program is definite and very real. Socialism is opposed to government
as it exists to-day, and to that extent, it disapproves of the
Constitution of the United States. The capitalistic system is to be
destroyed. The institution of private property is to be abolished.
Free competition and private initiative are to be abolished or greatly
restricted. All business is to be under the thumb of the government.
Personal liberty is to be narrowed down. Some socialists even go so
far as to declare war upon the family and the church, but though a
number of socialist leaders favor the abolition of the institution of
marriage, and are professed atheists, it should be borne in mind that
the great majority of socialists are not openly hostile to the home
and the church. Indeed, the average socialist is probably as friendly
to these institutions as is the average non-socialist.

131. SOCIALIST ATTITUTE TOWARD VIOLENCE.--It is important to
understand the methods of socialism. Throughout the greater part of
his life, Karl Marx openly advocated violence and revolution as a
means of securing the downfall of capitalism. Socialists, says the
Communist Manifesto, "disdain to conceal their views and aims. They
openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible
overthrow of all existing social conditions." Toward the end of his
life, Marx changed this view somewhat, and apparently came to believe
that the overthrow of the capitalistic system might come gradually and
without bloodshed. In accordance with this later view, there is to-day
a considerable socialist group which disavows violence. Members of
this group are known as political socialists.

On the other hand, many socialists cling to Marx's earlier insistence
upon violence and bloodshed as a means of attaining socialist ends.
Members of the latter class are known as militant socialists, as