I wrote this in mid-1997.

Section A.

1. Forms of socialism.

2. Alternative philosophies.

Section B.

1. The economy.

1.1. Public ownership.

1.2. Cooperation.

1.3. Taxation.

2. The welfare state.

2.1. Employment.

2.2. Social security.

2.3. Health.

3. Democracy.

3.1. Human rights.

3.2. Civil rights.

3.3. Workers' rights.

3.4. Free elections.

3.5. Sexual and racial equality.

4. Society.

4.1. Social class.

4.2. Education.

4.3. Crime.

4.4. Social freedom.

4.5. Public transport.

5. International relations.

5.1. Internationalism.

5.2. Pacifism.

6. Other issues.

6.1. Religion.

6.2. Abortion.

****

SECTION A.

1. Forms of socialism.

Marxism: Not all socialism is Marxism, and the label Marxism itself could apply to various different philosophies. Marxism itself is mainly a theoretical socioeconomic analysis of class and capital, rather than practical measures.

The label "communism" is used by some hardline Marxists, and is also applied to authoritarian regimes such as that of the former Soviet Union, which claim to have been socialist.

Most British socialism is not specifically Marxist.

The term "socialism" has various definitions. Most dictionaries define it in terms of support for large-scale common ownership (which should not necessarily mean State ownership). It is better defined in terms of its core principles, which could be well expressed by the French Revolutionary motto, "Liberte, egalite, fraternite" (Liberty, equality, fraternity/brotherhood/community). Equality is the notion most central to socialism, but for democratic socialists, liberty is a vital addition to this. Fraternity represents the notion of working together. Socialism is about cooperation rather than competition, and recognizing the value of all human beings. Socialism is also about justice, universal social justice.

2. Alternative philosophies.

(a) Liberalism. 19th-century liberalism was about free trade and the extension of democratic freedoms; it supported only a limited role for government. (i) Today, the term liberalism suggests a centrist philosophy, nonsocialist but with social concerns. (ii) In the United States, however, the term has been used with a wider meaning, often suggesting specifically leftwing ideas, and becoming a curiously taboo word.

(b) Neo-liberalism. The revival of the 19th-century liberal ideas of free trade, lack of government intervention, small government. The word suggests privatization and the cutting back of the role of the State. It does not suggest the social and democratic concerns that were also held by many 19th-century liberals. It is thus at odds with the modern, especially with the American, meaning of "liberal".

(c) Conservatism. (i) In the 19th-century, conservatism was a protectionist philosophy, and still occasionally is. Its name suggests a concern to protect and preserve existing institutions and traditional ways of life. (ii) However, as a general synonym for rightwingery, "conservatism" is often used to refer to the ideas of neo-liberals and their allies, whose attacks on the State and promotion of individualism can often *undermine* traditional ways of life, rather than upholding them.

(d) Capitalism. This word refers to the conviction that the best way to run an economy is through private enterprise and the promotion of individualism and the profit motive: that is, progress through "selfish" motives.

SECTION B.

1. THE ECONOMY.

1.1. Public ownership.

Traditionally seen by many but not all as vital to socialism.

(1) Moral arguments. (i) Public enterprise, motivated by a desire for the public good rather than by profit, is inherently superior to private enterprise. (ii) It is immoral for private individuals to own and control naturally occurring resources, such as oil, gas and water, which should belong to the people as a whole. (iii) The more people share in the ownership of an industry, the more people benefit from it. The profits can go to the public or to society as a whole, rather than a welathy few. (iv) There are logical arguments to say that workers should have a say in the running of the business they work for.

(2) Economic arguments. (i) If the State has control over an industry, it can direct it; more governmental, and potentially more democratic, control over the economy results. (ii) However, State ownership can hold an industry back if the State is unwilling to invest sufficiently.

(3) Social arguments. (i) Workers are more willing to work hard if they have a stake in the company they work for. (ii) Workers are less likely to strike if they own the company.

(4) Types of public ownership. (i) State ownership (governmental ownership). This is the most common sort. The advantage is that the Government gets more control over the economy, and, potentially, this control could be exercised democratically, for example under the guidance of Parliament. The disadvantage is that this tends to create a centralized control over the industry under which workers feel little more involvement with the company than under capitalism. (ii) Ownership by local government. Similar, but arguably gives greater hope for local democratic accountability; on the other hand, coherence of industrial policy nationally could suffer. (iii) Worker ownership, undeniably the most morally compelling kind. (iv) Forms of consumer ownership: this might be appropriate to some of the public utilities such as water.

(5) Arguably public ownership alone is not sufficient for genuinely "socialist" progress to have been made; concomitant with it should be a real transfer of power - greater public or *democratic* control over industry ("industrial democracy": the participation of workers in key economic decisions), often best achieved through cooperatives: see below.

1.2. Cooperation.

This term is often used to refer to a style of enterprise in which cooperation is valued above competition. Many socialists have an instinctive dislike for competition, which sometimes extends to a distaste for competitive sports.

