Chris Bertram gives us a very nice quote from William Morris on the characteristics of true socialism, and the dangers of complacency about it. I wondered what would happen if one were to replace “Socialism” with “Capitalism” and tweak the quotation appropriately. How would it sound? Here’s the result:

this book, having produced a great impression on people who are really enquiring into Capitalism, will be sure to be quoted as an authority for what Capitalists believe, and that, therefore, it is necessary to point out that there are some Capitalists who do not think that the problem of the organisation of life and necessary labour can be dealt with by a huge individual decentralisation, working by a kind of magic for which no one feels himself responsible; that on the contrary it will be necessary for the unit of allocation to be small enough for every citizen to feel himself responsible for its details, and be interested in them; that individual men cannot shuffle off the business of life on to the shoulders of an abstraction called the Market, but must deal with it in conscious association with each other. That variety of life is as much an aim of true Capitalism as accumulation of wealth, and that nothing but an union of these two will bring about real freedom. That modern corporations are mere artificial devices for the commercial war that we seek to put an end to, and will disappear with it. And, finally, that art, using that word in its widest and due signification, is not a mere adjunct of life which rich and happy men can do without, but the necessary expression and indispensable instrument of human happiness.

Not too bad. I switched ‘Capitalism’ for ‘Socialism’, ‘Market’ for ‘State’, ‘corporation’ for ’nation’, ‘individual decentralisation’ for ’national centralisation’, ‘allocation’ for ‘administration’, ‘accumulation of wealth’ for ’equality of condition’ and ‘rich’ for ‘free’. The strongest part, I think, is the sentece saying “individual men cannot shuffle off the business of life on to the shoulders of an abstraction called the Market, but must deal with it in conscious association with each other.” I think that’s about right.

It’s an interesting exercise, and worth trying with other famous quotes that make you feel good. It suggests that the force of Morris’s point comes not so much from his warning about socialist pitfalls per se, but rather the way he draws attention to the dangers of reifying one’s favorite institution (whether State or Market). Your problems will not be solved by faith in an abstraction, Morris says, no matter how hard you believe in it.