,,the ,,national ,,being  ,some         
,thoughts on an ,irish ,polity  ,by     
,a4,e4 ,george ,william ,russell    ,to 
,the ,right ,hon4 ,sir ,horace ,plunkett
  ,a good many years ago you grafted a  
slip of poetry on your economic tree4 ,i
 do not know if you expected a hybrid4  
,this essay may not be economics in your
 sense of the word4 ,it certainly is not
 poetry in my sense4 ,the ,marriage of  
,heaven and ,earth was foretold by the  
ancient prophets4 ,i have seen no signs 
of that union taking place1 but ,i have 
been led to speculate how they might be 
brought within hailing distance of each 
other4 ,in my philosophy of life1 we are
 all responsible for the results of our 
actions and their effects on others4    
,this book is a consequence of your     
grafting operation1 and so ,i dedicate  
it to you4--,a4,e4      ,i4    ,in the  
year nineteen hundred and fourteen ,anno
 ,domini1 amid a world conflict1 the    
birth of the infant ,state of ,ireland  
was announced4 ,almost unnoticed this   

birth1 which in other times had been    
cried over the earth with rejoicings or 
anger4 ,mars1 the red planet of war1 was
 in the ascendant when it was born4     
,like other births famous in history1   
the child had to be hidden away for a   
time1 and could not with pride be shown 
to the people as royal children were    
wont to be shown4 ,its enemies were     
unforgiving1 and its friends were       
distracted with mighty happenings in the
 world4 ,hardly did they know whether it
 would not be deformed if it survived3  
whether this was the ,promised1 or      
another child yet to be conceived in the
 womb of the ,mother of ,parliaments4   
,battles were threatened between two    
hosts1 secular champions of two         
spiritual traditions1 to decide its     
fate4 ,that such a conflict threatened  
showed indeed that there was something  
of iron fibre in the infant1 without    
which in their make-up individuals or   
nations do nothing worthy of            
remembrance4 ,hercules wrestled with    

twin serpents in his cradle1 and there  
were twin serpents of sectarianism ready
 to strangle this infant ,state of ours 
if its guardians were not watchful1 or  
if the infant was not itself strong     
enough to destroy them4  ,it is about   
the ,state of ,ireland1 its character   
and future1 ,i have here written some   
kind of imaginative meditation4 ,the    
,state is a physical body prepared for  
the incarnation of the soul of a race4  
,the body of the national soul may be   
spiritual or secular1 aristocratic or   
democratic1 civil or militarist         
predominantly4 ,one or other will be    
most powerful1 and the body of the race 
will by reflex action affect its soul1  
even as through heredity the inherited  
tendencies and passions of the flesh    
affect the indwelling spirit4 ,our      
brooding over the infant ,state must be 
dual1 concerned not only with the body  
but the soul4 ,when we essay            
self-government in ,ireland our first   
ideas will1 in all probability1 be      

borrowed from the ,mother of            
,parliaments1 just as children before   
they grow to have a character of their  
own repeat the sentiments of their      
parents4 ,after a time1 if there is     
anything in the theory of ,irish        
nationality1 we will apply original     
principles as they are from time to time
 discovered to be fundamental in ,irish 
character4 ,a child in the same way     
makes discoveries about itself4 ,the    
mood evoked by picture or poem reveals a
 love of beauty2 the harsh treatment of 
an animal provokes an outburst of pity2 
some curiosity of nature draws forth the
 spirit of scientific inquiry1 and so1  
as the incidents of life reveal the     
innate affinities of a child to itself1 
do the adventures of a nation gradually 
reveal to it its own character and the  
will which is in it4  ,for all our      
passionate discussions over             
self-government we have had little      
speculation over our own character or   
the nature of the civilization we wished

 to create for ourselves4 ,nations      
rarely1 if ever1 start with a complete  
ideal4 ,certainly we have no national   
ideals1 no principles of progress       
peculiar to ourselves in ,ireland1 which
 are a common possession of our people4 
,national ideals are the possession of a
 few people only4 ,yet we must spread   
them in wide commonalty over ,ireland if
 we are to create a civilization worthy 
of our hopes and our ages of struggle   
and sacrifice to attain the power to    
build4 ,we must spread them in wide     
commonalty because it is certain that   
democracy will prevail in ,ireland4 ,the
 aristocratic classes with traditions of
 government1 the manufacturing classes  
with economic experience1 will alike be 
secondary in ,ireland to the small      
farmers and the wage-earners in the     
towns4 ,we must rely on the ideas common
 among our people1 and on their power to
 discern among their countrymen the     
aristocracy of character and intellect4 
,civilizations are externalizations of  

the soul and character of races4 ,they  
are majestic or mean according to the   
treasure of beauty1 imagination1 will1  
and thought laid up in the soul of the  
people4 ,that great mid-,european       
,state1 which while ,i write is at bay  
surrounded by enemies1 did not arrive at
 that pitch of power which made it      
dominant in ,europe simply by           
militarism4 ,that military power        
depended on and was fed by a vigorous   
intellectual life1 and the most         
generally diffused education and science
 existing perhaps in the world4 ,the    
national being had been enriched by a   
long succession of mighty thinkers4 ,a  
great subjective life and centuries of  
dream preceded a great objective        
manifestation of power and wealth4 ,the 
stir in the ,german ,empire which has   
agitated ,europe was1 at its root1 the  
necessity laid on a powerful soul to    
surround itself with equal external     
circumstance4 ,that necessity is laid on
 all nations1 on all individuals1 to    

make their external life correspond in  
some measure to their internal dream4 ,a
 lover of beauty will never contentedly 
live in a house where all things are    
devoid of taste4 ,an intellectual man   
will loathe a disordered society4  ,we  
may say with certainty that the external
 circumstances of people are a measure  
of their inner life4 ,our mean and      
disordered little country towns in      
,ireland1 with their drink-shops1 their 
disregard of cleanliness or beauty1     
accord with the character of the        
civilians who inhabit them4 ,whenever we
 develop an intellectual life these     
things will be altered1 but not in      
priority to the spiritual mood4 ,house  
by house1 village by village1 the       
character of a civilization changes as  
the character of the individuals change4
 ,when we begin to build up a lofty     
world within the national soul1 soon the
 country becomes beautiful and worthy of
 respect in its externals4 ,that        
building up of the inner world we have  

neglected4 ,our excited political       
controversies1 our playing at           
militarism1 have tended to bring men's  
thoughts from central depths to         
surfaces4 ,life is drawn to its         
frontiers away from its spiritual base1 
and behind the surfaces we have little  
to fall back on4 ,few of our notorieties
 could be trusted to think out any      
economic or social problem thoroughly   
and efficiently4 ,they have been engaged
 in passionate attempts at the          
readjustment of the superficies of      
things4 ,what we require more than men  
of action at present are scholars1      
economists1 scientists1 thinkers1       
educationalists1 and litterateurs1 who  
will populate the desert depths of      
national consciousness with real thought
 and turn the void into a fullness4 ,we 
have few reserves of intellectual life  
to draw upon when we come to the mighty 
labor of nation-building4 ,it will be   
indignantly denied1 but ,i think it is  
true to say that the vast majority of   

people in ,ireland do not know the      
difference between good and bad         
thinking1 between the essential depths  
and the shallows in humanity4 ,how could
 people1 who never read anything but the
 newspapers1 have any genuine knowledge 
of any subject on earth or much         
imagination of anything beautiful in the
 heavens8  ,what too many people in     
,ireland mistake for thoughts are       
feelings4 ,it is enough to them to vent 
like or dislike1 inherited prejudices or
 passions1 and they think when they have
 expressed feeling they have given      
utterance to thought4 ,the nature of our
 political controversies provoked       
passion1 and passion has become dominant
 in our politics4 ,passion truly is a   
power in humanity1 but it should never  
enter into national policy4 ,it is a    
dangerous element in human life1 though 
it is an essential part of our strangely
 compounded nature4 ,but in national    
life it is the most dangerous of all    
guides4 ,there are springs of power in  

ourselves which in passion we draw on   
and are amazed at their depth and       
intensity1 yet we do not make these the 
master light of our being1 but rather   
those divine laws which we have         
apprehended and brooded upon1 and which 
shine with clear and steady light in our
 souls4 ,as creatures rise in the scale 
of being the dominant factor in life    
changes4 ,in vegetation it may be       
appetite2 instinct in bird and beast for
 man a life at once passionate and      
intellectual2 but the greater beings1   
the stars and planets1 must wheel in the
 heavens under the guidance of          
inexorable and inflexible law4 ,now the 
,state is higher in the scale of being  
than the individual1 and it should be   
dominated solely by moral and           
intellectual principles4 ,these are not 
the outcome of passion or prejudice1 but
 of arduous thought4 ,national ideals   
must be built up with the same conscious
 deliberation of purpose as the         
architect of the ,parthenon conceived   

its lofty harmony of shining marble     
lines1 or as the architect of ,rheims   
,cathedral designed its intricate       
magnificence and mystery4 ,nations which
 form their ideals and marry them in the
 hurry of passion are likely to repent  
without leisure1 and they will not be   
able to divorce those ideals without    
prolonged domestic squabbles and public 
cleansing of dirty linen4 ,if we are to 
build a body for the soul of ,ireland it
 ought not to be a matter of reckless   
estimates or jerry-building4 ,we have   
been told1 during my lifetime at least1 
not to criticize leaders1 to trust      
leaders1 and so intellectual discussion 
ceased and the high principles on which 
national action should be based became  
less and less understood1 less and less 
common possessions4 ,the nation was not 
conceived of as a democracy freely      
discussing its laws but as a secret     
society with political chiefs meeting in
 the dark and issuing orders4 ,no doubt 
our political chieftains loved their    

country1 but love has many degrees of   
expression from the basest to the       
highest4 ,the basest love will wreck    
everything1 even the life of the        
beloved1 to gratify ignoble desires4    
,the highest love conspires with the    
imaginative reason to bring about every 
beautiful circumstance around the       
beloved which will permit of the highest
 development of its life4 ,there is no  
real love apart from this intellectual  
brooding4 ,men who love ,ireland ignobly
 brawl about her in their cups1 quarrel 
about her with their neighbor1 allow no 
freedom of thought of her or service of 
her other than their own1 take to the   
cudgel and the rifle1 and join sectarian
 orders or lodges to ensure that        
,ireland will be made in their own      
ignoble image4 ,those who love ,ireland 
nobly desire for her the highest of     
human destinies4 ,they would ransack the
 ages and accumulate wisdom to make     
,irish life seem as noble in men's eyes 
as any the world has known4 ,the better 

minds in every race1 eliminating passion
 and prejudice1 by the exercise of the  
imaginative reason have revealed to     
their countrymen ideals which they      
recognized were implicit in national    
character4 ,it is such discoveries we   
have yet to make about ourselves to     
unite us to fulfill our destiny4 ,we    
have to discover what is fundamental in 
,irish character1 the affections1       
leanings1 tendencies towards one or more
 of the eternal principles which have   
governed and inspired all great human   
effort1 all great civilizations from the
 dawn of history4 ,a nation is but a    
host of men united by some ,god-begotten
 mood1 some hope of liberty or dream of 
power or beauty or justice or           
brotherhood1 and until that master idea 
is manifested to us there is no shining 
star to guide the ship of our destinies4
  ,our civilization must depend on the  
quality of thought engendered in the    
national being4 ,we have to do for      
,ireland--though we hope with less      

arrogance--what the long and illustrious
 line of ,german thinkers1 scientists1  
poets1 philosophers1 and historians did 
for ,germany1 or what the poets and     
artists of ,greece did for the          
,athenians3 and that is1 to create      
national ideals1 which will dominate the
 policy of statesmen1 the actions of    
citizens1 the universities1 the social  
organizations1 the administration of    
,state departments1 and unite in one    
spirit urban and rural life4 ,unless    
this is done ,ireland will be like      
,portugal1 or any of the corrupt little 
penny-dreadful nationalities which so   
continually disturb the peace of the    
world with internal revolutions and     
external brawlings1 and we shall only   
have achieved the mechanism of          
nationality1 but the spirit will have   
eluded us4  ,what ,i have written       
hereafter on the national being1 my     
thoughts on an ,irish polity1 are not to
 be taken as an attempt to deal with    
more than a few essentials4 ,i offer it 

to my countrymen1 to start thought and  
discussion upon the principles which    
should prevail in an ,irish             
civilization4 ,if to readers in other   
countries the thought appears primitive 
or elementary1 ,i would like them to    
remember that we are at the beginning of
 our activity as a nation1 and we have  
yet to settle fundamentals4 ,races hoary
 with political wisdom may look with    
disdain on the attempts at political    
thinking by a new self-governing        
nationality1 or the theories of         
civilization discussed about the cradle 
of an infant ,state4 ,to childhood may  
be forgiven the elemental character of  
its thought and its idealistic          
imaginations4 ,they may not persist in  
developed manhood2 but if youth has     
never drawn heaven and earth together in
 its imaginations1 manhood will ever be 
undistinguished4 ,this book only begins 
a meditation in which1 ,i hope1 nobler  
imaginations and finer intellects than  
mine will join hereafter1 and help to   

raise the soul of ,ireland nigher to the
 ideal and its body nigher to its soul4 
,,ii4    ,the building up of a          
civilization is at once the noblest and 
the most practical of all enterprises1  
in which human faculties are exalted to 
their highest1 and beauties and         
majesties are manifested in multitude as
 they are never by solitary man or by   
disunited peoples4 ,in the highest      
civilizations the individual citizen is 
raised above himself and made part of a 
greater life1 which we may call the     
,national ,being4 ,he enters into it1   
and it becomes in oversoul to him1 and  
gives to all his works a character and  
grandeur and a relation to the works of 
his fellow-citizens1 so that all he does
 conspires with the labors of others for
 unity and magnificence of effect4 ,so  
ancient ,egypt1 with its temples1       
sphinxes1 pyramids1 and symbolic        
decorations1 seems to us as if it had   
been created by one grandiose           
imagination2 for even the lesser        

craftsmen1 working on the mummy case for
 the tomb1 had much of the mystery and  
solemnity in their work which is        
manifest in temple and pyramid4 ,so the 
city ,states in ancient ,greece in their
 day were united by ideals to a harmony 
of art and architecture and literature4 
,among the ,athenians at their highest  
the ideal of the ,state so wrought upon 
the individual that its service became  
the overmastering passion of life1 and  
in that great oration of ,pericles1     
where he told how the ,athenian ideal   
inspired the citizens so that they gave 
their bodies for the commonwealth1 it   
seems to have been conceived of as a    
kind of oversoul1 a being made up of    
immortal deeds and heroic spirits1      
influencing the living1 a life within   
their life1 molding their spirits to its
 likeness4 ,it appears almost as if in  
some of these ancient famous communities
 the national ideal became a kind of    
tribal deity1 that began first with some
 great hero who died and was            

immortalized by the poets1 and whose    
character1 continually glorified by     
them1 grew at last so great in song that
 he could not be regarded as less than a
 demi-god4 ,we can see in ancient       
,ireland that ,cuchulain1 the dark sad  
man of the earlier tales1 was rapidly   
becoming a divinity1 a being who summed 
up in himself all that the bards thought
 noblest in the spirit of their race2   
and if ,ireland had a happier history no
 doubt one generation of bardic         
chroniclers after another would have    
molded that half-mythical figure into   
the ,irish ideal of all that was        
chivalrous1 tender1 heroic1 and         
magnanimous1 and it would have been a   
star to youth1 and the thought of it a  
staff to the very noblest4 ,even as     
,cuchulain alone at the ford held it    
against a host1 so the ideal would have 
upheld the national soul in its darkest 
hours1 and stood in many a lonely place 
in the heart4 ,the national soul in a   
theocratic ,state is a god2 in an       

aristocratic age it assumes the         
character of a hero2 and in a democracy 
it becomes a multitudinous being1       
definite in character if the democracy  
is a real social organism4 ,but where   
the democracy is only loosely held      
together by the social order1 the       
national being is vague in character1 is
 a mood too feeble to inspire large     
masses of men to high policies in times 
of peace1 and in times of war it        
communicates frenzy1 panic1 and         
delirium4  ,none of our modern ,states  
create in us such an impression of being
 spiritually oversouled by an ideal as  
the great ,states of the ancient world4 
,the leaders of nations too have lost   
that divine air that many leaders of men
 wore in the past1 and which made the   
populace rumor them as divine           
incarnations4 ,it is difficult to know  
to what to attribute this degeneration4 
,perhaps the artists who create ideals  
are to blame4 ,in ancient ,ireland1 in  
,greece1 and in ,india1 the poets wrote 

about great kings and heroes1 enlarging 
on their fortitude of spirit1 their     
chivalry and generosity1 creating in the
 popular mind an ideal of what a great  
man was like2 and men were influenced by
 the ideal created1 and strove to win   
the praise of the bards and to be       
recrowned by them a second time in great
 poetry4 ,so we had ,cuchulain and      
,oscar in ,ireland2 ,hector of ,troy1   
,theseus in ,greece2 ,yudisthira1 ,rama1
 and ,arjuna in ,india1 all bard-created
 heroes molding the minds of men to     
their image4 ,it is the great defect of 
our modern literature that it creates   
few such types4 ,how hardly could one of
 our modern public men be made the hero 
of an epic4 ,it would be difficult to   
find one who could be the subject of a  
genuine lyric4 ,whitman1 himself the    
most democratic poet of the modern      
world1 felt this deficiency in the      
literature of the later democracies1 and
 lamented the absence of great heroic   
figures4 ,the poets have dropped out of 

the divine procession1 and sing a       
solitary song4 ,they inspire nobody to  
be great1 and failing any finger-post in
 literature pointing to true greatness  
our democracies too often take the      
huckster from his stall1 the drunkard   
from his pot1 the lawyer from his court1
 and the company promoter from the      
director's chair1 and elect them as     
representative men4 ,we certainly do    
this in ,ireland4 ,it is--how many      
hundred years since greatness guided us8
 ,in ,ireland our history begins with   
the most ancient of any in a mythical   
era when earth mingled with heaven4 ,the
 gods departed1 the half-gods also1 hero
 and saint after that1 and we have      
dwindled down to a petty peasant        
nationality1 rural and urban life alike 
mean in their externals4 ,yet the       
cavalcade1 for all its tattered         
habiliments1 has not lost spiritual     
dignity4 ,there is still some           
incorruptible spiritual atom in our     
people4 ,we are still in some relation  

to the divine order2 and while that     
uncorrupted spiritual atom still remains
 all things are possible if by some     
inspiration there could be revealed to  
us a way back or forward to greatness1  
an ,irish polity in accord with national
 character4      ,,iii4    ,in          
formulating an ,irish polity we have to 
take into account the change in world   
conditions4 ,a theocratic ,state we     
shall have no more4 ,every nation1 and  
our own along with them1 is now made up 
of varied sects1 and the practical      
dominance of one religious idea would   
let loose illimitable passions1 the most
 intense the human spirit can feel4 ,the
 way out of the theocratic ,state was by
 the drawn sword and was lit by the     
martyr's fires4 ,the way back is        
unthinkable for all ,protestant fears or
 ,catholic aspirations4 ,aristocracies1 
too1 become impossible as rulers4 ,the  
aristocracy of character and intellect  
we may hope shall finally lead us1 but  
no aristocracy so by birth will renew   

its authority over us4 ,the character of
 great historic personages is gradually 
reflected in the mass4 ,the divine right
 of kings is followed by the idea of the
 divine right of the people1 and        
democracies finally become ungovernable 
save by themselves4 ,they have seen and 
heard too much of pride and greatness   
not to have become1 in some measure1    
proud and defiant of all authority      
except their own4 ,it may be said the   
history of democracies is not one to    
fill us with confidence1 but the truth  
is the world has yet to see the         
democratic ,state1 and of the yet       
untried we may think with hope4 ,beneath
 the ,athenian and other ancient        
democratic ,states lay a substratum of  
humanity in slavery1 and the culture1   
beauty1 and bravery of these            
extraordinary peoples were made possible
 by the workers in an underworld who had
 no part in the bright civic life4  ,we 
have no more a real democracy in the    
world today4 ,democracy in politics has 

in no country led to democracy in its   
economic life4 ,we still have autocracy 
in industry as firmly seated on its     
throne as theocratic king ruling in the 
name of a god1 or aristocracy ruling by 
military power2 and the forces          
represented by these twain1 superseded  
by the autocrats of industry1 have      
become the allies of the power which    
took their place of pride4 ,religion and
 rank1 whether content or not with the  
subsidiary place they now occupy1 are   
most often courtiers of ,mammon and     
support him on his throne4 ,for all the 
talk about democracy our social order is
 truly little more democratic than ,rome
 was under the ,caesars1 and our new    
rulers have not1 with all their wealth1 
created a beauty which we could imagine 
after-generations brooding over with    
uplifted heart4  ,the people in         
theocratic ,states like ,egypt or       
,chaldea1 ruled in the name of gods1 saw
 rising out of the plains in which they 
lived an architecture so mysterious and 

awe-inspiring that they might well      
believe the master-minds who designed   
the temples were inspired from the      
,oversoul4 ,the aristocratic ,states    
reflected the love of beauty which is   
associated with aristocracies4 ,the     
oligarchies of wealth in our time1 who  
have no divine sanction to give dignity 
to their rule nor traditions of lordly  
life like the aristocracies1 have not in
 our day created beauty in the world4   
,but whatever of worth the ancient      
systems produced was not good enough to 
make permanent their social order4      
,their civilizations1 like ours1 were   
built on the unstable basis of a vast   
working-class with no real share in the 
wealth and grandeur it helped to create4
 ,the character of his kingdom was      
revealed in dream to ,nebuchadnezzar by 
an image with a golden head and feet of 
clay1 and that image might stand as     
symbol of the empires the world has     
known4 ,there is in all a vast          
population living in an underworld of   

labor whose freedom to vote confers on  
them no real power1 and who are most    
often scorned and neglected by those who
 profit by their labors4 ,indifference  
turns to fear and hatred if labor       
organizes and gathers power1 or makes   
one motion of its myriad hands towards  
the sceptre held by the autocrats of    
industry4 ,when this class is maddened  
and revolts1 civilization shakes and    
totters like cities when the earthquake 
stirs beneath their foundations4 ,can we
 master these arcane human forces8 ,can 
we1 by any device1 draw this submerged  
humanity into the light and make them   
real partners in the social order1 not  
partners merely in the political life of
 the nation1 but1 what is of more       
importance1 in its economic life8 ,if we
 build our civilization without         
integrating labor into its economic     
structure1 it will wreck that           
civilization1 and it will do that more  
swiftly today than two thousand years   
ago1 because there is no longer the     

disparity of culture between high and   
low which existed in past centuries4    
,the son of the artisan1 if he cares to 
read1 may become almost as fully master 
of the wisdom of ,plato or ,aristotle as
 if he had been at a university4        
,emerson will speak to him of his       
divinity2 ,whitman1 drunken with the    
sun1 will chant to him of his           
inheritance of the earth4 ,he is        
elevated by the poets and instructed by 
the economists4 ,but there are not      
thrones enough for all who are made wise
 in our social order1 and failing even  
to serve in the social heaven these men 
will spread revolt and reign in the     
social hell4 ,they are becoming too many
 for higher places to be found for them 
in the national economy4 ,they are      
increasing to a multitude which must be 
considered1 and the framers of a        
national polity must devise a life for  
them where their new-found dignity of   
spirit will not be abased4 ,men no more 
will be content under rulers of industry

 they do not elect themselves than they 
were under political rulers claiming    
their obedience in the name of ,god4    
,they will not for long labor in        
industries where they have no power to  
fix the conditions of their employment1 
as they were not content with a         
political system which allowed them no  
power to control legislation4 ,ireland  
must begin its imaginative              
reconstruction of a civilization by     
first considering that type which1 in   
the earlier civilizations of the world1 
has been slave1 serf1 or servile1       
working either on land or at industry1  
and must construct with reference to it4
 ,these workers must be the central     
figures1 and how their material1        
intellectual1 and spiritual needs are   
met must be the test of value of the    
social order we evolve4      ,,iv4      
,in ,ireland we begin naturally our     
consideration of this problem with the  
folk of the country1 pondering all the  
time upon our ideal--the linking up of  

individuals with each other and with the
 nation4 ,since the destruction of the  
ancient clans in ,ireland almost every  
economic factor in rural life has tended
 to separate the farmers from each other
 and from the nation1 and to bring about
 an isolation of action2 and that was so
 until the movement for the organization
 of agriculture was initiated by ,sir   
,horace ,plunkett and his colleagues in 
that patriotic association1 the ,irish  
,agricultural ,organization ,society4   
,though its actual achievement is great2
 though it may be said to be the pivot  
round which ,ireland has begun to swing 
back to its traditional and natural     
communism in work1 we still have over   
the larger part of ,ireland conditions  
prevailing which tend to isolate the    
individual from the community4  ,when we
 examine rural ,ireland1 outside this   
new movement1 we find everywhere        
isolated and individualistic            
agricultural production1 served with    
regard to purchase and sale by private  

traders and dealers1 who are independent
 of economic control from the consumers 
or producers1 or the ,state4 ,the       
tendency in the modern world to conduct 
industry in the grand manner is not     
observable here4 ,the first thing which 
strikes one who travels through rural   
,ireland is the immense number of little
 shops4 ,they are scattered along the   
highways and at the crossroads2 and     
where there are a few families together 
in what is called a village1 the number 
of little shops crowded round these     
consumers is almost incredible4 ,what   
are all these little shops doing8 ,they 
are supplying the farmers with domestic 
requirements3 with tea1 sugar1 flour1   
oil1 implements1 vessels1 clothing1 and 
generally with drink4 ,every one of them
 almost is a little universal provider4 
,every one of them has its own business 
organization1 its relations with        
wholesale houses in the greater towns4  
,all of them procure separately from    
others their bags of flour1 their       

barrels of porter1 their stocks of tea1 
sugar1 raisins1 pots1 pans1 nails1      
twine1 fertilizers1 and what not1 and   
all these things come to them paying    
high rates to the carriers for little   
loads4 ,the trader's cart meets them at 
the station1 and at great expense the   
necessaries of life are brought         
together4 ,in the world-wide            
amalgamation of shoe-makers into boot   
factories1 and smithies into ironworks1 
which is going on in ,europe and        
,america1 these little shops have been  
overlooked4 ,nobody has tried to        
amalgamate them1 or to economize human  
effort or cheapen the distribution of   
the necessaries of life4 ,this work of  
distribution is carried on by all kinds 
of little traders competing with each   
other1 pulling the devil by the tail2   
doing the work economically1 so far as  
they themselves are concerned1 because  
they must1 but doing it expensively for 
the district because they cannot help   
it4 ,they do not serve ,ireland well4   

