A version of this essay was published in the Encyclopedia of World Trade published by ME Sharpe Publishers, Armonk, New York.
Socialism © Anup Mukherjee
Socialism does not have a single socio-political philosophy. It has gradually evolved into various different schools and doctrines. These put forth different ideas on how best to reorganise the society and the economy. The general position is that of being on the left of the political spectrum. In the social-economic-political spectrum, the ‘Left’ is synonymous with Socialism.
Socialism puts more emphasis on the society and the collective than the individual. It subordinates the individual to the objectives of the collective. In such case, the ideology puts great reliance on the effectiveness of the social and political centre. In the initial phases of the socialist movement, the focus was on social reconstruction based on the collective. However, later on with gradual realisation of the unrealistic or idealist nature of the efforts of reconstruction, the move was towards social democracy. Socialism emphasises organic unity of society.
In the economic front, socialism takes the position that private ownership of means of production should be abolished. This means that various industries and production utilities should be brought under public control. Moreover, industry should serve the social objectives and its objective should not be to make profit. In such case the various decisions relating to investment, production and distribution is taken not for profit, but to serve the social ends. It takes such view because, it views, Capitalism, free market and private enterprise leading to exploitation and inequality. This inequality happens because in capitalist system, the means of production is concentrated in individual hands. As the individual owners work with profit for themselves, the surplus value from the labour is extracted. This leads to exploitation of labour and accentuates inequalities and class differentiation. The term used for the two classes are the ‘bourgeoisie’ for the richer class (viz. the owners of means of production) and ‘proletariat’ for the under-class (viz. the workers). Moreover there is a perpetual conflict of interest between these two classes that leads to class-conflict. Consequently Socialism stands for a system where such inequalities would not exist. However the prescription for removing these inequalities that it gives is that of collectivisation of society and economy. In the economic sphere, it translates into a command economy where the entire system of production is under social control. In real terms this means under the control of the government. Thus this position of Socialism is in contrast to the traditions of liberalism and of the classical economists, who believed in reducing of government control, ownership of private capital, freedom of enterprise, and free-play of laws of demand and supply.
The earliest socialist doctrines are seen in the works of F.N. Babeuf that emerged during the French revolution of 1789. It stood for a voluntary national community in which private property would cease to exist. Since that time down to the twentieth century there were various schools of socialism that has emerged. Among the Utopian Socialists Saint Simon advocated common ownership of all land and capital that was to be managed scientifically by the state; Robert Owen encouraged trade unions and cooperative societies and also established a model factory at New Lanark. He wished the state to set up ‘Villages of Cooperation’ in which work would be shared by all; Charles Fourier wished to reorganisation of society into various ‘Phalanx’ that were to be self-sufficient communities. Louis Blanc preferred creation of industrial associations that should supersede individual workshops. As to remuneration, his formula was ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’.
The most influential of all the doctrines of Socialism was that of Scientific Socialism propounded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This is also known as Marxism. It saw a dialectical view of society. But unlike the Hegelian dialectics, this was based on a materialist view. Consequently it is also known as dialectical materialism. In this framework, the society progresses through a framework of dialectics to a higher stage of existence. In the capitalist society such dialectics exists in the relation of production. The dialectics of capitalist society would finally lead to a situation dictatorship of proletariat that would finally lead to creation of communist societies that were basically to be stateless societies. The most significant works of this stream includes ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848), and ‘Capital’ (Vol-I, 1867). It was this stream that mostly influenced the socialist and communist movements of the twentieth century.
Among the other streams was Anarchism. Its early exponent was Joseph Proudhan. For him the ‘ideal republic is positive anarchy’. He viewed property that is accumulated through interest, rent and surplus value as theft. Among the later exponents was Bakunin. It is interesting to note that Marx and Bakunin were opposed to each other. Bakunin’s main influence was in Spain, Southern Italy and parts of France. In matter of ideology, Anarchists were even opposed to a Socialist State, as it was perceived to be oppressive. Anarchists allied with the other strand of Syndicalism. Syndicalism is essentially a French doctrine. The most famous proponent of Syndicalism was Georges Sorel. He put great faith on the trade unions and considered general strike as the main weapon in the class war. Unlike the Marxists class of Proletariat, the Syndicalists erect the ‘Syndicates’ or Union of Workers to oppose the Bourgeois state. Another variety was of the Guild Socialism, whose proponents included A.J. Penty, H.C. Hobson, G.D.H. Cole etc. This emerged in Britain and was a moderate form of Syndicalism.
Some other moderate strands of Socialism included ‘Christian Socialism’ of Pope Leo XIII that believed in creation of an ideal society based on Christian principles. While this considered private property to be natural right, it welcomed formation of Catholic Trade Unions. Fabianism was democratic form of Socialism that was promoted by G.B. Shaw, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They did not believe in any violent revolution. Rather they were gradualists and preferred to work within the framework of democracy. It was one of the important influences in formation of Labour Party in England. Edward Bernstein preferred ‘Evolutionary Socialism’, which is more popularly known as ‘Revisionism’. Some other important strands of Socialism have been the revolutionary varieties of Leninism and Maoism that were influential in Russia and China respectively.
References:
1) George H. Sabine & Thomas L. Thorson, A History of Political Theory, (Oxford & IBH, 1973)
2) C.E.M. Joad, Introduction to Modern Political Theory, (Oxford Univ. Press, 1983)
3) R.P. Sharma, Modern Western Political Thought, (Sterling, 1976)
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