gress of Arts and Sciences at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904) ; Aspects of Greek Conservatism " (in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1906); "Greek Conceptions of Immortality from Homer to Plato " (in Harvard Essays on Classical Subjects, 1912) and various contributions to philological journals. He was editor of the Greek Series for Colleges and Schools (20 vols.).
SKOWDEN, PHILLIP (1864- ), British Labour politician, was born at Cowling, Yorks, July 18 1864. He was educated
partly privately and partly at a board school, and in 1886 entered
the Civil Service. In 1893 he retired, and devoted himself to
journalism and lecturing, becoming well known for his ardent
advocacy of extreme socialistic views. He unsuccessfully con-
tested Blackburn in 1900 and Wakefield in, 1902, and in 1903 he
became chairman of the Independent Labour party. He held
this position until 1906, and in that year was returned as So-
cialist member for Blackburn. He sat on various royal commis-
sions, including those on the Civil Service and Venereal Dis-
eases, and from 1917 to 1919 was again chairman of the Inde-
pendent Labour party. Mr. Snowden made himself extremely
unpopular during the World War owing to his pacifist opinions,
and was one of the Socialist members of Parliament who lost
their seats at the general election of 1918. He had married in
1905 Miss Ethel Annikin, who became well known as a speaker
and writer on social subjects. In 1920 she went to Russia as a
member of one of the various Labour delegations invited to in-
spect Soviet conditions of government. She published on her
return an account of her experiences, under the title of Through
Bolshevik Russia (1920).
SOCIALISM (see 25.301*). Socialism is at once a theory, or rather a whole body of theories, and a movement, or rather a
number of movements more or less closely connected. The name
has been used during the past century to describe many different
social theories, in all of which a common character has been per-
ceived. In recent times it has come to be used less with reference
to any definite theory than for the purpose of describing the
movements in various countries which have adopted the name
or have declared their adhesion to Socialism. It is thus possible,
in setting out to give a summary account of Socialism, to describe
it either by its connotation, that is to say, in terms of the ideas
for which it stands, or by its denotation, that is, in terms of the
groups and parties which profess allegiance to it. But neither of
these methods of description is by itself satisfactory, nor is it
possible by either, or even by a combination of both, to arrive at
a satisfactory or adequate definition of Socialism. The word is
used, and has been used increasingly in recent years, in a number
of different and frequently overlapping senses. It has changed
its meaning with time: but the changes have not served to clarify
it, but rather to increase the number of different senses in which
the term is used.
It would be well to begin by ruling altogether out from the scope of this article certain popular uses of the term whieh have been current especially during the past generation. The well- known phrase, " We are all Socialists now," and the constant references to " socialistic legislation," only serve to obscure the real meanings which attach to the word. When it is said that, " We are all Socialists now," all that is meant is that everybody nowadays is prepared to agree that a greater measure of govern- mental intervention both in industry and in the affairs of society generally is necessary than was currently regarded as necessary or even possible 100 years ago.
The phrase " socialistic legislation " again is frequently used to cover almost any extension of governmental activity in the sphere either of industry or of provision under the State or under local government auspices for the needs of the people. The phrase " socialistic taxation " is used, with a greater approxima- tion to accuracy, in reference to those forms of taxation which aim not merely at producing revenue for the public authorities, but at bringing about an actual readjustment in the distribution of income in the community, arrived at by the unregulated opera- tion of capitalist economic forces. Again, almost any extension in the sphere of local government action, such as the taking over of a tramway system or the establishment of banking or insur- ance facilities by a local authority, is frequently referred to as
" municipal socialism," even if the public body which inaugu- rates this policy does not consist of members who profess any allegiance to, or have any sympathy with, the doctrines of any Socialist party or group. All these and similar uses of the word " Socialism " are here ruled out of consideration.
The word " Socialism " first came into use in the third or fourth decade of the ipth century in England and France. The first- known literary reference to it occurs in the " Poor Man's Guar- dian " in 1833; but it is believed that the word was occasionally used at an earlier date in both France and England. In Great Britain it was most frequently used during the first half of the 1 9th century in reference to the doctrines associated with the name of Robert Owen and his disciples, and to the theories of the anti-capitalist economists, such as W. Thompson, who were largely affected by Owenite teaching. In France the name simi- larly attached itself to the doctrines of thinkers of whom the most important were followers of St. Simon and Fourier. Its use then spread much more rapidly on the continent of Europe than in Great Britain, and it was mainly in connexion with the growth of continental Socialist movements (Louis Blanc in 1848; the First International Working Men's Association in the 'sixties and the Paris Commune of 1871) that it was used by English writers, until it was reimported into Great Britain as the name applied to a constructive body of doctrines in the early 'eighties, especially under the auspices of H. M. Hyndman and the Democratic Federation (subsequently the Social Democrat Federation).
It is important to realize that in all its modern meanings the word " Socialism " refers definitely to doctrines and movements which owe their rise to the growth of large-scale production and the capitalist system in industry. It is, indeed, sometimes applied to theories and Utopian speculations, such as those of Sir Thomas More, which have no direct reference to any particular stage of social evolution and are merely attempts to outline the structure of an ideal commonwealth. But, although such Utopias as those of Plato and More may present features of resemblance to the doctrines of modern Socialism, there is no real connexion between these and the theories or attitudes towards property which are .sometimes comprehended under the terms "mediaeval Socialism " and " mediaeval Communism." Socialism, as a body of doctrine and as a movement applicable to modern conditions and these are the senses of the term which matter to the student made its appearance when the changes in methods of production and transport, which are usually described as the " Industrial Revolution," had created the modern working class or " proletariat," and had caused this class to make the attempt to organize for common protection against the the evil effects of new industrial conditions.
Modern Socialism, although it has claimed many adherents belonging to other classes, is thus essentially a working-class or "proletarian" movement, in that it is based upon and directly due to the rise of the "proletariat" as a distinct social class capable of independent class organization and suffering under a sense of injustice and inhibition. The Socialism of the Owenite period serves in certain respects very clearly to reveal this essential character of the movement. Owen himself has indeed been described by subsequent social thinkers by Marx, for example as a "Utopian" Socialist; but the rise of the Owenite movement is very clearly and directly traceable to the actual economic conditions of the early igth century. It was out of his experience as a factory manager and owner at New Lanark and elsewhere that Owen developed his Socialist doctrines; and, in the minds of most of his followers even more than Owen himself, these doctrines possessed always a close and definite relation to the rise of the working class to social consciousness and to the possibility of social power. Thus, while Owen was expounding his doctrine of ideal Cooperative or Socialist communities, and endeavouring to demonstrate by practical experiment possibilities of achieving Socialism by the foundation of such communities in the midst of a rapidly developing capitalist environment, many of those who were most affected by his doctrines were engaged either, as economists, in developing their critique of the current economic theories based on capitalism, or,
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