[f. as prec. + -ISM: cf. F. collectivisme.]
1. The socialistic theory of the collective ownership or control of all the means of production, and especially of the land, by the whole community or State, i.e., the people collectively, for the benefit of the people as a whole.
1880. Sat. Rev., 8 May, 587. By Collectivism is meant that everything is to be done and managed by a society. Railways, mines, forests, and even the soil, are to be worked by associations.
1887. T. Kirkup, Socialism, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 206/2. The essence of the theory consists in this—associated production with a collective capital with the view to an equitable distribution. In the words of Schäffle, ‘the Alpha and Omega of socialism is the transformation of private competing capitals into a united collective capital.’ Ibid., 207/2. Collectivism is a word which has recently come into vogue to express the economic basis of socialism as above explained.
1887. Pall Mall Budget, 27 Jan., 29/2. The treatment of the social question on the principle of collectivism, as opposed to that of individuality.
2. (See quot.)
1884. West Chester (Pa.) Local News, XII. No. 53. 1. A new word, ‘collectivism,’ has become current among British medical men. It is used to express all that is embodied in the phrase ‘collective investigation of disease.’
