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159-639: Henry Mayers Hyndman ( / ˈ h aɪ n d m ə n / ; 7 March 1842 – 22 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist . Originally a conservative , he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx 's Communist Manifesto and launched Britain's first socialist political party, the Democratic Federation, later known as the Social Democratic Federation , in 1881. Although this body attracted radicals such as William Morris and George Lansbury , Hyndman
318-556: A bourgeoisie indifferent to the proletariat . The history of socialism has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment and the 1789 French Revolution , along with the changes that brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-48 just before the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, expressing what they termed scientific socialism . In
477-600: A citizen's dividend paid for by a land value tax in an April 1885 speech at a Knights of Labor local in Burlington, Iowa titled "The Crime of Poverty", and later in an interview with former U.S. House Representative David Dudley Field II from New York's 7th congressional district published in the July 1885 edition of the North American Review : As an English friend of mine puts it: No taxes and
636-492: A neoliberal consensus replaced the social democratic consensus in the advanced capitalist world, while many former socialist politicians and political parties embraced " Third Way " politics, remaining committed to equality and welfare while abandoning public ownership and class-based politics. Socialism experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s, most prominently in the form of democratic socialism. According to Andrew Vincent, "[t]he word 'socialism' finds its root in
795-471: A post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership of the means of production. By the early 1920s, communism and social democracy had become the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, with socialism itself becoming the most influential secular movement of the 20th century. Many socialists also adopted the causes of other social movements, such as feminism , environmentalism , and progressivism . While
954-420: A welfare state . The socialist political movement includes political philosophies that originated in the revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late 18th century and out of concern for the social problems that socialists associated with capitalism. By the late 19th century, after the work of Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels , socialism had come to signify anti-capitalism and advocacy for
1113-483: A 'Marxist' language of revolution' was, in the main, a twentieth-century invention, which Lenin in no small part helped to create. And Marx himself, moreover, allayed Hyndman's fears about the necessity of revolution in England, stating that he considered 'an English revolution not necessary , but according to historic precedents— possible ' ". Hyndman was an antisemite , voicing antisemitic opinions with regard to
1272-645: A book which probably had a larger world-wide circulation than any other work on economics ever written." George was born in Philadelphia to a lower-middle-class family, the second of ten children of Richard S. H. George and Catharine Pratt George (née Vallance). His father was a publisher of religious texts and a devout Episcopalian , and he sent George to the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia. George chafed at his religious upbringing and left
1431-429: A borrowed suit and Annie bringing only a packet of books. The marriage was a happy one, and four children were born to them. On November 3, 1862, Annie gave birth to Henry George Jr. (1862–1916), a future United States Representative from New York. Early on, even with the birth of future sculptor Richard F. George (1865–1912), the family was near starvation. George's other two children were both daughters. The first
1590-399: A career in politics. Unable to find a party that he could fully support, he decided to stand as an independent for the constituency of Marylebone in the 1880 general election . Denounced as a Tory by William Ewart Gladstone , Hyndman gained very limited support from the electorate and withdrew from the contest, facing certain defeat. Soon after the election, Hyndman read a novel based on
1749-419: A conscious desire in the working class to establish collective ownership commensurate with the collective efforts their daily experience. Socialists have taken different perspectives on the state and the role it should play in revolutionary struggles, in constructing socialism and within an established socialist economy. In the 19th century, the philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by
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#17327903086931908-473: A constant rate of profit, causes problems if the earnings in the rest of society do not increase in proportion. Socialists view private property relations as limiting the potential of productive forces in the economy. According to socialists, private property becomes obsolete when it concentrates into centralised, socialised institutions based on private appropriation of revenue — but based on cooperative work and internal planning in allocation of inputs—until
2067-504: A diverse range of philosophies such as civic republicanism , Enlightenment rationalism , romanticism , forms of materialism , Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant), natural law and natural rights theory , utilitarianism and liberal political economy. Another philosophical basis for a great deal of early socialism was the emergence of positivism during the European Enlightenment . Positivism held that both
2226-404: A financial dispute with U.S. Senator John P. Jones . Unable to find work or provide for his family, George wrote to Governor Irwin, who rewarded him with the office of State Inspector of Gas Meters. George held that office from 1876 to 1880, during which he was able to write Progress and Poverty . Around the same time, the anti-Chinese Workingmen's Party led by Denis Kearney was seeing
2385-420: A flash it came over me that there was the reason of advancing poverty with advancing wealth. With the growth of population, land grows in value, and the men who work it must pay more for the privilege. Furthermore, on a visit to New York City, he was struck by the apparent paradox that the poor in that long-established city were much worse off than the poor in less developed California. These observations supplied
