Socialism
"Only in a socialist system are the interests of the individual, the state and the collective at one."
Socialism is an ideology used to represent the broad range of ideologies that fall under the umbrella term of "Socialism". In the classical sense, socialism describes worker-owned means of production combined with egalitarianism, heavily supporting
worker co-ops, self-management, economic planning, and/or
workplace democracy depending on the variant. The modern definition of the word socialism, popularized by European
Social Democrats, and the
Democratic Socialists of America, is "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods." Socialism in the modern age advocates workers' self-management, high taxation on the wealthy and/or nationalization over key parts of industry. Socialism is always economically left, and culturally neutral however has found itself becoming synonymous with progressivism mostly in the west at the most recent times. But you do get ideologies like
Conservative Socialism and more extreme ones like
Strasserism and
National Bolshevism, that combine Socialist economics, with conservative cultural preservation, due to their shared
Populist standpoint.
History
Socialism as a political movement is rooted in the French Revolution and Jacobinism, although notable
proto-socialist figures and movements existed before this. The first socialist thinkers were social critics and philosophers of the 19th century from Western Europe. These socialist thinkers followed what would later be dubbed, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
Utopian Socialism, due to their lack of materialist analysis and bourgeois nature. Among these thinkers were Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen. Despite all these thinkers being considered Utopian Socialists, their philosophies differed greatly in many ways, with Owen's ideology resembling Socialism in the modern sense more so than the other two.
Robert Owen would go on to develop several socialist communes and villages, being the first to attempt to actualize a socialist society, though these projects were often on a small scale and subject to much criticism.
In France, during the first half of the 19th century, socialist philosophers and politicians continued to popularize socialism. It is in France during this time that many socialists started to reject the gradualism and utilization of utopian communes of the older Utopian Socialists. The term "socialism" was first used in a French Utopian Socialist newspaper. There also emerged a Christian Socialist movement in France led by Philippe Buchez. Moreover, during this time, French socialist literature, which would prove to be highly consequential, was being published, most notably What Is Property? by
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
In the 19th century, Anarchism as a movement arose and was incorporated into the socialist movement. This is seen with thinkers such as the aforementioned Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, whose socialistic anarchism was market-oriented, as well as with more communistic anarchists, like the Russian Mikhail Bakunin, who sought a
collectivist anarchist society which would utilize labor vouchers, as well as the prominent
anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin, who sought a completely communistic society, devoid of any form of currency whatsoever. Anarchism when combined with socialist principles would later come to be known as
Social Anarchism.
Marxism, which arose from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, became the most influential socialist philosophy in history. Marx and Engels ideas on philosophy, political economy, sociology and history were influenced primarily by
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,
classical economists such as
Adam Smith and
David Ricardo, the earlier utopian socialists, and socialist ideals which arose in revolutionary France. Marx and Engels devised a materialist philosophy of history known as
historical materialism and called their form of socialism "scientific socialism" in contrast with utopian socialism. Marxism differed from Utopian Socialism in that it viewed history as a series of class struggles, and saw moving towards socialism within capitalism as futile, instead advocating for revolution.
Variants
Revolutionary Socialism
Revolutionary Socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolution is a necessary precondition for transitioning from a capitalist to a socialist mode of production. Revolution is not necessarily defined as a violent insurrection; it is defined as a seizure of political power by mass movements of the working class so that the state is directly controlled or abolished by the working class as opposed to the capitalist class and its interests. It encompasses many movements, such as movements based on orthodox Marxist theory such as
De Leonism,
impossibilism and
Spartacism, as well as movements based on
Leninism and the theory of
vanguardist-led revolution such as
Maoism,
Marxism–Leninism and
Trotskyism. Revolutionary socialism also includes other Marxist, Marxist-inspired and non-Marxist movements such as those found in
democratic socialism,
revolutionary syndicalism,
anarchism and
social democracy.
