Between himself and the needy
he never makes other than the most unjust contracts. Sole possessor
of land, capital and the necessities of life, he imposes conditions
which others, deprived of means, are forced to accept at the risk of
starvation; he speculates at his discretion on wants which cannot be
put off, and makes the most of his monopoly by maintaining the poor in
their destitute situations. That is why, writes Saint Just:[45]
"Opulence is a disgrace; for every thousand livres expenditure of
this kind a smaller number of natural or adopted children can be
looked after." -
"The richest Frenchman," says Robespierre, "ought not to have now more
three thousand livres rental." -
Beyond what is strictly necessary, no property is legitimate; we have
the right to take the superfluous wherever we find it. Not only to-
day, because we now require it for the State and for the poor, but at
all times, because the superfluous, in all times, confers on its owner
an advantage in contracts, a control of wages, an arbitrary power over
the means of living, in short, a supremacy of condition worse than
preeminence in rank. Consequently, our hand is not only against the
nobles, but also against the rich and well-to-do bourgeois[46] the
large land-owners and capitalists; we are going to demolish their
crafty feudalism from top to bottom.
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