Socialism

Socialism by Michael Newman outlines the history of the governmental theory that everything should be owned and controlled by the community as a whole, including how this idea has impacted the world in the last 200 years, how its original aims have been lost, and ways we might use it in the future.

When I say “socialism,” what comes to mind? Is it Joseph Stalin and the USSR? Fortunately, that is just one of the forms of socialism. And history has seen many others since it came to be in the nineteenth century.

Two other more current examples include Cuba and Sweden. Cuba is a communist single-party state, while Sweden is a parliamentary social democracy. Both have governments built around socialist ideals, but both look drastically different.

So what makes them both socialist? There are a few overarching principles that come with all forms of socialism. The first is the goal to create an egalitarian society. Where different governments disagree is on how to achieve this.

However, they can agree that all of the inequalities in society are because of capitalism. This is why to varying degrees, all socialists try to remove the barriers that come with capitalism—- especially the small group of elite that control virtually all the capital—- so everyone can be equal.

Socialists believe that this is possible because they believe that humans are cooperative rather than competitive by nature. They believe people will join in solidarity to make it work. So, they have to find a way to get people to want this change, which is where things can get tricky.

In the early nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution changed everything about the way people worked and lived. Booming new factories and industries brought people into crowded and poorly planned cities—- a far cry from the cooperative rural communities they left behind. People lived and worked in horrible conditions. Moreover, the measly wages forced them to compete with each other. Many people were angry about the new inequity and poverty. It was these people that branded themselves “socialists.” Soon two socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels banded together, and it grew exponentially. Marx believed that capitalism divided people into two classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. The bourgeoisie owned the factories and all the capital, but they relied on the labor of the proletariat to run their business. Both were locked in a constant struggle because the bourgeoisie wanted to maximize profit by making proletariats work long hours to more than make up their paycheck. And the proletariat was always petitioning for higher wages. He believed their struggle would lead to a fall of capitalism. After Marx was gone, socialists agreed with what he said, except for one…