State socialism

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State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition from the capitalist to the socialist mode of production or to a communist society. State socialism was first theorised by Ferdinand Lassalle. It advocates a planned economy controlled by the state in which all industries and natural resources are state-owned. [1] [2]

Contents

Aside from anarchists and other libertarian socialists, there was, in the past, confidence amongst socialists in the concept of state socialism as being the most effective form of socialism. Some early social democrats in the late 19th century and early 20th century, such as the Fabians, claimed that British society was already mostly socialist and that the economy was significantly socialist through government-run enterprises created by conservative and liberal governments which could be run for the interests of the people through their representatives' influence, an argument reinvoked by some socialists in post-war Britain. [3] State socialism declined starting in the 1970s, with stagflation during the 1970s energy crisis, [4] [5] [6] the rise of neoliberalism and later with the fall of state socialist nations in the Eastern Bloc during the Revolutions of 1989 and the fall of the Soviet Union. [7]

Libertarian socialists often treat state socialism as synonymous with state capitalism , arguing that the economic systems of Marxist–Leninist states such as the Soviet Union were not genuinely socialist due to their autocratic nature. [8] Democratic and libertarian socialists claim that these states had only a limited number of socialist characteristics. [9] [10] [11] However, others maintain that workers in the Soviet Union and other Marxist–Leninist states had genuine control over the means of production through institutions such as trade unions. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] Academics, political commentators and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian state socialism and democratic state socialism, with the first representing the Soviet Bloc and the latter representing Western Bloc countries which have been democratically governed by socialist parties such as Britain, France, Sweden and Western social-democracies in general, among others. [17] [18] [19] [20]

As a classification within the socialist movement, state socialism is held in contrast with libertarian socialism, which rejects the view that socialism can be constructed using existing state institutions or governmental policies. [21] By contrast, proponents of state socialism claim that the state—through practical governing considerations—must play at least a temporary part in building socialism. It is possible to conceive of a democratic socialist state that owns the means of production and is internally organised in a participatory, cooperative fashion, thereby achieving both social ownership of productive property and workplace democracy. [17] [18] [19] [20] Today, state socialism is mainly advocated by Marxist–Leninists. [22] [23]

History

The role of the state in socialism has divided the socialist movement. The philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by Ferdinand Lassalle. In contrast to Karl Marx's perspective, Lassalle rejected the concept of the state as a class-based power structure whose primary function was to preserve existing class structures. Lassalle also rejected the Marxist view that the state was destined to "wither away". Lassalle considered the state an entity independent of class allegiances and an instrument of justice that would therefore be essential for achieving socialism. [24]

Early concepts of state socialism were articulated by anarchist and libertarian philosophers who opposed the concept of the state. In Statism and Anarchy , Mikhail Bakunin identified a statist tendency within the Marxist movement, which he contrasted to libertarian socialism and attributed to Marx's philosophy. Bakunin predicted that Marx's theory of the transition from capitalism to socialism involving the working class seizing state power in a dictatorship of the proletariat would eventually lead to a usurpation of power by the state apparatus acting in its self-interest, ushering in a new form of capitalism rather than establishing socialism. [25]

As a political ideology, state socialism rose to prominence during the 20th century Bolshevik, Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist revolutions, where single-party control over the state and, by extension, over the political and economic spheres of society was justified as a means to safeguard the revolution against counter-revolutionary insurrection and foreign invasion. [26] The Stalinist theory of socialism in one country was an attempt to legitimise state-directed activity to accelerate the industrialisation of the Soviet Union.

Description and theory

As a political ideology, state socialism is one of the major dividing lines in the broader socialist movement. It is often contrasted with non-state or anti-state forms of socialism, such as those that advocate direct self-management adhocracy and direct cooperative ownership and management of the means of production. Political philosophies contrasted with state socialism include libertarian socialist philosophies such as anarchism, De Leonism, economic democracy, free-market socialism, libertarian Marxism and syndicalism. These forms of socialism are opposed to hierarchical technocratic socialism, scientific management and state-directed economic planning. [27]

The modern concept of state socialism, when used in reference to Soviet-style economic and political systems, emerged from a deviation in Marxist theory starting with Vladimir Lenin. In Marxist theory, socialism is projected to emerge in the most developed capitalist economies, where capitalism suffers the greatest internal contradictions and class conflict. On the other hand, state socialism became a revolutionary theory for the world's poorest, often quasi-feudal, countries. [28]

