Transcript for:
Key Concepts of Socialism in Politics

hi my name is olle and in this politics explain video I'm going to go through everything you need to know about socialism in AEL politics I'm going to start by looking at the development of socialism over time from the emergence of socialism with revolutionary socialism through to evolutionary socialism social democracy and the Third Way in the middle part of the video I'm going to look at the key agreements and principles of socialism as well as the key tensions and disagreements within socialism between the strands and then finally I'm going to look at the key thinkers of socialism the PDFs that you can see um on your screen and you'll be seeing throughout the video can be found on the politics explain website where you'll also find loads and loads of resources to help you in your politics a level including essay plans detailed everything you need to know guides and textbooks um as well as one thing I'm going to be bringing out in the next couple of weeks is detailed example packs from the past year the UK politics and UK government so you can have the most up-to-date examples in your essays you can also find up find a place to sign up for tutoring if that's something you be interested in so yeah without further Ado let's get into it so starting off um the first part of of the video we're going to have a look at the kind of key uh strands of socialism we're going to introduce it and look at its development over time but first one thing we'll have a look at which and and these kind of questions apply to all of the video um and these are questions you can get asked on socialism a whole socialism as a whole um are the potential essay questions and as with liberalism and conservatism if you've seen those videos there's kind of three key types of questions you can get the most likely question um is so they're all focused on to what extent the Socialist agree so they're all about kind of agreement versus disagreement within the ideology the most likely type of question focuses on the state economy Society or human nature so kind of four key questions and they could be phrased differently but the broad idea is the same to what extent do they agree in those four key areas the next key type of question you could get um is on some of the key principles and that's why you got here to extent the on collectivism common Humanity equality social social class or workers control which are the key principles of socialism and the final one you could get you get an overall question to extent to socialist degree where of course you're going to have to bring in lots of different things from State economy Society human nature um or you can get to what extent do just two particular strands um agree and those questions are potentially the most difficult ones um in places so yeah keep those in mind um as you kind of watch through the video just to think about okay what kind of different points um you could use on the politic explained website there are detailed essay plans for the state Society economy and human nature ones for socialism conservatism and liberalism and then you can really adapt those key points to answer pretty much any question as well as the stuff in this video um and if you want the kind of PDFs this as I said at the start um you can find those um as the kind of everything you need to know guides on the website as well yeah without further ado um let's uh start off with the emergence of socialism so socialism emerged in the 19th century um as a response uh in particular to the Industrial Revolution and the consequences of the Industrial Revolution um so the Industrial Revolution the development of capitalism created great class divisions and economic inequalities um so you saw factories springing up across Europe and also America um at the time um and masses of workers faced harsh working conditions and low wages with a widening gap between the the vast majority of the population who were the workers the labor force and the wealthy industrialists and the capitalist class as marks Engles will see called it um who owned the factories and early socialist with marks Engles being really key um they criticized the the capitalist system for its exploitation of the working class the majority of the population and as a result they argued they needed to be overthrown in favor of a completely different social uh completely different system that pursued equality through through the redistribution of wealth and workers controlling the me production and that's ultimately um it's kind of all idea that c needs to be overthrown and replaced is socialism they weren't only kind of philosophical ideas they had a very kind of real political impact um they sought to kind of really not just kind of outline these ideas but they sought to really promote Revolution um across Europe um with the aim of creating um such change and such a society and their ideas ultimately spread and became popular among millions of workers in Europe and Asia laying the foundations for political parties and movements that sought to transform Society through Revolution with some of them um ultimately being successful um in in um in Revolution as we'll see um a bit later in the video so that's the the emergence of socialism and the first key strand of socialism is revolutionary socialism and marks and Engles U Were crucial in first setting out this socialist thought and they did so in some of the most kind of influential Texs you may have heard of such as D capital and the Communist Manifesto and in these Works Mark nles outlined what's what you can kind of describe as a historical materialist view of society so they saw societal development over time as going through a number of stages of Economic Development and they saw these kind of stages as inevitable and they thought that kind of it Society inevitably progressed from feudalism to capitalism and ultimately will inevitably progress progress through socialism to the end goal which for them which is a communist society and they'll do that through a workingclass revolution so they argued that inherent capitalism was class oppression of the proletaria so these some really key phrases you're going to want to use in the Pro is the working class by the Bourgeois so the bourjois is the capitalist class um and it creates deep inequalities capitalism does um and suppress the inherently collaborative and social nature of humans they believe that human nature is they have a very positive view of it um as we see kind of believe in common Humanity working together they believe that capitalism ultimately suppresses that as well so they see it as inevitable that this oppression um under capitalism which they see as inherent to capitalism would lead to the proletar seizing control of the state and the economy in a violent revolution and after seizing that control they would the working class would and should fundamentally change society so there'll be workers controlled society and the state and the whole of the economy a commitment to collectivism common humanity and equality rather than individualism um as pred through capitalism and capitalism would be completely abolished as would the class exploitation that was inherent to it so a lot of words there that we're going to go through in a lot more detail and explain this kind of key principle of socialism later in the video they believed that kind of the working class would take control and should take control in a violent revolution and after this brief period of a dictat the proletariat whether the working class are in charge of the state complete workers control they ultimately believe that the state would wither away and the final stage of society would be reached and this is a communist society and in this Society they believed it would be classless stateless um and the means of production would be communally owned by everyone and all forms of exploitation and equality would be eliminated as I said this is known as communism I thought it'd be useful to early on in the video kind of really look at the what what is the difference between communism um and socialism because it is really confusing and it's it's ultimately not really really clear as well um and they're often used interchangeably in relation to Marx's thought when when analyzing it so all of the above that we've just discussed can be consider both communism and socialism but communism specifically refers to the ideas to support everything above so in in particular that final stage of societal Evolution where they believe there's a classes stateless society whereas socialism is kind of more the broader ideology pursuing the principles um outline below that we'll look at in a minute and that includes the latest socialist who don't believe potentially in a in a complete Revolution or don't believe in that end communist Society they're still considered socialists especially social Democrats and evolutionary socialists so key principles of socialism just to have a quick introduction to them are collectivism so that's this argument that the collective action of individuals is of Greater moral and practical value to society than individual effort very different for liberalism um as you'll notice which really focuses on the individual common Humanity um so this is the Socialist emphasis that humans are social creatures with positive Tendencies towards cooperation sociability and rational rationality um and it also um includes the fact that human nature can't be understood without reference to the society in which it lives so you can't understand humans without looking at the society that shapes them equality is perhaps the most important driving principle of socialism so they argue that economic inequality is fundamentally unfair and undermines Collective ISM and cooperation and as a as a result the state should step in to pursue equality social class is really Central to socialist understanding of society so it underpins our analysis of social dynamics and historical change as we looked at with that historical materialism um they believe that this class exploitation is inherent to capitalism so the oppression the of the proletariat by the bord r and therefore capitalism should be abolished workers control um so socialists advocate both worker control over the management of the workplace and worker control over the broader economic decision making so over the state um which you might sometimes be see described as nationalization or common ownership and finally kind of fun one I've kind of added in is opposition to capitalism so you can see that's kind of coming through the others but I think this is really just Central to understanding socialism and to keep in mind that they're ultimately just deeply opposed to cap think it' be completely REM removed and think a system should be set up um that is effectively opposite to capitalism in their View as we'll see later in the video some of the latest strands of socialism don't completely support all these principles they don't support completely removing capitalism they don't support complete workers control and that's where you can partly debate whether they should be considered socialists at all so revolutionary socialist for example probably wouldn't consider the other strands socialist at all but what you can see and and many would consider them socialists is the evolution over time so they'll be looking to kind of employ and um kind of follow the other principle was associ but within capitalis and not to the same extent in the same way that you see that um potentially with with the evolution of thought from traditional conservatism to One Nation conservatism or from Classical liberalism to Modern liberalism so continuing revolutionary socialism marks and Engles ultimately inspired revolutionary socialists across across Europe and Asia um so they led to kind of working class communist socialist parties springing up across um across Europe and Asia um and they were really committed to the kind of theoretical foundations laid by Mar and Engles they were really committed to Violent working crash revolutions to create equality to create collectivism um and to create complete work control um ultimately they often adapted marus Marxist Doctrine slightly um to fit the local conditions of their own kind of unique philosophical interpretations which led to kind of diverse versions of Marxism each with its kind of unique approach so Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Russia which is ultimately the first um Communist Revolution or socialist Revolution um kind of emphasized that okay you didn't need a mass uprising of workers but it could be done by a small Vanguard um of committed Communists and that's important at the time um because in Russia there wasn't it wasn't a completely capitalist Society yeah Rosa Luxenberg who's who's one of the key thinkers was a prominent Marxist and revolutionary in Germany um and she