctrine; which, even if it were +true, would lead to a result directly opposite to that desired. For, if +capacities are equal, whatever be the degree of their power (as no one +can be coerced), there are functions deemed coarse, low, and degrading, +which deserve higher pay,--a result no less repugnant to equality than +to the principle, TO EACH CAPACITY ACCORDING TO ITS RESULTS. Give me, +on the contrary, a society in which every kind of talent bears a proper +numerical relation to the needs of the society, and which demands from +each producer only that which his special function requires him to +produce; and, without impairing in the least the hierarchy of functions, +I will deduce the equality of fortunes. + +This is my second point. + +II. RELATIONS. In considering the element of labor, I have shown that in +the same class of productive services, the capacity to perform a social +task being possessed by all, no inequality of reward can be based upon +an inequality of individual powers. However, it is but fair to say that +certain capacities seem quite incapable of certain services; so that, if +human industry were entirely confined to one class of products, numerous +incapacities would arise, and, consequently, the greatest social +inequality. But every body sees, without any hint from me, that the +variety of industries avoids this difficulty; so clear is this that +I shall not stop to discuss it. We have only to prove, then, that +functions are equal to each other; just as laborers, who perform the +same function, are equal to each other. + + +Property makes man a eunuch, and then reproaches him for being nothing +but dry wood, a decaying tree. + +Are you astonished that I refuse to genius, to knowledge, to +courage,--in a word, to all the excellences admired by the world,--the +homage of dignities, the distinctions of power and wealth? It is not I +who refuse it: it is economy, it is justice, it is liberty. Liberty! for +the first time in this discussion I appeal to her. Let her rise in her +own defence, and achieve her victory. + +Every transaction ending in an exchange of products or services may be +designated as a COMMERCIAL OPERATION. + +Whoever says commerce, says exchange of equal values; for, if the values +are not equal, and the injured party perceives it, he will not consent +to the exchange, and there will be no commerce. + +Commerce exists only among free men. Transactions may be effected +between other people by violence or fraud, but there is no commerce. + +A free man is one who enjoys the use of his reason and his faculties; +who is neither blinded by passion, nor hindered or driven by oppression, +nor deceived by erroneous opinions. + +So, in every exchange, there is a moral obligation that neither of the +contracting parties shall gain at the expense of the other; that is, +that, to be legitimate and true, commerce must be exempt from all +inequality. This is the first condition of commerce. Its second +condition is, that it be voluntary; that is, that the parties act freely +and openly. + +I define, then, commerce or exchange as an act of society. + +The negro who sells his wife for a knife, his children for some bits +of glass, and finally himself for a bottle of brandy, is not free. The +dealer in human flesh, with whom he negotiates, is not his associate; he +is his enemy. + +The civilized laborer who bakes a loaf that he may eat a slice of bread, +who builds a palace that he may sleep in a stable, who weaves rich +fabrics that he may dress in rags, who produces every thing that he may +dispense with every thing,--is not free. His employer, not becoming +his associate in the exchange of salaries or services which takes place +between them, is his enemy. + +The soldier who serves his country through fear instead of through love +is not free; his comrades and his officers, the ministers or organs of +military justice, are all his enemies. + +The peasant who hires land, the manufacturer who borrows capital, the +tax-payer who pays tolls, duties, patent and license fees, personal and +property taxes, &c., and the deputy who votes for them,--all act +neither intelligently nor freely. Their enemies are the proprietors, the +capitalists, the government. + +Give men liberty, enlighten their minds that they may know the meaning +of their contracts, and you will see the most perfect equality in +exchanges without regard to superiority of talent and knowledge; and +you will admit that in commercial affairs, that is, in the sphere of +society, the word superiority is void of sense. + +Let Homer sing his verse. I listen to this sublime genius in comparison +with whom I, a simple herdsman, an humble farmer, am as nothing. What, +indeed,--if product is to be compared with product,--are my cheeses and +my beans in the presence of his "Iliad"? But, if Homer wishes to take +from me all that I possess, and make me his slave in return for his +inimitable poem, I will give up the pleasure of his lays, and dismiss +him. I can do without his "Iliad," and wait, if necessary, for the +"AEneid." + +Homer cannot live twenty-four hours without my products. Let him accept, +then, the little that I have to offer; and then his muse may instruct, +encourage, and console me. + +"What! do you say that such should be the condition of one who sings of +gods and men? Alms, with the humiliation and suffering which they bring +with them!--what barbarous generosity!"... Do not get excited, I beg +of you. Property makes of a poet either a Croesus or a beggar; only +equality knows how to honor and to praise him. What is its duty? To +regulate the right of the singer and the duty of the listener. Now, +notice this point, which is a very important one in the solution of this +question: both are free, the one to sell, the other to buy. Henceforth +their respective pretensions go for nothing; and the estimate, whether +fair or unfair, that they place, the one upon his verse, the other +upon his liberality, can have no influence upon the conditions of the +contract. We must no longer, in making our bargains, weigh talent; we +must consider products only. + +In order that the bard of Achilles may get his due reward, he must first +make himself wanted: that done, the exchange of his verse for a fee of +any kind, being a free act, must be at the same time a just act; that +is, the poet's fee must be equal to his product. Now, what is the value +of this product? + +Let us suppose, in the first place, that this "Iliad"--this chef-d' +oeuvre that is to be equitably rewarded--is really above price, that we +do not know how to appraise it. If the public, who are free to purchase +it, refuse to do so, it is clear that, the poem being unexchangeable, +its intrinsic value will not be diminished; but that its exchangeable +value, or its productive utility, will be reduced to zero, will be +nothing at all. Then we must seek the amount of wages to be paid between +infinity on the one hand and nothing on the other, at an equal distance +from each, since all rights and liberties are entitled to equal respect; +in other words, it is not the intrinsic value, but the relative value, +of the thing sold that needs to be fixed. The question grows simpler: +what is this relative value? To what reward does a poem like the "Iliad" +entitle its author? + +The first business of political economy, after fixing its definitions, +was the solution of this problem; now, not only has it not been solved, +but it has been declared insoluble. According to the economists, +the relative or exchangeable value of things cannot be absolutely +determined; it necessarily varies. + + +"The value of a thing," says Say, "is a positive quantity, but only for +a given moment. It is its nature to perpetually vary, to change from one +point to another. Nothing can fix it absolutely, because it is based +on needs and means of production which vary with every moment. These +variations complicate economical phenomena, and often render them very +difficult of observation and solution. I know no remedy for this; it is +not in our power to change the nature of things." + + +Elsewhere Say says, and repeats, that value being based on utility, and +utility depending entirely on our needs, whims, customs, &c., value +is as variable as opinion. Now, political economy being the science +of values, of their production, distribution, exchange, and +consumption,--if exchangeable value cannot be absolutely determined, +how is political economy possible? How can it be a science? How can two +economists look each other in the face without laughing? How dare they +insult metaphysicians and psychologists? What! that fool of a Descartes +imagined that philosophy needed an immovable base--an _aliquid +inconcussum_--on which the edifice of science might be built, and he was +simple enough to search for it! And the Hermes of economy, Trismegistus +Say, devoting half a volume to the amplification of that solemn text, +_political economy is a science_, has the courage to affirm immediately +afterwards that this science cannot determine its object,--which is +equivalent to saying that it is without a principle or foundation! He +does not know, then, the illustrious Say, the nature of a science; or +rather, he knows nothing of the subject which he discusses. + +Say's example has borne its fruits. Political economy, as it exists at +present, resembles ontology: discussing effects and causes, it knows +nothing, explains nothing, decides nothing. The ideas honored with the +name of economic laws are nothing more than a few trifling generalities, +to which the economists thought to give an appearance of depth by +clothing them in high-sounding words. As for the attempts that have been +made by the economists to solve social problems, all that can be said +of them is, that, if a glimmer of sense occasionally appears in their +lucubrations, they immediately fall back into absurdity. For twenty-five +years political economy, like a heavy fog, has weighed upon France, +checking the efforts of the mind, and setting limits to liberty. + +Has every creation of industry a venal, absolute, unchangeable, and +consequently legitimate and true value?--Yes. + +Can every product of man be exchanged for some other product of +man?--Yes, again. + +How many nails is a pair of shoes worth? + +If we can solve this appalling problem, we shall have the key of the +social system for which humanity has been searching for six thousand +years. In the presence of this problem, the economist recoils confused; +the peasant who can neither read nor write replies without hesitation: +"As many as can be made in the same time, and with the same expense." + +The absolute value of a thing, then, is its cost in time and expense. +How much is a diamond worth which costs only the labor of picking it +up?--Nothing; it is not a product of man. How much will it be worth when +cut and mounted?--The time and expense which it has cost the laborer. +Why, then, is it sold at so high a price?--Because men are not free. +Society must regulate the exchange and distribution of the rarest +things, as it does that of the most common ones, in such a way that each +may share in the enjoyment of them. What, then, is that value which is +based upon opinion?--Delusion, injustice, and robbery. + +By this rule, it is easy to reconcile every body. If the mean term, +which we are searching for, between an infinite value and no value at +all is expressed in the case of every product, by the amount of time and +expense which the product cost, a poem which has cost its author thirty +years of labor and an outlay of ten thousand francs in journeys, books, +&c., must be paid for by the ordinary wages received by a laborer during +thirty years, PLUS ten thousand francs indemnity for expense incurred. +Suppose the whole amount to be fifty thousand francs; if the society +which gets the benefit of the production include a million of men, my +share of the debt is five centimes. + +This gives rise to a few observations. + +1. The same product, at different times and in different places, may +cost more or less of time and outlay; in this view, it is true that +value is a variable quantity. But this variation is not that of the +economists, who place in their list of the causes of the variation of +values, not only the means of production, but taste, caprice, fashion, +and opinion. In short, the true value of a thing is invariable in its +algebraic expression, although it may vary in its monetary expression. + +2. The price of every product in demand should be its cost in time and +outlay--neither more nor less: every product not in demand is a loss to +the producer--a commercial non-value. + +3. The ignorance of the principle of evaluation, and the difficulty +under many circumstances of applying it, is the source of commercial +fraud, and one of the most potent causes of the inequality of fortunes. + +4. To reward certain industries and pay for certain products, a society +is needed which corresponds in size with the rarity of talents, the +costliness of the products, and the variety of the arts and sciences. +If, for example, a society of fifty farmers can support a schoolmaster, +it requires one hundred for a shoemaker, one hundred and fifty for a +blacksmith, two hundred for a tailor, &c. If the number of farmers rises +to one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, &c., as fast as +their number increases, that of the functionaries which are earliest +required must increase in the same proportion; so that the highest +functions become possible only in the most powerful societies. [17] That +is the peculiar feature of capacities; the character of genius, the seal +of its glory, cannot arise and develop itself, except in the bosom of +a great nation. But this physiological condition, necessary to the +existence of genius, adds nothing to its social rights: far from +that,--the delay in its appearance proves that, in economical and +civil affairs, the loftiest intelligence must submit to the equality +of possessions; an equality which is anterior to it, and of which it +constitutes the crown. + + +This is severe on our pride, but it is an inexorable truth. And here +psychology comes to the aid of social economy, giving us to understand +that talent and material recompense have no common measure; that, in +this respect, the condition of all producers is equal: consequently, +that all comparison between them, and all distinction in fortunes, is +impossible. + +_ _In fact, every work coming from the hands of man--compared with the +raw material of which it is composed--is beyond price. In this respect, +the distance is as great between a pair of wooden shoes and the trunk of +a walnut-tree, as between a statue by Scopas and a block of marble. +The genius of the simplest mechanic exerts as much influence over the +materials which he uses, as does the mind of a Newton over the inert +spheres whose distances, volumes, and revolutions he calculates. You ask +for talent and genius a corresponding degree of honor and reward. Fix +for me the value of a wood-cutter's talent, and I will fix that of +Homer. If any thing can reward intelligence, it is intelligence itself. +That is what happens, when various classes of producers pay to each +other a reciprocal tribute of admiration and praise. But if they +contemplate an exchange of products with a view to satisfying mutual +needs, this exchange must be effected in accordance with a system of +economy which is indifferent to considerations of talent and genius, and +whose laws are deduced, not from vague and meaningless admiration, but +from a just balance between DEBIT and CREDIT; in short, from commercial +accounts. + +Now, that no one may imagine that the liberty of buying and selling +is the sole basis of the equality of wages, and that society's sole +protection against superiority of talent lies in a certain force of +inertia which has nothing in common with right, I shall proceed to +explain why all capacities are entitled to the same reward, and why a +corresponding difference in wages would be an injustice. I shall prove +that the obligation to stoop to the social level is inherent in talent; +and on this very superiority of genius I will found the equality of +fortunes. I have just given the negative argument in favor of rewarding +all capacities alike; I will now give the direct and positive argument. + +Listen, first, to the economist: it is always pleasant to see how he +reasons, and how he understands justice. Without him, moreover, without +his amusing blunders and his wonderful arguments, we should learn +nothing. Equality, so odious to the economist, owes every thing to +political economy. + + +"When the parents of a physician [the text says a lawyer, which is +not so good an example] have expended on his education forty thousand +francs, this sum may be regarded as so much capital invested in his +head. It is therefore permissible to consider it as yielding an annual +income of four thousand francs. If the physician earns thirty thousand, +there remains an income of twenty-six thousand francs due to the +personal talents given him by Nature. This natural capital, then, if we +assume ten per cent. as the rate of interest, amounts to two hundred +and sixty thousand francs; and the capital given him by his parents, in +defraying the expenses of his education, to forty thousand francs. The +union of these two kinds of capital constitutes his fortune."--Say: +Complete Course, &c. + + +Say divides the fortune of the physician into two parts: one is composed +of the capital which went to pay for his education, the other represents +his personal talents. This division is just; it is in conformity with +the nature of things; it is universally admitted; it serves as the +major premise of that grand argument which establishes the inequality of +capacities. I accept this premise without qualification; let us look at +the consequences. + +1. Say CREDITS the physician with forty thousand francs,--the cost of +his education. This amount should be entered upon the DEBIT side of the +account. For, although this expense was incurred for him, it was not +incurred by him. Then, instead of appropriating these forty thousand +francs, the physician should add them to the price of his product, and +repay them to those who are entitled to them. Notice, further, that +Say speaks of INCOME instead of REIMBURSEMENT; reasoning on the false +principle of the productivity of capital. The expense of educating a +talent is a debt contracted by this talent. From the very fact of its +existence, it becomes a debtor to an amount equal to the cost of its +production. This is so true and simple that, if the education of some +one child in a family has cost double or triple that of its brothers, +the latter are entitled to a proportional amount of the property +previous to its division. There is no difficulty about this in the case +of guardianship, when the estate is administered in the name of the +minors. + +2. That which I have just said of the obligation incurred by talent of +repaying the cost of its education does not embarrass the economist. The +man of talent, he says, inheriting from his family, inherits among other +things a claim to the forty thousand francs which his education costs; +and he becomes, in consequence, its proprietor. But this is to abandon +the right of talent, and to fall back upon the right of occupancy; which +again calls up all the questions asked in Chapter II. What is the right +of occupancy? what is inheritance? Is the right of succession a right of +accumulation or only a right of choice? how did the physician's father +get his fortune? was he a proprietor, or only a usufructuary? If he was +rich, let him account for his wealth; if he was poor, how could he incur +so large an expense? If he received aid, what right had he to use that +aid to the disadvantage of his benefactors, &c.? + +3. "There remains an income of twenty-six thousand francs due to +the personal talents given him by Nature." (Say,--as above quoted.) +Reasoning from this premise, Say concludes that our physician's talent +is equivalent to a capital of two hundred and sixty thousand francs. +This skilful calculator mistakes a consequence for a principle. The +talent must not be measured by the gain, but rather the gain by +the talent; for it may happen, that, notwithstanding his merit, the +physician in question will gain nothing at all, in which case will it be +necessary to conclude that his talent or fortune is equivalent to zero? +To such a result, however, would Say's reasoning lead; a result which is +clearly absurd. + +Now, it is impossible to place a money value on any talent whatsoever, +since talent and money have no common measure. On what plausible ground +can it be maintained that a physician should be paid two, three, or a +hundred times as much as a peasant? An unavoidable difficulty, which has +never been solved save by avarice, necessity, and oppression. It is not +thus that the right of talent should be determined. But how is it to be +determined? + +4. I say, first, that the physician must be treated with as much favor +as any other producer, that he must not be placed below the level of +others. This I will not stop to prove. But I add that neither must he be +lifted above that level; because his talent is collective property for +which he did not pay, and for which he is ever in debt. + +Just as the creation of every instrument of production is the result of +collective force, so also are a man's talent and knowledge the product +of universal intelligence and of general knowledge slowly accumulated +by a number of masters, and through the aid of many inferior industries. +When the physician has paid for his teachers, his books, his diplomas, +and all the other items of his educational expenses, he has no more paid +for his talent than the capitalist pays for his house and land when he +gives his employees their wages. The man of talent has contributed to +the production in himself of a useful instrument. He has, then, a share +in its possession; he is not its proprietor. There exist side by side in +him a free laborer and an accumulated social capital. As a laborer, he +is charged with the use of an instrument, with the superintendence of a +machine; namely, his capacity. As capital, he is not his own master; he +uses himself, not for his own benefit, but for that of others. + +Even if talent did not find in its own excellence a reward for the +sacrifices which it costs, still would it be easier to find reasons for +lowering its reward than for raising it above the common level. +Every producer receives an education; every laborer is a talent, a +capacity,--that is, a piece of collective property. But all talents are +not equally costly. It takes but few teachers, but few years, and but +little study, to make a farmer or a mechanic: the generative effort +and--if I may venture to use such language--the period of social +gestation are proportional to the loftiness of the capacity. But while +the physician, the poet, the artist, and the savant produce but little, +and that slowly, the productions of the farmer are much less uncertain, +and do not require so long a time. Whatever be then the capacity of a +man,--when this capacity is once created,--it does not belong to him. +Like the material fashioned by an industrious hand, it had the power +of BECOMING, and society has given it BEING. Shall the vase say to the +potter, "I am that I am, and I owe you nothing"? + +The artist, the savant, and the poet find their just recompense in the +permission that society gives them to devote themselves exclusively to +science and to art: so that in reality they do not labor for themselves, +but for society, which creates them, and requires of them no other duty. +Society can, if need be, do without prose and verse, music and painting, +and the knowledge of the movements of the moon and stars; but it cannot +live a single day without food and shelter. + +Undoubtedly, man does not live by bread alone; he must, also (according +to the Gospel), LIVE BY THE WORD OF GOD; that is, he must love the +good and do it, know and admire the beautiful, and study the marvels of +Nature. But in order to cultivate his mind, he must first take care of +his body,--the latter duty is as necessary as the former is noble. If it +is glorious to charm and instruct men, it is honorable as well to feed +them. When, then, society--faithful to the principle of the division +of labor--intrusts a work of art or of science to one of its members, +allowing him to abandon ordinary labor, it owes him an indemnity for +all which it prevents him from producing industrially; but it owes him +nothing more. If he should demand more, society should, by refusing his +services, annihilate his pretensions. Forced, then, in order to live, to +devote himself to labor repugnant to his nature, the man of genius would +feel his weakness, and would live the most distasteful of lives. + +They tell of a celebrated singer who demanded of the Empress of Russia +(Catherine II) twenty thousand roubles for his services: "That is more +than I give my field-marshals," said Catherine. "Your majesty," replied +the other, "has only to make singers of her field-marshals." + +If France (more powerful than Catherine II) should say to Mademoiselle +Rachel, "You must act for one hundred louis, or else spin cotton;" to +M. Duprez, "You must sing for two thousand four hundred francs, or else +work in the vineyard,"--do you think that the actress Rachel, and the +singer Duprez, would abandon the stage? If they did, they would be the +first to repent it. + +Mademoiselle Rachel receives, they say, sixty thousand francs annually +from the Comedie-Francaise. For a talent like hers, it is a slight fee. +Why not one hundred thousand francs, two hundred thousand francs? Why! +not a civil list? What meanness! Are we really guilty of chaffering with +an artist like Mademoiselle Rachel? + +It is said, in reply, that the managers of the theatre cannot give more +without incurring a loss; that they admit the superior talent of +their young associate; but that, in fixing her salary, they have been +compelled to take the account of the company's receipts and expenses +into consideration also. + +That is just, but it only confirms what I have said; namely, that an +artist's talent may be infinite, but that its mercenary claims are +necessarily limited,--on the one hand, by its usefulness to the society +which rewards it; on the other, by the resources of this society: in +other words, that the demand of the seller is balanced by the right of +the buyer. + +Mademoiselle Rachel, they say, brings to the treasury of the +Theatre-Francais more than sixty thousand francs. I admit it; but then I +blame the theatre. From whom does the Theatre-Francais take this +money? From some curious people who are perfectly free. Yes; but the +workingmen, the lessees, the tenants, those who borrow by pawning their +possessions, from whom these curious people recover all that they pay to +the theatre,--are they free? And when the better part of their products +are consumed by others at the play, do you assure me that their families +are not in want? Until the French people, reflecting on the salaries +paid to all artists, savants, and public functionaries, have plainly +expressed their wish and judgment as to the matter, the salaries of +Mademoiselle Rachel and all her fellow-artists will be a compulsory tax +extorted by violence, to reward pride, and support libertinism. + +It is because we are neither free nor sufficiently enlightened, that we +submit to be cheated in our bargains; that the laborer pays the duties +levied by the prestige of power and the selfishness of talent upon the +curiosity of the idle, and that we are perpetually scandalized by these +monstrous inequalities which are encouraged and applauded by public +opinion. + +The whole nation, and the nation only, pays its authors, its savants, +its artists, its officials, whatever be the hands through which their +salaries pass. On what basis should it pay them? On the basis of +equality. I have proved it by estimating the value of talent. I shall +confirm it in the following chapter, by proving the impossibility of all +social inequality. + +What have we shown so far? Things so simple that really they seem +silly:-- + +That, as the traveller does not appropriate the route which he +traverses, so the farmer does not appropriate the field which he sows; + +That if, nevertheless, by reason of his industry, a laborer may +appropriate the material which he employs, every employer of material +becomes, by the same title, a proprietor; + +That all capital, whether material or mental, being the result of +collective labor, is, in consequence, collective property; + +That the strong have no right to encroach upon the labor of the weak, +nor the shrewd to take advantage of the credulity of the simple; + +Finally, that no one can be forced to buy that which he does not want, +still less to pay for that which he has not bought; and, consequently, +that the exchangeable value of a product, being measured neither by the +opinion of the buyer nor that of the seller, but by the amount of time +and outlay which it has cost, the property of each always remains the +same. + +Are not these very simple truths? Well, as simple as they seem to you, +reader, you shall yet see others which surpass them in dullness and +simplicity. For our course is the reverse of that of the geometricians: +with them, the farther they advance, the more difficult their problems +become; we, on the contrary, after having commenced with the most +abstruse propositions, shall end with the axioms. + +But I must close this chapter with an exposition of one of those +startling truths which never have been dreamed of by legists or +economists. + + + +% 8.--That, from the Stand-point of Justice, Labor destroys Property. + +This proposition is the logical result of the two preceding sections, +which we have just summed up. + +The isolated man can supply but a very small portion of his wants; all +his power lies in association, and in the intelligent combination of +universal effort. The division and co-operation of labor multiply the +quantity and the variety of products; the individuality of functions +improves their quality. + +There is not a man, then, but lives upon the products of several +thousand different industries; not a laborer but receives from society +at large the things which he consumes, and, with these, the power to +reproduce. Who, indeed, would venture the assertion, "I produce, by +my own effort, all that I consume; I need the aid of no one else"? +The farmer, whom the early economists regarded as the only real +producer--the farmer, housed, furnished, clothed, fed, and assisted +by the mason, the carpenter, the tailor, the miller, the baker, the +butcher, the grocer, the blacksmith, &c.,--the farmer, I say, can he +boast that he produces by his own unaided effort? + +The various articles of consumption are given to each by all; +consequently, the production of each involves the production of all. +One product cannot exist without another; an isolated industry is an +impossible thing. What would be the harvest of the farmer, if others +did not manufacture for him barns, wagons, ploughs, clothes, &c.? Where +would be the savant without the publisher; the printer without the +typecaster and the machinist; and these, in their turn, without a +multitude of other industries?... Let us not prolong this catalogue--so +easy to extend--lest we be accused of uttering commonplaces. All +industries are united by mutual relations in a single group; all +productions do reciprocal service as means and end; all varieties of +talent are but a series of changes from the inferior to the superior. + +Now, this undisputed and indisputable fact of the general participation +in every species of product makes all individual productions common; so +that every product, coming from the hands of the producer, is mortgaged +in advance by society. The producer himself is entitled to only +that portion of his product, which is expressed by a fraction whose +denominator is equal to the number of individuals of which society is +composed. It is true that in return this same producer has a share in +all the products of others, so that he has a claim upon all, just as +all have a claim upon him; but is it not clear that this reciprocity of +mortgages, far from authorizing property, destroys even possession? The +laborer is not even possessor of his product; scarcely has he finished +it, when society claims it. + +"But," it will be answered, "even if that is so--even if the product +does not belong to the producer--still society gives each laborer an +equivalent for his product; and this equivalent, this salary, this +reward, this allowance, becomes his property. Do you deny that this +property is legitimate? And if the laborer, instead of consuming his +entire wages, chooses to economize,--who dare question his right to do +so?" + +The laborer is not even proprietor of the price of his labor, and cannot +absolutely control its disposition. Let us not be blinded by a spurious +justice. That which is given the laborer in exchange for his product is +not given him as a reward for past labor, but to provide for and secure +future labor. We consume before we produce. The laborer may say at the +end of the day, "I have paid yesterday's expenses; to-morrow I shall pay +those of today." At every moment of his life, the member of society is +in debt; he dies with the debt unpaid:--how is it possible for him to +accumulate? + +They talk of economy--it is the proprietor's hobby. Under a system of +equality, all economy which does not aim at subsequent reproduction or +enjoyment is impossible--why? Because the thing saved, since it cannot +be converted into capital, has no object, and is without a FINAL CAUSE. +This will be explained more fully in the next chapter. + +To conclude:-- + +The laborer, in his relation to society, is a debtor who of necessity +dies insolvent. The proprietor is an unfaithful guardian who denies the +receipt of the deposit committed to his care, and wishes to be paid for +his guardianship down to the last day. + +Lest the principles just set forth may appear to certain readers +too metaphysical, I shall reproduce them in a more concrete form, +intelligible to the dullest brains, and pregnant with the most important +consequences. + +Hitherto, I have considered property as a power of EXCLUSION; hereafter, +I shall examine it as a power of INVASION. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THAT PROPERTY IS IMPOSSIBLE. + +The last resort of proprietors,--the overwhelming argument whose +invincible potency reassures them,--is that, in their opinion, equality +of conditions is impossible. "Equality of conditions is a chimera," they +cry with a knowing air; "distribute wealth equally to-day--to-morrow +this equality will have vanished." + +To this hackneyed objection, which they repeat everywhere with the most +marvellous assurance, they never fail to add the following comment, as +a sort of GLORY BE TO THE FATHER: "If all men were equal, nobody would +work." This anthem is sung with variations. + +"If all were masters, nobody would obey." + +"If nobody were rich, who would employ the poor?" + +And, "If nobody were poor, who would labor for the rich?" + +But let us have done with invective--we have better arguments at our +command. + +If I show that property itself is impossible--that it is property which +is a contradiction, a chimera, a utopia; and if I show it no longer +by metaphysics and jurisprudence, but by figures, equations, and +calculations,--imagine the fright of the astounded proprietor! And you, +reader; what do you think of the retort? + +Numbers govern the world--mundum regunt numeri. This proverb applies +as aptly to the moral and political, as to the sidereal and molecular, +world. The elements of justice are identical with those of algebra; +legislation and government are simply the arts of classifying +and balancing powers; all jurisprudence falls within the rules of +arithmetic. This chapter and the next will serve to lay the foundations +of this extraordinary doctrine. Then will be unfolded to the reader's +vision an immense and novel career; then shall we commence to see in +numerical relations the synthetic unity of philosophy and the sciences; +and, filled with admiration and enthusiasm for this profound and +majestic simplicity of Nature, we shall shout with the apostle: "Yes, +the Eternal has made all things by number, weight, and measure!" We +shall understand not only that equality of conditions is possible, but +that all else is impossible; that this seeming impossibility which +we charge upon it arises from the fact that we always think of it +in connection either with the proprietary or the communistic +regime,--political systems equally irreconcilable with human nature. We +shall see finally that equality is constantly being realized without our +knowledge, even at the very moment when we are pronouncing it incapable +of realization; that the time draws near when, without any effort or +even wish of ours, we shall have it universally established; that with +it, in it, and by it, the natural and true political order must make +itself manifest. + +It has been said, in speaking of the blindness and obstinacy of the +passions, that, if man had any thing to gain by denying the truths of +arithmetic, he would find some means of unsettling their certainty: here +is an opportunity to try this curious experiment. I attack property, +no longer with its own maxims, but with arithmetic. Let the proprietors +prepare to verify my figures; for, if unfortunately for them the figures +prove accurate, the proprietors are lost. + +In proving the impossibility of property, I complete the proof of its +injustice. In fact,-- + +That which is JUST must be USEFUL; + +That which is useful must be TRUE; + +That which is true must be POSSIBLE; + +Therefore, every thing which is impossible is untrue, useless, unjust. +Then,--a priori,--we may judge of the justice of any thing by its +possibility; so that if the thing were absolutely impossible, it would +be absolutely unjust. + + + +PROPERTY IS PHYSICALLY AND MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. + +DEMONSTRATION. + +AXIOM.--Property is the Right of Increase claimed by the Proprietor over +any thing which he has stamped as his own. + + +This proposition is purely an axiom, because,-- + +1. It is not a definition, since it does not express all that is +included in the right of property--the right of sale, of exchange, of +gift; the right to transform, to alter, to consume, to destroy, to +use and abuse, &c. All these rights are so many different powers of +property, which we may consider separately; but which we disregard here, +that we may devote all our attention to this single one,--the right of +increase. + +2. It is universally admitted. No one can deny it without denying the +facts, without being instantly belied by universal custom. + +3. It is self-evident, since property is always accompanied (either +actually or potentially) by the fact which this axiom expresses; and +through this fact, mainly, property manifests, establishes, and asserts +itself. + +4. Finally, its negation involves a contradiction. The right of increase +is really an inherent right, so essential a part of property, that, in +its absence, property is null and void. + +OBSERVATIONS.--Increase receives different names according to the +thing by which it is yielded: if by land, FARM-RENT; if by houses and +furniture, RENT; if by life-investments, REVENUE; if by money, INTEREST; +if by exchange, ADVANTAGE, GAIN, PROFIT (three things which must not be +confounded with the wages or legitimate price of labor). + +Increase--a sort of royal prerogative, of tangible and consumable +homage--is due to the proprietor on account of his nominal and +metaphysical occupancy. His seal is set upon the thing; that is enough +to prevent any one else from occupying it without HIS permission. + +This permission to use his things the proprietor may, if he chooses, +freely grant. Commonly he sells it. This sale is really a stellionate +and an extortion; but by the legal fiction of the right of property, +this same sale, severely punished, we know not why, in other cases, is a +source of profit and value to the proprietor. + +The amount demanded by the proprietor, in payment for this permission, +is expressed in monetary terms by the dividend which the supposed +product yields in nature. So that, by the right of increase, the +proprietor reaps and does not plough; gleans and does not till; consumes +and does not produce; enjoys and does not labor. Very different from the +idols of the Psalmist are the gods of property: the former had hands and +felt not; the latter, on the contrary, _manus habent et palpabunt_. +_ _The right of increase is conferred in a very mysterious and +supernatural manner. The inauguration of a proprietor is accompanied +by the awful ceremonies of an ancient initiation. First, comes the +CONSECRATION of the article; a consecration which makes known to all +that they must offer up a suitable sacrifice to the proprietor, whenever +they wish, by his permission obtained and signed, to use his article. + +Second, comes the ANATHEMA, which prohibits--except on the conditions +aforesaid--all persons from touching the article, even in the +proprietor's absence; and pronounces every violator of property +sacrilegious, infamous, amenable to the secular power, and deserving of +being handed over to it. + +Finally, the DEDICATION, which enables the proprietor or patron +saint--the god chosen to watch over the article--to inhabit it mentally, +like a divinity in his sanctuary. By means of this dedication, the +substance of the article--so to speak--becomes converted into the person +of the proprietor, who is regarded as ever present in its form. + +This is exactly the doctrine of the writers on jurisprudence. +"Property," says Toullier, "is a MORAL QUALITY inherent in a thing; +AN ACTUAL BOND which fastens it to the proprietor, and which cannot be +broken save by his act." Locke humbly doubted whether God could make +matter INTELLIGENT. Toullier asserts that the proprietor renders it +MORAL. How much does he lack of being a God? These are by no means +exaggerations. + +PROPERTY IS THE RIGHT OF INCREASE; that is, the power to produce without +labor. Now, to produce without labor is to make something from nothing; +in short, to create. Surely it is no more difficult to do this than to +moralize matter. The jurists are right, then, in applying to proprietors +this passage from the Scriptures,--_Ego dixi: Dii estis et filii Excelsi +omnes_,--"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the +Most High." + +PROPERTY IS THE RIGHT OF INCREASE. To us this axiom shall be like the +name of the beast in the Apocalypse,--a name in which is hidden the +complete explanation of the whole mystery of this beast. It was known +that he who should solve the mystery of this name would obtain a +knowledge of the whole prophecy, and would succeed in mastering the +beast. Well! by the most careful interpretation of our axiom we shall +kill the sphinx of property. + +Starting from this eminently characteristic fact--the RIGHT OF +INCREASE--we shall pursue the old serpent through his coils; we shall +count the murderous entwinings of this frightful taenia, whose head, +with its thousand suckers, is always hidden from the sword of its most +violent enemies, though abandoning to them immense fragments of its +body. It requires something more than courage to subdue this monster. +It was written that it should not die until a proletaire, armed with a +magic wand, had fought with it. + +COROLLARIES.--1. THE AMOUNT OF INCREASE IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE THING +INCREASED. Whatever be the rate of interest,--whether it rise to three, +five, or ten per cent., or fall to one-half, one-fourth, one-tenth,--it +does not matter; the law of increase remains the same. The law is as +follows:-- + +All capital--the cash value of which can be estimated--may be considered +as a term in an arithmetical series which progresses in the ratio of one +hundred, and the revenue yielded by this capital as the corresponding +term of another arithmetical series which progresses in a ratio equal to +the rate of interest. Thus, a capital of five hundred francs being the +fifth term of the arithmetical progression whose ratio is one hundred, +its revenue at three per cent. will be indicated by the fifth term of +the arithmetical progression whose ratio is three:-- + + 100 . 200 . 300 . 400 . 500. + 3 . 6 . 9 . 12 . 15. + + +An acquaintance with this sort of LOGARITHMS--tables of which, +calculated to a very high degree, are possessed by proprietors--will +give us the key to the most puzzling problems, and cause us to +experience a series of surprises. + +By this LOGARITHMIC theory of the right of increase, a piece of +property, together with its income, may be defined as A NUMBER WHOSE +LOGARITHM IS EQUAL TO THE SUM OF ITS UNITS DIVIDED BY ONE HUNDRED, AND +MULTIPLIED BY THE RATE OF INTEREST. For instance; a house valued at one +hundred thousand francs, and leased at five per cent., yields a revenue +of five thousand francs, according to the formula 100,000 x 5 / 100 = +five thousand. Vice versa, a piece of land which yields, at two and a +half per cent., a revenue of three thousand francs is worth one hundred +and twenty thousand francs, according to this other formula; +3,000 x 100/ 2 1/2 = one hundred and twenty thousand. + +In the first case, the ratio of the progression which marks the increase +of interest is five; in the second, it is two and a half. + +OBSERVATION.--The forms of increase known as farm-rent, income, and +interest are paid annually; rent is paid by the week, the month, or +the year; profits and gains are paid at the time of exchange. Thus, the +amount of increase is proportional both to the thing increased, and +the time during which it increases; in other words, usury grows like a +cancer--_foenus serpit sicut cancer_. + +2. THE INCREASE PAID TO THE PROPRIETOR BY THE OCCUPANT IS A DEAD LOSS +TO THE LATTER. For if the proprietor owed, in exchange for the increase +which he receives, some thing more than the permission which he grants, +his right of property would not be perfect--he would not possess +_jure optimo, jure perfecto;_ that is, he would not be in reality a +proprietor. Then, all which passes from the hands of the occupant into +those of the proprietor in the name of increase, and as the price of +the permission to occupy, is a permanent gain for the latter, and a dead +loss and annihilation for the former; to whom none of it will return, +save in the forms of gift, alms, wages paid for his services, or +the price of merchandise which he has delivered. In a word, increase +perishes so far as the borrower is concerned; or to use the more +energetic Latin phrase,--_res perit solventi_. + +3. THE RIGHT OF INCREASE OPPRESSES THE PROPRIETOR AS WELL AS THE +STRANGER. The master of a thing, as its proprietor, levies a tax for the +use of his property upon himself as its possessor, equal to that which +he would receive from a third party; so that capital bears interest in +the hands of the capitalist, as well as in those of the borrower and the +commandite. If, indeed, rather than accept a rent of five hundred francs +for my apartment, I prefer to occupy and enjoy it, it is clear that I +shall become my own debtor for a rent equal to that which I deny myself. +This principle is universally practised in business, and is regarded as +an axiom by the economists. Manufacturers, also, who have the advantage +of being proprietors of their floating capital, although they owe no +interest to any one, in calculating their profits subtract from them, +not only their running expenses and the wages of their employees, but +also the interest on their capital. For the same reason, money-lenders +retain in their own possession as little money as possible; for, since +all capital necessarily bears interest, if this interest is supplied by +no one, it comes out of the capital, which is to that extent diminished. +Thus, by the right of increase, capital eats itself up. This is, +doubtless, the idea that Papinius intended to convey in the phrase, as +elegant as it is forcible--_Foenus mordet solidam_. I beg pardon for +using Latin so frequently in discussing this subject; it is an homage +which I pay to the most usurious nation that ever existed. + + + +FIRST PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because it demands Something for Nothing. + + +The discussion of this proposition covers the same ground as that of the +origin of farm-rent, which is so much debated by the economists. When +I read the writings of the greater part of these men, I cannot avoid +a feeling of contempt mingled with anger, in view of this mass of +nonsense, in which the detestable vies with the absurd. It would be a +repetition of the story of the elephant in the moon, were it not for the +atrocity of the consequences. To seek a rational and legitimate origin +of that which is, and ever must be, only robbery, extortion, and +plunder--that must be the height of the proprietor's folly; the last +degree of bedevilment into which minds, otherwise judicious, can be +thrown by the perversity of selfishness. + + +"A farmer," says Say, "is a wheat manufacturer who, among other tools +which serve him in modifying the material from which he makes the +wheat, employs one large tool, which we call a field. If he is not the +proprietor of the field, if he is only a tenant, he pays the proprietor +for the productive service of this tool. The tenant is reimbursed by +the purchaser, the latter by another, until the product reaches the +consumer; who redeems the first payment, PLUS all the others, by means +of which the product has at last come into his hands." + + +Let us lay aside the subsequent payments by which the product reaches +the consumer, and, for the present, pay attention only to the first one +of all,--the rent paid to the proprietor by the tenant. On what ground, +we ask, is the proprietor entitled to this rent? + +According to Ricardo, MacCulloch, and Mill, farm-rent, properly +speaking, is simply the EXCESS OF THE PRODUCT OF THE MOST FERTILE LAND +OVER THAT OF LANDS OF AN INFERIOR QUALITY; so that farm-rent is not +demanded for the former until the increase of population renders +necessary the cultivation of the latter. + +It is difficult to see any sense in this. How can a right to the land be +based upon a difference in the quality of the land? How can varieties of +soil engender a principle of legislation and politics? This reasoning +is either so subtle, or so stupid, that the more I think of it, the more +bewildered I become. Suppose two pieces of land of equal area; the one, +A, capable of supporting ten thousand inhabitants; the other, B, capable +of supporting nine thousand only: when, owing to an increase in their +number, the inhabitants of A shall be forced to cultivate B, the landed +proprietors of A will exact from their tenants in A a rent proportional +to the difference between ten and nine. So say, I think, Ricardo, +MacCulloch, and Mill. But if A supports as many inhabitants as it can +contain,--that is, if the inhabitants of A, by our hypothesis, have only +just enough land to keep them alive,--how can they pay farm-rent? + +If they had gone no farther than to say that the difference in land has +OCCASIONED farm-rent, instead of CAUSED it, this observation would have +taught us a valuable lesson; namely, that farm-rent grew out of a desire +for equality. Indeed, if all men have an equal right to the possession +of good land, no one can be forced to cultivate bad land without +indemnification. Farm-rent--according to Ricardo, MacCulloch, and +Mill--would then have been a compensation for loss and hardship. This +system of practical equality is a bad one, no doubt; but it sprang from +good intentions. What argument can Ricardo, MacCulloch, and Mill develop +therefrom in favor of property? Their theory turns against themselves, +and strangles them. + +Malthus thinks that farm-rent has its source in the power possessed by +land of producing more than is necessary to supply the wants of the +men who cultivate it. I would ask Malthus why successful labor should +entitle the idle to a portion of the products? + +But the worthy Malthus is mistaken in regard to the fact. Yes; land has +the power of producing more than is needed by those who cultivate it, if +by CULTIVATORS is meant tenants only. The tailor also makes more clothes +than he wears, and the cabinet-maker more furniture than he uses. But, +since the various professions imply and sustain one another, not only +the farmer, but the followers of all arts and trades--even to the doctor +and the school-teacher--are, and ought to be, regarded as CULTIVATORS OF +THE LAND. Malthus bases farm-rent upon the principle of commerce. +Now, the fundamental law of commerce being equivalence of the products +exchanged, any thing which destroys this equivalence violates the law. +There is an error in the estimate which needs to be corrected. + +Buchanan--a commentator on Smith--regarded farm-rent as the result of a +monopoly, and maintained that labor alone is productive. Consequently, +he thought that, without this monopoly, products would rise in price; +and he found no basis for farm-rent save in the civil law. This opinion +is a corollary of that which makes the civil law the basis of property. +But why has the civil law--which ought to be the written expression of +justice--authorized this monopoly? Whoever says monopoly, necessarily +excludes justice. Now, to say that farm-rent is a monopoly sanctioned by +the law, is to say that injustice is based on justice,--a contradiction +in terms. + +Say answers Buchanan, that the proprietor is not a monopolist, because a +monopolist "is one who does not increase the utility of the merchandise +which passes through his hands." + +How much does the proprietor increase the utility of his tenant's +products? Has he ploughed, sowed, reaped, mowed, winnowed, weeded? These +are the processes by which the tenant and his employees increase +the utility of the material which they consume for the purpose of +reproduction. + + +"The landed proprietor increases the utility of products by means of his +implement, the land. This implement receives in one state, and returns +in another the materials of which wheat is composed. The action of +the land is a chemical process, which so modifies the material that it +multiplies it by destroying it. The soil is then a producer of utility; +and when it [the soil?] asks its pay in the form of profit, or farm +rent, for its proprietor, it at the same time gives something to the +consumer in exchange for the amount which the consumer pays it. It gives +him a produced utility; and it is the production of this utility which +warrants us in calling land productive, as well as labor." + + +Let us clear up this matter. + +The blacksmith who manufactures for the farmer implements of husbandry, +the wheelwright who makes him a cart, the mason who builds his barn, +the carpenter, the basket-maker, &c.,--all of whom contribute to +agricultural production by the tools which they provide,--are producers +of utility; consequently, they are entitled to a part of the products. + + +"Undoubtedly," says Say; "but the land also is an implement whose +service must be paid for, then...." + + +I admit that the land is an implement; but who made it? Did the +proprietor? Did he--by the efficacious virtue of the right of property, +by this MORAL QUALITY infused into the soil--endow it with vigor and +fertility? Exactly there lies the monopoly of the proprietor; in the +fact that, though he did not make the implement, he asks pay for its +use. When the Creator shall present himself and claim farm-rent, we will +consider the matter with him; or even when the proprietor--his pretended +representative--shall exhibit his power-of-attorney. + + +"The proprietor's service," adds Say, "is easy, I admit." + + +It is a frank confession. + + +"But we cannot disregard it. Without property, one farmer would contend +with another for the possession of a field without a proprietor, and the +field would remain uncultivated...." + + +Then the proprietor's business is to reconcile farmers by robbing +them. O logic! O justice! O the marvellous wisdom of economists! The +proprietor, if they are right, is like Perrin-Dandin who, when summoned +by two travellers to settle a dispute about an oyster, opened it, +gobbled it, and said to them:-- + + +"The Court awards you each a shell." + + +Could any thing worse be said of property? + +Will Say tell us why the same farmers, who, if there were no +proprietors, would contend with each other for possession of the +soil, do not contend to-day with the proprietors for this possession? +Obviously, because they think them legitimate possessors, and because +their respect for even an imaginary right exceeds their avarice. I +proved, in Chapter II., that possession is sufficient, without property, +to maintain social order. Would it be more difficult, then, to reconcile +possessors without masters than tenants controlled by proprietors? Would +laboring men, who respect--much to their own detriment--the pretended +rights of the idler, violate the natural rights of the producer and the +manufacturer? What! if the husbandman forfeited his right to the land as +soon as he ceased to occupy it, would he become more covetous? And would +the impossibility of demanding increase, of taxing another's labor, be a +source of quarrels and law-suits? The economists use singular logic. +But we are not yet through. Admit that the proprietor is the legitimate +master of the land. + +"The land is an instrument of production," they say. That is true. But +when, changing the noun into an adjective, they alter the phrase, thus, +"The land is a productive instrument," they make a wicked blunder. + +According to Quesnay and the early economists, all production comes from +the land. Smith, Ricardo, and de Tracy, on the contrary, say that labor +is the sole agent of production. Say, and most of his successors, +teach that BOTH land AND labor AND capital are productive. The latter +constitute the eclectic school of political economy. The truth is, that +NEITHER land NOR labor NOR capital is productive. Production results +from the co-operation of these three equally necessary elements, which, +taken separately, are equally sterile. + +Political economy, indeed, treats of the production, distribution, +and consumption of wealth or values. But of what values? Of the values +produced by human industry; that is, of the changes made in matter +by man, that he may appropriate it to his own use, and not at all of +Nature's spontaneous productions. Man's labor consists in a simple +laying on of hands. When he has taken that trouble, he has produced a +value. Until then, the salt of the sea, the water of the springs, the +grass of the fields, and the trees of the forests are to him as if they +were not. The sea, without the fisherman and his line, supplies no fish. +The forest, without the wood-cutter and his axe, furnishes neither +fuel nor timber. The meadow, without the mower, yields neither hay +nor aftermath. Nature is a vast mass of material to be cultivated and +converted into products; but Nature produces nothing for herself: in the +economical sense, her products, in their relation to man, are not yet +products. + +Capital, tools, and machinery are likewise unproductive. The hammer and +the anvil, without the blacksmith and the iron, do not forge. The mill, +without the miller and the grain, does not grind, &c. Bring tools and +raw material together; place a plough and some seed on fertile soil; +enter a smithy, light the fire, and shut up the shop,--you will produce +nothing. The following remark was made by an economist who possessed +more good sense than most of his fellows: "Say credits capital with an +active part unwarranted by its nature; left to itself, it is an idle +tool." (J. Droz: Political Economy.) + +Finally, labor and capital together, when unfortunately combined, +produce nothing. Plough a sandy desert, beat the water of the rivers, +pass type through a sieve,--you will get neither wheat, nor fish, nor +books. Your trouble will be as fruitless as was the immense labor of the +army of Xerxes; who, as Herodotus says, with his three million soldiers, +scourged the Hellespont for twenty-four hours, as a punishment for +having broken and scattered the pontoon bridge which the great king had +thrown across it. + +Tools and capital, land and labor, considered individually and +abstractly, are not, literally speaking, productive. The proprietor who +asks to be rewarded for the use of a tool, or the productive power +of his land, takes for granted, then, that which is radically false; +namely, that capital produces by its own effort,--and, in taking pay for +this imaginary product, he literally receives something for nothing. + +OBJECTION.--But if the blacksmith, the wheelwright, all manufacturers in +short, have a right to the products in return for the implements which +they furnish; and if land is an implement of production,--why does not +this implement entitle its proprietor, be his claim real or imaginary, +to a portion of the products; as in the case of the manufacturers of +ploughs and wagons? + +REPLY.--Here we touch the heart of the question, the mystery of +property; which we must clear up, if we would understand any thing of +the strange effects of the right of increase. + +He who manufactures or repairs the farmer's tools receives the price +ONCE, either at the time of delivery, or in several payments; and when +this price is once paid to the manufacturer, the tools which he has +delivered belong to him no more. Never does he claim double payment for +the same tool, or the same job of repairs. If he annually shares in the +products of the farmer, it is owing to the fact that he annually makes +something for the farmer. + +The proprietor, on the contrary, does not yield his implement; eternally +he is paid for it, eternally he keeps it. + +In fact, the rent received by the proprietor is not intended to defray +the expense of maintaining and repairing the implement; this expense is +charged to the borrower, and does not concern the proprietor except as +he is interested in the preservation of the article. If he takes it upon +himself to attend to the repairs, he takes care that the money which he +expends for this purpose is repaid. + +This rent does not represent the product of the implement, since of +itself the implement produces nothing; we have just proved this, and we +shall prove it more clearly still by its consequences. + +Finally, this rent does not represent the participation of the +proprietor in the production; since this participation could consist, +like that of the blacksmith and the wheelwright, only in the surrender +of the whole or a part of his implement, in which case he would cease +to be its proprietor, which would involve a contradiction of the idea of +property. + +Then, between the proprietor and his tenant there is no exchange either +of values or services; then, as our axiom says, farm-rent is real +increase,--an extortion based solely upon fraud and violence on the +one hand, and weakness and ignorance upon the other. PRODUCTS say +the economists, ARE BOUGHT ONLY BY PRODUCTS. This maxim is property's +condemnation. The proprietor, producing neither by his own labor nor by +his implement, and receiving products in exchange for nothing, is either +a parasite or a thief. Then, if property can exist only as a right, +property is impossible. + +COROLLARIES.--1. The republican constitution of 1793, which defined +property as "the right to enjoy the fruit of one's labor," was grossly +mistaken. It should have said, "Property is the right to enjoy and +dispose at will of another's goods,--the fruit of another's industry and +labor." + +2. Every possessor of lands, houses, furniture, machinery, tools, money, +&c., who lends a thing for a price exceeding the cost of repairs (the +repairs being charged to the lender, and representing products which he +exchanges for other products), is guilty of swindling and extortion. In +short, all rent received (nominally as damages, but really as payment +for a loan) is an act of property,--a robbery. + +HISTORICAL COMMENT.--The tax which a victorious nation levies upon a +conquered nation is genuine farm-rent. The seigniorial rights abolished +by the Revolution of 1789,--tithes, mortmain, statute-labor, &c.,--were +different forms of the rights of property; and they who under the titles +of nobles, seigneurs, prebendaries, &c. enjoyed these rights, were +neither more nor less than proprietors. To defend property to-day is to +condemn the Revolution. + + + +SECOND PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible because wherever it exists Production costs more +than it is worth. + + +The preceding proposition was legislative in its nature; this one +is economical. It serves to prove that property, which originates in +violence, results in waste. + + +"Production," says Say, "is exchange on a large scale. To render the +exchange productive the value of the whole amount of service must be +balanced by the value of the product. If this condition is not +complied with, the exchange is unequal; the producer gives more than he +receives." + + +Now, value being necessarily based upon utility, it follows that every +useless product is necessarily valueless,--that it cannot be exchanged; +and, consequently, that it cannot be given in payment for productive +services. + +Then, though production may equal consumption, it never can exceed it; +for there is no real production save where there is a production of +utility, and there is no utility save where there is a possibility of +consumption. Thus, so much of every product as is rendered by +excessive abundance inconsumable, becomes useless, valueless, +unexchangeable,--consequently, unfit to be given in payment for any +thing whatever, and is no longer a product. + +Consumption, on the other hand, to be legitimate,--to be true +consumption,--must be reproductive of utility; for, if it is +unproductive, the products which it destroys are cancelled +values--things produced at a pure loss; a state of things which causes +products to depreciate in value. Man has the power to destroy, but he +consumes only that which he reproduces. Under a right system of economy, +there is then an equation between production and consumption. + +These points established, let us suppose a community of one thousand +families, enclosed in a territory of a given circumference, and deprived +of foreign intercourse. Let this community represent the human race, +which, scattered over the face of the earth, is really isolated. In +fact, the difference between a community and the human race being only +a numerical one, the economical results will be absolutely the same in +each case. + +Suppose, then, that these thousand families, devoting themselves +exclusively to wheat-culture, are obliged to pay to one hundred +individuals, chosen from the mass, an annual revenue of ten per cent. on +their product. It is clear that, in such a case, the right of increase +is equivalent to a tax levied in advance upon social production. Of what +use is this tax? + +It cannot be levied to supply the community with provisions, for between +that and farm-rent there is nothing in common; nor to pay for services +and products,--for the proprietors, laboring like the others, have +labored only for themselves. Finally, this tax is of no use to its +recipients who, having harvested wheat enough for their own consumption, +and not being able in a society without commerce and manufactures to +procure any thing else in exchange for it, thereby lose the advantage of +their income. + +In such a society, one-tenth of the product being inconsumable, +one-tenth of the labor goes unpaid--production costs more than it is +worth. + +Now, change three hundred of our wheat-producers into artisans of all +kinds: one hundred gardeners and wine-growers, sixty shoemakers +and tailors, fifty carpenters and blacksmiths, eighty of various +professions, and, that nothing may be lacking, seven school-masters, +one mayor, one judge, and one priest; each industry furnishes the whole +community with its special product. Now, the total production being one +thousand, each laborer's consumption is one; namely, wheat, meat, +and grain, 0.7; wine and vegetables, 0.1; shoes and clothing, 0.06; +iron-work and furniture, 0.05; sundries, 0.08; instruction, 0.007; +administration, 0.002; mass, 0.001, Total 1. + +But the community owes a revenue of ten per cent.; and it matters little +whether the farmers alone pay it, or all the laborers are responsible +for it,--the result is the same. The farmer raises the price of his +products in proportion to his share of the debt; the other laborers +follow his example. Then, after some fluctuations, equilibrium is +established, and all pay nearly the same amount of the revenue. It +would be a grave error to assume that in a nation none but farmers pay +farm-rent--the whole nation pays it. + +I say, then, that by this tax of ten per cent. each laborer's +consumption is reduced as follows: wheat, 0.63; wine and vegetables, +0.09; clothing and shoes, 0.054; furniture and iron-work, 0.045; other +products, 0.072; schooling, 0.0063; administration, 0.0018; mass, +0.0009. Total 0.9. + +The laborer has produced 1; he consumes only 0.9. He loses, then, +one-tenth of the price of his labor; his production still costs +more than it is worth. On the other hand, the tenth received by the +proprietors is no less a waste; for, being laborers themselves, they, +like the others, possess in the nine-tenths of their product the +wherewithal to live: they want for nothing. Why should they wish their +proportion of bread, wine, meat, clothes, shelter, &c., to be doubled, +if they can neither consume nor exchange them? Then farm-rent, with +them as with the rest of the laborers, is a waste, and perishes in their +hands. Extend the hypothesis, increase the number and variety of the +products, you still have the same result. + +Hitherto, we have considered the proprietor as taking part in the +production, not only (as Say says) by the use of his instrument, but in +an effective manner and by the labor of his hands. Now, it is easy to +see that, under such circumstances, property will never exist. What +happens? + +The proprietor--an essentially libidinous animal, without virtue or +shame--is not satisfied with an orderly and disciplined life. He loves +property, because it enables him to do at leisure what he pleases and +when he pleases. Having obtained the means of life, he gives himself up +to trivialities and indolence; he enjoys, he fritters away his time, he +goes in quest of curiosities and novel sensations. Property--to enjoy +itself--has to abandon ordinary life, and busy itself in luxurious +occupations and unclean enjoyments. + +Instead of giving up a farm-rent, which is perishing in their hands, +and thus lightening the labor of the community, our hundred proprietors +prefer to rest. In consequence of this withdrawal,--the absolute +production being diminished by one hundred, while the consumption +remains the same,--production and consumption seem to balance. But, +in the first place, since the proprietors no longer labor, their +consumption is, according to economical principles, unproductive; +consequently, the previous condition of the community--when the labor of +one hundred was rewarded by no products--is superseded by one in which +the products of one hundred are consumed without labor. The deficit +is always the same, whichever the column of the account in which it is +expressed. Either the maxims of political economy are false, or else +property, which contradicts them, is impossible. + +The economists--regarding all unproductive consumption as an evil, as +a robbery of the human race--never fail to exhort proprietors to +moderation, labor, and economy; they preach to them the necessity of +making themselves useful, of remunerating production for that which they +receive from it; they launch the most terrible curses against luxury and +laziness. Very beautiful morality, surely; it is a pity that it lacks +common sense. The proprietor who labors, or, as the economists say, +WHO MAKES HIMSELF USEFUL, is paid for this labor and utility; is he, +therefore, any the less idle as concerns the property which he does not +use, and from which he receives an income? His condition, whatever he +may do, is an unproductive and FELONIOUS one; he cannot cease to waste +and destroy without ceasing to be a proprietor. + +But this is only the least of the evils which property engenders. + +Society has to maintain some idle people, whether or no. It will always +have the blind, the maimed, the insane, and the idiotic. It can easily +support a few sluggards. At this point, the impossibilities thicken and +become complicated. + + + +THIRD PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because, with a given capital, Production is +proportional to labor, not to property. + + +To pay a farm-rent of one hundred at the rate of ten per cent. of the +product, the product must be one thousand; that the product may be one +thousand, a force of one thousand laborers is needed. It follows, +that in granting a furlough, as we have just done, to our one hundred +laborer-proprietors, all of whom had an equal right to lead the life +of men of income,--we have placed ourselves in a position where we are +unable to pay their revenues. In fact, the productive power, which at +first was one thousand, being now but nine hundred, the production is +also reduced to nine hundred, one-tenth of which is ninety. Either, +then, ten proprietors out of the one hundred cannot be paid,--provided +the remaining ninety are to get the whole amount of their farm-rent,--or +else all must consent to a decrease of ten per cent. For it is not for +the laborer, who has been wanting in no particular, who has produced as +in the past, to suffer by the withdrawal of the proprietor. The +latter must take the consequences of his own idleness. But, then, the +proprietor becomes poorer for the very reason that he wishes to enjoy; +by exercising his right, he loses it; so that property seems to decrease +and vanish in proportion as we try to lay hold of it,--the more we +pursue it, the more it eludes our grasp. What sort of a right is that +which is governed by numerical relations, and which an arithmetical +calculation can destroy? + +The laborer-proprietor received, first, as laborer, 0.9 in wages; +second, as proprietor, 1 in farm-rent. He said to himself, "My farm-rent +is sufficient; I have enough and to spare without my labor." And thus +it is that the income upon which he calculated gets diminished by +one-tenth,--he at the same time not even suspecting the cause of this +diminution. By taking part in the production, he was himself the creator +of this tenth which has vanished; and while he thought to labor only for +himself, he unwittingly suffered a loss in exchanging his products, by +which he was made to pay to himself one-tenth of his own farm-rent. Like +every one else, he produced 1, and received but 0.9 + +If, instead of nine hundred laborers, there had been but five hundred, +the whole amount of farm-rent would have been reduced to fifty; if there +had been but one hundred, it would have fallen to ten. We may posit, +then, the following axiom as a law of proprietary economy: INCREASE MUST +DIMINISH AS THE NUMBER OF IDLERS AUGMENTS. + +_ _This first result will lead us to another more surprising still. +Its effect is to deliver us at one blow from all the evils of property, +without abolishing it, without wronging proprietors, and by a highly +conservative process. + +We have just proved that, if the farm-rent in a community of one +thousand laborers is one hundred, that of nine hundred would be ninety, +that of eight hundred, eighty, that of one hundred, ten, &c. So that, in +a community where there was but one laborer, the farm-rent would be but +0.1; no matter how great the extent and value of the land appropriated. +Therefore, WITH A GIVEN LANDED CAPITAL, PRODUCTION IS PROPORTIONAL TO +LABOR, NOT TO PROPERTY. + +Guided by this principle, let us try to ascertain the maximum increase +of all property whatever. + +What is, essentially, a farm-lease? It is a contract by which the +proprietor yields to a tenant possession of his land, in consideration +of a portion of that which it yields him, the proprietor. If, in +consequence of an increase in his household, the tenant becomes ten +times as strong as the proprietor, he will produce ten times as +much. Would the proprietor in such a case be justified in raising the +farm-rent tenfold? His right is not, The more you produce, the more I +demand. It is, The more I sacrifice, the more I demand. The increase +in the tenant's household, the number of hands at his disposal, the +resources of his industry,--all these serve to increase production, but +bear no relation to the proprietor. His claims are to be measured by his +own productive capacity, not that of others. Property is the right of +increase, not a poll-tax. How could a man, hardly capable of cultivating +even a few acres by himself, demand of a community, on the ground of its +use of ten thousand acres of his property, ten thousand times as much +as he is incapable of producing from one acre? Why should the price of a +loan be governed by the skill and strength of the borrower, rather than +by the utility sacrificed by the proprietor? We must recognize, then, +this second economical law: INCREASE IS MEASURED BY A FRACTION OF THE +PROPRIETORS PRODUCTION. + +Now, this production, what is it? In other words, What can the lord and +master of a piece of land justly claim to have sacrificed in lending it +to a tenant? + +The productive capacity of a proprietor, like that of any laborer, being +one, the product which he sacrifices in surrendering his land is also +one. If, then, the rate of increase is ten per cent., the maximum +increase is 0.1. + +But we have seen that, whenever a proprietor withdraws from production, +the amount of products is lessened by 1. Then the increase which accrues +to him, being equal to 0.1 while he remains among the laborers, will be +equal after his withdrawal, by the law of the decrease of farm-rent, +to 0.09. Thus we are led to this final formula: THE MAXIMUM INCOME OF +A PROPRIETOR IS EQUAL TO THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE PRODUCT OF ONE LABORER +(some number being agreed upon to express this product). THE DIMINUTION +WHICH THIS INCOME SUFFERS, IF THE PROPRIETOR IS IDLE, IS EQUAL TO A +FRACTION WHOSE NUMERATOR IS 1, AND WHOSE DENOMINATOR IS THE NUMBER WHICH +EXPRESSES THE PRODUCT. + +Thus the maximum income of an idle proprietor, or of one who labors in +his own behalf outside of the community, figured at ten per cent. on an +average production of one thousand francs per laborer, would be ninety +francs. If, then, there are in France one million proprietors with an +income of one thousand francs each, which they consume unproductively, +instead of the one thousand millions which are paid them annually, they +are entitled in strict justice, and by the most accurate calculation, to +ninety millions only. + +It is something of a reduction, to take nine hundred and ten millions +from the burdens which weigh so heavily upon the laboring class! +Nevertheless, the account is not finished, and the laborer is still +ignorant of the full extent of his rights. + +What is the right of increase when confined within just limits? A +recognition of the right of occupancy. But since all have an equal right +of occupancy, every man is by the same title a proprietor. Every man has +a right to an income equal to a fraction of his product. If, then, +the laborer is obliged by the right of property to pay a rent to the +proprietor, the proprietor is obliged by the same right to pay the same +amount of rent to the laborer; and, since their rights balance each +other, the difference between them is zero. + +_Scholium_.