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GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

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SOVEREIGNTY AND NATURAL RIGHTS 557<br />

laws of his country in the direction of an increasing<br />

realiz<strong>at</strong>ion of his own vision of n<strong>at</strong>ural law.<br />

The Dilemma of the Socialist under Capitalism.<br />

The solution is a lame one, but it is difficult to see wh<strong>at</strong><br />

other, on Green's premises, could be offered. The problem<br />

has a contemporary interest in its bearing upon the<br />

dilemma of the twentieth-century socialist. He cannot but<br />

think capitalist society grossly defective. Moreover, he<br />

claims to have elabor<strong>at</strong>ed the plan of a better society<br />

in which men's personalities will be fully developed and<br />

their ideal n<strong>at</strong>ures will stand <strong>at</strong> least a chance of being<br />

realized. Is he, thep, to revolt against society as he finds<br />

it? He knows th<strong>at</strong>, if he does so, his action will inaugur<strong>at</strong>e<br />

a period of violence, probably culmin<strong>at</strong>ing in civil war,<br />

in the course of which all his other rights and liberties<br />

may be superseded, while the civil war itself may end in a<br />

victory for the reactionary elements in society, under<br />

whose unchecked domin<strong>at</strong>ion the rights suspended during<br />

the war will never be restored. Rejecting this altern<strong>at</strong>ive,<br />

the socialist may seek to work for his ideals inside the<br />

existing system, hoping to persuade the majority of his<br />

fellows to adopt his point of view, so th<strong>at</strong> the system<br />

may be gradually transformed into one nearer his heart's<br />

desire. In theory there is little to be said against this<br />

course; in practice, however, the ground gained after<br />

half a century of agit<strong>at</strong>ion is negligible, and it is always<br />

possible th<strong>at</strong>, as the theory considered in Chapter XVII<br />

maintains, advance may be retarded or even entirely<br />

prevented by factors which human ideals, convictions<br />

and desires are impotent to control. If, according to this<br />

theory, Capitalism is prosperous, then modific<strong>at</strong>ions of<br />

its character such as are desired by socialists may be<br />

permitted; if, on the other hand, it is hard-pressed, its<br />

<strong>at</strong>titude will stiffen and any advance in the direction<br />

of "ideal rightr" for the mass of the people will be met<br />

by uncompromising<br />

the existence of large numbers of idcalistically minded,<br />

resistance. In neither event will

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