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Removed "Social Democrats" because they do not support the transition to socialism at all, they wish to maintain capitalism through what is basically a welfare state with free healthcare and education, thus numbing the workers, they are not the same as democratic socialists, nor socialists |
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{{about|a political strategy for implementing socialism|countries governed by Marxist–Leninist communist parties|Communist state|countries constitutionally committed to socialism|Socialist state|the social policies introduced by Otto von Bismarck in Germany|State Socialism (Germany)|a list of self-proclaimed socialist states|List of socialist states|constitutional references to socialism in multi-party democracies|Socialism in liberal democratic constitutions}}
{{socialism sidebar|variants}}
'''State socialism''' is a [[Political ideology|political]] and [[economic ideology]] within the [[Socialism|socialist movement]]
Aside from [[anarchists]] and other [[libertarian socialists]], there was, in the past, confidence amongst socialists in the concept of state socialism as being the most effective form of socialism. Some early [[social democrats]] in the late 19th century and early 20th century, such as the [[Fabians]], claimed that British society was already mostly socialist and that the economy was significantly socialist through government-run enterprises created by conservative and liberal governments which could be run for the interests of the people through their representatives' influence, an argument reinvoked by some socialists in post-war Britain.<ref>Eatwell, Roger; Wright, Anthony (1999). ''Contemporary Political Ideologies'' (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. pp. 87–88 {{ISBN|9781855676053}}.</ref> State socialism declined starting in the 1970s, with [[stagflation]] during the [[1970s energy crisis]],<ref>Gey, Peter; Kosta, H. G. Jiří; Quaisser, Wolfgang (1987). ''Crisis and Reform in Socialist Economies''. Avalon Publishing. {{ISBN|9780813373324}}.</ref><ref>Miller, Toby (2008). ''A Companion to Cultural Studies''. Wiley. {{ISBN|9780470998793}}.</ref><ref>Ehns, Dirk H. (2016). ''Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics''. Routledge. pp. 4–5. {{ISBN|9781138654778}}.</ref> the rise of [[neoliberalism]] and later with the fall of state socialist nations in the [[Eastern Bloc]] during the [[Revolutions of 1989]] and the [[fall of the Soviet Union]].<ref>Eatwell, Roger; Wright, Anthony (1999). ''Contemporary Political Ideologies'' (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. pp. 93–95. {{ISBN|9781855676053}}.</ref>
As a term, ''state socialism'' is often used interchangeably with ''[[state capitalism]]'' in reference to the [[Soviet-type economic planning|economic systems]] of [[Marxist–Leninist state]]s such as the [[Soviet Union]] to highlight the role of [[state planning]] in these economies, with the critics of said system referring to it more commonly as ''state capitalism''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellman|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Ellman|url=http://www.cambridge.org/US/academic/subjects/economics/economics-general-interest/socialist-planning-3rd-edition|title=Socialist Planning, Third Edition|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1107427327|page=11|quote=Accordingly, after World War II the Soviet model was adopted throughout the state-socialist world.}}</ref> [[Democratic socialism|Democratic]] and [[libertarian]] socialists claim that these states had only a limited number of socialist characteristics.<ref>Howard, M. C.; King, J. E. (2001). [http://www.hetsa.org.au/pdf/34-A-08.pdf "'State Capitalism' in the Soviet Union"]. Retrieved 27 December 2019.</ref><ref>Chomsky, Noam (1986). [http://chomsky.info/1986____/ "The Soviet Union Versus Socialism"]. ''Our Generation''. Chomsky.info. Retrieved 20 October 2015.</ref><ref>Wolff, Richard D. (27 June 2015). [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31567-socialism-means-abolishing-the-distinction-between-bosses-and-employees "Socialism Means Abolishing the Distinction Between Bosses and Employees"]. ''[[Truthout]]''. Retrieved 9 July 2015.</ref> However, others maintain that workers in the Soviet Union and other Marxist–Leninist states had genuine control over the means of production through institutions such as [[Trade unions in the Soviet Union|trade unions]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?|last1=Webb|first1=Sidney|last2=Webb|first2=Beatrice|year=1935|location=London|publisher=Longmans}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Soviet democracy|last=Sloan|first=Pat|year=1937|location=London|publisher=Left Book Club; Victor Gollancz Ltd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/WorkersParticipationInTheSovietUnion|title=Workers' Participation in the Soviet Union|last=Costello|first=Mick|year=1977|publisher=Novosti Press Agency Publishing House}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy|last=Farber|first=Samuel|year=1992|journal=Studies in Soviet Thought|volume=44|issue=3|pages=229–230}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy|last=Getzler|first=Israel|year=2002|orig-year=1982|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521894425}}</ref> Academics, political commentators and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian state socialism and democratic state socialism, with the first representing the [[Soviet Bloc]] and the latter representing [[Western Bloc]] countries which have been democratically governed by socialist parties such as Britain, France, Sweden and Western social-democracies in general, among others.