POLITICAL THEORIES

Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government,
politics, liberty, justice and the enforcement of a legal code by authority. It is Ethics
applied to a group of people, and discusses how a society should be set up and how one
should act within a society. Individual rights (such as the right to life, liberty, property, the
pursuit of happiness, free speech, self-defense, etc) state explicitly the requirements for a
person to benefit rather than suffer from living in a society.

Political philosophy asks questions like: "What is a government?", "Why are governments
needed?", "What makes a government legitimate?", "What rights and freedoms should a
government protect?", "What duties do citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any?"
and "When may a government be legitimately overthrown, if ever?"

Ancient Political Philosophy

Western political philosophy has its origins in Ancient Greece, when city-states were
experimenting with various forms of political organization including monarchy, tyranny,
aristocracy, oligarchy and democracy. Among the most important classical works of
political philosophy are Plato's "The Republic" and Aristotle's "Politics". Later, St.
Augustine's "The City of God" was a Christianized version of these which emphasized
the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. After St. Thomas Aquinas's
reintroduction and Christianization of Aristotle's political works, Christian Scholastic
political philosophy dominated European thought for centuries.

In Ancient China, Confucius, Mencius (372 - 189 B.C.) and Mozi (470 - 391 B.C.) sought
to restore political unity and stability through the cultivation of virtue, while the Legalist
school sought the same end by the imposition of discipline. Similarly, in Ancient India,
Chanakya (350 - 283 B.C.) developed a viewpoint in his "Arthashastra" which recalls
both the Chinese Legalists and the later Political Realist theories of Niccolò Machiavelli.

Early Muslim political philosophy was indistinguishable from Islamic religious thought.
The 14th Century Arabic scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406) is considered one of the
greatest political theorists, and his definition of government as "an institution which
prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself" is still considered a succinct
analysis. With the recent emergence of Islamic radicalism as a political movement,
political thought has revived in the Muslim world, and the political ideas of Muhammad
Abduh (1849 - 1905), Al-Afghani (1838 0 1897), Sayyid Qutb (1906 - 1966), Abul Ala
Mawdudi (1903 - 1979), Ali Shariati (1933 - 1977) and Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 - 1989)
have gained increasing popularity in the 20th Century.

Secular political philosophy began to emerge in Europe after centuries of theological

political thought during the Renaissance. Machiavelli's influential works, "The Prince" and
"The Discourses", described a pragmatic and consequentialist view of politics, where
good and evil are mere means to an end. The Englishman Thomas Hobbes, well known
for his theory of the social contract (the implied agreements by which people form
nations and maintain a social order), went on to expand this prototype of
Contractarianism in the first half of the 17th Century, culminating in his "Leviathan" of
1651, which verged on Totalitarianism.

Modern Political Philosophy

During the Age of Enlightenment, Europe entered a sort of golden age of political
philosophy with the work of such thinkers as John Locke (whose ideas on Liberalism and
Libertarianism are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence and whose
influence on Voltaire and Rousseau was critical), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (whose
contractarianist political philosophy influenced the French Revolution, and whose 1762
work "The Social Contract" became one of the most influential works of political
philosophy in the Western tradition), and the Baron de Montesquieu (1889 - 1755)
(whose articulation of the separation of powers within government is implemented in
many constitutions throughout the world today).

An important conceptual distinction (which continues to this day) was made at this time
between state (a set of enduring institutions through which power could be distributed
and its use justified), and government (a specific group of people who occupy the
institutions of the state, and create the laws by which the people are bound). Two major
questions were broached by Enlightenment political philosophers: one, by what right or
need do people form states; and two, what is the best form for a state.

Capitalism, with its emphasis on privately-owned means of production and the market
economy, became institutionalized in Europe between the 16th and 19th Centuries, and
particularly during the Industrial Revolution (roughly the late 18th and early 19th
Centuries). In his 1859 essay "On Liberty" and other works, John Stuart Mill argued that
Utilitarianism requires that political arrangements satisfy the liberty principle (or harm
principle), i.e. the sole purpose of law should be to stop people from harming others.

By the mid-19th Century, Karl Marx was developing his theory of Dialectical Materialism
and Marxism, and by the late 19th Century, Socialism, Libertarianism Conservatism and
Anarchism were established members of the political landscape, and the trade union
movement and syndicalism also gained some prominence. The Russian Revolution of
1917 brought the radical philosophy of Communism to the fore, and after the First World
War, the ultra-reactionary ideologies of Nationalism, Fascism and Totalitarianism began
to take shape in Italy and Nazi Germany.

In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, (along with a resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s),
the Feminist movement developed its theories and moral philosophies concerned with
gender inequalities and equal rights for women, as part of a general concern for
Egalitarianism. After the Second World War, there was a marked trend towards a
pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a philosophical one, and post-
colonial, civil rights and multicultural thought became significant. A relatively recent
development is the concept of Communitarianism and civil society.
Major Theories

Under the heading of Political Philosophy, the major doctrines or theories include:

Anarchism Feminism
Capitalism Liberalism
Communism Libertarianism
Communitarianism Marxism
Conservatism Nationalism
Contractarianism Socialism
Egalitarianism Totalitarianism
Fascism

1.ANARCHISM
Anarchism is the political philosophy which rejects (and supports the elimination of)
compulsory government or compulsory rule, and holds that society can (and
should) be organized without a coercive state. This may, or may not, involve the
rejection of any authority at all. Anarchists believe that government is both harmful
and unnecessary.

Philosophical Anarchism contends that the State lacks moral legitimacy, that there
is no individual obligation or duty to obey the State and, conversely, that the State has
no right to command individuals. However, it does not actively advocate revolution to
eliminate the State, but calls for a gradual change to free the individual from the
oppressive laws and social constraints of the modern state.

The term "anarchy" is derived from the Greek "anarchos" ("without ruler"). Up until the
19th Century, the term was generally used in a positive manner, to describe a coherent
political belief, and it was only later that it became used pejoratively (to mean something
akin to chaos).

Anarchism is related to Libertarianism (which advocates maximizing individual rights

and free will, and minimizing the role of the state) and, in particular, to Libertarian
Socialism (which advocates a worker-oriented system that attempts to maximize the
liberty of individuals and minimize the concentration of power or authority), with
which it is all but synonymous.

There is no single defining position that all Anarchists hold, beyond their rejection of
compulsory government or "the State", and proponents may support anything from
extreme individualism (the political outlook that stresses human independence and
the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty) to complete collectivism (the
political outlook that stresses human interdependence and the importance of the
collective). Thus, there are any number of diverse schools of thought within
Anarchism, some of which are summarized in the Types of Anarchism section.
History of Anarchism
Humans lived for thousands of years in societies without government, according to
Anarcho-Primitivists. It was only after the rise of hierarchical societies that
anarchist ideas were formulated as a critical response to, and rejection of, coercive
political institutions.

The "Tao Te Ching", written around the 6th Century B.C. by Lao Tzu, encouraged many
Chinese Taoists to live an anarchistic lifestyle. In ancient Greece, Diogenes of Sinope
(a Cynic) and Zeno of Citium (a Stoic) argued (in opposition to Plato) that reason should
replace authority in guiding human affairs, and envisaged a free community without
government.

There were a variety of anarchistic religious and political movements in Europe during
the Middle Ages and later, including the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit,
the Klompdraggers, the Hussites, the Adamites, the early Anabaptists, the
Diggers and the Levellers, but none had much widespread influence.

Modern Anarchism arose from the secular thought of the Enlightenment,

particularly Jean-Jacques Rousseau's arguments for the moral centrality of freedom.

Even though he did not use the term himself, the English political philosopher William
Godwin (1756 - 1836) developed what many consider the first expression of modern
anarchist thought and formulated the political and economic conceptions of
Anarchism. Godwin opposed revolutionary action and saw a minimal state as a
present "necessary evil", which would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless
through a gradual process of reform and enlightenment. He also advocated extreme
individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated.

Edmund Burke, in his "A Vindication of Natural Society" of 1756, advocated the
abolition of government, although he later claimed it was intended as a satirical work.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) spoke of his respect for a society with no government,
such as he saw in many Native American tribes, and Henry David Thoreau was another
influential American with Anarchist sympathies.

The Frenchman Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865) was the first self-described
Anarchist, and has been called the founder of modern anarchist theory (as has Godwin).
Proudhon proposed what he called spontaneous order, whereby organization
(sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all liberties) emerges without central
authority, and the institutions of the police, monarchy, officialdom, organized religion,
taxation, etc, disappear or are reduced to a minimum. He published his "What is
Property?", in which his famous accusation "Property is theft" appears, in 1840.

Later in the 19th Century (sometimes called Anarchism's classical period), Anarchist
Communist theorists, like the Russians Mikhail Bakunin (1814 - 1876) and Peter
Kropotkin (1842 - 1921), built on the Marxist critique of Capitalism and synthesized it
with their own critique of the state, emphasizing the importance of a communal
perspective to maintain individual liberty in a social context.

Around this time, there was also a spate of acts of violence in the name of Anarchism,
such as sabotage and assassinations, as well as industrial actions and strikes,
intended to further spark revolution, but these actions were regarded by many
Anarchists as counter-productive or ineffective.

In the 20th Century, Anarchists were actively involved in the labor and feminist
movements, in uprisings and revolutions such as the Russian Revolution of 1917, and
later in the fight against Fascism. Working Anarchist communes have been established
at Cristiana in Denmark, Catalonia in Spain, and the Free Territory in Ukraine, among
others.

