Socialism

Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that a society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production. In application, however, the de facto meaning of socialism has changed with time. Although it is a politically loaded term, it remains strongly related to the establishment of an organized working class, created through either revolution or social evolution, with the purpose of building a classless society. It has also, increasingly, become concentrated on social reforms within modern democracies. This concept and the term Socialist also refer to a group of ideologies, an economic system, or a state that exists or has existed.

Socialism as transition from capitalism

Although Marxists and other socialists generally use the word "socialism" in the senses described above, there is also another specifically Marxist use of the term that is worth noting. Karl Marx, in his exposition of historical materialism (his Hegelian model of history) saw socialism as a phase of human society that would follow capitalism and precede communism. Marx is by no means clear about the expected characteristics of such a society, but he is consistent in his belief in the eventual triumph of revolutionary-socialism over capitalism, and then, its eventual transformation into communism.

Related Topics:
Karl Marx - Historical materialism - Hegelian

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According to Marx, the socialist society will be controlled by the working class (the proletariat), whose familiarity with large, collective undertakings will be reflected in the character of this society. It will be a "dictatorship of the proletariat", in the sense that it is contrasted with the existing "dictatorship" of the bourgeoisie (i.e. capitalism). It is worth noting in this context that Marx was not necessarily advocating or predicting "dictatorship" in the sense that word is commonly used today; he was referring only to which class would be dominant - in other words, it is the proletariat who become the ruling class, not a "dictator". While Leninist dictatorship is arguably consistent with this vision, so is workers' democracy, analogous to bourgeois democracy. In addition, note that most Marxist models of socialism involve the abolition of the so-called "exploitation of man by man" which is presumed to exist in capitalist society. This would mean abolishing class distinctions, therefore making "the proletariat" a universal term synonymous with "the people".

Related Topics:
Proletariat - Dictatorship of the proletariat - Bourgeoisie

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Marx saw socialism (the "dictatorship of proletariat", as explained above) as a transitional phase, ultimately to be replaced by a classless communist society in which the existing forms of government would no longer be needed. According to Engels, the state was destined to eventually "wither away", as the representative democracy of socialism slowly turned into the direct democracy of communism, and economic life would be re-organised on a basis of freedom and equality. In holding this classless non-state as the ultimate goal, Marx expressed an ideal not far from that of anarchism. However, whereas the anarchists wanted to abolish the state overnight, the communists expected the "withering away" to be a slow and gradual process.

Related Topics:
Representative democracy - Direct democracy

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This definition of socialism is particularly important in understanding the official ideology of the People's Republic of China. The Communist Party of China states that class struggle has already pushed China into the socialist phase of social development. Because of this and Deng Xiaoping's theory of seeking truth from facts, any economic policy which "works" is automatically classified as a socialist policy, and hence there are no constraints on how "socialism with Chinese characteristics" can look like.

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