Paris in the Year 2000

by Tony Moilin

  Deportation to Algeria is not, strictly speaking, true deportation, but rather a means of rapidly colonizing that beautiful country. The exiles who are sent there are not subjected to any surveillance, and can exercise their professions freely. As the acts they have committed are sufficiently pardonable, they are made welcome by the Arab populations, who are not afflicted with any great honesty themselves, and, as is well-known, practice theft and murder on a grand scale.

  Thanks to their industry and intelligence, the deportees placed in that new environment rapidly succeed in gathering possessions, and then, far from thinking of stealing from others, think of nothing but defending their wealth and their lives against the attacks of the indigenes. Among the Arabs, however, punishments are more severe than in France, and, although futile and costly prisons have been abolished there, the death penalty has been retained and is frequently applied.

  In a few years, that emigration of citizens sentenced by our courts had made Algeria a truly French territory, as prosperous in its agriculture as its industry, where no more crimes were committed than under the old regime. For its part, carefully expurgated of all the inhabitants who did not want to comply with its laws, France has become the most honest country in the world; crimes are becoming rarer there every day, and it is hoped that they might one day disappear entirely, and the courts can be abolished.

  Deportation to Guyana is imposed on all individuals guilty of serious and infamous crimes.

  Once they have arrived at their destination, the deportees are closely supervised to begin with, and then, if their conduct is satisfactory, they are released. Then they establish themselves in the country, working at their profession, marrying between themselves, and, if their own rehabilitation is never complete, at least their children can become honest citizens and contribute to the prosperity of the colony.

  As for hardened criminals who do not want to behave decently, they are treated as furious lunatics and kept locked up until they die.

  But let us return to the assize courts that judge crimes. Each of them is composed of ten jurors chosen by lot and by a criminal magistrate who directs the discussion, interrogates the accused and the witnesses and passes sentence.

  That judge, aided by his secretary, first examines the case, determines whether there are grounds to continue, and assembles the elements of the evidence. Two Government advocates are charged, one with presenting the defense of the accused, the other with demonstrating his guilt. These two advocates are absolutely equal in rank and prerogatives, and if the tribunal makes any allowances, they are for the defense.

  After the interrogation of the accused, hearing the witnesses and the advocates’ speeches, the jury confers and renders its verdict, and the judge, applying the law as read, pronounces a sentence in conformity with the jury’s decision. Accused persons found not guilty are immediately set free and the others are expelled from France forever and must spend the rest of their lives either in Algeria or Guyana.

  6. National Rewards

  Although the Government strives to render the necessity of punishing the guilty rarer, it multiplies, by contrast, opportunities to provide national rewards to those who merit them.

  These national rewards are very numerous.

  To begin with, there are prizes that are distributed every year to young pupils who have distinguished themselves by their application and their success in examinations. These sorts of prizes are of great importance, and the Minister of Public Education makes sure that they are awarded with the most scrupulous impartiality. Not only do they reward the work of studious children and encourage them to persist in their efforts, but they are useful to young people subsequently, when it is a matter of finding positions and making use of their aptitudes in some profession or other.

  The prizes that are given out in schools are, therefore, serious national rewards, and are considered as such by the pupils. In order to acquire them, the students work ardently all year, and hold in high esteem those who obtain considerable success, regarding them as their natural leaders.

  National rewards have similarly been instituted in the model workshops, which are distributed every year to young apprentices who have attracted attention by the assiduity of their work and the precocity of their skills. These apprenticeship prizes are preciously-worked tools of honor, engraved with the names of those who have obtained them.

  When young people have become working adults, the Government still continues to treat them as children and reward their hard work and intelligence, except that the prizes given change their form, and it is no longer books or tools that are awarded to the winners but gold, silver and bronze medals.

  Every year, in each département, competitions and exhibitions are held for all the products of Industry, Agriculture and Fine Arts. Committees appointed by the legislative body examine all the exhibited objects attentively and assess the value of new inventions. Above all, they carefully investigate who really deserves credit for products judged worth of recompense—whether it is the employer, the worker, or both, and he medals are awarded in consequence. Thus, simple artisans and modest cultivators frequently win national rewards, of which they are extremely proud, because they testify to their skill and place them above their undecorated comrades.

  In addition to départemental exhibitions, there is an annual general competition in Paris for one of the branches of Industry: furniture, clothing, metalwork, livestock, cereals, etc. Only those who have already been awarded medals by their départements are admitted to these competitions. The winners are given large so-called medals of honor , much sought after because they put those who obtain them at the head of French labor.

  There are acts of devotion and courage that merit national rewards, even though those who have performed them have acted with the purest disinterest. Committees drawn from the legislative body are charged with seeking out all the citizens who have distinguished themselves by some heroic action and awarding them special medals, which they attach to their chests in such a manner as to put their personal courage in evidence.