Types of Anarchism
 Philosophical Anarchism is the view that the State lacks moral legitimacy,
that there is no individual obligation or duty to obey the State and, conversely,
that the State has no right to command individuals. However, it does not actively
advocate revolution to eliminate the State, but calls for a gradual change to free
the individual from the oppressive laws and social constraints of the modern
state.
Philosophical Anarchists may accept the existence of a minimal state as an
unfortunate "necessary evil" (usually considered temporary), but argue that
citizens do not have a moral obligation to obey the state when its laws conflict
with individual autonomy. The English philosopher William Godwin (1756 -
1836) is usually credited with founding Philosophical Anarchism, and is often
called the father of modern Anarchism.
 Individualist Anarchism (or Libertarian Anarchism) holds that individual
conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any
collective body or public authority, and that the imposition of democracy
leads to oppression of the individual by the majority. It has been argued that
Individualist Anarchism tends to emphasize negative liberty (i.e. opposition to
state or social control over the individual), whereas Social Anarchism (see below)
emphasizes positive liberty (i.e. the achievement of potential and fulfillment of
human needs by society). Individualist Anarchism, also unlike Social Anarchism,
is supportive of property being held privately, often in a market economy,
although some hold that any surplus should be given away.
William Godwin (1756 - 1836) advocated an extreme form of Individualist
Anarchy, proposing that all types of cooperation in labor should be eliminated.
One of the earliest and best-known proponents of Individualist Anarchism, Max
Stirner (1806 - 1856), proposed an extreme egoist form of it, which supports the
individual doing exactly what he pleases, taking no notice of God, state or moral
rules.
The American version of Individualist Anarchism, such as that of Thoreau, Josiah
Warren (1798 - 1874) and Benjamin Tucker (1854 - 1939), has a strong
 emphasis on non-aggression, individual sovereignty and the labor theory
of value (that the values of commodities are related to the labor needed to produce
them). While all supported private property and free markets (causing some
to consider them pro-Capitalism), some, like Tucker, called themselves Socialist,
and were vociferously anti-Capitalist.
Within Individualist Anarchism there are different forms including the
following:
o Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought, largely associated with
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865), that envisioned a society where
each person might possess a means of production either individually
or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor (the
labor theory of value). Mutualists support markets and private
property in the product of labor only insofar as they ensure the workers
right to the full product of their labor. Some commentators suggest that
Mutualists are more concerned with association, and so are situated
somewhere between Individualist and Social or Collectivist Anarchism.
o Free-Market Anarchism (or Anarcho-Capitalism) is a more extreme
form of Individualist Anarchism that attempts to reconcile Anarchism with
Capitalism, and it forms part of the broader movement known as
Libertarianism. It advocates the elimination of the state; the provision
of law enforcement, courts, national defense, and all other security services
by voluntarily-funded competitors in a free market rather than
through compulsory taxation; the complete deregulation of non-intrusive
personal and economic activities; and a self-regulated market.
The Belgian-French economist Gustave de Molinari (1819 - 1912) is
considered the single most important contributor to the theory, although
the American Murray Rothbard (1926 - 1995) is perhaps its most
outspoken proponent, and in general its popularity was centered in the
United States.
o Agorism is an extreme form of Anarcho-Capitalism and Libertarianism,
developed by Samuel Edward Konkin III (1947 - 2004) and building on
the ideas of Murray Rothbard (1926 - 1995), which takes as its ultimate
goal a society in which all relations between people are voluntary
exchanges, a completely free market in an underground or "counter
economy" in which the State is redundant.
 Social Anarchism is a broad category of Anarchism independent of, and in
many ways opposed to, Individualist Anarchism. It emphasizes social equality,
community, mutual aid and the communitarian and cooperative aspects of
anarchist theory and practice. At its heart is the idea of Libertarian Socialism,
which aims to create a society without political, economic or social hierarchies.
There are several sub-categories within Social Anarchism:
o Collectivist Anarchism (or Anarcho-Collectivism) is the
revolutionary doctrine, spearheaded by the Russian anarchist Mikhail
Bakunin (1814 - 1876), that advocated the complete abolition of the state
and private ownership of the means of production, which would instead
be owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers
themselves. The revolution was to be initiated by a small cohesive elite
 group through acts of violence which would inspire the mass of workers
to revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production, and the workers
would then be paid based on the amount of time they contributed to
production. This wage system, and the idea of collective ownership (as
opposed to a complete rejection of ownership) are the major differences
between Collectivist Anarchism and Communist Anarchism (see below).
Bakunin was vociferous in his opposition to Communism and state
Socialism, which he regarded as fundamentally authoritarian.
o Communist Anarchism (or Anarcho-Communism) proposes a free
society composed of a number of self-governing communes, with direct
democracy or consensus democracy (as opposed to representational
democracy) as the political organizational form, and related to other
communes through federation. The means of production would be
collectively used (as opposed to collectively owned) so that, rather than
receiving payment for work done, there would be free access to the
resources and surplus of the commune.
Anarcho-Communism stresses egalitarianism (that all people should be
treated as equals from birth) and the abolition of social hierarchy and
class distinctions that arise from unequal wealth distribution, as well as the
abolition of Capitalism and money.
Early Anarchist Communist currents appeared during the English Civil
War (1642 - 1651) and the French Revolution (1788 - 1799). Peter
Kropotkin (1842 - 1921) and Emma Goldman (1869 - 1940) are perhaps
the best-known Anarcho-Communists, although the Frenchman Joseph
Déjacque (1821 - 1864) was an earlier example.
o Anarcho-Syndicalism is an early 20th Century form of Anarchism,
heavily focused on the labor movement. It posits radical trade unions
as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing
Capitalism and the State with a new society which would be
democratically self-managed by the workers. It seeks to abolish the
wage system and private ownership of the means of production, which
they believe lead to class divisions. Anarcho-Syndicalists often subscribe
to Communist or Collectivist Anarchism (see above), and the movement is
more of a workplace organizational structure than an economic system
in and of itself.
The German Rudolf Rocker (1873 - 1958) is considered the leading
Anarcho-Syndicalist theorist, and his 1938 pamphlet
"Anarchosyndicalism" was particularly influential.
 There are any number of other, more specific, forms of Anarchism including:
o Religious Anarchism: a set of anarchist ideologies that are inspired by
the teachings of organized religions, including Christianity, Buddhism,
Judaism and Neopaganism.
o Anarcho-Pacifism: a form of Anarchism that emphasizes the complete
rejection of violence in any form and for any purpose.
o Anarcha-Feminism: a synthesis of radical Feminism and Anarchism,
which specifically opposes patriarchy as a manifestation of a hierarchical
society.
 o Green Anarchism: a form of Anarchism that emphasizes the protection
of the environment.
o Anarcho-Primitivism: a form of Green Anarchism that believes
civilization and technology inevitably lead to inequality and must be
abolished.
o Eco-Anarchism: another subset of Green Anarchism that argues that
society is best organized into small eco-villages of no more than 150
people.
o Autarchism: a philosophy which holds that each person rules himself,
and no other, and rejects compulsory government and supports "private
capitalism".
o Insurrectionary Anarchism: a revolutionary theory within the
Anarchist movement, which advocates direct action, violent or otherwise,
and informal organization.
o National Anarchism: a movement which attempts to reconcile
Anarchism with nationalism.
o Analytical Anarchism: a form that uses the methods of Analytical
Philosophy to clarify or defend anarchist theory.
o Epistemological Anarchism: an epistemological theory, advanced by the
Austrian philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend (1924 - 1994), which
holds that there are no useful and exception-free methodological rules
governing the progress of science or the growth of knowledge.
o Anarchism Without Adjectives: a movement which emphasizes
harmony between various anarchist factions and attempts to unite them
around their shared anti-authoritarian beliefs.

2.SOCIALISM
Socialism is a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of
wealth are subject to control by the workers, either directly through popular
collectives such as workers' councils, or indirectly exercised on behalf of the people by
the state, and in which Egalitarianism or equality is an important goal. Thus, under
Socialism, the means of production are owned by the state, community or the
workers (as opposed to privately owned as under Capitalism).

Adherents of Socialism are split into differing, and sometimes opposing, branches,
particularly between reformists and revolutionaries, and some of these are briefly
described in the Types of Socialism section below.

The term "socialism" is variously attributed to Pierre Leroux (1798 - 1871) or to Marie
Roch Louis Reybaud (1799 - 1879) or to Robert Owen (1771 - 1858) in the mid-19th
Century. According to Frederick Engels (1820 - 1895), by 1847, the term "socialism"
(usually referring to the utopian philosophies of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier
(1772 - 1837), was considered quite respectable on the continent of Europe, while
"communism" was the opposite.

History of Socialism
Certain elements of socialist thought long predate the socialist ideology that emerged
in the first half of the 19th Century. For example, Plato's "The Republic" and Sir
Thomas More's "Utopia", dating from 1516, have been cited as including Socialist or
Communist ideas.

Modern Socialism emerged in early 19th Century Britain and France, from a diverse
array of doctrines and social experiments, largely as a reaction or protest against some
of the excesses of 18th and 19th Century Capitalism. Early 19th Century Socialist thought
was largely utopian in nature, followed by the more pragmatic and revolutionary
Socialist and Communist movements in the later 19th Century.

Social critics in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century such as Robert Owen
(1771 - 1858), Charles Fourier (1772 - 1837), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865),
Louis Blanc (1811 - 1882) and Henri de Saint-Simon (1760 - 1825) criticized the
excesses of poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution, and advocated
reforms such as the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the transformation of society
into small utopian communities in which private property was to be abolished.

Some socialist religious movements, such as the Shakers in America, also date from
this period, as does the Chartist movement for political and social reform in the United
Kingdom (possibly the first mass working class movement in the world).

It was Karl Marx, though, who first employed systematic analysis (sometimes known
as "scientific socialism") in an ambitious attempt to expose Capitalism's contradictions
and the specific mechanisms by which it exploits and alienates. His ambitious work
"Das Kapital", the first volume of which was published in 1867 with two more edited
and published after his death by Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895), is modeled to some extent
on Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", one of the cornerstones of Capitalist theory. In
it, he transforms Smith's labor theory of value into his own characteristic "law of
value" (that the exchange value of a commodity is actually independent of the amount
of labor required to appropriate its useful qualities), and reveals how commodity
fetishism obscures the reality of Capitalist society.

