[256] “A certain degree of culture and well-being is a necessary external condition for the development of the philosophic spirit.... We, therefore, find that only such nations begin to philosophize who had attained a considerable degree of well-being and culture.” Tenneman, quoted by Buckle.—“Material and intellectual interests go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other. There is a connection between them as between body and mind. To separate them means destruction.” v. Thuenen, “The Isolated State.”—“The best life, both for the individual in particular and for the state in general, is one in which virtue is sufficiently endowed with external possessions, that participation in good and virtuous deeds becomes possible,” Aristotle, “Politics.”
[257] Mr. Eugen Richter, in his “False Doctrines,” reiterates the worn-out phrase: the Socialists wish a coercive state. That there will eventually be no state ought to be clear to the readers of our book. He assumes that society would introduce a state or a social order that would be averse to its own interests. But no new social order or state differing fundamentally from the preceding one could be arbitrarily created. That would be in opposition to all the laws according to which state and society develop. Mr. Eugen Richter and those who share his views may find consolation in this: if Socialism really pursues the foolish aims that they impute to it, it will die off without any effort on their part.—Equally untenable is Richter’s remark that for a social condition like the one aimed at by Socialists, men must be angels. To begin with, there are no angels, and we do not need any. Man is influenced by circumstances, but circumstances are also influenced by man, and the latter will be the case more and more, as men become better acquainted with the nature of society, which they constitute, and apply their experiences consciously to their social organization. We do not need different human beings, but we do need more intelligent and rational human beings than the majority are to-day, and to make them more intelligent and rational, we agitate and publish books like this one.
[258] When we consider the boundless stupidity of our opponents, it seems marvelous that no one has as yet asserted that under Socialism all would be given the same quantity of food and underwear and clothing of the same size to crown the system of “uniform equality.”
[259] Fourier has accomplished this brilliantly, even though in carrying out his ideas, he approached the utopia. Bebel, Chas. Fourier, His Life and His Theories, 3d ed. Stuttgart, 1907.
[260] Condorcet postulates in his educational plan: “Education must be general, free of charge, equal to all, physical, mental, industrial and political, and must aim at true equality.” Likewise Rousseau in his “Political Economy:” “Especially must education be public, equal and common, to educate human beings and citizens.” Aristotle also demands: “Since the state has but one object, it must give all its members one and the same education, and the care for them must be a public, not a private, matter.”
[261] Thus Eugen Richter in his “False Doctrines.”
[262] “At present 20 districts of Paris have established school-kitchens, where the children are given a noon-day meal consisting of meat and vegetables. Only this meal is obligatory, but in several districts the children can obtain breakfast and afternoon-tea also.” Helene Simon—School and Bread. Hamburg, 1907. It is due to the initiative of the Labor Party that a bill providing for the feeding of school children in England was turned over to a committee in 1906.
[263] Professor Dr. Emil Hausknecht—“The American Educational System.”