The produce of the world could not attain anything approaching to its
present amount, nor support anything approaching to the present number
of its inhabitants, except upon two conditions: abundant and costly
machinery, buildings, and other instruments of production; and the
power of undertaking long operations and waiting a considerable time
for their fruits. In other words, there must be a large accumulation
of capital, both fixed in the implements and buildings, and
circulating, that is employed in maintaining the laborers and their
families during the time which elapses before the productive
operations are completed and the products come in. This necessity
depends on physical laws, and is inherent in the condition of human
life; but these requisites of production, the capital, fixed and
circulating, of the country (to which has to be added the land, and
all that is contained in it), may either be the collective property of
those who use it, or may belong to individuals; and the question is,
which of these arrangements is most conducive to human happiness. What
is characteristic of Socialism is the joint ownership by all the
members of the community of the instruments and means of production;
which carries with it the consequence that the division of the produce
among the body of owners must be a public act, performed according to
rules laid down by the community. Socialism by no means excludes
private ownership of articles of consumption; the exclusive right of
each to his or her share of the produce when received, either to
enjoy, to give, or to exchange it. The land, for example, might be
wholly the property of the community for agricultural and other
productive purposes, and might be cultivated on their joint account,
and yet the dwelling assigned to each individual or family as part of
their remuneration might be as exclusively theirs, while they
continued to fulfil their share of the common labors, as any one's
house now is; and not the dwelling only, but any ornamental ground
which the circumstances of the association allowed to be attached to
the house for purposes of enjoyment. The distinctive feature of
Socialism is not that all things are in common, but that production is
only carried on upon the common account, and that the instruments of
production are held as common property. The _practicability_ then of
Socialism, on the scale of Mr. Owen's or M. Fourier's villages, admits
of no dispute. The attempt to manage the whole production of a nation
by one central organization is a totally different matter; but a mixed
agricultural and manufacturing association of from two thousand to
four thousand inhabitants under any tolerable circumstances of soil
and climate would be easier to manage than many a joint stock company.
The question to be considered is, whether this joint management is
likely to be as efficient and successful as the managements of private
industry by private capital. And this question has to be considered in