Socialism

Socialism is a wide movement proposing a fairly broad set of related socio-economic systems which aim to create a more egalitarian society based on the and administration of the means of production.Merriam-Webster dictionary. Definition of "Socialism". Retrieved December 5, 2024 The exact nature of this collective ownership varies depending on the particular conception of socialism. Socialists may advocate for state, societal or cooperative ownership. Alternatively, for most conservatives/libertarians, socialism is widely regarded as "when the gummint does stuff".socdoneleft (June 4, 2016). "Socialism Is When The Government Does Stuff". Youtube. 
Socialists are often also defined as those who wish to abolish private property. This has often led to socialism being characterized as a system where "you can't own your house or toothbrush". However, this comes from a misunderstanding of what most socialists mean by "private property". For them, private property relates to the dynamic between the person who owns the property and the person actually using it, such as an employee working on a factory owned by their boss. In this context, the owner is able to generate profits despite not actually needing to do the work themselves. Socialists consider this dynamic to be exploitative, as it deprives the worker of the "fruits of their labor" for the self-gain of an individual. There's a difference between this and your actual possessions, often referred as "individual" or "personal" property.Sunkara, Bhaskar (February 13, 2016). "End Private Property, Not Kenny Loggins". Jacobin. Retrieved December 7, 2024. 
People who believe in socialism are referred to variously as "socialists" or "communists" — the technical difference being that communists see socialism as a "transitory phase" towards a communist society, while socialists may not, meaning every communist is a socialist, but not every socialist is a communist. One of the main distinctions between a communist and a socialist society is that within socialism, society follows the idea of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution". Within communism, society instead follows "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".
Historically, most attempts at estabilishing socialism have turned out less than ideal, often turning into horrifying dictatorships. Many socialists tend to promote methods of implementation that differ from the ones used in these dictatorships, hoping to avoid the mistakes of the past. Others argue these regimes were actually vibrant democracies, and figures such as Stalin were the good guys, injustly framed by the bourgeois media. That, or they were only bad because of Western sabotage.
==Context==
In the during the Industrial Revolution, workers often felt underpaid for their labour, and dangerous working conditions became commonplace.Montgomery, David. "Chapter 3: Labor in the Industrial Era". U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved December 7, 2024. "Shifting seasonal demands, crippling illnesses caused by industrial poisons, and alternating spasms of relentless work and forced idleness caused by the drive of each employer to capture as much of the market as possible--all these made for many long days without income." This laid the foundations for the modern idea of "socialism,"Although it can be argued its roots trace back to ancient history. which advocated for a better society where the workers would be liberated from such harsh conditions brought by capitalism.Dagger, Richard; Ball, Terence (December 20, 2024). "Socialism". Encyclopedia Britannica. 
While the need for a radical change in the system has grown weaker in the last few decades, partly due to the acquisition of stronger labor rights and better conditions for a large part of the population, support for socialism still exists. While different variants of socialism may advocate for different goals, most of them aim to fix some major perceived issues within capitalism, including economic inequality, concentration of power in the wealthy, exploitation of workers and underdeveloped countries, production for profit at society's expense (aggravating issues such as poverty and climate change), and so on.Arnold, Samuel. Socialism. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed January 8, 2025. 
Proponents of capitalism consider a radical change of economic system to be unneeded, instead disagreeing with the socialist analysis of capitalism for a variety of reasons. 
Some may consider things such as economic inequality to not be so bad, claiming it may increase economic growth and produce higher incomes. Others may consider capitalism to be a meritocratic system and that issues such as inequality or poverty are the fault of "poor people not working hard enough", or that capitalism doesn't aggravate issues like climate change through externalities as "climate change isn't real and is a socialist hoax".Challenging Knowledge: How Climate Science Became a Victim of the Cold War (preprint) by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway (2008) In: Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, edited by Robert Proctor & Londa Schiebinger. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804759014.Global Warming or Global Governance? by George Stamm (Aug 8, 2008) The Epoch Times via Prison Planet.
On the more reasonable scale, many supporters of capitalism agree that unregulated capitalism indeed features major flaws, but argue socialism is ineffective at actually fixing these societal issues, or that it suffers from other major drawbacks that make the trade-off not worth it (most often cited, economic inefficiency, like how private property rights lead to higher economic development). These supporters may promote reforms within capitalism rather than an abolition of the whole system, which may include welfare programs, stronger regulations for private enterprises and partial, rather than full, public ownership, as is the case for modern social democrats. Similar reforms have demonstrated to be relatively successful, at least in the case of countries like Finland and Norway.
