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The most profitable social arrangement (economic and otherwise) is one in which each thinks of the good of all, and devotes himself unreservedly to the service of that welfare. If all were so disposed, each would derive the greatest possible amount of good.

The most unprofitable grouping of ​people (economically and otherwise) is that in which each works for himself only, depends and provides for himself only. If this were universally the case, if there were not at least family groups in which people work for one another, I do not think men could live.

However, people have not this yearning for the welfare of others; on the contrary, each is striving for his own welfare, to the detriment of others. But this state of things is so unprofitable that men speedily grow weak in the struggle. And now, by the very nature of things, it occurs that one man overpowers others and makes them serve him. And the result is a more profitable labor of men instead of the unprofitable individual one.

But in such associations of men there appear inequality and oppression. And therefore people are making attempts at equalization (such as the attempts at cooperations, communes) and at the liberation of men (such as political rights). Equalization always leads to disadvantage of the work done. In order to equalize the remuneration, the best workman is brought down to the level of the worst; things in use are divided in such a manner that no one may have more, or better, than another, as in the partition of land; and this is why the divisions of land are being made smaller and smaller, a practice disadvantageous to all. Liberation from oppression by political rights is leading to even greater excitement and ill-will. Thus ​attempts at equalization and deliverance from oppression are made, though without success; while the unification, the subjugation of ever greater and greater numbers of men by one is always increasing. The greater the centralization of labor the more profitable it is, but also the more striking and revolting is the inequality.

What, then, is to be done? Individual labor is unprofitable; centralized labor is more profitable, but the inequality and oppression are terrible.

Socialists wish to remove inequality and oppression by assigning all capital to the nation, to humanity, so that the centralized unit will become humanity itself. But, in the first place, not only humanity, but even nations do not as yet admit the necessity for this, and until they do, this system cannot be adopted by all humanity; secondly, among men striving each for his own welfare, it would be impossible to find men sufficiently disinterested to manage the capital of humanity without taking advantage of their power—men who would not again introduce into the world inequality and oppression.

And so humanity stands unavoidably face to face with this dilemma: either the forward movement attained by the centralization of labor must be renounced,—there must even be retrogression rather than an infringement of equality or allowance of oppression,—or else it should be boldly admitted that inequality and oppression must exist, that "when wood ​is chopped, splinters will fly," that there must be victims, and that struggle is the law of humanity. And this view is, in fact, adopted and supported by certain people. But, side by side with it, there resounds ever louder and louder the protests of the dispossessed, the moans of the oppressed and the voices of the indignant raised in the name of the ideal of Christ, of truth and good; which ideal is acknowledged by our society only officially.

But any child can see that the greatest advantage would result to all if everyone were to interest himself in the common cause, and therefore to be provided for as a member of the whole. As, however, this is not the practice, as it is impossible to enter into the soul of everyone and control it, and as to persuade everybody is also impossible, or would take infinitely long, there remains but one other course: to assist the centralization of labor, resulting from the subjugation of the many by the few, and at the same time to conceal from the dispossessed their inequality with the fortunate, to ward off their attacks, and to help and afford charity to the oppressed. And this is being done; but the concentration of capital increases more and more, and the inequality and oppression grow ever more cruel. And side by side with this, enlightenment becomes more general and the inequality and the cruelty of oppression more evident both to oppressed and oppressors. ​Further movement in this direction is becoming impossible; so those who think little, who do not look to the logical conclusion, propose imaginary remedies, consisting in the education of men in the consciousness of the necessity of cooperation for the sake of greater advantage. This is absurd. If the aim be great advantage, then everyone will get this advantage for himself in the capitalistic organizations. And therefore nothing except talk results from these attempts.

The organization most profitable for all will be attained not while everyone's aim is profit, material welfare, but only when the aim of all is that welfare which is independent of earthly well-being—when everyone will say from his heart, "Blessed are the poor; blessed are those that weep, those who are persecuted. Only when everyone seeks, not material but spiritual welfare, which always coincides with sacrifice, is verified by sacrifice—only then will result the greatest welfare for all.

