Chapter XVI: Christian Socialism (1)

We have come to a point now where professorial socialism and Christian socialism meet. Professors of political economy, finding themselves forced to abandon every hope of reconciling adverse interests of society without a moral and religious regeneration of the various social classes, turn to Christianity, and appeal to it for co-operation in their endeavors to bring about an era of peace and harmony. Professorial socialism terminates in Christianity. Christian socialism seeks in it a starting-point.

De Lamennais, who was born in 1782, was one of the earliest representatives of Christian socialism. He was for a time a French Catholic priest and an ardent defender of the faith. He sought to bring about an alliance between the masses and the Church, in opposition to kings, whom he regarded as oppressors of the people. The Church was to become an organizing power, and was to gather the individuals, the atoms, of industrial society, into a compact and harmonious whole. She was to become the soul, the animating spirit, of the economic as well as the religious world. He hoped to see her found a grand co-operative association of laborers, which should free them from the yoke of capitalist and the tyranny of landlord. The democratic views entertained by Lamennais, and his opposition to the monarchs of Europe, did not give satisfaction among the Church authorities. He went to Rome to plead his cause before Leo XII., and was received with open arms. But afterwards the motto of his journal _L’Avenir_, “Séparez vous des rois, tendez la main au peuple”—“separate yourselves from the kings, extend your hand to the people”—displeased Gregory XVI., and Lamennais, unable to win over the Pope to his views, finally left the Church in despair. “Catholicism was my own life,” said he, “because it is the life of humanity. I wished to defend it and draw it from the abyss into which it sinks more and more daily. Nothing was easier. The bishops have found that it would not suit them. Thus Rome lagged behind. I went there and saw the most abominable _cloaque_ which ever offended human eyesight.... No other God rules there but egotism. For a piece of land, for a few piasters, they would bargain away the nations, the whole human race, even the blessed Trinity.”[205]

He wrote, after his return, “Les Paroles d’un Croyant”—“The Words of a Believer”—published in 1833, and perhaps his most celebrated work. It is a strange, weird, fascinating book. In prose, yet with all the fervor, imagery, and beauty of poetry, he describes the wrongs and sufferings inflicted on the laborer by rulers and capitalists. How is it, one might ask, that he, so far above the masses, can depict their sorrows as vividly as if he had felt them? It is precisely because he is not far above the toiling many; he has in sympathy drawn near to them; he feels with and for them; what they have experienced, that has he also lived. Their pain is his pain; their anguish is his anguish, and has penetrated perhaps more deeply into his soul than into theirs.

In the following passage from “Les Paroles d’un Croyant” he shows how much worse are modern employers who oppress their laborers than were the earlier slave-owners. The story he tells is this:

“Now, there was a wicked and accursed man. And this man was strong and hated toil, so that he said to himself: ‘What shall I do? If I work not I shall die, and labor is to me intolerable.’

“Then there entered into his heart a thought born in hell. He went in the night and seized certain of his brethren while they slept, and bound them with chains.

“‘For,’ said he, ‘I will force them with whips and scourges to toil for me, and I will eat the fruit of their labor.’

“And he did that which he had resolved; and others, seeing it, did likewise, and the men of the earth were no longer brothers, but only masters and slaves.

“This was a day of sadness and mourning over all the face of the earth.

“A long time afterwards there arose another man, whose cruelty and wickedness exceeded the cruelty and wickedness of the first man.

“Seeing that men multiplied everywhere, and that the multitude of them was innumerable, he said to himself:

“‘I could indeed enchain some of these, and force them to work for me; but it would then be necessary to feed and otherwise maintain them, and that would diminish my gains. I will do better: I will let them work for nothing; they will die, in truth, but their number is great; I will amass a fortune before their number is largely diminished, and there will always remain enough of them.’

“‘Now all this multitude of men might live on what they received in exchange for their labor.’

“Having thus spoken, he addressed himself separately to some of them, and said: ‘You work six hours, and you receive a piece of money for your labor; work twelve hours and you will receive two pieces of money, and you and your wives and your little ones will live better.’

“And they believed him.

“Then he said to them, ‘You work only half the days of the year; work every day in the year and your gains will be doubled.’

“And they believed him still.

“Now it happened that the quantity of labor having been doubled without any increase in the demand therefor, the half of those who previously lived by their labor could find no one to employ them.

“Then the wicked man whom they had believed said to them: ‘I will give labor to all, under condition that you will labor the same length of time, and that I shall pay you only half so much as I have been in the habit of doing; because I indeed desire to render you a service, but I do not wish to ruin myself.’

“And as they, their wives, and little ones were suffering the pangs of hunger, they accepted the proposal of the wicked man, and they blessed him; for, said they, ‘He gives us our life.’

“And, continuing to deceive them in the same manner, the wicked man ever increased their labor and ever diminished their wages.

“And they died for lack of the necessaries of life, and others pressed forward to take their places; for poverty had become so terrible in the land, that entire families sold themselves for a morsel of bread.

“And the wicked, cruel man, who had lied to his brothers, amassed a larger fortune than the wicked man who had enslaved them.

“The name of the latter is tyrant; but the former has no name save in hell itself.”[206]

The Christian socialism of England has peculiarities which render it exceedingly interesting in connection with an account of French and German Christian socialism, furnishing, as it does, opportunities for instructive comparisons.

