Socialist state
Encyclopedia
A socialist state generally refers to any state
constitutionally
dedicated to the construction of a socialist society
. It is closely related to the political strategy of "state socialism
", a set of ideologies and policies that believe a socialist economy can be established through government policies. Alternatively, the term Worker's state is used to distinguish between a state where the working-class controls the machinery of government but has not yet established a socialist economy. These concepts are distinguished from a socialist government, which generally refers to a liberal democratic state
presided over by an elected majority socialist party
that is not, or does not necessarily have to be, pursuing the development of socialism; the state apparatus is not constitutionally bound to an eventual transition to socialism.
Non-statist socialists such as anarcho-socialists, libertarian socialists and Council communists reject the concept of a "socialist state
" altogether, believing that the modern state is a byproduct of capitalism and cannot be used, or is not required, to establish a socialist system. They reason that a socialist state is antithetical to socialism, and that socialism will emerge spontaneously from the grass-roots level in an evolutionary manner
, developing its own unique political and economic institutions for a highly organized stateless society
.
The phrase 'Socialist state', often called 'Communist state
s' in the West, is widely used by Leninists and Marxist-Leninist
s in reference to a state under the control of a Vanguard party
that is organizing the economic, social and political affairs of said state toward the construction of socialism. This often includes at least the "commanding heights" of the economy to be nationalised
, usually operated according to a plan of production
at least in the major productive and social spheres. Under the Leninist definition, the socialist state presides over a state capitalist economy structured upon state-directed accumulation of capital
with the goal of building up the country's productive forces
and promoting worldwide socialist revolution, with the eventual long-term goal of building a socialist economy.
Most theories assume widespread democracy
, and some assume workers' democratic participation at every level of economic and state administration, while varying in the degree to which economic planning decisions are delegated to public officials and administrative specialists. States where democracy is lacking yet the economy is largely in the hands of the state are termed by orthodox Trotskyist
theories "workers' states" but not socialist states using the terms "degenerated
" or "deformed
" workers' states.
In the early 21st century, right leaning commentators, especially in the United States, have come to use the term "socialist state" to describe states which provide welfare
provisions, such as healthcare and unemployment benefits, despite the economic basis of such states being privatized and operated for profits.
, a pre-Marxian socialist, understood that the nature of the state would change under socialism from that of political rule (via coercion) over people to a scientific administration of things and a direction of processes of production; specifically, the state would become a coordinating entity for production as opposed to a mechanism for political control.
Karl Marx
understood the state to be an instrument of the class rule, dominated by the interests of the ruling class
in any mode of production. Although Marx never referred to a "socialist state", he argued that the working-class would have to take control of the state apparatus and machinery of government in order to transition out of capitalism and to socialism. This transitional stage would involve working-class interests dominating the government policy (the "Dictatorship of the proletariat
"), in the same manner that capitalist-class interests dominate government policy under capitalism. Fredrick Engels argued that the state under socialism is not a "government of people, but the administration of things", and thus would not be a state in the traditional sense of the term.
One of the most influential modern visions of a socialist state was based on the Paris Commune
, in which the workers and poor took control of the city of Paris
in 1871 in reaction to the Franco-Prussian War. Karl Marx
described the Paris Commune as the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future, "the form at last discovered" for the emancipation of the proletariat.
Friedrich Engels
noted that "all officials, high or low, were paid only the wages received by other workers... In this way an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up".
Commenting on the nature of the state, Engels continued: "From the outset the Commune was compelled to recognize that the working class, once come to power, could not manage with the old state machine".
In order not to be overthrown once having conquered power, Engels argues, the working class "must, on the one hand, do away with all the old repressive machinery previously used against it itself, and, on the other, safeguard itself against its own deputies and officials, by declaring them all, without exception, subject to recall at any moment."
Such a state would be a temporary affair, Engels argued. A new generation, he suggested, brought up in "new and free social conditions", will be able to "throw the entire lumber of the state on the scrap-heap."
