politica (1931), Croce defines liberalism as an ethical conception of life that rejects dogmatism and favors diversity, and in the name of liberty and free choice of the individual, is hostile to the authoritarianism of fascism, communism, and the Catholic Church. While Croce realizes that democracy can sometimes threaten individual liberty, he sees liberalism and democracy as predicated on the same ideals of moral equality and opposition to authority. Furthermore, he acknowledged the positive historic role played by the Socialist parties in Italy in their struggles to improve conditions for the working class, and urged modern socialists to swear off dictatorial solutions. In contrast to the socialists, who Croce viewed as part of modernity along with liberals, his condemnation of reactionaries is unremittingly harsh. Croce also draws a distinction between liberalism and capitalism or laissez-faire economic doctrines. For Croce, capitalism only emerged to meet certain economic needs of society, and could be changed or even replaced if better solutions to those needs were found, if it failed to promote freedom, or if economic values clashed with higher values. Thus liberalism could welcome socialistic proposals so long as they promoted freedom. Croce's ideas on the separation between liberalism as an ethical principle and the contingent laissez-faire economic doctrines which accompanied it in certain contexts would influence Italian social democrats such as Leo Valiani and Giuseppe Saragat as well as the liberal socialist synthesis of Carlo Rosselli. Principal works Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica (1900), translated into English by C.M. Meredith as Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx (1914); full text of revised 4th Italian edition (1921), final Italian edition revised by author 1951 L'Estetica come scienza dell'espressione e linguistica generale (1902), translated into English by Douglas Ainslie as Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic (2nd edition, based on revised 5th Italian edition), new translation by Colin Lyas as The Aesthetic as the Science of Expression and of the Linguistic in General (1992); full text of revised 3rd Italian edition (1908), final Italian edition revised by author 1950 Filosofia della pratica, economica ed etica (1909), translated into English by Douglas Ainslie as Philosophy of the Practical Economic and Ethic (1913); full text of revised 3rd Italian edition (1923), final Italian edition revised by author 1950 Logica come scienza del concetto puro (1905), translated as Logic as the Science of the Pure Concept (1917, based on revised 3rd Italian