Author: Dr. Fazl Ahmad Ahmadi
Socialism (5th part)
Elements of socialism:
Socialism has several basic elements that are complete with the assembly of these elements, the doctrine of socialism is complete, these elements, which are more related to society, arrange a certain order, in other words, it is actually according to these elements that it is possible to separate and clearly saw the difference between socialism and other political beliefs. Each of these elements is mentioned below:
Community:
Socialism imagines humans as social creatures that are linked together based on the common characteristics of humanity, according to the poet John Donne, “No man is a perfect island, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainland.”. Or in Saadi’s words, “sons of Adam are members of each other / who are of the same essence in creation / when a member is hurt by time / the other members aren’t spared”. These statements refer to the importance of community and show the impact of social interaction and membership in social groups and groups in the formation of human identity, and on the other hand, socialists want to emphasize education over nature and individual behavior mainly; Explain according to social factors, not intrinsic and internal traits.
Fraternity:
Because all human beings share a common humanity, they are bound together by a sense of friendship and brotherhood [which in this context includes all human beings], and this characteristic motivates socialists to prefer cooperation over competition and collectivism over individualism. It is better to know.
And in this view, people are able to prepare their collective capabilities and strengthen social relationships through cooperation; While competition, by spreading dissatisfaction, conflict and enmity, they send people to the battlefield.
Social equality:
equality is the main value of socialism, although this equality has a special place in other theories, especially in liberalism; But sometimes socialism has been described as a form of egalitarianism, that is, believing in the priority of equality over other values, and socialists especially emphasize the importance of social equality; Of course, equality of result, not equality of opportunity; They believe that a degree of social equality is the main guarantee of social stability and solidarity and makes people see themselves as the same as their peers, social equality also provides the basis for the exercise of legal and political rights, in fact, this equality is the characteristic of human humanity. and it is equal to the fact that the bad characteristics, such as selfishness and self-conceit, are reduced.
Need:
Advocacy of social equality also advocates the socialist belief that material benefit should be distributed based on need, not merely on merit or work, the classic formulation of this principle can be found in Marx’s Communist Principle of Distribution: “From each according to His ability, to everyone according to his needs” This principle means the belief that meeting basic needs (hunger, dehydration, housing, health, personal security, privacy and the like) is a prerequisite for life and valuable participation of humans in social life; But it is obvious that for distribution according to need, people are needed, not only with material incentives; Rather, they should be motivated by moral incentives; Of course, reaching this goal is not an easy task; Because the number of people who have reached this belief and implement it is small.
Social class:
The division of society into different classes isn’t a unique idea of socialists, this classification has been widely considered in other thought and has been considered in different ways, however, socialism has often been associated with a form of class politics:
First: that socialists have always wanted to analyze society in terms of income or wealth distribution, and therefore, they have seen class as an important factor (usually, the most important factor) of social division.
Second: that socialism has traditionally been associated with the interests of the oppressed and exploited working class [however defined] and traditionally the working class is the agent of social transformation; Even social revolution has considered, however, class divisions can be reformed: the goal of socialism is to destroy economic and social inequalities or to reduce them very substantially; But with the passage of several centuries since the birth of socialism, there is still a bumpy road to reach this goal.
Public or shared property: The issue of public or shared property has been considered since ancient times, Plato also has theories on this matter; But in the meantime, the relationship between socialism and communal ownership has been heavily debated, and some have considered it the goal of socialism, while others have considered it merely a means to create greater equality.
Socialism’s argument for public ownership [either in the form of Soviet-style state collectivization of ownership, or selective nationalization] is that this type of ownership is a means of preparing material resources for the public good, while private ownership promotes profiteering, extravagance, and social isolation. promotes; But the new socialism has moved away from this myopic concern with property politics.
continues…
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