--If farm-rent is only a fraction of the supposed product of +the proprietor, whatever the amount and value of the property, the same +is true in the case of a large number of small and distinct proprietors. +For, although one man may use the property of each separately, he cannot +use the property of all at the same time. + +To sum up. The right of increase, which can exist only within very +narrow limits, defined by the laws of production, is annihilated by +the right of occupancy. Now, without the right of increase, there is no +property. Then property is impossible. + + + +FOURTH PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because it is Homicide. + + +If the right of increase could be subjected to the laws of reason and +justice, it would be reduced to an indemnity or reward whose MAXIMUM +never could exceed, for a single laborer, a certain fraction of that +which he is capable of producing. This we have just shown. But why +should the right of increase--let us not fear to call it by its right +name, the right of robbery--be governed by reason, with which it has +nothing in common? The proprietor is not content with the increase +allotted him by good sense and the nature of things: he demands ten +times, a hundred times, a thousand times, a million times as much. By +his own labor, his property would yield him a product equal only to +one; and he demands of society, no longer a right proportional to his +productive capacity, but a per capita tax. He taxes his fellows in +proportion to their strength, their number, and their industry. A son +is born to a farmer. "Good!" says the proprietor; "one more chance +for increase!" By what process has farm-rent been thus changed into +a poll-tax? Why have our jurists and our theologians failed, with all +their shrewdness, to check the extension of the right of increase? + +The proprietor, having estimated from his own productive capacity the +number of laborers which his property will accommodate, divides it +into as many portions, and says: "Each one shall yield me revenue." +To increase his income, he has only to divide his property. Instead +of reckoning the interest due him on his labor, he reckons it on his +capital; and, by this substitution, the same property, which in the +hands of its owner is capable of yielding only one, is worth to him +ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million. Consequently, he has only to hold +himself in readiness to register the names of the laborers who apply to +him--his task consists in drafting leases and receipts. + +Not satisfied with the lightness of his duties, the proprietor does not +intend to bear even the deficit resulting from his idleness; he throws +it upon the shoulders of the producer, of whom he always demands the +same reward. When the farm-rent of a piece of land is once raised to its +highest point, the proprietor never lowers it; high prices, the scarcity +of labor, the disadvantages of the season, even pestilence itself, have +no effect upon him--why should he suffer from hard times when he does +not labor? + +Here commences a new series of phenomena. + +Say--who reasons with marvellous clearness whenever he assails taxation, +but who is blind to the fact that the proprietor, as well as the +tax-gatherer, steals from the tenant, and in the same manner--says in +his second letter to Malthus:-- + + +"If the collector of taxes and those who employ him consume one-sixth +of the products, they thereby compel the producers to feed, clothe, and +support themselves on five-sixths of what they produce. They admit this, +but say at the same time that it is possible for each one to live on +five-sixths of what he produces. + +"I admit that, if they insist upon it; but I ask if they believe that the +producer would live as well, in case they demanded of him, instead of +one-sixth, two-sixths, or one-third, of their products? No; but he would +still live. Then I ask whether he would still live, in case they should +rob him of two-thirds,... then three-quarters? But I hear no reply." + + +If the master of the French economists had been less blinded by his +proprietary prejudices, he would have seen that farm-rent has precisely +the same effect. + +Take a family of peasants composed of six persons,--father, mother, and +four children,--living in the country, and cultivating a small piece of +ground. Let us suppose that by hard labor they manage, as the saying is, +to make both ends meet; that, having lodged, warmed, clothed, and fed +themselves, they are clear of debt, but have laid up nothing. Taking the +years together, they contrive to live. If the year is prosperous, the +father drinks a little more wine, the daughters buy themselves a dress, +the sons a hat; they eat a little cheese, and, occasionally, some meat. +I say that these people are on the road to wreck and ruin. + +For, by the third corollary of our axiom, they owe to themselves the +interest on their own capital. Estimating this capital at only eight +thousand francs at two and a half per cent., there is an annual interest +of two hundred francs to be paid. If, then, these two hundred francs, +instead of being subtracted from the gross product to be saved and +capitalized, are consumed, there is an annual deficit of two hundred +francs in the family assets; so that at the end of forty years these +good people, without suspecting it, will have eaten up their property +and become bankrupt! + +This result seems ridiculous--it is a sad reality. + +The conscription comes. What is the conscription? An act of property +exercised over families by the government without warning--a robbery +of men and money. The peasants do not like to part with their sons,--in +that I do not think them wrong. It is hard for a young man of twenty +to gain any thing by life in the barracks; unless he is depraved, he +detests it. You can generally judge of a soldier's morality by his +hatred of his uniform. Unfortunate wretches or worthless scamps,--such +is the make-up of the French army. This ought not to be the case,--but +so it is. Question a hundred thousand men, and not one will contradict +my assertion. + +Our peasant, in redeeming his two conscripted sons, expends four +thousand francs, which he borrows for that purpose; the interest on +this, at five per cent., is two hundred francs;--a sum equal to that +referred to above. If, up to this time, the production of the family, +constantly balanced by its consumption, has been one thousand two +hundred francs, or two hundred francs per persons--in order to pay this +interest, either the six laborers must produce as much as seven, or must +consume as little as five. + +Curtail consumption they cannot--how can they curtail necessity? To +produce more is impossible; they can work neither harder nor longer. +Shall they take a middle course, and consume five and a half while +producing six and a half? They would soon find that with the stomach +there is no compromise--that beyond a certain degree of abstinence it +is impossible to go--that strict necessity can be curtailed but little +without injury to the health; and, as for increasing the product,--there +comes a storm, a drought, an epizootic, and all the hopes of the farmer +are dashed. In short, the rent will not be paid, the interest will +accumulate, the farm will be seized, and the possessor ejected. + +Thus a family, which lived in prosperity while it abstained from +exercising the right of property, falls into misery as soon as the +exercise of this right becomes a necessity. Property requires of the +husbandman the double power of enlarging his land, and fertilizing it by +a simple command. While a man is simply possessor of the land, he finds +in it means of subsistence; as soon as he pretends to proprietorship, +it suffices him no longer. Being able to produce only that which +he consumes, the fruit of his labor is his recompense for his +trouble--nothing is left for the instrument. + +Required to pay what he cannot produce,--such is the condition of the +tenant after the proprietor has retired from social production in order +to speculate upon the labor of others by new methods. + +Let us now return to our first hypothesis. + +The nine hundred laborers, sure that their future production will equal +that of the past, are quite surprised, after paying their farm-rent, to +find themselves poorer by one-tenth than they were the previous year. +In fact, this tenth--which was formerly produced and paid by the +proprietor-laborer who then took part in the production, and paid part +of the--public expenses--now has not been produced, and has been paid. +It must then have been taken from the producer's consumption. To +choke this inexplicable deficit, the laborer borrows, confident of +his intention and ability to return,--a confidence which is shaken the +following year by a new loan, PLUS the interest on the first. From whom +does he borrow? From the proprietor. The proprietor lends his surplus to +the laborer; and this surplus, which he ought to return, becomes--being +lent at interest--a new source of profit to him. Then debts increase +indefinitely; the proprietor makes advances to the producer who never +returns them; and the latter, constantly robbed and constantly borrowing +from the robbers, ends in bankruptcy, defrauded of all that he had. + +Suppose that the proprietor--who needs his tenant to furnish him with +an income--then releases him from his debts. He will thus do a very +benevolent deed, which will procure for him a recommendation in the +curate's prayers; while the poor tenant, overwhelmed by this unstinted +charity, and taught by his catechism to pray for his benefactors, will +promise to redouble his energy, and suffer new hardships that he may +discharge his debt to so kind a master. + +This time he takes precautionary measures; he raises the price of +grains. The manufacturer does the same with his products. The reaction +comes, and, after some fluctuation, the farm-rent--which the tenant +thought to put upon the manufacturer's shoulders--becomes nearly +balanced. So that, while he is congratulating himself upon his success, +he finds himself again impoverished, but to an extent somewhat smaller +than before. For the rise having been general, the proprietor suffers +with the rest; so that the laborers, instead of being poorer by +one-tenth, lose only nine-hundredths. But always it is a debt which +necessitates a loan, the payment of interest, economy, and fasting. +Fasting for the nine-hundredths which ought not to be paid, and are +paid; fasting for the redemption of debts; fasting to pay the interest +on them. Let the crop fail, and the fasting becomes starvation. They +say, "IT IS NECESSARY TO WORK MORE." That means, obviously, that IT IS +NECESSARY TO PRODUCE MORE. By what conditions is production effected? By +the combined action of labor, capital, and land. As for the labor, the +tenant undertakes to furnish it; but capital is formed only by economy. +Now, if the tenant could accumulate any thing, he would pay his debts. +But granting that he has plenty of capital, of what use would it be to +him if the extent of the land which he cultivates always remained the +same? He needs to enlarge his farm. + +Will it be said, finally, that he must work harder and to better +advantage? But, in our estimation of farm-rent, we have assumed the +highest possible average of production. Were it not the highest, the +proprietor would increase the farm-rent. Is not this the way in which +the large landed proprietors have gradually raised their rents, as +fast as they have ascertained by the increase in population and +the development of industry how much society can produce from their +property? The proprietor is a foreigner to society; but, like the +vulture, his eyes fixed upon his prey, he holds himself ready to pounce +upon and devour it. + +The facts to which we have called attention, in a community of one +thousand persons, are reproduced on a large scale in every nation +and wherever human beings live, but with infinite variations and in +innumerable forms, which it is no part of my intention to describe. + +In fine, property--after having robbed the laborer by usury--murders him +slowly by starvation. Now, without robbery and murder, property cannot +exist; with robbery and murder, it soon dies for want of support. +Therefore it is impossible. + + + +FIFTH PROPOSITION. + + +Property is impossible, because, if it exists, Society devours itself. + + +When the ass is too heavily loaded, he lies down; man always moves on. +Upon this indomitable courage, the proprietor--well knowing that it +exists--bases his hopes of speculation. The free laborer produces ten; +for me, thinks the proprietor, he will produce twelve. + +Indeed,--before consenting to the confiscation of his fields, before +bidding farewell to the paternal roof,--the peasant, whose story we have +just told, makes a desperate effort; he leases new land; he will sow +one-third more; and, taking half of this new product for himself, he +will harvest an additional sixth, and thereby pay his rent. What an +evil! To add one-sixth to his production, the farmer must add, not +one-sixth, but two-sixths to his labor. At such a price, he pays a +farm-rent which in God's eyes he does not owe. + +The tenant's example is followed by the manufacturer. The former tills +more land, and dispossesses his neighbors; the latter lowers the price +of his merchandise, and endeavors to monopolize its manufacture and +sale, and to crush out his competitors. To satisfy property, the laborer +must first produce beyond his needs. Then, he must produce beyond his +strength; for, by the withdrawal of laborers who become proprietors, the +one always follows from the other. But to produce beyond his strength +and needs, he must invade the production of another, and consequently +diminish the number of producers. Thus the proprietor--after having +lessened production by stepping outside--lessens it still further by +encouraging the monopoly of labor. Let us calculate it. + +The laborer's deficit, after paying his rent, being, as we have seen, +one-tenth, he tries to increase his production by this amount. He sees +no way of accomplishing this save by increasing his labor: this also he +does. The discontent of the proprietors who have not received the full +amount of their rent; the advantageous offers and promises made them by +other farmers, whom they suppose more diligent, more industrious, and +more reliable; the secret plots and intrigues,--all these give rise to a +movement for the re-division of labor, and the elimination of a certain +number of producers. Out of nine hundred, ninety will be ejected, that +the production of the others may be increased one-tenth. But will +the total product be increased? Not in the least: there will be eight +hundred and ten laborers producing as nine hundred, while, to accomplish +their purpose, they would have to produce as one thousand. Now, it +having been proved that farm-rent is proportional to the landed capital +instead of to labor, and that it never diminishes, the debts must +continue as in the past, while the labor has increased. Here, then, we +have a society which is continually decimating itself, and which +would destroy itself, did not the periodical occurrence of failures, +bankruptcies, and political and economical catastrophes re-establish +equilibrium, and distract attention from the real causes of the +universal distress. + +The monopoly of land and capital is followed by economical processes +which also result in throwing laborers out of employment. Interest being +a constant burden upon the shoulders of the farmer and the manufacturer, +they exclaim, each speaking for himself, "I should have the means +wherewith to pay my rent and interest, had I not to pay so many hands." +Then those admirable inventions, intended to assure the easy and speedy +performance of labor, become so many infernal machines which kill +laborers by thousands. + + +"A few years ago, the Countess of Strafford ejected fifteen thousand +persons from her estate, who, as tenants, added to its value. This act +of private administration was repeated in 1820, by another large Scotch +proprietor, towards six hundred tenants and their families."--Tissot: on +Suicide and Revolt. + +_ _The author whom I quote, and who has written eloquent words +concerning the revolutionary spirit which prevails in modern society, +does not say whether he would have disapproved of a revolt on the part +of these exiles. For myself, I avow boldly that in my eyes it would +have been the first of rights, and the holiest of duties; and all that I +desire to-day is that my profession of faith be understood. + +Society devours itself,--1. By the violent and periodical sacrifice +of laborers: this we have just seen, and shall see again; 2. By the +stoppage of the producer's consumption caused by property. These two +modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon the first is given +additional force by the second, famine uniting with usury to render +labor at once more necessary and more scarce. + +By the principles of commerce and political economy, that an industrial +enterprise may be successful, its product must furnish,--1. The interest +on the capital employed; 2. Means for the preservation of this capital; +3. The wages of all the employees and contractors. Further, as large a +profit as possible must be realized. + +The financial shrewdness and rapacity of property is worthy of +admiration. Each different name which increase takes affords the +proprietor an opportunity to receive it,--1. In the form of interest; 2. +In the form of profit. For, it says, a part of the income derived +from manufactures consists of interest on the capital employed. If +one hundred thousand francs have been invested in a manufacturing +enterprise, and in a year's time five thousand francs have been received +therefrom in addition to the expenses, there has been no profit, but +only interest on the capital. Now, the proprietor is not a man to labor +for nothing. Like the lion in the fable, he gets paid in each of his +capacities; so that, after he has been served, nothing is left for his +associates. + + _Ego primam tollo, nominor quia leo. + Secundam quia sum fortis tribuctis mihi. + Tum quia plus valeo, me sequetur tertia. + Malo adficietur, si quis quartam tetigerit._ + + +I know nothing prettier than this fable. + + "I am the contractor. I take the first share. + I am the laborer, I take the second. + I am the capitalist, I take the third. + I am the proprietor, I take the whole." + + +In four lines, Phaedrus has summed up all the forms of property. + +I say that this interest, all the more then this profit, is impossible. + +What are laborers in relation to each other? So many members of a large +industrial society, to each of whom is assigned a certain portion of +the general production, by the principle of the division of labor and +functions. Suppose, first, that this society is composed of but three +individuals,--a cattle-raiser, a tanner, and a shoemaker. The social +industry, then, is that of shoemaking. If I should ask what ought to be +each producer's share of the social product, the first schoolboy whom I +should meet would answer, by a rule of commerce and association, that it +should be one-third. But it is not our duty here to balance the rights +of laborers conventionally associated: we have to prove that, whether +associated or not, our three workers are obliged to act as if they +were; that, whether they will or no, they are associated by the force of +things, by mathematical necessity. + +Three processes are required in the manufacture of shoes,--the rearing +of cattle, the preparation of their hides, and the cutting and sewing. +If the hide, on leaving the farmer's stable, is worth one, it is worth +two on leaving the tanner's pit, and three on leaving the shoemaker's +shop. Each laborer has produced a portion of the utility; so that, by +adding all these portions together, we get the value of the article. To +obtain any quantity whatever of this article, each producer must pay, +then, first for his own labor, and second for the labor of the other +producers. Thus, to obtain as many shoes as can be made from ten hides, +the farmer will give thirty raw hides, and the tanner twenty tanned +hides. For, the shoes that are made from ten hides are worth thirty raw +hides, in consequence of the extra labor bestowed upon them; just +as twenty tanned hides are worth thirty raw hides, on account of +the tanner's labor. But if the shoemaker demands thirty-three in the +farmer's product, or twenty-two in the tanner's, for ten in his own, +there will be no exchange; for, if there were, the farmer and the +tanner, after having paid the shoemaker ten for his labor, would have to +pay eleven for that which they had themselves sold for ten,--which, of +course, would be impossible. [18] + + +Well, this is precisely what happens whenever an emolument of any kind +is received; be it called revenue, farm-rent, interest, or profit. In +the little community of which we are speaking, if the shoemaker--in +order to procure tools, buy a stock of leather, and support himself +until he receives something from his investment--borrows money at +interest, it is clear that to pay this interest he will have to make a +profit off the tanner and the farmer. But as this profit is impossible +unless fraud is used, the interest will fall back upon the shoulders of +the unfortunate shoemaker, and ruin him. + +I have imagined a case of unnatural simplicity. There is no human +society but sustains more than three vocations. The most uncivilized +society supports numerous industries; to-day, the number of industrial +functions (I mean by industrial functions all useful functions) exceeds, +perhaps, a thousand. However numerous the occupations, the economic law +remains the same,--THAT THE PRODUCER MAY LIVE, HIS WAGES MUST REPURCHASE +HIS PRODUCT. + +_ _The economists cannot be ignorant of this rudimentary principle +of their pretended science: why, then, do they so obstinately defend +property, and inequality of wages, and the legitimacy of usury, and the +honesty of profit,--all of which contradict the economic law, and make +exchange impossible? A contractor pays one hundred thousand francs +for raw material, fifty thousand francs in wages, and then expects to +receive a product of two hundred thousand francs,--that is, expects to +make a profit on the material and on the labor of his employees; but +if the laborers and the purveyor of the material cannot, with their +combined wages, repurchase that which they have produced for the +contractor, how can they live? I will develop my question. Here details +become necessary. + +If the workingman receives for his labor an average of three francs per +day, his employer (in order to gain any thing beyond his own salary, if +only interest on his capital) must sell the day's labor of his employee, +in the form of merchandise, for more than three francs. The workingman +cannot, then, repurchase that which he has produced for his master. +It is thus with all trades whatsoever. The tailor, the hatter, the +cabinet-maker, the blacksmith, the tanner, the mason, the jeweller, +the printer, the clerk, &c., even to the farmer and wine-grower, cannot +repurchase their products; since, producing for a master who in one form +or another makes a profit, they are obliged to pay more for their own +labor than they get for it. + +In France, twenty millions of laborers, engaged in all the branches of +science, art, and industry, produce every thing which is useful to man. +Their annual wages amount, it is estimated to twenty thousand millions; +but, in consequence of the right of property, and the multifarious forms +of increase, premiums, tithes, interests, fines, profits, farm-rents, +house-rents, revenues, emoluments of every nature and description, their +products are estimated by the proprietors and employers at twenty-five +thousand millions. What does that signify? That the laborers, who are +obliged to repurchase these products in order to live, must either pay +five for that which they produced for four, or fast one day in five. + +If there is an economist in France able to show that this calculation is +false, I summon him to appear; and I promise to retract all that I have +wrongfully and wickedly uttered in my attacks upon property. + +Let us now look at the results of this profit. + +If the wages of the workingmen were the same in all pursuits, the +deficit caused by the proprietor's tax would be felt equally everywhere; +but also the cause of the evil would be so apparent, that it would soon +be discovered and suppressed. But, as there is the same inequality of +wages (from that of the scavenger up to that of the minister of state) +as of property, robbery continually rebounds from the stronger to the +weaker; so that, since the laborer finds his hardships increase as he +descends in the social scale, the lowest class of people are literally +stripped naked and eaten alive by the others. + +The laboring people can buy neither the cloth which they weave, nor the +furniture which they manufacture, nor the metal which they forge, nor +the jewels which they cut, nor the prints which they engrave. They can +procure neither the wheat which they plant, nor the wine which they +grow, nor the flesh of the animals which they raise. They are allowed +neither to dwell in the houses which they build, nor to attend the +plays which their labor supports, nor to enjoy the rest which their body +requires. And why? Because the right of increase does not permit these +things to be sold at the cost-price, which is all that laborers can +afford to pay. On the signs of those magnificent warehouses which he in +his poverty admires, the laborer reads in large letters: "This is thy +work, and thou shalt not have it." _Sic vos non vobis_! + +Every manufacturer who employs one thousand laborers, and gains from +them daily one sou each, is slowly pushing them into a state of misery. +Every man who makes a profit has entered into a conspiracy with famine. +But the whole nation has not even this labor, by means of which property +starves it. And why? Because the workers are forced by the insufficiency +of their wages to monopolize labor; and because, before being destroyed +by dearth, they destroy each other by competition. Let us pursue this +truth no further. + +If the laborer's wages will not purchase his product, it follows +that the product is not made for the producer. For whom, then, is it +intended? For the richer consumer; that is, for only a fraction of +society. But when the whole society labors, it produces for the whole +society. If, then, only a part of society consumes, sooner or later a +part of society will be idle. Now, idleness is death, as well for the +laborer as for the proprietor. + +This conclusion is inevitable. + +The most distressing spectacle imaginable is the sight of producers +resisting and struggling against this mathematical necessity, this power +of figures to which their prejudices blind them. + +If one hundred thousand printers can furnish reading-matter enough for +thirty-four millions of men, and if the price of books is so high that +only one-third of that number can afford to buy them, it is clear that +these one hundred thousand printers will produce three times as much as +the booksellers can sell. That the products of the laborers may never +exceed the demands of the consumers, the laborers must either rest two +days out of three, or, separating into three groups, relieve each other +three times a week, month, or quarter; that is, during two-thirds of +their life they must not live. But industry, under the influence of +property, does not proceed with such regularity. It endeavors to +produce a great deal in a short time, because the greater the amount of +products, and the shorter the time of production, the less each product +costs. As soon as a demand begins to be felt, the factories fill up, and +everybody goes to work. Then business is lively, and both governors and +governed rejoice. But the more they work to-day, the more idle will they +be hereafter; the more they laugh, the more they shall weep. Under +the rule of property, the flowers of industry are woven into none but +funeral wreaths. The laborer digs his own grave. + +If the factory stops running, the manufacturer has to pay interest on +his capital the same as before. He naturally tries, then, to continue +production by lessening expenses. Then comes the lowering of wages; the +introduction of machinery; the employment of women and children to do +the work of men; bad workmen, and wretched work. They still produce, +because the decreased cost creates a larger market; but they do not +produce long, because, the cheapness being due to the quantity and +rapidity of production, the productive power tends more than ever to +outstrip consumption. It is when laborers, whose wages are scarcely +sufficient to support them from one day to another, are thrown out of +work, that the consequences of the principle of property become most +frightful. They have not been able to economize, they have made no +savings, they have accumulated no capital whatever to support them even +one day more. Today the factory is closed. To-morrow the people starve +in the streets. Day after tomorrow they will either die in the hospital, +or eat in the jail. + +And still new misfortunes come to complicate this terrible situation. In +consequence of the cessation of business, and the extreme cheapness of +merchandise, the manufacturer finds it impossible to pay the interest +on his borrowed capital; whereupon his frightened creditors hasten to +withdraw their funds. Production is suspended, and labor comes to a +standstill. Then people are astonished to see capital desert commerce, +and throw itself upon the Stock Exchange; and I once heard M. Blanqui +bitterly lamenting the blind ignorance of capitalists. The cause of +this movement of capital is very simple; but for that very reason an +economist could not understand it, or rather must not explain it. The +cause lies solely in COMPETITION. + +I mean by competition, not only the rivalry between two parties engaged +in the same business, but the general and simultaneous effort of all +kinds of business to get ahead of each other. This effort is to-day +so strong, that the price of merchandise scarcely covers the cost of +production and distribution; so that, the wages of all laborers being +lessened, nothing remains, not even interest for the capitalists. + +The primary cause of commercial and industrial stagnations is, then, +interest on capital,--that interest which the ancients with one accord +branded with the name of usury, whenever it was paid for the use +of money, but which they did not dare to condemn in the forms of +house-rent, farm-rent, or profit: as if the nature of the thing lent +could ever warrant a charge for the lending; that is, robbery. + +In proportion to the increase received by the capitalist will be the +frequency and intensity of commercial crises,--the first being given, we +always can determine the two others; and vice versa. Do you wish to know +the regulator of a society? Ascertain the amount of active capital; that +is, the capital bearing interest, and the legal rate of this interest. +The course of events will be a series of overturns, whose number and +violence will be proportional to the activity of capital. + +In 1839, the number of failures in Paris alone was one thousand and +sixty-four. This proportion was kept up in the early months of 1840; +and, as I write these lines, the crisis is not yet ended. It is said, +further, that the number of houses which have wound up their business +is greater than the number of declared failures. By this flood, we may +judge of the waterspout's power of suction. + +The decimation of society is now imperceptible and permanent, now +periodical and violent; it depends upon the course which property takes. +In a country where the property is pretty evenly distributed, and where +little business is done,--the rights and claims of each being balanced +by those of others,--the power of invasion is destroyed. There--it may +be truly said--property does not exist, since the right of increase is +scarcely exercised at all. The condition of the laborers--as regards +security of life--is almost the same as if absolute equality prevailed +among them. They are deprived of all the advantages of full and free +association, but their existence is not endangered in the least. With +the exception of a few isolated victims of the right of property--of +this misfortune whose primary cause no one perceives--the society +appears to rest calmly in the bosom of this sort of equality. But have a +care; it is balanced on the edge of a sword: at the slightest shock, it +will fall and meet with death! + +Ordinarily, the whirlpool of property localizes itself. On the one hand, +farm-rent stops at a certain point; on the other, in consequence of +competition and over-production, the price of manufactured goods does +not rise,--so that the condition of the peasant varies but little, and +depends mainly on the seasons. The devouring action of property bears, +then, principally upon business. We commonly say COMMERCIAL CRISES, not +AGRICULTURAL CRISES; because, while the farmer is eaten up slowly by the +right of increase, the manufacturer is swallowed at a single mouthful. +This leads to the cessation of business, the destruction of fortunes, +and the inactivity of the working people; who die one after another on +the highways, and in the hospitals, prisons, and galleys. + +To sum up this proposition:-- + +Property sells products to the laborer for more than it pays him for +them; therefore it is impossible. + + + +APPENDIX TO THE FIFTH PROPOSITION. + + +I. Certain reformers, and even the most of the publicists--who, though +belonging to no particular school, busy themselves in devising means for +the amelioration of the lot of the poorer and more numerous class--lay +much stress now-a-days on a better organization of labor. The disciples +of Fourier, especially, never stop shouting, "ON TO THE PHALANX!" +declaiming in the same breath against the foolishness and absurdity of +other sects. + +They consist of half-a-dozen incomparable geniuses who have discovered +that FIVE AND FOUR MAKE NINE; TAKE TWO AWAY, AND NINE REMAIN,--and +who weep over the blindness of France, who refuses to believe in this +astonishing arithmetic.[1] + +[1] Fourier, having to multiply a whole number by a fraction, +never failed, they say, to obtain a product much greater than the +multiplicand. He affirmed that under his system of harmony the mercury +would solidify when the temperature was above zero. He might as well +have said that the Harmonians would make burning ice. I once asked an +intelligent phalansterian what he thought of such physics. "I do not +know," he answered; "but I believe." And yet the same man disbelieved in +the doctrine of the Real Presence. + + +In fact, the Fourierists proclaim themselves, on the one hand, defenders +of property, of the right of increase, which they have thus formulated: +TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS CAPITAL, HIS LABOR, AND HIS SKILL. On the other +hand, they wish the workingman to come into the enjoyment of all +the wealth of society; that is,--abridging the expression,--into the +undivided enjoyment of his own product. Is not this like saying to the +workingman, "Labor, you shall have three francs per day; you shall live +on fifty-five sous; you shall give the rest to the proprietor, and thus +you will consume three francs"? + +If the above speech is not an exact epitome of Charles Fourier's system, +I will subscribe to the whole phalansterian folly with a pen dipped in +my own blood. + +Of what use is it to reform industry and agriculture,--of what use, +indeed, to labor at all,--if property is maintained, and labor can never +meet its expenses? Without the abolition of property, the organization +of labor is neither more nor less than a delusion. If production should +be quadrupled,--a thing which does not seem to me at all impossible,--it +would be labor lost: if the additional product was not consumed, it +would be of no value, and the proprietor would decline to receive it as +interest; if it was consumed, all the disadvantages of property would +reappear. It must be confessed that the theory of passional attraction +is gravely at fault in this particular, and that Fourier, when he tried +to harmonize the PASSION for property,--a bad passion, whatever he may +say to the contrary,--blocked his own chariot-wheels. + +The absurdity of the phalansterian economy is so gross, that many people +suspect Fourier, in spite of all the homage paid by him to proprietors, +of having been a secret enemy of property. This opinion might be +supported by plausible arguments; still it is not mine. Charlatanism +was too important a part for such a man to play, and sincerity too +insignificant a one. I would rather think Fourier ignorant (which is +generally admitted) than disingenuous. As for his disciples, before they +can formulate any opinion of their own, they must declare once for +all, unequivocally and with no mental reservation, whether they mean to +maintain property or not, and what they mean by their famous motto,--"To +each according to his capital, his labor, and his skill." + +II. But, some half-converted proprietor will observe, "Would it not be +possible, by suppressing the bank, incomes, farm-rent, house-rent, usury +of all kinds, and finally property itself, to proportion products to +capacities? That was St. Simon's idea; it was also Fourier's; it is the +desire of the human conscience; and no decent person would dare maintain +that a minister of state should live no better than a peasant." + +O Midas! your ears are long! What! will you never understand that +disparity of wages and the right of increase are one and the same? +Certainly, St. Simon, Fourier, and their respective flocks committed +a serious blunder in attempting to unite, the one, inequality and +communism; the other, inequality and property: but you, a man of +figures, a man of economy,--you, who know by heart your LOGARITHMIC +tables,--how can you make so stupid a mistake? + +Does not political economy itself teach you that the product of a man, +whatever be his individual capacity, is never worth more than his labor, +and that a man's labor is worth no more than his consumption? You remind +me of that great constitution-framer, poor Pinheiro-Ferreira, the Sieyes +of the nineteenth century, who, dividing the citizens of a nation into +twelve classes,--or, if you prefer, into twelve grades,--assigned to +some a salary of one hundred thousand francs each; to others, eighty +thousand; then twenty-five thousand, fifteen thousand, ten thousand, +&c., down to one thousand five hundred, and one thousand francs, the +minimum allowance of a citizen. Pinheiro loved distinctions, and could +no more conceive of a State without great dignitaries than of an army +without drum-majors; and as he also loved, or thought he loved, liberty, +equality, and fraternity, he combined the good and the evil of our old +society in an eclectic philosophy which he embodied in a constitution. +Excellent Pinheiro! Liberty even to passive submission, fraternity +even to identity of language, equality even in the jury-box and at the +guillotine,--such was his ideal republic. Unappreciated genius, of whom +the present century was unworthy, but whom the future will avenge! + +Listen, proprietor. Inequality of talent exists in fact; in right it is +not admissible, it goes for nothing, it is not thought of. One Newton in +a century is equal to thirty millions of men; the psychologist admires +the rarity of so fine a genius, the legislator sees only the rarity +of the function. Now, rarity of function bestows no privilege upon the +functionary; and that for several reasons, all equally forcible. + +1. Rarity of genius was not, in the Creator's design, a motive to compel +society to go down on its knees before the man of superior talents, +but a providential means for the performance of all functions to the +greatest advantage of all. + +2. Talent is a creation of society rather than a gift of Nature; it +is an accumulated capital, of which the receiver is only the guardian. +Without society,--without the education and powerful assistance which +it furnishes,--the finest nature would be inferior to the most ordinary +capacities in the very respect in which it ought to shine. The more +extensive a man's knowledge, the more luxuriant his imagination, the +more versatile his talent,--the more costly has his education been, the +more remarkable and numerous were his teachers and his models, and the +greater is his debt. The farmer produces from the time that he leaves +his cradle until he enters his grave: the fruits of art and science +are late and scarce; frequently the tree dies before the fruit ripens. +Society, in cultivating talent, makes a sacrifice to hope. + +3. Capacities have no common standard of comparison: the conditions of +development being equal, inequality of talent is simply speciality of +talent. + +4. Inequality of wages, like the right of increase, is economically +impossible. Take the most favorable case,--that where each laborer +has furnished his maximum production; that there may be an equitable +distribution of products, the share of each must be equal to the +quotient of the total production divided by the number of laborers. This +done, what remains wherewith to pay the higher wages? Nothing whatever. + +Will it be said that all laborers should be taxed? But, then, their +consumption will not be equal to their production, their wages will not +pay for their productive service, they will not be able to repurchase +their product, and we shall once more be afflicted with all the +calamities of property. I do not speak of the injustice done to +the defrauded laborer, of rivalry, of excited ambition, and burning +hatred,--these may all be important considerations, but they do not hit +the point. + +On the one hand, each laborer's task being short and easy, and the means +for its successful accomplishment being equal in all cases, how could +there be large and small producers? On the other hand, all functions +being equal, either on account of the actual equivalence of talents +and capacities, or on account of social co-operation, how could a +functionary claim a salary proportional to the worth of his genius? + +But, what do I say? In equality wages are always proportional to +talents. What is the economical meaning of wages? The reproductive +consumption of the laborer. The very act by which the laborer produces +constitutes, then, this consumption, exactly equal to his production, +of which we are speaking. When the astronomer produces observations, the +poet verses, or the savant experiments, they consume instruments, books, +travels, &c., &c.; now, if society supplies this consumption, what more +can the astronomer, the savant, or the poet demand? We must conclude, +then, that in equality, and only in equality, St. Simon's adage--TO +EACH ACCORDING TO HIS CAPACITY TO EACH CAPACITY ACCORDING TO ITS +RESULTS--finds its full and complete application. + +III. The great evil--the horrible and ever-present evil--arising from +property, is that, while property exists, population, however reduced, +is, and always must be, over-abundant. Complaints have been made in +all ages of the excess of population; in all ages property has been +embarrassed by the presence of pauperism, not perceiving that it caused +it. Further,--nothing is more curious than the diversity of the plans +proposed for its extermination. Their atrocity is equalled only by their +absurdity. + +The ancients made a practice of abandoning their children. The wholesale +and retail slaughter of slaves, civil and foreign wars, also lent their +aid. In Rome (where property held full sway), these three means were +employed so effectively, and for so long a time, that finally the empire +found itself without inhabitants. When the barbarians arrived, nobody +was to be found; the fields were no longer cultivated; grass grew in the +streets of the Italian cities. + +In China, from time immemorial, upon famine alone has devolved the task +of sweeping away the poor. The people living almost exclusively upon +rice, if an accident causes the crop to fail, in a few days hunger kills +the inhabitants by myriads; and the Chinese historian records in the +annals of the empire, that in such a year of such an emperor twenty, +thirty, fifty, one hundred thousand inhabitants died of starvation. +Then they bury the dead, and recommence the production of children until +another famine leads to the same result. Such appears to have been, in +all ages, the Confucian economy. + +I borrow the following facts from a modern economist:-- + + +"Since the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, England has been +preyed upon by pauperism. At that time beggars were punished by law." +Nevertheless, she had not one-fourth as large a population as she has +to-day. + +"Edward prohibits alms-giving, on pain of imprisonment.... The laws of +1547 and 1656 prescribe a like punishment, in case of a second offence. +Elizabeth orders that each parish shall support its own paupers. But +what is a pauper? Charles II. decides that an UNDISPUTED residence of +forty days constitutes a settlement in a parish; but, if disputed, the +new-comer is forced to pack off. James II. modifies this decision, +which is again modified by William. In the midst of trials, reports, and +modifications, pauperism increases, and the workingman languishes and +dies. + +"The poor-tax in 1774 exceeded forty millions of francs; in 1783-4-5, +it averaged fifty-three millions; 1813, more than a hundred and +eighty-seven millions five hundred thousand francs; 1816, two hundred +and fifty millions; in 1817, it is estimated at three hundred and +seventeen millions. + +"In 1821, the number of paupers enrolled upon the parish lists was +estimated at four millions, nearly one-third of the population. + +"FRANCE. In 1544, Francis I. establishes a compulsory tax in behalf of +the poor. In 1566 and 1586, the same principle is applied to the whole +kingdom. + +"Under Louis XIV., forty thousand paupers infested the capital [as many +in proportion as to-day]. Mendicity was punished severely. In 1740, +the Parliament of Paris re-establishes within its own jurisdiction the +compulsory assessment. + +"The Constituent Assembly, frightened at the extent of the evil and the +difficulty of curing it, ordains the _statu quo_. + +"The Convention proclaims assistance of the poor to be a NATIONAL DEBT. +Its law remains unexecuted. + +"Napoleon also wishes to remedy the evil: his idea is imprisonment. 'In +that way,' said he, 'I shall protect the rich from the importunity +of beggars, and shall relieve them of the disgusting sight of abject +poverty.'" O wonderful man! + + +From these facts, which I might multiply still farther, two things are +to be inferred,--the one, that pauperism is independent of population; +the other, that all attempts hitherto made at its extermination have +proved abortive. + +Catholicism founds hospitals and convents, and commands charity; that +is, she encourages mendicity. That is the extent of her insight as +voiced by her priests. + +The secular power of Christian nations now orders taxes on the rich, +now banishment and imprisonment for the poor; that is, on the one hand, +violation of the right of property, and, on the other, civil death and +murder. + +The modern economists--thinking that pauperism is caused by the excess +of population, exclusively--have devoted themselves to devising checks. +Some wish to prohibit the poor from marrying; thus,--having denounced +religious celibacy,--they propose compulsory celibacy, which will +inevitably become licentious celibacy. + +Others do not approve this method, which they deem too violent; and +which, they say, deprives the poor man of THE ONLY PLEASURE WHICH HE +KNOWS IN THIS WORLD. They would simply recommend him to be PRUDENT. This +opinion is held by Malthus, Sismondi, Say, Droz, Duchatel, &c. But if +the poor are to be PRUDENT, the rich must set the example. Why should +the marriageable age of the latter be fixed at eighteen years, while +that of the former is postponed until thirty? + + +Again, they would do well to explain clearly what they mean by this +matrimonial prudence which they so urgently recommend to the laborer; +for here equivocation is especially dangerous, and I suspect that +the economists are not thoroughly understood. "Some half-enlightened +ecclesiastics are alarmed when they hear prudence in marriage advised; +they fear that the divine injunction--INCREASE AND MULTIPLY--is to be +set aside. To be logical, they must anathematize bachelors." (J. Droz: +Political Economy.) + +M. Droz is too honest a man, and too little of a theologian, to see why +these casuists are so alarmed; and this chaste ignorance is the very +best evidence of the purity of his heart. Religion never has encouraged +early marriages; and the kind of PRUDENCE which it condemns is that +described in this Latin sentence from Sanchez,--_An licet ob metum +liberorum semen extra vas ejicere_? + +Destutt de Tracy seems to dislike prudence in either form. He says: "I +confess that I no more share the desire of the moralists to diminish +and restrain our pleasures, than that of the politicians to increase +our procreative powers, and accelerate reproduction." He believes, then, +that we should love and marry when and as we please. Widespread misery +results from love and marriage, but this our philosopher does not heed. +True to the dogma of the necessity of evil, to evil he looks for the +solution of all problems. He adds: "The multiplication of men continuing +in all classes of society, the surplus members of the upper classes are +supported by the lower classes, and those of the latter are destroyed +by poverty." This philosophy has few avowed partisans; but it has over +every other the indisputable advantage of demonstration in practice. Not +long since France heard it advocated in the Chamber of Deputies, in the +course of the discussion on the electoral reform,--POVERTY WILL ALWAYS +EXIST. That is the political aphorism with which the minister of state +ground to powder the arguments of M. Arago. POVERTY WILL ALWAYS EXIST! +Yes, so long as property does. + +The Fourierists--INVENTORS of so many marvellous contrivances--could +not, in this field, belie their character. They invented four methods of +checking increase of population at will. + +1. THE VIGOR OF WOMEN. On this point they are contradicted by +experience; for, although vigorous women may be less likely to conceive, +nevertheless they give birth to the healthiest children; so that the +advantage of maternity is on their side. + +2. INTEGRAL EXERCISE, or the equal development of all the physical +powers. If this development is equal, how is the power of reproduction +lessened? + +3. THE GASTRONOMIC REGIME; or, in plain English, the philosophy of the +belly. The Fourierists say, that abundance of rich food renders +women sterile; just as too much sap--while enhancing the beauty of +flowers--destroys their reproductive capacity. But the analogy is a +false one. Flowers become sterile when the stamens--or male organs--are +changed into petals, as may be seen by inspecting a rose; and when +through excessive dampness the pollen loses its fertilizing power. +Then,--in order that the gastronomic regime may produce the results +claimed for it,--not only must the females be fattened, but the males +must be rendered impotent. + +4. PHANEROGAMIC MORALITY, or public concubinage. I know not why the +phalansterians use Greek words to convey ideas which can be expressed so +clearly in French. This method--like the preceding one--is copied from +civilized customs. Fourier, himself, cites the example of prostitutes +as a proof. Now we have no certain knowledge yet of the facts which he +quotes. So states Parent Duchatelet in his work on "Prostitution." + +From all the information which I have been able to gather, I find that +all the remedies for pauperism and fecundity--sanctioned by universal +practice, philosophy, political economy, and the latest reformers--may +be summed up in the following list: masturbation, onanism, [19] +sodomy, tribadie, polyandry, [20] prostitution, castration, continence, +abortion, and infanticide. [21] + + +All these methods being proved inadequate, there remains proscription. + +Unfortunately, proscription, while decreasing the number of the poor, +increases their proportion. If the interest charged by the proprietor +upon the product is equal only to one-twentieth of the product (by law +it is equal to one-twentieth of the capital), it follows that twenty +laborers produce for nineteen only; because there is one among them, +called proprietor, who eats the share of two. Suppose that the twentieth +laborer--the poor one--is killed: the production of the following year +will be diminished one-twentieth; consequently the nineteenth will have +to yield his portion, and perish. For, since it is not one-twentieth +of the product of nineteen which must be paid to the proprietor, but +one-twentieth of the product of twenty (see third proposition), each +surviving laborer must sacrifice one-twentieth PLUS one four-hundredth +of his product; in other words, one man out of nineteen must be killed. +Therefore, while property exists, the more poor people we kill, the more +there are born in proportion. + +Malthus, who proved so clearly that population increases in geometrical +progression, while production increases only in arithmetical +progression, did not notice this PAUPERIZING power of property. Had he +observed this, he would have understood that, before trying to check +reproduction, the right of increase should be abolished; because, +wherever that right is tolerated, there are always too many inhabitants, +whatever the extent or fertility of the soil. + +It will be asked, perhaps, how I would maintain a balance between +population and production; for sooner or later this problem must be +solved. The reader will pardon me, if I do not give my method here. For, +in my opinion, it is useless to say a thing unless we prove it. Now, to +explain my method fully would require no less than a formal treatise. +It is a thing so simple and so vast, so common and so extraordinary, +so true and so misunderstood, so sacred and so profane, that to name it +without developing and proving it would serve only to excite contempt +and incredulity. One thing at a time. Let us establish equality, and +this remedy will soon appear; for truths follow each other, just as +crimes and errors do. + + + +SIXTH PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because it is the Mother of Tyranny. + + +What is government? Government is public economy, the supreme +administrative power over public works and national possessions. + +Now, the nation is like a vast society in which all the citizens are +stockholders. Each one has a deliberative voice in the assembly; and, +if the shares are equal, has one vote at his disposal. But, under the +regime of property, there is great inequality between the shares of +the stockholders; therefore, one may have several hundred votes, while +another has only one. If, for example, I enjoy an income of one million; +that is, if I am the proprietor of a fortune of thirty or forty millions +well invested, and if this fortune constitutes 1/30000 of the national +capital,--it is clear that the public administration of my property +would form 1/30000 of the duties of the government; and, if the nation +had a population of thirty-four millions, that I should have as many +votes as one thousand one hundred and thirty-three simple stockholders. + +Thus, when M. Arago demands the right of suffrage for all members of the +National Guard, he is perfectly right; since every citizen is enrolled +for at least one national share, which entitles him to one vote. But the +illustrious orator ought at the same time to demand that each elector +shall have as many votes as he has shares; as is the case in commercial +associations. For to do otherwise is to pretend that the nation has a +right to dispose of the property of individuals without consulting them; +which is contrary to the right of property. In a country where property +exists, equality of electoral rights is a violation of property. + +Now, if each citizen's sovereignty must and ought to be proportional to +his property, it follows that the small stock holders are at the mercy +of the larger ones; who will, as soon as they choose, make slaves of +the former, marry them at pleasure, take from them their wives, +castrate their sons, prostitute their daughters, throw the aged to the +sharks,--and finally will be forced to serve themselves in the same way, +unless they prefer to tax themselves for the support of their servants. +In such a condition is Great Britain to-day. John Bull--caring little +for liberty, equality, or dignity--prefers to serve and beg. But you, +bonhomme Jacques? + +Property is incompatible with political and civil equality; then +property is impossible. + +HISTORICAL COMMENTS.--1. When the vote of the third estate was doubled +by the States-General of 1789, property was grossly violated. The +nobility and the clergy possessed three-fourths of the soil of France; +they should have controlled three-fourths of the votes in the national +representation. To double the vote of the third estate was just, it is +said, since the people paid nearly all the taxes. This argument would +be sound, if there were nothing to be voted upon but taxes. But it was a +question at that time of reforming the government and the constitution; +consequently, the doubling of the vote of the third estate was a +usurpation, and an attack on property. + +2. If the present representatives of the radical opposition should +come into power, they would work a reform by which every National Guard +should be an elector, and every elector eligible for office,--an attack +on property. + +They would lower the rate of interest on public funds,--an attack on +property. + +They would, in the interest of the public, pass laws to regulate the +exportation of cattle and wheat,--an attack on property. + +They would alter the assessment of taxes,--an attack on property. + +They would educate the people gratuitously,--a conspiracy against +property. + +They would organize labor; that is, they would guarantee labor to the +workingman, and give him a share in the profits,--the abolition of +property. + +Now, these same radicals are zealous defenders of property,--a radical +proof that they know not what they do, nor what they wish. + +3. Since property is the grand cause of privilege and despotism, the +form of the republican oath should be changed. Instead of, "I swear +hatred to royalty," henceforth the new member of a secret society should +say, "I swear hatred to property." + + + +SEVENTH PROPOSITION. + +_Property is impossible, because, in consuming its Receipts, it loses +them; in hoarding them, it nullifies them; and in using them as Capital, +it turns them against Production_. + +I. If, with the economists, we consider the laborer as a living machine, +we must regard the wages paid to him as the amount necessary to support +this machine, and keep it in repair. The head of a manufacturing +establishment--who employs laborers at three, five, ten, and +fifteen francs per day, and who charges twenty francs for his +superintendence--does not regard his disbursements as losses, because +he knows they will return to him in the form of products. Consequently, +LABOR and REPRODUCTIVE CONSUMPTION are identical. + +What is the proprietor? He is a machine which does not work; or, which +working for its own pleasure, and only when it sees fit, produces +nothing. + +What is it to consume as a proprietor? It is to consume without +working, to consume without reproducing. For, once more, that which the +proprietor consumes as a laborer comes back to him; he does not give his +labor in exchange for his property, since, if he did, he would thereby +cease to be a proprietor. In consuming as a laborer, the proprietor +gains, or at least does not lose, since he recovers that which he +consumes; in consuming as a proprietor, he impoverishes himself. To +enjoy property, then, it is necessary to destroy it; to be a real +proprietor, one must cease to be a proprietor. + +The laborer who consumes his wages is a machine which destroys and +reproduces; the proprietor who consumes his income is a bottomless +gulf,--sand which we water, a stone which we sow. So true is this, +that the proprietor--neither wishing nor knowing how to produce, and +perceiving that as fast as he uses his property he destroys it for +ever--has taken the precaution to make some one produce in his place. +That is what political economy, speaking in the name of eternal justice, +calls PRODUCING BY HIS CAPITAL,--PRODUCING BY HIS TOOLS. And that is +what ought to be called PRODUCING BY A SLAVE--PRODUCING AS A THIEF AND +AS A TYRANT. He, the proprietor, produce!... The robber might say, as +well: "I produce." + +The consumption of the proprietor has been styled luxury, in opposition +to USEFUL consumption. From what has just been said, we see that great +luxury can prevail in a nation which is not rich,--that poverty even +increases with luxury, and vice versa. The economists (so much credit +must be given them, at least) have caused such a horror of luxury, +that to-day a very large number of proprietors--not to say almost +all--ashamed of their idleness--labor, economize, and capitalize. They +have jumped from the frying-pan into the fire. + +I cannot repeat it too often: the proprietor who thinks to deserve +his income by working, and who receives wages for his labor, is a +functionary who gets paid twice; that is the only difference between an +idle proprietor and a laboring proprietor. By his labor, the proprietor +produces his wages only--not his income. And since his condition enables +him to engage in the most lucrative pursuits, it may be said that the +proprietor's labor harms society more than it helps it. Whatever the +proprietor does, the consumption of his income is an actual loss, which +his salaried functions neither repair nor justify; and which would +annihilate property, were it not continually replenished by outside +production. + +II. Then, the proprietor who consumes annihilates the product: he does +much worse if he lays it up. The things which he lays by pass into +another world; nothing more is seen of them, not even the _caput +mortuum_,--the smoke. If we had some means of transportation by which +to travel to the moon, and if the proprietors should be seized with a +sudden fancy to carry their savings thither, at the end of a certain +time our terraqueous planet would be transported by them to its +satellite! + +The proprietor who lays up products will neither allow others to enjoy +them, nor enjoy them himself; for him there is neither possession nor +property. Like the miser, he broods over his treasures: he does not use +them. He may feast his eyes upon them; he may lie down with them; he +may sleep with them in his arms: all very fine, but coins do not +breed coins. No real property without enjoyment; no enjoyment without +consumption; no consumption without loss of property,--such is the +inflexible necessity to which God's judgment compels the proprietor to +bend. A curse upon property! + +III. The proprietor who, instead of consuming his income, uses it as +capital, turns it against production, and thereby makes it impossible +for him to exercise his right. For the more he increases the amount of +interest to be paid upon it, the more he is compelled to diminish wages. +Now, the more he diminishes wages,--that is, the less he devotes to +the maintenance and repair of the machines,--the more he diminishes +the quantity of labor; and with the quantity of labor the quantity of +product, and with the quantity of product the very source of his income. +This is clearly shown by the following example:-- + +Take an estate consisting of arable land, meadows, and vineyards, +containing the dwellings of the owner and the tenant; and worth, +together with the farming implements, one hundred thousand francs, the +rate of increase being three per cent. If, instead of consuming his +revenue, the proprietor uses it, not in enlarging but in beautifying his +estate, can he annually demand of his tenant an additional ninety francs +on account of the three thousand francs which he has thus added to +his capital? Certainly not; for on such conditions the tenant, though +producing no more than before, would soon be obliged to labor for +nothing,--what do I say? to actually suffer loss in order to hold his +lease. + +In fact, revenue can increase only as productive soil increases: it +is useless to build walls of marble, and work with plows of gold. But, +since it is impossible to go on acquiring for ever, to add estate to +estate, to CONTINUE ONE'S POSSESSIONS, as the Latins said; and since, +moreover, the proprietor always has means wherewith to capitalize,--it +follows that the exercise of his right finally becomes impossible. + +Well, in spite of this impossibility, property capitalizes, and in +capitalizing increases its revenue; and, without stopping to look at the +particular cases which occur in commerce, manufacturing operations, +and banking, I will cite a graver fact,--one which directly affects all +citizens. I mean the indefinite increase of the budget. + +The taxes increase every year. It would be difficult to tell in which +department of the government the expenses increase; for who can boast +of any knowledge as to the budget? On this point, the ablest financiers +continually disagree. What is to be thought, I ask, of the science of +government, when its professors cannot understand one another's figures? +Whatever be the immediate causes of this growth of the budget, it is +certain that taxation increases at a rate which causes everybody to +despair. Everybody sees it, everybody acknowledges it; but nobody +seems to understand the primary cause.[1] Now, I say that it cannot be +otherwise,--that it is necessary and inevitable. + +[1] "The financial situation of the English government was shown up +in the House of Lords during the session of January 23. It is not +an encouraging one. For several years the expenses have exceeded the +receipts, and the Minister has been able to re-establish the balance +only by loans renewed annually. The combined deficits of the years 1838 +and 1839 amount to forty-seven million five hundred thousand francs. In +1840, the excess of expenses over receipts is expected to be twenty-two +million five hundred thousand francs. Attention was called to these +figures by Lord Ripon. Lord Melbourne replied: 'The noble earl unhappily +was right in declaring that the public expenses continually increase, +and with him I must say that there is no room for hope that they can be +diminished or met in any way.'"--National: January 26, 1840. + + +A nation is the tenant of a rich proprietor called the GOVERNMENT, +to whom it pays, for the use of the soil, a farm-rent called a tax. +Whenever the government makes war, loses or gains a battle, changes the +outfit of its army, erects a monu-ment, digs a canal, opens a road, +or builds a railway, it borrows money, on which the tax-payers pay +interest; that is, the government, without adding to its productive +capacity, increases its active capital,--in a word, capitalizes after +the manner of the proprietor of whom I have just spoken. + +Now, when a governmental loan is once contracted, and the interest is +once stipulated, the budget cannot be reduced. For, to accomplish that, +either the capitalists must relinquish their interest, which would +involve an abandonment of property; or the government must go into +bankruptcy, which would be a fraudulent denial of the political +principle; or it must pay the debt, which would require another loan; +or it must reduce expenses, which is impossible, since the loan +was contracted for the sole reason that the ordinary receipts +were insufficient; or the money expended by the government must be +reproductive, which requires an increase of productive capacity,--a +condition excluded by our hypothesis; or, finally, the tax-payers must +submit to a new tax in order to pay the debt,--an impossible thing. For, +if this new tax were levied upon all citizens alike, half, or even more, +of the citizens would be unable to pay it; if the rich had to bear the +whole, it would be a forced contribution,--an invasion of property. +Long financial experience has shown that the method of loans, though +exceedingly dangerous, is much surer, more convenient, and less costly +than any other method; consequently the government borrows,--that is, +goes on capitalizing,--and increases the budget. + +Then, a budget, instead of ever diminishing, must necessarily and +continually increase. It is astonishing that the economists, with all +their learning, have failed to perceive a fact so simple and so evident. +If they have perceived it, why have they neglected to condemn it? + + +HISTORICAL COMMENT.