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Part of the Politics series on Socialism

Currents African socialism · Arab socialism Democratic socialism · Green socialism · Guild socialism Libertarian socialism · Market socialism Revolutionary socialism · Utopian socialism Communism Social anarchism Social democracy Socialist anarchism Titoism

Key topics and issues Types History Economics State Criticisms

Organizations and people First International (International Workingmen's Association) Second International Third International (Comintern) Fourth International Socialist International World Federation of Democratic Youth International Union of Socialist Youth

Religious socialism Buddhist · Christian Islamic · Jewish left

Related topics Autogestion Class struggle · Democracy Dictatorship of the proletariat Egalitarianism · Equality of outcome Impossibilism · Internationalism Left-wing politics · Marxism · Mixed economy · Nationalization · Proletarian revolution Reformism · Socialism in One Country Socialist market economy · Trade union

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State socialism, broadly speaking, is any variety of socialism which relies on control of the means of production by the state, either through state ownership or state management. This is contrasted with forms of socialism that advocate direct worker management and worker's cooperative ownership of the means of production and are opposed to technocratic socialism, scientific management and state economic planning. ^[1] In the former, traditional way public ownership through nationalization is held to be the preferred method for establishing socialism. State socialism is often referred to simply as "socialism"; the attributive "state" is usually added only by socialists with a different vision (such as Libertarian Socialists, Social anarchists and some forms of Free-market socialism), wishing to criticize state socialism^{[citation needed]}. Some socialists may go further and deny that it even is socialism, calling it instead "state capitalism". Those socialists who oppose any system of state control whatsoever believe in a more decentralized approach which puts the means of production directly into the hands of the workers rather than indirectly through state bureaucracies--which they claim represent a new elite. Proponents of state socialism claim the state, through practical considerations of governing, must play at least a temporary part in building socialism.

Today, many political parties on the political left advocate a mild version of what may be considered "state socialism" or "regulated capitalism", in the form of modern social democracy, in which regulation is used in place of ownership. These moderate socialists do not advocate the overthrow of capitalism in a socialist revolution, and they support the continuing existence of the capitalist state and the capitalist economic system, only turned to more social purposes.

In the former Yugoslavia, the successor political parties to the League of Communists in Serbia and Montenegro, the Socialist Party of Serbia and the People's Socialist Party of Montenegro (one of a number of parties created under the influence of Momir Bulatovic) have advocated progression towards a free-market economy but also advocated state regulation of elements of the economy, maintaining social welfare and have advocated significant state influence in the media.

Democratic socialists argue for a gradual, peaceful transition from capitalism to (full) socialism. They wish to abolish capitalism, but through political reform rather than revolution.

In contrast, Marxism holds that a socialist revolution is the only practical way to implement fundamental changes in the capitalist system. Marxists maintain that after a certain period of time under socialism, the state should "wither away" (in the sense that political power should be decentralized and distributed evenly among the population), producing a communist society.

Of course, the state did not, in fact, wither away in the 20th century's so-called Communist states. Some Marxists defend them and contend that the transitional period simply wasn't finished. Other Marxists denounce those "Communist" states as Stalinist, arguing that their leadership was corrupt and that it abandoned Marxism in all but name. In particular, some Trotskyist schools of Marxist-Leninism call those countries degenerated workers' states to contrast them with proper socialism (i.e. workers' states); other Trotskyist schools call them state capitalist, to emphasise the lack of true socialism.

Many libertarian socialists and anarchists go further, deriding even Marxism as state socialism. They use the term in contrast with their own form of socialism, which involves collective ownership of the means of production without state control, though some calling themselves libertarian socialists are similar to modern social democrats in advocating regulation rather than ownership. Many libertarian socialists and anarchists believe there is no need for a state in a socialist system, with the state being a remnant of capitalism.

[edit] See also

• Bureaucratic collectivism
• Coordinatorism
• Degenerated workers state
• Deformed workers state
• Economic planning
• Market socialism
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
• New class
• Planned economy
• Socialism in one country
• State capitalism
• Technocracy

[edit] References