| Title | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists |
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| Page | 1342 |
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| Chapter | -- |
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`These statements are lies that have been invented for the purpose of creating in us a feeling of resignation to the evils of our condition. They are lies which have been fostered by those who imagine that it is to their interest that we should be content to see our children condemned to the same poverty and degradation that we have endured ourselves. I do not propose - because there is not time, although it is really part of my subject - to go back to the beginnings of history, and describe in detail the different systems of social organization which evolved from and superseded each other at different periods, but it is necessary to remind you that the changes that have taken place in the past have been even greater than the change proposed by Socialists today. The change from savagery and cannibalism when men used to devour the captives they took in war - to the beginning of chattel slavery, when the tribes or clans into which mankind were divided - whose social organization was a kind of Communism, all the individuals belonging to the tribe being practically social equals, members of one great |
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