--Much interest is felt at present in a financial +operation which is expected to result in a reduction of the budget. +It is proposed to change the present rate of increase, five per cent. +Laying aside the politico-legal question to deal only with the financial +question,--is it not true that, when five per cent. is changed to four +per cent., it will then be necessary, for the same reasons, to change +four to three; then three to two, then two to one, and finally to sweep +away increase altogether? But that would be the advent of equality of +conditions and the abolition of property. Now it seems to me, that an +intelligent nation should voluntarily meet an inevitable revolution +half way, instead of suffering itself to be dragged after the car of +inflexible necessity. + + + +EIGHTH PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because its power of Accumulation is infinite, +and is exercised only over finite quantities. + +If men, living in equality, should grant to one of their number the +exclusive right of property; and this sole proprietor should lend one +hundred francs to the human race at compound interest, payable to his +descendants twenty-four generations hence,--at the end of six hundred +years this sum of one hundred francs, at five per cent., would amount to +107,854,010,777,600 francs; two thousand six hundred and ninety-six +and one-third times the capital of France (supposing her capital to be +40,000,000,000), or more than twenty times the value of the terrestrial +globe! + +Suppose that a man, in the reign of St. Louis, had borrowed one hundred +francs, and had refused,--he and his heirs after him,--to return it. +Even though it were known that the said heirs were not the rightful +possessors, and that prescription had been interrupted always at the +right moment,--nevertheless, by our laws, the last heir would be obliged +to return the one hundred francs with interest, and interest on the +interest; which in all would amount, as we have seen, to nearly one +hundred and eight thousand billions. + +Every day, fortunes are growing in our midst much more rapidly than +this. The preceding example supposed the interest equal to one-twentieth +of the capital,--it often equals one-tenth, one-fifth, one-half of the +capital; and sometimes the capital itself. + +The Fourierists--irreconcilable enemies of equality, whose partisans +they regard as SHARKS--intend, by quadrupling production, to satisfy +all the demands of capital, labor, and skill. But, should production +be multiplied by four, ten, or even one hundred, property would +soon absorb, by its power of accumulation and the effects of its +capitalization, both products and capital, and the land, and even the +laborers. Is the phalanstery to be prohibited from capitalizing and +lending at interest? Let it explain, then, what it means by property. + +I will carry these calculations no farther. They are capable of infinite +variation, upon which it would be puerile for me to insist. I only ask +by what standard judges, called upon to decide a suit for possession, +fix the interest? And, developing the question, I ask,-- + +Did the legislator, in introducing into the Republic the principle +of property, weigh all the consequences? Did he know the law of the +possible? If he knew it, why is it not in the Code? Why is so much +latitude allowed to the proprietor in accumulating property and +charging interest,--to the judge in recognizing and fixing the domain of +property,--to the State in its power to levy new taxes continually? At +what point is the nation justified in repudiating the budget, the tenant +his farm-rent, and the manufacturer the interest on his capital? How +far may the idler take advantage of the laborer? Where does the right +of spoliation begin, and where does it end? When may the producer say +to the proprietor, "I owe you nothing more"? When is property satisfied? +When must it cease to steal? + +If the legislator did know the law of the possible, and disregarded it, +what must be thought of his justice? If he did not know it, what must +be thought of his wisdom? Either wicked or foolish, how can we recognize +his authority? + +If our charters and our codes are based upon an absurd hypothesis, +what is taught in the law-schools? What does a judgment of the Court +of Appeal amount to? About what do our Chambers deliberate? What is +POLITICS? What is our definition of a STATESMAN? What is the meaning of +JURISPRUDENCE? Should we not rather say JURISIGNORANCE? + +If all our institutions are based upon an error in calculation, does it +not follow that these institutions are so many shams? And if the entire +social structure is built upon this absolute impossibility of property, +is it not true that the government under which we live is a chimera, and +our present society a utopia? + + + +NINTH PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because it is powerless against Property. + + +I. By the third corollary of our axiom, interest tells against the +proprietor as well as the stranger. This economical principle is +universally admitted. Nothing simpler at first blush; yet, nothing more +absurd, more contradictory in terms, or more absolutely impossible. + +The manufacturer, it is said, pays himself the rent on his house and +capital. HE PAYS HIMSELF; that is, he gets paid by the public who buy +his products. For, suppose the manufacturer, who seems to make this +profit on his property, wishes also to make it on his merchandise, can +he then pay himself one franc for that which cost him ninety centimes, +and make money by the operation? No: such a transaction would transfer +the merchant's money from his right hand to his left, but without any +profit whatever. + +Now, that which is true of a single individual trading with himself is +true also of the whole business world. Form a chain of ten, fifteen, +twenty producers; as many as you wish. If the producer A makes a +profit out of the producer B. B's loss must, according to economical +principles, be made up by C, C's by D; and so on through to Z. + +But by whom will Z be paid for the loss caused him by the profit charged +by A in the beginning? BY THE CONSUMER, replies Say. Contemptible +equivocation! Is this consumer any other, then, than A, B. C, D, &c., +or Z? By whom will Z be paid? If he is paid by A, no one makes a profit; +consequently, there is no property. If, on the contrary, Z bears the +burden himself, he ceases to be a member of society; since it refuses +him the right of property and profit, which it grants to the other +associates. + +Since, then, a nation, like universal humanity, is a vast industrial +association which cannot act outside of itself, it is clear that no man +can enrich himself without impoverishing another. For, in order that the +right of property, the right of increase, may be respected in the +case of A, it must be denied to Z; thus we see how equality of rights, +separated from equality of conditions, may be a truth. The iniquity of +political economy in this respect is flagrant. "When I, a manufacturer, +purchase the labor of a workingman, I do not include his wages in the +net product of my business; on the contrary, I deduct them. But the +workingman includes them in his net product.... "(Say: Political +Economy.) + +That means that all which the workingman gains is NET PRODUCT; but that +only that part of the manufacturer's gains is NET PRODUCT, which remains +after deducting his wages. But why is the right of profit confined to +the manufacturer? Why is this right, which is at bottom the right of +property itself, denied to the workingman? In the terms of economical +science, the workingman is capital. Now, all capital, beyond the cost +of its maintenance and repair, must bear interest. This the proprietor +takes care to get, both for his capital and for himself. Why is the +workingman prohibited from charging a like interest for his capital, +which is himself? + +Property, then, is inequality of rights; for, if it were not inequality +of rights, it would be equality of goods,--in other words, it would not +exist. Now, the charter guarantees to all equality of rights. Then, by +the charter, property is impossible. + +II. Is A, the proprietor of an estate, entitled by the fact of his +proprietorship to take possession of the field belonging to B. his +neighbor? "No," reply the proprietors; "but what has that to do with +the right of property?" That I shall show you by a series of similar +propositions. + +Has C, a hatter, the right to force D, his neighbor and also a hatter, +to close his shop, and cease his business? Not the least in the world. + +But C wishes to make a profit of one franc on every hat, while D is +content with fifty centimes. It is evident that D's moderation is +injurious to C's extravagant claims. Has the latter a right to prevent D +from selling? Certainly not. + +Since D is at liberty to sell his hats fifty centimes cheaper than C if +he chooses, C in his turn is free to reduce his price one franc. Now, D +is poor, while C is rich; so that at the end of two or three years D is +ruined by this intolerable competition, and C has complete control of +the market. Can the proprietor D get any redress from the proprietor C? +Can he bring a suit against him to recover his business and property? +No; for D could have done the same thing, had he been the richer of the +two. + +On the same ground, the large proprietor A may say to the small +proprietor B: "Sell me your field, otherwise you shall not sell your +wheat,"--and that without doing him the least wrong, or giving him +ground for complaint. So that A can devour B if he likes, for the very +reason that A is stronger than B. Consequently, it is not the right of +property which enables A and C to rob B and D, but the right of might. +By the right of property, neither the two neighbors A and B, nor the two +merchants C and D, could harm each other. They could neither dispossess +nor destroy one another, nor gain at one another's expense. The power of +invasion lies in superior strength. + +But it is superior strength also which enables the manufacturer +to reduce the wages of his employees, and the rich merchant and +well-stocked proprietor to sell their products for what they please. The +manufacturer says to the laborer, "You are as free to go elsewhere +with your services as I am to receive them. I offer you so much." The +merchant says to the customer, "Take it or leave it; you are master of +your money, as I am of my goods. I want so much." Who will yield? The +weaker. + +Therefore, without force, property is powerless against property, since +without force it has no power to increase; therefore, without force, +property is null and void. + +HISTORICAL COMMENT.--The struggle between colonial and native sugars +furnishes us a striking example of this impossibility of property. Leave +these two industries to themselves, and the native manufacturer will +be ruined by the colonist. To maintain the beet-root, the cane must be +taxed: to protect the property of the one, it is necessary to injure the +property of the other. The most remarkable feature of this business is +precisely that to which the least attention is paid; namely, that, in +one way or another, property has to be violated. Impose on each industry +a proportional tax, so as to preserve a balance in the market, and you +create a MAXIMUM PRICE,--you attack property in two ways. On the one +hand, your tax interferes with the liberty of trade; on the other, it +does not recognize equality of proprietors. Indemnify the beet-root, you +violate the property of the tax-payer. Cultivate the two varieties of +sugar at the nation's expense, just as different varieties of tobacco +are cultivated,--you abolish one species of property. This last course +would be the simpler and better one; but, to induce the nations to adopt +it, requires such a co-operation of able minds and generous hearts as is +at present out of the question. + +Competition, sometimes called liberty of trade,--in a word, property +in exchange,--will be for a long time the basis of our commercial +legislation; which, from the economical point of view, embraces all +civil laws and all government. Now, what is competition? A duel in a +closed field, where arms are the test of right. + +"Who is the liar,--the accused or the accuser?" said our barbarous +ancestors. "Let them fight it out," replied the still more barbarous +judge; "the stronger is right." + +Which of us two shall sell spices to our neighbor? "Let each offer them +for sale," cries the economist; "the sharper, or the more cunning, is +the more honest man, and the better merchant." + +Such is the exact spirit of the Code Napoleon. + + + +TENTH PROPOSITION. + +Property is impossible, because it is the Negation of equality. + + +The development of this proposition will be the resume of the preceding +ones. + +1. It is a principle of economical justice, that PRODUCTS ARE BOUGHT +ONLY BY PRODUCTS. Property, being capable of defence only on the ground +that it produces utility, is, since it produces nothing, for ever +condemned. + +2. It is an economical law, that LABOR MUST BE BALANCED BY PRODUCT. It +is a fact that, with property, production costs more than it is worth. + +3. Another economical law: THE CAPITAL BEING GIVEN, PRODUCTION IS +MEASURED, NOT BY THE AMOUNT OF CAPITAL, BUT BY PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY. +Property, requiring income to be always proportional to capital without +regard to labor, does not recognize this relation of equality between +effect and cause. + +4 and 5. Like the insect which spins its silk, the laborer never +produces for himself alone. Property, demanding a double product and +unable to obtain it, robs the laborer, and kills him. + +6. Nature has given to every man but one mind, one heart, one will. +Property, granting to one individual a plurality of votes, supposes him +to have a plurality of minds. + +7. All consumption which is not reproductive of utility is destruction. +Property, whether it consumes or hoards or capitalizes, is productive of +INUTILITY,--the cause of sterility and death. + +8. The satisfaction of a natural right always gives rise to an equation; +in other words, the right to a thing is necessarily balanced by the +possession of the thing. Thus, between the right to liberty and the +condition of a free man there is a balance, an equation; between the +right to be a father and paternity, an equation; between the right to +security and the social guarantee, an equation. But between the right +of increase and the receipt of this increase there is never an equation; +for every new increase carries with it the right to another, the latter +to a third, and so on for ever. Property, never being able to accomplish +its object, is a right against Nature and against reason. + +9. Finally, property is not self-existent. An extraneous cause--either +FORCE or FRAUD--is necessary to its life and action. In other +words, property is not equal to property: it is a negation--a +delusion--NOTHING. + + + + +CHAPTER V. PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE IDEA OF JUSTICE + + + PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE IDEA OF JUSTICE AND + INJUSTICE, AND A DETERMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF + GOVERNMENT AND OF RIGHT. + + +Property is impossible; equality does not exist. We hate the former, and +yet wish to possess it; the latter rules all our thoughts, yet we know +not how to reach it. Who will explain this profound antagonism between +our conscience and our will? Who will point out the causes of this +pernicious error, which has become the most sacred principle of justice +and society? + +I am bold enough to undertake the task, and I hope to succeed. + +But before explaining why man has violated justice, it is necessary to +determine what justice is. + + + +PART FIRST. + + +% 1.--Of the Moral Sense in Man and the Animals. + + +The philosophers have endeavored often to locate the line which +separates man's intelligence from that of the brutes; and, according +to their general custom, they gave utterance to much foolishness before +resolving upon the only course possible for them to take,--observation. +It was reserved for an unpretending savant--who perhaps did not pride +himself on his philosophy--to put an end to the interminable controversy +by a simple distinction; but one of those luminous distinctions which +are worth more than systems. Frederic Cuvier separated INSTINCT from +INTELLIGENCE. + +But, as yet, no one has proposed this question:-- + +IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN'S MORAL SENSE AND THAT OF THE BRUTE A +DIFFERENCE IN KIND OR ONLY IN DEGREE? + +If, hitherto, any one had dared to maintain the latter alternative, his +arguments would have seemed scandalous, blasphemous, and offensive to +morality and religion. The ecclesiastical and secular tribunals would +have condemned him with one voice. And, mark the style in which they +would have branded the immoral paradox! "Conscience,"--they would have +cried,--"conscience, man's chief glory, was given to him exclusively; +the notion of justice and injustice, of merit and demerit, is his noble +privilege; to man, alone,--the lord of creation,--belongs the sublime +power to resist his worldly propensities, to choose between good and +evil, and to bring himself more and more into the resemblance of God +through liberty and justice.... No; the holy image of virtue was never +graven save on the heart of man." Words full of feeling, but void of +sense. + +Man is a rational and social animal--{GREEK ' c g}--said Aristotle. This +definition is worth more than all which have been given since. I do not +except even M. de Bonald's celebrated definition,--MAN IS AN INTELLECT +SERVED BY ORGANS--a definition which has the double fault of explaining +the known by the unknown; that is, the living being by the intellect; +and of neglecting man's essential quality,--animality. + +Man, then, is an animal living in society. Society means the sum total +of relationships; in short, system. Now, all systems exist only on +certain conditions. What, then, are the conditions, the LAWS, of human +society? + +What are the RIGHTS of men with respect to each other; what is JUSTICE? + +It amounts to nothing to say,--with the philosophers of various +schools,--"It is a divine instinct, an immortal and heavenly voice, a +guide given us by Nature, a light revealed unto every man on coming +into the world, a law engraved upon our hearts; it is the voice of +conscience, the dictum of reason, the inspiration of sentiment, the +penchant of feeling; it is the love of self in others; it is enlightened +self-interest; or else it is an innate idea, the imperative command of +applied reason, which has its source in the concepts of pure reason; +it is a passional attraction," &c., &c. This may be as true as it seems +beautiful; but it is utterly meaningless. Though we should prolong +this litany through ten pages (it has been filtered through a thousand +volumes), we should be no nearer to the solution of the question. + +"Justice is public utility," says Aristotle. That is true, but it is a +tautology. "The principle that the public welfare ought to be the +object of the legislator"--says M. Ch. Comte in his "Treatise on +Legislation"--"cannot be overthrown. But legislation is advanced no +farther by its announcement and demonstration, than is medicine when it +is said that it is the business of physicians to cure the sick." + +Let us take another course. RUGHT is the sum total of the principles +which govern society. Justice, in man, is the respect and observation of +those principles. To practise justice is to obey the social instinct; +to do an act of justice is to do a social act. If, then, we watch the +conduct of men towards each other under different circumstances, it +will be easy for us to distinguish between the presence and absence of +society; from the result we may inductively infer the law. + +Let us commence with the simplest and least doubtful cases. + +The mother, who protects her son at the peril of her life, and +sacrifices every thing to his support, is in society with him--she is a +good mother. She, on the contrary, who abandons her child, is unfaithful +to the social instinct,--maternal love being one of its many features; +she is an unnatural mother. + +If I plunge into the water to rescue a drowning man, I am his brother, +his associate; if, instead of aiding him, I sink him, I am his enemy, +his murderer. + +Whoever bestows alms treats the poor man as his associate; not +thoroughly, it is true, but only in respect to the amount which he +shares with him. Whoever takes by force or stratagem that which is +not the product of his labor, destroys his social character--he is a +brigand. + +The Samaritan who relieves the traveller lying by the wayside, dresses +his wounds, comforts him, and supplies him with money, thereby declares +himself his associate--his neighbor; the priest, who passes by on the +other side, remains unassociated, and is his enemy. + +In all these cases, man is moved by an internal attraction towards his +fellow, by a secret sympathy which causes him to love, congratulate, +and condole; so that, to resist this attraction, his will must struggle +against his nature. + +But in these respects there is no decided difference between man and the +animals. With them, as long as the weakness of their young endears them +to their mothers,--in a word, associates them with their mothers,--the +latter protect the former, at the peril of their lives, with a courage +which reminds us of our heroes dying for their country. Certain species +unite for hunting purposes, seek each other, call each other (a poet +would say invite each other), to share their prey; in danger they +aid, protect, and warn each other. The elephant knows how to help his +companion out of the ditch into which the latter has fallen. Cows form +a circle, with their horns outward and their calves in the centre, in +order to repel the attacks of wolves. Horses and pigs, on hearing a cry +of distress from one of their number, rush to the spot whence it comes. +What descriptions I might give of their marriages, the tenderness of the +males towards the females, and the fidelity of their loves! Let us add, +however,--to be entirely just--that these touching demonstrations of +society, fraternity, and love of neighbor, do not prevent the animals +from quarrelling, fighting, and outrageously abusing one another while +gaining their livelihood and showing their gallantry; the resemblance +between them and ourselves is perfect. + +The social instinct, in man and beast, exists to a greater or less +degree--its nature is the same. Man has the greater need of association, +and employs it more; the animal seems better able to endure isolation. +In man, social needs are more imperative and complex; in the beast, they +seem less intense, less diversified, less regretted. Society, in a +word, aims, in the case of man, at the preservation of the race and +the individual; with the animals, its object is more exclusively the +preservation of the race. + +As yet, we have met with no claim which man can make for himself alone. +The social instinct and the moral sense he shares with the brutes; and +when he thinks to become god-like by a few acts of charity, justice, +and devotion, he does not perceive that in so acting he simply obeys an +instinct wholly animal in its nature. As we are good, loving, tender, +just, so we are passionate, greedy, lewd, and vindictive; that is, we +are like the beasts. Our highest virtues appear, in the last analysis, +as blind, impulsive instincts. What subjects for canonization and +apotheosis! + +There is, however, a difference between us two-handed bipeds and other +living creatures--what is it? + +A student of philosophy would hasten to reply: "This difference lies in +the fact that we are conscious of our social faculty, while the animals +are unconscious of theirs--in the fact that while we reflect and reason +upon the operation of our social instinct, the animals do nothing of the +kind." + +I will go farther. It is by our reflective and reasoning powers, +with which we seem to be exclusively endowed, that we know that it is +injurious, first to others and then to ourselves, to resist the social +instinct which governs us, and which we call JUSTICE. It is our reason +which teaches us that the selfish man, the robber, the murderer--in a +word, the traitor to society--sins against Nature, and is guilty with +respect to others and himself, when he does wrong wilfully. Finally, it +is our social sentiment on the one hand, and our reason on the +other, which cause us to think that beings such as we should take the +responsibility of their acts. Such is the principle of remorse, revenge, +and penal justice. + +But this proves only an intellectual diversity between the animals and +man, not at all an affectional one; for, although we reason upon our +relations with our fellows, we likewise reason upon our most trivial +actions,--such as drinking, eating, choosing a wife, or selecting a +dwelling-place. We reason upon things earthly and things heavenly; there +is nothing to which our reasoning powers are not applicable. Now, +just as the knowledge of external phenomena, which we acquire, has no +influence upon their causes and laws, so reflection, by illuminating our +instinct, enlightens us as to our sentient nature, but does not alter +its character; it tells us what our morality is, but neither changes nor +modifies it. Our dissatisfaction with ourselves after doing wrong, +the indignation which we feel at the sight of injustice, the idea of +deserved punishment and due remuneration, are effects of reflection, and +not immediate effects of instinct and emotion. Our appreciation (I do +not say exclusive appreciation, for the animals also realize that they +have done wrong, and are indignant when one of their number is attacked, +but), our infinitely superior appreciation of our social duties, our +knowledge of good and evil, does not establish, as regards morality, any +vital difference between man and the beasts. + + + +% 2.--Of the first and second degrees of Sociability. + + +I insist upon the fact, which I have just pointed out, as one of the +most important facts of anthropology. + +The sympathetic attraction, which causes us to associate, is, by reason +of its blind, unruly nature, always governed by temporary impulse, +without regard to higher rights, and without distinction of merit or +priority. The bastard dog follows indifferently all who call it; the +suckling child regards every man as its father and every woman as its +nurse; every living creature, when deprived of the society of animals +of its species, seeks companionship in its solitude. This fundamental +characteristic of the social instinct renders intolerable and even +hateful the friendship of frivolous persons, liable to be infatuated +with every new face, accommodating to all whether good or bad, and +ready to sacrifice, for a passing liaison, the oldest and most honorable +affections. The fault of such beings is not in the heart--it is in the +judgment. Sociability, in this degree, is a sort of magnetism awakened +in us by the contemplation of a being similar to ourselves, but which +never goes beyond the person who feels it; it may be reciprocated, but +not communicated. Love, benevolence, pity, sympathy, call it what you +will, there is nothing in it which deserves esteem,--nothing which lifts +man above the beast. + +The second degree of sociability is justice, which may be defined as the +RECOGNITION OF THE EQUALITY BETWEEN ANOTHER'S PERSONALITY AND OUR OWN. +The sentiment of justice we share with the animals; we alone can form +an exact idea of it; but our idea, as has been said already, does not +change its nature. We shall soon see how man rises to a third degree +of sociability which the animals are incapable of reaching. But I must +first prove by metaphysics that SOCIETY, JUSTICE, and EQUALITY, +are three equivalent terms,--three expressions meaning the same +thing,--whose mutual conversion is always allowable. + +If, amid the confusion of a shipwreck, having escaped in a boat with +some provisions, I see a man struggling with the waves, am I bound to +go to his assistance? Yes, I am bound under penalty of being adjudged +guilty of murder and treason against society. + +But am I also bound to share with him my provisions? + +To settle this question, we must change the phraseology. If society is +binding on the boat, is it also binding on the provisions? Undoubtedly. +The duty of an associate is absolute. Man's occupancy succeeds his +social nature, and is subordinate to it; possession can become exclusive +only when permission to occupy is granted to all alike. That which +in this instance obscures our duty is our power of foresight, which, +causing us to fear an eventual danger, impels us to usurpation, and +makes us robbers and murderers. Animals do not calculate the duty of +instinct any more than the disadvantages resulting to those who exercise +it; it would be strange if the intellect of man--the most sociable of +animals--should lead him to disobey the law. + +He betrays society who attempts to use it only for his own advantage; +better that God should deprive us of prudence, if it is to serve as the +tool of our selfishness. + +"What!" you will say, "must I share my bread, the bread which I have +earned and which belongs to me, with the stranger whom I do not know; +whom I may never see again, and who, perhaps, will reward me with +ingratitude? If we had earned this bread together, if this man had +done something to obtain it, he might demand his share, since his +co-operation would entitle him to it; but as it is, what claim has he on +me? We have not produced together--we shall not eat together." + +The fallacy in this argument lies in the false supposition, that each +producer is not necessarily associated with every other producer. + +When two or more individuals have regularly organized a society,--when +the contracts have been agreed upon, drafted, and signed,--there is +no difficulty about the future. Everybody knows that when two men +associate--for instance--in order to fish, if one of them catches no +fish, he is none the less entitled to those caught by his associate. +If two merchants form a partnership, while the partnership lasts, the +profits and losses are divided between them; since each produces, not +for himself, but for the society: when the time of distribution arrives, +it is not the producer who is considered, but the associate. That is why +the slave, to whom the planter gives straw and rice; and the civilized +laborer, to whom the capitalist pays a salary which is always too +small,--not being associated with their employers, although producing +with them,--are disregarded when the product is divided. Thus, the horse +who draws our coaches, and the ox who draws our carts produce with us, +but are not associated with us; we take their product, but do not share +it with them. The animals and laborers whom we employ hold the same +relation to us. Whatever we do for them, we do, not from a sense of +justice, but out of pure benevolence. [22] + + +But is it possible that we are not all associated? Let us call to mind +what was said in the last two chapters, That even though we do not want +to be associated, the force of things, the necessity of consumption, the +laws of production, and the mathematical principle of exchange combine +to associate us. There is but a single exception to this rule,--that +of the proprietor, who, producing by his right of increase, is not +associated with any one, and consequently is not obliged to share his +product with any one; just as no one else is bound to share with him. +With the exception of the proprietor, we labor for each other; we can +do nothing by ourselves unaided by others, and we continually exchange +products and services with each other. If these are not social acts, +what are they? + +Now, neither a commercial, nor an industrial, nor an agricultural +association can be conceived of in the absence of equality; equality +is its sine qua non. So that, in all matters which concern this +association, to violate society is to violate justice and equality. +Apply this principle to humanity at large. + +After what has been said, I assume that the reader has sufficient +insight to enable him to dispense with any aid of mine. + +By this principle, the man who takes possession of a field, and says, +"This field is mine," will not be unjust so long as every one else has +an equal right of possession; nor will he be unjust, if, wishing to +change his location, he exchanges this field for an equivalent. But +if, putting another in his place, he says to him, "Work for me while +I rest," he then becomes unjust, unassociated, UNEQUAL. He is a +proprietor. + +Reciprocally, the sluggard, or the rake, who, without performing +any social task, enjoys like others--and often more than others--the +products of society, should be proceeded against as a thief and a +parasite. We owe it to ourselves to give him nothing; but, since he must +live, to put him under supervision, and compel him to labor. + +Sociability is the attraction felt by sentient beings for each other. +Justice is this same attraction, accompanied by thought and knowledge. +But under what general concept, in what category of the understanding, +is justice placed? In the category of equal quantities. Hence, the +ancient definition of justice--_Justum aequale est, injustum inaequale_. +What is it, then, to practise justice? It is to give equal wealth +to each, on condition of equal labor. It is to act socially. Our +selfishness may complain; there is no escape from evidence and +necessity. + +What is the right of occupancy? It is a natural method of dividing the +earth, by reducing each laborer's share as fast as new laborers present +themselves. This right disappears if the public interest requires it; +which, being the social interest, is also that of the occupant. + +What is the right of labor? It is the right to obtain one's share +of wealth by fulfilling the required conditions. It is the right of +society, the right of equality. + +Justice, which is the product of the combination of an idea and an +instinct, manifests itself in man as soon as he is capable of feeling, +and of forming ideas. Consequently, it has been regarded as an +innate and original sentiment; but this opinion is logically and +chronologically false. But justice, by its composition hybrid--if I may +use the term,--justice, born of emotion and intellect combined, seems to +me one of the strongest proofs of the unity and simplicity of the +ego; the organism being no more capable of producing such a mixture by +itself, than are the combined senses of hearing and sight of forming a +binary sense, half auditory and half visual. + +This double nature of justice gives us the definitive basis of all the +demonstrations in Chapters II., III., and IV. On the one hand, the idea +of JUSTICE being identical with that of society, and society necessarily +implying equality, equality must underlie all the sophisms invented in +defence of property; for, since property can be defended only as a just +and social institution, and property being inequality, in order to +prove that property is in harmony with society, it must be shown that +injustice is justice, and that inequality is equality,--a contradiction +in terms. On the other hand, since the idea of equality--the second +element of justice--has its source in the mathematical proportions of +things; and since property, or the unequal distribution of wealth among +laborers, destroys the necessary balance between labor, production, and +consumption,--property must be impossible. + +All men, then, are associated; all are entitled to the same justice; all +are equal. Does it follow that the preferences of love and friendship +are unjust? + +This requires explanation. I have already supposed the case of a man in +peril, I being in a position to help him. Now, I suppose myself appealed +to at the same time by two men exposed to danger. + +Am I not allowed--am I not commanded even--to rush first to the aid of +him who is endeared to me by ties of blood, friendship, acquaintance, +or esteem, at the risk of leaving the other to perish? Yes. And why? +Because within universal society there exist for each of us as many +special societies as there are individuals; and we are bound, by the +principle of sociability itself, to fulfil the obligations which these +impose upon us, according to the intimacy of our relations with them. +Therefore we must give our father, mother, children, friends, relatives, +&c., the preference over all others. But in what consists this +preference? + +A judge has a case to decide, in which one of the parties is his +friend, and the other his enemy. Should he, in this instance, prefer +his INTIMATE ASSOCIATE to his DISTANT ASSOCIATE; and decide the case in +favor of his friend, in spite of evidence to the contrary? No: for, if +he should favor his friend's injustice, he would become his accomplice +in his violation of the social compact; he would form with him a sort of +conspiracy against the social body. Preference should be shown only in +personal matters, such as love, esteem, confidence, or intimacy, when +all cannot be considered at once. Thus, in case of fire, a father +would save his own child before thinking of his neighbor's; but the +recognition of a right not being an optional matter with a judge, he is +not at liberty to favor one person to the detriment of another. + +The theory of these special societies--which are formed concentrically, +so to speak, by each of us inside of the main body--gives the key to +all the problems which arise from the opposition and conflict of the +different varieties of social duty,--problems upon which the ancient +tragedies are based. + +The justice practised among animals is, in a certain degree, negative. +With the exception of protecting their young, hunting and plundering +in troops, uniting for common defence and sometimes for individual +assistance, it consists more in prevention than in action. A sick animal +who cannot arise from the ground, or an imprudent one who has fallen +over a precipice, receives neither medicine nor nourishment. If he +cannot cure himself, nor relieve himself of his trouble, his life is in +danger: he will neither be cared for in bed, nor fed in a prison. + +Their neglect of their fellows arises as much from the weakness of +their intellect as from their lack of resources. Still, the degrees +of intimacy common among men are not unknown to the animals. They +have friendships of habit and of choice; friendships neighborly, and +friendships parental. In comparison with us, they have feeble memories, +sluggish feelings, and are almost destitute of intelligence; but +the identity of these faculties is preserved to some extent, and our +superiority in this respect arises entirely from our understanding. + +It is our strength of memory and penetration of judgment which enable us +to multiply and combine the acts which our social instinct impels us to +perform, and which teaches us how to render them more effective, and +how to distribute them justly. The beasts who live in society practise +justice, but are ignorant of its nature, and do not reason upon it; they +obey their instinct without thought or philosophy. They know not how to +unite the social sentiment with the idea of equality, which they do not +possess; this idea being an abstract one. We, on the contrary, starting +with the principle that society implies equality, can, by our reasoning +faculty, understand and agree with each other in settling our rights; +we have even used our judgment to a great extent. But in all this our +conscience plays a small part, as is proved by the fact that the idea +of RIGHT--of which we catch a glimpse in certain animals who approach +nearer than any others to our standard of intelligence--seems to grow, +from the low level at which it stands in savages, to the lofty height +which it reaches in a Plato or a Franklin. If we trace the development +of the moral sense in individuals, and the progress of laws in nations, +we shall be convinced that the ideas of justice and legislative +perfection are always proportional to intelligence. The notion of +justice--which has been regarded by some philosophers as simple--is +then, in reality, complex. It springs from the social instinct on the +one hand, and the idea of equality on the other; just as the notion of +guilt arises from the feeling that justice has been violated, and from +the idea of free-will. + +In conclusion, instinct is not modified by acquaintance with its nature; +and the facts of society, which we have thus far observed, occur among +beasts as well as men. We know the meaning of justice; in other words, +of sociability viewed from the standpoint of equality. We have met with +nothing which separates us from the animals. + + + +% 3.--Of the third degree of Sociability. + + +The reader, perhaps, has not forgotten what was said in the third +chapter concerning the division of labor and the speciality of talents. +The sum total of the talents and capacities of the race is always +the same, and their nature is always similar. We are all born poets, +mathematicians, philosophers, artists, artisans, or farmers, but we are +not born equally endowed; and between one man and another in society, +or between one faculty and another in the same individual, there is an +infinite difference. This difference of degree in the same faculties, +this predominance of talent in certain directions, is, we have said, +the very foundation of our society. Intelligence and natural genius have +been distributed by Nature so economically, and yet so liberally, that +in society there is no danger of either a surplus or a scarcity of +special talents; and that each laborer, by devoting himself to his +function, may always attain to the degree of proficiency necessary to +enable him to benefit by the labors and discoveries of his fellows. +Owing to this simple and wise precaution of Nature, the laborer is not +isolated by his task. He communicates with his fellows through the mind, +before he is united with them in heart; so that with him love is born of +intelligence. + +It is not so with societies of animals. In every species, the aptitudes +of all the individuals--though very limited--are equal in number and +(when they are not the result of instinct) in intensity. Each one does +as well as all the others what all the others do; provides his food, +avoids the enemy, burrows in the earth, builds a nest, &c. No animal, +when free and healthy, expects or requires the aid of his neighbor; who, +in his turn, is equally independent. + +Associated animals live side by side without any intellectual +intercourse or intimate communication,--all doing the same things, +having nothing to learn or to remember; they see, feel, and come in +contact with each other, but never penetrate each other. Man continually +exchanges with man ideas and feelings, products and services. Every +discovery and act in society is necessary to him. But of this immense +quantity of products and ideas, that which each one has to produce and +acquire for himself is but an atom in the sun. Man would not be man were +it not for society, and society is supported by the balance and harmony +of the powers which compose it. + +Society, among the animals, is SIMPLE; with man it is COMPLEX. Man is +associated with man by the same instinct which associates animal with +animal; but man is associated differently from the animal, and it is +this difference in association which constitutes the difference in +morality. + +I have proved,--at too great length, perhaps,--both by the spirit of +the laws which regard property as the basis of society, and by political +economy, that inequality of conditions is justified neither by priority +of occupation nor superiority of talent, service, industry, and +capacity. But, although equality of conditions is a necessary +consequence of natural right, of liberty, of the laws of production, +of the capacity of physical nature, and of the principle of society +itself,--it does not prevent the social sentiment from stepping over the +boundaries of DEBT and CREDIT. The fields of benevolence and love extend +far beyond; and when economy has adjusted its balance, the mind +begins to benefit by its own justice, and the heart expands in the +boundlessness of its affection. + +The social sentiment then takes on a new character, which varies with +different persons. In the strong, it becomes the pleasure of generosity; +among equals, frank and cordial friendship; in the weak, the pleasure of +admiration and gratitude. + +The man who is superior in strength, skill, or courage, knows that he +owes all that he is to society, without which he could not exist. He +knows that, in treating him precisely as it does the lowest of its +members, society discharges its whole duty towards him. But he does +not underrate his faculties; he is no less conscious of his power and +greatness; and it is this voluntary reverence which he pays to humanity, +this avowal that he is but an instrument of Nature,--who is alone worthy +of glory and worship,--it is, I say, this simultaneous confession of +the heart and the mind, this genuine adoration of the Great Being, that +distinguishes and elevates man, and lifts him to a degree of social +morality to which the beast is powerless to attain. Hercules destroying +the monsters and punishing brigands for the safety of Greece, Orpheus +teaching the rough and wild Pelasgians,--neither of them putting a price +upon their services,--there we see the noblest creations of poetry, the +loftiest expression of justice and virtue. + +The joys of self-sacrifice are ineffable. + +If I were to compare human society to the old Greek tragedies, I should +say that the phalanx of noble minds and lofty souls dances the strophe, +and the humble multitude the antistrophe. Burdened with painful and +disagreeable tasks, but rendered omnipotent by their number and the +harmonic arrangement of their functions, the latter execute what the +others plan. Guided by them, they owe them nothing; they honor them, +however, and lavish upon them praise and approbation. + +Gratitude fills people with adoration and enthusiasm. + +But equality delights my heart. Benevolence degenerates into tyranny, +and admiration into servility. Friendship is the daughter of equality. +O my friends! may I live in your midst without emulation, and without +glory; let equality bring us together, and fate assign us our places. +May I die without knowing to whom among you I owe the most esteem! + +Friendship is precious to the hearts of the children of men. + +Generosity, gratitude (I mean here only that gratitude which is born +of admiration of a superior power), and friendship are three distinct +shades of a single sentiment which I will call equite, or SOCIAL +PROPORTIONALITY. [23] Equite does not change justice: but, always taking +equite for the base, it superadds esteem, and thereby forms in man a +third degree of sociability. Equite makes it at once our duty and our +pleasure to aid the weak who have need of us, and to make them our +equals; to pay to the strong a just tribute of gratitude and honor, +without enslaving ourselves to them; to cherish our neighbors, friends, +and equals, for that which we receive from them, even by right of +exchange. Equite is sociability raised to its ideal by reason and +justice; its commonest manifestation is URBANITY or POLITENESS, which, +among certain nations, sums up in a single word nearly all the social +duties. + +It is the just distribution of social sympathy and universal love. + +Now, this feeling is unknown among the beasts, who love and cling to +each other, and show their preferences, but who cannot conceive of +esteem, and who are incapable of generosity, admiration, or politeness. + +This feeling does not spring from intelligence, which calculates, +computes, and balances, but does not love; which sees, but does not +feel. As justice is the product of social instinct and reflection +combined, so equite is a product of justice and taste combined--that is, +of our powers of judging and of idealizing. + +This product--the third and last degree of human sociability--is +determined by our complex mode of association; in which inequality, +or rather the divergence of faculties, and the speciality of +functions--tending of themselves to isolate laborers--demand a more +active sociability. + +That is why the force which oppresses while protecting is execrable; why +the silly ignorance which views with the same eye the marvels of art, +and the products of the rudest industry, excites unutterable contempt; +why proud mediocrity, which glories in saying, "I have paid you--I owe +you nothing," is especially odious. + +SOCIABILITY, JUSTICE, EQUITE--such, in its triplicity, is the exact +definition of the instinctive faculty which leads us into communication +with our fellows, and whose physical manifestation is expressed by the +formula: EQUALITY IN NATURAL WEALTH, AND THE PRODUCTS OF LABOR. + +These three degrees of sociability support and imply each other. + +Equite cannot exist without justice; society without justice is a +solecism. If, in order to reward talent, I take from one to give to +another, in unjustly stripping the first, I do not esteem his talent as +I ought; if, in society, I award more to myself than to my associate, we +are not really associated. Justice is sociability as manifested in the +division of material things, susceptible of weight and measure; equite +is justice accompanied by admiration and esteem,--things which cannot be +measured. + +From this several inferences may be drawn. + +1. Though we are free to grant our esteem to one more than to another, +and in all possible degrees, yet we should give no one more than his +proportion of the common wealth; because the duty of justice, being +imposed upon us before that of equite, must always take precedence of +it. The woman honored by the ancients, who, when forced by a tyrant +to choose between the death of her brother and that of her husband, +sacrificed the latter on the ground that she could find another husband +but not another brother,--that woman, I say, in obeying her sense of +equite, failed in point of justice, and did a bad deed, because conjugal +association is a closer relation than fraternal association, and because +the life of our neighbor is not our property. + +By the same principle, inequality of wages cannot be admitted by law on +the ground of inequality of talents; because the just distribution of +wealth is the function of economy,--not of enthusiasm. + +Finally, as regards donations, wills, and inheritance, society, careful +both of the personal affections and its own rights, must never permit +love and partiality to destroy justice. And, though it is pleasant to +think that the son, who has been long associated with his father in +business, is more capable than any one else of carrying it on; and that +the citizen, who is surprised in the midst of his task by death, is +best fitted, in consequence of his natural taste for his occupation, to +designate his successor; and though the heir should be allowed the right +of choice in case of more than one inheritance,--nevertheless, society +can tolerate no concentration of capital and industry for the benefit of +a single man, no monopoly of labor, no encroachment. [24] + +"Suppose that some spoils, taken from the enemy, and equal to twelve, +are to be divided between Achilles and Ajax. If the two persons were +equal, their respective shares would be arithmetically equal: Achilles +would have six, Ajax six. And if we should carry out this arithmetical +equality, Thersites would be entitled to as much as Achilles, which +would be unjust in the extreme. To avoid this injustice, the worth of +the persons should be estimated, and the spoils divided accordingly. +Suppose that the worth of Achilles is double that of Ajax: the former's +share is eight, the latter four. There is no arithmetical equality, but +a proportional equality. It is this comparison of merits, rationum, +that Aristotle calls distributive justice. It is a geometrical +proportion."--Toullier: French Law according to the Code. + +Are Achilles and Ajax associated, or are they not? Settle that, and +you settle the whole question. If Achilles and Ajax, instead of being +associated, are themselves in the service of Agamemnon who pays them, +there is no objection to Aristotle's method. The slave-owner, who +controls his slaves, may give a double allowance of brandy to him who +does double work. That is the law of despotism; the right of slavery. + +But if Achilles and Ajax are associated, they are equals. What matters +it that Achilles has a strength of four, while that of Ajax is only two? +The latter may always answer that he is free; that if Achilles has a +strength of four, five could kill him; finally, that in doing personal +service he incurs as great a risk as Achilles. The same argument applies +to Thersites. If he is unable to fight, let him be cook, purveyor, or +butler. If he is good for nothing, put him in the hospital. In no case +wrong him, or impose upon him laws. + +Man must live in one of two states: either in society, or out of it. +In society, conditions are necessarily equal, except in the degree of +esteem and consideration which each one may receive. Out of society, man +is so much raw material, a capitalized tool, and often an incommodious +and useless piece of furniture. + + +2. Equite, justice, and society, can exist only between individuals of +the same species. They form no part of the relations of different races +to each other,--for instance, of the wolf to the goat, of the goat to +man, of man to God, much less of God to man. The attribution of justice, +equity, and love to the Supreme Being is pure anthropomorphism; and the +adjectives just, merciful, pitiful, and the like, should be stricken +from our litanies. God can be regarded as just, equitable, and good, +only to another God. Now, God has no associate; consequently, he cannot +experience social affections,--such as goodness, equite, and justice. +Is the shepherd said to be just to his sheep and his dogs? No: and if he +saw fit to shear as much wool from a lamb six months old, as from a ram +of two years; or, if he required as much work from a young dog as from +an old one,--they would say, not that he was unjust, but that he was +foolish. Between man and beast there is no society, though there may be +affection. Man loves the animals as THINGS,--as SENTIENT THINGS, if you +will,--but not as PERSONS. Philosophy, after having eliminated from the +idea of God the passions ascribed to him by superstition, will then be +obliged to eliminate also the virtues which our liberal piety awards to +him. [25] + +The rights of woman and her relations with man are yet to be determined +Matrimonial legislation, like civil legislation, is a matter for the +future to settle. + +If God should come down to earth, and dwell among us, we could not love +him unless he became like us; nor give him any thing unless he produced +something; nor listen to him unless he proved us mistaken; nor worship +him unless he manifested his power. All the laws of our nature, +affectional, economical, and intellectual, would prevent us from +treating him as we treat our fellow-men,--that is, according to reason, +justice, and equite. + +I infer from this that, if God should wish ever to put himself into +immediate communication with man, he would have to become a man. + +Now, if kings are images of God, and executors of his will, they cannot +receive love, wealth, obedience, and glory from us, unless they consent +to labor and associate with us--produce as much as they consume, reason +with their subjects, and do wonderful things. Still more; if, as some +pretend, kings are public functionaries, the love which is due them is +measured by their personal amiability; our obligation to obey them, by +the wisdom of their commands; and their civil list, by the total social +production divided by the number of citizens. + +Thus, jurisprudence, political economy, and psychology agree in +admitting the law of equality. Right and duty--the due reward of talent +and labor--the outbursts of love and enthusiasm,--all are regulated in +advance by an invariable standard; all depend upon number and balance. +Equality of conditions is the law of society, and universal solidarity +is the ratification of this law. + +Equality of conditions has never been realized, thanks to our passions +and our ignorance; but our opposition to this law has made it all the +more a necessity. To that fact history bears perpetual testimony, and +the course of events reveals it to us. Society advances from equation to +equation. To the eyes of the economist, the revolutions of empires +seem now like the reduction of algebraical quantities, which are +inter-deducible; now like the discovery of unknown quantities, induced +by the inevitable influence of time. Figures are the providence of +history. Undoubtedly there are other elements in human progress; but in +the multitude of hidden causes which agitate nations, there is none more +powerful or constant, none less obscure, than the periodical explosions +of the proletariat against property. Property, acting by exclusion +and encroachment, while population was increasing, has been the +life-principle and definitive cause of all revolutions. Religious wars, +and wars of conquest, when they have stopped short of the extermination +of races, have been only accidental disturbances, soon repaired by the +mathematical progression of the life of nations. The downfall and death +of societies are due to the power of accumulation possessed by property. + +In the middle ages, take Florence,--a republic of merchants and brokers, +always rent by its well-known factions, the Guelphs and Ghibellines, who +were, after all, only the people and the proprietors fighting against +each other,--Florence, ruled by bankers, and borne down at last by the +weight of her debts; [26] in ancient times, take Rome, preyed upon from +its birth by usury, flourishing, nevertheless, as long as the known +world furnished its terrible proletaires with LABOR stained with blood +by civil war at every interval of rest, and dying of exhaustion when +the people lost, together with their former energy, their last spark +of moral sense; Carthage, a commercial and financial city, continually +divided by internal competition; Tyre, Sidon, Jerusalem, Nineveh, +Babylon, ruined, in turn, by commercial rivalry and, as we now express +it, by panics in the market,--do not these famous examples show clearly +enough the fate which awaits modern nations, unless the people, +unless France, with a sudden burst of her powerful voice, proclaims in +thunder-tones the abolition of the regime of property? + + +Here my task should end. I have proved the right of the poor; I have +shown the usurpation of the rich. I demand justice; it is not my +business to execute the sentence. If it should be argued--in order to +prolong for a few years an illegitimate privilege--that it is not enough +to demonstrate equality, that it is necessary also to organize it, and +above all to establish it peacefully, I might reply: The welfare of the +oppressed is of more importance than official composure. Equality of +conditions is a natural law upon which public economy and jurisprudence +are based. The right to labor, and the principle of equal distribution +of wealth, cannot give way to the anxieties of power. It is not for the +proletaire to reconcile the contradictions of the codes, still less to +suffer for the errors of the government. On the contrary, it is the duty +of the civil and administrative power to reconstruct itself on the basis +of political equality. An evil, when known, should be condemned and +destroyed. The legislator cannot plead ignorance as an excuse for +upholding a glaring iniquity. Restitution should not be delayed. +Justice, justice! recognition of right! reinstatement of the +proletaire!--when these results are accomplished, then, judges and +consuls, you may attend to your police, and provide a government for the +Republic! + +For the rest, I do not think that a single one of my readers accuses +me of knowing how to destroy, but of not knowing how to construct. In +demonstrating the principle of equality, I have laid the foundation of +the social structure I have done more. I have given an example of +the true method of solving political and legislative problems. Of the +science itself, I confess that I know nothing more than its principle; +and I know of no one at present who can boast of having penetrated +deeper. Many people cry, "Come to me, and I will teach you the truth!" +These people mistake for the truth their cherished opinion and ardent +conviction, which is usually any thing but the truth. The science of +society--like all human sciences--will be for ever incomplete. The depth +and variety of the questions which it embraces are infinite. We hardly +know the A B C of this science, as is proved by the fact that we have +not yet emerged from the period of systems, and have not ceased to +put the authority of the majority in the place of facts. A certain +philological society decided linguistic questions by a plurality +of votes. Our parliamentary debates--were their results less +pernicious--would be even more ridiculous. The task of the true +publicist, in the age in which we live, is to close the mouths of +quacks and charlatans, and to teach the public to demand demonstrations, +instead of being contented with symbols and programmes. Before talking +of the science itself, it is necessary to ascertain its object, and +discover its method and principle. The ground must be cleared of the +prejudices which encumber it. Such is the mission of the nineteenth +century. + +For my part, I have sworn fidelity to my work of demolition, and I will +not cease to pursue the truth through the ruins and rubbish. I hate to +see a thing half done; and it will be believed without any assurance of +mine, that, having dared to raise my hand against the Holy Ark, I shall +not rest contented with the removal of the cover. The mysteries of the +sanctuary of iniquity must be unveiled, the tables of the old alliance +broken, and all the objects of the ancient faith thrown in a heap to the +swine. A charter has been given to us,--a resume of political science, +the monument of twenty legislatures. A code has been written,--the pride +of a conqueror, and the summary of ancient wisdom. Well! of this charter +and this code not one article shall be left standing upon another! +The time has come for the wise to choose their course, and prepare for +reconstruction. + +But, since a destroyed error necessarily implies a counter-truth, I will +not finish this treatise without solving the first problem of political +science,--that which receives the attention of all minds. + + + +WHEN PROPERTY IS ABOLISHED, WHAT WILL BE THE FORM OF SOCIETY! WILL IT BE +COMMUNISM? + + + +PART SECOND. + + + +% 1.--Of the Causes of our Mistakes. The Origin of Property. + + +The true form of human society cannot be determined until the following +question has been solved:-- + +Property not being our natural condition, how did it gain a foothold? +Why has the social instinct, so trustworthy among the animals, erred +in the case of man? Why is man, who was born for society, not yet +associated? + +I have said that human society is COMPLEX in its nature. Though this +expression is inaccurate, the fact to which it refers is none the less +true; namely, the classification of talents and capacities. But who +does not see that these talents and capacities, owing to their infinite +variety, give rise to an infinite variety of wills, and that the +character, the inclinations, and--if I may venture to use the +expression--the form of the ego, are necessarily changed; so that in +the order of liberty, as in the order of intelligence, there are as +many types as individuals, as many characters as heads, whose tastes, +fancies, and propensities, being modified by dissimilar ideas, +must necessarily conflict? Man, by his nature and his instinct, is +predestined to society; but his personality, ever varying, is adverse to +it. + +In societies of animals, all the members do exactly the same things. +The same genius directs them; the same will animates them. A society of +beasts is a collection of atoms, round, hooked, cubical, or triangular, +but always perfectly identical. These personalities do not vary, and we +might say that a single ego governs them all. The labors which animals +perform, whether alone or in society, are exact reproductions of their +character. Just as the swarm of bees is composed of individual bees, +alike in nature and equal in value, so the honeycomb is formed of +individual cells, constantly and invariably repeated. + +But man's intelligence, fitted for his social destiny and his personal +needs, is of a very different composition, and therefore gives rise to +a wonderful variety of human wills. In the bee, the will is constant +and uniform, because the instinct which guides it is invariable, and +constitutes the animal's whole life and nature. In man, talent varies, +and the mind wavers; consequently, his will is multiform and vague. He +seeks society, but dislikes constraint and monotony; he is an imitator, +but fond of his own ideas, and passionately in love with his works. + +If, like the bees, every man were born possessed of talent, perfect +knowledge of certain kinds, and, in a word, an innate acquaintance +with the functions he has to perform, but destitute of reflective and +reasoning faculties, society would organize itself. We should see one +man plowing a field, another building houses; this one forging metals, +that one cutting clothes; and still others storing the products, and +superintending their distribution. Each one, without inquiring as to the +object of his labor, and without troubling himself about the extent of +his task, would obey orders, bring his product, receive his salary, and +would then rest for a time; keeping meanwhile no accounts, envious of +nobody, and satisfied with the distributor, who never would be unjust to +any one. Kings would govern, but would not reign; for to reign is to be +a _proprietor a l'engrais_, as Bonaparte said: and having no commands +to give, since all would be at their posts, they would serve rather as +rallying centres than as authorities or counsellors. It would be a state +of ordered communism, but not a society entered into deliberately and +freely. + +But man acquires skill only by observation and experiment. He reflects, +then, since to observe and experiment is to reflect; he reasons, +since he cannot help reasoning. In reflecting, he becomes deluded; in +reasoning, he makes mistakes, and, thinking himself right, persists in +them. He is wedded to his opinions; he esteems himself, and despises +others. Consequently, he isolates himself; for he could not submit +to the majority without renouncing his will and his reason,--that is, +without disowning himself, which is impossible. And this isolation, this +intellectual egotism, this individuality of opinion, lasts until the +truth is demonstrated to him by observation and experience. A final +illustration will make these facts still clearer. + +If to the blind but convergent and harmonious instincts of a swarm +of bees should be suddenly added reflection and judgment, the little +society could not long exist. In the first place, the bees would not +fail to try some new industrial process; for instance, that of making +their cells round or square. All sorts of systems and inventions would +be tried, until long experience, aided by geometry, should show them +that the hexagonal shape is the best. Then insurrections would occur. +The drones would be told to provide for themselves, and the queens to +labor; jealousy would spread among the laborers; discords would burst +forth; soon each one would want to produce on his own account; and +finally the hive would be abandoned, and the bees would perish. Evil +would be introduced into the honey-producing republic by the power of +reflection,--the very faculty which ought to constitute its glory. + +Thus, moral evil, or, in this case, disorder in society, is naturally +explained by our power of reflection. The mother of poverty, crime, +insurrection, and war was inequality of conditions; which was the +daughter of property, which was born of selfishness, which was +engendered by private opinion, which descended in a direct line from +the autocracy of reason. Man, in his infancy, is neither criminal +nor barbarous, but ignorant and inexperienced. Endowed with imperious +instincts which are under the control of his reasoning faculty, at first +he reflects but little, and reasons inaccurately; then, benefiting by +his mistakes, he rectifies his ideas, and perfects his reason. In the +first place, it is the savage sacrificing all his possessions for +a trinket, and then repenting and weeping; it is Esau selling his +birthright for a mess of pottage, and afterwards wishing to cancel +the bargain; it is the civilized workman laboring in insecurity, and +continually demanding that his wages be increased, neither he nor his +employer understanding that, in the absence of equality, any salary, +however large, is always insufficient. Then it is Naboth dying to defend +his inheritance; Cato tearing out his entrails that he might not be +enslaved; Socrates drinking the fatal cup in defence of liberty of +thought; it is the third estate of '89 reclaiming its liberty: soon it +will be the people demanding equality of wages and an equal division of +the means of production. + +Man is born a social being,--that is, he seeks equality and justice in +all his relations, but he loves independence and praise. The difficulty +of satisfying these various desires at the same time is the primary +cause of the despotism of the will, and the appropriation which results +from it. On the other hand, man always needs a market for his products; +unable to compare values of different kinds, he is satisfied to judge +approximately, according to his passion and caprice; and he engages in +dishonest commerce, which always results in wealth and poverty. Thus, +the greatest evils which man suffers arise from the misuse of his social +nature, of this same justice of which he is so proud, and which he +applies with such deplorable ignorance. + +The practice of justice is a science which, when once discovered +and diffused, will sooner or later put an end to social disorder, by +teaching us our rights and duties. + +This progressive and painful education of our instinct, this slow +and imperceptible transformation of our spontaneous perceptions into +deliberate knowledge, does not take place among the animals, whose +instincts remain fixed, and never become enlightened. + + +"According to Frederic Cuvier, who has so clearly distinguished between +instinct and intelligence in animals, 'instinct is a natural and +inherent faculty, like feeling, irritability, or intelligence. The wolf +and the fox who recognize the traps in which they have been caught, and +who avoid them; the dog and the horse, who understand the meaning of +several of our words, and who obey us,--thereby show _intelligence_. +The dog who hides the remains of his dinner, the bee who constructs his +cell, the bird who builds his nest, act only from _instinct_. Even man +has instincts: it is a special instinct which leads the new-born +child to suck. But, in man, almost every thing is accomplished by +intelligence; and intelligence supplements instinct. The opposite is +true of animals: their instinct is given them as a supplement to their +intelligence.'"--Flourens: Analytical Summary of the Observations of F. +Cuvier. + +"We can form a clear idea of instinct only by admitting that animals +have in their _sensorium_, images or innate and constant sensations, +which influence their actions in the same manner that ordinary and +accidental sensations commonly do. It is a sort of dream, or vision, +which always follows them and in all which relates to instinct they may +be regarded as somnambulists."--F. Cuvier: Introduction to the Animal +Kingdom. + + +Intelligence and instinct being common, then, though in different +degrees, to animals and man, what is the distinguishing characteristic +of the latter? According to F. Cuvier, it is REFLECTION OR THE POWER +OF INTELLECTUALLY CONSIDERING OUR OWN MODIFICATIONS BY A SURVEY OF +OURSELVES. This lacks clearness, and requires an explanation. + +If we grant intelligence to animals, we must also grant them, in some +degree, reflection; for, the first cannot exist without the second, as +F. Cuvier himself has proved by numerous examples. But notice that the +learned observer defines the kind of reflection which distinguishes us +from the animals as the POWER OF CONSIDERING OUR OWN MODIFICATIONS. This +I shall endeavour to interpret, by developing to the best of my ability +the laconism of the philosophical naturalist. + +The intelligence acquired by animals never modifies the operations which +they perform by instinct: it is given them only as a provision against +unexpected accidents which might disturb these operations. In man, on +the contrary, instinctive action is constantly changing into deliberate +action. Thus, man is social by instinct, and is every day becoming +social by reflection and choice. At first, he formed his words by +instinct;[1] he was a poet by inspiration: to-day, he makes grammar a +science, and poetry an art. His conception of God and a future life is +spontaneous and instinctive, and his expressions of this conception +have been, by turns, monstrous, eccentric, beautiful, comforting, and +terrible. All these different creeds, at which the frivolous irreligion +of the eighteenth century mocked, are modes of expression of the +religious sentiment. Some day, man will explain to himself the character +of the God whom he believes in, and the nature of that other world to +which his soul aspires. + +[1] "The problem of the origin of language is solved by the distinction +made by Frederic Cuvier between instinct and intelligence. Language +is not a premeditated, arbitrary, or conventional device; nor is it +communicated or revealed to us by God. Language is an instinctive and +unpremeditated creation of man, as the hive is of the bee. In this +sense, it may be said that language is not the work of man, since it is +not the work of his mind. Further, the mechanism of language seems +more wonderful and ingenious when it is not regarded as the result of +reflection. This fact is one of the most curious and indisputable which +philology has observed. See, among other works, a Latin essay by F. G. +Bergmann (Strasbourg, 1839), in which the learned author explains how +the phonetic germ is born of sensation; how language passes through +three successive stages of development; why man, endowed at birth with +the instinctive faculty of creating a language, loses this faculty +as fast as his mind develops; and that the study of languages is real +natural history,--in fact, a science. France possesses to-day several +philologists of the first rank, endowed with rare talents and deep +philosophic insight,--modest savants developing a science almost without +the knowledge of the public; devoting themselves to studies which are +scornfully looked down upon, and seeming to shun applause as much as +others seek it." + + +All that he does from instinct man despises; or, if he admires it, it +is as Nature's work, not as his own. This explains the obscurity +which surrounds the names of early inventors; it explains also our +indifference to religious matters, and the ridicule heaped upon +religious customs. Man esteems only the products of reflection and of +reason. The most wonderful works of instinct are, in his eyes, only +lucky GOD-SENDS; he reserves the name DISCOVERY--I had almost said +creation--for the works of intelligence. Instinct is the source of +passion and enthusiasm; it is intelligence which causes crime and +virtue. + +In developing his intelligence, man makes use of not only his own +observations, but also those of others. He keeps an account of his +experience, and preserves the record; so that the race, as well as +the individual, becomes more and more intelligent. The animals do not +transmit their knowledge; that which each individual accumulates dies +with him. + +It is not enough, then, to say that we are distinguished from the +animals by reflection, unless we mean thereby the CONSTANT TENDENCY OF +OUR INSTINCT TO BECOME INTELLIGENCE. While man is governed by instinct, +he is unconscious of his acts. He never would deceive himself, and never +would be troubled by errors, evils, and disorder, if, like the animals, +instinct were his only guide. But the Creator has endowed us with +reflection, to the end that our instinct might become intelligence; +and since this reflection and resulting knowledge pass through various +stages, it happens that in the beginning our instinct is opposed, rather +than guided, by reflection; consequently, that our power of thought +leads us to act in opposition to our nature and our end; that, deceiving +ourselves, we do and suffer evil, until instinct which points us towards +good, and reflection which makes us stumble into evil, are replaced by +the science of good and evil, which invariably causes us to seek the one +and avoid the other. + +Thus, evil--or error and its consequences--is the firstborn son of +the union of two opposing faculties, instinct and reflection; good, +or truth, must inevitably be the second child. Or, to again employ the +figure, evil is the product of incest between adverse powers; good will +sooner or later be the legitimate child of their holy and mysterious +union. + +Property, born of the reasoning faculty, intrenches itself behind +comparisons. But, just as reflection and reason are subsequent to +spontaneity, observation to sensation, and experience to instinct, so +property is subsequent to communism. Communism--or association in a +simple form--is the necessary object and original aspiration of the +social nature, the spontaneous movement by which it manifests and +establishes itself. It is the first phase of human civilization. In this +state of society,--which the jurists have called NEGATIVE COMMUNISM--man +draws near to man, and shares with him the fruits of the field and the +milk and flesh of animals. Little by little this communism--negative +as long as man does not produce--tends to become positive and organic +through the development of labor and industry. But it is then that the +sovereignty of thought, and the terrible faculty of reasoning logically +or illogically, teach man that, if equality is the sine qua non of +society, communism is the first species of slavery. To express this idea +by an Hegelian formula, I will say: + +Communism--the first expression of the social nature--is the first term +of social development,--the THESIS; property, the reverse of communism, +is the second term,--the ANTITHESIS. When we have discovered the third +term, the SYNTHESIS, we shall have the required solution. Now, this +synthesis necessarily results from the correction of the thesis by the +antithesis. Therefore it is necessary, by a final examination of their +characteristics, to eliminate those features which are hostile to +sociability. The union of the two remainders will give us the true form +of human association. + + + +% 2.