are.

Peaceful Communism is thus simply a matter of population; the conditions
under which men can sit in the sun and enjoy the fruits of the earth
with little effort must be transformed with the multiplication of the
human species into a system which recognizes private property, or a
communal State which enforces compulsory labour by means of overseers
with whips. It was perhaps an appreciation of this truth that impelled
the practical exponents of Rousseau's doctrines, the Terrorists of 1793,
to embark on their "plan of depopulation" by way of establishing
Communism on a peaceful basis.

But our Intellectual Socialists deny this necessity on the ground that
under the benign regime of Socialism all men would be good and happy and
would work joyfully for the welfare of the community. The fact that this
has not proved the case even in voluntary Communist settlements does not
daunt them, because, as has been said, their creed is founded not on
practical experiment, but on theory, and it is here that we again find
the inspiration of Grand Orient Freemasonry. The assumption that under
an ideal social order all human failings would vanish derives directly
from the two masonic doctrines which the Grand Orient, under the
influence of Illuminism, has brought to a _reductio ad absurdum_--the
perfectibility of human nature and universal brotherhood. The whole
philosophy of Socialism is built upon these false premises.

Indeed the actual phraseology of illuminized Freemasonry has now passed
into the language of Socialism; thus the old formulae of "the United
States of Europe" and "the Universal Republic" have been adopted not
only by Mrs. Besant and her followers[741] as the last word in modern
thought, but have also reappeared as a brilliant inspiration under the
pen of Mr. H.G. Wells in the slightly varied form of the "World State."
It would be amusing, for anyone who had the time, to discover how many
of the ideas of our so-called advanced thinkers might be found almost
verbatim in the writings of Weishaupt, the _Republique Universelle_ of
Anacharsis Clootz, and in the speeches of Grand Orient orators during
the last century.

Moreover, the world-revolution is not only founded on the doctrines of
illuminized Freemasonry, but has adopted the same method of
organization. Thus, after the plan of the secret societies, from the
Batinis onward, we shall find the forces of revolution divided into
successive grades--the lowest cons