Socialism Flashcards
Core ideas and principles:
Collectivism
Collective human effort is both of greater practical value to the economy and moral value to society than the effort of individuals.
(Collective > individualism in terms of benefit to the economy and morality).
Core ideas and principles:
Common humanity:
The nature of humans is as social creatures with a tendency to co-operation, sociability and rationality
The individual cannot be understood without reference to society, as human behaviour is socially determined
Socialists believe that people have a natural relationship with others that should be based on cooperation (working collectively to achieve mutual benefits) and not competition, as competition leads to conflict which leads people to ignore their natural relationships with others.
Core ideas and principles:
Equality:
A fundamental value of socialism - a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties and status, etc.
Core ideas and principles:
Social class:
A group of people in society who have the same social class
Core ideas and principles:
Workers control:
Participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there.
(links into union power).
Core ideas and principles:
Human nature:
- Socialists have an optimistic view of human nature (and therefore progressive).
- They see humans as naturally co-operative, generous and altruistic.
- Human nature is malleable (socialists are optimistic about what it could be when capitalism ends - it can change and shape).
Core ideas and principles:
Society:
- Individuals are the product of their society (capitalists only have bad human natures due to the society they live in).
- Therefore, society is a construct, formed by impersonal forces and then shaping the individuals inside it.
- Socialists are sceptical of the liberal idea that individuals are masters of their own destiny.
- If society can be improved, then so can people’s lives.
Core ideas and principles:
Society: Class
- Class defines an individual’s circumstances, prospects and attitudes (it is what moulds a person from their birth to death).
- All types of class denote a certain type of employment, and indicate status and wealth (middle classes will be lawyers, lower classes factory workers).
- Class was the major consequence of the industrial revolution.
- Class is central to an individual’s fate, and they tend to be highly unequal (higher classes will have more opportunities).
Core ideas and principles:
Society: Social Justice:
- Equality of opportunity is accompanied with healthcare, education, a minimum wage which helps to create equality of outcome.
- This usually leads to demands for collectivism.
- Socialists seek to narrow the class gap, as an individual born into a lower class will always be subject to the inescapable fate of fewer opportunities inside a capitalist society/economy.
Core ideas and principles:
The State:
- Socialism advocates for a strong state, without which a fairer society is impossible (a society with equality, workers control, common humanity, collectivism and less division of the classes).
- The state cannot be monarchical theocratic (gov by clergy or religious leaders) or aristocratic and must be ‘slightly’ democratic.
(slightly because there must be an overreaching state).
Core ideas and principles:
The economy:
- Socialists believe that equality of opportunity is precluded by class inequality which in itself is determined by capitalism, and therefore we must address the economy and change it to gain equality of opportunity.
- They believe that the natural condition is one of co-operation and fraternity, which is threatened by capitalism which creates private property and competition.
Core ideas and principles:
The economy:
Socialism seeks greater worker’s control of the economy and greater wealth distribution (‘The politics of Robin Hood’ - Tony Benn)
- This is done through a rejection of laissez-faire capitalism (low taxes and little state intervention) leading to unfairness and social injustice.
- More collectivism is needed, focusing on the needs of society rather than the abilities of a few (collectivism > meritocracy based on unequal opportunities).
- Economic collectivism can take on several forms (e.g., progressive taxation, public spending, more public services, state regulation of capitalist markets and state ownership). (This can be seen in Clause IV of the Labour commitments).
Marx and Engels say that capitalism and free market forces are volatile and unpredictable, causing periodic mass unemployment and depressions - a more collectivist economy will be more sustainable and manageable.
Strands of socialism:
Fundamentalist socialism:
Classical Marxism:
- Created by Marx and Engels - they believed that capitalism must disappear before socialism and then communism could occur - as capitalism is wholly at odds with all socialist principles.
- In historical materialism there will be many stages and clashes called dialectics throughout history, where the ideas and actions of the ruling class no longer correspond to the experience of the majority who experience alienation - this would lead to a new dialectic and new society.
- Class consciousness will form when a lower class is exploited (they realise their oppression).
- Revolution must occur and end capitalism for the ‘end of history’, (which is first the dictatorship of the proletariat and then a communist society).
- Their view on human nature is optimistic and altruistic, not differing a lot from the other strands.
Strands of socialism:
Marxism-Leninism (orthodox communism):
- Lenin didn’t like that revolution could only occur when capitalism and the proletariat were well developed - this meant that less developed nations would have to first suffer years of capitalist rule before socialism could arrive (didn’t like that it was based on each nation, he wanted a global effort).
- He argued that pre-industrial countries should be the cause of socialism not its effect (they should have to wait to industrialise to revolt, and their revolution should be the cause of socialist, not an effect of other societies revolting first).
- Early revolution (pre-industrial) would stop workers from gaining any benefits from capitalism and developing sympathy for it (developing ‘false consciousness’).
Strands of socialism:
Marxism-Leninism (orthodox communism):
- Rosa Luxembourg was not in favour of a dictatorship of the proletariat - she preferred the immediate construction of a new communist democratic state.
- Lenin preferred the idea of a ‘vanguard’ - a revolutionary elite which would perform the tasks of the revolution before a new party is in place. This was later known as ‘democratic centralism’ where only one party reflects the ideals of the people (used by China now).
- Orthodox communism in practice led to atrocities and ‘socialism in one country’ and didn’t follow the route of withering away dictatorships of the proletariat to a communist state, like Marx predicted (best example is the USSR).
