Mr. de Saint-Cricq would extend his philanthropy only to some of the industrial groups; he would demand that the law control the consumers to benefit the producers.
Mr. Considerant would sponsor the cause of the labor groups; he would use the law to secure for them a guaranteed minimum of clothing, housing, food, and all other necessities of life.
Mr. Louis Blanc would say- and with reason- that these minimum guarantees are merely the beginning of complete fraternity; he would say that the law should give tools of production and free education to all working people.
Another person would observe that this arrangement would still leave room for inequality; he would claim that the law should give to everyone- even in the most inaccessible hamlet- luxury, literature, and art.
All of these proposals are the high road to communism; legislation will then be- in fact, it already is- the battlefield for the fantasies and greed of everyone.
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Chicago: Claude Frédéric Bastiat, "The High Road to Communism," The Law Original Sources, accessed July 11, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=48DJJCI6TBQC5FS.
MLA: Bastiat, Claude Frédéric. "The High Road to Communism." The Law, Original Sources. 11 Jul. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=48DJJCI6TBQC5FS.
Harvard: Bastiat, CF, 'The High Road to Communism' in The Law. Original Sources, retrieved 11 July 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=48DJJCI6TBQC5FS.