In 1864, the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) or First

International, was founded in London, and became the first major international
forum for the promulgation of Socialist ideas, under the leadership of Marx and Johann
Georg Eccarius. Anarchists, like the Russian Mikhail Bakunin (1814 - 1876), and
proponents of other alternative visions of Socialism which emphasized the potential of
small-scale communities and agrarianism, coexisted with the more influential
currents of Marxism and social democracy. Much of the development of Socialism is
indistinguishable from the development of Communism, which is essentially an extreme
variant of Socialism.

Marx and Engels, who together had founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party
of Germany in 1869, were also responsible for setting up the Second International (or
Socialist International) in 1889, as the ideas of Socialism gained new adherents,
especially in Central Europe, and just before his death in 1895, Engels boasted of a
"single great international army of socialists".

When the First World War started in 1914, the socialist social democratic parties in
the UK, France, Belgium and Germany supported their respective states' war effort,
discarding their commitment to internationalism and solidarity, and the Second
International dissolved during the war.

In Russia, however, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924) denounced the war as an
imperialist conflict, and urged workers worldwide to use it as an occasion for
proletarian revolution. In February 1917, revolution broke out in Russia and the
workers, soldiers and peasants set up councils (or soviets in Russian). The Bolsheviks
won a majority in the soviets in October 1917 and, at the same time, the October
Revolution was led by Lenin and Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940). The new Soviet
government immediately nationalized the banks and major industries, repudiated the
former Romanov regime's national debts, sued for peace and withdrew from the First
World War, and implemented a system of government through the elected workers'
councils or soviets. The Third International (also known as the Communist
International or Comintern) was an international Communist organization founded
in Moscow in 1919 to replace the disbanded Second International.

After Lenin's death in 1924, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, under Josef
Stalin declared a policy of "socialism in one country", taking the route of isolationism.
This led to a polarization of Socialism around the question of the Soviet Union and
adoption of socialist or social democratic policies in response, or in other cases the
vehement repudiation of all that it stands for.

However, not everyone saw Socialism as necessarily entailing revolution, and non-
revolutionaries such as the influential economists John Maynard Keynes (1883 -
1946) and John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - 2006), took inspiration from the work of
John Stuart Mill as well as Marx, and provided theoretical justification for (potentially very
extensive) state involvement in an existing market economy. This kind of Social
Democracy (and the more left-wing Democratic Socialism) can be considered a
moderate form of Socialism (although many socialists would not), and aims to reform
Capitalism democratically through state regulation and the creation of state-
sponsored programs and organizations which work to ameliorate or remove
injustices purportedly inflicted by the Capitalist market system.

Criticisms of Socialism
Criticisms of Socialism range from disagreements over the efficiency of socialist
economic and political models, to outright condemnation of socialist states.

Some critics dispute that the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the
nationalization of industries advocated by some socialists can be achieved without loss
of political or economic freedoms. Some argue that countries where the means of
production are socialized are less prosperous than those where the means of production
are under private control. Yet others argue that socialist policies reduce work
incentives (because workers do not receive rewards for a work well done) and reduce
efficiency through the elimination of the profit and loss mechanism and a free price
system and reliance on central planning. They also argue that Socialism stagnates
technology due to competition being stifled. The tragedy of the commons effect has
been attributed to Socialism by some, whereby when assets are owned in common, there
are no incentives in place to encourage wise stewardship (i.e. if everyone owns an
asset, people act as if no-one owns it). There has also been much focus on the economic
performance and human rights records of Communist states, although this is not
necessarily a criticism of Socialism.

Socialists have counter-argued that Socialism can actually increase efficiency and
economic growth better than Capitalism, or that a certain degree of efficiency can and
should be sacrificed for the sake of economic equality or other social goals. They
further argue that market systems have a natural tendency toward monopoly or
oligopoly in major industries, leading to a distortion of prices, and that a public
monopoly is better than a private one. Also, they claim that a socialist approach can
mitigate the role of externalities in pricing. Some socialists have made a case for
Socialism and central planning being better able to address the issue of managing the
environment than self-serving Capitalism.

Types of Socialism
 Democratic Socialism advocates Socialism as an economic principle (the
means of production should be in the hands of ordinary working people), and
democracy as a governing principle (political power should be in the hands of the
people democratically through a co-operative commonwealth or republic). It
attempts to bring about Socialism through peaceful democratic means as
opposed to violent insurrection, and represents the reformist tradition of
Socialism.
It is similar, but not necessarily identical (although the two terms are sometimes
used interchangeably), to Social Democracy. This refers to an ideology that is
more centrist and supports a broadly Capitalist system, with some social
reforms (such as the welfare state), intended to make it more equitable and
humane. Democratic Socialism, by contrast, implies an ideology that is more left-
wing and supportive of a fully socialist system, established either by gradually
reforming Capitalism from within, or by some form of revolutionary
transformation.
 Revolutionary Socialism advocates the need for fundamental social change
through revolution or insurrection (rather than gradual reform) as a strategy
to achieve a socialist society. The Third International, which was founded
following the Russian Revolution of 1917, defined itself in terms of
Revolutionary Socialism but also became widely identified with Communism.
Trotskyism is the theory of Revolutionary Socialism as advocated by Leon
Trotsky (1879 - 1940), declaring the need for an international proletarian
revolution (rather than Stalin's "socialism in one country") and unwavering
support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic
principles. Luxemburgism is another Revolutionary Socialist tradition, based on
the writings of Rosa Luxemburg (1970 - 1919). It is similar to Trotskyism in its
opposition to the Totalitarianism of Stalin, while simultaneously avoiding the
reformist politics of modern Social Democracy.
 Utopian Socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern
socialist thought in the first quarter of the 19th Century. In general, it was used by
later socialist thinkers to describe early socialist, or quasi-socialist,
intellectuals who created hypothetical visions of perfect egalitarian and
communalist societies without actually concerning themselves with the manner
in which these societies could be created or sustained. They rejected all political
(and especially all revolutionary) action, and wished to attain their ends by
peaceful means and small experiments, which more practical socialists like
Karl Marx saw as necessarily doomed to failure. But the early theoretical work
of people like Robert Owen (1771-1858), Charles Fourier (1772-1837) and
Étienne Cabet (1788–1856) gave much of the impetus to later socialist
movements.
 Libertarian Socialism aims to create a society without political, economic or
social hierarchies, in which every person would have free, equal access to tools
of information and production. This would be achieved through the abolition of
authoritarian institutions and private property, so that direct control of the
means of production and resources will be gained by the working class and
society as a whole. Most Libertarian Socialists advocate abolishing the state
altogether, in much the same way as Utopian Socialists and many varieties of
Anarchism (including Social Anarchism, Anarcho-Communism, Anarcho-
Collectivism and Anarcho-Syndicalism).
 Market Socialism is a term used to define an economic system in which there is
a market economy directed and guided by socialist planners, and where
prices would be set through trial and error (making adjustments as shortages
and surpluses occur) rather than relying on a free price mechanism. By contrast,
a Socialist Market Economy, such as that practiced in the People's Republic of
China, in one where major industries are owned by state entities, but compete
with each other within a pricing system set by the market and the state does not
routinely intervene in the setting of prices.
 Eco-Socialism (or Green Socialism or Socialist Ecology) is an ideology
merging aspects of Marxism, Socialism, Green politics, ecology and the anti-
globalization movement. They advocate the non-violent dismantling of
Capitalism and the State, focusing on collective ownership of the means of
production, in order to mitigate the social exclusion, poverty and environmental
 degradation brought about (as they see it) by the capitalist system,
globalization and imperialism.
 Christian Socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose
politics are both Christian and socialist, and who see these two things as being
interconnected. Christian socialists draw parallels between what some have
characterized as the egalitarian and anti-establishment message of Jesus, and
the messages of modern Socialism.

3.COMMUNISM
Communism is a socio-economic structure that promotes the establishment of a
classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production.
It encourages the formation of a proletarian state in order to overcome the class
structures and alienation of labor that characterize capitalistic societies, and their
legacy of imperialism and nationalism. Communism holds that the only way to solve
these problems is for the working class (or proletariat) to replace the wealthy ruling
class (or bourgeoisie), through revolutionary action, in order to establish a peaceful,
free society, without classes or government.

Communism, then, is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where
humanity is free from oppression and scarcity, and where there is no need for
governments or countries and no class divisions. It envisages a world in which each
person gives according to their abilities, and receives according to their needs. Its
proponents claim it to be the only means to the full realization of human freedom.

It is usually considered a branch of the broader Socialist movement. The dominant forms
of Communism, such as Leninism, Trotskyism and Luxemburgism, are based on
Marxism, but non-Marxist versions of Communism (such as Christian Communism
and Anarchist Communism) also exist - see the section on Types of Communism
below.

In the late 19th Century, the terms "socialism" and "communism" were often used
interchangeably. However, Marxist theory argues that Communism would not emerge
from Capitalism in a fully developed state, but would pass through a "first phase"
(Socialism) in which most productive property was owned in common, but some class
differences remained. This would eventually evolve into a "higher phase" (Communism)
in which class differences were eliminated, and a state was no longer needed and
would wither away. It further argued that revolutionary activity by the working
classes was required to bring about these changes.

History of Communism
The early history of Communist thought is essentially the history of Socialism, which
has been detailed elsewhere.

In its modern form, Communism grew out of the Socialist movements of 19th Century
Europe and the critics of Capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. Foremost
among these critics were the German philosopher Karl Marx and his associate Friedrich
Engels (1820 - 1895), and their ground-breaking "Communist Manifesto" of 1848,
the defining document of the movement, offered a new definition of Communism and
popularized the term.

The usage of the terms "communism" and "socialism" shifted after the Russian
Revolution of 1917, when the avowedly Marxist Bolshevik Party in Russia changed
their name to the Communist Party and installed a single party regime devoted to
the implementation of socialist policies under Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924).
Lenin created the Third International (or Communist International or
Comintern) in 1919 and set the twenty-one conditions (including democratic
centralism) for any European socialist parties willing to join. In the wake of the Russian
Civil War, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) was
created in 1922.

Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) lasted until 1928, when Joseph Stalin (1878 -
1953) became party leader under the banner of "socialism in one country" and
proceeded down the road of isolationism and Totalitarianism with the first of many Five
Year Plans. Marxist critics of the Soviet Union, most notably Leon Trotsky (1879 -
1940), referred to the Soviet system as a "degenerated" or "deformed" workers' state,
arguing that it fell far short of Marx's communist ideal, and claiming that the working
class was politically dispossessed.

After World War II, the Warsaw Pact saw Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania join the Soviet Union in an economic and
military alliance under strict Soviet Control. However, relations were never easy, and
the Soviet Union was forced into military interventions to quell popular uprisings
in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968), and Albania withdrew from the Pact
(although not from Communism) in 1968 due to ideological differences.

In 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976)
established the People's Republic of China, which would later follow its own
ideological path of Communist development (Maoism). Communist states such as Soviet
Union and China succeeded in becoming industrial and technological powers,
challenging the Capitalist powers in the arms race, the space race and military
conflicts, although both suffered significant setbacks and attracted much criticism (see
the section on Criticisms of Communism below).

Although never formally unified as a single political entity, by the 1970s almost one-
third of the world's population lived in Communist states, including the People's Republic
of China, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe, as well
Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, and Mozambique.
However, the Warsaw Pact countries had all abandoned Communist rule by 1990, and
in 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved, leaving China, Cuba and some isolated states in
Asia and Africa as the remaining bastions of Communism, in most cases substantially
watered down and adapted from its initial ideology.

Criticisms of Communism
Criticisms of Communism can be divided in two broad categories: those concerned
with Communist or Marxist principles and theory, and those concerned with the
practical aspects of 20th Century Communist states:

 Criticisms of Communist/Marxist Theory:

o The promise of a glorious, yet imaginary, future: Some have argued
that, like Fascism, Nationalism and many religions, Communism offers a
vision of an unachievable perfect future, and keeps its subjects in thrall
to it by devaluing the past and the present. It claims to represent a
universal truth which explains everything and can cure every ill, and any
apparent deviations or under-performance are explained away by
casuistry and emotional appeals.
o An incomplete ideology: Marx and Engels never dedicated much work to
show how exactly a Communist economy would function in practice,
leaving Socialism a "negative ideology" (having removed the market price
system, but with nothing to take its place).
o The assumption that human nature is completely determined by the
environment: Some Communists, including Trotsky, believed that all the
social, political and intellectual life processes in general are conditioned by
the socio-economic base and the mode of production of material life,
which rather devalues humanity and the importance of the lives and
rights of human beings.
o Anarchist criticisms: Many Anarchists and Libertarian Socialists reject the
need for a transitory state phase and often criticize Marxism and
Communism for being too authoritarian. Some Anarcho-Primitivists
reject left wing politics in general, seeing it as corrupt and claiming that
civilization is un-reformable.
o An attack on human rights and liberty: Some critics have argued that
Marx's concept of freedom is really just a defense of tyranny and
oppression, and not an expansion of freedoms as he claimed.
o Alleged anti-Semitism: Some commentators have interpreted many of
Marx's pronouncements on Jews as being anti-Semitic, claiming that he
saw Jews as the embodiment of Capitalism and the creators of all its evils.
Others, however, hotly dispute this interpretation.
o The need for violent revolution: Many Socialist reformists (e.g.
Democratic Socialists and Social Democrats) take issue with the Marxist
requirement for a violent proletarian revolution, arguing that Capitalism
can be reformed by gradual democratic changes.
 o The theory of Historical Materialism is flawed: Some critics have argued
that the concept of Historial Materialism which underlies much of Marxist
theory is flawed, or that such a method can be twisted into trying to force
the course of history in a particular direction, or that in practice it leads to
Nihilism. Very briefly, Historical Materialism is the idea that for human
beings to survive, they need to produce and reproduce the material
requirements of life, and this production is carried out through a division
of labor based on very definite production relations between people.
These relations form the economic base of society, and are themselves
determined by the mode of production which is in force (e.g. tribal
society, ancient society, feudalism, capitalism, socialism), and societies, and
their cultural and institutional superstructures, naturally move from
stage to stage as the dominant class is displaced by a new emerging class
in a social and political upheaval.
o Marxist class analysis is flawed: Some argue that class is not the most
fundamental inequality in history, and that detailed analysis of many
historical periods fails to find support for class or social evolution as
used by Marxists.
o Unfulfilled predictions: Marx made numerous predictions in expounding
his theories (e.g. increasing class polarization, proletarian revolutions
occurring first in the most industrialized nations, increasing
improvement of machinery making the livelihoods of workers more and
more precarious, etc), some of which are debatable, while others have
been clearly proven wrong. It is argued that this is further evidence that
Historical Materialism is a flawed theory.
o The theory is not scientifically rigorous: The theory of Historical
Materialism, although initially genuinely scientific, degenerated into
pseudoscience and dogma when predictions were not borne out and ad
hoc adaptations and revisions had to be made to fit the facts. Some
critics have also argued that, if anything, the older utopian socialists were
more scientific in their approach than Marx, in that at least their attempts to
set up socialist communes followed the scientific method of
experimentation, hypothesis and testing, whereas Marxism was just an
untestable and hence unscientific prophecy.
o The evidence for the "end of history": Some critics have argued that the
growing spread of liberal democracy around the world, and the apparent
lack of major revolutionary movements developing in them, suggest
that Capitalism or social democracy is likely to be the final form of human
government, rather than Marxism, which claims to be an "end of history"
philosophy.
 Criticisms of Communist Party Rule:
o Totalitarianism: It is claimed that Communist parties have maintained
themselves in power without the consent of the populations and have
degenerated into Totalitarianism. They rule by means of secret police,
propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media,
repression of free discussion and criticism, mass surveillance, and
state terror.
o Political repression: Both political repression and censorship were
practiced extensively by the Soviet Union under Stalin (from 1927 to 1953),
by China under Mao (especially during the Cultural Revolution of 1966
- 76), and by the Communist regime in North Korea throughout its rule
(from 1948 onwards).
o Personality cults: There has been much criticism of the personality
cults of many Communist rulers, especially the cults of Stalin, Mao, Kim
Il Sung, and Fidel Castro.
o Restrictions on freedom of movement: Many anticommunists have
asserted that Communist regimes tend to impose harsh restrictions on the
freedom of movement, which they argue are to stem the possibility of
mass emigration due to widespread popular dissatisfaction with their
rule.
o Imperialism: Although, as an ideology, Communism stresses its
opposition to imperialism, which it sees as the highest stage of Capitalism,
anti-Communist critics have accused the Soviet Union and the People's
Republic of China of practicing imperialism themselves. Examples
include the Chinese annexation of Tibet, the creation of Soviet satellite
states in Eastern Europe after the end of World War II, and aggressive
interventions in popular uprisings in Hungary, Poland and Afghanistan,
and in various national liberation movements in African and Asia.
o Human rights: A number of Communist states have maintained forced
labor as a legal form of punishment (often resulting in significant death
tolls), as well as the involuntary deportations of entire ethnic groups and
ethnic cleansing. Executions of people who had received the death
penalty for various charges were common, as were deaths that occurred in
prison, including those of political dissidents. Some have also argued
that millions of deaths from famine, purges and internal wars in both
the Soviet Union and China were directly attributable to Communist
policies.
o Economic performance: Many critics of Communist rule make
disparaging comparisons between the economic development and
efficiency of Communist and non-Communist countries. Although the
Soviet Union achieved rapid industrialization, especially during the
1930's, it became a net importer of grain, unable to produce enough food
to feed its own population. In general, the Communist economies of Eastern
European had productivity far below the Western European average.
Direct comparisons are difficult, however, and the reliability of some
statistics are debatable. The unavailability of consumer goods common in
the West has been asserted by some as evidence of the lower standard of
living in the Soviet Union, although there was a deliberate policy of
concentrating the country's economic resources on heavy industry and
defense rather than on consumer goods, and there was more emphasis on
social and cultural programs as well as guaranteed employment,
subsidized food and clothing, free health care, free child care, free
education, etc.
 o Cultural and artistic censorship: Some critics have argued that
censorship of the arts in Communist countries, and particularly the
wholesale destruction of older artifacts and architecture which did not
demonstrate sufficient "proletarian content", represented an
unjustifiable destruction of the cultural heritage of humanity. A certain
amount of historical revision also took place, including the falsification
of images and the re-writing of history.
o Ecological damage: Several environmental disasters have been
blamed directly on Communist rule and policies and its obsession with
heavy industry, military development and space projects at the expense of
ecology. Air and water pollution in both the Soviet Union and its
satellites and in the People's Republic of China have been severe, and much
of the agricultural land has been affected by salinization, erosion, acidity,
waterlogging, or desertification.

