I know that there is ahead the mortal struggle for property.
I know that the ownership of property has become, now, a problem, a religious problem. But it is one we can solve.
I know I want to own a few things: my personal things. But I also know that I want to own no more than those. I don’t want to own a house, nor land, nor a motor-car, nor shares in anything. I don’t want a fortune—not even an assured income.
At the same time, I don’t want poverty and hardship. I know I need enough money to leave me free in my movements, and I want to be able to earn that money without humiliation.
I know that most decent people feel very much the same in this respect: and the indecent people must, in their indecency, be subordinated to the decent.
I know that we could, if we would, establish little by little a true democracy in England: we could nationalise the land and industries and means of transport, and make the whole thing work infinitely better than at present, if we would. It all depends on the spirit in which the thing is done.
I know we are on the brink of a class war.
I know we had all better hang ourselves at once, than enter on a struggle which shall be a fight for the ownership or non-ownership of property, pure and simple, and nothing beyond.
I know the ownership of property is a problem that may have to be fought out. But beyond the fight must lie a new hope, a new beginning.
I know our vision of life is all wrong. We must be prepared to have a new conception of what it means, to live. And everybody should try to help to build up this new conception, and everybody should be prepared to destroy, bit by bit, our old conception.
I know that man cannot live by his own will alone. With his soul, he must search for the sources of the power of life. It is life we want.
