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Socialism
Socialism is an economic and political philosophy characterized by public or government ownership of property and goods.
635 Questions
What are the differences between Communism and National Socialism?
Capitalism and communism are economic philosophies-they are ideas that describe how an economy should be run. Nazism and Fascism are political ideologies- they are ideas that describe how a government should run.
First, to understand the economic philosophies, we need to define "the means of production", which is a key phrase. This phrase refers to things like factories, mines, farms, and the equipment used for those things. With that in mind...
1. Capitalism is the basic economic philosophy that allows anyone to own "the means of production". In theory, if you can get enough money, then you can buy and own a shoe factory or a gold mine or a wheat farm, and you get to decide what to pay the workers and you get to do what you want with the profits.
2. Communism is an economic philosophy that is considered one branch of Socialism. It believes that "the means of production" should be owned by society, specifically, the workers. So the people who work in a shoe factory or on a wheat farm or in a gold mine should be the ones who own that thing, and should share the profits it makes.
Now, those are just the basic ideas behind the philosophies- they are both much more complicated than just that. Both can be broken down into other sub-categories, and these all have different ways of doing things. For example, Communism can be broken into Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, and many more, and each does things differently. Capitalism can also be broken down similarly. Additionally, things get a little iffy when actually tried- for example, the Soviet Union claimed to be communist, but the workers never really had any power... the communist party ran everything and lived like an aristocracy while the workers were largely irrelevant.
Moving on to Fascism and Nazism. They are very closely related ideologies, and are generally considered to be "far right" on the political spectrum, but in all honesty, they don't easily fit in the left vs. right system. Both borrowed some ideas from the left-wing, and both considered their ideologies to be "Third Position"- neither leaning towards Communist nor Capitalist based economies. Both sought to set up a totalitarian, single party dictatorship ruled by a single all-powerful leader.
Fascism is a political philosophy, originally from Italy, that emphasizes nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, anti-democracy, anti-communism, and anti-capitalism. They believe that "The State" (that is, a strong central government, completely controlled by Fascists) should take control of everything in the country, and run things under what they call "corporatism". Corporatism is the idea of splitting the economy into separate sectors, which would each be managed by their own government agencies. Labor unions get folded under the umbrella of these agencies and union actions (like strikes) are banned.
Nazism is a German version of Fascism. It shares a lot of the same basic principles (including all the "-isms" listed above under Fascism), but the Nazis strongly emphasize racist policy (most famously by hating Jews), and when they ruled Germany, did not really follow the corporatist economic model- in short, they removed as many Jews from the economy as they could, and then not only let the Weimar Republic's capitalist system mostly stay in place, they actually passed some very pro-business laws, like outlawing labor unions, reducing minimum wages, and even making it illegal to quit your job without your boss's permission. In theory, the most important thing to Nazis is helping "pure" German people (that is, people of German descent with no foreign ancestors), which they call "Aryans"; but in practice, Nazi Germany seemed more interested in taking total control of the country, building up the military, and conquering other countries- all while systematically slaughtering anybody they happened to dislike.
Things get a little murky though because of the history of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. On the surface, the two governments looked extremely similar, and it's not uncommon to see the terms used interchangeably. Then, to make things more complicated... Italy did very poorly in World War 2- their military was pretty terrible, and Germany had to keep bailing them out. Pretty quickly, Germany became the dominant partner, and forced Mussolini (Italy's Fascist leader) into accepting Nazi style racist policies. So while racism was not actually part of Fascist policy (when Hitler was coming to power in Germany, Mussolini often wrote criticisms of Hitler's pointless racism), by the time the Fascists lost control of Italy, they were carrying out Nazi-style racist policies.
What are the three components of marxism?
To Marxists, there are two separate social classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Social life comes from the conflicts of interest between the two classes. To a Marxist, class conflict is the process that fosters change through the oppression of the lower class by the upper.