Take this simple illustration: People live together; if they tidy up regularly, clean up after themselves, everyone has to do very little in order to preserve the general cleanliness. But everyone is accustomed to have things tidied and cleaned up after him; what, then, has he to do who wishes to keep the place clean? He must work for all, must be immersed in dirt. And if he will not do this, will ​work only for himself, he will not attain his aim. Of course it would be easier to order all the others; but there is no one who can so order. There remains but one course—oneself to work for others.

And, indeed, in a world where all are living for themselves, to begin to live for others a little is impossible; one must give oneself up entirely. And it is just this that the conscience, enlightened by Christ, demands. *⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠* Why is it that the kingdom of God upon earth can be realized neither by means of the existing governmental violence nor by a revolution and State Socialism, nor yet by those means preached by Christian Socialists: propaganda and the gradually increasing consciousness of men that it will be advantageous?

So long as Man's aim is the welfare of the personal life, no one can check himself in this strife for his welfare at the point where he gets his just share,—and at such demands from men which admit of the well-being of all. No one can do this, firstly, because it is impossible to find the point of perfect justice in these requests,—men will always exaggerate their demands; and secondly, because, even were it possible to find the measure of the just demands, man cannot put forward the demand for that which is only just, for he will never get it, but infinitely less. The demands of those around him being regulated, not by justice, but by personal profit, it is evident ​that as a matter of fact the possession of material welfare will be attained by every separate individual rather through competition and struggle (as indeed is at present the case) than by just demands.

In order to attain justice, while people are striving after personal welfare, it would be necessary to have people able to define the measure of worldly goods which should in justice fall to the share of each; and also people with power to prevent men profiting by more than their just share. There are, and always have been, men who have undertaken both these duties; they are our rulers. But up to the present time neither in monarchies nor in republics have there been found men who, in defining the measure of goods and distributing them among men, have not transgressed this measure for themselves and their assistants, and thus spoiled the work they were called to, and undertook to do. So that this means is already recognized by all to be unsatisfactory. And now some people say that it is necessary to abolish these governments and to establish governments of another kind, chiefly for the purpose of superintending economic affairs,—which governments, acknowledging that all capital and land are common property, will administer the labor of men and distribute earthly welfare, according to their labor,—or, as some say, according to their needs.

All attempts at this kind of organization, hitherto made, have been unsuccessful. ​But even without such experiments, one can confidently assert that, with men striving after personal welfare, such an organization cannot be realized, because those men—very many of them—who will superintend economic affairs, will be men with strivings after personal welfare, and will have to deal with similar men, and therefore in organizing and maintaining the new economic order, they will inevitably prosecute their own personal advantage as much as the former administrators, and will thus destroy the meaning of the very work they are called to do.

Some will say, "Choose men who are wise and pure." But none but the wise and pure can choose the wise and pure. And if all men were wise and pure, there would be no need of any organization, consequently the impossibility of that which the revolutionary Socialists profess is felt by all, even by themselves; and that is why it is out of date and has no success.

And here we come to the third teaching—that of Christian Socialism, which has resource to propaganda aiming at influencing the consciousness of men. But the success of this teaching is evidently possible only when all men will have the same clear consciousness of the advantages of community of labor, and when this consciousness will have simultaneously developed in all. But as it is evident that neither the one nor the other can take place, the economic organization founded, not on competition and struggle, ​but on community of interest cannot be realized.

Therefore there cannot be a better organization than the present one, so long as the aim of man is personal welfare.

The error of those who preach Christian Socialism consists in this, that they draw from the Gospels only that practical conclusion of general welfare which is not the aim pointed out by the Gospels, but only the verification of the correctness of the means. The Gospels teach the way of life, and by advancing on this way it happens that material welfare is reached. It is indeed attained, but it is not the aim. If the aim of the gospel teaching were limited to the attainment of material welfare, then this material welfare would not be attained.

