The Story of Mankind [168]
to establish ``social workshops''
all over France fared no better. Indeed, the increasing number
of socialistic writers soon began to see that little individual
communities which remained outside of the regular industrial
life, would never be able to accomplish anything at all. It
was necessary to study the fundamental principles underlying
the whole industrial and capitalistic society before useful remedies
could be suggested.
The practical socialists like Robert Owen and Louis
Blanc and Francois Fournier were succeeded by theoretical
students of socialism like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Of
these two, Marx is the best known. He was a very brilliant
Jew whose family had for a long time lived in Germany. He
had heard of the experiments of Owen and Blanc and he began
to interest himself in questions of labour and wages and
unemployment. But his liberal views made him very unpopular
with the police authorities of Germany, and he was forced to
flee to Brussels and then to London, where he lived a poor and
shabby life as the correspondent of the New York Tribune.
No one, thus far, had paid much attention to his books on
economic subjects. But in the year 1864 he organised the first
international association of working men and three years later
in 1867, he published the first volume of his well-known trea-
tise called ``Capital.'' Marx believed that all history was a
long struggle between those who ``have'' and those who ``don't
have.'' The introduction and general use of machinery had
created a new class in society, that of the capitalists who used
their surplus wealth to buy the tools which were then used by
the labourers to produce still more wealth, which was again used
to build more factories and so on, until the end of time. Meanwhile,
according to Marx, the third estate (the bourgeoisie)
was growing richer and richer and the fourth estate (the proletariat)
was growing poorer and poorer, and he predicted that
in the end, one man would possess all the wealth of the world
while the others would be his employees and dependent upon
his good will.
To prevent such a state of affairs, Marx advised working
men of all countries to unite and to fight for a number of political
and economic measures which he had enumerated in a Manifesto
in the year 1848, the year of the last great European
revolution.
These views of course were very unpopular with the governments
of Europe, many countries, especially Prussia, passed
severe laws against the Socialists and policemen were ordered
to break up the Socialist meetings and to arrest the speakers.
But that sort of persecution never does any good. Martyrs
are the best possible advertisements for an unpopular cause.
In Europe the number of socialists steadily increased and it
was soon clear that the Socialists did not contemplate a violent
revolution but were using their increasing power in the different
Parliaments to promote the interests of the labouring
classes. Socialists were even called upon to act as Cabinet
Ministers, and they co-operated with progressive Catholics and
Protestants to undo the damage that had been caused by the
Industrial Revolution and to bring about a fairer division of
the many benefits which had followed the introduction of machinery
and the increased production of wealth.
THE AGE OF SCIENCE
BUT THE WORLD HAD UNDERGONE ANOTHER
CHANGE WHICH WAS OF GREATER
IMPORTANCE THAN EITHER THE POLITICAL
OR THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS.
AFTER GENERATIONS OF OPPRESSION
AND PERSECUTION, THE SCIENTIST HAD
AT LAST GAINED LIBERTY OF ACTION
AND HE WAS NOW TRYING TO DISCOVER
THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS WHICH GOVERN
THE UNIVERSE
THE Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, the Greeks
and the Romans, had all contributed something to the first
vague notions of science and scientific investigation. But the
great migrations of the fourth century
all over France fared no better. Indeed, the increasing number
of socialistic writers soon began to see that little individual
communities which remained outside of the regular industrial
life, would never be able to accomplish anything at all. It
was necessary to study the fundamental principles underlying
the whole industrial and capitalistic society before useful remedies
could be suggested.
The practical socialists like Robert Owen and Louis
Blanc and Francois Fournier were succeeded by theoretical
students of socialism like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Of
these two, Marx is the best known. He was a very brilliant
Jew whose family had for a long time lived in Germany. He
had heard of the experiments of Owen and Blanc and he began
to interest himself in questions of labour and wages and
unemployment. But his liberal views made him very unpopular
with the police authorities of Germany, and he was forced to
flee to Brussels and then to London, where he lived a poor and
shabby life as the correspondent of the New York Tribune.
No one, thus far, had paid much attention to his books on
economic subjects. But in the year 1864 he organised the first
international association of working men and three years later
in 1867, he published the first volume of his well-known trea-
tise called ``Capital.'' Marx believed that all history was a
long struggle between those who ``have'' and those who ``don't
have.'' The introduction and general use of machinery had
created a new class in society, that of the capitalists who used
their surplus wealth to buy the tools which were then used by
the labourers to produce still more wealth, which was again used
to build more factories and so on, until the end of time. Meanwhile,
according to Marx, the third estate (the bourgeoisie)
was growing richer and richer and the fourth estate (the proletariat)
was growing poorer and poorer, and he predicted that
in the end, one man would possess all the wealth of the world
while the others would be his employees and dependent upon
his good will.
To prevent such a state of affairs, Marx advised working
men of all countries to unite and to fight for a number of political
and economic measures which he had enumerated in a Manifesto
in the year 1848, the year of the last great European
revolution.
These views of course were very unpopular with the governments
of Europe, many countries, especially Prussia, passed
severe laws against the Socialists and policemen were ordered
to break up the Socialist meetings and to arrest the speakers.
But that sort of persecution never does any good. Martyrs
are the best possible advertisements for an unpopular cause.
In Europe the number of socialists steadily increased and it
was soon clear that the Socialists did not contemplate a violent
revolution but were using their increasing power in the different
Parliaments to promote the interests of the labouring
classes. Socialists were even called upon to act as Cabinet
Ministers, and they co-operated with progressive Catholics and
Protestants to undo the damage that had been caused by the
Industrial Revolution and to bring about a fairer division of
the many benefits which had followed the introduction of machinery
and the increased production of wealth.
THE AGE OF SCIENCE
BUT THE WORLD HAD UNDERGONE ANOTHER
CHANGE WHICH WAS OF GREATER
IMPORTANCE THAN EITHER THE POLITICAL
OR THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS.
AFTER GENERATIONS OF OPPRESSION
AND PERSECUTION, THE SCIENTIST HAD
AT LAST GAINED LIBERTY OF ACTION
AND HE WAS NOW TRYING TO DISCOVER
THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS WHICH GOVERN
THE UNIVERSE
THE Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, the Greeks
and the Romans, had all contributed something to the first
vague notions of science and scientific investigation. But the
great migrations of the fourth century