In 19th century Europe, collaboration between two German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels presented “The Communist Manifesto”, the most relevant theory in modern socialism. French writer Henri Saint Simon rooted the framework for modern socialism but The Communist Manifesto was the first time that Socialism was introduced to the masses. Socialism is a political and economic theory that advocates for the means of production to be owned by a single state system. Socialism has been open to many different interpretations and therefore different branches of socialism exist, but each branch has a common emphasis of cooperation, social solidarity and equality.
The starting point for Socialism was a critique of capitalism. In this contemporary moment, capitalist governments often adopt certain socialist ideas in policies concerning human rights, citizenship and education. On the other hand post communist countries are electing extreme right wing nationalist parties to run their government, as a result socialist ideologies often experience a mainstream revival when a country is on the brink of potentially electing a right wing leader. When the Bolsheviks came into power, the new Soviet state established full citizenship for women and put laws in place that accommodated their rights and made them more equal. These new laws caused some tension but they were quite progressive and far ahead of any capitalist society at the time. Today, intersectional feminism has been rooted in socialist mindsets.
After the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Party to power. Lenin was a communist revolutionary and politician, who upon his return to Russia from exile, showed much enthusiasm for the eventual spread of socialism and called for an international revolution after Russia’s successful overthrow of the Tsar Empire. Fidel Castro, a communist revolutionary overthrew the Cuban government in 1959 resulting in Cuba becoming closely aligned with the Soviet Union. Castro’s leadership was the first to focus on improving the state’s extensive poverty. Castro was a controversial leader, eventually strengthening his grip on every aspect of Cubans’ lives.
Julia Karpuik
Bibliography
Newman, Michael. Socialism: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.
Lerner, Warren. A history of socialism and communism in modern times: theorists, activists, and humanists. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Willink, H. G. “SOCIALISM.” Charity Organisation Review 5, no. 53 (1889): 197-206. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44241481.
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