Day trip to New Lanark in Scotland, a UNESCO world heritage site

I was so excited to finally visit New Lanark, the home of Robert Owen’s utopian socialist experiments in the early 19th century. This place could be seen as the birthplace of every social movement to improve the working conditions of industrial workers in the last 200 years.

Since it was early April, the place was very empty and we spent a few hours wandering around the exhibits and really reading everything. It was the perfect day trip from Glasgow.

Oxford English Dictionary on "Socialism"

The OED allows a lot of room for interpretation of the word “socialism.” Some people want to pin it down to state or collective ownership of the means of production, but it is clear that in modern usage it can mean a lot of different things to different people including: “any of various systems of liberal social democracy which retain a commitment to social justice and social reform, or feature some degree of state intervention in the running of the economy.”

“Frequently with capital initial. A theory or system of social organization based on state or collective ownership and regulation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange for the common benefit of all members of society; advocacy or practice of such a system, esp. as a political movement. Now also: any of various systems of liberal social democracy which retain a commitment to social justice and social reform, or feature some degree of state intervention in the running of the economy.”

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