Meanwhile, most right-libertarians would argue how it's the lack of capitalism and the free-market that is the problem. They might believe that many issues found in modern capitalism, including inequality and monopolies, are caused by government interventions distorting the unfallible free-market, and that all of it can be remedied by liberalizing the economy, instead of regulating or socializing it.
==Economic models==
Different socialists propose different methods of organizing an economy. The following is a summary of how different types of economies would work within a socialist context. Note that some of the proposals shown have few to no examples of them in practice, meaning they remain mostly speculative and lack empirical data on their feasibility.
===Planned economy===
A planned economy is a type of economic system where production, distribution and investment is predominantly done according to economic plans rather than through the market and its participants. Plans may determine which and how many goods need to be produced, who produces them and what resources they will have available, how these goods will be distributed and to who, what will be the prices of these goods (if any), etc.Cambridge Business English Dictionary. "Economic planning". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved December 8, 2024. 
====Central planning====
A centrally planned economy, often referred to as a command economy, is a form of planned economy where economic plans are made by a central body, normally the state bureaucracy. Individual central planners design the plans based on the information they have available about the productive capacity of firms and the national demands.
This socialist model is arguably the most (in)famous, being the face of socialism throughout the whole world. Command economies have been popularized by the rise of socialist states such as the USSR and its form of central planning utilized by it and future socialist nations. 
Central planning has received numerous criticisms since its inception. Some of the most notable critiques come from the Austrian school of economics, particularly from figures such as Friedrich Hayek. One of Hayek's major critiques include the difficulty of gathering and using relevant information, which is tacit and dispersed in a whole economy, due to the lack of for conveying such information.Hayek, Friedrich (1945). "The Use of Knowledge in Society". The American Economic Review. Another critique by him is the inevitability of central planning to result in authoritarianism, since the kind of power that comes from planning would inevitably grant high powers of coercion to the state. Central planning also struggles with incentives, as firms may lack the pressure from competition and profitability to avoid waste, as well as maintain the quality of products, while central planners themselves may lack the motivation to act on information, even when they possess it. Authoritarianism and centralization, as well as various economic issues such as shortages of consumer goods, were indeed common in existing centrally planned socialist states, as noted by many academics. 
Due to the issues cited, there's not a lot of academic support for centrally planned economies in the modern age. Some leftists have taken this for a bourgeois attack against the glorious socialist states and their extremely efficient economies. Others have abandoned the Soviet model of planning, but still advocate for alternative models involving central planning that are (hopefully) more democratic and efficient. One such example is the model of planning through supercomputers described by Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell.
====Decentralized planning====
As the name suggests, a decentrally planned economy proposes a form of economic planning based on horizontalism and bottom-up decision-making, aiming to fix the issues found in central planning, including the concentration of power in the government bureaucracy, the lack of worker self-management and the difficulties surrounding calculation and information-gathering. This model distinguishes itself from the market mechanism, the other horizontal method of coordination, by having interdependent decisions be made collectively and in advance, instead of being done atomistically and in isolation like in the market. 
Its advocates commonly propose utilizing worker's councils and direct or participatory democracy for the planning process. A popular contemporary proposal is the one made by the economists Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, named although some elements of it could be traced back to older theorists, such as Cornelius Castoriadis and the various council communists.Spannos, Chris (2012). "Examining the History of Anarchist
Economics to See the Future".The Accumulation of Freedom. AK Press. 
This kind of planning has few examples in practice however, meaning most of its support, and criticism, rests on speculation, which might've contributed to the lack of academic evaluation of the concept. The socialist economist Alec Nove has argued how there is no realistic alternative to the market mechanism for horizontal coordination, as a political voting process is impracticable due to the sheer scale of an economy, and because of the risk of it devolving into a tyranny of the majority by the assemblies not permitting the production of goods that only satisfy a minority of the population.
===Market economy===
A market economy is one where the production and distribution of goods and services is determined by the forces of supply and demand through price signals. While socialism is often associated with planning, the idea of social ownership is by no means incompatible with markets. In fact, market socialists have existed before socialism was even popularized by Marx and later socialist experiments.
Historically, a form of market socialism has been practiced in Yugoslavia. While the means of production were publicly owned, the actual management of enterprises was, for the most part, done by the workers themselves. Under Tito, Yugoslavia did actually enjoy a relatively healthy economy, with no major shortages of consumer goods, in contrast to the many other socialist regimes of that time (although the same can't really be said on the "democracy" department). Yugoslavia's economy suffered from major downturns in its later years, however. Considering its many reforms and peculiarities, it's hard to tell whether it was because of fundamental flaws of market socialism or not. Yugoslavia was eventually dissolved after major internal ethnic conflicts.Allcock, John B ; Lampe, John R (December 15, 2024). Yugoslavia. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 19 January 2025. 