  Of all these national rewards, however, the one that is most sought after and most highly esteemed, the one that everyone desires to have, is the award known as “the Republic.”

  It is a little golden jewel representing the image of the Republic, which can easily be worn on the body by attaching it with a red ribbon. That jewel serves to reward all those citizens who have been a credit to the fatherland and have distinguished themselves either by some work of striking merit or by long devotion to the public interest. Like all the other national rewards, it is awarded indistinctly to males and females. The only difference is that the latter always wear the jewel itself, of which they make an ornament, while the former content themselves with a simple red ribbon, unless they are in ceremonial dress.

  In order further to reward those who have obtained the Republic but have nevertheless continue to distinguish themselves, several kinds of decorations have been created that are added to the jewel itself, which is ornamented to varying degrees with precious stones, and also to the ribbon, which is knotted into a variously complicated rosette. Thus, there are five classes of Republics, which can only be obtained successively, by giving proof of ever-greater merit.

  The Government makes sure that the national reward of the Republic is distributed with scrupulous equity, and one can say with good reason that it is awarded by public opinion itself.

  Every year, the legislative body appoints committees to determine who the citizens are who merit being decorated; then the comparative merits of the candidates is discussed in open session, and a definitive list is drawn up, which is presented to the Government. The latter, when it gives the Republic to someone, is merely ratifying the choice expressed by the country’s representatives, so the decoration is envied beyond all expression, and to obtain it, citizens devoted themselves to the most stubborn labors, competing in devotion to the public good.

  A few stern individuals have, however, criti
cized national rewards in general and the Republic in particular. They claim that rewarding citizens when they have done well is treating them like children, and that true Republicans have no need of such encouragements to be virtuous, being content with the intimate testimony of their conscience. The Government agrees entirely with that opinion, but unfortunately, in France in the year 200 there are very few “true” Republicans and a great many ordinary Republicans. The Administration is therefore obliged to conform to the tastes of the majority and persists in decorating all the citizens who merit it.

  VI. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS

  1. Baptism

  The French of the year 2000 profess the greatest religious tolerance, and everyone among them is free to follow whatever religion they please, or none at all if they think that more appropriate. However, the overwhelming majority of citizens practice the so-called socialist or civil religion, which is that of the State and is officially professed by the members of the Government.

  That socialist religion is, in any case, extremely simple. It consists solely of surrounding with pomp and all the apparatus of public power the four great circumstances of life: birth, coming of age, marriage and death.

  Socialist baptism.

  As soon as a child comes into the world, the parents must notify the officer of the civil estate and have the new-born’s birth certificate drawn up. That formality is obligatory for all citizens, no matter what religion they practice. Socialists, however, only make a provisional declaration of birth and reserve the official declaration for a little later, when the mother has recovered sufficiently to take part in the ceremony, and the child has been vaccinated and is strong enough to be transported without inconvenience. It is usually at the age of six months that the official presentation takes place, to which common parlance has given the named of socialist baptism, even though no ablution is involved.

  On the day chosen for the solemnity, the parents of the new-born gather their family, friends and acquaintances and then, dressed in their best clothes, they take the metropolitan railway and go in a procession to the socialist Temple. That Temple, it will be remembered, is situated in the Cité, at the center of the International Palace. In the aisle to the left of the entrance are a number of large chapels exclusively devoted to the baptism of young Socialists and, in consequence, ornamented with paintings and statues recalling the principal scenes of maternity and infancy.

  As soon as the child’s parents and their friends have taken their places in the chapel assigned to them, a second procession arrives of magistrates charged with presiding over the baptism—magistrates who are delegated by the Secretary of the Republic and occupy the highest rank in the State. The members of this new procession take their places in the choir-stalls of the chapel and the ceremony begins.

  First the parents take the child and come forward, accompanied by four witnesses. They present the infant, declaring its sex, indicating the day and time of its birth and the names they wish to bestow upon it.

  Once the declaration of birth is concluded, the parents and their witnesses take turns to promise solemnly to bring up the new-born in the principles of Socialism, never to make it perform any exercise of any other religion, not to teach it any prayers or any catechism, and not to allow it to witness the rites of other religions except by way of a spectacle. That promise is inscribed in the Temple registers, then signed by the witnesses, and is always faithfully kept by the parents, who would be dishonored if they broke such a solemn engagement.

  Immediately after the swearing of the oath, one of the magistrates goes up into the pulpit and makes a speech appropriate to the occasion. He talks about the care and affection owed to children, the names given to the new-born, the lives of famous individuals who have borne the same names, the beauty of the socialist religion and its immense superiority by comparison with other religions, etc. That harangue lasts for some time, and, as it is always made by an excellent orator, many strangers come to watch socialist baptisms out of simple curiosity and without knowing the family of the baptized child.

