Furthermore, admitting that these laws might have some influence upon the regime of property, in what way would the situation of the worker be improved? Property would again change hands, but it would not be put into the hands of the workers. The State would become the proprietor. The State would be transformed into a syndicate for exploitation; and we have already seen, in treating of authority, that nothing in favor of the workers must be expected from it. So long as money remains the level of the social organism those who possess it will know how to use it for their own profit. Whether the State will directly exploit those estates that fall into its hands, or sublet them to private persons, it will always be to the profit of those who already possess. Let us even suppose, which might possibly be, that it should be to the profit of a new caste; in any event it could not be but detrimental to the generality of the people.
But if we admit the possibility of the application of this reform, this other hypothesis must also be admitted. The bourgeoisie, which set up the dogma of the infallibility of private property; the bourgeoisie, whose whole penal code is based solely upon the legitimacy of this property, and with a view to its defense, will then have allowed an attack to be made upon this proprietary organization which it claims on the contrary to be immutable. Will somebody tell us how much time it would take to bring the bourgeoisie to allow what they would consider an attack upon their rights; how much time it would take afterwards before it would be discovered, upon application thereof, that the so-called reform had reformed nothing at all; and finally whether the time so lost would not equal in length that judged necessary for the realization of our “utopias?”
It would be useless here to make a criticism of the “societies for production and consumption;” we have shown that we are in pursuit of general enfranchisement; the complete and separate enfranchisement of the individual cannot be effected save by the integral enfranchisement of all. Of what moment to us, then, are these petty means for the enfranchisement of a few persons? For the rest, with the concentration of capital, the continuous development of machinery, ever demanding the putting of more and more enormous capital into operation, these same means of enfranchising small groups of persons break to pieces in their hands before they have produced any results.
Other reformers seek to contribute their quota to the labor of human emancipation by urging the development of that branch of knowledge they have taken up with; but quickly carried away by the violence of the struggle, the difficulties to solve, they end by transforming their fixed idea into a hobbyhorse to which they attribute every desirable quality, outside of which they see nothing worthy of acceptance, and which they offer as a panacea bound to cure all the ills from which our unhappy invalid, society, suffers. And how many sincere persons are found among these fanatics! Amongst this jumble of ideas how many good ones there are, which might produce excellent results in humanity’s favor if applied in a sanely constituted society! But applied separately in a corrupt society, they only yield results contrary to those expected when they are not nipped in the bud before anyone has succeeded in applying them. Among these people, convinced of a fixed idea, we may instance one who is typical in affording the conclusion we wish to draw—M. G. Ville, with his system of chemical fertilizers. We do not wish to enter into a detailed explanation of the said system. Let it suffice to say that M. Ville, having made an analysis of plants, found that they were invariably composed of fourteen elements, but varying in quantity in each different family. On subsequent analysis of the air and soil, he found that the plant takes ten of its component elements from them; that it therefore only remained to him to supply, in the shape of manures, the other four elements lacking, which are lime, potassium, phosphorus, and azote: Thereupon he established a whole series of chemical fertilizers, based upon the soils to be cultivated and the plant to be produced. By quoting the figures and exhibiting the results he shows that with our present state of knowledge four or five times the regular harvest may be reaped from the same soil, with but a slight outlay for fertilizers compared with ordinary manures; that more cattle can be raised on a smaller area of prairie, and the price of meat thus lowered. But at this point he darts off into the conclusion that the solution of the social question lies in the improvement of agriculture.
“Alimentary products becoming abundant,” says he, “everyone will profit thereby; the proprietors by reaping harvests whose abundance will enable them to sell at a low price, the workers, who by purchasing cheaply will be enabled to live more comfortably, to economize their wages, and become capitalists in turn” … and everything will be for the best in this best of all possible societies!
We are satisfied of the sincerity of M. Ville; as far as our slight knowledge of the matter entitles us to judge, his system appears perfectly rational; we do not deny the good effects which the general application of his method would produce in the condition of the workers, if the workers could benefit by anything at all in the present society. On the contrary his figures support the Anarchists’ assertion that according to the data of science products might, with much less labor, be rendered so abundant that there would be no need of apportioning them; that everyone might consume out
