...a plan whereby all the individual members of society may
enjoy the utmost comfort and welfare. The degrees of society must be preserved.
The farmer will continue to till the soil, the artist pursue his art, the
banker to finance the nations. An army has need of its general, captain, and
private soldiers. The degrees varying with the pursuits are essential. But in
this Bahá'í plan there is no class hatred. Each is to be protected and each
individual member of the body politic is to live in the greatest comfort and
happiness. Work is to be provided for all and there will be no needy ones seen
in the streets.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, "Bahá'í Scriptures: Selections from the
Utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá"; "Star of the West",
vol. 22, no. 1, April 1931; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III,
Economics, Agriculture, and Related Subjects)
