Functional socialism

1S4 FUNCTIONAL SOCIALISM

of Guild theory. It is, of course, at this point, that we diverge from Syndicalism and approach State Socialism, Never, so far as I know, has any Guild writer ever suggested that the Guilds as such should trench upon politics. They were to be purely industrial bodies, their activities strictly confined to their economic functions. There were heavy dialectical engagements amongst us upon sovereignty. Not without relevance, since upon our conception of sovereignty hung the acceptance of the State charter for the Guilds. If the State and the Guild Congress were co-equal in sovereignty, then clearly the charter was not merely useless but an impertinence. If, however, the State was the final arbiter of sovereignty, then, of course, the charter conferred the authority necessary to legal security. Without compromising my own belief in diffused, or, if you will, delegated sovereignty, I took—and take—the view that whatever authority acts for the general body of citizenship must exercise supreme sovereignty. Supreme, but not the only sovereignty; for we are all partakers of the quality of sovereignty because the State derives from us and can only exist with our assent. And we bring that sovereignty into our associations, churches, connections and covenants. The crucial issue, therefore, is not sovereignty but citizenship.

In defining the relations between the Guilds and the State, I declared that the advantages accruing from Guild organization must express themselves in citizenship. “ We have now reached the point where