It arose about thirty years ago. Its founders were men like Charles Kingsley, Frederick Maurice, and Thomas Hughes. They were filled with horror at the wrongs and hardships of the lower classes, and rejected with lofty moral indignation the theory of the Manchester men that state and society were to do nothing about it. They refused to believe that the action of self-interest led to the most perfect social harmony, or that government should do nothing to alleviate suffering and elevate the masses. Some of their expressions might have satisfied even a social democrat. Kingsley expressed his opinion of economic liberalism by describing the Cobden and Bright scheme of the universe as the worst of all narrow, hypocritical, anarchic, and atheistic social philosophies; while he predicted the coming of good times to the poor, and the overthrow of mammonism, in these words: “Not by wrath and haste, but by patience made perfect through suffering, canst thou proclaim this good news to the groaning masses, and deliver them, as thy Master did before thee, by the cross and not the sword. Divine paradox! Folly to the rich and mighty—the watchword to the weak, in whose weakness is God’s strength made perfect. ‘In your patience possess ye your souls, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.’ Yes, he came then, and the Babel-tyranny of Rome fell, even as the more fearful, the more subtle, and more diabolic tyranny of mammon shall fall ere long—suicidal, even now crumbling by its innate decay. Yes; Babylon the Great—the commercial world of selfish competition, drunken with the blood of God’s people, whose merchandise is the bodies and souls of men—her doom is gone forth. And then—then—when they, the tyrants of the earth, who lived delicately with her, rejoicing in her sins, the plutocrats and bureaucrats, the money-changers and devourers of labor, are crying to the rocks to hide them, and to the hills to cover them, from the wrath of him that sitteth on the throne; then labor shall be free at last, and the poor shall eat and be satisfied, with things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, but which God has prepared for those who love him.”[207]

Kingsley and his confrères held that modern competition was only one kind of warfare, and consequently sinful. They sought to replace it by co-operation, in which they found a practical carrying-out of Christian principles. Mr. Ludlow, Maurice, and others talked the matter over, and finally formed a society in London to promote co-operative undertakings and the education of the lower classes. They assisted laborers to found productive co-operative associations. They established also a newspaper, the _Christian Socialist_, in which they made propaganda for their faith. They thought they had discovered the panacea for all social evils: “I certainly thought,” said Mr. Hughes afterwards—“and, for that matter, have never altered my opinion to this day—that here we had found the solution of the great labor question; but I was also convinced that we had nothing to do but just to announce it, and found an association or two, in order to convert all England, and usher in the millennium at once, so plain did the whole thing seem to me. I will not undertake to answer for the rest of the council, but I doubt whether I was at all more sanguine than the majority.”[208]

The Christian socialists established seventeen co-operative societies in London and twenty-four in other parts of England, but chiefly, if not wholly, in the south, before their organ ceased to appear. These, however, all failed. But about this time there began to spring up in the north of England distributive co-operative societies, not designed to produce commodities, but, as their name implies, to distribute them by establishing stores. These associations, which have prospered greatly, furnished an opportunity for some of the Christian socialists to exert themselves in behalf of the laborer. So far as there is to-day any active Christian socialism in England, it is to be found in the Co-operative Union. Indeed, Mr. Thomas Hughes seems to identify the two movements in a letter,[209] which he was kind enough to write me about Christian socialism. As it is interesting, and Americans are always glad to hear what the author of “Tom Brown at Rugby” has to say, I will take the liberty of quoting such parts of his letter as bear on our subject:

“The details of the Christian socialist movement may still be
gathered from _The Christian Socialist_ newspaper, and tracts,
_The Journal of Association_, its short-lived successor, and
_Politics for the People_, its more short-lived predecessor....
The leaders are quite scattered—Maurice, Kingsley, and
Mansfield dead; Lord Ripon, Governor-general of India; Ludlow,
Registrar of Friendly Societies; Ellison, a metropolitan
magistrate; I a county-court judge. The only one left actively
in this movement (which I have left only two months since) is
E. Vansittart Neale, who is general secretary (and backbone and
conscience) of the Co-operative Union. I was chairman of the
southern section till I took this judgeship.

“We have managed to keep this great organization, now
consisting of some thousand societies, with some millions
of capital, up to the principles of the Christian
socialists—nominally, at any rate—and I really think the old
spirit is, at any rate, alive in a large proportion of the
rising leaders, though the mammon devil is, I am bound to own,
vigorous among them, and hard to put down.... I still look to
this movement as the best hope for England and other lands.”

Mr. Neale has been good enough to write me a fuller account of the connection between co-operation and Christian socialism, which he regards as two distinct movements—in their origin, at least. I will quote what he has to say about them:

“MANCHESTER, December 4, 1882.

...

“I think that the Christian social efforts of Messrs. Maurice,
Kingsley, Hughes, etc., and the co-operative movement out of
which our present Union has grown up, ought to be distinguished
as really separate actions, independent of each other in their
origin, though they have subsequently, to a certain extent,
coalesced.

“The distributive societies have grown up since 1844,
principally from the impulse originating in the Rochdale
Pioneers, which was, so far as it can be said to embody any
moral principle, Owenite rather than Christian. No doubt it
included, from the first, members of the various religious
bodies which exist in England, and it never professed to
substitute any other religious teaching for that given in
the name of Christianity, as R. Owen’s followers had done.
Therefore, among the disciples, men soon appeared who said,
This co-operation which you advocate is nothing else than the
practical application of Christianity to the ordinary business
of life. Likewise, when, at a later date, those who had
gathered around Mr. Maurice’s endeavors to show systematically
the connection of Christian ideas with the Co-operative
Union, as is done by Mr. Hughes and myself in the ‘Manual
for Co-operation,’ ... this application was accepted by the
Congress of the Co-operative Union as a legitimate descent of
co-operation, and is more or less assented to at the present
time by co-operators who never were in any way connected with
Mr. Maurice.

“But this has been, as I have said, a result of relations which
have grown up between two movements, distinct in their origin,
but similar in their tendencies, and from this similarity, and
the aid afforded by each to the other, naturally disposed to
coalesce.

“In their origin the stores were antecedent to the teachings of
the Christian socialists, which did not begin in any definite
shape until 1849 and 1850, when the Rochdale Pioneers had got
over the difficulties of their beginnings, and were doing a
business of £6611 8_s._ 9_d._ in 1844 and £13,179 17_s._ in
1850; and other stores were beginning to spring up and attain
considerable proportions in various towns of Lancashire and
Yorkshire, under the influence of the success of Rochdale. In
London we had scarcely any knowledge of these societies till
the end of 1850; and our efforts took principally the direction
of attempts to form productive associations of workers by
means of advances of capital to them on loan at four per cent.
interest, and with no other security than the stock in trade of
the societies founded by these endeavors.

