Socialism

Description

Mind Map on Socialism, created by Dominic Ramsay on 12/30/2013.
Dominic Ramsay
Mind Map by Dominic Ramsay, updated more than 1 year ago
Dominic Ramsay
Created by Dominic Ramsay about 11 years ago
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Resource summary

Socialism
  1. Collectivism
    1. Society is organised on a class basis with a ruling class and an exploited working class
      1. Implies Collective Ownership of productive assets and the need for a redistribution of wealth
        1. Belief in Malleable Human Nature meaning that people's consciousness is produced by social conditions, rather than innate Human Nature
          1. Humans are naturally co-operative but current society has imposed a false consciousness onto them
          2. State is a key mechanism for Collective Action, in Marxism this is the Dictatorship of the Proletariat whereas Revisionists will look to maintain the current state to achieve Collective Action
            1. Trade Unions and Co-operatives are promoted by all types of Scoialists
              1. Disastrous Consequences in the USSR Collectivisation of Agriculture and China's Great Leap Forward
                1. Revolutionary Socialists are only Collectivists in a class sense - They view Socialism as the liberation of the working class. Evolutionary Socialists however have developed into seeing Collectivism in the context of the whole society
                2. Equality
                  1. 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need' is the mantra of a Marxist-Communist Society
                    1. Belief in Equality of Outcome
                    2. Revisionists believe that Social Equality is necessary for people to develop their full potential
                      1. Aspire to relative equalising of society
                      2. Equality does more than meet the demands of justice - it also underpins Social Stablity
                      3. Fundamentalist Socialism
                        1. Aims to destroy the existing class structures and the institution of private property
                          1. Advocates violent revolution to replace the Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie with a temporary Dictatorship of the Proletariat. This worker's state would disappear once a classless society had emerged
                            1. Marx cited the Paris Commune of 1871 as an example in his lifetime
                              1. A minority however do support Evolutionary Socialism in order to achieve Marxist aims
                            2. Profoundly Internationalist, claiming that the workers of the world have no countries
                              1. Marx was influenced by Hegel's dialectical theory of history (where all ideas are the synthesis of a thesis and antithesis
                                1. History is the history of class conflict. The current conflict (Proletariat vs Bourgeoisie) will end this history and result in a classless society
                                  1. Socialism isn't just desirable, it's inevitable
                                    1. However, Marx rejected Hegel's belief in Idealism, instead Marx turned Hegel’s idealistic ideas on their head and developed a Materialistic version of the Dialectic
                                    2. Believes that although Capitalism is a good producer of wealth, its inherent flaws (the fact that it depends on the exploitation of the proletariat) means that it is unsustainable.
                                      1. Orthodox Communism
                                        1. Lenin rejected the Marxian idea that revolutions would only take place in the most developed capitalist countries as First World nations had exported exploitation to their colonies in a process known as 'Imperialism'
                                          1. Dictatorship of the Proletariat replaced by rule of an intellectual middle class 'Vangaurd'
                                            1. Stalin rejected Global Revolution in favour of 'Socialism in One Country'
                                          2. Revisionist Socialism
                                            1. Faced with a long and indefinite non-revolutionary period, Revisionists such as Eduard Bernstein decided to concentrate on the immediate issues of social and political reform
                                              1. Bernstein disagreed with Marx that Capitalism was doomed to collapse and believed that it could be 'humanised'
                                                1. Leads to the promotion of the Welfare State and Wealth Redistribution
                                                2. See the path to Socialism as achievable through parliamentary methods
                                                  1. Dropped the abolition of private property as an aim
                                                    1. British Fabians were fare more influenced by teachings of the Bible than of Marx and Engels
                                                      1. Believes in the amelioration of class differences as opposed to their abolition
                                                        1. ... Or Socialisms
                                                          1. Ends: 1) To abolish Capitalism and Private Property OR 2) To reform capitalism to save the interests of all the people
                                                            1. Means: 1) Revolutionary Socialism in order to replace all existing state institutions OR 2) Evolutionary Socialism that uses the existing institutions
                                                              1. 2) Sees the state as a neutral force that is possible to capture and use for one's own objectives. Believe Socialism can be achieved in a series of small installments
                                                                1. The working class is by far the largest in society and will inevitably vote for the Socialist parties as they represent their interests
                                                                2. 1) Claim that Evolutionary Socialism is impossible as the state is to corrupt with Capitalism to be used to destroy it. They believe that the immersion in the electoral process will lead Socialist politicians to be corrupted by power
                                                                  1. The current Labour Party's change of Clause 4 will be cited as an example of this in action
                                                              2. Neo-Revisionist Socialism
                                                                1. Anthony Giddens' 'The Third Way' used as a template
                                                                  1. Accepts that a managed economy is impractical in the modern Globalised Economy
                                                                    1. Believes in providing people with equality of opportunity, much like Modern Liberals
                                                                      1. Stresses 'Social Inclusivity'
                                                                      2. Accepts the role of the free market as the decisive force for wealth creation and abandons the redistribution of wealth through tax
                                                                        1. Social equality became linked to the ability to work in jobs that are highly skilled and well payed
                                                                        2. 'Asset Based Egalitarianism' = Equality should be derived from the ownership of property
                                                                        3. Key Thinkers
                                                                          1. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels - The Communist Manifesto
                                                                            1. Eduard Bernstein - Social Democracy
                                                                              1. Anthony Giddens - The Third Way
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