will control their means of production. No syndicat will be the exclusive owner of any portion of the collective property, but merely a user of it, with the consent of society as a whole.

The syndicat will connect itself with the rest of society through three main associations (1) the national federation of that particular trade, (2) the bourse du travail, the central union of a locality, which will federate the syndicat of several trades, and (3) the general federation, the national grouping of all syndicats. The least important of the three groups will be the national federation of a particular trade, and the relations between the syndicat and its national body will be merely technical. The relation of the syndicat to the general federation will be chiefly indirect, the local bourse du travail being the mediator. The most important of the relationships, will, of course, be that between the syndicat and the bourse du travail.

The bourse du travail will take charge of all local interests and serve as a connecting link between a locality and the rest of the world. It will collect necessary economic statistical data; arrange for the proper distribution of products; facilitate the exchange of products between locality and locality and provide for the introduction of raw materials from outside. "In a word, the bourse will combine in its organization the character both of local and industrial autonomy. It will destroy the centralized political system of the present state and will counterbalance the centralizing tendencies of industry." 17

Only services of national importance will be left to the general federation, and even here its managerial power will be but secondary, that of the bourses and national federa

tions being of primary importance. The general federation will act as the representative of the people in international relations; will give needed information to the various industrial units, and will have general powers of supervision.

The state, which imposes arbitrary and oppressive rules from without, will be sloughed off. The bourses will perform any needed local administration.

Syndicalists have done comparatively little speculating concerning the future state, as they are convinced that workingmen will find in themselves sufficient creative power, when the time comes, to remake society.18

Socialists vs. Syndicalists. Socialists have acknowledged the vitalizing influence of the syndicalist movement, and its value in pointing out the dangers of bureaucratic control of industry and opportunistic parliamentarianism. The syndicalist philosophy of industrial, as opposed to political action, and of producers', as opposed to community ownership and control of industry, has been accepted in part by the left wing of the socialist movement. On the other hand, syndicalism has been vigorously criticized by the less extreme socialists on the ground that, in ignoring politics, it is failing to utilize an important weapon for social progress, and in preaching control by a minority of the population, even though by a minority of the advanced proletariat, it is striking a blow at the

18 Among the important books on this subject may be found Dr. Louis Levine's Syndicalism in France (1913); Brissenden, The I. W. W.— A Study of American Syndicalism (1919); Brooks, American Syndicalism (1913); Cole, Self-Government in Industry, Appendix A (1918); Scott, Syndicalism and Philosophic Realism (1919); John Spargo, Syndicalism, Socialism and Industrial Unionism (1913); J. Ramsay Macdonald, Syndicalism (1912); G. Sorel, Reflexions sur la violence (1910); Warner Sombart, Socialism and the Social Movement (1909); Andre Tridon, The New Unionism (1913); Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom, Ch. III (1919).

socialist conception of true democracy. Many socialists also deprecate the use of certain forms of sabotage as injurious to the morale of the workers.

Furthermore, syndicalism would eliminate the state, which has many legitimate social functions to perform as the representative of the consumers. Syndicalism would also concentrate in the hands of producers all economic power, and would give a dangerous weapon to the workers in strategic industries.

CHAPTER VII

TENDENCIES TOWARD SOCIALISM

MANY movements and institutions are observable today which, consciously or unconsciously, are preparing the economic soil for socialism, for the more complete and democratic control by the community of their own industrial life.

THE CORPORATION

In the business world, the development toward the corporation has been considered by many "as the first step toward socialism." The reasons for this contention are, in part, as follows:

Lessons from Corporations.-The corporation tends to eliminate competition between industrial concerns by providing for the pooling of large numbers of small capitals which might otherwise be used in competing industries. This coöperation, although for private gain, provides a practical demonstration of the economic savings possible under a more advanced coöperative system and renders the transition from private to public ownership an easier process than would otherwise be the case.1

The corporation proves the socialist contention that it is possible, through improved methods of accounting and administration, to conduct business on a national scale. It develops a type of administrator who has little or no stake in the profits of the concern, but who depends for 1 Steinmetz, America and the New Epoch, p. 166.

his incentive primarily on his salary. It dissociates the owner from any necessary function in industry outside of that of investing, occasionally attending stockholders' meetings, and clipping dividends. These functions can be easily absorbed by the community and the private capitalist can thus be eliminated without any loss to society. Finally, by massing huge bodies of workers under one roof, by concentrating industrial control into a few hands, by fostering, in many instances, monopoly prices and corrupt political practices, the corporation arouses a spirit of solidarity among producers and consumers, and an increasing demand for collective as opposed to private ownership of essential industries.2

SOCIAL REFORMS

Extent of Labor Legislation.- The general enactment of social reform legislation is regarded by many socialists as a further tendency toward a socialist society. During the last generation, hundreds of labor laws have been placed on the statute books in every industrial nationlaws for the prohibition of child labor, for a minimum wage, for reasonable hours of employment, for social insurance against accident, sickness, old age and unemployment and for better working conditions generally. The community has interfered with the accumulation of unlimited profits through the taxation of incomes, inheritances and excess-profits. It has extensively regulated private industry through factory and housing legislation, through weights and measures and adulteration laws, through laws for the evaluation of property, for the fixing of prices on certain commodities and services and for the keeping of standard accounts, etc.3 Most of these laws

2 See also Kirkup, Inquiry Into Socialism, pp. 190-2.

3 In dealing with the extent of governmental regulation prior to