,the genius of amalgamation and         
organization cannot afford to pass by   
these shops1 which spring up in         
haphazard fashion1 not because the      
country needs them1 but because farmers 
or traders have children to be provided 
for4 ,to the ignorant this is the       
easiest form of trade1 and so many are  
started in life in one of these little  
shops after an apprenticeship in another
 like it4 ,these numerous competitors of
 each other do not keep down prices4    
,they increase them rather by the       
unavoidable multiplication of expenses2 
and many of them1 taking advantage of   
the countryman's irregularity of income 
and his need for credit1 allow credit to
 a point where the small farmer becomes 
a tied customer1 who cannot pay all he  
owes1 and who therefore dares not deal  
elsewhere4 ,these agencies for          
distribution do not by their nature     
enlarge the farmer's economic knowledge4
 ,his vision beyond them to their       
sources of supply is blocked1 and in    

this respect he is debarred from any    
unity with national producers other than
 his own class4  ,let us now for a      
little consider the small farmer around 
whom have gathered these multitudinous  
little agencies of distribution4 ,what  
kind of a being is he8 ,we must deal    
with averages1 and the small farmer is  
the typical ,irish countryman4 ,the     
average area of an ,irish farm is       
twenty-five acres or thereabouts4 ,there
 are hundreds of thousands who have more
 or less4 ,but we can imagine to        
ourselves an ,irish farmer with         
twenty-five acres to till1 lord of a    
herd of four or five cows1 a drift of   
sheep1 a litter of pigs1 perhaps a mare 
and foal3 call him ,patrick ,maloney and
 accept him as symbol of his class4 ,we 
will view him outside the operation of  
the new co-operative policy1 trying to  
obey the command to be fruitful and     
replenish the earth4 ,he is fruitful    
enough4 ,there is no race suicide in    
,ireland4 ,his agriculture is largely   

traditional4 ,it varied little in the   
nineteenth century from the eighteenth1 
and the beginnings of the twentieth     
century show little change in spite of a
 huge department of agriculture4 ,his   
butter1 his eggs1 his cattle1 horses1   
pigs1 and sheep are sold to local       
dealers4 ,he rarely knows where his     
produce goes to--whether it is devoured 
in the next county or is sent across the
 ,channel4 ,it might be pitched into the
 void for all he knows about its        
destiny4 ,he might be described almost  
as the primitive economic cave-man1 the 
darkness of his cave unillumined by any 
ray of general principles4 ,as he is    
obstructed by the traders in a general  
vision of production other than his own1
 so he is obstructed by these dealers in
 a general vision of the final markets  
for his produce4 ,his reading is limited
 to the local papers1 and these1        
following the example of the modern     
press1 carefully eliminate serious      
thought as likely to deprive them of    

readers4 ,but ,patrick1 for all his     
economic backwardness1 has a soul4 ,the 
culture of the ,gaelic poets and        
story-tellers1 while not often actually 
remembered1 still lingers like a        
fragrance about his mind4 ,he lives and 
moves and has his being in the loveliest
 nature1 the skies over him ever cloudy 
like an opal2 and the mountains flow    
across his horizon in wave on wave of   
amethyst and pearl4 ,he has the         
unconscious depth of character of all   
who live and labor much in the open air1
 in constant fellowship with the great  
companions--with the earth and the sky  
and the fire in the sky4 ,we ponder over
 ,patrick1 his race and his country1    
brooding whether there is the seed of a 
,pericles in ,patrick's loins4 ,could we
 carve an ,attica out of ,ireland8      
,before ,patrick can become the father  
of a ,pericles1 before ,ireland can     
become an ,attica1 ,patrick must be led 
out of his economic cave3 his low       
cunning in barter must be expanded into 

a knowledge of economic law--his        
fanatical concentration on his          
family--begotten by the isolation and   
individualism of his life--be sublimed  
into national affections2 his           
unconscious depths be sounded1 his      
feeling for beauty be awakened by       
contact with some of the great          
literature of the world4 ,his mind is   
virgin soil1 and we may hope that1 like 
all virgin soil1 it will be immensely   
fruitful when it is cultivated4 ,how    
does the policy of co-working make      
,patrick pass away from his old self8   
,we can imagine him as a member of a    
committee getting hints of a strange    
doctrine called science from his        
creamery manager4 ,he hears about       
bacteria1 and these dark invisibles     
replace1 as the cause of bad            
butter-making1 the wicked fairies of his
 childhood4 ,watching this manager of   
his society he learns a new respect for 
the man of special or expert knowledge4 
,discussing the business of his         

association with other members he       
becomes something of a practical        
economist4 ,he knows now where his      
produce goes4 ,he learns that he has to 
compete with ,americans1 ,europeans1 and
 ,colonials--indeed with the farmers of 
the world1 hitherto concealed from his  
view by a mountainous mass of           
middle-men4 ,he begins to be interested 
in these countries and reads about them4
 ,he becomes a citizen of the world4    
,his horizon is no longer bounded by the
 wave of blue hills beyond his village4 
,the roar of the planet begins to sound 
in his ears4 ,what is more important is 
that he is becoming a better citizen of 
his own country4 ,he meets on his       
committee his religious and political   
opponents1 not now discussing           
differences out identities of interest4 
,he also meets the delegates from other 
societies in district conferences or    
general congresses1 and those who meet  
thus find their interests are common1   
and a new friendliness springs up       

between ,north and ,south1 and local    
co-operation leads on to national       
co-operation4 ,the best intellects1 the 
best business men in the societies1 meet
 in the big centres as directors of     
federations and wholesales1 and they get
 an all-,ireland view of their industry4
 ,they see the parish from the point of 
view of the nation1 and this vision does
 not desert them when they go back to   
the parish4 ,they realize that their    
interests are bound up with national    
interests1 and they discuss legislation 
and administration with practical       
knowledge4 ,eyes getting keener every   
year1 minds getting more instructed1    
begin to concentrate on ,irish public   
men4 ,presently ,patrick will begin to  
seek for men of special knowledge and   
administrative ability to manage ,irish 
affairs4 ,ireland has hitherto been to  
,patrick a legend1 a being mentioned in 
romantic poetry1 a little dark ,rose1 a 
mystic maiden1 a vague but very simple  
creature of tears and aspirations and   

revolts4 ,he now knows what a           
multitudinous being a nation is1 and in 
contact with its complexities ,patrick's
 politics take on a new gravity1        
thoughtfulness1 and intellectual        
character4  ,under the influence of     
these associations and the ideas        
pervading them our typical ,irish farmer
 gets drawn out of his agricultural     
sleep of the ages1 developing rapidly as
 mummy-wheat brought out of the tomb and
 exposed to the eternal forces which    
stimulate and bring to life4 ,i have    
taken an individual as a type1 and      
described the original circumstance and 
illustrated the playing of the new      
forces on his mind4 ,it is the only way 
we can create a social order which will 
fit our character as the glove fits the 
hand4 ,reasoning solely from abstract   
principles about justice1 democracy1 the
 rights of man and the like1 often leads
 us into futilities1 if not into        
dangerous political experiments4 ,we    
have to see our typical citizen in clear

 light1 realize his deficiencies1       
ignorance1 and incapacity1 and his      
possibilities of development1 before we 
can wisely enlarge his boundaries4 ,the 
centre of the citizen is the home4 ,his 
circumference ought to be the nation4   
,the vast majority of ,irish citizens   
rarely depart from their centre1 or     
establish those vital relations with    
their circumference which alone entitle 
them to the privileges of citizenship1  
and enable them to act with political   
wisdom4 ,an emotional relationship is   
not enough4 ,our poets sang of a united 
,ireland1 but the unity they sang of was
 only a metaphor4 ,it mainly meant      
separation from another country4 ,in    
that imaginary unity men were really    
separate from each other4               
,individualism1 fanatically centering   
itself on its family and family         
interests1 interfered on public boards  
to do jobs in the interests of its kith 
and kin4 ,the co-operative movement     
connects with living links the home1 the

 centre of ,patrick's being1 to the     
nation1 the circumference of his being4 
,it connects him with the nation through
 membership of a national movement1 not 
for the political purposes which call on
 him for a vote once every few years1   
but for economic purposes which affect  
him in the course of his daily          
occupations4 ,this organization of the  
most numerous section of the ,irish     
democracy into co-operative             
associations1 as it develops and        
embraces the majority1 will tend to make
 the nation one and indivisible and     
conscious of its unity4 ,the individual1
 however meagre his natural endowment of
 altruism1 will be led to think of his  
community as himself2 because his       
income1 his social pleasures even1      
depend on the success of the local and  
national organizations with which he is 
connected4 ,the small farmers of former 
times pursued a petty business of barter
 and haggle1 fighting for their own hand
 against half the world about them4 ,the

 farmers of the new generation will grow
 up in a social order1 where all the    
transactions which narrowed their       
fathers' hearts will be communal and    
national enterprises4 ,how much that    
will mean in a change of national       
character we can hardly realize1 we who 
were born in an ,ireland where petty    
individualism was rampant1 and where    
every child had it borne in upon him    
that it had to fight its own corner in  
the world1 where the whole atmosphere   
about it tended to the hardening of the 
personality4  ,we may hope and believe  
that this transformation of the social  
order will make men truly citizens      
thinking in terms of the nation1        
identifying national with personal      
interests4 ,for those who believe there 
is a divine seed in humanity1 this      
atmosphere1 if any1 they may hope will  
promote the swift blossoming of the     
divine seed which in the past1 in       
favorable airs1 has made beauty or      
grandeur or spirituality the            

characteristics of ancient civilizations
 in ,greece1 in ,egypt1 and in ,india4  
,no one can work for his race without   
the hope that the highest1 or more than 
the highest1 humanity has reached will  
be within reach of his race also4 ,we   
are all laying foundations in dark      
places1 putting the rough-hewn stones   
together in our civilizations1 hoping   
for the lofty edifice which will arise  
later and make all the work glorious4   
,and in ,ireland1 for all its melancholy
 history1 we may1 knowing that we are   
human1 dream that there is the seed of a
 ,pericles in ,patrick's loins1 and that
 we might carve an ,attica out of       
,ireland4      ,v4    ,in ,ireland we   
must of necessity give special thought  
to the needs of the countryman1 because 
our main industry is agriculture4 ,we   
have few big cities4 ,our great cities  
are almost all outside our own borders4 
,they are across the ,atlantic4 ,the    
surplus population of the countryside do
 not go to our own towns but emigrate4  

,the exodus does not enrich ,limerick or
 ,galway1 but ,new ,york4 ,the          
absorption of life in great cities is   
really the danger which most threatens  
the modern ,state with a decadence of   
its humanity4 ,in the ,united ,states1  
even in ,canada1 hardly has the pioneer 
made a home in the wilderness when his  
sons and his daughters are allured by   
the distant gleam of cities beyond the  
plains4 ,in ,england the countryside has
 almost ceased to be the mother of      
men--at least a fruitful mother4 ,we are
 face to face in ,ireland with this     
problem1 with no crowded and towering   
cities to disguise the emptiness of the 
fields4 ,it is not a problem which lends
 itself to legislative solution4        
,whether there be fair rents or no rents
 at all1 the child of the peasant1      
yearning for a fuller life1 goes where  
life is at its fullest4 ,we all desire  
life1 and that we might have it more    
abundantly1--the peasant as much as the 
mystic thirsting for infinite           

being1--and in rural ,ireland the needs 
of life have been neglected4  ,the chief
 problem of ,ireland--the problem which 
every nation in greater or lesser       
measure will have to solve--is how to   
enable the country-man1 without         
journeying1 to satisfy to the full his  
economic1 social1 intellectual1 and     
spiritual needs4 ,we have made some     
tentative efforts4 ,the long war over   
the land1 which resulted in the         
transference of the land from landlord  
to cultivator1 has advanced us part of  
the way1 but the ,land ,acts offered no 
complete solution4 ,we were assured by  
hot enthusiasts of the magic of         
proprietorship1 but ,ireland has not    
tilled a single acre more since the     
,land ,acts were passed4 ,our rural     
exodus continued without any ,moses to  
lead us to ,jerusalems of our own4 ,at  
every station boys and girls bade       
farewell to their friends2 and hardly   
had the train steamed out when the      
natural exultation of adventure made the

 faces of the emigrants glow because the
 world lay before them1 and human       
appetites the country could not satisfy 
were to be appeased at the end of the   
journey4  ,how can we make the          
countryside in ,ireland a place which   
nobody would willingly emigrate from8   
,when we begin to discuss this problem  
we soon make the discovery that neither 
in the new world nor the old has there  
been much first-class thinking on the   
life of the countryman4 ,this will be   
apparent if we compare the quality of   
thought which has been devoted to the   
problems of the city ,state1 or the     
constitution of widespread dominions1   
from the days of ,solon and ,aristotle  
down to the time of ,alexander          
,hamilton1 and compare it with the      
quality of thought which has been       
brought to bear on the problems of the  
rural community4  ,on the labors of the 
countryman depend the whole strength and
 health1 nay1 the very existence of     
society1 yet1 in almost every country1  

politics1 economics1 and social reform  
are urban products1 and the countryman  
gets only the crumbs which fall from the
 political table4 ,it seems to be so in 
,canada and the ,states even1 countries 
which we in ,europe for long regarded as
 mainly agricultural4 ,it seems only    
yesterday to the imagination that they  
were colonized1 and yet we find the     
,minister of ,agriculture in ,canada    
announcing a decline in the rural       
population in ,eastern ,canada4 ,as     
children sprung from the loins of       
diseased parents manifest at an early   
age the same defects in their           
constitution1 so ,canada and the        
,states1 though in their national       
childhood1 seem already threatened by   
the same disease from which classic     
,italy perished1 and whose ravages today
 make ,great ,britain seem to the acute 
diagnoser of political health to be like
 a fruit--ruddy without1 but eaten away 
within and rotten at the core4 ,one     
expects disease in old age1 but not in  

youth4 ,we expect young countries to sow
 their wild oats1 to have a few         
revolutions before they settle down to  
national housekeeping2 but we are not   
moved by these troubles--the result of  
excessive energy--as we are by symptoms 
of premature decay4 ,no nation can be   
regarded as unhealthy when a virile     
peasantry1 contented with rural         
employments1 however discontented with  
other things1 exists on its soil4 ,the  
disease which has attacked our great    
populations here and in ,america is a   
discontent with rural life4 ,nothing    
which has been done hitherto seems able 
to promote content4 ,it is true1 indeed1
 that science has gone out into the     
fields1 but the labors of the chemist1  
the bacteriologist1 and the mechanical  
engineer are not enough to ensure       
health4 ,what is required is the art of 
the political thinker1 the imagination  
which creates a social order and adjusts
 it to human needs4 ,the physician who  
understands the general laws of human   

health is of more importance to us here 
than the specialist4 ,the genius of     
rural life has not yet appeared4 ,we    
have no fundamental philosophy          
concerning it1 but we have treasures of 
political wisdom dealing with humanity  
as a social organism in the city ,states
 or as great nationalities4 ,it might be
 worth while inquiring to what extent   
the wisdom of a ,solon1 an ,aristotle1 a
 ,rousseau1 or an ,alexander ,hamilton  
might be applied to the problem of the  
rural community4 ,after all1 men are not
 so completely changed in character by  
their rural environment that their      
social needs do not1 to a large extent1 
coincide with the needs of the townsman4
 ,they cannot be considered as creatures
 of a different species4 ,yet statesmen 
who have devoted so much thought to the 
constitution of empires and the         
organization of great cities1 who have  
studied their psychology1 have almost   
always treated the rural problem purely 
as an economic problem1 as if           

agriculture was a business only and not 
a life4  ,our great nations and         
widespread empires arose in a haphazard 
fashion out of city ,states and         
scattered tribal communities4 ,the      
fusion of these into larger entities1   
which could act jointly for offence or  
defense1 so much occupied the thoughts  
of their rulers that everything else was
 subordinated to it4 ,as a result1 the  
details of our modern civilizations are 
all wrong4 ,there is an intensive life  
at a few great political or industrial  
centres1 and wide areas where there is  
stagnation and decay4 ,stagnation is    
most obvious in rural districts4 ,it is 
so general that it has been often       
assumed that there was something        
inherent in rural life which made the   
countryman slow in mind as his own      
cattle4 ,but this is not so1 as ,i think
 can be shown4 ,there is no reason why  
as intense1 intellectual1 and           
progressive a life should not be        
possible in the country as in the towns4

 ,the real reason for the stagnation is 
that the country population is not      
organized4 ,we often hear the           
expression1 the rural community1 but    
where do we find rural communities8     
,there are rural populations1 but that  
is altogether a different thing4 ,the   
word community implies an association of
 people having common interests and     
common possessions1 bound together by   
laws and regulations which express these
 common interests and ideals1 and define
 the relation of the individual to the  
community4 ,our rural populations are no
 more closely connected1 for the most   
part1 than the shifting sands on the    
seashore4 ,their life is almost entirely
 individualistic4 ,there are personal   
friendships1 of course1 but few economic
 or social partnerships4 ,everybody     
pursues his own occupation without      
regard to the occupation of his         
neighbors4 ,if a man emigrates it does  
not affect the occupation of those who  
farm the land all about him4 ,they go on

 ploughing and digging1 buying and      
selling1 just as before4 ,they suffer no
 perceptible economic loss by the       
departure of half-a-dozen men from the  
district4 ,a true community would1 of   
course1 be affected by the loss of its  
members4 ,a co-operative society1 if it 
loses a dozen members1 the milk of their
 cows1 their orders for fertilizers1    
seeds1 and feeding-stuffs1 receives     
serious injury to its prosperity4 ,there
 is a minimum of trade below which its  
business cannot fall without bringing   
about a complete stoppage of its work   
and an inability to pay its employees4  
,that is the difference between a       
community and an unorganized population4
 ,in the first the interests of the     
community make a conscious and direct   
appeal to the individual1 and the       
community1 in its turn1 rapidly develops
 an interest in the welfare of the      
member4 ,in the second1 the interest of 
the individual in the community is only 
sentimental1 and as there is no         

organization the community lets its     
units slip away or disappear without    
comment or action4 ,we had true rural   
communities in ancient ,ireland1 though 
the organization was rather military    
than economic4 ,but the members of a    
clan had common interests4 ,they owned  
the land in common4 ,it was a common    
interest to preserve it intact4 ,it was 
to their interest to have a numerous    
membership of the clan1 because it made 
it less liable to attack4 ,men were     
drawn by the social order out of merely 
personal interests into a larger life4  
,in their organizations they were       
unconsciously groping1 as all human     
organizations are1 towards the final    
solidarity of humanity--the federation  
of the world4  ,well1 these old rural   
communities disappeared4 ,the greater   
organizations of nation or empire       
regarded the smaller communities        
jealously in the past1 and broke them up
 and gathered all the strings of power  
into capital cities4 ,the result was a  

growth of the ,state1 with a local decay
 of civic1 patriotic1 or public feeling1
 ending in bureaucracies and ,state     
departments1 where paid officials1      
devoid of intimacy with local needs1    
replaced the services naturally and     
voluntarily rendered in an earlier      
period4 ,the rural population1 no longer
 existing as a rural community1 sank    
into stagnation4 ,there was no longer a 
common interest1 a social order turning 
their minds to larger than individual   
ends4 ,where feudalism was preserved1   
the feudal chief1 if the feeling of     
noblesse oblige was strong1 might act as
 a centre of progress1 but where this   
was lacking social decay set in4 ,the   
difficulty of moving the countryman1    
which has become traditional1 is not due
 to the fact that he lives in the       
country1 but to the fact that he lives  
in an unorganized society4 ,if in a city
 people want an art gallery or public   
baths or recreation grounds1 there is a 
machinery which can be set in motion2   

there are corporations and urban        
councils which can be approached4 ,if   
public opinion is evident--and it is    
easy to organize public opinion in a    
town--the city representatives will     
consider the scheme1 and if they approve
 and it is within their power as a      
council1 they are able to levy rates to 
finance the art gallery1 recreation     
grounds1 public gardens1 or whatever    
else4 ,now let us go to a country       
district where there is no organization4
 ,it may be obvious to one or two people
 that the place is perishing and the    
intelligence of its humanity is         
decaying1 lacking some centre of life4  
,they want a village hall1 but how is it
 to be obtained8 ,they begin talking    
about it to this person or that4 ,they  
ask these people to talk to their       
friends1 and the ripples go out         
weakening and widening for months1      
perhaps for years4 ,i know of districts 
where this has happened4 ,there are     
hundreds of parishes in ,ireland where  

one or two men want co-operative        
societies or village halls or rural     
libraries4 ,they discuss the matter with
 their neighbors1 but find a complete   
ignorance on the subject1 and consequent
 lethargy4 ,there is no social organism 
with a central life to stir4 ,before    
enthusiasm can be kindled there must be 
some knowledge4 ,the countryman reads   
little1 and it is a long and tedious    
business before enough people are       
excited to bring them to the point of   
appealing to some expert to come in and 
advise4  ,more changes often take place 
within a dozen years after a            
co-operative society is first started   
than have taken place for a century     
previous4 ,i am familiar with a         
district--in the northwest of ,ireland4 
,it was a most wretchedly poor district4
 ,the farmers were at the mercy of the  
gombeen traders and the agricultural    
middlemen4 ,then a dozen years ago a    
co-operative society was formed4 ,i am  
sure that the oldest inhabitant would   

agree with me that more changes for the 
better for farmers have taken place     
since the co-operative society was      
started than he could remember in all   
his previous life4 ,the reign of the    
gombeen man is over4 ,the farmers       
control their own buying and selling4   
,their organization markets for them the
 eggs and poultry4 ,it procures seeds1  
fertilizers1 and domestic requirements4 
,it turns the members' pigs into bacon4 
,they have a village hall and a woman's 
organization4 ,they sell the products of
 the women's industry4 ,they have a     
co-operative band1 social gatherings1   
and concerts4 ,they have spread out into
 half-a-dozen parishes1 going southward 
and westward with their propaganda1 and 
in half-a-dozen years1 in all that      
district1 previously without            
organization1 there will be             
well-organized farmers' guilds1         
concentrating in themselves the trade of
 their district1 having meeting-places  
where the opinion of the members can be 

taken1 having a machinery1 committees1  
and executive officers to carry out     
whatever may be decided on3 and having  
funds1 or profits1 the joint property of
 the community1 which can be drawn upon 
to finance their undertakings4 ,it ought
 to be evident what a tremendous        
advantage it is to farmers in a district
 to have such organizations1 what a     
lever they can pull and control4 ,i have
 tried to indicate the difference       
between a rural population and a rural  
community1 between a people loosely knit
 together by the vague ties of a common 
latitude and longitude1 and people who  
are closely knit together in an         
association and who form a true social  
organism1 a true rural community1 where 
the general will can find expression and
 society is malleable to the general    
will4 ,i assert that there never can be 
any progress in rural districts or any  
real prosperity without such farmers'   
organizations or guilds4 ,wherever rural
 prosperity is reported of any country  

inquire into it1 and it will be found   
that it depends on rural organization4  
,wherever there is rural decay1 if it is
 inquired into1 it will be found that   
there was a rural population but no     
rural community1 no organization1 no    
guild to promote common interests and   
unite the countrymen in defense of them4
      ,,vi4    ,it is the business of   
the rural reformer to create the rural  
community4 ,it is the antecedent to the 
creation of a rural civilization4 ,we   
have to organize the community so that  
it can act as one body4 ,it is not      
enough to organize farmers in a district
 for one purpose only--in a credit      
society1 a dairy society1 a fruit       
society1 a bacon factory1 or in a       
co-operative store4 ,all these may be   
and must be beginnings2 but if they do  
not develop and absorb all rural        
business into their organization they   
will have little effect on character4   
,no true social organism will have been 
created4 ,if people unite as consumers  

to buy together they only come into     
contact on this one point2 there is no  
general identity of interest4 ,if       
co-operative societies are specialized  
for this purpose or that--as in ,great  
,britain or on the ,continent--to a     
large extent the limitation of objects  
prevents a true social organism from    
being formed4 ,the latter has a         
tremendous effect on human character4   
,the specialized society only develops  
economic efficiency4 ,the evolution of  
humanity beyond its present level       
depends absolutely on its power to unite
 and create true social organisms4 ,life
 in its higher forms is only possible   
because of the union of myriads of tiny 
lives to form a larger being1 which     
manifests will1 intelligence1 affection1
 and the spiritual powers4 ,the life of 
the amoeba or any other unicellular     
organism is low compared with the life  
in more complex organisms1 like the ant 
or bee4 ,man is the most highly         
developed living organism on the globe2 

yet his body is built up of innumerable 
cells1 each of which might be described 
as a tiny life in itself4 ,but they are 
built up in man into such a close       
association that what affects one part  
of the body affects all4 ,the pain which
 the whole being feels if a part is     
wounded1 if one cell in the human body  
is hurt1 should prove that to the least 
intelligent4 ,the nervous system binds  
all the tiny cells together1 and they   
form in this totality a being infinitely
 higher1 more powerful1 than the cells  
which compose it4 ,they are able to act 
together and achieve things impossible  
to the separated cells4 ,now humanity   
today is1 to some extent1 like the      
individual cells4 ,it is trying to unite
 together to form a real organism1 which
 will manifest higher qualities of life 
than the individual can manifest4 ,but  
very few of the organisms created by    
society enable the individual to do     
this4 ,the joint-stock companies or     
capitalist concerns which bring men     

together at this work or that do not yet
 make them feel their unity4 ,existence 
under a common government effects this  
still less4 ,our modern states have not 
yet succeeded in building up that true  
national life where all feel the        
identity of interest2 where the true    
civic or social feeling is engendered   
and the individual bends all his efforts
 to the success of the community on     
which his own depends2 where1 in fact1  
the ancient ,greek conception of        
citizenship is realized1 and individuals
 are created who are ever conscious of  
the identity of interest between        
themselves and their race4 ,in the old  
,greek civilizations this was possible  
because their ,states were small1 indeed
 their ideal ,state contained no more   
citizens than could be affected by the  
voice of a single orator4 ,such small   
,states1 though they produced the       
highest quality of life within          
themselves1 are no longer possible as   
political entities4 ,we have to see     

whether we could not1 within our        
widespread nationalities1 create        
communities by economic means1 where    
something of the same sense of          
solidarity of interest might be         
engendered and the same quality of life 
maintained4 ,i am greatly ambitious for 
the rural community4 ,but it is no use  
having mean ambitions4 ,unless people   
believe the result of their labors will 
result in their equaling or surpassing  
the best that has been done elsewhere1  
they will never get very far4 ,we in    
,ireland are in quest of a civilization4
 ,it is a great adventure1 the building 
up of a civilization--the noblest which 
could be undertaken by any persons4 ,it 
is at once the noblest and the most     
practical of all enterprises1 and ,i can
 conceive of no greater exaltation for  
the spirit of man than the feeling that 
his race is acting nobly2 and that all  
together are performing a service1 not  
only to each other1 but to humanity and 
those who come after them1 and that     

their deeds will be remembered4 ,it may 
seem a grotesque juxtaposition of things
 essentially different in character1 to 
talk of national idealism and then of   
farming1 but it is not so4 ,they are    
inseparable4 ,the national idealism     
which will not go out into the fields   
and deal with the fortunes of the       
working farmers is false dealism4 ,our  
conception of a civilization must       
include1 nay1 must begin with the life  
of the humblest1 the life of the average
 man or manual worker1 for if we neglect
 them we will build in sand4 ,the       
neglected classes will wreck our        
civilization4 ,the pioneers of a new    
social order must think first of the    
average man in field or factory1 and so 
unite these and so inspire them that the
 noblest life will be possible through  
their companionship4 ,if you will not   
offer people the noblest and best they  
will go in search of it4 ,unless the    
countryside can offer to young men and  
women some satisfactory food for soul as

 well as body1 it will fail to attract  
or hold its population1 and they will go
 to the already overcrowded towns2 and  
the lessening of rural production will  
affect production in the cities and     
factories1 and the problem of the       
unemployed will get still keener4 ,the  
problem is not only an economic problem4
 ,it is a human one4 ,man does not live 
by cash alone1 but by every gift of     
fellowship and brotherly feeling society
 offers him4 ,the final urgings of men  
and women are towards humanity4 ,their  
desires are for the perfecting of their 
own life1 and as ,whitman says1 where   
the best men and women are there the    
great city stands1 though it is only a  
village4 ,it is one of the illusions of 
modern materialistic thought to suppose 
that as high a quality of life is not   
possible in a village as in a great     
city1 and it ought to be one of the aims
 of rural reformers to dissipate this   
fallacy1 and to show that it is         
possible--not indeed to concentrate     