2544-405: A global speaking tour concerning land rights and the relationship between rent and poverty. This stroke greatly weakened him, and he never truly recovered. Despite this, George tried to remain active in politics. Against the advice of his doctors, George campaigned for New York City mayor again in 1897, this time as an Independent Democrat, saying, "I will make the race if I die for it." The strain of
2703-447: A great injustice that private profit was being earned from restricting access to natural resources while productive activity was burdened with heavy income taxes, and he indicated that such a system was equivalent to slavery . This is also the work in which he made the case for a land value tax in which governments would tax the value of the land itself, thus preventing private interests from profiting upon its mere possession but allowing
2862-411: A horseback ride and stopped to rest while overlooking San Francisco Bay . He later wrote of the revelation that he had: I asked a passing teamster, for want of something better to say, what land was worth there. He pointed to some cows grazing so far off that they looked like mice, and said, "I don't know exactly, but there is a man over there who will sell some land for a thousand dollars an acre." Like
3021-457: A journalist. As a first-class cricketer , he represented Cambridge University , Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Sussex in thirteen matches as a right-handed batsman between 1864 and 1865. In 1866, Hyndman reported on the Italian war with Austria for The Pall Mall Gazette . Hyndman was horrified by the reality of war and became violently ill after visiting the front line. Hyndman met
3180-425: A less significant form of monopoly than the owners of land title deeds, partly because he viewed the owners of locations as "the robber that takes all that is left." People could choose not to buy a specific new product, but they cannot choose to lack a place upon which to stand, so benefits gained for labor through lesser reforms would tend to eventually be captured by owners and financers of location monopoly. George
3339-515: A livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. — Albert Einstein , " Why Socialism? ", 1949 Socialist economics starts from the premise that "individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce
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#17327903086933498-500: A major issue in federal politics and his book Protection or Free Trade was the first book to be read entirely into the Congressional Record . It was read by five Democratic congressmen. In 1997, Spencer MacCallum wrote that Henry George was "undeniably the greatest writer and orator on free trade who ever lived." In 2009, Tyler Cowen wrote that George's 1886 book Protection or Free Trade "remains perhaps
3657-565: A meeting, calling George a martyr. The New York Times reported that later in the evening, an organized funeral procession of about 2,000 people left from the Grand Central Palace and made its way through Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge . This procession was "all the way ... thronged on either side by crowds of silent watchers." The procession then went on to Brooklyn , where the crowd at Brooklyn City Hall "was
3816-507: A meteoric rise in popularity. George supported the party and endorsed their platform, but took issue with Kearney himself. When California's Second Constitutional Convention was called in 1878, George was nominated as a delegate on both the Democratic and Workingmen's tickets, but lost the latter's nomination after he refused to recognize Kearney as leader of the party. While an anti-Kearney faction still nominated him, his refusal to toe
3975-459: A monopoly over specific arrangements and interactions of materials, governed by the forces of nature, allowed title-holders to extract royalty-rents from producers, in a way similar to owners of ordinary land titles. George later supported limited copyright, on the ground that temporary property over a unique arrangement of words or colors did not in any way prevent others from laboring to make other works of art. George apparently ranked patent rents as
4134-545: A pension and disability system, and an unconditional basic income from surplus land rents. It would be distributed to residents "as a right" instead of as charity. Georgists often refer to this policy as a citizen's dividend in reference to a similar proposal by Thomas Paine . George noted that most debt, though bearing the appearance of genuine capital interest, was not issued for the purpose of creating true capital, but instead as an obligation against rental flows from existing economic privilege. George therefore reasoned that
4293-490: A pension for everybody; and why should it not be? To take land values for public purposes is not really to impose a tax, but to take for public purposes a value created by the community. And out of the fund which would thus accrue from the common property, we might, without degradation to anybody, provide enough to actually secure from want all who were deprived of their natural protectors or met with accident, or any man who should grow so old that he could not work. All prating that
4452-406: A result of contradictions in society due to technological changes in the productive forces. Lenin theorised that under capitalism the workers cannot achieve class consciousness beyond organising into trade unions and making demands of the capitalists. Therefore, Leninists argue that it is historically necessary for a vanguard of class conscious revolutionaries to take a central role in coordinating
4611-480: A specific historical phase that would displace capitalism and precede communism. The major characteristics of socialism (particularly as conceived by Marx and Engels after the Paris Commune of 1871) are that the proletariat would control the means of production through a workers' state erected by the workers in their interests. For orthodox Marxists , socialism is the lower stage of communism based on
4770-412: A tremendous waste of material resources during crisis of overproduction . Excessive disparities in income distribution lead to social instability and require costly corrective measures in the form of redistributive taxation, which incurs heavy administrative costs while weakening the incentive to work, inviting dishonesty and increasing the likelihood of tax evasion while (the corrective measures) reduce
