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Socialism refers to a set of economic systems in which the means of production and distribution are under
social ownership, management within economic institutions is based on collective decision-making or worker self-management, and the economy is primarily geared toward
production for use. It also refers to a broad array of
ideologies and
political movements which have the goal of achieving this type of
socio-economic system. Control of production may be either direct—exercised through popular collectives such as
workers' councils—or indirect—exercised on behalf of the people by the state. As an
economic system, socialism is often characterized by
state, worker, or community ownership of the
means of production, goals which have been attributed to, and claimed by, a number of
political parties throughout history. For
Karl Marx, who helped establish and define the modern socialist movement, socialism would be the socioeconomic system that arises after a
proletarian revolution, in which the means of production are owned co-operatively by the working class so that the
surplus product generated would be used to benefit all of society, and the economy would no longer be structured upon the
law of value.
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Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as
Henri de Saint-Simon (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825) was a
French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably
Marxism,
positivism and the discipline of
sociology. He was born an
aristocrat; the political ideologies he adopted in later life, however, do not fall into the aristocratic category.
In opposition to the feudal and military system he advocated a form of state-technocratic socialism, an arrangement where industrialists would lead society and found a national community based upon cooperation and technological progress, which would be capable of eliminating poverty of the lower classes. In place of the church, he felt the direction of society should fall to the men of science. Men who are fitted to organize society for productive labour are entitled to rule it.