's theory of the Vanguard party and democratic centralism
. The objective of the Vanguardist, or socialist state, is to secure the government and bring production under control by the worker's and peasants (or the Vanguard party, which would represent their interests). According to Lenin's April Theses, the goal of the revolution and Vanguard party is not the introduction of socialism, which could only be established on a worldwide scale, but to bring production and the state under the control of the Soviets of Workers' Deputies. Following the October revolution
in Russia, the Bolsheviks consolidated their power and sought to control and direct the social and economic affairs of the state and broader Russian society in order to safeguard against counterrevolutionary insurrection, foreign invasion, and to promote socialist consciousness among the Russian population.
These ideas were adopted by Vladimir Lenin
in 1917 just prior to the October Revolution
in Russia and published in The State and Revolution, a central text for many Marxists. With the failure of the worldwide revolution envisaged by Lenin and Trotsky, the Civil War, and finally Lenin's death, war measures that were deemed to be temporary, such as forced requisition of food and the lack of democratic control, became permanent and a tool to boost Stalin's power, leading to the emergence of Marxism-Leninism
and Stalinism
, as well as the notion that socialism can be created and exist in a single state
.
Vladimir Lenin argued that as socialism is replaced by communism, the state would "wither away" as strong centralized control progressively reduces as local communities gain more empowerment. As he put succinctly: "So long as the state exists there is no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no state."
, or some variation thereof, refer to themselves as socialist states. The Soviet Union
was the first to proclaim itself a "socialist state" in its 1936 Constitution
and a subsequent 1977 one
. Another well-known example is the People's Republic of China
, which proclaims itself to be a "socialist state" in its 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China
. In the West, such states are commonly known as "communist state
s" (though they do not use this term to refer to themselves).
These "Communist states" often don't claim to have achieved socialism
in their countries; rather, they claim to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries. For example, the preamble to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's constitution states that Vietnam only entered a transition stage between capitalism and socialism after the country was re-unified under the Communist party in 1976, and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba states that the role of the Communist Party is to "guide the common effort toward the goals and construction of socialism".
In such cases, the intended meaning of "socialism" can vary widely, and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history. In the case of many Middle-Eastern states, "socialism" was often used in reference to an Arab socialist / nationalist philosophy adopted by specific regimes, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser
's Egypt
and Algeria
.
Examples of countries using the word "socialist" in a non-communist sense in their names include the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
. Countries with non-Leninist/communist references to socialism in their constitutions include India
and Portugal
.
In 1956, for example, leading British Labour Party politician and author Anthony Crosland
claimed that capitalism had been abolished in Britain and socialism established, although others, such as Welshman Aneurin Bevan
, Minister of Health in the first post-war Labour government, disputed the claim that Britain was a socialist state. For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. For Bevan, Britain had a socialist National Health Service which stood in opposition to the hedonism of Britain's capitalist society. He stated:
When the Socialist Party
was in power in France in the post-war period, some commentators claimed that France was a socialist country, although, as in the rest of Europe, the laws of capitalism
still operated fully and private enterprises dominated their economy.
and/or interventionist capitalism
.
Economic liberal (pro-capitalist) and socialist opponents of the claim that improving welfare benefits or increasing state regulation of financial activity makes a state "socialist" argue that the continued operation of capitalist economics in states like the USA shows that a state with welfare reforms is still a capitalist state, pointing to numerous forms of welfare state capitalism such as the social market economy
, Rhine capitalism
and Keynesian economics
.
While most socialists do not claim that welfare provision makes a state socialist, various socialists nevertheless support welfare provision within the capitalist state as a temporary means to improve the conditions of the working class, independently of their advocacy for the establishment of socialism. Ever since (and even before) Marx and Engels called for "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax" and other reforms in the Communist Manifesto in 1848, socialists have campaigned for welfare reforms of various kinds, including for universal health and unemployment benefits to alleviate the negative effects of capitalism on workers.
However, in Marx's time, some socialists, such as the German 'True Socialists' opposed calling on the state to implement welfare reforms. They argued that welfare programs, regulation and progressive taxation were policies initiated by capitalist states (as opposed to being won from the capitalists as a result of the pressure of the working class) in an attempt to "patch up" the ineffective capitalist market economy, and were therefore attempts to treat the symptoms but not the cause of the issues. The Communist Manifesto, however, declared that this 'True' socialism, unintentionally "directly represented a reactionary interest."
