Page "Petr Chelčický" Paragraph 6

Chelčický was a communist in the original Christian sense, and thought that there must be complete equality in the Christian community.

He said there should be no rich or poor, since the Christian relinquished all property and status.

He maintained that Christians could expel evil persons from their community, but could not compel them to be good.

He believed in equality, but that the State should not force it upon society, and went so far as to proffer that social inequality is a creature of the State, and rises and falls with it.

According to Kautsky in Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation, " The nature of the first organisation of the Bohemian Brethren is not at all clear, as the later Brothers were ashamed of their communistic origin, and endeavoured to conceal it in every possible way.

" Some of Chelčický's statements tend to indicate that he thought only the poor were genuine Christians.