4929-548: A very interesting thing that in times of war, we blockade our enemies in order to prevent them from getting goods from us. In time of peace we do to ourselves by tariffs what we do to our enemy in time of war." George was one of the earliest and most prominent advocates of the secret ballot in the United States. Harvard historian Jill Lepore asserts that Henry George's advocacy is the reason Americans vote with secret ballots today. George's first article in support of
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5088-533: Is alien to his work and only entered the lexicon of Marxism after his death". In Christian Europe , communists were believed to have adopted atheism . In Protestant England, communism was too close to the Roman Catholic communion rite , hence socialist was the preferred term. Engels wrote that in 1848, when The Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable in Europe while communism
5247-595: Is found in Progress and Poverty : "We must make land common property." By taxing land values , society could recapture the value of its common inheritance, raise wages, improve land use, and eliminate the need for taxes on productive activity. George believed it would remove existing incentives toward land speculation and encourage development, as landlords would not suffer tax penalties for any industry or edifice constructed on their land and could not profit by holding valuable sites vacant. Broadly applying this principle
5406-408: Is heard from some quarters about its hurting the common people to give them what they do not work for is humbug. The truth is, that anything that injures self-respect, degrades, does harm; but if you give it as a right, as something to which every citizen is entitled to, it does not degrade. Charity schools do degrade children that are sent to them, but public schools do not. George proposed to create
5565-449: Is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members". The original conception of socialism was an economic system whereby production was organised in a way to directly produce goods and services for their utility (or use-value in classical and Marxian economics ), with
5724-520: Is now commonly known as " Georgism ." In George's time, it was known as the "single-tax" movement and sometimes associated with movements for land nationalization, especially in Ireland. However, in Progress and Poverty , George did not favor the idea of nationalization. I do not propose either to purchase or to confiscate private property in land. The first would be unjust; the second, needless. Let
5883-458: Is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilised in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee
6042-554: Is practically a hot-bed of reaction from the social point of view. The young men regard all who are not technically "gentlemen" as "cads," just as the Athenians counted all who were not Greeks as barbarians . I was a thorough-going Radical and Republican in those days—theoretically ... with a great admiration for John Stuart Mill , and later, I remember, I regarded John Morley as the coming man. After his graduation in 1865, Hyndman studied law for two years before deciding to become
6201-414: Is predictable, insofar as it was characteristic of mid-Victorian liberalism. Lenin's view was anachronistic. Similarly anachronistic was Lenin's complaint that Hyndman 'very poorly understood in 1880 ... the difference between bourgeois democratic and a socialist'. For the difference was, often, not clear-cut; many socialists, including Marx, accepted the representative state. The 'association between Marx and
6360-405: Is the accumulation of capital for reinvestment in production, but this spurs the development of new, non-productive industries that do not produce use-value and only exist to keep the accumulation process afloat (otherwise the system goes into crisis), such as the spread of the financial industry , contributing to the formation of economic bubbles. Such accumulation and reinvestment, when it demands
6519-418: Is the belief that socialists should stand in parliamentary elections within capitalist society and if elected use the machinery of government to pass political and social reforms for the purposes of ameliorating the instabilities and inequities of capitalism. Within socialism, reformism is used in two different ways. One has no intention of bringing about socialism or fundamental economic change to society and
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6678-453: Is used to oppose such structural changes. The other is based on the assumption that while reforms are not socialist in themselves, they can help rally supporters to the cause of revolution by popularizing the cause of socialism to the working class. The debate on the ability for social democratic reformism to lead to a socialist transformation of society is over a century old. Reformism is criticized for being paradoxical as it seeks to overcome
6837-723: The All-Russian Communist Party , interpreting communism specifically to mean socialists who supported the politics and theories of Bolshevism , Leninism and later that of Marxism–Leninism , although communist parties continued to describe themselves as socialists dedicated to socialism. According to The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx , "Marx used many terms to refer to a post-capitalist society —positive humanism , socialism, communism, realm of free individuality, free association of producers , etc. He used these terms completely interchangeably. The notion that 'socialism' and 'communism' are distinct historical stages
6996-635: The Conservatives to run parliamentary candidates in Hampstead and Kensington , the objective being to split the Liberal vote and therefore enable the Conservative candidate to win. This ploy failed and the two SDF's candidates won only a total of 59 votes. The story leaked out and the political reputation of both men suffered because they had accepted "Tory gold". During the 1880s, Hyndman
7155-811: The Front for Victory in Argentina, the PAIS Alliance in Ecuador, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador, Peru Wins in Peru, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela , whose leader Hugo Chávez initiated what he called " Socialism of the 21st century ". Many mainstream democratic socialist and social democratic parties continued to drift right-wards. On the right of
