n rather than in
self-interest and competitive action. Instead of social philosophy we
may say social faith, or social ideals. This faith may be absolute,
or radical, to the rejection of all economic competition; or it may
be moderate, and leave more or less place for self-interest and
competition. Every man of conscience and of ideals has moods that
are socialistic (in this sense) and dreams of a world without toil,
competition, or poverty.

This social philosophy has taken form as "Christian Socialism" among
men of strong religious natures, in various religious denominations.
Great secular dreamers--Plato in his "Republic," Sir Thomas More, in
his "Utopia," Edward Bellamy, in "Looking Backward," William Morris,
in "News from Nowhere," and others--have painted beautiful pictures of
ideal economic states from which all of the great evils and problems
of our society have been banished.

Sec. 14. #Socialism in action.# Active socialism is group action in
economic affairs. This may be by private voluntary groups, as a club,
church, or trade union, or by a public group, or political unit of
government, which has therefore a compulsory character. The radical
kind of active socialism would be the ownership by government of all
the means of production and the conduct of all business, assigning
men, by authority, to particular work and granting them such incomes
as the established authority thought they deserved. This kind exists
nowhere. A moderate kind of active socialism is represented by each
separate case of public ownership or industry. Even public regulation
by authority, of the many kinds described in this volume, is touched
with a quality of active socialism. In this sense there can be more or
less of active socialism in a community; a state may be more or less
socialized in its economic aspects. An English Chancellor of the
Exchequer declared in the last decade of the nineteenth century, "We
are all socialists now." The ever-increasing sphere of the state[16]
gives to that statement to-day a larger, fuller meaning than when it
was uttered.

Socialism in action is of course always the expression of a more or
less socialistic philosophy shared by a majority of the people. This
great recent movement of socialization in industry is the expression
not of a radical but of a moderate social philosophy. It does not look
to the abolition, but only to the modification and limitation in
some directions, of private property a