272 The Ideal State 



personal qualities and efforts, and upon their moral 

 value, and so they consciously seek out ways of in- 

 creasing the technical capacities of the industrial 

 worker, knowing that through this he will desire a pro- 

 found change in the organisation of the industries in 

 particular, and in society in general." G. Beaubois, a 

 clerk in the French Post Office, writes in regard to this 

 aspect of the question : " Syndicalists must take care 

 of the technical, moral, and social perfection of the 

 young workers ; they must guide and advise them, and 

 awaken in them the spirit of observation, the qualities 

 of initiative and energy. They must efface the painful 

 and repugnant features that accompany labour under 

 the present organisation of production. The problem 

 of progress lies in saving work from monotony, and 

 routine from fatality and servitude. In other words, 

 the problem of progress lies in freeing work, and 

 ennobling it. To initiate every worker into the progress 

 of industry and the marvels of human activity, to show 

 them the usefulness of their efforts and the grandeur of 

 their work — that is, to give them a passion, a soul, a 

 conscience. The labour organisations should become 

 paternal homes for the young workers, protecting 

 them from all temptations and leading them into life. 

 A revolution does not improvise itself, and it is neces- 

 sary that in the industrial groups new ideas, new 

 collective sentiments should be born, and should 

 develop and prepare the social change." 



It ought to be understood that this is one of the most 

 recent pronouncements by one of the most advanced 

 advocates of industrial reform on collectivist lines, and 

 yet, instead of doctrines of atheism, anarchism, and 

 " I'hypothese Dieu," we have the inculcation of the 

 technical, moral, and social perfection of the young 

 workers, of guidance and advice so as to awaken 

 the spirit of observation and qualities of initiative and 



