Principles of political economy by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Economics
Publisher: Chicago : Callaghan and company
Published: 1882-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

SECTION LXXVIII.

SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM.

In opposition to this, the idea of a community of goods has found favor, especially in times when the four following conditions met:^

A. A xvcll-dcfincd confrontation of rich and -poor. So long as there is a middle class of considerable numbers between them, the two extremes are kept, by its moral force, from coming into collision. There is no greater preservative against env}?- of the superior classes and contempt for the inferior, than the gradual and unbroken fading of one class of society into another. Sfcrate miseri^ cavcte fdices! In such a state of social organization, we find the utmost and freshest productive activity at every round of the great ladder. Those at the bottom are straining every nerve to rise, and those higher up,

1 The word socialism brought into use by L. Rcyhaud is as ambiguous as the Avord communism is simple and intelligible. But most socialists agree that actual " society " (which is indeed to be distinguished from the state) is, together with its foundations, the existing relations of property and the family, entirely wrong. A radical reconstruction, they say, is needed to remove forever the chief evil of this system, viz.: the glaring difference between the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated. The difference between the doctrines of the socialists and of Political Economy does not, by any means, consist in this, that the former concerns itself more with the welfare of the lower classes, or even that it gives wider scope to economy in common. But socialism is, indeed, a living or housekeeping in common (Geineinivirthschaft)^ Avhich goes far beyond the feeling for the common interest (^Gtvwe/w.s/ww^. Such economy in common is always opposed to freedom, and, at its first introduction, contrary to law. It can guaranty no compensation to those who have suffered from violence or force, because it leads to a thoughtless and wasteful exhaustion of the nation's resources, inasmuch as it weakens the incentive to industry and frugality. Political Economy, on the other hand, recommends an expropriation when the incentives to industry and frugality are thereby strengthened; and the increased resources thus obtained serve it, as full compensation to those whose property has been exj>roj>riated.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.