Socialism

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"Only in a socialist system are the interests of the individual, the state and the collective at one."

Socialism is an ideology used to represent the broad range of ideologies that fall under the umbrella term of "Socialism". In the classical sense, socialism describes worker-owned means of production combined with egalitarianism, heavily supporting worker co-ops, self-management, economic planning, and/or workplace democracy depending on the variant. The modern definition of the word socialism, popularized by European Social Democrats, and the Democratic Socialists of America, is "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods." Socialism in the modern age advocates workers' self-management, high taxation on the wealthy and/or nationalization over key parts of industry. Socialism is always economically left, and culturally neutral however has found itself becoming synonymous with progressivism mostly in the west at the most recent times. But you do get ideologies like Conservative Socialism and more extreme ones like Strasserism and National Bolshevism, that combine Socialist economics, with conservative cultural preservation, due to their shared Populist standpoint.

History (WIP)

Socialism as a political movement is rooted in the French Revolution and Jacobinism, although notable proto-socialist figures and movements existed before this. The first socialist thinkers were social critics and philosophers of the 19th century from Western Europe. These socialist thinkers followed what would later be dubbed, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Utopian Socialism, due to their lack of materialist analysis and bourgeois nature. Among these thinkers were Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen. Despite all these thinkers being considered Utopian Socialists, their philosophies differed greatly in many ways, with Owen's ideology resembling Socialism in the modern sense more so than the other two.

Robert Owen would go on to develop several socialist communes and villages, being the first to attempt to actualize a socialist society, though these projects were often on a small scale and subject to much criticism.

In France, during the first half of the 19th century, socialist philosophers and politicians continued to popularize socialism. It is in France during this time that many socialists started to reject the gradualism and utilization of utopian communes of the older Utopian Socialists. The term "socialism" was first used in a French Utopian Socialist newspaper. There also emerged a Christian Socialist movement in France led by Philippe Buchez. Moreover, during this time, French socialist literature, which would prove to be highly consequential, was being published, most notably What Is Property? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

In the 19th century, Anarchism as a movement arose and was incorporated into the socialist movement. This is seen with thinkers such as the aforementioned Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, whose socialistic anarchism was market-oriented, as well as with more communistic anarchists, like the Russian Mikhail Bakunin, who sought a collectivist anarchist society which would utilize labor vouchers, as well as the prominent anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin, who sought a completely communistic society, devoid of any form of currency whatsoever. Anarchism when combined with socialist principles would later come to be known as Social Anarchism.

Marxism, which arose from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, became the most influential socialist philosophy in history. Marx and Engels ideas on philosophy, political economy, sociology and history were influenced primarily by George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo, the earlier utopian socialists, and socialist ideals which arose in revolutionary France. Marx and Engels devised a materialist philosophy of history known as historical materialism and called their form of socialism "scientific socialism" in contrast with utopian socialism. Marxism differed from Utopian Socialism in that it viewed history as a series of class struggles, and saw moving towards socialism within capitalism as futile, instead advocating for revolution.

Variants

Progressive Conservative Socialism

Progressive Conservative Socialism is the progressive conservative version of socialism. It is culturally moderate and supports the idea that both progressivism and conservatism and elements in them that are needed for society to prosper. This cultural model can be seen with 21st Century Socialism.

Progressive Socialism

Progressive Socialism is a variant of socialism that wants progressive reforms to establish worker ownership over the means of production in some form. This can be seen in ideologies such as democratic socialism or liberal socialism.

Revolutionary Socialism

Revolutionary Socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolution is a necessary precondition for transitioning from a capitalist to a socialist mode of production. Revolution is not necessarily defined as a violent insurrection; it is defined as a seizure of political power by mass movements of the working class so that the state is directly controlled or abolished by the working class as opposed to the capitalist class and its interests. It encompasses many movements, such as movements based on orthodox Marxist theory such as De Leonism, impossibilism and Spartacism, as well as movements based on Leninism and the theory of vanguardist-led revolution such as Maoism, Marxism–Leninism and Trotskyism. Revolutionary socialism also includes other Marxist, Marxist-inspired and non-Marxist movements such as those found in democratic socialism, revolutionary syndicalism, anarchism and social democracy.

