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and New York, 1910; H. F. Ward, Social Ministry; a»

Introduction to the Study and Practice of Social Service,

I. Definition: The term Socialism, derived from the Latin, socialis, from socius, " a companion," came into general use in 1835. It has passed through many changes of definition. It implies administration in the interests of society as a whole, so as to afford equal individual opportunity. This may be accomplished by the voluntary association of some of the individuals in a community, or of all the persons within a definite region. When extended over a national territory, it has been termed nationalism. As most frequently employed, the term, socialism, denotes control by organized society of land and capital, of industrial production, and of the distribution of the income therefrom. Political socialists ordinarily demand State ownership of land and of the instruments of production. Under the fire of criticism there has been a tendency to abandon this extreme position. The abler socialistic writers show themselves ready to accept experimentation, advancing toward the theoretic goal only so far as may be proved practicable. The platforms of political parties, however, which alone can be accepted as authoritative utterances, have in no respect relinquished the full nationalist program.

II. Communism: The extreme form of socialism is termed Communism (q.v.), which, in strict application, is the ownership in common of all possessions, public control and rearing of children, and the abolition of the marriage tie. In consequence of the universal odium felt toward the communists of Paris because of the atrocities of 1871, the word is now rarely used by socialistic writers. As a working system, communism, even when the right of separate families is respected, has not exhibited elements of permanence. Ancient and modern instances have been short-lived, showing greatest persistence when cemented by a common religious conviction. The monastic establishments of the Middle Ages, purely communistic in organization, separated the sexes; and similar to these were the Brethren of the Common Life (see CommoN LIFE, BRETHREN of THE). The Libertines (q.v., 3) and the Familists (q.v.) were well-known communists of the Reformation period. John Ball, the Wycliffite priest, who instigated the Wat Tyler rebellion, was a medieval socialist, claiming that the people had been robbed of their proprietorship in the common land.

III. Ancient and Medieval Socialism: Socialistic features were found in the constitutions of Athens and Sparta, combined with slavery. Of the theol~

retie systems the more noted were Plato's " Republic," Mores Utopia (Louvain, 1516), Campanella's " City of the Sun " (Frankfort, 1623), and James Harrington's Common-Wealth of Oceans (London, 1656), which last advocated a limited monarchy, having its revenue from public lands.

IV. Modern Socialism: The Socialism of today springs from three national sources: France contributed the doctrine of personal liberty and equality, England demonstrated the value of cooperation, Germany presented the ideal of the socialistic state.

1. The Preparation: The preparation for modern socialism came from the French philosophic literature of the eighteenth century. The chief writers were Voltaire, Rousseau (qq.v.), De Mably, Morelly, De Warville, Boiasel, and Mabeuf. These writers gave direction to the popular unrest of France, and laid the theoretic foundation for a socialistic state marked by liberty, equality, and mediocrity, in which the inefficient, the indolent, and the unfortunate would find provision, and the refinements of civilization would take their chances. It was Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville who wrote La propriktA exclusive eat un vol, which trenchant sentence supplied to Proudhon his famous La propridtk c'est le vol, " proprietorship is robbery." These men aimed at the subversion of the existing system in France, some of them taking part in the Revolution of 1789. Their writings prepared for the work of their successors in the following century. In England during this period Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Contemporaneous with this literary movement was the development of the factory system, the adoption of steam power, and of the machinery at that time invented. The resultant evils called forth the first Peel factory legislation in 1802; and with Robert Owen's report to the parliamentary committee on the poor laws in 1817 began the English contribution to modern socialism. In that report Owen recommended segregating workers in communities of 1,200, where they should live in one building, and work and its products should be in common. Experiments attempted in England and America met with only temporary success.

Modern Socialism may be treated in two periods: the first extending from 1817 to the middle of the century, the second from that time to the present.

8. The First Period: When the Reform Bill of 1832 extended the franchise to the middle classes