urged against most insurrections. It was an attempt to impose the will
of a minority on a large majority of the people. The Socialists in the
Commune must have realised at times that the people of France were not
prepared for even the small instalments of Socialism which they sought
to introduce. The revolutionists may have thought to impose their
policy upon France by a mere _coup de main_."[1119]

The attitude of Socialists makes it appear possible that the
revolutionary outbreak of 1871 will not be the last. The next
revolutionary attempt may conceivably take place in Great Britain.
"One man with an idea in his head is in danger of being considered a
madman; two men with the same idea in common may be foolish, but can
hardly be mad; ten men sharing an idea begin to act; a hundred draw
attention as fanatics, a thousand and society begins to tremble, a
hundred thousand and there is war abroad."[1120] "Whilst our backers
at the polls are counted by tens, we must continue to crawl and drudge
and lecture as best we can. When they are counted by hundreds, we can
permeate and trim and compromise. When they rise to tens of thousands,
we shall take the field as an independent party. Give us hundreds of
thousands, as you can if you try hard enough, and we will ride the
whirlwind and direct the storm."[1121]

FOOTNOTES:

[1098] Joynes, _A Socialist Catechism_, p. 13.

[1099] Bax and Quelch, _A New Catechism of Socialism_, p. 37.

[1100] De Leon, _Reform or Revolution_, p. 3.

[1101] Keir Hardie, _From Serfdom to Socialism_, p. 23.

[1102] _Socialist Standard_, October 1, 1907.

[1103] Keir Hardie, _From Serfdom to Socialism_, p. 86.

[1104] Ethel Snowden, _The Woman Socialist_, p. 10.

[1105] _Independent Labour Party Song Book_, p. 20.

[1106] Leatham, _French Revolution_, pp. 13, 14.

[1107] Bax, _Paris Commune_, Preface.

[1108] Leatham, _The Commune of Paris_, p. 3.

[1109] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vol. xxviii. p. 480.

[1110] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vol. xviii. p. 294.

[1111] Bax, _Paris Commune_, p. 59.

[1112] Leatham, _The Commune of Paris_, p. 18.

[1113] Bax, _Paris Commune_, p. 74.

[1114] _Ibid._ p. 88.

[1115] Leatham, _The Commune of Paris_, p. 13.

[1116] _Ibid._ p. 19.

[1117] Bax, _Paris Commune_, p. 86.

[1118] See Chapters XV. and XXX. _ante._

[1119] Leatham, _The Commune of Paris_, p. 15.

[1120] Morris, _Art, Labour, and Socialism_, p. 24.

[1121] Shaw, _The Fabian