e at least
thirty thousand items. Therefore a full analysis of international
Socialism based upon the study of the original sources is a forbidding
undertaking. I have consequently limited myself to the investigation
of the British Socialist movement, although I have cast a cursory
glance upon foreign Socialism whenever it seemed necessary to do so.

I have consulted altogether about a thousand books and pamphlets, and
have given representative extracts from four hundred or five hundred
of those which seemed most proper to elucidate the subject of this
book. Having given space to the views of all the Socialist groups,
this book is a summary of the whole literature of British Socialism
and a key to it. It is based exclusively on first-hand evidence, and
every statement contained in it can instantly be verified by reference
to the original sources indicated in the footnotes. In the
Bibliography at the end of this volume the full title, publisher's
address, and date of publication of all sources drawn upon are given,
so that readers will have no difficulty in procuring any Socialist
books they may want for further study.

Most of the books quoted are unknown to booksellers, and are not in
public libraries. Even the British Museum Library possesses only part
of the publications used in this book, which is the first to exploit
fully the whole Socialist party literature. Whilst most books on
Socialism take note only of Socialist text-books addressed to
students, the present volume considers chiefly the propaganda
literature which is educating the Socialist rank and file and shaping
its political views. For all practical political purposes the
propaganda literature is undoubtedly by far the more important of the
two to the statesman and the citizen.

The present volume is the only book of its kind, and I hope that the
Socialist movement in Germany, France, and the United States will be
treated with similar completeness by writers of these countries. The
perusal of the present volume will enable us to form an opinion of the
merits or demerits of the Socialistic theories and practical plans,
and make it possible for us to separate the grain from the chaff, the
wisdom from the folly, in the teachings of the Socialists. Thus we
shall be able to see which of their complaints and proposals are
justified and practical, and which are unjustified and unpractical.

Popular dissatisfaction, Socialistic and non-Socialistic, points to