Sooner or later, either by violent or peaceful means,
this will be done. It is for the working-class to say whether it shall
be sooner or later, whether it shall be accomplished through the
strife and bitterness of war or by the peaceful methods of political
conquest.

We have seen that the root of the evil in modern society is the profit
motive. Socialism means the production of things for use instead of
for profit. Not at one stroke, perhaps, but patiently, wisely and
surely, all the things upon which people in common depend will be made
common property.

Take notice of that last paragraph, Jonathan. I don't say that _all_
property must be owned in common, but only the things upon which
people in common depend; the things which all must use if they are to
live as they ought, and as they have a right to live. We have a
splendid illustration of social property in our public streets. These
are necessary to all. It would be intolerable if one man should own
the streets of a city and charge all other citizens for the use of
them. So streets are built out of the common funds, maintained out of
the common funds, freely used by all in common, and the poorest man
has as much right to use them as the richest man. In the nutshell this
states the argument of Socialism.

People sometimes ask how it would be possible for the government under
Socialism to decide which children should be educated to be writers,
musicians and artists and which to be street cleaners and laborers;
how it would be possible to have a government own everything, deciding
what people should wear, what food should be produced, and so on.

The answer to all such questions is that Socialism would not need to
do anything of the kind. There would be no need for the government to
attempt such an impossible task. When people raise such questions they
are thinking of the old and dead utopianism, of the schemes which
once went under the name of Socialism. But modern Socialism is a
principle, not a scheme. The Socialist movement of to-day is not
interested in carrying out a great design, but in seeing society get
rid of its drones and making it impossible for one class to exploit
another class.

Under Socialism, then, it would not be at all necessary for the
government to own everything; for private property to be destroyed.
For instance, the State could have no possible interest in denying the
right of a man to own his home and to make that home as beautiful a