Socialism Definition: What Is Socialism?

Socialism is an economic theory and political system characterized by public ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods. In a socialist system, the government provides basic human needs (such as universal health care) based on the decisions of the collective. The definition of socialism covers various doctrines, ranging from socialist tendencies in an otherwise capitalist economy to total state control in a rigid socialist society.

A pre-political form of socialism goes back to the beginning of civilization when survival depended on sharing resources and working together to hunt animals and grow food. Here’s how the concept of socialism has evolved over the years:

• Ancient Greece: In 375 BC, Plato wrote about a type of socialist society in his Socratic dialogue Republic.
• Renaissance Europe: In 1516 AD, Sir Thomas More expanded on the idea of a peaceful and productive collective in his book Utopia.
• Industrial Revolution: During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the booming economic growth of the Industrial Revolution brought to bear all the inequities of capitalist economies, making a small number of private individuals wealthy while the working class toiled and struggled in an economic system rigged against them. Welsh businessman Robert Owen promoted utopian socialism in the mid-nineteenth century, but it was theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s 1847 book The Communist Manifesto that caused a political movement of democratic socialism across Europe.
• Bolshevik Revolution: Inspired by the Marxist view that society’s ills stem from class struggles between the wealthy and the proletariat, Vladimir Lenin rejected capitalist society, leading the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and overseeing the formation of the Soviet Union.
• World Wars: During the twentieth century, Marxism and socialism gave way to communism and fascism, and after World War II, communist regimes sprang up across Eastern Europe, while democratic socialist parties remained popular in Western bloc countries like France, Britain, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
• Market socialism: When Soviet central planning failed, and the Soviet Union dissolved, many socialist societies adjusted their approaches to include some economic aspects of a capitalist system, spawning what economists call market socialism.

Though socialism encompasses a range of ideologies, the primary principles of socialist systems include:

1. 1. Centralized economic activities: As opposed to a capitalist economy in which private individuals can pursue and profit from economic activity as they please, the central authority of a socialist economy coordinates all economic planning, with an equal distribution of income among the public.
2. 2. Classless society: Socialism strives for a strictly egalitarian society in which all people share the same economic status through equal distribution of wealth and ownership of natural resources.
3. 3. Employment protection: In socialist societies, the government protects the human rights of workers, offering equal opportunities through minimum wages and labor union recognition.
4. 4. Lack of consumer choice: Since the government of a socialist state provides the public with all their basic needs and market forces don’t exist, you won’t find a huge variety of products on shelves in a socialist country.
5. 5. Limited property rights: Whereas capitalist economies allow and encourage private property ownership by individuals, socialist economies only allow personal private property in the form of consumer goods.
6. 6. Public ownership: A socialist society enforces collective ownership of the means of production (or decision-making power through state ownership on behalf of the public), meaning the public owns all manufacturing and distribution, and no individual can profit more than any other.
7. 7. Supply of basic needs: Unlike a free market economy in which a person can suffer if they don’t make enough to survive, the central planners of socialist economies provide the public with basic human needs, such as employment, food, shelter, public transportation, clothing, education, and health care.

Though pure socialism doesn’t exist today, and many interpretations of socialism exist alongside Marxist-Leninist communism, some historical examples and comparative modern examples include:

1. 1. Cuba: After Cuba’s revolution in 1959, the country became a Marxist-Leninist socialist economy under Fidel Castro. In recent years, Cubans voted to maintain socialism politically but instituted new economic policies, including rights to private property and some free market activity.
2. 2. North Korea: A completely closed Marxist-Leninist communist party economy, North Korea governs its people through a strict dictatorship.
3. 3. The People’s Republic of China: China’s Marxist-Leninist communist government controls many of the country’s means of production but allows private companies to profit within specific economic regions such as Shanghai.
4. 4. The Soviet Union: The former Soviet Union (also known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR) called itself a socialist country under Marxist-Leninist terminology.
5. 5. The United States: Though it considers itself a democratic country with a capitalist economy, the US does offer social welfare programs considered socialist, such as welfare, Social Security, food stamps, and housing assistance. Certain politicians, though affiliated with mainstream political parties, such as Democrats or Republicans, claim membership in socialist organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America and promote ideas of social democracy.

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