e, but incompatible with the
equality of subordination to the common interest which is fundamental
in modern Socialism."[1069]

The Communistic idea is not yet dead. The short-sightedness and folly
of mankind is such that Communism, in spite of a record of more than
2,000 years of universal failure, is still a power to be reckoned
with. Visionaries like Saint-Simon and Owen, and madmen like Fourier,
are still able to lead the people astray.

Fourier taught that Communism would alter not only man but the
physical world as well. The duration of the human race on earth would
be 80,000 years, divided into two periods of ascending and two of
descending vibrations. Lions would be taught to draw waggons, as a
symbol of the victory of man over Nature. Human life would on an
average last 144 years. The aurora borealis, which now rarely appears
in northern regions, would become permanently visible and be fixed at
the Pole. It would give out, not only light, as at present, but also
heat. It would decompose the sea water by the creation of citric
boreal acid and convert it into a kind of lemonade which would
dispense with the necessity of provisioning ships with fresh water.
Oranges would grow in Siberia and tame whales would pull becalmed
sailing-ships. The full indulgence of human nature in all its passions
would produce happiness and virtue. Society would harmoniously be
organised in groups (phalanxes) of 1,600 persons to inhabit a large
palace called a phalanstery. If England would introduce these
phalanxes, her labour would become so productive that she could pay
off her national debt in six months by the sale of hens' eggs. Labour
would be organised and occupation be changed every two hours. Workers
would be taken in carriages to and from their work, and agricultural
labourers would work under tents so as to be protected against the
rain. The relations between the sexes would be of the freest. All
should freely satisfy all their passions, and all passions would
naturally combine in one grand harmony. The world would become a huge
Republic which would be governed from Constantinople, and French would
be the universal language.[1070]

Notwithstanding the evident insanity of Fourier's proposals, and the
almost equally extravagant proposals of Owen, more than a hundred
phalansteries and other Communistic settlements were founded in Great
Britain and elsewhere, especially in the United States. Their failure
was universal and t