“Theoretically, the idea we endeavored to spread was the
conception of workers as brethren—of work as coming from a
brotherhood of men associated for their common benefit—who
therefore rejected any notion of competition with each other
as inconsistent with the true form of society, and, without
formally preaching communism, sought to found industrial
establishments communistic in feeling, of which it should be
the aim, while paying ordinary wages and interest at the rate
I have mentioned, to apply the profits of the business in
ways conducive to the common advantage of the body whose work
produced them.

“The Christian element about this teaching was rather a
something floating over it than definitely embodied in it.
No attempt was made to formulate any religious creed which
should be professed even by those who formed the central
body—‘The Council of Promoters of Workingmen’s Societies,’
as it was called. Still less was there any attempt to limit
the men employed in any of the societies to those professing
Christianity. There was a general understanding that the tone
of any writings put forth by the council or any of its members
should be such as Maurice and Kingsley would approve. But this
was all. Of the freedom of opinion in the council a striking
proof is Mr. Lloyd Jones, who had been one of R. Owen’s
missionaries, and never professed any form of Christianity, and
who was one of the most active members.

“Such was the character of this Christian socialism, even where
it was most concentrated. In its relation to the co-operation
of the north the religious element was yet more thrown into the
background. Our connection with these societies came through
the law—I mean the English law—not the Gospel. Mr. Hughes, Mr.
Ludlow, Mr. Furnivall, another active member of our council,
and I, were barristers. The law relating to such societies
as we desired to form, and as our northern friends desired
to form on their own account, was then very little suitable
to our wants. Mr. Slaney, a member of Parliament, who took a
great interest in all efforts of the working population to
help themselves, got a committee appointed to inquire into the
investments of the middle and working classes. Much interesting
evidence was given before this committee in 1850 and in 1852.
Mr. Slaney introduced into Parliament a bill originally
drawn by Mr. Ludlow, with some assistance from me, which was
carefully considered by a special committee of the House of
Commons, who suggested many improvements in it; and on their
report was accepted by the House, and became the original law
of ‘Industrial and Provident Societies.’ These operations
established, as you will easily suppose, friendly relations
between us in London and our friends in the north, who went on
and flourished greatly in their distributive societies under
the protection given them by the law of 1852; and were in
continual communication with Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Hughes, and myself
during the next seventeen years as to alterations and amendment
of their law, of which there were several in the course
of these years, and as to questions of a legal character
affecting their business.

“In the meantime the societies formed under our special
influence in London had all come to grief. Had it not been
for the growth of distributive co-operation in the north the
movement would have been at an end in England. And this growth
took place spontaneously, with no other help from us than was
afforded by the legal assistance that I have mentioned and
occasional visits of some one of our body. At last, in 1869,
principally through the influence of the late Mr. William
Prior, one of the disciples of R. Owen, a conference was
held in London, which was continued for four days, and was
attended by several delegates from the northern societies.
At the conference papers were read on a number of topics of
a social character. Discussions were carried on upon them,
and an impulse was given to the feeling of union out of
which our present organization has arisen. From that time a
conference—or, as we call it, a congress—has been held every
year in some part of Great Britain. Subscriptions from the
societies have been organized. In 1873 a systematic division of
Great Britain into districts, for the purposes of propaganda,
was established. Sectional committees were appointed in
each district, and a united board formed by delegates from
them, which has the general direction of the whole movement.
Now, with the formation of this organization, the southern
influences which had given birth to the notion of Christian
socialism began again to make themselves felt. We have supplied
more largely than our northern friends the intellectual factor,
which has found the material to which to apply itself in the
co-operative societies of manufacturing Britain. Thus it is
that the ‘Manual for Co-operation,’ which I think must be
considered as the most matured and complete exposition of the
relation between Christianity and social reform, has come to
be accepted by the Co-operative Union, and published at its
expense, as a recognized exposition of the views entertained
by most of those who endeavor to give a distinct form to their
views.”

The Englishman, like the American, is eminently practical. He must find some concrete form in which to embody his ideas. If he cannot now obtain all he desires, he will take what he can get and wait for an opportune moment to gain possession of what remains. He does not cease to think, plan, and even dream, but he spends more time in action than in talk. Thus have the Christian socialists of England, without changing their views, contented themselves for the present with distributive co-operation. They have, however, done far more than to establish co-operative associations. They called attention to the duties and responsibilities of wealth as well as its rights. They induced men to stop and consider whether it might not, after all, be possible to do something to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate and to improve the poor and degraded. The results have been seen in generous, philanthropic, and, to a large extent, successful endeavors to elevate those low down to a higher plane of life and thought. Legislation has followed, limiting the length of a day’s work, restricting the employment of young children, regulating the labor of women, protecting operatives in factories, and otherwise benefiting the laboring classes. This has counteracted the effects of discontent and dangerous agitation so far as to prevent the violent attempts at revolution, once feared. The humane and enlightened views, which to-day obtain to such an extent in England, are due, far more than is generally supposed, to the warm-hearted zeal of those noble Englishmen who were called Christian socialists.

In Germany, there are two branches of the Christian Socialists, the Protestants and the Roman Catholics.

The Protestant Christian Socialists are not numerous, nor are they sufficiently important to justify much more than the mention of their existence. Their two leaders are Dr. Todt, a pastor, and Dr. Stöcker, court-chaplain, who is known on account of his leadership in the Anti-Semitic agitation in Germany. His part in this latter movement shows how little nobility there is in his nature. I attended one meeting of the Christian Socialists in Berlin. Instead of proposals to ameliorate the condition of laborers, I heard little save abuse of the Jews. When any member of the audience was invited to reply, a bright-appearing young man of twenty or thereabouts came forward and began to talk in a sensible sort of way concerning the position of the Hebrews, but his arguments were soon drowned by the hooting of the rabble. Court-pastor Stöcker bowed him off the stage with mock ceremoniousness. I thought the young man showed to far better advantage than the leader of those whom he was addressing.

The ideas of the Protestant Christian Socialists are rather vague and indefinite. They favor, however, legislation in behalf of the laboring classes similar to that which is now in force in England, and desire a strong monarch to take the lead in measures designed to elevate the toiling masses. They wish also to bring the people back to the Church, that they may enjoy the consolations of religion. Dr. Todt appears to hope for a peaceful introduction of communism, or some form of socialism approaching thereto, in a far-distant future.

