h are really, in the large sense, socialistic, though a
socialism based on a foundation of established inequality, and so
altogether unlike the democratic socialism promulgated to-day. The
party of function, the Liberal party, insists on the break-up of this
structural socialism to meet the new needs of progressive civilization.
But when feudalism has been left far behind, and many of the changes
introduced by Liberalism have become part of the social structure, they
fall under the protection of Conservatives who are fighting against new
Liberal innovations. Thus the lines of delimitation tend to become
indistinct.

In the politics of social hygiene there are the same two factors: the
party of structure and the party of function. In their nature and in
their opposition to each other they correspond to the two parties in the
old political field. But they have changed their character and their
names: the party of structure is here Socialism or Collectivism,[248] the
party of function is Individualism.[249] And while the Tory, the
Conservative of early days, was allied to Collectivism, and the Whig,
the Liberal of early days, to Individualism, that correspondence has
ceased to be invariable owing to the confused manner in which the old
political parties have nowadays shifted their ground. We may thus see a
Liberal who is a Collectivist when a Collectivist measure may involve
that innovation to secure adjustment to new needs which is of the
essence of Liberalism, and we may see a Conservative who is an
Individualist when Individualism involves that maintenance of the
existing order which is of the essence of Conservatism. Whether a man is
a Conservative or a Liberal, he may incline either to Socialism or to
Individualism without breaking with his political tradition. It is,
therefore, impossible to import any political animus into the
fundamental antagonism between Individualism and Socialism, which
prevails in the sphere of social hygiene.

We cannot hope to see clearly the grave problems involved by the
fundamental antagonism between Socialism and Individualism unless we
understand what each is founded on and what it is aiming at.

When we seek to inquire how it is that the Socialist ideal exerts so
powerful an attraction on the human mind, and why it is ever seeking new
modes of practical realization, we cannot fail to perceive that it
ultimately proceeds from the primitive need of mutual help, a need which
was felt l