SocialismChapter 23-4

Causes: Desire for a new sense of community

and cooperation Increasing misery of the working

class bothered liberal thinkers (Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill)

Republicanism and capitalism seemed to promote selfishness and social fragmentation

Broad support for social justice …not ‘till 19th C

Early French Socialism

Early French Socialists proposed greater economic equality planned by the government AKA Utopian Socialism

Count Henri de Saint-Simon 1760-1825

Louis Blanc 1811-1882 Pierre Joseph Proudhon 1809-1865 Charles Fourier 1772-1837

Count Henri de Saint-Simon

Positivism Industrialism and science = a new

age to Europe Will require proper social

organization: Parasites (aristocracy, lawyers, clergy)

should give way to “Doers” (scientists, industrialists, engineers)

Government should provide public works projects and investment banks

Every social institution’s main goal should be to improve the condition of the poor

Louis Blanc

More practical than others Urged workers to fight for universal

male suffrage and take control of the state peacefully

Government should guarantee full employment: Set up workshops Set up factories

Worked with Lamartine and then part of the June Days Revolution in 1848

Pierre Joseph Proudhon

Wrote What is Property? Argued that property was profit

stolen from the worker who was the source of all wealth

Considered an anarchist by many as he distrusted the power of the state

Charles Fourier

Argued for a planned economy and socialist communities

Described socialist utopia in mathematical detail

Seven socialist communities were founded upon his ideas (most in U.S.)

An early supporter of total emancipation of women

Christian Socialism

Began in England about 1848 Believed that the evils of

industrialism could be ended by following Christian principles

Tried to bridge the gap between anti-religious socialism and Christian social justice for workers

Scientific SocialismAKA: Marxism

Developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

1830 The Communist Manifesto: the Bible of socialism

Intention: to replace utopian hopes and dreams with a brutal, militant blueprint for socialist working class success through the theory of Dialectical Materialism

Remember Hegel’s Dialectic?

Dialectical Materialism

The economic interpretation of history: all human history is determined by economic factors (who controls the means of production and distribution)

The class struggle: Since the beginning of time there has been a class struggle between the rich and the poor (the exploiters and the exploited)

Dialectical Materialism continued

Theory of surplus value: The true value of a product is labor and, since the worker receives only a small portion of his just labor price, the difference is surplus value, “stolen” from the worker by the capitalist. (like Proudham)

Socialism is inevitable: Capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction (overproduction and underemployment)

Dialectical Materialism continued

Violent Revolution: The increasing gap between proletariat and bourgeoisie will become so great that the working classes will rise up in revolution and overthrow the elite bourgeoisie

Above will result in a dictatorship of the proletariat . Working men of the world will unite

Dialectical Materialism continued

A classless society will emerge as capitalism is dismantled

The new order: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

Socialism will have a huge impact on 19th century European society.