Revolutionary socialism is contrasted with reformist socialism, especially the reformist wing of social democracy and other evolutionary approaches to socialism and is opposed to social movements that seek to gradually ameliorate capitalism's economic and social problems through
political reform.
=== 'Lumpenproletariat Socialism
Lumpenproletariat Socialism is socialism from below, an oppressed or dangerous underclass as described by Marx & Engels in the Communist manifesto. The lumpenproletariat is defined by an inability of class concisciousness or mass organisation required for a socialism revolution this means that lumpenproletariat socialism is a form of
Utopian Socialism and will not make large scale transformations in society. Marx believed that this made them especially dangerous as they could cause the extreme level of violence expected in a revolution but without any of the emancipation that a revolution should accomplish. It comes in several different forms due to the vagueness of Marx's definition of lumpenproletariat, it could include serfs/peasants, minority groups, criminals, prostitutes, immigrants, luddites and the chronically unemployed. Basically the people that are most victimised by capitalism or feudalism to the point where they lose total control of themselves.
Peasant Socialism
Peasant Socialism is what is achieved in the rare case of a successful peasant revolt it is often a primitive form of socialism with the sharing of all goods in a theocratic realm such as the Münster rebellion. It does not necessarily abolish kings as the rebel Wat Tyler in the 1381 English revolt flew the banner of House Normandie as he marched on London town. However Marx and Engels did not believe that peasants were such a dangerous class because they could become capable of class consciousness to organise into a proper socialist revolution as Mao and Lenin claimed to accomplish in their respective countries.
Minority Socialism
Minority Socialism is when oppressed minority groups such as Afro-Americans organise and revolt against the state to escape oppression. However as this is not a class-based revolution it fails to create a truly socialist state, either by not drawing enough support to topple the state from their own communities or due to the alienation of the racial majority working class. An example of this is the African National Congress (ANC) which declared itself socialist and in many respects was revolutionary under the Apartheid system in place from 1948 to the 1990s. However despite coming to power in 1994 the ANC did not implement socialism by any streach of imagination and after now 30 years of ANC rule South Africa is still extremely segregated as racial politics do not lead to emancipation from capital.
Luddism
Luddism as a ideology arouse out of the Luddite movement, which was active in the early 19th century with the introduction of machinery, which served the purpose both of reducing labor costs by employing workers for tasks that didn't require much skill, thus making the market for that labor larger driving the cost down and to be able to mass produce goods which served to get the price of commodities down for the owner. The Luddites disliked technology for the first reasons stated above, believing that through the introduction of machinery the skilled worker would loose his importance and the regular worker would in effect become a commodity. So in protest the Luddites began destroying machines in protest essentially serving as a early form of sabotage, this is also where the Luddites got their name, from the legend of Ned Ludd, a textile worker who rose up against his masters by destroying the machine he worked at. Whether Ned Ludd really existed or didn't is unknown.
Feudal Socialism
Feudal Socialism is what occurs to the landed aristocracy after capitalism takes root in a country and gradually usurps power away from the gentry and gives it to the bourgeoise. The aristocrats notice this happening of course so they attempt to stop capitalism from growing through protective trade laws, beneficial tax laws and opposing democratic reforms. However when these fail to stop capitalism from supplanting aristocrats many turn to a new solution of masking as the workers' champions who stand up to the exploitative capitalists, many claim that under feudalism serfs were well-off due to their Lords' honour and noble hearts. While forgetting all the oppression that they made workers endure for millennia. The two most succesful forms of feudal socialism are Metternich as he ruled over Europe from the end of the Napoleonic wars to the European Spring. The second is Young England in the UK who managed to get their president, at a time, Benjamin Disraeli elected Prime Minister who then created one-nation conservatism which has remained a force in British politics to the modern day.
Clerical Socialism
Clerical Socialism is similar to feudal socialism in many ways as the church gradually loses its influence and power with the rise of capitalism so it weaponised religious texts, which often condemn greed; private property, selfishness and inequality. However once again forgetting its own historic oppression of the working classes to save their own power, due to the shrunken influence of the church this ideology has never had much success so even Marx lumps them into the Feudal Socialism category in the Communist Manifesto.
