e, has,
before everything, THE RIGHT TO LIVE, and that society is bound to share
amongst all, without exception, the means of existence it has at its
disposal. We must acknowledge this, and proclaim it aloud, and act up to
it.

Affairs must be managed in such a way that from the first day of the
revolution the worker shall know that a new era is opening before him;
that henceforward none need crouch under the bridges, while palaces are
hard by, none need fast in the midst of plenty, none need perish with
cold near shops full of furs; that all is for all, in practice as well
as in theory, and that at last, for the first time in history, a
revolution has been accomplished which considers the NEEDS of the people
before schooling them in their DUTIES.

This cannot be brought about by Acts of Parliament, but only by taking
immediate and effective possession of all that is necessary to ensure
the well-being of all; this is the only really scientific way of going
to work, the only way which can be understood and desired by the mass of
the people. We must take possession, in the name of the people, of the
granaries, the shops full of clothing and the dwelling houses. Nothing
must be wasted. We must organize without delay a way to feed the hungry,
to satisfy all wants, to meet all needs, to produce not for the special
benefit of this one or that one, but so as to ensure to society as a
whole its life and further development.

Enough of ambiguous words like "the right to work," with which the
people were misled in 1848, and which are still resorted to with the
hope of misleading them. Let us have the courage to recognise that
_Well-being for all_, henceforward possible, must be realized.

When the workers claimed the right to work in 1848, national and
municipal workshops were organized, and workmen were sent to drudge
there at the rate of 1s. 8d. a day! When they asked the "Organization of
Labour," the reply was: "Patience, friends, the Government will see to
it; meantime here is your 1s. 8d. Rest now, brave toiler, after your
life-long struggle for food!" And in the meantime the cannons were
overhauled, the reserves called out, and the workers themselves
disorganized by the many methods well known to the middle classes, till
one fine day, in June, 1848, four months after the overthrow of the
previous Government, they were told to go and colonize Africa, or be
shot down.

Very different will be the result if the workers cl