--Characteristics of Communism and of Property. + + +I. I ought not to conceal the fact that property and communism have been +considered always the only possible forms of society. This deplorable +error has been the life of property. The disadvantages of communism are +so obvious that its critics never have needed to employ much eloquence +to thoroughly disgust men with it. The irreparability of the injustice +which it causes, the violence which it does to attractions and +repulsions, the yoke of iron which it fastens upon the will, the moral +torture to which it subjects the conscience, the debilitating effect +which it has upon society; and, to sum it all up, the pious and +stupid uniformity which it enforces upon the free, active, reasoning, +unsubmissive personality of man, have shocked common sense, and +condemned communism by an irrevocable decree. + +The authorities and examples cited in its favor disprove it. The +communistic republic of Plato involved slavery; that of Lycurgus +employed Helots, whose duty it was to produce for their masters, thus +enabling the latter to devote themselves exclusively to athletic sports +and to war. Even J. J. Rousseau--confounding communism and equality--has +said somewhere that, without slavery, he did not think equality of +conditions possible. The communities of the early Church did not last +the first century out, and soon degenerated into monasteries. In those +of the Jesuits of Paraguay, the condition of the blacks is said by all +travellers to be as miserable as that of slaves; and it is a fact that +the good Fathers were obliged to surround themselves with ditches and +walls to prevent their new converts from escaping. The followers +of Baboeuf--guided by a lofty horror of property rather than by any +definite belief--were ruined by exaggeration of their principles; the +St. Simonians, lumping communism and inequality, passed away like a +masquerade. The greatest danger to which society is exposed to-day is +that of another shipwreck on this rock. + +Singularly enough, systematic communism--the deliberate negation of +property--is conceived under the direct influence of the proprietary +prejudice; and property is the basis of all communistic theories. + +The members of a community, it is true, have no private property; but +the community is proprietor, and proprietor not only of the goods, but +of the persons and wills. In consequence of this principle of absolute +property, labor, which should be only a condition imposed upon man by +Nature, becomes in all communities a human commandment, and therefore +odious. Passive obedience, irreconcilable with a reflecting will, is +strictly enforced. Fidelity to regulations, which are always defective, +however wise they may be thought, allows of no complaint. Life, talent, +and all the human faculties are the property of the State, which has +the right to use them as it pleases for the common good. Private +associations are sternly prohibited, in spite of the likes and dislikes +of different natures, because to tolerate them would be to introduce +small communities within the large one, and consequently private +property; the strong work for the weak, although this ought to be left +to benevolence, and not enforced, advised, or enjoined; the industrious +work for the lazy, although this is unjust; the clever work for the +foolish, although this is absurd; and, finally, man--casting aside his +personality, his spontaneity, his genius, and his affections--humbly +annihilates himself at the feet of the majestic and inflexible Commune! + +Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is the +exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is the exploitation +of the strong by the weak. In property, inequality of conditions is +the result of force, under whatever name it be disguised: physical and +mental force; force of events, chance, FORTUNE; force of accumulated +property, &c. In communism, inequality springs from placing mediocrity +on a level with excellence. This damaging equation is repellent to the +conscience, and causes merit to complain; for, although it may be +the duty of the strong to aid the weak, they prefer to do it out of +generosity,--they never will endure a comparison. Give them equal +opportunities of labor, and equal wages, but never allow their jealousy +to be awakened by mutual suspicion of unfaithfulness in the performance +of the common task. + +Communism is oppression and slavery. Man is very willing to obey the +law of duty, serve his country, and oblige his friends; but he wishes to +labor when he pleases, where he pleases, and as much as he pleases. He +wishes to dispose of his own time, to be governed only by necessity, to +choose his friendships, his recreation, and his discipline; to act from +judgment, not by command; to sacrifice himself through selfishness, not +through servile obligation. Communism is essentially opposed to the +free exercise of our faculties, to our noblest desires, to our deepest +feelings. Any plan which could be devised for reconciling it with the +demands of the individual reason and will would end only in changing the +thing while preserving the name. Now, if we are honest truth-seekers, we +shall avoid disputes about words. + +Thus, communism violates the sovereignty of the conscience, and +equality: the first, by restricting spontaneity of mind and heart, +and freedom of thought and action; the second, by placing labor and +laziness, skill and stupidity, and even vice and virtue on an equality +in point of comfort. For the rest, if property is impossible on account +of the desire to accumulate, communism would soon become so through the +desire to shirk. + + +II. Property, in its turn, violates equality by the rights of exclusion +and increase, and freedom by despotism. The former effect of property +having been sufficiently developed in the last three chapters, I will +content myself here with establishing by a final comparison, its perfect +identity with robbery. + +The Latin words for robber are _fur_ and _latro;_ the former taken from +the Greek {GREEK m }, from {GREEK m }, Latin _fero_, I carry away; the +latter from {GREEK 'i }, I play the part of a brigand, which is derived +from {GREEK i }, Latin _lateo_, I conceal myself. The Greeks have also +{GREEK ncg }, from {GREEK ncg }, I filch, whose radical consonants are +the same as those of {GREEK ' cg }, I cover, I conceal. Thus, in these +languages, the idea of a robber is that of a man who conceals, carries +away, or diverts, in any manner whatever, a thing which does not belong +to him. + +The Hebrews expressed the same idea by the word _gannab_,--robber,--from +the verb _ganab_, which means to put away, to turn aside: _lo thi-gnob +(Decalogue: Eighth Commandment_), thou shalt not steal,--that is, thou +shalt not hold back, thou shalt not put away any thing for thyself. That +is the act of a man who, on entering into a society into which he +agrees to bring all that he has, secretly reserves a portion, as did the +celebrated disciple Ananias. + +The etymology of the French verb _voler_ is still more significant. +_Voler_, or _faire la vole_ (from the Latin _vola_, palm of the hand), +means to take all the tricks in a game of ombre; so that _le voleur_, +the robber, is the capitalist who takes all, who gets the lion's share. +Probably this verb _voler_ had its origin in the professional slang of +thieves, whence it has passed into common use, and, consequently into +the phraseology of the law. + +Robbery is committed in a variety of ways, which have been very +cleverly distinguished and classified by legislators according to their +heinousness or merit, to the end that some robbers may be honored, while +others are punished. + +We rob,--1. By murder on the highway; 2. Alone, or in a band; 3. By +breaking into buildings, or scaling walls; 4. By abstraction; 5. By +fraudulent bankruptcy; 6. By forgery of the handwriting of public +officials or private individuals; 7. By manufacture of counterfeit +money. + +This species includes all robbers who practise their profession with no +other aid than force and open fraud. Bandits, brigands, pirates, rovers +by land and sea,--these names were gloried in by the ancient heroes, who +thought their profession as noble as it was lucrative. Nimrod, Theseus, +Jason and his Argonauts; Jephthah, David, Cacus, Romulus, Clovis and +all his Merovingian descendants; Robert Guiscard, Tancred de Hauteville, +Bohemond, and most of the Norman heroes,--were brigands and robbers. The +heroic character of the robber is expressed in this line from Horace, in +reference to Achilles,-- + + _"Jura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis_," [27] +and by this sentence from the dying words of Jacob (Gen. xlviii.), which +the Jews apply to David, and the Christians to their Christ: _Manus ejus +contra omnes_. In our day, the robber--the warrior of the ancients--is +pursued with the utmost vigor. His profession, in the language of the +code, entails ignominious and corporal penalties, from imprisonment to +the scaffold. A sad change in opinions here below! + +We rob,--8. By cheating; 9. By swindling; 10. By abuse of trust; 11. By +games and lotteries. + +This second species was encouraged by the laws of Lycurgus, in order +to sharpen the wits of the young. It is the kind practised by Ulysses, +Solon, and Sinon; by the ancient and modern Jews, from Jacob down to +Deutz; and by the Bohemians, the Arabs, and all savage tribes. Under +Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., it was not considered dishonorable to cheat +at play. To do so was a part of the game; and many worthy people did not +scruple to correct the caprice of Fortune by dexterous jugglery. +To-day even, and in all countries, it is thought a mark of merit +among peasants, merchants, and shopkeepers to KNOW HOW TO MAKE A +BARGAIN,--that is, to deceive one's man. This is so universally +accepted, that the cheated party takes no offence. It is known with what +reluctance our government resolved upon the abolition of lotteries. It +felt that it was dealing a stab thereby at property. The pickpocket, +the blackleg, and the charlatan make especial use of their dexterity of +hand, their subtlety of mind, the magic power of their eloquence, +and their great fertility of invention. Sometimes they offer bait to +cupidity. Therefore the penal code--which much prefers intelligence +to muscular vigor--has made, of the four varieties mentioned above, +a second category, liable only to correctional, not to Ignominious, +punishments. + +Let them now accuse the law of being materialistic and atheistic. + +We rob,--12. By usury. + +This species of robbery, so odious and so severely punished since the +publication of the Gospel, is the connecting link between forbidden and +authorized robbery. Owing to its ambiguous nature, it has given rise to +a multitude of contradictions in the laws and in morals,--contradictions +which have been very cleverly turned to account by lawyers, financiers, +and merchants. Thus the usurer, who lends on mortgage at ten, twelve, +and fifteen per cent., is heavily fined when detected; while the banker, +who receives the same interest (not, it is true, upon a loan, but in the +way of exchange or discount,--that is, of sale), is protected by royal +privilege. But the distinction between the banker and the usurer is +a purely nominal one. Like the usurer, who lends on property, real or +personal, the banker lends on business paper; like the usurer, he +takes his interest in advance; like the usurer, he can recover from +the borrower if the property is destroyed (that is, if the note is +not redeemed),--a circumstance which makes him a money-lender, not a +money-seller. But the banker lends for a short time only, while +the usurer's loan may be for one, two, three, or more years. Now, a +difference in the duration of the loan, or the form of the act, does not +alter the nature of the transaction. As for the capitalists who invest +their money, either with the State or in commercial operations, at +three, four, and five per cent.,--that is, who lend on usury at a +little lower rate than the bankers and usurers,--they are the flower of +society, the cream of honesty! Moderation in robbery is the height of +virtue! [28] + +But what, then, is usury? Nothing is more amusing than to see these +INSTRUCTORS OF NATIONS hesitate between the authority of the Gospel, +which, they say, NEVER CAN HAVE SPOKEN IN VAIN, and the authority of +economical demonstrations. Nothing, to my mind, is more creditable +to the Gospel than this old infidelity of its pretended teachers. +Salmasius, having assimilated interest to rent, was REFUTED by Grotius, +Pufendorf, Burlamaqui, Wolf, and Heineccius; and, what is more curious +still, Salmasius ADMITTED HIS ERROR. Instead of inferring from this +doctrine of Salmasius that all increase is illegitimate, and proceeding +straight on to the demonstration of Gospel equality, they arrived at +just the opposite conclusion; namely, that since everybody acknowledges +that rent is permissible, if we allow that interest does not differ +from rent, there is nothing left which can be called usury, and, +consequently, that the commandment of Jesus Christ is an ILLUSION, and +amounts to NOTHING, which is an impious conclusion. + +If this memoir had appeared in the time of Bossuet, that great +theologian would have PROVED by scripture, the fathers, traditions, +councils, and popes, that property exists by Divine right, while usury +is an invention of the devil; and the heretical work would have been +burned, and the author imprisoned. + + +We rob,--13. By farm-rent, house-rent, and leases of all kinds. + +The author of the "Provincial Letters" entertained the honest Christians +of the seventeenth century at the expense of Escobar, the Jesuit, +and the contract Mohatra. "The contract Mohatra," said Escobar, "is a +contract by which goods are bought, at a high price and on credit, to +be again sold at the same moment to the same person, cash down, and at a +lower price." Escobar found a way to justify this kind of usury. Pascal +and all the Jansenists laughed at him. But what would the satirical +Pascal, the learned Nicole, and the invincible Arnaud have said, if +Father Antoine Escobar de Valladolid had answered them thus: "A lease +is a contract by which real estate is bought, at a high price and on +credit, to be again sold, at the expiration of a certain time, to the +same person, at a lower price; only, to simplify the transaction, the +buyer is content to pay the difference between the first sale and the +second. Either deny the identity of the lease and the contract Mohatra, +and then I will annihilate you in a moment; or, if you admit the +similarity, admit also the soundness of my doctrine: otherwise you +proscribe both interest and rent at one blow"? + +In reply to this overwhelming argument of the Jesuit, the sire of +Montalte would have sounded the tocsin, and would have shouted +that society was in peril,--that the Jesuits were sapping its very +foundations. + +We rob,--14. By commerce, when the profit of the merchant exceeds his +legitimate salary. + +Everybody knows the definition of commerce--THE ART OF BUYING FOR THREE +FRANCS THAT WHICH IS WORTH SIX, AND OF SELLING FOR SIX THAT WHICH IS +WORTH THREE. Between commerce thus defined and _vol a l'americaine_, +the only difference is in the relative proportion of the values +exchanged,--in short, in the amount of the profit. + +We rob,--15. By making profit on our product, by accepting sinecures, +and by exacting exorbitant wages. + +The farmer, who sells a certain amount of corn to the consumer, and who +during the measurement thrusts his hand into the bushel and takes out a +handful of grains, robs; the professor, whose lectures are paid for by +the State, and who through the intervention of a bookseller sells them +to the public a second time, robs; the sinecurist, who receives an +enormous product in exchange for his vanity, robs; the functionary, the +laborer, whatever he may be, who produces only one and gets paid four, +one hundred, or one thousand, robs; the publisher of this book, and I, +its author,--we rob, by charging for it twice as much as it is worth. + +In recapitulation:-- + +Justice, after passing through the state of negative communism, called +by the ancient poets the AGE OF GOLD, commences as the right of the +strongest. In a society which is trying to organize itself, inequality +of faculties calls up the idea of merit; equite suggests the plan of +proportioning not only esteem, but also material comforts, to personal +merit; and since the highest and almost the only merit then recognized +is physical strength, the strongest, {GREEK ' eg }, and consequently +the best, {GREEK ' eg }, is entitled to the largest share; and if it +is refused him, he very naturally takes it by force. From this to the +assumption of the right of property in all things, it is but one step. + +Such was justice in the heroic age, preserved, at least by tradition, +among the Greeks and Romans down to the last days of their republics. +Plato, in the "Gorgias," introduces a character named Callicles, who +spiritedly defends the right of the strongest, which Socrates, the +advocate of equality, {GREEK g e }, seriously refutes. It is related +of the great Pompey, that he blushed easily, and, nevertheless, these +words once escaped his lips: "Why should I respect the laws, when I have +arms in my hand?" This shows him to have been a man in whom the moral +sense and ambition were struggling for the mastery, and who sought to +justify his violence by the motto of the hero and the brigand. + +From the right of the strongest springs the exploitation of man by +man, or bondage; usury, or the tribute levied upon the conquered by the +conqueror; and the whole numerous family of taxes, duties, monarchical +prerogatives, house-rents, farm-rents, &c.; in one word,--property. + +Force was followed by artifice, the second manifestation of justice, +which was detested by the ancient heroes, who, not excelling in that +direction, were heavy losers by it. Force was still employed, but mental +force instead of physical. Skill in deceiving an enemy by treacherous +propositions seemed deserving of reward; nevertheless, the strong always +prided themselves upon their honesty. In those days, oaths were observed +and promises kept according to the letter rather than the spirit: _Uti +lingua nuncupassit, ita jus esto_,--"As the tongue has spoken, so must +the right be," says the law of the Twelve Tables. Artifice, or rather +perfidy, was the main element in the politics of ancient Rome. Among +other examples, Vico cites the following, also quoted by Montesquieu: +The Romans had guaranteed to the Carthaginians the preservation of their +goods and their CITY,--intentionally using the word civitas, that is, +the society, the State; the Carthaginians, on the contrary, understood +them to mean the material city, urbs, and accordingly began to rebuild +their walls. They were immediately attacked on account of their +violation of the treaty, by the Romans, who, acting upon the old +heroic idea of right, did not imagine that, in taking advantage of an +equivocation to surprise their enemies, they were waging unjust war. + +From artifice sprang the profits of manufactures, commerce, and banking, +mercantile frauds, and pretensions which are honored with the beautiful +names of TALENT and GENIUS, but which ought to be regarded as the last +degree of knavery and deception; and, finally, all sorts of social +inequalities. + +In those forms of robbery which are prohibited by law, force and +artifice are employed alone and undisguised; in the authorized forms, +they conceal themselves within a useful product, which they use as a +tool to plunder their victim. + +The direct use of violence and stratagem was early and universally +condemned; but no nation has yet got rid of that kind of robbery which +acts through talent, labor, and possession, and which is the source +of all the dilemmas of casuistry and the innumerable contradictions of +jurisprudence. + +The right of force and the right of artifice--glorified by the +rhapsodists in the poems of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey"--inspired the +legislation of the Greeks and Romans, from which they passed into our +morals and codes. Christianity has not changed at all. The Gospel should +not be blamed, because the priests, as stupid as the legists, have been +unable either to expound or to understand it. The ignorance of councils +and popes upon all questions of morality is equal to that of the +market-place and the money-changers; and it is this utter ignorance +of right, justice, and society, which is killing the Church, and +discrediting its teachings for ever. The infidelity of the Roman church +and other Christian churches is flagrant; all have disregarded the +precept of Jesus; all have erred in moral and doctrinal points; all +are guilty of teaching false and absurd dogmas, which lead straight to +wickedness and murder. Let it ask pardon of God and men,--this church +which called itself infallible, and which has grown so corrupt in +morals; let its reformed sisters humble themselves,... and the people, +undeceived, but still religious and merciful, will begin to think. [29] + +One of the main causes of Ireland's poverty to-day is the immense +revenues of the English clergy. So heretics and orthodox--Protestants +and Papists--cannot reproach each other. All have strayed from the path +of justice; all have disobeyed the eighth commandment of the Decalogue: +"Thou shalt not steal." + + +The development of right has followed the same order, in its various +expressions, that property has in its forms. Every where we see justice +driving robbery before it and confining it within narrower and narrower +limits. Hitherto the victories of justice over injustice, and of +equality over inequality, have been won by instinct and the simple force +of things; but the final triumph of our social nature will be due to +our reason, or else we shall fall back into feudal chaos. Either this +glorious height is reserved for our intelligence, or this miserable +depth for our baseness. + +The second effect of property is despotism. Now, since despotism +is inseparably connected with the idea of legitimate authority, in +explaining the natural causes of the first, the principle of the second +will appear. + +What is to be the form of government in the future? hear some of my +younger readers reply: "Why, how can you ask such a question? + +"You are a republican." "A republican! Yes; but that word specifies +nothing. _Res publica;_ that is, the public thing. Now, whoever +is interested in public affairs--no matter under what form +of government--may call himself a republican. Even kings are +republicans."-- + + +"Well! you are a democrat?"--"No."--"What! you would have a +monarchy."--"No."--"A constitutionalist?"--"God forbid!"--"You are then +an aristocrat?"--"Not at all."--"You want a mixed government?"--"Still +less."--"What are you, then?"--"I am an anarchist." + +"Oh! I understand you; you speak satirically. This is a hit at the +government."--"By no means. I have just given you my serious and +well-considered profession of faith. Although a firm friend of order, I +am (in the full force of the term) an anarchist. Listen to me." + + +In all species of sociable animals, "the weakness of the young is the +principle of their obedience to the old," who are strong; and from habit, +which is a kind of conscience with them, the power remains with the +oldest, although he finally becomes the weakest. + +Whenever the society is under the control of a chief, this chief is +almost always the oldest of the troop. I say almost always, because +the established order may be disturbed by violent outbreaks. Then the +authority passes to another; and, having been re-established by force, +it is again maintained by habit. Wild horses go in herds: they have a +chief who marches at their head, whom they confidently follow, and who +gives the signal for flight or battle. + +"The sheep which we have raised follows us, but it follows in company +with the flock in the midst of which it was born. It regards man AS THE +CHIEF OF ITS FLOCK.... Man is regarded by domestic animals as a member +of their society. All that he has to do is to get himself accepted by +them as an associate: he soon becomes their chief, in consequence of his +superior intelligence. He does not, then, change the NATURAL CONDITION +of these animals, as Buffon has said. On the contrary, he uses this +natural condition to his own advantage; in other words, he finds +SOCIABLE animals, and renders them DOMESTIC by becoming their associate +and chief. Thus, the DOMESTICITY of animals is only a special condition, +a simple modification, a definitive consequence of their SOCIABILITY. +All domestic animals are by nature sociable animals."...--Flourens: +Summary of the Observations of F. Cuvier. + + +Sociable animals follow their chief by INSTINCT; but take notice of the +fact (which F. Cuvier omitted to state), that the function of the chief +is altogether one of INTELLIGENCE. The chief does not teach the others +to associate, to unite under his lead, to reproduce their kind, to +take to flight, or to defend themselves. Concerning each of these +particulars, his subordinates are as well informed as he. But it is the +chief who, by his accumulated experience, provides against accidents; he +it is whose private intelligence supplements, in difficult situations, +the general instinct; he it is who deliberates, decides, and leads; he +it is, in short, whose enlightened prudence regulates the public routine +for the greatest good of all. + +Man (naturally a sociable being) naturally follows a chief. Originally, +the chief is the father, the patriarch, the elder; in other words, the +good and wise man, whose functions, consequently, are exclusively of a +reflective and intellectual nature. The human race--like all other +races of sociable animals--has its instincts, its innate faculties, its +general ideas, and its categories of sentiment and reason. Its chiefs, +legislators, or kings have devised nothing, supposed nothing, imagined +nothing. They have only guided society by their accumulated experience, +always however in conformity with opinions and beliefs. + +Those philosophers who (carrying into morals and into history their +gloomy and factious whims) affirm that the human race had originally +neither chiefs nor kings, know nothing of the nature of man. Royalty, +and absolute royalty, is--as truly and more truly than democracy--a +primitive form of government. Perceiving that, in the remotest ages, +crowns and kingships were worn by heroes, brigands, and knight-errants, +they confound the two things,--royalty and despotism. But royalty dates +from the creation of man; it existed in the age of negative communism. +Ancient heroism (and the despotism which it engendered) commenced only +with the first manifestation of the idea of justice; that is, with the +reign of force. As soon as the strongest, in the comparison of merits, +was decided to be the best, the oldest had to abandon his position, and +royalty became despotic. + +The spontaneous, instinctive, and--so to speak--physiological origin of +royalty gives it, in the beginning, a superhuman character. The +nations connected it with the gods, from whom they said the first kings +descended. This notion was the origin of the divine genealogies of royal +families, the incarnations of gods, and the messianic fables. From it +sprang the doctrine of divine right, which is still championed by a few +singular characters. + +Royalty was at first elective, because--at a time when man produced but +little and possessed nothing--property was too weak to establish the +principle of heredity, and secure to the son the throne of his father; +but as soon as fields were cleared, and cities built, each function +was, like every thing else, appropriated, and hereditary kingships and +priesthoods were the result. The principle of heredity was carried into +even the most ordinary professions,--a circumstance which led to class +distinctions, pride of station, and abjection of the common people, and +which confirms my assertion, concerning the principle of patrimonial +succession, that it is a method suggested by Nature of filling vacancies +in business, and completing unfinished tasks. + +From time to time, ambition caused usurpers, or SUPPLANTERS of kings, +to start up; and, in consequence, some were called kings by right, or +legitimate kings, and others TYRANTS. But we must not let these names +deceive us. There have been execrable kings, and very tolerable tyrants. +Royalty may always be good, when it is the only possible form of +government; legitimate it is never. Neither heredity, nor election, +nor universal suffrage, nor the excellence of the sovereign, nor the +consecration of religion and of time, can make royalty legitimate. +Whatever form it takes,--monarchic, oligarchic, or democratic,--royalty, +or the government of man by man, is illegitimate and absurd. + +Man, in order to procure as speedily as possible the most thorough +satisfaction of his wants, seeks RULE. In the beginning, this rule is +to him living, visible, and tangible. It is his father, his master, his +king. The more ignorant man is, the more obedient he is, and the more +absolute is his confidence in his guide. But, it being a law of man's +nature to conform to rule,--that is, to discover it by his powers of +reflection and reason,--man reasons upon the commands of his chiefs. +Now, such reasoning as that is a protest against authority,--a beginning +of disobedience. At the moment that man inquires into the motives which +govern the will of his sovereign,--at that moment man revolts. If +he obeys no longer because the king commands, but because the king +demonstrates the wisdom of his commands, it may be said that henceforth +he will recognize no authority, and that he has become his own king. +Unhappy he who shall dare to command him, and shall offer, as his +authority, only the vote of the majority; for, sooner or later, the +minority will become the majority, and this imprudent despot will be +overthrown, and all his laws annihilated. + +In proportion as society becomes enlightened, royal authority +diminishes. That is a fact to which all history bears witness. At the +birth of nations, men reflect and reason in vain. Without methods, +without principles, not knowing how to use their reason, they cannot +judge of the justice of their conclusions. Then the authority of kings +is immense, no knowledge having been acquired with which to contradict +it. But, little by little, experience produces habits, which develop +into customs; then the customs are formulated in maxims, laid down as +principles,--in short, transformed into laws, to which the king, the +living law, has to bow. There comes a time when customs and laws are so +numerous that the will of the prince is, so to speak, entwined by the +public will; and that, on taking the crown, he is obliged to swear that +he will govern in conformity with established customs and usages; and +that he is but the executive power of a society whose laws are made +independently of him. + +Up to this point, all is done instinctively, and, as it were, +unconsciously; but see where this movement must end. + +By means of self-instruction and the acquisition of ideas, man finally +acquires the idea of SCIENCE,--that is, of a system of knowledge in +harmony with the reality of things, and inferred from observation. +He searches for the science, or the system, of inanimate bodies,--the +system of organic bodies, the system of the human mind, and the system +of the universe: why should he not also search for the system of +society? But, having reached this height, he comprehends that political +truth, or the science of politics, exists quite independently of +the will of sovereigns, the opinion of majorities, and popular +beliefs,--that kings, ministers, magistrates, and nations, as wills, +have no connection with the science, and are worthy of no consideration. +He comprehends, at the same time, that, if man is born a sociable being, +the authority of his father over him ceases on the day when, his mind +being formed and his education finished, he becomes the associate of his +father; that his true chief and his king is the demonstrated truth; that +politics is a science, not a stratagem; and that the function of the +legislator is reduced, in the last analysis, to the methodical search +for truth. + +Thus, in a given society, the authority of man over man is inversely +proportional to the stage of intellectual development which that +society has reached; and the probable duration of that authority can +be calculated from the more or less general desire for a true +government,--that is, for a scientific government. And just as the right +of force and the right of artifice retreat before the steady advance +of justice, and must finally be extinguished in equality, so the +sovereignty of the will yields to the sovereignty of the reason, and +must at last be lost in scientific socialism. Property and royalty +have been crumbling to pieces ever since the world began. As man seeks +justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy. + +ANARCHY,--the absence of a master, of a sovereign, [30]--such is the +form of government to which we are every day approximating, and which +our accustomed habit of taking man for our rule, and his will for law, +leads us to regard as the height of disorder and the expression of +chaos. The story is told, that a citizen of Paris in the seventeenth +century having heard it said that in Venice there was no king, the +good man could not recover from his astonishment, and nearly died from +laughter at the mere mention of so ridiculous a thing. So strong is our +prejudice. As long as we live, we want a chief or chiefs; and at this +very moment I hold in my hand a brochure, whose author--a zealous +communist--dreams, like a second Marat, of the dictatorship. The most +advanced among us are those who wish the greatest possible number of +sovereigns,--their most ardent wish is for the royalty of the National +Guard. Soon, undoubtedly, some one, jealous of the citizen militia, will +say, "Everybody is king." But, when he has spoken, I will say, in my +turn, "Nobody is king; we are, whether we will or no, associated." +Every question of domestic politics must be decided by departmental +statistics; every question of foreign politics is an affair of +international statistics. The science of government rightly belongs +to one of the sections of the Academy of Sciences, whose permanent +secretary is necessarily prime minister; and, since every citizen may +address a memoir to the Academy, every citizen is a legislator. But, as +the opinion of no one is of any value until its truth has been proven, +no one can substitute his will for reason,--nobody is king. + + +All questions of legislation and politics are matters of science, not of +opinion. The legislative power belongs only to the reason, methodically +recognized and demonstrated. To attribute to any power whatever the +right of veto or of sanction, is the last degree of tyranny. Justice +and legality are two things as independent of our approval as is +mathematical truth. To compel, they need only to be known; to be known, +they need only to be considered and studied. What, then, is the nation, +if it is not the sovereign,--if it is not the source of the legislative +power? + +The nation is the guardian of the law--the nation is the EXECUTIVE +POWER. Every citizen may assert: "This is true; that is just;" but his +opinion controls no one but himself. That the truth which he proclaims +may become a law, it must be recognized. Now, what is it to recognize a +law? It is to verify a mathematical or a metaphysical calculation; it is +to repeat an experiment, to observe a phenomenon, to establish a fact. +Only the nation has the right to say, "Be it known and decreed." + +I confess that this is an overturning of received ideas, and that I seem +to be attempting to revolutionize our political system; but I beg the +reader to consider that, having begun with a paradox, I must, if I +reason correctly, meet with paradoxes at every step, and must end with +paradoxes. For the rest, I do not see how the liberty of citizens would +be endangered by entrusting to their hands, instead of the pen of +the legislator, the sword of the law. The executive power, belonging +properly to the will, cannot be confided to too many proxies. That is +the true sovereignty of the nation. [31] + + +The proprietor, the robber, the hero, the sovereign--for all these +titles are synonymous--imposes his will as law, and suffers neither +contradiction nor control; that is, he pretends to be the legislative +and the executive power at once. Accordingly, the substitution of the +scientific and true law for the royal will is accomplished only by a +terrible struggle; and this constant substitution is, after property, +the most potent element in history, the most prolific source of +political disturbances. Examples are too numerous and too striking to +require enumeration. + +Now, property necessarily engenders despotism,--the government of +caprice, the reign of libidinous pleasure. That is so clearly the +essence of property that, to be convinced of it, one need but remember +what it is, and observe what happens around him. Property is the right +to USE and ABUSE. If, then, government is economy,--if its object +is production and consumption, and the distribution of labor and +products,--how is government possible while property exists? And +if goods are property, why should not the proprietors be kings, and +despotic kings--kings in proportion to their _facultes bonitaires_? And +if each proprietor is sovereign lord within the sphere of his property, +absolute king throughout his own domain, how could a government of +proprietors be any thing but chaos and confusion? + + + +% 3.--Determination of the third form of Society. Conclusion. + + +Then, no government, no public economy, no administration, is possible, +which is based upon property. + +Communism seeks EQUALITY and LAW. Property, born of the sovereignty of +the reason, and the sense of personal merit, wishes above all things +INDEPENDENCE and PROPORTIONALITY. + +But communism, mistaking uniformity for law, and levelism for +equality, becomes tyrannical and unjust. Property, by its despotism and +encroachments, soon proves itself oppressive and anti-social. + +The objects of communism and property are good--their results are bad. +And why? Because both are exclusive, and each disregards two elements +of society. Communism rejects independence and proportionality; property +does not satisfy equality and law. + +Now, if we imagine a society based upon these four +principles,--equality, law, independence, and proportionality,--we +find:-- + +1. That EQUALITY, consisting only in EQUALITY OF CONDITIONS, that is, OF +MEANS, and not in EQUALITY OF COMFORT,--which it is the business of the +laborers to achieve for themselves, when provided with equal means,--in +no way violates justice and equite. + +2. That LAW, resulting from the knowledge of facts, and consequently +based upon necessity itself, never clashes with independence. + +3. That individual INDEPENDENCE, or the autonomy of the private reason, +originating in the difference in talents and capacities, can exist +without danger within the limits of the law. + +4. That PROPORTIONALITY, being admitted only in the sphere of +intelligence and sentiment, and not as regards material objects, may be +observed without violating justice or social equality. + +This third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property, we +will call LIBERTY. [32] + + +In determining the nature of liberty, we do not unite communism and +property indiscriminately; such a process would be absurd eclecticism. +We search by analysis for those elements in each which are true, and +in harmony with the laws of Nature and society, disregarding the rest +altogether; and the result gives us an adequate expression of the +natural form of human society,--in one word, liberty. + +Liberty is equality, because liberty exists only in society; and in the +absence of equality there is no society. + +Liberty is anarchy, because it does not admit the government of the +will, but only the authority of the law; that is, of necessity. + +Liberty is infinite variety, because it respects all wills within the +limits of the law. + +Liberty is proportionality, because it allows the utmost latitude to the +ambition for merit, and the emulation of glory. + +We can now say, in the words of M. Cousin: "Our principle is true; it is +good, it is social; let us not fear to push it to its ultimate." + +Man's social nature becoming JUSTICE through reflection, EQUITE through +the classification of capacities, and having LIBERTY for its formula, +is the true basis of morality,--the principle and regulator of all our +actions. This is the universal motor, which philosophy is searching for, +which religion strengthens, which egotism supplants, and whose place +pure reason never can fill. DUTY and RIGHT are born of NEED, which, when +considered in connection with others, is a RIGHT, and when considered in +connection with ourselves, a DUTY. + +We need to eat and sleep. It is our right to procure those things which +are necessary to rest and nourishment. It is our duty to use them when +Nature requires it. + +We need to labor in order to live. To do so is both our right and our +duty. + +We need to love our wives and children. It is our duty to protect and +support them. It is our right to be loved in preference to all others. +Conjugal fidelity is justice. Adultery is high treason against society. + +We need to exchange our products for other products. It is our right +that this exchange should be one of equivalents; and since we consume +before we produce, it would be our duty, if we could control the matter, +to see to it that our last product shall follow our last consumption. +Suicide is fraudulent bankruptcy. + +We need to live our lives according to the dictates of our reason. It +is our right to maintain our freedom. It is our duty to respect that of +others. + +We need to be appreciated by our fellows. It is our duty to deserve +their praise. It is our right to be judged by our works. + +Liberty is not opposed to the rights of succession and bequest. It +contents itself with preventing violations of equality. "Choose," it +tells us, "between two legacies, but do not take them both." All our +legislation concerning transmissions, entailments, adoptions, and, if I +may venture to use such a word, COADJUTORERIES, requires remodelling. + +Liberty favors emulation, instead of destroying it. In social equality, +emulation consists in accomplishing under like conditions; it is its own +reward. No one suffers by the victory. + +Liberty applauds self-sacrifice, and honors it with its votes, but it +can dispense with it. Justice alone suffices to maintain the social +equilibrium. Self-sacrifice is an act of supererogation. Happy, however, +the man who can say, "I sacrifice myself." [33] + + +Liberty is essentially an organizing force. To insure equality between +men and peace among nations, agriculture and industry, and the centres +of education, business, and storage, must be distributed according to +the climate and the geographical position of the country, the nature of +the products, the character and natural talents of the inhabitants, &c., +in proportions so just, so wise, so harmonious, that in no place shall +there ever be either an excess or a lack of population, consumption, and +products. There commences the science of public and private right, +the true political economy. It is for the writers on jurisprudence, +henceforth unembarrassed by the false principle of property, to describe +the new laws, and bring peace upon earth. Knowledge and genius they do +not lack; the foundation is now laid for them. [34] + + +I have accomplished my task; property is conquered, never again to +arise. Wherever this work is read and discussed, there will be deposited +the germ of death to property; there, sooner or later, privilege and +servitude will disappear, and the despotism of will will give place to +the reign of reason. What sophisms, indeed, what prejudices +(however obstinate) can stand before the simplicity of the following +propositions:-- + +I. Individual POSSESSION [35] is the condition of social life; five +thousand years of property demonstrate it. PROPERTY is the suicide of +society. Possession is a right; property is against right. Suppress +property while maintaining possession, and, by this simple modification +of the principle, you will revolutionize law, government, economy, and +institutions; you will drive evil from the face of the earth. + +II. All having an equal right of occupancy, possession varies with the +number of possessors; property cannot establish itself. + +III. The effect of labor being the same for all, property is lost in the +common prosperity. + +IV. All human labor being the result of collective force, all property +becomes, in consequence, collective and unitary. To speak more exactly, +labor destroys property. + +V. Every capacity for labor being, like every instrument of labor, an +accumulated capital, and a collective property, inequality of wages +and fortunes (on the ground of inequality of capacities) is, therefore, +injustice and robbery. + +VI. The necessary conditions of commerce are the liberty of the +contracting parties and the equivalence of the products exchanged. +Now, value being expressed by the amount of time and outlay which each +product costs, and liberty being inviolable, the wages of laborers (like +their rights and duties) should be equal. + +VII. Products are bought only by products. Now, the condition of all +exchange being equivalence of products, profit is impossible and unjust. +Observe this elementary principle of economy, and pauperism, luxury, +oppression, vice, crime, and hunger will disappear from our midst. + +VIII. Men are associated by the physical and mathematical law of +production, before they are voluntarily associated by choice. Therefore, +equality of conditions is demanded by justice; that is, by strict social +law: esteem, friendship, gratitude, admiration, all fall within the +domain of EQUITABLE or PROPORTIONAL law only. + +IX. Free association, liberty--whose sole function is to maintain +equality in the means of production and equivalence in exchanges--is the +only possible, the only just, the only true form of society. + +X. Politics is the science of liberty. The government of man by man +(under whatever name it be disguised) is oppression. Society finds its +highest perfection in the union of order with anarchy. + +The old civilization has run its race; a new sun is rising, and will +soon renew the face of the earth. Let the present generation perish, let +the old prevaricators die in the desert! the holy earth shall not cover +their bones. Young man, exasperated by the corruption of the age, and +absorbed in your zeal for justice!--if your country is dear to you, +and if you have the interests of humanity at heart, have the courage to +espouse the cause of liberty! Cast off your old selfishness, and plunge +into the rising flood of popular equality! There your regenerate soul +will acquire new life and vigor; your enervated genius will recover +unconquerable energy; and your heart, perhaps already withered, will be +rejuvenated! Every thing will wear a different look to your illuminated +vision; new sentiments will engender new ideas within you; religion, +morality, poetry, art, language will appear before you in nobler and +fairer forms; and thenceforth, sure of your faith, and thoughtfully +enthusiastic, you will hail the dawn of universal regeneration! + +And you, sad victims of an odious law!--you, whom a jesting world +despoils and outrages!--you, whose labor has always been fruitless, +and whose rest has been without hope,--take courage! your tears are +numbered! The fathers have sown in affliction, the children shall reap +in rejoicings! + +O God of liberty! God of equality! Thou who didst place in my heart +the sentiment of justice, before my reason could comprehend it, hear +my ardent prayer! Thou hast dictated all that I have written; Thou hast +shaped my thought; Thou hast directed my studies; Thou hast weaned my +mind from curiosity and my heart from attachment, that I might publish +Thy truth to the master and the slave. I have spoken with what force and +talent Thou hast given me: it is Thine to finish the work. Thou knowest +whether I seek my welfare or Thy glory, O God of liberty! Ah! perish +my memory, and let humanity be free! Let me see from my obscurity +the people at last instructed; let noble teachers enlighten them; let +generous spirits guide them! Abridge, if possible, the time of our +trial; stifle pride and avarice in equality; annihilate this love of +glory which enslaves us; teach these poor children that in the bosom +of liberty there are neither heroes nor great men! Inspire the powerful +man, the rich man, him whose name my lips shall never pronounce in Thy +presence, with a horror of his crimes; let him be the first to apply for +admission to the redeemed society; let the promptness of his repentance +be the ground of his forgiveness! Then, great and small, wise and +foolish, rich and poor, will unite in an ineffable fraternity; and, +singing in unison a new hymn, will rebuild Thy altar, O God of liberty +and equality! + +END OF FIRST MEMOIR. + + + + + +WHAT IS PROPERTY? SECOND MEMOIR + +A LETTER TO M. BLANQUI. + + + + +SECOND MEMOIR. + + +PARIS, April 1, 1841. + +MONSIEUR,-- + +Before resuming my "Inquiries into Government and Property," it is +fitting, for the satisfaction of some worthy people, and also in the +interest of order, that I should make to you a plain, straightforward +explanation. In a much-governed State, no one would be allowed to +attack the external form of the society, and the groundwork of its +institutions, until he had established his right to do so,--first, by +his morality; second, by his capacity; and, third, by the purity of +his intentions. Any one who, wishing to publish a treatise upon the +constitution of the country, could not satisfy this threefold condition, +would be obliged to procure the endorsement of a responsible patron +possessing the requisite qualifications. + +But we Frenchmen have the liberty of the press. This grand right--the +sword of thought, which elevates the virtuous citizen to the rank of +legislator, and makes the malicious citizen an agent of discord--frees +us from all preliminary responsibility to the law; but it does not +release us from our internal obligation to render a public account +of our sentiments and thoughts. I have used, in all its fulness, and +concerning an important question, the right which the charter grants +us. I come to-day, sir, to submit my conscience to your judgment, and my +feeble insight to your discriminating reason. You have criticised in a +kindly spirit--I had almost said with partiality for the writer--a work +which teaches a doctrine that you thought it your duty to condemn. "The +Academy of Moral and Political Sciences," said you in your report, "can +accept the conclusions of the author only as far as it likes." I venture +to hope, sir, that, after you have read this letter, if your prudence +still restrains you, your fairness will induce you to do me justice. + +MEN, EQUAL IN THE DIGNITY OF THEIR PERSONS AND EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW, +SHOULD BE EQUAL IN THEIR CONDITIONS,--such is the thesis which I +maintained and developed in a memoir bearing the title, "What is +Property? or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government." + +The idea of social equality, even in individual fortunes, has in all +ages besieged, like a vague presentiment, the human imagination. Poets +have sung of it in their hymns; philosophers have dreamed of it in their +Utopias; priests teach it, but only for the spiritual world. The people, +governed by it, never have had faith in it; and the civil power is never +more disturbed than by the fables of the age of gold and the reign +of Astrea. A year ago, however, this idea received a scientific +demonstration, which has not yet been satisfactorily answered, and, +permit me to add, never will be. This demonstration, owing to its +slightly impassioned style, its method of reasoning,--which was so +at variance with that employed by the generally recognized +authorities,--and the importance and novelty of its conclusions, was of +a nature to cause some alarm; and might have been dangerous, had it not +been--as you, sir, so well said--a sealed letter, so far as the general +public was concerned, addressed only to men of intelligence. I was +glad to see that through its metaphysical dress you recognized the wise +foresight of the author; and I thank you for it. May God grant that my +intentions, which are wholly peaceful, may never be charged upon me as +treasonable! + +Like a stone thrown into a mass of serpents, the First Memoir on +Property excited intense animosity, and aroused the passions of many. +But, while some wished the author and his work to be publicly denounced, +others found in them simply the solution of the fundamental problems of +society; a few even basing evil speculations upon the new light which +they had obtained. It was not to be expected that a system of inductions +abstractly gathered together, and still more abstractly expressed, would +be understood with equal accuracy in its ensemble and in each of its +parts. + +To find the law of equality, no longer in charity and self-sacrifice +(which are not binding in their nature), but in justice; to base +equality of functions upon equality of persons; to determine the +absolute principle of exchange; to neutralize the inequality of +individual faculties by collective force; to establish an equation +between property and robbery; to change the law of succession without +destroying the principle; to maintain the human personality in a +system of absolute association, and to save liberty from the chains +of communism; to synthetize the monarchical and democratic forms of +government; to reverse the division of powers; to give the executive +power to the nation, and to make legislation a positive, fixed, +and absolute science,--what a series of paradoxes! what a string of +delusions! if I may not say, what a chain of truths! But it is not +my purpose here to pass upon the theory of the right of possession. I +discuss no dogmas. My only object is to justify my views, and to show +that, in writing as I did, I not only exercised a right, but performed a +duty. + +Yes, I have attacked property, and shall attack it again; but, sir, +before demanding that I shall make the amende honorable for having +obeyed my conscience and spoken the exact truth, condescend, I beg of +you, to cast a glance at the events which are happening around us; look +at our deputies, our magistrates, our philosophers, our ministers, our +professors, and our publicists; examine their methods of dealing with +the matter of property; count up with me the restrictions placed upon +it every day in the name of the public welfare; measure the breaches +already made; estimate those which society thinks of making hereafter; +add the ideas concerning property held by all theories in common; +interrogate history, and then tell me what will be left, half a century +hence, of this old right of property; and, thus perceiving that I have +so many accomplices, you will immediately declare me innocent. + +What is the law of expropriation on the ground of public utility, which +everybody favors, and which is even thought too lenient? [36] + + +A flagrant violation of the right of property. Society indemnifies, +it is said, the dispossessed proprietor; but does it return to him the +traditional associations, the poetic charm, and the family pride which +accompany property? Naboth, and the miller of Sans-Souci, would have +protested against French law, as they protested against the caprice of +their kings. "It is the field of our fathers," they would have cried, +"and we will not sell it!" Among the ancients, the refusal of the +individual limited the powers of the State. The Roman law bowed to +the will of the citizen, and an emperor--Commodus, if I remember +rightly--abandoned the project of enlarging the forum out of respect for +the rights of the occupants who refused to abdicate. Property is a +real right, _jus_ _in re_,--a right inherent in the thing, and whose +principle lies in the external manifestation of man's will. Man leaves +his imprint, stamps his character, upon the objects of his handiwork. +This plastic force of man, as the modern jurists say, is the seal which, +set upon matter, makes it holy. Whoever lays hands upon it, against the +proprietor's will, does violence to the latter's personality. And yet, +when an administrative committee saw fit to declare that public utility +required it, property had to give way to the general will. Soon, in +the name of public utility, methods of cultivation and conditions of +enjoyment will be prescribed; inspectors of agriculture and manufactures +will be appointed; property will be taken away from unskilful hands, +and entrusted to laborers who are more deserving of it; and a general +superintendence of production will be established. It is not two years +since I saw a proprietor destroy a forest more than five hundred acres +in extent. If public utility had interfered, that forest--the only one +for miles around--would still be standing. + +But, it is said, expropriation on the ground of public utility is only +an exception which confirms the principle, and bears testimony in +favor of the right. Very well; but from this exception we will pass to +another, from that to a third, and so on from exceptions to exceptions, +until we have reduced the rule to a pure abstraction. + +How many supporters do you think, sir, can be claimed for the project +of the conversion of the public funds? I venture to say that everybody +favors it, except the fund-holders. Now, this so-called conversion is +an extensive expropriation, and in this case with no indemnity whatever. +The public funds are so much real estate, the income from which the +proprietor counts upon with perfect safety, and which owes its value +to the tacit promise of the government to pay interest upon it at the +established rate, until the fund-holder applies for redemption. For, +if the income is liable to diminution, it is less profitable than +house-rent or farm-rent, whose rates may rise or fall according to the +fluctuations in the market; and in that case, what inducement has the +capitalist to invest his money in the State? When, then, you force the +fund-holder to submit to a diminution of interest, you make him bankrupt +to the extent of the diminution; and since, in consequence of the +conversion, an equally profitable investment becomes impossible, you +depreciate his property. + +That such a measure may be justly executed, it must be generalized; that +is, the law which provides for it must decree also that interest on sums +lent on deposit or on mortgage throughout the realm, as well as house +and farm-rents, shall be reduced to three per cent. This simultaneous +reduction of all kinds of income would be not a whit more difficult to +accomplish than the proposed conversion; and, further, it would offer +the advantage of forestalling at one blow all objections to it, at the +same time that it would insure a just assessment of the land-tax. See! +If at the moment of conversion a piece of real estate yields an income +of one thousand francs, after the new law takes effect it will yield +only six hundred francs. Now, allowing the tax to be an aliquot +part--one-fourth for example--of the income derived from each piece of +property, it is clear on the one hand that the proprietor would not, in +order to lighten his share of the tax, underestimate the value of his +property; since, house and farm-rents being fixed by the value of the +capital, and the latter being measured by the tax, to depreciate his +real estate would be to reduce his revenue. On the other hand, it is +equally evident that the same proprietors could not overestimate the +value of their property, in order to increase their incomes beyond the +limits of the law, since the tenants and farmers, with their old leases +in their hands, would enter a protest. + +Such, sir, must be the result sooner or later of the conversion which +has been so long demanded; otherwise, the financial operation of which +we are speaking would be a crying injustice, unless intended as a +stepping-stone. This last motive seems the most plausible one; for in +spite of the clamors of interested parties, and the flagrant violation +of certain rights, the public conscience is bound to fulfil its desire, +and is no more affected when charged with attacking property, than +when listening to the complaints of the bondholders. In this case, +instinctive justice belies legal justice. + +Who has not heard of the inextricable confusion into which the Chamber +of Deputies was thrown last year, while discussing the question of +colonial and native sugars? Did they leave these two industries to +themselves? The native manufacturer was ruined by the colonist. To +maintain the beet-root, the cane had to be taxed. To protect the +property of the one, it became necessary to violate the property of the +other. The most remarkable feature of this business was precisely that +to which the least attention was paid; namely, that, in one way or +another, property had to be violated. Did they impose on each industry +a proportional tax, so as to preserve a balance in the market? They +created a maximum PRICE for each variety of sugar; and, as this maximum +PRICE was not the same, they attacked property in two ways,--on the one +hand, interfering with the liberty of trade; on the other, disregarding +the equality of proprietors. Did they suppress the beet-root by granting +an indemnity to the manufacturer? They sacrificed the property of the +tax-payer. Finally, did they prefer to cultivate the two varieties of +sugar at the nation's expense, just as different varieties of tobacco +are cultivated? They abolished, so far as the sugar industry was +concerned, the right of property. This last course, being the most +social, would have been certainly the best; but, if property is the +necessary basis of civilization, how is this deep-seated antagonism to +be explained? [37] + + +Not satisfied with the power of dispossessing a citizen on the ground +of public utility, they want also to dispossess him on the ground of +PRIVATE UTILITY. For a long time, a revision of the law concerning +mortgages was clamored for; a process was demanded, in behalf of all +kinds of credit and in the interest of even the debtors themselves, +which would render the expropriation of real estate as prompt, as easy, +and as effective as that which follows a commercial protest. The Chamber +of Deputies, in the early part of this year, 1841, discussed this +project, and the law was passed almost unanimously. There is nothing +more just, nothing more reasonable, nothing more philosophical +apparently, than the motives which gave rise to this reform. + +I. Formerly, the small proprietor whose obligation had arrived at +maturity, and who found himself unable to meet it, had to employ all +that he had left, after being released from his debt, in defraying the +legal costs. Henceforth, the promptness of expropriation will save him +from total ruin. 2. The difficulties in the way of payment arrested +credit, and prevented the employment of capital in agricultural +enterprises. This cause of distrust no longer existing, capitalists will +find new markets, agriculture will rapidly develop, and farmers will +be the first to enjoy the benefit of the new law. 3. Finally, it was +iniquitous and absurd, that, on account of a protested note, a poor +manufacturer should see in twenty-four hours his business arrested, his +labor suspended, his merchandise seized, his machinery sold at auction, +and finally himself led off to prison, while two years were sometimes +necessary to expropriate the most miserable piece of real estate. + +These arguments, and others besides, you clearly stated, sir, in your +first lectures of this academic year. + +But, when stating these excellent arguments, did you ask yourself, sir, +whither would tend such a transformation of our system of mortgages?... +To monetize, if I may say so, landed property; to accumulate it within +portfolios; to separate the laborer from the soil, man from Nature; to +make him a wanderer over the face of the earth; to eradicate from +his heart every trace of family feeling, national pride, and love of +country; to isolate him more and more; to render him indifferent to +all around him; to concentrate his love upon one object,--money; and, +finally, by the dishonest practices of usury, to monopolize the land +to the profit of a financial aristocracy,--a worthy auxiliary of that +industrial feudality whose pernicious influence we begin to feel so +bitterly. Thus, little by little, the subordination of the laborer to +the idler, the restoration of abolished castes, and the distinction +between patrician and plebeian, would be effected; thus, thanks to the +new privileges granted to the property of the capitalists, that of the +small and intermediate proprietors would gradually disappear, and with +it the whole class of free and honest laborers. This certainly is not +my plan for the abolition of property. Far from mobilizing the soil, I +would, if possible, immobilize even the functions of pure intelligence, +so that society might be the fulfilment of the intentions of Nature, +who gave us our first possession, the land. For, if the instrument +or capital of production is the mark of the laborer, it is also his +pedestal, his support, his country, and, as the Psalmist says, THE PLACE +OF HIS ACTIVITY AND HIS REST. [38] + + +Let us examine more closely still the inevitable and approaching result +of the last law concerning judicial sales and mortgages. Under +the system of competition which is killing us, and whose necessary +expression is a plundering and tyrannical government, the farmer will +need always capital in order to repair his losses, and will be forced to +contract loans. Always depending upon the future for the payment of his +debts, he will be deceived in his hope, and surprised by maturity. For +what is there more prompt, more unexpected, more abbreviatory of space +and time, than the maturity of an obligation? I address this question +to all whom this pitiless Nemesis pursues, and even troubles in their +dreams. Now, under the new law, the expropriation of a debtor will be +effected a hundred times more rapidly; then, also, spoliation will be +a hundred times surer, and the free laborer will pass a hundred times +sooner from his present condition to that of a serf attached to the +soil. Formerly, the length of time required to effect the seizure +curbed the usurer's avidity, gave the borrower an opportunity to recover +himself, and gave rise to a transaction between him and his creditor +which might result finally in a complete release. Now, the debtor's +sentence is irrevocable: he has but a few days of grace. + +And what advantages are promised by this law as an offset to this sword +of Damocles, suspended by a single hair over the head of the unfortunate +husbandman? The expenses of seizure will be much less, it is said; but +will the interest on the borrowed capital be less exorbitant? For, after +all, it is interest which impoverishes the peasant and leads to his +expropriation. That the law may be in harmony with its principle, that +it may be truly inspired by that spirit of justice for which it is +commended, it must--while facilitating expropriation--lower the legal +price of money. Otherwise, the reform concerning mortgages is but a trap +set for small proprietors,--a legislative trick. + +Lower interest on money! But, as we have just seen, that is to limit +property. Here, sir, you shall make your own defence. More than once, in +your learned lectures, I have heard you deplore the precipitancy of the +Chambers, who, without previous study and without profound knowledge +of the subject, voted almost unanimously to maintain the statutes and +privileges of the Bank. Now these privileges, these statutes, this vote +of the Chambers, mean simply this,--that the market price of specie, +at five or six per cent., is not too high, and that the conditions +of exchange, discount, and circulation, which generally double this +interest, are none too severe. So the government thinks. M. Blanqui--a +professor of political economy, paid by the State--maintains the +contrary, and pretends to demonstrate, by decisive arguments, the +necessity of a reform. Who, then, best understands the interests of +property,--the State, or M. Blanqui? + +If specie could be borrowed at half the present rate, the revenues from +all sorts of property would soon be reduced one-half also. For example: +when it costs less to build a house than to hire one, when it is cheaper +to clear a field than to procure one already cleared, competition +inevitably leads to a reduction of house and farm-rents, since the +surest way to depreciate active capital is to increase its amount. But +it is a law of political economy that an increase of production augments +the mass of available capital, consequently tends to raise wages, and +finally to annihilate interest. Then, proprietors are interested in +maintaining the statutes and privileges of the Bank; then, a reform in +this matter would compromise the right of increase; then, the peers and +deputies are better informed than Professor Blanqui. + +But these same deputies,--so jealous of their privileges whenever +the equalizing effects of a reform are within their intellectual +horizon,--what did they do a few days before they passed the law +concerning judicial sales? They formed a conspiracy against property! +Their law to regulate the labor of children in factories will, without +doubt, prevent the manufacturer from compelling a child to labor more +than so many hours a day; but it will not force him to increase the pay +of the child, nor that of its father. To-day, in the interest of health, +we diminish the subsistence of the poor; to-morrow it will be necessary +to protect them by fixing their MINIMUM wages. But to fix their minimum +wages is to compel the proprietor, is to force the master to accept his +workman as an associate, which interferes with freedom and makes mutual +insurance obligatory. Once entered upon this path, we never shall +stop. Little by little the government will become manufacturer, +commission-merchant, and retail dealer. + +It will be the sole proprietor. Why, at all epochs, have the ministers +of State been so reluctant to meddle with the question of wages? +Why have they always refused to interfere between the master and the +workman? Because they knew the touchy and jealous nature of property, +and, regarding it as the principle of all civilization, felt that to +meddle with it would be to unsettle the very foundations of society. +Sad condition of the proprietary regime,--one of inability to exercise +charity without violating justice! [39] + + +And, sir, this fatal consequence which necessity forces upon the State +is no mere imagination. Even now the legislative power is asked, no +longer simply to regulate the government of factories, but to create +factories itself. Listen to the millions of voices shouting on all hands +for THE ORGANISATION OF LABOR, THE CREATION OF NATIONAL WORKSHOPS! +The whole laboring class is agitated: it has its journals, organs, +and representatives. To guarantee labor to the workingman, to balance +production with sale, to harmonize industrial proprietors, it advocates +to-day--as a sovereign remedy--one sole head, one national wardenship, +one huge manufacturing company. For, sir, all this is included in the +idea of national workshops. On this subject I wish to quote, as proof, +the views of an illustrious economist, a brilliant mind, a progressive +intellect, an enthusiastic soul, a true patriot, and yet an official +defender of the right of property. [40] + + +The honorable professor of the Conservatory proposes then,-- + +1. TO CHECK THE CONTINUAL EMIGRATION OF LABORERS FROM THE COUNTRY INTO +THE CITIES. + +But, to keep the peasant in his village, his residence there must be +made endurable: to be just to all, the proletaire of the country must be +treated as well as the proletaire of the city. Reform is needed, then, +on farms as well as in factories; and, when the government enters the +workshop, the government must seize the plough! What becomes, during +this progressive invasion, of independent cultivation, exclusive domain, +property? + +2. TO FIX FOR EACH PROFESSION A MODERATE SALARY, VARYING WITH TIME AND +PLACE AND BASED UPON CERTAIN DATA. + +The object of this measure would be to secure to laborers their +subsistence, and to proprietors their profits, while obliging the latter +to sacrifice from motives of prudence, if for no other reason, a portion +of their income. Now, I say, that this portion, in the long run, would +swell until at last there would be an equality of enjoyment between the +proletaire and the proprietor. For, as we have had occasion to remark +several times already, the interest of the capitalist--in other words +the increase of the idler--tends, on account of the power of labor, the +multiplication of products and exchanges, to continually diminish, and, +by constant reduction, to disappear. So that, in the society proposed +by M. Blanqui, equality would not be realized at first, but would exist +potentially; since property, though outwardly seeming to be industrial +feudality, being no longer a principle of exclusion and encroachment, +but only a privilege of division, would not be slow, thanks to the +intellectual and political emancipation of the proletariat, in passing +into absolute equality,--as absolute at least as any thing can be on +this earth. + +I omit, for the sake of brevity, the numerous considerations which +the professor adduces in support of what he calls, too modestly in my +opinion, his Utopia. They would serve only to prove beyond all question +that, of all the charlatans of radicalism who fatigue the public ear, +no one approaches, for depth and clearness of thought, the audacious M. +Blanqui. + + +3. NATIONAL WORKSHOPS SHOULD BE IN OPERATION ONLY DURING PERIODS OF +STAGNATION IN ORDINARY INDUSTRIES; AT SUCH TIMES THEY SHOULD BE OPENED +AS VAST OUTLETS TO THE FLOOD OF THE LABORING POPULATION. + +But, sir, the stoppage of private industry is the result of +over-production, and insufficient markets. If, then, production +continues in the national workshops, how will the crisis be terminated? +Undoubtedly, by the general depreciation of merchandise, and, in the +last analysis, by the conversion of private workshops into national +workshops. On the other hand, the government will need capital with +which to pay its workmen; now, how will this capital be obtained? By +taxation. And upon what will the tax be levied? Upon property. Then you +will have proprietary industry sustaining against itself, and at its own +expense, another industry with which it cannot compete. What, think you, +will become, in this fatal circle, of the possibility of profit,--in a +word, of property? + +Thank Heaven! equality of conditions is taught in the public schools; +let us fear revolutions no longer. The most implacable enemy of property +could not, if he wished to destroy it, go to work in a wiser and more +effective way. Courage, then, ministers, deputies, economists! make +haste to seize this glorious initiative; let the watchwords of equality, +uttered from the heights of science and power, be repeated in the midst +of the people; let them thrill the breasts of the proletaires, and carry +dismay into the ranks of the last representatives of privilege! + +The tendency of society in favor of compelling proprietors to support +national workshops and public manufactories is so strong that for +several years, under the name of ELECTORAL REFORM, it has been +exclusively the question of the day. What is, after all, this electoral +reform which the people grasp at, as if it were a bait, and which +so many ambitious persons either call for or denounce? It is the +acknowledgment of the right of the masses to a voice in the assessment +of taxes, and the making of the laws; which laws, aiming always at the +protection of material interests, affect, in a greater or less degree, +all questions of taxation or wages. Now the people, instructed long +since by their journals, their dramas, [41] and their songs, [42] know +to-day that taxation, to be equitably divided, must be graduated, and +must be borne mainly by the rich,--that it must be levied upon luxuries, +&c. And be sure that the people, once in the majority in the Chamber, +will not fail to apply these lessons. Already we