SOCIALISM
From Utopia
to Reality
SOCIALISM
Definition
•Advocating public
ownership of means of
production, with work
and products shared
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•Wealth was concentrated
in few hands
•Working class was
deprived of what was
rightfully theirs
•Social mechanism had to
be developed to justly
distribute society's wealth
SOCIALISM
UTOPIAN
SOCIALISM
Robert Owen
Count de SaintSimon
Charles Fourier
Louis Blanc
SOCIALISM
Antediluvian
Socialism
•Before the flood of
revolutions of 1848
•1815 to 1848
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Endorsed productive capacity
of industrialism
• Denounced its
mismanagement
• Organized society as
community, not competing
individuals
–End ruthless, capitalist
individualism
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Society regarded its ideas
as too idealistic with little
practical application
–Little political or social
support
• Failure of 1848-49
revolutions discredited
Utopian Socialists
SOCIALISM
Robert Owen
• 1771-1858
• England/Scotland
• One of the first socialists
and one of the first cotton
lords
• Became crusader for social
reform
SOCIALISM
Robert Owen
• Created model community
for employees-New Lanark,
Scot.
–Paid high wages
–Reduced working hours
–Built schools, housing, &
stores
• Established New Harmony in
Indiana (1825-1830)
SOCIALISM
Count de
Saint-Simon
•1760-1825
•France
•Social hierarchy based
on productivity
•Among first exponents
of planned society
SOCIALISM
Count de Saint-Simon
•Advocated public ownership
of industrial equipment &
other capital
–Captains of industry would be
in control
–Captains plan and coordinate
labor and resources of society
SOCIALISM
Charles Fourier
• 1772-1837
• France
• Dreamer (Schemer??)
• Proposed that society be
organized in small units
(phalansteries)
SOCIALISM
Charles Fourier
• Determined there were 810
distinct personality types
• Phalanstery would contain
1,620 people (1 male/1
female each)
• Each person would do the
work suited to his/her
natural inclination so crime
would end
SOCIALISM
Louis Blanc
• 1811-1882
• France
• Journalist
• Organization of Work
(1830) one of the most
constructive of early
socialist writings
SOCIALISM
Louis Blanc
• Proposed system of “social
workshops” (state-supported
manufacturing centers)
–Workers work for themselves
–No intervention of capitalists
• Believed government should
guarantee workers a job
SOCIALISM
CHRISTIAN
SOCIALISM
Charles Kingsley
SOCIALISM
Short-lived
•1848-1890s
•England
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•Industrial evils could be
ended by following
Christian principles
•Tried to bridge gap
between anti-religious
drift of socialism and need
for Christian social justice
SOCIALISM
Charles Kingsley
• 1814-1875
• Best-known proponent
• His writings exposed social
evils of industrialism
SOCIALISM
SCIENTIFIC
SOCIALISM
Karl Marx
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Created by Marx as primary
ideology of protest &
revolution
• Communist philosophic
system
–Founded on inherent goodness
of man
–Rousseau-influenced position
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Men are corrupted by
artificial institutions
(states, churches, etc.)
• History of humanity is
history of class struggle
(economics)
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•The age of bourgeois
domination of working
class (proletariat)
–Most severe and oppressive
phase of struggle
–Would lead to its own
destruction
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• The proletariat:
–Needed to be educated
–Would lead violent
revolution & destroy
institutions that perpetuate
struggle & suppression of
majority
–Dictatorship of the
proletariat would then occur
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Theory of Surplus Labor
–True value of product was
labor
–Worker received small
amount
–Capitalist "stole" surplus
labor (difference in price
and workers’ pay)
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•Dialectic Materialism
–Hegel's dialectic was idea
–Marxian dialectic was
action
–Driven by dynamics of
materialism with classless
society as synthesis
SOCIALISM
Karl Marx
• 1818-1883
• German philosopher
• Lived most of his adult life
in London
• Born to Jewish lawyer who
had converted to
Christianity
SOCIALISM
Karl Marx
• Atheistic Marx studied
philosophy at Univ. of Berlin
before turning to journalism
& economics
–Read widely in French
socialist thought
–Shared many of Fourier’s
views on marriage
SOCIALISM
Karl Marx
•Wrote:
–The Communist Manifesto
(1848)
–Critique of Political
Economy (1859)
–Das Kapital (1863-1864)
SOCIALISM
Karl Marx
• His arguments
–Put forth in scientific form
–From extensive,
accumulated data
–Developed in persuasive
rhetorical style
SOCIALISM
ANARCHISM
William Godwin
Auguste Blanqui
Pierre Proudhon
Michael Bakunin
SOCIALISM
Definition
• Situation where there would
be no property or authority
• Attained through
enlightened individualism
• Emerged in early 19th
century as consequence of
Ind. Rev.
SOCIALISM
William Godwin
• 1756-1836
• England
• Married to Mary
Wollstonecraft
• Although once a minister,
he became an atheist
SOCIALISM
William Godwin
• Wrote The Enquiry
Concerning Political Justice
(1793)
–Best-known work
–Expounded his theories of
philosophical anarchism
SOCIALISM
William Godwin
• Convinced of
–The individual perfection of
human beings
–Human being’s ability to
reason
• Found all forms of control
from without unreasonable
SOCIALISM
Auguste Blanqui
• 1805-1881
• France
• Advocated terrorism to end
capitalism and the state
• Revolution achieved only
with small cell of men
leading it
SOCIALISM
Pierre Proudhon
• 1809-1865
• France
• Attacked principle of
private property because
it denied justice to
common people
SOCIALISM
Pierre Proudhon
•Wrote What is Property?
(1840)
•Stated that:
–Change achieved through
education
–No violence necessary
SOCIALISM
Michael Bakunin
• 1814-1876
• Russia
• Violent, terrorist actions
were necessary to move
people to revolt against
their oppressors
SOCIALISM
SYNDICALISM
Georges Sorel
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•Variation of anarchism
–Anarcho-syndicalism
•Direct economic actions
to control industries
•Strike & industrial
sabotage frequently used
by syndicalists
SOCIALISM
Georges Sorel
• 1847-1922
• France
• Supported Alfred Dreyfus
–Accused of anarchism and
convicted of treason
• Influenced young
Mussolini
SOCIALISM
REVISIONIST
SOCIALISM
Sidney & Beatrice Webb
George Bernard Shaw
Edward Bernstein
Jean Jaures
SOCIALISM
Ideology
• Reconsideration of Marxism
began before Marx’s death
• Revolutions not inevitable in
bringing about socialist
society
• Democratic societies had
mechanisms to gradually
evolve socialism
SOCIALISM
Ideology
•World revolution was not
imminent and directable
•Historical processes
endured, difficult to
redirect and reform
SOCIALISM
Fabians
• British leftists
–Said they were Marxists
–But they differed from Marx
• People
–Sidney and Beatrice Webb
(1859-1947) (1858-1943)
–George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950)
SOCIALISM
Social Democratic Party
(SPD)
• Germany
• Established as orthodox
Marxism
• Leader-Edward Bernstein
(1850-1932)
–Influenced by Fabians
–In the 1890’s redirected SPD
toward revisionism
SOCIALISM
French Section of the
Working-Class
International
• France
• Leader--Jean Jaures (18591914)
• SFIO moderation led to
developing acceptance of its
ideas during tumultuous years
of Dreyfus Affair
SOCIALISM
End of Orthodox
Marxism
• Orthodox Marxists
denounced revisionist
movement
• By 1914 majority of
socialists were revisionists
willing to use democratic
process to bring about
their goals
SOCIALISM
SOCIALISM
From Utopia
to Reality
SOCIALISM