nsurgent communes, keeping strict account of it all, that none might be
wasted, and that by the aid of these accumulated resources every one
might be able to tide over the crisis. During that time an agreement
would have to be made with the factory workers, the necessary raw
material given them, and the means of subsistence assured to them, while
they worked to supply the needs of the agricultural population. For we
must not forget that while France weaves silks and satins to deck the
wives of German financiers, the Empress of Russia, and the Queen of the
Sandwich Islands, and while Paris fashions wonderful trinkets and
playthings for rich folk all the world over, two-thirds of the French
peasantry have not proper lamps to give them light, or the implements
necessary for modern agriculture. Lastly, unproductive land, of which
there is plenty, would have to be turned to the best advantage, poor
soils enriched, and rich soils, which yet, under the present system, do
not yield a quarter, no, nor a tenth of what they might produce, would
be submitted to intensive culture, and tilled with as much care as a
market garden or a flower pot. It is impossible to imagine any other
practical solution of the problem; and, whether we like it or not, sheer
force of circumstances will bring it to pass.

III

The most prominent characteristic of our present capitalism is _the wage
system_, which in brief amounts to this:--

A man, or a group of men, possessing the necessary capital, starts some
industrial enterprise; he undertakes to supply the factory or workshops
with raw material, to organize production, to pay the employes a fixed
wage, and lastly, to pocket the surplus value or profits, under pretext
of recouping himself for managing the concern, for running the risks it
may involve, and for the fluctuations of price in the market value of
the wares.

To preserve this system, those who now monopolize capital would be ready
to make certain concessions; to share, for example, a part of the
profits with the workers, or rather to establish a "sliding scale,"
which would oblige them to raise wages when prices were high; in brief
they would consent to certain sacrifices on condition that they were
still allowed to direct industry and to take its first fruits.

Collectivism, as we know, does not abolish the wage system, though it
introduces considerable modifications into the existing order of things.
It only substitutes the State,