Thorstein Veblen
Review author to: 'Einführung in den Socialismus'. By RICHARD CALWER. Leipzig: 
Georg H. Wigand, 1896. Small 8vo. pp. x + 232.
The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 5, No. 2. (Mar., 1897), pp. 270-272.
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[270] An elementary text-book in socialism written by a socialist and primarily 
for the instruction of adherents of the socialist creed is not altogether a new 
departure in literature, but there are few efforts of the kind which are on the 
whole as acceptable and effective a presentation of their subject as this. The 
immediate aim of the book is to combat the spirit of petty personal and local 
interest which is becoming a hindrance to effective co-operation for the larger 
and remoter ends of the socialist movement in Germany. At the same time it is 
not a controversial work. Its purpose is sought to be accomplished by so 
explaining the meaning and trend of the socialist movement as to leave no 
legitimate ground for the tendency which it deprecates.
That the author is a Marxian goes almost without saying; but his Marxism is of a 
greatly modernized, softened, conciliatory kind. It is a doctrine of economic 
evolution, or perhaps better of social evolution primarily on an economic basis, 
but a doctrine in which the "materialistic theory of history" is no longer 
obtrusively present in the crude form at every step, although it still remains 
the fundamental premise. There is no hint of the catastrophic method of reform, 
nor is their any urging of revolutionary measures. The industrial evolution, we 
are told, is visibly furthering the socialization of industry day by day. And 
this not only at certain points, - in certain salient features to which 
socialistic writers have been in the habit of pointing as evidence of the 
approach to socialism - but in all branches of industry, including agriculture, 
which most socialist teachers have hitherto been content to pass over as a 
"backward" industry somewhat doubtfully to be included in the scheme for 
immediate socialization. A characteristic instance of Mr. Calwer's ingenious use 
of everyday facts in support of this thesis his pointing out (p. 71) that all 
statistical determination of industrial methods and of the extent and range of 
the production and consumption of industrial products contributes to make an 
eventual collective control of these branches of industry easier. Not only the 
collective organization of industry under the direction of trusts and 
syndicates, therefore, but all canvassing of the markets and the industrial 
situation, by trade journals as well as by students of practical economics, is 
labor in the service of the socialist movement.
But while the evolution of industry, it is claimed, assures the rapid [271] and 
inevitable socialization of industry, these mechanical facts and technological 
events do not immediately or of themselves afford the basis for that growth of 
institutions which the socialist republic involves. The institutions of the 
community, whether socialistic or otherwise, rest on psychological ground. The 
material situation, the state of industry and the arts, may condition the growth 
of institutions in accordance with the materialistic theory of history, but 
these material circumstances of environment and of industrial organization and 
methods control the growth of institutions and social structure only as they 
affect the individual's habitual view of things. This psychological factor which 
is to afford the motive to socialistic reconstruction is conceived in quite 
modern terms. The discontent of the modern laborer, which is to work out the 
revolution, is no longer conceived to be of the nature of a calm resolution the 
outcome of dispassionate ratiocination. It is bluntly recognized (pp. 138-142, 
159, 163) that this motive force is simply sentiment and is closely akin to 
envy, its basis being chiefly an invidious comparison of the laborer's lot with 
that of the propertied classes. The decisive fact is the distastefulness of the 
laborer's social position as compared with his employer. Improvement in material 
comfort measured in absolute terms counts for very little. "You may feed the 
laborer well, you may clothe him decently, you may provide him with a modest 
dwelling, in short, you may keep him as a well-to-do man keeps his domestic 
animals - still the laborer will not be beguiled into overlooking the fact that 
his place in life is determined by accidents and circumstances which do not 
permit him to lead the life of a man" (p. 139).
The exposition (Part III) of the aim and methods of the socialistic movement is 
also temperate and conciliatory in tone, though it leaves no doubt as to its 
radical character in substance. It deprecates all violence, and even enters a 
caution against the free use of what a socialist would consider peaceable and 
legitimate measures, such as strikes and boycotts. "Socialism is essentially a 
peaceable development of a struggle between different interests .... and so long 
as the socialists are a minority and the industrial situation is not yet ripe 
for the socialistic régime, so long the socialists must yield, willing or 
unwilling, to the majority - to those that hold the power. But the time is 
coming when the majority of the people will be on the socialist side, and then 
it will depend on the ruling class, which will then have fallen into the 
position of a minority, whether they are wise enough and shrewd enough [272] to 
let the further development of the nation's life go on undisturbed or not" (pp. 
218, 219). The militarism of European countries is decried as inconsistent with 
the socialistic evolution, not because war as such is to be deplored, but 
because war and armaments weaken a nation industrially, and hinder the process 
of industrial evolution. While no speculation as to the "future state" is 
indulged in, some reference is made to the probable future of certain 
institutions and to the attitude of the socialist toward these institutions. So, 
for instance, (pp. 203-4) socialism is said to hold an entirely neutral position 
with regard to religion, but this is uttered with an evident conviction that the 
church and the creeds are alien to socialism and irreconcilable with it in 
detail. Similarly, socialism is not unpatriotic, although it is international, 
but the patriotism of the German socialist is in abeyance through the 
government's fault rather than his own. Little is said about the family, but it 
is plainly implied that the traditional form of the family is in an advanced 
stage of obsolescence so far as regards the working classes. It is conceded that 
the marriage relation at present sanctioned by the law may for the present and 
for an indefinite time to come be the form best suited for the well to-do 
classes.
T.B. VEBLEN.