History of socialism

The history of socialism has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment and the 1789 French Revolution along with the changes that it brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-48 just before the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, expressing what they termed scientific socialism. In the last third of the 19th century parties dedicated to Democratic socialism arose in Europe, drawing mainly from Marxism. The Australian Labor Party was the world's first elected socialist party when it formed government in the Colony of Queensland for a week in 1899.^[1]

In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union and the communist parties of the Third International around the world mainly came to represent socialism in terms of the Soviet model of economic development and the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production, although other trends condemned what they saw as the lack of democracy. In the United Kingdom, Herbert Morrison said that "socialism is what the Labour government does" whereas Aneurin Bevan argued that socialism requires that the "main streams of economic activity are brought under public direction", with an economic plan and workers' democracy.^[2] Some argued that capitalism had been abolished.^[3] Socialist governments established the mixed economy with partial nationalisations and social welfare.

By 1968, the prolonged Vietnam War gave rise to the New Left, socialists who tended to be critical of the Soviet Union and social democracy. Anarcho-syndicalists and some elements of the New Left and others favoured decentralised collective ownership in the form of cooperatives or workers' councils. Socialists have also adopted the causes of other social movements such as environmentalism, feminism and progressivism.^[4] At the turn of the 21st century, Latin America saw a pink tide, which championed socialism of the 21st century; it included a policy of nationalisation of major national assets, anti-imperialism, left-wing populism, and a rejection of the Washington Consensus and the neoliberal paradigm. It was first led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.^[5]

^ Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). A shorter history of Australia. Milsons Point, N.S.W. P: Vintage. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-74051-033-2.
^ Bevan, Aneurin, In Place of Fear, p. 50, p. 126-128. MacGibbon and Kee, (1961).
^ Anthony Crosland stated: "[T]o the question 'Is this still capitalism?' I would answer 'No'." In The Future of Socialism p. 46. Constable (2006).
^ Garrett Ward Sheldon. Encyclopedia of Political Thought. Fact on File. Inc. 2001. p. 280.
^ "Chavez accelerates on path to socialism". BBC News. 10 January 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2007.