wealth in country communities as in the 
cities--but that it is possible to bring
 comfort enough to satisfy any          
reasonable person1 and to create a      
society where there will be intellectual
 life and human interests4 ,we will hear
 little then of the rural exodus4 ,the  
country will retain and increase its    
population and productiveness4 ,like    
attracts like4 ,life draws life to      
itself4 ,intellect awakens intellect1   
and the country will hold its own tug   
for tug with the towns4  ,now it may be 
said ,i have talked a long while round  
and round the rural community1 but ,i   
have not suggested how it is to be      
created4 ,i am coming to that4 ,it      
really cannot be created4 ,it is a      
natural growth when the right seed is   
planted4 ,co-operation is the seed4 ,let
 us consider ,ireland4 ,twenty-five     
years ago there was not a single        
co-operative society in the country4    
,individualism was the mode of life4    
,every farmer manufactured and sold as  

seemed best in his eyes4 ,it was        
generally the worst possible way he     
could have chosen4 ,then came ,sir      
,horace ,plunkett and his colleagues1   
preaching co-operation4 ,a creamery was 
established here1 an agricultural       
society there1 and having planted the   
ideas it was some time before the       
economic expert could decide whether    
they were planted in fertile soil4 ,but 
that question was decided many years    
ago4 ,the co-operative society1 started 
for whatever purpose originally1 is an  
omnivorous feeder1 and it exercises a   
magnetic influence on all agricultural  
activities2 so that we now have         
societies which buy milk1 manufacture   
and sell butter1 deal in poultry and    
eggs1 cure bacon1 provide fertilizers1  
feeding-stuffs1 seeds1 and machinery for
 their members1 and even cater for every
 requirement of the farmer's household4 
,this magnetic power of attracting and  
absorbing to themselves the various     
rural activities which the properly     

constituted co-operative societies have1
 makes them develop rapidly1 until in   
the course of a decade or a generation  
there is created a real social organism1
 where the members buy together1        
manufacture together1 market together1  
where finally their entire interests are
 bound up with the interests of the     
community4 ,i believe in half a century 
the whole business of rural ,ireland    
will be done co-operatively4 ,this is   
not a wild surmise1 for we see exactly  
the same process going on in ,denmark1  
,germany1 ,italy1 and every country     
where the co-operative seed was planted4
 ,let us suppose that in a generation   
all the rural industries are organized  
on co-operative lines1 what kind of a   
community should we expect to find as   
the result8 ,how would its members live8
 ,what would be their relations to one  
another and their community8 ,the       
agricultural scientist is making great  
discoveries4 ,the mechanical engineer   
goes from one triumph to another4 ,the  

chemist already could work wonders in   
our fields if there was a machinery for 
him to work through4 ,we cannot foretell
 the developments in each branch1 but we
 can see clearly that the organized     
community can lay hold of discoveries   
and inventions which the individual     
farmer cannot4 ,it is little for the    
co-operative society to buy expensive   
threshing sets and let its members have 
the use of them1 but the individual     
farmer would have to save a long time   
before he could raise several hundred   
pounds4 ,the society is a better buyer  
than the individual4 ,it can buy things 
the individual cannot buy4 ,it is a     
better producer also4 ,the plant for a  
creamery is beyond the individual       
farmer2 but our organized farmers in    
,ireland1 small though they are1 find it
 no trouble to erect and equip a        
creamery with plant costing two thousand
 pounds4 ,the organized rural community 
of the future will generate its own     
electricity at its central buildings1   

and run not only its factories and other
 enterprises by this power1 but will    
supply light to the houses of its       
members and also mechanical power to run
 machinery on the farm4 ,one of our     
,irish societies already supplies       
electric light for the town it works in4
 ,in the organized rural community the  
eggs1 milk1 poultry1 pigs1 cattle1      
grain1 and wheat produced on the farm   
and not consumed1 or required for       
further agricultural production1 will   
automatically be delivered to the       
co-operative business centre of the     
district1 where the manager of the dairy
 will turn the milk into butter or      
cheese1 and the skim milk will be       
returned to feed the community's pigs4  
,the poultry and egg department will    
pack and dispatch the fowl and eggs to  
market4 ,the mill will grind the corn   
and return it ground to the member1 or  
there may be a co-operative bakery to   
which some of it may go4 ,the pigs will 
be dealt with in the abattoir1 sent as  

fresh pork to the market or be turned   
into bacon to feed the members4 ,we may 
be certain that any intelligent rural   
community will try to feed itself first1
 and will only sell the surplus4 ,it    
will realize that it will be unable to  
buy any food half as good as the food it
 produces4 ,the community will hold in  
common all the best machinery too       
expensive for the members to buy        
individually4 ,the agricultural laborers
 will gradually become skilled          
mechanics1 able to direct threshers1    
binders1 diggers1 cultivators1 and new  
implements we have no conception of now4
 ,they will be members of the society1  
sharing in its profits in proportion to 
their wages1 even as the farmer will in 
proportion to his trade4 ,the           
co-operative community will have its own
 carpenters1 smiths1 mechanics1 employed
 in its workshop at repairs or in making
 those things which can profitably be   
made locally4 ,there may be a laundry   
where the washing--a heavy burden for   

the women--will be done3 for we may be  
sure that every scrap of power generated
 will be utilized4 ,one happy invention 
after another will come to lighten the  
labor of life4 ,there will be1 of       
course1 a village hall with a library   
and gymnasium1 where the boys and girls 
will be made straight1 athletic1 and    
graceful4 ,in the evenings1 when the    
work of the day is done1 if we went into
 the village hall we would find a dance 
going on or perhaps a concert4 ,there   
might be a village choir or band4 ,there
 would be a committee-room where the    
council of the community would meet once
 a week2 for their enterprises would    
have grown1 and the business of such a  
parish community might easily be over   
one hundred thousand pounds1 and would  
require constant thought4 ,there would  
be no slackness on the part of the      
council in attending1 because their     
fortunes would depend on their communal 
enterprises1 and they would have to     
consider reports from the managers and  

officials of the various departments4   
,the co-operative community would be a  
busy place4 ,in years when the society  
was exceptionally prosperous1 and earned
 larger profits than usual on its trade1
 we should expect to find discussions in
 which all the members would join as to 
the use to be made of these profits3    
whether they should be altogether       
divided or what portion of them should  
be devoted to some public purpose4 ,we  
may be certain that there would be      
animated discussions1 because a real    
solidarity of feeling would have arisen 
and a pride in the work of the community
 engendered1 and they would like to be  
able to outdo the good work done by the 
neighboring communities4  ,one might    
like to endow the village school with a 
chemical laboratory1 another might want 
to decorate the village hall with       
reproductions of famous pictures1       
another might suggest removing all the  
hedges and planting the roadsides and   
lanes with gooseberry bushes1 currant   

bushes1 and fruit trees1 as they do in  
some ,german communes today4 ,there     
would be eloquent pleadings for this or 
that1 for an intellectual heat would be 
engendered in this human hive1 and there
 would be no more illiterates or        
ignoramuses4 ,the teaching in the       
village school would be altered to suit 
the new social order1 and the children  
of the community would1 we may be       
certain1 be instructed in everything    
necessary for the intelligent conduct of
 the communal business4 ,the spirit of  
rivalry between one community and       
another1 which exists today between     
neighboring creameries1 would excite the
 imagination of the members1 and the    
organized community would be as swift to
 act as the unorganized community is    
slow to act4 ,intelligence would be     
organized as well as business4 ,the     
women would have their own associations1
 to promote domestic economy1 care of   
the sick and the children4 ,the girls   
would have their own industries of      

embroidery1 crochet1 lace1 dress-making1
 weaving1 spinning1 or whatever new     
industries the awakened intelligence of 
women may devise and lay hold of as the 
peculiar labor of their sex4 ,the       
business of distribution of the produce 
and industries of the community would be
 carried on by great federations1 which 
would attend to export and sale of the  
products of thousands of societies4     
,such communities would be real social  
organisms4 ,the individual would be free
 to do as he willed1 but he would find  
that communal activity would be         
infinitely more profitable than         
individual activity4 ,we would then have
 a real democracy carrying on its own   
business1 and bringing about reforms    
without pleading to1 or begging of1 the 
,state1 or intriguing with or imploring 
the aid of political middlemen to get   
this1 that1 or the other done for them4 
,they would be self-respecting1 because 
they would be self-helping above all    
things4 ,the national councils and      

meetings of national federations would  
finally become the real ,parliament of  
the nation2 for wherever all the        
economic power is centered1 there also  
is centered all the political power4    
,and no politician would dare to        
interfere with the organized industry of
 a nation4  ,there is nothing to prevent
 such communities being formed4 ,they   
would be a natural growth once the seed 
was planted4 ,we see such communities   
naturally growing up in ,ireland1 with  
perhaps a little stimulus from outside  
from rural reformers and social         
enthusiasts4 ,if this ideal of the      
organized rural community is accepted   
there will be difficulties1 of course1  
and enemies to be encountered4 ,the     
agricultural middleman is a powerful    
person4 ,he will rage furiously4 ,he    
will organize all his forces to keep the
 farmers in subjection1 and to retain   
his peculiar functions of fleecing the  
farmer as producer and the general      
public as consumer4 ,but unless we are  

determined to eliminate the middleman in
 agriculture we will fall to effect     
anything worth while attempting4 ,i     
would lay down certain fundamental      
propositions which1 ,i think1 should be 
accepted without reserve as a basis of  
reform4 ,first1 that the farmers must be
 organized to have complete control over
 all the business connected with their  
industry4 ,dual control is intolerable4 
,agriculture will never be in a         
satisfactory condition if the farmer is 
relegated to the position of a manual   
worker on his land2 if he is denied the 
right of a manufacturer to buy the raw  
materials of his industry on trade      
terms2 if other people are to deal with 
his raw materials1 his milk1 cream1     
fruit1 vegetables1 live stock1 grain1   
and other produce2 and if these         
capitalist middle agencies are to       
manufacture the farmers' raw material   
into butter1 bacon1 or whatever else are
 to do all the marketing and export1    
paying farmers what they please on the  

one hand1 and charging the public as    
much as they can on the other hand4 ,the
 existence of these middle agencies is  
responsible for a large proportion of   
the increased cost of living1 which is  
the most acute domestic problem of      
modern industrial communities4 ,they    
have too much power over the farmer1 and
 are too expensive a luxury for the     
consumer4 ,it would be very             
unbusinesslike for any country to       
contemplate the permanence in national  
life of a class whose personal interests
 are always leading them to fleece both 
producer and consumer alike4 ,so the    
first fundamental idea for reformers to 
get into their minds is that farmers1   
through their own co-operative          
organizations1 must control the entire  
business connected with agriculture4    
,there will not be so much objection to 
co-operative sale as to co-operative    
purchase by the farmers4 ,but one is as 
necessary as the other4 ,we must bear in
 mind1 what is too often forgotten1 that

 farmers are manufacturers1 and as such 
are entitled to buy the raw materials   
for their industry at wholesale prices4 
,every other kind of manufacturer in the
 world gets trade terms when he buys4   
,those who buy--not to consume1 but to  
manufacture and sell again--get their   
requirements at wholesale terms in every
 country in the world4 ,if a publisher  
of books is approached by a bookseller  
he gives that bookseller trade terms1   
because he buys to sell again4 ,if ,i1  
as a private individual1 want one of    
those books ,i must pay the full retail 
price4 ,even the cobbler1 the carpenter1
 the solitary artist1 get trade terms4  
,the farmer1 who is as much a           
manufacturer as the shipbuilder1 or the 
factory proprietor1 is as much entitled 
to trade terms when he buys the raw     
materials for his industry4 ,his seeds1 
fertilizers1 ploughs1 implements1 cake1 
feeding-stuffs are the raw materials of 
his industry1 which he uses to produce  
wheat1 beef1 mutton1 pork1 or whatever  

else2 and1 in my opinion1 there should  
be no differentiation between the farmer
 when he buys and any other kind of     
manufacturer4 ,is it any wonder that    
agriculture decays in countries where   
the farmers are expected to buy at      
retail prices and sell at wholesale     
prices8 ,we must not1 to save any       
friction1 sell the rights of farmers4   
,the second proposition ,i lay down is  
that this necessary organization work   
among the farmers must be carried on by 
an organizing body which is entirely    
controlled by those interested in       
agriculture--farmers and their friends4 
,to ask the ,state or a ,state          
,department to undertake this work is to
 ask a body influenced and often        
controlled by powerful capitalists1 and 
middle agencies which it should be the  
aim of the organization to eliminate4   
,the ,state can1 without obstruction    
from any quarter1 give farmers a        
technical education in the science of   
farming2 but let it once interfere with 

business1 and a horde of angry interests
 set to work to hamper and limit by     
every possible means and compromises on 
matters of principle1 where no          
compromise ought to be permitted1 are   
almost inevitable4  ,a voluntary        
organizing body like the ,irish         
,agricultural ,organization ,society1   
which was the first to attempt the      
co-operative organization of farmers in 
these islands1 is the only kind of body 
which can pursue its work fearlessly1   
unhampered by alien interests4 ,the     
moment such a body declares its aims1   
its declaration automatically separates 
the sheep from the goats1 and its       
enemies are outside and not inside4 ,the
 organizing body should be the heart and
 centre of the farmers' movement1 and if
 the heart has its allegiance divided1  
its work will be poor and ineffectual1  
and very soon the farmers will fall away
 from it to follow more single-hearted  
leaders4 ,no trades union would admit   
representatives of capitalist employers 

on its committee1 and no organization of
 farmers should allow alien or opposing 
interest on their councils to clog the  
machine or betray the cause4 ,this is   
the best advice ,i can give reformers4  
,it is the result of many years'        
experience in this work4 ,an industry   
must have the same freedom of movement  
as an individual in possession of all   
his powers4 ,an industry divided against
 itself can no more prosper than a      
household divided against itself4 ,by   
the means ,i have indicated the farmers 
can become the masters of their own     
destinies1 just as the urban workers    
can1 ,i think1 by steadfastly applying  
the same principles1 emancipate         
themselves4 ,it is a battle in which1 as
 in all other battles1 numbers and moral
 superiority united are irresistible2   
and in the ,irish struggle to create a  
true democracy numbers and the power of 
moral ideas are with the insurgents4    
,,vii4    ,it would be a bitter reproach
 on the household of our nation if there

 were any unconsidered1 who were left in
 poverty and without hope and outside   
our brotherhood4 ,we have not yet       
considered the agricultural laborer--the
 proletarian of the countryside4 ,his   
is1 in a sense1 the most difficult      
problem of any4 ,the basis of economic  
independence in his industry is the     
possession of land1 and that is not     
readily to be obtained in ,ireland4 ,the
 earth does not upheave itself from     
beneath the sea and add new land to that
 already above water in response to our 
need for it4 ,yet ,i would not pass away
 from the rural laborer without1 however
 inadequately1 indicating some curves in
 his future evolution4 ,these laborers  
are not in ,ireland half so numerous as 
farmers1 for it is a country of small   
holdings1 where the farmer and his      
family are themselves laborers4 ,labor  
is badly paid1 and1 owing to the lack of
 continuous cropping of the land1 it is 
often left without employment at seasons
 when employment is most needed4 ,no    

class which is taken up today and       
dropped tomorrow will in modern times   
remain long in a country4 ,employers    
often act as if they thought labor could
 be taken up and laid down again like a 
pipe and tobacco4 ,none have contributed
 so to thicken the horde of ,irish      
exiles as the rural laborers4 ,three    
hundred thousand of them in less than my
 lifetime have left the fields of       
,ireland for the factories of the new   
world4 ,yet ,i can only rejoice if      
,irishmen1 who are badly dealt with in  
their motherland1 find an ampler life   
and a more prosperous career in another 
land4 ,a wage of ten or eleven shillings
 a week will bind none but the          
unaspiring lout to his country4 ,but ,i 
would like to make ,ireland a land      
which1 because of the human kindness in 
it1 few would willingly leave4 ,the     
agricultural proletarian1 like all other
 labor1 should be organized in a        
national union4 ,that is bound to come4 
,but the agricultural laborer should1 ,i

 think1 no more than labor in the       
cities1 make the raising of wages his   
main or only object4 ,he should rather  
strive to make himself economically     
independent2 or1 in the alternative1    
seek for status by integration into the 
co-operative communities of farmers by  
becoming a member1 and by pressing for  
permanent employment by the community   
rather than casual employment by the    
individual4 ,agricultural labor         
undoubtedly will have to struggle for   
better remuneration4 ,yet it has to be  
remembered that agriculture is a protean
 industry4 ,it is not like mining1 where
 the colliery produces coal and nothing 
but coal1 and where the miners have a   
practical monopoly of supply4 ,if miners
 are dissatisfied with wages and are    
well organized they can enforce their   
terms1 and the colliery owners may      
almost be indifferent1 because they can 
charge the increased cost of working to 
the public4 ,but agriculture1 as ,i     
said1 is protean and changes its forms  

perpetually4 ,if tillage does not pay   
this year1 next year the farmer may have
 his land in grass4 ,he reverts to the  
cheapest methods of farming when prices 
are low1 or labor asks a wage which the 
farmer believes it would be unprofitable
 to pay4 ,in this way pressure on the   
farmer for extra wages might result in  
two men being employed to herd cows     
where a dozen men were previously       
employed at tillage4 ,the farmer cannot 
easily--as the mine-owner--unload his   
burden on the general public by the     
increase of prices4 ,there are many     
difficulties1 which seem almost         
insoluble1 if we propose to ourselves to
 integrate the rural laborer into the   
general economic life of the country by 
making him a partner in the industry he 
works on4 ,but what ,i hope for most is 
first that the natural evolution of the 
rural community1 and the concentration  
of individual manufacture1 purchase and 
sale1 into communal enterprises1 will   
lead to a very large co-operative       

ownership of expensive machinery1 which 
will necessitate the communal employment
 of labor4 ,if this takes place1 as ,i  
hope it will1 the rural laborer1 instead
 of being a manual worker using         
primitive implements1 will have the     
status of a skilled mechanic employed   
permanently by a cooperative community4 
,he should be a member of the society   
which employs him1 and in the division  
of profits receive in proportion to his 
wage1 as the farmers in proportion to   
their trade4  ,a second policy open to  
agricultural labor when it becomes      
organized is the policy of collective   
farming4 ,this ,i believe will and ought
 to receive attention in the future4    
,co-operative societies of agricultural 
laborers in ,italy1 ,roumania1 and      
elsewhere have rented land from         
landowners4 ,they then reallotted the   
land among themselves for individual    
cultivation1 or else worked it as a true
 co-operative enterprise with labor1    
purchase and sale all communal          

enterprises1 with considerable benefit  
to the members4 ,we can well understand 
a landowner not liking to divide his    
land into small holdings1 with all the  
attendant troubles which in ,ireland    
beset a landlord with small farmers on  
his estate4 ,but ,i think landowners in 
,ireland could be found who would rent  
land to a co-operative society of       
skilled laborers who approached the     
owner with a well-thought-out scheme4   
,the success of one colony would lead to
 others being started1 as happened in   
,italy4  ,this solution of the problem  
of agricultural labor will be forced on 
us for many reasons4 ,the economic      
effects of the great ,european ,war1 the
 burden of debt piled on the            
participating nations1 will make        
,ministers shun schemes of reform       
involving a large use of national       
credit1 or which would increase the sum 
of national obligations4 ,land purchase 
on the old term ,i believe cannot be    
continued4 ,yet we will demand the      

intensive cultivation of the national   
estate1 and increased production of     
wealth1 especially of food-stuffs4 ,the 
large area of agricultural land laid    
down for pasture is not so productive as
 tilled land1 does not sustain so large 
a population1 and there will be more    
reasons in the future than in the past  
for changing the character of farming in
 these areas4 ,the policy of collective 
farming offers a solution1 and whatever 
,government is in power should          
facilitate the settlement of men in     
cooperative colonies and provide expert 
instructors as managers for the first   
year or two if necessary4 ,such a policy
 would not be so expensive as land      
purchase1 and with fair rent fixed1     
hundreds of thousands of people could be
 planted comfortably on the land in     
,ireland and produce more wealth from it
 than could ever be produced from       
grazing lands1 and agricultural workers 
and the sons of farmers who now emigrate
 could become economically independent4 

,i hope1 also1 that farmers1 becoming   
more brotherly as their own enterprises 
flourish1 will welcome laborers into    
their co-operative stores1 credit banks1
 poultry and bee-keeping societies1 and 
allow them the benefits of cheap        
purchase1 cheap credit1 and of efficient
 marketing of whatever the laborer may  
produce on his allotment4 ,the growth of
 national conscience and the spirit of  
human brotherhood1 and a feeling of     
shame that any should be poor and       
neglected in the national household1    
will be needed to bring the rural       
laborer into the circle of national     
life1 and make him a willing worker in  
the general scheme4 ,if farmers will    
not1 on their part1 advance towards     
their laborers and bring them into the  
co-operative community1 then labor will 
be organized outside their community and
 will be hostile1 and will be always    
brooding and scheming to strike a blow  
when the farmer can least bear it1--when
 the ground must be tilled or the       

harvest gathered4 ,and this1 if peace   
cannot be made1 will result in a still  
greater decline of tillage and the      
continued flight of the rural laborers1 
and the increase of the area in grass1  
and the impoverishing of human life and 
national well-being4  ,some policy to   
bring contentment to small holders and  
rural workers must be formulated and    
acted upon4 ,agriculture is of more     
importance to the nation than industry4 
,our task is to truly democratize       
civilization and its agencies2 to spread
 in widest commonalty culture1 comfort1 
intelligence1 and happiness1 and to give
 to the average man those things which  
in an earlier age were the privileges of
 a few4 ,the country is the fountain of 
the life and health of a race4 ,and this
 organization of the country people into
 co-operative communities will educate  
them and make them citizens in the true 
sense of the word1 that is1 people      
continually conscious of their identity 
of interest with those about them4  ,it 

is by this conscious sense of solidarity
 of interest1 which only the organized  
co-operative community can engender in  
modern times1 that the higher           
achievements of humanity become         
possible4 ,religion has created this    
spirit at times--witness the majestic   
cathedrals the ,middle ,ages raised to  
manifest their faith4 ,political        
organization engendered the passion of  
citizenship in the ,greek ,states1 and  
the ,parthenon and a host of lordly     
buildings crowned the hills and uplifted
 and filled with pride the heart of the 
citizen4 ,our big countries1 our big    
empires1 and republics1 for all their   
military strength and science1 and the  
wealth which science has made it        
possible for man to win1 do not create  
citizenship because of the loose        
organization of society2 because        
individualism is rampant1 and men1      
failing to understand the intricacies of
 the vast and complex life of their     
country1 fall back on private life and  

private ambitions1 and leave the honor  
of their country and the making of laws 
and the application of the national     
revenues to a class of professional     
politicians1 in their turn in servitude 
to the interests which supply party     
funds1 and so we find corruption in high
 places and cynicism in the people4 ,it 
is necessary for the creation of        
citizens1 for the building up of a noble
 national life1 that the social order   
should be so organized that this sense  
of interdependence will be constantly   
felt4 ,it is also necessary for the     
preservation of the physical health and 
beauty of our race that our people      
should live more in the country and less
 in the cities4 ,i believe it would be  
an excellent thing for humanity if its  
civilization could be based on rural    
industry mainly and not on urban        
industry4 ,more and more men and women  
in our modern civilization drift out of 
,nature1 out of sweet air1 health1      
strength1 beauty1 into the cities1 where

 in the third generation there is a     
rickety population1 mean in stature1    
vulgar or depraved in character1 with   
the image of the devil in mind and      
matter more than the image of ,deity4   
,those who go like it at first2 but city
 life is like the roll spoken of by the 
prophet1 which was sweet in the mouth   
but bitter in the belly4 ,the first     
generation are intoxicated by the new   
life1 but in the third generation the   
cord is cut which connected them with   
,nature1 the ,great ,mother1 and life   
shrivels up1 sundered from the source of
 life4 ,is there any prophet1 any       
statesman1 any leader1 who will--as     
,moses once led the ,israelites out of  
the ,egyptian bondage--excite the human 
imagination and lead humanity back to   
,nature1 to sunlight1 starlight1        
earth-breath1 sweet air1 beauty1 gaiety1
 and health8 ,is it impossible now to   
move humanity by great ideas1 as        
,mahomet fired his dark hosts to        
forgetfulness of life2 or as ,peter the 

