Socialism | PSIR Optional for UPSC

PYQs विगत वर्षों के प्रश्न

• Analyze the post-Marxian developments in socialist thought. (95/60) 
  समाजवादी चिंतन में उत्तर-मार्क्सवादी विकास का विश्लेषण करें। (95/60)
• Comment: “Socialism is a much used hat, whose original shape no one can define.” (CL E. M. Joad) (09/20) 
  टिप्पणी करें: "समाजवाद एक बहुत अधिक इस्तेमाल की जाने वाली टोपी है, जिसका मूल आकार कोई भी परिभाषित नहीं कर सकता है।" (सीएल ई. एम. जोड) (09/20)
• Comment on the view that socialism in the 21st century may be reborn as anti-capitalism. (14/20)
  इस विचार पर टिप्पणी करें कि 21वीं सदी में समाजवाद का पूंजीवाद विरोधी के रूप में पुनर्जन्म हो सकता है। (14/20

Introduction 

• The word 'socialism' finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. 
• Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems. 
• The core idea of socialists lies in the belief that “shared ownership of resources and central planning provide a more equal distribution of goods and services and a more equitable society”.
• It is characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. These means of production could be machinery, tools and factories which are used to produce goods that satisfy human needs. 
• The government ensures robust welfare systems and social safety net like food to healthcare for the people whose price are determined by the government itself. 
• Another form of socialized production could be worker cooperatives. 
• Joseph A. Schumpeter in his Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942) defines socialism as “an organization of the society, where the decision about means of production, what to produce and who is to get what is taken by the government instead of privately owned and managed firms”. 

Background and Evolution 

Early Socialism 

• Socialism dates back to the earliest human civilizations where tribal or clan-based societies would work together to produce enough food and supplies for the entire population. 
• The elements of socialist thought were present in the politics of Aristotle and Plato as well. “Republic" describes a collective society. 
• Thomas More's "Utopia" provided Platonic ideals in its depiction of an imaginary island where people live and work communally. 

Modern Socialism 

• In the 1820s and 1830s, socialism emerged as an alternative to capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. Its idea was to achieve an improved life for the working class. 
• Louis Blanc, Charles Fourier, Charles Hall, Robert Owen, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Saint-Simon were the first modern socialists who criticised the poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution.
• In 1864, the First International was founded in London. It was an international organization, which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trade unions that were based on the working class and class struggle.

20th Century Socialism 

• The creation of the Soviet Union marked the first advance in human history as ‘establishment of a society free from class exploitation’.
• The Russian Revolution and its result motivated national Communist parties in France, the United States, Italy, China, Mexico, the Brazil, Chile and Indonesia. 
• After World War II, social democratic governments introduced social reform and wealth redistribution via welfare and taxation. 
• Socialism became increasingly influential in many developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Characteristics of Socialism

• Socialist ideals include production for use, rather than for profit.
• An equitable distribution of wealth and material resources among all people. 
• No more competitive buying and selling in the market.
• Free access to goods and services.
• An old socialist slogan describes it, “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” 

Basic Assumptions of Socialists 

• State: There is a major disagreement among socialists over state. Some favour state led socialism. (Fabian socialism, Nehruvian socialism), others prefer stateless society and community led development. (Marxian socialism – Communism, Gandhian Socialism – Sarvodaya). 
• Method of bringing socialism: Socialists are also divided with respect to the method bringing socialism. Some believe in peaceful, constitutional changes. Some believe in revolutionary methods. 
• Society: They reject the market model of society. On the other hand, they believe that society is natural and collective. 
• Concept of freedom: They believe liberal concept of liberty as alienation and isolation. The real liberty implies freedom from want or hunger. 
• Equality: Socialist consider liberal’s view of equality as formal and procedural. Instead of legal equality, they believe in social and economic equality.
• Instead of equality of opportunity, they believe in equality of outcomes. If the liberal concept of equality is proportionate equality, socialist concept is absolute equality.
• Human Nature: They reject the liberal view of atomistic man. They support the view of social nature of man. According to them, no man is an island, each is a part of continent. Socialist emphasize on fraternity and collectivism, they prefer to use the term comrade.

