Socialism has been attacked and incriminated at all times, but never with more animosity than recently. Socialists are reproached of every kind of wickedness: of the tendency to do away with property, marriage, family, to pollute every thing that is sacred; they have been even accused of arson and murder. And why not? If we look at the originators of those incriminations, we are not the least astonished, for they have to defend privileges and monopolies, which in reality are in danger, if drawn to the broad daylight and handled by the Socialists; they act according to the old jesuitic stratagem: invent lies and pollute your enemy every way you can; something will stick. But if we find those reproaches repeated and echoed even by workingmen, whose interests are quite different, we must wonder indeed.
If the workers, however, hate and attack Socialism, it is not a clear perception of the wickedness of the aims of Socialism, by which their judgement is guided, but a dim and vague idea, and it is well known that spectres are awful things in the dark, for people who believe in them.
But everybody ought to know what he does, and if he hates and persecutes other people for their purposes and pursuits, he must be convinced, that he is right in doing so. For, if we hate and persecute persons, whose purposes and pursuits are reasonable and right, we are wrong.
For this reason let us examine the real aims of the Socialists. I think, I know them pretty well, and I promise to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth about them, bearing in mind what the poet says:
"He who lies must have a flogging."
When you have read this little pamphlet to the end, you may persecute the Socialists with renewed hatred, if yon find, they are bad; on the other hand, you will think favorably of them, if you find good and right what they have in view. For I am convinced, that you, dear reader, whoever you are, have not a mind to love the bad and hate the good.
Foremost and above all, it seems to be certain, that the Socialists ntend to divide all property. Everybody, who owns something, must give up what he owns; this whole mass has to be divided equally among all the people and each person may use his part, just as he likes. After a while, when some have used up their alloted part, and a new disproportion of property has arisen, a new division will be mad—and so on.—Especially the money and the soil are to be divided.— That is, what some people say concerning Socialism.