have a minister +of public works. National workshops will follow; and soon, as +a consequence, the excess of the proprietor's revenue over the +workingman's wages will be swallowed up in the coffers of the laborers +of the State. Do you not see that in this way property is gradually +reduced, as nobility was formerly, to a nominal title, to a distinction +purely honorary in its nature? + + +Either the electoral reform will fail to accomplish that which is hoped +from it, and will disappoint its innumerable partisans, or else it will +inevitably result in a transformation of the absolute right under which +we live into a right of possession; that is, that while, at present, +property makes the elector, after this reform is accomplished, the +citizen, the producer will be the possessor. [43] Consequently, the +radicals are right in saying that the electoral reform is in their eyes +only a means; but, when they are silent as to the end, they show either +profound ignorance, or useless dissimulation. There should be no secrets +or reservations from peoples and powers. He disgraces himself and fails +in respect for his fellows, who, in publishing his opinions, employs +evasion and cunning. Before the people act, they need to know the whole +truth. Unhappy he who shall dare to trifle with them! For the people are +credulous, but they are strong. Let us tell them, then, that this reform +which is proposed is only a means,--a means often tried, and hitherto +without effect,--but that the logical object of the electoral reform is +equality of fortunes; and that this equality itself is only a new means +having in view the superior and definitive object of the salvation of +society, the restoration of morals and religion, and the revival of +poetry and art. + + +This assertion of M. Rossi is not borne out by history. Property is the +cause of the electoral right, not as a PRESUMPTION OF CAPACITY,--an idea +which never prevailed until lately, and which is extremely absurd,--but +as a GUARANTEE OF DEVOTION TO THE ESTABLISHED ORDER. The electoral body +is a league of those interested in the maintenance of property, against +those not interested. There are thousands of documents, even official +documents, to prove this, if necessary. For the rest, the present system +is only a continuation of the municipal system, which, in the +middle ages, sprang up in connection with feudalism,--an oppressive, +mischief-making system, full of petty passions and base intrigues. + + +It would be an abuse of the reader's patience to insist further upon +the tendency of our time towards equality. There are, moreover, so many +people who denounce the present age, that nothing is gained by exposing +to their view the popular, scientific, and representative tendencies of +the nation. + +Prompt to recognize the accuracy of the inferences drawn from +observation, they confine themselves to a general censure of the facts, +and an absolute denial of their legitimacy. "What wonder," they say, +"that this atmosphere of equality intoxicates us, considering all that +has been said and done during the past ten years!... Do you not see that +society is dissolving, that a spirit of infatuation is carrying us away? +All these hopes of regeneration are but forebodings of death; your songs +of triumph are like the prayers of the departing, your trumpet peals +announce the baptism of a dying man. Civilization is falling in ruin: +_Imus, imus, praecipites_!" + +Such people deny God. I might content myself with the reply that +the spirit of 1830 was the result of the maintenance of the violated +charter; that this charter arose from the Revolution of '89; that +'89 implies the States-General's right of remonstrance, and the +enfranchisement of the communes; that the communes suppose feudalism, +which in its turn supposes invasion, Roman law, Christianity, &c. + +But it is necessary to look further. We must penetrate to the very heart +of ancient institutions, plunge into the social depths, and uncover this +indestructible leaven of equality which the God of justice breathed into +our souls, and which manifests itself in all our works. + +Labor is man's contemporary; it is a duty, since it is a condition of +existence: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." It is more +than a duty, it is a mission: "God put the man into the garden to dress +it." I add that labor is the cause and means of equality. + +Cast away upon a desert island two men: one large, strong, and active; +the other weak, timid, and domestic. The latter will die of hunger; +while the other, a skilful hunter, an expert fisherman, and an +indefatigable husbandman, will overstock himself with provisions. What +greater inequality, in this state of Nature so dear to the heart of Jean +Jacques, could be imagined! But let these two men meet and associate +themselves: the second immediately attends to the cooking, takes charge +of the household affairs, and sees to the provisions, beds, and clothes; +provided the stronger does not abuse his superiority by enslaving and +ill-treating his companion, their social condition will be perfectly +equal. Thus, through exchange of services, the inequalities of Nature +neutralize each other, talents associate, and forces balance. Violence +and inertia are found only among the poor and the aristocratic. And +in that lies the philosophy of political economy, the mystery of human +brotherhood. _Hic est sapientia_. Let us pass from the hypothetical +state of pure Nature into civilization. + +The proprietor of the soil, who produces, I will suppose with the +economists, by lending his instrument, receives at the foundation of a +society so many bushels of grain for each acre of arable land. As long +as labor is weak, and the variety of its products small, the proprietor +is powerful in comparison with the laborers; he has ten times, +one hundred times, the portion of an honest man. But let labor, by +multiplying its inventions, multiply its enjoyments and wants, and the +proprietor, if he wishes to enjoy the new products, will be obliged to +reduce his income every day; and since the first products tend rather +to depreciate than to rise in value,--in consequence of the continual +addition of the new ones, which may be regarded as supplements of the +first ones,--it follows that the idle proprietor grows poor as fast +as public prosperity increases. "Incomes" (I like to quote you, sir, +because it is impossible to give too good an authority for these +elementary principles of economy, and because I cannot express them +better myself), "incomes," you have said, "tend to disappear as capital +increases. He who possesses to-day an income of twenty thousand pounds +is not nearly as rich as he who possessed the same amount fifty years +ago. The time is coming when all property will be a burden to the idle, +and will necessarily pass into the hands of the able and industrious. +[44]..." + + +In order to live as a proprietor, or to consume without producing, it is +necessary, then, to live upon the labor of another; in other words, +it is necessary to kill the laborer. It is upon this principle that +proprietors of those varieties of capital which are of primary necessity +increase their farm-rents as fast as industry develops, much more +careful of their privileges in that respect, than those economists who, +in order to strengthen property, advocate a reduction of interest. +But the crime is unavailing: labor and production increase; soon the +proprietor will be forced to labor, and then property is lost. + +The proprietor is a man who, having absolute control of an instrument +of production, claims the right to enjoy the product of the instrument +without using it himself. To this end he lends it; and we have just +seen that from this loan the laborer derives a power of exchange, which +sooner or later will destroy the right of increase. In the first place, +the proprietor is obliged to allow the laborer a portion of the product, +for without it the laborer could not live. Soon the latter, through +the development of his industry, finds a means of regaining the greater +portion of that which he gives to the proprietor; so that at last, the +objects of enjoyment increasing continually, while the income of the +idler remains the same, the proprietor, having exhausted his resources, +begins to think of going to work himself. Then the victory of the +producer is certain. Labor commences to tip the balance towards its own +side, and commerce leads to equilibrium. + +Man's instinct cannot err; as, in liberty, exchange of functions leads +inevitably to equality among men, so commerce--or exchange of products, +which is identical with exchange of functions--is a new cause of +equality. As long as the proprietor does not labor, however small his +income, he enjoys a privilege; the laborer's welfare may be equal to +his, but equality of conditions does not exist. But as soon as the +proprietor becomes a producer,--since he can exchange his special +product only with his tenant or his _commandite_,--sooner or later this +tenant, this _exploited_ man, if violence is not done him, will make +a profit out of the proprietor, and will oblige him to restore--in the +exchange of their respective products--the interest on his capital. So +that, balancing one injustice by another, the contracting parties will +be equal. Labor and exchange, when liberty prevails, lead, then, to +equality of fortunes; mutuality of services neutralizes privilege. +That is why despots in all ages and countries have assumed control +of commerce; they wished to prevent the labor of their subjects from +becoming an obstacle to the rapacity of tyrants. + +Up to this point, all takes place in the natural order; there is no +premeditation, no artifice. The whole proceeding is governed by the laws +of necessity alone. Proprietors and laborers act only in obedience to +their wants. Thus, the exercise of the right of increase, the art +of robbing the producer, depends--during this first period of +civilization--upon physical violence, murder, and war. + +But at this point a gigantic and complicated conspiracy is hatched +against the capitalists. The weapon of the EXPLOITERS is met by the +EXPLOITED with the instrument of commerce,--a marvellous invention, +denounced at its origin by the moralists who favored property, but +inspired without doubt by the genius of labor, by the Minerva of the +proletaires. + +The principal cause of the evil lay in the accumulation and immobility +of capital of all sorts,--an immobility which prevented labor, enslaved +and subalternized by haughty idleness, from ever acquiring it. The +necessity was felt of dividing and mobilizing wealth, of rendering it +portable, of making it pass from the hands of the possessor into those +of the worker. Labor invented MONEY. Afterwards, this invention was +revived and developed by the BILL OF EXCHANGE and the BANK. For all +these things are substantially the same, and proceed from the same mind. +The first man who conceived the idea of representing a value by a shell, +a precious stone, or a certain weight of metal, was the real inventor +of the Bank. What is a piece of money, in fact? It is a bill of exchange +written upon solid and durable material, and carrying with it its own +redemption. By this means, oppressed equality was enabled to laugh at +the efforts of the proprietors, and the balance of justice was adjusted +for the first time in the tradesman's shop. The trap was cunningly set, +and accomplished its purpose so thoroughly that in idle hands money +became only dissolving wealth, a false symbol, a shadow of riches. An +excellent economist and profound philosopher was that miser who took +as his motto, "WHEN A GUINEA IS EXCHANGED, IT EVAPORATES." So it may +be said, "When real estate is converted into money, it is lost." This +explains the constant fact of history, that the nobles--the unproductive +proprietors of the soil--have every where been dispossessed by +industrial and commercial plebeians. Such was especially the case in the +formation of the Italian republics, born, during the middle ages, of +the impoverishment of the seigniors. I will not pursue the interesting +considerations which this matter suggests; I could only repeat the +testimony of historians, and present economical demonstrations in an +altered form. + +The greatest enemy of the landed and industrial aristocracy to-day, the +incessant promoter of equality of fortunes, is the BANKER. Through him +immense plains are divided, mountains change their positions, forests +are grown upon the public squares, one hemisphere produces for another, +and every corner of the globe has its usufructuaries. By means of the +Bank new wealth is continually created, the use of which (soon becoming +indispensable to selfishness) wrests the dormant capital from the hands +of the jealous proprietor. The banker is at once the most potent creator +of wealth, and the main distributor of the products of art and Nature. +And yet, by the strangest antinomy, this same banker is the most +relentless collector of profits, increase, and usury ever inspired by +the demon of property. The importance of the services which he renders +leads us to endure, though not without complaint, the taxes which he +imposes. Nevertheless, since nothing can avoid its providential mission, +since nothing which exists can escape the end for which it exists +the banker (the modern Croesus) must some day become the restorer of +equality. And following in your footsteps, sir, I have already given the +reason; namely, that profit decreases as capital multiplies, since an +increase of capital--calling for more laborers, without whom it remains +unproductive--always causes an increase of wages. Whence it follows that +the Bank, to-day the suction-pump of wealth, is destined to become the +steward of the human race. + +The phrase EQUALITY OF FORTUNES chafes people, as if it referred to +a condition of the other world, unknown here below. There are some +persons, radicals as well as moderates, whom the very mention of this +idea fills with indignation. Let, then, these silly aristocrats abolish +mercantile societies and insurance companies, which are founded +by prudence for mutual assistance. For all these social facts, so +spontaneous and free from all levelling intentions, are the legitimate +fruits of the instinct of equality. + +When the legislator makes a law, properly speaking he does not MAKE +it,--he does not CREATE it: he DESCRIBES it. In legislating upon the +moral, civil, and political relations of citizens, he does not express +an arbitrary notion: he states the general idea,--the higher principle +which governs the matter which he is considering; in a word, he is the +proclaimer, not the inventor, of the law. So, when two or more men +form among themselves, by synallagmatic contract, an industrial or an +insurance association, they recognize that their interests, formerly +isolated by a false spirit of selfishness and independence, are +firmly connected by their inner natures, and by the mutuality of their +relations. They do not really bind themselves by an act of their private +will: they swear to conform henceforth to a previously existing social +law hitherto disregarded by them. And this is proved by the fact that +these same men, could they avoid association, would not associate. +Before they can be induced to unite their interests, they must acquire +full knowledge of the dangers of competition and isolation; hence the +experience of evil is the only thing which leads them into society. + +Now I say that, to establish equality among men, it is only necessary +to generalize the principle upon which insurance, agricultural, and +commercial associations are based. I say that competition, isolation +of interests, monopoly, privilege, accumulation of capital, exclusive +enjoyment, subordination of functions, individual production, the right +of profit or increase, the exploitation of man by man, and, to sum up +all these species under one head, that PROPERTY is the principal cause +of misery and crime. And, for having arrived at this offensive and +anti-proprietary conclusion, I am an abhorred monster; radicals and +conservatives alike point me out as a fit subject for prosecution; the +academies shower their censures upon me; the most worthy people regard +me as mad; and those are excessively tolerant who content themselves +with the assertion that I am a fool. Oh, unhappy the writer who +publishes the truth otherwise than as a performance of a duty! If he has +counted upon the applause of the crowd; if he has supposed that avarice +and self-interest would forget themselves in admiration of him; if he +has neglected to encase himself within three thicknesses of brass,--he +will fail, as he ought, in his selfish undertaking. The unjust +criticisms, the sad disappointments, the despair of his mistaken +ambition, will kill him. + +But, if I am no longer permitted to express my own personal opinion +concerning this interesting question of social equilibrium, let me, at +least, make known the thought of my masters, and develop the doctrines +advocated in the name of the government. + +It never has been my intention, sir, in spite of the vigorous censure +which you, in behalf of your academy, have pronounced upon the doctrine +of equality of fortunes, to contradict and cope with you. In listening +to you, I have felt my inferiority too keenly to permit me to enter upon +such a discussion. And then,--if it must be said,--however different +your language is from mine, we believe in the same principles; you share +all my opinions. I do not mean to insinuate thereby, sir, that you have +(to use the phraseology of the schools) an ESOTERIC and an EXOTERIC +doctrine,--that, secretly believing in equality, you defend property +only from motives of prudence and by command. I am not rash enough to +regard you as my colleague in my revolutionary projects; and I esteem +you too highly, moreover, to suspect you of dissimulation. I only +mean that the truths which methodical investigation and laborious +metaphysical speculation have painfully demonstrated to me, a profound +acquaintance with political economy and a long experience reveal to +you. While I have reached my belief in equality by long reflection, and +almost in spite of my desires, you hold yours, sir, with all the zeal of +faith,--with all the spontaneity of genius. That is why your course +of lectures at the Conservatory is a perpetual war upon property and +inequality of fortunes; that is why your most learned investigations, +your most ingenious analyses, and your innumerable observations always +conclude in a formula of progress and equality; that is why, finally, +you are never more admired and applauded than at those moments of +inspiration when, borne upon the wings of science, you ascend to those +lofty truths which cause plebeian hearts to beat with enthusiasm, and +which chill with horror men whose intentions are evil. How many times, +from the place where I eagerly drank in your eloquent words, have I +inwardly thanked Heaven for exempting you from the judgment passed by +St. Paul upon the philosophers of his time,--"They have known the truth, +and have not made it known"! How many times have I rejoiced at finding +my own justification in each of your discourses! No, no; I neither wish +nor ask for any thing which you do not teach yourself. I appeal to your +numerous audience; let it belie me if, in commenting upon you, I pervert +your meaning. + +A disciple of Say, what in your eyes is more anti-social than the +custom-houses; or, as you correctly call them, the barriers erected by +monopoly between nations? What is more annoying, more unjust, or more +absurd, than this prohibitory system which compels us to pay forty +sous in France for that which in England or Belgium would bring us but +fifteen? It is the custom-house, you once said, [45] which arrests +the development of civilization by preventing the specialization of +industries; it is the custom-house which enriches a hundred monopolists +by impoverishing millions of citizens; it is the custom-house which +produces famine in the midst of abundance, which makes labor sterile by +prohibiting exchange, and which stifles production in a mortal embrace. +It is the custom-house which renders nations jealous of, and hostile to, +each other; four-fifths of the wars of all ages were caused originally +by the custom-house. And then, at the highest pitch of your enthusiasm, +you shouted: "Yes, if to put an end to this hateful system, it should +become necessary for me to shed the last drop of my blood, I would +joyfully spring into the gap, asking only time enough to give thanks to +God for having judged me worthy of martyrdom!" + + +And, at that solemn moment, I said to myself: "Place in every department +of France such a professor as that, and the revolution is avoided." + +But, sir, by this magnificent theory of liberty of commerce you render +military glory impossible,--you leave nothing for diplomacy to do; +you even take away the desire for conquest, while abolishing profit +altogether. What matters it, indeed, who restores Constantinople, +Alexandria, and Saint Jean d'Acre, if the Syrians, Egyptians, and Turks +are free to choose their masters; free to exchange their products with +whom they please? Why should Europe get into such a turmoil over this +petty Sultan and his old Pasha, if it is only a question whether we or +the English shall civilize the Orient,--shall instruct Egypt and Syria +in the European arts, and shall teach them to construct machines, dig +canals, and build railroads? For, if to national independence free trade +is added, the foreign influence of these two countries is thereafter +exerted only through a voluntary relationship of producer to producer, +or apprentice to journeyman. + +Alone among European powers, France cheerfully accepted the task of +civilizing the Orient, and began an invasion which was quite apostolic +in its character,--so joyful and high-minded do noble thoughts render +our nation! But diplomatic rivalry, national selfishness, English +avarice, and Russian ambition stood in her way. To consummate a +long-meditated usurpation, it was necessary to crush a too generous +ally: the robbers of the Holy Alliance formed a league against dauntless +and blameless France. Consequently, at the news of this famous treaty, +there arose among us a chorus of curses upon the principle of property, +which at that time was acting under the hypocritical formulas of the old +political system. The last hour of property seemed to have struck by +the side of Syria; from the Alps to the ocean, from the Rhine to the +Pyrenees, the popular conscience was aroused. All France sang songs +of war, and the coalition turned pale at the sound of these shuddering +cries: "War upon the autocrat, who wishes to be proprietor of the +old world! War upon the English perjurer, the devourer of India, the +poisoner of China, the tyrant of Ireland, and the eternal enemy of +France! War upon the allies who have conspired against liberty and +equality! War! war! war upon property!" + +By the counsel of Providence the emancipation of the nations is +postponed. France is to conquer, not by arms, but by example. Universal +reason does not yet understand this grand equation, which, commencing +with the abolition of slavery, and advancing over the ruins of +aristocracies and thrones, must end in equality of rights and fortunes; +but the day is not far off when the knowledge of this truth will be as +common as that of equality of origin. Already it seems to be understood +that the Oriental question is only a question of custom-houses. Is it, +then, so difficult for public opinion to generalize this idea, and to +comprehend, finally, that if the suppression of custom-houses involves +the abolition of national property, it involves also, as a consequence, +the abolition of individual property? + +In fact, if we suppress the custom-houses, the alliance of the nations +is declared by that very act; their solidarity is recognized, and their +equality proclaimed. If we suppress the custom-houses, the principle of +association will not be slow in reaching from the State to the province, +from the province to the city, and from the city to the workshop. But, +then, what becomes of the privileges of authors and artists? Of what +use are the patents for invention, imagination, amelioration, and +improvement? When our deputies write a law of literary property by +the side of a law which opens a large breach in the custom-house they +contradict themselves, indeed, and pull down with one hand what they +build up with the other. Without the custom-house, literary property +does not exist, and the hopes of our starving authors are frustrated. +For, certainly you do not expect, with the good man Fourier, that +literary property will exercise itself in China to the profit of a +French writer; and that an ode of Lamartine, sold by privilege all over +the world, will bring in millions to its author! The poet's work +is peculiar to the climate in which he lives; every where else the +reproduction of his works, having no market value, should be frank and +free. But what! will it be necessary for nations to put themselves under +mutual surveillance for the sake of verses, statues, and elixirs? We +shall always have, then, an excise, a city-toll, rights of entrance +and transit, custom-houses finally; and then, as a reaction against +privilege, smuggling. + +Smuggling! That word reminds me of one of the most horrible forms +of property. "Smuggling," you have said, sir, [46] "is an offence of +political creation; it is the exercise of natural liberty, defined as a +crime in certain cases by the will of the sovereign. The smuggler is a +gallant man,--a man of spirit, who gaily busies himself in procuring for +his neighbor, at a very low price, a jewel, a shawl, or any other object +of necessity or luxury, which domestic monopoly renders excessively +dear." Then, to a very poetical monograph of the smuggler, you add this +dismal conclusion,--that the smuggler belongs to the family of Mandrin, +and that the galleys should be his home! + + +But, sir, you have not called attention to the horrible exploitation +which is carried on in this way in the name of property. + +It is said,--and I give this report only as an hypothesis and an +illustration, for I do not believe it,--it is said that the present +minister of finances owes his fortune to smuggling. M. Humann, of +Strasbourg, sent out of France, it is said, enormous quantities of +sugar, for which he received the bounty on exportation promised by +the State; then, smuggling this sugar back again, he exported it anew, +receiving the bounty on exportation a second time, and so on. Notice, +sir, that I do not state this as a fact; I give it only as it is told, +not endorsing or even believing it. My sole design is to fix the idea in +the mind by an example. If I believed that a minister had committed such +a crime, that is, if I had personal and authentic knowledge that he had, +I would denounce M. Humann, the minister of finances, to the Chamber of +Deputies, and would loudly demand his expulsion from the ministry. + +But that which is undoubtedly false of M. Humann is true of many others, +as rich and no less honorable than he. Smuggling, organized on a large +scale by the eaters of human flesh, is carried on to the profit of a few +pashas at the risk and peril of their imprudent victims. The inactive +proprietor offers his merchandise for sale; the actual smuggler risks +his liberty, his honor, and his life. If success crowns the enterprise, +the courageous servant gets paid for his journey; the profit goes to +the coward. If fortune or treachery delivers the instrument of this +execrable traffic into the hands of the custom-house officer, the +master-smuggler suffers a loss which a more fortunate voyage will soon +repair. The agent, pronounced a scoundrel, is thrown into prison in +company with robbers; while his glorious patron, a juror, elector, +deputy, or minister, makes laws concerning expropriation, monopoly, and +custom-houses! + +I promised, at the beginning of this letter, that no attack on property +should escape my pen, my only object being to justify myself before the +public by a general recrimination. But I could not refrain from branding +so odious a mode of exploitation, and I trust that this short digression +will be pardoned. Property does not avenge, I hope, the injuries which +smuggling suffers. + +The conspiracy against property is general; it is flagrant; it takes +possession of all minds, and inspires all our laws; it lies at the +bottom of all theories. Here the proletaire pursues property in the +street, there the legislator lays an interdict upon it; now, a professor +of political economy or of industrial legislation, [47] paid to defend +it, undermines it with redoubled blows; at another--time, an academy +calls it in question, [48] or inquires as to the progress of its +demolition. [49] To-day there is not an idea, not an opinion, not +a sect, which does not dream of muzzling property. None confess it, +because none are yet conscious of it; there are too few minds capable +of grasping spontaneously this ensemble of causes and effects, +of principles and consequences, by which I try to demonstrate the +approaching disappearance of property; on the other hand, the ideas that +are generally formed of this right are too divergent and too loosely +determined to allow an admission, so soon, of the contrary theory. Thus, +in the middle and lower ranks of literature and philosophy, no less than +among the common people, it is thought that, when property is abolished, +no one will be able to enjoy the fruit of his labor; that no one will +have any thing peculiar to himself, and that tyrannical communism will +be established on the ruins of family and liberty!--chimeras, which are +to support for a little while longer the cause of privilege. + + +But, before determining precisely the idea of property, before seeking +amid the contradictions of systems for the common element which must +form the basis of the new right, let us cast a rapid glance at +the changes which, at the various periods of history, property has +undergone. The political forms of nations are the expression of their +beliefs. The mobility of these forms, their modification and their +destruction, are solemn experiences which show us the value of ideas, +and gradually eliminate from the infinite variety of customs the +absolute, eternal, and immutable truth. Now, we shall see that every +political institution tends, necessarily, and on pain of death, to +equalize conditions; that every where and always equality of fortunes +(like equality of rights) has been the social aim, whether the plebeian +classes have endeavored to rise to political power by means of property, +or whether--rulers already--they have used political power to overthrow +property. We shall see, in short, by the progress of society, that the +consummation of justice lies in the extinction of individual domain. + +For the sake of brevity, I will disregard the testimony of +ecclesiastical history and Christian theology: this subject deserves a +separate treatise, and I propose hereafter to return to it. Moses and +Jesus Christ proscribed, under the names of usury and inequality, [50] +all sorts of profit and increase. The church itself, in its purest +teachings, has always condemned property; and when I attacked, not only +the authority of the church, but also its infidelity to justice, I did +it to the glory of religion. I wanted to provoke a peremptory reply, and +to pave the way for Christianity's triumph, in spite of the innumerable +attacks of which it is at present the object. I hoped that an apologist +would arise forthwith, and, taking his stand upon the Scriptures, the +Fathers, the canons, and the councils and constitutions of the Popes, +would demonstrate that the church always has maintained the doctrine of +equality, and would attribute to temporary necessity the contradictions +of its discipline. Such a labor would serve the cause of religion +as well as that of equality. We must know, sooner or later, whether +Christianity is to be regenerated in the church or out of it, and +whether this church accepts the reproaches cast upon it of hatred to +liberty and antipathy to progress. Until then we will suspend judgment, +and content ourselves with placing before the clergy the teachings of +history. + + +When Lycurgus undertook to make laws for Sparta, in what condition did +he find this republic? On this point all historians agree. The people +and the nobles were at war. The city was in a confused state, and +divided by two parties,--the party of the poor, and the party of the +rich. Hardly escaped from the barbarism of the heroic ages, society was +rapidly declining. The proletariat made war upon property, which, in its +turn, oppressed the proletariat. What did Lycurgus do? His first measure +was one of general security, at the very idea of which our legislators +would tremble. He abolished all debts; then, employing by turns +persuasion and force, he induced the nobles to renounce their +privileges, and re-established equality. + +Lycurgus, in a word, hunted property out of Lacedaemon, seeing no other +way to harmonize liberty, equality, and law. I certainly should not wish +France to follow the example of Sparta; but it is remarkable that the +most ancient of Greek legislators, thoroughly acquainted with the nature +and needs of the people, more capable than any one else of appreciating +the legitimacy of the obligations which he, in the exercise of his +absolute authority, cancelled; who had compared the legislative +systems of his time, and whose wisdom an oracle had proclaimed,--it +is remarkable, I say, that Lycurgus should have judged the right of +property incompatible with free institutions, and should have thought it +his duty to preface his legislation by a coup d'etat which destroyed all +distinctions of fortune. + +Lycurgus understood perfectly that the luxury, the love of enjoyments, +and the inequality of fortunes, which property engenders, are the bane +of society; unfortunately the means which he employed to preserve his +republic were suggested to him by false notions of political economy, +and by a superficial knowledge of the human heart. Accordingly, +property, which this legislator wrongly confounded with wealth, +reentered the city together with the swarm of evils which he was +endeavoring to banish; and this time Sparta was hopelessly corrupted. + + +"The introduction of wealth," says M. Pastoret, "was one of the +principal causes of the misfortunes which they experienced. Against +these, however, the laws had taken extraordinary precautions, the best +among which was the inculcation of morals which tended to suppress +desire." + + +The best of all precautions would have been the anticipation of desire +by satisfaction. Possession is the sovereign remedy for cupidity, +a remedy which would have been the less perilous to Sparta because +fortunes there were almost equal, and conditions were nearly alike. As a +general thing, fasting and abstinence are bad teachers of moderation. + +"There was a law," says M. Pastoret again, "to prohibit the rich from +wearing better clothing than the poor, from eating more delicate food, +and from owning elegant furniture, vases, carpets, fine houses," &c. +Lycurgus hoped, then, to maintain equality by rendering wealth useless. +How much wiser he would have been if, in accordance with his military +discipline, he had organized industry and taught the people to procure +by their own labor the things which he tried in vain to deprive them of. +In that case, enjoying happy thoughts and pleasant feelings, the citizen +would have known no other desire than that with which the legislator +endeavored to inspire him,--love of honor and glory, the triumphs of +talent and virtue. + +"Gold and all kinds of ornaments were forbidden the women." Absurd. +After the death of Lycurgus, his institutions became corrupted; and four +centuries before the Christian era not a vestige remained of the former +simplicity. Luxury and the thirst for gold were early developed among +the Spartans in a degree as intense as might have been expected from +their enforced poverty and their inexperience in the arts. Historians +have accused Pausanias, Lysander, Agesilaus, and others of having +corrupted the morals of their country by the introduction of wealth +obtained in war. It is a slander. The morals of the Spartans necessarily +grew corrupt as soon as the Lacedaemonian poverty came in contact with +Persian luxury and Athenian elegance. Lycurgus, then, made a fatal +mistake in attempting to inspire generosity and modesty by enforcing +vain and proud simplicity. + + +"Lycurgus was not frightened at idleness! A Lacedemonian, happening to +be in Athens (where idleness was forbidden) during the punishment of +a citizen who had been found guilty, asked to see the Athenian thus +condemned for having exercised the rights of a free man.... It was one +of the principles of Lycurguss, acted upon for several centuries, that +free men should not follow lucrative professions.... The women disdained +domestic labor; they did not spin their wool themselves, as did the +other Greeks [they did not, then, read Homer!]; they left their slaves +to make their clothing for them."--Pastoret: History of Legislation. + + +Could any thing be more contradictory? Lycurgus proscribed property +among the citizens, and founded the means of subsistence on the worst +form of property,--on property obtained by force. What wonder, after +that, that a lazy city, where no industry was carried on, became a den +of avarice? The Spartans succumbed the more easily to the allurements of +luxury and Asiatic voluptuousness, being placed entirely at their mercy +by their own coarseness. The same thing happened to the Romans, when +military success took them out of Italy,--a thing which the author +of the prosopopoeia of Fabricius could not explain. It is not the +cultivation of the arts which corrupts morals, but their degradation, +induced by inactive and luxurious opulence. The instinct of property +is to make the industry of Daedalus, as well as the talent of Phidias, +subservient to its own fantastic whims and disgraceful pleasures. +Property, not wealth, ruined the Spartans. + +When Solon appeared, the anarchy caused by property was at its height +in the Athenian republic. "The inhabitants of Attica were divided +among themselves as to the form of government. Those who lived on the +mountains (the poor) preferred the popular form; those of the plain +(the middle class), the oligarchs; those by the sea coast, a mixture +of oligarchy and democracy. Other dissensions were arising from the +inequality of fortunes. The mutual antagonism of the rich and poor had +become so violent, that the one-man power seemed the only safe-guard +against the revolution with which the republic was threatened." +(Pastoret: History of Legislation.) + +Quarrels between the rich and the poor, which seldom occur in +monarchies, because a well established power suppresses dissensions, +seem to be the life of popular governments. Aristotle had noticed this. +The oppression of wealth submitted to agrarian laws, or to excessive +taxation; the hatred of the lower classes for the upper class, which +is exposed always to libellous charges made in hopes of +confiscation,--these were the features of the Athenian government which +were especially revolting to Aristotle, and which caused him to favor +a limited monarchy. Aristotle, if he had lived in our day, would have +supported the constitutional government. But, with all deference to the +Stagirite, a government which sacrifices the life of the proletaire to +that of the proprietor is quite as irrational as one which supports the +former by robbing the latter; neither of them deserve the support of a +free man, much less of a philosopher. + +Solon followed the example of Lycurgus. He celebrated his legislative +inauguration by the abolition of debts,--that is, by bankruptcy. In +other words, Solon wound up the governmental machine for a longer or +shorter time depending upon the rate of interest. Consequently, when the +spring relaxed and the chain became unwound, the republic had either +to perish, or to recover itself by a second bankruptcy. This singular +policy was pursued by all the ancients. After the captivity of Babylon, +Nehemiah, the chief of the Jewish nation, abolished debts; Lycurgus +abolished debts; Solon abolished debts; the Roman people, after the +expulsion of the kings until the accession of the Caesars, struggled +with the Senate for the abolition of debts. Afterwards, towards the +end of the republic, and long after the establishment of the empire, +agriculture being abandoned, and the provinces becoming depopulated +in consequence of the excessive rates of interest, the emperors freely +granted the lands to whoever would cultivate them,--that is, they +abolished debts. No one, except Lycurgus, who went to the other extreme, +ever perceived that the great point was, not to release debtors by a +coup d'etat, but to prevent the contraction of debts in future. + +On the contrary, the most democratic governments were always exclusively +based upon individual property; so that the social element of all these +republics was war between the citizens. + +Solon decreed that a census should be taken of all fortunes, regulated +political rights by the result, granted to the larger proprietors more +influence, established the balance of powers,--in a word, inserted in +the constitution the most active leaven of discord; as if, instead of a +legislator chosen by the people, he had been their greatest enemy. Is +it not, indeed, the height of imprudence to grant equality of political +rights to men of unequal conditions? If a manufacturer, uniting all +his workmen in a joint-stock company, should give to each of them a +consultative and deliberative voice,--that is, should make all of them +masters,--would this equality of mastership secure continued inequality +of wages? That is the whole political system of Solon, reduced to its +simplest expression. + + +"In giving property a just preponderance," says M. Pastoret, "Solon +repaired, as far as he was able, his first official act,--the abolition +of debts.... He thought he owed it to public peace to make this great +sacrifice of acquired rights and natural equity. But the violation of +individual property and written contracts is a bad preface to a public +code." + + +In fact, such violations are always cruelly punished. In '89 and '93, +the possessions of the nobility and the clergy were confiscated, the +clever proletaires were enriched; and to-day the latter, having become +aristocrats, are making us pay dearly for our fathers' robbery. What, +therefore, is to be done now? It is not for us to violate right, but to +restore it. Now, it would be a violation of justice to dispossess some +and endow others, and then stop there. We must gradually lower the rate +of interest, organize industry, associate laborers and their functions, +and take a census of the large fortunes, not for the purpose of granting +privileges, but that we may effect their redemption by settling a +life-annuity upon their proprietors. We must apply on a large scale the +principle of collective production, give the State eminent domain over +all capital! make each producer responsible, abolish the custom-house, +and transform every profession and trade into a public function. Thereby +large fortunes will vanish without confiscation or violence; individual +possession will establish itself, without communism, under the +inspection of the republic; and equality of conditions will no longer +depend simply on the will of citizens. + +Of the authors who have written upon the Romans, Bossuet and Montesquieu +occupy prominent positions in the first rank; the first being generally +regarded as the father of the philosophy of history, and the second as +the most profound writer upon law and politics. Nevertheless, it could +be shown that these two great writers, each of them imbued with the +prejudices of their century and their cloth, have left the question of +the causes of the rise and fall of the Romans precisely where they found +it. + +Bossuet is admirable as long as he confines himself to description: +witness, among other passages, the picture which he has given us +of Greece before the Persian War, and which seems to have inspired +"Telemachus;" the parallel between Athens and Sparta, drawn twenty +times since Bossuet; the description of the character and morals of +the ancient Romans; and, finally, the sublime peroration which ends the +"Discourse on Universal History." But when the famous historian deals +with causes, his philosophy is at fault. + + +"The tribunes always favored the division of captured lands, or the +proceeds of their sale, among the citizens. The Senate steadfastly +opposed those laws which were damaging to the State, and wanted the +price of lands to be awarded to the public treasury." + + +Thus, according to Bossuet, the first and greatest wrong of civil wars +was inflicted upon the people, who, dying of hunger, demanded that the +lands, which they had shed their blood to conquer, should be given to +them for cultivation. The patricians, who bought them to deliver to +their slaves, had more regard for justice and the public interests. +How little affects the opinions of men! If the roles of Cicero and the +Gracchi had been inverted, Bossuet, whose sympathies were aroused by the +eloquence of the great orator more than by the clamors of the tribunes, +would have viewed the agrarian laws in quite a different light. He +then would have understood that the interest of the treasury was only +a pretext; that, when the captured lands were put up at auction, the +patricians hastened to buy them, in order to profit by the revenues from +them,--certain, moreover, that the price paid would come back to them +sooner or later, in exchange either for supplies furnished by them to +the republic, or for the subsistence of the multitude, who could buy +only of them, and whose services at one time, and poverty at another, +were rewarded by the State. For a State does not hoard; on the contrary, +the public funds always return to the people. If, then, a certain number +of men are the sole dealers in articles of primary necessity, it follows +that the public treasury, in passing and repassing through their hands, +deposits and accumulates real property there. + +When Menenius related to the people his fable of the limbs and the +stomach, if any one had remarked to this story-teller that the stomach +freely gives to the limbs the nourishment which it freely receives, but +that the patricians gave to the plebeians only for cash, and lent to +them only at usury, he undoubtedly would have silenced the wily senator, +and saved the people from a great imposition. The Conscript Fathers +were fathers only of their own line. As for the common people, they were +regarded as an impure race, exploitable, taxable, and workable at the +discretion and mercy of their masters. + +As a general thing, Bossuet shows little regard for the people. His +monarchical and theological instincts know nothing but authority, +obedience, and alms-giving, under the name of charity. + +This unfortunate disposition constantly leads him to mistake symptoms +for causes; and his depth, which is so much admired, is borrowed from +his authors, and amounts to very little, after all. + +When he says, for instance, that "the dissensions in the republic, and +finally its fall, were caused by the jealousies of its citizens, and +their love of liberty carried to an extreme and intolerable extent," are +we not tempted to ask him what caused those JEALOUSIES?--what inspired +the people with that LOVE OF LIBERTY, EXTREME AND INTOLERABLE? It would +be useless to reply, The corruption of morals; the disregard for the +ancient poverty; the debaucheries, luxury, and class jealousies; the +seditious character of the Gracchi, &c. Why did the morals become +corrupt, and whence arose those eternal dissensions between the +patricians and the plebeians? + +In Rome, as in all other places, the dissension between the rich and +the poor was not caused directly by the desire for wealth (people, as +a general thing, do not covet that which they deem it illegitimate to +acquire), but by a natural instinct of the plebeians, which led them to +seek the cause of their adversity in the constitution of the republic. +So we are doing to-day; instead of altering our public economy, we +demand an electoral reform. The Roman people wished to return to the +social compact; they asked for reforms, and demanded a revision of +the laws, and a creation of new magistracies. The patricians, who had +nothing to complain of, opposed every innovation. Wealth always has been +conservative. Nevertheless, the people overcame the resistance of the +Senate; the electoral right was greatly extended; the privileges of +the plebeians were increased,--they had their representatives, their +tribunes, and their consuls; but, notwithstanding these reforms, the +republic could not be saved. When all political expedients had been +exhausted, when civil war had depleted the population, when the Caesars +had thrown their bloody mantle over the cancer which was consuming the +empire,--inasmuch as accumulated property always was respected, and +since the fire never stopped, the nation had to perish in the flames. +The imperial power was a compromise which protected the property of the +rich, and nourished the proletaires with wheat from Africa and Sicily: +a double error, which destroyed the aristocrats by plethora and +the commoners by famine. At last there was but one real proprietor +left,--the emperor,--whose dependent, flatterer, parasite, or slave, +each citizen became; and when this proprietor was ruined, those who +gathered the crumbs from under his table, and laughed when he cracked +his jokes, perished also. + +Montesquieu succeeded no better than Bossuet in fathoming the causes of +the Roman decline; indeed, it may be said that the president has only +developed the ideas of the bishop. If the Romans had been more moderate +in their conquests, more just to their allies, more humane to the +vanquished; if the nobles had been less covetous, the emperors less +lawless, the people less violent, and all classes less corrupt; if... +&c.,--perhaps the dignity of the empire might have been preserved, and +Rome might have retained the sceptre of the world! That is all that can +be gathered from the teachings of Montesquieu. But the truth of history +does not lie there; the destinies of the world are not dependent upon +such trivial causes. The passions of men, like the contingencies of time +and the varieties of climate, serve to maintain the forces which move +humanity and produce all historical changes; but they do not explain +them. The grain of sand of which Pascal speaks would have caused the +death of one man only, had not prior action ordered the events of which +this death was the precursor. + +Montesquieu has read extensively; he knows Roman history thoroughly, is +perfectly well acquainted with the people of whom he speaks, and sees +very clearly why they were able to conquer their rivals and govern the +world. While reading him we admire the Romans, but we do not like them; +we witness their triumphs without pleasure, and we watch their fall +without sorrow. Montesquieu's work, like the works of all French +writers, is skilfully composed,--spirited, witty, and filled with wise +observations. He pleases, interests, instructs, but leads to little +reflection; he does not conquer by depth of thought; he does not exalt +the mind by elevated reason or earnest feeling. In vain should we search +his writings for knowledge of antiquity, the character of primitive +society, or a description of the heroic ages, whose morals and +prejudices lived until the last days of the republic. Vico, painting the +Romans with their horrible traits, represents them as excusable, because +he shows that all their conduct was governed by preexisting ideas and +customs, and that they were informed, so to speak, by a superior genius +of which they were unconscious; in Montesquieu, the Roman atrocity +revolts, but is not explained. Therefore, as a writer, Montesquieu +brings greater credit upon French literature; as a philosopher, Vico +bears away the palm. + +Originally, property in Rome was national, not private. Numa was +the first to establish individual property by distributing the lands +captured by Romulus. What was the dividend of this distribution effected +by Numa? What conditions were imposed upon individuals, what powers +reserved to the State? None whatever. Inequality of fortunes, absolute +abdication by the republic of its right of eminent domain over the +property of citizens,--such were the first results of the division of +Numa, who justly may be regarded as the originator of Roman revolutions. +He it was who instituted the worship of the god Terminus,--the guardian +of private possession, and one of the most ancient gods of Italy. It +was Numa who placed property under the protection of Jupiter; who, +in imitation of the Etrurians, wished to make priests of the +land-surveyors; who invented a liturgy for cadastral operations, and +ceremonies of consecration for the marking of boundaries,--who, in +short, made a religion of property. [51] All these fancies would have +been more beneficial than dangerous, if the holy king had not forgotten +one essential thing; namely, to fix the amount that each citizen could +possess, and on what conditions he could possess it. For, since it is +the essence of property to continually increase by accession and profit, +and since the lender will take advantage of every opportunity to apply +this principle inherent in property, it follows that properties tend, by +means of their natural energy and the religious respect which protects +them, to absorb each other, and fortunes to increase or diminish to an +indefinite extent,--a process which necessarily results in the ruin +of the people, and the fall of the republic. Roman history is but the +development of this law. + + +Scarcely had the Tarquins been banished from Rome and the monarchy +abolished, when quarrels commenced between the orders. In the year +494 B.C., the secession of the commonalty to the Mons Sacer led to the +establishment of the tribunate. Of what did the plebeians complain? +That they were poor, exhausted by the interest which they paid to the +proprietors,--_foeneratoribus;_ that the republic, administered for the +benefit of the nobles, did nothing for the people; that, delivered over +to the mercy of their creditors, who could sell them and their children, +and having neither hearth nor home, they were refused the means of +subsistence, while the rate of interest was kept at its highest point, +&c. For five centuries, the sole policy of the Senate was to evade +these just complaints; and, notwithstanding the energy of the tribunes, +notwithstanding the eloquence of the Gracchi, the violence of Marius, +and the triumph of Caesar, this execrable policy succeeded only too +well. The Senate always temporized; the measures proposed by the +tribunes might be good, but they were inopportune. It admitted that +something should be done; but first it was necessary that the people +should resume the performance of their duties, because the Senate could +not yield to violence, and force must be employed only by the law. If +the people--out of respect for legality--took this beautiful advice, the +Senate conjured up a difficulty; the reform was postponed, and that was +the end of it. On the contrary, if the demands of the proletaires became +too pressing, it declared a foreign war, and neighboring nations were +deprived of their liberty, to maintain the Roman aristocracy. + +But the toils of war were only a halt for the plebeians in their onward +march towards pauperism. The lands confiscated from the conquered +nations were immediately added to the domain of the State, to the ager +publicus; and, as such, cultivated for the benefit of the treasury; or, +as was more often the case, they were sold at auction. None of them were +granted to the proletaires, who, unlike the patricians and knights, were +not supplied by the victory with the means of buying them. War never +enriched the soldier; the extensive plundering has been done always by +the generals. The vans of Augereau, and of twenty others, are famous in +our armies; but no one ever heard of a private getting rich. Nothing was +more common in Rome than charges of peculation, extortion, embezzlement, +and brigandage, carried on in the provinces at the head of armies, and +in other public capacities. All these charges were quieted by intrigue, +bribery of the judges, or desistance of the accuser. The culprit was +allowed always in the end to enjoy his spoils in peace; his son was only +the more respected on account of his father's crimes. And, in fact, it +could not be otherwise. What would become of us, if every deputy, peer, +or public functionary should be called upon to show his title to his +fortune! + + +"The patricians arrogated the exclusive enjoyment of the ager publicus; +and, like the feudal seigniors, granted some portions of their lands to +their dependants,--a wholly precarious concession, revocable at the will +of the grantor. The plebeians, on the contrary, were entitled to the +enjoyment of only a little pasture-land left to them in common: +an utterly unjust state of things, since, in consequence of it, +taxation--_census_--weighed more heavily upon the poor than upon the +rich. The patrician, in fact, always exempted himself from the tithe +which he owed as the price and as the acknowledgment of the concession +of domain; and, on the other hand, paid no taxes on his POSSESSIONS, +if, as there is good reason to believe, only citizens' property was +taxed."--Laboulaye: History of Property. + + +In order thoroughly to understand the preceding quotation, we must know +that the estates of CITIZENS--that is, estates independent of the public +domain, whether they were obtained in the division of Numa, or had since +been sold by the questors--were alone regarded as PROPERTY; upon these +a tax, or _cense_, was imposed. On the contrary, the estates obtained +by concessions of the public domain, of the ager publicus (for which a +light rent was paid), were called POSSESSIONS. Thus, among the Romans, +there was a RIGHT OF PROPERTY and a RIGHT OF POSSESSION regulating the +administration of all estates. Now, what did the proletaires wish? That +the jus possessionis--the simple right of possession--should be extended +to them at the expense, as is evident, not of private property, but of +the public domain,--agri publici. The proletaires, in short, demanded +that they should be tenants of the land which they had conquered. This +demand, the patricians in their avarice never would accede to. Buying +as much of this land as they could, they afterwards found means of +obtaining the rest as POSSESSIONS. Upon this land they employed their +slaves. The people, who could not buy, on account of the competition +of the rich, nor hire, because--cultivating with their own hands--they +could not promise a rent equal to the revenue which the land would +yield when cultivated by slaves, were always deprived of possession and +property. + +Civil wars relieved, to some extent, the sufferings of the multitude. +"The people enrolled themselves under the banners of the ambitious, in +order to obtain by force that which the law refused them,--property. A +colony was the reward of a victorious legion. But it was no longer +the ager publicus only; it was all Italy that lay at the mercy of the +legions. The ager publicus disappeared almost entirely,... but the +cause of the evil--accumulated property--became more potent than ever." +(Laboulaye: History of Property.) + + +The author whom I quote does not tell us why this division of +territory which followed civil wars did not arrest the encroachments of +accumulated property; the omission is easily supplied. Land is not +the only requisite for cultivation; a working-stock is also +necessary,--animals, tools, harnesses, a house, an advance, &c. Where +did the colonists, discharged by the dictator who rewarded them, obtain +these things? From the purse of the usurers; that is, of the patricians, +to whom all these lands finally returned, in consequence of the rapid +increase of usury, and the seizure of estates. Sallust, in his account +of the conspiracy of Catiline, tells us of this fact. The conspirators +were old soldiers of Sylla, who, as a reward for their services, had +received from him lands in Cisalpine Gaul, Tuscany, and other parts of +the peninsula Less than twenty years had elapsed since these colonists, +free of debt, had left the service and commenced farming; and already +they were crippled by usury, and almost ruined. The poverty caused +by the exactions of creditors was the life of this conspiracy which +well-nigh inflamed all Italy, and which, with a worthier chief and +fairer means, possibly would have succeeded. In Rome, the mass of the +people were favorable to the conspirators--_cuncta plebes Catilinae +incepta probabat;_ the allies were weary of the patricians' robberies; +deputies from the Allobroges (the Savoyards) had come to Rome to appeal +to the Senate in behalf of their fellow-citizens involved in debt; in +short, the complaint against the large proprietors was universal. "We +call men and gods to witness," said the soldiers of Catiline, who were +Roman citizens with not a slave among them, "that we have taken arms +neither against the country, nor to attack any one, but in defence of +our lives and liberties. Wretched, poor, most of us deprived of country, +all of us of fame and fortune, by the violence and cruelty of usurers, +we have no rights, no property, no liberty." [52] + + +The bad reputation of Catiline, and his atrocious designs, the +imprudence of his accomplices, the treason of several, the strategy +of Cicero, the angry outbursts of Cato, and the terror of the +Senate, baffled this enterprise, which, in furnishing a precedent for +expeditions against the rich, would perhaps have saved the republic, and +given peace to the world. But Rome could not evade her destiny; the end +of her expiations had not come. A nation never was known to anticipate +its punishment by a sudden and unexpected conversion. Now, the +long-continued crimes of the Eternal City could not be atoned for by +the massacre of a few hundred patricians. Catiline came to stay divine +vengeance; therefore his conspiracy failed. + +The encroachment of large proprietors upon small proprietors, by the aid +of usury, farm-rent, and profits of all sorts, was common throughout the +empire. The most honest citizens invested their money at high rates of +interest. [53] Cato, Cicero, Brutus, all the stoics so noted for +their frugality, _viri frugi_,--Seneca, the teacher of virtue,--levied +enormous taxes in the provinces, under the name of usury; and it is +something remarkable, that the last defenders of the republic, the proud +Pompeys, were all usurious aristocrats, and oppressors of the poor. +But the battle of Pharsalus, having killed men only, without touching +institutions, the encroachments of the large domains became every day +more active. Ever since the birth of Christianity, the Fathers have +opposed this invasion with all their might. Their writings are filled +with burning curses upon this crime of usury, of which Christians are +not always innocent. + + +St. Cyprian complains of certain bishops of his time, who, absorbed in +disgraceful stock-jobbing operations, abandoned their churches, and went +about the provinces appropriating lands by artifice and fraud, while +lending money and piling up interests upon interests. [54] Why, in the +midst of this passion for accumulation, did not the possession of the +public land, like private property, become concentrated in a few hands? + + +By law, the domain of the State was inalienable, and consequently +possession was always revocable; but the edict of the praetor continued +it indefinitely, so that finally the possessions of the patricians were +transformed into absolute property, though the name, possessions, +was still applied to them. This conversion, instigated by senatorial +avarice; owed its accomplishment to the most deplorable and indiscreet +policy. If, in the time of Tiberius Gracchus, who wished to limit each +citizen's possession of the ager publicus to five hundred acres, the +amount of this possession had been fixed at as much as one family could +cultivate, and granted on the express condition that the possessor +should cultivate it himself, and should lease it to no one, the empire +never would have been desolated by large estates; and possession, +instead of increasing property, would have absorbed it. On what, then, +depended the establishment and maintenance of equality in conditions +and fortunes? On a more equitable division of the ager publicus, a wiser +distribution of the right of possession. + +I insist upon this point, which is of the utmost importance, because +it gives us an opportunity to examine the history of this individual +possession, of which I said so much in my first memoir, and which so few +of my readers seem to have understood. The Roman republic--having, as +it did, the power to dispose absolutely of its territory, and to impose +conditions upon possessors--was nearer to liberty and equality than any +nation has been since. If the Senate had been intelligent and just,--if, +at the time of the retreat to the Mons Sacer, instead of the ridiculous +farce enacted by Menenius Agrippa, a solemn renunciation of the right +to acquire had been made by each citizen on attaining his share of +possessions,--the republic, based upon equality of possessions and the +duty of labor, would not, in attaining its wealth, have degenerated +in morals; Fabricius would have enjoyed the arts without controlling +artists; and the conquests of the ancient Romans would have been the +means of spreading civilization, instead of the series of murders and +robberies that they were. + +But property, having unlimited power to amass and to lease, was daily +increased by the addition of new possessions. From the time of Nero, six +individuals were the sole proprietors of one-half of Roman Africa. In +the fifth century, the wealthy families had incomes of no less than +two millions: some possessed as many as twenty thousand slaves. All +the authors who have written upon the causes of the fall of the Roman +republic concur. + +M. Giraud of Aix [55] quotes the testimony of Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, +Olympiodorus, and Photius. Under Vespasian and Titus, Pliny, the +naturalist, exclaimed: "Large estates have ruined Italy, and are ruining +the provinces." + + +But it never has been understood that the extension of property was +effected then, as it is to-day, under the aegis of the law, and by +virtue of the constitution. When the Senate sold captured lands at +auction, it was in the interest of the treasury and of public welfare. +When the patricians bought up possessions and property, they realized +the purpose of the Senate's decrees; when they lent at high rates of +interest, they took advantage of a legal privilege. "Property," said the +lender, "is the right to enjoy even to the extent of abuse, _jus utendi +et abutendi_; that is, the right to lend at interest,--to lease, to +acquire, and then to lease and lend again." But property is also the +right to exchange, to transfer, and to sell. If, then, the social +condition is such that the proprietor, ruined by usury, may be compelled +to sell his possession, the means of his subsistence, he will sell +it; and, thanks to the law, accumulated property--devouring and +anthropophagous property--will be established.[56] + + +The immediate and secondary cause of the decline of the Romans +was, then, the internal dissensions between the two orders of the +republic,--the patricians and the plebeians,--dissensions which gave +rise to civil wars, proscriptions, and loss of liberty, and finally led +to the empire; but the primary and mediate cause of their decline was +the establishment by Numa of the institution of property. + +I end with an extract from a work which I have quoted several times +already, and which has recently received a prize from the Academy of +Moral and Political Sciences:-- + + +"The concentration of property," says M. Laboulaye, "while causing +extreme poverty, forced the emperors to feed and amuse the people, that +they might forget their misery. _Panem et circenses:_ that was the Roman +law in regard to the poor; a dire and perhaps a necessary evil wherever +a landed aristocracy exists. + +"To feed these hungry mouths, grain was brought from Africa and the +provinces, and distributed gratuitously among the needy. In the time of +Caesar, three hundred and twenty thousand people were thus fed. Augustus +saw that such a measure led directly to the destruction of husbandry; +but to abolish these distributions was to put a weapon within the reach +of the first aspirant for power. + +"The emperor shrank at the thought. + +"While grain was gratuitous, agriculture was impossible. Tillage gave +way to pasturage, another cause of depopulation, even among slaves. + +"Finally, luxury, carried further and further every day, covered the +soil of Italy with elegant villas, which occupied whole cantons. Gardens +and groves replaced the fields, and the free population fled to the +towns. Husbandry disappeared almost entirely, and with husbandry the +husbandman. Africa furnished the wheat, and Greece the wine. Tiberius +complained bitterly of this evil, which placed the lives of the Roman +people at the mercy of the winds and waves: that was his anxiety. One +day later, and three hundred thousand starving men walked the streets of +Rome: that was a revolution. + +"This decline of Italy and the provinces did not stop. After the +reign of Nero, depopulation commenced in towns as noted as Antium and +Tarentum. Under the reign of Pertinax, there was so much desert land +that the emperor abandoned it, even that which belonged to the treasury, +to whoever would cultivate it, besides exempting the farmers from +taxation for a period of ten years. Senators were compelled to invest +one-third of their fortunes in real estate in Italy; but this measure +served only to increase the evil which they wished to cure. To force +the rich to possess in Italy was to increase the large estates which +had ruined the country. And must I say, finally, that Aurelian wished to +send the captives into the desert lands of Etruria, and that Valentinian +was forced to settle the Alamanni on the fertile banks of the Po?" + + +If the reader, in running through this book, should complain of meeting +with nothing but quotations from other works, extracts from journals +and public lectures, comments upon laws, and interpretations of them, I +would remind him that the very object of this memoir is to establish the +conformity of my opinion concerning property with that universally held; +that, far from aiming at a paradox, it has been my main study to follow +the advice of the world; and, finally, that my sole pretension is to +clearly formulate the general belief. I cannot repeat it too often,--and +I confess it with pride,--I teach absolutely nothing that is new; and I +should regard the doctrine which I advocate as radically erroneous, if a +single witness should testify against it. + +Let us now trace the revolutions in property among the Barbarians. + +As long as the German tribes dwelt in their forests, it did not occur +to them to divide and appropriate the soil. The land was held in common: +each individual could plow, sow, and reap. But, when the empire was once +invaded, they bethought themselves of sharing the land, just as +they shared spoils after a victory. "Hence," says M. Laboulaye, "the +expressions _sortes Burgundiorum Gothorum_ and {GREEK, ' k }; hence the +German words _allod_, allodium, and _loos_, lot, which are used in all +modern languages to designate the gifts of chance." + +Allodial property, at least with the mass of coparceners, was originally +held, then, in equal shares; for all of the prizes were equal, or, at +least, equivalent. This property, like that of the Romans, was wholly +individual, independent, exclusive, transferable, and consequently +susceptible of accumulation and invasion. But, instead of its being, as +was the case among the Romans, the large estate which, through +increase and usury, subordinated and absorbed the small one, among +the Barbarians--fonder of war than of wealth, more eager to dispose +of persons than to appropriate things--it was the warrior who, through +superiority of arms, enslaved his adversary. The Roman wanted matter; +the Barbarian wanted man. Consequently, in the feudal ages, rents were +almost nothing,--simply a hare, a partridge, a pie, a few pints of wine +brought by a little girl, or a Maypole set up within the suzerain's +reach. In return, the vassal or incumbent had to follow the seignior +to battle (a thing which happened almost every day), and equip and feed +himself at his own expense. "This spirit of the German tribes--this +spirit of companionship and association--governed the territory as it +governed individuals. The lands, like the men, were secured to a chief +or seignior by a bond of mutual protection and fidelity. This subjection +was the labor of the German epoch which gave birth to feudalism. By fair +means or foul, every proprietor who could not be a chief was forced to +be a vassal." (Laboulaye: History of Property.) + +By fair means or foul, every mechanic who cannot be a master has to be +a journeyman; every proprietor who is not an invader will be invaded; +every producer who cannot, by the exploitation of other men, furnish +products at less than their proper value, will lose his labor. +Corporations and masterships, which are hated so bitterly, but which +will reappear if we are not careful, are the necessary results of +the principle of competition which is inherent in property; their +organization was patterned formerly after that of the feudal hierarchy, +which was the result of the subordination of men and possessions. + +The times which paved the way for the advent of feudalism and the +reappearance of large proprietors were times of carnage and the most +frightful anarchy. Never before had murder and violence made such havoc +with the human race. The tenth century, among others, if my memory +serves me rightly, was called the CENTURY OF IRON. His property, his +life, and the honor of his wife and children always in danger the +small proprietor made haste to do homage to his seignior, and to +bestow something on the church of his freehold, that he might receive +protection and security. + + +"Both facts and laws bear witness that from the sixth to the tenth +century the proprietors of small freeholds were gradually plundered, +or reduced by the encroachments of large proprietors and counts to the +condition of either vassals or tributaries. The Capitularies are full +of repressive provisions; but the incessant reiteration of these +threats only shows the perseverance of the evil and the impotency of the +government. Oppression, moreover, varies but little in its methods. The +complaints of the free proprietors, and the groans of the plebeians +at the time of the Gracchi, were one and the same. It is said that, +whenever a poor man refused to give his estate to the bishop, the +curate, the count, the judge, or the centurion, these immediately sought +an opportunity to ruin him. They made him serve in the army until, +completely ruined, he was induced, by fair means or foul, to give up his +freehold."--Laboulaye: History of Property. + +How many small proprietors and manufacturers have not been ruined by +large ones through chicanery, law-suits, and competition? Strategy, +violence, and usury,--such are the proprietor's methods of plundering +the laborer. + +Thus we see property, at all ages and in all its forms, oscillating by +virtue of its principle between two opposite terms,--extreme division +and extreme accumulation. + +Property, at its first term, is almost null. Reduced to personal +exploitation, it is property only potentially. At its second term, it +exists in its perfection; then it is truly property. + +When property is widely distributed, society thrives, progresses, grows, +and rises quickly to the zenith of its power. Thus, the Jews, after +leaving Babylon with Esdras and Nehemiah, soon became richer and more +powerful than they had been under their kings. Sparta was in a strong +and prosperous condition during the two or three centuries which +followed the death of Lycurgus. The best days of Athens were those of +the Persian war; Rome, whose inhabitants were divided from the beginning +into two classes,--the exploiters and the exploited,--knew no such thing +as peace. + +When property is concentrated, society, abusing itself, polluted, so +to speak, grows corrupt, wears itself out--how shall I express this +horrible idea?