Central Idea of Socialism 

1. As a Criticism of capitalism

• In a capitalist system, the means of production is controlled by the business owners. Whereas the socialist system looks forward to shared/collective ownership and control among the laboring class. Social ownership can be state/public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. 
• Unlike capitalism, in a purely socialist society, all production and distribution decisions are collective. These collective decisions are directed by a central authority or government body instead of the business owner. 
• The fundamental objective of socialism is to attain an advanced level of material production and therefore greater productivity, efficiency and rationality as compared to capitalism. 
• As per socialists, the accumulation of capital generates waste through externalities which require costly corrective regulatory measures. 
• As per them, the private property limits the potential of productive forces in the economy. Therefore, the private property should be replaced by a free association of individuals based on public or common ownership of these socialised assets. 
• The establishment of a socialist mode of production is the only way to overcome the deficiencies of capitalism. 

2. Marxism

• Marxism is a social, economic and political philosophy that analyses the impact of the ruling class on the laborers, leading to uneven distribution of wealth and privileges. 
• The theory was formulated by Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels in their work, ‘The Communist Manifesto’. 
• According to them, capitalism has become obsolete and unsustainable. The working-class will seek their freedom from capitalists’ exploitations by overthrowing ownership of the means of production. It will eventually lead to a classless society in which the state would fade away.
• The proletariat would control the means of production through a workers' state erected by the workers in their interests. 
• Economic activity would still be organised through the use of incentive systems. 
• Social classes would still exist, but to a lesser and diminishing extent than under capitalism. 
• For orthodox Marxists, socialism is the lower stage of communism based on the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution". 
• The Marxist conception of socialism is a specific historical phase, which would displace capitalism and precede communism. 

3. Role of the state 

• In the 19th century, the philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by the German political philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle. 
• He rejected the concept of the state as a class-based power structure and the belief that the state was destined to "wither away". 
• He considered the state to be an entity independent of class and an instrument of justice. 
• Following the victory of Leninism in Russia, the idea of "state socialism" spread rapidly throughout the socialist movement and eventually state socialism came to be identified with the Soviet economic model. 
• Joseph Schumpeter viewed that ‘social ownership is not to be confused with state ownership’ over the means of production.  According to him, the existence of the state in its current form is a product of capitalist society. The state, along with concepts like property and taxation, were concepts exclusive to a capitalist society. 

4. Reformism and Revolutionary socialism 

Revolutionary Socialism

• It seeks to introduce socialism in its totality to replace the capitalist system by the socialist system in a Single stroke. 
• Revolutionary socialists believe that a social revolution is necessary to effect structural changes to the socioeconomic structure of society.
• The revolution should be spontaneous. 
• Revolution is not necessarily a violent insurrection. However, it is a complete dismantling and rapid transformation of all areas of class society led by the majority of the masses (i.e. the working class). 

Reformism Socialism 

• Reformism is generally associated with social democracy. The evolutionary socialism believes socialism is achieved by evolutionary process or by degrees. 
• Reformism is the belief that socialists should stand in parliamentary elections within capitalist society.
• The government can be used to pass political and social reforms for the purposes of ameliorating the instabilities and inequities of capitalism. 
• While reforms are not socialist in themselves, they can help rally supporters to the cause of revolution by popularizing the cause of socialism to the working class. 

Thinkers’ Perspective 

• “Socialism had come to oppose capitalism. It advocated for a post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership of the means of production.” - Anthony Giddens, (1998) in his “Beyond Left and Right” 
• Other socialists in France began to agitate and organize in the 1830s and ’40s; they included Louis Blanc, Louis-Auguste Blanqui, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. 
• Louis Blanc, in his ‘The Organization of Labour’ (1839), promoted “a scheme of state-financed but worker-controlled “social workshops”. This would guarantee work for everyone and lead gradually to a socialist society.” 
• In ‘What is Property’ (1840), Proudhon memorably declared, “Property is theft!” 
• As per Lenin, in capitalism, the workers remained unable to gain class consciousness so long as they were too busy working to pay their expenses. Hence, the social revolution would require the leadership of a vanguard party of class-conscious revolutionaries from the educated and politically active part of the population. 
• Bertrand Russell opposed the class struggle aspects of Marxism. He viewed socialism solely as an adjustment of economic relations to accommodate modern machine production to benefit all of humanity. 
• G. D. H. Cole advocated the public ownership of industries and their workforces' organization into guilds, each of which under the democratic control of its trade union. At some point, guild socialism wanted to abolish the wage system.
• As per Busky (2000), "Socialism may be defined as movements for social ownership and control of the economy.”
• Social ownership can be state/public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. - Phillip O'Hara (2003). 
• Socialists disagree on whether government, particularly existing government, is the correct vehicle for change. – James Docherty (2006), Historical Dictionary of Socialism.
• Anarchism and libertarian socialism oppose the use of the state as a means to establish socialism. These ideologies favour decentralisation above all. - David McNally (1993). 

