But it cannot be a parliament having rights equal to those of a political parliament. * * * * * Such are the objections put forward by democrats against the institution of a Chamber of Labour, and their force cannot be denied. But the champions of an economic parliament reply with vigour. These objections, say they, all take the point of view of _formal democracy_, that is to say, the point of view that considers only the external forms of democracy, which contents itself with a purely theoretical equality of right and equality between citizens corresponding not at all to the facts of reality, which reduce this equality to nothing. To this form of democracy, to-day condemned by reality, there must be opposed _real democracy_, in which one takes into account the special rôle which certain elements in the life of a nation play. Formal democracy has been fully realized by giving all men and women the right to vote. That is not enough. In a modern democracy public economy must be given its proper place, which is in the forefront. Producers, as such, must play the preponderant rôle in the state, for the other members of the community live only as parasites on their labour, and the state does not exist except by the labor of the producers. No decision can be taken in a state if it is not accepted by the producers; the latter must be the touchstone of all decisions. It is not because of their technical competence that producers are proposed as the constituents of a special chamber. _It is because they judge things from the point of view of production_, which in a modern democracy should count more than any other. It is not a question of abolishing the political parliament, but of placing in juxtaposition to it an economic parliament through which the voice of the producers can be heard and by which the ideology of the politicians can be corrected by the realism of men of affairs. No division of competence between the two parliaments in such a way that only social and economic questions shall be submitted to the Chamber of Labour can be admitted. This distinction between political affairs and economic affairs is a pure impossibility, for economy, politics and general culture form a unity which must be respected. It is on production, on “creation” that the existence of the people and all its material and intellectual life rests. The two parliaments therefore should have equal power to study these questions. They must also have equal rights. To give the economic chamber only the right to draw up reports and give advice, and even to oppose its veto only, would be entirely insufficient and would not correspond to the primary rôle which the producers play in the life of a nation.