Competition, in its
higher expression, is the gearing by means of which laborers
reciprocally stimulate and sustain each other. But, pending the
realization of that organization which must elevate competition
to its veritable nature, it remains a civil war in which
producers, instead of aiding each other in labor, grind and crush
each other by labor. The danger here was imminent; man, to avert
it, had this supreme law of love; and nothing was easier, while
pushing competition to its extreme limits in the interest of
production, than to then repair its murderous effects by an
equitable distribution. Far from that, this anarchical
competition has become, as it were, the soul and spirit of
the laborer. Political economy placed in the hands of man this
weapon of death, and he has struck; he has used competition, as
the lion uses his paws and jaws, to kill and devour. How is it,
then, I repeat, that a wholly external accident has changed the
nature of man, which is supposed to be good and gentle and
social?
The wine merchant calls to his aid jelly, magnin, insects, water,
and poisons; by combinations of his own he adds to the
destructive effects of competition.
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