IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : Modern India - MARXIST AND SOCIALIST THOUGHT

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

Modern India 1857-1964

MARXIST AND SOCIALIST THOUGHT

Structure
12.0 Objectives 12.1 Introduction L 12.2 Definition of Socialism
12.3 Origins of Socialist Thought
12.4 Early History of Socialist Thought 1 12.4.1 St. Simon
12.4.2 Charles Fourier
12.4.3 Roben Owen
12.5 Marxism: Economic and Social Analysis
12.5.1 Marxism: Political Theoly
12.5.2 Marxism: Theoly of Revolution
12.6 Let Us Sum Up
12.7 Key Words
12.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

12.0 OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this Unit is to introduce you to the meaning of the concept of socialism, and its origin and development in the 19th and 20th century Europe. After going through this Unit you should be able to :

understand what the concept of socialism means,
understand what were the factors that gave rise to the growth of socialist ideas in Europe,
trace the main stages of the development of socialist ideas and socialist movements,
distinguish between utopian and scientific socialism,
recognise the basic principles of a socialist society. and
know something about the contribution'of Karl Marx to social and political theory.

12.1 INTRODUCTION

You may have heard the words socialist and socialism used many times, and also the words capitalist and capitalism. You may also have heard that United States is a capitalist country and the Soviet Union a socialist country.

You may not be very clear as to what are the distinguishing features that make a society capitalist or socialist. This is not surprising. because these historical concepts are sometimes used very carelessly and without clear reference to their scientific meaning. Therefore, you i must know first what exactly is meant by these terms. I Today almost one third of the world's people live in a socialist society. Many millions are fighting in their countries for the establishment of socialism in their countries. What are they fighting for, do you know? Why are they ready to give their lives for transforming their societies into socialist societies? Why have so many millions already given their lives in history for a socialist cause? You will only understand this if you know what socialism means and what kind of a society is a socialist society.

When did mankind first think about a socialist society? Where did people first think about it? And why did they think about it at a particular stage in history? Man has always thought 1 about building a better world, but how and when did he start thinking about socialism? You ! may want to know something about the ideas of those who wanted to build throughout the world a society free from oppression, a society which is equal, and in which the resources of the world are equally shared. The ideas of such people are known as socialist ideas, and the kind of society they wanted to build is known as a socialist society. Their movements which I were aimed at building a socialist society are known as socialist movements.

Radical Trends, Nationalism The most important socialist thinker was Karl Marx. But he went further than most socialist and Mahatma Gandhi thinkers of his time, and drew a blue print of a communist society. He based his ideas of how to change the world, on a scientific analysis of society through history. He saw the final stage of man's history as a stage in which the society would be communist. He also showed how it could be brought about. Therefore, to distinguish his ideas from that of other socialists his followers began to call themselves communists, and his ideas began to be known as Marxism. We will also study in this lesson what was the contribution of Marxism to socialist thought.

The first country in which Socialism, or the kind of society the communists were fighting for, was built in Soviet Russia after the Revolution of 1917. You will read about the revolution in Unit 14.