Types of Communism
 Marxism is the theoretical-practical framework on which Socialism and
Communism are based.
 Leninism builds upon and elaborates the ideas of Marxism, and served as the
philosophical basis for the ideology of Soviet Communism after the Russian
Revolution of 1917 and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Ilyich
Lenin (1870 - 1924) argued in his pamphlet "What is to be Done?" of 1902 that
the proletariat can only achieve a successful revolutionary consciousness
through the efforts of a "vanguard party" composed of full-time professional
revolutionaries and through a form of disciplined organization known as
"democratic centralism" (whereby decisions are made with internal
democracy but then all party members must externally support and actively
promote that decision). It holds that Capitalism can only be overthrown by
revolutionary means, and any attempts to reform Capitalism from within are
doomed to fail. The goal of a Leninist party is to orchestrate the overthrow of the
existing government by force and seize power on behalf of the proletariat, and then
implement a dictatorship of the proletariat, a kind of direct democracy in
which workers hold political power through local councils known as soviets.
 Marxism-Leninism is the Communist ideological stream that emerged as the
mainstream tendency amongst Communist parties in the 1920's as it was
adopted as the ideological foundation of the Communist International during
the era of Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953), with whom it is mainly associated. The
term "Marxism-Leninism" is most often used by those who believe that Lenin's
legacy was successfully carried forward by Stalin, although it is debatable to what
extent it actually follows the principles of either Marx or Lenin.
 Stalinism is a more pejorative term for Joseph Stalin's vision of Communism
(which Stalin himself described as Marxism-Leninism). Proponents of the term
argue that it includes an extensive use of propaganda to establish a personality
cult around an absolute dictator, as well as extensive use of a secret police to
 maintain social submission and silence political dissent, all of which are
trappings of Totalitarianism.
 Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism advocated by Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940),
who considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, and
argued for the establishment of a vanguard party. Trotsky's politics differed
sharply from the Marxism-Leninism of Joseph Stalin, particularly in declaring
the need for an international proletarian revolution (as opposed to Stalin's
"socialism in one country"), and unwavering support for a true dictatorship of
the proletariat based on direct democratic principles. One of the defining
characteristics of Trotskyism is the theory of permanent revolution to
explain how socialist revolutions could occur in societies that had not yet
achieved advanced Capitalism (which according to Marx was a prerequisite for
socialist revolution).
 Luxemburgism is a specific revolutionary theory within Communism, based on
the writings of Rosa Luxemburg (1870 - 1919). Her politics diverged from those
of Lenin and Trotsky mainly in her disagreement with their concept of
"democratic centralism", which she saw as insufficiently democratic.
Luxemburgism resembles Anarchism in its avoidance of an authoritarian society by
relying on the people themselves as opposed to their leaders, However, it also sees
the importance of a revolutionary party and the centrality of the working class
in the revolutionary struggle. It resembles Trotskyism in its opposition to the
Totalitarianism of Stalin and to the reformist politics of modern social
democracy, but differs in arguing that Lenin and Trotsky also made
undemocratic errors.
 Maoism (or "Mao Zedong Thought") is a variant of Communism derived from
the teachings of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung) (1893 -
1976), and practiced in the People's Republic of China after the Chinese
Revolution of 1949. Maoism developed from the Marxism-Leninism of Stalin,
but introduced new ideas such as Social-Imperialism (Mao accused the Soviet
Union of dominating and exploiting the smaller countries in its sphere to the
point of organising their economies around Soviet, not domestic, needs), the Mass
Line (a method of leadership that seeks to learn from the masses and immerse
the political leadership in the concerns and conditions of the masses - "from the
masses, to the masses"), people's war and new democracy. The "Great Leap
Forward" of 1958, an attempt to industrialize and improve China's economy
proved to be disastrous and millions died from the resulting famine. The
Cultural Revolution, begun in 1966 under the so-called "Gang of Four" in an
attempt to rid the country of any remaining "liberal bourgeois" elements, resulted
in further social, political and economic chaos, eventually bringing the entire
country to the brink of civil war. Since Mao's death in 1976, his original ideology
has been radically altered, marginalized and reformed in China and has become
known as "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" (which is actually closer
to Keynesian Capitalism than Communism). Maoist parties exist in Peru, Nepal,
India and the Philippines.
 Left Communism is a range of Communist viewpoints held by the Communist
Left, which claims to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the
views of Leninism and its successors. Left Communists supported the Russian
 Revolution, but did not accept the subsequent methods of the Bolsheviks. The
Russian, Dutch-German and the Italian traditions of Left Communism all share an
opposition to nationalism, all kinds of national liberation movements,
frontism (uniting with anyone against a common enemy) and parliamentary
systems.
 Council Communism is a radical left movement, originating in Germany and the
Netherlands in the 1920s, and continuing today as a theoretical and activist
position within both left-wing Marxism and Libertarian Socialism. It sees
workers' councils, arising in factories and municipalities, as the natural form
of working class organization and governmental power. It opposes the idea of
a "revolutionary party" on the grounds that a revolution led by a party will
necessarily produce a party dictatorship.
 Anarchist Communism (or Anarcho-Communism or Libertarian
Communism) advocates the complete abolition of the state and Capitalism in
favor of a horizontal network of voluntary associations, workers' councils
and/or commons through which everyone will be free to satisfy their needs. The
movement was led by the Russians Mikhail Bakunin (1814 - 1876) and Peter
Kropotkin (1842 - 1921).
 Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970's and 1980's within various Western
European Communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social
transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and
less aligned to the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
 Religious Communism is a form of Communism centered on religious
principles, whether they be Christian, Taoist, Jain, Hindu or Buddhist. It usually
refers to a number of egalitarian and utopian religious societies practicing the
voluntary dissolution of private property, so that society's benefits are
distributed according to a person's needs, and every person performs labor
according to their abilities. Christian Communism, for example, takes the view
that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support Communism as
the ideal social system.

4.CAPITALISM
Capitalism is the economic and social system (and also the mode of production)
in which the means of production are predominantly privately owned and operated for
profit, and distribution and exchange is in a mainly market economy. It is usually
considered to involve the right of individuals and corporations to trade (using
money) in goods, services, labor and land.

Some form of Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of
feudalism in the Middle Ages, and has provided the main, although not exclusive,
means of industrialization throughout much of the world. Its rise to prominence sprang
out of the mercantilism of the 16th to the 18th Centuries, and followed the rise of
Liberalism and laissez-faire economics in western society. The capitalist mode of
production, however, may exist within societies with differing state systems (e.g.
liberal democracy, fascism) and different social structures.

In Marxist terms, the owners of capital are the dominant capitalist class (or
bourgeoisie), and the working class (or proletariat) who do not own capital must live
by selling their labor power in exchange for a wage. Thus, according to Karl Marx,
Capitalism is based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of capital, and under
his theory of historical materialism, represents just one of the stages in the evolution
of a society which would be overthrown as the workers gain class consciousness and
take control over the state.

History of Capitalism
Although some features of Capitalist organization existed in the ancient world (e.g.
the early Roman Empire, the medieval Caliphate in the Middle East), Capitalist economic
practices became institutionalized in England between the 16th and 19th Centuries,
and then spread throughout Europe and across political and cultural frontiers.

With the emergence of modern nation-states in the 16th to the 18th Centuries,
mercantilism (the economic theory that the prosperity of a nation depends upon its
capital, or economic assets, as represented by gold and silver, and that the volume of the
world economy and international trade is unchangeable, encouraging a protectionist
role for government) became dominant in Europe. The classical tradition in Capitalist
economic thought emerged in Britain in the late 18th Century, with Adam Smith, David
Ricardo (1772 - 1823) and John Stuart Mill, as well as with Jean-Baptiste Say (1767 -
1832) in France. Important contributions to the theory of property are found in the earlier
work of John Locke, who had argued that the right to private property is a natural right.

Adam Smith's criticism of the mercantile system in his "The Wealth of Nations" of
1776 is often considered the beginning of classical political economy. Smith devised a set
of concepts that remain strongly associated with Capitalism today, particularly his
theory of the "invisible hand" of the market, through which the pursuit of individual
self-interest unintentionally produces a collective good for society. He criticized
monopolies, tariffs, duties, and other state-enforced restrictions of his time, and
he believed that the market is the most fair and efficient arbitrator of resources.

David Ricardo, one of the most influential economists of modern times, developed the
law of comparative advantage (which explains how trade can benefit all parties
involved as long as they produce goods with different relative costs) in his "The
Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" of 1817, which supports the
economic case for free trade, a cornerstone of capitalist thinking. He also argued that
inflation is closely related to changes in quantity of money and credit, expanded on
Say's Law of full employment in a competitive economy, and described the law of
diminishing returns (which states that each additional unit of input yields less and
less additional output), all essential building blocks in the theory of Capitalism.

In the wake of industrialization, the repeal of restrictive laws, and the teachings of
Smith and Ricardo, laissez-faire Capitalism gained favor over mercantilism in Britain in
the mid-19th Century, and it embraced Liberalism, competition and the development
of a market economy, from where it rapidly spread throughout much of the western
world.

In the late 19th Century, the control and direction of large areas of industry came into
the hands of financiers, and the processes of production became subordinated to the
accumulation of money profits in a financial system (sometimes known as "finance
capitalism"). Late 19th and early 20th Century Capitalism was marked by the
concentration of capital into large monopolistic or oligopolistic holdings by banks and
financiers, and by the growth of large corporations.

During the late 19th and early 20th Century, Capitalism set itself in opposition to the rising
tide of Socialist, Marxist and Communist thought, and to the whole concept of centrally-
planned economies. But, by the end of the 19th Century, economic depressions and
"boom and bust" business cycles had become a recurring problem. In particular, the
Long Depression of the 1870s and 1880s and the Great Depression of the 1930s
affected almost the entire capitalist world.

In response, the state began to play an increasingly prominent role in the capitalistic
system throughout much of the world, exemplified by the New Deal of American
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945). Mixed economies (containing both
privately-owned and state-owned enterprises, and with a mix of market economy and
planned economy characteristics) and the interventionist Keynesian economics of
British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946) became the norm.

After the long post-war boom, during which the Keynesian "state capitalism" was in the
ascendant, a new push towards laissez-faire Capitalism and classical Liberalism was led by
the economists Friedrich Hayek (1899 - 1992) and Milton Friedman (1912 - 2006),
and championed by conservative leaders like Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) and
Margaret Thatcher (1925 - 2013) in the 1970's.

