STUDENTS NAME: Amaanullah Khan

STUDENTS ID : 202003875(R)
ROLL NO. : 05
DEPARTMENT : Faculty Of Law, JMI
COURSE : Ba llb(Hons.) Reg Sem-1
EMAIL :[email protected],
[email protected]
PROJECT DETAILS
Socialism in the contemporary world
SUBMITTED TO: Dr Momin noorjahan
shamim Ahmed
Socialism in the contemporary world

Socialism is an economic system where everyone in society equally owns

the factors of production. That ownership is acquired through a democratically
elected government or through a cooperative or a public corporation in which
everyone owns shares. The four factors of production are labour, capital
goods, natural resources, and, in the modern era, entrepreneurship.1

Socialists assume that the basic nature of people is cooperative. They believe that
this basic nature hasn't yet emerged in full because capitalism or feudalism has
forced people to be competitive. Socialists argue that the economic system must
support this basic human nature before these qualities can emerge.

Socialism is an economic system in which the factors of production are valued in

relationship to their usefulness to people. Socialists take into account both

1
Socialism and its Characteristics, available at: https://www.thebalance.com/socialism-types-pros-cons-
examples-3305592 ( last visited on 21 March,2021)
individual needs and greater social needs. They allocate resources using central
planning, as in a command economy.

Examples of greater social needs include transportation, defence, education, health

care, and preservation of natural resources. Some also define the common good as
caring for those who can't directly contribute to production. Examples include the
elderly, children, and their caretakers. 

A mantra of socialism is, "From each according to his ability, to each according to
his contribution."2

Everyone in society receives a share of the production based on how much each
has contributed. This system motivates them to work long hours if they want to
receive more. Workers receive their share of production after a percentage has
been deducted for the common good.

Socialism is a system that shares economic output equally throughout the

population.

It values the collective well-being of the community, rather than individuals.

The government distributes resources, giving it greater control over its citizens.

There are eight different kinds of socialism, each with their own priorities and
economic styles.

Under socialism, workers are no longer exploited because they own the means of
production. Profits are spread equitably among all workers according to their
individual contributions. But the cooperative system also provides for those who
can't work. It meets their basic needs for the good of the whole society.

2
Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, ( International Publishers Co., New York, US, 1938)
The system eliminates poverty. It provides equal access to health care and
education. No one is discriminated against.

Everyone works at what one is best at and what one enjoys. If society needs jobs to
be done that no one wants, it offers higher compensation to make it worthwhile for
people to take them.

Natural resources are preserved for the good of the whole. 

Nevertheless, biggest disadvantage of socialism is that it relies on the cooperative

nature of humans to work. It ignores those within society who are competitive and
focus on personal gain. Those people tend to seek ways to overthrow and disrupt
society for their own benefit. Capitalism harnesses this "Greed is good" drive.
Socialism pretends it doesn't exist.

As a result, socialism doesn't reward people for being entrepreneurial. It struggles

to be as innovative as a capitalistic society.

A third disadvantage is that the government has a lot of power. This works as long
as it represents the wishes of the people. But government leaders can abuse this
position and claim power for themselves. 

Socialists believe their system is the next obvious step for any capitalistic society.
They see income inequality as a sign of late-stage capitalism. They argue that
capitalism's flaws mean it has evolved past its usefulness to society. But
capitalism's flaws are endemic to the system, regardless of the phase it is in.

The majority of self-declared socialist countries have been Marxist–Leninist or

inspired by it, following the model of the Soviet Union or some form
of people's or national democracy.3 They share a common definition of socialism
3
List of Socialist States, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_socialist_states
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
and they refer to themselves as socialist states on the road to communism with a
leading vanguard party structure, hence they are often called communist states.
Meanwhile, the countries in the non-Marxist–Leninist category represent a wide
variety of different interpretations of the term socialism and in many cases the
countries do not define what they mean by it. Modern uses of the
term socialism are wide in meaning and interpretation.

