usand different forms; for
without a certain leaven of Communism the present societies could not
exist. In spite of the narrowly egoistic turn given to men's minds by
the commercial system, the tendency towards Communism is constantly
appearing, and it influences our activities in a variety of ways.

The bridges, for the use of which a toll was levied in the old days,
have become public property and are free to all; so are the high roads,
except in the East, where a toll is still exacted from the traveller for
every mile of his journey. Museums, free libraries, free schools, free
meals for children; parks and gardens open to all; streets paved and
lighted, free to all; water supplied to every house without measure or
stint--all such arrangements are founded on the principle: "Take what
you need."

The tramways and railways have already introduced monthly and annual
season tickets, without limiting the number of journeys taken; and two
nations, Hungary and Russia, have introduced on their railways the zone
system, which permits the holder to travel five hundred or eight hundred
miles for the same price. It is but a short step from that to a uniform
charge, such as already prevails in the postal service. In all these
innovations, and in a thousand others, the tendency is not to measure
the individual consumption. One man wants to travel eight hundred miles,
another five hundred. These are personal requirements. There is no
sufficient reason why one should pay twice as much as the other because
his need is twice as great. Such are the signs which appear even now in
our individualist societies.

Moreover, there is a tendency, though still a feeble one, to consider
the needs of the individual, irrespective of his past or possible
services to the community. We are beginning to think of society as a
whole, each part of which is so intimately bound up with the others that
a service rendered to one is a service rendered to all.

When you go to a public library--not indeed the National Library of
Paris, but, say, into the British Museum or the Berlin Library--the
librarian does not ask what services you have rendered to society before
giving you the book, or the fifty books, which you require; he even
comes to your assistance if you do not know how to manage the catalogue.
By means of uniform credentials--and very often a contribution of work
is preferred--the scientific society opens its museums, its gardens, its
library, it