Criticisms of Capitalism
Capitalism has met with strong opposition throughout its history, both from the left and
the right:

 The free market and property rights:

The Anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865) and the Marxist
Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895) have argued that the free market is not
necessarily free, but weighted towards those who already own property,
 forcing those without property to sell their labor to capitalists and landlords in a
market favorable to the latter, and to accept low wages in order to survive.
 Market failures:
The allocation of goods and services by a free market is not as efficient as it
might be (due to the lack of perfect information and perfect competition),
and individuals' pursuit of self-interest can lead to bad results for society as a
whole. It is argued that this and certain other unique problems with a free market
(including monopolies, monopsonies, insider trading and price gouging)
are grounds for government intervention.
 Market instability:
Marxists claim that market instability is a permanent feature of capitalist
economy, and that the unplanned and explosive growth of Capitalism does not
occur in a smooth manner, but is interrupted by periods of overproduction in
which stagnation or decline occur (i.e. recessions and depressions).
 Profit and exploitation:
Critics of Capitalism view the system as inherently exploitative because the
owners of capital only pay labor for the cost of survival (food, shelter, clothing,
etc), while expropriating the excess (i.e. surplus value). Since capitalists control
the means of production (e.g. factories, businesses, machinery) and workers
control only their labor, the worker is naturally coerced into allowing their labor
to be exploited, and is not paid according to the true worth of his labor but
arbitrarily according to what the employer is willing to pay.
 Inefficiency and waste:
Some opponents criticize the shift from pre-industrial reuse and thriftiness
before Capitalism to a consumer-based economy that pushes "ready-made"
materials and planned obsolescence, thus creating a potentially insoluble
ecological problem. Advertising and marketing are also seen as a wasteful
use of resources, and brand-based marketing puts more emphasis on a
company's name-brand than on the quality of its products.
 Unequal distribution of wealth and income:
Some view a significant disparity and concentration of wealth to be a problem
endemic to Capitalism, and argue that this inequality is excessive, unfair,
dysfunctional or even immoral, and may lead to social problems (such as
higher crime rates) that affect both poor and rich. It is further argued that the
capitalist system may also have inherent biases favoring those who already
possess greater resources. The wealthy may not put their wealth to productive
use, while at the same time the system undermines an economy's mass buying
power by denying resources to poorer people, who have a tendency to spend
rather than save.
 Employment and unemployment:
Some economists consider that a certain level of unemployment is necessary for
the proper functioning of capitalist economies, and that this "natural rate of
unemployment" highlights the inefficiency of a capitalist economy, since not
all its resources (e.g. human labor) are being allocated efficiently.
 Imperialism and human rights violations:
Some argue that Capitalism thrives on an uneven and exploitative relationship
between wealthy nations who force regime or system changes in poor countries
 which are only beneficial to them, often through exploitative wars. Dependency
Theory holds that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and
underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at
the expense of the former. Marxists, particularly Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 -
1924), argue that Capitalism needs imperialism in order to survive, as it
expands its over-saturated local markets into (and drains the resources out of)
other less-developed nations.
 Democracy:
Some critics have argued that the Capitalist system can be undemocratic
(although Capitalism as an economic system is not necessarily tied to
democracy). Oft-cited examples include people not being able to criticize their
boss out of risk of getting fired, and not being able to express their opinions due
to lack of funds to afford access to the media.
 Economic freedom:
There has been criticism of the usual measures of economic freedom which
are often used to justify Capitalism. If economic freedom is to include the freedom
to have meaningful decision-making control over productive resources, then
it is argued that the various points mentioned above actually result in reduced,
not increased, economic freedom.
 Sustainability and the environment:
Some question the continued sustainability of an economic system that insists
on continued strong economic growth, requires increasingly greater amounts
of natural resources and energy, and promotes environmentally irresponsible
consumption and production, arguing that many aspects of the
environment have been severely degraded since the industrial revolution. The
globalization of production, which is an integral part of the functioning of
modern Capitalism, also produces significant pollution and waste of
resources.
 Religious criticism:
Some religions criticize or outright reject capitalism (e.g. Islam strongly forbids
usury, the lending of money at an interest). Some Christians have also strongly
criticized Capitalism, particularly its materialistic aspects (the early Socialists
drew many of their principles from Christian values opposed to the "bourgeois
values" of profiteering, greed, selfishness and hoarding). Some see unfettered
Capitalism as a threat to cultural and religious traditions.

5.FASCISM
Fascism is an authoritarian Nationalist political ideology that exalts nation (and often
race) above the individual, and that stands for a centralized autocratic
government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social
regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. It often claims to be
concerned with notions of cultural decline or decadence, and seeks to achieve a
national rebirth by suppressing the interests of the individual, and instead promoting
cults of unity, energy and purity.

In economics, Fascism sees itself as a third way between laissez-faire Capitalism on the
one hand and Communism or Socialism on the other. It acknowledges the roles of private
property and the profit motive as legitimate incentives for productivity, but only
insofar as they do not conflict with the interests of the state. Fascist governments tend
to nationalize key industries, closely manage their currencies and make massive state
investments. They also tend to introduce price controls, wage controls and other
types of economic planning measures (such as state-regulated allocation of resources,
especially in the financial and raw materials sectors).

The term "fascismo" was coined by the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1883
- 1945) and the self-described "philosopher of Fascism" Giovanni Gentile (1875 - 1944).
It is derived from the Latin word "fasces", an ancient Roman symbol consisting of a
bundle of rods tied around an axe, used to suggest "strength through unity". It was
originally used to refer specifically to Mussolini's political movement that ruled Italy
from 1922 to 1943, but has subsequently also been used to describe other regimes.

Fascism usually involves some degree of some or all of the following elements:

 Nationalism (based on the cultural, racial and/or religious attributes of a region).

 Totalitarianism (state regulation of nearly every aspect of public and private
sectors).
 Statism (state intervention in personal, social or economic matters).
 Patriotism (positive and supportive attitudes to a "fatherland").
 Autocracy (political power in the hands of a single self-appointed ruler).
 Militarism (maintaining of a strong military capability and being prepared to use
it aggressively to defend or promote national interests).
 Corporatism (encouragement of unelected bodies which exert control over the
social and economic life of their respective areas).
 Populism (direct appeals to the masses, usually by a charismatic leader).
 Collectivism (stress on human interdependence rather than on the importance of
separate individuals).

It usually also expresses opposition to the following:

 Liberalism (policies of minimal interference by government, both politically and

economically)
 Communism (specifically Marxism, but generally any communal social
organization).
 Democracy (majority rule and competitive elections with freedom of speech,
freedom of the press and some degree of rule of law).
 Individualism (stress on human independence and the importance of individual
self-reliance and liberty)
Types of Fascism
 Italian Fascism (in Italian, Fascismo) is the authoritarian political
movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito
Mussolini (1883 - 1945). It is the original model which inspired other Fascist
ideologies, and is generally referred to simply as Fascism. It grew out of Mussolini's
desire to re-affirm Italian national identity and pride after so many centuries of
disunity leading up to the unification of 1870. Similar movements appeared
throughout the world (including Europe, Japan, and Latin America) between
World War I and World War II.
 Nazism (or National Socialism) refers to the ideology and practices of the
German Nazi Party (or National Socialist German Workers' Party) under
Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) between 1933 and 1945. It was a strongly nationalist,
totalitarian, racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Communist movement, which grew up in
the aftermath of German humiliation after World War I, which was partly
blamed on Germany's Jews. Hitler published his political beliefs in "Mein
Kampf" in 1925 and, inspired by the Italian Fascism of Mussolini, assumed
dictatorial powers as Chancellor in 1933. His belief in the superiority of an
Aryan race and the possibilities of eugenics (racial purification), his fierce anti-
Semitism and anti-Communism, combined with his militaristic and
expansionist ambitions led to World War II, with its atrocities and genocide,
eventual military defeat and the subsequent abandonment of Nazism as a viable
ideology.
 Clerical Fascism is an ideology that combines the political and economic
doctrines of Fascism with theology or religious tradition. The term originally
emerged in the 1920s referring to Catholic support for the Fascist regime of Benito
Mussolini, but has since been applied to various regimes and movements,
particularly in Europe and South America.
 Neo-Fascism is any post-World War II ideology that includes significant
elements of Fascism, or that expresses specific admiration for Benito Mussolini
and Italian Fascism, again particularly in Europe and South America. It
includes various Neo-Nazi movements, which can be found almost worldwide.

6.MARXISM
Marxism is an economic and social system derived from the work of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels (1829 - 1895). It is a theoretical-practical framework based on
the analysis of "the conflicts between the powerful and the subjugated" with working
class self-emancipation as its goal.

It asserts that the Capitalist mode of production enables the bourgeoisie (or owners
of capital) to exploit the proletariat (or workers) and that class struggle by the
proletariat must be the central element in social and historical change. According to
Marx, a socialist revolution must occur, in order to establish a "dictatorship of the
proletariat" with the ultimate goal of public ownership of the means of production,
distribution, and exchange.

Classical Marxism is a variety of Socialism and provides the intellectual base for
various forms of Communism. It was conceived (as to some extent was Anarchism) as a
reaction against the rampant Capitalism and Liberalism of 19th Century Europe. It is
grounded in Materialism and it is committed to political practice as the end goal of all
thought.

As a philosopher, Marx was influenced by a number of different thinkers, including:

German philosophers (e.g. Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach);
British political economists (e.g. Adam Smith and David Ricardo); and French
social theorists (e.g. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-
Simon, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Flora Tristan and Louis Blanc).

The defining document of Marxism and Communism is "The Communist

Manifesto", published jointly by Marx and Engels in 1848. The first volume of "Das
Kapital" (Marx's ambitious treatise on political economy and critical analysis of
Capitalism and its practical economic application) was published in 1867, with two more
volumes edited and published after his death by Engels. For the most part, these works
were collaborations and, while Marx is the more famous of the two, he was strongly
influenced by Engels' earlier works, and Engels was also responsible for much of the
interpretation and editing of Marx's work.

