Communism, the most extreme variant of socialism, is the fifth mode of production that Karl Marx proposed between 1818 and 1883. All significant means of production, including land, banks, businesses, etc., are publicly owned under this system. Socialism first appeared in Europe with the rise of the proletariat (workers) and the capitalists or factory owners as two conflicting social users as a result of industrial growth. Workers created working unions to demand their rights, such as the right to organize, especially following the industrial revolution, when they were subjected to severe exploitation.
The French revolution of 1989, which promoted liberty, equality, and brotherhood for all, served as an inspiration for socialism in France. Socialism was consequently applied all across the world, especially in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The most prosperous regions were Russia, various nations in eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Cuba, and Africa.
AIMS / GOALS / OBJECTIVE OF SOCIALISM
1. Achieving its objective by transferring ownership of all significant production-related modes of transportation to the government, directly or indirectly.
putting resources at the public's disposal for usage in accordance with their needs, including minerals and natural resources like oil.
where the former was seen as a destructive mode of production that stopped society from enjoying life, replacing capitalism with socialism.
to create a strong workers party that will govern the nation on their behalf.
eradicating male-on-male discrimination, isolation, and exploitation in society.
UTOPIA
Utopia is hence similar to Smith's imaginary, where goals should be attained figuratively rather than realistically, as was the case with Utopia socialism. This shows that something that a person might have thought of doing but didn't actually do is imaginary and exists nowhere.
refers to the earliest socialist conceptions to develop in Europe, particularly in Britain and France People like Charter Fomlio and Count Henry de Saint Simon Autopian socialism was advocated and pioneered by Robert Owen, Louis Blano, Thomas More, and Tomes Comparative, who were primarily motivated by the industrial class crisis that resulted from the early stages of the industrial revolution.
THE MAIN IDEAS OF THESE SOCIALIST THINKERS
- COUNT HENRY DE SEINT SIMON (1760 -1825).
He believed that the state ought to control the manufacturing and distribution of goods and pay workers according to a single quality, specifically experience, talent, and professionalism.
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- CHARLES FOURIER (1772 -1837).
The profit must be distributed in a liberal minimum, which means that it must be given to each in a specific proportion to the community based on labor, talent, and capital. He proposed that society be reorganized into a democratic self-governing unit of about 400 families, which should be financially self-sufficient.
- ROBERT OWEN (1771 – 1838).
He advocated reorganizing society into a group of 500–3000 individuals; this society should own and use all major means of production in common for the welfare of all members of the community or group; this community should be an agricultural society and also engage in other occupations to make it almost self sufficient.
- LOUIS BLANO.
He proposed that the state be rebuilt or reorganized on a democratic basis, should provide working men with tools of labor, and every person had a natural right to work for his or her own benefits, but he or she could not find employment on just terms at the hands of private individuals rather the state should were to its help, that is, the state is responsible to find a job for his or her people and replace or eliminate the private individuals/capitalist; so if the state eliminated the capitalist,
- THOMAS MORE (1478 – 1535).
He was a philosopher and statesman from England who believed that capitalism was an exploitative system. He came to the conclusion that capitalism did not allow for the equality and happiness of women. He also pushed the views that the major means of production should not be privately owned, and that society should be reorganized around collective ownership of the means of production and collective labor.
- THOMASO COMPANELLA (1568 – 1639).
He gave the name "the city of the son" to his ideal society, where there wouldn't be any human exploitation, people would own their own property rather than being treated as slaves, and social development would be founded on both scientific principles and the norms of this perfect society.
NOTE:-
Utopian socialism was a perspective that opposed class conflict and revolutionary measures because they thought that dialogue between the capitalist and the workers would be the answers for the capitalist to modify the system of exploitation of workers and be a friendly mode of production to workers.
CONTRIBUTION OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISM TO THE RISE OF SOCIALISM
They attacked capitalism by showing how it overly exploited workers and the vast majority of people who lacked access to productive means of production.
Workers should restructure in a way that best suits their lives, according to the Utopianist.
They proposed a modification of the human economic system. The utopian sought to reconstruct society and favored a world characterized by collection.
Utopianists outlined the characteristics of an ideal society for the benefit of society's future, stressing that such a society should uphold natural rights and not allow for the exploitation of people by other people, oppression, or humiliation.
Due to its crimes like humiliation, exploitation, and segregation, capitalism is a poor form of era that cannot function in society; as a result, the public has become aware of this and has begun to reject it.
They lay the foundation for the development of scientific socialism, which evolved as a result of learning from the shortcomings of utopian socialism, including its failure to overthrow capitalism through class conflict and revolutionary tactics.
CONTRIBUTION OF UTOPIAN TO THE RISE OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
Utopianists addressed the evils of capitalism, including exploitation, humiliation, oppression, and segregation. They also revealed its flaws, arguing that capitalism is a bad system that needs to be opposed by everyone in society in order to put an end to its negative aspects, including exploitation, humiliation, oppression, and segregation.
Utopianists laid the groundwork for scientific socialism's inception, particularly the idea of Utopian thinkers that involved reorganizing society; as a result, when scientific socialism eventually emerged, it was built on these theories.
