Socialism - Key Thinkers

Question 1

Key Thinker 1) Marx and Engels

Answer 1

• Class consciousness (proletariat is aware of exploitation), false class consciousness (agents of the bourgeoisie creates a false ideology) and dual consciousness (a situation in which the individual knows they are being exploited but also we rally against it - Gramsci), historical materialism (material goods are produced = how society works, and society moves through different means of production for those material goods and that these different means of production form the basis of the economic system), dialectic (Hegel) - drives social change by two opposing ideas (thesis and antithesis) which come to a conflict and Keynesian economics (government creates the demand)
• Revolutionary socialism - critiques capitalism, as it creates its own destruction in the form of exploitation of the downtrodden - historical materialism and dialectic (discussion = change, conflict through discussion)
• Social class (history of all societies is class conflict) -> based on means of production -> proletariat rises up in revolution against the bourgeoisie in a class struggle and they are the grave diggers of capitalism -> short lived dictatorship of the proletariat whilst communism is established -> the result is the end of history due to a classless society

Question 2

Key Thinkers 1) Marx and Engels cont.

Answer 2

• Humans are social beings - humans are alienated, and capitalism dissolves meaningful relationships and the sentiments that hold society together, and the human spirit is corroded by commodification and Marx called for workers to unite as they have nothing to lose but their chains (Conservatives - state improves human nature, Socialism - state depletes it)
• Equitable distribution of wealth - generates fraternity as it would free us from environmental destructiveness and consumerism; collective system which is a fairer system and natural humanity can flourish
• Religion is the opium of the masses - thwarts the revolution
• ENGELS - bloody revolution
• EVALUATION - he had the diagnosis right but the prescription wrong, there are no Marxist communist societies and Marx and his family were supported by bourgeoisie wealth in order for him to write
• QUOTES - from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Social being determines the consciousness, Workers of the world unite you have nothing to lose except your chains

Question 3

Key Thinker 2) Rosa Luxemburg

Answer 3

• Revolutionary socialist / Orthodox Communism; had some libertarian beliefs, took a historical materialist approach, socialist feminist, criticised Lenin, anti-revisionist - evolutionary path does not work (Germany, living during Lenin) given to the extent that capitalism exists, and stated there needs to be a revolution on class consciousness
• did not agree with the dictatorship that followed
• Executed in 1919 - ‘our solution offers the only means of saving human society from destruction’

Question 4

Key Thinker 3) Beatrice Webb

Answer 4

• Evolutionary socialism (Democrat Socialism / Classical revisionism) - state should be expanded rather than overthrown, and co founded the social democrat Fabian Society and LSE and wrote Clause 4 (Labour party - secure for the workers by hands or by the brains the full fruits of their industry, gave their commitment to socialism life) - changed to include privatisation in Blair’s gov.
• Inevitability of gradualness - Incremental approach to change on the basis of socialist principles - gradualism is inevitable; gradual change is preferable to the bloodshed and chaos caused by revolutionary socialism - as voters become more enfranchised, policy becomes more socialist as more of the W/C votes
• Criticised for her work on Soviet Russia in the 1930s which put forward only the positives of revolutionary change and collectivisation
• Expansion of the state - technocratic (educated) elite can ‘impregnate all the existing forces of society’, Clause 4 committed Labour Party to gaining equal distribution, coining collective bargaining in relation to trade unions, early writer on the welfare state, working with Beveridge

Question 5

Key Thinker 4) Anthony Crosland

Answer 5

• Social Democracy - post-war consensus (Keyneism) politician, stated socialists must adapt to new circumstances and need a mixed economy as Russia had become the USSR; ending poverty with an interest in improving lives of working people, no nationalisation, implement educational reform, revisionist
• State managed capitalism (mixed economy) - ‘By 1951, Britain had all the essentials, ceased to be a capitalist country’ due to the welfare state, and he challenged the Webbs’ view of top down bureaucratic and centralising socialism with a more liberal view - improve the capitalist model to improve lives (accept competition and greed etc)

Question 6

Key Thinker 5) Anthony Giddens

Answer 6

• Third Way; aimed to reinvigorate socialism, emphasised stake holding and aimed to avoid punitive taxes, active welfare and welfare should be mended not ended; because capitalism is ingrained, there is nothing that can be down to remove it, instead we should improve it (context of a stagflation economy, which was the last Labour party, and so socialism was rebranded) -’hand-ups not handouts’ - equality of outcome becomes equality of opportunity
• Globalisation has improved communications and is beneficial - EU; global politics, but it leads to greater risks of jobs or a high opportunity high risk society, and it is too complex to have an all encompassing political ideology so look for small and local incremental changes and future society should be more socialised, green and demilitarised (context of the Cold War ending, people were cooperating, no global conflicts)
• Local communities can have their own socialism - it is not for the whole society, but rather socialism works in the way it needs to for local communities
• A modification of social democratic thinking in which the welfare system would be restructured in order to give people a hand up not a hand out - all welfare states create problems of dependency, interest group formation and fraud, welfare payments should be tied towards appropriate behaviour with sanctions imposed on those who acted irresponsibly
• Rejects state intervention - Supported free market and wants equality of opportunity (all other socialists want equality of outcome)
• Role of the state - improve and provide education, improve social infrastructure, improve physical infrastructure
• QUOTES - ‘Third way politics should help citizens pilot their way through our time’ (globalisation), ‘No single agent, group or movement that as Marx’s proletariat was supposed to do, can carry the hopes of humanity’