Note 453 — Chapter II · : SAINT-SIMON, THE SAINT-SIMONIANS, AND THE BEGINNINGS OF COLLECTIVISM

“Under the old régime men were considered inferior to things,” according to a brochure entitled Des Bourbons et des Stuarts (1822; Œuvres choisies, vol. ii, p. 447). “The object of the new system will be to extend man’s hold over things.” (Œuvres, vol. iv, p. 81.) “In the present state of education what the nation wants is not more government, but more cheap administration.” (Syst. indust., Œuvres, vol. v, p. 181.) Engels, in his book written in reply to Eugen Dühring, makes use of identical terms in speaking of the socialist régime. “When the administration of things and the direction of the processes of production take the place of the governing of persons the State will not merely be abolished: it will be dead.” (Philosophie, Économie politique, Socialisme, French translation by Laskine, p. 361; Paris, 1911.)