In such systems, the state apparatus is used as an instrument of capital accumulation, forcibly extracting surplus from the working class and peasantry to modernise and industrialise poor countries. Such systems are described as state capitalism because the state engages in capital accumulation, primarily as part of the primitive accumulation of capital (see also the Soviet theory of primitive socialist accumulation). The difference is that the state acts as a public entity and engages in this activity to achieve socialism by re-investing the accumulated capital into society, whether in more healthcare, education, employment or consumer goods. In contrast, in capitalist societies, the surplus from the working class is spent on whatever needs the owners of the means of production want. [29]

In the traditional view of socialism, thinkers such as Friedrich Engels and Henri de Saint-Simon took the position that the state will change in nature in a socialist society, with the function of the state changing from one of political rule over people into a scientific administration of the processes of production. Specifically, the state would become a coordinating economic entity consisting of interdependent inclusive associations rather than a mechanism of class and political control, ceasing to be a state in the traditional definition. [30] [31] [32]

Preceding the Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia, many socialist groups such as anarchists, orthodox Marxist currents such as council communism and the Mensheviks, reformists and other democratic and libertarian socialists criticized the idea of using the state to conduct central planning and nationalization of the means of production as a way to establish socialism. [33]

Political perspectives

State socialism was traditionally advocated as a means for achieving public ownership of the means of production through the nationalization of industry. This was intended to be a transitional phase in building a socialist economy. The goals of nationalization were to dispossess large capitalists and consolidate industry so that profit would go toward public finance rather than private fortune. Nationalization would be the first step in a long-term process of socializing production, introducing employee management and reorganizing production to directly produce for use rather than profit. [34]

The British Fabian Society included proponents of state socialism, such as Sidney Webb. George Bernard Shaw referred to Fabians as "all Social Democrats, with a common confiction [ sic ] of the necessity of vesting the organization of industry and the material of production in a State identified with the whole people by complete Democracy". [35] Nonetheless, Shaw also published the Report on Fabian Policy (1896), declaring: "The Fabian Society does not suggest that the State should monopolize industry as against private enterprise or individual initiative". [36] Robert Blatchford, a member of the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party, wrote the work Merrie England (1894) that endorsed municipal socialism. [37] In Merrie England, Blatchford distinguished two types of socialism, namely ideal socialism and practical socialism. Blatchford's practical socialism was a state socialism that identified existing state enterprises such as the Post Office run by the municipalities as a demonstration of practical socialism in action while claiming that practical socialism should involve the extension of state enterprise to the means of production as the common property of the people. Although endorsing state socialism, Blatchford's Merrie England and his other writings were nonetheless influenced by anarcho-communist William Morris—as Blatchford himself attested to—and Morris' anarcho-communist themes are present in Merrie England. [38]

Democratic socialists argue for a gradual, peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. They wish to neutralize or abolish capitalism through political reform rather than revolution. This method of gradualism implies the utilization of the existing state apparatus and machinery of government to move society toward socialism. Other socialists sometimes deride it as a form of socialism from above or political elitism for relying on electoral means to achieve socialism. [39] In contrast, Marxism and revolutionary socialism holds that a proletarian revolution is the only practical way to implement fundamental changes in the structure of society. Socialists who advocate representative democracy believe that after a certain period under socialism, the state will "wither away" because class distinctions cease to exist. Representative democracy will be replaced by direct democracy in the remaining public associations comprising the former state. Political power would be decentralized and distributed evenly among the population, producing a communist society. [40] [41] [42]

In 1888, the individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker, who proclaimed himself to be an anarchistic socialist in opposition to state socialism, included the full text of a "Socialistic Letter" by Ernest Lesigne in his essay "State Socialism and Anarchism". [43] According to Lesigne, there are two socialisms: "One is dictatorial, the other libertarian". [44] Tucker's two socialisms were state socialism which he associated with the Marxist school, and the libertarian socialism he advocated. Tucker noted that "the fact that State Socialism has overshadowed other forms of Socialism gives it no right to a monopoly of the Socialistic idea". [45] According to Tucker, those two schools of socialism had in common the labour theory of value and the ends by which anarchism pursued different means. [46]

In socialist states

The economic model adopted in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc, and other socialist states is often described as a form of state socialism. The ideological basis for this system was the Stalinist theory of socialism in one country. The system that emerged in the 1930s in the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production and centralized planning, along with bureaucratic workplace management by state officials that were ultimately subordinate to the all-encompassing communist party. Rather than the producers controlling and managing production, the party controlled the government machinery, which directed the national economy on behalf of the communist party, and planned the production and distribution of capital goods.

