Page:Studies in socialism 1906.djvu/70

20 warning given to the societies in process of extinction by the encroachments of bourgeois oligarchy,—Socialism is now in the proletariat and by its means the strongest of all the social forces, the one that is continually growing, and that will end by overturning the equilibrium of society for its own advantage, that is for the advantage of humanity, of which it is now the highest expression.

No, Socialism is not an academic and Utopian conception, it is ripening and developing in closest touch with reality. It is a great vital force, mingled with all phases of life, and will soon be able to take command of the life of society. To the incomplete application of justice and human rights made by the democratic bourgeois Revolution, it has opposed a full and decisive interpretation of the Rights of Man. To the incomplete, narrow, and chaotic organisation of wealth attempted by capital, it has opposed a magnificent conception of harmonised wealth, where the effort of each would be supplemented by the co-ordinated effort of all. To the hard pride and selfishness of the middle class, narrowed by its legalised exploitation and monopoly, it has opposed a revolutionary bitterness, an irritating and vengeful irony; a deadly implacable analysis that dispels lies and sophistries. And finally, to the social supremacy of capital it has opposed the class organisation of the ever-growing and strengthening proletariat.

How can the régime of class persist when the oppressed and exploited class grows daily in