The seignior imposed duties upon the serf; religion fixed their limits.

The seignior could kill the serf with impunity, could deprive him of his wife, violate his daughter, pillage his house, and rob him of his savings; religion checked his invasions: it excommunicated the seignior.

Religion was the real cause of the ruin of feudal property.

Why should it not be bold enough to-day to resolutely condemn capitalistic property?
Since the middle ages, there has been no change in social economy except in its forms; its relations remain unaltered.
The only result of the emancipation of the serfs was that property changed hands; or, rather, that new proprietors were created.

Sooner or later the extension of privilege, far from curing the evil, was to operate to the disadvantage of the plebeians.