The Project Gutenberg EBook of Socialism As It Is, by William English Walling

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Title: Socialism As It Is
A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement

Author: William English Walling

Release Date: March 14, 2007 [EBook #20816]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SOCIALISM AS IT IS

A SURVEY OF THE WORLD-WIDE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

BY

WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1918

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1912,

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912. Reprinted October, 1912;
January, 1915.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

The only Socialism of interest to practical persons is the Socialism of
the organized Socialist movement. Yet the public cannot be expected to
believe what an organization says about its own character or aims. It is
to be rightly understood only _through its acts_. Fortunately the
Socialists' acts are articulate; every party decision of practical
importance has been reached after long and earnest discussion in party
congresses and press. And wherever the party's position has become of
practical import to those outside the movement, it has been subjected to
a destructive criticism that has forced Socialists from explanations
that were sometimes imaginary or theoretical to a clear recognition and
frank statement of their true position. To know and understand Socialism
as it is, we must lay aside both the claims of Socialists and the
attacks of their opponents and confine ourselves to the concrete
activities of Socialist organizations, the grounds on which their
decisions have been reached, and the reasons by which they are
ultimately defended.

Writers on Socialism, as a rule, have either left their statements of
the Socialist position unsupported, or have based them exclusively