He saw,
however, in the proletariat a powerful army against prevailing
conditions. He could trace among the discontented masses the
possession of the crude vigor which the Nihilists wanted, to crush
the old edifices of the State and society, and it was this which
interested him in the movement and its literature. He knew the last
accurately, and initiated Wilhelm into it, and so the latter learned
all about socialism, its opinions of the philosophy of production,
its theories and promises. He learned also that sects had already
been formed within this new faith, which the revelations of the
socialistic prophets explained differently; and that they furiously
hated each other, and were as much at enmity as if they were a State
Church with a privileged priesthood, benefices, property and power.
The complaints of the proletariat appeared to Wilhelm of doubtful
value. In every age there were economic fevers, which were not
caused by misery, but by discontent and wastefulness, and if he saw
a workman staggering through the streets, his legs tottering beneath
him, he guessed that his weakness was not caused by hunger, but by
beer or spirits. He understood that mankind believed in an unbroken
work of development within nature, and in their own self-
cultivation.
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