The aim is higher and more distant. The aim of this teaching is not dependent on material welfare; it is the salvation of the soul, i.e of that divine element which has been enclosed in man. This salvation is attained by renouncing personal life and therefore, also, material well-being, and by striving after the welfare of one's neighbors—by love. And it is only by this endeavor that men will, incidentally, attain the greatest welfare of all—the kingdom of God upon earth.

By striving after personal welfare, neither personal nor general welfare is attained. By striving after self-forgetfulness, both personal and general Welfare are attained. *⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠* Theoretically, three organizations of ​human society are possible. The first is this: people—the best people, God's—will give such a law to men as will ensure the greatest happiness to mankind, and the authorities will enforce the fulfillment of this law. This has been tried; but has resulted in the authorities, those who administered the law, abusing their power and infringing the law, not they only but also their cooperators, who are many. Then appeared a second scheme, "Laisser faire, laisser passer," the idea being that there is no need of authorities, but that by all men striving each for his own welfare, justice will be realized. But this does not succeed for two reasons. Firstly, because authority is not abolished, and people think it cannot be abolished because oppression would still continue, for the government would refuse to use its authority to arrest the robber, whereas the robber would not desist. While there are authorities the condition of men fighting for welfare is unequal, not only because some are stronger than others, but also because men make use of authority to help them in the struggle. Secondly, because in the incessant struggle of all, each for his own welfare, the slightest advantage of one gives him a multiplied advantage, and inequality must inevitably result. There still remains a third theory, that men will come to understand that it is profitable to live for the welfare of others, and that all will strive after this. And it is just this that the Christian faith furnishes. In the ​first place, to the realization of this theory there can be no external obstacles; whether or not there exist government, capital, etc., and the whole present order of things, the object would be attained in the event of such a development of men's conception of life. Secondly, one need expect no special term for the commencement of the realization, for every single individual who has attained this life conception, and gives himself up to the welfare of others, is already conducing to that welfare. And thirdly, this has been going on ever since we have known anything about the life of men. *⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠* Socialists say, "It is not necessary for us who enjoy the blessings of culture and civilization to be deprived of these blessings, and to descend to the level of the rough crowd, but the men who are now deprived of material good must be raised to our level, and made participators in the blessings of culture and civilization. The means for accomplishing this is science. Science teaches us to conquer nature; it is able infinitely to increase the productiveness of nature; it may by electricity avail itself of the power of the Niagara Falls, of rivers, of winds. The sun will work. And there will be plenty of everything for everybody. At present only a small fraction of mankind, the one in power, profits by the blessings of civilization; whereas the rest is deprived of them. Increase the welfare, and then it will ​suffice for all." But the fact is that those in power have long been consuming not what they need, but what they do not need; all they can get. Therefore, however much advantages may increase, those who are at the top will appropriate them for themselves.

One cannot consume more than a certain quantity of necessaries, but to luxury there is no limit. Thousands of bushels of bread may be used for horses and dogs; millions of acres of land turned into parks, and so on, as is now the case. So that no increase of productiveness and wealth will augment one little the welfare of the lower classes, so long as the upper classes have the power and the desire to spend the surplus wealth on luxury. On the contrary, the increase of productiveness, the greater mastery of the forces of nature, only gives greater power to the upper classes, to those in authority,—power to keep this authority over the lower working classes.

And every attempt on the part of the lower classes to make the rich divide with them,—revolutions, strikes,—cause strife, and the strife—a useless waste of wealth. "Better let no one have it, if I cannot,' say the contending parties.

The conquest of nature and the increased production of material wealth in order that it may overflow the world, so that every one may have his share, is as unwise a proceeding as would be to increase the quantity of wood thrown into a stove, in order ​to increase the warmth of a house in which the stoves have no dampers. However much you may augment the fire, the cold air becoming heated will rise, and fresh cold air will at once take its place; and therefore no equal distribution of warmth in the house will be attained. This will continue as long as there is access for the cold air and an outlet for the hot.

Of the three remedies which have so far been invented, it is difficult to say which is the most foolish,—so foolish are they all.