Because of this development, classical and orthodox Marxists and Trotskyist groups denounced the communist states as Stalinist and their economies as state capitalist or representing deformed or degenerated workers' states, respectively. Within the socialist movement, there is criticism towards the use of the term socialist states in relation to countries such as China and previously of the Soviet Union and Eastern and Central European states before what some term the "collapse of Stalinism" in 1989. [47] [48] [49] [50]

Trotskyism argues that the leadership of the communist states was corrupt and that it abandoned Marxism in all but name. In particular, some Trotskyist schools call those countries degenerated workers' states to contrast them with proper socialism (i.e. workers' states), while other Marxists and some Trotskyist schools call them state capitalist to emphasize the lack of genuine socialism and the presence of defining capitalist characteristics (wage labour, commodity production and bureaucratic control over workers).

In Germany

Otto von Bismarck implemented social programs between 1883 and 1889 following his anti-socialist laws, partly as remedial measures to appease the working class and detract support for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Bismarck's biographer A. J. P. Taylor wrote: "It would be unfair to say that Bismarck took up social welfare solely to weaken the Social Democrats; he had had it in mind for a long time, and believed in it deeply. But as usual he acted on his beliefs at the exact moment when they served a practical need". [51] When a reference was made to his friendship with Ferdinand Lassalle (a nationalist and state-oriented socialist), Bismarck said that he was a more practical socialist than the Social Democrats. [52] These policies were informally referred to as State Socialism by liberal and conservative opponents, and supporters of the programs later adopted the term in a further attempt to detract the working class from the SPD, to make the working class content with a nationalist-oriented capitalist welfare state. [53] [54]

Bismarck made the following statement as a justification for his social welfare programs: "Whoever has pensions for his old age is far more easier to handle than one who has no such prospect. Look at the difference between a private servant in the chancellery or at court; the latter will put up with much more, because he has a pension to look forward to". [55]

This did not prevent the Social Democrats from becoming the biggest party in parliament by 1912. According to historian Jonathan Steinberg, "[a]ll told, Bismarck's system was a massive success—except in one respect. His goal to keep the Social Democratic Party out of power utterly failed. The vote for the Social Democratic Party went up and by 1912 they were the biggest party in the Reichstag". [56]

Analysis and reception

Many democratic and libertarian socialists, including anarchists, mutualists and syndicalists, criticize state socialism for advocating a workers' state instead of abolishing the bourgeois state apparatus outright. They use the term state socialism to contrast it with their form of socialism, which involves either collective ownership (in the form of worker cooperatives) or common ownership of the means of production without centralized state planning. Those socialists believe there is no need for a state in a socialist system because there would be no class to suppress and no need for an institution based on coercion and therefore regard the state being a remnant of capitalism. [21] [40] [41] They hold that statism is antithetical to true socialism, [42] the goal of which is the eyes of socialists such as William Morris, who wrote as follows in a Commonweal article: "State Socialism? — I don't agree with it; in fact I think the two words contradict one another, and that it is the business of Socialism to destroy the State and put Free Society in its place". [57]

Classical and orthodox Marxists also view state socialism as an oxymoron, arguing that while an association for managing production and economic affairs would exist in socialism, it would no longer be a state in the Marxist definition based on domination by one class. Preceding the Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia, many socialist groups—including reformists, orthodox Marxist currents such as council communism and the Mensheviks, as well as anarchists and other libertarian socialists—criticized the idea of using the state to conduct planning and nationalization of the means of production as a way to establish socialism. [58] Lenin himself acknowledged his policies as state capitalism. [23] [59] [60] [61]

Some Trotskyists following Tony Cliff deny it is socialism, calling it state capitalism. [62] Other Trotskyists agree that these states could not be described as socialist [63] but deny that they were state capitalist. [64] They support Leon Trotsky's analysis of the pre-restoration Soviet Union as a workers' state that had degenerated into a bureaucratic dictatorship which rested on a largely nationalized industry run according to a production plan [65] [66] [67] and claimed that the former Stalinist states of Central and Eastern Europe were deformed workers' states based on the same relations of production as the Soviet Union. [68] Some Trotskyists, such as the Committee for a Workers' International, have sometimes included African, Asian and Middle Eastern constitutional socialist states when they have had a nationalized economy as deformed workers' states. [69] [70] Other socialists argued that the neo-Ba'athists promoted capitalists from within the party and outside their countries. [71]

