how things would be, according to his idea, in the
ideal world. In Europe he went round to all the reigning sovereigns
begging them to adopt his plans.

He wanted common ownership of everything with equal distribution;
money would be abolished; the marriage system would be done away with
and "free love" established; children would belong to and be reared
by the community. Our concern with him at this point is that he
called himself a Socialist and was, I believe, the first to use that
word.

But the Socialists of to-day have nothing in common with such Utopian
ideas as those I have described. We all recognize that Robert Owen was
a beautiful spirit, one of the world's greatest humanitarians. He was,
like the prophet Isaiah, a dreamer, a visionary. He had no idea of the
philosophy of social evolution upon which modern Socialism rests; no
idea of its system of economics. He saw the evils of private ownership
and competition in the fiercest period of competitive industry, and
wanted to replace them with co-operation and public ownership. But his
point of view was that he had been inspired with a great idea, thanks
to which he could save the world from all its misery. He did not
realize that social changes are produced by slow evolution.

One of the principal reasons why I have dwelt at this length upon Owen
is that he is a splendid representative of the great Utopia builders.
The fact that he was probably the first man to use the word Socialism
adds an element of interest to his personality also. I wanted to put
Utopian Socialism before you so clearly that you would be able to
contrast it at once with modern, scientific Socialism--the Socialism
of Marx and Engels, upon which the great Socialist parties of the
world are based; the Socialism that is alive in the world to-day. They
are as opposite as the poles. It is important that you should grasp
this fact very clearly, for many of the criticisms of Socialism made
to-day apply only to the old utopian ideals and do not touch modern
Socialism at all. In the letter you wrote me at the beginning of this
discussion there are many questions which you could not have asked
had you not conceived of Socialism as a scheme to be adopted.

People are constantly attacking Socialism upon these false grounds.
They remind me of a story I heard in Wales many years ago. In one of
the mountain districts a miner returned from his work one afternoon
and found that his wife had bought a pictu