,hermit awakened ,europe to a frenzy1 so
 that it hurried its hot chivalry across
 a continent to the ,holy ,land8 ,is not
 the earth mother of us all8 ,are not   
our spirits clothed round with the      
substance of earth8 ,is it not from     
,nature we draw life8 ,do we not perish 
without sunlight and fresh air8 ,let us 
have no breath of air and in five       
minutes life is extinct4 ,yet in the    
cities there is a slow poisoning of life
 going on day by day4 ,the lover of     
beauty may walk the streets of ,london  
or any big city and may look into ten   
thousand faces and see none that is     
lovely4 ,is not the return of man to a  
natural life on the earth a great enough
 idea to inspire humanity8 ,is not the  
idea of a civilization amid the green   
trees and fields under the smokeless sky
 alluring8 ,yes1 but men say there is no
 intellectual life working on the land4 
,no intellectual life when man is       
surrounded by mystery and miracle6 ,when
 the mysterious forces which bring to   

birth and life are yet undiscovered2    
when the earth is teeming with life1 and
 the dumb brown lips of the ridges are  
breathing mystery6 ,is not the growth of
 a tree from a tiny cell hidden in the  
earth as provocative of thought as the  
things men learn at the schools8 ,is not
 thought on these things more           
interesting than the sophistries of the 
newspapers8 ,it is only in ,nature1 and 
by thought on the problems of ,nature1  
that our intellect grows to any real    
truth and draws near to the ,mighty     
,mind which laid the foundations of the 
world4  ,our civilizations are a        
nightmare1 a bad dream4 ,they have no   
longer the grandeur of ,babylon or      
,nineveh4 ,they grow meaner and meaner  
as they grow more urbanized4 ,what could
 be more depressing than the miles of   
poverty-stricken streets around the     
heart of our modern cities8 ,the memory 
lies on one heavy as frost and deep     
almost as life4 ,it is terrible to think
 of the children playing on the         

pavements2 the depletion of vitality1   
with artificial stimulus supplied from  
the flaring drink-shops4 ,the spirit    
grows heavy as if death lay on it while 
it moves amid such things4 ,and outside 
these places the clouds are flying      
overhead snowy and spiritual as of old1 
the sun is shining1 the winds are       
blowing1 the fields are green1 the      
forests are murmuring leaf to leaf1 but 
the magic that ,god made is unknown to  
these poor folk4 ,the creation of a     
rural civilization is the greatest need 
of our time4 ,it may not come in our    
days1 but we can lay the foundations of 
it1 preparing the way for the true      
prophet when he will come4 ,the fight   
now is not to bring people back to the  
land1 but to keep those who are on the  
land contented1 happy1 and prosperous4  
,and we must begin by organizing them to
 defend what is left to them2 to take   
back1 industry by industry1 what was    
stolen from them4 ,we must organize the 
country people into communities1 for    

without some kind of communal life men  
hold no more together than the drifting 
sands by the seashore4 ,there is a      
natural order in which men have         
instinctively grouped themselves from   
the dawn of time4 ,it is as natural to  
them to do so as it is for bees to build
 their hexagonal cells4 ,if we read the 
history of civilization we will find    
people in every land forming little     
clans co-operating together4 ,then the  
ambition of rulers or warriors breaks   
them up2 the greed of powerful men puts 
an end to them4 ,but1 whether broken or 
not1 the moment the rural dweller is    
left to himself he begins again1 with   
nature prompting him1 to form little    
clans--or nations rather--with his      
fellows1 and it is there life has been  
happiest4 ,we did this in ancient       
,ireland4 ,the baronies whose names are 
on ,irish land today and the counties   
are survivals of these old co-operative 
colonies1 where the men owned the land  
together and elected their own leaders1 

and formed their own social order and   
engendered passionate loyalties and     
affections4 ,it was so in every land    
under the sun4 ,it was so in ancient    
,india and in ancient ,peru4 ,the       
,european farmers1 and we in ,ireland   
along with them1 are beginning again the
 eternal task of building up a          
civilization in nature--the task so     
often disturbed1 the labor so often     
destroyed4 ,and it is with the hope that
 we in ,ireland will build truly and    
nobly that ,i have put together these   
thoughts on the rural community4        
,,viii4    ,we may now consider the     
proletarian in our cities4 ,the worker  
in our modern world is the subject of   
innumerable unapplied doctrines4 ,the   
lordliest things are predicated of him1 
which do not affect in the least the    
relationship with him of those who      
employ his labor4 ,the ancient wisdom1  
as it is recounted to him on ,god's day1
 assures him of his immortality3 that   
the divine signature is over all his    

being1 that in some way he is co-related
 with the ,eternal1 that he is fashioned
 in a likeness to ,it4 ,he is a symbol  
of ,god ,himself4 ,he is the child of   
,deity4 ,his life is ,its very breath4  
,the ,habitations of ,eternity await his
 coming1 and the divine event to which  
he moves is the dwelling within him of  
the ,divine ,mind1 so that ,deity may   
become his very self4 ,so proud a tale  
is told of him1 and when he wakens on   
the morrow after the day of ,god he     
finds that none will pay him reverence4 
,he1 the destined comrade of ,seraphim  
and ,cherubim1 is herded with other     
,children of the ,king in fetid slum and
 murky alleys1 where the devil hath his 
many mansions1 where light and air1 the 
great purifiers1 are already dimmed and 
corrupted before they do him service4   
,he is insecure in the labor by which he
 lives4 ,he works today1 and tomorrow he
 may be told there is no further need   
for him1 and his fate and the fate of   
those dependent on him are not          

remembered by those who dismissed him4  
,if he dies1 leaving wife or children1  
the social order makes but the most     
inhuman provision for them4 ,how ghastly
 is the brotherhood of the ,state for   
its poor the workhouses declare1 and our
 social decrees which turn              
loving-kindness into official acts and  
make legal and formal what should be    
natural impulse and the overflow of the 
heart4 ,so great a disparity exists     
between spiritual theory and the        
realities of the social order that it   
might almost be said that spiritual     
theory has no effect at all on our      
civilization1 and its inhuman contours  
seem softened at no point where we could
 say1 ,here the ,spirit has mastery4    
,here ,god possesses the world4  ,the   
imagination1 following the worker in our
 industrial system1 sees him laboring   
without security in his work1 in        
despair1 locked out1 on strike1 living  
in slums1 rarely with enough food for   
health1 bringing children into the world

 who suffer from malnutrition from their
 earliest years1 a pauper when his days 
of strength are passed4 ,he dies in     
charitable institutions4 ,though his    
labors are necessary he is yet not      
integrated into the national economy4   
,he has no share of his own in the      
wealth of the nation4 ,he cannot claim  
work as a right from the holders of     
economic power1 and this absolute       
dependence upon the autocrats of        
industry for a livelihood is the        
greatest evil of any1 for it puts a     
spiritual curse on him and makes him in 
effect a slave4 ,instinctively he adopts
 a servile attitude to those who can    
sentence him and his children to poverty
 and hunger without trial or judgment by
 his peers4 ,a hasty word1 and he may be
 told to draw his pay and begone4 ,the  
spiritual wrong done him by the social  
order is greater than the material ill1 
and that spiritual wrong is no less a   
wrong because generation after          
generation of workers have grown up and 

are habituated to it1 and do not realize
 the oppression2 because in childhood   
circumstance and the black art of       
education alike conspire to make the    
worker humble in heart and to take the  
crown and sceptre from his spirit1 and  
his elders are already tamed and        
obsequious4  ,yet the workers in the    
modern world have great qualities4 ,this
 class in great masses will continually 
make sacrifices for the sake of a       
principle4 ,they have lived so long in  
the depths3 many of them have reached   
the very end of all the pain which is   
the utmost life can bear and have in    
their character that fearlessness which 
comes from long endurance and           
familiarity with the worst hardships4 ,i
 am a literary man1 a lover of ideas1   
and ,i have found few people in my life 
who would sacrifice anything for a      
social principle2 but ,i will never     
forget the exultation with which ,i     
realized in a great labor trouble1 when 
the masters of industry issued a        

document asking men on peril of         
dismissal to swear never to join a      
trades union1 that there were thousands 
of men in my own city who refused to    
obey1 though they had no membership or  
connection with the objectionable       
association4 ,nearly all the real       
manhood of ,dublin ,i found was among   
the obscure myriads who are paid from   
twenty to thirty shillings a week4 ,the 
men who will sacrifice anything for     
brotherhood get rarer and rarer above   
that limit of wealth4 ,these men would  
not sign away their freedom1 their right
 to choose their own heroes and their   
own ideals4 ,most of them had no strike 
funds to fall back on4 ,they had wives  
and children depending on them4 ,quietly
 and grimly they took through hunger the
 path to the ,heavenly ,city1 yet nobody
 praised them1 no one put a crown upon  
their brows4 ,beneath their rags and    
poverty there was in these obscure men a
 nobility of spirit4 ,it is in these men
 and the men in the cabins in the       

country that the hope of ,ireland lies4 
,the poor have always helped each other1
 and it is they who listen eagerly to   
the preachers of a social order based on
 brotherhood in industry4 ,it is these  
workers1 always necessary but never yet 
integrated into the social order1 who   
must be educated1 who must be provided  
for1 who must be accepted fully as      
comrade in any scheme of life to be     
devised and which would call itself     
,christian4 ,that word1 expressing the  
noblest and most spiritual conception of
 humanity1 has been so degraded by      
misuse in the world that we could almost
 hate it with the loathing we have for  
evil1 if we did not know that ,hell can 
as disguise put on the outward garments 
of ,heaven4 ,yet what is eternally true 
remains pure and uncorrupted1 and those 
who turn to it find it there--as all    
finally must turn to it to fulfill their
 destiny of inevitable beauty4          
,,ix4    ,often with sadness ,i hear    
people speak of industrial development  

in ,ireland1 for ,i feel they           
contemplate no different system than    
that which fills workers with despair in
 countries where it is more successfully
 applied4 ,all these energetic people   
are conspiring to build factories and   
mills and to fill them with human labor1
 and they believe the more they do this 
the better it will be for ,ireland4     
,they talk of ,ireland as if it was only
 admirable as a quantity rather than a  
quality4 ,they express delight at       
swelling statistics and increased trade1
 but where do we hear any reflection on 
the quality of life engendered by this  
industrial development8 ,our            
civilization is to differ in no way from
 any other4 ,no new ideal of life is    
suggested to differentiate us4 ,we are  
to go on exploiting human labor4 ,our   
working classes are to increase and     
multiply and earn profits for an        
employing class1 as labor has one from  
time immemorial in ,babylon1 in         
,nineveh1 in ,rome1 and in ,london      

today4 ,but a choice yet remains to us1 
because the character of our            
civilization is not yet fixed4 ,it is   
mainly germinal4 ,it fills the spirit   
with weariness to think of another      
nation following the old path1 without  
thought or imagination of other roads   
leading to new and more beautiful life4 
,every now and then1 when the world was 
still vast and full of undiscovered     
wonders1 some adventurers would leave   
the harbor1 and steer their galleys past
 the known coast and the familiar cities
 and over unraveled seas1 seeking some  
new land where life might be freer and  
ampler than that they had known4 ,is the
 old daring gone8 ,are there not such   
spirits among us ready to join in the   
noblest of all adventures--the building 
up of a civilization--so that the human 
might reflect the divine order8 ,in the 
divine order there is both freedom and  
solidarity4 ,it is the virtue of the    
soul to be free and its nature to love2 
and when it is free and acts by its own 

will it is most united with all other   
life4 ,those planetary spirits who move 
in solemn motion about the heavens ,i do
 not conceive as the slaves of ,deity   
but as its adorers4 ,but that material  
nature in which the soul is embodied has
 the dividing quality of the prism1     
which resolves pure light into distinct 
rays2 and so on earth we get the        
principle of freedom and the virtue of  
solidarity as separated ideals          
continually at warfare with each other1 
and the reconcilement on earth of these 
principles in man is the conquest of    
matter by the spirit4 ,this dramatic    
sundering on earth of virtues in unison 
in the heavens explains the struggle    
between ,protestantism and ,catholicism1
 between nationality and imperialism1   
between individualist and socialist1    
between dynamic and static in           
philosophy4 ,indeed in the last analysis
 all human conflicts are the balancing  
on earth of the manifestation of divine 
principles which are one in the         

unmanifest spirit4  ,the civilization we
 create1 the social order we build up1  
must provide for essential freedom for  
the individual and for solidarity of the
 nation4 ,now essential freedom is      
denied to men if they are in their      
condition servile4 ,can we contemplate  
the permanent existence of a servile    
class in ,ireland8 ,for1 disguise it how
 we will1 our present industrial system 
is practically a form of slavery for the
 workers1 differing in externals only   
from the ages when the serf had a collar
 round his neck4 ,he has now freedom to 
change from master to master1 and can   
even seek for a master in other         
countries2 but he must1 in any case1    
accept the relation of servant to       
master4 ,the old slave could be whipped4
 ,in the new order the wage slave can be
 starved1 and the fact that many of the 
rulers of industry use their power      
benevolently does not make the existing 
relation between employer and employed  
right1 or the social order one whose    

permanence can be justified4 ,men will  
gladly labor if they feel that their    
labor conspires with that of all other  
workers for the general good2 but there 
is something loathsome to the spirit in 
the condition of the labor market1 where
 labor is regarded as a commodity to be 
bought and sold like soap or candles4   
,for that truly describes how it is with
 labor in our industrial system3 we can 
buy labor1 which means we can buy human 
life and thought1 a portion of ,god's   
being1 and make a profit out of it4 ,by 
so selling himself the worker is        
enslaved and limited in a thousand ways4
 ,the power of dismissal of one person  
by another at whim acts against         
independence of character1 or the free  
expression or opinion in thought1 in    
politics1 and in religion4 ,the soul is 
stunted in its growth1 and spiritual    
life made subordinate to material       
interests4 ,to deny essential freedom to
 the soul is the greatest of all crimes1
 and such denial has in all ages evoked 

the deepest anger among men4 ,when      
freedom has been threatened nations have
 risen up maddened and exultant1 and the
 clang of martial arms has been heard   
and the stony kings of the past have    
been encountered in battle4 ,in ,ireland
 we shall have our greatest fight of all
 to gain this freedom3 not alone        
material independence for man1 but the  
freedom of the soul1 its right to choose
 its own heroes and its own ideals      
without let or hindrance by other men4  
,we have many of the vices of a slave   
race1 and we treat others as we have    
been treated4 ,our national aspirations 
were overborne by material power1 and we
 in turn use cudgel and curse on our    
countrymen when they differ from us in  
opinion and policy4 ,men1 when they     
cannot match their intellect against    
another's1 suppress him and howl him    
down1 putting faith in their own        
brainlessness4 ,i would make the most   
passionate plea for freedom in ,ireland3
 freedom for all to say the truth they  

feel or know4 ,what right have we to ask
 for ourselves what we deny to another8 
,the bludgeon at meetings is a blow     
struck against heaven4 ,those who will  
not argue or reason are recreants       
against humanity1 and are prowling back 
again on all fours in their minds to the
 brute4 ,it matters not in what holy    
name men war with violence on freedom of
 thought1 whether in the name of ,god or
 nation they are enemies of both4 ,we   
are only right in controversy when we   
overcome by a superior beauty or truth4 
,the first fundamental idea inspiring an
 ,irish polity should be this idea of   
freedom in all spheres of thought1 and  
it is most necessary to fight for this  
because the devil and hell have         
organized their forces in this          
unfortunate land in sectarian and secret
 societies1 of which it might be written
 they love darkness rather than light   
for the old ,god-given reasons4      ,x4
    ,whenever in ,ireland there has been
 a revolt of labor it too often finds   

arrayed against it the press1 the law1  
and the police4 ,all the great powers   
are in entente4 ,the press1 without     
inquiry1 begins a detestable cant about 
labor agitators misleading ignorant men4
 ,every wild phrase uttered by an       
exasperated worker is quoted against the
 cause of labor1 and its grievances are 
suppressed4 ,we are told nothing about  
how the worker lives3 what homes1 what  
food1 his wage will provide4 ,the       
journalist holds up a moral umbrella1   
protecting society from the fiery hail  
of conscience4 ,the baser sort of       
clergyman will take up the parable and  
begin advocating a servile peace1 glibly
 misinterpreting the divine teaching of 
love to prove that the lamb should lie  
down inside the lion1 and only so can it
 be saved soul and body1 forgetful that 
the peace which was ,christ's gift to   
humanity was the peace of ,god which    
passes all understanding1 and that it   
was a spiritual quietude1 and that on   
earth--the underworld--the gospel in    

realization was to bring not peace but a
 sword4  ,the law1 assured of public    
opinion1 then deals sternly with        
whatever unfortunate life is driven into
 its pens4 ,i am putting very mildly the
 devilish reality1 for society is so    
constituted that the public1 kept in    
ignorance of the real facts1 believes   
that it is acting rightly1 and so the   
devil has conscience on his side and    
that divine power is turned to infernal 
uses4 ,what can labor oppose to this    
federation of ,state and ,church1 of    
press and law1 of capital and physical  
force to back capital1 when it sets     
about its own liberation and to         
institute a new social order to replace 
autocracy in industry8 ,its allies are  
few4 ,a rare thinker1 scientist1        
literary man1 artist or clergyman1      
impelled by hatred of what is ugly in   
life1 will speak on its behalf1 and may 
render some aid and help to tear holes  
in that moral shield held up by the     
press1 and may here and there give to   

that blinded public a vision of the     
,hosts of the ,lord arrayed against it4 
,but the only real power the workers can
 truly rely on is their own4 ,nothing   
but a spiritual revolution or an        
economic revolution will bring other    
classes into comradeship with them4 ,the
 ideal labor should set before itself is
 not a transitory improvement in its    
wage1 because a wage war never truly or 
permanently improves the position of    
labor4 ,this section or that may1       
relatively to its own past or the       
position of other workers1 improve      
itself2 but capital is like a ship      
which1 however the tide rises or falls1 
floats upon it1 and is not sunken more  
deeply in the water at high tide than at
 low tide4 ,whenever any burden is      
placed upon capital it immediately sets 
about unloading that burden on the      
public4 ,wages might be doubled by ,act 
of ,parliament1 and the net result would
 be to double prices1 if not to increase
 them still more4 ,the more the         

autocrats of industry are federated the 
more easily can they unload on others   
any burden placed on them4  ,the value  
of money is simply what it will purchase
 at any time4 ,if the rulers of industry
 can halve the purchasing power of money
 while doubling wages at the command of 
the ,state1 logic leads us to assume    
that wages boards1 arbitration boards   
and the like can only be transitory in  
their meliorating effect2 and to pursue 
the attack on the autocrats of industry 
by the road of wages alone is to attack 
them where they are impregnable1 and    
where1 seeming to give way1 they are all
 the while really losing nothing1 and   
are only fixing the wage system more    
permanently on those who attack them4   
,there are fiery spirits among the      
proletarians who hope that militant     
labor will at last bring about the      
social revolution1 taking the earthly   
paradise by violence4 ,they believe that
 if every worker dropped his tools and  
absolutely refused to work under the old

 system1 it would be impossible to      
continue it4 ,that is true1 but those   
who advocate this policy slur over many 
difficulties1 and the relative power of 
endurance of both parties4 ,they do not1
 ,i think1 take into account the immense
 power in the hands of those who uphold 
the present system4 ,those who might be 
expected to strike are not--at least in 
,ireland--a majority of the population4 
,they would have far fewer material     
resources to fall back on than those    
others whose interests would lead them  
to preserve the present social order4   
,it is clear1 too1 when we analyze the  
forces at the command of labor and      
capital1 that the latter has attached to
 itself by the bonds of self-interest   
the scientific men--engineers1          
inventors1 chemists1 bacteriologists1   
designers1 organizers1 all the intellect
 of industry--without which1 in alliance
 with itself1 revolting labor would be  
unable to continue production as before4
 ,labor so revolting might indeed for a 

time bring the work of the nation to a  
standstill2 but unless it could by some 
means attract to itself men of the class
 described1 it would not be able to take
 the helm of the ship of industry and   
guide it with knowledge as the holders  
of economic power have done in the past4
 ,a policy of emancipation should       
provide labor with a means of attracting
 to itself that kind of knowledge which 
is gained in universities1 laboratories1
 colleges of science1 and1 above all1 in
 the actual guidance of great industrial
 enterprises4 ,in any trial of endurance
 those who start with the greatest      
intellectual1 moral1 and material       
resources will win4  ,i do not deny that
 the strike is a powerful weapon in the 
hand of labor1 but it is one with which 
it is difficult to imagine labor dealing
 a knock-out blow to the present social 
order4 ,i believe in an orderly         
evolution of society1 at least in       
,ireland1 and doubt whether by          
revolution people can be raised to an   

intelligence1 a humanity1 or a nobility 
of nature greater than they formerly    
possessed4 ,nobody can remain standing  
on tiptoe4 ,after a little time disorder
 subsides and some strong man leads the 
inevitable reaction4 ,in ,france people 
revolted against a decadent monarchy1   
and in a dozen years they had a new     
emperor4 ,in ,england they beheaded a   
king as a protest against tyranny1 and  
they got a dictator in his place who    
took little or no account of            
parliaments2 and finally a second       
,charles1 rather worse than the first1  
came to the throne4 ,the everlasting    
battle between light and darkness goes  
on stubbornly all the time1 and the gain
 of the ,hosts of ,light is inch by     
inch4 ,extraordinary efforts1 impetuous 
charges1 which seem to win for a moment1
 too often leave the attacking force    
tired and exhausted1 and the forces of  
reaction set in and overwhelm them4 ,i  
am the friend of revolt if people cannot
 stand the conditions they live under1  

and if they can see no other way4 ,it is
 better to be men than slaves4 ,the     
,french ,revolution was a tragic episode
 in history1 but when people suffer     
intolerably and are insulted in their   
despair it is inevitable blood will be  
shed4 ,one can only say with ,whitman3  
,pale1 silent1 stern1 what could ,i say 
to that long-accrued retribution8 ,could
 ,i wish humanity different ,could ,i   
wish the people made of wood and stone1 
or that there be no justice in destiny  
or time8  ,there is danger in revolution
 if the revolutionary spirit is much    
more advanced than the intellectual1 and
 moral qualities which alone can secure 
the success of a revolt4 ,these         
intellectual and moral qualities--the   
skill to organize1 the wisdom to control
 large undertakings1 are not natural    
gifts but the results of experience4    
,they are evolutionary products4 ,the   
emancipation of labor1 ,i believe1 will 
not be gained by revolution but by      
prolonged effort1 continued month by    

month and year by year1 in which first  
this thing is adventured1 then that3    
each enterprise brings its own gifts of 
wisdom and experience1 and there is no  
reaction1 because1 instead of the       
violent use of certain powers1 the whole
 being is braced3 experience1 intellect1
 desire1 all strong and working         
harmoniously1 press forward and support 
each other1 and no enterprise is        
undertaken where the intellect to carry 
it out is not present together with the 
desire4 ,it requires great intellectual 
and moral qualities to bring about a    
revolution4 ,a rage at present          
conditions is not enough4      ,,xi4    
,our farmers are already free4 ,the     
problem with them is not now concerned  
with freedom1 but how they may be       
brought into a solidarity with each     
other and the nation4 ,to make our      
proletarians free and masters of their  
own energies1 in unison with each other 
and the national being1 is the most     
pressing labor of the many before us4   

,unless there be economic freedom there 
can be no other freedom4 ,the right of  
no individual to subsistence should be  
at the good will of any other           
individual4 ,more than mere comfort     
depends on it4 ,there are eternal and   
august rights of the soul to be         
safeguarded1 and the economic position  
of men should be protected by           
organization and democratic law4 ,i have
 already discussed some of the avenues  
through which workers in our time have  
looked with hope4 ,i have little belief 
that these roads lead anywhere but back 
to the old ,city of ,slavery1 however   
they may seem to curve away at the      
outset4 ,the strike1 on whatever scale1 
is no way to freedom1 though the        
strike--or the threat of it--may bring  
wages nearer to subsistence level4 ,the 
art of warfare is too much in the hands 
of specialists for trust to be placed in
 revolution4 ,a machine-gun with a few  
experts behind it is worth a thousand   
revolutionary workers1 however maddened 

they may be4 ,does political action1 on 
which so many rely1 promise more8 ,i do 
not believe it does4 ,i believe that to 
appeal to legislatures is to appeal to  
bodies dominated by those interested in 
maintaining the present social order1   
although they may act so as to redress  
the worst evils created by it4 ,in      
,ireland1 for this generation at least1 
it would be impossible to secure in a   
legislative assembly majorities         
representative of the class we wish to  
see emancipated4 ,it may seem as if ,i  
had closed all the paths out of the     
social labyrinth2 but the way to        
emancipation has1 ,i think1 already been
 surveyed by pioneers4 ,a policy of     
social reconstruction is practical1 and 
needs but steady persistence for its    
realization4 ,that policy--,i refer to  
co-operative action--has been adopted in
 various forms by workers in many       
countries2 and what is needed here is to
 study and coordinate these applications
 of co-working1 and to form a general   

staff of labor who will1 on behalf of   
the workers1 examine the weapons        
fashioned by their class elsewhere1 and 
who will draw up a plan of campaign as  
the staff of an army do previous to     
military operations4 ,it will be found  
that economic action along co-operative 
lines has1 in one country1 barriers     
placed before its expansion which could 
be set aside by supplementing this      
action by methods elaborated by the     
genius of workers elsewhere4  ,it is not
 my purpose here to repeat in detail    
methods of organization1 partly         
technical1 which can be found fully     
described in many admirable books1 but  
rather to indicate the order of advance1
 the methods of coordination of these1  
and their final absorption and          
transformation in the national being4   
,there is a great deal of ignorance     
about things essential to safe action4  
,when men are filled with enthusiasm    
they are apt to apply their new         
principles rashly in schemes which are  

bound to fall1 just as over-confident   
soldiers will in battle sometimes rush a
 position prematurely which they cannot 
hold1 because the general line of their 
army has not advanced sufficiently to   
support them4 ,sacrifices are made with 
no permanent result1 and the morale of  
the army is injured4  ,in the rural     
districts the advance must1 in the      
nature of things1 be from production to 
consumption1 and with urban workers     
inversely from a control over           
distribution to a mastery over          
production4 ,i have often wondered over 
the blindness of workers in towns in    
,ireland1 who have made so little use in
 the economic struggle of the freedom   
they have to spend their wage where they
 choose4 ,they speak of this struggle as
 the class war2 but they carry on the   
conflict most energetically where it is 
most difficult for them to succeed1 and 
hardly at all where it would be         
comparatively easy for them to weaken   
the resources of their antagonists4 ,in 

warfare much use is made of flanking    
movements1 which aim at cutting the     
enemy's communication with his base of  
supply4 ,frontal attacks are dangerous4 
,it is equally true in economic warfare4
 ,the strike is a frontal attack1 and   
those they fight are entrenched deeply  
with all the artillery of the ,state1   
the press1 science1 and wealth on their 
side4 ,what would we think of an army   
which1 at the close of each week's      
fighting1 voluntarily surrendered to the
 enemy the ground1 guns1 ammunition1 and
 prisoners captured through the previous
 six days8 ,yet this is what our workers
 do4 ,the power opposed to them is      
mainly economic1 though there is an     
intellectual basis for it also4 ,but the
 wages of the workers1 little for the   
individual1 yet a large part of the     
national income if taken for the mass1  
goes back to strengthen the system they 
protest against through purchases of    
domestic requirements4 ,the creation of 
co-operative stores ought to be the     

first constructive policy adopted by    
,irish labor4 ,it ought to be as much a 
matter of class honor with them to be   
members of stores as to be in the trade 
union of their craft4 ,the store may be 
regarded as the commissariat department 
of the army of labor4 ,many a strike has
 failed of its object1 and the workers  
have gone back defeated1 because their  
neglect of the commissariat made them   
unable to hold out for that last week   
when both sides are desperate and at the
 end of their resources4 ,but it is not 
mainly as an aid to the strike that ,i  
advocate democratizing the distributive 
trade1 but because control over         
distribution gives a large measure of   
control over production4 ,the history of
 co-operative workshops indicates that  
these have rarely been successful unless
 worked in conjunction with distributive
 stores4 ,the retail trader is not      
sympathetic with co-operative           
production4 ,as the cat is akin to the  
tiger1 so is the individual trader--no  

matter on how small a scale he          
operates--a kinsman of the great        
autocrats of industry1 and he will      
sympathize with his economic kinsmen and
 will retail their goods in preference  
to those produced in co-operative       
workshops4  ,the control of agencies of 
distribution by the workers at a certain
 stage in their development enables them
 to start productive enterprises with   
more safety and less expense in regard  
to advertisement than the capitalist    
can4 ,in fact the co-operative store1   
properly organized1 creates a tied trade
 for the output of co-operative         
workshops4 ,it is a source of financial 
aid to these1 and will invest funds in  
them and assist trades unions gradually 
to transform themselves into            
co-operative guilds of producers which  
should be their ultimate ideal4 ,as ,i  
shall show later on1 the store will     
enable the urban worker to enter into   
intimate alliance with the rural        
producer4 ,their interests are really   

identical4 ,in every town in ,ireland   
efforts should be made to democratize   
the distributive agencies1 and the      
workers will have many allies in this1  
driven by the increased cost of living  
to search out the most economical       
agencies of purchase4 ,if the           
proletarians are not in a majority in   
,ireland--a nation where the farmers are
 the most numerous single class--they   
certainly form the majority in the      
cities2 and the co-operative store1     
while admitting to membership all who   
will apply1 ought to be and would be    
sympathetic with the efforts of labor to
 emancipate itself1 and would be a      
powerful lever in its hands4 ,as the    
stores increase in number1 an analysis  
of their trade will reveal year by year 
in what directions co-operative         
production of particular articles may   
safely be attempted4 ,more and more by  
this means the producing power and the  
capital at the disposal of the worker   
will be placed at the service of        

