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warehouse; or who does not keep open shop。  Penalty of death against

the manufacturer who does not verify the daily use of his workable

material。  … As to prices; we intervene authoritatively between buyer

and seller; we fix the maximum price for all objects which; near or

remotely; serve to feed; warm and clothe man; we will imprison whoever

offers or demands anything more。  Whether the dealer or manufacturer

pays expenses at this rate; matters not; if; after the maximum is

fixed; he closes factory; or gives up business; we declare him a

〃suspect;〃 we chain him down to his pursuit; we oblige him to lose by

it。  … This is the way to clip the claws of beasts of prey; little and

big! But the claws grow out again; and; instead of paring them down;

it would probably be better to pull them out。  Some amongst us have

already thought of that; the right of pre…emption shall be applied to

every article; 〃in each department; national storehouse might be

established where farmers; land…owners and manufacturers would be

obliged to deposit at a fixed price; paid down; the surplus of their

consumption of every species of merchandise。  The nation would

distribute this merchandise to wholesale dealers; reserving a profit

of six per cent。  The profit of the wholesale dealer would be fixed at

eight per cent and that of the retailer at twelve per cent。〃'82' In

this way ; farmers; manufacturers; and merchants would all become

clerks of the State; appointed on a premium or a discount; unable to

gain a great deal; they would not be tempted to gain too much; they

would cease to be greedy and soon cease to be egoists。'83'  … Since;

fundamentally; egoism is the capital vice and individual

proprietorship the food that nourishes it; why not suppress individual

proprietorship altogether? Our extreme logicians; with Bab?uf at the

head of them; go as far as that; and Saint…Just seems to be of that

opinion。'84' We are not concerned with the enacting of an Agrarian;

the nation may reserve the soil to itself and divide among

individuals; not the soil; but its lease。  The outcome of this

principle affords us a glimpse of an order of things in which the

State; sole proprietor of real…estate; sole capitalist; sole

manufacturer; sole trader; having all Frenchmen in its pay and

service; would assign to each one his task according to his aptitude;

and distribute to each one his rations according to his wants。'85' 

These various uncompleted plans still float in a hazy distance but

their common purpose is clearly distinguishable。



 〃All which tends to center human passions on the vile; individual ego

must be repudiated or repressed;〃'86'



 We should annihilate special interests; deprive the individual of the

motives and means for self…isolation; suppress preoccupations and

ambitions by which Man makes himself a focal point at the expense of

the real center; in short; to detach him from himself in order to

attach him wholly to the State。



This is why; disregarding the narrow egoism through which the

individual prefers himself to the community; we strive towards the

enlarged egoism by which the individual prefers the community to the

group of which he forms a part。  Under no pretext must he separate

himself from the whole; at no price; must he be allowed to form for

himself a small homeland within the large one; for; by the affection

he entertains for the small one; he frustrates the objects of the

large one。  Nothing is worse than political; civil; religious and

domestic federalism; we combat it under all its forms。'87'  In this

particular; the Constituent Assembly has paved the way for us; since

it has broken up all the principal historic or material groups by

which men have separated themselves from the masses and formed a band

apart; provinces; clergy; nobles; parliaments; religious orders and

trades…unions。  We complete its work; we destroy churches; we suppress

literary or scientific associations; educational or benevolent

societies; even down to financial companies。'88' We prohibit any

departmental or commercial 〃local spirit:〃 we find



〃odious and opposed to all principles; that; amongst municipalities;

some should be rich and others poor; that one should have immense

patrimonial possessions and another nothing but debts。〃'89'



 We regard these possessions as the nation's; and we place

indebtedness to the nation's account。  We take grain from rich

communes and departments; to feed poor communes and departments。  We

build bridges; roads and canals of each district; at the expense of

the State; 〃we centralize the labor of the French people in a broad;

opulent fashion。〃'90'  We want no more local interests; recollections;

dialects; idioms and patriotisms。  Only one bond should subsist

between individuals; that which attaches them to the social body。  We

sunder all others; we do not tolerate any special aggregation; we do

the best we can to break up the most tenacious of all; the family。  …

We therefore give marriage the status of an ordinary contract: we

render this loose and precarious; resembling as much as possible the

free and transient union of the sexes; it shall be dissolved at the

option of both parties; and even of one of the parties; after one

month of formalities and of probation。  If the couple has lived

separate six months; the divorce may be granted without any probation

or delay; divorced parties may re…marry。  On the other hand; we

suppress marital authority: since spouses are equal; each has equal

rights over common property and the property of each other ; we

deprive the husband of its administration and render it 〃common〃 to

both parties。  We abolish 〃paternal authority;〃



〃 it is cheating nature to enforce her rights through constraint。  。

。  。  The only rights that parents have are those of protection and

watchfulness。〃'91'



The father can no longer control the education of his children; the

State takes charge of it。  The father is no longer master of his

property; that portion he can dispose of by donation or testament is

of the smallest; we prescribe an equal and forced division of

property。  … Finally we preach adoption; we efface bastardy; we confer

on children born of free love; or of a despotic will; the same rights

as those of legitimate children。  In short; we break that sacred

circle; that exclusive group; that aristocratic organization which;

under the name of the family; was created out of pride and egoism。'92'

… Henceforth; affection and obedience will no longer be frittered

away; the miserable supports to which they have clung like ivy vines;

castes; churches; corporations; provinces; communes or families; are

ruined and rooted out; on the ground which is thus leveled; the State

alone remains standing; and it alone offers any point of adhesion; all

these vines are about to twine themselves in on trunk about the great

central column。



VIII。



Indoctrination of mind and intellect。  … Civil religion。… National

education。  …Egalitarian moral standards。。… Obligatory civism。  … The

recasting and reduction of human nature to the Jacobin type。



Let not Man go astray; let us lead him on; let us direct minds and

souls; and; to this end; let us enfold him in our doctrines。  He needs

general ideas and the daily experiences flowing out of them; he needs

some theory explaining the origin and nature of things; one which

assigns him his place and the part he has to play in the world; which

teaches him his duties; which regulates his life; which fixes the days

he shall work and the days he shall rest; which stamps itself on his

mind through commemorations; festivals and ceremonies; through a

catechism and a calendar。  Up to this time Religion has been the power

charged with this service; interpreted and served by the Church; now

it is to be Reason; interpreted and served by the State。  … In this

connection; many among us; disciples of the encyclopedists; constitute

Reason a divinity; and honor her with a system of worship; but it is

plain that they personify an abstraction; their improvised goddess is

simply an allegorical phantom; none of them see in her the intelligent

cause of the world; in the depths of their hearts they deny this

Supreme Cause; their pretended religion being merely a show or a sham。

…  We discard atheism; not only because it is false; but again; and

more especially; because it is disintegrating and unwholesome。'93'  We

want an effective; consolatory and fortifying religion; and that

religion is natural religion; which is social as well as true。

〃Without this;'94' as Rousseau has said; it is impossible to be a good

citizen。。。  。。。The existence of divinity; the future life; the

sacredness of the social contract and of the laws;〃 all are its

dogmas; 〃no one may be forced to believe in these; but whoever dares

say that he does not believe in them; sets himself up against the

French people; the human species and na

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