History and Theories of Socialism
People speak of socialism. We should speak of socialisms.
There is an amnesia about the socialist tradition that
abandons entire definitions of that ideal made by serious
mass movements. . . What is needed, if socialism is to find
a new relevance for the twenty-first century, is some sense
of its enormous diversity and complexity.
—Michael
Harrington, Socialism: Past and Future, 1989
118th U.S. Congress (2023-2024), House Resolution 9 -
"Denouncing the horrors of socialism"
-
Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a
concentration of power that has time and time again
collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and
brutal dictatorships;
- Whereas
socialism has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders,
and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide;
- Whereas
many of the greatest crimes in history were committed by
socialist ideologues, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph
Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il,
Kim Jong Un, Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Nicolás
Maduro ...
- Now,
therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives,
That Congress denounces socialism in all its forms,
and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in
the United States of America.
Passed
the House of Representatives February 2, 2023.
I.
Definition
A.
You can find many different definitions, some more narrow and
some more broad, but the traditional one was "an economic and
social system system based on 'social' ownership of the means
of production – factories, farms, and capital equipment."
Today, perhaps the "means of production" should be expanded to
include some intellectual capital - should an individual be
allowed to own a patent on basic science, such as the human
genome?
B.
Varieties of social ownership -
1.
State Socialism - the government owns most of the means
of production. Is this really "social" ownership, though, if
the government is not democratically accountable to society?
Some socialists have claimed that "state socialism" is really
"state capitalism" - ownership by small ruling class.
For example, Rosa Luxembourg (1871-1919), a
Polish-German who was executed for her revolutionary action,
argued that a system that does not remain under democratic
control is not true socialism. In The Russian Revolution
(1918), she declared:
The public life of countries with limited freedom is so
poverty-stricken, so miserable, so rigid, so unfruitful,
precisely because, through the exclusion of democracy, it
cuts off the living sources of all spiritual riches and
progress…. Public life gradually falls asleep, a few dozen
party leaders ... direct and rule. Among them, in reality
only a dozen outstanding heads do the leading and an elite
of the working class is invited from time to time to
meetings where they are to applaud the speeches of the
leaders, and to approve proposed resolutions unanimously–at
bottom, then, a clique affair–a dictatorship, to be sure,
not the dictatorship of the proletariat but only the
dictatorship of a handful of politicians.
2.
Cooperative Socialism - Shared ownership and governance
by workers at the enterprise level. This can be a mandated
national policy, as it was in Yugoslavia under its systems of
worker self-management (about 1951-1980) or it can be a purely
voluntary arrangement that can operate within a predominantly
capitalist society. J.S. Mill (below) predicted that
this arrangement would eventually predominate through natural
evolution, and thousands of cooperatives still operate in the
U.S. today, mainly in agriculture.
3.
Syndicalism - similar to cooperative socialism, but
ownership is exercised by labor unions that may or may not
operate at the enterprise level. This arose in the French
labor movement, inspired by the anarchist views of Bakunin
(see below), and spread to other countries in Europe and
beyond.
C.
"Democratic Socialism" versus "Social Democracy" - is there
a difference? Historically, I (Gardner) would say "no,"
but this has become a confusing rhetorical game. Historically,
both of these referred to the desire to achieve
ownership-based socialism through democratic means, and some
people still use both of the terms that way. However, see, for
example, Michael McCarthy's article, "Democratic
Socialism Isn’t Social Democracy," where he argues that
the Nordic countries and Bernie Sanders are social democrats -
favoring a welfare state - but are not democratic socialists -
calling for social ownership. Still, Sanders and others
choose to call themselves socialists, and that seems to be
giving new meaning to the word.
Here's a statement
of "what we believe" from members of the Democratic
Socialists of America in Pinellas County, Florida
What does “socialism” mean? In simplest
terms, it means reversing our unbalanced power relations in
both our economy and our political system: political and
economic power would be transferred from the few (the 1
percent) to the many (the working class)...
And here's a statement
from Julia Salazar, a "socialist" member of the New York
Senate:
Broadly speaking, what it means to
be a democratic socialist is to have a vision of a
world where everyone is taken care of... In my
campaign this translates to specific shorter-term
policy positions including universal single-payer
healthcare, expanding the rent stabilization system
statewide and enacting universal rent control, ending
cash bail and policies aimed at eliminating mass
incarceration, and so on.
A democratic socialist recognizes the capitalist
system as being inherently oppressive, and is actively
working to dismantle it and to empower the working
class and the marginalized in our society... A
progressive will stop short at proposing reforms that
help people but don’t necessarily transform the
system.
II.
Socialism
in the Ancient World
A.
Primitive Communism - Assets owned by tribe,
distributed by the chief. Not the product of philosophy.
B.
Greek philosophers -
1.
Phaleas
of Chalcedon - equality of possessions would prevent
social disputes and revolutionary movements.
2.
Plato
advocated communal living for the ruling class to prevent
conflicts of interest.
