THE IDEA IS THE THING. Did you ever ask yourself how it happens that government and capitalism continue to exist in spite of all the evil and trouble they are causing in the world ? If you did, then your answer must have been that it is because the people support those institutions, and that they support them because they believe in them. That is the crux of the whole matter : pre9ent-day society rests on the belief of the people that it is good and useful. It is founded on the idea of authority and private ownership. It is ideas that maintain conditions. Government and capitalism are_the forms in which the popular ideas express themselves. Ideas are the foundation; the institutions are the house built upon it. · A new social structure must have a new foundation, new ideas at its base, However you may change the _form of an institution, its character and meaning will remain the same as the foundation on which it is built. Look closely at life and you will perceive the truth of this. There are all kinds and forms of government in the world, but their real nature is the same .everywhere, as their effects are the same : it always means authority and obedience. Now, what makes governments exist ? The armies and navies ? Yes, but only apparently so. What supports the armies and navies? It is the belief of the people, of the masses, that government is necessary; it is the generally accepted idea of the ne.ed of government. That is its real and solid foundation. Take that idea or belief away, and no government could last another day. The same applies to private ownership, The idea that it. is right and necessary is the pillar that supports it and gives it security. Not a single institution exists to-day but is founded on the popular belief that it is good and beneficial. Let us take an illustration; the United States,. for instance. Ask yourself why revolutionary propaganda has been of so little effect in that country in spite of fifty years of Socialist and Anarchist effort. Is the American worker not exploited more intensely than . labour in other countries ? Is political corruption as rampant in any other land ? Is the capitalist class in America not the mos_! arbitrary and despotic in the world ?1 True, the worker in t~e United States is better situated materially than in Europe, but 1s he not at the same time treated with the utmost brutality and 46 81bhotecaGinoBianco
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