Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/197

 Rh and the vividness of the present knows no past. He is consumed, and rightly consumed, by the passion of indignation he feels at the spectacle of degradation he sees for the first time. The complacency of his seniors irritates him. He is impatient of their ignoble content. The pity is that as he grows wiser in his estimates of past and present, his zeal to better the present may too probably abate. Yet it is true that—

A recognition of this truth ought not, however, to dull our own energies. A juster appreciation of what was done by those who have gone before as ought to strengthen our resolution to maintain and complete their great enterprise.

Socialism is, however, something more than benevolence. It goes beyond mitigation of the suffering of individuals, and even beyond mere alleviation of the common lot of the crowd. It is not enough to be pitiful. The Socialist aims at something wider and deeper. Pity and good works, laudable as they may be, he must brand as a deceit if they are addressed simply to the temporary relief of a passing generation, and are not designed to effect some abiding renovation of the whole order of society. The fine phrase of Mme. Louise Michel expresses a great conviction—La philanthropie, c'est une mensonge. The Socialist passion thus severely condemning palliatives is a craving for new life, manifested in many forms. The ideas and plans of Socialists are numerous, varied, and changeable; but every Socialist is in some fashion or other struggling after a new society, organized in a different manner from that to which we are accustomed—not a modification of it, resting on the same principles as before, but a re-formation out of which may commence a new career and a new fulfilment of humanity. And of these Socialist visions, as of philanthropic endeavour, the succession has been endless. Promises to make all things new, and a certain assurance of the preparation of peace, have again and again been forthcoming. The promises have not been realized; peace and brotherhood have not been set up; but with another generation faith revives. The mistakes which caused the failures of the past will this time