SOCIALISM - Rosa L and Beatrice W Flashcards
ROSA L
Her agreements with Marx
she accepted that capitalist exploitation was contrary to our nature of cooperation etc.
she also agreed that only a revolution was produce the change necessary
she agreed with Marx’s international outlook - this is because capitalism and exploitation WAS global.
ROSA L
Her disagreements with Marx
she disagreed with Marx about how the revolution would happen - she believed that revolution could occur in places that hadn’t reached an advanced stage of capitalism
she also believed that the revolution didn’t have to be led by a small vanguard
she rejected the dictatorship of the proletariat reliance on a one-party state, and instead she argued that a democratic parliament would be more effective. the revolution would enable the construction of democracy.
ROSA L
The Spartacist League
anti-war movements promoting interests of the workers
she helped organise the German Communist Party
following WWI, they organised a general strike, calling on workers to take control of Germany but they were eventually defeated.
ROSA L
Human Nature
capitalism damaged human nature - it promoted ideals of rejecting social nature rather than embracing it.
she argued how competition promoted selfishness and greed rather than cooperation.
ROSA L
Society
quo
the elites oppress the wc creating class conflict because of capitalism’s corruption of individuals.
democratic communist society = equality and social harmony
working class movements are the basis for generating revolutionary movements
‘the masses are the decisive element; they are the rock on which the final victory of the revolution will be built’
ROSA L
State
bourgeois liberalist state will be replaced with genuine democracy
dictatorship of the proletariat will lead to despotism
‘freedom only for the members of the government… is no freedom at all’
ROSA L
Economy
she pointed out a flaw in historical materialism theory - capitalism did not have to reach its most advanced stage before abolition.
communist revolutions could happen in less-developed capitalist economies, triggered by effects of colonialism and imperialism.
BEA W
What sort of socialist was she?
EVOLUTIONARY
BEA W
The Fabian Society + inevitability of gradualness
believed socialism could defeat its enemy by steady, patient, wearing down through small changes that society would accept.
socialists had to gain control of the state via constitutional elections and change from within.
inevitability of gradualness: the voting enfranchisement would increase inevitably to include al adults and so the wc would be able to vote! once in power, Labour could lead the transformation gradually.
BEA W
Social welfare + the 1909 Minority Report
capitalism = biggest cause of poverty
Webb produced this report where she called for the state to provide ‘a sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able-bodied…’
BEA W
What was her views on revolution?
she thought they were ‘chaotic, inefficient, and counter-productive’
BEA W
The Fabian Society’s intellectual influence
the soc relied on the permeation of elite groups by rational socialist ideas.
they believed that the enlarged state would be based on the intellectual elite of administrators and specialists who would guide reform of the economy and society.
the Fabians found LSE in 1895 - they held evening classes to cater for wc students, and the school was open to men and women.
BEA W
Human nature
believed the moral and intellectual flaws of the WC could be overcome with the help of intellectuals to create social care that could help workers overcome their difficulties.
human nature is malleable.
BEA W
Society
society can be reformed via socialist state management to create equality of outcome.
Minority Report 1909 laid down many fundamental guidelines of how society could be built through universal state welfare provisions.
BEA W
State
only the state has the resources to deliver universal welfare services
universal suffrage should be granted
when a socialist party gains a majority, they can democratically introduce state welfare services
inevitability of gradualness
