vement; any
political body, any organization whatever, that professes to stand for
Socialism, makes an altogether too presumptuous claim. The whole is
greater than the part, the will than the instrument. There can be no
official nor pontifical Socialism; the theory lives and grows. It
springs out of the common sanity of mankind. Constructive Socialism
shapes into a great system of developments to be forwarded, points to
a great number of systems of activity amidst which its adherents may
choose their field for work. Parties and societies may come or go,
parties and organizations and names may be used and abandoned;
constructive Socialism lives and remains.

There is a constantly recurring necessity to insist on the difference
between two things, the larger and the lesser, the greater being the
Socialist movement, the lesser the various organizations that come and
go. There is this necessity because there is a sort of natural
antagonism between the thinker and writer who stand by the scheme and
seek to develop and expound it, and the politician who attempts to
realize it. They are allies, but allies who often pull against each
other, whom a little heat and thoughtlessness may precipitate into a
wasteful conflict. The former is, perhaps, too apt to resent the
expenditure of force in those conflicts of cliques and personal
ambition that inevitably arise among men comparatively untrained for
politics, those squabbles and intrigues, reservations and
insincerities that precede the birth of a tradition of discipline; the
latter is equally prone to think literature too broad-minded for daily
life, and to associate all those aspects of the Socialist project
which do not immediately win votes, with fads, kid gloves,
"gentlemanliness," rose-water and such-like contemptible things. These
squabbles of the engineer and the navigating officer must not be
allowed to confuse the mind of the student of Socialism. They are
quarrels of the mess-room, quarrels on board the ship and within
limits, they have nothing to do with the general direction of
Socialism. Like all indisciplines they hinder but they do not
contradict the movement. Socialism, the politicians declare, can only
be realized through politics. Socialism, I would answer, can never be
narrowed down to politics. Your parties and groups may serve
Socialism, but they can never be Socialism. Scientific progress,
medical organization, the advancement of educational method, artistic