developed a distinct interpretation of revolutionary socialism that was very consistent with Marx and Engles but really emphasized Mass strikes in the organic role of the working class in spearheading the revolution so the role of trade unionism striking um and Collective action um in doing so and she kind of critiqued um those B so what you see is you kind of revolutionary socialists um Mark angles are very much revolutionary socialist and when we start it you'll see these different interpretations of revolutionary socialist from others in terms of revolutionary socialism in practice we can look at two key case studies uh the Soviet Union um and communist China um so Mark nle kind of pretty much expected that the first socialist revolutions wouldn't come from the Soviet Union or China because they ultimately weren't at the time capitalist societies yet um they were still very much feudal societies with a vast majority um of the population in in Soviet Union the Surfs or kind of peasantry it was very much still a feudal society and that kind of went against the kind of marks and engle's idea of um the historical dialectic where things HP inevitably happen have to go from feudal to cap to capitalist and then um to socialist um so they kind of actually expected it would be in Germany or Britain because they were where capitalism was the most developed and the most industrialized but ultimately that wasn't the case um incurred but they occurred in Russia and China largely inspired by um by part driven by party that inspired by marks and engle's thought so the first kind of socialist Revolution was in 1917 in the Soviet in the Soviet Union um led by Lenin the Bic party um as I said um and post Revolution the Soviet government implemented uh wide ranging socialist policies including collectivization of Agriculture Central planning of the economy um you see Stalin's First Five-Year Plan in 1928 which pursued kind of full scale industrialization and collectivization of um agriculture um and the state kind of pretty much controlled virtually all aspects of political and economic life see very strong States under socialism and it's supposedly an an effort to build a communist Society where class diss were erased um but despite these efforts the vision of a state this class of society remained elusive as a Soviet state grew increasingly authoritarian you see the exact same in China you don't ever see this progress um towards this kind of stateless or classless society you kind of effect seeing sit stuck at the kind of dictatorship of the proletariat with a very strong authoritarian State um in China the Communist Revolution uh led by marong culminated in 1949 following Decades of civil conflict and resistance um to Japanese occup Occupation and his approach kind of adapted Marxist leninist theory um to The Agrarian context of China so very still very much kind of a feudal um Society so it Focus heavily on the peasantry as a main force of the revolution rather than solely the kind of urban working class the urban pitaria I you see very similar um socialist kind of uh policies implemented once they came into power to to the Soviet Union um so um they sought to fundamentally transform Chinese Society um so The Agrarian reform law of 1950 aimed to abolish fetal land ownership and redistribute land to millions of peasants um so effectively um that kind of complete ownership um kind of works control supposed as peasantry um at the time time but kind of collectivization of land um also nationalization of Industry with the first 5-year plan of 1953 um and they laid the ground workk for Ma's more radical policies the Great Leap Forward and the cultural revolution um so the Great Leap Forward was really focused on developing the economy developing Agriculture and Industry um simultaneously and you saw communes pulled land pulled labor of reserves so it's real um collectivization and workers control um and the cultural revolution also sort to purge the kind of remnants of the capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and promote maist ideology and It ultimately created um millions of deaths at the time as well so Tred sort to mobilize millions of Youth in the red guards to challenge authority figures um who they saw as kind of remnants of the old order and the capitalist class um in the name of of creating um supporting maoism um and communism and as with the Soviet Union they can C had great control over the state so that's a bit of an introduction to um revolutionary socialism so as you'll see kind of marks and Engles are Central to it in terms of starting it that's why really kind of that's kind of almost kind of well not in the kind of practical application but Revolution socialism kind of being seen as kind of pure socialism pure kind of socialism and communism as they started there kind of they they thought this is how everything should be and they're very very principled and nothing should change away from that you very they very much didn't think you could compromise on capitalism or compromise on having no Revolution the next strands we're going to have a look at um now kind of move away from that a little bit the first one we'll have a look at is it's not one of the name strands um but it's really important to understand it's evolutionary Socialism or Democratic Socialism or revisionism U it's been called a number of things and it's important to understand that social Democrats and the Third Way who are the latest are these types of socialist as well so they don't believe in Revolution anymore they believe in evolutionary methods and this especially came in the early 20th century when some socialists started to revise key elements of revolutionary socialism in particular the argument that a revolution um is necessary as I said couple of different names um they've been called I think if I if you go for one go for evolutionary socialism they still upheld key socialist principles in particular they they believed in the complete um abolition of capitalism the the early evolutionary socialists um but they've differed significantly in the methods to achieve these goals ultimately believing that socialism could be achieved gradually through Democratic processes and reforms rather than through violent revolution and overthrow of the existing state um they thought you could effectively expand and take over um the state so it sought to achieve absolute equality Works control the elimination of the Socialist class through incremental legislative and social reforms um therefore maintaining a commitment to the foundational goals of socialism but rejecting the necessity of Revolution and in Britain beatric Webb was really key to supporting the idea that social could be achieved through democracy especially given the context after World War I when the expansion of the franchise meant that there was now a majority of the the working class in the electorate and as a result um she advocated um for a view of kind of the inevitability of gradualness so that suggested that socialism was now inevitable in democracy as the working class would continue to vote for socialist parties and policies until until capitalism had been completely abolished as she very much um as other socialists did believe that socialists policies were inherently beneficial um to the working class and they would therefore inevitably um vote for it and as a result of this kind of inevitability of gradul um Revolution wasn't necessary as it could be it would inevitably effectively um s would inevitably brought in through um through democracy in a kind of evolutionary method some revolutionary socialists at the time um strongly rejected this move to evolutionary socialism um CR critiquing um these approaches for compromising the fundamental goals of socialism and diluting its transformative potential and one of the thinkers Rosa Luxenberg was was pretty Central um to this so she argued that evolutionary socialism effectively abandoned the class struggle which she considered essential for overthrowing capitalism and establishing a truly socialist society so she believed that through gradual reform um you couldn't get rid of the kind of capitalist um structures and in fact gradual would only reinforce them um rather than dismantle them which is key to um socialism reformer Revolution was a key text where she um critiqued these Works um and she kind of really underscore the necessity of direct confrontation with capital systems by um working class Revolution so that's evolutionary socialism next Str of socialism we're going to have a quick look at is social democracy um so social democracy emerged in the mid 20th century especially in the post World War II period in Britain as a distinct strand of socialist thought adapting to the changing political and economic landscape in the post World War II period so it retained um a commitment to core socialist principles such as equality common humanity and workers control um it sort to realize these goals within the framework of a capitalist system and that was a big shift from revolutionary socialism that called for the complete overthrow of capitalism so instead of completely overthrowing capitalism they advocated for reforming it and managing it um to make it more equal and they thought this was possible they supported policies such as um progressive taxation extend an extensive welfare state to protect workers rights and reduce economic disparities and while they endorse the nationalization of certain key Industries so to some extent they still believed in workers control they did So within a mixed economy with the remainder of the economy being capitalist and they were also less absolute in their approach to equality um they didn't think that you could should completely redistribute everything um they focus on quality of opportunity and only some equality of outcome so rather than complete abolition of social class and absolute equality they believe you can pursue um equality of outcome to a certain amount through progressive taxation and redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor but not um not complete absolute equality and this kind of pragmatic pragmatic adaptation allowed social democracy to gain significant electoral success in numerous democratic nations um including in the UK it's important to understand why um it emerged so it's partly driven by the decline of traditional industrial Industries so it believed that class under capitalism could no longer be understood as kind of complete binary oppression of the proletariat by the Bazi instead it was more of a complex system when new social classes like the managerial professional and middle classes were present and cism was therefore seen as kind of no longer um completely oppressive so you see Anthony crosland one of the key thinkers acknowledging this change writing that a lot of uh a big proportion of the population now enjoys many of the luxuries which until recently were considered the prerogative of the rich so you didn't see as cap prod producing inevitably producing worsening and worsening inequality and the oppression of one class by the other also really important was the emergence of kinism um in the 1920s um which they believed was important to allowing capitalism to now be managed to pursue the key goals um of socialism um rather than capitalism inevitably um producing oppression um and producing inequality so they believed that um rather than it needing to be abolished it could be managed um through fiscal and monetary policy to mitigate the booms and bust of capitalism so you didn't have mass unemployment um during economic downturns you could effectively manage capitalism to ensure that there was Full Employment um for the working class and anti crosen was a key figure in articulating this view especially in his work the future of socialism so you believe that through um a mixed economy and kinism the goals of socialism could still be achieved in a capitalist system um and the redistribution of resources um and the provision of extensive public Services was also really important for this okay and we can see this social democracy in practice in Britain in the 1960s especially under the government um of Harold Wilson so the the the country embraced a mixed economy during this period with the state controlling key sector of the economy including coal uh Railways water and other utilities um with these interest these kind of Industries run in the interest as a whole of society but the remainder of the economy was capitalist and they also implemented kind of canes in economics in this period to see see to kind of manage the economy simulate growth manage um and kind of keep down unemployment and maintain economic stability you can see their commitment to some level of equality outcome of outcome in the fact that the top rate um of earned income was 83% and they sort to redistribute that somewhat especially through investing in a big welfare state