A B C of modern socialism

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A.B. no longer touches his cap to his master. He is a member of his Guild, which gives him freedom and the security without which there can be no freedom. His spirit, like his status, is also changed. He works in no acquisitive spirit. Loyalty is now the key note of his industrial life. Through loyalty he realises his true self, to discover in others social unity and civic strength.

In former days men were proud of their function, resenting all infringements or intrusions upon it. It was the same in the craft spirit of the Guilds. A new and enlightened pride in function infinitely more widely based must come again.

New Values

The marriage of Function with Labour brings in its train new concepts of life and new values in conduct. This was realised by de Maeztu, who rightly asserted that we must have a definite table of values to uphold the functional principle. This is how he puts it:

(i) The final or supreme values are moral satisfaction, scientific discovery and artistic creation.

(ii) The instrument to achieve this is man, with his associations and institutions.

(iii) The instrumental values whereby man may achieve the great purpose are the economic values, such as power and wealth.

Here is de Maeztu’s comment: “The reason why it is impossible for me to accept any other scale of values, or to change the order of this scale, is not