Problems in American Democracy by Thames Ross Williamson
page 162 of 808 (20%)
page 162 of 808 (20%)
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organization in which all wealth, including both the instruments of
production and consumers' goods, is owned by the community. Socialism, on the other hand, proposes that the state own and operate only the instruments of production, leaving food, clothing, and other consumers' goods to be owned and enjoyed by individuals. Socialism is often thought of in connection with the doctrine of anarchy. Anarchism and socialism are alike in that both object to one man having authority over another. Anarchism agrees with socialism that capitalism is bad because it gives the employer power over the laborer. But at this point the two theories begin sharply to diverge. Socialism desires to abolish private property and to concentrate all authority in the hands of the state. The anarchist maintains that this is simply a transference of authority, and declares that authority in any form is an evil. Thus where socialism seeks to enlarge the powers of the state, anarchism objects to the existence of any governmental authority whatsoever. In addition to communism and anarchism, there are a number of interesting theories that are more or less closely associated with the socialist movement. These will not be discussed here, for two reasons: first, an adequate treatment of them would permit the problem of industrial reform to take up a disproportionate share of our time; second, many of these theories, while interesting, are relatively unimportant, from the standpoint of American democracy at least. We may, therefore, confine ourselves to socialism proper, as defined in Section 122. 124. KARL MARX AND HIS INFLUENCE.--The germ of socialism can be traced back as far as Plato, but the modern movement takes its main impetus |
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