Merits 

• Under socialism, everyone gets their fair share of the national wealth. All the people are given equal opportunities and exploitation is eliminated. 
• Under socialist economies, production is directed to ensure that the basic needs of the masses are met first. 
• Wealth is distributed to workers based on their input to the economy leading egalitarian distribution of wealth and income. 
• Under a socialist economy, there is a central authority in charge of planning for the use of resources and making quick decisions leading to rapid growth of economy. 
• Socialism minimises the risk of economic instability. 
• Socialism caters for the needs of all members of society. All the basic needs of an individual are catered for by the state. 

Demerits/ Criticisms

• Socialism is criticized in terms of its models of economic organization as well as its political and social implications. 
• Other critiques are directed at the socialist movement, parties, or existing states. 
• Because of socialism's many varieties, most critiques focused on a specific approach. Proponents of one approach typically criticize others.
• According to Erik Olin Wright, "Socialism violates individual rights to private property and unleashes monstrous forms of state oppression". 
• Economic liberals argue that private ownership of the means of production and market exchange are natural entities or moral rights which are central to freedom and liberty. They argue that the economic dynamics of capitalism are immutable and absolute. 
• Public ownership of the means of production and economic planning are infringements upon liberty. 
• In any society, where everyone holds equal wealth, there can be no material incentive to work because one does not receive rewards for good work. Incentives increase productivity and its absence would lead to stagnation. 
• Income sharing reduces individual incentives to work, and therefore incomes should be individualized as much as possible. 
• Some philosophers have criticized the aims of socialism. They argue that equality erodes away at individual diversities. 
• Many rightists point to the mass killings under communist regimes, claiming them as an indictment of socialism. - James Piereson. "Socialism as a hate crime", 2021. 

Applicability 

• Several past and present states have declared themselves socialist states or in the process of building socialism. 
• The majority of self-declared socialist countries have been Marxist–Leninist or inspired by it, following the model of the Soviet Union or some form of people's or national democracy. 

Socialism in India

• India is a democracy that has been governed by non-socialist parties on many occasions, but its constitution makes references to socialism. 
• The word socialist was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd amendment act of 1976 which focuses on social and economic equality. 
• Its intention was to abolish economic and social differences with a view of placing citizens on equal footing irrespective of differences. 
• Indian economy is neither socialist nor capitalist in a whole, but is a mix of both. 
• Socialism in India means the following: 
  
  • Providing all people food security, full employment, universal access to education, health and housing. 
  • Economic, political and social empowerment of the people by vastly improving the living conditions of workers, peasants and the hitherto marginalized sections. 
  • Ending of caste oppression by abolishing the caste system. It means the equality of all linguistic groups and equal development of all languages. 
  • Socialist economic construction will be based on the socialised means of production and central planning. 

Socialism in World

• The current socialist state following the Marxist are Leninist are China, Cuba, Vietnam. 
• Countries with constitutional references to socialism (Non-Marxist–Leninist states) are Bangladesh, Portuguese, India, Nepal Sri Lanka, Tanzania etc. 
• The most strongly socialist systems in Europe are found in the five Nordic countries—Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland. On behalf of the people, these states own a large percentage of the economy. A large portion of their economies is spent on providing free housing, education, and public welfare. 
• Argentina is considered one of the most strongly socialist countries in Central or South America. For example, In 2008, the Argentinian government responded to inflation problems by confiscating private pension plans to bolster the country’s Social Security fund. 

Conclusion 

• To conclude we can say that the term 'socialism' is variously understood and defined by various thinkers and schools of thought. 
• C.E.M. Joad, in his Introduction to Modern Political Theory (1924) significantly observed that socialism tends to change with the need and use of their exponents, in short, is like a hat that has lost its shape because everybody wears it.