Bourgeois Socialism
Bourgeois Socialism or Conservative Socialism was a term used by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in various pieces, including in The Communist Manifesto. Conservative socialism was used as a rebuke by Marx for certain strains of socialism, but it has also been used by proponents of such a system. Bourgeois socialists are described as those that advocate for preserving the existing society using various means to only eliminate perceived evils of the system. Conservative socialism and
right wing socialism are also used as a descriptor, and in some cases as a pejorative, by
free-market conservative and
right-libertarian movements and politicians to describe more
economically interventionist strands of conservatism.
The Marxist view is such that the bourgeois socialist is the sustainer of the current state of bourgeois class relations. In the Principles of Communism Engels describes them as "so-called socialists" who only seek to remove the evils inherent in capitalist society while maintaining the existing society often relying on methods such as
welfare systems and grandiose claims of
social reform. Opinions vary as to whether if bourgeois socialist is actively protecting or intentionally excusing the current order, but the common thread is that they are in objective fact preserving it. Rather than
abolishing class divisions, they wish to simply raise everyone up to be a member of the bourgeoisie to allow everyone the ability to endlessly accumulate capital without a working class. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels use philanthropists, monks ("temperance fanatics") and reformers as examples of this type of socialist that they saw as opposed to their own aims. In expressing its views on the subject, Marx explicitly referenced
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's The Philosophy of Poverty, stating the following about bourgeois socialism:
The Socialistic bourgeois want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarily resulting therefrom.
Petty-Bourgeoise Socialism
Petty-Bourgeoise Socialism is an attempt by the petite bourgeoise to prevent their complete destruction from the revolutionary proletariat in their socialism or by the bourgeoise in their capitalism as it is a class that would be destroyed by both systems. This means that the petite bourgeoise want what is essentially a flash freeze on capitalism in order to stop further instability and concentration of wealth while also stopping further agitation of the working class to prevent revolution. This class also forgets the exploitative nature of guild masters to tradesmen in the middle ages in addition to the exploitative merchants and burgesses while romaticising the stability that their system brought. What makes someone petite bourgeoise is when they are in such a position that socialism and capitalism, as imagined by their followers, would destroy them or when a working person betrays their class in order to side with the bourgeoise because of their aspirations to become one of the bourgeoise in the future. It is for these reasons that the petite bourgeoise is associated with fascism as only with extreme state control could the bourgeoise be prevented from further agitating the proletariat, this means that petty-bourgeoise socialism could be seen as a modern variant of feudal socialism.
Personality
![](http://static.miraheze.org/polcompballwiki/thumb/c/c5/CzerwonaFlaga.jpg/176px-CzerwonaFlaga.jpg)
Soc is usually portrayed as a stereotypical industrial-era unionized worker who really loves striking against his boss and usually will follow the personality traits of the various types of socialism portrayed.
How to Draw
Socialism's design is a unicolor of red, associated with Socialism, and a white hammer in the middle symbolizing labor. This is essentially a distinctive form of "The Red Flag".
- Draw a ball.
- Color the ball red
- Add a white hammer in the center.
- Draw eyes on the ball.
And you're done!
Color Name | HEX | RGB | |
---|---|---|---|
Red | #FF0000 | 255, 0, 0 | |
White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 |
Relationships
Workers
Marxism - My most famous son who shares many of my ideals.
But The classless and moneyless society is very extreme.State Socialism - My state loving son.
I just wish people would stop saying that we have zero differences.Utopian Socialism - My mom is idealistic for her time. She also influenced me greatly!
Jacobinism - Dad!
Democratic Socialism - My reformist son who loves democracy and freedom.
Conservative Socialism - My culturally conservative son.
Arab Socialism - My most successful Arabic grandson!
Classical Social Democracy - Classical Socialist Democracy.
African Socialism - MAGA: Make Africa Great Again!
