SOCIALIST MEGASHEET
Key Ideas & Principles:
[1] Critique of Capitalism
[2] Economic Determinism
[3] Human nature as changeable
[4] Equality & social justice
[5] Collectivism & Fraternity
[6] Communism [Utopianism]
[7] Dialectical materialism
Revolutionary Socialism → State must be upturned from the outside, there must be a revolution.
[Rosa Luxemburg. Marx & Engels. Lenin. Revolution.]
Democratic Socialism → Belief an expansion of state can lead to socialism, democratically.
Social Democracy [third way → Ideological view wishing to humanise capitalism in the interests of social justice.
[Kier Starmer. Tony Blair.]
————————————————————————————————————————————
Workers Control:
3rd Way =Achieve aims of workers control through different means. 3rd way Labour removes clause IV promising nationalisation. Greater taxation to fund public works projects which provide work. Free market deemed necessary to generate wealth, massive departure from idea that labour alone generates wealth.
Social Democrats = Public spending is an alternative & superior method of improving workers material conditions. Trying to inject equality of opportunity into society through some redistribution of wealth. Public spending: Anthony Crossland was a proponent for comprehensive schools to facilitate social mobility. Class distinctions have narrowed since the embourgeoisement of the 80s. Inequality not blamed on class conflict, thus removing justification for democratic ownership.
Democratic Socialists = Believe workers control should be achieved through nationalising major industries like Attlee in the 40s/50s → Rails ,coal, power. There’s room for free enterprise but only in the periphery of society implying a held belief that the market is untrustworthy. Webb says Capitalism is the main case of ‘crippling poverty and demeaning inequality’
Revolutionary Socialists = Such a high priority to seize the means of production that a revolution is not just justified but necessary. Variance occurs based on thinkers envisioned means to a revolution securing workers rights.
————————————————————————————————————————————
[5] Collectivism = Collective human effort is more useful than individual. Human nature has a social core. This lends itself to workers cooperatives, unionism. Often based on fraternity, brotherhood of man, equality.
→ Cooperative: Organisation run by the workers, owned by the people who use it. Jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. Founded in 1863 [COOP UK]
[2] Economic Determinism = Dialectical materialism & base/superstructure
Dialectical Materialism → All conflicts/events in history have been due to the conflict of classes
Base = Economic system Superstructure = Society around it. Base determines the superstructure.
[1] Critique of Capitalism:
Alienation from labour, false consciousness [distractions/misinformation in the absence of class consciousness]. Inequality and exploitation. Surplus value, profit being theft. Surplus value being the way capitalism ‘sows the seeds for its own destruction’.
Marx & Engels quotes: “workers of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains” “to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon” “forcibly overthrow”
MARX & ENGELS:
[Human Nature] Naturally altruistic. Capitalism instils the proletariat with a false consciousness & bourgeoisie values.
[State] Capitalism must be destroyed by revolution. State is temporarily replaced w/ dictatorship of the proletariat then Communism.
[Society] Made up of class conflict. The Bourgeoisie corrupt the working class. Communist society will have absolute equality and harmony.
[Economy] Resources are collectively owned and distributed by need.
ROSA LUXEMBURG:
[Human Nature] Capitalism is damaging to human nature. Still, humans are imperfect and parliamentary democracy is needed to stop tyranny.
[State] Capitalism destroyed in a revolution and replaced by genuine democracy.
[Society] Class conflict and exploitation is mean. Democratic communist society creates harmony.
[Economy] Marx’s historical materialism is flawed, capitalism doesn’t need to reach a final stage to be abolished. Revolutions could still happen in less economically developed societies.
On Marxism → ‘In historical thunder and lightning, it retains its strength’. She doesn’t want Marxism to congeal, to grow stagnant straight after the revolution as this makes way for dictatorship. To be effective class consciousness must be maintained by discussion of and cultural relevance of Marxism. She disliked the Marxist idea that revolution is only possible in highly developed capitalistic countries like Germany as this implied a protracted period of suffering for others.
On Lenin→ Critiqued Lenin for being revisionist. Unlike Lenin she wasn’t okay with a minority socialist government or vanguard. Believed in an adherence to the will of the majority. She rejected any tactic of suppression and terror. “Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenters”.
VLADMIR LENIN:
He disliked that class consciousness had to precede the revolution, as this implied less developed countries would have to suffer the increasing exploitation and conflicts within Capitalism only to then upturn it. He wanted a vanguard of revolutionary elites to incite and organise the revolution, acting on behalf of people’s class interests before they were class conscious.
Democratic Centralism: One party system where critique of past mistakes is seen as counterrevolutionary and not tolerated. Authoritarianism. Shows Lenin didn’t believe in spontaneous class consciousness, not trusting that the workers would not be appeased by some compromises of capitalism.
Society Lenin will Establish: One that will facilitate revolutions across the world [international focus]. A vanguard will permanently replace the police. Russians as elite, liberators. Communist society established by authoritarianism.
FABIANS:
[evolutionary socialism] Think socialism requires patience, until there is a sufficient mandate from the public. Emphasises nationalisation/worker’s cooperatives/centralisation/protectionism. Were quite elitist. Thought elite educated socialist intellectuals would be the ones to lead socialist effort. Many supported the empire.
‘When the time comes you must strike hard’ ‘Educate, agitate, organise’
Believed religion was ‘opiate’ for the masses. Similar to Marx’s take.
BEATRICE WEBB:
Helped write the original clause 4 of Labour’s constitution. Wanted a ‘theocratic elite to impregnate’ all the existing forces of society. Tried to nurture this technocratic elite through the London school of Economics. She coined the term collective bargaining in relation to trade unions. The inevitability of gradualism is core to democratic socialism. Thought political equality is achieved w/ universal suffrage. Peaceful end to capitalism.
[Human Nature] Capitalism has harmed the human psyche. Human intellect is imperfect.
[State] State should be used to create a socialist society.
[Society] Equality of outcome under socialist state!
[Economy] Gradual nationalisation of market economy to end in common ownership of means of production.
————————————————————————————————————————————
Stalin:😠
Socialism in one country. Had 5 year plans for government, planned economy. Collectivism of farming. Everyone works to central targets. Terror via Gulags and secret police.
ANTHONY CROSSLAND:
Believed in managerialism just like Bernstein → belief that Marx’s theory of class conflict was incorrect as the downfall of capital had not occured due to the evolution of a new middle/managerialism class with a unique relationship to the means of production.
ANTHONY GIDDENS:
Decentralisation of political power. Top down politics. Creating spaces where people at the bottom of society can help themselves. Focussed on globalisation and how investment is needed through participation in organisations like the EU and NATO. Believes the rich and educated are one in the same. Believes class divisions are global > national. Believes human nature isn’t predictable enough for socialism to work economically. Emphasis on stakeholding not common ownership.
Managerial Class:
Revisionists and third way could see this as either proof that class imbalance must be dealt with differently to a 2-sided class war and revolution like through parliament. 3rd way could see it as proof Capitalism can be tamed and accessed by the proletariat as a managerial middle-class is formed.
Marxists see them as upper strata of the proletariat in such proximity to the bourgeoisie that they may not easily find class consciousness, but have a fragile position still at the whim of the ruling class who train their replacement.