lear.

Socialism teaches that no man is entitled to anything except that
which he has made himself. "No man has a right to call anything his
own but that which he himself has made. Now, no man makes the land.
The land is not created by labour, but it is the gift of God to all.
The earth belongs to the people. For the nonce please take the
statement on the authority of Herbert Spencer, All men 'have equal
rights to the use of the earth.' So that he who possesses land
possesses that to which he has no right, and he who invests his
savings in land becomes a purchaser of stolen property."[311] "No man
made the land, and laws and lawyers notwithstanding no man has any
moral right before God to call a solitary strip of God's earth his
than has the burglar to call his stolen goods his personal property.
It is therefore evident that the bite named 'rent' given to landlords
for permission to live upon and use God's free gift to man is as much
the fruit of robbery, the spoil of plunder, as is the result of a
burglar's night's marauding, a common pickpocket's day's
'takings.'"[312] Capital is in the same position as land, for "Land
and capital are indistinguishable."[313]

The more honest Socialists agree with Bax that compensation for
property acquired would be inadvisable and impracticable. "In a
pamphlet called 'Collectivism and Revolution' M. Jules Guesde said,
'Expropriation with indemnity is a chimera. And whatever regret one
may feel, however difficult may appear to peaceful natures the last
method, we have no other way than to retake violently that which
belongs to all, by--let us say the word--the Revolution.' He added,
'Capital which it is necessary to take from individuals, such as the
land, is not of human creation; it is anterior to man, for whom it is
a _sine qua non_ of existence. It cannot therefore belong to some to
the exclusion of others, without the others being robbed. And to make
the robbers deliver up, to oblige them to restore in any and every way
is not so much a right as a duty, the most sacred of duties."[314] A
respected English Socialist says bluntly, "How to secure the swag to
the workers is the problem."[315] A Christian Socialist clergyman
sarcastically proposes: "If you are a Christian and love your rich
neighbour as yourself, you will do all you can to help him to become
poorer. For if you believe in the Gospel, you know that to be rich is
the very worst thing that can happen to a man. That if a