Socialism and communism both are the terminology of political science and international relations and are interchangeable but from an international relations perspective, both have different meanings and concepts. Socialism is the system of society and politics in which 70 to 80 percebt of the state business is owned by the government while on the other hand a communist state owns the entire business and regulations of the particular country . Some elements of socialism supposed to be predate the socialist ideology that developed in the first half of the 19th century. For instance, Plato’s “The Republic” and Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia”, dating from 1516, have been cited as including Socialist or Communist ideas.
Communism Vs Socialism
Modern Socialism arose in the beginning of the 19th century in Britain and France, from range of doctrines and social experiments, principally as a reaction or protest against some of the excesses of 18th and 19th century Capitalism. In the beginning of 19th century, Socialist thought was mainly utopian in nature, followed by the more pragmatic and revolutionary Socialist and Communist movements in the end of the 19th century. Social criticizers in the late 18th century and early 19th century such as Robert Owen (1771- 1858), Charles Fourier (1772-1837), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), Louis Blanc (1811-1882), and Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) disparaged the excesses of poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution and encouraged transformations such as the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the transformation of society into small utopian communities in which private property was to be abolished.
FEATURES OF SOCIALISM and SOCIALIST BELIEFS
The features of socialism are as under: 1. Public Ownership A socialist economy is categorised by public ownership of the means of production and distribution. There is collective ownership whereby all mines, farms, factories, financial institutions, distributing agencies (internal and external trade, shops, stores, etc.), means of transport and communications, are owned, controlled, and regulated by government departments and state corporations. A small private sector also exists in the form of small business units which are carried on in the villages by local artists for local consumption. 2.
Central Planning A socialist economy is centrally planned which operates under the supervision of a central planning authority. It lays down the various objectives and targets to be accomplished during the plan period Central economic planning means “the making of major economic decisions such as type of goods and quantity is to be produced, how, when and where it is to be produced, and to whom it is to be allocated by the conscious decision of a determinate authority, on the basis of a wide-ranging survey of the economic system as a whole.” 3. Definite Objectives A socialist economy functions within definite socio-economic objectives. These objectives “may concern aggregate demand, full employment, satisfaction of communal demand, allocation of factors of production, distribution of the national income, the amount of capital accumulation, economic development.
To accomplish, these objectives laid down in the plan, priorities and gallant targets are fixed to include all features of the economy. 4. Freedom of Consumption In socialism ideology, consumer’s independence infers that production in state-owned industries is generally governed by the inclinations of consumers, and the available merchandises are distributed to the consumers at fixed prices through the state-run department stores Consumer’s autonomy under socialism is limited to the choice of socially beneficial commodities 5. Equality of Income Distribution In a socialist economy, there is great equality of income distribution as compared with a free market economy.
The removal of private ownership in the means of production, private capita accumulation, and profit motive under socialism avert the accrual of large wealth of a few wealth persons. The unearned ircomes in the form of rent, interest and profit go to the state which utilises them in providing free education, public health facilities, and social security to the people. 6. Planning and the Pricing Process The pricing process under socialism ideology does not operate freely but works under the control and regulation of the central planning authority. There are administered prices fixed by de central planning authority. There are also the market prices at which consumer goods are sold The are also the accountings prices on the basis of which the managers decide about the production consumer goods and investment goods, and also about the choice of production procedures.
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