effect on its organisation and strength. Here, of instalment. Their name is Fédération too, the growth of trade unionism under française des travailleurs socialistes révolutionsocialist leaders is highly important in estimat-naires, Brousse and the late B. Malon being the ing the strength of the movement, though in both countries the practical and conservative tendencies of trade unionists provoke the fear and jealousy of the socialist protectors. Austrian socialism is also remarkable for the success of the yearly celebrations on 1st May, decreed at the Paris international congress in 1889. At the congress held March 1894, a resolution demanding universal suffrage, and recommending a general strike in the event of its refusal, was passed by 66 against 42 votes. The official organ of the party, the Arbeiterzeitung, has 150,000 subscribers; in all, there are 14 party prints apart from trade-union papers, with a collective impression of 78,400, which may give a clue to the numerical strength of the party. The annual receipts for the purpose of agitation, etc., according to recent reports, amounted in Austria to fl. 10,000 (£833), in Hungary to A. 60,000 (£5000). Considering the hampering effect of still existing press laws and official opposition, overt and concealed, to party propagandism, these numbers indicate some vigour in the movement. The number of delegates from the different lands composing the AustroHungarian monarchy, at the Vienna congress, which increased from 67 in 1889 to 133 in 1993, speaks for itself; 74 attended the Hungarian congress at Buda-Pest. Here the land question and land nationalisation form the chief subject of discussion, industrial enterprise being still in its infancy. Switzerland. - In Switzerland, which has been, though at different times, the centre and rallying-point of socialism, especially when persecuted elsewhere, the prevailing political institutions and conditions of local industry have thus far impeded the progress of socialism. France. In France, the original home of socialism, the revolutionary tendencies of the people, their impatience of party discipline and control, arising from the individualistic bent in the national character, have been the cause of division and splitting up into factions which seriously weakens the movement. Moreover, the presence of a property-loving rural proletariat and the existence of a considerable body of petty tradesmen in the towns, prove an impediment to socialistic progress. The first attempt to re-organise the party after the suppression of the commune in 1871 was made in 1876, when Jules Guesde and G. Deville, both Marxists, framed a collectivist manifesto. But the definite programme of the party was adopted at the Havre congress, 1880, following that of Gotha. At the St. Etienne congress, 1882, a split occurred between the Marxists and the Possibilists, who owe this nickname to Guesde. It expresses their opportunism, i.e. willingness to accept any possible social reforms by way original leaders, whilst the former call themselves Parti ouvrier. These contain the abler minds, the others the larger following. A further division into "Broussistes" (from Brousse) and "Allemanistes" took place in 1890 at the Châtelherault congress. But these differences spring from personal jealousies rather than from differences of principle. All aim at "l'expropriation de la bourgeoisie capitaliste' and "la socialisation des moyens de production" (on the state of socialism in France up to 1887 see an article by M. Kaufmann in the National Review for November 1887). Measured by electoral successes in France, the party does not appear to great advantage. In 1889 the Possibilists received 53,316 votes in Paris, their stronghold; in 1893 the socialist vote throughout France was 600,000. The anarchists do not enter into the political arena. The other socialists, including Blanquists and independents, uniting for this purpose as L'Union révolutionnaire socialiste, secured 123,003 votes in 20 departments. Estimated by number of party organs, and specially by the high-class tone and literary excellence of the monthly La Revue Socialiste, founded by Malon (d. 13th September 1893), French socialism would appear to be much more widely diffused than the votes obtained indicate, and many of its supporters are to be found among the cultured and well-to-do. There are indeed secret sympathisers, "crypto-socialists" as M. LeroiBeaulieu calls them, from whom the movement receives material support, apart from the moral support of the " groupe des deputés républicains socialistes" in parliament. It is also strongly represented in the municipal council of Paris, which has been called "le grand conseil de collectivisme," one-fifteenth of the councillors being socialists. The increase of trade unions, more or less under socialist influences-there were 402, 125 members in 1893 against 288,770 in 1892 (see Revue Socialiste, March 1894, p. 359),—and the concentration of socialistic forces of late, corresponding to the republican concentration, indicate a movement towards more united action. Belgian Socialism. In Belgium with its highly-developed industry and opportunities for combination, and the support given to socialism and its press by co-operative associations under its control, considerable advances have been made, especially since the fusion of the two main sections, the Flemish and Walloon, under Anseele, Velders, and Bertram, in 1879. It is calculated that no less than 50,000 to 60,000 persons entertain socialist theories, whilst no country can boast of so many philosophical socialists, such as Collins, the late Dr. Paepe, Agathon de Potter, Defuisseaux, and Professor SOCIALISM Denis of the Brussels university. The political influence of the socialists has also considerably increased since the late extension of the suffrage voters. The socialist vote in 1896 amounted to 461,000. Passing over Holland, the Scandinavian and the two Latin peninsulas, where by reason of retarded industrial development socialism has not as yet attained to anything like formidable strength, we may now turn to Great and Greater Britain and the United States. The United Kingdom and the Colonies.