capitalist to proletarian control will come as a result of industrial rather than of political action, and argues for the establishment of soviets, for the suppression of the political forms of the bourgeois state, when the workers obtain power, for the dictatorship of the proletariat, and for the confiscation of private capital. The so-called moderate socialists, on the other hand, while encouraging various forms of working class activity political, economic and coöperative - believe that the workers will be able, through political action, in countries where universal and equal suffrage prevails, to vote themselves into power; and that, when the control of government is thus obtained, the machinery of political democracy should be preserved and further democratized. In socializing industry, they incline to the belief that compensation in some form, rather than confiscation, would be the more expedient method. There is also a certain difference of opinion between the two groups regarding the expediency and ethics of the use of violence, and regarding the belief held by many that "the ends justify the means." These differences are bound to be fought out from every angle in the next few years.87 87 There are, of course, numerous gradations of opinion between the two groups just described. In the United States the left wing view is held by the Communist and Communist Labor Parties, formed in September, 1919, and the moderate view to a considerable extent by the Socialist Party. Many members of the Socialist Party, while believing in the effectiveness of parliamentary action, lay greater emphasis on "direct action" as a means to the attainment of a new social order. CHAPTER VI GUILD SOCIALISM AND SYNDICALISM GUILD SOCIALISM Origin of Theory. In the previous chapter we have referred to guild socialism and its relation to the socialist state. The theory of guild socialism has been recently developed in England by a group of writers centering around the English weekly, The New Age. In 1907 A. J. Penty, in The Restoration of the Guild System, first endeavored to apply to modern social problems something of the spirit of the medieval guild, a cardinal principle of which was that " direct management and control should be in the hands of the producers under a system of regulation in the common interest." 1 The idea was soon developed into a constructive theory of the national guilds, first by A. R. Orage and S. G. Hobson,2 and later by G. D. H. Cole and other writers and speakers of the National Guilds League (formed in 1915).3 Composition of Movement. The theory of the na 1 Renard, Guilds in the Middle Ages, p. xii. 2 Orage, National Guilds (1913). 3 A most important contribution on the subject has recently been made by Mr. Cole, in his book, Self Government in Industry (1918). Other literature on the subject is Reckitt and Bechhofer, The Meaning of National Guilds (1919); Hobson, Guild Principle in War and Peace (1918); Penty, Old Worlds for New (1917); Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom, and articles in The New Age, and the literature of the National Guilds League, 17 Acacia Road, St. John's Wood, N.W. 8, London, England. tional guildsmen arose in part as a reaction against the bureaucratic collectivism advocated by many groups in English life, and, in part, as a protest against the inadequacies of syndicalism, and an endeavor to find a happy medium between bureaucratic collectivist and the syndicalist philosophy. It also contains numerous other currents of thought. As Reckitt and Bechhofer have expressed it: "We should find the craftsmen's challenge and the blazing democracy of William Morris; the warning of Mr. Belloc against the huge shadow of the servile state and, perhaps, something also of his claim for the individual's control over property; the insistence of Mr. Penty on the evils of industrialism and its large scale organization, and his recovery and bequest to us of the significant and unique word 'guild.' We should find something of French syndicalism, with its championship of the producer; something of American industrial unionism, with its clear vision of the need for industrial organization; and something of Marxian socialism with its unsparing analysis of the wage-system by which capitalism exalts itself and enslaves the mass of men." 5 The Wage System.- Negatively, national guildsmen, as they prefer to call themselves contend, together with the majority of organized socialists throughout the world, that the main drive against capitalism should not be a drive against poverty, but for the abolition of the wage system. Positively they maintain that the chief aim of the new social order should be the development of person + The guildsmen have been wont to hurl their shafts of ridicule against the alleged bureaucratic collectivism advocated by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and other members of the Fabian Society. While their criticisms undoubtedly contained some truth, many of their attacks have been decidedly unfair. • Reckitt and Bechhofer, op. cit., pp. xiii-xiv. ality, not mere industrial efficiency, and that the worker should be assured, at least, the following things: "1. Recognition and payment as a human being, and not merely as the mortal tenement of so much labor power for which any efficient demand exists. "2. Consequently, payment in employment and in unemployment, in sickness and in health alike. "3. Control of the organization of production in coöperation with his fellows. "4. A claim upon the product of his work, also exercised in coöperation with his fellows." 6 National guildsmen also emphasize, as has been stated, something of the ideal of William Morris and other socialists, the development of joy in labor, the bringing of beauty and art into the common work of the world. Only through giving the worker an opportunity for self-expression can this ideal be attained. Says Cole again: "Freedom for self-expression, freedom at work as well as at leisure, freedom to serve as well as to enjoy — that is the guiding principle of his [Morris'] life. That, too, is the guiding principle of national guilds. We can only destroy the tyranny of machinery which is not the same as destroying machinery itself by giving into the hands of the workers the control of their life and work, by freeing them to choose whether they will make well or ill, whether they will do the work of slaves or of free men." " State Ownership and Guild Management. Underlying much of their concrete proposals are the principles, enunciated in the foregoing chapter, of organization by • Cole, op. cit., p. 155. 7 Ibid., pp. 121-2. 8 See supra, section on "The Nature of the State Under Socialism," p. 150. function and dual sovereignty. Their criticisms of the present system and their ideal of the good life of the future have led guildsmen specifically to advocate the ownership of industry by the state, but the management of industry by democratic groups of hand and brain workers including all of the producers in industry — organized into local, sectional and national guilds. Organization of Consumers. As has been stated, the guildsmen believe that, in a democratic society, the consumers should organize in a geographical association, the state, for the purpose of executing those purposes which affect all citizen-consumers equally and in the same way-such, for instance, as the maintenance of parks, roads, houses, water and other public utilities, education, health, the relations with other states, etc. On the other hand, producers should organize in a group that represents them and which is best fitted to give expression to the economic relationship between man and man. Details of Democratic Management.— It is impossible, the guildsman declares, to picture the exact workings of the guild under the ideal order. Mr. Cole, however, suggests possible lines of development. He sees the national guild, the supreme council of the producers, composed of a number of works, corresponding roughly to the corporation of today, and each works containing a number of shops. The workers in each shop, he believes, should elect a shop committee to act as a counterpoise, where one is needed, to the authority of the foreman, and to serve as an intelligence bureau and executive of the shop. A works committee also should be chosen, consisting of representatives from each shop, elected, perhaps, by direct ballot. There should likewise be a district committee to coördinate production in the various works, and to arrange for the supplying of commodities to the municipalities and |