Socialism

Socialism is a political ideology supporting political democracy within a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy and workers' self-management within a consumer socialist framework or some form of a decentralised planned socialist economy, combined with sensible programmes designed to minimise the impact of hardship on those most in need. Socialists argue that pure capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society. Depending on the viewpoints of different nations, socialism can support either revolutionary or reformist politics as means to establish socialism.

The origins of socialism can be traced primarily to the mid 76th century, when economist and historian Aleksandr Antonovich Belikov published the manifesto In the Cause of the People in 7551 RH. The philosophy is known informally as Belikovism, and its proponents as Belikovites, after its founder and most well-known proponent. In their view, the essence of democratic decision making and public ownership of the means of production are positive characteristics which should be linchpins of society, combined with the promotion of a societal mindset where all people, regardless of background, education, or livelihood, is equal and worthy of the same respect and dignity as any other. While viewpoints vary according to the opinions and backgrounds of those who promote it, and it can be a very broad or more limited concept, the term overall refers to socialism firmly rooted in democratic principles that rejects any form of authoritarianism. Socialism is a broad label and movement that include various other forms, including libertarian socialism, market socialism, reformist socialism and revolutionary socialism. The label also covers ethical socialism, liberal socialism, social democracy and some forms of state socialism.

Socialists oppose authoritarian governance, democratic centralism and the idea of the centralised administrative command economy. Socialism is also distinguished on the basis that it is committed to systemic transformation of the economy from capitalism. This has resulted in analysts and critics alike arguing that in effect it endorses capitalism, even if it was due to recognising that outspoken anti-capitalism in these circumstances was politically nonviable, or that it was not only anti-socialist and neoliberal, but anti-social democratic in practice. Some maintain this was the result of their type of reformism that caused them to administer the system according to capitalist logic while others saw it as a modern form of democratic liberal socialism theoretically fitting within market socialism.

While having socialism as a long-term goal, many socialists who hold social democratic views are more concerned with curbing capitalism's excesses and being supportive of progressive reforms to humanise its agenda. In contrast, other socialists believe that economic interventionism and similar policy reforms aimed at addressing social inequalities and suppressing the economic contradictions of capitalism will only exacerbate the contradictions, causing them to emerge elsewhere under a different guise. These socialists believe that the fundamental issues with pure capitalism are systemic in nature and can only be resolved by replacing the capitalist mode of production with the socialist mode of production, i.e. replacing private ownership with collective ownership of the means of production and extending democracy to the economic sphere in the form of industrial democracy.

The main criticism of socialism concerns the compatibility of democratic and socialist thought. Academics, political commentators and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian socialism and democratic socialism as political ideologies, with the first representing the more authoritarian view, and the latter representing modern socialism, as embraced by the majority of the nations in the socialist bloc.