JAURÈS
The economic civil war, the social war, will continue—sometimes visibly, sometimes covertly, sometimes violently, sometimes sullenly, but always with the same sufferings, the same exasperation, the same iniquity, so long as the world of production be disputed by two antagonistic forces. There is no means—hear what I say, gentlemen—to reconcile definitely these two forces. You may palliate the strife, you may soften the shocks, but you can not remove the abiding, fundamental, antagonism resulting from the privilege of property itself. There is but one means to abolish this antagonism, and that is to reabsorb capital in labor—to make but one possessive and controlling force, the creative force of labor.
If ever there was an object of public utility, this is one; if ever there was an object, an interest which justifies the intervention of the law in the transformation of property, this is that object, this is that interest. It is idle for you to smile or jeer, for it is we who are in the right when we say to you: After having made use of the law of expropriation on the ground of public utility for the benefit of capital, after having put
pause and ask his auditors if it was their intention to make his task physically impossible. Jaurès finally descended from the tribune amid a storm of plaudits from his own party. His speech, by its rhetorical splendor, its sincerity and enthusiasm, its lofty tone and fervor of conception, made a profound impression not only in France but throughout the world. The accompanying extracts are from the second day's oration, as translated for this collection by Scott Robinson.
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