Socialism of the 21st Century - For Latin America!
Guild Socialism - Likes guilds as opposed to labor unions or vanguard parties but otherwise fine.
Religious Socialism - My religious child.
Eco-Socialism - One of my most popular variants. We gotta DEFEND THE EARTH!
Social Anarchism - My grandson who disrespects all authority.
Minarcho-Socialism - Same as above but moderate.
Libertarian Socialism - My child disrespects all authority but doesn't want to abolish it completely.
Socialist Transhumanism - Capitalism is holding us back technologically.
Market Socialism - My friend who likes markets but doesn’t like
Capitalism.
Titoism - Same as above. Also, the next time a fascist tells you to get in a helicopter, remind them of the cuck pit.
Monarcho-Socialism - All hail the people's king!
Mutualism - Property is Theft! Creator of industrial democracy.
Alter-Globalism - Yes! Another world is possible!
Syndicalism - Striking is based but try to help nonunionized workers too.
Anarcho-Syndicalism - Above but anarchist.
Mixed
Yellow Socialism - Workers can work with businesses to advance socialism.
Anarcho-Egoism - You raise some valid points against capitalism, but then you complain about some of us being "dogmatic".
Liberal Socialism - Your heart is in the right place, but in practice you’re basically social democrats, and I don’t think liberalism is compatible with the proletarian movement.
Agrarian Socialism - Redistributing land to the peasants is nice and all, but industrial workers are the key to my economic system, as they make up the majority of workers in most countries.
Communalism - This isn’t socialism… but I appreciate you taking the idea of cooperation further.
Welfarism - People think I'm you because you care much for the poor, but you exist within a capitalist society. Go ahead and embrace socialism.
Distributism - So close to perfection. Just drop the whole private property thing and we're good.
Longism - Same as above.
Left-Wing Nationalism - You often have good stances on things like imperialism and the means of production but some of you are too moderate, xenophobic and not socialist at all.
Social Democracy - We have a complicated relationship. He thinks it's better to reform capitalism than to get rid of it, and nowadays a lot of people, especially in the US, think he's me even though we're not the same. But I can't blame them for that. After all, we both want social justice...
Nordic Model - Same as above.
Olof Palme was based though.Marxism-Leninism - Another complicated relationship. With the opposite problem of the guy above who thinks a single vanguard party can industrialise the country and world while providing the conditions for worker ownership to be realised despite the bureaucracy that always derails him. But I can't blame him for that considering how much communists and socialists are despised and kept out of power through nefarious means.
Social Authoritarianism - Same as socdem, but more authoritative.
Globalism - I don't like the unregulated international trade thing, but I like when you help the third world and I also like
Socialist Internationalism and
Alter-Globalism.
National Bolshevism - My crazy Nazi descendant.
Strasserism - Don't know about the anti-semitism. But at least you're better than
him.
Maoism - I really love you but cool it down with that Cultural Revolution.
Ho Chi Minh Thought - Vietnam was based, but the Doi Moi reforms afterward kinda reminds me of
him.
Juche - Wait, how are we even related?
Capitalist Communism - My weird child.
I knew I shouldn't have invitedhim
to my party.Kemalism - We never forget Kadroist comrades.
Tridemism - We never forget Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Left KMT comrades. It's a shame that the modern-day KMT is full of capitalists.
Labour Zionism - We never forget Ben Gurion and the Kibbutz communes.
Ba'athism and
Gaddafism -
His more radical children. However, the Assad family and Gaddafi himself went down the path towards capitalism by the end of the Cold War...
Pancasila - We never forget Bung Karno. Shame that that bastard Suharto ruined it all.
Chavismo - I like what you're doing in Venezuela, but you still had failures here and there, and that gave me a really bad reputation, especially in America.
Neosocialism - "For though they offer us concessions, change will not come from above!" --- Part of 'The Internationale'.
Republicanism - Most of my variants and offspring support you but you can also be quite liberal at times.