Those socialists who oppose any system of state control believe in a more decentralized approach which puts the means of production directly into the hands of the workers rather than indirectly through state bureaucracies [40] [41] [42] which they claim represent a new elite or class. [72] [73] [74] [75] This leads them to consider state socialism a form of state capitalism [76] (an economy based on centralized management, capital accumulation and wage labour, but with the state owning the means of production) [77] which Engels stated would be the final form of capitalism rather than socialism. [78] Furthermore, nationalization and state ownership have nothing to do with socialism by itself, having been historically carried out for various purposes under various political and economic systems. [79]

State socialism is often referred to by right-wing detractors simply as socialism, including Austrian School economists such as Friedrich Hayek [80] and Ludwig von Mises, [81] [82] who used socialism as a synonym for central planning and state socialism. [83] This is notable in the United States, where socialism is a pejorative term to mean state socialism used by members of the political right to stop the implementation of liberal and progressive policies and proposals and to criticize the public figures trying to implement them. [84] [85] [86] One criticism primarily related to state socialism is the economic calculation problem, [87] [88] followed by the socialist calculation debate. [89] [90] [91]

See also

Related Research Articles

Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other forms of libertarianism by its rejection of private property. Broadly defined, it includes schools of both anarchism and Marxism, as well as other tendencies that oppose the state and capitalism.

Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum, socialism is considered the standard left wing ideology in most countries of the world. Types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, and the structure of management in organizations.

State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises. The definition can also include the state dominance of corporatized government agencies or of public companies in which the state has controlling shares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-capitalism</span> Political ideology and movement opposed to capitalism

Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as socialism or communism.

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Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist and democratic approach towards achieving socialism. In practice, social democracy takes the form of socially managed welfare capitalism, and emphasizes economic interventionism, partial public ownership, a robust welfare state, policies promoting social equality, and a more equitable distribution of income.

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The socialist mode of production, also known as socialism or communism, is a specific historical phase of economic development and its corresponding set of social relations that emerge from capitalism in the schema of historical materialism within Marxist theory. The Marxist definition of socialism is that of production for use-value, therefore the law of value no longer directs economic activity. Marxist production for use is coordinated through conscious economic planning. According to Marx, distribution of products is based on the principle of "to each according to his needs"; Soviet models often distributed products based on the principle of "to each according to his contribution". The social relations of socialism are characterized by the proletariat effectively controlling the means of production, either through cooperative enterprises or by public ownership or private artisanal tools and self-management. Surplus value goes to the working class and hence society as a whole.

Social ownership is a type of property where an asset is recognized to be in the possession of society as a whole rather than individual members or groups within it. Social ownership of the means of production is the defining characteristic of a socialist economy, and can take the form of community ownership, state ownership, common ownership, employee ownership, cooperative ownership, and citizen ownership of equity. Within the context of socialist economics it refers particularly to the appropriation of the surplus product, produced by the means of production, or the wealth that comes from it, to society at large or the workers themselves. Traditionally, social ownership implied that capital and factor markets would cease to exist under the assumption that market exchanges within the production process would be made redundant if capital goods were owned and integrated by a single entity or network of entities representing society. However, the articulation of models of market socialism where factor markets are utilized for allocating capital goods between socially owned enterprises broadened the definition to include autonomous entities within a market economy.

In Trotskyist political theory, a degenerated workers' state is a dictatorship of the proletariat in which the working class' democratic control over the state has given way to control by a bureaucratic clique. The term was developed by Leon Trotsky in The Revolution Betrayed and in other works.

Market socialism is a type of economic system involving social ownership of the means of production within the framework of a market economy. Various models for such a system exist, usually involving cooperative enterprises and sometimes a mix that includes public or private enterprises. In contrast to the majority of historic socialist economies, which have substituted the market mechanism for some form of economic planning, market socialists wish to retain the use of supply and demand signals to guide the allocation of capital goods and the means of production. Under such a system, depending on whether socially owned firms are state-owned or operated as worker cooperatives, profits may variously be used to directly remunerate employees, accrue to society at large as the source of public finance, or be distributed amongst the population in a social dividend.

Socialist economics comprises the economic theories, practices and norms of hypothetical and existing socialist economic systems. A socialist economic system is characterized by social ownership and operation of the means of production that may take the form of autonomous cooperatives or direct public ownership wherein production is carried out directly for use rather than for profit. Socialist systems that utilize markets for allocating capital goods and factors of production among economic units are designated market socialism. When planning is utilized, the economic system is designated as a socialist planned economy. Non-market forms of socialism usually include a system of accounting based on calculation-in-kind to value resources and goods.