3.
Aristotle
and Democritus defended property rights for all classes to
strengthen incentives, charity, prevent “tragedy of
commons”
C.
Early Christians - Church in Jerusalem practiced
collectivism in response to poverty in a voluntary system:
Acts 4: 32-34 - "Now the whole group of those who
believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed
private ownership of any possessions, but everything
they owned was held in common... There was not a needy
person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses
sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold."
These passages served as inspiration for life in
monasteries and for later Christian socialists, such as the Hutterites who
continue today.
III.
Early Critics of Capitalism
A.
Thomas More (1478-1535) Lord High Chancellor
of England who was executed for opposing the plan of Henry
VIII to separate from the Catholic Church and declare
himself the head of the Church of England, allowing him to
annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. More was also
known as a social critic who wrote a remarkable book of
fiction, Utopia, about an island nation with no
private ownership, no unemployment, rotation of work tasks
and housing, free hospitals, and meals taken in community
dining halls. Slavery of criminals and prisoners of war
was allowed, but slaves were periodically released for
good behavior. More's book served as inspiration for
real-world proposals from later authors, below, whom Marx
called "Utopians."
B.
Jakob Hutter (c1500-1536) Tyrolean (now part of
northern Italy) Anabaptist leader who led his
congregations to practice communal ownership of goods,
following the example of the early church in Acts, in
addition to their Anabaptist beliefs of nonviolence, and
adult baptism. Today, Hutterites, like the Amish, still
live in rural minimalist communities. Some similarities to
Homestead
Heritage, near Waco.
C.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Philosopher who inspired the French Revolution and
declared “The earth belongs to no one, and the fruits are
for all!”
D.
Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (1717-1778)
French author of The Code of Nature 1755,
designed a utopia where no one would own significant
capital or private possessions. Production and
distribution of goods regulated by government.
IV.
Utopian
Socialism
A.
William Godwin (1756-1836) and Marquis de
Condorcet (1743-1794) - perfectibility -
enlightenment will lead to greater virtue, equality, and
withering of the state.
B.
Saint-Simon (1760-1825) - ) In "New
Christianity," he argued that “the whole of society
ought to strive towards the amelioration of the moral and
physical existence of the poorest class.” To that end, he
wanted to transfer power from the hereditary aristocracy
and elevate the status of all productive and creative
people, including entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, and
bankers, along with manual labourers. He proposed a
national system of planning to organize public works and
use technology efficiently.
C.
Robert Owen (1771-1859) - Believed the poor
are product of environment. Instituted universal
education, shorter work hours, decent housing, etc. at his
factories.
D.
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) - Proposed
system of producer cooperatives, or phalansteries,
each with 1600 people living/working in one large building
and farmland. Profits split among shareholders and
workers. Workers rotate jobs. Forty phalansteries
opened in the U.S. One of them, La
Reunion, operated by about 400 European
immigrants from 1855-1858, played an important role in the
early history of Dallas, which had been established as a
settlement by John Neely Bryan 1841. One of the La Reunion
colonists, Benjamin Long, served two terms as mayor of
Dallas. Reunion Tower is named for the colony, and some of
the colonists are buried in a historic
cemetery near it.
E.
Pierre
Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) and Mikhail
Bakunin (1814-1876) - anarchists - all
government power is corrupt, so build society on system of
voluntary cooperatives. According to Proudhon, "In place
of laws, we will put contracts; no more laws voted by the
majority, or even unanimously. Each citizen, each town,
each industrial union will make its own laws. In place of
political powers we will put economic forces . . . in
place of standing armies, we will put industrial
associations. In place of police we will put identity of
interests..."
F.
Israeli
Kibbutz Movement - Beginning in 1909, when
Palestine was still part of the Ottoman empire, a small
group of Jewish Zionists started the Degania kvutsa
("group" or "commune") near the Golan Heights, a voluntary
farming community based on shared ownership, income
equality, and democratic governance. According to one of
its founders:
We were happy enough working on the land, but we knew
more and more certainly that the ways of the old
settlements were not for us. This was not the way we
hoped to settle the country—this old way with Jews on
top and Arabs working for them; anyway, we thought that
there shouldn't be employers and employed at all. There
must be a better way.
Over time, the Kibbutz movement expanded in population and
managed local industrial production, schools, and clinics.
It peaked in 1989 with a population of 129,000, declined
until 2007, and then started growing again. Today, there
are about 250-275 Kibbutzim in Israel with about 125,000
people. The majority are secular, but about twenty are
religious. They include less than 2% Israel's population,
but have produced many of the country's political,
military and cultural leaders, and account for more than
40% of agricultural output. Sources: 1
2
3
V.
Revolutionary
Socialism
A.
Auguste Blanqui (1805-1885) - French
revolutionary who believed that overthrow of capitalist
society must be led by a small organized minority, rather than
by a mass movement of the working class. Anticipated Leninism.
B.
Marx
and Engels - Blended revolutionary socialism in the
short run with utopian socialism in the long run.
