Socialism
Socialism includes various theories of economic organization that advocate public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals, with an egalitarian method of compensation. Socialists argue for cooperative/community or state control of the economy, or the "commanding heights" of the economy, with democratic control by the people over the state, although there have been some undemocratic philosophies. "State" or "worker cooperative" ownership is in fundamental opposition to "private" ownership of the means of production, which is the defining feature of capitalism. Most socialists argue that capitalism unfairly concentrates power, wealth and profit, among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, stifling technological and economic progress by maintaining an anarchy of production.
Read more about this topic: Anti-capitalism
Famous quotes containing the word socialism:
“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“There’s no such thing as socialism pure
Except as an abstraction of the mind.
There’s only democratic socialism,
Monarchic socialism, oligarchic
The last being what they seem to have in Russia.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“This socialism will develop in all its phases until it reaches its own extremes and absurdities. Then once again a cry of denial will break from the titanic chest of the revolutionary minority and again a mortal struggle will begin, in which socialism will play the role of contemporary conservatism and will be overwhelmed in the subsequent revolution, as yet unknown to us.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)