A B C of modern socialism

27 one. And that is ten years short of the ancient Greek ideal.

National Guilds

In the sphere of production, the functional unit is obviously the National Guild. And the final functional authority is the House of Industry, which becomes an Estate of the Realm. Just as the governing body of each National Guild is representative of all its working groups, so the House of Industry is composed of representatives from the National Guilds. In numbers it should about equal the House of Commons. The internal structure of each National Guild is determined by the nature of the function. Some Guilds cover the whole country, are national; others, such as textiles, are local; others, such as coal, are both local and national. Elasticity must be the keynote of Guild organisation.

While there are twenty major functions, implying twenty National Guilds, there are, of course, many thousands of minor functions, each with its niche in its appropriate Guild. Every trade, craft, mystery or occupation carried on for the public welfare, and not for selfish or anti-social purposes, is by definition a function.

The movement for National Guilds was originally based on the trade unions. That is substantially the case to-day ; but there have been developments both in theory and fact. In theory, function is now the justification for National Guilds, whereas originally it was based upon the change of status, the obvious sequel to a labour monopoly secured by

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