for all of them in 1845. There is no longer a mere politician
among the Chartists, and even though their Socialism is very little
developed, though their chief remedy for poverty has hitherto consisted
in the land-allotment system, which was superseded {235} by the
introduction of manufacture, though their chief practical propositions
are apparently of a reactionary nature, yet these very measures involve
the alternative that they must either succumb to the power of competition
once more and restore the old state of things, or they must themselves
entirely overcome competition and abolish it. On the other hand, the
present indefinite state of Chartism, the separation from the purely
political party, involves that precisely the characteristic feature, its
social aspect, will have to be further developed. The approach to
Socialism cannot fail, especially when the next crisis directs the
working-men by force of sheer want to social instead of political
remedies. And a crisis must follow the present active state of industry
and commerce in 1847 at the latest, and probably in 1846; one, too, which
will far exceed in extent and violence all former crises. The working-
men will carry their Charter, naturally; but meanwhile they will learn to
see clearly with regard to many points which they can make by means of it
and of which they now know very little.

Meanwhile the socialist agitation also goes forward. English Socialism
comes under our consideration so far only as it affects the
working-class. The English Socialists demand the gradual introduction of
possession in common in home colonies embracing two to three thousand
persons who shall carry on both agriculture and manufacture and enjoy
equal rights and equal education. They demand greater facility of
obtaining divorce, the establishment of a rational government, with
complete freedom of conscience and the abolition of punishment, the same
to be replaced by a rational treatment of the offender. These are their
practical measures, their theoretical principles do not concern us here.
English Socialism arose with Owen, a manufacturer, and proceeds therefore
with great consideration toward the bourgeoisie and great injustice
toward the proletariat in its methods, although it culminates in
demanding the abolition of the class antagonism between bourgeoisie and
proletariat.

The Socialists are thoroughly tame and peaceable, accept our existing
order, bad as it is, so