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HARISATYA BHATTÍCHÅRTA
on their bare heads. There is, again, a third class of men, the so-called middle class people, whose lives are a continuous tale of poe and discontent; in society, they have got to put up the appearance of the wealthy section of the community, whereas, in reality, they are as poor, if not poorer than the labour class. The condition of a middle class man, a' Bhadra-lok' as he is ordinarily called,-18 really a miserable one, in 48 much as in addition to all the difficulties of a work-man, he has to struggle hard ceaselessly, for passing for what he is not.
Really it is a strange time, we are living in !
Is then the world leading towards a ruin? The answer is assuredly Yes',-1f a solution of the snequalities is not to be found and worked out as Boon as possible. There can be no difference of opinion about this that the solution lies in the establishment of a social order in which articles of livelihood will not be beyond the reach of any of the meanest in any way. Io other words, the state of the society should be made such that the poor in it would not be deprived of their meals and other necessaries of life.
The extreme revolutionary view in this connection has been that the needy and the hungry, the exploted m888,- should openly rise up and snatch away the riches of the rich, by force. This may be one way of doing away with the inequality of the wealth-distribution, but this would be temporary solution after all and can only establish a reign of terror.
A more reasoned-out and circumspent suggestion has been to vest all wealth in the state. It 18 said that if this measure be fully worked out, it would take away the excess wealth froin the hands of the rich and distribute it among all the people equally and in accordance with their needs, irrespective of their manke, status and tradition. This 19 not the place to make a critical examination of this view. This suggestion 18 said to bave been acutally worked out in some of the present day European countries, though the considered opwiod of many is that even in those countries, the carrying out of the measure has not yet reached compeletion, but is still in the stage of experimentation,
One thing that is often urged against the above measure 18 the apprehen81on that it would blow out all feelings of individual freedom In a country in which the state determines what one is to do or not to do or how much one is to get, the individual has not liberty of action. And a man deprived of his freedom of choice and action 18 in no way better than a conscious automation,
The question thus recurs -How to let the poor live and yet, not to interfere with any one's liberty?'
One of the founders of the present day socialism suggested that every nan at a certain stage of his life should say it to himself,-"Here I will stop: that which I have already corned is enough and I shall not try to get more.
