Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/48

 he spoke of "the sublime joy of bringing all men into the fullness of humanity."

In 1903 he published a book called Etudes Socialistes. In it he deals with considerations of the method of bringing Socialism about, but it is in part a criticism of present day society from the socialist point of view and suggests the fundamental changes which will be necessary.

"The main idea of Socialism," says Jaurès, "is simple and noble. Socialists believe that the present form of property-holding divides society into two great classes. One of these classes, the wage-earning Proletariat, is obliged to pay to the other,the Capitalist,a sort of tax in order to be able to live at all, and exercise its faculties to any degree. Here is a multitude of human beings, citizens; they possess nothing, they can live only by their work. But in order to work they need an expensive equipment which they do not possess, and raw materials and capital which they do not possess. Another class owns the means of production, the land, the factories, the machines, the raw materials, and accumulated capital in the form of money: and naturally this capitalist and possessing class, taking advantage of its power, makes the working and non-owning class pay a large forfeit. It does not rest content after it has been reimbursed for the advances it made and has repaired the wear and tear of the machinery. It