Review

Author(s): William S. Carpenter

Review by: William S. Carpenter
Source: The American Political Science Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jun., 1943), pp. 523-524
Published by: American Political Science Association
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BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES 523

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. BY JOSEPH A. SCHUMPETER. (New

York: Harper and Brothers. 1942. Pp. x, 381. $3.50.)

This is a provocative book written in a style which is likely to repel
American readers. This is unfortunate, because its involved sentences of
Germanic scholarship contain many ideas which people in the United
States would do well to ponder. The thesis embraces three parts: capitalism is doomed to failure, it will be replaced by socialism, and finally socialism is compatible with democracy. The abundant arguments with which

this thesis is buttressed are almost wholly from European experience, but
there are enough references to the United States to indicate that Professor
Schumpeter believes New Deal policies are hastening the advent of socialism in this country.
Capitalism, the author thinks, is doomed, not because it will break down
under the weight of economic failure, but because its "very success undermines the social institutions which protect it, and 'inevitably' creates
conditions in which it will not be able to live." The weaknesses of capitalism
do not spring from the sins of the capitalists, but from the apathy which is
engendered in the entrepreneurs as they behold the decomposition of the
environment in which their system operates. In short, the factors which
account for the final collapse of capitalism are psychological. Apparently
it becomes useless to attempt the correction of evils in a system whose
beneficiaries no longer have an interest in its survival.
The socialism which is to come is compatible with a variety of institutions. When free competition has been abandoned, an institutional pat-

tern will emerge in which "the control over means of production and over
production itself is vested with a central authority." The existence of a
"huge and all-embracing bureaucratic apparatus" is contemplated with
resignation. Is this to be distrusted by a people who have already witnessed the bureaucratization of economic life and, indeed, of life in gen-

eral? Fears may be allayed by appealing to human vanity. Altruism may

not exist, but human egotism will continue to flourish and can be exploited for the service of society. As each individual assumes his proper

station, the badge of social prestige will differentiate him from his fellow-

men. Since the individual will not be distracted by taxes, the need for
saving, and the like, his material requirements can be met by modest
monetary rewards. If a touch of cynicism hovers about this portion of the

thesis, one must read the book to have it removed-or confirmed.

The reconciliation of democracy with socialism, which is the most interesting portion of the thesis to a political scientist, Professor Schumpeter
is unable to effect by reference to the classical doctrine of democracy. On
the contrary, he believes that a theory of democracy which retains the
common good as its central concept has long been at variance with the

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524 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

political facts. Obeisance to this theory was- rendered in the United States

much longer than elsewhere because the people were so fully occupied with
the exploitation of the resources of a continent that they did not indulge
in political speculation. But the state in the future requires another theory
of democracy. Democracy must be so defined that the r6le of the electorate

is not to formulate opinions about political issues but to produce a govern-

ment which will make decisions. This conception of democracy becomes

compatible with socialism when the leadership is of high quality, the
effective range of political decision is not extended too far, and a broad
spirit of toleration prevails. To the reviewer, the danger from democracy
conceived in this way is that it may readily be perverted to support a

totalitarian form of government. Politicians seldom abide within a narrow

range of official competence unless compelled thereto by fear of losing

public confidence, and bureaucrats are not naturally endowed with a
broad spirit of toleration. The danger of authoritarianism is not lessened

by the admission of a power in the electorate to evict a government. The

right of revolution has always been exercised in subordination to a preponderant public opinion. In a democracy, a government is not cashiered
for light and transient causes, but only when by its acts it outrages public
sentiment. A system in which the most important duty of the politician is
to guess whether particular decisions will be successful is not likely to be
democratic.
WILLIAM S. CARPENTER.
Princeton University.
Ballots and the Democratic Class Struggle; A Study in the Background of
Political Education. BY DEWEY ANDERSON AND PERCY E. DAVIDSON.

(Stanford University, California: Stanford University Press. 1943.

Pp. 377. $4.00.)

The authors have contributed a study of political behavior in which the

political role of occupational groups is given the central position. The title
of this volume was chosen to convey three ideas which to Dr. Anderson
and Dr. Davidson comprise the substance of the democratic political
process-the popular franchise, the democratic ideal, and the group
struggle for increased well-being based on the principle of self-help. Their
interpretation attempts to refute the claims of both those who believe
that the motivation force in political behavior should be a "blind faith in

democratic ideals" and the Marxist conception of the "inevitable class

conflict" which will destroy the existing political structure in this country.

The data to support this thesis are drawn largely from some 70,000 registrants in a California county (Santa Clara) during one national (1932) and
one state election (1934).
However, the importance of the study lies in the fact that its scope,

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