474 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



receipts of the central office of the party, by no means represents 

 all that the working man gives in order to support his cause, 

 for the local receipts are not less than those of the central office ! 

 And M. Bourdeau concludes : " Quel temoignage du desinteresse- 

 ment, ou du moins de I'esprit de sacrifice de la classe ouvriere 

 en favour de sa cause, que ce zele a fournir I'obole du proletaire, 

 meme en des temps difficiles." ^ 



But while fully recognising the admirable organisation and 

 the admirable devotion to their cause which characterise the 

 Sociahst party in Europe, we must approach the question in a 

 scientific way, and ask ourselves, Does Socialism constitute the 

 force we need for reorganising our social life ? 



Socialism, as we said in the previous chapter, is the logical 

 consequence of the teaching of the Liberal philosophers ; it is 

 the logical consequence of the theory of the Rechtsstaai. If we 

 admit the principle of equahty between men ; if we admit that 

 every individual is possessed of certain inalienable rights as an 

 individual ; and that every individual is to be treated as an end 

 in himself, and not as a means, then we must, logically, come to 

 the Sociahst and Communist ideal. It is rehgion which alone 

 can afford us another outlet ; but we shall revert to this in the next 

 chapter. Socialism and its counterpart, Commimist Anarchism, 

 are extremely logical doctrines, once certain premises have been 

 accepted ; they are the only logical doctrines if we admit the sup- 

 pression of the action of those developmental forces which have 

 produced all progress up till now — the forces of conffict. " From 

 every one according to his means, to every man according to his 

 wants," is a logical precept in the Ught of such an admission. 

 And Liberalism, in refusing to adopt this precept as its doctrine, 

 is illogical. For Liberalism does not appear to perceive that 

 the individualist doctrine of the most complete development of 

 the individual — ^which development is the consequence of free 



* J. Bourdeau, Le Socialisme AUemand et le NihUisme Russe, p. 154. 

 Paris, Alcan, 1894. 



