Socialism

• Socialism - political ideology that aims to give workers shared ownership of the tools, land + buildings that they use to make products/ services (aka means of production)
• Collectivism - idea that humans can achieve their goals more effectively through collective action than individual effort.
• Common humanity - idea that people are innately social animals + are tied together because of this tendency towards cooperation.
• Equality - state of being equal, especially in status, rights or opportunities.
• Common ownership - assets/ means of productions are owned publicly
• Social class - group of people in society who have the same socioeconomic status.
• Workers‘ control - refers to complete/ partial ownership of an economic enterprise by those employed there.
• Revolutionary socialism - the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society.
• Social democracy - ideology that supports social-economic intervention to promote social justice.
• Third Way - middle-ground alternative route to socialism, advocates for the balance of rights + responsibilities, social justice + free market economics.
• Fraternity - belief that the relationship between human beings should be marked by generosity, warmth + comradeship - regard fellow humans as ’siblings’ rather than opponents.
• Class consciousness - awareness of one’s place in a system of social class.

  • Marx + Engels believed that this would be a by-product of capitalism.
• Marx + Engels ‘The Communist Manifesto’ 1848 - argued that under capitalism, the exploitation of the proletariat was an inevitable consequence as capitalists extract maximum level of surplus value from their workers + instead, advocated for the overthrow of existing political + social structures and the replacement of the current economic system with one that would distribute wealth equally.
• Marx + Engels Quotes ~

  ’Let the ruling classes tremble at the communist revolution, The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.’ (Revolution, class conflict, class consciousness)

  ’Working men of all countries, unite!’ (Class consciousness, revolution)
• Karl Marx + Friedrich Engels:

  Key ideas ~

  • capitalism is evil, corrupting, inevitably exploitative + produces great inequalities of outcome
  • capitalism should be overthrown through revolution
• Bourgeoisie + Proletariat:

  • The bourgeoisie are the people who control the means of production in a capitalist society.
  • The proletariat are the members of the working class.
• Rosa Luxembourg (1871-1919) - upheld + developed ideas of Marx, she made a distinctive contribution to the development of Marxist socialism through her membership of the German Social Democratic Party.

  • Agreed with Marx’s argument that capitalism promoted exploitation + was at odds with humanity's natural, fraternal instincts.
  • Agreed that evolutionary socialism was impossible + believed revolution would arise ‘spontaneously’ after class consciousness had gradually been brought about through the struggle of the Proletariats.
• Luxembourg quotes:

  ’Mass strike is the first natural, impulsive form of every great revolutionary struggle of the proletariat’

  ’The more highly developed the antagonism is between capital + labour, the more effective + decisive must mass strikes become.’
• Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) made significant contributions to the early development of democratic socialism and believed in the inevitability of gradualism.
• Beatrice Webb's socialism was defined by four principles:

  • Capitalism is the cause of crippling poverty, demeaning inequality, and corrupting force in society.
  • Paternalism is not a sustainable solution to the problems of poverty and inequality and can be eliminated through trade unionism and extensive state intervention.
  • Effective reform tends to be gradual rather than revolutionary.
• Webb’s Minority Report - argued that the state should guarantee ‘a sufficient nourishment + training when young, a living wage whilst able-bodied, treatment when sick + modest but secure livelihood when disabled or aged’ - implemented by Labour gov after 1945
• Anthony Crosland (1918-1977) - Senior Labour Party politician

  • His book ‘The Future of Socialism’ argued that capitalism has radically changed + no longer resembled an economic system and Modern capitalism lacked internal tensions ton drive social change/revolution -> governments pursuing Keynesianism economics would maintain high employment, low inflation + promote growth.
  • Also argued that the main aim of socialism was to manage capitalism to deliver greater social equality + social justice.
• Anthony Giddens (1938-) - Prominent thinker behind Third-Way

  ’Beyond Left and Right’ - Gidden’s highlights the corrosive effects of capitalism + individualism upon community + fraternalism -> street that capitalism + individualism were irreversible.

  • Giddens believed that greater quality of opportunity might have to be accompanied by greater inequality of outcome to generate enough wealth to support modern public services. + existing state structures could be reformed to produce greater political equality.
• New Labour’s third way rejected both traditional leftist ideas about nationalisation and right wing neo liberalism. Instead it advocated a mixed economy with strong regulation and redistribution of income.
• Evolutionary socialism - seek to alter capitalism by pushing for economic and social equality
• Revisionism - used to democratic socialists such as Bernstein who disagreed with Marx’s views and believed that revolution through force was not necessary to achieve a socialist society.
• Historical materialism - Marx + Engels - argued that history has consisted of constant class struggle + exploitation from the bourgeoisie has allowed for the accumulation of wealth
• Dialectic - term used by Marxists that states dialectic is a process that drives social change