democracy4 ,the first steps are the most
 difficult4 ,in due time the workers    
will have educated a number of their    
members1 and will have attached to      
themselves men of proved capacity to be 
the leaders in fresh enterprises1       
manufactures of one kind or another1    
democratic banking institutions1 all    
supporting each other and leaning on    
each other and playing into each other's
 hands4  ,the extent to which this may  
be carried1 and the opportunities for   
making ,ireland a co-operative          
democracy1 ,i shall presently explain4  
,i do not regard any of these forms of  
co-operative organization as ideal or   
permanent4 ,the co-operative movement   
must be regarded rather as a great      
turning movement on the part of humanity
 towards the ideal4 ,the co-operative   
organizations now being formed in       
,ireland and over the world will1 ,i am 
certain1 persist and outlast this       
generation and the next1 and will grow  
into vaster things than we dream of2 but

 the really important change they will  
bring about in the minds of men will be 
psychological4 ,men will become         
habituated to the thought of common     
action for the common good4 ,to get so  
far in civil life is a great step4      
,today our civil life is a tangle of    
petty personal interests and            
competitions4 ,the co-operative movement
 is1 as ,i have said1 a vast turning    
movement of humanity heavenwards1 or1 at
 least1 to bring them face round to the 
,delectable ,city4 ,when this           
psychological change takes place the    
democratic associations--which have     
grown up haphazard as the workers found 
it easiest to create them--will be      
changed and remodeled by men who will   
have the mass of people behind them in  
their efforts to make a more majestic   
structure of society for the enlargement
 of the lives and spirits of men4       
,,xii4    ,we have descended from the   
national soul to the material plane1 and
 we must still continue here for a time1

 because the doctrine that a sane mind  
can only manifest through a sane body is
 as true in reference to the ,state as  
to the individual1 and necessitates a   
study of social fabrics4 ,the soul      
creates tendencies and habits in the    
body1 and the body repeats these        
vibrations automatically and infects the
 soul again with its old desires4 ,our  
religious hatreds created sectarian     
organizations1 and these react again in 
the national soul1 which would1 ,i      
believe1 willingly pass away from that  
mood1 but finds itself incarnated in    
organizations habituated to sectarian   
action1 and its energies are turned into
 these hateful channels unwillingly4 ,so
 a drunkard who now realizes that       
intemperance is rotting his nature is   
conquered by the appetites he set up in 
the past1 and with his soul in rebellion
 he yet satisfies the craving in the    
body4 ,the individualism in our economic
 life reacts on the national being1 and 
prevents concerted action for the       

general good4 ,we have yet to create    
harmony of purpose in our economic life1
 and to bring together interests long   
separated and unmindful of each other1  
and make them realize that their        
interests are identical4 ,it is one of  
the commonplaces of economics that urban
 and rural interests are identical3 but 
in truth the townsman and the countryman
 have always acted as if their interests
 were opposed1 and they know very little
 of each other4 ,i never like to let    
these commonplaces of economics pass my 
frontiers unless they give the          
countersign to the challenge for truth4 
,people declare in the same way that the
 interests of labor and capital are     
identical1 and implore them not to fight
 with one another4 ,but the truth of    
that statement seems to me to depend    
largely on whether capital owns labor or
 labor owns capital4 ,as an abstract    
proposition it is one of the economic   
formulae ,i would leave instructions at 
my frontiers to have detained until     

further inquiry as to its antecedents4  
,all these statements may be true1 but  
to make them operative1 to give them a  
dynamic rather than a static character1 
we must convince people they are true by
 close argument and still more so by    
realistic illustration4  ,to bring about
 a high nobility in the national soul we
 must make harmony in its economic life1
 and the two main currents of economic  
energy--the agricultural and urban--must
 be made to flow so that their action   
will not defeat each other4 ,let us take
 the farmer first4 ,how ought he to wish
 to see life in the towns develop8      
,should he wish for the triumph of labor
 or capital3 the success of the         
co-operative movement1 the triumph of   
the multiple shop or the private trader1
 of guilds of workers or autocrats of   
industry8 ,economic desires generally   
depend on the nature of the industry men
 are engaged in4 ,the jeweler would     
probably desire the permanence of the   
social order which created most wealthy 

people who could afford to buy his      
wares4 ,the farmer's industry1 if we    
consider it closely1 is the most        
democratic of any in its application to 
society4 ,the produce of the farm1 in   
its final distribution1 is divided into 
portions more or less equal and         
conditioned in quantity by the digestive
 powers of an individual4 ,the          
wealthiest millionaire cannot eat more  
bread1 butter1 meat1 vegetables1 or     
fruit than the manual laborer would eat 
if the latter could afford to get such  
things4 ,in fact he would eat rather    
less1 because the manual worker has a   
much better appetite1 indeed requires   
more food4 ,it appears to be the        
interest of the farmer to support any   
urban movement whose object it is to see
 that every worker in the towns is      
remunerated so that he1 his wife1 and   
his children can procure as much food as
 they require4 ,any underpaid worker in 
the towns is a wrong to the farmer--a   
willing customer who yet cannot buy4 ,if

 there is1 let us say1 a sum of fifteen 
hundred pounds a week to be paid away in
 a town1 it is to the interest of       
farmers that that sum should be paid to 
a thousand men at the rate of thirty    
shillings a week rather than to fifty   
men at thirty pounds a week4 ,in the    
case of the workers a greater part of   
the money will be spent on food4 ,but if
 fifty men have thirty pounds a week    
each1 it will be spent to satisfy the   
appetites of a much smaller number of   
people4 ,a larger proportion will be    
spent on furniture1 pictures1 motor-cars
 and what not4 ,it may be spent so as to
 give some kind of employment1 but it   
will not be a division of the money so  
much to the interests of the farmer4    
,however we analyze the problem it      
appears to be to the farmer's interests 
to support democratic movements in the  
cities1 certainly up to the point where 
every worker in the towns has a wage    
which enables himself and his family to 
eat all they require for health4 ,it is 

also to the interests of farmers to     
support any system of distribution of   
goods which eliminates the element of   
profit in the sale4 ,after the farmer   
gets his price it is to his interests   
that food should be increased in cost as
 little as possible when the article is 
transferred to the consumer1 because if 
farm produce has to bear too many       
profits it will be expensive for the    
consumer1 and there will be a lessened  
demand4 ,so associations like the       
co-operative stores1 which aim at the   
elimination of the element of profit in 
distribution1 should be approved of by  
the farmers4  ,now we come to the       
townsman again4 ,is it his interest to  
support the farmers in his own country  
or to regard the world as his farm8 ,the
 argument on the economic side is not so
 clear1 but it is1 ,i think1 just as    
sound4 ,if agriculture is neglected in  
any country the rural population pour   
into the towns4 ,the country becomes a  
fountain of blackleg labor4 ,rural labor

 has no traditions of trade unionism1   
and takes any work at any price4 ,there 
are fewer people engaged in producing   
food1 and its cost rises4 ,food must be 
imported from abroad2 and there is      
national insecurity1 as in times of war 
their is always the danger of the trade 
routes overseas being blocked by an     
enemy1 and this again has to be provided
 against by heavy expenditure for       
militarist purposes4 ,the farther away  
an army is from its base the more       
insecure is its position1 and the same  
thing is true in the industrial life of 
nations4 ,international trade there must
 always be4 ,it is one of the means by  
which the larger solidarity of humanity 
is to be achieved2 but that will never  
come about until there is a nobler and  
more human life within the states1 and  
we must begin by perfecting national    
life before we consider empires and     
world federations4 ,so in this essay    
only the national being is considered4  
,i desire to unite countryman and       

townsman in one movement1 and to make   
the co-operative principle the basis of 
a national civilization4 ,how are we to 
prevent them fighting the old battle    
between producer and consumer8 ,i think 
that this can best be brought about by  
co-operative federations1 which will act
 for both in manufacture1 purchase1 and 
sale1 and with which both rural and     
urban associations will find it to their
 interest to be affiliated4 ,now the    
townsman cannot to any extent supply    
food for his stores by buying farms4 ,to
 control agricultural production in that
 way would necessitate a financial      
operation which the ,state would shrink 
from1 and which it would be impossible  
for urban cooperators to finance4 ,we   
had better make up our minds to let     
farmers be syndicalists1 controlling    
entirely the processes of agricultural  
production themselves4 ,they will do it 
better than the townsman could1 more    
efficiently and more economically4 ,they
 will never be able1 with the world in  

competition1 to put up prices           
artificially4 ,how can the two main     
divisions of national life be brought   
together in a national solidarity8 ,we  
can find an answer if we remember that  
farmers are not only producers but      
consumers4 ,they do not go about naked  
in the fields4 ,they require clothes1   
furniture1 tea1 coffee1 sugar1 oil1     
soap1 candles1 pots and pans--in fact   
the farmer's wife needs nearly all the  
things the townsman's wife needs1 except
 that she purchases a little less food4 
,but even here modern conditions are    
driving the farmer to buy food in the   
shops rather than to produce it for     
himself on the farm4 ,country bread is  
made in the bakery more and more4       
,butter1 cheese1 and bacon are made in  
factories1 and the farmer's tendency is 
to buy what bread1 bacon1 and butter he 
requires1 selling the milk to be made   
into butter to a creamery1 the grain to 
make the bread to a miller1 and the pigs
 to a factory4 ,co-operative            

distribution would be as advantageous to
 the country as in the town4 ,already in
 ,ireland a considerable number of      
farmers' societies are enlarging their  
objects1 and are turning what originally
 were purely agricultural associations  
into general purposes societies1 where  
the farmer's wife can purchase her      
domestic requirements as well as her man
 his machinery1 fertilizers1            
feeding-stuffs1 and seeds4 ,it would be 
to the interest of rural societies to   
deal with co-operative wholesales just  
as much as it is in the interest of     
urban stores to do so4 ,it would be to  
their interest to take shares in these  
wholesales and productive federations1  
and see that they cater for the farmer's
 interests as much as for the           
townsman's4  ,the urban co-operators1 on
 their side1 will see the opportunities 
for productive co-operation the union of
 rural and urban movements would create4
 ,they naturally will desire to employ  
as many people as possible in           

co-operative production4 ,farmers are   
surrounded by rings of all kinds3       
machinery manufacturers who will not    
sell to their societies1 manure         
manufacturers' alliances who keep up    
prices4 ,it is a great industry1 this of
 supplying the farmer with his          
fertilizers1 feeding-stuffs1 cake1      
machinery4 ,these rural co-operative    
societies are increasing in number year 
by year4 ,farmers want clothes1 hats1   
and boots3 and the necessary machinery  
for their industry is almost entirely of
 urban manufacture--ploughs1 binders1   
separators1 harrows1 and many other     
implements of tillage4 ,it is an immense
 industry and yet to be co-operatively  
exploited4 ,in the towns some progress  
has been made in distribution4 ,but a   
nation depends upon its wealth producers
 and not upon its consumers4            
,co-operators might double1 treble1 or  
quadruple the distributive trade1 and   
still occupy only a very secondary      
position in national life unless they   

enter more largely upon production4 ,we 
will never make the co-operative idea   
the fundamental one in the civilization 
of ,ireland until we employ a very large
 part of the population in production4  
,now we have at present1 thanks to the  
energy of the pioneers of agricultural  
co-operation1 a new market opening in   
the country for things which the        
townsman can produce4 ,does not this    
suggest new productive urban            
enterprises8 ,does it not favor an      
evolution of manufacturing industry1 so 
that democratic control may finally     
replace the autocratic control of the   
capitalist8 ,the trades unions cannot do
 this alone by following up any of their
 traditional policies4 ,they cannot go  
into trade on their own account with any
 guarantee of success unless they are   
associated with agencies of             
distribution4 ,but if                   
co-operators--urban and rural--through  
their federations invade more and more  
the field of production they will draw  

to themselves the hearts and hopes of   
the workers and idealists in the nation4
 ,people are really more concerned about
 the making of an income than about the 
spending of it4 ,it is a necessity of   
our policy if it is to bring about the  
co-operative commonwealth1 that         
co-operators must adventure much more   
largely into production than they have  
hitherto done4  ,now let us see what we 
have come to4 ,there is a country       
movement which is not merely one for    
agricultural production4 ,it is rapidly 
taking up the distribution of goods4    
,there is an urban movement not merely  
concerned with distribution but entering
 upon production4 ,they can be brought  
into harmony if the same federations act
 for both branches of the movement4 ,the
 meeting-place of the two armies should 
be there4 ,if this policy is adopted    
there will gradually grow-up that unity 
of purpose between country and urban    
workers which is the psychological basis
 and necessary precedent for national   

action for the common good4 ,the policy 
of identity of interest must be real1   
and it can only be real when the        
identity of interest is obvious1 and it 
can only be made obvious when the       
symbols of that unity and identity are  
visible day by day in buildings and     
manufactures1 things which are handled  
and seen1 and in transactions which     
daily bring that unity to mind4 ,the old
 poetic ideal of a ,united ,ireland was 
and could only be a geographical        
expression1 and not a human reality1 so 
long as men were individualist in       
economics and were competing and        
struggling with each other for mastery4 
,by the co-operative commonwealth more  
is meant than a series of organizations 
for economic purposes4 ,we hope to      
create finally1 by the close texture of 
our organizations1 that vivid sense of  
the identity of interest of the people  
in this island which is the basis of    
citizenship1 and without which there can
 be no noble national life4 ,our great  

nation-states have grown so large1 so   
myriad are their populations1 so        
complicated are their interests1 that   
most people in them really feel no sense
 of brotherhood with each other4 ,we    
have yet to create inside our great     
nation-states social and economic       
organizations1 which will make this     
identity of interest real and evident1  
and not seem merely a metaphor1 as it   
does to most people today4 ,the more the
 co-operative movement does this for its
 members1 the more points of contact    
they find in it1 the more will we tend  
to make out of it and its branches real 
social organisms1 which will become as  
closely knit psychically as physically  
the cells in a human body are knit      
together4 ,our ,irish diversities of    
interest have made us world-famous2 but 
such industrial and agricultural        
organizations would swallow up these    
antagonisms1 as the serpents created by 
the black art of the ,egyptian magicians
 were swallowed up by the rod ,aaron    

cast on the floor1 and which was made   
animate by the white magic of the ,lord4
      ,,xiii4    ,it will appear to the 
idealist who has contemplated the       
heavens more closely than the earth that
 the policy ,i advocate is one which    
only tardily could be put into          
operation1 and would be paltry and      
inadequate as a basis for society4 ,the 
idealist with the ,golden ,age already  
in his heart believes he has only to    
erect the ,golden ,banner and display it
 for multitudes to array themselves     
beneath its folds2 therefore he         
advocates not1 as ,i do1 a way to the   
life1 but the life itself4 ,i am        
sympathetic with idealists in a hurry1  
but ,i do not think the world can be    
changed suddenly by some heavenly       
alchemy1 as ,st4 ,paul was smitten by a 
light from the overworld4 ,such light   
from heaven is vouchsafed to            
individuals1 but never to nations1 who  
progress by an orderly evolution in     
society4 ,though the heart in us cries  

out continually1 ,oh1 hurry1 hurry to   
the ,golden ,age1 though we think of    
revolutions1 we know that the patient   
marshalling of human forces is wisdom4  
,we have to devise ways and means and   
light every step clearly before the     
nation will leave its footing in some   
safe if unattractive locality to plant  
itself elsewhere4 ,the individual may be
 reckless4 ,the race never can be so1   
for it carries too great a burden and   
too high destinies1 and it is only when 
the gods wish to destroy or chastise a  
race that they first make it mad4 ,not  
by revolutions can humanity be          
perfected4 ,i might quote from an old   
oracle1 ,the gods are never so turned   
away from man as when he ascends to them
 by disorderly methods4 ,our spirits may
 live in the ,golden ,age1 but our      
bodily life moves on slow feet1 and     
needs the lantern on the path and the   
staff struck carefully into the darkness
 before us to see that the path beyond  
is not a morass1 and the light not a    

will o' the wisp4  ,other critics may   
say ,i would destroy the variety of     
civilization by the inflexible          
application of a single idea4 ,well1 ,i 
realize that the net which is spread for
 ,leviathan will not capture all the    
creatures of the deep2 and the          
complexity of human nature is such that 
it is impossible to imagine a policy1   
however fitting in certain spheres of   
human activity1 which could be applied  
to the whole of life4 ,what ,i think we 
should aim at is making the co-operative
 idea fundamental in ,irish life4 ,but  
to say fundamental is not to say        
absolute4 ,always there will be enter   
rising persons--men of creative         
minds--who will break away from the mass
 and who will insist1 perhaps rightly1  
on an autocratic control of the         
enterprises they found1 which were made 
possible alone by their genius1 and     
which would not succeed unless every    
worker in the enterprise was malleable  
by their will4 ,it is unlikely that     

,state action will cease1 or that any   
,government we may have will not respond
 to the appeal of the people to do this1
 that1 or the other for them which they 
are too indolent to do for themselves1  
or which by the nature of things only   
governments can undertake4 ,for a       
principle to be fundamental in a country
 does not mean that it must be absolute4
 ,i hope society in ,ireland will be    
organized that the idea of democratic   
control of its economic life will so    
pervade ,irish thought that it will be  
in the body politic what the spinal     
column is to the body--the pillar on    
which it rests1 the strongest single    
factor in the body4 ,another            
illustration may make still clearer my  
meaning4 ,in a red sunsetting the glow  
is so powerful that green hills1 white  
houses1 and blue waters1 touched by its 
light1 assume a ruddy color1 partly a   
local color1 and partly a reflected     
light from the sun4 ,now in the same    
way1 what is most powerful in society   

multiplies images and shadows of itself1
 and produces harmonies with itself     
which are yet not identities4 ,it is by 
a predominating idea that nations       
achieve the practical unity of their    
citizens1 and national progress becomes 
possible4 ,in the future structure of   
society ,i have no doubt there will be  
elements to which the socialist1 the    
syndicalist1 the capitalist1 and the    
individualist will have contributed4 ,by
 degrees it will be discovered what     
enterprises are best directed by the    
,state1 by municipalities1 by groups1 or
 by individuals4 ,but if the idea of    
democratic control is predominant1 those
 enterprises which are otherwise        
directed will yet meet the prevalent    
mood by adopting the ideas of the       
treatment of the workers enforced in    
democratically controlled enterprises1  
and will in every respect1 except       
control1 make their standards equal4    
,all the needles of being point to the  
centres where power is most manifested4 

,the effects of the ,french             
revolution--a democratic                
upheaval--invaded men's minds           
everywhere4 ,even the autocratically    
ruled ,states1 hitherto careless about  
the people in their underworlds1 had to 
make advances to democracy1 and give it 
some measure of the justice democracy   
threatened to deal to itself4 ,without  
demanding absolutism ,i do desire a     
predominant democratic character in our 
national enterprises1 rather than a     
confused muddle or struggle of interests
 where nothing really emerges except the
 egoism of those who struggle4  ,it will
 be noticed that in all that has        
preceded ,i have referred little to     
action by government1 though it is on   
governments that democracies over the   
world are now fixing all their hopes4   
,they believe the ,state is the right   
agency to bring about reforms and       
changes in society4 ,and ,i must here   
explain why ,i do not share their hopes4
 ,my distrust of the ,state in economic 

reform is based on the belief that      
governments in great nation-states1 even
 representative governments1 are not    
malleable by the general will4 ,they are
 too easily dominated by the holders of 
economic power1 are1 in fact1 always    
dominated by aristocracies with land or 
by the aristocracies of wealth4 ,it is  
the hand at the helm guides the ship4   
,the larger the ,state is the more      
easily do the holders of economic power 
gain political power4 ,the theory of    
representative government held good in  
practice1 ,i think1 so long as          
parliaments were engaged in formulating 
general rights1 the right1 for example1 
of the individual to think or profess   
any religion he pleased2 his right not  
to be deprived of liberty or life       
without open trial by his               
fellow-citizens4 ,so long as            
legislatures were affirming or          
maintaining these rights1 which rich and
 poor equally desired1 they were        
justified4 ,but when legislatures began 

to intervene in economic matters1 in the
 struggles between rich and poor1       
between capital and labor1 it became at 
once apparent the holders of economic   
power had also political power2 and that
 the institution which operated fairly  
where universal rights were considered  
did not operate fairly when there was a 
conflict between particular interests4  
,the jury of the nation was found to be 
packed4 ,at least nine-tenths of the    
population in ,great ,britain1 for      
example1 belong to the wage-earning     
class4 ,at least nine-tenths of the     
members of legislatures belong to the   
classes possessing land or capital4     
,now1 why any member of the wage-earning
 class should look with hope to such    
assemblies ,i cannot understand4 ,their 
ideal is1 or should be1 economic        
freedom1 together with democratic       
control of industries1 an ideal in every
 way opposed to the ideal of the        
majority of the members of the          
legislatures4 ,the fiction that         

representative assemblies will work for 
the general good is proclaimed with     
enthusiasm2 but the moment we examine   
their actions we see it is not so1 and  
we discover the cause4 ,where the nation
 is capitalist and capitalism is the    
dominant economic factor1 legislatures  
invariably act to uphold it1 and        
legislation tends to fix the system more
 securely4 ,we see in ,great ,britain   
that wage-earners are now openly        
regarded by the legislatures as a class 
who must not be allowed the same freedom
 in life as the wealthy4 ,they must be  
registered1 inspected1 and controlled in
 a way which the wealthy would bitterly 
resent if the legislation referred to   
themselves4 ,after economic inferiority 
has been enforced on them by capital1   
the stigma of human inferiority is      
attached to the wage-earners by the     
legislature4 ,but ,i must not be led    
away from my theme by the bitter        
reflections which arise in one who lives
 in the ,iron ,age and knows it is      

,iron1 who feels at times like the lost 
wanderer on trackless fields of ice1    
which never melt and will not until     
earth turns from its axis4  ,i wish to  
see society organized so that it shall  
be malleable to the general will4 ,but  
political and economic progress are     
obstructed because existing political   
and economic organizations are almost   
entirely unmalleable by the general     
will4 ,public opinion does not control  
the press4 ,the press1 capitalistically 
controlled1 creates public opinion4 ,our
 legislators have grown so secure that  
they confess openly they have passed    
measures which they knew would be       
hateful to the majority of citizens1 and
 which1 if they had been voted on1 would
 never have been passed4 ,the theory of 
representative government has broken    
down4 ,to tell the truth1 the life of   
the nation is so complicated that it is 
difficult for the private citizen to    
have any intelligent opinion about      
national policies1 and we can hardly    

blame the politician for despising the  
judgment of the private citizen4        
,government departments are still less  
malleable by public opinion than the    
legislature4 ,for an individual to      
attack the policy of a ,government      
department is almost as hopeless a      
proceeding as if a laborer were to take 
pickaxe and shovel and determine to     
level a mountain which obstructed his   
view4 ,yet ,government departments are  
supposed to be under popular control4   
,the ,castle in ,ireland1 theoretically1
 was under popular control1 but it was  
adamantine in policy4 ,if the cant about
 popular control of legislation and     
,government departments is obviously    
untrue1 how much more is it in regard to
 public services like railways1 gas     
works1 mines1 the distribution of goods1
 manufacture1 purchase and sale1 which  
are almost entirely under private       
control and where public interference is
 bitterly resented and effectively      
opposed4 ,what chance has the individual

 who is aggrieved against the great     
carrying companies8 ,to come lower down1
 let us take the farmer in the fairs4   
,what way has he of influencing the     
jobbers and dealers to act honestly by  
him--they who have formed rings to keep 
down the prices of cattle8 ,are they    
malleable to public opinion8 ,the       
farmers who have waited all day through 
a fair know they are not4  ,when we     
consider the agencies through which     
people buy we find the same thing4 ,the 
increase of multiple shops1 combines1   
and rings makes the use of the limited  
power a man had to affect a dealer by   
transferring his custom to another      
merchant to dwindle yearly4 ,everywhere 
we turn we find this adamantine front   
presented by the legislature1 the ,state
 departments1 by the agencies of        
production1 distribution1 or credit1 and
 it is the undemocratic organization of 
society which is responsible for        
nine-tenths of our social troubles4 ,all
 the vested interests backed up by      

economic and political power conflict   
with the public welfare1 and the general
 will1 which intends the good of all1   
can act no more than a paralyzed cripple
 can walk4 ,we would all choose the     
physique of the athlete1 with his swift1
 unfettered1 easy movements1 rather than
 the body of the cripple if we could1   
and we have this choice before us in    
,ireland4  ,if we concentrate our       
efforts mainly on voluntary action1     
striving to make the co-operative spirit
 predominant1 the general will would    
manifest itself through organizations   
malleable to that will1 flexible and    
readily adjusting themselves to the     
desires of the community4 ,to effect    
reforms we have not first to labor at   
the gigantic task of affecting national 
opinion and securing the majorities     
necessary for national action4 ,in any  
district a hundred or two hundred men   
can at any time form co-operative       
societies for production1 purchase1     
sale1 or credit1 and can link themselves

 by federation with other organizations 
like their own to secure greater        
strength and economic efficiency4 ,by   
following this policy steadily we       
simplify our economic system1 and reduce
 to fewer factors the forces in conflict
 in society4 ,we beget the predominance 
of one principle1 and enable that       
general will for good1 which ,rousseau  
theorized about1 to find agencies       
through which it can manifest freely1 so
 changing society from the static       
condition begot by conflict and         
obstruction to a dynamic condition where
 energies and desires manifest freely4  
,the general will1 as ,rousseau         
demonstrated1 always intends the good1  
and if permitted to act would act in a  
large and noble way4 ,the change from   
static to dynamic1 from fixed forms to  
fluid forms1 has been coming swiftly    
over the world owing to the liberation  
of thought1 and this in spite of the    
obstruction of a society organized1 ,i  
might almost say1 with egomania as the  

predominant psychological factor4 ,the  
ancient conception of ,nature as a      
manifestation of spirit is incarnating  
anew in the minds of modern thinkers1   
and ,nature is not conceived of as      
material1 but as force and continual    
motion2 and they are trying to identify 
human will with this arcane energy1 and 
let the forces of ,nature have freer    
play in humanity4 ,we begin to catch    
glimpses of civilizations as far        
exceeding ours as ours surpasses society
 in the ,stone ,age4 ,in all our        
democratic movements1 in these efforts  
towards the harmonious fusion of human  
forces1 humanity is obscurely intent on 
mightier collective exploits than       
anything conceived of before4 ,the      
nature of these energies manifesting in 
humanity ,i shall try to indicate later 
on4 ,but to let the general will have   
free play ought to be the aim of those  
who wish to build up national           
organizations for whatever purpose2 and 
to let the general will have free play  

we require something better than the    
,english invention of representative    
government1 which1 as it exists at      
present1 is simply a device to enable   
all kinds of compromises to be made on  
matters where there should be no        
compromise1 as if right and wrong could 
come to an agreement honestly to let    
things be partly right and partly wrong4
 ,we are importing into ,ireland some   
political machinery of this antiquated  
pattern4 ,i have written the foregoing  
because ,i dread ,irish people becoming 
slaves of this machine4 ,i fear the     
importers of this machinery will desire 
to make it do things it can only do     
badly1 and will set it to work with the 
ferocity of the new broom and will make 
it an obstruction1 so that the real     
genius of the ,irish people will be     
unable freely to manifest itself4 ,the  
less we rely on this machinery at       
present1 and the more we desire a       
machinery of progress1 at once flexible 
and efficient1 the better will it be for

