s of life, and all the
opportunities and resources of the world will be equal and free to
all."

The fundamental principle of Socialism, namely, a government, democratic
in form, in which all the citizens would collectively own and manage the
principal means of production, transportation and communication, will be
more clearly understood if the several component parts of the basic
principle are explained.

A government, _democratic in form_, would, of course, require the
overthrow of all limited monarchies as well as the annihilation of those
that are despotic. Even a republican form of government, like that of
the United States, is very far from being satisfactory to the
Revolutionists, for they demand that the citizens have as direct a voice
as possible, first in the election of all public officers, secondly in
the framing of the laws, and thirdly in the management of the many
industrial departments of the proposed government.

By the citizens' _collective owning_ of the different things enumerated
is meant that they would own them just as the citizens of the United
States, as a body, to-day own the post-offices, arsenals, navy and
public lands. Of course, collective ownership does not imply that, after
the state should have taken over the things referred to, each citizen
would be entitled to an equal share of them as his own private property,
to be used by him according to his desires.

_The management of the property_ of the Socialist state and the
remuneration[8] for labor would not be in the hands of private
individuals acting independently, but would be subject to the will of
the majority of the citizens.

By the _principal_ means of production, transportation and communication
is meant any instrument of production, transportation or communication
that would be used for purposes of exploitation, in other words, for
making profit through the employment of hired labor. To illustrate this,
several examples will be given. Mines, factories and mills of all kinds,
large business houses and stores, together with those farms whose owners
would employ hired labor for the production of goods to be sold at
profit, would all be looked upon as being among the _principal means of
production_. On the other hand, a sewing-machine used for family needs
would not be included in the list.

There are many Socialists who have held that their intended state would
allow the private ownership of very small farms, provid