--plunges into long-continued and fatal luxury. + +When feudalism was established, society had to die of the same disease +which killed it under the Caesars,--I mean accumulated property. But +humanity, created for an immortal destiny, is deathless; the revolutions +which disturb it are purifying crises, invariably followed by more +vigorous health. In the fifth century, the invasion of the Barbarians +partially restored the world to a state of natural equality. In the +twelfth century, a new spirit pervading all society gave the slave his +rights, and through justice breathed new life into the heart of nations. +It has been said, and often repeated, that Christianity regenerated the +world. That is true; but it seems to me that there is a mistake in +the date. Christianity had no influence upon Roman society; when the +Barbarians came, that society had disappeared. For such is God's curse +upon property; every political organization based upon the exploitation +of man, shall perish: slave-labor is death to the race of tyrants. The +patrician families became extinct, as the feudal families did, and as +all aristocracies must. + +It was in the middle ages, when a reactionary movement was beginning +to secretly undermine accumulated property, that the influence of +Christianity was first exercised to its full extent. + +The destruction of feudalism, the conversion of the serf into the +commoner, the emancipation of the communes, and the admission of the +Third Estate to political power, were deeds accomplished by Christianity +exclusively. I say Christianity, not ecclesiasticism; for the priests +and bishops were themselves large proprietors, and as such often +persecuted the villeins. Without the Christianity of the middle ages, +the existence of modern society could not be explained, and would not be +possible. + +The truth of this assertion is shown by the very facts which M. +Laboulaye quotes, although this author inclines to the opposite opinion. +[57] + +Now, we did not commence to love God and to think of our salvation until +after the promulgation of the Gospel. + + +1. Slavery among the Romans.--"The Roman slave was, in the eyes of +the law, only a thing,--no more than an ox or a horse. He had neither +property, family, nor personality; he was defenceless against his +master's cruelty, folly, or cupidity. 'Sell your oxen that are past +use,' said Cato, 'sell your calves, your lambs, your wool, your hides, +your old ploughs, your old iron, your old slave, and your sick slave, +and all that is of no use to you.' When no market could be found for the +slaves that were worn out by sickness or old age, they were abandoned to +starvation. Claudius was the first defender of this shameful practice." + + +"Discharge your old workman," says the economist of the proprietary +school; "turn off that sick domestic, that toothless and worn-out +servant. Put away the unserviceable beauty; to the hospital with the +useless mouths!" + + +"The condition of these wretched beings improved but little under the +emperors; and the best that can be said of the goodness of Antoninus +is that he prohibited intolerable cruelty, as an ABUSE OF PROPERTY. +_Expedit enim reipublicae ne quis re re sua male utatur_, says Gaius. + +"As soon as the Church met in council, it launched an anathema against +the masters who had exercised over their slaves this terrible right of +life and death. Were not the slaves, thanks to the right of sanctuary +and to their poverty, the dearest proteges of religion? Constantine, who +embodied in the laws the grand ideas of Christianity, valued the life of +a slave as highly as that of a freeman, and declared the master, who had +intentionally brought death upon his slave, guilty of murder. Between +this law and that of Antoninus there is a complete revolution in moral +ideas: the slave was a thing; religion has made him a man." + +Note the last words: "Between the law of the Gospel and that of +Antoninus there is a complete revolution in moral ideas: the slave was +a thing; religion has made him a man." The moral revolution which +transformed the slave into a citizen was effected, then, by Christianity +before the Barbarians set foot upon the soil of the empire. We have +only to trace the progress of this MORAL revolution in the PERSONNEL +of society. "But," M. Laboulaye rightly says, "it did not change the +condition of men in a moment, any more than that of things; between +slavery and liberty there was an abyss which could not be filled in a +day; the transitional step was servitude." + +Now, what was servitude? In what did it differ from Roman slavery, and +whence came this difference? Let the same author answer. + + +2. Of servitude.--"I see, in the lord's manor, slaves charged with +domestic duties. Some are employed in the personal service of the +master; others are charged with household cares. The women spin the +wool; the men grind the grain, make the bread, or practise, in the +interest of the seignior, what little they know of the industrial arts. +The master punishes them when he chooses, kills them with impunity, and +sells them and theirs like so many cattle. The slave has no personality, +and consequently no _wehrgeld_ [59] peculiar to himself: he is a thing. +The _wehrgeld_ belongs to the master as a compensation for the loss of +his property. Whether the slave is killed or stolen, the indemnity does +not change, for the injury is the same; but the indemnity increases or +diminishes according to the value of the serf. In all these particulars +Germanic slavery and Roman servitude are alike." + +This similarity is worthy of notice. Slavery is always the same, whether +in a Roman villa or on a Barbarian farm. The man, like the ox and the +ass, is a part of the live-stock; a price is set upon his head; he is a +tool without a conscience, a chattel without personality, an impeccable, +irresponsible being, who has neither rights nor duties. + + +Why did his condition improve? + + +"In good season..." [when?] "the serf began to be regarded as a man; +and, as such, the law of the Visigoths, under the influence of Christian +ideas, punished with fine or banishment any one who maimed or killed +him." + + +Always Christianity, always religion, though we should like to speak +of the laws only. Did the philanthropy of the Visigoths make its first +appearance before or after the preaching of the Gospel? This point must +be cleared up. + + +"After the conquest, the serfs were scattered over the large estates +of the Barbarians, each having his house, his lot, and his peculium, in +return for which he paid rent and performed service. They were rarely +separated from their homes when their land was sold; they and all that +they had became the property of the purchaser. The law favored this +realization of the serf, in not allowing him to be sold out of the +country." + + +What inspired this law, destructive not only of slavery, but of property +itself? For, if the master cannot drive from his domain the slave whom +he has once established there, it follows that the slave is proprietor, +as well as the master. + + +"The Barbarians," again says M. Laboulaye, "were the first to recognize +the slave's rights of family and property,--two rights which are +incompatible with slavery." + + +But was this recognition the necessary result of the mode of servitude +in vogue among the Germanic nations previous to their conversion to +Christianity, or was it the immediate effect of that spirit of justice +infused with religion, by which the seignior was forced to respect in +the serf a soul equal to his own, a brother in Jesus Christ, purified by +the same baptism, and redeemed by the same sacrifice of the Son of God +in the form of man? For we must not close our eyes to the fact that, +though the Barbarian morals and the ignorance and carelessness of the +seigniors, who busied themselves mainly with wars and battles, paying +little or no attention to agriculture, may have been great aids in +the emancipation of the serfs, still the vital principle of this +emancipation was essentially Christian. Suppose that the Barbarians had +remained Pagans in the midst of a Pagan world. As they did not change +the Gospel, so they would not have changed the polytheistic customs; +slavery would have remained what it was; they would have continued to +kill the slaves who were desirous of liberty, family, and property; +whole nations would have been reduced to the condition of Helots; +nothing would have changed upon the terrestrial stage, except the +actors. The Barbarians were less selfish, less imperious, less +dissolute, and less cruel than the Romans. Such was the nature upon +which, after the fall of the empire and the renovation of society, +Christianity was to act. But this nature, grounded as in former times +upon slavery and war, would, by its own energy, have produced nothing +but war and slavery. + + +"GRADUALLY the serfs obtained the privilege of being judged by the same +standard as their masters...." + +When, how, and by what title did they obtain this privilege? + +"GRADUALLY their duties were regulated." + + +Whence came the regulations? Who had the authority to introduce them? + + +"The master took a part of the labor of the serf,--three days, for +instance,--and left the rest to him. As for Sunday, that belonged to +God." + + +And what established Sunday, if not religion? Whence I infer, that +the same power which took it upon itself to suspend hostilities and +to lighten the duties of the serf was also that which regulated the +judiciary and created a sort of law for the slave. + +But this law itself, on what did it bear?--what was its principle?--what +was the philosophy of the councils and popes with reference to this +matter? The reply to all these questions, coming from me alone, would +be distrusted. The authority of M. Laboulaye shall give credence to my +words. This holy philosophy, to which the slaves were indebted for every +thing, this invocation of the Gospel, was an anathema against property. + +The proprietors of small freeholds, that is, the freemen of the middle +class, had fallen, in consequence of the tyranny of the nobles, into a +worse condition than that of the tenants and serfs. "The expenses of war +weighed less heavily upon the serf than upon the freeman; and, as for +legal protection, the seigniorial court, where the serf was judged by +his peers, was far preferable to the cantonal assembly. It was better to +have a noble for a seignior than for a judge." + +So it is better to-day to have a man of large capital for an associate +than for a rival. The honest tenant--the laborer who earns weekly a +moderate but constant salary--is more to be envied than the independent +but small farmer, or the poor licensed mechanic. + +At that time, all were either seigniors or serfs, oppressors or +oppressed. "Then, under the protection of convents, or of the +seigniorial turret, new societies were formed, which silently spread +over the soil made fertile by their hands, and which derived their power +from the annihilation of the free classes whom they enlisted in their +behalf. As tenants, these men acquired, from generation to generation, +sacred rights over the soil which they cultivated in the interest of +lazy and pillaging masters. As fast as the social tempest abated, it +became necessary to respect the union and heritage of these villeins, +who by their labor had truly prescribed the soil for their own profit." + +I ask how prescription could take effect where a contrary title and +possession already existed? M. Laboulaye is a lawyer. Where, then, did +he ever see the labor of the slave and the cultivation by the tenant +prescribe the soil for their own profit, to the detriment of a +recognized master daily acting as a proprietor? Let us not disguise +matters. As fast as the tenants and the serfs grew rich, they wished +to be independent and free; they commenced to associate, unfurl their +municipal banners, raise belfries, fortify their towns, and refuse to +pay their seigniorial dues. In doing these things they were perfectly +right; for, in fact, their condition was intolerable. But in law--I mean +in Roman and Napoleonic law--their refusal to obey and pay tribute to +their masters was illegitimate. + +Now, this imperceptible usurpation of property by the commonalty was +inspired by religion. + +The seignior had attached the serf to the soil; religion granted the +serf rights over the soil. The seignior imposed duties upon the serf; +religion fixed their limits. The seignior could kill the serf with +impunity, could deprive him of his wife, violate his daughter, pillage +his house, and rob him of his savings; religion checked his invasions: +it excommunicated the seignior. Religion was the real cause of the +ruin of feudal property. Why should it not be bold enough to-day to +resolutely condemn capitalistic property? Since the middle ages, there +has been no change in social economy except in its forms; its relations +remain unaltered. + +The only result of the emancipation of the serfs was that property +changed hands; or, rather, that new proprietors were created. Sooner +or later the extension of privilege, far from curing the evil, was to +operate to the disadvantage of the plebeians. Nevertheless, the new +social organization did not meet with the same end in all places. In +Lombardy, for example, where the people rapidly growing rich through +commerce and industry soon conquered the authorities, even to the +exclusion of the nobles,--first, the nobility became poor and degraded, +and were forced, in order to live and maintain their credit, to gain +admission to the guilds; then, the ordinary subalternization of property +leading to inequality of fortunes, to wealth and poverty, to jealousies +and hatreds, the cities passed rapidly from the rankest democracy under +the yoke of a few ambitious leaders. Such was the fate of most of the +Lombardic cities,--Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Pisa, &c,.--which +afterwards changed rulers frequently, but which have never since risen +in favor of liberty. The people can easily escape from the tyranny of +despots, but they do not know how to throw off the effects of their own +despotism; just as we avoid the assassin's steel, while we succumb to a +constitutional malady. As soon as a nation becomes proprietor, either +it must perish, or a foreign invasion must force it again to begin its +evolutionary round. [59] + +"The communes once organized, the kings treated them as superior +vassals. Now, just as the under vassal had no communication with the +king except through the direct vassal, so also the commoners could enter +no complaints except through the commune. + +"Like causes produce like effects. Each commune became a small and +separate State, governed by a few citizens, who sought to extend their +authority over the others; who, in their turn, revenged themselves +upon the unfortunate inhabitants who had not the right of citizenship. +Feudalism in unemancipated countries, and oligarchy in the communes, +made nearly the same ravages. There were sub-associations, fraternities, +tradesmen's associations in the communes, and colleges in the +universities. The oppression was so great, that it was no rare thing to +see the inhabitants of a commune demanding its suppression...."--Meyer: +Judicial Institutions of Europe. + + +In France, the Revolution was much more gradual. The communes, in taking +refuge under the protection of the kings, had found them masters rather +than protectors. Their liberty had long since been lost, or, rather, +their emancipation had been suspended, when feudalism received its +death-blow at the hand of Richelieu. Then liberty halted; the prince of +the feudatories held sole and undivided sway. The nobles, the clergy, +the commoners, the parliaments, every thing in short except a few +seeming privileges, were controlled by the king; who, like his early +predecessors, consumed regularly, and nearly always in advance, the +revenues of his domain,--and that domain was France. + +Finally, '89 arrived; liberty resumed its march; a century and a +half had been required to wear out the last form of feudal +property,--monarchy. + +The French Revolution may be defined as _the substitution of real right +for personal right;_ that is to say, in the days of feudalism, the value +of property depended upon the standing of the proprietor, while, after +the Revolution, the regard for the man was proportional to his property. +Now, we have seen from what has been said in the preceding pages, that +this recognition of the right of laborers had been the constant aim of +the serfs and communes, the secret motive of their efforts. The movement +of '89 was only the last stage of that long insurrection. But it seems +to me that we have not paid sufficient attention to the fact that the +Revolution of 1789, instigated by the same causes, animated by the same +spirit, triumphing by the same struggles, was consummated in Italy four +centuries ago. Italy was the first to sound the signal of war against +feudalism; France has followed; Spain and England are beginning to move; +the rest still sleep. If a grand example should be given to the world, +the day of trial would be much abridged. + +Note the following summary of the revolutions of property, from the days +of the Roman Empire down to the present time:-- + +1. Fifth century.--Barbarian invasions; division of the lands of the +empire into independent portions or freeholds. + +2. From the fifth to the eighth century.--Gradual concentration of +freeholds, or transformation of the small freeholds into fiefs, feuds, +tenures, &c. Large properties, small possessions. Charlemagne (771-814) +decrees that all freeholds are dependent upon the king of France. + +3. From the eighth to the tenth century.--The relation between the crown +and the superior dependents is broken; the latter becoming freeholders, +while the smaller dependents cease to recognize the king, and adhere to +the nearest suzerain. Feudal system. + +4. Twelfth century.--Movement of the serfs towards liberty; emancipation +of the communes. + +5. Thirteenth century.--Abolition of personal right, and of the feudal +system in Italy. Italian Republics. + +6. Seventeenth century.--Abolition of feudalism in France during +Richelieu's ministry. Despotism. + +7. 1789.--Abolition of all privileges of birth, caste, provinces, and +corporations; equality of persons and of rights. French democracy. + +8. 1830.--The principle of concentration inherent in individual property +is REMARKED. Development of the idea of association. + + +The more we reflect upon this series of transformations and changes, +the more clearly we see that they were necessary in their principle, in +their manifestations, and in their result. + +It was necessary that inexperienced conquerors, eager for liberty, +should divide the Roman Empire into a multitude of estates, as free and +independent as themselves. + +It was necessary that these men, who liked war even better than liberty, +should submit to their leaders; and, as the freehold represented the +man, that property should violate property. + +It was necessary that, under the rule of a nobility always idle when not +fighting, there should grow up a body of laborers, who, by the power +of production, and by the division and circulation of wealth, would +gradually gain control over commerce, industry, and a portion of the +land, and who, having become rich, would aspire to power and authority +also. + +It was necessary, finally, that liberty and equality of rights having +been achieved, and individual property still existing, attended by +robbery, poverty, social inequality, and oppression, there should be +an inquiry into the cause of this evil, and an idea of universal +association formed, whereby, on condition of labor, all interests should +be protected and consolidated. + +"Evil, when carried too far," says a learned jurist, "cures itself; and +the political innovation which aims to increase the power of the State, +finally succumbs to the effects of its own work. The Germans, to secure +their independence, chose chiefs; and soon they were oppressed by their +kings and noblemen. The monarchs surrounded themselves with volunteers, +in order to control the freemen; and they found themselves dependent +upon their proud vassals. The _missi dominici_ were sent into the +provinces to maintain the power of the emperors, and to protect the +people from the oppressions of the noblemen; and not only did they usurp +the imperial power to a great extent, but they dealt more severely with +the inhabitants. The freemen became vassals, in order to get rid of +military service and court duty; and they were immediately involved in +all the personal quarrels of their seigniors, and compelled to do +jury duty in their courts.... The kings protected the cities and +the communes, in the hope of freeing them from the yoke of the grand +vassals, and of rendering their own power more absolute; and those same +communes have, in several European countries, procured the establishment +of a constitutional power, are now holding royalty in check, and +are giving rise to a universal desire for political reform."--Meyer: +Judicial Institutions of Europe. + + +In recapitulation. + +What was feudalism? A confederation of the grand seign iors against the +villeins, and against the king. [60] What is constitutional government? +A confederation of the bourgeoisie against the laborers, and against the +king. [61] + + +How did feudalism end? In the union of the communes and the royal +authority. How will the bourgeoisie aristocracy end? In the union of the +proletariat and the sovereign power. + +What was the immediate result of the struggle of the communes and the +king against the seigniors? The monarchical unity of Louis XIV. What +will be the result of the struggle of the proletariat and the sovereign +power combined against the bourgeoisie? The absolute unity of the nation +and the government. + +It remains to be seen whether the nation, one and supreme, will be +represented in its executive and central power by ONE, by FIVE, by ONE +HUNDRED, or ONE THOUSAND; that is, it remains to be seen, whether the +royalty of the barricades intends to maintain itself by the people, or +without the people, and whether Louis Philippe wishes his reign to be +the most famous in all history. + +I have made this statement as brief, but at the same time as accurate +as I could, neglecting facts and details, that I might give the more +attention to the economical relations of society. For the study of +history is like the study of the human organism; just as the latter +has its system, its organs, and its functions, which can be treated +separately, so the former has its ensemble, its instruments, and its +causes. Of course I do not pretend that the principle of property is +a complete resume of all the social forces; but, as in that wonderful +machine which we call our body, the harmony of the whole allows us to +draw a general conclusion from the consideration of a single function or +organ, so, in discussing historical causes, I have been able to reason +with absolute accuracy from a single order of facts, certain as I was +of the perfect correlation which exists between this special order and +universal history. As is the property of a nation, so is its family, +its marriage, its religion, its civil and military organization, and +its legislative and judicial institutions. History, viewed from this +standpoint, is a grand and sublime psychological study. + +Well, sir, in writing against property, have I done more than quote the +language of history? I have said to modern society,--the daughter and +heiress of all preceding societies,--_Age guod agis:_ complete the +task which for six thousand years you have been executing under the +inspiration and by the command of God; hasten to finish your journey; +turn neither to the right nor the left, but follow the road which lies +before you. You seek reason, law, unity, and discipline; but hereafter +you can find them only by stripping off the veils of your infancy, and +ceasing to follow instinct as a guide. Awaken your sleeping conscience; +open your eyes to the pure light of reflection and science; behold the +phantom which troubled your dreams, and so long kept you in a state of +unutterable anguish. Know thyself, O long-deluded society[1] know thy +enemy!... And I have denounced property. + +We often hear the defenders of the right of domain quote in defence of +their views the testimony of nations and ages. We can judge, from what +has just been said, how far this historical argument conforms to the +real facts and the conclusions of science. + +To complete this apology, I must examine the various theories. + +Neither politics, nor legislation, nor history, can be explained and +understood, without a positive theory which defines their elements, +and discovers their laws; in short, without a philosophy. Now, the two +principal schools, which to this day divide the attention of the world, +do not satisfy this condition. + +The first, essentially PRACTICAL in its character, confined to a +statement of facts, and buried in learning, cares very little by what +laws humanity develops itself. To it these laws are the secret of the +Almighty, which no one can fathom without a commission from on high. +In applying the facts of history to government, this school does not +reason; it does not anticipate; it makes no comparison of the past with +the present, in order to predict the future. In its opinion, the +lessons of experience teach us only to repeat old errors, and its whole +philosophy consists in perpetually retracing the tracks of antiquity, +instead of going straight ahead forever in the direction in which they +point. + +The second school may be called either FATALISTIC or PANTHEISTIC. To +it the movements of empires and the revolutions of humanity are the +manifestations, the incarnations, of the Almighty. The human race, +identified with the divine essence, wheels in a circle of appearances, +informations, and destructions, which necessarily excludes the idea of +absolute truth, and destroys providence and liberty. + +Corresponding to these two schools of history, there are two schools +of jurisprudence, similarly opposed, and possessed of the same +peculiarities. + +1. The practical and conventional school, to which the law is always a +creation of the legislator, an expression of his will, a privilege +which he condescends to grant,--in short, a gratuitous affirmation to be +regarded as judicious and legitimate, no matter what it declares. + +2. The fatalistic and pantheistic school, sometimes called the +historical school, which opposes the despotism of the first, and +maintains that law, like literature and religion, is always the +expression of society,--its manifestation, its form, the external +realization of its mobile spirit and its ever-changing inspirations. + +Each of these schools, denying the absolute, rejects thereby all +positive and a priori philosophy. + +Now, it is evident that the theories of these two schools, whatever view +we take of them, are utterly unsatisfactory: for, opposed, they form no +dilemma,--that is, if one is false, it does not follow that the other +is true; and, united, they do not constitute the truth, since they +disregard the absolute, without which there is no truth. They are +respectively a THESIS and an ANTITHESIS. There remains to be found, +then, a SYNTHESIS, which, predicating the absolute, justifies the will +of the legislator, explains the variations of the law, annihilates +the theory of the circular movement of humanity, and demonstrates its +progress. + +The legists, by the very nature of their studies and in spite of their +obstinate prejudices, have been led irresistibly to suspect that the +absolute in the science of law is not as chimerical as is commonly +supposed; and this suspicion arose from their comparison of the various +relations which legislators have been called upon to regulate. + +M. Laboulaye, the laureate of the Institute, begins his "History of +Property" with these words:-- + + +"While the law of contract, which regulates only the mutual interests of +men, has not varied for centuries (except in certain forms which relate +more to the proof than to the character of the obligation), the civil +law of property, which regulates the mutual relations of citizens, has +undergone several radical changes, and has kept pace in its variations +with all the vicissitudes of society. The law of contract, which holds +essentially to those principles of eternal justice which are engraven +upon the depths of the human heart, is the immutable element of +jurisprudence, and, in a certain sense, its philosophy. Property, on +the contrary, is the variable element of jurisprudence, its history, its +policy." + + +Marvellous! There is in law, and consequently in politics, something +variable and something invariable. The invariable element is obligation, +the bond of justice, duty; the variable element is property,--that is, +the external form of law, the subject-matter of the contract. Whence +it follows that the law can modify, change, reform, and judge property. +Reconcile that, if you can, with the idea of an eternal, absolute, +permanent, and indefectible right. + +However, M. Laboulaye is in perfect accord with himself when he adds, +"Possession of the soil rests solely upon force until society takes it +in hand, and espouses the cause of the possessor;" [62] and, a little +farther, "The right of property is not natural, but social. The laws not +only protect property: they give it birth," &c. Now, that which the +law has made the law can unmake; especially since, according to +M. Laboulaye,--an avowed partisan of the historical or pantheistic +school,--the law is not absolute, is not an idea, but a form. + + +But why is it that property is variable, and, unlike obligation, +incapable of definition and settlement? Before affirming, somewhat +boldly without doubt, that in right there are no absolute principles +(the most dangerous, most immoral, most tyrannical--in a word, most +anti-social--assertion imaginable), it was proper that the right of +property should be subjected to a thorough examination, in order to put +in evidence its variable, arbitrary, and contingent elements, and +those which are eternal, legitimate, and absolute; then, this operation +performed, it became easy to account for the laws, and to correct all +the codes. + +Now, this examination of property I claim to have made, and in the +fullest detail; but, either from the public's lack of interest in +an unrecommended and unattractive pamphlet, or--which is more +probable--from the weakness of exposition and want of genius which +characterize the work, the First Memoir on Property passed unnoticed; +scarcely would a few communists, having turned its leaves, deign to +brand it with their disapprobation. You alone, sir, in spite of the +disfavor which I showed for your economical predecessors in too severe +a criticism of them,--you alone have judged me justly; and although I +cannot accept, at least literally, your first judgment, yet it is to +you alone that I appeal from a decision too equivocal to be regarded as +final. + +It not being my intention to enter at present into a discussion of +principles, I shall content myself with estimating, from the point of +view of this simple and intelligible absolute, the theories of property +which our generation has produced. + +The most exact idea of property is given us by the Roman law, faithfully +followed in this particular by the ancient legists. It is the absolute, +exclusive, autocratic domain of a man over a thing,--a domain which +begins by USUCAPTION, is maintained by POSSESSION, and finally, by the +aid of PRESCRIPTION, finds its sanction in the civil law; a domain which +so identifies the man with the thing, that the proprietor can say, "He +who uses my field, virtually compels me to labor for him; therefore he +owes me compensation." + +I pass in silence the secondary modes by which property can be +acquired,--_tradition, sale, exchange, inheritance_, &c.,--which have +nothing in common with the origin of property. + +Accordingly, Pothier said THE DOMAIN OF PROPERTY, and not simply +PROPERTY. And the most learned writers on jurisprudence--in imitation +of the Roman praetor who recognized a RIGHT OF PROPERTY and a RIGHT +OF POSSESSION--have carefully distinguished between the DOMAIN and the +right of USUFRUCT, USE, and HABITATION, which, reduced to its natural +limits, is the very expression of justice; and which is, in my opinion, +to supplant domanial property, and finally form the basis of all +jurisprudence. + +But, sir, admire the clumsiness of systems, or rather the fatality of +logic! While the Roman law and all the savants inspired by it teach that +property in its origin is the right of first occupancy sanctioned by +law, the modern legists, dissatisfied with this brutal definition, claim +that property is based upon LABOR. Immediately they infer that he who no +longer labors, but makes another labor in his stead, loses his right to +the earnings of the latter. It is by virtue of this principle that +the serfs of the middle ages claimed a legal right to property, and +consequently to the enjoyment of political rights; that the clergy were +despoiled in '89 of their immense estates, and were granted a pension +in exchange; that at the restoration the liberal deputies opposed the +indemnity of one billion francs. "The nation," said they, "has acquired +by twenty-five years of labor and possession the property which the +emigrants forfeited by abandonment and long idleness: why should the +nobles be treated with more favor than the priests?" [63] + + +This position is quite in harmony with my principles, and I heartily +applaud the indignation of M. Lerminier; but I do not know that a +proprietor was ever deprived of his property because UNWORTHY; and as +reasonable, social, and even useful as the thing may seem, it is quite +contrary to the uses and customs of property. + + +All usurpations, not born of war, have been caused and supported by +labor. All modern history proves this, from the end of the Roman empire +down to the present day. And as if to give a sort of legal sanction to +these usurpations, the doctrine of labor, subversive of property, +is professed at great length in the Roman law under the name of +PRESCRIPTION. + +The man who cultivates, it has been said, makes the land his own; +consequently, no more property. This was clearly seen by the old +jurists, who have not failed to denounce this novelty; while on the +other hand the young school hoots at the absurdity of the first-occupant +theory. Others have presented themselves, pretending to reconcile +the two opinions by uniting them. They have failed, like all the +_juste-milieux_ of the world, and are laughed at for their eclecticism. +At present, the alarm is in the camp of the old doctrine; from all sides +pour IN DEFENCES OF PROPERTY, STUDIES REGARDING PROPERTY, THEORIES OF +PROPERTY, each one of which, giving the lie to the rest, inflicts a +fresh wound upon property. + +Consider, indeed, the inextricable embarrassments, the contradictions, +the absurdities, the incredible nonsense, in which the bold defenders of +property so lightly involve themselves. I choose the eclectics, because, +those killed, the others cannot survive. + +M. Troplong, jurist, passes for a philosopher in the eyes of the editors +of "Le Droit." I tell the gentlemen of "Le Droit" that, in the judgment +of philosophers, M. Troplong is only an advocate; and I prove my +assertion. + +M. Troplong is a defender of progress. "The words of the code," says he, +"are fruitful sap with which the classic works of the eighteenth century +overflow. To wish to suppress them... is to violate the law of progress, +and to forget that a science which moves is a science which grows." [64] + + +Now, the only mutable and progressive portion of law, as we have already +seen, is that which concerns property. If, then, you ask what reforms +are to be introduced into the right of property? M. Troplong makes no +reply; what progress is to be hoped for? no reply; what is to be the +destiny of property in case of universal association? no reply; what is +the absolute and what the contingent, what the true and what the false, +in property? no reply. M. Troplong favors quiescence and _in statu +quo_ in regard to property. What could be more unphilosophical in a +progressive philosopher? + +Nevertheless, M. Troplong has thought about these things. "There are," +he says, "many weak points and antiquated ideas in the doctrines of +modern authors concerning property: witness the works of MM. Toullier +and Duranton." The doctrine of M. Troplong promises, then, strong +points, advanced and progressive ideas. Let us see; let us examine:-- + + +"Man, placed in the presence of matter, is conscious of a power over it, +which has been given to him to satisfy the needs of his being. King +of inanimate or unintelligent nature, he feels that he has a right to +modify it, govern it, and fit it for his use. There it is, the subject +of property, which is legitimate only when exercised over things, never +when over persons." + + +M. Troplong is so little of a philosopher, that he does not even know +the import of the philosophical terms which he makes a show of using. He +says of matter that it is the SUBJECT of property; he should have said +the OBJECT. M. Troplong uses the language of the anatomists, who apply +the term SUBJECT to the human matter used in their experiments. + +This error of our author is repeated farther on: "Liberty, which +overcomes matter, the subject of property, &c." The SUBJECT of +property is man; its OBJECT is matter. But even this is but a slight +mortification; directly we shall have some crucifixions. + +Thus, according to the passage just quoted, it is in the conscience and +personality of man that the principle of property must be sought. Is +there any thing new in this doctrine? Apparently it never has occurred +to those who, since the days of Cicero and Aristotle, and earlier, have +maintained that THINGS BELONG TO THE FIRST OCCUPANT, that occupation may +be exercised by beings devoid of conscience and personality. The human +personality, though it may be the principle or the subject of property, +as matter is the object, is not the CONDITION. Now, it is this condition +which we most need to know. So far, M. Troplong tells us no more than +his masters, and the figures with which he adorns his style add nothing +to the old idea. + +Property, then, implies three terms: The subject, the object, and the +condition. There is no difficulty in regard to the first two terms. As +to the third, the condition of property down to this day, for the Greek +as for the Barbarian, has been that of first occupancy. What now would +you have it, progressive doctor? + + +"When man lays hands for the first time upon an object without a +master, he performs an act which, among individuals, is of the greatest +importance. The thing thus seized and occupied participates, so to +speak, in the personality of him who holds it. It becomes sacred, like +himself. It is impossible to take it without doing violence to his +liberty, or to remove it without rashly invading his person. Diogenes +did but express this truth of intuition, when he said: 'Stand out of my +light!'" + + +Very good! but would the prince of cynics, the very personal and very +haughty Diogenes, have had the right to charge another cynic, as rent +for this same place in the sunshine, a bone for twenty-four hours of +possession? It is that which constitutes the proprietor; it is that +which you fail to justify. In reasoning from the human personality and +individuality to the right of property, you unconsciously construct +a syllogism in which the conclusion includes more than the premises, +contrary to the rules laid down by Aristotle. The individuality of +the human person proves INDIVIDUAL POSSESSION, originally called +_proprietas_, in opposition to collective possession, _communio_. + +It gives birth to the distinction between THINE and MINE, true signs +of equality, not, by any means, of subordination. "From equivocation to +equivocation," says M. Michelet, [65] "property would crawl to the end +of the world; man could not limit it, were not he himself its limit. +Where they clash, there will be its frontier." In short, individuality +of being destroys the hypothesis of communism, but it does not for that +reason give birth to domain,--that domain by virtue of which the holder +of a thing exercises over the person who takes his place a right of +prestation and suzerainty, that has always been identified with property +itself. + + + +Further, that he whose legitimately acquired possession injures nobody +cannot be nonsuited without flagrant injustice, is a truth, not of +INTUITION, as M. Troplong says, but of INWARD SENSATION, [66] which has +nothing to do with property. + + +M. Troplong admits, then, occupancy as a condition of property. In that, +he is in accord with the Roman law, in accord with MM. Toullier and +Duranton; but in his opinion this condition is not the only one, and it +is in this particular that his doctrine goes beyond theirs. + + +"But, however exclusive the right arising from sole occupancy, does it +not become still more so, when man has moulded matter by his labor; +when he has deposited in it a portion of himself, re-creating it by his +industry, and setting upon it the seal of his intelligence and activity? +Of all conquests, that is the most legitimate, for it is the price of +labor. + +"He who should deprive a man of the thing thus remodelled, thus +humanized, would invade the man himself, and would inflict the deepest +wounds upon his liberty." + + +I pass over the very beautiful explanations in which M. Troplong, +discussing labor and industry, displays the whole wealth of his +eloquence. M. Troplong is not only a philosopher, he is an orator, an +artist. HE ABOUNDS WITH APPEALS TO THE CONSCIENCE AND THE PASSIONS. I +might make sad work of his rhetoric, should I undertake to dissect it; +but I confine myself for the present to his philosophy. + +If M. Troplong had only known how to think and reflect, before +abandoning the original fact of occupancy and plunging into the theory +of labor, he would have asked himself: "What is it to occupy?" And he +would have discovered that OCCUPANCY is only a generic term by which +all modes of possession are expressed,--seizure, station, immanence, +habitation, cultivation, use, consumption, &c.; that labor, +consequently, is but one of a thousand forms of occupancy. He would have +understood, finally, that the right of possession which is born of labor +is governed by the same general laws as that which results from the +simple seizure of things. What kind of a legist is he who declaims when +he ought to reason, who continually mistakes his metaphors for legal +axioms, and who does not so much as know how to obtain a universal by +induction, and form a category? + +If labor is identical with occupancy, the only benefit which it secures +to the laborer is the right of individual possession of the object of +his labor; if it differs from occupancy, it gives birth to a right equal +only to itself,--that is, a right which begins, continues, and ends, +with the labor of the occupant. It is for this reason, in the words of +the law, that one cannot acquire a just title to a thing by labor alone. +He must also hold it for a year and a day, in order to be regarded as +its possessor; and possess it twenty or thirty years, in order to become +its proprietor. + +These preliminaries established, M. Troplong's whole structure falls of +its own weight, and the inferences, which he attempts to draw, vanish. + +"Property once acquired by occupation and labor, it naturally preserves +itself, not only by the same means, but also by the refusal of the +holder to abdicate; for from the very fact that it has risen to the +height of a right, it is its nature to perpetuate itself and to last for +an indefinite period.... Rights, considered from an ideal point of +view, are imperishable and eternal; and time, which affects only the +contingent, can no more disturb them than it can injure God himself." +It is astonishing that our author, in speaking of the IDEAL, TIME, and +ETERNITY, did not work into his sentence the DIVINE WINGS of Plato,--so +fashionable to-day in philosophical works. + +With the exception of falsehood, I hate nonsense more than any thing +else in the world. PROPERTY ONCE ACQUIRED! Good, if it is acquired; but, +as it is not acquired, it cannot be preserved. RIGHTS ARE ETERNAL! Yes, +in the sight of God, like the archetypal ideas of the Platonists. But, +on the earth, rights exist only in the presence of a subject, an object, +and a condition. Take away one of these three things, and rights no +longer exist. Thus, individual possession ceases at the death of the +subject, upon the destruction of the object, or in case of exchange or +abandonment. + +Let us admit, however, with M. Troplong, that property is an absolute +and eternal right, which cannot be destroyed save by the deed and at +the will of the proprietor. What are the consequences which immediately +follow from this position? + +To show the justice and utility of prescription, M. Troplong supposes +the case of a bona fide possessor whom a proprietor, long since +forgotten or even unknown, is attempting to eject from his possession. +"At the start, the error of the possessor was excusable but not +irreparable. Pursuing its course and growing old by degrees, it has +so completely clothed itself in the colors of truth, it has spoken +so loudly the language of right, it has involved so many confiding +interests, that it fairly may be asked whether it would not cause +greater confusion to go back to the reality than to sanction the +fictions which it (an error, without doubt) has sown on its way? Well, +yes; it must be confessed, without hesitation, that the remedy would +prove worse than the disease, and that its application would lead to the +most outrageous injustice." + +How long since utility became a principle of law? When the Athenians, by +the advice of Aristides, rejected a proposition eminently advantageous +to their republic, but also utterly unjust, they showed finer moral +perception and greater clearness of intellect than M. Troplong. Property +is an eternal right, independent of time, indestructible except by the +act and at the will of the proprietor; and here this right is taken from +the proprietor, and on what ground? Good God! on the ground of ABSENCE! +Is it not true that legists are governed by caprice in giving and taking +away rights? When it pleases these gentlemen, idleness, unworthiness, or +absence can invalidate a right which, under quite similar circumstances, +labor, residence, and virtue are inadequate to obtain. Do not be +astonished that legists reject the absolute. Their good pleasure is law, +and their disordered imaginations are the real cause of the EVOLUTIONS +in jurisprudence. + +"If the nominal proprietor should plead ignorance, his claim would be +none the more valid. Indeed, his ignorance might arise from inexcusable +carelessness, etc." + + +What! in order to legitimate dispossession through prescription, you +suppose faults in the proprietor! You blame his absence,--which may +have been involuntary; his neglect,--not knowing what caused it; his +carelessness,--a gratuitous supposition of your own! It is absurd. One +very simple observation suffices to annihilate this theory. Society, +which, they tell us, makes an exception in the interest of order in +favor of the possessor as against the old proprietor, owes the latter +an indemnity; since the privilege of prescription is nothing but +expropriation for the sake of public utility. + +But here is something stronger:-- + + +"In society a place cannot remain vacant with impunity. A new man arises +in place of the old one who disappears or goes away; he brings here his +existence, becomes entirely absorbed, and devotes himself to this post +which he finds abandoned. Shall the deserter, then, dispute the honor of +the victory with the soldier who fights with the sweat standing on his +brow, and bears the burden of the day, in behalf of a cause which he +deems just?" + + +When the tongue of an advocate once gets in motion, who can tell where +it will stop? M. Troplong admits and justifies usurpation in case of +the ABSENCE of the proprietor, and on a mere presumption of his +CARELESSNESS. But when the neglect is authenticated; when the +abandonment is solemnly and voluntarily set forth in a contract in the +presence of a magistrate; when the proprietor dares to say, "I cease to +labor, but I still claim a share of the product,"--then the absentee's +right of property is protected; the usurpation of the possessor would +be criminal; farm-rent is the reward of idleness. Where is, I do not say +the consistency, but, the honesty of this law? + +Prescription is a result of the civil law, a creation of the legislator. +Why has not the legislator fixed the conditions differently?--why, +instead of twenty and thirty years, is not a single year sufficient to +prescribe?--why are not voluntary absence and confessed idleness as good +grounds for dispossession as involuntary absence, ignorance, or apathy? + +But in vain should we ask M. Troplong, the philosopher, to tell us +the ground of prescription. Concerning the code, M. Troplong does not +reason. "The interpreter," he says, "must take things as they are, +society as it exists, laws as they are made: that is the only sensible +starting-point." Well, then, write no more books; cease to reproach your +predecessors--who, like you, have aimed only at interpretation of the +law--for having remained in the rear; talk no more of philosophy and +progress, for the lie sticks in your throat. + +M. Troplong denies the reality of the right of possession; he denies +that possession has ever existed as a principle of society; and he +quotes M. de Savigny, who holds precisely the opposite position, and +whom he is content to leave unanswered. At one time, M. Troplong asserts +that possession and property are CONTEMPORANEOUS, and that they exist AT +THE SAME TIME, which implies that the RIGHT of property is based on the +FACT of possession,--a conclusion which is evidently absurd; at +another, he denies that possession HAD ANY HISTORICAL EXISTENCE PRIOR +TO PROPERTY,--an assertion which is contradicted by the customs of many +nations which cultivate the land without appropriating it; by the Roman +law, which distinguished so clearly between POSSESSION and PROPERTY; and +by our code itself, which makes possession for twenty or thirty years +the condition of property. Finally, M. Troplong goes so far as to +maintain that the Roman maxim, _Nihil comune habet proprietas cum +possessione_--which contains so striking an allusion to the possession +of the _ager publicus_, and which, sooner or later, will be again +accepted without qualification--expresses in French law only a judicial +axiom, a simple rule forbidding the union of an _action possessoire_ +with an _action petitoire_,--an opinion as retrogressive as it is +unphilosophical. + +In treating of _actions possessoires_, M. Troplong is so unfortunate or +awkward that he mutilates economy through failure to grasp its +meaning "Just as property," he writes, "gave rise to the action for +revendication, so possession--the _jus possessionis_--was the cause +of possessory interdicts.... There were two kinds of interdicts,--the +interdict _recuperandae possessionis_, and the interdict _retinendae +possessionis_,--which correspond to our _complainte en cas de saisine +et nouvelete_. There is also a third,--_adipiscendae possessionis_,--of +which the Roman law-books speak in connection with the two others. +But, in reality, this interdict is not possessory: for he who wishes +to acquire possession by this means does not possess, and has not +possessed; and yet acquired possession is the condition of possessory +interdicts." Why is not an action to acquire possession equally +conceivable with an action to be reinstated in possession? When the +Roman plebeians demanded a division of the conquered territory; when +the proletaires of Lyons took for their motto, _Vivre en travaillant, ou +mourir en combattant_ (to live working, or die fighting); when the most +enlightened of the modern economists claim for every man the right to +labor and to live,--they only propose this interdict, _adipiscendae +possessionis_, which embarrasses M. Troplong so seriously. And what is +my object in pleading against property, if not to obtain possession? How +is it that M. Troplong--the legist, the orator, the philosopher--does +not see that logically this interdict must be admitted, since it is the +necessary complement of the two others, and the three united form an +indivisible trinity,--to RECOVER, to MAINTAIN, to ACQUIRE? To break this +series is to create a blank, destroy the natural synthesis of things, +and follow the example of the geometrician who tried to conceive of +a solid with only two dimensions. But it is not astonishing that M. +Troplong rejects the third class of _actions possessoires_, when +we consider that he rejects possession itself. He is so completely +controlled by his prejudices in this respect, that he is unconsciously +led, not to unite (that would be horrible in his eyes), but to identify +the _action possessoire_ with the _action petitoire_. This could be +easily proved, were it not too tedious to plunge into these metaphysical +obscurities. + +As an interpreter of the law, M. Troplong is no more successful than +as a philosopher. One specimen of his skill in this direction, and I am +done with him:-- + + +Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 23: "_Actions possessoires_ are only when +commenced within the year of trouble by those who have held possession +for at least a year by an irrevocable title." + + +M. Troplong's comments:-- + + +"Ought we to maintain--as Duparc, Poullain, and Lanjuinais would have +us--the rule _spoliatus ante omnia restituendus_, when an individual, +who is neither proprietor nor annual possessor, is expelled by a third +party, who has no right to the estate? I think not. Art. 23 of the +Code is general: it absolutely requires that the plaintiff in _actions +possessoires_ shall have been in peaceable possession for a year at +least. That is the invariable principle: it can in no case be modified. +And why should it be set aside? The plaintiff had no seisin; he had no +privileged possession; he had only a temporary occupancy, insufficient +to warrant in his favor the presumption of property, which renders the +annual possession so valuable. Well! this _ae facto_ occupancy he has +lost; another is invested with it: possession is in the hands of this +new-comer. Now, is not this a case for the application of the principle, +_In_ _pari causa possesser potior habetur_? Should not the actual +possessor be preferred to the evicted possessor? Can he not meet the +complaint of his adversary by saying to him: 'Prove that you were an +annual possessor before me, for you are the plaintiff. As far as I am +concerned, it is not for me to tell you how I possess, nor how long +I have possessed. _Possideo quia possideo_. I have no other reply, no +other defence. When you have shown that your action is admissible, then +we will see whether you are entitled to lift the veil which hides the +origin of my possession.'" + + +And this is what is honored with the name of jurisprudence and +philosophy,--the restoration of force. What! when I have "moulded matter +by my labor" [I quote M. Troplong]; when I have "deposited in it a +portion of myself" [M. Troplong]; when I have "re-created it by +my industry, and set upon it the seal of my intelligence" [M. +Troplong],--on the ground that I have not possessed it for a year, a +stranger may dispossess me, and the law offers me no protection! And if +M. Troplong is my judge, M. Troplong will condemn me! And if I resist +my adversary,--if, for this bit of mud which I may call MY FIELD, and +of which they wish to rob me, a war breaks out between the two +competitors,--the legislator will gravely wait until the stronger, +having killed the other, has had possession for a year! No, no, Monsieur +Troplong! you do not understand the words of the law; for I prefer +to call in question your intelligence rather than the justice of the +legislator. You are mistaken in your application of the principle, _In +pari causa possessor potior habetur:_ the actuality of possession here +refers to him who possessed at the time when the difficulty arose, not +to him who possesses at the time of the complaint. And when the code +prohibits the reception of _actions possessoires_, in cases where the +possession is not of a year's duration, it simply means that if, before +a year has elapsed, the holder relinquishes possession, and ceases +actually to occupy _in propria persona_, he cannot avail himself of an +_action possessoire_ against his successor. In a word, the code treats +possession of less than a year as it ought to treat all possession, +however long it has existed,--that is, the condition of property ought +to be, not merely seisin for a year, but perpetual seisin. + +I will not pursue this analysis farther. When an author bases two +volumes of quibbles on foundations so uncertain, it may be boldly +declared that his work, whatever the amount of learning displayed in it, +is a mess of nonsense unworthy a critic's attention. + +At this point, sir, I seem to hear you reproaching me for this conceited +dogmatism, this lawless arrogance, which respects nothing, claims a +monopoly of justice and good sense, and assumes to put in the pillory +any one who dares to maintain an opinion contrary to its own. This +fault, they tell me, more odious than any other in an author, was too +prominent a characteristic of my First Memoir, and I should do well to +correct it. + +It is important to the success of my defence, that I should vindicate +myself from this reproach; and since, while perceiving in myself other +faults of a different character, I still adhere in this particular to +my disputatious style, it is right that I should give my reasons for my +conduct. I act, not from inclination, but from necessity. + +I say, then, that I treat my authors as I do for two reasons: a REASON +OF RIGHT, and a REASON OF INTENTION; both peremptory. + +1. Reason of right. When I preach equality of fortunes, I do not advance +an opinion more or less probable, a utopia more or less ingenious, an +idea conceived within my brain by means of imagination only. I lay down +an absolute truth, concerning which hesitation is impossible, modesty +superfluous, and doubt ridiculous. + +But, do you ask, what assures me that that which I utter is true? + +What assures me, sir? The logical and metaphysical processes which I +use, the correctness of which I have demonstrated by a priori reasoning; +the fact that I possess an infallible method of investigation and +verification with which my authors are unacquainted; and finally, the +fact that for all matters relating to property and justice I have found +a formula which explains all legislative variations, and furnishes a +key for all problems. Now, is there so much as a shadow of method in M. +Toullier, M. Troplong, and this swarm of insipid commentators, almost +as devoid of reason and moral sense as the code itself? Do you give the +name of method to an alphabetical, chronological, analogical, or merely +nominal classification of subjects? Do you give the name of method +to these lists of paragraphs gathered under an arbitrary head, these +sophistical vagaries, this mass of contradictory quotations and +opinions, this nauseous style, this spasmodic rhetoric, models of which +are so common at the bar, though seldom found elsewhere? Do you take for +philosophy this twaddle, this intolerable pettifoggery adorned with a +few scholastic trimmings? No, no! a writer who respects himself, never +will consent to enter the balance with these manipulators of law, +misnamed JURISTS; and for my part I object to a comparison. + +2. Reason of intention. As far as I am permitted to divulge this secret, +I am a conspirator in an immense revolution, terrible to charlatans and +despots, to all exploiters of the poor and credulous, to all salaried +idlers, dealers in political panaceas and parables, tyrants in a word of +thought and of opinion. I labor to stir up the reason of individuals to +insurrection against the reason of authorities. + + +According to the laws of the society of which I am a member, all the +evils which afflict humanity arise from faith in external teachings and +submission to authority. And not to go outside of our own century, is +it not true, for instance, that France is plundered, scoffed at, and +tyrannized over, because she speaks in masses, and not by heads? The +French people are penned up in three or four flocks, receiving their +signal from a chief, responding to the voice of a leader, and thinking +just as he says. A certain journal, it is said, has fifty thousand +subscribers; assuming six readers to every subscriber, we have three +hundred thousand sheep browsing and bleating at the same cratch. Apply +this calculation to the whole periodical press, and you find that, in +our free and intelligent France, there are two millions of creatures +receiving every morning from the journals spiritual pasturage. Two +millions! In other words, the entire nation allows a score of little +fellows to lead it by the nose. + +By no means, sir, do I deny to journalists talent, science, love +of truth, patriotism, and what you please. They are very worthy and +intelligent people, whom I undoubtedly should wish to resemble, had I +the honor to know them. That of which I complain, and that which has +made me a conspirator, is that, instead of enlightening us, these +gentlemen command us, impose upon us articles of faith, and that without +demonstration or verification. When, for example, I ask why these +fortifications of Paris, which, in former times, under the influence +of certain prejudices, and by means of a concurrence of extraordinary +circumstances supposed for the sake of the argument to have existed, may +perhaps have served to protect us, but which it is doubtful whether +our descendants will ever use,--when I ask, I say, on what grounds they +assimilate the future to a hypothetical past, they reply that M. +Thiers, who has a great mind, has written upon this subject a report of +admirable elegance and marvellous clearness. At this I become angry, and +reply that M. Thiers does not know what he is talking about. Why, having +wanted no detached forts seven years ago, do we want them to-day? + +"Oh! damn it," they say, "the difference is great; the first forts +were too near to us; with these we cannot be bombarded." You cannot be +bombarded; but you can be blockaded, and will be, if you stir. What! to +obtain blockade forts from the Parisians, it has sufficed to prejudice +them against bombardment forts! And they thought to outwit the +government! Oh, the sovereignty of the people!... + + +"Damn it! M. Thiers, who is wiser than you, says that it would be absurd +to suppose a government making war upon citizens, and maintaining itself +by force and in spite of the will of the people. That would be absurd!" +Perhaps so: such a thing has happened more than once, and may happen +again. Besides, when despotism is strong, it appears almost legitimate. +However that may be, they lied in 1833, and they lie again in +1841,--those who threaten us with the bomb-shell. And then, if M. Thiers +is so well assured of the intentions of the government, why does he not +wish the forts to be built before the circuit is extended? Why this +air of suspicion of the government, unless an intrigue has been planned +between the government and M. Thiers? + +"Damn it! we do not wish to be again invaded. If Paris had been +fortified in 1815, Napoleon would not have been conquered!" But I tell +you that Napoleon was not conquered, but sold; and that if, in 1815, +Paris had had fortifications, it would have been with them as with the +thirty thousand men of Grouchy, who were misled during the battle. It is +still easier to surrender forts than to lead soldiers. Would the selfish +and the cowardly ever lack reasons for yielding to the enemy? + +"But do you not see that the absolutist courts are provoked at our +fortifications?--a proof that they do not think as you do." You believe +that; and, for my part, I believe that in reality they are quite at ease +about the matter; and, if they appear to tease our ministers, they do so +only to give the latter an opportunity to decline. The absolutist courts +are always on better terms with our constitutional monarchy, than +our monarchy with us. Does not M. Guizot say that France needs to +be defended within as well as without? Within! against whom? Against +France. O Parisians! it is but six months since you demanded war, and +now you want only barricades. Why should the allies fear your doctrines, +when you cannot even control yourselves?... How could you sustain a +siege, when you weep over the absence of an actress? + +"But, finally, do you not understand that, by the rules of modern +warfare, the capital of a country is always the objective point of its +assailants? Suppose our army defeated on the Rhine, France invaded, and +defenceless Paris falling into the hands of the enemy. It would be the +death of the administrative power; without a head it could not live. The +capital taken, the nation must submit. What do you say to that?" + +The reply is very simple. Why is society constituted in such a way that +the destiny of the country depends upon the safety of the capital? +Why, in case our territory be invaded and Paris besieged, cannot the +legislative, executive, and military powers act outside of Paris? Why +this localization of all the vital forces of France?... Do not cry out +upon decentralization. This hackneyed reproach would discredit only +your own intelligence and sincerity. It is not a question of +decentralization; it is your political fetichism which I attack. Why +should the national unity be attached to a certain place, to certain +functionaries, to certain bayonets? Why should the Place Maubert and the +Palace of the Tuileries be the palladium of France? + +Now let me make an hypothesis. + +Suppose it were written in the charter, "In case the country be again +invaded, and Paris forced to surrender, the government being annihilated +and the national assembly dissolved, the electoral colleges shall +reassemble spontaneously and without other official notice, for the +purpose of appointing new deputies, who shall organize a provisional +government at Orleans. + +"If Orleans succumbs, the government shall reconstruct itself in the same +way at Lyons; then at Bordeaux, then at Bayonne, until all France be +captured or the enemy driven from the land. For the government may +perish, but the nation never dies. The king, the peers, and the deputies +massacred, VIVE LA FRANCE!" + +Do you not think that such an addition to the charter would be a better +safeguard for the liberty and integrity of the country than walls and +bastions around Paris? Well, then! do henceforth for administration, +industry, science, literature, and art that which the charter ought +to prescribe for the central government and common defence. Instead of +endeavoring to render Paris impregnable, try rather to render the loss +of Paris an insignificant matter. Instead of accumulating about one +point academies, faculties, schools, and political, administrative, +and judicial centres; instead of arresting intellectual development +and weakening public spirit in the provinces by this fatal +agglomeration,--can you not, without destroying unity, distribute social +functions among places as well as among persons? Such a system--in +allowing each province to participate in political power and action, and +in balancing industry, intelligence, and strength in all parts of the +country--would equally secure, against enemies at home and enemies +abroad, the liberty of the people and the stability of the government. + +Discriminate, then, between the centralization of functions and the +concentration of organs; between political unity and its material +symbol. + +"Oh! that is plausible; but it is impossible!"--which means that the +city of Paris does not intend to surrender its privileges, and that +there it is still a question of property. + +Idle talk! The country, in a state of panic which has been cleverly +worked upon, has asked for fortifications. I dare to affirm that it +has abdicated its sovereignty. All parties are to blame for this +suicide,--the conservatives, by their acquiescence in the plans of the +government; the friends of the dynasty, because they wish no opposition +to that which pleases them, and because a popular revolution would +annihilate them; the democrats, because they hope to rule in their turn. +[67] That which all rejoice at having obtained is a means of future +repression. As for the defence of the country, they are not troubled +about that. The idea of tyranny dwells in the minds of all, and brings +together into one conspiracy all forms of selfishness. We wish the +regeneration of society, but we subordinate this desire to our ideas +and convenience. That our approaching marriage may take place, that our +business may succeed, that our opinions may triumph, we postpone reform. +Intolerance and selfishness lead us to put fetters upon liberty; and, +because we cannot wish all that God wishes, we would, if it rested with +us, stay the course of destiny rather than sacrifice our own interests +and self-love. Is not this an instance where the words of Solomon +apply,--"_L'iniquite a menti a elle-meme_"? + + +It is said that on this question of the fortification of Paris the staff +of "Le National" are not agreed. This would prove, if proof were needed, +that a journal may blunder and falsify, without entitling any one to +accuse its editors. A journal is a metaphysical being, for which no one +is really responsible, and which owes its existence solely to mutual +concessions. This idea ought to frighten those worthy citizens who, +because they borrow their opinions from a journal, imagine that they +belong to a political party, and who have not the faintest suspicion +that they are really without a head. + + +For this reason, sir, I have enlisted in a desperate war against +every form of authority over the multitude. Advance sentinel of the +proletariat, I cross bayonets with the celebrities of the day, as +well as with spies and charlatans. Well, when I am fighting with an +illustrious adversary, must I stop at the end of every phrase, like +an orator in the tribune, to say "the learned author," "the eloquent +writer," "the profound publicist," and a hundred other platitudes with +which it is fashionable to mock people? These civilities seem to me no +less insulting to the man attacked than dishonorable to the aggressor. +But when, rebuking an author, I say to him, "Citizen, your doctrine is +absurd, and, if to prove my assertion is an offence against you, I +am guilty of it," immediately the listener opens his ears; he is all +attention; and, if I do not succeed in convincing him, at least I give +his thought an impulse, and set him the wholesome example of doubt and +free examination. + +Then do not think, sir, that, in tripping up the philosophy of your very +learned and very estimable confrere, M. Troplong, I fail to appreciate +his talent as a writer (in my opinion, he has too much for a jurist); +nor his knowledge, though it is too closely confined to the letter of +the law, and the reading of old books. In these particulars, M. Troplong +offends on the side of excess rather than deficiency. Further, do not +believe that I am actuated by any personal animosity towards him, or +that I have the slightest desire to wound his self-love. I know M. +Troplong only by his "Treatise on Prescription," which I wish he had not +written; and as for my critics, neither M. Troplong, nor any of those +whose opinion I value, will ever read me. Once more, my only object is +to prove, as far as I am able, to this unhappy French nation, that +those who make the laws, as well as those who interpret them, are not +infallible organs of general, impersonal, and absolute reason. + +I had resolved to submit to a systematic criticism the semi-official +defence of the right of property recently put forth by M. Wolowski, +your colleague at the Conservatory. With this view, I had commenced +to collect the documents necessary for each of his lectures, but, soon +perceiving that the ideas of the professor were incoherent, that his +arguments contradicted each other, that one affirmation was sure to be +overthrown by another, and that in M. Wolowski's lucubrations the +good was always mingled with the bad, and being by nature a little +suspicious, it suddenly occurred to me that M. Wolowski was an advocate +of equality in disguise, thrown in spite of himself into the position +in which the patriarch Jacob pictures one of his sons,--_inter +duas clitellas_, between two stools, as the proverb says. In more +parliamentary language, I saw clearly that M. Wolowski was placed +between his profound convictions on the one hand and his official duties +on the other, and that, in order to maintain his position, he had to +assume a certain slant. Then I experienced great pain at seeing the +reserve, the circumlocution, the figures, and the irony to which +a professor of legislation, whose duty it is to teach dogmas with +clearness and precision, was forced to resort; and I fell to cursing +the society in which an honest man is not allowed to say frankly what he +thinks. Never, sir, have you conceived of such torture: I seemed to be +witnessing the martyrdom of a mind. I am going to give you an idea of +these astonishing meetings, or rather of these scenes of sorrow. + +Monday, Nov. 20, 1840.--The professor declares, in brief,--1. That the +right of property is not founded upon occupation, but upon the impress +of man; 2. That every man has a natural and inalienable right to the use +of matter. + +Now, if matter can be appropriated, and if, notwithstanding, all +men retain an inalienable right to the use of this matter, what is +property?--and if matter can be appropriated only by labor, how long +is this appropriation to continue?--questions that will confuse and +confound all jurists whatsoever. + +Then M. Wolowski cites his authorities. Great God! what witnesses he +brings forward! First, M. Troplong, the great metaphysician, whom we +have discussed; then, M. Louis Blanc, editor of the "Revue du Progres," +who came near being tried by jury for publishing his "Organization of +Labor," and who escaped from the clutches of the public prosecutor only +by a juggler's trick; [68] Corinne,--I mean Madame de Stael,--who, in +an ode, making a poetical comparison of the land with the waves, of the +furrow of a plough with the wake of a vessel, says "that property exists +only where man has left his trace," which makes property dependent +upon the solidity of the elements; Rousseau, the apostle of liberty and +equality, but who, according to M. Wolowski, attacked property only AS +A JOKE, and in order to point a paradox; Robespierre, who prohibited +a division of the land, because he regarded such a measure as a +rejuvenescence of property, and who, while awaiting the definitive +organization of the republic, placed all property in the care?? of +the people,--that is, transferred the right of eminent domain from the +individual to society; Babeuf, who wanted property for the nation, and +communism for the citizens; M. Considerant, who favors a division of +landed property into shares,--that is, who wishes to render property +nominal and fictitious: the whole being intermingled with jokes and +witticisms (intended undoubtedly to lead people away from the HORNETS' +NESTS) at the expense of the adversaries of the right of property! + + +November 26.