Revolutionary socialism is contrasted with reformist socialism, especially the reformist wing of social democracy and other evolutionary approaches to socialism and is opposed to social movements that seek to gradually ameliorate capitalism's economic and social problems through political reform.

Lassalleism

State

In contrast with Marx and his adherents, Lassalle rejected the idea that the state was a class-based power structure with the function of preserving existing class relations and destined to wither away in a future classless society. Instead, Lassalle considered the state as an independent entity, an instrument of justice essential for the achievement of the socialist program.

Iron law of wages

Lassalle accepted the idea first posited by the classical economist David Ricardo that wage rates in the long term tended towards the minimum level necessary to sustain the life of the worker and to provide for his reproduction. In accord with the law of rent, Lassalle coined his own iron law of wages. Lassalle argued that individual measures of self-help by wage workers were destined to failure and that only producers' cooperatives established with the financial aid of the state would make economic improvement of the workers' lives possible. From this, it followed that the political action of the workers to capture the power of the state was paramount and the organization of trade unions to struggle for ephemeral wage improvements is more or less a diversion from the primary struggle.

Philosophy

Lassalle considered Johann Gottlieb Fichte as "one of the mightiest thinkers of all peoples and ages", praising Fichte's Addresses to the German Nation in a May 1862 speech as "one of the mightiest monuments of fame which our people possesses, and which, in depth and power, far surpass everything of this sort which has been handed down to us from the literature of all time and peoples".

Personality

An artwork portraying a revolutionary holding a rifle with a red flag on it.

Soc is usually portrayed as a stereotypical industrial-era unionized worker who really loves striking against his boss and usually will follow the personality traits of the various types of socialism portrayed.

How to Draw

Socialism's design is a unicolor of red, associated with Socialism, and a white hammer in the middle symbolizing labor. This is essentially a distinctive form of "The Red Flag".

Flag of Socialism
  1. Draw a ball.
  2. Color the ball red
  3. Add a white hammer in the center.
  4. Draw eyes on the ball.

And you're done!

Color Name HEX RGB
Red #FF0000 255, 0, 0
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255


Relationships

Workers

Mixed

  • Yellow Socialism - Workers can work with businesses to advance socialism.
  • Anarcho-Egoism - You raise some valid points against capitalism, but then you complain about some of us being "dogmatic".
  • Liberal Socialism - My grandson who upholds civil rights. However, you’re still a liberal who has caused a lot of harm to the broader socialist movement.
  • Agrarian Socialism - Redistributing land to the peasants is nice and all, but industrial workers are the key to my economic system, as they make up the majority of workers in most countries.
  • Communalism - This isn’t socialism… but I appreciate you taking the idea of cooperation further.
  • Welfarism - People think I'm you because you care much for the poor, but you exist within a capitalist society. Go ahead and embrace socialism.
  • Distributism - So close to perfection. Just drop the whole private property thing and we're good.
  • Longism - Same as above.
  • Left-Wing Nationalism - You often have good stances on things like imperialism and the means of production but some of you are too moderate, xenophobic and not socialist at all.
  • Social Liberalism - I mean, he is a liberal, but he did implement quite a bit of socialist-ish policy. Just please stop doing the whole capitalism thing, y'know?
  • Social Democracy - We have a complicated relationship. He thinks it's better to reform capitalism than to get rid of it, and nowadays a lot of people, especially in the US, think he's me even though we're not the same. But I can't blame them for that. After all, we both have similar values... you are better than the guy above though.
  • Nordic Model - Same as above. Olof Palme was based though.
  • Marxism-Leninism - Another complicated relationship. With the opposite problem of the guy above who thinks a single vanguard party can industrialise the country and world while providing the conditions for worker ownership to be realised despite the bureaucracy that always derails him. But I can't blame him for that considering how much communists and socialists are despised and kept out of power through nefarious means.
  • Social Authoritarianism - Same as socdem and soclib, but more authoritative.
  • Globalism - I don't like the unregulated international trade thing, but I like when you help the third world and I also like Socialist Internationalism and Alter-Globalism.
  • National Bolshevism - My crazy Nazi descendant.
  • Strasserism - Don't know about the anti-semitism. But at least you're better than him.
  • Maoism - I really love you but cool it down with that Cultural Revolution.
  • Juche - Wait, how are we even related?
  • Capitalist Communism - My weird child. I knew I shouldn't have invited him to my party.
  • Kemalism - We never forget Kadroist comrades.
  • Tridemism - We never forget Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Left KMT comrades. It's a shame that the modern-day KMT is full of capitalists.
  • Neosocialism - "For though they offer us concessions, change will not come from above!" --- Part of 'The Internationale'.
  • Republicanism - Most of my variants and offspring support you but you can also be quite liberal at times.
  • Progressivism - Most of my variants support at least most of you, and we both love equality. But we have also had fairly large bouts too.... and also, stop hanging out with the liberals, please...
  • Georgism - I guess you are okay but your like for free trade and capitalism is concerning but at-least you reject unfair private ownership of land.

