ABSTRACT
At long last, it seems possible to pass to a picture of a possible socialism. Let me recapitulate: by possible or feasible I mean a state of affairs which could exist in some major part of the developed world within the lifetime of a child already conceived, without our having to make or accept implausible or farfetched assumptions about society, human beings and the economy. This means, surely, that we exclude abundance (in the sense of supply balancing demand at zero price, the disappearance of opportunity-cost). We naturally assume that the state will exist; indeed it will have major politico-economic functions. The state cannot be run meaningfully by all its citizens, and so there is bound to be a division between governors and governed. Also ships will have captains, newspapers will have editors, factories will have managers, planning offices will have chiefs, and so there is bound to be the possibility of abuse of power, and therefore a necessity to devise institutions that minimise this danger.