Because a sovereign state is a different entity from the political party that rules that
state at any given time, a country may be ruled by a socialist party without the
country itself claiming to be socialist or the socialist party being written into
the constitution. This has occurred in both one-party and multi-party political
systems. In particular, there are numerous cases of social
democratic and democratic socialist parties winning elections in liberal
democratic states and ruling for a number of terms until a different party wins the
elections. While socialist parties have won many elections around the world and
most elections in the Nordic countries, many of those countries have not adopted
socialism as a state ideology or written the party into the constitution.

Several countries with liberal democratic constitutions mention socialism. India is

a liberal democracy that has been ruled by non-socialist parties on many occasions,
but its constitution makes references to socialism. Certain other countries such
as Croatia, Hungary, Myanmar, and Poland have constitutions that make references
to their communist and socialist past by recognizing or condemning it, but without
claiming to be socialist in the present.

America's Founding Fathers included the promotion of the general welfare in the

Constitution to balance capitalism's flaws. It instructed the government to protect
the rights of all to pursue their idea of happiness. It's the government's role to
create a level playing field to allow that to happen. That can happen without
throwing out capitalism in favour of another system.

The Chinese constitution states that The People's Republic of China "is a socialist
state governed by a people’s democratic dictatorship that is led by the working
class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," and that the state
institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism."4  The PRC is
one of the world's only socialist states explicitly aiming to build communism. The
Chinese government has been variously described as communist and socialist.

There are no countries that are 100% socialist, according to the Socialist Party of
the United Kingdom.5 Most have mixed economies that incorporate socialism with
capitalism, communism, or both.

The five Nordic countries—Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland—have

strongly socialist systems. The state, on behalf of the people, owns a large
percentage of the economy. It spends a large portion on education, housing, and
public welfare. A large percentage of its workers are unionized, granting them
greater power. Last but not least, these countries are democracies, allowing the
general population input into decision making.

4
People’s Republic of China, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
5
Socialist Party, available at: https://m.socialistparty.org.uk/faq.php?question=socialistcountries
(Last visited on 20 March,2021)
But these countries also incorporate many aspects of a capitalistic economy. As a
result, its inhabitants are among the happiest in the world, regularly placing among
the top 10 on lists of the world's happiest people.6

There are eight types of socialism. They differ on how capitalism can best be
turned into socialism and emphasize different aspects of socialism. 

Democratic Socialism: The means of production are managed by the working

people, and there is a democratically elected government. Democratic planning is
used for common goods, such as mass transit, housing, and energy, while the free
market is allowed to produce and distribute consumer goods.

Revolutionary Socialism: Socialism will emerge only after capitalism has been

overthrown, although the revolution is not necessarily a violent one. The factors of
production are owned by the workers and managed by them through central
planning.

Libertarian Socialism: Libertarianism assumes that the basic nature of people is

rational, autonomous, and self-determining. Once the strictures of capitalism have
been removed, people will naturally seek a socialist society that takes care of all,
free of economic, political, or social hierarchies. They will see it is the best for
their own self-interest.

Market Socialism: Production is owned by the workers. They decide how to

distribute among themselves. They could sell excess production on the free market.
Alternatively, it could be turned over to society, which might distribute it
according to the free market.
6
World Happiness Report, available at: https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/the-nordic-
exceptionalism-what-explains-why-the-nordic-countries-are-constantly-among-the-happiest-in-the-
world/ (last visited on 21 March,2021)
Green Socialism: This type of socialistic economy highly values the maintenance
of natural resources. Public ownership of large corporations achieves this. It also
emphasizes public transit and locally sourced food. Production focuses on making
sure everyone has enough of the basics instead of consumer products one doesn't
really need. This kind of economy guarantees a liveable wage for everyone. 

Christian Socialism: Christian teachings of brotherhood are the same values

expressed by socialism.

Utopian Socialism: This was more a vision of equality than a concrete plan. The
idea arose before massive industrialization and would have been achieved
peacefully through a series of experimental societies.