By guiding and directing them to the directions to be taken in order to fight capitalism in the future, utopian socialism created awareness and consciousness among the workers of the world. For example, workers were consciousted to unite and fight together for their common enemy until they win because workers have nothing to lose but to gain.
Scientific socialism came into existence as a result of utopian ideologies like the command economy, which held that the state should control and organize the economy on behalf of the people. This ideology also called for the state to be able to organize the formation of organizations for the ideal society.
Utopianist gave capitalists a lesson on how to prepare for the continuation of worker exploitation in the future because workers would not put up with it; instead, they would protest it and, if they could, overthrow the system. Based on this lesson, scientific socialism was developed.
Utopian misled a theory of scientific socialism out of an experience of utopian thinking, and when the two factors were incorporated in its value—this were directs and historical materialism—socialism became scientific socialism.
Because they believed that conflict was the only other option for eradicating the capitalism system from society, utopian socialism relied on moral persuasion to spread its ideas.
Without any concrete strategies for achieving and putting the ideologies and ideas into practice, utopianism was overly academic and idealistic.
Because they took place in the premature workers period during the early stage of the industrial revolution, when the majority of workers were still illiterate or uneducated to know and fight for their rights, such as during Luddism where the majority of workers were ignorant, utopian movements lacked widespread support from the populace.
SOURCES OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISM
As capitalism developed in Europe, the following factors contributed to the emergence of utopian socialism:
Poor working conditions, such as lengthy hours, the absence of model services, low pay, subpar transportation, child labor, etc.
2. The issue of substandard living and working environments. People slept on the Float, a socialist notion of German philosopher Michael Hegel, in crowded homes with little ventilation.
THE FAILURE / WEAKNESS OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISM
The failure of utopian socialism to realize its intended goals is explored below. Utopian socialism had identified several social, economic, and political issues that the society had to deal with, but there was only one way to solve each of these issues.
the incorrect method was used to remodel the system. This was due to the fact that Utopianist preferred discussion, morality, negotiation, or persuasions, making it nearly impossible to achieve socialism through negotiations because capitalism is based on exploitation, limitation oppression, and segregation and cannot be completely eliminated or formed by using the wrong method unless through class struggle and revolution. Similarly, Utopian socialist despised class struggle and evolution.
Utopian socialists had a deceptive way of hoping to achieve a better society by relying on the generosity of the wealthy or capitalism to improve the lives of the poor in society, and occasionally on the lavender, but they also had to deal with the issue of famine and hunger while experiencing extreme poverty.
OBJECTIVES / AIMS / OF A UTOPIAN SOCIALIST
The challenges brought about by the industrial revolution were addressed by utopian socialists, and as a result, their general goals were to reform the capitalist system and make it feasible to meet the needs of the underprivileged in society, as detailed below:
It sought to do away with private property since it encourages and/or insists on oppression, exploitation, and segregation of the majority in society.
Its goal was to establish a society in which there would be no exploitation or oppression and everyone would live in peace.
Its goal was to provide social aid to the populace, particularly the impoverished. This is demonstrable by the utopians' desire for the capital's owners to take care of the underprivileged by offering them social services like free milling goods, free housing, free healthcare, free education, etc.
In short, the main goal of utopian socialism was to reform capitalism by eradicating all social ills brought about by it and to enable people to live in harmony, with lives filled with happiness, equality, and other positive qualities.
Thus, scientific socialism was the one that put socialism into practice in the world as the case study was in Russia after the Russian revolution of October 1917. This was advocated by Karl Max (1818–1883) and his friend Fredrick Angles (1820–1895) who was aimed at destroying capitalism and establishing a dictatorship state of workers (proletarians).
The scientific socialism movement included intellectual underpinnings of the class struggle and revolution, such as act (means), as well as scientific foundations for constructing socialism. These scientific socialism's forefathers thought that class struggle and revolutionary methods could bring about socialism. As a result, they advocated for a conflict between workers and capitalists in which the latter sought to seize control of the state and major institutions.
As a result, scientific socialism was responsible for putting socialism into reality over the globe, with Russia serving as the case study after the October 1917 Russian Revolution. Karl Max (1818–1833) and his buddy Fredrick Angles (1820–1895) promoted this in an effort to overthrow capitalism and establish a state run by workers (proletarians).
In addition to scientific foundations for building socialism, the scientific socialism movement featured philosophical underpinnings of the class struggle and revolution, such act (means). The founders of this scientific socialism believed that revolution and class conflict might lead to socialism. They therefore promoted a struggle between workers and capitalists in which the latter aimed to seize power over the government and important institutions.
Max, Angels, Lenin, and other socialist theorists saw socialism as a traditional stage and wanted a society to establish communism in which a society would be classless, stateless, and there would be no private ownership of the means of production.
They wanted workers to make revolution and establish a dictatorship state of workers in which workers could seize or get political power and establish socialism, but later socialism should transform to its highest stage of communism. Every need would be met in a society that practiced communion, and each person would give in accordance with his or her skills.
