tentioned
citizens, men and women both, will form themselves into bands of
volunteers and address themselves to the task of making a rough general
inventory of the contents of each shop and warehouse.

If such a revolution breaks out in France, namely in Paris, then in
twenty-four hours the Commune will know what Paris has not found out
yet, in spite of its statistical committees, and what it never did find
out during the siege of 1871--the quantity of provisions it contains. In
forty-eight hours millions of copies will be printed of the tables
giving a sufficiently exact account of the available food, the places
where it is stored, and the means of distribution.

In every block of houses, in every street, in every town ward, groups of
volunteers will have been organized, and these commissariat volunteers
will find it easy to work in unison and keep in touch with each other.
If only the Jacobin bayonets do not get in the way; if only the
self-styled "scientific" theorists do not thrust themselves in to
darken counsel! Or rather let them expound their muddle-headed theories
as much as they like, provided they have no authority, no power! And
that admirable spirit of organization inherent in the people, above all
in every social grade of the French nation, but which they have so
seldom been allowed to exercise, will initiate, even in so huge a city
as Paris, and in the midst of a Revolution, an immense guild of free
workers, ready to furnish to each and all the necessary food.

Give the people a free hand, and in ten days the food service will be
conducted with admirable regularity. Only those who have never seen the
people hard at work, only those who have passed their lives buried among
the documents, can doubt it. Speak of the organizing genius of the
"Great Misunderstood," the people, to those who have seen it in Paris in
the days of the barricades, or in London during the great dockers'
strike, when half a million of starving folk had to be fed, and they
will tell you how superior it is to the official ineptness of Bumbledom.

And even supposing we had to endure a certain amount of discomfort and
confusion for a fortnight or a month, surely that would not matter very
much. For the mass of the people it would still be an improvement on
their former condition; and, besides, in times of Revolution one can
dine contentedly enough on a bit of bread and cheese while eagerly
discussing events.

In any case, a system wh