-The number of actual and active adherents in England is comparatively small, but the indirect influence of socialistic propaganda on the new trade unionism is considerable. new Independent Labour Party, together with the The "Social Democratic Federation," the "Socialist League," and the Fabian Society are comparatively few in number. But their publications, meetings, and efforts have familiarised the minds of many with the doctrines of K. Marx and his school. In the colonies, owing to the powerful organisation of trade unions, and the pressure which the labour party can bring to bear on the legislature and government, state socialism has made considerable progress, whilst the philanthropic movement and the growing tendency of the ruling class to protect the weak, and to promote the welfare of those less favoured by fortune, through private and public action, has done much at home and in the British dependencies to break the force of class antagonism and to lessen the chances of socialistic agitation (see S. Webb's Socialism in England). The United States.-In America, where the gulf between wealth and poverty is greater than in Europe, and the industrial warfare at times much fiercer in consequence, the theories of socialism are beginning to take root. In 1878, there were about 10,000 professed socialists in the United States. They appear to have risen to 30,000 or 40,000 since, though out of 78 sections 14 only are English-speaking. America is the home of European malcontents, and it is those who have introduced internationalism (first organised by Sorge in 1867) and anarchy. Both are busily at work, at times conjointly, at other times separately, in spreading their views among the labour associations, such as the knights of labour and the federation of organised trade unions. These they join for the purpose of becoming the "sappers and miners of the coming revolution.' Some headway has been made among native Americans, who, however, whilst accepting socialistic criticisms on the existing order of things, are by no means willing as yet to entertain proposals for the establishment of a collective commonwealth. It has to be noted, however, that H. George's book on Progress 435 and Poverty and Bellamy's Looking. Backward have had a marvellously large sale in the United States. It is significant that the populist vote in 1892 amounted to one million, whilst Bryanism commanded six millions in 1896. The Controller of New York State, in his official report, regarded this as so great a danger to society that he recommended an “inheritance tax" to stay the concentration of wealth in a few hands, to which fact he ascribed it. Thus, both in the old and new world, socialism has made considerable progress of late years; whilst the unanimity of view entertained, minor varieties notwithstanding, the methods adopted by socialists all over the civilised world, and the readiness to act in concert and to merge differences in a common assault on society, renders the movement as a whole more formidable than similar but more isolated movements in the past. With the growth of democratic representation and the increased intelligence of the labouring population in making use of their political power, the "revolutionary vote" is fast becoming a great factor in politics. Militant socialism, moreover, as a revolutionary force, may be said in membership to be equal to, or approaching in numbers the effective force of the military establishments in modern Europe—the socialist vote in Europe and America is about five millions. As the latter are recruited from the body of the people and to it return after serving their time, well trained for action in the field, and since attempts are constantly made to dis seminate socialist views among soldiers, the safety of society, as far as it depends on material force, is by no means on the footing it used to be, though it has to be remembered that "the battalions of labour" are not armed. And this is rendered still more serious by the fact that the efforts of social democracy are now chiefly directed to systematic agitation among the agrarian proletariat, having for their object the capture of this strongest force of resistance to its pretensions. This being so, a critical study of the movement as a whole is all the more important, so as to discover its real danger, and, if possible, to provide the proper remedy. Here we are only concerned with it as an economic theory, and in its influence on the development of economic doctrine. As has been said already, it is founded on the theory of surplus value as established by K. Marx, which itself rests on the fallacy that underpaid manual labour is the sole cause of accumulation of capital, which in its turn is used for the further enslavement of labour; that, in the words of the Erfurt programme, the means of production thus become the monopoly of the few, and that private property is used for the expropriation of the masses; that for this reason capitalistic industry must be SOCIALISM-SOCIALISM, STATE replaced by a socialistic direction of the process of production and distribution to insure social harmony in the place of competitive