  When the orator has concluded his speech, another magistrate—the same one who presided over the solemnity—speaks in his turn. In the name of the entire nation he adopts the new-born, recognizes it as a Socialist, and promises to watch carefully over its life, its education and its future. At the same time, he gives the parents a little gold medal, on which are engraved the child’s names and date of birth. That medal is immediately put around the young Socialist’s neck, and the latter will not remove it until the age of majority.

  The handing over of the medal concludes the ceremony; the magistrates withdraw in single file, the child’s cortege returns to the parents’ domicile, and they day concludes with a dinner party, at which the newly-baptized child is welcomed and celebrated, by drinking to its health.

  2. Coming of Age

  When children baptized as Socialists reach the age of majority, they take part in a further ceremony, in which they confirm the promise made at their birth and engage on their own behalf to profess the national religion and not to practice any other religion.

  In order to be admitted to a celebration of one’s coming of age it is not sufficient to reach the age of eighteen. It is also necessary for young men and young women to know and fulfill all the duties of a good Socialist, that their masters be satisfied with their work and their conduct, and, in sum, that they are found worthy to enter the religious society of which they desire to be a part. To be judged unworthy and set back until the following year is considered very shameful, so all young people as they approach the end of their eighteenth year, become models of virtue, so fearful are they of acquiring a black mark and not being authorized to celebrate their coming of age.

  The solemnity in question normally takes place on the anniversary of their birth. On that day, the neophytes put on a special and official costume, which is very simple—entirely black for males and entirely white for females—and then, accompanied by their parents and friends from school or workshop, go in procession to the international Temple.

  There, to the right of the monument, are special chapels designed, some for young men and the others for young women, and decorated in consequence with paintings and bas-relief representing the work and duties of one or other sex.

  It is in one of these chapels that a ceremony takes place loosely resembling the one of baptism. In the presence of magistrates of the Republic and numerous witnesses drawn by curiosity, the novices give their names and ages, furnish evidence of good conduct and show testimonials from their masters; then the parents and witnesses to the baptism come forward to affirm that they have been brought up according to the principles of the socialist religion.

  The neophyte then comes forward and makes a solemn promise to persist throughout their life in that same religion, to marry within it, to bring up their children in it, to be buried civilly within it and never to have recourse to any other religions. The neophyte’s witnesses, chosen from among older comrades and socialists themselves, corroborate that promise and promise personally to make every effort to maintain their young friend in the religion that has been freely chosen. All these oaths are inscribed in the Temple registers and signed by the people present, and there is no example of their being violated.

  An orator then goes up into the pulpit. After a few words about the individual coming of age, the successes thy have achieved in classes or in application to workshop tasks, he explains the duties of youth, the virtues that it ought to present, the happiness and rewards that are reserved for it, and then concludes with a eulogy to the socialist religion and showing how those who profess it are happy and would be wrong o devote themselves to any other religious practices.

  After that speech, the magistrate who is presiding over the solemnity speaks in his turn. He declares, in the name of the State, that the neophyte has come of age, that they are free to dispose of their person and their property as they please, and that they may marry, and he invites all the citizens n
ot to treat them as a child any longer but to consider them as a rational adult cognizant of their duties.

  Afterwards, if he is male, he is given an elector’s card that gives him the right to vote and to participate in the government of the country; if she is female she is similarly given, on behalf of the State, the attributes of the authority exercised by her sex. They are jewelry, such as rings, bracelets, ear-rings, etc. Finally, both receive a concession in the socialist cemetery, and, which is considerably less lugubrious, an invitation to the next ball given in the Cité—a ball at which they will make their so-called entrance into society.

  The ceremony is then concluded, and the young adult, accompanied by their relatives and friends, returns home—and the day ends with a cheerful communal dinner, chatting about the ball at which the new citizen will carry out their first adult action, and dance publicly in the Nation’s ballroom.

  3. Marriage

  Socialist marriages are celebrated at the International Temple, in a series of chapels situated at the back of the monument. These chapels, which are decorated with every imaginable luxury, are ornamented with paintings representing the joys and duties of marriage: young men courting young women; husbands protecting their wives from danger and devoting themselves to saving their lives; women advising their husbands, steering them away from debauchery and encouraging them always to comport themselves as good citizens; and finally, children completing the happiness of the spouses and further tightening the bonds of affectionate that unite them.

  People are only allowed to marry socially when the spouses both profess the socialist religion, and that they have abjured publicly, in the Temple itself, any other religion. These abjurations, which were very numerous when the Socialist Republic was established, took place in the chapels of majority with the ceremonies described in the previous section.