Again, formerly there would have been the most insolent differences in
costume. Some of the men used to wear broadcloth, sleek and smooth,
with glossy hats and gloves, and flowers at their button-hole; while
beside them crawled the wretched half-clad objects pretending to sell
matches, but in reality begging for their bread. And some of the women
used to flaunt in dainty and expensive stuffs, setting off their
supposed charms (which were mostly made by the dress-maker's art)
with the curves and colors of their drapery. And beside them would be
crawling the wretched creatures to whom in the summer, when the days
were hot and fine, the Park was their only home, and rusty black their
only wear.
Now, no activity at all; no hurrying, no laughing, not even any
talking. That might have struck a visitor as one of the most remarkable
results of our system. No foolish talking. As for their dress, it
was all alike. The men wore blue flannel jackets and trousers, with
a flannel shirt and a flat blue cap; for the working hours they had
a rougher dress. The women wore a costume in gray, made of a stuff
called beige. It is a useful stuff, because it wears well; it is soft
and yet warm, and cannot be objected to by any of them on the score of
ugliness. What mutinies, what secret conspiracies, what mad revolts
had to be faced before the women could be made to understand that
Socialism--the only form of society which can now be accepted--must
be logical and complete! What is one woman more than another that she
should separate herself from her sisters by her dress? Therefore, since
their subjugation they all wear a gray beige frock, with a jacket of
the same, and a flat gray cap, like the men's, under which they are
made to gather up their hair.
This scene, indeed--the gathering of the People before the
supper-bell--is one of which I never tire. I look at all the eager,
hurrying swifts in the air, I remember the Past; and I think of the
Present when I gaze upon the great multitude, in which no one regardeth
his neighbor, none speaks to none. There are no individual aims, but
all is pure, unadulterated Socialism, with--not far distant--the
Ultimate Triumph of Science!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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