ABSTRACT
The evolution of societies is subject to factors of three orders: political, economic, and psychological. The political factors comprise the laws and institutions. Theorists of every kind, and the modern Socialists, generally accord to these a very great importance. The economic factors have an immense importance. Very feeble at a period when the nations lived in isolation, when the divers industries hardly varied from century to century, these factors have ended by acquiring a pre-eminent influence. The factors of the psychological order, such as race, beliefs, and opinions, have also a considerable importance. In order to comprehend the force of Socialism it must be considered as a belief, and the authors discover it to be founded on a very secure psychologic basis. Socialism is certainly a reaction of the collectivity against the individual: a return to the past. Individualism and Collectivism are, two opposing forces, which tend, if not to annihilate, at least to paralyse one another.
