dens and parks, he will have to abolish the public baths,
the theatres, the waterworks, all the public buildings; he will have
to destroy the railroads, the telegraphs, the post-office. For all
these belong to Communism."[1057] It would be as logical to say, "He
who opposes Socialism will have to destroy the Royal Society, and all
clubs, for all these are social institutions." The Social-Democratic
Federation says about Communism: "Has there not always been the
aggregation of wealth in the hands of a few in all stages of human
society?--Certainly there has been a tendency to such concentration
throughout history. In what did tribal society differ from civilised
society?--Briefly, it differed in that its underlying principle was
that of social solidarity and Communism. We may instance such examples
as survived in the village communities of India before the
establishment of British institutions; in the Russian Mir, in its
older form; in the Arab tribal organisation and the Javan village
communities."[1058] That "primitive Communism" of "tribal society,"
the organisation of savages and semi-savages, of the decadent and of
the unfit, Socialists wish to foist upon a highly cultured nation. The
above arguments, penned by the philosopher of British Socialism and
the editor of "Justice" in recommendation of Communism, suffice to
condemn it.

We have a survival of ancient Communism in the Russian Mir, and to the
Mir is the great backwardness of Russian agriculture chiefly to be
attributed.[1059] The Russian peasants, recognising the disadvantages
of the Communist Mir, are gradually abandoning it and converting
common into individual properties. Nevertheless some Socialists have
the hardihood to ascribe the universal disappearance of ancient
Communism to the tyranny of man, not to the logic of facts and the
action of Nature which replaces inefficient by efficient
organisations. "There have been attempts in all ages to introduce some
system of holding things in common in order to alleviate and soften
the hard struggle with Nature for food, clothing, and shelter. This
voluntary Communism rendered the workers too independent for the
governing classes, and the jealousy of Church and State invariably
destroyed it as the Russian village communes are now being destroyed
by the Government."[1060]

Another Socialist quotes with approval the pronouncement of Gregory
the Great "Let them know that the earth from which they spring, and of