The current system found in China is officially named "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and features predominant use of markets, although it might more closely resemble a form of state capitalism, as it still features private property. The idealized by Oskar Lange during a debate with Friedrich Hayek, is often regarded as an important market socialist model, although perhaps erroneously, as the model was created with the intention of replacing the market with planning.
Many on the left in the modern day have proposed different models of market socialism, including John Roemer's model of "coupon socialism" and David Schweickart's model of "economic democracy". Some influential figures, such as American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have advocated for a market socialist system. Interestingly, even some Marxists have advocated for a market socialist economy, including the economist Richard D. Wolff (and the aforementioned Roemer).
==Ideologies==
===Utopian socialism===
The first person who theorized of the initial modern concept of socialism was a political, social, and economic philosopher. The term socialism itself was coined in 1832 by a follower of Simon, Pierre Leroux, when describing the system Simon had theorized.https://www.etymonline.com/word/socialism The term "utopian socialism" was coined by a later socialist thinker to refer to those who generally believed in a classless and stateless society but had not hammered out any specific theories for getting there. 
Utopian socialism is also among the earliest forms of theorized and practiced socialism globally. A group known as the Owenites, followers of 19th-century Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, formed several utopian socialist communities organized along communitarian and cooperative principles. The most famous of the communities located in New Harmony, Indiana, was where Owen himself chose to reside. The Owenite communities largely failed in short order (New Harmony's Owenite community only lasted two years). Still, Owenism is largely thought to have been the first socialist movement in American history,https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030362721/cu31924030362721_djvu.txt and former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both attended his lectures.Rowland Hill Harvey (1947). Robert Owen: Social Idealist. University of California Press. pp. 99–100. While the Owenites largely failed in their goals, Owen's ideas on labor vouchers influenced later socialist thinkers such as Daniel De Leon, while the Owenites' most lasting legacy on the socialist movement is most likely the cooperative movement.http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/143150/files/weavers.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2zSSg4Y5rV3zYlNxXbdy4Fw5QoCQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr
===Blanquism===
Blanquism refers to the socialist current derived from the ideas of Louis Auguste Blanqui. He advocated for socialism to be brought through a revolution led by a small and secretive group, who would then seize power through a coup d'état and gradually create a socialist society. Only after this tyrannical period would power be given to the masses. Unlike later socialist theorists, Blanqui was not particularly interested in visualizing how a socialism society would function. He also differed from most revolutionary socialists by rejecting a popular movement as the means of seizing power. Blanquism isn't particularly well-known or notable in comparison to most other socialist ideologies. Even so, Blanquists were an influence to the socialist experiment of the 
===Anarchism===
Anarchism is a variant of socialism often characterized by its advocacy for the abolishment of the state. Anarchists define the state as any tool of domination which allows a small group of people to subjugate the whole. In other words, anarchists oppose any mechanism which goes against the self-government of the people, which includes virtually all forms of authority or hierarchy. 
Anarchism is a wildly varied ideology. The first self-styled anarchist was who was also the first mutualist, an anarchist ideology. Other influential figures include the anarcho-collectivist and the anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin, who both created/popularized their respective anarchist ideologies and advanced some of the fundamentals followed by most anarchist in the current age. Anarchism has also inspired movements in various countries, such as the anarcho-syndicalist one in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the anarcho-communist one in Ukraine during the 
Predictably, the most common critique against anarchism is its infeasibility, as the idea of a society without any of the hierarchies and coercive institutions anarchists oppose is at least somewhat dubious, considering the lack of large-scale societies which can be used as successful examples. Critics may also consider anarchists to be violent, in particular how many anarchists may advocate or utilize violent means to resist or take down authority, although there are still many examples of more pacifist anarchists, such as 
===Marxism===
In contrast to utopian socialism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels formulated what they called "scientific socialism". This variant of socialism came to be from an analysis of the history of civilization based on class struggle and They believed that the conditions created by capitalism would result in the conflict between the ruling class (the bourgeoisie, i.e. the class that owns the means of production) and the ruled class (the proletariat, i.e. the class of wage-earners who only own their own labor-power) which would build the foundations for a proletarian revolution where the workers would gradually seize the means of production.
Marx believed that all socio-political orders, except in the mythical pure communism, were "dictatorships" in which one class dictated to the rest; the bourgeoisie was assigned that role in his characterization of capitalism. For Marx, the path towards communism would not be any less a dictatorship, but it would be a "dictatorship of the proletariat" where the workers would dictate to everyone else. The term "dictatorship of the proletariat" was initially coined to differentiate between Marx's idea of a grass-roots worker-run state and the more elitist ideas of Blanquism; but the "dictatorship" part is not meaningless, since he said in the Communist Manifesto that this dictatorship would have to resort to "despotic" measures at first (e.g., control the army to conquer other capitalist territories). Engels also advocated for the state to be used "not for the purpose of freedom, but of keeping down its enemies".
