d the law of
co-operation or solidarity gains more and more both in efficiency and in
the range of its influence, and this is due to that fundamental reason
that Marx pointed out, and which constitutes his great scientific
discovery, the reason that in the one case the conditions of
existence--food especially--are not assured, and in the other case they
are.

In the lives of individuals as in the life of societies, when the means
of subsistence, that is to say, the physical basis of existence, are
assured, the law of solidarity takes precedence over the law of the
struggle for existence, and when they are not assured, the contrary is
true. Among savages, infanticide and parricide are not only permitted
but are obligatory and sanctioned by religion if the tribe inhabits an
island where food is scarce (for instance, in Polynesia), and they are
immoral and criminal acts on continents where the food supply is more
abundant and certain.[19]

Just so, in our present society, as the majority of individuals are not
sure of getting their daily bread, the struggle for life, or "free
competition," as the individualists call it, assumes more cruel and more
brutal forms.

Just as soon as through collective ownership every individual shall be
assured of fitting conditions of existence, the law of solidarity will
become preponderant.

When in a family financial affairs run smoothly and prosperously,
harmony and mutual good-will prevail; as soon as poverty makes its
appearance, discord and struggle ensue. Society as a whole shows us the
picture on a large scale. A better social organization will insure
universal harmony and mutual good-will.

This will be the achievement of socialism, and, to repeat, for this, the
fullest and most fruitful interpretation of the inexorable natural laws
discovered by Darwinism, we are indebted to socialism.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] Such socialists are LABUSQUIERE, LANESSAU, LORIA And COLAJANNI.

[14] NOVICOW, _Les luttes entre societes, leurs phases successives_,
Paris, 1893. LERDA, _La lotta per la vita_, in _Pensiero italiano_,
Milan, Feb. and March, 1894.

[15] I regret that M. Loria, ordinarily so profound and acute, has here
been deceived by appearances. He has pointed out this pretended
contradiction in his "Economic Foundations of Society" (available in
English, Tr.). He has been completely answered, in the name of the
school of scientific criminal anthropology, by M. RIVIERI DE ROCCHI, _Il