thus I have piled up a quantity of such money, and what do I do with it? I bring it to the city and give it to the poor here on condition that they satisfy all my whims, that they come after me into the city to clean the sidewalks for me, and to make me lamps, shoes, and so forth, in the factories. With my money I take all their products to myself, and I take pains to give them as little as possible and get from them as much as possible for it. And then all at once, quite unexpectedly, I begin to distribute to the poor this same money gratis--not to all, but arbitrarily to any whom I happen to take up at random";[1091] that is, I take from the poor thousands of rubles with one hand, and with the other I distribute to some of them a few kopeks.[1092] 2. The dominion which property involves, of possessors over non-possessors, is based on physical force. "If the vast wealth that the laborers have piled up ranks not as the property of all, but only as that of an elect few,--if the power of raising taxes from labor and using them at pleasure is reserved to some men,--this is not based on the fact that the people want to have it so or that by nature it must be so, but on the fact that the ruling classes see their advantage in it and determine it so by virtue of their power over men's bodies";[1093] it is based on "violence and slaying and the threat thereof."[1094] "If men hand over the greatest part of the product of their labor to the capitalist or landlord, though they, as do all laborers now, hold this to be unjust,"[1095] they do it "only because they know they will be beaten and killed if they do not."[1096] "One may even say outright that in our society, in which to every well-to-do man living an aristocratic life there are ten weary, ravenous, envious laborers, probably pining away with wife and children too, all the privileges of the rich, all their luxury and their abundance, are acquired and secured only by chastisement, imprisonment, and capital punishment."[1097] Property is upheld by the police[1098] and the army.[1099] "We may act as if we did not see the policeman walking up and down before the window with loaded revolver to protect us while we eat a savory meal or look at a new play, and as if we had no inkling of the soldiers who are every moment ready to go with rifle and cartridges where any one tries to infringe on our property. Yet we well know, if we can finish our meal and see the new play in peace, if we can drive out or hunt or attend a festival or a race undisturbed, we have to thank for this only the policeman's bullet and the soldier's weapon, which are ready to pierce the poor victim of hunger who looks upon our enjoyments from his corner with grumbling stomach, and who would at once disturb them if the policeman with his revolver went away, or if in the barracks there were no longer any soldiers standing ready to appear at our first call."[1100]