janw@inmet.UUCP (11/18/85)
In case anyone has not read it, The Soul of Man under Socialism, an essay by Oscar Wilde, is highly recommended - to socialists, libertarians and all the others. Wilde uses the words "social- ism" and "individualism" interchangeably ! Written in 1890, it contains some true prophesies; it is witty (of course), and lucid, and full of ideas. And short. Here are some quotations: >If the Socialism is Authoritarian; if there are Governments armed >with economic power as they are now with political power; if, in >a word, we are to have industrial tyrannies, then the last state >of man will be worse than the first. >It is to be regretted that a portion of our community should be >practically in slavery, but to propose to solve the problem by >enslaving the entire community is childish. >All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise >it, and it degrades those over whom it is exercised. >All modes of government are failures. Consequently, he is for doing without government (which he dis- tinguishes from the State). >With authority, punishment will pass away. This will be a great >gain ... As one reads history ... one is absolutely sickened, not >by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punish- >ments that the good have inflicted. So, what makes him a socialist ? >Now if the State is not to govern, it may be asked what the State >is to do. The State is to be a voluntary association that will >organize labour, and be the manufacturer and distributor of >necessary commodities. The State is to make what is useful. The >individual is to make what is beautiful. But how can State, apart from individuals, *make* anything ? His answer is *automation* (in 1890 !). Is all this unrealistic? He has an answer: >A practical scheme is either a scheme that is already in ex- >istence, or a scheme that could be carried out under existing >conditions. But it is exactly the existing conditions that one >objects to. >A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even >glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity >is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, >and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the reali- >zation of Utopias.