<ref name="Barrett 1978">Barrett, William, ed. (1 April 1978). [https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/capitalism-socialism-and-democracy/ "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: A Symposium"]. ''Commentary''. Retrieved 14 June 2020. "If we were to extend the definition of socialism to include Labor Britain or socialist Sweden, there would be no difficulty in refuting the connection between capitalism and democracy."</ref><ref name="Dissident 1991">Heilbroner, Robert L. (Winter 1991). [https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/from-sweden-to-socialism-social-democracy-symposium "From Sweden to Socialism: A Small Symposium on Big Questions"]. ''Dissident''. Barkan, Joanne; Brand, Horst; Cohen, Mitchell; Coser, Lewis; Denitch, Bogdan; Fehèr, Ferenc; Heller, Agnès; Horvat, Branko; Tyler, Gus. pp. 96–110. Retrieved 17 April 2020.</ref><ref name="Kendall 2011">Kendall, Diana (2011). ''Sociology in Our Time: The Essentials''. Cengage Learning. pp. 125–127. {{ISBN|9781111305505}}. "Sweden, Great Britain, and France have mixed economies, sometimes referred to as democratic socialism—an economic and political system that combines private ownership of some of the means of production, governmental distribution of some essential goods and services, and free elections. For example, government ownership in Sweden is limited primarily to railroads, mineral resources, a public bank, and liquor and tobacco operations."</ref><ref name="Li 2015">Li, He (2015). ''Political Thought and China's Transformation: Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China''. Springer. pp. 60–69. {{ISBN|9781137427816}}. "The scholars in camp of democratic socialism believe that China should draw on the Sweden experience, which is suitable not only for the West but also for China. In the post-Mao China, the Chinese intellectuals are confronted with a variety of models. The liberals favor the American model and share the view that the Soviet model has become archaic and should be totally abandoned. Meanwhile, democratic socialism in Sweden provided an alternative model. Its sustained economic development and extensive welfare programs fascinated many. Numerous scholars within the democratic socialist camp argue that China should model itself politically and economically on Sweden, which is viewed as more genuinely socialist than China. There is a growing consensus among them that in the Nordic countries the welfare state has been extraordinarily successful in eliminating poverty."</ref>▼
▲
As a classification within the socialist movement, state socialism is held in contrast with libertarian socialism which rejects the view that socialism can be constructed by using existing state institutions or by governmental policies.<ref name="Schumpeter 2008">{{cite book|last=Schumpeter|first=Joseph|title=Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy|publisher=Harper Perennial|year=2008|orig-year=1942|isbn=978-0-06-156161-0|page=169|quote=But there are still others (concepts and institutions) which by virtue of their nature cannot stand transplantation and always carry the flavor of a particular institutional framework. It is extremely dangerous, in fact it amounts to a distortion of historical description, to use them beyond the social world or culture whose denizens they are. Now ownership or property – also, so I believe, taxation – are such denizens of the world of commercial society, exactly as knights and fiefs are denizens of the feudal world. But so is the state (a denizen of commercial society).}}</ref> By contrast, proponents of state socialism claim that the state—through practical considerations of governing—must play at least a temporary part in building socialism. It is possible to conceive of a [[Democracy|democratic]] [[socialist state]] that owns the means of production and is internally organized in a participatory, cooperative fashion, thereby achieving both [[social ownership]] of productive property and [[workplace democracy]].<ref name="Barrett 1978"/><ref name="Dissident 1991"/><ref name="Kendall 2011"/><ref name="Li 2015"/> Today, state socialism is mainly advocated by [[Marxist–Leninists]] and other socialists supporting a socialist state.<ref>{{cite book|last=Busky|first=Donald F.|title=Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey|publisher=Praeger|date=20 July 2000|isbn=978-0275968861|page=9|quote=In a modern sense of the word, communism refers to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism.}}</ref><ref name="Pena 2007">Pena, David S. (21 September 2007). [http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/5869/ "Tasks of Working-Class Governments under the Socialist-oriented Market Economy"]. ''Political Affairs''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905230042/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/5869/|date=5 September 2008}}. Retrieved 8 February 2020.</ref>▼