Many socialists support both "positive" and "negative" welfare. Positive welfare is the provision by the state of opportunities for people to “help themselves”. Negative welfare is the provision by the state or other institutions of a “safety net” or the distribution of benefits according to some criteria, for those who have been failed by the capitalist system. By implementing state or public ownership of the means of production and establishing socialist democracy, socialists believe the need for negative welfare - hand outs via redistribution - will disappear both because all individuals would receive enough compensation or resources from their workplace and because increasingly costs to the public at large, such as housing, healthcare and education, would pass into social provision at no cost to the individual.
Marxists and socialists who advocate socialism argue that welfare states and (modern) social democratic policies limit the incentive system of the market by providing things such as minimum wages, unemployment insurance, taxing profits and reducing the reserve army of labor, resulting in capitalists have little incentive to invest; in essence, social welfare policies cripple the capitalist system and its incentive system, the only solution being a socialist economic system.
Other socialists and Marxists criticize welfare state programs as concessions made by the capitalist class in order to divert the working and middle classes away from pursuing a completely new socialist organization of the economy and society. They argue that welfare reforms had historically been used for this purpose in Prussia by Otto von Bismarck
to ameliorate the impact of his anti-socialist laws
, while others, such as Frederick Engels argue that the campaigns of the Marxists in Germany forced Bismarck to carry out reforms. Socialists perceive social welfare states with modern social democratic policies, such as those in Sweden, to be capitalist states.
Social democratic Reformist Marxist
Aneurin Bevan
, Minister of Health in the first post-war Labour government, who introduced the UK National Health Service (NHS), also takes the view that welfare programmes, such as health care which is free at the point of use for all, are concessions forced on capitalism by the struggles of the working class and a "pure Socialism" embryo of the new socialist society gestating within capitalist society (see section 'Post-war European countries' above). In such conceptions (as in the example of the UK NHS), the taxation to pay for these services is intended to be taken largely if not entirely from the capitalist class, through a tax on corporation profits. Those earning less than £50,000 ($43,000) in today's money (£500 then) only paid 5.3% in tax the year after the NHS was introduced in the UK in 1948. These Marxists take the view that welfare programmes should be defended and improved with further nationalisations (such as, in the case of the health service, the drug companies) which would increase the income to the state, while at the same time campaigning for public ownership of the commanding heights of the economy to eliminate capitalism and establish a socialist society in which poverty will be eliminated.
, take the view that a socialist state will evolve out of political reforms won by the struggle of the socialists. "The socialist movement is everything to me while what people commonly call the goal of Socialism is nothing." These views are considered a "revision" of Marxist thought.
Revolutionary Marxists, following Marx, take the view that, on the one hand, the working class grows stronger through its battle for reforms, (such as, in Marx's time, the ten-hours bill):
However, on the other hand, in the orthodox Marxist conception, these battles of the workers reach a point at which a revolutionary movement arises. A revolutionary movement is required, in the view of Marxists, to sweep away the capitalist state, which must be smashed, so as to begin to construct a socialist society:
In this view, only in this way can a socialist state be established.
, for instance, are particularly known for their opposition to what they term Stalinist
states.
Within the socialist movement, a number of criticisms are maintained towards the use of the term "socialist states" in relation to countries such as China and previously of Russia and, Eastern and Central Europe
an states before what some term the 'collapse of Stalinism' in 1989. Democratic Socialists, left communists, Anarchists and some Trotskyists claim that the so-called "socialist states" or "people's states" were actually state capitalist and thus cannot be called "socialist".
Other Trotskyists, while agreeing that these states could not be described as socialist, deny that they were state capitalist. They support Trotsky's analysis of (pre-restoration) USSR as a workers' state that had degenerated
into a "monstrous" bureaucratic dictatorship which rested on a largely nationalised industry run according to a plan of production, and claimed that the former Stalinist states of Central and Eastern Europe were deformed workers' state
s based on the same relations of production as USSR.
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
constitutionally
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
dedicated to the construction of a socialist society
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. It is closely related to the political strategy of "state socialism
State socialism
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...
