The Use of the Word Socialism

The following brief articles comment upon a letter from M. Rubel which appeared in the first issue of DISSENT. A distinguished French student of Marxism, M. Rubel, raised the question whether the word “socialism” has become so contaminated and vulgarized in recent years as to preclude its usage by those who desire a socialist transformation of society. He then went on to propose a comparison between “the conceptual content of the word `socialism,’ as it was formed in a...