▲As a classification within the socialist movement, state socialism is held in contrast with libertarian socialism, which rejects the view that socialism can be constructed
== History ==
The role of the state in socialism has divided the socialist movement. The philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by [[Ferdinand Lassalle]]. In contrast to [[Karl Marx]]'s perspective, Lassalle rejected the concept of the [[State (polity)|state]] as a class-based power structure whose
Early concepts of state socialism were articulated by [[Anarchism|anarchist]] and [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] philosophers who opposed the concept of the state. In ''[[Statism and Anarchy]]'', [[Mikhail Bakunin]] identified a [[Statism|statist]] tendency within the Marxist movement, which he contrasted to [[libertarian socialism]] and attributed to Marx's philosophy. Bakunin predicted that Marx's theory of the transition from [[capitalism]] to [[socialism]] involving the working class seizing state power in a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] would eventually lead to
As a political ideology, state socialism rose to prominence during the 20th century [[Bolshevik]], [[Leninist]] and later [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] revolutions, where single-party control over the state and, by extension, over the political and economic spheres of society was justified as a means to safeguard the [[Communist revolution|revolution]] against [[counter-revolutionary]] insurrection and foreign invasion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Flank|first=Lenny|title=Rise and Fall of the Leninist State: A Marxist History of the Soviet Union|publisher=Red and Black Publishers|date=August 2008|isbn=978-1-931859-25-7|page=57|quote=Lenin defended his actions, arguing that the Revolution could be consolidated 'only through dictatorship, because the realization of the transformations immediately and unconditionally necessary for the proletariat and the peasantry will call forth the desperate resistance of the landlords, of the big bourgeoisie, and of Tsarism. Without dictatorship, it would be impossible to defeat counter-revolutionary efforts.}}</ref> The [[Stalinist]] theory of [[socialism in one country]] was an attempt to
== Description and theory ==
As a political ideology, state socialism is one of the major dividing lines in the broader socialist movement. It is often contrasted with non-state or anti-state forms of socialism, such as those that advocate direct [[Socialism#Self-managed economy|self-management]] [[adhocracy]] and direct [[worker's cooperative|cooperative]] ownership and management of the means of production. Political philosophies contrasted
The modern concept of state socialism, when used in reference to Soviet-style economic and political systems, emerged from a deviation in Marxist theory starting with [[Vladimir Lenin]]. In [[Marxist theory]], socialism is projected to emerge in the most developed capitalist economies, where capitalism suffers the greatest
In such systems, the state apparatus is used as an instrument of capital accumulation, forcibly extracting surplus from the working class and peasantry
In the traditional view of socialism, thinkers such as [[Friedrich Engels]] and [[Henri de Saint-Simon]] took the position that the state will change in nature in a socialist society, with the function of the state changing from one of political rule over people into a scientific administration of the processes of production. Specifically, the state would become a coordinating economic entity consisting of interdependent inclusive associations rather than a mechanism of class and political control,
Preceding the [[Bolshevik]]-led revolution in Russia, many socialist groups such as [[anarchists]], [[orthodox Marxist]] currents such as [[council communism]] and the [[Mensheviks]], [[Reformism|reformists]] and other democratic and libertarian socialists criticized the idea of using the state to conduct central planning and nationalization of the means of production as a way to establish socialism.<ref>{{cite book|last=Screpanti|first=Zamagni|title=An Outline on the History of Economic Thought|edition=2nd|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=295|quote=It should not be forgotten, however, that in the period of the Second International, some of the reformist currents of Marxism, as well as some of the extreme left-wing ones, not to speak of the anarchist groups, had already criticised the view that State ownership and central planning is the best road to socialism. But with the victory of Leninism in Russia, all dissent was silenced, and socialism became identified with 'democratic centralism', 'central planning', and State ownership of the means of production.}}</ref>
== Political perspectives ==
State socialism was traditionally advocated as a means for achieving [[public ownership]] of the means of production through the [[nationalization]] of industry. This was intended to be a transitional phase in