Progressivism - Most of my variants support at least most of you, and we both love equality. But we have also had fairly large bouts too.... and also, stop hanging out with the liberals, please...
Georgism - I guess you are okay but your like for free trade and capitalism is concerning but at-least you reject unfair private ownership of land.
Dengism - What is this? Deng, you are a dirty red capitalist. Also why is there such a high-income gap!?
But it is still fun to use you to trigger capitalists in the west.
Oppressors
Capitalism - GIVE ME A GODDAMN RAISE YOU STUPID PIG!
Liberalism - Yes, liberty, equality and fraternity, but still, YOU STILL SERVE AS THE MINDSET OF THE CAPITALISTS!
Social Liberalism - Better than the above BUT STILL.
Classical Liberalism - I remember our good 'ol rivalries, good times.
American Model - No history of social democracy, promotion of extreme privatization, and generally a long history of anti-socialism? Your country is my worst nightmare.
Social Capitalism - Same as soclib, but even more capitalist.
State Capitalism - GIVE ME A GODDAMN... wait, you again? I can't believe some people mistake you for me or
him, do we look that much alike?!
Fascism - Fuck off, traitor and oppressive pig.
Lassalle on steroids.
National "Socialism" - Socialist or not, I STILL HATE YOU!
Anarcho-Capitalism - FUCK OFF!!! YOU'RE NOT EVEN AN ANARCHIST!!!
Chiangism - WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO MURDER LEFT KUOMINTANG MEMBERS???
What do you mean, you're a Socialist?Pol Potism - The black sheep of the family. You literally made people scare and despise me! You disgust me and bring shame upon our family!
Neoliberalism - Oh so I'M the one who hates the poor? You think that the British colonizing India was good. I'll see myself out on this one.
Plutocracy - EAT THE RICH!
Corporatocracy - My worst nightmare…
Reactionaryism &
Feudalism - FUCK YOU BOTH FOR WHAT YOU DO TO WORKERS! I AM NEVER BEING A SERF AGAIN!
Libertarianism - Socialism is neither "when welfare" nor "when the government", you schizo! You also stole
his name!
Authoritarian Capitalism - Proof that
liberal “democracies” are nothing more than dictatorships controlled by capitalists.
Thatcherism - Ding dong the witch is dead!
Third Way - STOP CORRUPTING EVERY EUROPEAN LEFT-WING PARTY YOU
NEOLIBERAL SCUM!
Eco-Capitalism - “Eco-Friendly Capitalism.” What an actual joke.
Neoconservatism - You dare to call me an oppressor while you overthrow democratically elected socialists and install capitalist tyrants around the world.
Zionism - I don't care if your founder was a socialist! Free Palestine!
National Syndicalism - Proletariat reactionary!
Reactionary Socialism - You may call yourself a socialist, but like NatSynd, you’re a reactionary who preys on the proletariat’s worst fears about the current state of capitalist society.
Fourth Theory - Same as above. Also, stop supporting that capitalist tyrant
Putin. He is not helpful in bringing about a socialist world order.