warfare, and concord in the place of class conflicts. It is enough to point out here in answer to this the importance of capitalist enterprise and of the direction of labour by men of high mental ability. These points are overlooked by socialism, as is also the danger of committing to public functionaries the entire control of the economic process, there being no guarantee whatever that the administration of the "Cooperative Commonwealth," if called into existence by and dependent on the will of "the people," would prove more efficacious and reliable than that of " government by class," as now carried on. On the contrary, the stimulus of individual rivalry, self-interest, and ambition being removed, social efficiency could only be secured either through a highly centralised organisation of labour by the authority of the collectivist state, which would sacrifice liberty, or by means of a moral regeneration throughout the whole community, which would cause altruistic duty to become the ruling principle of economic action. such a moral change cannot be expected from But the proposed alterations in the economic mechanism. While socialism has supplied economic science with a closer view of the darker aspects of modern industrial life, the deductions, however erroneous, of K. Marx and others, have given a clearer conception of the consequences to which an abstract view of the science may lead, unless the utmost care is taken in formulating the conclusions arrived at. Meanwhile the speculations of socialists and of utopian dreamers have been useful in reminding society of its own shortcomings by building up a high social ideal [see CONJUNCTUR; Art. SOCIALISM, Appendix]. [L. Stein, Der Sozialismus und Communismus des heutigen Frankreichs, 1848, and an important art. by the same writer in vol. vii. of the Gegenwart, pp. 517 seq.-G. Adler, Die Geschichte der ersten Sozialpolitischen Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland, 1885, also, by the same writer, the articles on "Sozialismus" and "Sozialdemokratie" in the Handwörterbuch der Staatswis senschaften, edited by Prof. Lexis, where see also the most important works referred to at the close. Dühring, Kritische Geschichte der Nationalökonomie und des Sozialismus, 1879.-Ely, R. T., The Labour Movement in America, 1886.-Hyndman, The historical Basis of Socialism in England, 1883.-Fabian Essays, 1889.-F. A. Lange, Die Arbeiterfrage, 1875.-B. Malon, Histoire du Socialisme, 1882-84, and his Socialisme Intégral, 1891. Rudolph Meyer, Der Emanzipationskampf des vierten Standes, 1874-75, and 2nd ed. of the 1st vol. 1882, which, however, is not much more than a reprint of it.-F. Mehring, Die Deutsche Sozialdemokratie, 3rd ed., 1879. Mermeix, La France Socialiste, 5th ed. 1886.J. J. Rossbach, Geschichte der Gesellschaft, vii. | Theil, 1875.-W. L. Sargant, Social Innovators and munisme, 5th ed. 1856.-Schäffle (A. L. Fr.), their Schemes, 1858.-A. Sudre, Histoire du ComDie Quintessenz des Sozialismus (1875), Die Körpers, 1878, containing a revised edition of Aussichtslosigkeit der Sozialdemokratie (1885); Kapitalismus und Sozialismus by the same (1870); and 2 vols. of his Bau und Leben des sozialen of which an authorised presentment by M. Kaufmann, under the title Socialism, its Nature, its Dangers, and its Remedies, appeared in 1874.Hans v. Scheel, Unsere Sozialpolitischen Parteien, l'antiquité jusqu'à la constitution française du 1878.-J. J. Thonissen, Le Socialisme depuis 14 Janvier 1852, Louvain, 1852.-Werner Sombart, Sozialismus und soziale Bewegung im 19 Jahrhundert, 1896. See also throughout the invaluable Bibliographie des Sozialismus und Communismus by J. Stammhammer, 1893, and the 1879-81. Only original writers are given above, three volumes of the Jahrbuch für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, edited by Dr. L. Richter, not popularisers, with E. de Laveleye at their head, who more or less quote them; an exception, however, may be made in favour of l'Abbé Winterer, contemporain 1878, 1882, 1885, and 1890, may whose compilations under the name Le Socialisme original works of the principal socialist writers, like serve as helps in following the movement. K. Marx, etc., all are given under their names supra. The Handbuch des Sozialismus by C. Stegeman and C. Hugo (1897) may also be consulted.] M. K. The SOCIALISM. fact, originated and has always found its chief SOCIALISM, STATE, both in name and in adopted the name, and their legislation has home in Germany. Other nations have been modified, often very profoundly, by the outside Germany has there arisen any professed ideas expressed by the name, but hardly school of state socialists, and in no other country has the theory of state socialism been so energetically and consistently carried out. as an As the name itself seems to imply, state socialism is essentially of the nature of a compromise. It may be described attempt to engraft certain socialistic conceptions on to the existing trunk of the historical good in socialism without the loss of anything state, and by doing so, to secure all that is that is healthful and strong in the existing fundamental laws of the existing historic order of society. While retaining the two institution of the family-it would yet leaven state-the right of private property and the the existing state with a new spirit of socialism; not subverting the state, but using it as an instrument for carrying out in certain particulars the socialistic ideal. which it keeps steadily in view is to aid the The object weak in their struggle against the strong, and by doing so to restore that equality of opportunity in which it sees at once the surest guarantee for