Socialist Legacy

Some reflections on this project, and the relationship between socialism and intellectual inquiry more generally. "The spirit which has awakened, pervades, and moves the multitude, is that of intellectual inquiry. The light of thought is illuming the minds of the masses; kindled by the cheap publications, the discussions, missionaries, and meetings of the last ten years: a light which no power can extinguish, nor control its vivifying influence. For the spark once struck is inextinguishable, and will go on extending and radiating with increasing power; thought will generate thought; and each illumined mind will become a centre for the enlightenment of thousands, till the effulgent blaze penetrates every cranny of corruption, and scare selfishness and injustice from their seats of power. *Chartism* is an emanation of this spirit: its aim is the regeneration of all, the subjugation of none; its objects, as righteous as those of its opponents are wicked and unjust, are to place our institutions on the basis of