The British [[Fabian Society]] included proponents of state socialism, such as [[Sidney Webb]]. [[George Bernard Shaw]] referred to Fabians as "all Social Democrats, with a common confiction {{sic}} of the necessity of vesting the organization of industry and the material of production in a State identified with the whole people by complete Democracy".<ref>Britain, Ian (2005) [1982]. ''Fabianism and Culture: A Study in British Socialism and the Arts, c. 1884–1918''. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. {{ISBN|9780521021296}}.</ref> Nonetheless, Shaw also published the ''Report on Fabian Policy'' (1896), declaring: "The Fabian Society does not suggest that the State should monopolize industry as against private enterprise or individual initiative".<ref>Blaazer, David (2002) [1992]. ''The Popular Front and the Progressive Tradition: Socialists, Liberals, and the Quest for Unity, 1884–1939''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 59–60. {{ISBN|9780521413831}}.</ref> [[Robert Blatchford]], a member of the Fabian Society and the [[Independent Labour Party]], wrote the work ''[[Merrie England (Blatchford book)|Merrie England]]'' (1894) that endorsed [[municipal socialism]].<ref>McBriar, A. M. (1962). ''Fabian Socialism and English Politics: 1884–1918''. Cambridge University Press. p. 296.</ref> In ''Merrie England'', Blatchford distinguished two types of socialism, namely
[[Democratic socialists]] argue for a gradual, peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. They wish to neutralize or
In 1888, the [[individualist anarchist]] [[Benjamin Tucker]], who proclaimed himself to be an [[anarchistic socialist]] in opposition to state socialism, included the full text of a "Socialistic Letter" by [[Ernest Lesigne]] in his essay "State Socialism and Anarchism".<ref>Tucker, Benjamin (1911) [1888]. ''State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ''. Fifield.</ref> According to Lesigne, there are two socialisms: "One is dictatorial, the other libertarian".<ref>Lesigne (1887). [http://fair-use.org/liberty/1887/12/17/socialistic-letters "Socialistic Letters"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807090418/http://fair-use.org/liberty/1887/12/17/socialistic-letters |date=2020-08-07 }}. ''Le Radical''. Retrieved 20 June 2020.</ref> Tucker's two socialisms were
=== In socialist states ===
{{main|Socialist state}}
The economic model adopted in the former [[Soviet Union]], [[Eastern Bloc]], and other socialist states is often described as a form of state socialism. The ideological basis for this system was the [[
Because of this development, [[Classical Marxism|classical]] and [[orthodox Marxists]]
Trotskyism argues that the leadership of the communist states was corrupt and that it abandoned Marxism in all but name. In particular, some Trotskyist schools call those countries degenerated workers' states to contrast them with proper socialism (i.e. workers' states), while other Marxists and some Trotskyist schools call them state capitalist to emphasize the lack of
=== In Germany ===
{{main|State Socialism (Germany)}}
[[Otto von Bismarck]] implemented
Bismarck made the following statement as a justification for his social welfare programs: "Whoever has pensions for his old age is far more easier to handle than one who has no such prospect. Look at the difference between a private servant in the chancellery or at court; the latter will put up with much more, because he has a pension to look forward to".<ref>Taylor, A. J. P. (1955). ''Bismarck. The Man and the Statesman''. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 203.</ref>
This did not prevent the Social Democrats
== Analysis and reception ==
Many [[Democratic socialism|democratic]] and [[libertarian socialists]], including [[anarchists]], [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualists]] and [[syndicalists]], criticize state socialism for advocating a [[workers' state]] instead of abolishing the [[bourgeois]] state apparatus outright. They use the term ''state socialism'' to contrast it with their
[[Classical Marxism|Classical]] and [[orthodox Marxists]] also view state socialism as an oxymoron, arguing that while an association for managing production and economic affairs would exist in socialism, it would no longer be a state in the [[Marx's theory of the state|Marxist definition]]
Some [[Trotskyists]] following
Those socialists who oppose any system of state control
State socialism is often referred to by right-wing detractors simply as ''socialism'', including [[Austrian School]] economists such as [[Friedrich Hayek]]<ref>Hayek, Friedrich (1944). ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]''. Routledge Press. {{ISBN|0-226-32061-8}}. {{oclc|30733740}}.</ref> and [[Ludwig von Mises]],<ref>Von Mises, Ludwig (1936) [1922]. ''[[Socialism (book)|Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]]''. London: Jonathan Cape. {{oclc|72357479}}.</ref><ref>Von Mises, Ludwig; Raico, Ralph, trans.; Goddard, Arthur, ed. (1962) [1927]. ''[[Liberalism (book)|The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth: An Exposition of the Ideas of Classical Liberalism]]''. Princeton, D. Van Nostrand. {{ISBN|978-0442090579}}.</ref> who
== See also ==
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