Christian socialism Communism Democratic socialism Libertarian socialism Revolutionary socialism Social democracy Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ... Image File history File links Red_flag_waving_transparent. ... Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two things as being interconnected. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Libertarian socialism includes a group of political philosophies that aims to create a society without political, economic or social hierarchies - a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. ... Flag of the Revolutionary Socialists Revolutionary Socialism is a political ideology based on the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels advocating the revolutionary yet democratic liberation of the Proletariat. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ...
Influences
Anarchism Marxism Internationalism Trade unionism Utilitarianism Utopian socialism Anarchist redirects here. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and to the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation between nations for the benefit of all. ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... Utilitarianism (from the Latin utilis, useful) is the ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility. ... Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern Socialist thought. ...
Ideas
Class struggle Democracy Egalitarianism Equality of outcome Proletarian revolution Social justice Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a Marxist, libertarian socialist, or anarchist perspective. ... Egalitarianism can refer to moral as well as factual theories. ... Equality of outcome is a basic form of egalitarianism which seeks to reduce or eliminate differences between individuals or households in a society. ... A communist revolution is a social revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, normally with socialism (public ownership over the means of production) as an intermediate stage. ... Social justice refers to conceptions of justice applied to an entire society. ...
Key issues
History of socialism Criticisms of socialism Socialist economics Socialist state // The English word socialism originated from the French language in the 1820s, but the idea that goods should be held in common and that all men should be equal is much older. ... Criticisms of socialism range from disagreements over the efficiency of socialist economic and political models, to condemnation of states described by themselves or others as socialist. ... This box: • • Socialist economics is a broad, and sometimes controversial, term. ...
People and organizations
List of socialists First International Second International Socialist International The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... The International Workingmens Association (IWA), sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class. ... The phrase Second International has two meanings: For the international association of socialist parties of the late 19th century, see Second International (politics) and a successor organization, the Socialist International For one of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries of American English, see Websters New International Dictionary, Second Edition This is... The official symbol of Socialist International The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of social democratic, labor, and democratic socialist political parties. ...
The term socialist state (or socialist republic, or workers' state) can carry one of several different (but related) meanings: Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ...
Strictly speaking, any real or hypothetical state organized along the principles of socialism may be called a socialist state. The term socialist republic is used by those socialists who wish to emphasize that they favour a republican form of government. Furthermore, since socialism purports to represent the interests of the working class, many socialists refer to a state organized according to their principles as a workers' state.
According to Marxism, socialism is a stage of social and economic development that will replace capitalism, and will in turn be replaced by communism. Thus, in Marxist terms, a socialist state is a state that has abolished capitalism and is moving towards communism.
Several past and present states have claimed to follow some form of Marxist ideology, usually Marxism-Leninism. Thus, in accordance with the definition given above, they referred to themselves as socialist states. The first example was the Soviet Union, which was proclaimed a "socialist state" in its 1936 Constitution and a subsequent 1977 one. Another well-known example is the People's Republic of China, which is a "socialist state" according to its 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China. In the West, such states are usually known as "Communist states" (though they do not use this term to refer to themselves).
Because there are several different branches of socialism, a country's claim to the label of "socialist state" or "socialist republic" is almost always disputed. Indeed, there are many socialists who strongly oppose certain self-proclaimed socialist republics. Trotskyists, for instance, are particularly known for their opposition to Communist states.
Socialists hold that capitalism is an illegitimate economic system, since it serves the interests of the wealthy and allegedly exploits an unlucky minority of the population.
Democratic countries typically place legal limits on the centralization of capital through anti-trust laws and limits on monopolies, though the extent to which these laws are enforced has to do with the balance of power between the actually existing or emerging monopoly firms, as well as political ties between government and some corporations (crony capitalism).
Socialists are also divided on which rights and liberties are desirable, such as the "bourgeois liberties" (such as those guaranteed by the U.S. First Amendment or the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union).
They resulted in the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic in 1918, the Bavarian Soviet Republic from November 1918 until May 3, 1919, the Slovak Soviet Republic in 1919, the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, and the Persian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1920 to 1921.
Most of the Communist states in the world were established in the aftermath of World War II in Eastern Europe, either in countries which were liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet Red Army, or in countries where Communist-led partisans succeeded in driving out the Nazis and taking power themselves.
Later, the Vietnam War ended with the defeat of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army and the establishment of a unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975.
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