Why has socialism failed to eradicate poverty?
Socialism fails in many countries because the government usually tries to bite off more than it can chew. The take care of so many programs but they don't get enough money to cover these programs in taxes which is a almost all of a countries income and this creates a deficit and puts the country in debt more and more every year.
Can Socialism and Communism can be used interchangeably?
Some people, especially people who don't really understand Communism or Socialism, do often use them interchangeably (or, curiously, as completely unrelated terms), but it's technically incorrect. Communism is just one branch of Socialism; there are many branchs. It's much like how Catholicism is but one branch of Christianity, or Trigonometry is one branch of Mathematics.
What is tricky is that until about 100-ish years ago, Communists usually called themselves Socialists. The reason being that their belief that Capitalism needed to turn into Socialism, and then it would eventually turn into Communism. So they were trying to get their society to take that first step and become Socialist. Around the end of World War I, the Communists finally separated themselves from mainstream Socialism, although they still often used Socialist terminology (as seen in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR).
What is the basic idea of socialism?
- Social ownership of the means of production
- Economic planning to coordinate production and investment
- Workers' self-management or collective-decision making in firms
What is centrally planned socialism?
A command economy is one where the government decides what to produce, how to produce it, and who to produce it for. Socialism in its entirety is a command economic system. The term 'centralized' is synonymous with 'command' when it comes to types of economies.
Who founded socialism in Russia?
Various thinkers, including Alexander Herzen, Nikolay Chernyshevsky, and Pyotr Tkachev laid the foundations for socialism in Russia, but Georgy Plekhanov is known as the father of Marxism (scientific socialism) in Russia.
What countries today are socialist?
Socialism as an economic system is not widely used anymore. The USSR was the leading socialist government till its collapse in 1991, and China has socialist elements to it's economy, but the only countries with true socialist economies in place today are Cuba and North Korea.
Why was Orwell against socialism?
George Orwell isn't against communism. He actually was a communist. He was against the fascism that the Soviet Union essentially became.
Is Latvia a socialist country?
No.
Not since 1990 or so, and even then its because the USSR (which occupied latvia) collapsed.
Do citizens have right to government funded healthcare?
Health *care* will not be "free" as a result of the new health reform law. Health *insurance*, however, may be subsidized by the federal government for qualifying low-income individuals and families. These federal subsidies will not be made available until 2014, however. At that time, most Americans will be required to have health insurance, whether obtained through an employer or purchased on their own. If you earn more than $14,400 or less than 400% of Federal Poverty levels ($43,320 for an individual and $88,200 for a family of four in 2009) you may qualify for government assistance to help you cover the cost of your monthly health insurance premiums.
Those making up to 133% of the Federal Poverty levels will be eligible for (free) coverage by Medicare if their state chooses to participate in the expanded coverage program. Currently, not all states have decided to participate in this expansion. Those currently at or below the Poverty level already receive government medical coverage in some form.
What countries have a socialist government?
It is difficult to answer this question because many countries that claim to be Socialist or have a Socialist or Communist Party in power do not enact Socialist ideological policies. Therefore, there are three very different answers. Note: These lists are not exhaustive.
1) Countries which openly identify as Socialist or Communist, but do NOT implement Socialist policies:
People's Republic of China
Mongolia
Laos
Vietnam
2) Countries which do NOT openly identify as Socialist or Communist, but do implement Socialist policies:
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Ecuador
Finland
Spain
Sweden
Venezuela
3) Countries which openly identify as Socialist or Communist, and implement Socialist policies:
Cuba
North Korea
Which person was a founder of socialism?
Originally Karl Marx did,
His Communist Manifesto Became the base thoughts of socialism.
Lenin then tried to make his own form of socialism in russia, he later named his governmental party communism.
How successful was socialism during the progressive era?
