Definitions
So-cial-ism
[ soh-shuh-liz-uhm ]
noun
1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the
vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and
distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2. procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3. (in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition
of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation
of collectivist principles.
Socialism - Hayek
In every country that has moved toward socialism, the phase of the
development in which socialism becomes a determining influence on
politics has been preceded for many years by a period during which
socialist ideals governed the thinking of the more active intellectuals.
In Germany this stage had been reached toward the end of the last
century; in England and France, about the time of the first World War.
To the casual observer it would seem as if the United States had reached
this phase after World War II and that the attractio n of a planned and
directed economic system is now as strong
among the American intellectuals as it ever was among their German or
English fellows. Experience suggests that, once this phase has been
reached, it is merely a question of time until the views now held by the
intellectuals become the governing force of politics.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of
ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal
sharing of misery.." -- Winston Churchill
Socialism in America
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology.
Fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an
organic national community where its individuals are united together as
one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of
ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitarian single-party state
that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline,
indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics.
As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer.
The word derives from fasces, the Roman symbol of collectivism and
power: a tied bundle of rods with a protruding ax. In its day (the 1920s
and 1930s), fascism was seen as the happy medium between
boom-and-bust-prone liberal capitalism, with its alleged class conflict,
wasteful competition, and profit-oriented egoism, and revolutionary
Marxism, with its violent and socially divisive persecution of the
bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of nationalism and
racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both classical
liberalism and Marxism.
1. often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as
that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the
individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government
headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social
regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co 5-28-3
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany),
Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several
Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common
to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make
constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other
paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on
clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of
enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are
persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of
"need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of
torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of
prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people
are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate
a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious
minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of
government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and
military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost
exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender
roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are
suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the
family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by
the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled
by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and
executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist
nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to
manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common
from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are
diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business
aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the
government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial
business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is
the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either
eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to
promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia.
It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or
even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly
attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the
police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are
often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties
in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with
virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are
governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to
government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect
their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist
regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or
even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a
complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns
against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of
legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries,
and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their
judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the
establishment of a classless, moneyless, stateless and revolutionary
socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of
production.
Communism
Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.
What is the proletariat?
The proletariat is that class in society which lives entirely from the
sale of its labor and does not draw profit from any kind of capital;
whose weal and woe, whose life and death, whose sole existence depends
on the demand for labor – hence, on the changing state of business, on
the vagaries of unbridled competition. The proletariat, or the class of
proletarians, is, in a word, the working class of the 19th century.
Communism
[kom-yuh-niz-uhm] Show IPA noun
1. a theory or system of social organization based on the holding
of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the
community as a whole or to the state.
2. ( often initial capital letter ) a system of social
organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a
totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating
political party.
a : a theory advocating elimination of private property b : a system in
which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
2. capitalized a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian
socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b : a totalitarian system of
government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned
means of production c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in
which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed
equitably
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the
state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate
every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.[1]
Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through an all-encompassing
propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a
single party that is often marked by personality cultism, control over
the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance,
and widespread use of terror.
1. of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not
tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial
control over many aspects of life.
2. exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.
To-tal-i-tar-i-an
(t-tl-târ-n) adj.
Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the
political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all
aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and
opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: "A
totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous institutions in its drive to
seize the human soul" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.)
Collectivism
col-lec-tiv-ism (k-lkt-vzm)
n. The principles or system of ownership and control
of the means of production and distribution by the people collectively,
usually under the supervision of a government.
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the principle of ownership of the means of production, by the state or the people
2. (Sociology) a social system based on this principle
Difference Between Collectivism and Individualism
If communism, socialism, capitalism, liberalism, conservatism, Maoism,
Nazism, etc were not enough to confuse people as different political
ideologies, we now have to confront with collectivism and individualism.
The words, collectivism and individualism, itself make the meaning
clear, as in collectivism, it is some sort of group rather than an
individual who is at the center of all social, political and economic
concerns, and issues. Those who are proponents of this ideology say that
the interests and claims of groups (it may even be a state) supersede
those of individuals. Thus, a society being a group is considered to be
superior to an individual. It is treated as some sort of super organism
over and above individuals that make it. Collectivism believes in
subjugation of the individual to a group which may be family, tribe,
society, party or a state. Individual has to sacrifice for the
collective good of the people. The proponents of collectivism consider
their stand to be superior to those of individualists as they are
morally superior thinking of the collective good of the group or the
society.
The focus of all thinking in individualism is the individual. When
talking of political ideologies, classical liberalism comes closest to
this thinking as individual human being is taken as the central unit of
all analysis. It is not that an individual is any different from the
society. However, an individualist, even while remaining within the
society thinks about his own personal interests. This doctrine believes
that society is there, but it is ultimately made up of individuals who
choose and act. The foundation of individualism lies in one’s moral
right, to pursue one’s own happiness. However, it is not in
contradiction with collectivism as it believes that it is necessary for
individuals to preserve and defend institutions that have been made to
protect one’s right to pursue happiness.
Conclusion
Individualism places individual above all groupings while collectivism
places the interests of groups above individual interests. In all
democracies, and even in socialist countries, the right to life, right
to freedom, right to speech etc are nothing but a manifestation of this
individualism. This proves that individualism is not antithetical to
collectivism. It may seem paradoxical to some, but societies and states,
where individual independence is preached and practiced, are the ones
where men and women are found to be most compassionate and caring about
the society.
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