Socialism
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their satisfaction is the very stuff of freedom. Marx expressed this in his communist theory of distribution: ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.’ Since all people have broadly similar needs, distributing wealth on the basis of need- satisfaction clearly has egalitarian implications. Nevertheless, need-satisfaction can also have inegalitarian implications, as in the case of so-called ‘special’ needs, arising, for instance, from physical or mental disability. While socialists agree about the virtue of social and economic equality, they disagree about the extent to which this can and should be brought about. Marxists and communists believe in absolute social equality, brought about by the abolition of private property and collectivization of productive wealth. Perhaps the most famous experiment in such radical egalitarianism took place in China under the ‘Cultural Revolution’, 1966–76. Social democrats, however, believe in relative social equality, usually achieved by the redistribution of wealth through the welfare state and a system of progressive taxation , although other mechanisms have also been proposed, such as universal basic income (see p. 84). The social-democratic desire to tame capitalism rather than abolish it reflects an acceptance of a continuing role for material incentives, and the fact that the significance of need-satisfaction is largely confined to the eradication of poverty. This, in turn, blurs the distinction between social equality and equality of opportunity. Class politics Socialists have traditionally viewed social class as the deepest and most politically significant of social divisions. Socialist class politics have been expressed in two ways,
however. In the first, social class is an analytical tool. In pre-socialist societies at least, socialists have believed that human beings tend to think and act together with others with whom they share a common economic position or interest. In other words, social classes, rather than individuals, are the principal actors in history and therefore provide the key to understanding social and political change. This is demonstrated most clearly in the Marxist belief that historical change is the product of class conflict. The second form of socialist class politics focuses specifically on the working class, and is concerned with political struggle and emancipation. Socialism has often been viewed as an expression of the interests of the working class, and the working class has been seen as the vehicle through which socialism will be achieved. Nevertheless, social class has not been accepted as a necessary or permanent feature of society: socialist societies have either been seen as classless or as societies in which class inequalities have been substantially reduced. In emancipating itself from capitalist exploitation, the working class thus also emancipates itself from its own class identity, becoming, in the process, fully developed human beings. Socialists have nevertheless been divided about the nature and importance of social class. In the Marxist tradition, class is linked to economic power, as defined by the individual’s relationship to the means of production. From this perspective, class divisions are divisions between ‘capital’ and ‘labour’; that is, between the owners of productive wealth (the bourgeoisie ) and those who live off the sale of their labour power (the proletariat ). This Marxist two-class model is characterized by irreconcilable conflict between
Collectivization: The abolition of private property and the establishment of a comprehensive system of common or public ownership, usually through the mechanisms of the state. Progressive taxation: A system of taxation in which the rich pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the poor. Social class: A social division based on economic or social factors; a social class is a group of people who share a similar socio-economic position. Bourgeoisie: A Marxist term denoting the ruling class of a capitalist society, the owners of productive wealth. Proletariat: A Marxist term denoting a class that subsists through the sale of its labour power; strictly speaking, the proletariat is not equivalent to the manual working class.
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