Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/58

 Jaurès' faith. And it was because he believed that this idea was implicit in the theory of a Republic that he considered the Republic so invaluable for France, and that he was further always willing to ally himself with Republicans if they gave signs of believing in their own formulas. The Republic involves the abolition of privilege and it can be only a matter of time before this is fully worked out. It is true that the Republic has as yet only conquered political inequalities—social inequalities, economic inequalities remain, but in a Republic these cannot be morally defended, and no sincere Republican can fight for them with conviction. Speaking of members of his own party, he says: "Because they are republicans, democrats, anti-clericals the Socialists have great interests in common with the non-socialist parties, who want to maintain the Republic, develop the democracy and combat the privileges of the Church. And they necessarily make a difference between the parties who uphold and the parties who combat the Republic, democracy and freedom of discussion."

Jaurès' ideas with regard to the political action which ought to be taken by Socialists resulted from this sense of historical evolution. He believed that as the Republic had grown out of the Revolution so Socialism would grow out of the