Is There a Future for Socialism - Case Study Example

Is There A Future For Socialism? Socialism can be described as an economic system whereby the means of producing commodities and service within an economy are owned by the entire community (Howard, 2000). The system is mainly characterized by social ownership, co-operative administration of an economy or the political philosophies that advocate for the systems use (Levine, 2003). Previous studies reveal that there are various forms of socialism around the globe though no single definition has been provided for defining them all (Yunker, 2004). The differences in the existing forms of socialism around the globe arise from the types of social ownership that they advocate and their degree of relying on issues like planning and markets (Howard, 2000). They may also differ in terms of how various managements are organized within their organizations and their government’s role in the construction of socialism (Kumar, 2009). This paper examines the different types of socialism that exist around the globe and the possibility of there being a future for socialism as a whole in the world. The future for socialism is still bright even after most of the founding socialist systems that were located in the Soviet Union and the states in the Eastern Bloc collapsed. There are still other countries like China and Vietnam that continue with the system and its ideals (Levine, 2003). The socialist ideals have also spread to other parts located around the globe though their influence has been diminishing over time (Howard, 2000). Within a socialist economic system, the production of goods is only carried out for the purpose of satisfying their people’s wants and not for sale in order to attain profits (Yunker, 2004). The accounting systems within these socialist systems base their standards on physical magnitude instead of financial calculations (Kumar, 2009). Socialism is a system that may also involve many political philosophies for it to be implemented successfully (Howard, 2000). Its proponents suggest that the production means within a country should be nationalized and distribution or exchange utilized as the major strategies for implementing the system (Kumar, 2009). There are two types of socialist movements, which are the libertarian and democratic forms of socialism. The libertarian form of socialism advocates for the direct control of workers in their country’s production means as opposed to using state powers for the purpose of achieving such arrangements. This system opposes any form of state or parliamentary controls on various production means (Yunker, 2004). On the other hand, the democratic forms of socialism usually seek to create socialism through different democratic processes while propagating its ideals in the context of democratic movements (Cannon, 2000). These forms of socialism are still being practiced across the globe and are gaining popularity rapidly according to previous reports (Levine, 2003). It was previously assumed that the revolutionary states in countries like China and Russia would industrialize or develop their production resources. This brought socialism to the limelight, with many of these countries seeking to expand their resources before they assumed higher levels of socialism (Yunker, 2004). The socialist systems previously tried to get to the levels capitalism had reached through a concept that was referred to as primitive accumulation in many underdeveloped countries (Kumar, 2009). According to past reports, the processes of primitive accumulation were mainly marked by suffering and violence in these socialist countries (Howard, 2000). Violence was spread against their factory workers on a daily basis leading to the imposition of regimes that were brutal to the people (Levine, 2003). Imperialism is thought to have been prevented these countries from being destroyed by their push towards becoming fully industrialized. For instance, in countries like China, there was an infamous starvation for the masses when their population suddenly rose with the country being unable to feed them (Howard, 2000). This was attributed to the socialist policies that were used in the country though reforms were later introduced to help people get easy access to things like vaccinations and healthcare (Kumar, 2009). The socialist economies have however been unable to cope with any capitalist developments that have taken place in the markets. Most socialist states have also had past civilian wars and imperialist dominations that the peasants within them have rioted so that they may get ownership of vital production resources (Yunker, 2004). In respect to the riots, the governments in these socialist states have resulted to using force and state power in order to eradicate any ideological currents which could prevent their policies from succeeding (Levine, 2003). Capitalist economies have been successful due the domination that large corporations have within these economies. These corporations have been said to solve complicated problems that the capitalist economies encounter thereby ensuring that their populations work for the good of the country (Yunker, 2004). For instance, market socialism was said to have failed in Yugoslavia leading to the mismanagement of their labor force and markets which eventually led to the disintegration of their economy (Howard, 2000). Their collapse was mainly attributed to the fact that most firms and companies in the country were not run with an aim of making a profit, but were following governmental orders blindly (Kumar, 2009). In the year 1989, the dissolution of the Soviet Union’s Stalinist states created a win situation for workers around the globe in spite of the monetary distortions that were imposed by bureaucracies (Yunker, 2004). The leaders of capitalism grabbed the opportunity of launching ideological campaigns that were meant to show the inability of socialism to deliver to a nation (Cannon, 2000). They also used their campaigns in order to prove that capitalist markets were the only possible way through which an economy could be managed (Levine, 2003). After the collapse of the socialism models used in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, claims that economic planning would replace the capital markets started fading away rapidly (Howard, 2000). Their collapse led the capitalist governments into developing newer technologies and extending their concepts of globalization (Yunker, 2004). These actions strengthened the international position of capitalism and enabled it to become the favorite form of governance among workers. In turn, the former leaders of powerful socialist governments abandoned their push for progressive reforms (Kumar, 2009). Most of them like Mikhail Gorbachev have come out openly to accept the fact that capitalism may now be a permanent force though socialism is also gaining popularity in many nations around the globe (Howard, 2000). This tendency by the leaders of former socialist governments has greatly undermined the socialism ideas credibility despite the fact that Karl Marx, the founder of socialism, believing that capitalism could eventually lead to socialism (Levine, 2003). After the bitter cold war period between the socialists and capitalists, the collapse of Stalinism looked like a success for the western countries (Cannon, 2000). The western created an impression of being superior to the former socialist states when it led a war against Iraq on the conditions of imperialism (Yunker, 2004). The capitalist regimes are also perceived to be more economically successful than the socialist regimes though with many