1.
Early socialism - Revolutionary tactics and
establishment of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" (typified
by the Paris Commune) are necessary to establish
socialism. Dismissed the ideas of Owen, Fourier,
Proudhon, and others as naive and "utopian."
Distribution "to each according to his work."
2.
Full Communism - Withering of the state.
Distribution "according to needs." Little discussion of
planning.
C.
V.I. Lenin - Revolution led by an elite
"vanguard." Theory of imperialism justified Russian
revolution. At first congress of Russian Social
Democratic Party (1903), Lenin’s followers were organized into
the Bolsheviks and opponents of the vanguard leadership style
organized into the Mensheviks.
V.
Democratic
Socialism
A.
Louis Blanc (1811-1882) - Democratic socialist
who held position in the French Provisional Govt. Proposed
public works projects to reduce unemployment.
B.
Ferdinand LaSalle (1825-1864) and August
Bebel (1840- 1914) - Socialist reform based on
democracy, universal suffrage, and worker control of
factories. LaSalle organized first German socialist party in
1863, but died a year later. Bebel formed the Social
Democratic Workers' Party in 1869 that merged at Gotha in 1875
into the Socialist Workers' Party. Bebel served as chairman of
the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1892 until his
death in 1914. He opposed rising racial supremacism,
militarization, and colonial policies in Africa.
C.
Gotha Program - Marxists and LaSalleans met in
1875 to discuss merger into a single German Social Democratic
Party. Prepared draft of party program had Lasallean tone.
Marx objected, but was ignored. SDP became parliamentary
party, forcing Bismarck to enact social security system. SDP
became the model for European parties.
D.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) - Classical
economist, but sympathetic with socialists, and influenced
Fabians (below). Believed that worker owned and managed
enterprises would evolve naturally.
E.
The Fabian Society - Led by Sidney and Beatrice Webb
and George Bernard Shaw, supported evolutionary program of
social reforms. Idealist rather than materialist. Incorporated
into the platforms of the Independent Labour Party (1893), and
Labour Party (1918).
VI.
The
Efficiency of Socialism
A.
The von Mises Critique - Ludwig von Mises argued
that efficient planning was impossible in a socialist state
because socially owned producer goods have no objective prices
which are required for rational decision making.
B.
Lange's Market Socialism - Proposed a system
where the pattern of production would be set by consumer
sovereignty and freedom of occupational choice would be
maintained.
1.
Factory and industrial managers - Minimize cost of
production and expand output until the marginal cost of
production equals price. The marginal revenue of the
product.
2.
Central Planning Board - Adjust prices according to
shortages or surpluses at the end of an accounting period.
VII.
Socialism since World War II
A.
The
Growth and Decline of Command Socialism
1.
Postwar
Growth
2.
Latin
America in 1960s (Cuba), Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, when
European colonialism began to crumble.
3.
Conflicts
- Yugoslavia in 1949, Stalin's death in 1953 and by
Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin's terror at the 1956 Party
Congress. China and Albania in 1960s. Prague Spring,
1968.
4.
In
Poland, importance of Pope John Paul, formation of Solidarity,
strikes and political demands in 1980 and 1981
5.
Gorbachev,
1985. August 1991, activities of the Communist Party
suspended, Gorbachev dissolved Soviet Union.
B.
Democratic
Socialism in Transition
1.
In
Great Britain, the Labour party victorious was 1945, major
changes in recent years. It initially supported
nationalization of some industries, but that ceased to be true
in 1997 when Tony Blair became prime minister and reformed the
Labour party. Still, Blair considered himself to be a
democratic socialist. In a 1983 speech to the Commons, he
said, "I am a socialist not through reading a
textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through
unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its
best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence
that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation,
not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for
equality."
2.
In
1951, the Socialist International (SI) was established as a
global association of political parties that seek to establish
democratic socialism. It was initially democratic and
anti-Communist, but eventually expanded to include more
authoritarian parties. Because of that trend, the German
socialist party (the SPD) split away in 2013 and created the Progressive
Alliance. In recent years, the more authoritarian
parties (China, Cuba, North Korea, etc.) have been sticking
with the SI and the more democratic countries have been moving
to the PA which now claims 140 participating parties and
partners.
See
more.
3.
Programs of nationalization were also conducted in France and
Italy after World War II, and in 1983, but later turned to
privatization.
4.
As of 2018, political parties associated with the Socialist
International or the Progressive Alliance were represented in
the governments of at least 43 countries.
5.
Strong performances by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, and others, who, as we noted above, call
themselves democratic socialists, have apparently caused a
shift in the perception and understanding of the word,
"socialism" - particularly among younger Americans. Gallup
surveys suggest that the meaning
of "socialism" is shifting away from government
ownership in the U.S. and has become more
popular than "capitalism" among Democrats and young
people. Membership in the Democratic Socialists of America reportedly
grew from about 6,000 in 2015 to a reported
92,000 today.
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