COLLECTIVISM AND INDUSTRIAL BY EMILE VANDERVELDE MEMBER OF THE BELGIAN TRANSLATED BY CHARLES H. KERR 188 CHICAGO CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 1904 Owen Davies AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION In writing this little book we have tried to fill an undeniable vacuum in the socialist literature of the French language. Among the countless works to which socialism has given birth since the beginning of the nineteenth century there are some-Marx's Capital is the most illustrious example-which require from the reader a perseverance and a preparation which, unhappily, belong only to a privileged few. The rest of our books, on the contrary, when they are not out of date, or of too special a character, are primarily propaganda pamphlets which through their extreme simplicity are excellently adapted to reach the masses of the people, but which could hardly be recommended to those who seek a complete exposition of the collectivist theories. Often enough it has happened to us, when we were talking socialism with what our eighteenth century writers called "honest people," who had, or desired to have, "common sense" on all subjects, to meet with this question: "Will you please direct me to a good summary of your teachings?" An embarrassing question, at least when our neighbor reads nothing but French. The three volumes of Marx (only the first two of which are translated) are not exactly popular works. Other books are no longer in the current of contemporary facts, or treat only one or two aspects of the problem; the excellent tracts of the London Fabian Society are not published in French. Finally, despairing of the case, we resorted to advising those who |