without our being conscious of them, any more than a man
is conscious of the beating of his heart. And then, explained
Schliemann, society would break up into independent, self-
governing communities of mutually congenial persons;
examples of which at present were clubs, churches, and po~
litical parties. After the revolution, all the intellectual,
artistic, and spiritual activities of men would be cared for
by such "free associations"; romantic novelists would be
supported by those who liked to read romantic novels, and
impressionist painters would be supported by those who
liked to look at impressionist pictures -- and the same with
preachers and scientists, editors and actors and musicians.
If any one wanted to work or paint or pray, and could find
no one to maintain him, he could support himself by work~
ing part of the time. That was the case at present, the
only difference being that the competitive wage-system
compelled a man to work all the time to live, while, after
the abolition of privilege and exploitation, any one would
be able to support himself by an hour's work a day. Also
the artist's audience of the present was a small minority
of people, all debased and vulgarized by the effort it had
cost them to win in the commercial battle; of the intellec~
tual and artistic activities which would result when the
whole of mankind was set free from the nightmare of com~
petition, we could at present form no conception what~
ever.
And then the editor wanted to know upon what ground
Dr. Schliemann asserted that it might be possible for a society
to exist upon an hour's toil by each of its members. "Just
what," answered the other, "would be the productive
capacity of society if the present resources of science were
utilized, we have no means of ascertaining; but we may be
sure it would exceed anything that would sound reasonable
to minds inured to the ferocious barbarities of Capitalism.
After the triumph of the international proletariat, war
would of course be inconceivable; and who can figure the
cost of war to humanity -- not merely the value of the
lives and the material that it destroys, not merely the cost
of keeping millions of men in idleness, of arming and
[[402]]
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p403