.VOTES AND ABSTRACTS 559
gestion, makes possible only the form of organization in which fixed habit is all, and in which no accommodation, movement, progress, would lake place. " It is only in the form of thoughts, conceptions, or inventions that new material, new copies for imitation, new schemes of modified organization can come into a society at any stage of its development."
"Society, we may say, is the form of natural organization into which ethical per- sonalities fail in their growth. So also, on the side of the individual, we may define ethical personality as the form of natural development into which individuals grow who live in social relationship. The true analogy, then, is not that which likens society to a physiological organism, but rather that which likens it to a psychological organisation, and the sort of psychological organization to which it is analogous to that which is found in ideal thinking." J. MARK BALDWIN, The Psychological Review, September. 1897-
Socialism in Italy. Until a very recent period (about ten years) Italy seemed unfavorable to the growth of socialism. Economic conditions prevented its becoming an industrial nation. Natural conditions (soil and products) rendered intensive culti- vation necessary, rather than agriculture on a large scale. Ignorance and religious superstition dominated the whole rural and part of the urban population. All these influences were more important in Italy than in other countries. Socialism was an academic product and touched the masses only in its very scanty results. The laborer continued indifferent. But such conditions could not endure. The economic move- ment of other countries affected Italy. The price of agricultural products fell. Con- current with this fact there has been a large increase in mortgage indebtedness, principally on small land holders, emigration, convictions for theft, and strikes, and a general decrease of both relative and absolute wages. The resulting ruin of agricul- ture and the formation of a rural proletariat have caused a great increase of industry and the creation of several important industrial centers, but no real development, on account of lack of capital and the succession of crises. Hence a class of industrial proletariats as well. The large number of persons educated for the liberal professions in excess of the demand form another dependent class. Extravagant public adminis- tration, increase of taxes and the national debt, have added to the popular distress. Statistics show a decrease in the amount of staple foods consumed. Popular discon- tent, owing to all these causes, is now furnishing a basis for the development of social- istic ideas. Before 1882 there existed an amorphous socialistic movement, strongly revolutionary, under the influence of Bakounine. Since 1882, when the franchise was extended to workmen, the socialistic movement may be said to have taken the charac- ter of a party with a programme both final and proximate. On the one hand, the socialists still maintained their old programme, though less revolutionary. On the other, a distinct labor party came into existence, demanding immediate reforms to satisfy the special needs of the working classes. The economic distress brought the labor party into existence, but its members did not grasp the fundamental causes of the economic condition, and hence their action was not well directed. After several attempts at union on the part of the socialists, the two currents, practical and theoret- ical, represented by the two parties, were finally united in 1892. The results have been large. The socialist vote has grown from I in 62 in 1892 to I in 9, in spite of governmental suppression and hostile revision of the voting lists. The economic and moral importance of the movement is seen in the organization of labor unions, which serve not only as employment bureaus, but are great educational influences in the organization of libraries, meetings, and trade schools. GIOVANNI I.FRDA, Le Dntt- nir social, Aout-Septembre 1897.