Some of the basic ideas behind Marxism include:

 Exploitation and Alienation: Capitalism is based on the exploitation of

workers by the owners of capital, due to the fact that the workers' labor power
generates a surplus value greater than the workers' wages. This expropriation
of surpluses leads to increasing alienation and resentment of workers, because
they have no control over the labor or product which they produce (a systematic
result of the Capitalist system, it is argued).
 labor Theory of Value: The value of a commodity can be objectively
measured by the average amount of labor hours that are required to produce
that commodity. This is similar to the value theory established by classical
economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo (1772 - 1823), although for
Marx it is socially necessary labor which is important (i.e. the amount needed
to produce, and reproduce, a commodity under average working conditions).
 Base and Superstructure: Relations are established among people as they
produce and reproduce the material requirements of life, and these relations
form the economic basis of society. On this "base" arises a "superstructure"
of political and legal institutions, and a social consciousness of religious,
philosophical, ideological and other ideas. Any social revolution (caused by
conflict between the development of material productive forces and the relations
of production) will result in a change in the economic basis and thence to the
transformation of the superstructure.
  Class Consciousness: Any social class possesses an awareness (of itself, of the
conditions of life, and of the social world around it), and its capacity to act in its
own rational interests is based on this awareness. Thus, class consciousness
must be attained before any class may mount a successful revolution.
 Ideology: The ruling class foists the dominant ideology on all members of
that society in order to make its own interests appear to be the interests of all.
Therefore, the ideology of a society can be used to confuse alienated groups and
create a false consciousness (such as commodity fetishism, where social
relationships are transformed into apparently objective relationships between
commodities or money).
 Historical and Dialectical Materialism: This refers to the adaptation by
Marx and Engels of Georg Hegel's theory of Dialectics, the concept that any idea
or event (the thesis) generates its opposite (the antithesis), eventually leading to
a reconciliation of opposites (a new, more advanced synthesis). Marx realized
that this could also be applied to material matters like economics, hence the
label Dialectical Materialism. The application of the principle of Dialectical
Materialism to history and sociology, the main context in which Marx used it, is
known as Historical Materialism (see the section below for details). The
resulting theory posits that history is the product of class struggle and obeys the
general Hegelian principle of the development of thesis and antithesis.

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Historical Materialism
Historical Materialism (or the Materialist Conception of History) is Marx's
theory of history, his attempt to make history scientific, and it underlies much of the
rest of his work. It is based on the principle of Dialectical Materialism (a synthesis of
Hegel's theory of Dialectics and the idea that social and other phenomena are essentially
material in nature, rather than ideal or spiritual) as it applies to history and societies.

The main thrust of the theory is that history is ultimately about economics. It holds that
class struggle (the evolving conflict between classes with opposing interests) is the
means of bringing about changes in a society's mode of production, and that it
structures each historical period and drives historical change. Material conditions and
social relations are therefore historically malleable because developments and changes
in human societies are dependent on the way in which humans collectively produce the
means to live.

Marx's argument is essentially that, for human beings to survive, they need to produce
and reproduce the material requirements of life, and that this production is carried
out through a division of labor based on very definite production relations between
people. These relations form the economic base of society, and are themselves
determined by the mode of production which is in force (e.g. tribal society, feudalism,
capitalism, socialism). Societies, and their cultural and institutional superstructures,
naturally move from stage to stage as the dominant class is displaced by a new
emerging class in a social and political upheaval.
Marx and Engels identified six successive stages (including one transitional stage)
in a society's development:

 Primitive Communism, as seen in co-operative tribal societies.

 Slave Society, which develops when the tribe becomes a city-state, and
aristocracy is born.
 Feudalism, where aristocracy is the ruling class, and merchants develop into
capitalists.
 Capitalism, where capitalists are the ruling class, and create and employ the true
working class.
 Socialism (or "Dictatorship of the Proletariat"), where the workers gain
class consciousness, overthrow the capitalists and take control over the state.
 Communism, where a classless and stateless society has evolved.

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Class Analysis
Marx believed that the identity of a social class is derived from its relationship to the
means of production, rather than being determined by wealth alone. He described
several social classes in capitalist societies, including the following:

 Proletariat: workers who sell their labor power for wages, but do not own the
means of production.
 Bourgeoisie: those who own the means of production (or capital) and buy labor
power from the proletariat.
 Petit Bourgeoisie: a less wealthy sub-class of the bourgeoisie, those who employ
labor, but may also work themselves (e.g. small proprietors, land-holding
peasants, trade workers).
 Lumpenproletariat: those who have no stake in the economic system, are
disconnected from the means of production, and will sell themselves to the
highest bidder (e.g. criminals, vagabonds, beggars, etc).
 Landlords: a class of people that were historically important, of which some
still retain some of their wealth and power.
 Peasants and farmers: a disorganized class that Marx saw as incapable of
carrying out change.

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History of Marxism
The early history of Marxist thought is essentially the history of Socialism, which has
been detailed elsewhere.

Some Marxists see the French Revolution of 1789 - 1799 as a proletarian revolution
in accordance with Marxist principles, but the reality is much more complex and there is
much contention over the claim. Likewise, the American Revolution of 1775 - 1783
was essentially a war of independence and not a grass-roots rebellion in the Marxist
sense.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1829 - 1895) first met in person in 1844, and they soon
discovered that they had similar views on philosophy in general and on Capitalism in
particular, and decided to work together, culminating in the groundbreaking "The
Communist Manifesto" (published jointly by Marx and Engels in 1848), which became
the defining document of Marxism and Communism. They further collaborated on
"Das Kapital", (Marx's ambitious treatise on political economy and critical analysis
of Capitalism), the first volume of which was published in 1867, with two more volumes
edited and published after his death by Engels.

The first large-scale attempt to put Marxist ideas about a workers' state into practice
came with the Russian Revolution (or October Revolution) of 1917, led by Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924) and the Bolshevik Party (even though Russia was not an
ideal candidate with a fully developed Capitalist system, as Marxist theory prescribed).
Despite Lenin's exhortations, however, other countries did not follow suit, and
attempted Socialist revolutions in Germany and other western countries failed, leaving
the newly-formed Soviet Union on its own.

Even in the early days of the Soviet Union, there were those, notably Leon Trotsky
(1879 - 1940) and Rosa Luxemburg (1870 - 1919), who claimed that the form of
Communism adopted there (especially after Joseph Stalin took control after Lenin's
death in 1924) did not conform to Marxist theory, and much of the rest of the history of
Socialism and Communism is replete with different factions claiming their legitimacy
from Marxism.

Following World War II, Marxist ideology, often with Soviet military backing,
spawned a rise in revolutionary Communist parties all over the world, some of which were
eventually able to gain power (e.g. the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Romania,
East Germany, Albania, Cambodia, Ethiopia, South Yemen, Yugoslavia, Cuba), and
establish their own version of a Marxist state. Many of these self-proclaimed Marxist
nations (often styled People's Republics) eventually became authoritarian states
with stagnating economies, which caused much debate about whether Marxism was
doomed in practice, or whether these nations were in fact not led by "true Marxists".

By 1990, the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe had all abandoned Communist
rule, and in 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved, leaving China, Cuba and some isolated
states in Asia and Africa as the remaining bastions of Communism, although in most
cases any identification with classical Marxism had long since disappeared.

Recent Developments in Marxism

In terms of the philosophical (as opposed to political) development of Marxism in the 20th
Century, the first major figure was perhaps the Hungarian György (George) Lukács
(1885 - 1971). His philosophy, which came to be known as Western Marxism, stressed
the earlier Hegelian and humanist elements of Marx's work. Lukács' 1923 "History and
Class Consciousness" is often considered a milestone in Marxist thought, with its
themes of class consciousness (self-awareness of social class and of the role assigned
to it by Marxism), reification (the attribution of human or living qualities to objects and
social relations) and totality (seeing the whole picture of society at once, in all its
complexity).

The Italian revolutionary Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1931) spent much of his adult life in
Mussolini's fascist prisons, but he has come to be seen as a highly original thinker within
the Marxist tradition. His important philosophical legacy includes the introduction into
Marxist thought of the idea of hegemony (the way in which the ruling class directs and
organizes society through its cultural power). He saw cultural hegemony as an
important means of maintaining the status quo in a capitalist society, pointing out that
the bourgeoisie did not rule by force alone, but also by consent, forming political
alliances with other groups and working ideologically to dominate society. Like Lukács,
he strongly believed in the organic unity of social life.

The Frankfurt School, based at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt in the
1930s, consisted of a nucleus of neo-Marxist philosophers, including Theodor Adorno
(1903 - 1969), Max Horkheimer (1895 - 1973), Leo Löwenthal (1900 - 1993), Erich
Fromm (1900 - 1980), Herbert Marcuse (1898 - 1979) and Jürgen Habermas
(1929- ), who met to discuss the perceived failure of Marxism and Communism in the
West and to try to understand the success of Capitalism and Fascism and the emerging
"mass society" of America. The Frankfurt School developed what they called a Critical
Theory of Marxism, a social theory orientated toward critiquing and changing (rather
than just describing or explaining) the totality of society, by means of integrating all the
major social sciences, including economics, sociology, history, political science,
anthropology, and psychology.

Jürgen Habermas, one of the younger members of the Frankfurt School, in particular,
went on to extend Critical Theory and effectively attempted no less than a complete
reconstruction of the foundations of Western Marxism, attempting to marry the
determinist strands of the Frankfurt School with the action-based ideas of its American
opponents (although his writing is considered difficult and demanding).

The French-Algerian Louis Althusser (1918 - 1990) developed another influential strand
of Marxist philosophy which intersected with linguistics and Structuralism, and which is
sometimes referred to as Structural Marxism. He presented a highly scientific re-
working and re-analysis of Marxist thought, which he claimed provided not only a model
of the economy but also a description of the structure and development of a whole
society.