on public health housing and Social Security to kind of provide a safety net um for all and reduce poverty in society they're focus on equality of opportunity as well um receive particular Focus um especially in education with Anthony crosland as Secretary State of State for education in the period introducing comprehensive education um as well as increased funding for higher education to kind of try and make educational achievement accessible for all regardless um of your class um and therefore this kind of overall illustrates how social democracy in the 1960s in Britain sort to combin socialist ideals with capitalist economics striving for a society that was both Dynamic and fair and where the harsher effects of capit ISM um was softened by state intervention this move to social democracy was fundamentally rejected um by some socialist viewing it as a compromise that really betrayed the core principles of socialism and shouldn't be considered um socialism at all and they argued that by accommodating capitalism to a certain extent um it failed to address the inherent class exploitations of it and inequality within the capitalist system such as the unequal distribution of wealth um and the power dynamics of f the elite and they believe that kind of social democracy kind of only softened the edges of capitalism rather than actually challenging the inherent class exploitation and properly pursuing in equality and this kind of key ideological Rift became really evident in the 1980s in the labor party in Britain um especially U with Michael foot representing the more leftwing element of the party um where he aimed to shift labor back to its more traditional socialist Roots so and you see a very radical Manifesto um published um the proposed rationalizing key industries that been prioritized um abolishing the House of Lords um exiting the European economic Community um and these kind of really contrasted with the Centrist Market friendly direction that have been emerging under previous labor leaders so foot's approach was a clear clear rejection of the notion that socialism could coexist with capitalist structures showing his kind of belief in a more profound transformation of society the final key strand we're going to have a look at is the Third Way which emerged in the late uh 20th century supporting a middleway between lazir capitalism and social democracy where privatization in the free market were accepted but the state was used to mitigate the worst effects um of capitalism and promote equality of opportunity for all this was driven by a changing global economy and Advocates of the Third Way argued that globalization and modernization in the economy um meant that free market capm was the best system for promoting economic growth so they no longer believed in nationalization or workers control at all um so the state can no longer seek to control the market instead it should seek to promote leftwing principles within it and prevent its worst effects so you see that kind of a move away from commitment to commitment to kinism that social democracy has to support for free market capitalism um so you see big move away from socialist um beliefs so no longer supporting workers control collectivism um no longer having a focus on social class exploitation at all redistribution or um and focused on equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome and there was also not an opposition to capitalism instead instead kind of real Embrace of capitalism um however um they kind of that they focus they did focus on equ equality somewhat they focus on equality of opportunity in particular through education rather than equality um of outcome he didn't reject the State playing no role at all though in the same way that kind of neoliberals or the new right did um instead um they sorted a strong but reform form Med welfare state that was help aimed to kind of help individuals um succeed in the economy um Pro promote social Mobility um and provide a safety net rather than being used to kind of redistribute wealth though which social Democrats believed in a little bit more and and you see Anthony gens was a really key thinker in this um and he argued this new societal changes and new global economy required this reimagining of social democracy that balanced individual autonomy with supportive role for the state and supporting this kind of radical Center approach socialist fundamentally almost all socialist fundamentally reject the Third Way arguing that it represents a rejection of the corporate socialism almost entirely and shouldn't should definitely not be classified as socialism at all they argue that the third ways Embrace of capitalism is focus on economic efficiency undermine the Socialist commitment to challenging capitalist cast oppression and prioritizing work control and economic equality so by promoting privitization and reducing the scope of direct State intervention in the economy the Third Way dilutes the efforts to redistribute wealth from the from the capitalist class to the working class and they believe that they're kind to focus on equality opportunity rather than outcome fails to address the inherent inequalities produced by capitalism and this CR critique is grounded The View that socialism entails not just reforming captains to make it more Humane but fundamentally transforming the the economic system and that's what socialism should be in terms of the Third Way in practice the key look is new labor um under Blair in particular um and you see kind of um an Embrace of fre market capitalism and a move away from traditional socialist and Social Democratic principles so the maintenance of a 40% top rate of income ta are very different to the 83% under social democracy it's a real departure from kind of redistributing wealth and high taxation um on the rich to pursue a qualitative outcome so they're kind of very comfortable ultimately with wealth accumulation um as we'll look at kind of later in the video strongly Advocate advocated for privatization so key move away from nationalization and workers control as seen through um private Finance initiatives and they kind of really moved away from heavy interference in the market as well as move away from kism um as well they sought to promote equal to opportunity and fairness this where in a way they can be seen as assat in some way because there's a real pursuit of of equality even if it's not a qualitive outcome um and you see that through the emphasis on education um and the introduction of the national minimum wage however they also really sought to reduce the role and influence of the trade Union uh of trade unions you see um in the labor party In the period where they become just a lot lot less important and that that shows this move away from collectivism as well okay so what we're going to have a look at now is the key principles and agreements um of socialism and then within those we're going to look at the key tensions and disagreements between the strands so we're going to look at collectivism common Humanity equality social class workers control and then finally we're going to also look at opposition to capitalism so starting off with collectivism which is the belief that Collective action of individuals is of Greater moral and practical value to society than individual effort and it's a foundational principle of socialism so they believe um that morally they kind of advocate for collectivism based on the belief that the needs and well-being of the community and the whole of society should take precedence over individual interests it's not just a philosophical stance but also reflects the conviction about the inherent nature of humans they believe that it is natural for humans to be sociable and Cooperative beings and it embodies the idea that um kind of fraternity so fraternity is another kind of key of idea of socialism um which kind of emphasiz the importance of mutual Aid shares responsibilities and communal bonds between members of society and it kind of asserts that humans are at their best and most fulfilled when working collaboratively for the common good so this is kind of a really key um difference from liberalism as well which kind of really emphasizes the individual socialism really moves away from that with collectivism in emphasizing the whole and the idea that the kind of society is a whole and the whole of the community is more important than any individual and Society should work together um in order to kind of help everyone um in the community so practically they also argue that it's the most efficient way to harness and distribute society's resources if you pull e on resources and efforts together um it's seen as the mean to ensure that the kind of capabilities and assets of each individual are effectively utilized um and then it's kind of distributed effectively um to everyone based on need and this contributes to the critique of capitalism where they see uh resources and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few rather than spread across the whole of society so the Socialist support for trade unionism is a clear manifestation of this collectivist principle um because they're kind of really seen as key for empowering workers collectively so workers come together um and bargain um for much better distribution of resources um and wages for them all um and it's kind of a practical example of how this combined strength of group can achieve beneficial outcomes for all of its members and and ultimately the commitment to collectivism um leads to a natural support for a larger State um so the kind of they believe that a strong active State can coordinate this kind of large stale economic and social policies that of distribute um wealth to everyone manage Public Services um and ultimately manage the economy effectively um so you see significance St involvement in healthcare education and Social Security um underpinned by the belief that these Services should be provided collectively as rights available to all citizens rather than kind of purchase individually in the market so it's not just a moral stance but they also see as kind of practically um kind of say practically rational um kind of ctive approach collectivist approach to the state and the economy um and a guiding principle for how the economy should be managed in terms of um this different strands of socialism so revolutionary socialists believe in communist um kind of complete collectivism and the eradication of capitalism um so yeah complete collectivism um so they believe that that all means of production should be collectively owned eliminating private property and therefore an amazing capitalism as a whole they believe that this radical kind of restructuring of the economy is the only only path to to achieving that kind of communist end goal of a classless and stess society and in this kind of end Society um there is no class division um and the kind of state has also been dissolved it's kind so they believe that the community collectively owns all resources um and distributes them equally and this kind of this end goal of collectivism um and communism as a whole so extends Beyond mere economic reform um it also sees kind of collectivism as uh Revolution socialist also see collec ISM as really important to achieving socialism in the first place through the importance of a class struggle to abolish um class oppression um they see kind of collective action by the proletariat by the working class as the only way that Society can be transformed and capitalism can be removed um as I spoke about earlier in the video Luxembourg really emphasizes this she sees kind of mass action mass strike action worker solidarity and trade unionism is really important to achieve socialism through a revolution um and the Communist regimes of Russia and China are kind of key historical examples of collectivism implemented by revolutionary socialists so they both kind of collectivized Agriculture um and the economy in particular um to seek to uh guarantee a fairer distribution of resources in contrast to revolutionary socialists social Democrats don't believe in complete collectivism but they do believe um in pursuing collectivism within capitalism so so they believe that capitalism definitely shouldn't be completely left alone um as that will produce kind of um great inequality and instability but they think that the state should intervene in the economy to pursue collectivism through the redistribution of wealth providing comprehensive um Welfare Services uh through Kanon economic management to prevent um kind of um mass unemployment um and crucially they also support a mixed economies they support nationalization of key Industries that should be run in the interest of everyone rather than run in in in the interest of profit such as so you see in the post World War II period in brit the nationalization of coal steel Railways Healthcare um and other Industries and crucially they're also strong