--M. Wolowski supposes this objection: Land, like +water, air, and light, is necessary to life, therefore it cannot +be appropriated; and he replies: The importance of landed property +diminishes as the power of industry increases. + +Good! this importance DIMINISHES, but it does not DISAPPEAR; and this, +of itself, shows landed property to be illegitimate. Here M. Wolowski +pretends to think that the opponents of property refer only to property +in land, while they merely take it as a term of comparison; and, in +showing with wonderful clearness the absurdity of the position in which +he places them, he finds a way of drawing the attention of his hearers +to another subject without being false to the truth which it is his +office to contradict. + +"Property," says M. Wolowski, "is that which distinguishes man from the +animals." That may be; but are we to regard this as a compliment or a +satire? + +"Mahomet," says M. Wolowski, "decreed property." And so did Genghis +Khan, and Tamerlane, and all the ravagers of nations. What sort of +legislators were they? + +"Property has been in existence ever since the origin of the human +race." Yes, and so has slavery, and despotism also; and likewise +polygamy and idolatry. But what does this antiquity show? + +The members of the Council of the State--M. Portalis at their head--did +not raise, in their discussion of the Code, the question of the +legitimacy of property. "Their silence," says M. Wolowski, "is a +precedent in favor of this right." I may regard this reply as personally +addressed to me, since the observation belongs to me. I reply, "As long +as an opinion is universally admitted, the universality of belief serves +of itself as argument and proof. When this same opinion is attacked, +the former faith proves nothing; we must resort to reason. Ignorance, +however old and pardonable it may be, never outweighs reason." + +Property has its abuses, M. Wolowski confesses. "But," he says, "these +abuses gradually disappear. To-day their cause is known. They all arise +from a false theory of property. In principle, property is inviolable, +but it can and must be checked and disciplined." Such are the +conclusions of the professor. + +When one thus remains in the clouds, he need not fear to equivocate. +Nevertheless, I would like him to define these ABUSES of property, to +show their cause, to explain this true theory from which no abuse is to +spring; in short, to tell me how, without destroying property, it can +be governed for the greatest good of all. "Our civil code," says M. +Wolowski, in speaking of this subject, "leaves much to be desired." I +think it leaves every thing undone. + +Finally, M. Wolowski opposes, on the one hand, the concentration of +capital, and the absorption which results therefrom; and, on the other, +he objects to the extreme division of the land. Now I think that I have +demonstrated in my First Memoir, that large accumulation and minute +division are the first two terms of an economical trinity,--a THESIS and +an ANTITHESIS. But, while M. Wolowski says nothing of the third term, +the SYNTHESIS, and thus leaves the inference in suspense, I have shown +that this third term is ASSOCIATION, which is the annihilation of +property. + +November 30.--LITERARY PROPERTY. M. Wolowski grants that it is just to +recognize the rights of talent (which is not in the least hostile to +equality); but he seriously objects to perpetual and absolute property +in the works of genius, to the profit of the authors' heirs. His main +argument is, that society has a right of collective production over +every creation of the mind. Now, it is precisely this principle of +collective power that I developed in my "Inquiries into Property and +Government," and on which I have established the complete edifice of +a new social organization. M. Wolowski is, as far as I know, the first +jurist who has made a legislative application of this economical law. +Only, while I have extended the principle of collective power to every +sort of product, M. Wolowski, more prudent than it is my nature to be, +confines it to neutral ground. So, that that which I am bold enough +to say of the whole, he is contented to affirm of a part, leaving +the intelligent hearer to fill up the void for himself. However, his +arguments are keen and close. One feels that the professor, finding +himself more at ease with one aspect of property, has given the rein to +his intellect, and is rushing on towards liberty. + +1. Absolute literary property would hinder the activity of other men, +and obstruct the development of humanity. It would be the death of +progress; it would be suicide. What would have happened if the +first inventions,--the plough, the level, the saw, &c.,--had been +appropriated? + +Such is the first proposition of M. Wolowski. + +I reply: Absolute property in land and tools hinders human activity, and +obstructs progress and the free development of man. + +What happened in Rome, and in all the ancient nations? What occurred +in the middle ages? What do we see to-day in England, in consequence of +absolute property in the sources of production? + +The suicide of humanity. + +2. Real and personal property is in harmony with the social interest. +In consequence of literary property, social and individual interests are +perpetually in conflict. + +The statement of this proposition contains a rhetorical figure, common +with those who do not enjoy full and complete liberty of speech. This +figure is the _anti-phrasis_ or _contre-verite_. It consists, according +to Dumarsais and the best humanists, in saying one thing while meaning +another. M. Wolowski's proposition, naturally expressed, would read as +follows: "Just as real and personal property is essentially hostile to +society, so, in consequence of literary property, social and individual +interests are perpetually in conflict." + +3. M. de Montalembert, in the Chamber of Peers, vehemently protested +against the assimilation of authors to inventors of machinery; an +assimilation which he claimed to be injurious to the former. M. Wolowski +replies, that the rights of authors, without machinery, would be nil; +that, without paper-mills, type foundries, and printing-offices, +there could be no sale of verse and prose; that many a mechanical +invention,--the compass, for instance, the telescope, or the +steam-engine,--is quite as valuable as a book. + +Prior to M. Montalembert, M. Charles Comte had laughed at the inference +in favor of mechanical inventions, which logical minds never fail to +draw from the privileges granted to authors. "He," says M. Comte, "who +first conceived and executed the idea of transforming a piece of wood +into a pair of sabots, or an animal's hide into a pair of sandals, would +thereby have acquired an exclusive right to make shoes for the human +race!" Undoubtedly, under the system of property. For, in fact, this +pair of sabots, over which you make so merry, is the creation of the +shoemaker, the work of his genius, the expression of his thought; to him +it is his poem, quite as much as "Le Roi s'amuse," is M. Victor Hugo's +drama. Justice for all alike. If you refuse a patent to a perfecter of +boots, refuse also a privilege to a maker of rhymes. + +4. That which gives importance to a book is a fact external to the +author and his work. Without the intelligence of society, without its +development, and a certain community of ideas, passions, and interests +between it and the authors, the works of the latter would be worth +nothing. The exchangeable value of a book is due even more to the SOCIAL +CONDITION than to the talent displayed in it. + +Indeed, it seems as if I were copying my own words. This proposition +of M. Wolowski contains a special expression of a general and absolute +idea, one of the strongest and most conclusive against the right of +property. Why do artists, like mechanics, find the means to live? +Because society has made the fine arts, like the rudest industries, +objects of consumption and exchange, governed consequently by all the +laws of commerce and political economy. Now, the first of these laws is +the equipoise of functions; that is, the equality of associates. + +5. M. Wolowski indulges in sarcasm against the petitioners for literary +property. "There are authors," he says, "who crave the privileges of +authors, and who for that purpose point out the power of the melodrama. +They speak of the niece of Corneille, begging at the door of a theatre +which the works of her uncle had enriched.... To satisfy the avarice of +literary people, it would be necessary to create literary majorats, and +make a whole code of exceptions." + +I like this virtuous irony. But M. Wolowski has by no means exhausted +the difficulties which the question involves. And first, is it just that +MM. Cousin, Guizot, Villemain, Damiron, and company, paid by the State +for delivering lectures, should be paid a second time through the +booksellers?--that I, who have the right to report their lectures, +should not have the right to print them? Is it just that MM. Noel and +Chapsal, overseers of the University, should use their influence in +selling their selections from literature to the youth whose studies they +are instructed to superintend in consideration of a salary? And, if +that is not just, is it not proper to refuse literary property to every +author holding public offices, and receiving pensions or sinecures? + +Again, shall the privilege of the author extend to irreligious and +immoral works, calculated only to corrupt the heart, and obscure the +understanding? To grant this privilege is to sanction immorality by law; +to refuse it is to censure the author. And since it is impossible, in +the present imperfect state of society, to prevent all violations of the +moral law, it will be necessary to open a license-office for books as +well as morals. But, then, three-fourths of our literary people will +be obliged to register; and, recognized thenceforth on their own +declaration as PROSTITUTES, they will necessarily belong to the public. +We pay toll to the prostitute; we do not endow her. + +Finally, shall plagiarism be classed with forgery? If you reply "Yes," +you appropriate in advance all the subjects of which books treat; if +you say "No," you leave the whole matter to the decision of the judge. +Except in the case of a clandestine reprint, how will he distinguish +forgery from quotation, imitation, plagiarism, or even coincidence? A +savant spends two years in calculating a table of logarithms to nine +or ten decimals. He prints it. A fortnight after his book is selling +at half-price; it is impossible to tell whether this result is due to +forgery or competition. What shall the court do? In case of doubt, shall +it award the property to the first occupant? As well decide the question +by lot. + +These, however, are trifling considerations; but do we see that, in +granting a perpetual privilege to authors and their heirs, we really +strike a fatal blow at their interests? We think to make booksellers +dependent upon authors,--a delusion. The booksellers will unite against +works, and their proprietors. Against works, by refusing to push their +sale, by replacing them with poor imitations, by reproducing them in +a hundred indirect ways; and no one knows how far the science of +plagiarism, and skilful imitation may be carried. Against proprietors. +Are we ignorant of the fact, that a demand for a dozen copies enables a +bookseller to sell a thousand; that with an edition of five hundred he +can supply a kingdom for thirty years? What will the poor authors do in +the presence of this omnipotent union of booksellers? I will tell them +what they will do. They will enter the employ of those whom they now +treat as pirates; and, to secure an advantage, they will become wage +laborers. A fit reward for ignoble avarice, and insatiable pride. [69] + +Contradictions of contradictions! "Genius is the great leveller of the +world," cries M. de Lamartine; "then genius should be a proprietor. +Literary property is the fortune of democracy." This unfortunate +poet thinks himself profound when he is only puffed up. His eloquence +consists solely in coupling ideas which clash with each other: ROUND +SQUARE, DARK SUN, FALLEN ANGEL, PRIEST and LOVE, THOUGHT and POETRY, +GUNIUS {???}, and FORTUNE, LEVELING and PROPERTY. Let us tell him, in +reply, that his mind is a dark luminary; that each of his discourses is +a disordered harmony; and that all his successes, whether in verse or +prose, are due to the use of the extraordinary in the treatment of the +most ordinary subjects. + +"Le National," in reply to the report of M. Lamartine, endeavors to +prove that literary property is of quite a different nature from landed +property; as if the nature of the right of property depended on the +object to which it is applied, and not on the mode of its exercise and +the condition of its existence. But the main object of "Le National" +is to please a class of proprietors whom an extension of the right of +property vexes: that is why "Le National" opposes literary property. +Will it tell us, once for all, whether it is for equality or against it? + + +6. OBJECTION.--Property in occupied land passes to the heirs of the +occupant. "Why," say the authors, "should not the work of genius pass +in like manner to the heirs of the man of genius?" M. Wolowski's reply: +"Because the labor of the first occupant is continued by his heirs, +while the heirs of an author neither change nor add to his works. In +landed property, the continuance of labor explains the continuance of +the right." + +Yes, when the labor is continued; but if the labor is not continued, +the right ceases. Thus is the right of possession, founded on personal +labor, recognized by M. Wolowski. + +M. Wolowski decides in favor of granting to authors property in their +works for a certain number of years, dating from the day of their first +publication. + +The succeeding lectures on patents on inventions were no less +instructive, although intermingled with shocking contradictions inserted +with a view to make the useful truths more palatable. The necessity +for brevity compels me to terminate this examination here, not without +regret. + +Thus, of two eclectic jurists, who attempt a defence of property, one +is entangled in a set of dogmas without principle or method, and is +constantly talking nonsense; and the other designedly abandons the +cause of property, in order to present under the same name the theory +of individual possession. Was I wrong in claiming that confusion reigned +among legists, and ought I to be legally prosecuted for having said +that their science henceforth stood convicted of falsehood, its glory +eclipsed? + +The ordinary resources of the law no longer sufficing, philosophy, +political economy, and the framers of systems have been consulted. All +the oracles appealed to have been discouraging. + +The philosophers are no clearer to-day than at the time of the eclectic +efflorescence; nevertheless, through their mystical apothegms, we +can distinguish the words PROGRESS, UNITY, ASSOCIATION, SOLIDARITY, +FRATERNITY, which are certainly not reassuring to proprietors. One of +these philosophers, M. Pierre Leroux, has written two large books, in +which he claims to show by all religious, legislative, and philosophical +systems that, since men are responsible to each other, equality of +conditions is the final law of society. It is true that this philosopher +admits a kind of property; but as he leaves us to imagine what property +would become in presence of equality, we may boldly class him with the +opponents of the right of increase. + +I must here declare freely--in order that I may not be suspected of +secret connivance, which is foreign to my nature--that M. Leroux has +my full sympathy. Not that I am a believer in his quasi-Pythagorean +philosophy (upon this subject I should have more than one observation to +submit to him, provided a veteran covered with stripes would not despise +the remarks of a conscript); not that I feel bound to this author by any +special consideration for his opposition to property. In my opinion, M. +Leroux could, and even ought to, state his position more explicitly and +logically. But I like, I admire, in M. Leroux, the antagonist of our +philosophical demigods, the demolisher of usurped reputations, the +pitiless critic of every thing that is respected because of its +antiquity. Such is the reason for my high esteem of M. Leroux; such +would be the principle of the only literary association which, in this +century of coteries, I should care to form. We need men who, like +M. Leroux, call in question social principles,--not to diffuse doubt +concerning them, but to make them doubly sure; men who excite the mind +by bold negations, and make the conscience tremble by doctrines of +annihilation. Where is the man who does not shudder on hearing M. Leroux +exclaim, "There is neither a paradise nor a hell; the wicked will not +be punished, nor the good rewarded. Mortals! cease to hope and fear; you +revolve in a circle of appearances; humanity is an immortal tree, whose +branches, withering one after another, feed with their debris the root +which is always young!" Where is the man who, on hearing this desolate +confession of faith, does not demand with terror, "Is it then true that +I am only an aggregate of elements organized by an unknown force, an +idea realized for a few moments, a form which passes and disappears? Is +it true that my mind is only a harmony, and my soul a vortex? What is +the ego? what is God? what is the sanction of society?" + +In former times, M. Leroux would have been regarded as a great culprit, +worthy only (like Vanini) of death and universal execration. To-day, M. +Leroux is fulfilling a mission of salvation, for which, whatever he +may say, he will be rewarded. Like those gloomy invalids who are always +talking of their approaching death, and who faint when the doctor's +opinion confirms their pretence, our materialistic society is agitated +and loses countenance while listening to this startling decree of the +philosopher, "Thou shalt die!" Honor then to M. Leroux, who has revealed +to us the cowardice of the Epicureans; to M. Leroux, who renders new +philosophical solutions necessary! Honor to the anti-eclectic, to the +apostle of equality! + +In his work on "Humanity," M. Leroux commences by positing the necessity +of property: "You wish to abolish property; but do you not see that +thereby you would annihilate man and even the name of man?... You wish +to abolish property; but could you live without a body? I will not tell +you that it is necessary to support this body;... I will tell you that +this body is itself a species of property." + +In order clearly to understand the doctrine of M. Leroux, it must be +borne in mind that there are three necessary and primitive forms of +society,--communism, property, and that which to-day we properly call +association. M. Leroux rejects in the first place communism, and combats +it with all his might. Man is a personal and free being, and therefore +needs a sphere of independence and individual activity. M. Leroux +emphasizes this in adding: "You wish neither family, nor country, nor +property; therefore no more fathers, no more sons, no more brothers. +Here you are, related to no being in time, and therefore without a name; +here you are, alone in the midst of a billion of men who to-day inhabit +the earth. How do you expect me to distinguish you in space in the midst +of this multitude?" + +If man is indistinguishable, he is nothing. Now, he can be +distinguished, individualized, only through a devotion of certain things +to his use,--such as his body, his faculties, and the tools which he +uses. "Hence," says M. Leroux, "the necessity of appropriation;" in +short, property. + +But property on what condition? Here M. Leroux, after having condemned +communism, denounces in its turn the right of domain. His whole doctrine +can be summed up in this single proposition,--_Man may be made by +property a slave or a despot by turns_. + +That posited, if we ask M. Leroux to tell us under what system of +property man will be neither a slave nor a despot, but free, just, and +a citizen, M. Leroux replies in the third volume of his work on +"Humanity:"-- + + +"There are three ways of destroying man's communion with his fellows and +with the universe:... 1. By separating man in time; 2. by separating him +in space; 3. by dividing the land, or, in general terms, the instruments +of production; by attaching men to things, by subordinating man to +property, by making man a proprietor." + + +This language, it must be confessed, savors a little too strongly of the +metaphysical heights which the author frequents, and of the school of +M. Cousin. Nevertheless, it can be seen, clearly enough it seems to me, +that M. Leroux opposes the exclusive appropriation of the instruments of +production; only he calls this non-appropriation of the instruments of +production a NEW METHOD of establishing property, while I, in accordance +with all precedent, call it a destruction of property. In fact, without +the appropriation of instruments, property is nothing. + + +"Hitherto, we have confined ourselves to pointing out and combating the +despotic features of property, by considering property alone. We have +failed to see that the despotism of property is a correlative of the +division of the human race;... that property, instead of being organized +in such a way as to facilitate the unlimited communion of man with his +fellows and with the universe, has been, on the contrary, turned against +this communion." + +Let us translate this into commercial phraseology. In order to destroy +despotism and the inequality of conditions, men must cease from +competition and must associate their interests. Let employer and +employed (now enemies and rivals) become associates. + +Now, ask any manufacturer, merchant, or capitalist, whether he would +consider himself a proprietor if he were to share his revenue and +profits with this mass of wage-laborers whom it is proposed to make his +associates. + + +"Family, property, and country are finite things, which ought to be +organized with a view to the infinite. For man is a finite being, +who aspires to the infinite. To him, absolute finiteness is evil. The +infinite is his aim, the indefinite his right." + + +Few of my readers would understand these hierophantic words, were I to +leave them unexplained. M. Leroux means, by this magnificent formula, +that humanity is a single immense society, which, in its collective +unity, represents the infinite; that every nation, every tribe, every +commune, and every citizen are, in different degrees, fragments or +finite members of the infinite society, the evil in which results +solely from individualism and privilege,--in other words, from the +subordination of the infinite to the finite; finally, that, to attain +humanity's end and aim, each part has a right to an indefinitely +progressive development. + + +"All the evils which afflict the human race arise from caste. The family +is a blessing; the family caste (the nobility) is an evil. Country is +a blessing; the country caste (supreme, domineering, conquering) is an +evil; property (individual possession) is a blessing; the property +caste (the domain of property of Pothier, Toullier, Troplong, &c.) is an +evil." + + +Thus, according to M. Leroux, there is property and property,--the one +good, the other bad. Now, as it is proper to call different things by +different names, if we keep the name "property" for the former, we must +call the latter robbery, rapine, brigandage. If, on the contrary, we +reserve the name "property" for the latter, we must designate the former +by the term POSSESSION, or some other equivalent; otherwise we should be +troubled with an unpleasant synonymy. + +What a blessing it would be if philosophers, daring for once to say all +that they think, would speak the language of ordinary mortals! Nations +and rulers would derive much greater profit from their lectures, and, +applying the same names to the same ideas, would come, perhaps, to +understand each other. I boldly declare that, in regard to property, I +hold no other opinion than that of M. Leroux; but, if I should adopt the +style of the philosopher, and repeat after him, "Property is a blessing, +but the property caste--the _statu quo_ of property--is an evil," I +should be extolled as a genius by all the bachelors who write for the +reviews. [70] If, on the contrary, I prefer the classic language of Rome +and the civil code, and say accordingly, "Possession is a blessing, but +property is robbery," immediately the aforesaid bachelors raise a hue +and cry against the monster, and the judge threatens me. Oh, the power +of language! + +"Le National," on the other hand, has laughed at M. Leroux and his ideas +on property, charging him with TAUTOLOGY and CHILDISHNESS. "Le National" +does not wish to understand. Is it necessary to remind this journal that +it has no right to deride a dogmatic philosopher, because it is without +a doctrine itself? From its foundation, "Le National" has been a nursery +of intriguers and renegades. From time to time it takes care to warn its +readers. Instead of lamenting over all its defections, the democratic +sheet would do better to lay the blame on itself, and confess the +shallowness of its theories. When will this organ of popular interests +and the electoral reform cease to hire sceptics and spread doubt? I will +wager, without going further, that M. Leon Durocher, the critic of M. +Leroux, is an anonymous or pseudonymous editor of some bourgeois, or +even aristocratic, journal. + + +The economists, questioned in their turn, propose to associate capital +and labor. You know, sir, what that means. If we follow out the +doctrine, we soon find that it ends in an absorption of property, not by +the community, but by a general and indissoluble commandite, so that +the condition of the proprietor would differ from that of the workingman +only in receiving larger wages. This system, with some peculiar +additions and embellishments, is the idea of the phalanstery. But it +is clear that, if inequality of conditions is one of the attributes of +property, it is not the whole of property. That which makes property a +DELIGHTFUL THING, as some philosopher (I know not who) has said, is +the power to dispose at will, not only of one's own goods, but of their +specific nature; to use them at pleasure; to confine and enclose them; +to excommunicate mankind, as M. Pierre Leroux says; in short, to make +such use of them as passion, interest, or even caprice, may suggest. +What is the possession of money, a share in an agricultural or +industrial enterprise, or a government-bond coupon, in comparison with +the infinite charm of being master of one's house and grounds, under +one's vine and fig-tree? "_Beati possidentes_!" says an author quoted by +M. Troplong. Seriously, can that be applied to a man of income, who has +no other possession under the sun than the market, and in his pocket +his money? As well maintain that a trough is a coward. A nice method of +reform! They never cease to condemn the thirst for gold, and the +growing individualism of the century; and yet, most inconceivable +of contradictions, they prepare to turn all kinds of property into +one,--property in coin. + +I must say something further of a theory of property lately put forth +with some ado: I mean the theory of M. Considerant. + +The Fourierists are not men who examine a doctrine in order to ascertain +whether it conflicts with their system. On the contrary, it is their +custom to exult and sing songs of triumph whenever an adversary passes +without perceiving or noticing them. + +These gentlemen want direct refutations, in order that, if they are +beaten, they may have, at least, the selfish consolation of having been +spoken of. Well, let their wish be gratified. + +M. Considerant makes the most lofty pretensions to logic. His method +of procedure is always that of MAJOR, MINOR, AND CONCLUSION. He would +willingly write upon his hat, "_Argumentator in barbara_." But M. +Considerant is too intelligent and quick-witted to be a good logician, +as is proved by the fact that he appears to have taken the syllogism for +logic. + +The syllogism, as everybody knows who is interested in philosophical +curiosities, is the first and perpetual sophism of the human mind,--the +favorite tool of falsehood, the stumbling-block of science, the advocate +of crime. The syllogism has produced all the evils which the fabulist +so eloquently condemned, and has done nothing good or useful: it is +as devoid of truth as of justice. We might apply to it these words of +Scripture: "_Celui qui met en lui sa confiance, perira_." Consequently, +the best philosophers long since condemned it; so that now none but the +enemies of reason wish to make the syllogism its weapon. + +M. Considerant, then, has built his theory of property upon a syllogism. +Would he be disposed to stake the system of Fourier upon his arguments, +as I am ready to risk the whole doctrine of equality upon my refutation +of that system? Such a duel would be quite in keeping with the warlike +and chivalric tastes of M. Considerant, and the public would profit by +it; for, one of the two adversaries falling, no more would be said about +him, and there would be one grumbler less in the world. + +The theory of M. Considerant has this remarkable feature, that, in +attempting to satisfy at the same time the claims of both laborers and +proprietors, it infringes alike upon the rights of the former and the +privileges of the latter. In the first place, the author lays it down as +a principle: "1. That the use of the land belongs to each member of the +race; that it is a natural and imprescriptible right, similar in all +respects to the right to the air and the sunshine. 2. That the right +to labor is equally fundamental, natural, and imprescriptible." I have +shown that the recognition of this double right would be the death of +property. I denounce M. Considerant to the proprietors! + +But M. Considerant maintains that the right to labor creates the right +of property, and this is the way he reasons:-- + + +Major Premise.--"Every man legitimately possesses the thing which his +labor, his skill,--or, in more general terms, his action,--has created." + + +To which M. Considerant adds, by way of comment: "Indeed, the land not +having been created by man, it follows from the fundamental principle +of property, that the land, being given to the race in common, can in +no wise be the exclusive and legitimate property of such and such +individuals, who were not the creators of this value." + +If I am not mistaken, there is no one to whom this proposition, at first +sight and in its entirety, does not seem utterly irrefutable. Reader, +distrust the syllogism. + +First, I observe that the words LEGITIMATELY POSSESSES signify to the +author's mind is _LEGITIMATE PROPRIETOR;_ otherwise the argument, being +intended to prove the legitimacy of property, would have no meaning. I +might here raise the question of the difference between property and +possession, and call upon M. Considerant, before going further, to +define the one and the other; but I pass on. + +This first proposition is doubly false. 1. In that it asserts the act +of CREATION to be the only basis of property. 2. In that it regards this +act as sufficient in all cases to authorize the right of property. + +And, in the first place, if man may be proprietor of the game which he +does not create, but which he KILLS; of the fruits which he does not +create, but which he GATHERS; of the vegetables which he does not +create, but which he PLANTS; of the animals which he does not create, +but which he REARS,--it is conceivable that men may in like manner +become proprietors of the land which they do not create, but which they +clear and fertilize. The act of creation, then, is not NECESSARY to the +acquisition of the right of property. I say further, that this act alone +is not always sufficient, and I prove it by the second premise of M. +Considerant:-- + + +Minor Premise.--"Suppose that on an isolated island, on the soil of a +nation, or over the whole face of the earth (the extent of the scene of +action does not affect our judgment of the facts), a generation of +human beings devotes itself for the first time to industry, agriculture, +manufactures, &c. This generation, by its labor, intelligence, and +activity, creates products, develops values which did not exist on the +uncultivated land. Is it not perfectly clear that the property of this +industrious generation will stand on a basis of right, if the value +or wealth produced by the activity of all be distributed among the +producers, according to each one's assistance in the creation of the +general wealth? That is unquestionable." + + +That is quite questionable. For this value or wealth, PRODUCED BY THE +ACTIVITY OF ALL, is by the very fact of its creation COLLECTIVE wealth, +the use of which, like that of the land, may be divided, but which as +property remains UNDIVIDED. And why this undivided ownership? Because +the society which creates is itself indivisible,--a permanent unit, +incapable of reduction to fractions. And it is this unity of society +which makes the land common property, and which, as M. Considerant +says, renders its use imprescriptible in the case of every individual. +Suppose, indeed, that at a given time the soil should be equally +divided; the very next moment this division, if it allowed the right +of property, would become illegitimate. Should there be the slightest +irregularity in the method of transfer, men, members of society, +imprescriptible possessors of the land, might be deprived at one blow of +property, possession, and the means of production. In short, property +in capital is indivisible, and consequently inalienable, not necessarily +when the capital is UNCREATED, but when it is COMMON or COLLECTIVE. + +I confirm this theory against M. Considerant, by the third term of his +syllogism:-- + + +Conclusion.--"The results of the labor performed by this generation are +divisible into two classes, between which it is important clearly to +distinguish. The first class includes the products of the soil which +belong to this first generation in its usufructuary capacity, augmented, +improved and refined by its labor and industry. These products consist +either of objects of consumption or instruments of labor. It is clear +that these products are the legitimate property of those who have +created them by their activity.... Second class.--Not only has this +generation created the products just mentioned (objects of consumption +and instruments of labor), but it has also added to the original value +of the soil by cultivation, by the erection of buildings, by all +the labor producing permanent results, which it has performed. This +additional value evidently constitutes a product--a value created by +the activity of the first generation; and if, BY ANY MEANS WHATEVER, +the ownership of this value be distributed among the members of +society equitably,--that is, in proportion to the labor which each +has performed,--each will legitimately possess the portion which he +receives. He may then dispose of this legitimate and private property +as he sees fit,--exchange it, give it away, or transfer it; and no other +individual, or collection of other individuals,--that is, society,--can +lay any claim to these values." + + +Thus, by the distribution of collective capital, to the use of which +each associate, either in his own right or in right of his authors, +has an imprescriptible and undivided title, there will be in the +phalanstery, as in the France of 1841, the poor and the rich; some men +who, to live in luxury, have only, as Figaro says, to take the +trouble to be born, and others for whom the fortune of life is but an +opportunity for long-continued poverty; idlers with large incomes, and +workers whose fortune is always in the future; some privileged by birth +and caste, and others pariahs whose sole civil and political rights are +THE RIGHT TO LABOR, AND THE RIGHT TO LAND. For we must not be deceived; +in the phalanstery every thing will be as it is to-day, an object of +property,--machines, inventions, thought, books, the products of art, +of agriculture, and of industry; animals, houses, fences, vineyards, +pastures, forests, fields,--every thing, in short, except the +UNCULTIVATED LAND. Now, would you like to know what uncultivated land is +worth, according to the advocates of property? "A square league hardly +suffices for the support of a savage," says M. Charles Comte. Estimating +the wretched subsistence of this savage at three hundred francs +per year, we find that the square league necessary to his life is, +relatively to him, faithfully represented by a rent of fifteen francs. +In France there are twenty-eight thousand square leagues, the total rent +of which, by this estimate, would be four hundred and twenty thousand +francs, which, when divided among nearly thirty-four millions of people, +would give each an INCOME OF A CENTIME AND A QUARTER. That is the new +right which the great genius of Fourier has invented IN BEHALF OF THE +FRENCH PEOPLE, and with which his first disciple hopes to reform the +world. I denounce M. Considerant to the proletariat! + +If the theory of M. Considerant would at least really guarantee this +property which he cherishes so jealously, I might pardon him the flaws +in his syllogism, certainly the best one he ever made in his life. But, +no: that which M. Considerant takes for property is only a privilege +of extra pay. In Fourier's system, neither the created capital nor +the increased value of the soil are divided and appropriated in any +effective manner: the instruments of labor, whether created or not, +remain in the hands of the phalanx; the pretended proprietor can touch +only the income. He is permitted neither to realize his share of the +stock, nor to possess it exclusively, nor to administer it, whatever it +be. The cashier throws him his dividend; and then, proprietor, eat the +whole if you can! + +The system of Fourier would not suit the proprietors, since it takes +away the most delightful feature of property,--the free disposition of +one's goods. It would please the communists no better, since it involves +unequal conditions. It is repugnant to the friends of free association +and equality, in consequence of its tendency to wipe out human character +and individuality by suppressing possession, family, and country,--the +threefold expression of the human personality. + +Of all our active publicists, none seem to me more fertile in resources, +richer in imagination, more luxuriant and varied in style, than M. +Considerant. Nevertheless, I doubt if he will undertake to reestablish +his theory of property. If he has this courage, this is what I would say +to him: "Before writing your reply, consider well your plan of action; +do not scour the country; have recourse to none of your ordinary +expedients; no complaints of civilization; no sarcasms upon equality; +no glorification of the phalanstery. Leave Fourier and the departed in +peace, and endeavor only to re-adjust the pieces of your syllogism. To +this end, you ought, first, to analyze closely each proposition of your +adversary; second, to show the error, either by a direct refutation, or +by proving the converse; third, to oppose argument to argument, so that, +objection and reply meeting face to face, the stronger may break down +the weaker, and shiver it to atoms. By that method only can you boast of +having conquered, and compel me to regard you as an honest reasoner, and +a good artillery-man." + +I should have no excuse for tarrying longer with these phalansterian +crotchets, if the obligation which I have imposed upon myself of making +a clean sweep, and the necessity of vindicating my dignity as a writer, +did not prevent me from passing in silence the reproach uttered against +me by a correspondent of "La Phalange." "We have seen but lately," says +this journalist, [71] "that M. Proudhon, enthusiast as he has been for +the science created by Fourier, is, or will be, an enthusiast for any +thing else whatsoever." + + +If ever sectarians had the right to reproach another for changes in +his beliefs, this right certainly does not belong to the disciples of +Fourier, who are always so eager to administer the phalansterian baptism +to the deserters of all parties. But why regard it as a crime, if they +are sincere? Of what consequence is the constancy or inconstancy of +an individual to the truth which is always the same? It is better +to enlighten men's minds than to teach them to be obstinate in their +prejudices. Do we not know that man is frail and fickle, that his heart +is full of delusions, and that his lips are a distillery of falsehood? +_Omnis homo meudax_. Whether we will or no, we all serve for a time as +instruments of this truth, whose kingdom comes every day. + +God alone is immutable, because he is eternal. + +That is the reply which, as a general rule, an honest man is entitled +always to make, and which I ought perhaps to be content to offer as an +excuse; for I am no better than my fathers. But, in a century of doubt +and apostasy like ours, when it is of importance to set the small and +the weak an example of strength and honesty of utterance, I must not +suffer my character as a public assailant of property to be dishonored. +I must render an account of my old opinions. + +Examining myself, therefore, upon this charge of Fourierism, and +endeavoring to refresh my memory, I find that, having been connected +with the Fourierists in my studies and my friendships, it is possible +that, without knowing it, I have been one of Fourier's partisans. Jerome +Lalande placed Napoleon and Jesus Christ in his catalogue of atheists. +The Fourierists resemble this astronomer: if a man happens to find fault +with the existing civilization, and to admit the truth of a few of their +criticisms, they straightway enlist him, willy-nilly, in their school. +Nevertheless, I do not deny that I have been a Fourierist; for, +since they say it, of course it may be so. But, sir, that of which my +ex-associates are ignorant, and which doubtless will astonish you, is +that I have been many other things,--in religion, by turns a Protestant, +a Papist, an Arian and Semi-Arian, a Manichean, a Gnostic, an +Adamite even and a Pre-Adamite, a Sceptic, a Pelagian, a Socinian, an +Anti-Trinitarian, and a Neo-Christian; [72] in philosophy and politics, +an Idealist, a Pantheist, a Platonist, a Cartesian, an Eclectic +(that is, a sort of _juste-milieu_), a Monarchist, an Aristocrat, +a Constitutionalist, a follower of Babeuf, and a Communist. I have +wandered through a whole encyclopaedia of systems. Do you think +it surprising, sir, that, among them all, I was for a short time a +Fourierist? + + +For my part, I am not at all surprised, although at present I have +no recollection of it. One thing is sure,--that my superstition and +credulity reached their height at the very period of my life which my +critics reproachfully assign as the date of my Fourieristic beliefs. +Now I hold quite other views. My mind no longer admits that which is +demonstrated by syllogisms, analogies, or metaphors, which are the +methods of the phalanstery, but demands a process of generalization and +induction which excludes error. Of my past OPINIONSS I retain absolutely +none. I have acquired some KNOWLEDGE. I no longer BELIEVE. I either +KNOW, or am IGNORANT. In a word, in seeking for the reason of things, I +saw that I was a RATIONALIST. + +Undoubtedly, it would have been simpler to begin where I have ended. +But then, if such is the law of the human mind; if all society, for six +thousand years, has done nothing but fall into error; if all mankind are +still buried in the darkness of faith, deceived by their prejudices and +passions, guided only by the instinct of their leaders; if my accusers, +themselves, are not free from sectarianism (for they call themselves +FOURIERISTS),--am I alone inexcusable for having, in my inner self, at +the secret tribunal of my conscience, begun anew the journey of our poor +humanity? + +I would by no means, then, deny my errors; but, sir, that which +distinguishes me from those who rush into print is the fact that, though +my thoughts have varied much, my writings do not vary. To-day, even, and +on a multitude of questions, I am beset by a thousand extravagant and +contradictory opinions; but my opinions I do not print, for the public +has nothing to do with them. Before addressing my fellow-men, I wait +until light breaks in upon the chaos of my ideas, in order that what I +may say may be, not the whole truth (no man can know that), but nothing +but the truth. + +This singular disposition of my mind to first identify itself with a +system in order to better understand it, and then to reflect upon it in +order to test its legitimacy, is the very thing which disgusted me with +Fourier, and ruined in my esteem the societary school. To be a faithful +Fourierist, in fact, one must abandon his reason and accept every +thing from a master,--doctrine, interpretation, and application. M. +Considerant, whose excessive intolerance anathematizes all who do not +abide by his sovereign decisions, has no other conception of Fourierism. +Has he not been appointed Fourier's vicar on earth and pope of a Church +which, unfortunately for its apostles, will never be of this world? +Passive belief is the theological virtue of all sectarians, especially +of the Fourierists. + +Now, this is what happened to me. While trying to demonstrate by +argument the religion of which I had become a follower in studying +Fourier, I suddenly perceived that by reasoning I was becoming +incredulous; that on each article of the creed my reason and my faith +were at variance, and that my six weeks' labor was wholly lost. I saw +that the Fourierists--in spite of their inexhaustible gabble, and their +extravagant pretension to decide in all things--were neither savants, +nor logicians, nor even believers; that they were SCIENTIFIC QUACKS, who +were led more by their self-love than their conscience to labor for the +triumph of their sect, and to whom all means were good that would reach +that end. I then understood why to the Epicureans they promised women, +wine, music, and a sea of luxury; to the rigorists, maintenance of +marriage, purity of morals, and temperance; to laborers, high wages; +to proprietors, large incomes; to philosophers, solutions the secret +of which Fourier alone possessed; to priests, a costly religion and +magnificent festivals; to savants, knowledge of an unimaginable nature; +to each, indeed, that which he most desired. In the beginning, +this seemed to me droll; in the end, I regarded it as the height of +impudence. No, sir; no one yet knows of the foolishness and infamy which +the phalansterian system contains. That is a subject which I mean to +treat as soon as I have balanced my accounts with property. [73] + + +It is rumored that the Fourierists think of leaving France and going to +the new world to found a phalanstery. When a house threatens to fall, +the rats scamper away; that is because they are rats. Men do better; +they rebuild it. Not long since, the St. Simonians, despairing of their +country which paid no heed to them, proudly shook the dust from their +feet, and started for the Orient to fight the battle of free woman. +Pride, wilfulness, mad selfishness! True charity, like true faith, +does not worry, never despairs; it seeks neither its own glory, nor +its interest, nor empire; it does every thing for all, speaks with +indulgence to the reason and the will, and desires to conquer only by +persuasion and sacrifice. Remain in France, Fourierists, if the progress +of humanity is the only thing which you have at heart! There is more to +do here than in the new world. Otherwise, go! you are nothing but liars +and hypocrites! + +The foregoing statement by no means embraces all the political elements, +all the opinions and tendencies, which threaten the future of property; +but it ought to satisfy any one who knows how to classify facts, and to +deduce their law or the idea which governs them. Existing society seems +abandoned to the demon of falsehood and discord; and it is this sad +sight which grieves so deeply many distinguished minds who lived too +long in a former age to be able to understand ours. Now, while the +short-sighted spectator begins to despair of humanity, and, distracted +and cursing that of which he is ignorant, plunges into scepticism and +fatalism, the true observer, certain of the spirit which governs +the world, seeks to comprehend and fathom Providence. The memoir on +"Property," published last year by the pensioner of the Academy of +Besancon, is simply a study of this nature. + +The time has come for me to relate the history of this unlucky treatise, +which has already caused me so much chagrin, and made me so unpopular; +but which was on my part so involuntary and unpremeditated, that I would +dare to affirm that there is not an economist, not a philosopher, not a +jurist, who is not a hundred times guiltier than I. There is something +so singular in the way in which I was led to attack property, that if, +on hearing my sad story, you persist, sir, in your blame, I hope at +least you will be forced to pity me. + +I never have pretended to be a great politician; far from that, I always +have felt for controversies of a political nature the greatest aversion; +and if, in my "Essay on Property," I have sometimes ridiculed our +politicians, believe, sir, that I was governed much less by my pride +in the little that I know, than by my vivid consciousness of their +ignorance and excessive vanity. Relying more on Providence than on +men; not suspecting at first that politics, like every other science, +contained an absolute truth; agreeing equally well with Bossuet and +Jean Jacques,--I accepted with resignation my share of human misery, +and contented myself with praying to God for good deputies, upright +ministers, and an honest king. By taste as well as by discretion and +lack of confidence in my powers, I was slowly pursuing some commonplace +studies in philology, mingled with a little metaphysics, when I suddenly +fell upon the greatest problem that ever has occupied philosophical +minds: I mean the criterion of certainty. + +Those of my readers who are unacquainted with the philosophical +terminology will be glad to be told in a few words what this criterion +is, which plays so great a part in my work. + +The criterion of certainty, according to the philosophers, will be, +when discovered, an infallible method of establishing the truth of an +opinion, a judgment, a theory, or a system, in nearly the same way as +gold is recognized by the touchstone, as iron approaches the magnet, +or, better still, as we verify a mathematical operation by applying +the PROOF. TIME has hitherto served as a sort of criterion for society. +Thus, the primitive men--having observed that they were not all equal +in strength, beauty, and labor--judged, and rightly, that certain ones +among them were called by nature to the performance of simple and common +functions; but they concluded, and this is where their error lay, that +these same individuals of duller intellect, more restricted genius, and +weaker personality, were predestined to SERVE the others; that is, to +labor while the latter rested, and to have no other will than theirs: +and from this idea of a natural subordination among men sprang +domesticity, which, voluntarily accepted at first, was imperceptibly +converted into horrible slavery. Time, making this error more palpable, +has brought about justice. Nations have learned at their own cost that +the subjection of man to man is a false idea, an erroneous theory, +pernicious alike to master and to slave. And yet such a social system +has stood several thousand years, and has been defended by celebrated +philosophers; even to-day, under somewhat mitigated forms, sophists of +every description uphold and extol it. But experience is bringing it to +an end. + +Time, then, is the criterion of societies; thus looked at, history is +the demonstration of the errors of humanity by the argument _reductio ad +absurdum_. + +Now, the criterion sought for by metaphysicians would have the advantage +of discriminating at once between the true and the false in every +opinion; so that in politics, religion, and morals, for example, the +true and the useful being immediately recognized, we should no longer +need to await the sorrowful experience of time. Evidently such a secret +would be death to the sophists,--that cursed brood, who, under different +names, excite the curiosity of nations, and, owing to the difficulty +of separating the truth from the error in their artistically woven +theories, lead them into fatal ventures, disturb their peace, and fill +them with such extraordinary prejudice. + +Up to this day, the criterion of certainty remains a mystery; this is +owing to the multitude of criteria that have been successively proposed. +Some have taken for an absolute and definite criterion the testimony +of the senses; others intuition; these evidence; those argument. M. +Lamennais affirms that there is no other criterion than universal +reason. Before him, M. de Bonald thought he had discovered it in +language. Quite recently, M. Buchez has proposed morality; and, to +harmonize them all, the eclectics have said that it was absurd to seek +for an absolute criterion, since there were as many criteria as special +orders of knowledge. + +Of all these hypotheses it may be observed, That the testimony of the +senses is not a criterion, because the senses, relating us only to +phenomena, furnish us with no ideas; that intuition needs external +confirmation or objective certainty; that evidence requires proof, and +argument verification; that universal reason has been wrong many a time; +that language serves equally well to express the true or the false; that +morality, like all the rest, needs demonstration and rule; and finally, +that the eclectic idea is the least reasonable of all, since it is of no +use to say that there are several criteria if we cannot point out one. +I very much fear that it will be with the criterion as with the +philosopher's stone; that it will finally be abandoned, not only as +insolvable, but as chimerical. Consequently, I entertain no hopes of +having found it; nevertheless, I am not sure that some one more skilful +will not discover it. + +Be it as it may with regard to a criterion or criteria, there are +methods of demonstration which, when applied to certain subjects, +may lead to the discovery of unknown truths, bring to light relations +hitherto unsuspected, and lift a paradox to the highest degree of +certainty. In such a case, it is not by its novelty, nor even by its +content, that a system should be judged, but by its method. The critic, +then, should follow the example of the Supreme Court, which, in the +cases which come before it, never examines the facts, but only the form +of procedure. Now, what is the form of procedure? A method. + +I then looked to see what philosophy, in the absence of a criterion, had +accomplished by the aid of special methods, and I must say that I +could not discover--in spite of the loudly-proclaimed pretensions +of some--that it had produced any thing of real value; and, at last, +wearied with the philosophical twaddle, I resolved to make a new search +for the criterion. I confess it, to my shame, this folly lasted for two +years, and I am not yet entirely rid of it. It was like seeking a needle +in a haystack. I might have learned Chinese or Arabic in the time that I +have lost in considering and reconsidering syllogisms, in rising to +the summit of an induction as to the top of a ladder, in inserting +a proposition between the horns of a dilemma, in decomposing, +distinguishing, separating, denying, affirming, admitting, as if I could +pass abstractions through a sieve. + +I selected justice as the subject-matter of my experiments. +Finally, after a thousand decompositions, recompositions, and double +compositions, I found at the bottom of my analytical crucible, not the +criterion of certainty, but a metaphysico-economico-political treatise, +whose conclusions were such that I did not care to present them in a +more artistic or, if you will, more intelligible form. The effect which +this work produced upon all classes of minds gave me an idea of the +spirit of our age, and did not cause me to regret the prudent and +scientific obscurity of my style. How happens it that to-day I am +obliged to defend my intentions, when my conduct bears the evident +impress of such lofty morality? + +You have read my work, sir, and you know the gist of my tedious and +scholastic lucubrations. Considering the revolutions of humanity, +the vicissitudes of empires, the transformations of property, and the +innumerable forms of justice and of right, I asked, "Are the evils which +afflict us inherent in our condition as men, or do they arise only from +an error? This inequality of fortunes which all admit to be the cause of +society's embarrassments, is it, as some assert, the effect of Nature; +or, in the division of the products of labor and the soil, may there not +have been some error in calculation? Does each laborer receive all that +is due him, and only that which is due him? In short, in the present +conditions of labor, wages, and exchange, is no one wronged?--are the +accounts well kept?--is the social balance accurate?" + +Then I commenced a most laborious investigation. It was necessary to +arrange informal notes, to discuss contradictory titles, to reply to +captious allegations, to refute absurd pretensions, and to describe +fictitious debts, dishonest transactions, and fraudulent accounts. In +order to triumph over quibblers, I had to deny the authority of custom, +to examine the arguments of legislators, and to oppose science with +science itself. Finally, all these operations completed, I had to give a +judicial decision. + +I therefore declared, my hand upon my heart, before God and men, that +the causes of social inequality are three in number: 1. GRATUITOUS +APPROPRIATION OF COLLECTIVE WEALTH; 2. INEQUALITY IN EXCHANGE; 3. THE +RIGHT OF PROFIT OR INCREASE. + +And since this threefold method of extortion is the very essence of the +domain of property, I denied the legitimacy of property, and proclaimed +its identity with robbery. + +That is my only offence. I have reasoned upon property; I have searched +for the criterion of justice; I have demonstrated, not the possibility, +but the necessity, of equality of fortunes; I have allowed myself no +attack upon persons, no assault upon the government, of which I, more +than any one else, am a provisional adherent. If I have sometimes +used the word PROPRIETOR, I have used it as the abstract name of a +metaphysical being, whose reality breathes in every individual,--not +alone in a privileged few. + +Nevertheless, I acknowledge--for I wish my confession to be +sincere--that the general tone of my book has been bitterly censured. +They complain of an atmosphere of passion and invective unworthy of +an honest man, and quite out of place in the treatment of so grave a +subject. + +If this reproach is well founded (which it is impossible for me either +to deny or admit, because in my own cause I cannot be judge),--if, I +say, I deserve this charge, I can only humble myself and acknowledge +myself guilty of an involuntary wrong; the only excuse that I could +offer being of such a nature that it ought not to be communicated to the +public. All that I can say is, that I understand better than any one how +the anger which injustice causes may render an author harsh and violent +in his criticisms. When, after twenty years of labor, a man still finds +himself on the brink of starvation, and then suddenly discovers in +an equivocation, an error in calculation, the cause of the evil which +torments him in common with so many millions of his fellows, he can +scarcely restrain a cry of sorrow and dismay. + +But, sir, though pride be offended by my rudeness, it is not to pride +that I apologize, but to the proletaires, to the simple-minded, whom I +perhaps have scandalized. My angry dialectics may have produced a bad +effect on some peaceable minds. Some poor workingman--more affected +by my sarcasm than by the strength of my arguments--may, perhaps, have +concluded that property is the result of a perpetual Machiavelianism on +the part of the governors against the governed,--a deplorable error of +which my book itself is the best refutation. I devoted two chapters to +showing how property springs from human personality and the comparison +of individuals. Then I explained its perpetual limitation; and, +following out the same idea, I predicted its approaching disappearance. +How, then, could the editors of the "Revue Democratique," after +having borrowed from me nearly the whole substance of their economical +articles, dare to say: "The holders of the soil, and other productive +capital, are more or less wilful accomplices in a vast robbery, they +being the exclusive receivers and sharers of the stolen goods"? + +The proprietors WILFULLY guilty of the crime of robbery! Never did +that homicidal phrase escape my pen; never did my heart conceive the +frightful thought. Thank Heaven! I know not how to calumniate my kind; +and I have too strong a desire to seek for the reason of things to be +willing to believe in criminal conspiracies. The millionnaire is no more +tainted by property than the journeyman who works for thirty sous per +day. On both sides the error is equal, as well as the intention. The +effect is also the same, though positive in the former, and negative +in the latter. I accused property; I did not denounce the proprietors, +which would have been absurd: and I am sorry that there are among us +wills so perverse and minds so shattered that they care for only so much +of the truth as will aid them in their evil designs. Such is the +only regret which I feel on account of my indignation, which, though +expressed perhaps too bitterly, was at least honest, and legitimate in +its source. + +However, what did I do in this essay which I voluntarily submitted +to the Academy of Moral Sciences? Seeking a fixed axiom amid social +uncertainties, I traced back to one fundamental question all the +secondary questions over which, at present, so keen and diversified +a conflict is raging This question was the right of property. Then, +comparing all existing theories with each other, and extracting from +them that which is common to them all, I endeavored to discover that +element in the idea of property which is necessary, immutable, and +absolute; and asserted, after authentic verification, that this idea +is reducible to that of INDIVIDUAL AND TRANSMISSIBLE POSSESSION; +SUSCEPTIBLE OF EXCHANGE, BUT NOT OF ALIENATION; FOUNDED ON LABOR, AND +NOT ON FICTITIOUS OCCUPANCY, OR IDLE CAPRICE. I said, further, that this +idea was the result of our revolutionary movements,--the culminating +point towards which all opinions, gradually divesting themselves of +their contradictory elements, converge. And I tried to demonstrate +this by the spirit of the laws, by political economy, by psychology and +history. + +A Father of the Church, finishing a learned exposition of the Catholic +doctrine, cried, in the enthusiasm of his faith, _"Domine, si error est, +a te decepti sumus_ (if my religion is false, God is to blame)." I, as +well as this theologian, can say, "If equality is a fable, God, through +whom we act and think and are; God, who governs society by eternal laws, +who rewards just nations, and punishes proprietors,--God alone is the +author of evil; God has lied. The fault lies not with me." + +But, if I am mistaken in my inferences, I should be shown my error, and +led out of it. It is surely worth the trouble, and I think I deserve +this honor. There is no ground for proscription. + +For, in the words of that member of the Convention who did not like +the guillotine, _to kill is not to reply_. Until then, I persist in +regarding my work as useful, social, full of instruction for public +officials,--worthy, in short, of reward and encouragement. + +For there is one truth of which I am profoundly convinced,--nations +live by absolute ideas, not by approximate and partial conceptions; +therefore, men are needed who define principles, or at least test them +in the fire of controversy. Such is the law,--the idea first, the pure +idea, the understanding of the laws of God, the theory: practice follows +with slow steps, cautious, attentive to the succession of events; sure +to seize, towards this eternal meridian, the indications of supreme +reason. + +The co-operation of theory and practice produces in humanity the +realization of order,--the absolute truth. [74] + + +All of us, as long as we live, are called, each in proportion to his +strength, to this sublime work. The only duty which it imposes upon +us is to refrain from appropriating the truth to ourselves, either by +concealing it, or by accommodating it to the temper of the century, +or by using it for our own interests. This principle of conscience, so +grand and so simple, has always been present in my thought. + +Consider, in fact, sir, that which I might have done, but did not wish +to do. I reason on the most honorable hypothesis. What hindered me from +concealing, for some years to come, the abstract theory of the equality +of fortunes, and, at the same time, from criticising constitutions and +codes; from showing the absolute and the contingent, the immutable and +the ephemeral, the eternal and the transitory, in laws present and past; +from constructing a new system of legislation, and establishing on +a solid foundation this social edifice, ever destroyed and as often +rebuilt? Might I not, taking up the definitions of casuists, have +clearly shown the cause of their contradictions and uncertainties, and +supplied, at the same time, the inadequacies of their conclusions? Might +I not have confirmed this labor by a vast historical exposition, in +which the principle of exclusion, and of the accumulation of property, +the appropriation of collective wealth, and the radical vice in +exchanges, would have figured as the constant causes of tyranny, war, +and revolution? + +"It should have been done," you say. Do not doubt, sir, that such a task +would have required more patience than genius. With the principles of +social economy which I have analyzed, I would have had only to break +the ground, and follow the furrow. The critic of laws finds nothing more +difficult than to determine justice: the labor alone would have been +longer. Oh, if I had pursued this glittering prospect, and, like the +man of the burning bush, with inspired countenance and deep and solemn +voice, had presented myself some day with new tables, there would have +been found fools to admire, boobies to applaud, and cowards to offer me +the dictatorship; for, in the way of popular infatuations, nothing is +impossible. + +But, sir, after this monument of insolence and pride, what should I have +deserved in your opinion, at the tribunal of God, and in the judgment of +free men? Death, sir, and eternal reprobation! + +I therefore spoke the truth as soon as I saw it, waiting only long +enough to give it proper expression. I pointed out error in order +that each might reform himself, and render his labors more useful. I +announced the existence of a new political element, in order that +my associates in reform, developing it in concert, might arrive more +promptly at that unity of principles which alone can assure to society +a better day. I expected to receive, if not for my book, at least for +my commendable conduct, a small republican ovation. And, behold! +journalists denounce me, academicians curse me, political adventurers +(great God!) think to make themselves tolerable by protesting that they +are not like me! I give the formula by which the whole social edifice +may be scientifically reconstructed, and the strongest minds reproach +me for being able only to destroy. The rest despise me, because I am +unknown. When the "Essay on Property" fell into the reformatory camp, +some asked: "Who has spoken? Is it Arago? Is it Lamennais? Michel de +Bourges or Garnier-Pages?" + +And when they heard the name of a new man: "We do not know him," +they would reply. Thus, the monopoly of thought, property in reason, +oppresses the proletariat as well as the _bourgeoisie_. The worship of +the infamous prevails even on the steps of the tabernacle. + +But what am I saying? May evil befall me, if I blame the poor creatures! +Oh! let us not despise those generous souls, who in the excitement of +their patriotism are always prompt to identify the voice of their +chiefs with the truth. Let us encourage rather their simple credulity, +enlighten complacently and tenderly their precious sincerity, and +reserve our shafts for those vain-glorious spirits who are always +admiring their genius, and, in different tongues, caressing the people +in order to govern them. + +These considerations alone oblige me to reply to the strange and +superficial conclusions of the "Journal du Peuple" (issue of Oct. 11, +1840), on the question of property. I leave, therefore, the journalist +to address myself only to his readers. I hope that the self-love of the +writer will not be offended, if, in the presence of the masses, I ignore +an individual. + +You say, proletaires of the "Peuple," "For the very reason that men and +things exist, there always will be men who will possess things; nothing, +therefore, can destroy property." + +In speaking thus, you unconsciously argue exactly after the manner of +M. Cousin, who always reasons from _possession_ to PROPERTY. This +coincidence, however, does not surprise me. M. Cousin is a philosopher +of much mind, and you, proletaires, have still more. Certainly it is +honorable, even for a philosopher, to be your companion in error. + +Originally, the word PROPERTY was synonymous with PROPER or INDIVIDUAL +POSSESSION. It designated each individual's special right to the use of +a thing. But when this right of use, inert (if I may say so) as it +was with regard to the other usufructuaries, became active and +paramount,--that is, when the usufructuary converted his right to +personally use the thing into the right to use it by his neighbor's +labor,--then property changed its nature, and its idea became complex. +The legists knew this very well, but instead of opposing, as they ought, +this accumulation of profits, they accepted and sanctioned the whole. +And as the right of farm-rent necessarily implies the right of use,--in +other words, as the right to cultivate land by the labor of a slave +supposes one's power to cultivate it himself, according to the principle +that the greater includes the less,--the name property was reserved +to designate this double right, and that of possession was adopted to +designate the right of use. + +Whence property came to be called the perfect right, the right of +domain, the eminent right, the heroic or _quiritaire_ right,--in Latin, +_jus perfectum, jus optimum, jus quiritarium, jus dominii_,--while +possession became assimilated to farm-rent. + +Now, that individual possession exists of right, or, better, +from natural necessity, all philosophers admit, and can easily e +demonstrated; but when, in imitation of M. Cousin, we assume it to be +the basis of the domain of property, we fall into the sophism called +_sophisma amphiboliae vel ambiguitatis_, which consists in changing the +meaning by a verbal equivocation. + +People often think themselves very profound, because, by the aid of +expressions of extreme generality, they appear to rise to the height +of absolute ideas, and thus deceive inexperienced minds; and, what +is worse, this is commonly called EXAMINING ABSTRACTIONS. But the +abstraction formed by the comparison of identical facts is one thing, +while that which is deduced from different acceptations of the same term +is quite another. The first gives the universal idea, the axiom, the +law; the second indicates the order of generation of ideas. All +our errors arise from the constant confusion of these two kinds of +abstractions. In this particular, languages and philosophies are alike +deficient. The less common an idiom is, and the more obscure its +terms, the more prolific is it as a source of error: a philosopher is +sophistical in proportion to his ignorance of any method of neutralizing +this imperfection in language. If the art of correcting the errors of +speech by scientific methods is ever discovered, then philosophy will +have found its criterion of certainty. + +Now, then, the difference between property and possession being well +established, and it being settled that the former, for the reasons +which I have just given, must necessarily disappear, is it best, for the +slight advantage of restoring an etymology, to retain the word PROPERTY? +My opinion is that it would be very unwise to do so, and I will tell +why. I quote from the "Journal du Peuple:"-- + + +"To the legislative power belongs the right to regulate property, to +prescribe the conditions of acquiring, possessing, and transmitting +it... It cannot be denied that inheritance, assessment, commerce, +industry, labor, and wages require the most important modifications." + + +You wish, proletaires, to REGULATE PROPERTY; that is, you wish to +destroy it and reduce it to the right of possession. For to regulate +property without the consent of the proprietors is to deny the right +OF DOMAIN; to associate employees with proprietors is to destroy +the EMINENT right; to suppress or even reduce farm-rent, house-rent, +revenue, and increase generally, is to annihilate PERFECT property. Why, +then, while laboring with such laudable enthusiasm for the establishment +of equality, should you retain an expression whose equivocal meaning +will always be an obstacle in the way of your success? + +There you have the first reason--a wholly philosophical one--for +rejecting not only the thing, but the name, property. Here now is the +political, the highest reason. + +Every social revolution--M. Cousin will tell you--is effected only by +the realization of an idea, either political, moral, or religious. When +Alexander conquered Asia, his idea was to avenge Greek liberty against +the insults of Oriental despotism; when Marius and Caesar overthrew +the Roman patricians, their idea was to give bread to the people; +when Christianity revolutionized the world, its idea was to emancipate +mankind, and to substitute the worship of one God for the deities of +Epicurus and Homer; when France rose in '89, her idea was liberty and +equality before the law. There has been no true revolution, says M. +Cousin, with out its idea; so that where an idea does not exist, or even +fails of a formal expression, revolution is impossible. There are mobs, +conspirators, rioters, regicides. There are no revolutionists. Society, +devoid of ideas, twists and tosses about, and dies in the midst of its +fruitless labor. + +Nevertheless, you all feel that a revolution is to come, and that you +alone can accomplish it. What, then, is the idea which governs you, +proletaires of the nineteenth century?--for really I cannot call you +revolutionists. What do you think?--what do you believe?