", a set of ideologies and policies that believe a socialist economy can be established through government policies. Alternatively, the term Worker's state is used to distinguish between a state where the working-class controls the machinery of government but has not yet established a socialist economy. These concepts are distinguished from a socialist government, which generally refers to a liberal democratic state
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
presided over by an elected majority socialist party
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of several different political parties around the world that are explicitly called Socialist. All of these parties claim to uphold socialism, though they might belong to different branches of the socialist movement and might therefore have different interpretations of...
that is not, or does not necessarily have to be, pursuing the development of socialism; the state apparatus is not constitutionally bound to an eventual transition to socialism.
Non-statist socialists such as anarcho-socialists, libertarian socialists and Council communists reject the concept of a "socialist state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
" altogether, believing that the modern state is a byproduct of capitalism and cannot be used, or is not required, to establish a socialist system. They reason that a socialist state is antithetical to socialism, and that socialism will emerge spontaneously from the grass-roots level in an evolutionary manner
Evolutionary economics
Evolutionary economics is part of mainstream economics as well as heterodox school of economic thought that is inspired by evolutionary biology...
, developing its own unique political and economic institutions for a highly organized stateless society
Stateless society
A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through...
.
The phrase 'Socialist state', often called 'Communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s' in the West, is widely used by Leninists and Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
s in reference to a state under the control of a Vanguard party
Vanguard party
A vanguard party is a political party at the forefront of a mass action, movement, or revolution. The idea of a vanguard party has its origins in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...
that is organizing the economic, social and political affairs of said state toward the construction of socialism. This often includes at least the "commanding heights" of the economy to be nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
, usually operated according to a plan of production
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
at least in the major productive and social spheres. Under the Leninist definition, the socialist state presides over a state capitalist economy structured upon state-directed accumulation of capital
Capital accumulation
The accumulation of capital refers to the gathering or amassing of objects of value; the increase in wealth through concentration; or the creation of wealth. Capital is money or a financial asset invested for the purpose of making more money...
with the goal of building up the country's productive forces
Productive forces
Productive forces, "productive powers" or "forces of production" [in German, Produktivkräfte] is a central idea in Marxism and historical materialism....
and promoting worldwide socialist revolution, with the eventual long-term goal of building a socialist economy.
Most theories assume widespread democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, and some assume workers' democratic participation at every level of economic and state administration, while varying in the degree to which economic planning decisions are delegated to public officials and administrative specialists. States where democracy is lacking yet the economy is largely in the hands of the state are termed by orthodox Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
theories "workers' states" but not socialist states using the terms "degenerated
Degenerated workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers' state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in or about 1924...
" or "deformed
Deformed workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers' states are states where the bourgeoisie has been overthrown through social revolution, the industrial means of production have been largely nationalized bringing benefits to the working class, but where the working class has never held political power...
" workers' states.
In the early 21st century, right leaning commentators, especially in the United States, have come to use the term "socialist state" to describe states which provide welfare
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
provisions, such as healthcare and unemployment benefits, despite the economic basis of such states being privatized and operated for profits.
Marxist concept of a socialist state
Henri de Saint-SimonClaude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology...
, a pre-Marxian socialist, understood that the nature of the state would change under socialism from that of political rule (via coercion) over people to a scientific administration of things and a direction of processes of production; specifically, the state would become a coordinating entity for production as opposed to a mechanism for political control.
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
understood the state to be an instrument of the class rule, dominated by the interests of the ruling class
Ruling class
The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....
in any mode of production. Although Marx never referred to a "socialist state", he argued that the working-class would have to take control of the state apparatus and machinery of government in order to transition out of capitalism and to socialism. This transitional stage would involve working-class interests dominating the government policy (the "Dictatorship of the proletariat
Dictatorship of the proletariat
In Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...
"), in the same manner that capitalist-class interests dominate government policy under capitalism. Fredrick Engels argued that the state under socialism is not a "government of people, but the administration of things", and thus would not be a state in the traditional sense of the term.
One of the most influential modern visions of a socialist state was based on the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
, in which the workers and poor took control of the city of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1871 in reaction to the Franco-Prussian War. Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
described the Paris Commune as the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future, "the form at last discovered" for the emancipation of the proletariat.
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
noted that "all officials, high or low, were paid only the wages received by other workers... In this way an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up".
