Antagonism between Men Unnatural 323 



that the association of men did not produce the 

 exaltation of life. Therefore no human associa- 

 tion would ever have been formed, and society 

 would not now exist. 



If we consider the pretended antagonism be- 

 tween the individual and collectivity, we come 

 immediately upon several contradictions. If this 

 antagonism were real, evil for the individual 

 would be equivalent to good for the collectivity. 

 Therefore death, which is the supreme evil for the 

 individual, would be the supreme good for the 

 collectivity. In other words, a society or a State 

 would attain the maximum of prosperity when all 

 the individuals of which it is composed should 

 cease to live. Or, if we consider it in the inverse 

 direction, if there were a real antagonism between 

 public interest and private interest, the day in 

 which the community would suffer the greatest 

 possible evil, total death, would be that on which 

 the individuals would experience the greatest good. 

 In other words, men would be most happy when 

 they were all dead. This rednctio ad absurdum 

 shows the essential fallacy of the doctrine of the 

 antagonism between individuals and the collec- 

 tivity. 



But, the philosophy of force maintains, we see 

 the antagonism in operation everywhere about us. 

 How is it possible to affirm at the same time that 

 antagonism exists and that it does not exist? The 

 Socialists claim that they do not strive to produce 

 this antagonism, but simply draw aside the veil 



