TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT …………………………….. ……………………………..………………....………….3 ………………....………….3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………………..……………………………………………..…4
OBJECT……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5
INTRODUCTION...................... INTRODUCTION......... ........................... ........................... ................…….………………………..……..……………… ...…….………………………..……..………………
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SOCIALISM: KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS ……………………………………………………….7 ORIGIN OF SOCIALISM…………………………………………………………………………………………………9 MAIN FEATURES OF THE SOCIALIST PATTERN OF S OCIETY…………………………………………..10 MERITS OR ADVANTAGES OF SOCIALIST PATTERN OF SOCIETY ……………………………………12 DEMERITS OR DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIALIST PATTERN OF SOCIETY………………………….13 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...…………………………………………….14
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………...…………………………………………..…..…...15
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Objective of this project is to examine the Socialist Pattern of Society This paper is descriptive and analytical in nature. Secondary and Electronic resources have been largely used to gather information and data about the topic. Books and other reference as guided by Faculty of Political Science have been primarily helpful in giving this project a firm structure. Websites, dictionaries and articles have also been referred. Footnotes have been provided wherever needed to acknowledge the source.
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OBJECT The object of this compilation is to1. 2. 3. 4.
Study the Socialist Pattern of Society To study its importance. To study its demerits. To know about its history.
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INTRODUCTION Socialist (also known as communist) societies constitute a class of twentieth-century societies sharing two distinctive features: the political dominance of a revolutionary, usually a Communist Party, and widespread nationalization of means of production, with consequent preponderance of state and collective property. This definition excludes societies governed by socialist or socialdemocratic parties in multi-party systems. Socialist societies came into being with the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Others founded later by various means (revolution, conquest, or annexation) all reflected the influence, both negative and positive, of the Soviet model created under Lenin and Stalin. All employed extensive coercion and central control, yet they increased living standards, access to housing, employment, education, and medical care. Although they instituted new hierarchies, they also promoted gender equality and improved life-chances for many disadvantaged people. Under Political Science, there are many theories regarding the society or the development and kinds of State. Socialist pattern of society is one of those theories. Further in this compilation we will deal as what the socialist patter of society actually is and how it looks upon the state and its individuals. Socialist regards the State as a positive good. Therefore, instead of minimum possible State action, they want the maximum of it. They believe that this is the only way by which social justice can be made possible for the bulk of mankind. They aim at a „cooperative common wealth controlling all due means of production and regulating distribution according to some method of joint control‟. Under socialist state there would be a common ownership of the means of production and exchange-and wages would be according to needs. Some socialists advocate equal distribution, others equitable distribution. Accordingly the „Socialist State‟ is formed.
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Chapter I SOCIALISM: KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were the founders of modern socialism and communism. Together they authored the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, and collaborated on Marx's famous work Das Kapital, in which he analyzed economic and social history. Marx and Engels' ideas came to be known as 'Marxism', which greatly influenced the development of socialist ideas. Marx used the words 'bourgeois' and 'proletarian' to describe different classes in society. The bourgeois referred to the class of capitalists owners of factories and employers of wage labourers. The proletariat was the class of wage labourers who didn't produce things of their own, selling their labour in order to live. The term 'socialism' refers to a theory of government where the state owns and administers all production and distribution of goods. There is no private property. Marx believed that state control of production (socialism) was a necessary first step. Workers would need re-education under socialism to move them away from selfish capitalist ideas, and this might take many years of state control. But eventually a country could move to true communism, where the 'state' would disappear. His critics, who wanted to see a communist society established right away, argued that once there was a centralized state in control, those rulers would not willingly give up their power. History has proved these critics correct. Both Marx and Engels believed that the ruling classes would never willingly give up their control of society to a socialist government, and that revolution would be necessary. They felt that the following steps would be necessary for the purpose1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
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6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. These ideas brought a lot of changes in the society and gave rise to a totally new concept of state from the one prevalent at that time. It focused on development of society as whole rather than development of individual. Hence the theory contains a great importance. Two Schools of Thoughts
After the death of Karl Marx in 1883, Marxism underwent qualitative changes and his followers were divided into two groups- the orthodox or revolutionary socialists and the revisionists were evolutionary socialists who propounded the cause of evolutionary socialism. The orthodox or revolutionary socialists claimed to be the true socialists and inheritors or Marxism. On the other hand the Revisionists or the evolutionary socialists also pointed out the shortcomings of the original philosophy. They accept Marx as their source the inspiration but interpreted the Marxian 1
theory in a manner that Marxian lost all its revolutionary zeal, favour and character.
