Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/107

 the party was inconceivable to Jaurès, and he had no ambition to take advantage of his own talents and the position he had gained so as to be taken into future governments on his own merits. He was far too great, too sincere a man. As one of the "Socialistes Militants" he desired to represent the demands of the Socialist party to the world. He knew that the members of the Socialist party were not all equally capable of expressing themselves. He knew that he had this power of expression in the supreme degree. He wished to identify himself with the Socialist party, and as regards tactics he was willing to give way to the majority for the sake of unity. For unity was in Jaurès' case no mere word, it was the greatest need of his nature, and he was willing to make great sacrifices to attain it.

But why then, it may be asked, if union with the workers in their struggle towards Socialism was really more precious to Jaurès than anything else, did he feel it worth while to spend so much time himself on this agitation against the Church, and why did he encourage other Socialists to do so? Could not the overthrow of clerical influence in the French State and more particularly in the schools have been left to Radicals like Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes, while Socialists concentrated their efforts on economic change?