Functional socialism

THE REVIVAL OF GUILD SOCIALISM 145

stony, with low visibility throughout. And I may say that for six months it seemed that I was addressing empty space, no murmur of sympathy or dissent being heard. Then the new gospel took root and grew. Distinguished adherents, like Mrs. Townshend, Cole, Mellor and Reckitt, came to our aid. When war began, Guild Socialism had been accepted in many unexpected quarters. During the war it grew into a living faith. The National Guilds League, largely under the inspiration and guidance of Mrs. Townshend and those three men, by its vigorous propaganda, undoubtedly gave to socialist thought a new vision and a richer content.

In his History of British Socialism,* M. Beer devotes some pages to Guild Socialism, describing with accuracy and understanding, the main principles. He says of National Guilds that it must be regarded as one of the most important documents of the labour unrest which dominated British home affairs in the years of 1908 to 1913:

Its critical apparatus is grounded on the syndicalist form of Marxism, and it is followed up with that relentless logical force which characterises the writings of Karl Marx. Its positive contribution contains several British elements—it envisages the nation rather than a class and it presents an outline of the practical applications of syndicalist ideas to British economic life.

* History of British Socialism. M. Beer, Vol. Il, pp. 363 to 372. On Syndicalism, Berth, Les Nouveaux Aspects du Socialisme ; Sorel, Reflexions sur la Violence ; The Preamble of the I.WW., published by the Socialist Labour Party, Edinburgh; Cole, Self-Government in Industry, third edition, pp. 303-321. Sorel insists upon the vital distinction between Anarchism and Syndicalism; but they seem to have a common heritage in Louis Blanc.

K