... It is simply a falsification perpetrated by the Manchester bourgeoisie in their own interests that they call socialism every interference by the state in free competition protective tariffs, guilds, tobacco monopoly, nationalisation of certain branches of industry, the Overseas Trade Society, and the royal porcelain factory. We should criticise this but not believe it. If we do the latter and develop a theory on the basis of this belief our theory will collapse together with its premises upon simple proof that this alleged socialism is nothing but, on the one hand, feudal reaction and, on the other, a pretext for squeezing out money, with the secondary object of turning as many proletarians as possible into civil servants and pensioners dependent upon the state, thus organising alongside of the disciplined army of soldiers and civil servants an army of workers as well. Compulsory voting brought about by superiors in the state apparatus instead of by factory overseers a fine sort of socialism! But that s where people get if they believe the bourgeoisie what it does not believe itself but only pretends to believe: that the state means socialism...
Letters: Marx-Engels Correspondence 1881. Ireland