166 THE POVERTY OF PHILOSOPHY
monopolists are made by competition, the competitors become monopolists. If the monopolists restrict competi- tion among themselves by partial association, competition grows among the workers; and the more the mass of the workers grows as against the monopolists of one nation, the more keen becomes the competition between the monopolists of different nations. The synthesis is such that monopoly can only maintain itself by contin- ually passing through the struggle of competition.
In order to dialectically engender the imposts which follow monopoly, M. Proudhon talks to us of the social genius who, after having intrepidly pursued his zigzag route, “after having marched with a firm step, without regret and without halting, and having arrived at the angle of monopoly, casts a melancholy glance backward, and, after profound reflection, fixes imposts on all objects of production, and creates an entire administrative organisation, in order that all employment should be delivered to the proletariat and be paid by the men of monopoly.”
What is to be said of this genius, who being fasting,
walks zigzag? And what is to be said of this promenade which has no other end than to demolish the bourgeoisie by imposts, while these imposts serve precisely to give the bourgeoisie the means of conserving its position as the dominant class? In order to get a glimpse of the manner in which M. Proudhon treats economic details, it will suffice to say that, according to him, the impost on articles of consumption must have been established with a view to equality. and in order to render assistance to the prole- ariat.
Imposts on articles of consumption have only had heir true development since the advent of the bour-
