ir property in
common. It has nothing, of course, to do with the Paris Commune,
overthrown in May 1871, which was a political and not an economic
movement. Communistic schemes have been advocated in almost every age
and country, and have to be distinguished from mere anarchism or from
the selfish desire to transfer other people's property into one's own
pockets. The opinion that a communist is merely a man who has no
property to lose, and therefore advocates a redistribution of wealth, is
contrary to the established facts as to those who have historically
supported the theory of communism. The Corn-law Rhymer's lines on this
subject are amusing, but only apply to the baser sort:--

"What is a Communist! One that hath yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings.
Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing
To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling."

This is the communist of hostile criticism--a criticism, no doubt,
ultimately based on certain fundamental facts in human nature, which
have usually wrecked communistic schemes of a purely altruistic type in
conception. But the great communists, like Plato, More, Saint-Simon,
Robert Owen, were the very reverse of selfish or idle in their aims; and
communism as a force in the historical evolution of economic and social
opinion must be regarded on its ideal side, and not merely in its
lapses, however natural the latter may be in operation, owing to the
defects of human character. As a theory it has inspired not only some of
the finest characters in history, but also much of the gradual evolution
of economic organization--especially in the case of co-operation (q.v.);
and its opportunities have naturally varied according to the state of
social organization in particular countries. The communism of the early
Christians, for instance, was rather a voluntary sharing of private
property than any abnegation of property as such. The Essenes and the
Therapeutae, however, in Palestine, had a stricter form of communism,
and the former required the surrender of individual property; and in the
middle ages various religious sects, followed by the monastic orders,
were based on the communistic principle.

Communistic schemes have found advocates in almost every age and in many
different countries. The one thing that is shared by all communists,
whether speculative or practical, is deep dissatisfaction with the
economic conditions by which they are surrounded. In Plato's