A-Level Politics Exemplar Essay: Means and Ends of Socialism
To what extent do socialists agree on both the means and ends of socialism? (24)
Socialism is an ideology focused on achieving equality and social justice in society. There are two main types of socialism: fundamentalist, which revolve around the ideas of Marx and
promote revolution; and revisionist, which aim to evolve capitalism. Overall whilst there are areas of agreement, there are few cases where socialists agree on both the means and the ends.
The first debate in this is agreement over the means of socialism. It can be said that there is some agreement on the means between strands, especially within evolutionary and revolutionary socialism. There is a general consensus in Marxism that a revolution is required to overthrow the status quo and bring power to the proletariat. Marx in The Communist Manifesto argued that the capitalist system was so corrupt, self-serving and parasitical that it must be abolished entirely. Equally, there is agreement in social democracy and the third way that capitalism must be managed to correct its flaws. Anthony Crosland argued in The Future of Socialism that this was the only practical way to improve the lives of the working class — a sentiment shared, albeit to a lesser extent, by third-way thinker Anthony Giddens. This shows that some strands have strong agreement with each other. However, there is a clear divide between revolutionary and evolutionary socialism, in that they promote clearly different actions to provide equality and self-fulfilment. Marxists like Friedan view social democratic attempts to ‘humanise capitalism’ as ultimately pointless, as they argue the whole system requires to be changed, not just adapted. There are also minor disagreements between strands: for instance orthodox Marxism places heavy emphasis on the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat phase’, whilst neo-Marxism would favour a more rapid move to stateless society; Rosa Luxemburg argued there would otherwise be a ‘dictatorship of the party’. Therefore, whilst there are some areas of agreement between strands and areas of socialism, they are outweighed by the divides between them.
The second debate in this is agreement over the ends of socialism. It can be said that the abstract aims behind the various strands of socialism are generally the same. Both forms see social justice as crucial for a society that maximises the welfare of its citizens, and believe that an optimal society will provide an equally fulfilling existence to everyone within it. It is these aims that differentiate it from other ideologies like liberalism, particularly for the revisionist side which appear similar in their means. Therefore, on a more societal basis, there is considerable similarity between strands of socialism in the ends they wish to achieve. However, there are substantial differences in the specifics of those ends. Whilst revisionist socialism aims to achieve a tamed form of capitalism, fundamentalist socialism argues for its outright abolition. Marx argued that in the long term the most socially fair and non-exploitative system was that of communism — a stateless society, with no private property, among other things. That is the precise ‘end’ of Marxism. On the other hand, revisionists view abolition of capitalism as unrealistic and difficult to achieve; instead it argues for a capitalist system, adapted to provide social justice, and utilises the markets for social benefits. Anthony Giddens in The Third Way argued that this adapted form of capitalism is socially equitable because it provides the best allocation of resources, and prevents overreaching government. Therefore, whilst there are some areas of agreement over the aims of the ends, the specifics present two very different pictures between fundamentalists and revisionists: therefore, there is only agreement within those strands over the means and ends of socialism.
To conclude, there are two key debates in this question: agreement over the means of socialism, and agreement over the ends. Fundamentalist strands generally agree on the principles of revolution and abolition of capitalism as a means, and communism as an end; revisionists argue for evolution as a means and some variety of capitalism or market socialism as an end. Therefore, in both areas, there is a clear pattern of fundamentalist and revisionist strands agreeing with each other, but very little agreement between the two.