Fabian Socialism: This type of socialism was extolled by a British organization

called the Fabian Society in the late 1900s. It advocated a gradual change to
socialism through laws, elections, and other peaceful means.7

In Asia, states with socialist economies—such as the People's Republic of China,

North Korea, Laos and Vietnam—have largely moved away from centralised
economic planning in the 21st century, placing a greater emphasis on markets.
Forms include the Chinese socialist market economy and the Vietnamese socialist-
oriented market economy. They use state-owned corporate management models as
opposed to modelling socialist enterprise on traditional management styles
employed by government agencies. In China living standards continued to improve
rapidly despite the late-2000s recession, but centralised political control remained
tight.

7
Socialism and its Characteristics, available at: https://www.thebalance.com/socialism-types-pros-cons-
examples-3305592 ( last visited on 21 March,2021)
African socialism has been and continues to be a major ideology around the
continent. Julius Nyerere was inspired by Fabian socialist ideals. He was a firm
believer in rural Africans and their traditions and ujamaa, a system of
collectivisation that according to Nyerere was present before European
imperialism. Essentially he believed Africans were already socialists. Other
African socialists include Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson
Mandela and Kwame Nkrumah. Fela Kuti was inspired by socialism and called for
a democratic African republic.

The United Nations World Happiness Report 2013 shows that the happiest nations

are concentrated in Northern Europe, where the Nordic model is employed, with
Denmark topping the list. This is at times attributed to the success of the Nordic
model in the region that has been labelled social democratic in contrast with the
conservative continental model and the liberal Anglo-American model. The Nordic
countries ranked highest on the metrics of real GDP per capita, healthy life
expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices,
generosity and freedom from corruption.

According to a 2013 article in The Guardian, "Contrary to popular belief,

Americans don't have an innate allergy to socialism. Milwaukee has had several
socialist mayors (Frank Zeidler, Emil Seidel and Daniel Hoan), and there is
currently an independent socialist in the US Senate, Bernie Sanders of
Vermont. Sanders, once mayor of Vermont's largest city, Burlington, has described
himself as a democratic socialist and has praised Scandinavian-style social
democracy.

For the Encyclopedia Britannica, "the attempt by Salvador Allende to unite

Marxists and other reformers in a socialist reconstruction of Chile is most
representative of the direction that Latin American socialists have taken since the
late 20th century. [...] Several socialist (or socialist-leaning) leaders have followed
Allende's example in winning election to office in Latin American countries".

The success of the Workers' Party of Brazil, formed in 1980 and governing Brazil

from 2003 to 2016, was the first major breakthrough for this trend.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez,

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivian President Evo Morales and
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa referred to their political programmes as
socialist, and Chávez adopted the term "socialism of the 21st century". After
winning re-election in December 2006, Chávez said: "Now more than ever, I am
obliged to move Venezuela's path towards socialism".

Australia saw an increase in interest of socialism in the early 21st century,

especially amongst youth. It is strongest in Victoria, where three socialist parties
have merged into the Victorian Socialists.

 The current Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern formerly served as

President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern is a self-
described social democrat who has criticized capitalism as a "blatant failure" due to
high levels of homelessness and low wages.8

8
Contemporary Socialist Politics, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
 References
 Socialism, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
 Socialism and its Characteristics, available at: https://www.thebalance.com/socialism-types-pros-
cons-examples-3305592 ( last visited on 21 March,2021)
 People’s Republic of China, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
 Socialist Party, available at:https://m.socialistparty.org.uk/faq.php?question=socialistcountries
(Last visited on 20 March,2021)
 List of Socialist States, available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_socialist_states
(Last visited on 21 March,2021)
 Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, ( International Publishers Co., New York, US, 1938)
 Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies An Introduction (Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK, 6th
edn., 2017)
 Richard Westra, Socialism in the 21st Century (Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York,
US,2018)