Catholic Christian Socialism in Germany is a far more important, a far nobler, movement. Its leading light was the late Bishop of Mainz or Mayence, Baron von Ketteler.

Wilhelm Emanuel Baron von Ketteler was born in 1811, in Münster. He came of an old and honorable family. He studied law, and began his career in the German courts, before he decided to devote himself to the Church. He was ordained as priest in 1844 and was made bishop in 1850.

Von Ketteler was keen, eager, eloquent—a valiant champion of the Church, who fought for her emancipation from state control, and obtained important concessions. His activity was remarkable, and displayed itself prominently in the foundation of numerous institutions, as monasteries, unions, schools, orphan-asylums, and houses of refuge. He understood how to make use of the press in forwarding his designs, which included plans intended to promote the welfare of the masses. After the formation of the German empire Von Ketteler took a leading position in the party of the Ultramontanes, and was ever ready with tongue and pen in all matters concerning the relations of state to Church and school.

He opposed the proclamation of the doctrine of papal infallibility as inopportune, but, after it had been proclaimed, he became its ardent supporter.

Von Ketteler’s eventful life ended in 1875, and his body now rests in the cathedral at Mainz.

Von Ketteler accepts the doctrine of the iron, cruel law of wages, and assents to many of the teachings of the social democrats, in so far as they are directed against our present social organization. He seeks salvation, however, in the Catholic Church.

He holds that God or the Church is the supreme owner of all property, and that human rights are only secondary. Men have only the right of administering what has been committed to them. The Church has always held, says he, that if a starving man took a loaf of bread to satisfy hunger which he could still in no other way, it was no theft. In that case human proprietary rights yield to the divine right of self-preservation.

The good-will of the Church is also shown in the large property which she has accumulated to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. It was not her fault that she was deprived of a great part of this by the secularization of her possessions, which took place after the Reformation. It increased the distress of the unfortunate, and the worldly powers were obliged to enact poor-laws to relieve those who had thereby been reduced to helplessness.

The misery of the present time is due to materialism and liberal politics. The state and the Church should exercise greater control over human conduct in such matters, _e.g._, as marriage.

“We will not deny,” says Von Ketteler, “that in various regions the contraction of marriage is made too difficult; but, on the other hand, a certain limitation is justifiable—is founded in reason as well as in Christianity—and the abolition of all limitations cannot fail to promote thoughtlessness in the contraction of marriage, and thus injure the family. Of such a character is the general effort and tendency to regard marriage as a simple civil institution, to introduce the _Civilehe_—_i.e._, marriage by civil authorities alone—and to separate it entirely from the Church. The stability of the family is based on the religious and Christian doctrine of marriage. Especially is the view of the Catholic Church that marriage is a sacrament, and can be dissolved only by death, the immovable foundation of this stability.”[210]

Von Ketteler regards the dissolution of the organic bonds, or ties of society, as one cause of our present troubles. He is, consequently, in favor of trade corporations, and has a friendly feeling for the guilds of the Middle Ages. He combats vehemently the atomism of modern liberalism. There is, in my opinion, a great deal of truth in what he says about the necessity of religion to cure the ills of modern society. He declares that “Christ is the Saviour of the world, not only because he has redeemed our souls, but also because he brought salvation for all human institutions and relations—civil, political, and social. Especially is he the Saviour of the laboring classes.... He has elevated the labor-class from servitude to its present condition;[211] without him all humanitarian tendencies of the so-called friends of the laboring man will not prevent his sinking again into a state of slavery.”

Von Ketteler mentions five remedies which the Church has to offer the laborer.

1. She founds and manages institutions for the benefit of the laborer unable to work. These are managed by those who have a tender interest in his welfare. Love to Christ will enable the Catholic nurses to perform disagreeable and repulsive services in a mild and gentle manner.

2. She offers him the institution of the Christian family.

3. She presents to him the truths and doctrines of the Church, which are the true education of the laborer. The doctrine of the liberals, that education for the laborers is to be found in self-help and in their unions for instructing working-men is only a _simulacrum_ and deceit.

4. She offers him the social power of the Church. This unites men, and may be used to assist in founding unions and societies of laborers. Such unions are Christian in nature.[212]

5. This social power of the Church might be used in establishing productive co-operative associations on a Christian basis. Nothing could be more pleasing to God and beneficial to man than gifts of the wealthy for this purpose.

For our part, we rejoice that men of all shades of opinion are turning to Christianity for help in the solution of social problems, and trust that the poor and needy, where they are now estranged from the Church, may ere long be led to recognize in her their best friend. All Christian men, and particularly the authorities of the Church, should see to it that no opportunity is lost to win to her the toiling masses. We fully agree with a celebrated Belgian professor[213] of Political Economy when he writes: “The proletarians have been detached from and will return to Christianity when they begin to understand that it brings to them freedom and equal rights, whereas atheistic materialism consecrates their slavery and sacrifices them to pretended natural laws. By a complete misapplication of its ideas, the religion of Christ, transformed into a temporal and sacerdotal institution, has been called in as the ally of caste, despotism, and the ancient _régime_ to sanction all social inequalities. The Gospel, on the contrary, is the good news to the poor—the announcement of the advent of that kingdom when the humble shall be lifted up and the disinherited shall possess the earth.”[214]

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Vide_ “Histoire du Communisme,” par Alfred Sudre (5th ed., Paris, 1856), ch. xiv. sec. iv. pp. 232-250.

[2] _Vide_ “Rousseau,” by John Morley (Lond. 1873), vol. i. p. 192.

[3] Vol. i. pp. viii. ix.

[4] _Vide_ Von Sybel, “Geschichte der Revolutionszeit,” Bd. i. Buch i. Capitel 1, and Bd. ii. Buch vii. Capitel 3. In regard to absenteeism, consult, especially, Taine’s “Ancient Régime,” bk. i. ch, iii. pt. iii.

[5] Cf. De Laveleye’s “La Démocratic et l’Économie Politique” (Bruxelles, 1878), pp. 8, 9.