After the dictatorial period, society would then begin to transition towards a classless, stateless and moneyless society. "Classless" and "stateless" were tightly bound together in Marx's theory. Within Marxism, the state is defined as the tools of class oppression and subjugation, meaning a society without social classes would, consequently, have no state. As the socialist order is established, Marx divided what he called the lower and higher phases of a communist society. In his work Critique of the Gotha Program, he describes the lower phase by claiming that, since the communist society has emerged from a capitalist one, it would still contain its "birthmarks". Because of this, Marx states that during this phase "the individual receives from society exactly what he gives to it", advocating for remuneration in the form of labor certificates as opposed to money. Only in the higher phase would society follow the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Traditionally, these lower and higher phases would simply be called "socialism" and "communism", respectively. However, Marx used both terms interchangeable. Only later would Marx's ideas be reinterpreted to separate the two definitions, making socialism this lower, transitory phase (and also fusing the lower phase with the dictatorship of the proletariat, which initially preceded the phases of communism).
Marxism was arguably the most influential socialist school of thought, having inspired countless movements and theorists in history. It has also created a great amount of enemies and critics all across the political spectrum, including from other socialists. For example, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin was an ardent critic of Marx, predicting the dictatorship of the proletariat would be seized by a small elite of false representatives of the worker-class. Libertarians (and, to an extent, supporters of democracy in general) from both sides often share similar sentiments. The fact that this basically happened probably helps their case.
Marx's ideas have also been criticized by members of the scientific community form various fields. The philosopher Karl Popper has criticized Marxism on the grounds of it not being scientific (contrary to what "scientific socialism" might suggest) and it relying on historicism. Marxism also sees little relevance in the field of economics, with most economists rejecting the core tenets found in Marx's economic works, such as the ones in Capital. Despite this, Marxism still finds some relevance in the social sciences, with 18% of social scientists identifying themselves as Marxists, according to a 2007 survey on American professors. Contemporarily, many scholars who describe themselves as Marxists follow more "updated" traditions, such as the strain of largely prompted by the philosopher G. A. Cohen and other members of what was endearingly called the "Non-Bullshit Marxism Group".Leopold, David. "Analytical Marxism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.)
Marxism is also used as a boogeyman by right-wing cranks and fascists in various conspiracy theories, notably in Cultural Marxism. It's common for these groups to make baseless accusations against those to the left of them by claiming they're actually secret Marxists trying to bring communism through progressive policies. Tactics like these were also used during the American 
===Leninism===
Leninism was the current which spawned from the Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin's works and interpretations of orthodox Marxism leading to, and after, the Russian Revolution, which occured in during the beginning of the 20th century.
Lenin was an extensive critic of "evolutionary socialism," a current developing within his time. Evolutionary socialists, such as promoted the idea of a gradual change towards socialism. They believed that, since the conditions of the workers actually improved as the years went by, it was indeed possible to implement socialism without a revolution. 
In contrast, Lenin advocated for a violent revolution as the only means to achieve socialism, arguing the improvement of conditions was due to the exploitation of poorer countries, condemning Bernstein of being revisionist. Ironically, Lenin himself held positions which went against what most Marxists believed at the time, such as how he wished to skip capitalism and go straight to socialism, rejecting the notion that a period of capitalism would be needed to develop both the productive forces of the country and the revolutionary proletariat. 
Lenin considered the dictatorship of the proletariat to be democratic, but also argued that the "exploiters and oppressors of the people" should be excluded from democracy, with democracy for all being only possible after reaching a classless society. In practice however, the worker's state was mainly controlled by the Communist Party rather than the workers, meaning that, in the end, there was no democracy at all.The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (October 8, 2024). Leninism. Encyclopedia Britannica.
 
Lenin was distrustful of a spontaneous revolution, i.e. that the workers themselves would realize how wonderful communism is through the natural development of history, which was the prediction made by the more traditional Marxism. Instead, he promoted the use of a central "vanguard party", organized through democratic centralism. The vanguard party was to be composed of the most class-conscious and intelligent members of the worker-class, who would bring the masses to the revolution by spreading revolutionary thought and would seize the power from the ruling classes. Democratic centralism was (on theory) based on "freedom of discussion, unity of action", where discussion was completely permitted until a decision was made by a vote from the party, in which case any actions which may derail the reached resolution are strictly forbidden. 
Critics may argue how such method of organizing the revolution is not only oppressive towards dissident members due to the nature of democratic centralism, but can lead to the alienation of the worker-class as a whole in favor of a small minority of so-called "great thinkers" tasked with leading the revolution.
