Types of socialism

Utopian socialists like Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon argued, although not from exactly the same perspective, that the injustice and widespread poverty of the societies they lived in were a problem of distribution of the goods created.

Some forms of market socialism are based on neoclassical economic theory, with the aim of attaining pareto efficiency by setting price to equal marginal cost in public enterprises.

Sociocracy is a socialist-positivist political view created by Auguste Comte, based on Saint-Simon's aristocratic, utopian socialist heritage, prioritizing social justice and a central government with direct democracy without parliament.

The Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves communists.

[60] Marxism, or Marxist communism, refers to classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production and to a variety of movements acting in the name of this goal which are influenced by the thought of Karl Marx.

[61][62][63][64] The modern political Marxist communist movement was created when the social democratic parties of Europe split between their rightist and leftist tendencies during World War I.

Another similar case, though disputed by anarcho-syndicalism or even anarchism, was the Spanish Revolution of 1936 (often missed or unmentioned by official historiography), during which much of Spain's economy in most of Republican areas, some of which enjoyed a practical absence of state, was put under workers' direct collective control.

Since the early 1970s, the term Eurocommunism was used to refer to the policies of Communist parties in western Europe, which sought to break with the tradition of uncritical and unconditional support of the Soviet Union.

His politics differed greatly from those of Stalin or Mao, most importantly in declaring the need for an international "permanent revolution" and arguing that democracy is essential to both socialism and communism.

[83] The economic platform of a planned economy combined with an authentic worker's democracy as originally advocated by Trotsky has constituted the programme of the Fourth International and the modern Trotskyist movement.

[94] A key concept that distinguishes Maoism from other left-wing ideologies is the belief that the class struggle continues throughout the entire socialist period, as a result of the fundamental antagonistic contradiction between capitalism and communism.

Unlike the earlier forms of Marxism–Leninism in which the urban proletariat was seen as the main source of revolution, and the countryside was largely ignored, Mao focused on the peasantry as a revolutionary force which, he said, could be mobilized by a Communist Party with their knowledge and leadership.

In Maoist thought, "political power comes from the barrel of the gun" (one of Mao's quotes), and the peasantry can be mobilized to undertake a "people's war" of armed struggle involving guerrilla warfare.

Deng emphasized several key principles, including opening China to the global community, implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, and promoting political and economic pragmatism through the maxim "seek truth from facts".

[98] An important note is that Dengists take a firm stance against any form of personality cult, such as those in China under Mao's rule, the Soviet Union during Stalin's era, and North Korea under the Kim family.

Originally affiliated with the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD), council communism continues today as a theoretical and activist position within the greater libertarian socialism movement.

Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio, Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno, etc.

Through translations made available by Danilo Montaldi and others, the Italian autonomists drew upon previous activist research in the United States by the Johnson-Forest Tendency and in France by the group Socialisme ou Barbarie.

It influenced the German and Dutch Autonomen, the worldwide Social Centre movement, and today is influential in Italy, France, and to a lesser extent the English-speaking countries.

[113][114] While anti-statism is central, some argue[115] that anarchism entails opposing authority or hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations, including, but not limited to, the state system.

[129] There, in the Makhnovshchina, they fought in the civil war against the Whites (a Western-backed grouping of monarchists and other opponents of the October Revolution) and then the Bolsheviks as part of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno, who established an anarchist society in the region for a number of months.

[130] In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain where they collectivised the land.

This was to be initiated by small cohesive elite group through acts of violence, or "propaganda by the deed", which would inspire the workers to revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production.

[166] Anarcho-syndicalists view labor unions as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society democratically self-managed by workers.

The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are the following: Workers' solidarity means that anarcho-syndicalists believe all workers—no matter their race, gender, or ethnic group—are in a similar situation in regard to their boss (class consciousness).

United States Senator Bernie Sanders, a proponent of democratic socialism, has defined the term as universally guaranteeing rights to quality health care, sufficient education, employment at a living wage, affordable housing, secure retirement, and a clean environment.

For them, a resolutely nationalist and secular political framework was a suitable way to avoid a faith-based Islamic orientation and to give non-Muslims full acknowledgement as citizens.

[272] Since 2008, in order to ease tensions with the People's Republic of China, the party has endorsed the "Three Noes" policy as defined by Ma Ying-jeou, namely no unification, no independence and no use of force.

Vietnam was occupied by Japan during World War II and in the chaos that followed the Japanese surrender in 1945 the VNQDĐ and the ICP briefly joined forces in the fight for Vietnamese independence.

[278] People who have been described as Buddhist socialists include Buddhadasa Bhikkhu,[279] B. R. Ambedkar[citation needed] S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Han Yong-un,[280] Seno’o Girō,[281] U Nu, Uchiyama Gudō,[282] and Norodom Sihanouk.