WIDTH of imagination is necessary to grasp the fullness of the dream of human rights. The idea emerges slowly, driven by the hunger of the vast majority of the world’s people. 

Revolutions in the early years of the 20th century (Mexico, 1911; Persian empire, 1911; Ireland, 1916; tsarist empire, 1917) brought the old ideas of equality to life, making it perfectly possible that older social rigidities and economic destitution could be swept away. Crush the crowns underfoot, chanted the republicans, while others, the trade unions and the socialists, wanted to set aside the capitalists and establish an egalitarian social order. 

It was generally understood — as far back as during the French Revolution (1789) and the Haitian Revolution (1804) — that the wretchedness of hierarchy must be overthrown. The problem before dreamers of various sorts was how to get rid of monarchs and factory-owners and yet build a world that was not going to slip back into chaos and poverty. That’s where Karl Marx came in.