====Marxism-Leninism====
Marxism-Leninism is the communist ideology created by Joseph Stalin, according to his own interpretation of Marxism and Leninism. Marxism-Leninism advocates for a centrally planned economy with a one-party socialist state and brutal repression of anything deemed "bourgeois" or "counter-revolutionary", which, for virtually all Marxist-Leninist leaders, includes anyone or anything they don't like.
Marxism-Leninism became the official state ideology of the Soviet Union, as well as many communist regimes following Stalin's rule. Many different ideologies can be found within it, including Stalinism under Joseph Stalin, Maoism under Mao Zedong, Juche under Kim Il-sung, and so on, each altering or adapting Marxism-Leninism in different ways under different contexts. It's one of the most followed communist ideologies to date, with many of the former and existing self-described socialist states advocating it in some form.
From the Great Purge and Holodomor of Stalin to the "Year Zero" of Pol Pot, most Marxist-Leninist societies featured some kind of event leading to mass death as a result of abuse of power. Similarly to fascism, there are still those who deny the atrocities committed under these regimes, including Grover Furr and Michael Parenti. Apologists of these regimes may pejoratively be called tankies, in reference to those who were in support of the Soviet Union sending tanks to stop protests, such as the ones in Hungary during 1956.
As the state controlled speech, so too was science controlled. This came from a desire to follow the principles of Marxism and dialectical materialism to a tee while avoiding all the "bourgeois pseudoscience". This was especially notorious in the Soviet Union under Stalin, where publications in scientific journals and books, granting of degrees, promotions and demotions, and so on, were all controlled by the Party. This also resulted in stuff like the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics to be labeled bourgeois, as well as the USSR's most notorious piece of pseudoscience: Lysenkoism, invented by Trofim Lysenko, who created "agricultural techniques" that were actually a lot of bullshit dressed in the garb of dialectical materialism. Science was still used for political purposes even after Stalin's rule, like how the Soviet Union utilized a made-up diagnosis named against political dissidents, with these "patients" being deprived of their basic rights.
It's claimed by many anti-Soviet socialists that these Marxist-Leninist regimes were a departure from socialism, on account of the means of production being in the hands of an undemocratic state instead of the workers. Many of these critics may argue these regimes were a form of "state capitalism", as they did not erase the general relations of management and ownership which exist in capitalism (i.e. a small unaccountable minority owning the means of production and telling the workers what to do). On the other hand, Stalinists would argue that these parallels were all fabrication by the oppressive bourgeois media and then send thugs to beat up anyone who said otherwise.
====Trotskyism====
Leon Trotsky attempted to become the leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin died, but was defeated by Stalin and later exiled. Initially, the key difference between Stalinism and what later became known as Trotskyism was whether the socialist revolution should be exported to other countries as quickly as possible (as advocated by Trotsky) or if socialism should be strengthened in a single country before (as advocated by Stalin). Later on, Trotsky would harshly criticize the Stalinist rule of the USSR, calling it a "degenerated worker's state" taken over by the bureaucracy.
Contemporarily, Trotsky became a figure of the sometimes even being considered a more democratic alternative to Stalin. An obvious example of this in practice is how George Orwell made an allegory of Trotsky as the opposition against the tyrannical figure of the story in two separate occasions, first with Snowball in Animal Farm and then with Emmanuel Goldstein in Nineteen Eighty-Four, despite Orwell himself being doubtful that Trotskyists were morally superior to other communists.
Aside from the regular Trotskyists, there are also more bizarre and niche Trotskyist movements. One of the most notorious is Posadism, which affirms the communist revolution should come from a nuclear war. It also features elements of ufology, for whatever reason.
===Libertarian socialism===
Libertarian socialism, also named left-libertarianism, is the most anti-authoritarian form of socialism. While anarchism is found within libertarian socialism and both terms are frequently used interchangeably, not all libertarian socialists call themselves anarchists, preferring instead a limited government rather than a complete abolition of it. 
Some of the most prominent libertarian socialist theorists can be found within the libertarian Marxist tradition, which emphasizes direct democracy and autonomy in a Marxist conception. Within this tradition are included Rosa Luxemburg and the council communists, who were both contemporaries of Lenin but critical of his ideas. Daniel De Leon has also been characterized as a Marxian libertarian socialist, having taken inspiration from anarcho-syndicalism to formulate the branch named "De Leonism", based on labor unions being the supreme legal force.
Another important figure in libertarian socialism is Murray Bookchin and his communalism, which later influenced the political system of Rojava. Bookchin's communalism was based on libertarian municipalism, where each city or commune would be largely autonomous and manage itself and its economy in a decentralized fashion, united together in a confederation.