In addition, since workers would be working for both themselves and their community as a whole, there would be no human exploitation and no use of labor as a commodity in a communist society. After the proletariat revolution nationalizes private property under socialism, the primary means of production—including banks, mining, transportation and communication, factories, and plantations—must be run by workers under government supervision.
A high scale of import-export should also be subject to public oversight for the benefit of everyone in a community, especially the poor. Property must be split into two categories under socialism following scientific socialism: personal property and public property. The former must consist of all capitalist nationalized assets, including banks, factories, etc., while the latter must be made up of products and labor meant for individual use.
KARL MAX MAJOR IDEAS
Following are the findings Max made from his analysis:-
(i) One aspect of capitalism was the exploitation of people by people.
(ii) It is impossible to convince capitalists to put an end to their terrible practices, such as exploitation, humiliation, oppression, and segregation.
(iii) The only way to end capitalism was through a combination of revolutionary movements and class struggles, in which the workers would control the main means of production for their own advantage.
(iv) Because history has been a process of transformation via class conflict, workers and other members of a society should fight to abolish capitalism and create a new chapter in that society's history.
(v) In order to achieve socialism, the exploited class, which is oppressed, degraded, and exploited, must overthrow capitalism.
(vi) Since workers in capitalism do not own factories or other production instruments, all wealth and property in society are products of their labor. As a result, workers should band together to own and manage the riches and property produced by their labor.
(vii) Religion and other ideal society concepts must take the place of people's egos and selfishness.
(viii) Workers must band together to fight capitalism and eradicate all of its components, such as banks, industries, and other businesses, in order for workers to have a good quality of life. Workers only own their labor power, which they sell to capitalists as a commodity. As a result, workers can only survive by working for capitalism.
Max argued that because of the negative effects of capitalism on society, socialism was being created as a precondition for it to exist. He also argued that once all capitalist classes had been destroyed and overthrown, there would be no longer be any exploitative classes in society and that socialism would have reached its climax (peak) and the dictatorship of the proletariat would not be required. Instead, socialism would have to evolve into its most advanced form, known as communism, in which the important to pay attention to qualities, features, or aspects.
Production is at its peak and tailored to his needs (i).
(ii) A society without classes would be established.
(iii) There would be no distinction between manual and intellectual activity.
(iv) The distinction between urban and rural areas would vanish.
(v) All other aspects of capitalism's output would be destroyed.
(vi) The society must embrace advanced science and technology.
(vii) Since communalism does not require a state or the use of force, there would be no law, police, jails, or armies.
MAX AND PROLETARIATES (working class)
Karl Max's kind of socialism had greater appeal to the working class than any other socialist in the world, so he gave the workers the following advice.
(i) Max established the first international working class socialist group, which was founded in London in 1864 and included socialists from several nations.
(ii) The socialist text Max Manifests, which urged all workers to unite and fight capitalism's vices until they won via labor (chains), was extensively distributed around the world.
(iii) Around the world, beginning in 1848, there were various revolutions where workers fought for their rights, such as in France, China, and other nations. The second worldwide workers' must was founded under Fredrick Engels 15 years after the previous one ended since Max had passed away. As a result, the second international workers must was implemented in Switzerland in 1893, with participation from socialist groups from several nations, including those from China and Russia. Later, V. Lenin was in charge of Russia's first socialist uprising.
Generally speaking, Max's view of history suggested that the first socialist revolution may occur in the most advanced nations, such as Britain and France. However, this did not occur for a variety of reasons, including;-
(i) Improving workers' working conditions.
The start of collective bargaining (ii).
(iii) Western democracy is introduced, etc.
Following the Bolshevik revolution in October 1917, the first socialist system emerged in Russia due to these circumstances.
THE THEORY OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
The communist manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Frederic Engels, was referred to as scientific socialism. Class conflict and revolutionary action are the most efficient ways to build socialism, according to the philosophical foundations of scientific socialism. In the view of Max and Engels, scientific socialism cannot be built in the absence of class conflict and revolutionary activity. The examination of Engels (1820-1895) and Karl Max (1883-1818) revealed the following.
(i) Because the exploiting class, or capitalists, will not voluntarily submit, the destruction of capitalism can only be accomplished via revolutionary acts and class warfare.
(ii) Since they are the ones who are exploited, degraded, and oppressed, the working class is the only revolutionary force capable of overthrowing capitalism while making up the majority of society. Until they succeed, all they will own is their labor power.
(iii) In order to overthrow capitalism, the working class will need to unite with the peasantry in an alliance, as well as with other progressive social movements.
(iv) After the capitalist state is overthrown, a proletariat-run dictatorship that must defend and advance the interests of the masses will take its place.
(v) The workers' government is required to make the following provisions:
(A) Workers and peasants are given the majority of the means of production and the distribution of wealth and property.
(a) The value of labor as a resource has changed.
(c) Because the socialist government of workers must plan the economy for all members of society, the economic system must eliminate contradictions in society.
THE ORIGIN /GENESIS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
(i) German dialectical ideology.
(ii) The impact of the 1789 French Revolution.
(iii) Socialism with its utopian vision.
The English political economist is number four.
(v) Karl Max and Fredrick Engels' contributions.