the permanence of society and SOCIALISM, STATE-SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR 437 the best means of removing the acknowledged | embodiment of the theory, and a large amount evils which at present exist. Thus while of recent legislation, including "the Workmen's socialism proper treats all the citizens of the Compensation for Injuries Act," etc., bear the state as incapables, inadequate to look after same stamp. their own interests, and undertakes for them a task which it considers them incompetent to discharge for themselves, state socialism would protect, not all, but some only of the existing citizens, those, namely, whom their failure to obtain a satisfactory maintenance shows to stand in need of the assistance which the state is able to give. The theory sounds excellent and excites great enthusiasm, and there are cases, as all must admit, when the aid of the state may be legitimately invoked to redress evils which are obvious and pressing; but it may be doubted whether in practice it is a wise course for the state to interfere to save people from the foreseen consequences of their own acts; and the attempts which have been made to redress evils by the direct intervention of the state have already been productive of other evils scarcely less formidable than those which state socialism has been invoked to cure. In another direction the proposals which have been made, and to some extent carried out, to "municipalize" many undertakings, particularly those which are to some extent of the nature of monopolies, e.g. the supply of gas and other forms of lighting and of water to towns, are an additional proof of the practical hold which the ideas denoted by the term "state socialism" have gained amongst us. So far as the experiments have gone at present, the evidence furnished by them has been of an extremely mixed character. That such undertakings can be carried on, and even profitably carried on, by the state or municipality has been amply demonstrated. On the other hand, there are evils which experience both at home and abroad warns us will have to be carefully guarded against. They are such as these-the tendency to throw an undue share of the cost of such undertakings on a particular class; to create a body of speciallyfavoured workmen with peculiar privileges and special advantages; to make things pleasant all round to those in the service of the com interests of the tax-payers or rate-payers generally. The proposal lately made to subsidise the opera or theatre out of public funds furnishes another instance of the spread of the ideas in question, and of the difficulty of setting limits to the principle when once admitted. In Austria the most noteworthy adherent of the theory of state socialism is to be found in SCHÄFFLE, originally professor at Tübingen, subsequently Austrian minister of commerce. His work Bau und Leben des sozialen Körpers attacks the theories of orthodox political economy on grounds which are biological as well as economic. The theory and practice of state socialism have been, both of them, as already stated, most highly developed in Germany. The socalled SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR (q.v.) Katheder-munity, to the obvious detriment of the sozialisten, have not only formulated a considerable body of doctrine, but have also profoundly affected the legislation of Germany during the last five-and-twenty years. It is necessary only in this connection to cite the names of Gustav SCHMOLLER, Adolph WAGNER, Lujo Brentano, and above all of ROESLER, whose writings furnish the most adequate text books of the theory. In practice the famous protective legislation of Prince Bismarck and his still more famous measures for compulsory insurance (see INSURANCE, STATE), and the establishment of old age pensions, furnish the most noteworthy examples of the application of the theory to actual legislation. The same tendency which was at work most actively in Germany did not fail to manifest itself also in other European countries. Amongst ourselves, while the term state socialism has never become fully naturalised, the ideas denoted by it have been by no means without influence. Not only was the factory legislation of Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Disraeli a considerable practical step in the direction indicated, but J. S. Mill, in Principles of Political Economy, pleaded, though rather hesitatingly, for a larger measure of government interference than most of his predecessors would have been willing to sanction. Most of his successors, notably Professor CLIFFE LESLIE and Professor INGRAM, have been willing to advance much farther along the same path. Nor has their teaching been without influence on much of our recent legislation-Mr. Gladstone's two Irish Land Acts are an advanced [Besides the works already referred to, the subject may be studied in Mill, Principles, bk. v. ch. 11; J. E. Cairnes, Logical Method of Political Economy, 1875; and in the excellent work of Maurice Block, Les Progrès de la Science Économique depuis Adam Smith, Paris, 1890.-Ingram, History of Political Economy, ch. vi., Black, Edinburgh, 1888.