===Democratic socialism===
thumb|right|300px|Members of the Democratic Socialists of America march at the protest in New York, 2011.
Despite socialism being intended to be democratic, various socialists may prefer to use the term "democratic socialism" in order to convey the goal of socialization of the means of production through an accountable democratic government more clearly, in contrast to the many dictatorships that claim to have their people's best interests in mind.Volle, Adam (November 28, 2024). "Democratic socialism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed January 7, 2025. The term has also often been used to refer to social democracy, although social democracy generally refers to a reformist version of capitalism rather than an abolition of it.
Plenty of folks have declared democratic socialist views but have had their views misconstrued with time, including Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein,Einstein, Albert (May, 1949). "Why Socialism?". Monthly Review. Keller, Helen (November 3, 1912). "How I Became a Socialist". The New York Call. Via Marxist Internet Archive. Martin Luther King, and George Orwell.Orwell, George (1946). "Why I Write. "The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it." Other big-name self-described democratic socialists include British politician Jeremy Corbyn and American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Former Chilean president Salvador Allende has also been described as democratic socialist, being one of the few Marxist leaders actually elected by democratic means. Bernie Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist, despite the label of social democrat being potentially more fitting when taking into account his actual policies. 
====Liberal socialism====
Liberal socialism does NOT refer to the Republican phenomenom of calling any liberal a socialist. Rather, liberal socialists are ones who favor a more market-oriented economy with a welfare state which enshrines basic liberties such as freedom of expression and civil rights. Despite its similarities, it may be distinguished from social democracy by emphasizing more fundamental changes in the relations of production, including higher democratization of the workplace.McManus, Matt (31 August 2024)."Why Socialists Shouldn't Reject Liberalism" (Interview). Interviewed by Igor Shoikhedbrod. Jacobin. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
===Religious socialism===
Marxism explicitly criticizes religion, with Marx referring to religion as "the opium of the people"Some context: in Marx's time, opium was seen (and actually is) a very effective painkiller, and at the time there was nothing more effective that opium, so he's not saying that religion is a dangerous drug, but rather a painkiller used to cope with pain. to which a pre-socialist state of existence has given rise. Communists have made heavy persecutions of churches when in power, and in some cases even banned religion altogether. Anarchists are also known for their anti-clerical church-burning activities (although not all anarchists perform such behavior, and some are actually Christians themselves).
But Marx did not advocate the banning of religion, instead saying that it is simply a way to cope, and to see something bright at the end of the tunnel when one is faced with the injustices of feudal and capitalist society, and says that the criticism of religion is thus the criticism of the conditions that breed it.
There are also currents of religious socialism, as will be mentioned right now.
====Christian socialism====
It's not uncommon for fundamentalists to argue socialism is incompatible with Christianity. However, the tradition of Christian socialism isn't a new one. In fact, one could even argue a major player in the Bible actually advocated for something similar to socialism. As to who this figure is, here's a few hints: he is generally portrayed as a tall, blue eyed white man with long hair, wearing a flowing robe, or nailed to a cross, although he was more likely short, had short hair, brown skin, brown eyes and would have never worn a robe, as it would have been a terrible hazard in his carpentry work. A few quotes: 
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As recounted in , the early Christian church practiced a form of religious communism with "all things common." Today, there are many Christian socialist throughout the world, particularly in South America, which hold that the teachings of Jesus Christ and Marx line up nicely, and see Christ as a great social reformer and the first socialist agitator. However, these people have been criticized for equating the poor, spoken of at length by Jesus, with Marx's proletariat; specifically, Jesus said, "For the poor always ye have with you" (), while Marxism aims to do away with the proletariat altogether. There are also small Christian groups such as the Hutterites who also practice a form of voluntary religious communism. Monasteries and other similar religious institutions may also do so.
Oddly enough, his message has been largely ignored by some of his North American followers, who seem to think he was actually ye olde Ronald Reagan or a long-haired John Galt. Cognitive dissonance sure is great, isn't it? Although in their defense, Jesus never said give your money to the poor through government. He talked about private self-decided socialism. Of course, they don't do that either.
==Not-Socialism==
The term socialism has a long history of gatekeeping, especially by the radical left, be it anarchists not considering any kind of state socialism to be socialism at all, or Marxists calling anything that doesn't align exactly with (their interpretation of) Marx's theories as a bourgeois distortion. However, sometimes people might get too inclusive with the term socialism, to the point where it becomes a meaningless term, be it for a red-baiting tactic, to invoke a message of "I care for the workers", or as a way to not be associated with certain controversial figures. 
