Social Democrats of Germany, with Lassalle at their head. have left nothing tangible which can be said to have advanced their cause. The Schulze-Delitzsch credit banks, which they assailed as an improved form of capitalism, have done and are doing more for labour in Germany than the
whole Social Democratic party has ever done.
In France the names of Saint Simon, Fourier. Bazard, and Enfantin suggest chiefly a series of tragic failures. In England Owen s name recalls the brief existence of Harmony Hall and Orbiston, the establishment of the Labour Exchange and the issue of Labour Notes, and a number of other schemes which raised great hopes and expectations that were doomed to a speedy disappointment. In America the success of communism, such as it is, is hardly more encouraging than its failure in Europe. The mea sure of material prosperity achieved is not very con siderable, bearing in mind the length of time most of the societies have existed and the ease and cheapness with which unoccupied land can be obtained in the United States. Mr Nordhoff estimates the capitalized wealth of the 72 American communes at twelve millions of dollars, or about 2,400,000 sterling. They own between 150,000 and 180,000 acres of land, or on an average about 36 acres a head a comparatively small holding for America. The 72 communes are spread over 1 3 States ; they possess some of the most fertile land in the world ; one of the Shaker villages owns a magnificent estate of 4500 acres lying in the famous Miami bottom, a soil much of which is so fertile that after sixty years of cropping it will still yield from 60 to 70 bushels of corn to the acre without manuring. The material condition of the inhabitants of the communistic villages compares favourably, no doubt, with that of the German peasants by whom the majority of American communes were originally started ; but the monotony, the personal submission, the impossibility of privacy or temporary seclusion, the absence of anything like intellectual activity in these societies, would render the life well-nigh unbearable to people who had been previously .accustomed to a higher standard of happiness than that at present within the reach of the ordinary day-labourer. Many communistic experiments in America have been unsuccessful. Mr J. H. Noyes, in his book on " American Socialisms," gives a short history of no fewer than forty- Beven of these failures. Comparing the history of those societies which have died a natural death with that of those which still continue to exist, it is found that the successful societies had no advantage either in the wealth of their members or the intellectual ability of their leaders. Most of the successful societies began poor ; most of the unsuccessful societies began with what were believed to be sufficient means to achieve success. Many of the unsuc cessful societies were founded by high-minded, highly- cultivated men and women, and their members were distinguished for their education and intellectual attain ments. From these facts and with ample means through personal experience for forming a correct opinion, Mr Nordhoff draws the conclusion that in a communistic experiment success depends upon a feeling among all the members " of the unbearableness of the circumstances " in which their lives were originally cast. They must have suffered from wrong and oppression, as well as from want, before communism can appear as a welcome change in their manner of life. Hence the poorer and more narrow and miserable the condition of the people who start a com munistic experiment the more likely is it under judicious leaders to succeed. People are easily satisfied when almost any change in their lives must be for the better. It would ^>e most undesirable to detract from the achievement of the American communes in raising the poorest and most miserable peasants to a degree of material prosperity, which compares with that of the well-to-do small farmer in England or America. This is no small feat; and they have also proved the possibility of putting communism into a practical form, at any rate on a small scale, and under exceptionally favourable economic conditions. But it is impossible to doubt that their principal value to the world has been in illustrating the limitations and drawbacks of the system. As long as communism remained an unex plored region given over to the dreamers of dreams and the seers of visions, it was impossible to prove that it did not possess all the marvellous perfection they fondly attributed to it. The American societies offer a life which is confessedly attractive only to those whose original circum stances are exceptionally unfortunate ; to these communism can give, together with a congenial religious atmosphere, material prosperity of a humble type, accompanied by the sacrifice of individuality, liberty, privacy, and intellectual development. It can hardly be denied that these experi ments prove that, even were communism on a large, scale practically possible, it could never satisfy the aspirations of those who look for a time when increased material prosperity among the working-classes shall be accompanied by a corresponding increase of intellectual activity, political responsibility, and personal independence. The old form of society would seem to be more favourable than com- Munism to the growth of these qualities ; and it is probable that the American experiments may help to establish the conviction among economic revolutionists that more can be accomplished by grafting new institutions, such as co-operation, on the old plant of private properly than can be achieved by rooting it up altogether, and planting the seedling of communism in its stead.
See Reybaud, Lcs Reformateurs Moderncs; Nordhoff, commu nistic Societies of the United States; Jiev. M. Kaufmann, Socialism; Louis Blanc, L Organisation du Travail; A. J. Booth, Life of Robert Owen, Saint- Simon and Saint- Simonism, and art. "Charles Fourier" in Fortnightly Review, vol. xii., new series. See also the articles Fourier, Owen, and Saint Simon.
(m. g. f.)
name, at the south-west corner of the Lake of Como, in a beautiful valley surrounded by richly-clad mountains. It lies in 45 48 26" N. lat. and 9 4 45" E. long., and is distant twenty-eight miles by rail from Milan. The city proper is still surrounded by its ancient walls and towers : but two pretty extensive suburbs, known as Vico and St Agostino, have grown up outside the former containing a large number of fine villas, and the latter devoted specially to manufacturing purposes. The principal buildings are the cathedral, the broletto or town hall, the churches of St Fedele and St Abondio, the Palazzo Giovio, with its library and collection of antiquities, the Gallio College, and the theatre. The cathedral, erected by the voluntary contribu tions of the citizens, is a structure of various dates and styles of architecture, the earliest portions being by Lorenzo de Spaziof the end of the 14th century, while the cupola is the work of Guvara, an architect of the first half of the 18th. The most interesting, perhaps, of the monuments which it preserves, is that of Benedetto Giovio, an early historian of the city. The broletto dates from 1215, and is built of alternate courses of black and white marble ; but of still greater value as an artistic effort is the church of St Abondio, a small but exquisite structure of the llth century, built, it would seem, in the lower portions of Roman remains, and remarkable for an " apse of extraordinary height and richness rising between two tall campaniles." There are extensive factories in Como for the spinning and weaving of silk ; it also manufactures woollens, cotton, and soap ; and there are iron-works in the immediate vicinity. To its position on the lake and its command of the Spliigen and St Gotthard lines of com
munication, it is indebted for a considerable trade by way