1
Urmila Sharma, S.K. Sharma, Principles and Theory of Political Science, Atlantic Publishers and Distributers (P)ltd, p. 493, 2000
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Chapter II ORIGIN OF SOCIALISM Socialism literally sprang from observing the success of capitalism, while believing that conditions for workers could be improved if the control of production were moved from capitalists to the state. A top-down control system, such as that used in large business, was the model for socialist society. Yet the true engine of capitalism, the free market, was overlooked and left out of the plan. Social reformers, from the early Utopian Socialists to the Marxists, were literally awed by the tremendous success of capitalistic industrial production. In The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx stated: “The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. Subjection of Nature's forces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steamnavigation, railways, electric telegraphs, clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalization of rivers, whole populations conjured out of the ground, what earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slumbered in the lap of soc ial labor.”
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The socialists did not want to disrupt this technological miracle, but merely to distribute the profits of it more fairly. They observed the workers earning profits for the wealthy business owners and maintained they were being unfairly exploited. Believing the strength of the system was in its structure, they didn't want to eliminate businesses, but merely to replace the wealthy business owners with the state. As early as 1791 Talleyrand, in France, compared the ideal society to a National Workshop. In the 1820s Henri de Saint-Simon envisioned the ideal society 3
as one large factory. After his death, his followers, calling themselves the Saint-Simonians, devised a system in which all of society would be organized like a single factory and socialism 4
was the word they chose to represent it. This was the origin of socialism.
2
Marx , Karl; and Engels, Friedrich, The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Books Ltd., Middlesex, England, p. 85, 1986 Manuel, Frank E., The New World of Henri Saint-Simon, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 308-309, 367 1956 4 Hayek, Friedrich A., Individualism and Economic Order , The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, P. 3, 1948 3
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Chapter III MAIN FEATURES OF THE SOCIALIST PATTERN OF SOCIETY 1. Eliminates Capitalism
Socialist State wants to eliminate capitalism which led to unequal distribution of wealth. It divided the society into two classes - „rich and poor‟, „haves‟ and „have-nots‟ and the “exploiter and exploited” and created wide gulf between the two. Socialist state seeks to cure all the evils of the capitalism such as injustice, inequality, class war etc by abolishing it. 2. Opposes Competition
Socialist State tries to eliminate all forms of competition. It wants to have cooperation instead of competition between the employers and workers. It tries to substitute cooperation for competition. 3. Economic Equality for all
Socialist State tries to secure economic equality for all by abolishing the wide gaps between different sections of the society. It stands for the principle of economic equality. It opposes the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people. It aims to bridge the gap between the rich and poor so that opportunities are enjoyed by all equally. It desires to have a society in which there is no inequality in the distribution of property. According to Laveleys: “Socialist state is an 5
equalizer and leveler” . 4. Opposes private property
Socialist State tries to abolish the institution of private property. It regards private property as theft and source of all evils in the society. It declares that land and capital should belong to all and not to a privileged few. 5. Social control of means of production
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Urmila Sharma, S.K. Sharma, Principles and Theory of Political Science, Atlantic Publishers and Distributers (P)ltd, p. 495, 2000
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Socialist State stands for public control of the means of production. It wants to abolish private enterprise. It wants to nationalize all the factors of production. Factors of production should be used by the people for the people. In other words, it aims at introducing state enterprise in the field of production and distribution for common good. It wants the state to be the producer and distributor in order to do justice to the people. 6. Emphasis on society
Socialist State lays more emphasis on society than the individual welfare to social welfare. It gives importance to the larger interests of the society as against the narrow and selfish interests of the individual. Social welfare is the main consideration of production. It means, under socialist state only those things will be produced which are needed by the society. 7. Rewards the worker on the basis of needs
Socialist State believes in rewarding the worker in proportion to the value of his labour. Its 6
slogan is: “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs”. 8. Methods
Socialist State believes in democratic and evolutionary methods. It tries to bring about the necessary changes in the present economic and political structure peacefully and gradually. It believes in constitutional and peaceful methods in reconstructing society.
