| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: whole chapter which is a very important part of the story; and you fancy
that we shall not notice your airy way of proceeding; as if it were
self-evident to everybody, that in the matter of women and children
'friends have all things in common.'
And was I not right, Adeimantus?
Yes, he said; but what is right in this particular case, like everything
else, requires to be explained; for community may be of many kinds.
Please, therefore, to say what sort of community you mean. We have been
long expecting that you would tell us something about the family life of
your citizens--how they will bring children into the world, and rear them
when they have arrived, and, in general, what is the nature of this
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: of eternal justice, exacts from the criminal, in the shape of a
fine payable into the public treasury, a compensation for its own
defence--which it does not secure, even when the crime is only a
trespass upon private property!
Thus the State, which cannot prevent crime, and can only repress
it in a small number of cases, and which fails accordingly
in its first duty, for which the citizens pay it their taxes,
demands a price for all this! And then again the State,
sentencing a million and a half to imprisonment within ten years,
puts the cost of food and lodging on the shoulders of the same
citizens, whom it has failed either to defend or to indemnify for
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time
become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is declared,
the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some
unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to
set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with
the thoughts of its necessity.
APPENDIX
Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet,
or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech
made its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed
the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth,
Common Sense |