A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term communist state is often used synonymously in the West, specifically when referring to one-party socialist states governed by Marxist–Leninist communist parties, despite these countries being officially socialist states in the process of building socialism and progressing toward a communist society. These countries never describe themselves as communist nor as having implemented a communist society. Additionally, a number of countries that are multi-party capitalist states make references to socialism in their constitutions, in most cases alluding to the building of a socialist society, naming socialism, claiming to be a socialist state, or including the term people's republic or socialist republic in their country's full name, although this does not necessarily reflect the structure and development paths of these countries' political and economic systems. Currently, these countries include Algeria, Bangladesh, Guyana, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

"To each according to his contribution" is a principle of distribution considered to be one of the defining features of socialism. It refers to an arrangement whereby individual compensation is representative of one's contribution to the social product in terms of effort, labor and productivity. This is in contrast to the method of distribution and compensation in capitalism, an economic and political system in which property owners can receive income by virtue of ownership irrespective of their contribution to the social product.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to socialism:

References

  1. ↑ Tucker, Benjamin (1985) [1886]. State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays: Including the Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations and Why I Am an Anarchist (1st ed.). Colorado Springs: Ralph Myles Publisher. ISBN   9780879260156.
  2. ↑ Ellman, Michael (2014). Socialist Planning (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1107427327.
  3. ↑ Eatwell, Roger; Wright, Anthony (1999). Contemporary Political Ideologies (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. pp. 87–88 ISBN   9781855676053.
  4. ↑ Gey, Peter; Kosta, H. G. Jiří; Quaisser, Wolfgang (1987). Crisis and Reform in Socialist Economies. Avalon Publishing. ISBN   9780813373324.
  5. ↑ Miller, Toby (2008). A Companion to Cultural Studies. Wiley. ISBN   9780470998793.
  6. ↑ Ehns, Dirk H. (2016). Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics. Routledge. pp. 4–5. ISBN   9781138654778.
  7. ↑ Eatwell, Roger; Wright, Anthony (1999). Contemporary Political Ideologies (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. pp. 93–95. ISBN   9781855676053.
  8. ↑ Ellman, Michael (2014). Socialist Planning, Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN   978-1107427327. Accordingly, after World War II the Soviet model was adopted throughout the state-socialist world.
  9. ↑ Howard, M. C.; King, J. E. (2001). "'State Capitalism' in the Soviet Union". Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  10. ↑ Chomsky, Noam (1986). "The Soviet Union Versus Socialism". Our Generation. Chomsky.info. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Wolff, Richard D. (27 June 2015). "Socialism Means Abolishing the Distinction Between Bosses and Employees". Truthout . Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  12. ↑ Webb, Sidney; Webb, Beatrice (1935). Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?. London: Longmans.
  13. ↑ Sloan, Pat (1937). Soviet democracy. London: Left Book Club; Victor Gollancz Ltd.
  14. ↑ Costello, Mick (1977). Workers' Participation in the Soviet Union. Novosti Press Agency Publishing House.
  15. ↑ Farber, Samuel (1992). "Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy". Studies in Soviet Thought. 44 (3): 229–230.
  16. ↑ Getzler, Israel (2002) [1982]. Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0521894425.
  17. 1 2 Barrett, William, ed. (1 April 1978). "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: A Symposium". Commentary. Retrieved 14 June 2020. "If we were to extend the definition of socialism to include Labor Britain or socialist Sweden, there would be no difficulty in refuting the connection between capitalism and democracy."
  18. 1 2 Heilbroner, Robert L. (Winter 1991). "From Sweden to Socialism: A Small Symposium on Big Questions". Dissident. Barkan, Joanne; Brand, Horst; Cohen, Mitchell; Coser, Lewis; Denitch, Bogdan; Fehèr, Ferenc; Heller, Agnès; Horvat, Branko; Tyler, Gus. pp. 96–110. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  19. 1 2 Kendall, Diana (2011). Sociology in Our Time: The Essentials. Cengage Learning. pp. 125–127. ISBN   9781111305505. "Sweden, Great Britain, and France have mixed economies, sometimes referred to as democratic socialism—an economic and political system that combines private ownership of some of the means of production, governmental distribution of some essential goods and services, and free elections. For example, government ownership in Sweden is limited primarily to railroads, mineral resources, a public bank, and liquor and tobacco operations."