supporters of trade unionism um which is a key element of their collectiv collectivist approach they see trade unions as essentially is empowering workers and giving them a collective voice to negotiate better working conditions within the capitalist economy the Third Way by contrast um rejects collectivism so they move away and focus instead on individual opportunity and equality of opportunity um so they kind of place a lot less emphasis on the state's role in managing the economy for for the collective for the whole of society um and they instead kind of emphasize empowering individuals within the market economy um and this is based on kind of the fact that giddens believe that kind of folks focus on in a really competitive globalized modern economy of capitalism um people needed to be supported in order to to compete so you see Blair um this kind of rejection of collectivism collectivism you can see in Blair's government um who reduced the role of trade unions within the party um and within the economy and they also um didn't poll pursue nationalization and therefore kind of the collective owning of Industries in order to um run in the interests of all the society instead um continuing the privitization of flapa um and even pursuing some more privitization in the period next key principle of socialism is common Humanity which emphasizes that humans are social creatures with positive Tendencies towards cooperation sociability and rationality um and it also um brings in the idea that so human nature can't be understood without being without kind of in reference to the society um in which it acts and you see this in in kind of in Marx's writing where he wrote the human Essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual in its reality it is The Ensemble of the social Rel that's kind of shows that their views on human nature is inherently connected uh to the whole of society rather than kind of being an inherent um human nature irrespective of um the societal conditions in which um it's acting and this is really pivotal in in um shaping the Socialist beliefs in the possibility and necessity of societal change as they believe that as uh human nature is shaped by the society um in which it's in they believe that the negative aspects of human nature under capitalism are due to capitalism and therefore by removing capitalism you can have um the development of the what they see as the inherent nature of humans as kind of social um Cooperative um beings under a socialist system so we have a quick look at each of these kind of parts of common Humanity so they have a very optimistic understanding of um human nature um the contrast is the kind of liberal emphasis on self- and competition so they see people as inherently Cooperative social um and rational um um and they see humans not just as driven by material self-improvement but they also see that believe that humans kind of are motivated by um improving society as a whole and and um collectivism um as well you see this kind of in their kind of socialist emphasis on fraternity kind of the strength of communal bonds and Collective action between between workers and between different members of society um crucially they also emphasize the malleability of human nature so they they argue that human nature isn't static instead it's malleable and is very shaped by the societal and economic systems in which people live so the kind of competitive and aggressive um behaviors encouraged by capitalism aren't the expressions of true human nature instead they're the response to the uh capitalist um environment therefore by removing Capital by altering um the societal structures you can release this more positive um aspect of human nature which they believe is kind of true Human Nature under a socialist system let's have a quick look now at the kind of common Humanity in the strands of socialism um so all strands kind of support common Humanity um but a key difference occurs in what to do about it and the importance of capitalism um to it so revolutionary socialist view of human nature is deeply influenced by Common Humanity they see humans as inherently cooperative and communal but argue that capit capitalism distorts this so marks argued that c distorts and suppresses the natural positive tenden of human nature um and under capitalism it's kind of Twisted into a competitive selfish behaviors um and this crucially also leads to a false consciousness where the proletariat working class is misguided to accept the capital system as just and natural despite it being against their Collective interest you see Luxenberg another revolutionary socialist um essenti emphasizing how capitalism devides workers and communities turning them against each other in a constant battle for economic survival so capitalism for revolutionary socialis is viewed as a central problem in realizing um true human nature and this kind of true positive Cooperative version of human nature um and the kind of collective Cooperative Spirit of humanity and they therefore believe that the capital systm should be completely um kind of abolished um in favor of a communist system of kind of cooperation communal living where the kind of true um positive nature of humans Cooperative nature of humans can flourish social Democrats um Shar the belief in common Humanity in the intrinsic positive nature of humans but their approach to realizing this potential within Society differs so they recognize the kind of challenges and inequalities of capitalism but they don't advocate for its complete abolition instead they focus on reforming and humanizing the capitalist system they argue that the negative aspects of capitalism such as income inequality exploitation and social division can be mitigated through managing capitalism um in Canan through kinism and mix economy and extensive social welfare programs and therefore they believe that this kind of positive common Humanity key can be achieved within a capitalist framework through kind of grally tempering the excesses of capitalism and pursuing equality in the principles of socialism um within the capitalist system the Third Way also maintains a very positive view of human nature recognizing the kind of potential for sociability and communality and people working together but crucially for the third way this is also combined with an emphasis on individualism um and allowing individuals to reach their potential in economy which potentially see a bit of a liberal influence in their view um so unlike revolutionary or socialist or or social Democrats and they don't view as as a fundamental problem um instead they advocate for a balance believing that a market economy can coexist with social welfare and community and that cooperation can thrive in this environment they don't seek radical overhaul of the economy or even much intervention in capitalism as social Democrats do U because they don't see it as as fundamentally flawed social Democrats do see cap capitalism as flawed is believe it can be managed um so they they in this context they don't see the capital systm as flaw they kind of focus on empowering people within the system to succeed under capitalism um and the aim is to kind of cultivate a society where individual aspirations of communal well-being are not mutually exclusive but they can kind of be complimentary okay so perhaps the most important um principle of socialism is equality so they argue that economic inequality is fundamentally unfair and undermines um collectivism and cooperation and therefore the state should step in to pursue equality this fundamentally rejects liberal thought which justifies economic disparities as a natural kind of consequence of um differences in individuals kind of ability effort or choices um they argue that such inequalities are not just unjust but a product of the structural inequalities of capitalist systems um and they kind of argue that actually this kind of person's a person's success their different soci socioeconomic status is determined by luck and their class rather than their inherent abilities or efforts and as a result they advocate for redistributive policies to kind of level their economic play Field playing field and ensure a equality for all and it's not just a matter of fairness um it's also seen as essential for kind of uh creating kind of a sense of collectivism and the natural uh common Humanity um so kind of they believe that these kind of when you have inequality uh which you have under a capital system it inevitably leads a social and class conflict um which impedes the development this kind of development of society um to work together and cooperate so kind of reducing inequalities is not just about fairness it's also about kind of improving society and creating a harmonious Society where everyone can work together um and the vision of this more kind of Equitable uh Society aligns with the idea of common ownership and of the means of production where wealth is generated by the community is kind of shared by society as a whole among all its members fostering a sense of solidarity and Community wellbeing they believe that common private property and capitalism creates inequality and social conflict and should therefore um be removed so the different strands of socialism crucially have different interpretations of equality so revolutionary socialism beliefs in absolute equality um so this extends beyond the mere kind of equality of opportunity um to Encompass complete equality of outcome so the kind of complete eradication of all forms of class distinction and qualities um in wealth and power and marks and Engles and Revolution socialists believe this can only be done um by overthrowing the capital system the capital system inherently produces these inequalities so they believe um that to do so um there should be Collective ownership of the means of production um thereby dismantling the class structure that underlies social societal inequalities so this is not just reforming existing structures radically transforming them through revolutionary meemes and the end goal is a completely classless stateless Society a communist Society uh where you have absolute equality um because resources and power distributed equally between all members of society and there a really key quote from marks encapsulates this um saying from each according to his ability to each according to his needs so in society everyone should contributes based on their ability to contribute to society and generate resources for everyone but then it should be distributed equally based on need um and that's why you see that commitment to Absolute equality Okay so social Democrats reject revolutionary socialist calls for absolute equality and the complete abolition of capitalism and instead of this kind of radical overhaul of the existing economic system they seek to promote equality within the capitalist system they seek to kind of first promote um equality of opportunity um and also some equality of outcome but not absolute um equality they kind of see absolute equality as impractical um and advocate for more balanced approach that recognizes that capitalism can be managed equality can be pursued within the capitalist system system so firstly they Champion equality of opportunity believing that everyone should have a fair chance to succeed in life regardless of their socioeconomic background the sport policies that aim to level the playing field and provide equal opportunities to everyone so Anthony crosland who's one of the key thinkers um when Secretary of State for Education introduces comprehensive um education which kind of see kind of aims to produce um provide education uh similar quality of Education irrespective of socio economic background intellect um or ability and they also um pursue um equality of opportunity by seeking to ensure that all citizens have access to a basic um level of welfare so a strong safety net um so it kind of meets the needs of every individual um to mitigate the harsher aspect of capitalism and crucially they don't just support equality of opportunity like we explore Third Way the Third Way does they also pursue a certain degree of equality of outcome um though not to the same not absolute equality in the way of revolutionary socialists and that's pursued through Progressive tox Taxation and other redistributive policies um where the wealthier segments of society contribute proportionately more to fund public services and Welfare programs and crucially um this can be seen under harod Wilson's labor governments in the 1970s where the top R of income tax on earned income reached 83% and this kind of reflects a belief the Social Democrat belief and a socialist belief that the state should play a key role in reducing um economic disparities and ensuring a decent standing of living for all the Third Way moves even further away from revolutionary socialism not only do they um support equality of opportunity they also completely