Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/88

 and weakness. But it must be said that Jaurès never knocked down one dry formula just to put another in its place. He held no theory in a hard, narrow way; and if he wanted Socialists to be engaged in other work besides propaganda, it was not that he despised propaganda or neglected it. But his nature was large and full: he desired Life and to have it more abundantly. He could not stand by and let the whole life of France go on without taking part in it, influencing and being influenced by it. Rappoport says finely of him: "Jaurès was a vigorous labourer, full of gaiety and ardour, who never sulked over his work. He was a hard toiler who put all his flaming soul into his toil, which never stood idle. He had a veritable passion for work, for creation. He loved life and he was always trying to make it spring up round him. It was as if he were consumed by an immense need of infinite, of multiple and varied action."

Towards the end of the century the Socialist movement in France was seriously menaced by differences of opinion about method, which caused it to split into warring factions. The avoidance of such splits was of the very utmost importance to Jaurès. He was always working for unity, and he always longed to understand and be understood by others. He set himself therefore to make this matter of Socialist method as clear as possible. He felt that the divergence