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Deniel Bell, The coming of Post-Industrial Society , Basic Books; Reissue edition, p 444, 1976
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Chapter IV MERITS OR ADVANTAGES OF SOCIALIST PATTERN OF SOCIETY Socialist State has become very popular and powerful movement in modern states. It has exercised deep influence on the policies of every state. Today it is seen in different parts of the world in one form or the other. Everywhere the state is interfering in economic and industrial affairs where public welfare is involved. It is owning, controlling and managing industries and public services which are of national importance. The trend of every state today is, thus, towards 7
socialist state . Its merits are: 1. It puts society above the individual and considers the good of all as something superior to the mere good of the individual. It regards social welfare as the basis of production. 2. It rightly depicted the evils existing in the present day society. It desires to put an end to the evils of capitalism like economic inequalities, wastage of resources lack of proper planning wasteful production etc. 3. It wants to destroy the institution of private property, reduce the present economic inequalities, put an end to all types of exploitation and create a better society. 4. Its principle of production is social benefit but not personal profit. It manages and regulates industries not with profit motive but with social needs. 5. It secures better conditions of work for the workers. It raises their status and importance in the society. 6. It favours gradual changes based on peaceful and constitutional methods. It is evolutionary in nature. So it paved the way for the success of democracy. 7. Finally, it will free the individual from want and starvation and will thereby provide him with greater opportunities for political and economic activities.
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Dr. S. Subramaniyam, Political Science, Tamil Nadu textbook corporation, Ed. 1, p. 15, 2000
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Chapter V DEMERITS OR DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIALIST PATTERN OF SOCIETY In spite of the above advantages, socialist state has been subjected to severe criticism on the following grounds: 1. It leads to authoritarianism as it puts too many powers in the hands of government. It results in the restriction of individual liberty as the state interferes in every sphere of individual activity. State becomes the master and the individual becomes its servant. 2. It kills individual initiative and enterprise because it does not allow private property. In the absence of private property, men may not like to do maximum work. 3. It advocates socialisation of means of production. It is difficult for the state to manage all industries, control the means of production and distribution. Complete management of all industries by the state will result in inefficiency, redtapism, corruption and nepotism. Industries 8
may not be run on sound and economical lines.
4. It ignores and neglects completely the interests of the consumers. It does not provide to the consumer any choice in respect of consumption. The consumer has to adjust his needs to production which is controlled by the state. 5. It is argued by the critics that practical instances show that countries with a socialist system like China has made less progress compared to those having laissez faire system as United States.
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Dr. S. Subramaniyam, Political Science, Tamil Nadu textbook corporation, Ed. 1, p. 16, 2000
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CONCLUSION The theory of Socialist state or the Socialist Patter of Society is like a storehouse of confusion. One fails to understand as to what it really aims at. Despite these weaknesses, the theory of Socialist state has now become a matter of universal appreciation. All thinkers ranging from the advocates of Liberalism to that of Communism express their unflinching faith in the doctrine of Socialist state. The days of a hundred percent Individualism are gone forever. Today all states are moving towards Socialist state. People everywhere expect that the state will actively promote their welfare and that it should play a positive role in their life. It would be best to conclude with the words of J.C.Johari who says: “None can deny the fact that the movement of socialist state has brought about numerous reforms. The rise of wages, reduction in the hours of work improvement of working conditions, curbs on the prevalence of destructive competition, decrease in the degree of exploitation and the like are some of the leading achievements of socialist state.”
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Books-
1. Urmila Sharma, S.K. Sharma, Principles and Theo ry of Political Science, Atlantic Publishers 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
and Distributers (P)ltd, 2000 Marx , Karl; and Engels, Friedrich, The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Books Ltd., Middlesex, England, 1986 Manuel, Frank E., The New World of Henri Saint-Simon, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1956 Hayek, Friedrich A., Individualism and Economic Order , The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1948 Dr. S. Subramaniyam, Political Science, Tamil Nadu textbook corporation, Ed. 1, 2000 Deniel Bell, The coming of Post-Industrial Society, Basic Books; Reissue edition, 1976
Websites1. http://books.google.co.in
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