reject equal of outcome um so they kind of firmly oppose it um and instead only support equal of opportunity which differs from social Democrats so opponents to the Third Way like Blair and Clinton were much more comfortable with the idea of individuals becoming wealthy and this is a big shift from socialist attitudes which opposed and sort to redistribute um wealth um this acceptance of wealth creation um was undermined by by belief that as long as everyone had equal opportunities to succeed say pursuit of equality of opportunity disparities and outcome were acceptable and even desirable as over seen as a reflection of individual talent and effort so the top rate of income tax under Blair was 40% much much lower than under social democracy the Third Way did maintain this kind of Social Democratic um commitment to equality opportunity and heavily focused on education as a key vehicle um to achieving this and kind of this was paired with a strong but reformed welfare state not to redistribute wealth like under social democracy um but to kind of provide a safety net and support mobility in the economy so that people could succeed in the economy and crucially this was kind of uh linked into their belief that capitalism isn't a fundamentally flawed economic system that required ra radical overhaul instead they saw the market economy as an effective means for generating wealth and promoting efficiency uh the economy the next key principle of social we're going to have a look at is social class which is Central to socialist understanding of society and for socialist class is primarily defined by your relationship to the means of production so if you own the means of production you're in the capitalist class or the bord z um or if you work for them and don't own the means of production you're in the working class or the proletaria and socials argue that class conflict stemming from the inherent opposition um of interest between these two groups is the driving force of societal change and ultimately results in Revolution um by the proletariat and the removal of capitalism socialist focus on representing and empowering the working class of proletariat who they see as the key agent of revolutionary change so their ultimate goal is to create a class of society achieve through Collective ownership and the means of production therefore abolishing the capitalist conditions that give rise to social class distinctions um and the eradication of class divisions is not not just seen as an economic imperative but as a moral one Central to the creation of a just and Equitable Society so they kind of kind of through kind of the trans transformative revolutionary process they Aspire not only to uplift the proletarian and enable them to overthrow the PA jzi But ultimately to reach a stage where class as a social division no longer exists so they think the social class is kind of inherent to capitalism and by removing cism completely um you can um effectively create a class of society so revolutionary socialists view social class within the capitalist system in binary terms they believe that you have two groups the proletaria and the bouri and the bouris Z completely oppress um the proletaria and there's effectively um nothing in between and they see this as inherent to the capitalist system and as a result they seek to kind of Aid the working class in achieving class Consciousness which is kind of awareness of their Collective identity and their shed interest in opposition to the baz Z and in doing so they believe that they have to overcome false consciousness um which is where the working class kind of doesn't recognize his exploitation um because of capitalist ideology and kind of effectively supports cap they believe that this needs to be overcome um overcome this false consciousness help the working class achieve class Consciousness so that they can then be a workingclass Revolution and the overthrow of capitalism and they kind of they're not just kind of theoretical kind of socialist think as they of seek to kind of actively um promote this Revolution and that's kind of one of the key quotes of marks is um the proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains they have a world to win working men of all countries unite and revolutionary socialist like Rosa Luxenberg in particular emphasize the role of trade unionism and other forms of working-class organization in overcoming false consciousness and fostering a true class Consciousness and awareness that the proletarian are exploited by the borra so Luxembourg believed that through trade Union struggles and political activism the working class will become increasingly aware of their Collective power and injustices of the capitalist system and that's crucial in rallying the working classes towards Revolution and the overthrow of the bzi um and they ultimately revolutionary socialists argued that class conflict was therefore inherent to capitalism um and embedded in the state which directly served the interest of the bology and therefore um the existing state needs to be completely overthrown and capitalism completely removed um to kind of pursue a classless society also really important to understanding the kind of revolutionary socialist view of class is Marx and engle's dialectic which is this view of historical materialism um and that's kind of this view that they see so society as a history of class struggle whether oppressor or oppressed uh an oppressor in constant opposition um and they kind of fight a continuous battle in until ultimately the oppressed overcomes um the oppressor and there's a new um new form of society they believes that these kind of class struggles are inevitable and driven by material conditions um and this is the idea of dialectical change of kind of dialect is idea of kind two groups um ultimately battling to cl to cause um ultimate change in society I believe that the emerging class will always eventually develop and challenge the the dominance of the existing class which will then lead to a new Society in fundamental changes in societies they believe it starts with feudalism um where the two classes are landowners and surfs or slaves um and eventually um the seeds of capitalism sprout a new class which is the Bazi who eventually emerge and overcome the feudal class and become dominant you then have this capitalist system where the Bazi dominates and exploits the proletariat and the proletariat becomes increasingly and increasingly exploited and their conditions are worse and worse um and but they also as a result increasingly achieve class Consciousness and this inevitably then lead Uprising both by the proletaria in a violent revolution which overflow overthrows the capitalist um system system and state and the kind of end goal of this um this kind of historical materialism Marxist dialectic is communism um where they believe that once you have workingclass control of the state it eventually Withers away and you have a communist Society established which is completely classless and stateless so going on now to the Social Democratic view of class um and ultimately they have a less binary view of class division so unlike revolutionary socialists they don't see societies defined by in kind of terms between the proletariat being oppressed um completely by the bour z um instead they see it especially in the period where they're writing in the kind of mid 20th century as a more complex system including the rise of new social classes like the managerial and professional classes um and this reflects uh changes in modern cathal societies by the 1960s um driven by the decline of traditional Industries um and class structur is becoming more complex and less rigid and anony C Anthony crosland a kind of key thinker for social democracy kind of explained this when he said that um a high proportion of the population now um enjoy many of the luxuries which were until then considered the prerogative of the rich and the ordinary worker lives at what even two decades ago would be considered a middle class stand of Life they see kind of this development in society where you can no longer see kind of kind of worsening class conditions for the the working class and the rich get getting richer and richer therefore it's kind of more complex class system um and as a result they don't seek to completely abolish class distinctions they focus on creating more equal Society within the capitalist framework um to ensure that one's class background doesn't dictate the out opportunities and outcomes in life and through that um or to kind of promote that you see the kind of Ro promotion of equality of opportunity in society through comprehensive education they do also advocate for a certain degree of redistribution through kind of progressive taxation and Welfare policies that distribute wealth from uh the Richer to the poorer therefore still pursue some level of equality of outcome the Third Way um kind of move even further away from this binary view of of of kind of class oppression held by revolutionary socialists and focus instead on individual empowerment and equality opportunity rather than class conflict they uh kind of shift significantly away from the traditional socialist emphasis on class and promoted the interest of the working class instead kind of seeking to transcend class divisions and focusing on the individual and individual empowerment empowerment and creation of uh opportunity and equality of opportunity irrespective of class background and this is grounded in the belief that in in the kind of increasingly globalized and modernized Society the old ideas of classes struggle are no longer relevant and we instead need to focus on empowering individuals um so instead of focusing on kind of class oppression uh giddens believe that kind of the focus should be shifted um to fostering a sense of community and shared future for all members of society and he argu that kind of the kind of class distinctions um of the past are no longer relevant um and actually other divisions are more important um such as gender ethnicity and age which also play important roles in societal stratification so you can't just simply understand society as fundamentally based on class oppression anymore um so social policies under the Third Way reor were kind of reoriented to um enhancing individual skills and employability moving away W traditional welfare models to encouraging self-reliance and personal responsibility um and they they kind of this linked into the kind of General um third wve view um that there was a kind of a re reimagining of social democracy that kind of balance individual autonomy with supportive role for the state um was necessary and that's kind of affec the a middleway they advocated for between social democracy and free market capitalism the next key principle um of social going to have a look at is workers control um which is really Central to socialist thought encompassing both worker um control and management over the workplace in the economy but also the whole of the state and economic decision making so socialist advocate for transferring control over businesses and the economy from the exploitative capitalist class to the workers themselves empowering them to make decisions about their work environment um production process and the distribution of profits um and they see this as pivotal remove to removing the exploitation of capitalism um in favor of an economy and distribution of resources that's in the interest of all in society so kind of a collectivist um economy and this ex extends Beyond just worker control of the workplace and to include workers control over the state which we kind of call common ownership on nationalization so that it runs in line with the needs and interests of the working class and the whole of society and this kind of as I mentioned is linked to the principle of collectivism um that the economy should be controlled by the state so that it can be run in interest of whole um of society in Revolutionary socialism wor control is kind of individuals as part of a revolutionary process where they advocate for the proletaria to actively overthrow the capitalist State and seize control of the means of um production but the latest strands as I'm kind of exploring in a in a bit um they differ significantly on how workers control should be achieved the necessity of Revolution and the extent to which it should be implemented so revolutionary socialists believe in complete work of control of the economy and State through Revolution they argue the kind of the existing capital state is designed to serve the interests of the Bazi rather than the proletariat and the states all of the states kind of Institutions laws and structure um are designed to enhance the interests of the Bazi um rather than the whole of society um and the working class and as a result the state needs to be uh completely removed and replac in a revolution the existing liberal capitalist