It was in this context that the word “socialist” was introduced and disseminated. Originally, the term described anyone who sympathized with the plight of the working poor. Marxism was still many years away, and at the time there was no necessary contradiction between being liberal and being socialist. The word seems to have come from England, where it was associated with the wealthy industrialist and reformer Robert Owen. As early as 1815, Owen was writing about a new “social system” that he hoped would replace the current system that was causing such hardship for the poor.
