...I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few...

Art is the expression of man's pleasure in labour.

Simplement parce les grandes oeuvres d'art, celles qui envahissent toute la vie, doivent résulter de la coopération harmonieuse entre voisins. Or, un homme riche n'a pas de voisins, mais des rivaux et des parasites.

Telle est la position de l'art de nos jours. Il est sans défense et fragilisé au milieu de l'océan de la brutalité utilitaire.

En d'autres termes, au lieu de considérer l'art comme un luxe accessoire pour une classe privilégiée, le socialiste revendique l'art comme une nécessité de la vie humaine dont la société n'a le droit de priver auun de ses citoyens. Il revendique aussi le droit pour chaque citoyen de se consacrer au travail qui lui convient le mieux.

...if these hours be dark, as indeed in many ways they are, at least do not let us sit deedless, like fools and fine gentlemen, thinking the common toil not good enough for us, and beaten by the muddle; but rather let us work like good fellows trying by some dim candle-light to set our workshop ready against to-morrow's daylight...

History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.

So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on; and if that system is to last for ever, then art is doomed, and will surely die; that is to say, civilization will die.

If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.