My conclusion is that, though the spread and vogue of such an idea among the people may be considerable, our industrial system, apart from certain curable weaknesses, is sound. With the adoption of certain amendments, it is capable of satisfying the people of this country, and of thus resuming or retaining their allegiance. It may even be asserted that our system, thus rectified, will be one of the highest excellence, and that it is thus capable and assured of a long and goodly future.
But let us first inspect the forces that seem to be bearing us the other way.
As long ago as 1884, Herbert Spencer, in The Coming Slavery, foretold that socialism would win the day here. He said, "The changes made, the changes in progress, and the changes urged will carry us towards State usurpation of all industries, the private forms of which, disadvantaged more and more in competition with the State, will more and more die away."
If, however, we follow the history of the working classes subsequent to that date, we shall find that, at any rate during the last decade of the nineteenth century, State socialism did not achieve more than very limited success. Although an Independent Labour Party was instituted with the object of winning over the trade unions to socialism, the latter movement did not gain ground. As the authors of the History of Trade Unionism have pointed out, during that decade the interest of