While not all progressives supported all progressive reforms, the basic objectives of the movement included the following: Destruction of the monopolistic power of the major corporations and banks in America. More representative government at all political levels in local, state, and national government. An active government that would take the initiative in reform. The right of labor to organize and secure a decent salary and safe working conditions. More economic and political rights for women. Regulation of child labor. The direct election of United States Senators. A graduated income tax that would fall hardest on the wealthy and least on the poor. Enactment of the initiative, referendum, and recall. Reform of city government Nationalization of railroads and banks. Government owned and operated local utilities. Consumer protection laws to prevent the sale of unsafe food and drugs. Check the list of objectives and you can determine how successful the Progressive agenda was.
What is the ulimate goal of a socialist economy?
Greater efficiency and productivity, stability (no business cycle), distribution based on one's contribution, and freedom from unnecessary and repetitive work so that all individuals have enough time and resources for self-actualization.
What acts of repression did Bismarck take against the socialists?
it gives the police the power to use the anti-socialists laws against strikers and expel. he reaffirmed it and claimed it. the ability to take the opposite sides at the same time in a quarrel.
What are facts about Fabian socialism?
Fabian socialism is a form of socialist ideology that advocates for gradual and reformist changes to achieve socialism, rather than revolutionary means. Founded in the late 19th century in the UK by the Fabian Society, it emphasizes the importance of education, social reform, and democratic processes to implement social ownership and welfare. Key figures include George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb, who believed in using political action and parliamentary methods to improve society. Fabian socialism has significantly influenced the development of the Labour Party and British social policy.
Why do socialist systems have mixed economies?
Socialism is not considered a mixed economy.
Socialism is defined as a system based on public ownership of the means of production, self-management in enterprises, and production for use instead of production for private profit. There are two types of socialism: planned economies and market socialism.
A mixed economy usually refers to a type of capitalism where the government intervenes in markets to affect economic outcomes, or engages in some minor indirect economic planning. Mixed economies are heavily capitalist: profit-driven enterprise is the dominant form of organization, most firms are privately-owned, and markets are still the primary way of coordinating the economy.
Why has socialism been popular in developing countries?
Socialism is not a form of government. It is an economic system much like capitalism, mercantilism and feudalism.
People support the basic idea of socialism for different reasons.
For economic reasons, one might support socialism as a means to "rationalize" the economic system by eliminating the boom-and-bust cycle inherent to capitalism, to allow for full employment, efficient use of resources, and public ownership over large industries so that the profits can be distributed more evenly amongst the population.
Socialism may also be supported by those who criticize capitalism on cultural and moral grounds.
Philosophically, socialism is advocated for greater equality, individuality as defined as enabling a greater scope for self-actualization and the expansion of democratic-decision making into the economic aspects of society.
How does fascism compare to socialism?
Fascism is a smaller, less noticeable form of government control. For example, the government can control businesses by private leaders, whereas socialism is obvious as to who is in charge, basically if America was controlled by a socialist government it would be President Obama that was obviously in charge. The U.S government is pushing towards socialism.
Which group was most opposed to socialism?
The group that was the most opposed to socialism were capitalists.
How are socialism and marxism similar and different?
Communism is when everyone is equal. For ex. You might live in a small house even though you might be a doctor, but you only have a wife and 1 kid. And another family might have a big house because they have a wife and 4 kids, but they are only a cashier.
Why did socialists think that private ownership of the means of production was bad?
Socialists - today mostly called social-democrats - never were against private property as such. They only protested (especially in the early 20th century) against the sometimes very unequal way in which wealth in some countries was divided and against the lack of care for people who could not provide for themselves - the lack of social security, basically.
Even the Communists were not against private property as such, but they had a habit of taking away property from people who were considered 'capitalists'.
The 'ideal' of a community where no-one had any property so that all property was communal and where people were given an income according to their needs, where a larger income was almost excusively based on a family being larger of members needing special care, was never put into practice anywhere. Only North Korea comes close but of course the ruling elites there have no lack of property, income and perks.