  20. 1 2 Li, He (2015). Political Thought and China's Transformation: Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China. Springer. pp. 60–69. ISBN   9781137427816. "The scholars in camp of democratic socialism believe that China should draw on the Sweden experience, which is suitable not only for the West but also for China. In the post-Mao China, the Chinese intellectuals are confronted with a variety of models. The liberals favor the American model and share the view that the Soviet model has become archaic and should be totally abandoned. Meanwhile, democratic socialism in Sweden provided an alternative model. Its sustained economic development and extensive welfare programs fascinated many. Numerous scholars within the democratic socialist camp argue that China should model itself politically and economically on Sweden, which is viewed as more genuinely socialist than China. There is a growing consensus among them that in the Nordic countries the welfare state has been extraordinarily successful in eliminating poverty."
  21. 1 2 Schumpeter, Joseph (2008) [1942]. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Harper Perennial. p. 169. ISBN   978-0-06-156161-0. But there are still others (concepts and institutions) which by virtue of their nature cannot stand transplantation and always carry the flavor of a particular institutional framework. It is extremely dangerous, in fact it amounts to a distortion of historical description, to use them beyond the social world or culture whose denizens they are. Now ownership or property – also, so I believe, taxation – are such denizens of the world of commercial society, exactly as knights and fiefs are denizens of the feudal world. But so is the state (a denizen of commercial society).
  22. ↑ Busky, Donald F. (20 July 2000). Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey. Praeger. p. 9. ISBN   978-0275968861. In a modern sense of the word, communism refers to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism.
  23. 1 2 Pena, David S. (21 September 2007). "Tasks of Working-Class Governments under the Socialist-oriented Market Economy". Political Affairs. Archived 5 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  24. ↑ Berlau 1949, p. 21.
  25. ↑ Bakunin, Mikhail (1873). "Statism and Anarchy". Marxists.org. Retrieved 27 December 2019. "The theory of statism as well as that of so-called 'revolutionary dictatorship' is based on the idea that a 'privileged elite,' consisting of those scientists and 'doctrinaire revolutionists' who believe that 'theory is prior to social experience,' should impose their preconceived scheme of social organization on the people. The dictatorial power of this learned minority is concealed by the fiction of a pseudo-representative government which presumes to express the will of the people".
  26. ↑ Flank, Lenny (August 2008). Rise and Fall of the Leninist State: A Marxist History of the Soviet Union. Red and Black Publishers. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-931859-25-7. Lenin defended his actions, arguing that the Revolution could be consolidated 'only through dictatorship, because the realization of the transformations immediately and unconditionally necessary for the proletariat and the peasantry will call forth the desperate resistance of the landlords, of the big bourgeoisie, and of Tsarism. Without dictatorship, it would be impossible to defeat counter-revolutionary efforts.
  27. ↑ "Redistribution Under State Socialism: A USSR and PRC Comparison". Leicester Research Archive. Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  28. ↑ Badie, Bertrand; Berg-Schlosser, Dirk; Morlino, Leonardo (2011). International Encyclopedia of Political Science. SAGE Publications. p. 2457. ISBN   978-1412959636. Marxist theory was elaborated for, and based on, the most developed countries of the world. Although the state socialist project originated from Marxist theory, it was, however, a deviation from the original theory of Karl Marx. The application of this theory in backward countries, starting with Lenin's Russia, can be considered as turning it to the other extreme – that is, to a revolutionary theory for the poorest countries of the world.
  29. ↑ Badie, Bertrand; Berg-Schlosser, Dirk; Morlino, Leonardo (2011). International Encyclopedia of Political Science. SAGE Publications. p. 2459. ISBN   978-1412959636. The repressive state apparatus is in fact acting as an instrument of state capitalism to carry out the process of capital accumulation through forcible extraction of surplus from the working class and peasantry.
  30. ↑ Engels, Friedrich (1880). "The Development of Utopian Socialism". Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Marxists Internert Archive. Retrieved 12 January 2016. In 1816, he declares that politics is the science of production, and foretells the complete absorption of politics by economics. The knowledge that economic conditions are the basis of political institutions appears here only in embryo. Yet what is here already very plainly expressed is the idea of the future conversion of political rule over men into an administration of things and a direction of processes of production.
  31. ↑ "Henri de Saint-Simon". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  32. ↑ "Socialism". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  33. ↑ Screpanti, Zamagni (2005). An Outline on the History of Economic Thought (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 295. It should not be forgotten, however, that in the period of the Second International, some of the reformist currents of Marxism, as well as some of the extreme left-wing ones, not to speak of the anarchist groups, had already criticised the view that State ownership and central planning is the best road to socialism. But with the victory of Leninism in Russia, all dissent was silenced, and socialism became identified with 'democratic centralism', 'central planning', and State ownership of the means of production.
