198 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

some to be well off without effort and places incompetent
people in positions of power; but they will urge that these examples
are not sufficiently numerous to condemn the whole system.
At the other end of the scale, many people are born too poor
to have much chance in life; they cannot save a great deal, their
education is limited, the legal freedom to become rich, if they
can, has little significance for them. This is answered by pointing
to the achievements of Capitalism, particularly in the last
century, when it enormously increased the wealth of mankind;
out of this wealth it has been possible to provide public education
and many other services which help to remove social injustice.
Capitalism, in the view of its defenders, has rescued mankind
from the grinding poverty of the past, has raised the standard
of comfort, and provided increased opportunities to all; it can
continue to do this work by using the incentive of private gain.
The system which now produces wealth is highly complex;
would it not be thrown into disorder if it were taken out of
the hands of those who now own it, to be run by public officials?
Will it not be best to preserve the main features of Capitalism?
As wealth goes on increasing the social services will grow
likewise; so Capitalist society will become rich enough to afford
the remedies for its own defects; but if, in a premature attempt
to relieve poverty and injustice, the ownership of property and
the stimulus of private gain are tampered with, the production
of wealth will slow down and the reformers will defeat their
own ends.

Socialists advocate a form of society in which the equipment
for the production of wealth would be owned by the whole
people and controlled in accordance with an agreed plan; the
wealth itself would be more equally shared, and everyone would
have an equal opportunity to develop his talents. Instead of
two classes, owners and workers, there would be a classless
society in which all would be workers, and all, collectively,
owners. In reply to the arguments given above they claim that
the defects of Capitalism have been understated; that undeserved