“The opponents of socialism often denounce it, as a chiméra, a fantasy of uncontrolled imagination, a utopia, an irrational dream. At the same time, without realising the basic contradiction, they state that socialism is a return to the past, the resurrection of an already outdated social system. (…)  However if humankind passed through the stage of socialism, which was more or less a social structure that was based upon common possession and production, then the idea of socialism relives a reality, and not a mere fantasy. Humankind lived in socialism for millions of years. Thus with a clear and honest mind it cannot be repudiated as the dream of some crazy idealists. The fact that socialism existed for a long time, demonstrates its` vitality. It is not a dream, but a real possibility.

In fact all historians, anthropologists, sociologists and economists admit and confirm the existence of a primitive form of communism or socialism as a more or less general phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of human beings still live now in such social systems that go through changes and new modifications day by day. 

Henry Sumner Maine, Maurer, Emile de Laveley, Haxthausen, Morgan, Maxime Kowalewsky and their followers all affirm that an early form of communism existed. Their opponents, Fustel de Coulanges, Claudio Jannet, E. Belot and others, can only put this into doubt by demonstrating particular cases. Yet they do not deny the historical fact of communism, just challenge the general character of it.”