 us later on4 ,what must be embodied in 
,state action is the national will and  
the national soul1 and until that giant 
being is manifested it is dangerous to  
let the pygmies set powers in motion    
which may enchain us for centuries to   
come4      ,,xiv4    ,it may seem ,i    
have spoken lightly of that infant whose
 birth ,i referred to with more         
solemnity in the opening pages of this  
book1 and indeed ,i am a little dubious 
about that infant4 ,the signature of the
 ,irish mind is nowhere present in it1  
and ,i look upon it with something of   
the hesitating loyalty the inhabitant of
 a new ,balkan ,state night feel for his
 imported prince1 doubtful whether that 
sovereign will reflect the will of his  
new subjects or whether his policy will 
not constrain national character into an
 alien mould4 ,the signature of the     
,irish mind is not apparent anywhere in 
this new machinery for self-government4 
,our politicians seem to have been      
unaware that they had any wisdom to     

learn from the more obvious failures of 
representative government as they knew  
it4 ,so far1 as ,i have knowledge1 no   
,irishman during the past century of    
effort for political freedom took the   
trouble to think out a form of          
government befitting ,irish circumstance
 and character4 ,we left it absolutely  
to those whom we declared incapable of  
understanding us or governing us to     
devise for us a system by which we might
 govern ourselves4 ,i do not criticize  
those who devised the new machinery of  
self-government1 but those who did not  
devise it1 and who discouraged the      
exercise of political imagination in    
,ireland4 ,it is said of an artist that 
it was his fantasy first to paint his   
ideal of womanly beauty1 and1 when this 
was done1 to approximate it touch by    
touch to the sitter1 and when the sitter
 cried1 ,ah1 now it is growing like6 the
 artist ceased1 combining the maximum of
 ideal beauty possible with the minimum 
of likeness4 ,now if we had thought out 

the ideal structure of ,irish government
 we might have offered it for criticism 
by those in whose power it was to accept
 or reject1 and have gradually          
approximated it until a point was       
reached where the compromise left at    
least something of our making and       
imagination in it4 ,there is nothing of 
us in the ,act which is in abeyance as  
,i write4 ,i am less concerned with it  
than with the creation of a social      
order1 for the social order in a country
 is the strong and fast fortress where  
national character is created and       
preserved4 ,a legislature may           
theoretically allow self-government1 but
 by its constitution may operate against
 national character and its expression  
in a civilization4 ,we have accepted the
 principle of representative government1
 and that1 ,i readily concede1 is the   
ideal principle1 but the method by which
 a representative character is to be    
given to ,state institutions we have not
 thought out at all4 ,we have committed 

the error our neighbors have committed  
of assuming that the representative     
assembly which can legislate for general
 interests can deal equally with        
particular interests2 that the body of  
men who will act unitedly so as to      
secure the liberty of person or liberty 
of thought1 which all desire for        
themselves1 will also act wisely where  
class problems and the development of   
particular industries are concerned4    
,the whole history of representative    
assemblies shows that the machinery     
adequate for the furtherance and        
protection of general interests operates
 unjustly or stupidly in practice       
against particular interests4 ,the long 
neglect of agriculture and the actual   
condition of the sweated are instances4 
,i agree that representative government 
is the ideal1 but how is it to operate  
in the legislature and still more in    
administration8 ,are government         
departments to be controlled by         
,parliament or by the representatives of

 the particular class to promote whose  
interests special departments were      
created4 ,i hold that the continuous    
efficiency of ,state departments can    
only be maintained when they are        
controlled in respect of policy1 not by 
the casual politician whom the          
fluctuations of popular emotion places  
at their head1 but by the class or      
industry the ,state institution was     
created to serve4 ,a department of      
,state can conceivably be preserved from
 stagnation by a minister of strong     
will1 who has a more profound knowledge 
of the problems connected with his      
department than even his permanent      
officials4 ,he might vitalize them from 
above4 ,but does the party system yield 
us such ,ministers8 ,in practice is not 
high position the reward of service to  
party8 ,is special knowledge demanded of
 the controller of a ,board of ,trade or
 a ,board of ,agriculture8 ,do we not   
all know that the vast majority of      
,ministers are controlled by the        

permanent officials of their department4
 ,failing great ,ministers1 the         
operations of a department may be       
vitalized by control over its policy    
exercised1 not by a general assembly    
like ,parliament1 but by a board elected
 from the class or industry the         
department ostensibly was created to    
serve4 ,an agricultural department      
controlled by a council or board        
composed solely of those making their   
livelihood out of agriculture and       
elected solely by their own class1      
would1 we may be certain1 be practical  
in its methods4 ,it would receive       
perpetual stimulus from those engaged in
 making their living by the industry4   
,parliaments or senates should confine  
themselves to matters of general        
interest1 leaving particular or special 
interests to those who understand them1 
to the specialists1 and only intervene  
when national interests are involved by 
a clashing of particular interests4 ,our
 ,state institutions will never fulfill 

their functions efficiently until they  
are subject in respect of policy not to 
general control1 but the control of the 
class they were created to serve4  ,that
 ideal can only be realized fully when  
all industries are organized4 ,but we   
should work towards it4 ,parliament may 
act as a kind of guardian of the        
unorganized1 but1 once an industry is   
organized1 once it has come of age1 it  
must resent domination by bodies without
 the special knowledge of which it has  
the monopoly within itself4 ,it should  
not tolerate domination by the unexpert 
outsider1 whatever may be his repute in 
other spheres4 ,it is only when         
industries are organized that the       
democratic system of election can       
justify itself by results in            
administration4 ,when a county1 let us  
say1 chooses a member of ,parliament to 
represent every interest1 only too often
 it chooses a man who can represent few 
interests except his own4 ,the greatest 
common denominator of the constituents  

is as a rule some fluent utterer of     
platitudes4 ,but if the farmers in a    
county1 or the manufacturers in a       
county1 or the workers in a county1 had 
each to choose a man to represent them1 
we may be certain the farmers would     
choose one whom they regarded as        
competent to interpret their needs1 the 
manufacturers a man of real ability1 and
 labor would select its best            
intelligence4 ,persons engaged in       
special work rarely fall to recognize   
the best men in their own industry4     
,then they judge somewhat as experts1   
whereas they are by no means experts    
when they are asked to select a         
representative to represent everybody in
 every industry4 ,to secure good        
government ,i conceive we must have two 
kinds of representative assemblies      
running concurrently with their spheres 
of influence well defined4 ,one1 the    
supreme body1 should be elected by      
counties or cities to deal with general 
interests1 taxation1 justice1 education1

 the duties and rights of individual    
citizens as citizens4 ,the other bodies 
should be elected by the people engaged 
in particular occupations to control the
 policy of the ,state institutions      
created to foster particular interests4 
,the average man will elect people to   
his mind whose deliberations will be in 
a sphere where the ideas of the average 
man ought to be heard and must be       
respected4 ,the specialists in their    
department of industry will elect       
experts to work in a sphere where their 
knowledge will be invaluable1 and where1
 if it is not present1 there will be    
muddle4  ,the machinery of government   
ought never to be complicated1 and ought
 to be easily understood by the         
citizens4 ,in ,ireland1 where we have at
 present no thought of foreign policy1  
no question of army or navy1 departments
 of ,state should fall naturally into a 
few divisions concerned with            
agriculture1 education1 local           
government1 justice1 police1 and        

taxation4 ,the administration of some of
 these are matters of national concern1 
and they should and must be under       
parliamentary control1 and that control 
should be jealously protected4 ,others  
are sectional1 and these should be      
controlled in respect of policy by      
persons representative of these         
sections1 and elected solely by them4 ,i
 think there should also be a department
 of ,labor4 ,i am not sure that the main
 work of the ,minister in charge ought  
not to be the organization of labor in  
its proper unions or guilds4 ,it is a   
work as important to the ,state as the  
organization of agriculture1 and indeed 
from a humanitarian point of view more  
urgent4 ,nothing is more lamentable1    
nothing fills the heart more with       
despair1 than the multitude of isolated 
workers1 sweated1 unable to fix a price 
for their work1 ignorant of its true    
economic value2 connected with no union1
 unable to find any body to fall back on
 for help or advice in trouble1         

neglected altogether by society1 which  
yet has to pay a heavy price in disease1
 charity1 poor rates1 and in social     
disorder for its neglect4 ,was not the  
last ,irish rising largely composed of  
those who were economically neglected   
and oppressed8 ,society bears a heavier 
burden for its indifference than it     
would bear if it accepted responsibility
 for the organization of labor in its   
own defense4 ,the ,state in these       
islands recommends farmers to organize  
for the protection of their interests   
and assists in the organization1 and    
leaves the organized farmers free to use
 their organizations as they will4 ,as  
good a case could be made for the ,state
 aiding in the organization of labor for
 the protection of its own interests4 ,a
 ministry of labor should seek out all  
wage-earners2 where there is no trade   
union one should be organized1 and1     
where one exists1 all workers should be 
pressed to join it4 ,such a ministry    
ought to be the city of refuge for the  

proletarian1 and the ,minister be the   
,father of ,labor1 fighting its battles 
for an entry into humanity and its      
rightful place in civilization4  ,if we 
consider the problem of representation1 
it should not be impossible to devise a 
system of which the foundation might be 
the ,county ,councils1 where there would
 be as sub-divisions1 committees for    
local government1 agriculture1 and      
technical instruction or trade to deal  
with local administration in these      
matters4 ,these committees should send  
representatives to general councils of  
local government1 agriculture1 and      
trade4 ,the election should not be by   
the ,county ,council as a body1 but by  
the committees1 so that traders would   
have no voice in choosing a             
representative for farmers1 nor farmers 
interfere in the choice of manufacturers
 or traders selecting a representative  
on a general ,council of ,trade1 and it 
should be regarded as ridiculous any    
such intervention as for a ,war ,office 

to claim it should have a voice along   
with the ,admiralty in the selection of 
captains and commanders of vessels of   
war4 ,at these general councils1 which  
might meet twice a year for whatever    
number of days may be expedient1 general
 policies would be decided and boards   
elected to ensure the carrying out by   
the officials of the policies decided   
upon4 ,by this process of selection men 
who had to control ,boards of           
,agriculture1 ,trade1 or ,local         
,government would be three times        
elected1 each time by a gradually       
decreasing electorate1 with a gradually 
increasing special knowledge of the     
matters to be dealt with4 ,a really     
useless person may contrive to be chosen
 as representative by a thousand        
electors4 ,it requires an able man to   
convince a committee of ten persons1    
themselves more or less specialists1    
that his is the best brain among them4  
,where national education1 a thorny     
subject in ,ireland1 is concerned1 ,i   

think the educationalists in provinces  
might be asked to elect representatives 
from their own profession on a ,council 
of ,education to act as an advisory body
 to the ,minister of ,education4 ,county
 ,council elections are not exactly     
means by which miracles of culture are  
discovered4 ,a man who came to be member
 of a board of control would at least   
have proved his ability to others       
engaged on work like his own who have   
special knowledge of it and of his      
capacity to deal with it4 ,if this      
system was accepted1 we would not have  
traders on our ,council of ,agriculture 
protesting against the farmers          
organizing their industry1 because none 
but persons concerned with agriculture  
would be a owed to be members of        
agricultural committees1 and this would1
 of course1 involve the concentration of
 merchants and manufacturers upon the   
work of a ,board of ,trade and the      
control of a policy of technical        
instruction suitable for industrial     

workers1 where agricultural advisers in 
their turn would be out of place4       
,control so exercised over the policy of
 ,state institutions would vitalize     
them1 and tend to make them enter more  
intimately into the department of       
national effort they were created to    
foster4 ,the stagnation which falls on  
most ,government departments is due to  
this1 that the responsible heads rarely 
have a knowledge great enough to enable 
them to inaugurate new methods1 that    
parliamentary control is never adequate1
 is rarely exercised with knowledge1 and
 there is always a party in power to    
defend the policy of their ,minister1   
for if one ,minister is successfully    
attacked a whole party goes out of      
power4 ,we1 in ,ireland1 should desire  
above all things efficiency in our      
public servants4 ,they will stagnate in 
their offices unless they are           
continually stimulated by intimate      
connection with the class they work for 
and who have a power of control4 ,this  

system would also1 ,i believe1 lead to  
less jobbery4 ,men in an assembly1 where
 theoretically every class and interest 
are represented1 often conspire to make 
bad appointments1 because only a        
minority have knowledge of what         
qualifications the official ought to    
have1 and they are outvoted by          
representatives who do their friends    
such good turns often in sheer ignorance
 that they are betraying their          
constituents4 ,where specialists have   
power1 and where the well-being of their
 own industry is concerned1 they never  
willingly appoint the inefficient4 ,such
 an organization of our ,county ,council
 system would operate also to break up  
sectarian cliques4 ,the feeling of      
organized classes1 farmers1 or          
industrialists1 concerned about their   
own well-being1 would oppose itself to  
sectarian sentiment where its           
application was unfitting4  ,in the     
system of representative government ,i  
have outlined1 we would have one supreme

 or national assembly concerned with    
general interests1 justice1 taxation1   
education1 the apportioning of revenue  
to its various uses1 reserving to itself
 direct control over the policy of the  
departments of treasury1 police1        
judiciary1 all that affects the citizens
 equally2 and1 beneath it1 other        
councils1 representative of classes and 
special interests1 controlling the      
policy and administration of the ,state 
departments concerned with their work4  
,where everybody was concerned everybody
 would have that measure of control     
which a vote confers2 where particular  
interests were concerned these interests
 would not be hampered in their         
development by the intervention of      
busybodies from outside4 ,of course on  
matters where particular interests      
clashed with general interests1 or were 
unable to adjust themselves to other    
interests1 the supreme ,assembly would  
have to decide4 ,the more sectional     
interests are removed from discussion in

 the ,national ,assembly1 and the more  
it confines itself to general interests 
the more will it approximate to the     
ideal sense1 be less the haunt of greed1
 and more the vehicle of the national   
will and the national being4  ,by the   
application of the principle of         
representative government now in force1 
one is reminded of nothing so much as   
the palette of an artist who had        
squeezed out the primary colors and     
mixed them into a greasy drab tint1     
where the purity of every color was     
lost1 or the most powerful pigment was  
in dull domination4 ,if the modification
 of the representative principle ,i have
 outlined was in operation1 with each   
interest or industry organized1 and     
freed from alien interference1 the      
effect might be likened to a disc with  
the seven primary colors raying from a  
centre1 and made to whirl where the     
motion produced rather the effect of    
pure light4 ,we must not mix the colors 
of national life until conflicting      

interests muddle themselves into a gray 
drab of human futility1 but strive1 so  
far as possible1 to keep them pure and  
unmixed1 each retaining its own peculiar
 lustre1 so that in their conjunction   
with others they will harmonize1 as do  
the pure primary colors1 and in their   
motion make a light of true intelligence
 to prevail in the national being4      
,,xv4    ,no policy can succeed if it be
 not in accord with national character4 
,if ,i have misjudged that1 what is     
written here is vain4 ,it may be asked1 
can any one abstract from the chaos     
which is ,irish history a prevailing    
mood or tendency recurring again and    
again1 and assert these are fundamental8
 ,it is difficult to define national    
character1 even in long-established     
,states whose history lies open to the  
world2 but it is most difficult in      
,ireland1 which for centuries has not   
acted by its own will from its own      
centre1 where national activity was     
mainly by way of protest against        

external domination1 or a readjustment  
of itself to external power4 ,we can no 
more deduce the political character of  
the ,irish from the history of the past 
seven hundred years than we can estimate
 the quality of genius in an artist whom
 we have only seen when grappling with a
 burglar4 ,the political character of a 
people emerges only when they are       
shaping in freedom their own            
civilization4 ,to get a clue in ,ireland
 we must slip by those seven centuries  
of struggle and study national origins1 
as the lexicographer1 to get the exact  
meaning of a word1 traces it to its     
derivation4 ,the greatest value our     
early history and literature has for us 
is the value of a clue to character1 to 
be returned to again and again in the   
maze of our infinitely more complicated 
life and era4  ,in every nation which   
has been allowed free development1 while
 it has the qualities common to all     
humanity1 it will be found that some one
 idea was predominant1 and in its       

predominance regrouped about itself     
other ideas4 ,with our neighbors ,i     
believe the idea of personal liberty has
 been the inspiring motive of all that  
is best in its political development1   
whatever the reactions and oppressions  
may have been4 ,in ancient ,attica the  
idea of beauty1 proportion1 or harmony  
in life so pervaded the minds of the    
citizens that the surplus revenues of   
the ,state were devoted to the          
beautifying of the city4 ,we find that  
love for beauty in its art1 its         
literature1 its architecture2 and to    
,plato1 the highest mind in the         
,athenian ,state1 ,deity itself appeared
 as ,beauty in its very essence4 ,that  
mighty mid-,european ,state1 whose      
ambitions have upset the world1 seems to
 conceive of the ,state as power4 ,other
 races have had a passion for justice1  
and have left codes of law which have   
profoundly affected the life of nations 
which grew up long after they were dead4
 ,the cry of ancient ,israel for        

righteousness rings out above all other 
passions1 and its laws are essentially  
the laws of a people who desired that   
morality should prevail4 ,we have to    
discover for ourselves the ideas which  
lie at the root of national character1  
and so inculcate these principles that  
they will pervade the nation and make it
 a spiritual solidarity1 and unite the  
best minds in their service1 and so     
control those passionate and turbulent  
elements which are the cause of the     
downfall and wreckage of nations by     
internal dissensions4 ,i desire as much 
as any one to preserve our national     
identity1 and to make it worthy of      
preservation1 and this can only be done 
by the domination of some inspiring     
ideal which will draw all hearts to it2 
which may at first have that element of 
strangeness in it which ,ben ,jonson    
said was in all excellent beauty1 and   
which will later become--as all high    
things we love do finally               
become--familiar to us1 and nearer and  

closer to us than the beatings of our   
own hearts4  ,when ideals which really  
lie at the root of our being are first  
proclaimed1 all that is external in life
 protests4 ,so were many great reformers
 martyred1 but they left their ideals   
behind them in the air1 and men breathed
 them and they became part of their very
 being4 ,nationality is a state of      
consciousness1 a mood of definite       
character in our intellectual being1 and
 it is not perceived first except in    
profound meditation2 it does not become 
apparent from superficial activities any
 more than we could1 by looking at the  
world and the tragic history of mankind1
 discover that the ,kingdom of ,heaven  
is within us4 ,that knowledge comes to  
those who go within themselves1 and not 
to those who seek without for the way1  
the truth1 and the life4 ,but1 once     
proclaimed1 the incorruptible spiritual 
element in man intuitively recognizes it
 as truth1 and it has a profound effect 
on human action4 ,there is1 ,i believe1 

a powerful ,irish character which has   
begun to reassert itself in modern      
times1 and this character is in         
essentials what it was two thousand     
years ago4 ,we discover its first       
manifestation in the ancient clans4 ,the
 clan was at once aristocratic and      
democratic4 ,it was aristocratic in     
leadership and democratic in its        
economic basis4 ,the most powerful      
character was elected as chief1 while   
the land was the property of the clan4  
,that social order indicates the true   
political character of the ,irish4      
,races which last for thousands of years
 do not change in essentials4 ,they     
change in circumstance4 ,they may grow  
better or worse1 but throughout their   
history the same fundamentals appear and
 reassert themselves4 ,we can see later 
in ,irish literature or politics1 as    
powerful personalities emerged and      
expressed themselves1 how the ancient   
character persisted4 ,swift1 ,goldsmith1
 ,berkeley1 ,o',grady1 ,shaw1 ,wilde1   

,parnell1 ,davitt1 ,plunkett1 and many  
others1 however they differed from each 
other1 in so far as they betrayed a     
political character1 were intensely     
democratic in economic theory1 adding   
that to an aristocratic freedom of      
thought4 ,that peculiar character1 ,i   
believe1 still persists among our people
 in the mass1 and it is by adopting a   
policy which will enable it to manifest 
once more that we will create an ,irish 
civilization1 which will fit our        
character as the glove fits the hand4   
,during the last quarter of a century of
 comparatively peaceful life the        
co-operative principle has once more    
laid hold on the imagination of the     
,irish townsman and the ,irish          
countryman4 ,the communal character is  
still preserved4 ,it still wills to     
express itself in its external aspects  
in a communal civilization1 in an       
economic brotherhood4 ,that movement    
alone provides in ,ireland for the      
aristocratic and democratic elements in 

,irish character4 ,it brings into       
prominence the aristocracy of character 
and intelligence which it is really the 
,irish nature to love1 and its economic 
basis is democratic4 ,a large part of   
our failure to achieve anything         
memorable in ,ireland is due to the fact
 that1 influenced by the example of our 
great neighbors1 we reversed the natural
 position of the aristocratic and       
democratic elements in the national     
being4 ,instead of being democratic in  
our economic life1 with the aristocracy 
of character and intelligence to lead   
us1 we became meanly individualistic in 
our economics and meanly democratic in  
leadership4 ,that is1 we allowed        
individualism--the devilish doctrine of 
every man for himself--to be the keynote
 of our economic life2 where1 above all 
things1 the general good and not the    
enrichment of the individual should be  
considered4 ,for our leaders we chose   
energetic1 common-place types1 and made 
them represent us in the legislature2   

though it is in leadership above all    
that we need1 not the aristocracy of    
birth1 but the aristocracy of character1
 intellect1 and will4 ,we had not that  
aristocracy to lead us4 ,we chose       
instead persons whose ideas were in no  
respect nobler than the average to be   
our guides1 or rather to be guided by   
us4 ,yet when the aristocratic character
 appeared1 however imperfect1 how it was
 adored6 ,ireland gave to ,parnell--an  
aristocratic character--the love which  
springs from the deeps of its being1 a  
love which it gave to none other in our 
time4  ,with our great neighbors what   
are our national characteristics were   
reversed4 ,they are an individualistic  
race4 ,this individualism has expressed 
itself in history and society in a      
thousand ways4 ,being individualistic in
 economics1 they were naturally         
democratic in politics4 ,they have a    
genius for choosing forcible average men
 as leaders4 ,they mistrust genius in   
high places1 ,intensely individualistic 

themselves1 they feared the aristocratic
 character in politics4 ,they desired   
rather that general principles should be
 asserted to encircle and keep safe     
their own national eccentricity4 ,they  
have gradually infected us with         
something of their ways1 and as they    
were not truly our ways we never made a 
success of them4 ,it is best for us to  
fall back on what is natural with us1   
what is innate in character1 what was   
visible among us in the earliest times1 
and what1 ,i still believe1 persists    
among us--a respect for the aristocratic
 intellect1 for freedom of thought1     
ideals1 poetry1 and imagination1 as the 
qualities to be looked for in leaders1  
and a bias for democracy in our economic
 life4 ,we were more ,irish truly in the
 heroic ages4 ,we would not then have   
taken1 as we do today1 the huckster or  
the publican and make them our          
representative men1 and allow them to   
corrupt the national soul4 ,did not the 
whole vulgar mob of our politicians     

lately unite to declare to the world    
that ,irish nationality was impossible  
except it was floated on a sea of       
liquor8 ,the image of ,kathleen ni      
,houlihan anciently was beauty in the   
hearts of poets and dreamers4 ,we often 
thought her unwise1 but never did we    
find her ignoble2 never was she without 
a flame of idealism in her eyes1 until  
this ignoble crew declared alcohol to be
 the only possible basis of ,irish      
nationality4  ,in the remote past we    
find the national instincts of our      
people fully manifested4 ,we find in    
this early literature a love for the    
truth-teller and for the hero4 ,indeed  
they did not choose as chieftains of    
their clans men whom the bards could not
 sing4 ,they reverenced wisdom1 whether 
in king1 bard1 or ollav1 and at the same
 time there was a communal basis for    
economic life4 ,this heroic literature  
is1 as our ,standish ,o',grady declared1
 rather prophecy than history4 ,it      
reveals what the highest spirits deemed 

the highest1 and what was said lay so   
close to the heart of the race that it  
is still remembered and read4 ,that     
literature discloses the character of   
the national being1 still to be         
manifested in a civilization1 and it    
must flame out before the tale which    
began among the gods is closed4         
,whatever brings this communal character
 into our social order1 and at the same 
time desires the independent            
aristocratic intellect1 is in accord    
with the national tradition4 ,the       
co-operative movement is the modern     
expression of that mood4 ,it is already 
making a conquest of the ,irish mind1   
and in its application to life          
predisposing our people to respect for  
the man of special attainments1         
independent character1 and intellect4 ,a
 social order which has made its        
economics democratic in character needs 
such men above all things4 ,it needs    
aristocratic thinkers to save the social
 order from stagnation1 the disease     

which eats into all harmonious life4 ,we
 shall succeed or fail in ,ireland as we
 succeed or fail to make democracy      
prevail in our economic life1 and       
aristocratic ideals to prevail in our   
political and intellectual life4  ,in   
all things it is best for a people to   
obey the law of their own being4 ,the   
lion can never become the ox1 and one   
law for the lion and the ox is          
oppression4  ,now that the hammer of    
,thor is wrecking our civilizations1 is 
destroying the body of ,european        
nationalities1 the spirit is freer to   
reshape the world nearer to the heart's 
desire4 ,necessity will drive us along  
with the rest to recast our social order
 and to fix our ideals4 ,necessity and  
our own hearts should lead us to a      
brotherhood in industry4 ,it should be  
horrible to us the thought of the greedy
 profiteer1 the pursuit of wealth for   
oneself rather than the union of forces 
for the good of all and the creation of 
a brotherly society4 ,the efforts of    

individuals to amass for themselves     
great personal wealth should be regarded
 as ignoble by society1 and as contrary 
to the national spirit1 as it is indeed 
contrary to all divine teaching4 ,our   
ideal should be economic harmony and    
intellectual diversity4 ,we should      
regard as alien to the national spirit  
all who would make us think in flocks1  
and discipline us to an unintellectual  
commonalty of belief4 ,the life of the  
soul is a personal adventure1 a quest   
for the way and the truth and the life4 
,it may be we shall find the ancient    
ways to be the true ways1 but if we are 
led to the truth blindfolded and without
 personal effort1 we are like those whom
 the ,scripture condemns for entering   
into ,paradise1 not by the straight     
gate1 but over the wall1 like thieves   
and robbers4 ,if we seek it for         
ourselves and come to it1 we shall be   
true initiates and masters in the guild4
  ,no people seem to have greater       
natural intelligence than the ,irish4   

,no people have been so unfortunately   
cursed with organizations which led them
 to abnegate personal thought1 and      
,ireland is an intellectual desert where
 people read nothing and think nothing2 
where not fifty in a hundred thousand   
could discern the quality of thought in 
the ,politics of ,aristotle or the      
,republic of ,plato as being in any way 
deeper than a leading article in one of 
their daily papers4 ,and we1 whose      
external life is so mean1 whose         
ignorance of literature is so great1 are
 yet flattered by the suggestion that we
 have treasures of spiritual and        
intellectual life which should not be   
debased by external influences1 and so  
it comes about that good literature is a
 thing unpurchasable except in some     
half-dozen of the larger towns4 ,any    
system which would suppress the         
aristocratic1 fearless1 independent     
intellect should be regarded as contrary
 to the ,irish genius and inimical to   
the national being4      ,,xvi4         

