, merely of
a handful of large capitalists, nor of these aided by certain cohorts of
hired political mercenaries--nor yet of these two groups supported by
the deceived and ignorant among the masses. Unimportant elections may be
fought with such support, but not revolutionary "civil wars" or "the
upheavals of the centuries." _In every historical instance such
struggles were supported on both sides by powerful, and at the same time
numerically important, social classes, acting on the solid basis of
economic interest._

Yet non-Socialist reformers persist in claiming that they represent all
classes with the exception of a handful of monopolists, the bought, and
the ignorant; and many assert flatly that their movement is altruistic,
which can only mean that they intend to bestow such benefits as they
think proper on some social class that they expect to remain powerless
to help itself. Here, then, in the attitude of non-Socialist reformers
towards various social classes, we begin to see the inner structure of
their movement. They do not propose to attack any "vested interests"
except those of the financial magnates, and they expect the lower
classes to remain politically impotent, which they as democrats, know
means that these classes are only going to receive such secondary
consideration as the interests of the other classes require.

Whether the radical of to-day, the "State Socialist," favors political
democracy or not, depends on whether these "passive beneficiaries" of
the new "altruistic" system are in a majority. If they are not in a
majority, certain political objects may be gained (without giving the
non-capitalist masses any real power) by allowing them all to vote, by
removing undemocratic constitutional restrictions, and by introducing
direct legislation, the recall, and similar measures. If they are a
majority, it is generally agreed that it is unsafe to allow them an
equal voice in government, as they almost universally fail to rest
satisfied with the benefits they secure from collectivist capitalism and
press on immediately to a far more radical policy.

So in agricultural communities like New Zealand, Australia, and some of
our Western States, where there is a prosperous property-holding
majority, the most complete political democracy has come to prevail.
Judging everything by local conditions, the progressive small
capitalists of our West sometimes even favor the extension of this
democracy to the nation