The High Road to Communism

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　Mr. de Saint-Cricq would extend his philanthropy only to some ofthe industrial groups; he would demand that the law control theconsumers to benefit the producers.

　　Mr. Considerant would sponsor the cause of the labor groups; hewould use the law to secure for them a guaranteed minimum of clothing,housing, food, and all other necessities of life.

　　Mr. Louis Blanc would say -- and with reason -- that these minimumguarantees are merely the beginning of complete fraternity; he wouldsay that the law should give tools of production and free education toall working people.

　　Another person would observe that this arrangement would stillleave room for inequality; he would claim that the law should give toeveryone -- even in the most inaccessible hamlet--luxury, literature,and art.

　　All of these proposals are the high road to communism; legislationwill then be -- in fact, it already is -- the battlefield for thefantasies and greed of everyone.