Functional socialism

THE REVIVAL OF GUILD SOCIALISM 153

matically a depositor in his own bank. In this way, the Guild Banks would always have a large reserve of credit, in addition to their enormous inter-Guild credit transactions.

All this was written twenty years ago. There has been a spate of books on finance since then. For my sins, I have read scores of them; but the Guild theory of finance, soundly based on functional effort, in my view remains unassailable. All these financial theories assume the continuance of the existing industrial system; they are falsetto voices in a general chorus of despair. The shrill cacophony of our financial guidnuncs will gradually be silenced as the re-organization of industry proceeds.

On the economic side there are still two problems of major importance, which must be reserved. They are taxation and compensation. The original proposal was that each Guild should obtain its powers by a State charter, one of the conditions being that they should pay their several quotas to the Budget. It requires but a cursory examination of Guild theory to see that all taxation, direct or indirect, is thrown into the melting pot. Notably income tax, which might be abolished. The financial upkeep of the State must be a first charge upon all Guild operations, whether productive or distributive. In industry, function must pay as well as govern. In like manner, the constitution of a Guild economy must raise ten thousand questions of compensation, based mainly on grounds of social compunction.

We may now proceed to the political implications