Society is organised on a class basis
with a ruling class and an exploited
working class
Implies Collective Ownership of
productive assets and the need for a
redistribution of wealth
Belief in Malleable Human Nature
meaning that people's consciousness
is produced by social conditions, rather
than innate Human Nature
Humans are naturally co-operative
but current society has imposed a
false consciousness onto them
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
Trade Unions and
Co-operatives are promoted
by all types of Scoialists
Disastrous Consequences in the
USSR Collectivisation of Agriculture
and China's Great Leap Forward
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
Equality
'From each according to his ability, to
each according to his need' is the mantra
of a Marxist-Communist Society
Belief in Equality of Outcome
Revisionists believe that Social
Equality is necessary for people to
develop their full potential
Aspire to relative equalising of society
Equality does more than meet the
demands of justice - it also
underpins Social Stablity
Fundamentalist Socialism
Aims to destroy the existing class
structures and the institution of
private property
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
Marx cited the Paris Commune of 1871 as an example in his lifetime
A minority however do support
Evolutionary Socialism in order to
achieve Marxist aims
Profoundly Internationalist,
claiming that the workers of the
world have no countries
Marx was influenced by Hegel's dialectical
theory of history (where all ideas are the
synthesis of a thesis and antithesis
History is the history of class conflict. The current conflict
(Proletariat vs Bourgeoisie) will end this history and result
in a classless society
Socialism isn't just
desirable, it's inevitable
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
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.
Orthodox Communism
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'
Dictatorship of the Proletariat replaced by rule of
an intellectual middle class 'Vangaurd'
Stalin rejected Global Revolution in favour of 'Socialism in One Country'
Revisionist Socialism
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
Bernstein disagreed with Marx that
Capitalism was doomed to collapse and
believed that it could be 'humanised'
Leads to the promotion of the
Welfare State and Wealth
Redistribution
See the path to Socialism as
achievable through parliamentary
methods
Dropped the abolition of private property
as an aim
British Fabians were fare more influenced by teachings of
the Bible than of Marx and Engels
Believes in the amelioration of class
differences as opposed to their abolition
... Or Socialisms
Ends: 1) To abolish Capitalism
and Private Property OR 2) To
reform capitalism to save the
interests of all the people
Means: 1) Revolutionary Socialism in order
to replace all existing state institutions OR 2)
Evolutionary Socialism that uses the
existing institutions
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
The working class is by far the largest in
society and will inevitably vote for the
Socialist parties as they represent their
interests
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
The current Labour Party's change
of Clause 4 will be cited as an
example of this in action
Neo-Revisionist Socialism
Anthony Giddens'
'The Third Way' used
as a template
Accepts that a managed economy is
impractical in the modern Globalised
Economy
Believes in providing people with equality of
opportunity, much like Modern Liberals
Stresses 'Social Inclusivity'
Accepts the role of the free market as the decisive
force for wealth creation and abandons the
redistribution of wealth through tax
Social equality became linked to the ability to work in jobs that are highly skilled and well payed
'Asset Based Egalitarianism' =
Equality should be derived from the
ownership of property
Key Thinkers
Karl Marx and Fredrick
Engels - The
Communist Manifesto