Question

Comment on the statement that “Socialism emerged as a reaction to Capitalism”.

Answer 1

Socialism is a way of mass or group or government control of wealth and Capitalism is a way of individual control of wealth from the socialist view, capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and controlled and operated for a private profit. It provided the main means of industrialisation throughout much of the world. On the other hand, capitalism is associated with the unfair and inefficient distribution of wealth and power, counter-revolutionary wars and various forms of economic and cultural exploitation, repressions of workers and trade unions, and phenomena such as social alienation, inequality, unemployment, and economic instability Socialist Tradition can be divided into three categories :

1. The Early Socialist: Robert Owen (1771-1858) has been called “the Father of British Socialism”. He owned a cotton mill in Scotland. It was he who first used the word ‘Socialism’ and maintained that the object of Government was to make people happy. He was deeply interested in bettering a lot of his factory workers. He reduced their working hours, paid them good wages, and helped the Trade Union Movement to grow. The Socialists had not paid any serious attention to the problem as to how their ideal state of society was to be realised. Therefore Karl Marx called them Utopians’.
2. Marxian Socialism: The Marxian conception of Socialism is that of a specific historical phase that will displace capitalism and precede communism. In the year 1847 Marx and Engels set up the Communist League. They were asked to draw up a manifesto for the Communist Party. The ‘Communist Manifesto’ was published in 1848. It marked the advent of Marxism or ‘Scientific Socialism’ as they called it. According to Karl Marx and Engels, the interests of the capitalists and workers are all the time opposed to each other. They laid stress on the doctrine of Class Struggle. The struggle between the capitalists and the working classes is a ceaseless affair until the workers have won and a new social system is born.
3. Democratic Socialism: After the death of Karl Marx his ideology was propagated in an organised manner. But some differences of opinion appeared among the Marxists on certain matters. These differences led to the birth of a new ideology, named ‘Democratic Socialism’. Bernstein (1850-1932) of Germany was of the opinion that Marxism needed a revision. He was not in agreement with the principle of Class Struggle advocated by Marx. He believed that a socialist objective should be achieved through democratic means.