Further Information
Literature
- Das Kapital Volumes One, Two and Three by
Karl Marx
- Evolutionary Socialism by
Eduard Bernstein
- Why Socialism? by
Albert Einstein
- Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by
Vladimir Lenin
- The Accumulation of Capital by
Rosa Luxemburg
- It's Time For Real Change: For the Many Not the Few by The U.K. Labour Party under the Leadership of
Jeremy Corbyn
- The Soul of Man Under Socialism by
Oscar Wilde
- Understanding Socialism by
Richard D. Wolff
- After Liberalism by Immanuel Wallerstein
- Bullshit Jobs by
David Graeber
- The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy by
David Graeber
- Acts of Resistance: Against the Tyranny of the Market by Pierre Bourdieu
- J IS FOR JUNK ECONOMICS: A Guide To Reality In An Age Of Deception by Michael Hudson
- The Establishment: And how they get away with it by
Owen Jones
- A People's History of the United States by
Howard Zinn
Wikipedia
Socialism
- History of Socialism
- Types of Socialism
- Economic Planning
Workplace Democracy
- Socialist State
The Red Flag
- Socialist Parties
- Category: Socialism
People
Phillipp Mainländer
Franz Kafka
Karl Marx
Friedrich Engels
Eduard Bernstein
Louis Charles Delescluze
Jarosław Dąbrowski
Vladimir Lenin
Leon Trotsky
Joseph Stalin
Julius Martov
Ernst Thälmann
Rosa Luxemburg
Lu Xun
Sun Yat-sen
Clement Attlee
Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai
Kim Dynasty
Josip Broz Tito
Enver Hoxha
Nikita Khrushchev
Georgy Malenkov
Mikhail Suslov
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Fidel Castro
Raul Castro
Che Guevara
Ho Chi Minh
Kaysone Phomvihane
Pol Pot
Erich Honecker
Leonid Brezhnev
Alexander Dubček
Gustav Husak
Mátyás Rákosi
János Kádár
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Khorloogiin Choibalsan
Muammar Gaddafi
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Bhagat Singh
Mahatma Gandhi
Jawaharlal Nehru
Sukarno
Luis Taruc
Lean Alejandro
Sanzo Nosaka
Inejiro Asanuma
Tetsu Katayama
Michel Aflaq
Patrice Lumumba
Salvador Allende
Lee Harvey Oswald
Martin Luther King Jr.
Malcolm X
Fred Hampton
Angela Davis
Leila Khaled
Ne Win
Dr. Najib
Kwame Nkrumah
Marien Ngouabi
Thomas Sankara
Julius Nyerere
Xi Jinping
Jose Maria Sison
Abimael Guzmán
Abdullah Öcalan
Nelson Mandela
Winnie Mandela
Hugo Chavez
Nicolas Maduro
Evo Morales
Luis Arce
Daniel Ortega
Pedro Castillo
Eugene V. Debs
Emma Goldman
Peter Kropotkin
George Orwell
Albert Einstein
Olof Palme
Noam Chomsky
Gennady Zyuganov
Michael Parenti
Jeremy Corbyn
George Galloway
Zarah Sultana
Slavoj Žižek
Richard D. Wolff
Max Blumenthal
Abby Martin
Mike Prysner
Mansoor Hekmat
Carlos Latuff
Palmiro Togliatti
Enrico Berlinguer
Antonio Gramsci
Amadeo Bordiga
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Youtube
Videos
- SOCIALISM: An In-Depth Explanation by
Ryan Chapman
- Economic Update: 3 Basic Kinds of Socialism by Democracy at Work
- What Is Socialism? by NowThisWorld
- Why Socialism Is Red by azureScapegoat
- Socialism For Dummies. a lecture by
Richard D. Wolff
- POST-CAPITALISM: A Detailed Look at How It Could Work by LuckyBlackCat
- Communism & Socialism: What Do They REALLY Mean? by LuckyBlackCat
- Political Compass Rap but it's ALL SOCIALISTS ♫ by LuckyBlackCat
Critiques
- Why Capitalism Is A Success (And Why Socialism Isn't) by
ShortFatOtaku
- Muh Surplus Labor Value by
MentisWave
- Economic Creationists by
Stephen Michael Davis
Channels
Online Communities
- r/Socialism
- r/Socialism101
- r/SocialismVCapitalism
- r/LateStageCapitalism
- chapo.chat
- hexbear.net
- lemmygrad.ml
- leftypol.org
- Leftypedia
Gallery
Portraits and Artwork
-
Old portrait
-
Previous portrait
-
"Socialism killed by
Liberalism", by BeryAb
-
-
Credit: u/duy_physics, Source
-
u/K-Tech2 Source
-
"Socialist Compass" by Spade
Alternative designs
-
Red banner
-
Red banner 2
-
Egalitarianism
Comics
- ↑ Even though most people would today associate socialism with equality, that is only true of a few variants. The main concept to focus on is actually cooperation.