State needs to be removed rather than being reformed through gra gradual Evolution which they believe um eventually isn't possible to completely if you want to completely remove capitalism completely remove exploitation and inequality you need to get rid of the existing state um so and they believe that this kind of revolution has to come from the working class um and they think it's really necessary to replace it with um a society that is run in the interest of everyone and in this new state the proletarian not only holds political power but also control of the means of production thereby directly addressing and rectifying the economic disparities inherent to capitalism so there a kind of collectivist approach to State Management where resources are kind of collectively controlled um through nationalization common ownership complete works control and distributed equally according to the needs um of the population so the absolute equality um is pursued um and what you see kind of here is is a number of different ways in which revolutionary socialists believe in this revolution so marks and then will see kind of this revolution is inevitable um based on kind of historical change um and they see it as a kind of violent Mass Uprising um of the working class and they believe this kind of Le establishment of the dictator of the pro proletariat at first but then eventually the withering away of the state um into a communist Society Lenin moves away from this idea of a kind of mass Uprising um and kind of advocates for the concept of a revolutionary Vanguard so you don't need a mass uprising of the working class class instead you could have a kind of tightly organized group um of the most politically Advanced sections of proletaria of the working class and Communists um and intellectual allies as well even those um who are from the bzi and this kind of small group could lead a revolution and create a communist Society rather than it needing to be um the working class um as a whole and this is especially signant significant in Russia because there wasn't a big working class um at the time it was still a largely feudal society Rosa Luxenberg almost rejected this kind of list View and went back to Marx and angle's kind of emphasis on um on mass kind of mass re like kind of ative kind of mass action by the working class um to create Revolution um kind of and she really focused on kind of the importance of kind of trade unionism um the importance of strikes political demonstrations as really important to creating class Consciousness among the workers um and and effectively fundamentally transforming um Society she need believed it needed to be done through this Mass Uprising um of the working class rather than through a revolutionary Vanguard in contrast to um to revolutionary socialism you have evolutionary or Democratic socialism that believes that socialism can be achieved gradually through Democratic and parliamentary means rather than the Revolutionary overthrow of the state this school of thought argues that the state rather than being in inherently biased in favor of the capitalist class as revolutionary socialists argue they argue that it could be expanded and utilized to gradually transition um to socialism and beus web uh especially supported this in uh in the wake of World War I where there was now a majority um of workingclass men in the electorate so she believed that in this context it was inevitable um that they would eventually um advocate for full socialism um and and this she called this kind of the inevitability of gradualness um so she thought it was itable because work would naturally support socialist parties because it was uh directly in their interests and they'd continue electing them until complete socialism had been achieved and there was complete workers control of the state and Webb really admired the Soviet Union for its model of complete State control of the economy um and she really focused kind of there a bit more of a kind of elitist view in focus on that it should be managed by experien and Enlighten technocrats um and she kind of saw that as really um really important as as important to kind of pursuing absolute equality and collectivism you need really skilled managers of the economy and in her view they didn't necessarily have to come um from the working class it's a little bit more of an elitist view but her key view that you want to bring into the essays um is the inevitability of gradualness and the idea of evolutionary socialism so social Democrats um agree with this kind of evolutionary socialism but in terms of the kind of extent of workers control of the state um they don't advocate for complete workers control over the economy um and the state as Revolution socialists do instead they advoc advocate for workers control to an extent they support uh the nationalization common ownership of key Industries so workers control such as utilities transportation and Healthcare um and they believe that these kind of Industries are crucial unto public welfare and should therefore be run in the interest of everyone in the working class rather than for profit however they believe in a mixed economy and the believe that this kind of nationalization of key Industries should be combined um with capitalism in the remainder of the economy and Anthony crosen out this balanced approach could achieve social justice and equality of opportunity without the need for the total overthrow of the capitalist system because he believed that capitalism can now be managed um to prevent and it's kind of key inequalities and worse effects be prevented rather than needing to completely uh overthrow it social Democrats also didn't advocate for workers control of factories in their remainder of the economy instead they preserved a significant role for capitalism believing it could be controlled to pursue socialist principles um but to balance the kind of inequalities inherent in capitalism they supported uh or strongly supported trade unionism and collective bargaining um to kind of Empower workers within um the capitalist system enabling them to kind of negotiate for better wages safer working conditions um and more secure employment the Third Way by contrast completely rejects um workers control um shifting from a focus on Collective action um and the interest of the working class through trade unions um they instead just promote individual responsibility and free market capitalism so no um State control um of the economy um and new labor also kind of uh under Blair reduces the power of trade unions in the party's decision making so isn't really supporting workers control in The Wider economy let alone um in the state um so they believe instead of nationalization of key Industries they believe in privatizations they believe it's kind of the most effective um method to kind of respond to market conditions um and to promote the interests of society rather than state-run uh Industries and you see this in Blair's um commitment and uh pursuit of privatization when in power With Private Financial initiatives and of course as with social Democrats the Third Way supports evolutionary socialism rather than Revolution the final kind of key principle um we have a look at and and we've kind of obviously touched on this a lot um so far um and I've kind of added is is the opposition to capitalism this is really key to understanding socialism um so they kind of fundamental to socialist ideology as as you kind of would have seen throughout the video is opposition to capitalism and the belief that is uh a fundamentally flawed um system so it is inherently exploitative and a system where the prosit motive and private ownership of the means of production need to Stark uh class inequalities um and class divisions so they argue that cap not only creates a big gap between the B and the proletariat but also undermines common Humanity um the natural uh cooperative and social nature of humans so it results in the exploitation of workers who have played less for the value of their labor also a capitalists accumulate wealth generated um from this labor and this is seen as a root cause of um systemic problems in society including uh poverty um class oppression um inequality and and lack of social justice but as as kind of we'll demonstrate now um there are significant differences among the Socialist strands in terms of their response to capitalism so revolutionary socialists support the complete removal of capitalism they fear it as kind of the fundamentally flaw and the root of all evil and all problems in society and human nature and therefore it needs to be completely removed so as we've kind of gone through they see it as kind of defined by the complete exploitation of the proletaria by the Bazi um and it kind of goes against the kind of values of common humanity and collectivism therefore it needs to be to kind of properly pursue socialism and social principes needs to be overthrown um rather than just being altered needs to be replaced with a socialist system um where the means of production are collectively owned um and resources are distributed according to need and absolute equality um is pursued um and the goal at the end of the day is to create a class of society the principles of equality solidarity and Collective welfare are Paramount um and that's a radical departure from capitalist principles seeking not just to reform or kind of regulate the existing system but to replace it entirely social Democrats as we've kind of gone through a little bit before don't believe in completely removing capitalism they believe in managing capitalism So It ultimately recogniz its flaws U particularly the fact that it creates inequality um and argue that left unchecked without doubt it creates inequality and wealth in power and undermines social cohesion and fairness but they believe that it can be managed to pursue the key socialist goal of equality um and key to this is kinism they believe that in a Canan kind of given kism um economic management um that within the capital system full employment can be guaranteed the kind of real booms of bust of capm can be promoted um so that um the state can in a kind of uh stable environment pursue equality and to do this they support a mixed economy where key Industries are nationalized and there significant spending on welfare but the remainder of the economy is capitalist so they kind of aim to kind of combine the efficiency and innovation of the market with State intervention of key industries that run in the interest of everyone and seeking to guarantee Full Employment and Universal social welfare are also key um and if you see kind of universal social welfare programs um where um services are provided to available to all citizens regardless their income and social status so that there's kind of a basic standard of living provided to everyone um are really key to the kind of Social Democratic um ideas and to do this they support um some equality of outcome and redistribution um through um progressive taxation the Third Way um go much further than social Democrats um in moving away from revolutionary socialism not only do they accept some some version of capitalism the idea that capitalism can be managed they actually support free market capitalism um believing that it's kind of the most uh the privatization um um and free markm is the best economy to promote growth in the late 20th and early 20th century they reject kinism believe that it interferes with the effectivess of the market and believe that privatization is the best way to kind of run Industries um and they also didn't support high taxation rates for earners in order to read just and pursue a qual of outcome instead they're comfortable um with certain members of society getting rich and only support equality opportunity it didn't completely abandon all socialist principles in aims however um even if the means were much less radical they do believe that the state should step in and to support equality of opportunity for example um through education and providing some level of basic safety net so that people can succeed um in the free market economy and crucially Blair's government is a really good example of the third ways economic approach um so you see a the kind of the lack of commitment to a quality of outcome can be seen in their mainten with 40% top rate of income tax which is kind of really differs from 83% % you see under harod Wilson's social democratic government in the 196s um 1960s you see the commitment to privatization um including through private Finance initiatives um and you see the kind of uh introduction of national minimum wage and the expansion of access to higher education um that really displays their commitment to equality of opportunity what we're going to have a a look at now after looking at all of these principles is kind of the state economy society and human nature and the kind of key agreements and disagreements in each