Socialism

Socialism

Human Nature
1. optimistic view
2. believe individuals are co-operative, generous and altruistic
3. naturally seek solidarity, fraternityand companionship
4. see human nature as malleable rather than fixed at birth
Revisionist Socialism
1. seek to revise the fundamentalist view that socialism is incompatible with capitalism
2. believe that socialism and capitalism can co-exist
3. Variations
  1. social democracy
  2. The 3rd Way
  3. classic revisionism
State
1. socialists believe that without a strong state it will be impossible to bring about a fairer and more equal society
2. Reject the idea of a monarchal state, a theocratic state or an aristocratic state
3. between socialists there are still significant differences about the structure of ideal state, its extent and how it emerges
4. helps to explain why socialism has such a large number of variants and subdivisions
society
1. Humans are dependant on the society in which they find themselves
2. individuals are the product of the society into which they were born
3. See society as shaping the individuals inside it
4. If society can be improved in the prospect of its individuals
Economy
1. fundamentalist socialism believes that socialism is fundamentally at oddswith private ownershipand capitalism
2. Revisionist socialism believes that socialism can be achieved alongside private property and can co-exist with capitalism
Fundamentalist Socialism
1. Karl Marx
  1. main socialist thinker and writer of the 19thC
  2. wrote the 'Communist Maifesto' - main short text of revolutionary socialism
  3. Engels supported Marx financially
  4. View of History
    1. class conflicts is the most important of all happenings in history
    2. Human society had evolved through stages, these could not have been changed and were inevitable
  5. Historical (dialectic) Materialism
    1. Feudal Society
      1. Capitalism
        Socialism
        Communism
        state: no government needed
        society: no classes, everyone is equal
        At first workers control the state to resist counter revolution, known as the 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. As threat diminishes, state becomes less + less powerful
        Proletariat Revolution
        growth of industry enlarges proles. Capitalism produces great wealth which is unfairly allocated. workers eventually revolt
        state: parliamentary democracy defending 'liberal principles'
        Society: dom - m/c maj - proletariat
      2. Bourgeois Revolution
        growth of commerce + trade means an increasingly wealthy m/c who seek more political power to go with economic power
      3. political: monarchy
        Society: dom - aristocracy maj - peasants
Classic Revisionism
1. Different in the belief that the struggle for socialism could co-exist with an economy based on private property
2. Saw conditions of the working class steadily improving under capitalism
3. Shared the belief of fabien Society in the gradual parliamentary road of socialism
4. Argued that if overseen by socialist governmants, capitalist economies could provide an even greater improvement in workers conditions
Social Democracy
1. Regarded as the most important and relevant form of revisionist socialism - far removed from the politics if Marx & Lenin
2. Anthony Crosland
  1. 'The Future of Socialism' is seen as the key work of post war social democracy
3. Reformed capitalism was no longer vulnerable to 'peaks and troughs' and could be relied upon to finance a richer, fairer more classless society
4. Capitalism would finance the expansion of public spending and the welfare state towards the ultimate socialist goal of greater equality
Evolutionary Socialism (democratic socialism)
1. Leninism
  1. believed that the process of dialectic change could be sped up
  2. Democratic Centralism - revolutionary elite would plan, organise and undertake revolution
  3. Dictator of the Proletariat
  4. orthodox communism
2. Democratic Socialism was the most influential forms of fundamentalist socialism in the UK
3. Rosa Luxemburg
  1. Lenins view of speeding up the dialectic process lacked relevance in already industrial societies
  2. Critical of Lenin's idea of democratic centralism and the role of revolutionary elite
4. Early Democratic Socialism
  1. vital to the development of the Labour Party
  2. Associated with Fabian Society and bourgeois intellectuals
  3. need to secure 'Common ownership of the means of production'
5. The Inevitability of Gradualism
  1. Democratic socialist parties would campaign peacefully and win attention and trust of voters
    1. Working class voters would gradually and inevitable realise they had no vested interest in capitalism
      1. Election of socialist governments who would oversee the gradual replacement of private ownership with state ownership
        Voters would recognise the progress and re-e;ect socialist government who would gradually and inevitably produce a socialist society
6. Later Democratic Socialism
  1. Restoration of parliamentary sovereignty through withdrawal from EEC
  2. Strong resistance to pro-capitalist interest by mobilising support within trade unions
  3. post WW2 Labour government
The 3rd Way (Neo-Revisionism)
1. A new form of revisionist socialism seemed essential in the 21stC
2. Emerged in the UK as a response to:
  1. dissappearance of fundamentalist socialism
  2. mixed economy had failed in the UK with with extensive privatisation in the 1980s
  3. Keynesian economic redundant with globalisation of capitalism
  4. Associated with 'New Labour' govt of Blair and Brown
3. Giddens
  1. Desire to 'triangulate' social democracy's wish for more equality within capitalist economy which was less keynesian and more neo-liberal
  2. Main author of 3rd Way socialism

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