Commenting on the nature of the state, Engels continued: "From the outset the Commune was compelled to recognize that the working class, once come to power, could not manage with the old state machine".
In order not to be overthrown once having conquered power, Engels argues, the working class "must, on the one hand, do away with all the old repressive machinery previously used against it itself, and, on the other, safeguard itself against its own deputies and officials, by declaring them all, without exception, subject to recall at any moment."
Such a state would be a temporary affair, Engels argued. A new generation, he suggested, brought up in "new and free social conditions", will be able to "throw the entire lumber of the state on the scrap-heap."
Leninist conception of a socialist state
The Leninist conception of a socialist state is tied to Vladimir LeninVladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
's theory of the Vanguard party and democratic centralism
Democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
. The objective of the Vanguardist, or socialist state, is to secure the government and bring production under control by the worker's and peasants (or the Vanguard party, which would represent their interests). According to Lenin's April Theses, the goal of the revolution and Vanguard party is not the introduction of socialism, which could only be established on a worldwide scale, but to bring production and the state under the control of the Soviets of Workers' Deputies. Following the October revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in Russia, the Bolsheviks consolidated their power and sought to control and direct the social and economic affairs of the state and broader Russian society in order to safeguard against counterrevolutionary insurrection, foreign invasion, and to promote socialist consciousness among the Russian population.
These ideas were adopted by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
in 1917 just prior to the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in Russia and published in The State and Revolution, a central text for many Marxists. With the failure of the worldwide revolution envisaged by Lenin and Trotsky, the Civil War, and finally Lenin's death, war measures that were deemed to be temporary, such as forced requisition of food and the lack of democratic control, became permanent and a tool to boost Stalin's power, leading to the emergence of Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
and Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, as well as the notion that socialism can be created and exist in a single state
Socialism in One Country
Socialism in One Country was a theory put forth by Joseph Stalin in 1924, elaborated by Nikolai Bukharin in 1925 and finally adopted as state policy by Stalin...
.
Vladimir Lenin argued that as socialism is replaced by communism, the state would "wither away" as strong centralized control progressively reduces as local communities gain more empowerment. As he put succinctly: "So long as the state exists there is no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no state."
Marxist-Leninist states (Communist) states
States run by Communist parties that adhere to Marxism-LeninismMarxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
, or some variation thereof, refer to themselves as socialist states. The Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was the first to proclaim itself a "socialist state" in its 1936 Constitution
1936 Soviet Constitution
The 1936 Soviet constitution, adopted on December 5, 1936, and also known as the "Stalin" constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union.- Basic provisions :...
and a subsequent 1977 one
1977 Soviet Constitution
At the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the third and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Brezhnev Constitution", was unanimously adopted...
. Another well-known example is the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, which proclaims itself to be a "socialist state" in its 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China
Constitution of the People's Republic of China
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the highest law within the People's Republic of China. The current version was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982 with further revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004. Three previous state constitutions—those of...
. In the West, such states are commonly known as "communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s" (though they do not use this term to refer to themselves).
These "Communist states" often don't claim to have achieved socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in their countries; rather, they claim to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries. For example, the preamble to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's constitution states that Vietnam only entered a transition stage between capitalism and socialism after the country was re-unified under the Communist party in 1976, and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba states that the role of the Communist Party is to "guide the common effort toward the goals and construction of socialism".
Non-Leninist/Communist countries
Countries such as Portugal (which states that one of the primary roles of the Constituent Assembly is to open the way to socialist society), India and Algeria have used the term "socialist" in their official name or constitution without claiming to follow Communism or any of its derivatives.In such cases, the intended meaning of "socialism" can vary widely, and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history. In the case of many Middle-Eastern states, "socialism" was often used in reference to an Arab socialist / nationalist philosophy adopted by specific regimes, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
Examples of countries using the word "socialist" in a non-communist sense in their names include the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. Countries with non-Leninist/communist references to socialism in their constitutions include India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
Post-war European countries
In the post-war period, when nationalisation was relatively widespread, it was not uncommon for commentators to describe some European countries as socialist states seeking to move their countries toward socialism.In 1956, for example, leading British Labour Party politician and author Anthony Crosland
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland , otherwise Tony Crosland or C.A.R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby...
