Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/200

 178 the organization of a county or a nation, and if it cannot be extended to these larger limits it stands condemned. A monastery, a nunnery, a Shakers' settlement may be all Socialist societies, but their existence taken alone would furnish arguments against rather than in favour of the possibility of a Socialist resettlement of mankind. I propound, indeed, this thesis—that any scheme of social order which is not wide enough to absorb and renovate society as a whole must be put aside as incurably faulty. I need not dwell on this any longer now, as it will be necessary presently to consider plans which are put forward as nation-wide, and indeed as world—wide. It must be said of the isolated communities of which I have been speaking that they present little or no dilliculty in organization or maintenance. They are cities of refuge, where a strong moral impulse leads a chosen few to renounce individual possessions, and, generally, to submit their self-will to the authority of the leader who has stirred the impulse; and the industrial energies of the inmates are directed in a very simple manner to the immediate supply of some primary wants, and to the production of some one commodity, or class of commodities, e.g. farm produce—which is bartered for what is required of outer barbarians. The difficulty in establishing and upholding such households lies in the discovery and maintenance of the motive force to which they owe their existence. No serious economic complications fetter their common life, when once adopted.

If attention is turned to wider schemes, it will be felt that the moral difficulty is immensely increased. To lead a whole nation by the method of persuasion to renounce individual possessions, and to accept instead a distributed quota—be it an equal or a graduated share—in the annual product, is a project so unpromising that it has been rarely contemplated as practical. The plan actually regarded as feasible is that of converting a preponderant mass of the possessors of political power to the principle of a community of goods, so that the desired result may be brought about by confiscation and not by renunciation. I should not, however, take my stand on the impossibility of achieving success in communistic proselytism. We are dealing with long periods of time, and I would rather not set a limit to the extent to which the doctrine of renunciation may be carried. Free surrender to the common good may spread, and there is nothing to be said against it, except in respect of its wisdom or unwisdom, regard being had to the effect of such surrender on the character of those intended to be benefited. But the moral