Functional socialism

CHAPTER I GENESIS

Most of these chapters are reproduced from the pages of New Britain or its allied publications. This involves a certain repetition, which, I trust, does not spell redundancy. For my part, so vital is the problem of function in industry—and indeed in life as a whole—that I regard repetition as a virtue. There is, at least, this to be said: those who read these contributions in their original clothing are the most insistent upon their republication in book form. Nor is any apology needed in emphasizing at this moment the urgency of the functional principle. Whether in industry, politics or the cultural life, Western Europe and America appear to have reached a dead-end. Our capitalist civilization shows many symptoms of paralysis. Whichever way it turns, within its own ambit, it encounters frustration or, at most, transient success. Trade is sometimes better and sometimes worse, but unemployment, part employment or actual poverty persist. Our intellectual and moral resources are depleted; we look around and there seems no way out. This is the time when cranks and charlatans reap a rich harvest. No saving principle, no basic formula, has yet found general