problems, which makes the future for socialism look bright (Kumar, 2009). However, other socialist regimes that are situated in countries like China and parts of Asia have witnessed growth through the speculative investments made by capitalist regimes in their countries (Howard, 2000). These investments have only been facilitated through the structural reforms that have been made on their programs (Yunker, 2004). According to previous reports, the collapse of the powerful socialist regimes that were found in the Soviet Union along with Eastern Europe has totally demoralized most of the remaining socialists though some countries still persist and find increased interests in socialist policies (Levine, 2003). With the turn of the 21st century, the sponsors of socialism have turned to various other venues to air their views other than using social democracy parties (Howard, 2000). Campaigns against capitalism and globalization became prominent after the opposition that was raised against a WTO meeting that was held in the city of Seattle in the year 1999 (Yunker, 2004). Events such as the global recession that was witnessed between the years 2007 to 2010 brought out major discussions concerning the reintroduction of Marxism in many countries (Kumar, 2009). For instance, a survey conducted by the BBC on celebrating the twentieth anniversary after the collapse of Berlin’s wall reported that approximately 23% of the respondents believed that capitalism was a defective system (Yunker, 2004). According to another previous survey conducted in 27 countries, 22 of these countries thought that the distribution of their wealth should be redone more evenly through the use of socialist ideologies (Levine, 2003). In Africa, the issues of socialism have continuously been spread around this continent. For instance, during their colonial period, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere inspired his people to adopt socialist ideals and formed rural villages that were referred to as the Ujamaa. Nyerere had found his inspiration through Fabian socialist principles that had been instilled in him during his school days and earlier life (Yunker, 2004). Africa also had other socialist leaders during its colonial period that included Kenneth Kaunda, Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. The ANC party in South Africa also held similar ideals during their struggles for freedom though they were abandoned immediately the party ascended to power (Kumar, 2009). However, most of the African governments have called for socialism since they are continuously witnessing riots from their public. Their populations are protesting against poverty and poor housing facilities among other issues that socialists would have addressed (Howard, 2000). Walter Rodney in his book, ‘How Europe underdeveloped Africa’ suggests that Africa can only achieve development by delinking itself from international forms of capitalism and by embracing socialist templates in running their activities (Levine, 2003). Within the Asian continent, the countries that have continued practicing socialism in the 20th include North Korea, Vietnam, China and Laos (Kumar, 2009). However, most of these countries have stopped adopting planning activities that are centralized and instead focus more on markets. For instance, the Chinese have developed their economy based on a socialist market whereas the Vietnamese have developed an economy that is socialist oriented (Yunker, 2004). In other countries like Nepal and India, there are still various socialist or capitalist parties that are popular though some of them have adopted ideals used in capitalist systems such as democracy (Kumar, 2009). The communist party found in Nepal emphasizes on social equalities, economic prosperity and political democracy within the country (Cannon, 2000). Singapore also continues to practice the system with most of their revenue coming from industries that are government owned (Howard, 2000). Other countries like Japan and Malaysia that are also located within the continent have also recently had resurgences of interests in their communist parties by their workers and youth (Levine, 2003). Subsequently, in the European continent, the dissatisfaction arising from the policies used by neoliberal parties has resulted in the formation of socialist parties in countries like Germany and Cyprus. In other European countries like Ireland and Syria, socialist parties have also grown in popularity in recent times (Yunker, 2004). For the first time in over fifty years, a socialist party will be running in the British 2011 elections with another socialist party still gaining popularity in France (Kumar, 2009). Various other Latino governments have also adopted socialist ideologies and are increasingly gaining influence across the continent. However, these governments are facing numerous problems in their economies though their leaders, who have mostly been termed as dictators, have suppressed any form of revolutions within their countries. Within the North America continent, the first socialist party was created in the year 1944 in Canada and currently forms their official opposition party (Cannon, 2000). This came to happen after it won around one hundred and two seats during their federal elections which were held in the year 2011 (Kumar, 2009). In the 20th century, the activities of socialist political organizations reached their highest levels with the formation of several of them in America. However, they only have a few members in their following and little influence in the management of the country’s affairs (Yunker, 2004). According to previous reports, the attractiveness of socialist ideas has drastically strengthened in recent years. However, the reports indicate that the consciousness levels in the new cohort of workers may be determined by the unfolding conditions and the current conditions that they are going through (Kumar, 2009). The capitalist systems that are being practiced across many countries have resulted in several problems for their populations, which include unemployment, low pay and low standards of living (Howard, 2000). This may imply that in the future, more of these people may search for programs that are anti- capitalist and formulated on socialist terms to ease their problems (Levine, 2003). The only feasible problem to the issues the new generations of workers may experience remains adopting economies that are socially planned (Kumar, 2009). There is an increased need among workers for joining socialist movements in the future that may offer solutions to their problems due to the difficulties these people are experiencing through capitalism (Yunker, 2004). This is because through their acceptance of the current market system they former citizens allowed to be dominated by a handful of monopolies that do not seem to care about their welfares (Cannon, 2000). In conclusion, the future of socialism may be said to be bright as witnessed by the recent events seen across the globe (Levine, 2003). References Cannon, J. P, 2000, Fighting for Socialism in the American Century, Resistance books, New York. Howard, M. W, 2000, Self-Management and The Crisis Of Socialism: The Rose In The Fist Of The Present, Rowman & Littlefield, London. Kumar, K, 2009, From Post-Industrial To Post-Modern Society: New Theories Of The Contemporary World, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Levine, A, 2003, A Future for Marxism? Althusser, the Analytical Turn And Revival Of Socialist Theory, Pluto, Washington. Yunker, J. A., 2004, Capital Management Effort: Theory and Applications, Ashgate Publishing, New York. Read More