claimed that capitalism had been abolished in Britain and socialism established, although others, such as Welshman Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
, Minister of Health in the first post-war Labour government, disputed the claim that Britain was a socialist state. For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. For Bevan, Britain had a socialist National Health Service which stood in opposition to the hedonism of Britain's capitalist society. He stated:
When the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
was in power in France in the post-war period, some commentators claimed that France was a socialist country, although, as in the rest of Europe, the laws of capitalism
Capital accumulation
The accumulation of capital refers to the gathering or amassing of objects of value; the increase in wealth through concentration; or the creation of wealth. Capital is money or a financial asset invested for the purpose of making more money...
still operated fully and private enterprises dominated their economy.
Economic interventionist and welfare states
Conservative commentators have termed the 2008 bail-out of the banks, "Socialism", suggesting that the USA and the UK have become socialist, but these comments are dismissed by government spokespersons and socialists alike, as the bailouts are more indicative of protectionismProtectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
and/or interventionist capitalism
Economic interventionism
Economic interventionism is an action taken by a government in a market economy or market-oriented mixed economy, beyond the basic regulation of fraud and enforcement of contracts, in an effort to affect its own economy...
.
Economic liberal (pro-capitalist) and socialist opponents of the claim that improving welfare benefits or increasing state regulation of financial activity makes a state "socialist" argue that the continued operation of capitalist economics in states like the USA shows that a state with welfare reforms is still a capitalist state, pointing to numerous forms of welfare state capitalism such as the social market economy
Social market economy
The social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
, Rhine capitalism
Rhine Capitalism
Rhine capitalism or Rhenish capitalism is a contemporary economic order existing primarily in Western Europe. The term originates from the French economist and Chairman of the Board and CEO Assurances Générales de France , Michel Albert who first used it in his book Capitalisme contre Capitalisme...
and Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomic thought based on the ideas of 20th-century English economist John Maynard Keynes.Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and, therefore, advocates active policy responses by the...
.
While most socialists do not claim that welfare provision makes a state socialist, various socialists nevertheless support welfare provision within the capitalist state as a temporary means to improve the conditions of the working class, independently of their advocacy for the establishment of socialism. Ever since (and even before) Marx and Engels called for "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax" and other reforms in the Communist Manifesto in 1848, socialists have campaigned for welfare reforms of various kinds, including for universal health and unemployment benefits to alleviate the negative effects of capitalism on workers.
However, in Marx's time, some socialists, such as the German 'True Socialists' opposed calling on the state to implement welfare reforms. They argued that welfare programs, regulation and progressive taxation were policies initiated by capitalist states (as opposed to being won from the capitalists as a result of the pressure of the working class) in an attempt to "patch up" the ineffective capitalist market economy, and were therefore attempts to treat the symptoms but not the cause of the issues. The Communist Manifesto, however, declared that this 'True' socialism, unintentionally "directly represented a reactionary interest."
Many socialists support both "positive" and "negative" welfare. Positive welfare is the provision by the state of opportunities for people to “help themselves”. Negative welfare is the provision by the state or other institutions of a “safety net” or the distribution of benefits according to some criteria, for those who have been failed by the capitalist system. By implementing state or public ownership of the means of production and establishing socialist democracy, socialists believe the need for negative welfare - hand outs via redistribution - will disappear both because all individuals would receive enough compensation or resources from their workplace and because increasingly costs to the public at large, such as housing, healthcare and education, would pass into social provision at no cost to the individual.
Marxists and socialists who advocate socialism argue that welfare states and (modern) social democratic policies limit the incentive system of the market by providing things such as minimum wages, unemployment insurance, taxing profits and reducing the reserve army of labor, resulting in capitalists have little incentive to invest; in essence, social welfare policies cripple the capitalist system and its incentive system, the only solution being a socialist economic system.
Other socialists and Marxists criticize welfare state programs as concessions made by the capitalist class in order to divert the working and middle classes away from pursuing a completely new socialist organization of the economy and society. They argue that welfare reforms had historically been used for this purpose in Prussia by Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
to ameliorate the impact of his anti-socialist laws
Anti-Socialist Laws
The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws were a series of acts, the first of which was passed on October 19, 1878 by the German Reichstag lasting till March 31, 1881, and extended 4 times...
