The first part covers two chapters: one treating of occupation, the foundation of our right; the other, of labor and talent, considered as causes of property and social inequality.
The first of these chapters will prove that the right of occupation OBSTRUCTS property; the second that the right of labor DESTROYS it.
II.Property, then, being of necessity conceived as existing only in connection with equality, it remains to find out why, in spite of this necessity of logic, equality does not exist.This new investigation also covers two chapters: in the first, considering the fact of property in itself, we inquire whether this fact is real, whether it exists, whether it is possible; for it would imply a contradiction, were these two opposite forms of society, equality and inequality, both possible.Then we discover, singularly enough, that property may indeed manifest itself accidentally; but that, as an institution and principle, it is mathematically impossible.So that the axiom of the school--ab actu ad posse valet consecutio: from the actual to the possible the inference is good--is given the lie as far as property is concerned.
Finally, in the last chapter, calling psychology to our aid, and probing man's nature to the bottom, we shall disclose the principle of JUSTICE--its formula and character; we shall state with precision the organic law of society; we shall explain the origin of property, the causes of its establishment, its long life, and its approaching death; we shall definitively establish its identity with robbery.And, after having shown that these three prejudices--THE SOVEREIGNTY OF MAN, THE INEQUALITY OFCONDITIONS, AND PROPERTY--are one and the same; that they may be taken for each other, and are reciprocally convertible,--we shall have no trouble in inferring therefrom, by the principle of contradiction, the basis of government and right.There our investigations will end, reserving the right to continue them in future works.
The importance of the subject which engages our attention is recognized by all minds.
"Property," says M.Hennequin, "is the creative and conservative principle of civil society.Property is one of those basic institutions, new theories concerning which cannot be presented too soon; for it must not be forgotten, and the publicist and statesman must know, that on the answer to the question whether property is the principle or the result of social order, whether it is to be considered as a cause or an effect, depends all morality, and, consequently, all the authority of human institutions."These words are a challenge to all men of hope and faith; but, although the cause of equality is a noble one, no one has yet picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the advocates of property;no one has been courageous enough to enter upon the struggle.
The spurious learning of haughty jurisprudence, and the absurd aphorisms of a political economy controlled by property have puzzled the most generous minds; it is a sort of password among the most influential friends of liberty and the interests of the people that EQUALITY IS A CHIMERA! So many false theories and meaningless analogies influence minds otherwise keen, but which are unconsciously controlled by popular prejudice.Equality advances every day--fit aequalitas.Soldiers of liberty, shall we desert our flag in the hour of triumph?
A defender of equality, I shall speak without bitterness and without anger; with the independence becoming a philosopher, with the courage and firmness of a free man.May I, in this momentous struggle, carry into all hearts the light with which I am filled;and show, by the success of my argument, that equality failed to conquer by the sword only that it might conquer by the pen!