===National Socialism===
National socialism, also commonly known as Nazism, was the ideology practiced by Adolf Hitler during his leadership of Germany. Some on the right, such as Dinesh D'SouzaEmery, David (March 14, 2023). "Were the Nazis Socialists?". Snopes. and Elon Musk,Gilbert, David (January 9, 2025). "Elon Musk and Far-Right German Leader Agree ‘Hitler Was a Communist’". Wired. Retrieved January 10, 2025. have tried to argue the Nazis were actually socialists, thus putting the blame of the horrors of Nazism on the left instead of the far-right. While one might assume that the Nazis are socialist based on their name alone, there are many reasons that prevents them from being so.
For one, the Nazis upheld private property. While fascism historically advocated for extensive government interference in the economy to attend the interests of the state, it by no means rejected private ownership of industry. In fact, it promoted it wherever possible, with state ownership being avoided unless absolutely necessary. Privatization is, of course, the last thing most socialists would want in order to actually socialize the economy.
Another key reason is that the Nazi ideology includes the existence of "slave-races" who would perform all the menial tasks a society would need, while the "superior" Germans would have generous social welfare and careers for themselves only. While social welfare is indeed a key aspect advocated by various socialists and it's possible to have a stratified society in most versions of socialism, the core concept is that everyone has some ownership over their place of employment, not a singular group. In theory, Nazi ideology would have all the slave-races exterminated eventually with only the Germans remaining, at which point one could argue that, depending on how society would develop afterwards, the Germans could live in some bizarre and vile form of socialism... until they just declared that the grey-eyed and/or strawberry-blonde Germans to be insufficiently German and they are back to slavery again.
Finally, Hitler and his party also continuously persecuted the left-wing of Germany, including the communists, socialists and even trade unionists.United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Political Prisoners". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Accessed February 4, 2025. He even demonized the Jews by claiming they were secretly behind the creation and dissemination of communism, a conspiracy theory labeled "". The only faction of the Nazis which might've taken the "socialist" part actually seriously were the followers of Despite this, they were still ultra-nationalists and racists, and were mostly killed off by Hitler anyways for being "dissidents".
===Social democracy===
Unlike what virtually every socialist current advocates for, most forms of social democracy explicitly endorse the preservation of capitalist relations such as private ownership. While it differentiates itself from other capitalist systems (such as neoliberalism) by advocating for a welfare state, partial public ownership and stronger labor rights, social democracy doesn't fit into the concept of collective/social ownership.
However, while not as prominently, social democracy may also be used to refer to something similar to evolutionary socialism, which advocated for a gradual and reformist method to overcome capitalism, in contrast to a revolution.Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (December 9, 2024). "Social democracy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed December 18, 2024 This type of social democracy could be considered socialistic, as it's still advocating for socialism as the end-goal.
===Obamunism and successors===
Generally, the Democrats are regarded as being a centrist or center-left party. In the last few decades however, the right-wing in the US has been trying to redefine the term "socialist," with the desired meaning being, "a person who flouts the Republican party line on more than two issues." U.S. President Barack Obama became the poster-boy for this sort of "socialism" during his presidency, despite having no socialistic tendencies except for introducing a reform in the healthcare system (which is arguably not even socialist, as many capitalist countries have full public healthcare).
More recently, former president Joe Biden has also been called a socialist. Biden has responded to these allegations by saying “I beat the socialist, that’s how I got elected. That’s how I got the nomination. Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career — my whole career. I am not a socialist”.
Former vice-president Kamala Harris has also been called a communist and even received the nickname "Comrade Harris". Donald Trump argued Harris is a Marxist on the grounds that her father is a Marxist professor in economics. Her father, Donald J. Harris, is indeed well-versed in Marxian economics and has taught it in his career, although there's not much evidence of Kamala Harris herself being a Marxist. Donald Trump has also called Harris's anti-price-gouging laws as "socialist price controls", despite these laws not actually proposing price controls like the ones found in existing socialist states, but rather an evaluation of corporate conduct. Trump's claim also ignores how price controls aren't even inherently socialistic, as they have been used by figures such as Richard Nixon before.
The only members of the Democratic Party which could conceivably be called socialists would be the ones who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, most notably Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Even so, this section of the party is hardly notable in comparison to its Third Way and socially liberal sections.
==Socialism and patriotism==
Socialism and patriotism/nationalism are typically in opposition and socialists are generally against the concept of nations, seeing them as an unnecessary division. Many socialists instead strive for "internationalism." To quote Eugene V. Debs, early leader of the SPUSA (he started as a social democrat, and then turned to socialism along the lines of De Leonism. He ran for President while locked in jail for protesting against the first World War), "I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world." They often view patriotism and nationalism as simply ways to divide the working class, like racism and sexism.
