Portal:Socialism

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Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum, socialism is the standard left-wing ideology in most countries. Types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, and the structure of management in organizations.

The socialist political movement includes political philosophies that originated in the revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late 18th century and out of concern for the social problems that socialists associated with capitalism. By the late 19th century, after the work of Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels, socialism had come to signify anti-capitalism and advocacy for a post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership of the means of production. By the early 1920s, communism and social democracy had become the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, with socialism itself becoming the most influential secular movement of the 20th century. Many socialists also adopted the causes of other social movements, such as feminism, environmentalism, and progressivism. (Full article...)

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Triple oppression is a theory developed by black socialists in the United States, such as Claudia Jones. The theory states that a connection exists between various types of oppression, specifically classism, racism, and sexism. It hypothesizes that all three types of oppression need to be overcome at once. It is also referred to as "double jeopardy", Jane Crow, or triple exploitation.

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Luxemburg, c. 1895–1905

Rosa Luxemburg (/ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/ LUK-səm-burg; Polish: Róża Luksemburg [ˈruʐa ˈluksɛmburk] ^ⓘ; German: [ˈʁoːza ˈlʊksm̩bʊʁk] ^ⓘ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20th century.

Born to a Jewish family in Congress Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, Luxemburg became involved in radical politics at an early age via the Proletariat party, and fled to Switzerland in 1889. She helped found the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) party in 1893, and in 1897 was awarded a Doctor of Law in political economy from the University of Zurich, becoming one of the first women in Europe to do so. In 1898, Luxemburg moved to Germany, and soon became a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Her political activities included teaching Marxist economics at the party's training school. Luxemburg was imprisoned several times, including in Germany and in Congress Poland during the 1905 Revolution. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various socialism-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Soviet of Workers' Deputies of St. Petersburg in 1905, Trotsky in the center. The soviets were an early example of a workers council. (from Socialism)
Image 2New Harmony, a utopian attempt as proposed by Robert Owen (from History of socialism)
Image 3World Map of Socialist countries in 1985 (from History of socialism)
Image 4Statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Alexanderplatz, Berlin (from History of socialism)
Image 5Albert Einstein advocated for a socialist planned economy with his 1949 article "Why Socialism?" (from Socialism)
Image 6Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of dictatorship of the proletariat in favour of universal rebellion and allied himself with the federalists in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists (from History of socialism)
Image 7Socialist feminist Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg in 1910 (from Socialism)
Image 8The Soviet of Workers' Deputies of St. Petersburg in 1905, Trotsky in the center. The soviets were an early example of a workers council. (from History of socialism)
Image 9Alexis Tsipras, socialist Prime Minister of Greece who led the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) through a victory in the January 2015 Greek legislative election (from History of socialism)
Image 10Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, early French socialist (from Socialism)
Image 11Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist Vladimir Lenin in 1920 (from Socialism)
Image 12Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, main theorist of mutualism and influential French socialist thinker (from Socialism)
Image 13Edward Carpenter, philosopher and activist who was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party as well as in the early LGBTI western movements (from Socialism)
Image 14R. H. Tawney, founder of ethical socialism (from Socialism)
Image 15New Harmony, a utopian attempt as proposed by Robert Owen (from Socialism)
Image 16Encounter between Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Che Guevara in Cuba, three radical icons of the 1960s (from History of socialism)
Image 17Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana and theorist of African socialism, on a Soviet Union commemorative postage stamp (from History of socialism)
Image 18Socialists in Union Square, New York City on May Day 1912 (from Socialism)
Image 19Pierre Leroux founder of the Parisian newspaper Le Globe in which the term socialism first appeared (from History of socialism)
Image 20Barricades Boulevard Voltaire, Paris during the uprising known as the Paris Commune (from History of socialism)
Image 21Noam Chomsky, an American libertarian socialist (from History of socialism)
Image 22The first anarchist journal to use the term libertarian was Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social, published in New York City between 1858 and 1861 by French libertarian communist Joseph Déjacque, the first recorded person to describe himself as libertarian. (from Socialism)
Image 23Albert Einstein advocated for a socialist planned economy with his 1949 article "Why Socialism?" (from History of socialism)
Image 24Man, Controller of the Universe produced by Mexican artist Diego Rivera (from Socialism)
Image 25Arabic letters "Lam" and "Alif" reading "Lā" (Arabic for "No!") are a symbol of Islamic Socialism in Turkey. (from Socialism)
Image 26Project Cybersyn was an early form of computational economic planning (from Socialism)
Image 27Mikhail Bakunin speaking to members of the IWA at the Basel Congress in 1869 (from History of socialism)
Image 28Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, founder of French socialism (from History of socialism)
Image 29Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in World Social Forum for Latin America (from History of socialism)
Image 30Leonid Brezhnev (from History of socialism)
Image 31The writings of Karl Marx provided the basis for the development of Marxist political theory and Marxian economics. (from Socialism)
Image 32Eduard Bernstein

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that the Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Republic exchanged 13 detained German diplomats for 24 jailed leaders of the Kaunas Soviet of Workers Deputies?
... that Voltaire Molesworth spent part of his early childhood in a utopian socialist colony in Paraguay?
... that in its 1962 election campaign, the Socialist Party of India demanded that twice-yearly inter-caste dining be made a mandatory criterion for government employment?
... that British writer Adolphe Smith Headingley popularised the singing of the socialist anthem "The Red Flag" to the tune of "O Tannenbaum" against the wishes of its lyricist?
... that the death records of Dmitrii Milev, a Soviet Moldavian writer, were falsified to obscure mention of his execution during the Great Purge?
... that an essay of jailed Socialist Revolutionary politician Alexander Helfgot was smuggled out of Russia and published in Berlin in 1922?
... that Bill Shearer, a leader of the segregationist George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign, also advocated for ballot access for the Socialist Workers Party?

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“

Public control is indispensably necessary. Otherwise the exchange of experiences remains only with the closed circle of the officials of the new regime. Corruption becomes inevitable. (Lenin’s words, Bulletin No.29) Socialism in life demands a complete spiritual transformation in the masses degraded by centuries of bourgeois rule. Social instincts in place of egotistical ones, mass initiative in place of inertia, idealism which conquers all suffering, etc., etc. No one knows this better, describes it more penetratingly; repeats it more stubbornly than Lenin. But he is completely mistaken in the means he employs. Decree, dictatorial force of the factory overseer, draconian penalties, rule by terror – all these things are but palliatives. The only way to a rebirth is the school of public life itself, the most unlimited, the broadest democracy and public opinion. It is rule by terror which demoralizes.

”

— Rosa Luxemburg, "The Problem with Dictatorship" in The Russian Revolution as translated by Bertram Wolfe, 1918

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