Book Reviews : A Socialist's Faith. By NORMAN THOMAS. (New York: W. W. Norton. 1951. Pp. x, 326. $4.00.)

• Published date: 01 September 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400328
• Date: 01 September 1951
• Author: Robert J. Alexander
• Subject Matter: Articles

511
Therefore, whatever country should adopt in its industry the policy of
complete planning is going to pay for this experiment, necessarily, in the
curtailment of civil liberties and in the freedom of trade unions. Mar.’
Deutscher has eventually to admit that, even under Western planning,
&dquo;freedom of bargaining may, of course, have to be restricted occasionally&dquo;
l., 1 ~Q)
.
H. E. RONIMOIS.
University of British Columbia.
A Socialist’s Faith. By NORMAN THOMAS. (New York: W. W. Norton.
1951. Pp. x, 326. $4.00.)
Norman Thomas has been the recognized leader of the Socialist
movement in the United States for almost a quarter of a century, and
has been the Socialist party’s candidate for the presidency six different
times. During all of this period he has been a consistent champion of
democracy, and has had a vast amount of experience with the function-
ing of its American version. He has much to say on the subject in this
latest volume.
In recent years Mr. Thomas, though a Socialist, has become very
aware of the dangers of what he calls &dquo;statism.&dquo; Of this he says:
The extraordinary danger of statism today, both to peace and freedom, arises from
two related evils.
(1) The state tends to consider itself the sole expression of society,
the one form of human association from which all others derive whatever rights they
have. (2) Every existing state thus claiming absolute sovereignty is national and stands
ready to sacrifice human interests to national greatness.
Mr. Thomas rejects this &dquo;god-state.&dquo; He believes in a democratic
form of government, which is one &dquo;in which the ultimate power is in the
hands of the people rather than of any one class or any sort of elite.&dquo; And
he adds, &dquo;Any worth-while democracy must be truly liberal in the cor-
rect sense of that much abused word.&dquo;
However, liberalism does not by any means characterize all of those
who call themselves &dquo;democrats.&dquo; Mr. Thomas notes that:
In...