perform it better than others, sacrifices his own profit for the
satisfaction of the direct demands made upon him. Only on condition
of such a view of labor, and of the natural division of labor
arising from it, is that curse which is laid upon our idea of labor
abrogated, and does every sort of work becomes always a joy; because
a man will either perform that labor which is undoubtedly useful and
joyous, and not dull, or he will possess the consciousness of self-
abnegation in the fulfilment of more difficult and restricted toil,
which he exercises for the good of others.

But the division of labor is more profitable. More profitable for
whom? It is more profitable in making the greatest possible
quantity of calico, and boots in the shortest possible time. But
who will make these boots and this calico? There are people who,
for whole generations, make only the heads of pins. Then how can
this be more profitable for men? If the point lies in manufacturing
as much calico and as many pins as possible, then this is so. But
the point concerns men and their welfare. And the welfare of men
lies in life. And life is work. How, then, can the necessity for
burdensome, oppressive toil be more profitable for people? For all
men, that one thing is more profitable which I desire for myself,--
the utmost well-being, and the gratification of all those
requirements, both bodily and spiritual, of the conscience and of
the reason, which are imposed upon me. And in my own case I have
found, that for my own welfare, and for the satisfaction of these
needs of mine, all that I require is to cure myself of that folly in
which I had been living, in company with the Krapivensky madman, and
which consisted in presupposing that some people need not work, and
that certain other people should direct all this, and that I should
therefore do only that which is natural to man, i.e., labor for the