“But the Radicals are the logical Communists”, Mr. Forest said. “The fundamental principle of communism is equality. You can base the demand for the equal division of the products of labor on that principle of equality only, and if we are all equal, then there is no reason why we should live in houses of different architecture, why we should wear different clothing, why we should have a variety of meals, why one man should not have just as good a right to the love of a certain girl as any and all other men, and why one girl should not have just as fair a claim to the love of any man she may select as any other girl has. And there is no reason, why one baby should have more care than another and why one mother should spend more time on her child than another, thus perhaps losing time that would have enabled her to make herself useful by peeling a plate of potatoes. The Radicals are the only Communists”.
“But every girl can not love all the men, and every man can not very well love all the girls”, I objected, somewhat amused by the grim humor displayed by Mr. Forest, although my deep disgust for the abominable brutality preached by the Radicals, prevented real merriment.
“Our radical reformers have never been able to explain to my entire satisfaction how the principle of free love should be regulated, if regulated at all”, Mr. Forest answered. “Some of them seem disposed to grant permission to live together, so long as both parties like each other. But the more radical and logical communists object to the stability of an institution as incongruous with the spirit of institutions based on the principle of absolute equality. Perhaps they favor the choosing of a new partner every day, and in order to place both sexes on equal footing they would give the right of choice to the women on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and to the men on the other three week-days, leaving the Sundays in addition to the ladies. And to avoid strife, when a number of reformers demand the love of the same girl, or when more girls than one fall in love with the same man, they could draw lots or could raffle for the first chance, thus doing justice to all”[25].
[25] The well known naturalist, Professor Karl Vogt in Germany, famous by his nickname “Monkey-Vogt,” is a radical philosopher, who gained this sobriquet as an advocate of the theory of evolution, claiming Monkeys to have the same progenitors as man. But even Vogt’s radicalism revolted against the doctrines set forth by Russian, French and German nihilists and anarchists; during a “convention” held in Switzerland, Karl Vogt dedicated the following lines to them:
“Wir wollen in der Sonn’ spazieren,
Wir wollen uns mit Fett beschmieren
Und ausgelöscht sei Mein und Dein.
Wir wollen uns mit Schnapps berauschen,
Wir wollen uns’re Weiber tauschen,
Wir wollen freie Männer sein!”