tions as unalterably opposed. The differences between them are striking, however, even though they probably emerge more clearly in retrospect than they did at the time. We can see now that it was absolutely essential for Americans at this time to grasp the debilitating effects of centralized control, both in the workplace and in politics, to reformulate a participatory conception of democracy, and to encourage a revival of active citizenship. We can also see how few of them managed to confront these issues in any sustained way, in spite of all the talk about "civic spirit" in which prewar progressives liked to indulge. Croly was one of the few who did confront them, and the New Republic, under his direction, devoted a good deal of attention to syndicalism, guild socialism, and workers' control.

Weyl, however, took the view that distribution, not participation, was the overriding issue. If the country was in a "somber, soul-questioning mood," it was because "plutocracy" could no longer assure equal access to the goods turned out with such marvelous efficiency by modern industry. Weyl took his cue from Simon Patten's "brilliant" analysis of the "transition from a pain economy to a pleasure economy." Henceforth the "hope of a full democracy" would have to rest on abundance, which generated a growing demand for a "full life for all members of society." The old competitive individualism of the frontier, the ethic of scarcity and "conquest," had outlived its usefulness. The age of abundance and large-scale organization required an ethic of cooperation. Even businessmen now condemned cutthroat competition. The trusts had brought order out of commercial chaos; public regulation of industry was the next step.

When guild socialists conceded an important role to the state as the representative of the consumer, they took the precaution of pointing out that consumers were only one group among many and by no means the most important. But Weyl regarded consumers as the only group that embodied the interests of society as a whole. They alone bore the cost of rising prices, adulterated goods, shortages, strikes and shutdowns. ^* Since

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*	Progressivism was a consumers' movement, according to Weyl. "The consumer ... appears in the political arena as the 'common man,' the 'plain people,' the 'straphanger,' 'the man on the street.' " It was these people the progressives invoked when-

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