Socialism: Difference between revisions

'''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''' or '''Conservative Socialism''' was a term used by [[File:Ormarxf.png]] 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 '' [[File:SocRight.png]] right wing socialism'' are also used as a descriptor, and in some cases as a pejorative, by [[File:Libcon.png]] free-market conservative and [[File:Libertarian_Capitalism.png]] right-libertarian movements and politicians to describe more [[File:Regulationism.png]] 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 [[File:Welf.png]] welfare systems and grandiose claims of [[File:Left Reformism.png]] 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 [[File:Abolitionism.png]] 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 [[File:Mutalist.png]] Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's ''The Philosophy of Poverty'', stating the following about bourgeois socialism:

<blockquote>The Socialistic bourgeois want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarily resulting therefrom.</blockquote>

 

'''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.