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Socialism may be regarded either as an economic theory pure and simple or as a large movement of life. As the former, it is a tolerably well-defined description of the economic stages through which society passes. The emphasis is upon what, in economic fact, has been and is and inevitably is to be. There is no emphasis upon what ought to be. To many of us, such socialism has become increasingly unsatisfactory. It smacks too much of older dogmatic certitudes; it builds itself too perilously out of abstract economic absolutes; it is altogether too little conscious of the pregnant confusions and the creative uncertainties of life; above all, it makes no confident call upon the moral enthusiasms of men. It is for these reasons, doubtless, that to many of us, sympathetic as we have been with the fundamental insight of Marx, socialism has of necessity come to mean something very different from a mere description of the fated march of Economic Fact. It has come to mean a large movement of life, more particularly a movement of moral revolt against the regnant complacencies. It has come to mean an indignant rebuke, on the one hand, to the middle class treatment of the 'under dog,' and, on the other hand, to the middle class's treatment of itself. It has come to mean in short a plea for a finer justice, a more compassionate humanity, a plea likewise for a more intelligent marshalling of our human resources and for a more drastic elimination of the social crudities and stupidities.
The prevalent confusion as to what, precisely, socialism signifies arises out of this duality of meaning that has grown up within the socialist camp itself. As a matter of fact, socialism, particularly in America, is entering upon a new period of its history. America was never over-cordial to the socialism 'made in Germany.' There was too much that was autocratic about the Marxian doctrine; too much that reminded us of the relentlessness of a cosmic drillmaster. If, indeed, we accepted Marxianism for the time being, it was for want of something better. The doctrine was, in a way, a vent for our outraged feelings; it gave fighting edge to our swords. Yet we never felt quite comfortable with it; it wasn't fashioned after the pattern of ourselves. Of late, America has been developing a native type of social self-consciousness. Through the stress of our more recent problems, we have been growing steadily into a consciousness of the cruel ineptitude of our middle class judgments; and we have been turning in this direction and in that for light out of our darkness, with the result that a new movement of life is beginning among us, a movement that is economic, political, and social; a movement of revolt that is at the same time a movement of constructive purpose; a movement experi-
