-ist, -ism

If he could be persuaded to substitute my Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism for Mein Kampf we should hear no more indignantly virtuous denunciation of Communism by people who are steeped in it up to the neck and whose civilization would crumble and themselves perish miserably of hunger and violence if it were abolished or even suspended for a week.

Therefore I exhort Mr Rowse to be of good cheer. It is our people who are wrong: it is our education. As Mr Lancelot Hogben words it, we want Scientific Humanism as a basis of all our other isms. It was for lack of that that the old civilization collapsed, and the half a dozen or so of the new ones may collapse too. But the remedy is plain; and we shall round the cape sometime or other without being wrecked.

Geneva, a Fancied Page of History in Three Acts is a topical play by George Bernard Shaw. It describes a summit meeting designed to contain the increasingly dangerous behaviour of three dictators, Herr Battler, Signor Bombardone, and General Flanco.Wikipedia

Originally published: 1938

Author: George Bernard Shaw

-ist

Pronunciation: /ɪst/ 

SUFFIX

Forming personal nouns and some related adjectives:

1Denoting an adherent of a system of beliefs, principles, etc. expressed by nouns ending in -ism:hedonistCalvinistSee -ism (sense 2).

1.1Denoting a person who subscribes to a prejudice or practises discrimination:sexist

2Denoting a member of a profession or business activity:dentistdramatistflorist

2.1Denoting a person who uses a thing:flautistmotorist

2.2Denoting a person who does something expressed by a verb ending in -ize:plagiarist

Origin

From Old French -iste, Latin -ista, from Greek -istēs.

-ism

Pronunciation: /ɪz(ə)m/ 

SUFFIX

Forming nouns:   1965

1Denoting an action or its result:baptismexorcism

1.1Denoting a state or quality:barbarism

2Denoting a system, principle, or ideological movement:Anglicanismfeminismhedonism

2.1Denoting a basis for prejudice or discrimination:racism

3Denoting a peculiarity in language:colloquialismAmericanism

4Denoting a pathological condition:alcoholism

Origin

From French -isme, via Latin from Greek -ismos, -isma.