--what do you +want? Be guarded in your reply. I have read faithfully your favorite +journals, your most esteemed authors. I find everywhere only vain and +puerile _entites_; nowhere do I discover an idea. + +I will explain the meaning of this word _entite_,--new, without doubt, +to most of you. + +By _entite_ is generally understood a substance which the imagination +grasps, but which is incognizable by the senses and the reason. Thus the +SOPORIFIC POWER of opium, of which Sganarelle speaks, and the PECCANT +HUMORS of ancient medicine, are _entites_. The _entite_ is the +support of those who do not wish to confess their ignorance. It +is incomprehensible; or, as St. Paul says, the _argumentum non +apparentium_. In philosophy, the _entite_ is often only a repetition of +words which add nothing to the thought. + +For example, when M. Pierre Leroux--who says so many excellent things, +but who is too fond, in my opinion, of his Platonic formulas--assures us +that the evils of humanity are due to our IGNORANCE OF LIFE, M. Pierre +Leroux utters an _entite;_ for it is evident that if we are evil it is +because we do not know how to live; but the knowledge of this fact is of +no value to us. + +When M. Edgar Quinet declares that France suffers and declines because +there is an ANTAGONISM of men and of interests, he declares an _entite;_ +for the problem is to discover the cause of this antagonism. + +When M. Lamennais, in thunder tones, preaches self-sacrifice and love, +he proclaims two _entites_; for we need to know on what conditions +self-sacrifice and love can spring up and exist. + +So also, proletaires, when you talk of LIBERTY, PROGRESS, and THE +SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE, you make of these naturally intelligible +things so many _entites_ in space: for, on the one hand, we need a new +definition of liberty, since that of '89 no longer suffices; and, on the +other, we must know in what direction society should proceed in order to +be in progress. As for the sovereignty of the people, that is a +grosser _entite_ than the sovereignty of reason; it is the _entite_ +of _entites_. In fact, since sovereignty can no more be conceived +of outside of the people than outside of reason, it remains to be +ascertained who, among the people, shall exercise the sovereignty; and, +among so many minds, which shall be the sovereigns. To say that the +people should elect their representatives is to say that the people +should recognize their sovereigns, which does not remove the difficulty +at all. + +But suppose that, equal by birth, equal before the law, equal in +personality, equal in social functions, you wish also to be equal in +conditions. + +Suppose that, perceiving all the mutual relations of men, whether +they produce or exchange or consume, to be relations of commutative +justice,--in a word, social relations; suppose, I say, that, perceiving +this, you wish to give this natural society a legal existence, and to +establish the fact by law,-- + +I say that then you need a clear, positive, and exact expression of your +whole idea,--that is, an expression which states at once the principle, +the means, and the end; and I add that that expression is ASSOCIATION. + +And since the association of the human race dates, at least rightfully, +from the beginning of the world, and has gradually established and +perfected itself by successively divesting itself of its negative +elements, slavery, nobility, despotism, aristocracy, and feudalism,--I +say that, to eliminate the last negation of society, to formulate the +last revolutionary idea, you must change your old rallying-cries, NO +MORE ABSOLUTISM, NO MORE NOBILITY, NO MORE SLAVES! into that of NO MORE +PROPERTY!... + +But I know what astonishes you, poor souls, blasted by the wind of +poverty, and crushed by your patrons' pride: it is EQUALITY, whose +consequences frighten you. How, you have said in your journal,--how can +we "dream of a level which, being unnatural, is therefore unjust? How +shall we pay the day's labor of a Cormenin or a Lamennais?" + +Plebeians, listen! When, after the battle of Salamis, the Athenians +assembled to award the prizes for courage, after the ballots had been +collected, it was found that each combatant had one vote for the first +prize, and Themistocles all the votes for the second. The people of +Minerva were crowned by their own hands. Truly heroic souls! all were +worthy of the olive-branch, since all had ventured to claim it for +themselves. Antiquity praised this sublime spirit. Learn, proletaires, +to esteem yourselves, and to respect your dignity. You wish to be +free, and you know not how to be citizens. Now, whoever says "citizens" +necessarily says equals. + +If I should call myself Lamennais or Cormenin, and some journal, +speaking of me, should burst forth with these hyperboles, INCOMPARABLE +GENIUS, SUPERIOR MIND, CONSUMMATE VIRTUE, NOBLE CHARACTER, I should not +like it, and should complain,--first, because such eulogies are never +deserved; and, second, because they furnish a bad example. But I wish, +in order to reconcile you to equality, to measure for you the +greatest literary personage of our century. Do not accuse me of envy, +proletaires, if I, a defender of equality, estimate at their proper +value talents which are universally admired, and which I, better than +any one, know how to recognize. A dwarf can always measure a giant: all +that he needs is a yardstick. + +You have seen the pretentious announcements of "L'Esquisse d'une +Philosophie," and you have admired the work on trust; for either you +have not read it, or, if you have, you are incapable of judging it. +Acquaint yourselves, then, with this speculation more brilliant than +sound; and, while admiring the enthusiasm of the author, cease to pity +those useful labors which only habit and the great number of the +persons engaged in them render contemptible. I shall be brief; for, +notwithstanding the importance of the subject and the genius of the +author, what I have to say is of but little moment. + +M. Lamennais starts with the existence of God. How does he demonstrate +it? By Cicero's argument,--that is, by the consent of the human race. +There is nothing new in that. We have still to find out whether the +belief of the human race is legitimate; or, as Kant says, whether +our subjective certainty of the existence of God corresponds with the +objective truth. This, however, does not trouble M. Lamennais. He says +that, if the human race believes, it is because it has a reason for +believing. + +Then, having pronounced the name of God, M. Lamennais sings a hymn; and +that is his demonstration! + +This first hypothesis admitted, M. Lamennais follows it with a second; +namely, that there are three persons in God. But, while Christianity +teaches the dogma of the Trinity only on the authority of revelation, M. +Lamennais pretends to arrive at it by the sole force of argument; and he +does not perceive that his pretended demonstration is, from beginning to +end, anthropomorphism,--that is, an ascription of the faculties of the +human mind and the powers of nature to the Divine substance. New songs, +new hymns! + +God and the Trinity thus DEMONSTRATED, the philosopher passes to the +creation,--a third hypothesis, in which M. Lamennais, always eloquent, +varied, and sublime, DEMONSTRATES that God made the world neither of +nothing, nor of something, nor of himself; that he was free in creating, +but that nevertheless he could not but create; that there is in matter +a matter which is not matter; that the archetypal ideas of the world are +separated from each other, in the Divine mind, by a division which is +obscure and unintelligible, and yet substantial and real, which involves +intelligibility, &c. We meet with like contradictions concerning the +origin of evil. To explain this problem,--one of the profoundest in +philosophy,--M. Lamennais at one time denies evil, at another makes God +the author of evil, and at still another seeks outside of God a +first cause which is not God,--an amalgam of _entites_ more or less +incoherent, borrowed from Plato, Proclus, Spinoza, I might say even from +all philosophers. + +Having thus established his trinity of hypotheses, M. Lamennais +deduces therefrom, by a badly connected chain of analogies, his whole +philosophy. And it is here especially that we notice the syncretism +which is peculiar to him. The theory of M. Lamennais embraces all +systems, and supports all opinions. Are you a materialist? Suppress, +as useless _entites_, the three persons in God; then, starting directly +from heat, light, and electro-magnetism,--which, according to the +author, are the three original fluids, the three primary external +manifestations of Will, Intelligence, and Love,--you have a +materialistic and atheistic cosmogony. On the contrary, are you wedded +to spiritualism? With the theory of the immateriality of the body, you +are able to see everywhere nothing but spirits. Finally, if you incline +to pantheism, you will be satisfied by M. Lamennais, who formally +teaches that the world is not an EMANATION from Divinity,--which is pure +pantheism,--but a FLOW of Divinity. + +I do not pretend, however, to deny that "L'Esquisse" contains some +excellent things; but, by the author's declaration, these things are not +original with him; it is the system which is his. That is undoubtedly +the reason why M. Lamennais speaks so contemptuously of his predecessors +in philosophy, and disdains to quote his originals. He thinks that, +since "L'Esquisse" contains all true philosophy, the world will lose +nothing when the names and works of the old philosophers perish. M. +Lamennais, who renders glory to God in beautiful songs, does not know +how as well to render justice to his fellows. His fatal fault is this +appropriation of knowledge, which the theologians call the PHILOSOPHICAL +SIN, or the SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST--a sin which will not damn you, +proletaires, nor me either. + +In short, "L'Esquisse," judged as a system, and divested of all which +its author borrows from previous systems, is a commonplace work, whose +method consists in constantly explaining the known by the unknown, and +in giving entites for abstractions, and tautologies for proofs. Its +whole theodicy is a work not of genius but of imagination, a patching up +of neo-Platonic ideas. The psychological portion amounts to nothing, +M. Lamennais openly ridiculing labors of this character, without which, +however, metaphysics is impossible. The book, which treats of logic +and its methods, is weak, vague, and shallow. Finally, we find in the +physical and physiological speculations which M. Lamennais deduces +from his trinitarian cosmogony grave errors, the preconceived design of +accommodating facts to theory, and the substitution in almost every case +of hypothesis for reality. The third volume on industry and art is the +most interesting to read, and the best. It is true that M. Lamennais +can boast of nothing but his style. As a philosopher, he has added not a +single idea to those which existed before him. + +Why, then, this excessive mediocrity of M. Lamennais considered as +a thinker, a mediocrity which disclosed itself at the time of the +publication of the "Essai sur l'Indifference!"? It is because (remember +this well, proletaires!) Nature makes no man truly complete, and because +the development of certain faculties almost always excludes an equal +development of the opposite faculties; it is because M. Lamennais +is preeminently a poet, a man of feeling and sentiment. Look at his +style,--exuberant, sonorous, picturesque, vehement, full of exaggeration +and invective,--and hold it for certain that no man possessed of such +a style was ever a true metaphysician. This wealth of expression and +illustration, which everybody admires, becomes in M Lamennais the +incurable cause of his philosophical impotence. His flow of language, +and his sensitive nature misleading his imagination, he thinks that +he is reasoning when he is only repeating himself, and readily takes a +description for a logical deduction. Hence his horror of positive ideas, +his feeble powers of analysis, his pronounced taste for indefinite +analogies, verbal abstractions, hypothetical generalities, in short, all +sorts of entites. + +Further, the entire life of M. Lamennais is conclusive proof of +his anti-philosophical genius. Devout even to mysticism, an ardent +ultramontane, an intolerant theocrat, he at first feels the double +influence of the religious reaction and the literary theories which +marked the beginning of this century, and falls back to the middle ages +and Gregory VII.; then, suddenly becoming a progressive Christian and a +democrat, he gradually leans towards rationalism, and finally falls into +deism. At present, everybody waits at the trap-door. As for me, though I +would not swear to it, I am inclined to think that M. Lamennais, already +taken with scepticism, will die in a state of indifference. He owes +to individual reason and methodical doubt this expiation of his early +essays. + +It has been pretended that M. Lamennais, preaching now a theocracy, now +universal democracy, has been always consistent; that, under different +names, he has sought invariably one and the same thing,--unity. Pitiful +excuse for an author surprised in the very act of contradiction! What +would be thought of a man who, by turns a servant of despotism under +Louis XVI, a demagogue with Robespierre, a courtier of the Emperor, +a bigot during fifteen years of the Restoration, a conservative +since 1830, should dare to say that he ever had wished for but one +thing,--public order? Would he be regarded as any the less a renegade +from all parties? Public order, unity, the world's welfare, social +harmony, the union of the nations,--concerning each of these things +there is no possible difference of opinion. Everybody wishes them; +the character of the publicist depends only upon the means by which +he proposes to arrive at them. But why look to M. Lamennais for a +steadfastness of opinion, which he himself repudiates? Has he not said, +"The mind has no law; that which I believe to-day, I did not believe +yesterday; I do not know that I shall believe it to-morrow"? + +No; there is no real superiority among men, since all talents and +capacities are combined never in one individual. This man has the power +of thought, that one imagination and style, still another industrial and +commercial capacity. By our very nature and education, we possess only +special aptitudes which are limited and confined, and which become +consequently more necessary as they gain in depth and strength. +Capacities are to each other as functions and persons; who would dare +to classify them in ranks? The finest genius is, by the laws of his +existence and development, the most dependent upon the society which +creates him. Who would dare to make a god of the glorious child? + +"It is not strength which makes the man," said a Hercules of the +market-place to the admiring crowd; "it is character." That man, who +had only his muscles, held force in contempt. The lesson is a good one, +proletaires; we should profit by it. It is not talent (which is also a +force), it is not knowledge, it is not beauty which makes the man. It is +heart, courage, will, virtue. Now, if we are equal in that which makes +us men, how can the accidental distribution of secondary faculties +detract from our manhood? + +Remember that privilege is naturally and inevitably the lot of the weak; +and do not be misled by the fame which accompanies certain talents +whose greatest merit consists in their rarity, and a long and toilsome +apprenticeship. It is easier for M. Lamennais to recite a philippic, or +sing a humanitarian ode after the Platonic fashion, than to discover a +single useful truth; it is easier for an economist to apply the laws of +production and distribution than to write ten lines in the style of M. +Lamennais; it is easier for both to speak than to act. You, then, who +put your hands to the work, who alone truly create, why do you wish me +to admit your inferiority? But, what am I saying? + +Yes, you are inferior, for you lack virtue and will! Ready for labor and +for battle, you have, when liberty and equality are in question, neither +courage nor character! + +In the preface to his pamphlet on "Le Pays et le Gouvernement," as well +as in his defence before the jury, M. Lamennais frankly declared +himself an advocate of property. Out of regard for the author and his +misfortune, I shall abstain from characterizing this declaration, and +from examining these two sorrowful performances. M. Lamennais seems to +be only the tool of a quasi-radical party, which flatters him in order +to use him, without respect for a glorious, but hence forth powerless, +old age. What means this profession of faith? From the first number of +"L'Avenir" to "L'Esquisse d'une Philosophie," M. Lamennais always +favors equality, association, and even a sort of vague and indefinite +communism. M. Lamennais, in recognizing the right of property, gives the +lie to his past career, and renounces his most generous tendencies. Can +it, then, be true that in this man, who has been too roughly treated, +but who is also too easily flattered, strength of talent has already +outlived strength of will? + +It is said that M. Lamennais has rejected the offers of several of his +friends to try to procure for him a commutation of his sentence. M. +Lamennais prefers to serve out his time. May not this affectation of a +false stoicism come from the same source as his recognition of the right +of property? The Huron, when taken prisoner, hurls insults and threats +at his conqueror,--that is the heroism of the savage; the martyr +prays for his executioners, and is willing to receive from them his +life,--that is the heroism of the Christian. Why has the apostle of love +become an apostle of anger and revenge? Has, then, the translator of +"L'Imitation" forgotten that he who offends charity cannot honor virtue? +Galileo, retracting on his knees before the tribunal of the inquisition +his heresy in regard to the movement of the earth, and recovering at +that price his liberty, seems to me a hundred times grander than +M. Lamennais. What! if we suffer for truth and justice, must we, in +retaliation, thrust our persecutors outside the pale of human society; +and, when sentenced to an unjust punishment, must we decline exemption +if it is offered to us, because it pleases a few base satellites to call +it a pardon? Such is not the wisdom of Christianity. But I forgot that +in the presence of M. Lamennais this name is no longer pronounced. May +the prophet of "L'Avenir" be soon restored to liberty and his friends; +but, above all, may he henceforth derive his inspiration only from his +genius and his heart! + +O proletaires, proletaires! how long are you to be victimized by this +spirit of revenge and implacable hatred which your false friends kindle, +and which, perhaps, has done more harm to the development of reformatory +ideas than the corruption, ignorance, and malice of the government? +Believe me, at the present time everybody is to blame. In fact, in +intention, or in example, all are found wanting; and you have no right +to accuse any one. The king himself (God forgive me! I do not like to +justify a king),--the king himself is, like his predecessors, only the +personification of an idea, and an idea, proletaires, which possesses +you yet. His greatest wrong consists in wishing for its complete +realization, while you wish it realized only partially,--consequently, +in being logical in his government; while you, in your complaints, are +not at all so. You clamor for a second regicide. He that is without sin +among you,--let him cast at the prince of property the first stone! + +How successful you would have been if, in order to influence men, +you had appealed to the self-love of men,--if, in order to alter +the constitution and the law, you had placed yourselves within the +constitution and the law! Fifty thousand laws, they say, make up our +political and civil codes. Of these fifty thousand laws, twenty-five +thousand are for you, twenty-five thousand against you. Is it not clear +that your duty is to oppose the former to the latter, and thus, by the +argument of contradiction, drive privilege into its last ditch? This +method of action is henceforth the only useful one, being the only moral +and rational one. + +For my part, if I had the ear of this nation, to which I am attached by +birth and predilection, with no intention of playing the leading part +in the future republic, I would instruct the laboring masses to +conquer property through institutions and judicial pleadings; to seek +auxiliaries and accomplices in the highest ranks of society, and to ruin +all privileged classes by taking advantage of their common desire for +power and popularity. + +The petition for the electoral reform has already received two hundred +thousand signatures, and the illustrious Arago threatens us with a +million. Surely, that will be well done; but from this million of +citizens, who are as willing to vote for an emperor as for equality, +could we not select ten thousand signatures--I mean bona fide +signatures--whose authors can read, write, cipher, and even think +a little, and whom we could invite, after due perusal and verbal +explanation, to sign such a petition as the following:-- + + + +"TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR:-- + +"MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE,--On the day when a royal ordinance, decreeing +the establishment of model national workshops, shall appear in the +'Moniteur,' the undersigned, to the number of TEN THOUSAND, will repair +to the Palace of the Tuileries, and there, with all the power of their +lungs, will shout, 'Long live Louis Philippe!' + +"On the day when the 'Moniteur' shall inform the public that this +petition is refused, the undersigned, to the number of TEN THOUSAND, +will say secretly in their hearts, 'Down with Louis Philippe!'" + + +If I am not mistaken, such a petition would have some effect. [75] The +pleasure of a popular ovation would be well worth the sacrifice of a few +millions. They sow so much to reap unpopularity! Then, if the nation, +its hopes of 1830 restored, should feel it its duty to keep its +promise,--and it would keep it, for the word of the nation is, like that +of God, sacred,--if, I say, the nation, reconciled by this act with +the public-spirited monarchy, should bear to the foot of the throne its +cheers and its vows, and should at that solemn moment choose me to speak +in its name, the following would be the substance of my speech:-- + + +"SIRE,--This is what the nation wishes to say to your Majesty:-- + +"O King! you see what it costs to gain the applause of the citizens. +Would you like us henceforth to take for our motto: 'Let us help the +King, the King will help us'? Do you wish the people to cry: 'THE KING +AND THE FRENCH NATION'? Then abandon these grasping bankers, these +quarrelsome lawyers, these miserable bourgeois, these infamous writers, +these dishonored men. All these, Sire, hate you, and continue to support +you only because they fear us. Finish the work of our kings; wipe out +aristocracy and privilege; consult with these faithful proletaires, with +the nation, which alone can honor a sovereign and sincerely shout, 'Long +live the king!'" + + +The rest of what I have to say, sir, is for you alone; others would +not understand me. You are, I perceive, a republican as well as an +economist, and your patriotism revolts at the very idea of addressing +to the authorities a petition in which the government of Louis Philippe +should be tacitly recognized. "National workshops! it were well to have +such institutions established," you think; "but patriotic hearts never +will accept them from an aristocratic ministry, nor by the courtesy of a +king." Already, undoubtedly, your old prejudices have returned, and you +now regard me only as a sophist, as ready to flatter the powers that +be as to dishonor, by pushing them to an extreme, the principles of +equality and universal fraternity. + +What shall I say to you?... That I should so lightly compromise the +future of my theories, either this clever sophistry which is attributed +to me must be at bottom a very trifling affair, or else my convictions +must be so firm that they deprive me of free-will. + +But, not to insist further on the necessity of a compromise between the +executive power and the people, it seems to me, sir, that, in doubting +my patriotism, you reason very capriciously, and that your judgments +are exceedingly rash. You, sir, ostensibly defending government and +property, are allowed to be a republican, reformer, phalansterian, any +thing you wish; I, on the contrary, demanding distinctly enough a slight +reform in public economy, am foreordained a conservative, and likewise +a friend of the dynasty. I cannot explain myself more clearly. So firm +a believer am I in the philosophy of accomplished facts and the _statu +quo_ of governmental forms that, instead of destroying that which +exists and beginning over again the past, I prefer to render every thing +legitimate by correcting it. It is true that the corrections which I +propose, though respecting the form, tend to finally change the nature +of the things corrected. Who denies it? But it is precisely that which +constitutes my system of _statu quo_. I make no war upon symbols, +figures, or phantoms. I respect scarecrows, and bow before bugbears. I +ask, on the one hand, that property be left as it is, but that interest +on all kinds of capital be gradually lowered and finally abolished; on +the other hand, that the charter be maintained in its present shape, but +that method be introduced into administration and politics. That is all. +Nevertheless, submitting to all that is, though not satisfied with it, I +endeavor to conform to the established order, and to render unto Caesar +the things that are Caesar's. Is it thought, for instance, that I love +property?... Very well; I am myself a proprietor and do homage to the +right of increase, as is proved by the fact that I have creditors to +whom I faithfully pay, every year, a large amount of interest. The same +with politics. Since we are a monarchy, I would cry, "LONG LIVE THE +KING," rather than suffer death; which does not prevent me, however, +from demanding that the irremovable, inviolable, and hereditary +representative of the nation shall act with the proletaires against the +privileged classes; in a word, that the king shall become the leader of +the radical party. Thereby we proletaires would gain every thing; and I +am sure that, at this price, Louis Philippe might secure to his family +the perpetual presidency of the republic. And this is why I think so. + +If there existed in France but one great functional inequality, the duty +of the functionary being, from one end of the year to the other, to hold +full court of savants, artists, soldiers, deputies, inspectors, &c., +it is evident that the expenses of the presidency then would be the +national expenses; and that, through the reversion of the civil list to +the mass of consumers, the great inequality of which I speak would form +an exact equation with the whole nation. Of this no economist needs a +demonstration. Consequently, there would be no more fear of cliques, +courtiers, and appanages, since no new inequality could be established. +The king, as king, would have friends (unheard-of thing), but no family. +His relatives or kinsmen,--_agnats et cognats_,--if they were fools, +would be nothing to him; and in no case, with the exception of the heir +apparent, would they have, even in court, more privileges than others. +No more nepotism, no more favor, no more baseness. No one would go +to court save when duty required, or when called by an honorable +distinction; and as all conditions would be equal and all functions +equally honored, there would be no other emulation than that of merit +and virtue. I wish the king of the French could say without shame, +"My brother the gardener, my sister-in-law the milk-maid, my son the +prince-royal, and my son the blacksmith." His daughter might well be an +artist. That would be beautiful, sir; that would be royal; no one but a +buffoon could fail to understand it. + +In this way, I have come to think that the forms of royalty may be +made to harmonize with the requirements of equality, and have given +a monarchical form to my republican spirit. I have seen that France +contains by no means as many democrats as is generally supposed, and +I have compromised with the monarchy. I do not say, however, that, if +France wanted a republic, I could not accommodate myself equally well, +and perhaps better. By nature, I hate all signs of distinction, crosses +of honor, gold lace, liveries, costumes, honorary titles, &c., and, +above all, parades. If I had my way, no general should be distinguished +from a soldier, nor a peer of France from a peasant. Why have I never +taken part in a review? for I am happy to say, sir, that I am a national +guard; I have nothing else in the world but that. Because the review is +always held at a place which I do not like, and because they have fools +for officers whom I am compelled to obey. You see,--and this is not the +best of my history,--that, in spite of my conservative opinions, my life +is a perpetual sacrifice to the republic. + +Nevertheless, I doubt if such simplicity would be agreeable to French +vanity, to that inordinate love of distinction and flattery which makes +our nation the most frivolous in the world. M. Lamartine, in his grand +"Meditation on Bonaparte," calls the French A NATION OF BRUTUSES. We are +merely a nation of Narcissuses. Previous to '89, we had the aristocracy +of blood; then every bourgeois looked down upon the commonalty, and +wished to be a nobleman. Afterwards, distinction was based on wealth, +and the bourgeoisie jealous of the nobility, and proud of their money, +used 1830 to promote, not liberty by any means, but the aristocracy +of wealth. When, through the force of events, and the natural laws of +society, for the development of which France offers such free play, +equality shall be established in functions and fortunes, then the beaux +and the belles, the savants and the artists, will form new classes. +There is a universal and innate desire in this Gallic country for fame +and glory. We must have distinctions, be they what they may,--nobility, +wealth, talent, beauty, or dress. I suspect MM. Arage and Garnier-Pages +of having aristocratic manners, and I picture to myself our great +journalists, in their columns so friendly to the people, administering +rough kicks to the compositors in their printing offices. + +"This man," once said "Le National" in speaking of Carrel, "whom we +had proclaimed FIRST CONSUL!... Is it not true that the monarchical +principle still lives in the hearts of our democrats, and that they +want universal suffrage in order to make themselves kings? Since "Le +National" prides itself on holding more fixed opinions than "Le Journal +des Debats," I presume that, Armand Carrel being dead, M. Armand Marrast +is now first consul, and M. Garnier-Pages second consul. In every thing +the deputy must give way to the journalist. I do not speak of M. +Arago, whom I believe to be, in spite of calumny, too learned for the +consulship. Be it so. Though we have consuls, our position is not much +altered. I am ready to yield my share of sovereignty to MM. Armand +Marrast and Garnier-Pages, the appointed consuls, provided they will +swear on entering upon the duties of their office, to abolish property +and not be haughty. + +Forever promises! Forever oaths! Why should the people trust in +tribunes, when kings perjure themselves? Alas! truth and honesty are no +longer, as in the days of King John, in the mouth of princes. A whole +senate has been convicted of felony, and, the interest of the governors +always being, for some mysterious reason, opposed to the interest of the +governed, parliaments follow each other while the nation dies of hunger. +No, no! No more protectors, no more emperors, no more consuls. Better +manage our affairs ourselves than through agents. Better associate our +industries than beg from monopolies; and, since the republic cannot +dispense with virtues, we should labor for our reform. + +This, therefore, is my line of conduct. I preach emancipation to the +proletaires; association to the laborers; equality to the wealthy. I +push forward the revolution by all means in my power,--the tongue, +the pen, the press, by action, and example. My life is a continual +apostleship. + +Yes, I am a reformer; I say it as I think it, in good faith, and that I +may be no longer reproached for my vanity. I wish to convert the world. +Very likely this fancy springs from an enthusiastic pride which may have +turned to delirium; but it will be admitted at least that I have plenty +of company, and that my madness is not monomania. At the present day, +everybody wishes to be reckoned among the lunatics of Beranger. To say +nothing of the Babeufs, the Marats, and the Robespierres, who swarm in +our streets and workshops, all the great reformers of antiquity live +again in the most illustrious personages of our time. One is Jesus +Christ, another Moses, a third Mahomet; this is Orpheus, that Plato, +or Pythagoras. Gregory VII., himself, has risen from the grave together +with the evangelists and the apostles; and it may turn out that even I +am that slave who, having escaped from his master's house, was forthwith +made a bishop and a reformer by St. Paul. As for the virgins and holy +women, they are expected daily; at present, we have only Aspasias and +courtesans. + +Now, as in all diseases, the diagnostic varies according to the +temperament, so my madness has its peculiar aspects and distinguishing +characteristic. + +Reformers, as a general thing, are jealous of their role; they suffer no +rivals, they want no partners; they have disciples, but no co-laborers. +It is my desire, on the contrary, to communicate my enthusiasm, and to +make it, as far as I can, epidemic. I wish that all were, like myself, +reformers, in order that there might be no more sects; and that Christs, +Anti-Christs, and false Christs might be forced to understand and agree +with each other. + +Again, every reformer is a magician, or at least desires to become one. +Thus Moses, Jesus Christ, and the apostles, proved their mission by +miracles. Mahomet ridiculed miracles after having endeavored to perform +them. Fourier, more cunning, promises us wonders when the globe shall +be covered with phalansteries. For myself, I have as great a horror +of miracles as of authorities, and aim only at logic. That is why I +continually search after the criterion of certainty. I work for the +reformation of ideas. Little matters it that they find me dry and +austere. I mean to conquer by a bold struggle, or die in the attempt; +and whoever shall come to the defence of property, I swear that I +will force him to argue like M. Considerant, or philosophize like M. +Troplong. + +Finally,--and it is here that I differ most from my compeers,--I do not +believe it necessary, in order to reach equality, to turn every thing +topsy-turvy. To maintain that nothing but an overturn can lead to reform +is, in my judgment, to construct a syllogism, and to look for the truth +in the regions of the unknown. Now, I am for generalization, induction, +and progress. I regard general disappropriation as impossible: attacked +from that point, the problem of universal association seems to me +insolvable. Property is like the dragon which Hercules killed: to +destroy it, it must be taken, not by the head, but by the tail,--that +is, by profit and interest. + +I stop. I have said enough to satisfy any one who can read and +understand. The surest way by which the government can baffle intrigues +and break up parties is to take possession of science, and point out to +the nation, at an already appreciable distance, the rising oriflamme of +equality; to say to those politicians of the tribune and the press, for +whose fruitless quarrels we pay so dearly, "You are rushing forward, +blind as you are, to the abolition of property; but the government +marches with its eyes open. You hasten the future by unprincipled and +insincere controversy; but the government, which knows this future, +leads you thither by a happy and peaceful transition. The present +generation will not pass away before France, the guide and model of +civilized nations, has regained her rank and legitimate influence." + +But, alas! the government itself,--who shall enlighten it? Who can +induce it to accept this doctrine of equality, whose terrible but +decisive formula the most generous minds hardly dare to acknowledge?... +I feel my whole being tremble when I think that the testimony of +three men--yes, of three men who make it their business to teach and +define--would suffice to give full play to public opinion, to change +beliefs, and to fix destinies. Will not the three men be found?... + +May we hope, or not? What must we think of those who govern us? In the +world of sorrow in which the proletaire moves, and where nothing is +known of the intentions of power, it must be said that despair prevails. +But you, sir,--you, who by function belong to the official world; you, +in whom the people recognize one of their noblest friends, and +property its most prudent adversary,--what say you of our deputies, our +ministers, our king? Do you believe that the authorities are friendly +to us? Then let the government declare its position; let it print its +profession of faith in equality, and I am dumb. Otherwise, I shall +continue the war; and the more obstinacy and malice is shown, the +oftener will I redouble my energy and audacity. I have said before, and +I repeat it,--I have sworn, not on the dagger and the death's-head, amid +the horrors of a catacomb, and in the presence of men besmeared with +blood; but I have sworn on my conscience to pursue property, to grant it +neither peace nor truce, until I see it everywhere execrated. I have not +yet published half the things that I have to say concerning the right of +domain, nor the best things. Let the knights of property, if there are +any who fight otherwise than by retreating, be prepared every day for +a new demonstration and accusation; let them enter the arena armed with +reason and knowledge, not wrapped up in sophisms, for justice will be +done. + + +"To become enlightened, we must have liberty. That alone suffices; +but it must be the liberty to use the reason in regard to all public +matters. + +"And yet we hear on every hand authorities of all kinds and degrees +crying: 'Do not reason!' + +"If a distinction is wanted, here is one:-- + +"The PUBLIC use of the reason always should be free, but the PRIVATE +use ought always to be rigidly restricted. By public use, I mean the +scientific, literary use; by private, that which may be taken advantage +of by civil officials and public functionaries. Since the governmental +machinery must be kept in motion, in order to preserve unity and attain +our object, we must not reason; we must obey. But the same individual +who is bound, from this point of view, to passive obedience, has the +right to speak in his capacity of citizen and scholar. He can make an +appeal to the public, submit to it his observations on events which +occur around him and in the ranks above him, taking care, however, to +avoid offences which are punishable. + +"Reason, then, as much as you like; only, obey."--Kant: Fragment on the +Liberty of Thought and of the Press. Tissot's Translation. + + +These words of the great philosopher outline for me my duty. I have +delayed the reprint of the work entitled "What is Property?" in order +that I might lift the discussion to the philosophical height from which +ridiculous clamor has dragged it down; and that, by a new presentation +of the question, I might dissipate the fears of good citizens. I now +reenter upon the public use of my reason, and give truth full swing. The +second edition of the First Memoir on Property will immediately follow +the publication of this letter. Before issuing any thing further, I +shall await the observations of my critics, and the co-operation of the +friends of the people and of equality. + +Hitherto, I have spoken in my own name, and on my own personal +responsibility. It was my duty. I was endeavoring to call attention to +principles which antiquity could not discover, because it knew nothing +of the science which reveals them,--political economy. I have, then, +testified as to FACTS; in short, I have been a WITNESS. Now my role +changes. It remains for me to deduce the practical consequences of the +facts proclaimed. The position of PUBLIC PROSECUTOR is the only one +which I am henceforth fitted to fill, and I shall sum up the case in the +name of the PEOPLE. + +I am, sir, with all the consideration that I owe to your talent and your +character, + +Your very humble and most obedient servant, + +P. J. PROUDHON, + +Pensioner of the Academy of Besancon. + + +P.S. During the session of April 2, the Chamber of Deputies rejected, +by a very large majority, the literary-property bill, BECAUSE IT DID NOT +UNDERSTAND IT. Nevertheless, literary property is only a special form of +the right of property, which everybody claims to understand. Let us hope +that this legislative precedent will not be fruitless for the cause of +equality. The consequence of the vote of the Chamber is the abolition +of capitalistic property,--property incomprehensible, contradictory, +impossible, and absurd. + + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + + + + +[Footnote 1: In the French edition of Proudhon's works, the above sketch +of his life is prefixed to the first volume of his correspondence, but +the translator prefers to insert it here as the best method of +introducing the author to the American public.] + +[Footnote 2: "An Inquiry into Grammatical Classifications." By P. J. +Proudhon. A treatise which received honorable mention from the Academy +of Inscriptions, May 4, 1839. Out of print.] + +[Footnote 3: "The Utility of the Celebration of Sunday," &c. By P. J. +Proudhon. Besancon, 1839, 12mo; 2d edition, Paris, 1841, 18mo.] + +[Footnote 4: Charron, on "Wisdom," Chapter xviii.] + +[Footnote 5: M. Vivien, Minister of Justice, before commencing +proceedings against the "Memoir upon Property," asked the opinion of M. +Blanqui; and it was on the strength of the observations of this +honorable academician that he spared a book which had already excited +the indignation of the magistrates. M. Vivien is not the only official +to whom I have been indebted, since my first publication, for assistance +and protection; but such generosity in the political arena is so rare +that one may acknowledge it graciously and freely. I have always +thought, for my part, that bad institutions made bad magistrates; just +as the cowardice and hypocrisy of certain bodies results solely from the +spirit which governs them. Why, for instance, in spite of the virtues +and talents for which they are so noted, are the academies generally +centres of intellectual repression, stupidity, and base intrigue? That +question ought to be proposed by an academy: there would be no lack of +competitors.] + +[Footnote 6: In Greek, {GREEK e ncg } examiner; a philosopher whose +business is to seek the truth.] + +[Footnote 7: Religion, laws, marriage, were the privileges of freemen, +and, in the beginning, of nobles only. Dii majorum gentium--gods of the +patrician families; jus gentium--right of nations; that is, of families +or nobles. The slave and the plebeian had no families; their children +were treated as the offspring of animals. BEASTS they were born, BEASTS +they must live.] + +[Footnote 8: If the chief of the executive power is responsible, so must +the deputies be also. It is astonishing that this idea has never +occurred to any one; it might be made the subject of an interesting +essay. But I declare that I would not, for all the world, maintain it; +the people are yet much too logical for me to furnish them with +arguments.] + +[Footnote 9: See De Tocqueville, "Democracy in the United States;" and +Michel Chevalier, "Letters on North America." Plutarch tells us, "Life +of Pericles," that in Athens honest people were obliged to conceal +themselves while studying, fearing they would be regarded as aspirants +for office.] + +[Footnote 10: "Sovereignty," according to Toullier, "is human +omnipotence." A materialistic definition: if sovereignty is any thing, +it is a RIGHT not a FORCE or a faculty. And what is human omnipotence?] + +[Footnote 11: The Proudhon here referred to is J. B. V. Proudhon; a +distinguished French jurist, and distant relative of the Translator.] + +[Footnote 12: Here, especially, the simplicity of our ancestors appears +in all its rudeness. After having made first cousins heirs, where there +were no legitimate children, they could not so divide the property +between two different branches as to prevent the simultaneous existence +of extreme wealth and extreme poverty in the same family. For example:-- +James, dying, leaves two sons, Peter and John, heirs of his fortune: +James's property is divided equally between them. But Peter has only one +daughter, while John, his brother, leaves six sons. It is clear that, to +be true to the principle of equality, and at the same time to that of +heredity, the two estates must be divided in seven equal portions among +the children of Peter and John; for otherwise a stranger might marry +Peter's daughter, and by this alliance half of the property of James, +the grandfather, would be transferred to another family, which is +contrary to the principle of heredity. Furthermore, John's children +would be poor on account of their number, while their cousin, being an +only child, would be rich, which is contrary to the principle of +equality. If we extend this combined application of two principles +apparently opposed to each other, we shall become convinced that the +right of succession, which is assailed with so little wisdom in our day, +is no obstacle to the maintenance of equality.] + +[Footnote 13: _Zeus klesios_.] + +[Footnote 14: Giraud, "Investigations into the Right of Property among +the Romans."] + +[Footnote 15: Precarious, from precor, "I pray;" because the act of +concession expressly signified that the lord, in answer to the prayers +of his men or slaves, had granted them permission to labor.] + +[Footnote 16: I cannot conceive how any one dares to justify the +inequality of conditions, by pointing to the base inclinations and +propensities of certain men. Whence comes this shameful degradation of +heart and mind to which so many fall victims, if not from the misery and +abjection into which property plunges them?] + +[Footnote 17: How many citizens are needed to support a professor of +philosophy?--Thirty-five millions. How many for an economist?--Two +billions. And for a literary man, who is neither a savant, nor an +artist, nor a philosopher, nor an economist, and who writes newspaper +novels?--None.] + +[Footnote 18: There is an error in the author's calculation here; but +the translator, feeling sure that the reader will understand Proudhon's +meaning, prefers not to alter his figures.--Translator.] + +[Footnote 19: _Hoc inter se differunt onanismus et manuspratio, nempe +quod haec a solitario exercetur, ille autem a duobus reciprocatur, +masculo scilicet et faemina. Porro foedam hanc onanismi venerem ludentes +uxoria mariti habent nunc omnigm suavissimam_] + +[Footnote 20: Polyandry,--plurality of husbands.] + +[Footnote 21: Infanticide has just been publicly advocated in England, +in a pamphlet written by a disciple of Malthus. He proposes an ANNUAL +MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS in all families containing more children than +the law allows; and he asks that a magnificent cemetery, adorned with +statues, groves, fountains, and flowers, be set apart as a special +burying-place for the superfluous children. Mothers would resort to this +delightful spot to dream of the happiness of these little angels, and +would return, quite comforted, to give birth to others, to be buried in +their turn.] + +[Footnote 22: To perform an act of benevolence towards one's neighbor is +called, in Hebrew, to do justice; in Greek, to take compassion or pity +({GREEK n n f e },from which is derived the French _aumone_); in Latin, +to perform an act of love or charity; in French, give alms. We can trace +the degradation of this principle through these various expressions: the +first signifies duty; the second only sympathy; the third, affection, a +matter of choice, not an obligation; the fourth, caprice.] + +[Footnote 23: I mean here by equite what the Latins called humanitas,-- +that is, the kind of sociability which is peculiar to man. Humanity, +gentle and courteous to all, knows how to distinguish ranks, virtues, +and capacities without injury to any.] + +[Footnote 24: Justice and equite never have been understood.] + +[Footnote 25: Between woman and man there may exist love, passion, ties +of custom, and the like; but there is no real society. Man and woman are +not companions. The difference of the sexes places a barrier between +them, like that placed between animals by a difference of race. +Consequently, far from advocating what is now called the emancipation of +woman, I should incline, rather, if there were no other alternative, to +exclude her from society.] + +[Footnote 26: "The strong-box of Cosmo de Medici was the grave of +Florentine liberty," said M. Michelet to the College of France.] + +[Footnote 27: "My right is my lance and my buckler." General de Brossard +said, like Achilles: "I get wine, gold, and women with my lance and my +buckler."] + +[Footnote 28: It would be interesting and profitable to review the +authors who have written on usury, or, to use the gentler expression +which some prefer, lendingat interest. The theologians always have +opposed usury; but, since they have admitted always the legitimacy of +rent, and since rent is evidently identical with interest, they have +lost themselves in a labyrinth of subtle distinctions, and have finally +reached a pass where they do not know what to think of usury. The +Church--the teacher of morality, so jealous and so proud of the purity +of her doctrine--has always been ignorant of the real nature of property +and usury. She even has proclaimed through her pontiffs the most +deplorable errors. _Non potest mutuum_, said Benedict XIV., _locationi +ullo pacto comparari_. "Rent," says Bossuet, "is as far from usury as +heaven is from the earth." How, on{sic} such a doctrine, condemn lending +at interest? how justify the Gospel, which expressly forbids usury? The +difficulty of theologians is a very serious one. Unable to refute the +economical demonstrations, which rightly assimilate interest to rent, +they no longer dare to condemn interest, and they can say only that +there must be such a thing as usury, since the Gospel forbids it.] + +[Footnote 29: "I preach the Gospel, I live by the Gospel," said the +Apostle; meaning thereby that he lived by his labor. The Catholic clergy +prefer to live by property. The struggles in the communes of the middle +ages between the priests and bishops and the large proprietors and +seigneurs are famous. The papal excommunications fulminated in defence +of ecclesiastical revenues are no less so. Even to-day, the official +organs of the Gallican clergy still maintain that the pay received by +the clergy is not a salary, but an indemnity for goods of which they +were once proprietors, and which were taken from them in '89 by the +Third Estate. The clergy prefer to live by the right of increase rather +than by labor.] + +[Footnote 30: The meaning ordinarily attached to the word "anarchy" is +absence of principle, absence of rule; consequently, it has been +regarded as synonymous with "disorder."] + +[Footnote 31: If such ideas are ever forced into the minds of the +people, it will be by representative government and the tyranny of +talkers. Once science, thought, and speech were characterized by the +same expression. To designate a thoughtful and a learned man, they said, +"a man quick to speak and powerful in discourse." For a long time, +speech has been abstractly distinguished from science and reason. +Gradually, this abstraction is becoming realized, as the logicians say, +in society; so that we have to-day savants of many kinds who talk but +little, and TALKERS who are not even savants in the science of speech. +Thus a philosopher is no longer a savant: he is a talker. Legislators +and poets were once profound and sublime characters: now they are +talkers. A talker is a sonorous bell, whom the least shock suffices to +set in perpetual motion. With the talker, the flow of speech is always +directly proportional to the poverty of thought. Talkers govern the +world; they stun us, they bore us, they worry us, they suck our blood, +and laugh at us. As for the savants, they keep silence: if they wish to +say a word, they are cut short. Let them write.] + +[Footnote 32: _libertas, librare, libratio, libra_,--liberty, to +liberate, libration, balance (pound),--words which have a common +derivation. Liberty is the balance of rights and duties. To make a man +free is to balance him with others,--that is, to put him or their +level.] + +[Footnote 33: In a monthly publication, the first number of which has +just appeared under the name of "L'Egalitaire," self-sacrifice is laid +down as a principle of equality. This is a confusion of ideas. Self- +sacrifice, taken alone, is the last degree of inequality. To seek +equality in self-sacrifice is to confess that equality is against +nature. Equality must be based upon justice, upon strict right, upon the +principles invoked by the proprietor himself; otherwise it will never +exist. Self-sacrifice is superior to justice; but it cannot be imposed +as law, because it is of such a nature as to admit of no reward. It is, +indeed, desirable that everybody shall recognize the necessity of self- +sacrifice, and the idea of "L'Egalitaire" is an excellent example. +Unfortunately, it can have no effect. What would you reply, indeed, to a +man who should say to you, "I do not want to sacrifice myself"? Is he to +be compelled to do so? When self-sacrifice is forced, it becomes +oppression, slavery, the exploitation of man by man. Thus have the +proletaires sacrificed themselves to property.] + +[Footnote 34: The disciples of Fourier have long seemed to me the most +advanced of all modern socialists, and almost the only ones worthy of +the name. If they had understood the nature of their task, spoken to the +people, awakened their sympathies, and kept silence when they did not +understand; if they had made less extravagant pretensions, and had shown +more respect for public intelligence,--perhaps the reform would now, +thanks to them, be in progress. But why are these earnest reformers +continually bowing to power and wealth,--that is, to all that is anti- +reformatory? How, in a thinking age, can they fail to see that the world +must be converted by DEMONSTRATION, not by myths and allegories? Why do +they, the deadly enemies of civilization, borrow from it, nevertheless, +its most pernicious fruits,--property, inequality of fortune and rank, +gluttony, concubinage, prostitution, what do I know? theurgy, magic, and +sorcery? Why these endless denunciations of morality, metaphysics, and +psychology, when the abuse of these sciences, which they do not +understand, constitutes their whole system? Why this mania for deifying +a man whose principal merit consisted in talking nonsense about things +whose names, even, he did not know, in the strongest language ever put +upon paper? Whoever admits the infallibility of a man becomes thereby +incapable of instructing others. Whoever denies his own reason will soon +proscribe free thought. The phalansterians would not fail to do it if +they had the power. Let them condescend to reason, let them proceed +systematically, let them give us demonstrations instead of revelations, +and we will listen willingly. Then let them organize manufactures, +agriculture, and commerce; let them make labor attractive, and the most +humble functions honorable, and our praise shall be theirs. Above all, +let them throw off that Illuminism which gives them the appearance of +impostors or dupes, rather than believers and apostles.] + +[Footnote 35: Individual possession is no obstacle to extensive +cultivation and unity of exploitation. If I have not spoken of the +drawbacks arising from small estates, it is because I thought it useless +to repeat what so many others have said, and what by this time all the +world must know. But I am surprised that the economists, who have so +clearly shown the disadvantages of spade-husbandry, have failed to see +that it is caused entirely by property; above all, that they have not +perceived that their plan for mobilizing the soil is a first step +towards the abolition of property.] + + +[Footnote 36: In the Chamber of Deputies, during the session of the +fifth of January, 1841, M. Dufaure moved to renew the expropriation +bill, on the ground of public utility.] + +[Footnote 37: "What is Property?" Chap. IV., Ninth Proposition.] + +[Footnote 38: _Tu cognovisti sessionem meam et resurrectionem meam_. +Psalm 139.] + +[Footnote 39: The emperor Nicholas has just compelled all the +manufacturers in his empire to maintain, at their own expense, within +their establishments, small hospitals for the reception of sick +workmen,--the number of beds in each being proportional to the number of +laborers in the factory. "You profit by man's labor," the Czar could +have said to his proprietors; "you shall be responsible for man's life." +M. Blanqui has said that such a measure could not succeed in France. It +would be an attack upon property,--a thing hardly conceivable even in +Russia, Scythia, or among the Cossacks; but among us, the oldest sons of +civilization!... I fear very much that this quality of age may prove in +the end a mark of decrepitude.] + +[Footnote 40: Course of M. Blanqui. Lecture of Nov. 27,1840.] + +[Footnote 41: In "Mazaniello," the Neapolitan fisherman demands, amid +the applause of the galleries, that a tax be levied upon luxuries.] + +[Footnote 42: _Seme le champ, proletaire; C'est l l'oisif +qui recoltera_.] + +[Footnote 43: "In some countries, the enjoyment of certain political +rights depends upon the amount of property. But, in these same +countries, property is expressive, rather than attributive, of the +qualifications necessary to the exercise of these rights. It is rather a +conjectural proof than the cause of these qualifications."--Rossi: +Treatise on Penal Law.] + +[Footnote 44: Lecture of December 22.] + +[Footnote 45: Lecture of Jan. 15, 1841.] + +[Footnote 46: Lecture of Jan. 15, 1841.] + +[Footnote 47: MM. Blanqui and Wolowski.] + +[Footnote 48: Subject proposed by the Fourth Class of the Institute, the +Academy of Moral and Political Sciences: "What would be the effect upon +the working-class of the organization of labor, according to the modern +ideas of association?"] + +[Footnote 49: Subject proposed by the Academy of Besancon: "The +economical and moral consequences in France, up to the present time, and +those which seem likely to appear in future, of the law concerning the +equal division of hereditary property between the children."] + +[Footnote 50: {GREEK, ?n n '},--greater property. The Vulgate translates +it avaritia.] + +[Footnote 51: Similar or analogous customs have existed among all +nations. Consult, among other works, "Origin of French Law," by M. +Michelet; and "Antiquities of German Law," by Grimm.] + +[Footnote 52: _Dees hominesque testamur, nos arma neque contra patriam +cepisse neque quo periculum aliis faceremus, sed uti corpora nostra ab +injuria tuta forent, qui miseri, egentes, violentia atque crudelitate +foeneraterum, plerique patriae, sed omncsfarna atque fortunis expertes +sumus; neque cuiquam nostrum licuit, more majorum, lege uti, neque, +amisso patrimonio, libferum corpus habere._--Sallus: Bellum +Catilinarium.] + + +[Footnote 53: Fifty, sixty, and eighty per cent.--Course of M. Blanqui.] + +[Footnote 54: _Episcopi plurimi, quos et hortamento esse oportet +caeteris et exemplo, divina prouratione contempta, procuratores rerum +saeularium fieri, derelicta cathedra, plebe leserta, per alienas +provincias oberrantes, negotiationis quaestuosae nundinas au uucu-, +pari, esurientibus in ecclesia fratribus habere argentum largitur velle, +fundos insidi.sis fraudibus rapere, usuris multiplicantibus faenus +augere._--Cyprian: De Lapsis. {--NOTE: what does this refer to? This is +at bottom of pg 341 in MS} In this passage, St. Cyprian alludes to +lending on mortgages and to compound interest.] + +[Footnote 55: "Inquiries concerning Property among the Romans."] + +[Footnote 56: "Its acquisitive nature works rapidly in the sleep of the +law. It is ready, at the word, to absorb every thing. Witness the famous +equivocation about the ox-hide which, when cut up into thongs, was large +enough to enclose the site of Carthage.... The legend has reappeared +several times since Dido.... Such is the love of man for the land. +Limited by tombs, measured by the members of the human body, by the +thumb, the foot, and the arm, it harmonizes, as far as possible, with +the very proportions of man. Nor is he satisfied yet: he calls Heaven to +witness that it is his; he tries to or his land, to give it the form of +heaven.... In his titanic intoxication, he describes property in the +very terms which he employs in describing the Almighty--_fundus_ +_optimus maximus_.... He shall make it his couch, and they shall be +separated no more,--{GREEK, ' nf g h g g."}--Michelet:Origin of French +Law.] + +[Footnote 57: M. Guizot denies that Christianity alone is entitled to +the glory of the abolition of slavery. "To this end," he says, "many +causes were necessary,--the evolution of other ideas and other +principles of civilization." So general an assertion cannot be refuted. +Some of these ideas and causes should have been pointed out, that we +might judge whether their source was not wholly Christian, or whether at +least the Christian spirit had not penetrated and thus fructified them. +Most of the emancipation charters begin with these words: "For the love +of God and the salvation of my soul."] + +[Footnote 58: _Weregild_,--the fine paid for the murder of a man. So +much for a count, so much for a baron, so much for a freeman, so much +for a priest; for a slave, nothing. His value was restored to the +proprietor.] + +[Footnote 59: The spirit of despotism and monopoly which animated the +communes has not escaped the attention of historians. "The formation of +the commoners' associations," says Meyer, "did not spring from the true +spirit of liberty, but from the desire for exemption from the charges of +the seigniors, from individual interests, and jealousy of the welfare of +others.... Each commune or corporation opposed the creation of every +other; and this spirit increased to such an extent that the King of +England, Henry V., having established a university at Caen, in 1432, the +city and university of Paris opposed the registration of the edict."] + +[Footnote 60: Feudalism was, in spirit and in its providential destiny, +a long protest of the human personality against the monkish communism +with which Europe, in the middle ages, was overrun. After the orgies of +Pagan selfishness, society--carried to the opposite extreme by the +Christian religion--risked its life by unlimited self-denial and +absolute indifference to the pleasures of the world. Feudalism was the +balance-weight which saved Europe from the combined influence of the +religious communities and the Manlchean sects which had sprung up since +the fourth century under different names and in different countries. +Modern civilization is indebted to feudalism for the definitive +establishment of the person, of marriage, of the family, and of country. +(See, on this subject, Guizot, "History of Civilization in Europe.")] + +[Footnote 61: This was made evident in July, 1830, and the years which +followed it, when the electoral bourgeoisie effected a revolution in +order to get control over the king, and suppressed the emeutes in order +to restrain the people. The bourgeoisie, through the jury, the +magistracy, its position in the army, and its municipal despotism, +governs both royalty and the people. It is the bourgeoisie which, more +than any other class, is conservative and retrogressive. It is the +bourgeoisie which makes and unmakes ministries. It is the bourgeoisie +which has destroyed the influence of the Upper Chamber, and which will +dethrone the King whenever he shall become unsatisfactory to it. It is +to please the bourgeoisie that royalty makes itself unpopular. It is the +bourgeoisie which is troubled at the hopes of the people, and which +hinders reform. The journals of the bourgeoisie are the ones which +preach morality and religion to us, while reserving scepticism and +indifference for themselves; which attack personal government, and favor +the denial of the electoral privilege to those who have no property. The +bourgeoisie will accept any thing rather than the emancipation of the +proletariat. As soon as it thinks its privileges threatened, it will +unite with royalty; and who does not know that at this very moment these +two antagonists have suspended their quarrels?... It has been a question +of property.] + +[Footnote 62: The same opinion was recently expressed from the tribune +by one of our most honorable Deputies, M. Gauguier. "Nature," said he, +"has not endowed man with landed property." Changing the adjective +LANDED, which designates only a species into CAPITALISTIC, which denotes +the genus,--M. Gauguier made an egalitaire profession of faith.] + +[Footnote 63: A professor of comparative legislation, M. Lerminier, has +gone still farther. He has dared to say that the nation took from the +clergy all their possessions, not because of IDLENESS, but because of +UNWORTHINESS. "You have civilized the world," cries this apostle of +equality, speaking to the priests; "and for that reason your possessions +were given you. In your hands they were at once an instrument and a +reward. But you do not now deserve them, for you long since ceased to +civilize any thing whatever...."] + +[Footnote 64: "Treatise on Prescription."] + +[Footnote 65: "Origin of French Law."] + +[Footnote 66: To honor one's parents, to be grateful to one's +benefactors, to neither kill nor steal,--truths of inward sensation. To +obey God rather than men, to render to each that which is his; the whole +is greater than a part, a straight line is the shortest road from one +point to another,--truths of intuition. All are a priori but the first +are felt by the conscience, and imply only a simple act of the soul; the +second are perceived by the reason, and imply comparison and relation. +In short, the former are sentiments, the latter are ideas.] + +[Footnote 67: Armand Carrel would have favored the fortification of the +capital. "Le National" has said, again and again, placing the name of +its old editor by the side of the names of Napoleon and Vauban. What +signifies this exhumation of an anti-popular politician? It signifies +that Armand Carrel wished to make government an individual and +irremovable, but elective, property, and that he wished this property to +be elected, not by the people, but by the army. The political system of +Carrel was simply a reorganization of the pretorian guards. Carrel also +hated the _pequins_. That which he deplored in the revolution of July +was not, they say, the insurrection of the people, but the victory of +the people over the soldiers. That is the reason why Carrel, after 1830, +would never support the patriots. "Do you answer me with a few +regiments?" he asked. Armand Carrel regarded the army--the military +power--as the basis of law and government. This man undoubtedly had a +moral sense within him, but he surely had no sense of justice. Were he +still in this world, I declare it boldly, liberty would have no greater +enemy than Carrel.] + +[Footnote 68: In a very short article, which was read by M. Wolowski, M. +Louis Blanc declares, in substance, that he is not a communist (which I +easily believe); that one must be a fool to attack property (but he does +not say why); and that it is very necessary to guard against confounding +property with its abuses. When Voltaire overthrew Christianity, he +repeatedly avowed that he had no spite against religion, but only +against its abuses.] + +[Footnote 69: The property fever is at its height among writers and +artists, and it is curious to see the complacency with which our +legislators and men of letters cherish this devouring passion. An artist +sells a picture, and then, the merchandise delivered, assumes to prevent +the purchaser from selling engravings, under the pretext that he, the +painter, in selling the original, has not sold his DESIGN. A dispute +arises between the amateur and the artist in regard to both the fact and +the law. M. Villemain, the Minister of Public Instruction, being +consulted as to this particular case, finds that the painter is right; +only the property in the design should have been specially reserved in +the contract: so that, in reality, M. Villemain recognizes in the artist +a power to surrender his work and prevent its communication; thus +contradicting the legal axiom, One CANNOT GIVE AND KEEP AT THE SAME +TIME. A strange reasoner is M. Villemain! An ambiguous principle leads +to a false conclusion. Instead of rejecting the principle, M. Villemain +hastens to admit the conclusion. With him the _reductio ad absurdum_ is +a convincing argument. Thus he is made official defender of literary +property, sure of being understood and sustained by a set of loafers, +the disgrace of literature and the plague of public morals. Why, then, +does M. Villemain feel so strong an interest in setting himself up as +the chief of the literary classes, in playing for their benefit the role +of Trissotin in the councils of the State, and in becoming the +accomplice and associate of a band of profligates,--_soi-disant_ men of +letters,--who for more than ten years have labored with such deplorable +success to ruin public spirit, and corrupt the heart by warping the +mind?] + +[Footnote 70: M. Leroux has been highly praised in a review for having +defended property. I do not know whether the industrious encyclopedist +is pleased with the praise, but I know very well that in his place I +should mourn for reason and for truth.] + +[Footnote 71: "Impartial," of Besancon.] + +[Footnote 72: The Arians deny the divinity of Christ. The Semi-Arians +differ from the Arians only by a few subtle distinctions. M. Pierre +Leroux, who regards Jesus as a man, but claims that the Spirit of God +was infused into him, is a true Semi-Arian. + +The Manicheans admit two co-existent and eternal principles,--God and +matter, spirit and flesh, light and darkness, good and evil; but, unlike +the Phalansterians, who pretend to reconcile the two, the Manicheans +make war upon matter, and labor with all their might for the destruction +of the flesh, by condemning marriage and forbidding reproduction,--which +does not prevent them, however, from indulging in all the carnal +pleasures which the intensest lust can conceive of. In this last +particular, the tendency of the Fourieristic morality is quite +Manichean. + +The Gnostics do not differ from the early Christians. As their name +indicates, they regarded themselves as inspired. Fourier, who held +peculiar ideas concerning the visions of somnambulists, and who believed +in the possibility of developing the magnetic power to such an extent as +to enable us to commune with invisible beings, might, if he were living, +pass also for a Gnostic. + +The Adamites attend mass entirely naked, from motives of chastity. Jean +Jacques Rousseau, who took the sleep of the senses for chastity, and who +saw in modesty only a refinement of pleasure, inclined towards Adamism. +I know such a sect, whose members usually celebrate their mysteries in +the costume of Venus coming from the bath. + +The Pre-Adamites believe that men existed before the first man. I once +met a Pre-Adamite. True, he was deaf and a Fourierist. + +The Pelagians deny grace, and attribute all the merit of good works to +liberty. The Fourierists, who teach that man's nature and passions are +good, are reversed Pelagians; they give all to grace, and nothing to +liberty. + +The Socinians, deists in all other respects, admit an original +revelation. Many people are Socinians to-day, who do not suspect it, and +who regard their opinions as new. + +The Neo-Christians are those simpletons who admire Christianity because +it has produced bells and cathedrals. Base in soul, corrupt in heart, +dissolute in mind and senses, the Neo-Christians seek especially after +the external form, and admire religion, as they love women, for its +physical beauty. They believe in a coming revelation, as well as a +transfiguration of Catholicism. They will sing masses at the grand +spectacle in the phalanstery.] + +[Footnote 73: It should be understood that the above refers only to the +moral and political doctrines of Fourier,--doctrines which, like all +philosophical and religious systems, have their root and _raison +d'existence_ in society itself, and for this reason deserve to be +examined. The peculiar speculations of Fourier and his sect concerning +cosmogony, geology, natural history, physiology, and psychology, I leave +to the attention of those who would think it their duty to seriously +refute the fables of Blue Beard and the Ass's Skin.] + +[Footnote 74: A writer for the radical press, M. Louis Raybaud, said, in +the preface to his "Studies of Contemporary Reformers:" "Who does not +know that morality is relative? Aside from a few grand sentiments which +are strikingly instinctive, the measure of human acts varies with +nations and climates, and only civilization--the progressive education +of the race--can lead to a universal morality.... The absolute escapes +our contingent and finite nature; the absolute is the secret of God." +God keep from evil M. Louis Raybaud! But I cannot help remarking that +all political apostates begin by the negation of the absolute, which is +really the negation of truth. What can a writer, who professes +scepticism, have in common with radical views? What has he to say to his +readers? What judgment is he entitled to pass upon contemporary +reformers? M. Raybaud thought it would seem wise to repeat an old +impertinence of the legist, and that may serve him for an excuse. We all +have these weaknesses. But I am surprised that a man of so much +intelligence as M. Raybaud, who STUDIES SYSTEMS, fails to see the very +thing he ought first to recognize,--namely, that systems are the +progress of the mind towards the absolute.] + +[Footnote 75: The electoral reform, it is continually asserted, is not +an END, but a MEANS. Undoubtedly; but what, then, is the end? Why not +furnish an unequivocal explanation of its object? How can the people +choose their representatives, unless they know in advance the purpose +for which they choose them, and the object of the commission which they +entrust to them? But, it is said, the very business of those chosen by +the people is to find out the object of the reform. That is a quibble. +What is to hinder these persons, who are to be elected in future, from +first seeking for this object, and then, when they have found it, from +communicating it to the people? The reformers have well said, that, +while the object of the electoral reform remains in the least +indefinite, it will be only a means of transferring power from the hands +of petty tyrants to the hands of other tyrants. We know already how a +nation may be oppressed by being led to believe that it is obeying only +its own laws. The history of universal suffrage, among all nations, is +the history of the restrictions of liberty by and in the name of the +multitude. Still, if the electoral reform, in its present shape, were +rational, practical, acceptable to clean consciences and upright minds, +perhaps one might be excused, though ignorant of its object, for +supporting it. But, no; the text of the petition determines nothing, +makes no distinctions, requires no conditions, no guarantee; it +establishes the right without the duty. "Every Frenchman is a voter, and +eligible to office." As well say: "Every bayonet is intelligent, every +savage is civilized, every slave is free." In its vague generality, the +reformatory petition is the weakest of abstractions, or the highest form +of political treason. Consequently, the enlightened patriots distrust +and despise each other. The most radical writer of the time,--he whose +economical and social theories are, without comparison, the most +advanced,--M. Leroux, has taken a bold stand against universal suffrage +and democratic government, and has written an exceedingly keen criticism +of J. J. Rousseau. That is undoubtedly the reason why M. Leroux is no +longer the philosopher of "Le National." That journal, like Napoleon, +does not like men of ideas. Nevertheless, "Le National" ought to know +that he who fights against ideas will perish by ideas.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What is Property?, by P. J. 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