Book Description

Excerpt from The New Socialism: An Impartial Inquiry The present book occupies, so far as I am aware, new ground among English books on Socialism. The larger historical books on the subject stop short of recent years, and leave unchronicled much Socialist thought and action of the utmost importance. My aim has been to give as briefly and fairly as possible an account of the Socialist movement over the world during the last ten years. Like everything else, Socialism has undergone a process of change, and must be studied in the works of its latest authorities. Extreme utterances of individuals have been largely disregarded. In such a movement as Socialism much exaggeration was inevitable. But Socialism has its great thinkers and students, men as candid, as thoughtful, and as earnest as any to be found in other camps. These thinkers are constructive as well as destructive. They are not afraid to acknowledge the immense difficulties that have to be conquered ere the goal is reached, and they have taken them up in earnest, admitting in many cases that they are not yet completely solved. That Socialism is a movement full of mighty import to mankind, and that the questions which it raises may at any moment present themselves in their most practical form, is now obvious to all. It is only by understanding what Socialists ask for, and why they ask it, by studying their views and arguments in their best, most considered and most impressive form that any fruitful discussion can be carried on. It is in this spirit that I have endeavoured to set forth the main points in the recent literature of Socialism. The chief books published on the Continent as well as the English literature of the subject have been thoroughly examined, and every effort has been made to secure a just and accurate account of the main issues. The periodical literature of Socialism has also been investigated to the best of my ability. It is so extensive that an absolutely complete knowledge is unattainable, but I hope that few important omissions will be found. In the Supplement I have given chapters on Revolutionary Syndicalism; Recent Developments of American Socialism; and Notes on Australian Socialism. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.