This has, unfortunately, led to some people using socialism as a front to push hatred of whatever ethnic group they can paint as coterminous with whatever class of people are judged to be the "oppressors" this week; the bloodiest example of this was Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. It is also seen in some left-wing anti-American sentiment, as criticized in the .
On the flip side, many leaders of "actually existing" socialist countries have promoted nationalism however. Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, for instance, as well as probably most other Latin American socialists, has definitely played on nationalist appeal.See . Gamal Abdel Nasser promoted Arab nationalism.
==Notable organizations==
===International===
====International Workingmen's Association====
The International Workingmen's Association, often referred to as the First International, was a left-wing organization founded in the 19th century, but dissolved in the midst of the Bakunin-Marx infighting. Later on, similar organizations were created. The Second International followed, but dissolved in the midst of infighting over support of World War I. The Third International (Comintern) was a Soviet-funded body dissolved in World War II. The Fourth International, a Trotskyist organization, still exists.
====Socialist International====
The Socialist International is a worldwide federation of socialist political parties, mostly consisting of democratic socialist, labor, and social democratic parties. Over thirty nations are governed by a Socialist International member-party, such as France, Iceland and South Africa. These parties are in practice social democratic or even Third Way/liberal and in recent years have experienced spectacular collapses in the face of polarization.
===American===
====Democratic Socialists of America====
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is, as one can imagine, a democratic socialist organization. In fact, it's the largest socialist organization in America currently. While not a party per se, some members do run on elections, most often as a member of the Democratic Party, including people like AOC. They most often advocate for democratic socialist or social democratic reforms, such as increasing the minimum wage, reforming the healthcare and education system, implementing social and welfare programs, etc. Despite their name, they still have more authoritarian tendencies such as Marxism-Leninism. Some members have also shown support for authoritarian figures, such as Lenin.
====Party for Socialism and Liberation====
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a Marxist-Leninist American political party. They have a pretty radical program, including stuff such as nationalizing the 100 biggest domestic corporations and cutting the military budget by 90%.Our Program. Claudia and Karina 2024. 
They have a long history of support for authoritarian regimes. For one, they support North Korea, labeling it an "alternative to the global capitalist system" and defending it from accusations of poor human rights records, calling them "pure fantasy". They also support the Chinese government and deny the Tiananmen Square Massacre, arguing the protests were funded by the US government and criticizing the testimonies of eyewitnesses.
===British===
====British Labour Party====
Historically, the Labour Party were social democrats, or 'reformists', and Labour governments have made some lasting changes in terms of universal welfare, especially the founding of the National Health Service.
"New Labour" (Tony Blair etc.) were arguably conservatives in all but name, and indeed much has been said about the similarities between their policies and those of Thatcherism."Thatcherism and New Labour: "The similarities between Thatcherism and New Labour are more important than the differences".On the other hand, they dramatically increased the level of public expenditure. Following the 2008 recession, the proportion of public spending in the economy hit 50% of GDP. How this level of state intervention in the economy can be considered "conservative" is anyone's guess (then again, see Dubya). Clause IV of the Labour Party's constitution, which expressed a long-term commitment to redistribution of wealth and common ownership of the means of production, was rewritten in 1994, under Blair's leadership, as a more vague expression of striving for equality, causing some internal conflict and outrage from "Old Labour" socialist members of the party. In 2015, many social democrats won Labour Party contests, signaling a return to the left; there was only one actual socialist who was elected to leadership, however, although being the leader of the party, he (Jeremy Corbyn) does have a lot more say in party policy. In the run-up to the 2017 General Election the party published a report entitled Alternative Models of Ownership which tried to envision economic and business models without traditional capitalists; even though it ran its most left-wing campaign in years, envisioning more state-run corporations, universal welfare programs and public services, the party stopped far short of actively railing against capitalism in general, and in fact tried to court some businesses over Brexit.
== Notable proponents of socialist theories ==
* George Orwell; British author
* Nelson Mandela
* Jeremy Corbyn; British Labour party leader, considered hard-left by his party standards
* Bernie Sanders; (self proclaimed socialist, though often considered a social democrat)
* Albert Einstein; His socialist leanings best shown in his essay "Why Socialism?"; he notably had various conflicting attitudes towards the USSR throughout his life, supporting its goals and achievements but taking issue with the ways they were achieved. 
* Eugene Debs
* Noam Chomsky
* Jean-Luc Mélenchon
* Olof Palme
==See also==
* Anarchism
* Communism
* Charles Fourier
* George Orwell
* Socialist Alliance
*Fun:Socialism with Biden characteristics
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Economic philosophies
Category:Political philosophies
Category:Forms of government