,among the many ways men have sought to 
create a national consciousness1 a      
fountain of pride to the individual     
citizen1 is to build a strong body for  
the great soul1 and it would be an error
 to overlook--among other modern        
uprisings of ancient ,irish             
character--the revival of the military  
spirit and its possible development in  
relation to the national being4         
,national solidarity may be brought     
about by pressure from without1 or by   
the fusion of the diverse elements in a 
nation by a heat engendered from within4
 ,but to ,create national solidarity by 
war is to attain but a temporary and    
unreal unity1 a gain like theirs who    
climb into the ,kingdom not by the      
straight gate1 but over the wall like a 
robber4 ,when one nation is threatened  
by another1 great national sacrifices   
will be made1 and the latent solidarity 
of its humanity be kindled4 ,but when   
the war is over1 when the circumstances 
uniting the people for a time are past1 

that spirit rapidly dies1 and people    
begin their old antagonisms because the 
social order1 in its normal working1    
does not constantly promote a           
consciousness of identity of interest4  
,almost all the great ,european states  
have fortified their national being by  
militarism4 ,everything almost in their 
development has been subordinated to the
 necessities of national defense1 and   
hence it is only in times of war there  
is any real manifestation of national   
spirit4 ,it is only then that the       
citizens of the ,iron ,age feel a       
transitory brotherhood4 ,it is a        
paradoxical phenomenon1 possible only in
 the ,iron ,age1 that the highest       
instances of national sacrifice are     
evoked by warfare--the most barbarous of
 human enterprises4 ,to make normal that
 spirit of unity which is now only      
manifested in abnormal moments in       
history should be our aim2 and as it is 
the ,iron ,age1 and material forces are 
more powerful than spiritual1 we must   

consider how these fierce energies can  
be put in relation with the national    
being with least debasement of that     
being4 ,if the body of the national soul
 is too martial in character1 it will by
 reflex action communicate its character
 to the spirit1 and make it harsh and   
domineering1 and unite against it in    
hatred all other nations4 ,we have seen 
that in ,europe but yesterday4 ,the     
predominance in the body of militarist  
practice will finally drive out from the
 soul those unfathomable spiritual      
elements which are the body's last      
source power in conflict1 and it will in
 the end defeat its own object1 which is
 power4 ,when nations at war call up    
their reserves of humanity to the last  
man capable of bearing arms1 their      
leaders begin also to summon up those   
bodiless moods and national sentiments  
which are the souls of races1 and their 
last and most profound sources of       
inspiration and deathless courage4 ,the 
war then becomes a conflict of          

civilizations and of spiritual ideals1  
the aspirations and memories which      
constitute the fundamental basis of     
those civilizations4 ,without the       
inspiration of great memories or of     
great hopes1 men are incapable of great 
sacrifices4 ,they are rationalists1 and 
the preservation of the life they know  
grows to be a desire greater than the   
immortality of the spiritual life of    
their race4 ,a famous ,japanese general 
once said it was the power to hold out  
for the last desperate quarter of an    
hour which won victories1 and it is     
there spiritual stamina reinforces      
physical power4 ,it is a mood akin to   
the ecstasy of the martyr through his   
burning4 ,though in these mad moments   
neither spiritual nor material is       
consciously differentiated1 the         
spiritual is there in a fiery fusion    
with all other forces4 ,if it is absent1
 the body unsupported may take to its   
heels or will yield4 ,it has played its 
only card1 and has not eternity to fling

 upon the table in a last gamble for    
victory4  ,a military organization may  
strengthen the national being1 but if it
 dominates it1 it will impoverish its   
life4 ,how little ,sparta has given to  
the world compared with ,attica4 ,yet   
when national ideals have been created  
they assume an immeasurably greater     
dignity when the citizens organize      
themselves for the defense of their     
ideals1 and are prepared to yield up    
life itself as a sacrifice if by this   
the national being may be preserved4 ,a 
creed always gains respect through its  
martyrs4 ,we may grant all this1 yet be 
doubtful whether a militarist           
organization should be the main support 
of the national being in ,ireland4 ,the 
character of the ideal should1 ,i       
believe1 be otherwise created1 and ,i am
 not certain that it could not be as    
well preserved and defended by a civil  
organization1 such as ,i have indicated1
 as by armed power4 ,our geographical   
position and the slender population of  

our country also make it evident that   
the utmost force ,ireland could organize
 would make but a feeble barrier against
 assault by any of the greater ,states4 
,we have seen how ,belgium1 a country   
with a population larger than that of   
,ireland1 was thrust aside1 crushed and 
bleeding1 by one stroke from the paw of 
its mighty neighbor499 ,the military and
 political institutions of a small      
country are comparatively easy to       
displace1 but it would be a task        
infinitely more difficult to destroy    
ideals or to extinguish a national being
 based on a social order1 democratic and
 co-operative in character1 the soul of 
the country being continually fed by    
institutions which1 by their very       
nature1 would be almost impossible to   
alter unless destruction of the whole   
humanity of the country was aimed at4   
,national ideals1 based on a            
co-operative social order1 would have   
the same power of resistance almost as a
 religion1 which is1 of all things1 most

 unconquerable by physical force1 and1  
when it is itself militant1 the most    
powerful ally of military power4 ,the   
aim of all nations is to preserve their 
immortality4 ,i do not oppose the       
creation of a national army for this    
purpose4 ,there are occasions when the  
manhood of a nation must be prepared to 
yield life rather than submit to        
oppression1 when it must perish in      
self-contempt or resist by force what   
wrong would be imposed by force4 ,but ,i
 would like to point out that for a     
country in the position of ,ireland the 
surest means of preserving the national 
being by the sacrifice and devotion of  
the people are economic and spiritual4  
99 ,since this book was written ,ireland
 has had a tragic        illustration of
 the truth of what is urged in these    
pages4   ,our political life in the past
 has been sordid and unstable because we
 were uncultured as a nation4 ,national 
ideals have been the possession of the  
few in ,ireland1 and have not been      

diffused4 ,that is the cause of our     
comparative failure as a nation4 ,if we 
would create an ,irish culture1 and     
spread it widely among our people1 we   
would have the same unfathomable sources
 of inspiration and sacrifice to draw   
upon in our acts as a nation as the     
individual has who believes he is       
immortal1 and that his life here is but 
a temporary foray into time out of      
eternity4  ,yet we have much to learn   
from the study of military organization4
 ,the great problem of all civilizations
 is the creation of citizens3 that is1  
of people who are dominated by the ideal
 of the general welfare1 who will sink  
private desire and work harmoniously    
with their fellow-citizens for the      
highest good of their race4 ,while we   
may all agree that war brings about an  
eruption of the arcane and elemental    
forces which lie normally in the pit of 
human life1 as the forces which cause   
earthquakes lie normally asleep in the  
womb of the world1 none the less we must

 admit that military genius has         
discovered and applied with mastery a   
law of life which is of the highest     
importance to civilization--far more    
important to civil even than to military
 development--and that is the means by  
which the individual will forget his    
personal danger and sacrifice life      
itself for the general welfare4 ,in no  
other organization will men in great    
masses so entirely forget themselves as 
men will in battle under military       
discipline4 ,what is the cause of this8 
,can we discover how it is done and     
apply the law to civil life8  ,the      
military discipline works miracles4 ,the
 problem before the captains of armies  
is to take the body of man1 the most    
naturally egoistic of all things1 which 
hates pain and which will normally take 
to its legs in danger and try to save   
itself1 and to dominate it so that the  
body and the soul inhabiting it will    
stand still and face all it loathes4    
,and the problem is solved in the vast  

majority of cases4 ,after military      
training the civilians who formerly     
would fly before a few policemen will   
manfully and heroically stand1 not the  
blows of a baton1 but a whole hail of   
bullets1 a cannonade lasting through a  
day2 nay1 they will for weeks and       
months1 day by day1 risk and lose life  
for a cause1 for an idea1 at a word of  
command4 ,they may not have half as good
 a cause to lose life for as they had as
 a mob of angry civilians1 but they will
 face death now1 and the chances of     
mutilation and agony worse than death4  
,can we inspire civilians with the same 
passionate self-forgetfulness in the    
pursuit of the higher ideals of peace8  
,men in a regiment have to a large      
extent the personal interests abolished4
 ,the organization they now belong to   
supports them and becomes their life4   
,by their union with it a new being is  
created4 ,exercise1 drill1 maneuver1    
accentuate that unity1 and esprit de    
corps arises1 so that they feel their   

highest life is the corporate one2 and  
that feeling is fostered continually1   
until at last all the units1 by some law
 of the soul1 are as it were in spite of
 themselves1 in spite of the legs which 
want to run1 in spite of the body which 
trembles with fear1 constrained to move 
in obedience to the purpose of the whole
 organism expressed by its controlling  
will2 and so we get these devoted masses
 of men who advance again and again     
under a hail more terrible than ,dante  
imagined falling in his vision of the   
fiery world4  ,there is nothing like it 
in civilian life1 but yet the aim of the
 higher minds in all civilizations is to
 create a similar devotion to civic     
ideals1 so that men will not only1 as   
,pericles said1 give their bodies for   
the commonwealth1 but will devote mind1 
will1 and imagination with equal        
assiduity and self-surrender to the     
creation of a civilization which will be
 the inheritance of all and a cause of  
pride to every one1 and which will bring

 to the individual a greater beauty and 
richness of life than he could finally  
reach by the utmost private efforts of  
which he was capable4  ,i believe that  
an organization of society1 such as ,i  
have indicated1 would evolve gradually a
 similar passion for the general zeal1  
having1 without the stern restraint     
militarism imposes on its units1 a like 
power of turning the thoughts to the    
general good4  ,i may say also that to  
create a militarist organization1 before
 the natural principles to be           
safe-guarded are well understood and a  
common possession of all the people in  
the country1 would be a danger akin to  
the peril of allowing children to play  
with firearms4 ,we may find it a bad    
business to create natural ideals as    
they are required1 just as it is a      
perilous business to try to create an   
army when a country is in a state of    
war4 ,if we do not rapidly create a     
national culture embodying the          
fundamental ideas we wish to see        

prevailing in society our volunteer     
armies will be subject to influences    
from the baser sort of politicians who  
would force party aims on the country4  
,we shall have a wretched future unless 
the soul of the country can dominate the
 physical forces in it1 unless ideals of
 national conduct1 liberty of speech and
 thought1 of justice and brotherhood1   
exist to inspire and guide it1 and are  
recognized by all and appealed to by all
 parties equally4  ,we are standing on  
the threshold of nationhood1 and it is  
problems like these we should be setting
 ourselves to solve1 unless we are to be
 an unimportant province of the world1 a
 mere administrative area inhabited by a
 quite undistinguished people4          
,,xvii4    ,but there are other methods 
of devotion to the national being       
possible to us through collective       
action1 and ,i was moved to imagine one1
 having once received a letter from a   
bloodthirsty correspondent--one of that 
rather numerous class whose minds are   

always loaded with ball cartridge1 whose
 fingers are always on the trigger1 and 
who are always calling on the           
authorities not to hesitate to shoot4   
,he wrote to me during a railway strike1
 advocating military conscription in    
order that railway men who went out on  
strike could be called up by the        
military authorities1 as the ,french    
railway strikers were1 and who were     
subject to martial law if they          
disobeyed4 ,i do not think with those   
who believe the venerable remedy of     
blood-letting is the best cure for      
social maladies2 and ,i would have      
thought no more about that stern        
disciplinarian1 but my mind went playing
 about the idea of conscription1 and    
there came to me some thoughts which ,i 
wish to put on record in the hope that  
our people in some future1 when the     
social order will create public spirit  
and the passion for the ,state more     
plentifully than it does today1 may     
recur to the idea and apply it4 ,nearly 

every ,state in the world demands from  
youth a couple of years' service in the 
army4 ,there they are trained to defend 
their country--even1 if necessary1 to   
slay their own countrymen4 ,there is    
much that is abhorrent to the           
imagination in the idea of war1 and ,i  
am altogether with that noble body of   
men who are trying1 by means of         
arbitration treaties1 to solve national 
differences by reason rather than by    
force4 ,but we all recognize something  
noble in the spirit of the nation where 
the community agrees that every man     
shall give up some years of his life to 
the ,state for the preservation of the  
,state1 and may be called upon to       
surrender life absolutely in that       
service4 ,while the manhood of a race   
does this on the whole with             
cheerfulness1 there must be something of
 high character in the manhood of that  
nation4 ,a certain gravity attaches to  
national decisions which are made1 as it
 were1 upon the slopes of death1 because

 none are exempt from service1 and there
 is no delirious mob ready to yell for a
 war in which it does not run the risk  
of having its own dirty skin perforated 
by bullets4 ,in ,ireland we have never  
had military conscription1 for reasons  
which are well known to all1 and upon   
which ,i need not enter4 ,i am well     
satisfied it should be so1 for it leaves
 open to us the possibility of a much   
nobler service1 one which has never yet 
been attempted by any modern nation1 and
 that is civil conscription4  ,i throw  
out this suggestion1 which may hold the 
imagination of those who have noble     
conceptions of what national life should
 be and what a nation should work for1  
in the hope that some time it may       
fructify4 ,there is a prohibition laid  
on the people in this island against    
conscription for military purposes4 ,is 
there any reason why we should not have 
conscription for civil purposes8 ,why   
should not every young man in ,ireland  
give up two years of his life in a      

comradeship of labor with other young   
men1 and be employed under skilled      
direction in great works of public      
utility1 in the erection of public      
buildings1 the beautifying of our       
cities1 reclamation of waste lands1     
afforestation1 and other desirable      
objects8 ,the principle of service for  
the ,state for military purposes is     
admitted in every country1 even at last 
by the ,english-speaking peoples4 ,it is
 easy to be seen how this principle of  
conscription could be applied to        
infinitely nobler ends--to the building 
up of a beautiful civilization--and     
might make the country adopting it in   
less than half a century as beautiful as
 ancient ,attica or majestic as ancient 
,egypt4 ,while other nations take part  
of the life of young men for instruction
 in war1 why should not the ,state in   
,ireland1 more nobly inspired1 ask of   
its young men that they should give     
equally of their lives to the ,state1   
not for the destruction of life1 but for

 the conservation of life8 ,this service
 might be asked from all--high and low1 
well and humbly born--except from those 
who can plead the reasons which exempt  
people abroad from military service4 ,as
 things stand today1 if the ,state      
undertakes any public work1 it does it  
more expensively by far than it would be
 if undertaken by private enterprise4   
,every person puts up prices for the    
,state or for municipalities4 ,labor1   
land1 and materials are all charged at  
the highest possible rates1 whereas if  
there was any really high conception of 
citizenship and of the functions of the 
,state1 the citizens would agree so that
 works of public utility1 or those which
 conspired to add to national dignity1  
should be done at least cost to the     
community4 ,where there is no national  
sacrifice there is no national pride4   
,because there is no national pride our 
modern civilizations show meanly        
compared with the titanic architecture  
of the cities and majestic civilizations

 of the past4 ,we know from the ruins of
 these proud cities that he who walked  
into ancient ,rome1 ,athens1 ,thebes1   
,memphis and ,babylon1 walked amid      
grandeurs which must have exalted the   
spirit4 ,to walk into ,manchester1      
,sheffield1 or ,liverpool is to feel a  
weight upon the soul4 ,there is no      
national feeling for beauty in our      
industrial civilizations4  ,let us      
suppose ,ireland had through industrial 
conscription about fifty thousand young 
men every year at its disposal under a  
national works department4 ,what could  
be done8 ,first of all it would mean    
that every young man in the country     
would have received an industrial       
training of some kind4 ,the work of     
technical instruction could be largely  
carried on in connection with this      
industrial army4 ,people talk of the    
benefit of discipline and obedience     
secured by military service4 ,this and  
much more could be secured by a labor   
conscription4 ,every man in the island  

would have got into the habit of work at
 a period of life when it is most       
necessary1 and when too many young men  
have no serious occupation4 ,parents    
should welcome the training and         
discipline for their children1 and      
certificates of character and           
intelligence given by the department of 
national works should open up prospects 
of rapid employment in the ordinary     
industrial life of the country when the 
period of public service was closed4    
,for those engaged there would be a true
 comradeship in labor1 and the phrase1  
the dignity of labor1 about which so    
much cant has been written1 would have a
 real significance where young men were 
working together for the public benefit 
with the knowledge that any completed   
work would add to the health1 beauty1   
dignity1 and prosperity of the ,state4  
,in return for this labor the ,state    
should feed and clothe its industrial   
army1 educate them1 and familiarize them
 with some branch of employment1 and    

make them more competent after this     
period of service was over to engage in 
private enterprise4 ,two years of such  
training would dissipate all the        
slackness1 lack of precision1 and       
laziness which are so often apparent in 
young men who have never had any strict 
discipline in their homes1 and whom     
parental weakness has rendered unfit for
 the hard business of life4  ,the       
benefit to those undergoing such a      
training would of itself justify civil  
conscription2 but when we come to think 
of the nation--what might not be done by
 a ,state with a national labor army    
under its control8 ,public works might  
be undertaken at a cost greatly below   
that which would otherwise be incurred1 
and the estimates which now paralyze the
 ,state1 when it considers this really  
needed service or that1 would assume a  
different appearance1 as it would be    
embracing in one enterprise technical   
education and the accomplishment of     
beneficial works4 ,with such an army    

under skilled control the big cities    
could have playgrounds for the children 
of the cities2 public gardens1 baths1   
gymnasiums1 recreation rooms1 hospitals1
 and sanatoriums might be built2 waste  
land reclaimed and afforested1 and the  
roadsides might be planted with fruit   
trees4 ,national schools1               
picture-galleries1 public halls1        
libraries1 and a thousand enterprises   
which now hang fire because at present  
labor for public service is the most    
expensive labor1 all could be           
undertaken4 ,if the ,state becomes very 
poor1 as indeed it is certain to be1 it 
may be forced into some such method of  
fulfilling its functions4 ,are we1 with 
enormous burdens of debt1 to hang up    
every useful public work because of the 
expense1 and spend our lives in paying  
,state debts while the body for whom we 
work is unable1 on account of the       
expense1 to do anything for us in       
return8 ,if the ,state is to continue   
its functions we shall have to          

commandeer people for its service in    
times of peace as is done in times of   
war4 ,there is hardly an argument which 
could be used to defend military        
conscription which could not be equaled 
with as powerful an argument for civil  
conscription4 ,i am not at all sure that
 if the ,state in ,ireland decided to   
utilize two years of every young man's  
life for ,state purposes that we could  
not disband most of our expensive       
constabulary and make certain squads of 
our civil recruits responsible for the  
keeping of public law and order1 leaving
 only the officers as permanent         
professionals1 for of course there must 
be expert control of the conscripts4    
,the postal service might also be       
carried on largely by conscripted       
civilians4  ,this may appear a fantastic
 programme1 but ,i would like to see it 
argued out4 ,it would create a real     
brotherhood in work1 just as the army   
creates in its own way a brotherhood    
between men in the same regiments4 ,the 

nation adopting civil conscription could
 clean itself up in a couple of         
generations1 so that in respect of      
public services it would be             
incomparable4 ,the alternative to this  
is to starve all public services1 to    
make the ,state simply the              
tax-collector1 to pay the interest on a 
huge debt1 and so get it hated because  
it can do nothing except collect money  
to pay the interest on a colossal       
national debt4 ,obviously the ,state as 
an agency to bring about civilization   
cannot perform both services--pay       
interest on huge public loans1 and      
continue an expensive service4 ,it must 
find out some way in which public       
services can be continued1 and if       
possible improved1 and the open way to  
that is civil conscription and the      
assertion of a claim to two or three    
years of the work of every citizen for  
civil purposes1 just as it now asserts a
 claim on the services of citizens for  
the defense of the ,state4 ,as national 

debts are more and more piled up1 it has
 seemed to many that here must be an end
 to what was called social reform1 that 
we were entering on a black era1 and no 
dawn would show over ,europe for another
 century4 ,there is always a way out of 
troubles if people are imaginative      
enough and brotherly enough to conceive 
of it and bold enough to take action    
when they have found the way4 ,the real 
danger for society is that it may become
 spiritless and hidebound and tamed1 and
 have none of those high qualities      
necessary in face of peril1 and the more
 people get accustomed to thinking of   
bold schemes the better4 ,they will get 
over the first shock1 and may be ready  
when the time comes to put them into    
action4 ,when a country is poor like    
,ireland and yet is ambitious of        
greatness2 when the aspect of its       
civilization is mean and when it yet    
aspires to beauty2 when its people are  
living under unsanitary conditions and  
yet the longing is there to give health 

to all2 when ,ireland is like this1 its 
public men and its citizens might do    
much worse than brood over the          
possibilities of industrial             
conscription1 and of revising the       
character of the purposes for which     
nations have hitherto claimed service   
from their young citizens on behalf of  
the ,state4 ,debarred by a fate not     
altogether unkind from training every   
citizen in the arts of war ,ireland     
might--if the love of country and the   
desire for service are really so strong 
as we are told--suddenly become eminent 
among the nations of the world by       
adopting a policy which in half a       
century would make our mean cities and  
our backward countryside the most       
beautiful in the modern world4          
,,xviii4    ,i have not in all this     
written anything about the relations of 
,ireland with other countries1 or even  
with our neighbors1 in whose political  
household we have lived for so many     
centuries in intimate hostility4 ,i have

 considered this indeed1 but did not    
wish1 nor do ,i now wish1 in anything ,i
 may write1 to say one word which would 
add to that old hostility4 ,race hatred 
is the cheapest and basest of all       
national passions1 and it is the nature 
of hatred1 as it is the nature of love1 
to change us into the likeness of that  
which we contemplate4 ,we grow nobly    
like what we adore1 and ignobly like    
what we hate2 and no people in ,ireland 
became so anglicized in intellect and   
temperament1 and even in the manner of  
expression1 as those who hated our      
neighbors most4 ,all hatreds long       
persisted in bring us to every baseness 
for which we hated others4 ,the only    
laws which we cannot break with impunity
 are divine laws1 and no law is more    
eternally sure in its workings than that
 which condemns us to be even as that we
 condemned4 ,hate is the high commander 
of so many armies that an inquiry into  
the origin of this passion is at least  
as needful as histories of other        

contemporary notorieties4 ,not emperors 
or parliaments alone raise armies1 but  
this passion also4 ,it will sustain     
nations in defeat4 ,when everything     
seems lost this wild captain will appear
 and the scattered forces are reunited4 
,they will be as oblivious of danger as 
if they were divinely inspired1 but if  
they win their battle it is to become   
like the conquered foe4 ,all great wars 
in history1 all conquests1 all national 
antagonisms1 result in an exchange of   
characteristics4 ,it is because ,i wish 
,ireland to be itself1 to act from its  
own will and its own centre1 that ,i    
deprecate hatred as a force in national 
life4 ,it is always possible to win a   
cause without the aid of this base      
helper1 who betrays us ever in the hour 
of victory4  ,when a man finds the      
feeling of hate for another rising      
vehemently in himself1 he should take it
 as a warning that conscience is        
battling in his own being with that very
 thing he loathes4 ,nations hate other  

nations for the evil which is in        
themselves2 but they are as little given
 to self-analysis as individuals1 and   
while they are right to overcome evil1  
they should first try to understand the 
genesis of the passion in their own     
nature4 ,if we understand this1 many of 
the ironies of history will be          
intelligible4 ,we will understand why it
 was that our countrymen in ,ulster and 
our countrymen in the rest of ,ireland1 
who have denounced each other so        
vehemently1 should at last appear to    
have exchanged characteristics3 why in  
the ,north1 having passionately         
protested against physical force        
movements1 no-rent manifestos1 and      
contempt for ,imperial ,parliament1 they
 should have come themselves at last to 
organize a physical force movement1     
should threaten to pay no taxes1 and    
should refuse obedience to an ,act of   
,parliament4 ,we will understand also   
why it was their opponents came         
themselves to address to ,ulster all the

 arguments and denunciations ,ulster had
 addressed to them4 ,i do not point this
 out with intent to annoy1 but to       
illustrate by late history a law in     
national as well as human psychology4   
,if this unpopular psychology ,i have   
explained was adopted everywhere as     
true1 we would never hear expressions of
 hate4 ,people would realize they were  
first revealing and then stabbing their 
own characters before the world4        
,nations act towards other nations as   
their own citizens act towards each     
other4 ,when slavery existed in a       
,state1 if that nation attacked another 
it was with intent to enslave4 ,where   
there is a fierce economic competition  
between citizen and citizen then in war 
with another nation1 the object of the  
war is to destroy the trade of the      
enemy4 ,if the citizens in any country  
could develop harmonious life among     
themselves they would manifest the      
friendliest feelings towards the people 
of other countries4 ,we find that it is 

just among groups of people who aim at  
harmonious life1 co-operators and       
socialists1 that the strongest national 
impulses to international brotherhood   
arise2 and wars of domination are       
brought about by the will of those who  
within a ,state are dominant over the   
fortunes of the rest4 ,ireland1 a small 
country1 can only maintain its national 
identity by moral and economic forces4  
,physically it must be overmastered by  
most other ,european nations4 ,moral    
forces are really more powerful than    
physical forces4 ,one ,christ changed   
the spiritual life of ,europe2 one      
,buddha affected more myriads in ,asia4 
,the co-operative ideal of brotherhood  
in industry has helped to make stronger 
the ideal of the brotherhood of         
humanity1 and no body of men in any of  
the countries in the great ,war of our  
time regarded it with more genuine      
sorrow than those who were already      
beginning to promote schemes for        
international co-operation4 ,it must be 

mainly in movements inspired with the   
ideal of the brotherhood of man1 that   
the spirit will be generated which1 in  
the future1 shall make the idea of war  
so detestable that statesmen will find  
it is impossible to think of that       
solution of their disputes as they would
 think now of resorting to private      
assassination of political opponents4   
,the great tragedy of ,europe was       
brought about1 not by the ,german       
,emperor1 nor by ,sir ,edward ,grey1 nor
 by the ,czar1 nor by any of the other  
chiefs ostensibly controlling foreign   
policy1 but by the nations themselves4  
,these men may have been agents1 but    
their action would have been impossible 
if they did not realize that there was a
 vast body of national feeling behind   
them not opposed to war4 ,their citizens
 were in conflict with each other       
already1 generating the moods which lead
 on to war4 ,emperors1 foreign          
secretaries1 ambassadors1 cabinet       
ministers are not really powerful to    

move nations against their will4 ,on the
 whole1 they act with the will of the   
nations1 which they understand4 ,let any
 one ruler try1 for example1 to change  
by edict the religion of his subjects1  
and a week would see him bereft of place
 and power4 ,they could not do this1    
because the will of the nation would be 
against it4 ,they resort to war and     
prepare for it because the will of the  
nation is with them1 and this throws us 
back on the private citizens1 who       
finally are individually and            
collectively responsible for the actions
 of the ,state4 ,in the everlasting     
battle between good and evil1 private   
soldiers are called upon to fight as    
well as the captains1 and it is only    
through the intensive cultivation by    
individuals and races of the higher     
moral and intellectual qualities1 until 
in intensity they outweigh the mood and 
passion of the rest1 that war will      
finally become obsolete as the court of 
appeal4 ,when there is a panic of fire  

in a crowded building men are suddenly  
tested as to character4 ,some will      
become frenzied madmen1 fighting and    
trampling their way out4 ,others will   
act nobly1 forgetting themselves4 ,they 
have no time to think4 ,what they are in
 their total make up as human beings1   
overbalanced either for good or evil1   
appears in an instant4 ,even so1 some   
time in the heroic future1 some nation  
in a crisis will be weighed and will act
 nobly rather than passionately1 and    
will be prepared to risk national       
extinction rather than continue         
existence at the price of killing       
myriads of other human beings1 and it   
will oppose moral and spiritual forces  
to material forces1 and it will overcome
 the world by making gentleness its     
might1 as all great spiritual teachers  
have done4 ,it comes to this1 we cannot 
overcome hatred by hatred or war by war1
 but by the opposites of these4 ,evil is
 not overcome by evil but by good2 and  
any race like the ,irish1 eager for     