[6] To many a thoughtless man, who has misused his wealth and social position to drag down women of the poorer classes, it would doubtless seem like a new revelation to have the truth brought home to him that the fathers, mothers, and brothers of his victims had precisely such feelings as his own father and mother, or himself, towards his sisters. But the socialistic agitation in Germany has brought out clearly the fact that this is true. Poor men hate the wealthy on account of their sins. Nearly all of the thousands and tens of thousands of fallen women in cities like New York and Berlin, it is said, come from the poorer classes. It is terrible to think of the anguish they have brought to parents whose only crime has often been poverty. If the wealthy use their superior advantages to oppress and afflict the poor, terrible retribution will some day be exacted of them as a class, and the innocent will suffer with the guilty. The French Revolution should forever be a terrible warning to those to whom much has been committed.

Modern novelists have devoted themselves assiduously to the work of reform. Every oppressed class has found some one to sympathize with it and describe its wrongs. Married women, misused by their husbands; school children, maltreated by masters; orphans, wronged by tedious processes of law; the negro slave in our South—all have been made interesting, and excited our pity. The fourth estate, with which Dickens concerned himself more or less, has also found its novelist, whose skill reveals to us the laborer’s views and feelings, so that we laugh when he laughs and weep when he weeps. I refer to Max Kretzer, whose latest and best work is “Die Betrogenen” (Berlin, 1882). For an excellent review of his writings, _vide_ the _Wochenblatt der Frankfurter Zeitung_, 20 Aug., 1882.

For a further illustration of the views of social democrats concerning the crimes of the wealthy, _vide_ a story in the newspaper _Die Fackel_ (Chicago, 20 Mai, 1883) entitled “Die Geschichte einer Arbeiterin.”

[7] In _Contemporary Review_, April, 1882.

[8] Quoted by Mrs. Fawcett in her article on “Communism” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” Cf. De Laveleye’s article on the “Progress of Socialism” (_Contemporary Review_, April, 1883, pp. 567, 568).

[9] “Money in its Relations to Trade and Industry,” by Francis A. Walker (New York, 1879).

[10] “Die deutsche Social-Demokratie” (Bremen, 1879).

[11] _Vide_ the published programme of the Commune of Paris, April 19, 1871, in Pierroti’s “Décrets et Rapports Officiels de la Commune de Paris et du Gouvernement à Versailles du 18 Mars au 31 Mai, 1871” (Paris, 1871, pp. 181-185).

[12] The whole question is discussed in a satisfactory manner in Meyer’s “Emancipationskampf des vierten Standes” (Bd. ii. SS. 600-718). Among other authorities may be mentioned, as most noteworthy, Pierroti’s “Décrets et Rapports; Enquête Parlementaire sur l’Insurrection du 18 Mars”—an official report of the investigation of the French government; “Unter der Pariser Commune, ein Tagebuch von Wilhelm Lauser” (Leipzig, 1879); Maxime du Camp, “Les Convulsions de Paris” (6th ed., Paris, 1883); B. Becker, “Geschichte der revolutionären Pariser Kommune” (Brunswick, 1875).

[13] In his “History of American Socialisms” (Philadelphia, 1870), Noyes presents the opposite view, and argues forcibly in favor of it. He thinks “familism” and communism necessarily antagonistic, and adduces as proof the success of the Shakers and other communities which repress the family feeling, and the failure of many which allow marriage and private families as in the outside world. I do not think his arguments satisfactory. At most, they would hold of small communistic bodies living in a world practising individualism. They would not be conclusive in a discussion of the practicability of communism—much less socialism—as a universal system. It is true, also, that the leadership of social democracy in the United States and elsewhere has fallen into the hands of those who, for the most part, hold views regarding religion and the family which may fairly be called brutal. The irreligious attitude of social democracy is, however, to be explained partly by the fact that it is a German product, and Germany is to-day lamentably irreligious. What is, however, temporary, accidental, and transitional should not be mistaken for what is necessary and permanent.

[14] Dr. Rylance very properly distinguishes ecclesiasticism from Christianity.

[15] The decay of religion among the working classes was the subject of a conference of working-men, held in London in 1867. Mr. J. M. Ludlow, one of their friends and counsellors, writes as follows in the “Progress of the Laboring Classes from 1832 to 1867,” concerning their reasons for forsaking religious services: “At the bottom of those reasons there may be felt, not dislike or indifference to the Gospel itself, but, on the contrary, a deep yearning for some mighty manifestation of it. The complaint is not that Christianity is given, but that ‘priests and parsons’ have given of it ‘short weight and short measure;’ not that it is practised by its professors, but that their practice falls so far short of their professions; not that clergymen and minister intermeddle with the working-men, but that they do not come among them and show practical sympathy with them in their undertakings. Surely a temper like this, even when speaking out through hard and scornful words, instead of discouraging Christian ministers, should brace and quicken them to their work—ay, though that work should consist partly in the shaking off of their most cherished traditions and habits of religious thought” (p. 279).

[16] Schäffle’s “Socialism as Expounded by Kaufmann” (London, 1874, p. 103).

[17] _Vide_ his manly article on the Dangerous Classes in the _North-American Review_ for April, 1883.

[18] The words socialist and socialism were introduced into economic discussion by L. Reybaud, in 1840, in his “Études sur les Réformateurs ou Socialistes Modernes.”

[19] It does not fall within the province of this work to describe English communism. Its best representative is Robert Owen, about whose life and teachings information is to be found in “The Life of Robert Owen, Written by Himself,” and in A. J. Booth’s “Robert Owen, the Founder of Socialism in England.” Both of the works are interesting and valuable.

[20] 1762 is also given as the year of his birth.

[21] For the details of the conspiracy, consult Von Sybel, “Geschichte der Revolutionszeit,” Bd. iv. Buch i. Capitel 4, and Buonarroti’s “Histoire de la Conspiration pour l’Égalite, dite de Babœuf” (2 vols., Brussels, 1828). A fourth edition in one volume appeared in Paris in 1850. An English translation by Bronterre appeared in London in 1836.

