ons, from the time of Marx to the present,
Socialists have opposed not private property, but capitalism. It is the
domination of society by the capitalists, _i.e._ "capitalism" or the
capitalist system, that is to be done away with.

"The distinguishing feature of Communism," wrote Marx, using this
word instead of Socialism, "is not the abolition of property
generally, but the abolition of capitalist property. But modern
capitalist property is the final and most complete expression of
that system of producing and appropriating products that is based
on class antagonism, on the expropriation of the many by the
few."[299]

In seeking the better organization of industry and leaving the most
perfect freedom to individuals and to private organizations, what the
Socialists are really aiming at is really to restrict the government to
_a government of things rather than to a government of men_; and this
phrase is in common use among them. It is sought not to increase the
power of higher officials over government employees and citizens, but,
on the contrary, to limit their powers to the necessities of industry
itself, and to leave the most perfect and complete freedom to the
individual _in every other sphere_, as well as in industry, so far as
the physical conditions themselves allow. There is no doubt, for
instance, that whole departments of restrictive legislation directed
against individual liberty would at once be repealed by any Socialist
government (though not by a government of so-called "State Socialists").

Perhaps the idea is best expressed by the Belgian Socialist,
Vandervelde:--

"The capitalist State has as an end the government of men; it needs
centralized power, ministers ready to employ force, functionaries
blindly obeying the least sign. Enlarge its domain [_i.e._
institute 'State Socialism.'--W.] and you will create a vast
barracks, you will institute a republic of scoundrels.

"The Socialist State, on the contrary, will have for its end an
administration of things; it will need a decentralized
organization, practical men of science, industrial forces over
which spontaneity and initiative will be required above every other
quality."[300]

Surely such a State does not resemble in any way the paternalistic,
bureaucratic capitalism or "State Socialism" towards which we are at
present tending.

"It is quite