The term cooperation is also used to refer to support for "cooperative" ventures. A cooperative is a company owned either by its workers, or by its consumers, or both. There are advantages in terms of (i) worker morale, (ii) worker involvement in the enterprise, (iii) cooperation between the workforce and the elected management, (iv) profits being distributed more fairly, (iv) capital being shared between more people, (v) democratic control over the company.

1.3. Taxation.

Socialists believe in redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. (Neo-liberals believe in the opposite.) Greater equality is the principle, *not* taxation. However, a commitment to *progressive* taxation is one of the most common means to this end.

Progressive taxation means taxing the rich more heavily than the poor - from those to can afford to pay, to those in need. It helps to redress injustice. It is not so much a matter of the rich giving away their "hard-earned wealth", as the Right would claim, as those who have more wealth than need (and wealth which they have arguably gained at the expense of the working class) being asked to contribute more. Progressive taxation becomes more meaningful when coupled with a social security system.

2. THE WELFARE STATE.

2.1. Employment.

Socialists believe in human dignity. Ideally, everyone who wants to work (which is the vast majority of people) should be found work to do. Full employment can have considerable social advantages as well as economic ones, though there is also a danger of inflationary pressure.

Full employment is not a requirement of socialism, though it has generally been an objective; but, logically, if work cannot be found for a person, they still have a right to live with reasonable comforts, hence:

2.2. Social security.

Most socialists advocate a comprehensive welfare system, with individuals cushioned from the effects of poverty, old age, illness, incapacity, disability, homelessness, etc.

2.3. Health.

To a socialist, it is selfevident that health should be a universally available service, and as intrinsic a part of the welfare state as the other protections offered. No socialist can tolerate a situation whereby the quality of health care an individual receives is determined by the amount of money he or she has. The most effective way of preventing such a situation is undoubtedly to have a comprehensive, publicly owned health system financed by general taxation.

3. DEMOCRACY.

Most Communist regimes have been dismissive of democracy and human rights. Most socialists, however, are very strongly supportive of these things. Sometimes the label "democratic socialist" is employed so as to be unambiguous; but many socialists feel that this is tautologous, since for many of us socialism is a logical extension of democracy and some go as far as to say that neither can truly exist without the other. Public ownership of industry, for example (see 1.1), can be seen in the light of *democratic control* over the economy.

For most, support for democracy springs naturally from a fundamental commitment to equality and liberty.

3.1. Human rights.

These fundamental commitments also underlie the strong support given by democratic socialists to human rights. Slavery, racism, torture, etc. have all long been opposed vigorously by the Left - Amnesty International probably has large numbers of socialists among its membership.

3.2. Civil rights.

The fight for civil rights in America was essentially a liberal-left movement. The fight against apartheid in South Africa was vociferously supported by British socialists and many members of the British Labour Party. Censorship is a key enemy of many on the Left, who believe strongly in the freedom of speech to which the Right pays lip-service. The role of the Left as the defender of civil rights can be seen clearly as the Right increasingly attacks traditional rights, for example by attempting to increase censorship, limit freedom of assembly, remove traditional rights of defendants, and so on.

Many socialists believe in fighting against the system not purely by electoral means, but also by marching and demonstrating; these methods are supported as civil rights by democratic socialists.

The main ideological problem does in fact occur with freedom of expression. Some socialists, such as myself, back it with very little equivocation. Others, because of a commitment to feminism, believe in the censorship of pornography, or, because of a commitment to anti-racism, believe restricting the free speech of racists. The struggles for sexual and racial equality both have a long and historic association with the Left, and not everyone in these movements holds these views, but this is where conflict about our beliefs can often occur.

3.3. Workers' rights.

Socialists see workers' rights as a natural extension of, or perhaps rather as part of, civil rights. The freedom to belong to a trade union is fundamental because it is implicit in the principles of freedom of association and freedom of assembly. According to the same principles, the right not to belong to a union is also fundamental; but sadly there are those on the Left who still oppose this right.

Collective bargaining rights, including the right to union recognition, are necessary to redress the balance in a workplace where power is predominantly in the hands of the employer.

3.4. Free elections.

The Right long opposed free elections, and it was primarily under pressure from liberals and the Left - for example the Chartist and labour movements - that suffrage in Britain was extended during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Representation of the People Act 1949, passed under a Labour government, removed multiple votes in parliamentary elections; and the Act of 1969, also carried under Labour, reduced the voting age to 18. Labour was the first party to support women's suffrage. And today, we still see - with its support for constitutional reform, electoral reform, and devolution - that the British Left cares far more about democracy than the Right. This is the natural state of affairs.

3.5. Sexual and racial equality.

As has already been mentioned, feminism and anti-racism are both movements of the Left, although neither is compulsory - if indeed any beliefs are compulsory for socialists, since the ideology is so wide-ranging. Sexism and racism are both essentially rightwing ideas, and many leftwingers see them as part of the same oppressive system. (Today all democratic socialists believe in sexual and racial equality, but there are disagreements about methods - such as affirmative action in the US.)

4. SOCIETY.

Socialism is all about society, and how better to organize it.

4.1. Social class.

Socialists believe in equality. They believe that no one is born with any more civil or political rights than anyone else. Hence they oppose social class fundamentally; they believe in a classless society. Although some see constitutional monarchy as a distraction, most perhaps see it as anathema to socialism because it is such an obvious indicator of a heirarchical, class-based society. From the same standpoint, the abolition of hereditary titles and peerages is also advocated.