[22] The best authority on the economic movements of this period is L. Blanc’s “Histoire de dix ans 1830-40” (12th ed. 1870).

[23] _Vide_ the Manifesto of the Equals. This, as well as a number of their most important papers, may be found in Reybaud’s “Études sur les Réformateurs” (vol. ii. pp. 423-453, 7th ed., Paris, 1864).

[24] _Vide_ the “Manifesto of the Equals.”

[25] “Histoire Populaire de la Révolution Française de 1789 à 1830” (5 vols., 2d ed., Paris, 1845-47).

[26] “Voyage en Icarie” (2d ed., Paris, 1842, 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 566).

[27] Ibid. p. 3.

[28] Page 335.

[29] Mr. Albert Shaw, late graduate student in the Johns Hopkins University.

[30] After the death of Cabet a few of his adherents, in the quarrel at Nauvoo, founded a short-lived colony at Cheltenham.

[31] “The community adopt the institutions of marriage and the family purified from everything which injures and debases them. Voluntary celibacy, when not induced by any physiological reason, is regarded as a transgression of natural laws” (Arts. 32 and 33 of the “Icarian Constitution”).

[32] Cf. “Voyage en Icarie,” p. 137.

[33] Quoted by B. Malon, in his “Exposé des Écoles Socialistes Françaises” (Paris, 1872), pp. 104, 105.

[34] “Voyage to Icaria,” p. 563.

[35] Page 358.

[36] _Vide_ p. 37 _et seqq._

[37] An interesting account of his life and teaching is given in A. J. Booth’s “Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism” (London, 1871).

[38] It is so stated in the “Encyclopædia Britannica” and elsewhere.

[39] _Vide_ Lettres à un Américain, deuxième Lettre in his “L’Industrie ou Discussions Politiques, Morales, et Philosophiques,” tome ii. pp. 33, 34 (Paris, 1817). Interesting comparisons between America and Europe are also to be found in the letters.

[40] One finds in the writings of Saint-Simon all the fundamental ideas of Comte’s philosophy: the oneness of science; its progress from the theological stage to positivism—called by Saint-Simon physicism—accompanying the transition from the military to the industrial _régime_; the present crisis of society due to the fact that this is a transitional period, or disharmony in the material world accompanying the disharmony in the world of thought; the belief that a restoration of harmony is dependent upon the advancement of science, and that social regeneration must be physico-political; the subordination of knowledge to feeling; finally, the view that religion of some kind is indispensable to social progress, and that the priests of this religion must be the rulers of the world. Indeed, Comte did not hesitate to acknowledge more than once his indebtedness to Saint-Simon for his scientific impulse, although in later years he seems to have become embittered towards the Saint-Simonians and refused all credit to his former teacher. Comte was original in so far as he expanded and developed what he received from his master, but this does not lessen his obligation. This whole question, which has been much debated, is discussed in a masterly way by John Morley in his article on Comte in the last edition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” Consult also Karl Hillebrand’s essay on “Die Anfänge des Socialismus in Frankreich” in _Deutsche Rundschau_, Bd. xvii., 1878, and Booth’s “Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism,” pp. 61-81.

[41] “Première Année” (1828-29, 2d ed., Paris, 1830), pp. 72, 73.

[42] “Études sur les Réformateurs” (7th ed., Paris, 1864), vol. i. pp. 83, 84.

[43] _Vide_ “Du Système Industriel” (Paris, 1821), preface.

[44] _Vide_ “Chartism, Past and Present” (Harper’s ed.), pp. 320 and 345.

[45] “L’Industrie,” tome ii. p. 9 (Paris, 1817).

[46] Saint-Simon again and again protests against revolution, _vide_ “Catéchisme des Industriels” (ed. 1832), pp. 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 69, 70.

[47] _Vide_ “Catéchisme des Industriels” (ed. 1832), pp. 38, 44, 62, 63, 74, 75.

[48] _Vide_ Kaufmann’s “Socialism,” p. 115.

[49] “Political Economy,” bk. ii. chap. xiii. sec. 1.

[50] _Loc. cit._ bk. ii. chap. 1. sec. 3.

[51] Quoted by A. J. Booth.

[52] _Vide_ “Catéchisme des Industriels,” p. 2.

[53] Reybaud, vol. i. pp. 82, 83.

[54] Taken from Reybaud, _loc. cit._ vol. i. pp. 105-7. The translation is abridged in places.

[55] _i.e._ one unit—man-woman.

[56] Perhaps there is no better authority than Louis Blanc concerning the activity of the Saint-Simonians at this time. Cf. his “Histoire de Dix Ans,” tome vii. ch. xxv. (ed. Bruxelles, 1843-44).

[57] His principal work is “De L’Humanité,” published in 1840.

[58] Pages 102, 103.

[59] Quoted by Booth.

[60] Ibid.

[61] Quoted by Booth, p. 170.

[62] Isaiah ii. 4.

[63] _Vide_ Lorenz von Stein, “Geschichte der Socialen Bewegung in Frankreich” (Leipzig, 1850), Bd. ii. SS. 226, 227. The translation is abridged and is rather free in places.

[64] Bd. ii. S. 228.

[65] That is, of so much importance to one writing or studying the history of social movements.

[66] In 1808.

[67] _Vide_ Introduction to the “Théorie,” tome i. of Œuvres Complètes.

[68] _Vide_ Preface of editors to second edition (Paris, 1841).

[69] Tomes ii.-v. of Œuvres Complètes (1841-43).

[70] _Vide_ “Théorie des Quatre Mouvements,” Œuvres, tome i. p. 50. These phases are subdivided into thirty-two periods, of which a table accompanies p. 52.

[71] He seems finally to have been inclined to believe that they were so.

[72] Third edition, as vol. vi. of Collected Works (Paris, 1848).

[73] _Vide_ Fourier’s Œuvres, tome ii. pp. 142-147, and references there given. Lorenz von Stein sets a high value on the philosophical value of this classification, as compared with similar efforts of Pythagoras and Bossuet. Although appreciative, he criticises Fourier vigorously, and shows the contradictions involved in his classification (_vide_ Stein, “Sociale Bewegung,” Bd. ii. SS. 276-285).

