by Oscar Wilde
Poisoned Candy Press
2021, staple-bound
SKU: n/a
"The Soul of Man under Socialism", was first published in Fortnightly Review February, 1891. This is a facsimile replica of the original selected passages, with 20 full-color printed pages, plus title page and cardstock cover. The cover design is taken from the Arthur L. Humphreys 1914 edition of the pamphlet.
"The Soul of Man Under Socialism" is an 1891 essay by Oscar Wilde in which he expounds a libertarian socialist worldview and a critique of charity. The writing of "The Soul of Man" followed Wilde's conversion to anarchist philosophy, following his reading of the works of Peter Kropotkin.
In "The Soul of Man" Wilde argues that, under capitalism, "the majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism-are forced, indeed, so to spoil them": instead of realizing their true talents, they waste their time solving the social problems caused by capitalism, without taking their common cause away. Thus, caring people "seriously and very sentimentally set themselves to the task of remedying the evils that they see in poverty but their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it" because, as Wilde puts it, "the proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible."
The full text, printed in black and white, is available here.
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