, while others, such as Frederick Engels argue that the campaigns of the Marxists in Germany forced Bismarck to carry out reforms. Socialists perceive social welfare states with modern social democratic policies, such as those in Sweden, to be capitalist states.
Social democratic Reformist Marxist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
, Minister of Health in the first post-war Labour government, who introduced the UK National Health Service (NHS), also takes the view that welfare programmes, such as health care which is free at the point of use for all, are concessions forced on capitalism by the struggles of the working class and a "pure Socialism" embryo of the new socialist society gestating within capitalist society (see section 'Post-war European countries' above). In such conceptions (as in the example of the UK NHS), the taxation to pay for these services is intended to be taken largely if not entirely from the capitalist class, through a tax on corporation profits. Those earning less than £50,000 ($43,000) in today's money (£500 then) only paid 5.3% in tax the year after the NHS was introduced in the UK in 1948. These Marxists take the view that welfare programmes should be defended and improved with further nationalisations (such as, in the case of the health service, the drug companies) which would increase the income to the state, while at the same time campaigning for public ownership of the commanding heights of the economy to eliminate capitalism and establish a socialist society in which poverty will be eliminated.
Establishing a Socialist state by Reformism or Revolution
Reformist socialists and Marxists, exemplified by Eduard BernsteinEduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein was a German social democratic theoretician and politician, a member of the SPD, and the founder of evolutionary socialism and revisionism.- Life :...
, take the view that a socialist state will evolve out of political reforms won by the struggle of the socialists. "The socialist movement is everything to me while what people commonly call the goal of Socialism is nothing." These views are considered a "revision" of Marxist thought.
Revolutionary Marxists, following Marx, take the view that, on the one hand, the working class grows stronger through its battle for reforms, (such as, in Marx's time, the ten-hours bill):
However, on the other hand, in the orthodox Marxist conception, these battles of the workers reach a point at which a revolutionary movement arises. A revolutionary movement is required, in the view of Marxists, to sweep away the capitalist state, which must be smashed, so as to begin to construct a socialist society:
In this view, only in this way can a socialist state be established.
Criticism of the term
Because there are several different branches of socialism, a country's claim to the label of "socialist state" or "socialist republic" is almost always disputed by some branch. Indeed, there are many socialists who strongly oppose certain (or all) self-proclaimed socialist republics. TrotskyistsTrotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
, for instance, are particularly known for their opposition to what they term Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
states.
Within the socialist movement, a number of criticisms are maintained towards the use of the term "socialist states" in relation to countries such as China and previously of Russia and, Eastern and Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
an states before what some term the 'collapse of Stalinism' in 1989. Democratic Socialists, left communists, Anarchists and some Trotskyists claim that the so-called "socialist states" or "people's states" were actually state capitalist and thus cannot be called "socialist".
Other Trotskyists, while agreeing that these states could not be described as socialist, deny that they were state capitalist. They support Trotsky's analysis of (pre-restoration) USSR as a workers' state that had degenerated
Degenerated workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers' state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in or about 1924...
into a "monstrous" bureaucratic dictatorship which rested on a largely nationalised industry run according to a plan of production, and claimed that the former Stalinist states of Central and Eastern Europe were deformed workers' state
Deformed workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers' states are states where the bourgeoisie has been overthrown through social revolution, the industrial means of production have been largely nationalized bringing benefits to the working class, but where the working class has never held political power...
s based on the same relations of production as USSR.
See also
- List of socialist countries
- Bureaucratic collectivismBureaucratic collectivismBureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
- Communist stateCommunist stateA communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
- Soviet republicSoviet (council)Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
- Legislatures in communist states
- Deformed workers' stateDeformed workers' stateIn Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers' states are states where the bourgeoisie has been overthrown through social revolution, the industrial means of production have been largely nationalized bringing benefits to the working class, but where the working class has never held political power...
- Degenerated workers' stateDegenerated workers' stateIn Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers' state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in or about 1924...
- Dictatorship of the proletariatDictatorship of the proletariatIn Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...
- SocialismSocialismSocialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
- State capitalismState capitalismThe term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
- State socialismState socialismState socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...