[74] Always thus designated by Fourier. He attaches such a reproachful meaning to it that the word has an ugly sound to one immediately after reading his works.

[75] _Vide_ “Fourier et son Système,” par Madame Gatti de Gammond (3d ed. 1839), p. 86.

[76] “Vices de Nos Procédés Industriels” (1824; 2d ed., with the title “Aperçus sur les Procédés Industriels,” 1840) and “Nouvelles Transactions Sociales, Religieuses et Politiques de Virtomnius” (1832).

[77] “Fourier et son Système” (1st ed. 1838; 3d ed. 1839, pp. 384). Madame de Gammond modifies Fourier’s views concerning the relations of the sexes in her presentation, as would naturally be expected of a lady of culture.

[78] Wrote “Paroles de Providence” (1835).

[79] “Fourier, Sa Vie et sa Théorie” (5th ed. 1872).

[80] “Études sur la Science Sociale” (2 vols. 1831-34).

[81] 1832, _La Réforme Industrielle, ou le Phalanstère_; _La Phalange_, whose mottoes were “Social Reform without Revolutions,” “Realization of Order, of Justice, and of Liberty,” “Organization of Industry;” _La Démocratie Pacifique_, the daily, suppressed in 1850.

[82] Arthur Booth, in article on Fourier in _Fortnightly Review_, vol. xii. N. S. (July-Dec. 1, 1872).

[83] Godin’s “Solutions Sociales” (Paris, 1871), p. 529.

[84] “Association of Capital with Labor” (translated by Louis Bristol; published by the “New York Woman’s Social Science Society,” Room 24, Cooper Institute, 1881).

[85] The exercises at the former of these celebrations is described in the _Overland Monthly_ for March, 1883, by Marie Howland; in the _Californian_ for January, 1881, a description of the latter festival may be found.

[86] “Association of Capital with Labor,” pp. 5, 6.

[87] This enterprise is admirably described in an article entitled “The Social Palace at Guise” (_Harper’s Monthly_, April, 1872).

[88] Wrote “The Social Destiny of Man,” founded on Considerant’s “Destinée Sociale.”

[89] Published in the “American Men of Letters Series,” and _vide_ also Noyes’s “History of American Socialisms,” ch. xi.

[90] Small 12mo.

[91] 8vo.

[92] G. W. Smalley, _New York Tribune_, Feb. 4, 1883.

[93] C. K. Adams’s “Manual of Historical Literature,” p. 332.

[94] For a satisfactory description of the true import of this measure, _vide_ John Stuart Mill’s essay, “The French Revolution of 1848 and its Assailants;” “Dissertations and Discussions” (Am. ed.), vol. iii. pp. 54-58.

[95] _Vide_ “Lorenz von Stein,” iii. S. 292.

[96] There was once some doubt about the case, but the publication of official documents and later testimony has settled the question conclusively, _vide_ article on Louis Blanc in “Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” vol. vi.; Roscher’s “Political Economy,” sec. 81, note 6; E. Thomas, “Histoire des Ateliers Nationaux;” Louis Blanc, “Historical Revelations,” and “La Révolution de 1848,” vol. i. ch. xi.

[97] “Lettres sur l’Angleterre” (Paris, 1866-67); “Letters on England,” translated from the French by James Hutton and revised by the author (London, 1866, 2 vols.). “Letters on England,” second series, translated by James Hutton and L. J. Trotter (London, 1867, 2 vols. in one).

[98] Paris, 1873.

[99] The vote was 380 to 85.

[100] Edward King in _Evening Post_, Dec. 28, 1882.

[101] In the letter in the _New York Tribune_ already referred to.

[102] _Die Gegenwart_, 6. Januar, 1883.

[103] “Organisation du Travail,” 9th ed. p. 9.

[104] Quoted from Louis Blanc, by H. Baudrillart in his “Publicistes Modernes” (Paris, 1863), p. 308.

[105] Quoted in Baudrillart, ibid. Cf. “Droit au Travail,” pp. 9, 10.

[106] “Organisation du Travail,” p. 4. Cf. “Histoire de la Révolution de 1848,” pp. 265, 266.

[107] “Organisation du Travail,” p. 13.

[108] “Droit au Travail” (Paris, 1849), pp. 65-67; “Organisation du Travail,” pp. 18, 19.

[109] Ibid. pp. 13, 14, 17, 18, 199.

[110] Ibid. p. 71.

[111] Article 3 on p. 120 of “Organisation du Travail.”

[112] “Organisation du Travail,” pp. 72, 114, 120.

[113] _Loc. cit._ pp. 18, 19.

[114] “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.”—Rom. xv. 1.

[115] “Histoire de la Révolution de 1848,” vol. i. pp. 147, 148.

[116] “Organisation du Travail,” p. 72.

[117] Cf. _loc. cit._ pp. 72, 73, 77, 187, 188, 195, 196, 207, 208, _et passim_.

[118] Quoted from Sainte-Beuve’s “P.-J. Proudhon, Sa Vie et sa Correspondance” (1872), by H. Baudrillart, in his article on Proudhon in the _Revue des deux Mondes_, 1873.

[119] New edition (Paris, 1873, tome i.) of “Œuvres Complètes.”

[120] Preface to “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” p. 5.

[121] Chap. iv. 2d Proposition. I do not mean to assert positively that Marx borrowed his ideas from Proudhon. He was more indebted to Rodbertus, who, contemporaneously with Proudhon, but probably independently of him, was carrying on similar investigation and arriving at similar results. It is, however, true that Proudhon was the first of the three to publish an extensive presentation of his ideas.

[122] Vols. iv. and v. of “Œuvres Complètes.”

[123] Details given in “Œuvres Complètes,” vol. vii. pp. 263-313.

[124] New edition (Paris, 1864) of “Œuvres Complètes,” tome vii.

[125] “Œuvres Complètes,” vols. xxi.-xxvi.

[126] The formula of Roman law is “Res nullius cedit primo occupanti.”

[127] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” pp. 133-137.

[128] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” p. 204; cf. pp. 205, 206.

