society, it should be owned and administered by society for the benefit of all its members and not by individuals for their own benefit, he may call himself a Socialist.
Professor Menger of Vienna has given so clear a statement of the main Socialist theory, that I cannot do better than summarise it here:
"The Socialist, or Popular Labour, State," he says in substance, "rests on the fundamental notion that its primary object is identical with the primary object of each citizen, and this is, the preservation and development of the life of the individual and the propagation of the race. But in order that the State may be able to fulfil this object, it must control those natural riches which are necessary for the maintenance and development of the individual, instead of the rights over these being vested in a certain number of individuals, as is now the case. We must, however, distinguish between those riches which are not destroyed by use and those which are destroyed by use. The former, when controlled by individuals, bring about the present economic superiority of a class, with all the frightful results we know so well: the latter only concern the individual who uses and destroys them, and are not therefore matters of public concern."[1]
And Jaurès writes:
"The State must assure to every citizen with
- ↑ Menger, L'État Socialiste, pp. 31-36 (translated into French by Charles Andler).
