Souchon[363] recognizes the Plato of the _Laws_ as a true socialist, and points to his attempt to prevent all inequality, and to his extreme state intervention as characteristic elements of socialism. Plato certainly does approach nearer to a real socialism in the _Laws_ than in the _Republic_. In addition to the points noted by Souchon, there may be observed the application of the system of equality to the whole citizenship, though at the cost of shutting out all the workers; the strong sense of the social function of property;[364] the practical denial of real private ownership of land; the demand for publicity in business, which is one of the chief suggestions for the regulation of corporations today;[365] the active interest in the conservation of natural resources, which, while not socialistic, lies in the direction of greater social control;[366] and the fact that distribution of the products of industry is made practically a function of the state.[367] The demand for equality and unity is also somewhat analogous to the modern socialistic hostility to competition, which Ruskin calls the “law of death.”[368] It may be added further that Plato’s description of the economic strife in his day is slightly suggestive of the criticism of capitalism by modern socialism.[369] However, the basal motive of Plato is, again, not that of modern socialism. His aim is still primarily moral and political rather than material,[370] and he exhibits less interest in the welfare of the laborers than he does in the _Republic_.[371] Moreover, his demand for equality is prompted by exactly the same motive as was active in the _Republic_, not to ameliorate the condition of the laborer, whom he has relegated to slavery, but to avoid the hated civic discord (διάστασις) and to preserve the unity of the state.[372] The equality too, is in no sense analogous to that sought by modern socialism, for, as seen above, it is merely equality within a class, comprising the aristocratic minority of the state, and does not touch the working masses at all.[373] In fine then, though there are perhaps enough truly socialistic elements in the _Laws_ to warrant the classification of Souchon, yet if Plato’s ideal were realized, it would be mainly a restoration of the old economic régime in Greece, based on agriculture and the family tenure of property. Such an ideal, modern socialists would doubtless fail to recognize as having much in common with their own.[374] Footnote 68: To judge by Xen. _Mem._, this might have been said of Socrates had he been a writer. Footnote 69: Robin (_Platon et la science sociale_, p. 239) makes him the forerunner of the triple division of economics—production, exchange, distribution—but this is hardly warranted. Footnote 70: _Rep._ 369 B-C. Footnote 71: _Pol._ i. chap. 2. But in the _Laws_, Plato’s theory of origins is more social, tracing society back to clan and family. Footnote 72: