Editing John Stuart Mill (section)

====Economic democracy and market socialism====
Mill's main objection to socialism focused on what he saw as its destruction of competition. He wrote, "[W]hile I agree and sympathize with socialists in this practical portion of their aims, I utterly dissent from the most conspicuous and vehement part of their teaching—their declamations against competition." Though he was an [[egalitarian]], Mill argued more for equal opportunity and placed meritocracy above all other ideals in this regard. He further argued that a socialist society would only be attainable through the provision of basic education for all, promoting [[economic democracy]] instead of [[capitalism]], in the manner of substituting capitalist businesses with [[worker cooperative]]s. He wrote:

{{blockquote|The form of association, however, which if mankind continue to improve, must be expected in the end to predominate, is not that which can exist between a capitalist as chief, and work-people without a voice in the management, but the association of the labourers themselves on terms of equality, collectively owning the capital with which they carry on their operations, and working under managers elected and removable by themselves.<ref>Principles of Political Economy with some of their Applications to Social Philosophy, IV.7.21 John Stuart Mill: Political Economy, IV.7.21</ref><ref>Principles of Political Economy and On Liberty, Chapter IV, Of the Limits to the Authority of Society Over the Individual</ref>}}

Mill's ideas led him to be classified as an early proponent of [[market socialism]] theory.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2006/07/js-mill-market-socialist.html |title=J.S. Mill, Market Socialist |first=Kevin |last=Carson |date=16 July 2006 |work=Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism |access-date=14 April 2025 |archive-date=6 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044351/http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2006/07/js-mill-market-socialist.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last        = Capaldi | first       = Nicholas | date        = 2015-07-13 | title       = What Did Mill Understand as “Socialism”? | website     = Liberty Matters (Online Library of Liberty) | publisher   = Liberty Fund, Inc.
 | url         = https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2015-07-13-what-did-mill-understand-as-socialism | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241202064055/https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2015-07-13-what-did-mill-understand-as-socialism | archive-date=2024-12-02 | access-date = 2025-04-19 | url-status  = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web  |author=Matthew McManus  |date=26 April 2022  |title=The Socialist Sympathies of John Stuart Mill  |url=https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-socialist-sympathies-of-john-stuart-mill/ 
 |website=Liberal Currents |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317205149/https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-socialist-sympathies-of-john-stuart-mill/  |archive-date=17 March 2025  |access-date=14 April 2025  |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Manioudis, Manolis & Milonakis, Dimitris. (2024). An Early Anticipation of Market Socialism? Liberalism, Heresy, and Knowledge in John Stuart Mill’s Political Economy of Socialism. Science & Society, 88(3), 368-394.</ref>