sketch of Guild Socialism "The Factory to the Workers, the Mine to the Miners -- and the dust to the dustmen, I suppose." -- Beatrice Webb What, then, is essential to Guild Socialism? Certainly one essential is representative democracy, but representative democracy in a rather specific form: functional pluralism. "It follows that there must be, in the Society,as many separately elected groups of representatives as there are distinct essential groups of functions to be …showed first 75 words of 3115 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3115 total…by "interest," material interest is most usually meant. While the commune may be described as a state, its functions are the minimal ones of coordination and arbitration among the major functional groups in society, and thus it may be thought of as a natural and minimal state. Nevertheless the Guild Socialist society is a socialist society if, with W. A.Lewis, (p. viii) we consider democracy and the classless society as the essentials of socialism.