in terms of the state the key agreements is that the state should intervene in the economy to promote equality and tackle the failures of capitalism but there are a lot of key tensions and disagreements um so the extent of workers control of the state the extent to which the state should intervene in the economy and whether collectivism should be pursued and crucially whether the capitalist State should be overthrown in a revolution or expanded through evolutionary socialism in terms of the economy there's agreement that capitalism is a flawed economic system that produces inequality in class divisions and that the economy should be restructured to pursue equality but the kind of key tensions disagreements are whether capitalism should be completely eradicated managed or accepted the extent to which uh workers control of the economy and collectivism should be promoted and what kind of equality should be um promoted so the absolute equality um of revolutionary socialist versus equality of opportunity and some B suit of equality of outcome of social Democrats versus just equality of opportunity for the Third Way in terms of society and a key agreement of principles that Society should be reared to pursue equality and that capitalism creates class divisions um but um the key key detention disagreements so whether collectivism and workers control within Society should be promoted what kind of equality should be promoted and whether class exploitation oppression are inherent to society under capitalism and the exact shape of this class division so is it kind of binary oppression the of the proletariat by the G or is it a bit more complex um as you see um social Democrats uh in particular argue in terms of human nature the key Agreements are support for common Humanity both the idea that humans are inherently Cooperative sociable and rational as well as the belief in the malleability of human nature and the key tension disagreements are whether this common Humanity can be realized within capitalism um and the extent to which individuals can progress within capitalism um and the class division um in society including whether Revolution and communism are necessary to re realize the positive nature of humanity or whether um it can be done within capitalism and then finally um a quick thing we're going to have a look at is two key interpretations um overall interpretations um for whether there's more disagreement or agreement within socialism which should hopefully um help you kind of when thinking about the kind of arguments you can make to reach that a star um in your socialism essays so firstly looking at the um argument there's more disagreement than agreement is that on the the one hand it we argue there's major disagreement between socialists and that revolutionary socialism is unrecognizable from the latest strands of social democracy let alone from the Third Way so revolutionary socialism is a radical and black and white ideology that's based in its fundamental rejection of capitalism and the binary class exploitation that it causes it advocates for complete equality complete workers control and complete collectivism that can only be achieved through Revolution only through this it believes can a true common Humanity be be reached it's a very radical ideology and social democracy's rejection of Revolution and promotion of socialist principles within capitalism should therefore not be seen as an agreement of socialism with revolutionary socialists as revolutionary socialists believe that socialist principles can't be pursued within capitalism they're deeply incompatible with them and that the capitalist State needs to be overthrown therefore in the eyes of Revolution socialism social democracy's promotion of collectivism workers control and INE equality is only partial and entirely undermined by their support of katsen capitalism therefore Revolution socialists don't see social democracy um as socialists at all and the Third Way Then goes into parts from these socialist principles even further they not only accept and seek to manage capitalism they embrace it um whilst rejecting the key socialist principles of equality of outcome collectivism and workers control it can be argue that they're capitalists they're not socialists they're far more aligned with the new right and liberal thought than they are with socialist thought and socialists even social Democrats strongly reject the idea that they are socialist at all on the other hand it can be argued there significant agreement within socialism all socialists share the fundamental belief that Society should be reshaped to promote equality and that cism is flawed and required State intervention to alter it even if they believe in different extents of this they also share a fundamentally optimistic view of human nature and belief in common Humanity there's certainly differences between revolutionary socialism and social democracy but the latter is driven by the same principles as the former even if they're not implemented to such a radical exent extent they do support major State intervention in the economy to pursue equality workers workers control and to tackle class divisions the Third Way is clearly hugely different from socialism um but it can be seen as an evolution of social democracy whilst it can also be argued that there significant disagreements with socialism don't suggest that there's major disagreement with socialism within socialism but they reflect the fact that the third wages shouldn't be considered socialist um at all um even if they belong to leftwing parties such as the labor party in Britain the Dem rats um in the US they didn't consider themselves socialist and other socialists definitely don't consider themselves socialists at all therefore the extent to which the Third Way moves away from the other strands of socialism doesn't reflect the fact that there's major disagreement within socialism it just reflects the fact that they're a completely different ideology okay so in the final part of this video we're going to look at the key thinkers of socialism starting with marks and Engles then beatric Webb Ros Luxenberg Anthony crosland and finally Anthony gens so starting off with marks and so they're pivotal they were pivotal in setting out the foundations of socialist thought and their collaboration produced some of the most influential text imp political Theory including Communist Manifesto and D capital and these texts out that set out the core ideas and principles of socialism including the critique of capitalism and support for a revolutionary Uprising by the proletariat to achieve workers control and progress to a society um that promoted absolute equality collectivism and removed class divisions therefore allowing a colle common Humanity to thrive their ideas arose in the context of class divisions and economic inequalities brought about by the rise of industrial uh capitalism in the 19th century and their ideas were not only philosophical they actively sought to promote Revolution across Europe with the aim of creating a communist Society so in the Communist Society one of their key quotes is workers of the World Unite so in terms of their key ideas the first is the centrality of social class I'm really important to this is Mark engle's dialectic and to them the history of society is a history of class struggle where the oppressor and the oppressed in a constant opposition um f have fought a continuous battle that each time ended either in Revolutionary reworking Society or in the ruin of the oppressed class um and in The Communist Manifesto they supported this writing the history of all hitherto Society is the history of class struggles they argue these class struggles are inevitable and driven by Mater material conditions um and this is their idea of dialectical change it suggests that an emerging class will always eventually develop and challenge the dominance of an existing class which will lead to fundamental changes in society and they see kind of societies INE inevitably developing from feudalism um which is characterized by the opposition of land owners to surfs and slaves out of that grows uh capitalism and a capitalist class the B RI which ultimately surpasses a feudal class um and becomes dominant this then leads to the capitalist system where you have the oppression of the proletariat the working class by the borzi the proletariat becomes more and more exploited and the condition conditions deteriorate as they do so they increasingly achieve class Consciousness and in inevitably um this leads to an Revolution an uprising by the working class which overthrows the capitalist system and state this then elition needs to control of all um Industries in the dictat to the proletariat um before the state inevitably Withers away and a communist Society is established and this class of stateless and moneyless social order where all means of production of communally owned and resources um is seen as kind of the end Society um in that kind of idea of historical materialism and dialectical change in terms of social class under capitalism um they view it as a binary system of class domination based on the division of labor um and capital so the proletaria is exploited and ressed by the bulli they see in very binary terms the oppression of the of one class by the other and this is uh this exploitation is Central um to the capitalist system um and in Des Capital they wrote Capital is dead labor that vampire like only lives um by sucking living labor and lives the more the more labor it sucks and that that kind of suggests that um this exploitation um by this kind of capitalist class which owns the capital owns the means of production um not only exploits the working class and the workers who don't own the me of production it increasingly and increasingly um exploits them which kind of supports this idea of worsening and worsening conditions under capitalism and they also argue that class conflict is embedded in the state um as the state in inherently serves the interests of the B frzi and as a result they believe that the existing state needs to be completely removed and capitalism completely removed through a violent revolution and to do so they see to Aid um the working class in achieving class Consciousness which is an awareness of their Collective um identity to overcome the false consciousness um which kind of doesn't recognize that they're being exploited um so that you can kind of have the collectivism and workers working together and coming together in a mass Revolution to get rid of and replace capitalism and ultimately um this kind of links into the fact that they believe that this revolution is necessary um that you can only move to towards communism and move towards socialism through um a revolution and this kind of first leads to u a dictatorship of the proletariat um followed by as you kind of already looked at um the kind of state um eventually withering away and disappearing um and the end goal of a communist Society um where you have no class divisions um and no State at all and the next key um idea is that humans are social beings so they believe that humans are naturally sociable and cooperative but that human nature is also fundamentally shaped by society that surrounds and shapes them so as a result under capitalism um Society PR produces a kind of negative human nature um with Tendencies towards um kind of competitiveness um rather than cooperation and as a result um that's kind of links into their belief that you need to completely change society and change capitalism in order to unleash this kind of positive um Humanity positive common Humanity um as uh human nature is very much determined um by the society that surrounds it as a result they believe in a complete eradication um of the capitalist system the next key think we're going to look at is be's web who is a key figure in the promotion of socialism and the founding of the labor party in Britain so along with her hudband Sydney Webb she co-founded the Fabian Society which played a key role in the advance from the Socialist ideas through gradualist and reformist um approaches she was ultimately a Leist who believe that highly trained socialist technocrats such as herself had a key role to play in bringing about an Implement in socialism moving away from revolutionary socialist ideas of spontaneous working class revolution first key idea is inevitability of gradualness she she disagreed with Revolution socialists about the necessary necessity of workingclass revolution in achieving um the overthrow of capitalism and in achieving socialism she instead supported the idea that it could be achieved through Democratic and parliamentary means which is especially the case um with when there's a majority of the working class in the electorate which is the case in Britain after World War I um she believed that kind of due to this kind of um workingclass majority um in the electorate they