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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Socialism \So"cial*ism\, n. [Cf. F. socialisme.]
A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular
usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless,
revolutionary social scheme. See {Communism}, {Fourierism},
{Saint-Simonianism}, forms of socialism.
[1913 Webster]

[Socialism] was first applied in England to Owen's
theory of social reconstruction, and in France to those
also of St. Simon and Fourier . . . The word, however,
is used with a great variety of meaning, . . . even by
economists and learned critics. The general tendency is
to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by
society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social
reform which disturbs the present system of private
property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is
more and more to ally itself with the most advanced
democracy. --Encyc. Brit.
[1913 Webster]

We certainly want a true history of socialism, meaning
by that a history of every systematic attempt to
provide a new social existence for the mass of the
workers. --F. Harrison.
[1913 Webster]

{Socialism of the chair} [G. katheder socialismus], a term
applied about 1872, at first in ridicule, to a group of
German political economists who advocated state aid for
the betterment of the working classes.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]