[129] Henry George and others might get some useful hints from him.

[130] “Œuvres Complètes,” tome i. pp. 214, 216, 217.

[131] “Œuvres Complètes,” tome vii. p. 271.

[132] Ibid. p. 290.

[133] This name is frequently given to Proudhon’s plans by the socialists.

[134] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” chap. v. 2e partie, sec. 2.

[135] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” chap. v. 2e partie, sec. 3. Cf. also his speech in the National Assembly on 31st of July, 1848, in “Œuvres,” vol. vii. pp. 268, 269.

[136] Ibid. chap. iv. 5e “Prop. et Appendice.”

[137] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” p. 157.

[138] “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété?” pp. 222-224.

[139] “Œuvres Complètes,” tome i. pp. 224, 225.

[140] Bd. i. S. 42.

[141] _Fortnightly Review_, May, 1878.

[142] “Exposé des Écoles Socialistes Françaises,” par B. Malon (2d ed. Paris, 1872). “Avant-Propos,” p. iii.

[143] Frederic Harrison, in article in _Fortnightly Review_, already referred to.

[144] For this, as well as a few other facts, I am indebted to an article on “French Socialists” which appeared in the weekly edition of the _London Times_, March 30, 1883.

[145] _Vide_ B. Malon’s “Exposé,” etc., p. 230.

[146] Consult, on this point, Stepniak’s “Underground Russia” (London, 1883). Careful inquiry of a large number of Russians, young and old, rich and poor, convinced me long since that the views this book expresses concerning the condition of Russia are substantially correct.

[147] Cf. Rudolf Meyer, Bd. i. SS. 42, 43, and two articles on Michael Bakunin, in the _Deutsche Rundschau_ (1877), Bde. 11 u. 12.

[148] This was copied in the February (1883) number of the _Journal des Économistes_ from the _Révolté_. I take it from the _Journal_.

[149] “Exposé,” etc., p. 260.

[150] April, 1883.

[151] _Vide_ Malon’s “Exposé,” etc., p. 183. A further account of Colins’s ideas is given in a very interesting manner in an article already referred to—viz., De Laveleye’s “European Terror” (_Fortnightly Review_, April, 1883).

[152] A little book which a workman is compelled to keep and exhibit to each employer, in order that the latter may know who have employed him before, the new employer in turn signing his name in the book when the laborer enters his service and when he leaves it, and expressing his opinion of the laborer’s conduct.

[153] Quoted from _Journal des Économistes_ for March, 1883, pp. 450-452.

[154] “Exposé des Écoles Socialistes Françaises,” pp. iii., iv.

[155] “Emancipationskampf,” etc., Bd. i. S. 43.

[156] Free-trader is used here, as often in Germany, not to denote simply an advocate of free-trade, but a supporter of the entire abstract and theoretical system of the _English_ free-traders.

[157] Page 1023.

[158] “Die Lage der arbeitenden Klassen in England” (1845).

[159] “System der Weltökonomie, oder Untersuchungen über die Organisation der Arbeit.”

[160] As this German custom is not generally understood in America and often leads to confusion, it may be well to state that it is customary to affix the name of a man’s estate or native village or even his wife’s name to his own to distinguish him from others of the same name. Thus, the founder of the people’s banks is called Schulze-Delitzsch, because he lived formerly in a little place called Delitzsch. He afterwards lived in Potsdam, but was still called Schulze-Delitzsch. Delitzsch is, however, really no part of his name. In speaking to him you would generally have addressed him as Mr. Schulze, never Mr. Delitzsch. In reading a book recently written by a learned American, I was amused to see him spoken of seriously as Mr. Schulze von Delitzsch. It originated undoubtedly in Lassalle’s calling him in contempt for his admiration for the _bourgeoisie_ Mr. Bastiat-Schulze von Delitzsch.

[161] Cf. Wagner, in _Tübinger Zeitschrift_ (1878), SS. 211, 212.

[162] “Zur Beleuchtung,” etc., SS. 23, 24.

[163] That is, the labor of man in economic society.

[164] “Zur Beleuchtung,” S. 24.

[165] The Fourteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1883 goes to substantiate this theory. In 1875 the “percentage of wages paid of value of product” in over two thousand establishments was 24.68; in 1880 only 20.33. _Vide_ p. 371; cf. also other statistics on the same page and on p. 370.

[166] “Normal Arbeitstag;” _Tübinger Zeitschrift_, S. 361.

[167] “Offener Brief,” etc., in Lassalle’s “Reden,” Bd. i. S. 270.

[168] Cf. Lassalle’s “Reden,” Bd. i. SS. 40-42, where this thought is brought out clearly and forcibly.

[169] I do not mean by this to state that I consider the explanation correct.

[170] “Hülfstafeln zu Preisberechnungen für Zimmerarbeiten, auf Grundlage der durchschnittlichen Leistung der Arbeiter,” von H. Peters. Schwerin i. M., and “Hülfsbuch zur Aufstellung von Lohnregulativen und Preisberechnungen für Bautischlerarbeiten, mit Angabe des Materialbedarfs und des durchschnittlichen Arbeitswerths nach Stunden und Minuten,” von H. Peters (Berlin, 1877).

[171] For these and other facts, _vide_ Mehring’s “Die Deutsche Social-Demokratie,” ch. v.

[172] This translation, by Ernest Jones, appeared in John Rae’s “The Socialism of Karl Marx and the Young Hegelians” (_Contemporary Review_, October, 1881).

[173] Second edition (Hamburg, 1872).

[174] “Wochenausgabe,” 23. März, 1883.

[175] “Das Kapital,” 2te Aufl. S. 793.

[176] “Das Kapital,” S. 158.

[177] Quoted by Knies in “Das Geld,” S. 53.

[178] “Das Kapital,” SS. 656, 657.

[179] A good account is given in Rudolf Meyer’s “Emancipationskampf,” etc., Bd. i. SS. 93-174. The Frenchman Villetard has written a “History of the International,” which was translated into English by Susan M. Day, and published in New Haven in 1874.

[180] _Vide_ De Laveleye’s “European Terror” (_Fortnightly Review_, April, 1883).