would inevitably continue to vote for socialist parties which was natural um as they benefit and advocate for the working class and as a result um the state would be gradually expanded until capitalism was completely abolished and full State control of the economy established therefore she believed that work is control in the of socialism could be achieved peacefully and democratically without the need for revolution um and this kind of links into this idea of expansion of the state so she really supported the Soviet Union its model of complete State control of the economy um that was managed by um kind of enlightened technocrats um who would kind of pursue collectivization collectivism and um distribute resources effectively and pursue absolute um equality through rational planning and she therefore believed that socialism this links into her belief that um social should be achieved by expanding uh State control and the gradual takeover the state by socialists rather than needing the complete overthrow of the state the next key thinker is Rosa Luxenberg um who was an important revolutionary socialist in the early 20th century um who Associated herself with Marxism and strongly opposed revisionism and evolutionary socialism um of web born in Poland and active in Germany she co-founded the spart lead which later became the Comm party of German of Germany and her Fierce criticism of the moderate policy of the Social Democratic party underscored her commitment to a proletarian work and cost Revolution and the overthrow um of capitalism she believed in the necessity of Revolution and the complete overthrow of capitalism um and believed they needed to be based on the spontaneous Grassroots action by the working class first key idea is the rejection of evolutionary socialism and revisionism so she strongly rejected um these beliefs and and saw them as compromising the fundamental goals of socialism and diluting its transformative potential so she argued that the evolutionary socialism as bious web effectively abandoned the class struggle which he saw as essential for overthrowing capitalism and establ establishing a truly socialist society um so according to Luxenberg only a revolution led by the working class could achieve the Deep structural changes necessary um to eradicate class exploitation and inequality um and therefore she kind of had a very radical uncompromising revolutionary form of Socialism she argued that web's strategy of gradual reform within capitalist structures would only reinforce these structures rather than dismantle them as capitalism is inherent uh class exploitation sorry is inherent to capitalism and capitalism therefore needs to be completely overthrown in wongo and she also rejected Lenin's idea of a tightly organized Vanguard leading a revolution um she argued that true socialism had to be Democratic and the true revolution had to be of directly emanate um from the proletariat rather than from the elites and this links to into her key belief in struggle by the proletaria for reformed democracy and she really emphasized the role of trade unionism and other forms of workingclass organization in overcoming false consciousness and fostering a true class Consciousness that would lead to a revolution and she believed that through trade unionism and political activism the workingclass become aware of their Collective power and the inherent injustices of the capitalist system and that's crucial in rallying them towards Revolution so she wrote the working class in country only learned to fight in the course of their struggles she therefore agreed with Marx Engles in her support for a form of Revolution that was deeply rooted in the spontaneous and direct action of the working class um so she emphasized Mass strikes political demonstrations and the mobilization of trade unions as the primary um Vehicles for Change as they were kind of LED and driven by the workers um themselves um and she believes that kind of rather than eles trying to carry out a revolution themselves as lenon did um she focused on and empowering workers to both lead and carry out the Revolution and that would ensure there's a truly transformative socialist Revolution Anthony crand is the next thinker and he's the key Social Democratic thinker um he was pivotal in the founding of social democracy and the reshaping of the labor party in Britain um so he significantly influenced the ideological direction of the party with the future of socialism which was his key work um the advocated for a form of socialm that was compatible with capitalism and for a mixed economy rather than strict adherence to Market ISM as revolutionary socialists AR argued for so argued that socialism focus on spreading equality of opportunity um rather than absolute equality um and that cism could be managed to prevent its destructive effects so a real real shift from the more dogmatic approaches of earlier socialists um and he famously stated marks as little or nothing to offer than contemporary socialists underscoring this view so the first key idea he believed is socialism within a capitalist framework so he believed that capitalism so very agreed with socialist belief that capitalism creates inequalities and it's a flawed system he believes that it can be managed to pursue equality which is the key goal of socialism and his belief is rooted effectively um in um in kinism um and the the ability of Kes and economic management um to prevent mass unemployment um whilst taxation on the rich could be used to pursue summary distribution and therefore um some quality of outcome so kinism involves government intervention in the economy especially in times of downturns or recessions to stimulate demand um and maintain full employment so it kind of provides a framework for using fiscal and monetary policy to mitigate the booms and bust of capitalism um prevent unemployment and promote stable growth um and partly driven by the decline stral Industries Crosman believes uh believed that class uh under capitalism could no longer be understood in strictly binary terms like revolutionary socialists did and marks in particular um so revolutionary socialist believe the the kind of society was defined by binary oppression of one group by the other of the proletariat by the Bazi and he believed that actually when he was writing it a more complex system when new social classes like the middle class managerial class professional classes were present and capitalism is kind of less oppressive and less kind of seen as this in this kind of binary in terms of this binary oppression and given this shift he argued that socialism should no longer focus on absolute equality um from one class to the other or dismantling capitalism instead it could be focused on should be focused on providing equality of opportunity for everyone in society um whilst using some taxation um to to pursue some redistribution and a qualitative outcome and you saw this in his introduction of comprehensive education as Secretary of State which aimed to kind of leving the pr level the playing field by providing an equal good level of Education to everyone in society and crucially he believed in state managed capital M you didn't believe in just leaving capitalism alone you believe the state should be a key play a key role in managing it and that's kind of first off with kind of kism and we talked about but also really important is the idea of a mixed economy where key Industries are nationalized and therefore run in the interest of everyone reflecting the kind of socialist belief in collectivism there's also significant spending on welfare um and significant spending on welfare to kind of pursue a quality of opportunity and provide a basic safety in that but the remainder of the economy is Capital that's why it's mixed kind of have these kind of Key State run Industries and the rest is capitalist and this kind of aim to combine the efficiency and innovation of the market with State intervention to present prevent the worst effects of capitalism and ensure that kind of key parts of the economy are run in the interest of the whole of society and also key to the kind of state managed capitalism um is the idea of universal social welfare where kind of welfare programs and services are available to all citizens regardless of income or status to Ure a basic standard of living and social protection for everyone um in society and progressive taxation um to re kind of a to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor um somewhat is necessary um to facilitate this final key thinker we're going to have a look at is Anthony giddens um who belongs to the Third Way and he was a kind of key intellectual basis for the Third Way um so's a key social prominent sociologist member of the labor party and he really influenced um the kind of shift in the labor party um in this period so you proposed that the left should embrace globalization technical technological innovation and flexible labor markets with the state's role being to provide a safety net and promote individual empowerment and equality of opportunity rather than extensive um economic control and the as a as a result kind of advocated for the reason it's called a third way is kind of um to to kind of go in between and find a way to combine social democracy and free market capitalism crucially rejected um State intervention he didn't view capitalism as fundamentally flawed um and requiring radical overhaul instead he saw it as an effective means of generating wealth and promoting efficiency and he argued that in the globalized technologically advanced economy traditional models of kind of state down topdown State control and and state management such as cism um were no longer effective and they kind of produced inefficiencies rather than effectively managing um the economy and as a result he favored privatization as he believed that competitive markets would more effectively meet consumer needs and drive Innovation rather than State Management um of key Industries um it also supported a key kind of change role for the state arguing that it shouldn't focus on Collective wealth or redistribution instead it could seek to empower individuals within the competitive modernized globalized economy um so it's kind of more individual focus on individual empowerment rather than kind of collectivism um and redistribution um and he argu that kind of empowered uh individuals and this kind of this state should Empower individuals and give them responsibility rather than creating a culture of dependency that kind of really leaning into kind of liberal ideas and even some kind of new right conservative ideas so instead of investing a large welfare state the state should use tax generative and economic growth in society to invest in society's infrastructure and create equal opportunity so that they are really good opportunities for everyone in society you see that in investment in Education and Training in particular so you therefore combin a commitment to um equality of um opportunity um as and saw kind of education um as a key uh vehicle to empower individuals um in society was kind of promotion of equal access to education for all regardless um of background it's combined um with a strong welfare state and finally a key belief was the kind of community overclass conflict so you definitely didn't believe that Society should be interpreters of binary struggle between the Bor and the proletariat said it was far more complicated and kind of States rather than analyzing Society in this way the focus should be on fostering a sense of community and shared future among all members of society especially that in the modern globalized world he believed that the kind of capitalist system and Society was no longer defined by this binary oppression instead there were lots of different uh measures of lots of different distinctions um and social stratifications including kind of gender ethnicity and age um and kind of therefore instead of kind of focusing on pitting one class against the other and promoting the working class we should kind of really focus on social cohesion and Collective IDE identity and community that transcends class lines so yeah that's pretty much everything for this video um sorry it's so long but kind of the idea is to go through um everything you need to know the PDFs you've been seeing um in a video um you can find on the politics explained website um to purchase if if you want to use them in your origion where you can also find um lots of um well kind lots of essay plans um and other resources to help you in your a level including 12 um core ideologies essay plans so that's for socialism um liberalism and conservatism on society State economy and human nature um and they're really really detailed and should hopefully help you in your revision so yeah let me know if you got any questions um in the comments below um and I'll get back to you um and yeah see you in the next video