Socialism , n. -- Socialism of the chair [G. katheder socialismus] , a term applied about 1872, at first in ridicule, to a group of German political economists
who advocated state aid for the betterment of the working classes.
So"cial*ism (?), n. [Cf.
F. socialisme.] A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless, revolutionary
social scheme. See Communism, Fourierism, Saint-
Simonianism, forms of socialism. [Socialism] was first applied in England to Owen's theory of social reconstruction,
and in France to those also
of St. Simon and Fourier . . . The word, however, is used with a great
variety of meaning, . . . even by economists and learned critics. The general tendency is to regard
as socialistic any interference undertaken by
society on behalf of the
poor, . . . radical social reform which disturbs the present system of private property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is more and more
to ally itself with the most advanced democracy. Encyc. Brit. We certainly want a true history of socialism, meaning by that a history of every systematic attempt to provide a new
social existence for the mass
of the workers. F. Harrison.
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