Socialism: A Summary and Interpretation of Socialist PrinciplesSpargo, John
History
Socialism: A Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles
Spargo, John
Socialism
So is the notion of the state owning wheelbarrows and market baskets and
making their private ownership illegal. "The socialization of _all_ the
means of production, distribution, and exchange," literally interpreted,
is folly. But none of those using the phrase must be regarded as
seriously contemplating its literal interpretation. For many years the
phrase was included in the statement of its "Object" by the English
Social Democratic Federation, and even now it appears in a slightly
modified form, the word "all" being omitted,[181] perhaps because of its
tautological character. For several years the writer was a member of the
Federation, actively engaged in the propaganda, and how we spent much of
our time explaining to popular audiences in halls and upon street
corners that the socialization of jackknives, needles, sewing machines,
market baskets, beer mugs, frying pans, and toothpicks was not our aim,
is a merry memory.
When this is understood, the nightmare of the bureaucracy of Socialism
vanishes. It is no longer necessary to fret ourselves asking how a
government is to own and manage everything without making slaves of its
citizens. The question propounded by that venerable and distinguished
Canadian scholar, Professor Goldwin Smith,[182] whether a government can
be devised which shall hold all the instruments of production,
distribute to the citizens their tasks, pick out inventors,
philosophers, artists, and laborers, and set them to work, without
destroying personal liberty, loses its force when it is remembered that
Socialism involves no such necessity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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