  34. ↑ Nove, Alexander (1991). The Economics of Feasible Socialism Revisited. Routledge. p. 176. "The original notion was that nationalization would achieve three objectives. One was to dispossess the big capitalists. The second was to divert the profits from private appropriation to the public purse. Thirdly, the nationalized sector would serve the public good rather than try to make private profits. [...] To these objectives some (but not all) would add some sort of workers' control, the accountability of management to employees".
  35. ↑ Britain, Ian (2005) [1982]. Fabianism and Culture: A Study in British Socialism and the Arts, c. 1884–1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN   9780521021296.
  36. ↑ Blaazer, David (2002) [1992]. The Popular Front and the Progressive Tradition: Socialists, Liberals, and the Quest for Unity, 1884–1939. Cambridge University Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN   9780521413831.
  37. ↑ McBriar, A. M. (1962). Fabian Socialism and English Politics: 1884–1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 296.
  38. ↑ Thompson, Noel (2006). Political Economy and the Labour Party: The Economics of Democratic Socialism, 1884–2005 (2nd ed.). Abingdon, England: Routledge. p. 21. ISBN   9780415328807.
  39. ↑ Draper, Hal (1963). "The Two Souls of Socialism". "Ferdinand Lassalle is the prototype of the state-socialist -- which means, one who aims to get socialism handed down by the existing state".
  40. 1 2 3 McKay, Iain, ed. (2012). "Why do anarchists oppose state socialism?". An Anarchist FAQ. Vol. II. Edinburgh: AK Press. ISBN   978-1-902593-90-6. OCLC   182529204.
  41. 1 2 3 McKay, Iain, ed. (2012). "What would an anarchist society look like?". An Anarchist FAQ. Vol. II. Edinburgh: AK Press. ISBN   978-1-902593-90-6. OCLC   182529204.
  42. 1 2 3 McKay, Iain, ed. (2008). "Isn't libertarian socialism an oxymoron?". An Anarchist FAQ. Vol. I. Stirling: AK Press. ISBN   978-1-902593-90-6. OCLC   182529204.
  43. ↑ Tucker, Benjamin (1911) [1888]. State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ. Fifield.
  44. ↑ Lesigne (1887). "Socialistic Letters" Archived 2020-08-07 at the Wayback Machine . Le Radical. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  45. ↑ Tucker, Benjamin (1893). Instead of a Book by a Man Too Busy to Write One. pp. 363–364.
  46. ↑ Brown, Susan Love (1997). "The Free Market as Salvation from Government". In Carrier, James G., ed. Meanings of the Market: The Free Market in Western Culture. Berg Publishers. p. 107. ISBN   9781859731499.
  47. ↑ Committee for a Workers' International (June 1992). "The Collapse of Stalinism". Marxist.net. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  48. ↑ Grant, Ted (1996). "The Collapse of Stalinism and the Class Nature of the Russian State". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  49. ↑ Arnove, Anthony (Winter 2000). "The Fall of Stalinism: Ten Years On" Archived 2020-01-15 at the Wayback Machine . International Socialist Review. 10. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  50. ↑ Daum, Walter (Fall 2002). "Theories of Stalinism's Collapse". Proletarian Revolution. 65. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  51. ↑ Taylor, A. J. P. (1955). Bismarck. The Man and the Statesman. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 202. "Since he could not shake the Centre, he would win over the Social Democrats—not certainly by appealing to their leaders, whom he was persecuting and sending to prison, but by a constructive social programme, which he hoped would detach the working-class voters from the Social Democratic party. It would be unfair to say that Bismarck took up social welfare solely to weaken the Social Democrats; he had had it in mind for a long time, and believed in it deeply. But as usual he acted on his beliefs at the exact moment when they served a practical need. challenge drove him forward. He first avowed his social programme when Bebel taunted him with his old friendship with Lassalle. He answered by calling himself a Socialist, indeed a more practical Socialist than the Social Democrats; and he provocatively rejoiced in echoing Frederick the Great's wish to be le roi des guex, king of the poor. Richter, the Progressive leader, called Bismarck's proposals 'not Socialistic, but Communistic'. The proposal was merely that part of the cost of Socials Insurance should be borne by the state; and nowadays Bismarck seems the progressive, Richter the unenlightened reactionary".
  52. ↑ Taylor, A. J. P. (1955). Bismarck. The Man and the Statesman. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 202.
  53. ↑ Bismarck, Otto (15 March 1884). "Bismarck's Reichstag Speech on the Law for Workers' Compensation". German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  54. ↑ Feuchtwanger, Edgar (2002) [1970]. Bismarck. London: Routledge. p. 221. ISBN   9780415216142.
