Page:Studies in socialism 1906.djvu/39

Rh General Strike are the only ones who hope to win by other than legal political methods. But what they do believe in is the possibility of establishing the Socialist system in its entirety, after they shall have obtained political power. They depend upon the "class-warfare" that undoubtedly exists, to bring about a revolution, possibly peaceful in character, which will have for its object the abolition of private property in the means of production and the substitution of social property in its place. Their method of action, then, is to rouse the non-owners to a sense of their position, and to teach them to look forward to the day when they shall be strong enough to bring about this radical change.

This belief in the "revolutionary" method has two practical results. In the first place, it makes those who hold it indifferent to any less sweeping social reforms: they are working for complete political power and a complete social reconstruction. In the second place, the necessary stress laid upon the antagonism of classes makes them especially unwilling to enter into political alliance with other parties, who represent the owning class, even if such alliance would result in the gain of certain concrete advantages for the non-owners.

The Reformists, on the other hand, think that the coming change is too complex to be instituted as a whole. Their ultimate ideal is the collective ownership of capital, but they believe that they