Blanc; while the French people, on the other hand,
want above all things a free Commune, whether it be a communist Commune
or not.

There is every reason to believe that, when the coming Revolution takes
place, Germany will go further than France went in 1793. The
eighteenth-century Revolution in France was an advance on the English
Revolution of the seventeenth, abolishing as it did at one stroke the
power of the throne and the landed aristocracy, whose influence still
survives in England. But, if Germany goes further and does greater
things than France did in 1793, there can be no doubt that the ideas
which will foster the birth of her Revolution will be those of 1848;
while the ideas which will inspire the Revolution in Russia will
probably be a combination of those of 1789 with those of 1848.

Without, however, attaching to these forecasts a greater importance than
they merit, we may safely conclude this much: the Revolution will take a
different character in each of the different European nations; the point
attained in the socialization of wealth will not be everywhere the same.

Will it therefore be necessary, as is sometimes suggested, that the
nations in the vanguard of the movement should adapt their pace to those
who lag behind? Must we wait till the Communist Revolution is ripe in
all civilized countries? Clearly not! Even if it were a thing to be
desired, it is not possible. History does not wait for the laggards.

Besides, we do not believe that in any one country the Revolution will
be accomplished at a stroke, in the twinkling of an eye, as some
socialists dream.[4] It is highly probable that if one of the five or
six large towns of France--Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Lille,
Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux--were to proclaim the Commune, the others would
follow its example, and that many smaller towns would do the same.
Probably also various mining districts and industrial centres would
hasten to rid themselves of "owners" and "masters," and form themselves
into free groups.

But many country places have not advanced to that point. Side by side
with the revolutionized communes such places would remain in an
expectant attitude, and would go on living on the Individualist system.
Undisturbed by visits of the bailiff or the tax-collector, the peasants
would not be hostile to the revolutionaries, and thus, while profiting
by the new state of affairs, they would defer the settlement of accounts
with the local explo