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  56. ↑ Boissoneault, Lorraine (14 July 2017). "Bismarck Tried to End Socialism's Grip—By Offering Government Healthcare". Smithsonian. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  57. ↑ William Morris (17 May 1890). "The 'Eight Hours' and the Demonstration". Commonweal. 6 (227). p. 153. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  58. ↑ Screpanti, Ernesto; Zamagni, Stefano (2005). An Outline on the History of Economic Thought (2nd ed.). Oxford. p. 295. It should not be forgotten, however, that in the period of the Second International, some of the reformist currents of Marxism, as well as some of the extreme left-wing ones, not to speak of the anarchist groups, had already criticised the view that State ownership and central planning is the best road to socialism. But with the victory of Leninism in Russia, all dissent was silenced, and socialism became identified with 'democratic centralism', 'central planning', and State ownership of the means of production.
  59. ↑ Lenin, Vladimir (1917). The State and Revolution . "Chapter 5". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
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  62. ↑ Cliff, Tony (1948). "The Theory of Bureaucratic Collectivism: A Critique". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
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  78. ↑ Engels, Friedrich (1880). Socialism: Utopian and Scientific . "III: Historical Materialism". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  79. ↑ Alistair, Mason; Pyper, Hugh (21 December 2000). Hastings, Adrian (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought . Oxford University Press. p.  677. ISBN   978-0198600244 . Retrieved 28 December 2019. At the heart of its vision has been social or common ownership of the means of production. Common ownership and democratic control of these was far more central to the thought of the early socialists than state control or nationalization, which developed later. [...] Nationalization in itself has nothing particularly to do with socialism and has existed under non-socialist and anti-socialist regimes. Kautsky in 1891 pointed out that a 'co-operative commonwealth' could not be the result of the 'general nationalization of all industries' unless there was a change in 'the character of the state'.
  80. ↑ Hayek, Friedrich (1944). The Road to Serfdom . Routledge Press. ISBN   0-226-32061-8. OCLC   30733740.
  81. ↑ Von Mises, Ludwig (1936) [1922]. Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis . London: Jonathan Cape. OCLC   72357479.
  82. ↑ Von Mises, Ludwig; Raico, Ralph, trans.; Goddard, Arthur, ed. (1962) [1927]. The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth: An Exposition of the Ideas of Classical Liberalism . Princeton, D. Van Nostrand. ISBN   978-0442090579.
  83. ↑ Block, Walter (15 January 2013). "Was Milton Friedman A Socialist? Yes". MEST Journal. 1 (1): 11–26. doi : 10.12709/mest.01.01.01.02.pdf. "In section 2 of this paper we base our analysis on the assumption that socialism is defined in terms of governmental ownership of the means of production. [...] The most technical and perhaps the most accurate definition of this concept is, Government ownership of all of the means of production, e.g., capital goods." [...] Socialism may be broken down into its voluntary and coercive strands. In the former case, there are the nunnery, convent, kibbutz, commune, collective, syndicalist, cooperatives, monastery, abbey, priory, friary, religious community; in the latter, the economies of socialist countries such as Cuba, North Korea, the USSR, Nazi Germany, etc. We will use the word 'socialism' in the latter understanding throughout this paper. [...] The Nazi socialist government was not extreme in its explicit ownership of the means of production. But that version of socialism, that is, fascism, was earmarked by implicit state ownership, or control, of capital goods."
  84. ↑ Jackson, Samuel (6 January 2012). "The failure of American political speech". The Economist. Retrieved 15 June 2019. Socialism is not "the government should provide healthcare" or "the rich should be taxed more" nor any of the other watery social-democratic positions that the American right likes to demonise by calling them "socialist"—and granted, it is chiefly the right that does so, but the fact that rightists are so rarely confronted and ridiculed for it means that they have successfully muddied the political discourse to the point where an awful lot of Americans have only the flimsiest grasp of what socialism is.
  85. ↑ "Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in New York | Harry S. Truman". www.trumanlibrary.gov. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  86. ↑ Astor, Maggie (2019-06-12). "What Is Democratic Socialism? Whose Version Are We Talking About?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-08-30.
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  88. ↑ Hayek, Friedrich (1935). "The Nature and History of the Problem". "The Present State of the Debate". Collectivist Economic Planning. pp. 1–40, 201–243.
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  90. ↑ Biddle, Jeff; Samuels, Warren; Davis, John (2006). A Companion to the History of Economic Thought, Wiley-Blackwell. p. 319. "What became known as the socialist calculation debate started when von Mises (1935 [1920]) launched a critique of socialism".
  91. ↑ Levy, David M.; Peart, Sandra J. (2008). "Socialist calculation debate". The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   978-0333786765.

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