-A. Wagner's Lehr und Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie, Leipzig, 1892. See also HELD; GERMAN SCHOOL.] W. A. Sr. SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR, i.e. the professorial chair, (Katheder-sozialisten), was the nickname given by the liberal journalist, H. B. Oppenheim, in 1872, to a number of the younger German professors of political economy, and quoted by one of the most influential of them, Professor Gustav SCHMOLLER, of Strasburg, in his opening speech at the Eisenach congress of economists held in the same year. The 438 SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR-SOCIÉTÉS COMMERCIALES group of teachers thus characterised agreed in believing that there were grave social questions to which it was their duty to call attention, and that these could not be solved,, as the MANCHESTER SCHOOL, then dominant in the German press, and organised in the Volkswirthschaftliche Kongress, believed, by a mere resort to laissez-faire. On the other hand they differed from the social democrats in that they disbelieved in the possibility or desirability of violent revolutionary changes; and they rejected as inaccurate the "scientific" formulæ both of LASSALLE and MARX,-the "iron law" and the doctrine of "surplus value." Among themselves, opinions ranged all the way from a disposition to think well of trade unions to an eagerness for state intervention in industry in all directions. But most of them were moderate in their expectations and cautious in their proposals. From Hegel and the philosophers on the one side, and from the bureaucratic traditions of the Prussian monarchy on the other, they had learned a high doctrine of the state; but they were guided in their application of it by their firm hold on the principle of relativity which had been inculcated by ROSCHER and the creators of the historical school. The whole group may be described as the historical school become militant,-under the stress of new industrial conditions, the stimulus of the social democratic movement, and with the confidence engendered by the establishment of the German empire. They did much to promote factory legislation, and to prepare the way for the system of compulsory insurance which may be regarded as the most notable outcome of their activity (see SOCIALISM, STATE). The term "socialists of the chair," after playing a considerable part in the controversies of a decade, chiefly in the mouths of their critics, seemed to have passed out of current use. Marked divergences had made themselves apparent among those who once bore that name, as in practical politics between Professors Brentano and Schmoller, and with regard to scientific method, between Professors Schmoller and WAGNER; while the Liberal and Fortschritt parties had begun to manifest a greater interest in social reform. Thus the apparent unity and distinctness of the group of 1872-then chiefly the unity of protest had largely disappeared; though most German economists were still dominated by the leading principles of the Eisenach congress. But in 1896-97 in the attack in the German Reichstag, led by the Freiherr von Stumm, upon Professors Schmoller and Wagner, and most of the other teachers of political economy in the country, the use of the term "Katheder - sozialisten was once more resorted to as indicating the dangerous character of their teaching, and many explanations were again given of its origin and significance. [The best general accounts of the movement are given in the chapters under that head in Emile de Laveleye, Le Socialisme Contemporain (2nd ed. 1883), and John Rae, Contemporary Socialism, (2nd ed. 1891). The most characteristic writings of the period are perhaps Adolf Wagner, Rede über die soziale Frage (1871); Gustav Schmoller, Ueber einige Grundfragen des Rechts und der Volkswirthschaft (1875), in reply to the attack of the historian Von TREITSCHKE in a pamphlet, Der Sozialismus und seine Gönner; and Lujo Brentano, Das Arbeiterverhältniss gemäss dem heutigen Recht (1877). See also GERMAN SCHOOL; A. HELD. Among the fugitive writings concerning the more recent discussions, may be singled out the article by Professor Hasbach in Die Zukunft for 14th August 1897.] W. J. A. SOCIETAS is a contract of Roman law whereby two or more persons undertake the mutual performance of certain acts in order to effect a common purpose. It is a contract of a less limited kind than the corresponding English contract of partnership. Societas omnium bonorum is an entire union of property by agreement of two or more persons. Societas may be restricted to a particular undertaking, as making a journey in common. The acquisition of gain or profit, though it is generally the object of this contract, is not necessarily so. Societas leonina is an agreement that a socius or partner is to be subject to loss, but not to share in the profit of the common undertaking; such a contract is void. Unless it is agreed to the contrary, the shares of the socii are equal. In the administration of the common property, each socius is only bound to be as careful as he is in the management of his own individual property, not to take the care of a careful pater familias. (See PARTNERSHIP, HISTORY OF). E. A. W. SOCIÉTÉS COMMERCIALES (Fr.). French law recognises three kinds of commercial associations-(1) ordinary partnerships, called sociétés en nom collectif, the title of the firm comprising the name of one or more of the partners, and the liability of each being unlimited; (2) sociétés anonymes, so called because they are designated by the object for which they are formed: these are the ordinary limited - liability companies in shares; (3) Sociétés en commandite, which share the characteristics of the two others, being composed of two classes of persons, the acting partners or commandités, with unlimited liability, and the passive or commanditaires, who are only liable for the amount of the capital put into the firm, but cannot take any part in the management even by proxy, without incurring the same liability as the acting partners, as specified in art. 28 (Code de Commerce). Commanditaires are distinguished from lenders at interest, as they are only remunerated from |