Oppressors

  • Capitalism - GIVE ME A GODDAMN RAISE YOU STUPID PIG!
  • Liberalism - Yes, liberty, equality and fraternity, but still, YOU STILL SERVE AS THE MINDSET OF THE CAPITALISTS!
  • Classical Liberalism - I remember our good 'ol rivalries, good times.
  • Social Capitalism - Same as soclib, but even more capitalist.
  • State Capitalism - GIVE ME A GODDAMN... wait, you again? I can't believe some people mistake you for me or him, do we look that much alike?!
  • Fascism - I can't believe that you betrayed us, Benito. Fuck off already, you oppressive pig. We both like George Sorel though, and nationalizing over 70% of the industry is based ngl.
  • National "Socialism" - GERMAN FASCIST WHO STOLE MY FUCKING NAME! I mean "socialism" for the Aryans only? You're the worst of them all!
  • Anarcho-Capitalism - FUCK OFF!!! YOU'RE NOT EVEN AN ANARCHIST!!!
  • Dengism - What is this? Deng, you are a dirty red capitalist. Also why is there such a high-income gap!? But it is still fun to use you to trigger capitalists in the west.
  • Chiangism - WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO MURDER LEFT KUOMINTANG MEMBERS??? What do you mean, you're a Socialist?
  • Pol Potism - The black sheep of the family. You made a lot of people scared of me! You disgust me and bring shame upon our family!
  • Neoliberalism - Oh so I'M the one who hates the poor? You think that the British colonizing India was good. I'll see myself out on this one.
  • Plutocracy - EAT THE RICH!
    • - WHAT? You want to eat me?
    • - NO, I don't. "Eat the rich" is just an anti-capitalist slogan anyway and I don't want to literally eat you!
  • Corporatocracy - My worst nightmare…
  • Reactionaryism & Feudalism - FUCK YOU BOTH FOR WHAT YOU DO TO WORKERS! I AM NEVER BEING A SERF AGAIN!
  • Libertarianism - Socialism is neither "when welfare" nor "when the government", you schizo! You also stole their name!
  • Authoritarian Capitalism - Proof that liberal “democracies” are nothing more than dictatorships controlled by capitalists.
  • Thatcherism - Ding dong the witch is dead!
  • Third Way - STOP CORRUPTING EVERY EUROPEAN LEFT-WING PARTY YOU NEOLIBERAL SCUM!
  • Eco-Capitalism - “Eco-Friendly Capitalism.” What an actual joke.
  • Neoconservatism - You dare to call me an oppressor while you overthrow democratically elected socialists and install capitalist tyrants around the world.
  • National Syndicalism - Proletariat reactionary!
  • Reactionary Socialism - You may call yourself a socialist, but like the above, you’re a reactionary who preys on the proletariat’s worst fears about the current state of capitalist society.

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Alternative designs

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