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07 - Clothing - The Conquest of Bread · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven clothing. When the houses have become the common
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  Speaker 1: heritage of the citizens, and when each man has his
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  Speaker 1: daily supply of food, another forward step will have to
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  Speaker 1: be taken. The question of clothing will of course demand
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  Speaker 1: consideration next and again. The only possible solution will be
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  Speaker 1: to take possession, in the name of the people, of
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  Speaker 1: all the shops and warehouses where clothing is sold or stored,
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  Speaker 1: and to throw open the doors to all, so that
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  Speaker 1: each can take what he needs. The communalization of clothing,
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  Speaker 1: the right of each to take what he needs from
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  Speaker 1: the communal stores, or to have it made for him
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  Speaker 1: at the tailors and outfitters, is a necessary corollary of
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  Speaker 1: the communalization of houses and food. Obviously, we shall not
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  Speaker 1: need for that to despoil all citizens of their coats,
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  Speaker 1: to put all the garments in a heap and draw
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  Speaker 1: lots for them, as our critics, with equal wit and
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  Speaker 1: ingenuity suggest, let him who has a coat keep it still. Nay,
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  Speaker 1: if he have ten coats, it is highly improbable that
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  Speaker 1: anyone will want to deprive him of them, for most
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  Speaker 1: folk would be a new coat to one that has
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  Speaker 1: already graced the shoulders of some fat bourgeois, and there
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  Speaker 1: will be enough new garments and to spare without having
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  Speaker 1: recourse to secondhand wardrobes. If we were to take an
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  Speaker 1: inventory of all the clothes and stuff for clothing accumulated
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  Speaker 1: in the shops and stores of the large towns, we
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  Speaker 1: should find probably that in Paris, Leone, Bordeaux and Marseille
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  Speaker 1: there was enough to enable the commune to offer garments
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  Speaker 1: to all the citizens of both sexes, and if all
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  Speaker 1: were not suited at once, the communal outfitters would soon
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  Speaker 1: make good these shortcomings. We know how rapidly our great
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  Speaker 1: tailoring and dressmaking establishments work nowadays, provided as they are,
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  Speaker 1: with machinery specially adapted for production on a large scale.
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  Speaker 1: But everyone will want a sable lined coat or a
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  Speaker 1: velvet gown, exclaim our adversaries. Frankly, we do not believe it.
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  Speaker 1: Every woman does not dote on velvet, nor does every
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  Speaker 1: man dream of sable linings. Even now, if we were
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  Speaker 1: to ask eaped women to choose her gown, we should
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  Speaker 1: find some to prefer a simple, practical garment to all
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  Speaker 1: the fantastic trimmings the fashion world. Effects tastes change with
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  Speaker 1: the times, and the fashion in vogue at the time
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  Speaker 1: of the revolution will certainly make for simplicity. Societies, like individuals,
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  Speaker 1: have their hours of cowardice, but also their heroic moments.
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  Speaker 1: And though the society of today cuts a very poor figure,
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  Speaker 1: sunk in the pursuit of narrow personal interests and second
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  Speaker 1: rate ideas, it wears a different error. When great crises come,
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  Speaker 1: it has its moments of greatness and enthusiasm. Men of
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  Speaker 1: a generous nature will gain the power which today is
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  Speaker 1: in the hand of jobbers. Self, devotion will spring up,
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  Speaker 1: and noble deeds beget their like. Even the egotists will
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  Speaker 1: be ashamed of hanging back, and will be drawn in
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  Speaker 1: spite of themselves, to admire, if not to imitate, the
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  Speaker 1: generous and brave. The Great Revolution of seventeen ninety three
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  Speaker 1: abounds and examples of this kind. And it is ever
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  Speaker 1: during such times of spiritual revival, as nature to societies
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  Speaker 1: as to individuals, that the spring tide of enthusiasm sweeps
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  Speaker 1: humanity onwards. We do not wish to exaggerate the part
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  Speaker 1: played by such noble passions, nor is it upon them
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  Speaker 1: that we would found our ideal society. But we are
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  Speaker 1: not asking too much if we expect their aid in
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  Speaker 1: tiding over the first and most difficult moments. We cannot
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  Speaker 1: hope that our daily life will be continuously inspired by
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  Speaker 1: such exalted enthusiasms, but we may expect their aid at
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  Speaker 1: the first and that is all we need. It is
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  Speaker 1: just to wash the earth clean, to sweep away the
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  Speaker 1: shards and refuse accumulated by centuries of slavery and oppression.
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  Speaker 1: That the new anarchist society will have need of this
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  Speaker 1: wave of brotherly love. Later on, it can exist without
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  Speaker 1: appealing to the spirit of self sacrifice, because it will
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  Speaker 1: have eliminated oppression and thus created a new world instinct
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  Speaker 1: with all the feelings of solidarity. Besides, should the character
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  Speaker 1: of the revolution be such as we have sketched here,
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  Speaker 1: the free initiative of individuals would find an extensive field
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  Speaker 1: of action in thwarting the efforts of the egotists. Groups
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  Speaker 1: would spring up in every street in quarter to undertake
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  Speaker 1: the charge of the clothing. They would make inventories of
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  Speaker 1: all that the city possessed, and would find out approximately
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  Speaker 1: what were the resources at their disposal. It is more
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  Speaker 1: than likely that in the matter of clothing, the citizens
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  Speaker 1: would adopt the same principle, as in the matter of provisions,
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  Speaker 1: that is to say, they would offer freely from the
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  Speaker 1: common store everything which was to be found in abundance,
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  Speaker 1: and dole out whatever was limited in quantity. Not being
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  Speaker 1: able to offer to each man a sable line code
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  Speaker 1: and to every woman a velvet gown, society would probably
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  Speaker 1: distinguish between the superfluous and the necessary, and provisionally at
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  Speaker 1: least class sable and velvet among the superfluities of life.
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  Speaker 1: Ready to let time prove whether what is a luxury
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  Speaker 1: today may not become common to all tomorrow. While the
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  Speaker 1: necessary clothing would be guaranteed to each inhabitant of the
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  Speaker 1: anarchist city, it would be left to private activity to
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  Speaker 1: provide for the sick and feeble those things provisionally considered
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  Speaker 1: as luxuries, and to procure for the less robust such
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  Speaker 1: special articles as would not enter into the daily consumption
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  Speaker 1: of ordinary citizens. But it may be urged this gray
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  Speaker 1: uniformity means the end of everything beautiful in life and art.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly not, we reply, and we still face our opinion
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  Speaker 1: on what already exists. We proposed to show presently how
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  Speaker 1: an anarchist society could satisfy the most artistic taste of
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  Speaker 1: its citizens without allowing them to amass the fortunes of millionaires.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter seven