EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



Socialismo e Scienza Positiva was published in 

 Rome in 1894, and in the following year was 

 translated into French (from which this trans- 

 lation is made), German and Spanish. In 

 1901 it was published in English in America. 



After having been an adverse critic of the 

 unscientific Utopian socialism which preceded 

 Marx, Ferri yielded in 1893 to Marx's influ- 

 ence, identified himself with the socialists in 

 the Italian Chamber of which he had been a 

 radical member since 1886, and began to 

 write Socialismo e Scienza Positiva. 



In his recently published book on Democracy 

 and Reaction, Mr. Hobhouse points out h6w 

 the conservative and aristocratic interests in 

 Europe have armed themselves for defensive 

 and offensive purposes with the law of the 

 struggle for existence, and its corollary, the 

 survival of the fittest. Ferri's aim in this 

 volume has been to show that Darwinism is 

 not only not in intellectual opposition to 

 socialism, but is its scientific foundation. 



In developing his argument, he brings his 

 new faith into organic touch with the studies 

 in criminology, especially social criminology, 

 upon which he had written a great work in 

 1880, a portion of which has been published 

 in the Criminology Series, edited by Dr. 

 Douglas Mojrison. No part of this present 

 study is more suggestive than the frequent 

 discussions which it contains upon the social 