It is not difficult to see that the amount of money someone has should not depend on their birth any more than their social status or political power; so to alleviate the injustice, socialists generally advocate inheritance taxes (death duties), and some may even advocate a completely confiscatory inheritance tax.

4.2. Education.

The Left has long advocated the extension of education to as many people as possible. It is obvious that to be more truly equal, poorer people should have the same opportunities as wealthier ones - and education is a key example of that. Just as the quality of someone's health care should not depend on how much money they or their family has, nor should the quality of their education. Many see education as a civil right. Socialists believe that everyone is entitled to a good education, which in the modern world must include the right to university education where it is appropriate to the individual, free: paid for out of general taxation.

Socialists believe in comprehensive education, whereby the compulsory faction of a person's education takes place in comprehensive schools, which cater both for less able and for more able pupils (not necessarily in the same classes, but in the same school - working towards greater social cohesion). Socialists believe that state schools (publicly owned schools) should not discriminate or segregate on the basis of race or sex.

4.3. Crime.

It is not enough to tackle the symptoms of crime; we have to look at the causes, and attack those. It is demonstrably true that crime is generally higher where there is greater social deprivation, poverty, unemployment, inequality of wealth, poor education, drugs problems, and so on. Tackling crime has to go hand in hand with attacking innumerable very serious social problems.

Crime should not be tackled by reducing civil liberties, unless absolutely necessary. Normally such a proposal is a diversion, sometimes an expensive and often an ineffective diversion, from the real task in hand. "Criminals" - by which people usually mean either those accused (not yet found guilty) or convicts (not all of them are guilty) - have rights just as the rest of us do. We remove some rights and freedoms from convicts, but we do not remove in order to torture or make lives miserable; there is no justification for "punishment" in the sense of "retribution"; prison and other punishments exist to shelter the outside world from dangerous people, and to try to reform these people. Retribution more often induces bitterness than feelings of guilt.

The second of these aims of the justice system - to try to reform wrong-doers - is too often ignored in favour of a simplistic "tough on crime" approach. It is selfevident that rehabilitation, and civil rights, both have an important part to play in anti-crime strategies.

Socialists can generally see many practical reasons against simplistic "solutions" such as capital punishment, which are irreversible and moreover are disproportionately inflicted on the poor and racial minorities. Many also oppose capital punishment on principle, on the grounds of human rights.

4.4. Social freedom.

The modern democratic Left is generally very supportive of social freedoms - making the law and society more tolerant of homosexuals, beggars, religious minorities, and others who were traditionally considered deviant. The Right takes a moralistic "pro-family" line on such issues. The Left believes in liberty, and prefers to take a moralistic line on issues like taxation (the rich should pay), social security (the homeless should be helped), and employment (everyone has rights at work).

4.5. Public transport.

Most people on the Left are strongly in favour of better public transport. Traditionally this is because of a desire to help the disadvantaged, but in modern times it can also be defended on environmental grounds. Most socialists believe that some forms of transport, such as rail, would be better off in public ownership where the Government could coordinate, promote, and if necessary subsidize them, and where the profits from the industry would be able to benefit the whole of society.

5. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

5.1. Internationalism.

Through its history, the Left has often been associated with internationalism - international cooperation (especially among leftwing groups) and the promotion of global human rights, global democratic institutions, and so on. On the other hand, the relatively recent advent of global free trade creates considerable problems for traditional socialist economics.

5.2. Pacifism.

Socialism has also traditionally been associated with pacifism. Strictly pacifist views declined among the British Left around the time of the Second World War. However, many socialists are anti-nuclear and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which argues for unilateral nuclear disarmament, was prominent among British Labour activists during the 1980s. More recently, the British, Australian, and New Zealand Labour parties signed a joint declaration opposing French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

Generally, militarism is a rightwing philosophy, although extremist and authoritarian "leftwing" nations such as the USSR were of course militarily expansionist - but then they have also often stood against the human rights that most democratic socialists strongly believe in.

6. OTHER ISSUES.

6.1. Religion.

Marx opposed religion, viewing it as an instrument of class oppression. Today, too, some socialists dislike religion. But all democratic socialists would support the right to practise and belong to a religion - which is part of freedom of conscience and expression. Many, though, would argue for greater secularization of society (the disestablishment of the Church of England; the abolition of blasphemy law; the secularization of publicly owned schools); these views are also supported by some Christian socialists. Christian socialism is thriving today, counting among its members Tony Blair and some other prominent British Labourites. Whilst nonreligious socialists see religion as at best a distraction from the job of improving the actual world here and now, Christian socialists see socialism as a natural extension of some of the teachings of Jesus Christ (love of one's neighbour, tolerance, the rich finding it difficult to get through the eye of the needle, justice, etc).

6.2. Abortion.

It is perhaps not right to say there is a socialist position on abortion, but like most modern social-liberals, most (but not all) socialists adopt a liberal (pro-choice) stance.

Copyright ©1997 Richard Pond