Criticisms of Marxism
Criticisms of Marxist principles and theory (as opposed to the practical aspects of
20th Century Communist states - see Criticisms of Communism) include the following:

 The promise of a glorious, yet imaginary, future: Some have argued that, like
Fascism, Nationalism and many religions, Marxism offers a vision of an
 unachievable perfect future, and keeps its subjects in thrall to it by devaluing
the past and the present. It claims to represent a universal truth which explains
everything and can cure every ill, and any apparent deviations or under-
performance are explained away by casuistry and emotional appeals.
 An incomplete ideology: Marx and Engels never dedicated much work to show
how exactly a Communist economy would function in practice, leaving Socialism
a "negative ideology" (having removed the market price system, but with
nothing to take its place).
 The assumption that human nature is completely determined by the
environment: Some Marxists, including Trotsky, believed that all the social,
political and intellectual life processes in general are conditioned by the socio-
economic base and the mode of production of material life, which rather
devalues humanity and the importance of the lives and rights of human beings.
 Anarchist criticisms: Many Anarchists and Libertarian Socialists reject the need for
a transitory state phase and often criticize Marxism and Communism for being
too authoritarian. Some Anarcho-Primitivists reject left wing politics in
general, seeing it as corrupt and claiming that civilization is un-reformable.
 An attack on human rights and liberty: Some critics have argued that Marx's
concept of freedom is really just a defense of tyranny and oppression, and not
an expansion of freedoms as he claimed.
 Alleged anti-Semitism: Some commentators have interpreted many of Marx's
pronouncements on Jews as being anti-Semitic, claiming that he saw Jews as the
embodiment of Capitalism and the creators of all its evils. Others, however, hotly
dispute this interpretation.
 The need for violent revolution: Many Socialist reformists (e.g. Democratic
Socialists and Social Democrats) reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished
only through class conflict and violent revolution take issue with the Marxist
requirement for a violent proletarian revolution, arguing that Capitalism can be
reformed by gradual democratic changes.
 The theory of Historical Materialism is flawed: Some critics have argued that
the concept of Historial Materialism which underlies much of Marxist theory is
flawed, or that such a method can be twisted into trying to force the course of
history in a particular direction, or that in practice it leads to Nihilism.
 Marxist class analysis is flawed: Some argue that class is not the most
fundamental inequality in history, and that detailed analysis of many
historical periods fails to find support for class or social evolution as used by
Marxists.
 Unfulfilled predictions: Marx made numerous predictions in expounding his
theories (e.g. increasing class polarization, proletarian revolutions occurring
first in the most industrialized nations, increasing improvement of
machinery making the livelihoods of workers more and more precarious, etc),
some of which are debatable, while others have been clearly proven wrong. It is
argued that this is further evidence that Historical Materialism is a flawed theory.
 The theory is not scientifically rigorous: The theory of Historical Materialism,
although initially genuinely scientific, degenerated into pseudoscience and
dogma when predictions were not borne out and ad hoc adaptations and
revisions had to be made to fit the facts. Some critics have also argued that, if
 anything, the older utopian socialists were more scientific in their approach than
Marx, in that at least their attempts to set up socialist communes followed the
scientific method of experimentation, hypothesis and testing, whereas Marxism
was just an untestable and hence unscientific prophecy.
 The evidence for the "end of history": Some critics have argued that the growing
spread of liberal democracy around the world, and the apparent lack of major
revolutionary movements developing in them, suggest that Capitalism or social
democracy is likely to be the final form of human government, rather than
Marxism or Communism, which claims to be an "end of history" philosophy.

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Types of Marxism
Many different types of Socialism and Communism developed from Marxist thought, but
several forms of Marxism itself can also be identified:

 Classical Marxism: The initial theory as conceived by Marx and Engels, as

described above.
 Marxism-Leninism: The Communist ideological stream, loosely modeled on
Marxist theory, that emerged as the mainstream tendency during the post-
Lenin era of Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953) in the Soviet Union. It is mainly
associated with Stalin, although it is debatable to what extent he actually followed
the principles of either Marx or Lenin.
 Western Marxism: A term used to describe a wide variety of Marxist theories
based in Western and Central Europe (and more recently North America), in
contrast with the philosophy of the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China.
It brought Marxism into the mainstream of European culture. Its proponents
have been mainly professional academics, who view Marx as primarily a
philosopher rather than a revolutionary, and who stress the Hegelian and
humanist elements of his thought. The most prominent were perhaps the
Hungarian György Lukács (1885 - 1971) and the German Karl Korsch (1886 -
1961).
 Libertarian Marxism: A school of Marxism that describes itself as taking a less
authoritarian view of Marxist theory than conventional currents such as
Stalinism, Maoism, Trotskyism and other well-known forms of Marxism-
Leninism. It emphasizes the ability of the working class to forge its own destiny
without the need for a revolutionary party or state to mediate or aid its
liberation.
 Structural Marxism: An approach to Marxism based on the Structuralism of
the French theorist Louis Althusser (1918 - 1990) and his students. His detailed
re-analysis of the Marx's entire oeuvre led him to realize that it provides not only
a model of the economy but also a description of the structure and development
of a whole society. It was influential, particularly in France, during the late 1960s
and 1970s.
 Neo-Marxism: A 20th Century New Left school of Marxism that hearkens back
to the early writings of Marx (before the influence of Engels), as well as attempting
to incorporate elements of modern psychology and sociology into orthodox
 Marxist thought. It rejects the perceived economic determinism of later Marx,
focusing instead on a non-physical, psychological revolution, and is more
Libertarian in nature, and related to strains of Anarchism. The Frankfurt School,
based at the University of Frankfurt am Main in Germany from the 1930's to 1950's,
was instrumental in its development.
 Cultural Marxism: Another 20th Century form of Marxism which adds an
analysis of the role of the media, art, theatre, film and other cultural
institutions in a society, often with an added emphasis on race and gender in
addition to class.
 Analytical Marxism: A style of thinking about Marxism that was prominent
amongst English-speaking philosophers and social scientists during the 1980s.
It claimed "clear and rigorous thinking about questions that are usually blanketed
by ideological fog".
 Post-Marxism: The theoretical work of philosophers and social theorists who
have built their theories upon Classical Marxism to some extent, but who have
exceeded the limits of those theories in ways that puts them outside of
Marxism.
 Marxist Humanism: A branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on Marx's
earlier writings, (especially the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts"
of 1844 in which he develops his theory of alienation), as opposed to his later
works, which are considered to be concerned more with his structural
conception of capitalist society.
 Marxist Feminism: A branch of Feminist theory which focuses on the
dismantling of Capitalism as a way to liberate women. Marxist Feminism
asserts that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality,
dependence, political confusion and ultimately unhealthy social relations between
men and women, is the root of the oppression of women.

7.TOTALITARIANISM
Totalitarianism refers to an authoritarian political system or state that regulates
and controls nearly every aspect of the public and private sectors. Totalitarian regimes
establish complete political, social, and cultural control over their subjects, and are
usually headed by a charismatic leader. In general, Totalitarianism involves a single
mass party, typically led by a dictator; an attempt to mobilize the entire population
in support of the official state ideology; and an intolerance of activities which are not
directed towards the goals of the state, usually entailing repression and state
control of business, labor unions, churches and political parties. A totalitarian regime is
essentially a modern form of authoritarian state, requiring as it does an advanced
technology of social control.

Totalitarian regimes or movements tend to offer the prospect of a glorious, yet

imaginary, future to a frustrated population, and to portray Western democracies and
their values as decadent, with people too soft, too pleasure-loving and too selfish to
sacrifice for a higher cause. They maintain themselves in political power by various
means, including secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled
mass media, personality cults, the regulation and restriction of free speech, single-
party states, the use of mass surveillance and the widespread use of intimidation and
terror tactics.

Totalitarianism is not necessarily the same as a dictatorship or autocracy, which are

primarily interested in their own survival and, as such, may allow for varying degrees of
autonomy within civil society, religious institutions, the courts and the press. A
totalitarian regime, on the other hand, requires that no individual or institution is
autonomous from the state's all-encompassing ideology. However, in practice,
Totalitarianism and dictatorship often go hand in hand.

The term "Totalitarismo" was first employed by "the philosopher of Fascism" Giovanni
Gentile (1875 - 1944) and Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945) in mid-20th century Fascist
Italy. It was originally intended to convey the comforting sense of an "all-embracing,
total state", but it soon attracted critical connotations and unflattering comparisons
with Liberalism and democracy.

Totalitarianism does not necessarily align itself politically with either the right or the
left. Although most recognized totalitarian regimes have been Fascist and ultra-
Nationalist, the degraded Communism of Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao Zedong's
People's Republic of China were equally totalitarian in nature, and the phrase
"Totalitarian Twins" has been used to link Communism and Fascism in this respect.

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History of Totalitarianism
It can be argued that Totalitarianism existed millennia ago in ancient China under the
political leadership of Prime Minister Li Si (280 - 208 B.C.), who helped the Qin Dynasty
unify China. Under the ruling Legalism philosophy, political activities were severely
restricted, all literature destroyed, and scholars who did not support Legalism were
summarily put to death.

Something very similar to Totalitarianism was also in force in Sparta, a warlike state in
Ancient Greece, for several centuries before the rise of Alexander the Great in 336
B.C. Its “educational system” was part of the totalitarian military society and the
state machine dictated every aspect of life, down to the rearing of children.

The rigid caste-based society which Plato described in his "Republic" had many
totalitarian traits, despite Plato's stated goal (the search for justice), and it was clear that
the citizens served the state and not vice versa. In his "Leviathan" of 1651, Thomas
Hobbes envisioned an absolute monarchy exercising both civil and religious power, in
which the citizens are willing to cede most of their rights to the state in exchange for
security and safety. Niccolò Machiavelli's "The Prince" touched on totalitarian themes,
arguing that the state is merely an instrument for the benefit of the ruler, who should
have no qualms at using whatever means are at his disposal to keep the citizenry
suppressed.

Most commentators consider the first real totalitarian regimes to have been formed in
the mid-20th Century, in the chaos following World War I, at which point the
sophistication of modern weapons and communications enabled totalitarian
movements to consolidate power in:

 Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953), from 1928 to 1953.
 Italy under Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945), from 1922 to 1943.
 Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) from 1933 to 1945.
 Spain under Francisco Franco (1892 - 1975), from 1936 to 1975.
 Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar (1889 - 1970), from 1932 to 1974.

Other more recent examples, to greater or lesser degrees, include: the People's Republic
of China under Mao Zedong, North Korea under Kim Il Sung, Cuba under Fidel Castro,
Cambodia under Pol Pot, Romania under Nicolae Ceausescu, Syria under Hafez al-
Assad, Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.