national life1 ought to learn this      
truth--that humanity will act towards   
their race as their race acts towards   
humanity4 ,the noble and the base alike 
beget their kin4 ,empires1 ere they     
disappear1 see their own mirrored       
majesty arise in the looking-glass of   
time4 ,opposed to the pride and pomp of 
,egypt were the pride and pomp of       
,chaldaea4 ,echoing the beauty of the   
,greek city state were many lovely      
cities made in their image4 ,carthage   
evoked ,rome4 ,the ,british ,empire1 by 
the natural balance and opposition of   
things1 called into being another empire
 with a civilization of coal and steel1 
and with ambitions for colonies and for 
naval power1 and with that image of     
itself it must wrestle for empire4 ,the 
great armadas that throng the seas1 the 
armed millions upon the earth betray the
 fear in the minds of races1 nay1 the   
inner spiritual certitude the soul has1 
that pride and lust of power must yet be
 humbled by their kind4 ,they must at   

last meet their equals face to face1    
called to them as steel to magnet by    
some inner affinity4 ,this is a law of  
life both for individuals and races1    
and1 when this is realized1 we know     
nothing will put an end to race         
conflicts except the equally determined 
and heroic development of the spiritual1
 moral1 and intellectual forces which   
disdain to use the force and fury of    
material powers4  ,we may be assured    
that the divine law is not mocked1 and  
it cannot be deceived4 ,as men sow so do
 they reap4 ,the anger we create will   
rend us2 the love we give will return to
 us4 ,biologically1 everything breeds   
true to its type3 moods and thoughts    
just as much as birds and beasts and    
fishes4 ,when ,i hear people raging     
against ,england or ,germany or ,russia 
,i know that rage will beget rage1 and  
go on begetting it1 and so the whole    
devilish generation of passions will be 
continued4 ,there are no nations to whom
 the entire and loyal allegiance of     

man's spirit could be given4 ,it can    
only go out to the ideal empires and    
nationalities in the womb of time1 for  
whose coming we pray4 ,those countries  
of the future we must carve out of the  
humanity of today1 and we can begin     
building them up within our present     
empires and nationalities just as we are
 building up the co-operative movement  
in a social order antagonistic to it4   
,the people who are trying to create    
these new ideals in the world are       
outposts1 sentinels1 and frontiersmen   
thrown out before the armies of the     
intellectual and spiritual races yet to 
come into being4 ,we can all enlist in  
these armies and be comrades to the     
pioneers4 ,i hope many will enlist in   
,ireland4 ,i would cry to our idealists 
to come out of this present-day ,irish  
,babylon1 so filled with sectarian1     
political1 and race hatreds1 and to work
 for the future4 ,i believe profoundly1 
with the most extreme of ,nationalists1 
in the future of ,ireland1 and in the   

vision of light seen by ,bridget which  
she saw and confessed between hopes and 
tears to ,patrick1 and that this is the 
,isle of ,destiny and the destiny will  
be glorious and not ignoble1 and when   
our hour is come we will have something 
to give to the world1 and we will be    
proud to give rather than to grasp4     
,throughout their history ,irishmen have
 always wrought better for others than  
for themselves1 and when they unite in  
,ireland to work for each other1 they   
will direct into the right channel all  
that national capacity for devotion to  
causes for which they are famed4 ,we    
ought not only to desire to be at peace 
with each other1 but with the whole     
world1 and this can only be brought     
about by the individual citizen at all  
times protesting against sectarian and  
national passions1 and taking no part in
 them1 coming out of such angry parties 
altogether1 as the people of the ,lord  
were called by the divine voice to come 
out of ,babylon4 ,it may seem a long way

 to set things right1 but it is the     
swift way and the royal road1 and there 
is no other2 and nobody1 no prophet     
crying before his time1 will be listened
 to until the people are ready for him4 
,the congregation must gather before the
 preacher can deliver what is in him to 
say4 ,the economic brotherhood which ,i 
have put forward as an ,irish ideal     
would1 in its realization1 make us at   
peace with ourselves1 and if we are at  
peace with ourselves we will be at peace
 with our neighbors and all other       
nations1 and will wish them the goodwill
 we have among ourselves1 and will      
receive from them the same goodwill4 ,i 
do not believe in legal and formal      
solutions of national antagonisms4      
,while we generate animosities among    
ourselves we will always display them to
 other nations1 and ,i prefer to search 
out how it is national hatreds are      
begotten1 and to show how that cancer   
can be cut out of the body politic4     
,,xix4    ,it seems inevitable that the 

domination of the individual by the     
,state must become ever greater4 ,it is 
in the evolutionary process4 ,the       
amalgamation of individuals into        
nationalities and empires is as much in 
the cosmic plan as the development of   
highly organized beings out of          
unicellular organisms4 ,i believe this  
process will continue until humanity    
itself is so psychically knit together  
that1 as a being1 it will manifest some 
form of cosmic consciousness in which   
the individual will share4 ,our         
spiritual intuitions and the great      
religions of the world alike indicate   
some such goal as that to which this    
turbulent cavalcade of humanity is      
wending4 ,a knowledge of this must be in
 our subconscious being1 or we would    
find the sacrifices men make for the    
,state otherwise inexplicable4 ,the     
,state1 though now ostensibly secular1  
makes more imperious claims on man than 
the ancient gods did4 ,it lays hold of  
life4 ,it asserts its right to take     

father1 brother1 and son1 and to send   
them to meet death in its own defense4  
,it denies them a choice or judgment as 
to whether its action is right or wrong4
 ,right or wrong1 the individual must be
 prepared to give his body for the      
commonwealth1 and when one gives the    
body unresistingly1 one gives the soul  
also4 ,the marvelous thing about the    
authority of the ,state is that it is   
recognized by the vast majority of      
citizens4 ,during eras of peace the     
citizen may be always in conflict with  
the policy of the ,state4 ,he may call  
it a tyranny1 but yet when it is in     
peril he will die to preserve for it an 
immortal life4 ,the hold the ,state     
establishes over the spirit of man is   
the more wonderful when we look rearward
 on history1 and see with what labor and
 sacrifice the ,state was established4  
,but we see also how readily1 once the  
union has been brought about1 men will  
die to preserve it1 even although it is 
a tyranny1 a bad ,state4 ,for what do   

they die unless the spirit in man has   
some inner certitude that the divine    
event to which humanity tends is a unity
 of its multitudinous life1 and that a  
,state--even a bad ,state--must be      
preserved by its citizens1 because it is
 at least an attempt at organic unity8  
,it is a simulacrum of the ideal2 it    
contains the germ or possibility of that
 to which the spirit of man is          
traveling4 ,it disciplines the          
individual in service to that greater   
being in which it will find its         
fulfillment1 and a bad ,state is better 
than no ,state at all4 ,to be without a 
,state is to prowl backwards from the   
divinity before us to the beast behind  
us4  ,the power the ,state exerts is a  
spiritual power1 acting on or through   
the will of man4 ,the volunteer armies  
do not really march to die with more    
readiness than the conscript armies4    
,the sacrifice is not readily explicable
 by material causes4 ,there is no       
material reason why the proletarian--who

 has no property to defend1 who is more 
or less sure as a skilled craftsman of  
employment under any ruler--should      
concern himself whether his ruler be    
,king1 ,kaiser1 or ,president4 ,but not 
one in a hundred proletarians really    
thinks like that4 ,it is not the hope of
 personal profit works upon men to risk 
life4 ,let some exploiter of industry   
desire to employ a thousand men at      
dangerous work1 with the risks of death 
or disablement equal to those of war2   
let it be known that one in six will be 
killed and another be disabled1 and what
 sum will purchase the service of       
workers8 ,they will risk life for the   
,state1 though given a bare subsistence 
or a pay which they would describe as   
inhuman if offered by one of the        
autocrats of industry4 ,men working for 
the ,state will make the most           
extraordinary sacrifices2 but they stand
 stubbornly and sullenly as disturbers  
and blockers of all industry which is   
run for private profit4 ,is it not clear

 of the two policies for the ,state to  
adopt1 to promote personal interests    
among its citizens or to unite men for  
the general good1 that the first path is
 full of danger to the ,state1 while    
through the other men will march        
cheerfully1 though it be to death1 in   
defense of the ,state4 ,something1 a    
real life above the individual1 acts    
through the national being1 and would   
almost suggest to us that ,heaven cannot
 fully manifest its will to humanity    
through the individual1 but must utter  
itself through multitudes4 ,there must  
be an orchestration of humanity ere it  
can echo divine melodies4 ,in real truth
 we are all seeking in the majesties we 
create for union with a greater         
,majesty4  ,i wrote in an earlier page  
that the ancient conception of ,nature  
as a manifestation of spirit was        
incarnating anew in the minds of modern 
thinkers2 that ,nature was no longer    
conceived of as material or static in   
condition1 but as force and continual   

motion2 that they were trying to        
identify human will with this arcane    
energy1 and let the forces of ,nature   
manifest with more power in society4    
,the real nature of these energies      
manifesting in humanity ,i do not know1 
but they have been hinted at in the     
,scriptures1 the oracles of the         
,oversoul1 which speak of the whole     
creation laboring upwards and the entry 
of humanity into the ,divine ,mind1 and 
of the re-introcession of ,that ,itself 
with all ,its myriad unity into ,deity1 
so that ,god might be all in all4 ,i    
believe profoundly that men do not hold 
the ideas of liberty or solidarity1     
which have moved them so powerfully1    
merely as phantasies which are pleasant 
to the soul or make ease for the body2  
but because1 whether they struggle      
passionately for liberty or to achieve a
 solidarity1 in working for these two   
ideals1 which seem in conflict1 they are
 divinely supported1 in unison with the 
divine nature1 and energies as real as  

those the scientist studies--as         
electricity1 as magnetism1 heat or      
light--do descend into the soul and     
reinforce it with elemental energy4 ,we 
are here for the purposes of soul1 and  
there can be no purpose in              
individualizing the soul if essential   
freedom is denied to it and there is    
only a destiny4 ,wherever essential     
freedom1 the right of the spirit to     
choose its own heroes and its own       
ideals1 is denied1 nations rise in      
rebellion4 ,but the spirit in man is    
wrought in a likeness to ,deity1 which  
is that harmony and unity of ,being     
which upholds the universe2 and by the  
very nature of the spirit1 while it     
asserts its freedom1 its impulses lead  
it to a harmony with all life1 to a     
solidarity or brotherhood with it4  ,all
 these ideals of freedom1 of            
brotherhood1 of power1 of justice1 of   
beauty1 which have been at one time or  
another the fundamental idea in         
civilizations1 are heaven-born1 and     

descended from the divine world1        
incarnating first in the highest minds  
in each race1 perceived by them and     
transmitted to their fellow-citizens2   
and it is the emergence or manifestation
 of one or other of these ideals in a   
group which is the beginning of a       
nation2 and the more strongly the ideal 
is held the more powerful becomes the   
national being1 because the synchronous 
vibration of many minds in harmony      
brings about almost unconsciously a     
psychic unity1 a coalescing of the      
subconscious being of many4 ,it is that 
inner unity which constitutes the       
national being4  ,the idea of the       
national being emerged at no            
recognizable point in our history in    
,ireland4 ,it is older than any name we 
know4 ,it is not earth-born1 but the    
synthesis of many heroic and beautiful  
moments1 and these1 it must be          
remembered1 are divine in their origin4 
,every heroic deed is an act of the     
spirit1 and every perception of beauty  

is vision with the divine eye1 and not  
with the mortal sense4 ,the spirit was  
subtly intermingled with the shining of 
old romance1 and it is no mere phantasy 
which shows ,ireland at its dawn in a   
misty light thronged with divine        
figures1 and beneath and nearer to us   
demi-gods and heroes fading into        
recognizable men4 ,the bards took       
cognizance only of the most notable     
personalities who preceded them1 and of 
these only the acts which had a symbolic
 or spiritual significance2 and these   
grew thrice refined as generations of   
poets in enraptured musings along by the
 mountains or in the woods brooded upon 
their heritage of story1 until1 as it   
passed from age to age1 the accumulated 
beauty grew greater than the beauty of  
the hour4 ,the dream began to enter into
 the children of our race1 and turn     
their thoughts from earth to that world 
in which it had its inception4  ,it was 
a common belief among the ancient       
peoples that each had a national genius 

or deity who presided over them1 in     
whose all-embracing mind they were      
contained1 and who was the shepherd of  
their destinies4 ,we can conceive of the
 national spirit in ,ireland as first   
manifesting itself through individual   
heroes or kings1 and as the history of  
famous warriors laid hold of the people1
 extending its influence until it       
created therein the germs of a kindred  
nature4  ,an aristocracy of lordly and  
chivalrous heroes is bound in time to   
create a great democracy by the         
reflection of their character in the    
mass1 and the idea of the divine right  
of kings is succeeded by the idea of the
 divine right of the people4 ,if this   
sequence cannot be traced in any one    
respect with historical regularity1 it  
is because of the complexity of national
 life1 its varied needs1 the            
vicissitudes of history1 and its        
infinite changes of sentiment4 ,but the 
threads are all taken up in the end2 and
 ideals which were forgotten and absent 

from the voices of men will be found1   
when recurred to1 to have grown to a    
rarer and more spiritual beauty in their
 quiet abode in the heart4 ,the seeds   
which were sown at the beginning of a   
race bear their flowers and fruits      
towards its close1 and already antique  
names begin to stir us again with their 
power1 and the antique ideals to        
reincarnate in us and renew their       
dominion over us4  ,they may not be     
recognized at first as a re-emergence of
 ancient moods4 ,the democratic         
economics of the ancient clans have     
vanished almost out of memory1 but the  
mood in which they were established     
reappears in those who would create a   
communal or co-operative life in the    
nation into which those ancient clans   
long since have melted4 ,the instinct in
 the clans to waive aside the weak and  
to seek for an aristocratic and powerful
 character in their leaders reappears in
 the rising generation1 who turn from   
the utterer of platitudes to men of real

 intellect and strong will4 ,the object 
of democratic organization is to bring  
out the aristocratic character in       
leadership1 the vivid original          
personalities who act and think from    
their own will and their own centres1   
who bring down fire from the heaven of  
their spirits and quicken and vivify the
 mass1 and make democracies also to be  
great and fearless and free4 ,a nation  
is dead where men acknowledge only      
conventions4 ,we must find out truth for
 ourselves1 becoming first initiates and
 finally masters in the guild of life4  
,the intellect of ,ireland is in chains 
where it ought to be free1 and we have  
individualism in our economics which    
ought to be co-ordinated and sternly    
disciplined out of the iniquity of free 
profiteering4 ,to quicken the intellect 
and imagination of ,ireland1 to         
co-ordinate our economic life for the   
general good1 should be the objects of  
national policy1 and will subserve the  
evolutionary purpose4 ,the free         

imagination and the aspiring mind alone 
climb into the higher spheres and       
deflect for us the ethereal currents4   
,it is the multitude of aristocratic    
thinkers who give glory to a people and 
make them of service to other nations1  
and it is by the character of the social
 order and the quality of brotherhood in
 it our civilization will endure4       
,without love we are nothing4      ,,xx4
    ,i beseech audience from the        
churches for these thoughts on our      
,irish polity1 and would recall to them 
their early history1 how when the fiery 
spirit of their ,lord first manifested  
on earth1 life1 near to ,it1 reflected  
,it as in a glowing glass1 and impulses 
of true living arose4 ,material         
possessions were held in common4 ,there 
was no fierce talk of ,thine and ,mine4 
,his ancient law counseled poverty to   
the spirit1 lest the gates of ,paradise 
should grow narrow before it like the   
eye of a needle4 ,i believe the fading  
hold the heavens have over the world is 

due to the neglect of the economic basis
 of spiritual life4 ,what profound      
spiritual life can there be when the    
social order almost forces men to battle
 with each other for the means of       
existence8 ,i know well that no         
political mechanics1 nothing which is an
 economic device only1 will of          
themselves be able to affect the        
transfiguration of society and bring it 
under the dominion of the spirit4 ,for  
that1 a far higher quality of thought   
and action than is here indicated is    
necessary4 ,the economist can provide   
the daily bread1 but that bread of the  
coming day which ,christ wished his     
followers to aspire to must come        
otherwise4 ,that should be the labor of 
the poets1 artists1 musicians1 and of   
the heroic and aristocratic characters  
who provide by their life an image to   
which life can be modeled4 ,therefore ,i
 beseech audience not only of the       
churches1 but of the poets1 writers1 and
 thinkers of ,ireland for their aid in  

this labor4 ,they alone can create in   
wide commonalty the ideals which can    
dominate society4 ,it is the work of the
 artist to create for us images of      
desirable life1 to manifest to us the   
ideal humanity1 and to prefigure that   
vaster entity which ,i have called the  
national being4 ,i said in an earlier   
page that part of the failure of        
,ireland must be laid to the poets who  
had dropped out of the divine procession
 and sang a solitary song2 to the       
writers who had turned from             
contemplating the great to the portrayal
 of the little in human nature4 ,i know 
how difficult it is to constrain the    
spirit1 and how futile it is to ask     
artists or poets to create what they are
 not inspired to create4 ,but we can ask
 all men--artists1 poets1 litterateurs1 
and scientists--to be citizens1 and if  
they realize imaginatively the spiritual
 conception of the ,state1 we may assume
 that this imaginative realization of   
the ,state will influence the labors of 

the mind1 and what is done will1        
consciously or unconsciously1 have      
reference to that collective being which
 must dominate society more and more1   
which will dominate it as a tyranny if  
we fail in our labors1 or liberate and  
make more majestical the spirit of man  
if we imagine rightly4 ,all greatness is
 brought about by a conspiracy of the   
imagination and the will4 ,our          
literature certainly manifests beauty1  
but not greatness or majesty1 for       
majesty only arises where there is an   
orchestration of humanity by some mighty
 conductor2 and as a people we shall    
never manifest the highest qualities in 
literature or life until we are under   
the dominion of one1 at least1 of the   
great fundamental ideas which have been 
the inspiration of races4 ,our          
feebleness arises from our economic     
individualism4 ,we continually          
neutralize each other's efforts4 ,yet   
there is no less power in humanity today
 than there ever was4 ,we see now       

clearly what untamed elemental fires lay
 underneath the seeming placidity of the
 world4 ,there was a feeling in society 
that1 just as the earth itself had      
settled down to be a habitable globe1   
and was forgetting its ancient          
ferocities of earthquake that opened up 
gulfs between land and land and rended  
sea from sea1 so1 too1 humanity was     
losing those wilder energies we surmised
 in the cave-dweller or the hunters of  
mastodon1 mammoth1 and cave-tiger4 ,but 
it was all a dream--a dream1 we suspect1
 about the earth as well as about       
humanity4 ,while we indulged in these   
pleasing speculations on society1 the   
scientists of our generation were       
placing beyond question or argument the 
doctrine of the indestructibility of    
energy and matter and we may be sure    
that while there is immortal life there 
must be immortal energies as its        
companions through time1 and they will  
never be less powerful than they are    
today or were in the morning of the     

world4 ,there will be no weakening of   
that mighty ,god-begotten brotherhood of
 elemental powers2 and1 while we cannot 
hope that by the wastage of time these  
powers will be feebler1 we may hope that
 by an understanding of them we may get 
mastery over them4 ,the wild elephant of
 the woods1 with a greater strength than
 man's1 has yet been trained to be his  
servant1 and that arcane power we call  
electricity1 which1 if it shoots out of 
its channel1 shrivels up the body of    
man1 is now our servant4 ,so we may     
hope1 too1 that the elemental energies  
in humanity itself1 which break out in  
wars and ,armageddons1 will come under  
control4 ,we should not hope that man   
will ever be a less powerful being4 ,to 
hope that would be to wish for his      
degradation4 ,we should wish him to     
become ever more and more powerful by   
understanding himself1 and by the unity 
of the spiritual faculties and the      
elemental energies in him into one      
harmonious whole4 ,at present he is     

feeble because he is1 to use the        
scriptural illustration1 a house divided
 against itself4  ,our feebleness is due
 to the conflict of powers in us and our
 conflict with each other4 ,get the two 
mightiest bulls in a herd1 put them     
opposing each other in a narrow passage1
 and they1 being of equal strength1 will
 reduce each other to feebleness4       
,neither will make headway4 ,let them   
unite together in their charge1 and what
 will oppose them8 ,men at conflict in  
their own hearts1 opposing each other in
 the world1 reduce themselves and each  
other to wretchedness4 ,the race which  
could eliminate the factors which       
promote internal conflict in society and
 could organize human energies in       
harmony1 would be powerful beyond our   
wildest dreams4 ,every now and then in  
world-history we come across instances  
of what organized humanity could        
accomplish4 ,there are fragments of an  
architecture so majestic that they awe  
us as the high rocks of nature do1 and  

they seem almost like portions of nature
 itself1 and truly they are so1 being   
portions of nature remade by man1 who is
 also a nature energy of divine origin4 
,europe by its conflicts today is       
reducing itself to barbarism and        
powerlessness1 and these conflicts arose
 out of the internal conflicts in       
society1 for individuals and nations act
 outside themselves as they act inside  
themselves4 ,the problem for ,europe is 
to create a harmonious life1 and it is  
the problem for us in ,ireland1 and we  
will have to work this out for          
ourselves4 ,the creation of a harmonious
 life among a people must come from     
within4 ,it can never come by the       
imposition of an external law imposed by
 another people3 ,never did master and  
slave work in true unison1 no matter how
 benevolent the master or how yielding  
the slave1 for there is in every man1 no
 matter what his condition1 a spark of  
divine life1 and it will always be ready
 to stir him out of subjection1 as the  

fires of earthquake lie below the       
cultivated plain4 ,man is a creature who
 has free will1 and it is by            
self-devised and self-checked efforts he
 will attain his full human stature4 ,so
 the problem of creating an organic life
 in ,ireland1 a harmony of our people1 a
 union of their efforts for the common  
good and for the manifestation of       
whatever beauty1 majesty1 and           
spirituality is in us1 must be one we   
ourselves must solve for ourselves4  ,to
 be indifferent to the possibilities of 
human life1 to ignore the problem1 is to
 turn our back on heaven1 which         
fashioned the spirit of man in its      
image4 ,if the spirit of man has        
likeness to ,deity1 it means that if it 
manifests itself fully in the world1 the
 world too becomes a shadowy likeness of
 the heavens1 and our civilizations will
 make a harmony with the diviner        
spheres4 ,we give still a service of lip
 belief to the ,scriptures1 yet active  
faith we have not4 ,but they are true1  

yesterday1 today1 and for ever2 and we  
have still the root of the matter in us1
 for when any one utters out of profound
 conviction his faith1 there are always 
multitudes ready to respond4 ,what      
really prevents an organic unity in     
,ireland is the economic individualism  
of our lives4 ,the science of economics 
deals with the efforts of men to mine   
out of nature the food1 minerals1 and   
materials necessary to preserve life4   
,there is nothing more certain than that
 where men work alone or only with the  
aid of their families they are little   
higher than the animals4 ,when they tend
 to unite civilization begins4 ,then    
arise the towers1 the temples1 the      
cities1 the achievements of the         
architect and engineer4 ,the earth is   
tapped of its arcane energies1 the very 
air yields to us its mysterious powers4 
,we control the etheric waves and send  
the message of our deeds across the     
ocean4 ,yet in the midst of these vast  
external manifestations of power1       

multitudes of men and women live in     
squalor1 isolated in their labors1      
living in the slums of cities2 and this1
 if we examine it1 comes about because  
the organization of human energies into 
a harmonious unity is not complete4     
,there is really no lack of food1       
clothing1 building material1 land4      
,nature has provided bountifully for    
more myriads than we are likely to see  
peopling the earth4 ,but people compete 
with each other and undersell each      
other1 and those who labor are mulcted  
of their due1 and instead of turning to 
the earth--the inexhaustible mother--and
 working unitedly for the common weal1  
they continue that fierce competition   
and stultify each other's efforts and   
reduce each other to wretchedness4      
,humanity is a house divided against    
itself4 ,those who feel this to be true 
must gather round any movement which    
gives a hope for the future1 which      
indicates a policy by which the organic 
unity of society in ,ireland might be   

attained1 and our people work           
harmoniously to make beauty and health  
prevail in our civilization4 ,what each 
gives up to society in the making of a  
civilization he gets back a             
thousandfold4 ,now1 the co-operative    
movement alone of all movements in      
,ireland has aspired to make an economic
 solidarity in ,ireland4 ,whatever the  
aims of other movements may be--and many
 of them have high ideals and are       
necessary for the spiritual and         
intellectual development of our         
people--there is none of them which has 
for aim the unity of economic life4     
,they all leave untouched this          
problem--how are we to organize society 
so that people will not be in conflict  
with each other1 will not nullify each  
other's efforts1 but all will conspire  
together for unity1 so that none shall  
be forgotten or oppressed or left out of
 our brotherhood8 ,the policy ,i put    
forward is incomplete and imperfect1 and
 it must necessarily be so1 being mainly

 the work of one mind1 and to complete  
it and perfect it there must be many    
minds and many workers fired by the     
ideal4 ,but ,i have indicated in some   
completeness how the rural population   
could be co-operatively organized1      
federated together1 and how the urban   
population could be organized and       
brought into a harmony of economic      
purpose with the folk of the country4   
,within the limits of object these      
suggestions amount to a policy for the  
nation4  ,if the tragic condition of the
 world leaves us unstirred1 if we draw  
no lessons from it1 if there is no fiery
 stirring of will in ,ireland to make it
 a better place to live in1 then indeed 
we may lose hope for our country4 ,let  
us remember the most scornful           
condemnation in ,scripture was not given
 to the evil but to the indifferent3    
,because thou art neither hot nor cold  
,i will spew thee out of my mouth4 ,let 
us not be the ,laodiceans of ,europe1   
listless and indifferent to human needs1

 swallowing our whisky and our porter1  
stupefying our souls1 while our poor are
 sweated2 letting the children of our   
cities die with more carelessness about 
life than the people of any other       
,european country1 with sectarian       
organization's crawling in secrecy like 
poisonous serpents through the          
undergrowth of swamps and forests4 ,the 
co-operative movement is at least open  
and ideal in its aims and objects4 ,it  
is national and not sectional4 ,it seeks
 the triumph of no section but the unity
 of our people1 where unity alone is    
possible4 ,our intransigents and        
extremists of all parties are not hurt  
or wounded by their adhesion to the     
co-operative ideal4 ,we may make up our 
minds that the stubborn ,irish          
temperament will never be overcome1 but 
it may be won1 and the movement which   
invites all parties and creeds into its 
ranks and gives them the largest        
opportunities of working together and   
understanding each other1 gives also the

 largest hope of the gradual melting of 
old bitterness into a common tolerance  
where what is best essentially wins2 for
 all true triumphs are triumphs not of  
force1 but the conquest by a superior   
beauty of what is less beautiful4 ,we   
should aim at a society where people    
will be at harmony in their economic    
life1 will readily listen to different  
opinions from their own1 will not turn  
sour faces on those who do not think as 
they do1 but will1 by reason and        
sympathy1 comprehend each other and come
 at last1 through sympathy and          
affection1 to a balancing of their      
diversities1 as in that multitudinous   
diversity1 which is the universe1 powers
 and dominions and elements are         
balanced1 and are guided harmoniously by
 the ,shepherd of the ,ages4   ,,the    
,,end