The first remedy, that of the revolutionist, consists in the abolition of the upper classes, by whom all the wealth is consumed. This is the same as if a man were to break the chimney through which the heat is disappearing, supposing that when there is no chimney the heat will not pass away. But the heat will pass out through the hole left by the chimney, as it did through the chimney itself, if the current be the same. In the same way wealth will all go to the men in authority, as long as authority exists.

Another remedy, at present being put into practice by Wilhelm II., is, without changing the existing order, to take from the upper classes, who possess the wealth and power, a small portion of this wealth and throw it into the bottomless abyss of poverty; as if one were to arrange on the top of the chimney, through which the heat is passing, fans, and to fan the heat, trying to drive it down to the cold layers. ​An occupation obviously difficult and useless, because, while the heat ascends from below, however much one may drive it down (and one cannot drive down much), it will at once again rise up and all the exertion will be wasted.

The third, and last, remedy is at present preached especially in America. It consists in replacing the competitive and individualistic basis of life by a communistic principle, by a principle of associations, co-operations. This remedy, as stated in Dawn and the Nationalist, consists in preaching cooperation by word and deed, in inculcating and explaining to men that competition, individualism, and strife are destroying much strength and consequently wealth, and that far greater advantage is derived from the cooperative principle, i.e. every one working for the common good, and receiving afterwards his share of the common wealth,—that this will prove more advantageous for everybody. All this is excellent, but the worst of it is that, to begin with, no one knows what each man's share will be when all is divided equally; and above all, whatever his share may be, it will appear insufficient for their welfare to men living as they do at present. "All will be well off, and you will enjoy the same as the others."—"But I don't want to live like all the rest, I want to live better. I have always lived better than others and am used to it."—"And as for me I have long lived worse than all, and now want to live just ​as others have lived." This remedy is the worst of all, because it supposes that during the existing upward current, i.e. the motive of striving after the best, it is possible to persuade the particles of air not to rise in proportion to the heat.

The one means is to reveal to men their true welfare, and to show them that wealth not only is not a blessing, but even diverts men from welfare, by hiding from them their true welfare.

There is only one means, and that is to stop up the hole of worldly desire. This alone would give equally distributed heat. And this is exactly the opposite of what the Socialists say and do,—trying to augment production, and therefore the general mass of wealth.

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Gronlund is arguing with Spencer and all those who deny the need of government, or see its destination only in the security of the individual. Gronlund considers that the foundation of morality lies in association. As a model, or rather as an embryo, of a real socialistic government, he brings forward trades-unions, which, by coercing the individual, by inducing him to sacrifice his personal interests, subordinate him to the service of the common cause.

This, I think, is not true. He says that the government organizes labor. That would be well; but he forgets that governments are always coercing and exploiting labor under the pretext of ​defense. How much more would it then exploit labor under the pretext of organizing it? It would indeed be well if government were to organize labor, but to do that it must be disinterested, saintly. But where are they, these saints ?

It is true that individualism, as they call it, meaning by this the ideal of individual welfare for each separate man, is a most pernicious principle ; but the principle of the welfare of many people together is equally pernicious. Only its perniciousness is not at once evident.

The attainment of that cooperation—social communism,—in place of individualism, will not result from organization. We shall never guess what will be the organization of the future; we will discover it only by everyone following the unperverted impulse of heart, conscience, reason, faith; the law of life, call it what you will.

Bees and ants live socially, not because they know what organization is most advantageous for them and follow it,—they have no idea of expediency, harmony, the wisdom of the hive or ant hill, as they appear to us, but because they give themselves up to what we call the instinct inherent in them, they submit, not philosophizing cunningly, but straightforwardly to their law of life. I can imagine that if bees, in addition to their instinct, as we call it, in addition to the consciousness of their law, were able to invent the best organization of their social life, they ​would invent such a life that they would perish.

In this tendency of the law of life there is something less and something more than reasoning. And it alone leads to that way of truth, which is the right one for man and for humanity.

 

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Some Social Remedies TOC

Leo Tolstoy Archive