Two Kinds of Plunder

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　Mr. de Montalembert [politician and writer] adopting the thoughtcontained in a famous proclamation by Mr. Carlier, has said: "We mustmake war against socialism." According to the definition of socialismadvanced by Mr. Charles Dupin, he meant: "We must make war againstplunder."

　　But of what plunder was he speaking? For there are two kinds ofplunder: legal and illegal.

　　I do not think that illegal plunder, such as theft or swindling --which the penal code defines, anticipates, and punishes -- can becalled socialism. It is not this kind of plunder that systematicallythreatens the foundations of society. Anyway, the war against thiskind of plunder has not waited for the command of these gentlemen.The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginningof the world. Long before the Revolution of February 1848 -- longbefore the appearance even of socialism itself -- France had providedpolice, judges, gendarmes, prisons, dungeons, and scaffolds for thepurpose of fighting illegal plunder. The law itself conducts thiswar, and it is my wish and opinion that the law should always maintainthis attitude toward plunder.