Socialists were looked upon almost as outcasts by "respectable" folk, partly because some of them had a habit of applying the acid of their criticisms to many things besides the economic structure of society, such as the marriage laws and established forms of religion. So stuffy respectability jumped hastily to the conclusion that all Socialists were atheists and advocates of free love. After passing through this phase Socialism became quite fashionable for a time, and then having been laughed at as a discredited back-number by the Guildsmen, has come back into the limelight owing to the craving for nationalization which is cherished by many of the Labour leaders.
If we find that the form of society at which Socialists aim is somewhat hazy and not worked out in full detail, it would be very unfair therefore to criticise Socialism as mere rainbow chasing. They propose to rebuild society, and we cannot expect them to prepare for us a plan of the whole building worked out in every detail. The details will obviously have to be filled in as the building goes on. All that we can expect from them is a clear statement of the main principles which they aim at establishing, and the advantages which they