7314-606: The Hutterites are not usually called "utopian socialists", although their way of living is a prime example. They have been categorised as religious socialists by some. Similarly, modern intentional communities based on socialist ideas could also be categorised as "utopian socialist". For Marxists, the development of capitalism in Western Europe provided a material basis for the possibility of bringing about socialism because according to The Communist Manifesto "[w]hat
7473-479: The Industrial Revolution , including poverty, oppression, and vast wealth inequality . They viewed their society as harming community life by basing society on competition. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the shared ownership of resources. Saint-Simon proposed economic planning , scientific administration and the application of scientific understanding to
7632-540: The Peruvian Aprista Party went from ruling party in 2011 to a minor party. The decline of these mainstream parties opened space for more radical and populist left parties in some countries, such as Spain's Podemos , Greece's Syriza (in government, 2015–19), Germany's Die Linke , and France's La France Insoumise . In other countries, left-wing revivals have taken place within mainstream democratic socialist and centrist parties, as with Jeremy Corbyn in
7791-520: The Second Boer War and blaming "Jewish bankers" and " imperialist Judaism" as the cause of the conflict. Hyndman charged " Beit , Barnato and their fellow-Jews" as aiming to create "an Anglo-Hebraic Empire in Africa stretching from Egypt to Cape Colony ". Hyndman believed Jews were central to "a sinister 'gold international' opposed to the 'red international' of socialism". Hyndman supported
7950-616: The Soviet model of economic development and the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production , although other trends condemned what they saw as the lack of democracy. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, saw socialism introduced. China experienced land redistribution and the Anti-Rightist Movement , followed by the disastrous Great Leap Forward . In
8109-570: The Stalinist era . Socialist realism was imposed under Stalin in artistic production and other creative industries such as music , film along with sports were subject to extreme levels of political control. The counter-cultural phenomenon which emerged in the 1960s shaped the intellectual and radical outlook of the New Left ; this movement placed a heavy emphasis on anti-racism , anti-imperialism and direct democracy in opposition to
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#17327903086938268-494: The dominant culture of advanced industrial capitalism . Socialist groups have also been closely involved with a number of counter-cultural movements such as Vietnam Solidarity Campaign , Stop the War Coalition , Love Music Hate Racism , Anti-Nazi League and Unite Against Fascism . The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. ... I am convinced there
8427-407: The means of production , as opposed to private ownership . It describes the economic , political , and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including public , community , collective , cooperative , or employee . As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum , socialism is considered as
8586-596: The profit system. Market socialism retains the use of monetary prices, factor markets and sometimes the profit motive . As a political force, socialist parties and ideas exercise varying degrees of power and influence, heading national governments in several countries. Socialist politics have been internationalist and nationalist ; organised through political parties and opposed to party politics; at times overlapping with trade unions and other times independent and critical of them, and present in industrialised and developing nations. Social democracy originated within
8745-646: The "General Rules" that Marx composed and passed as "a concession Marx made to Mazzini's followers within the organisation". Friedrich Engels , Marx's collaborator, "censured Hyndman's Mazzinian moralism" and also accused Hyndman of "jingo aspiration". Seamus Flaherty argues that "Hyndman's views on the beneficence of the 'great democracies of the English speaking peoples'" were inspired not by Benjamin Disraeli as historians such as Mark Bevir have argued, but rather by Dilke and Mill, whom Hyndman combined their ideas "on
8904-455: The 1930s . In Literature and Revolution , Trotsky examined aesthetic issues in relation to class and the Russian revolution. Soviet scholar Robert Bird considered his work as the "first systematic treatment of art by a Communist leader" and a catalyst for later, Marxist cultural and critical theories. He would later co-author the 1938 Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art with
9063-525: The Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia, many socialists including reformists , orthodox Marxist currents such as council communism , anarchists and libertarian socialists criticised the idea of using the state to conduct central planning and own the means of production as a way to establish socialism. Following the victory of Leninism in Russia, the idea of "state socialism" spread rapidly throughout
9222-539: The Democratic nomination for State Assembly . However, he refused to pay the party’s assessment fee, and was therefore ineligible for consideration. Despite this setback, he remained active in the California Democratic Party . Governor Henry Huntly Haight , impressed by the young journalist, recruited George to manage the party’s newspaper in Sacramento , and in 1871 he served as secretary of
9381-483: The Democratic state convention as it renominated Haight. Later that year, he finally received the party’s nomination for State Assembly, but was defeated alongside the rest of the ticket in a Republican landslide . In the 1875 election , George campaigned for Democrat William Irwin , who handily won thanks to Republican vote splitting. A few months later, George was forced to give up the Evening Post due to
9540-620: The German political philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle . In contrast to Karl Marx's perspective of the state, Lassalle rejected the concept of the state as a class-based power structure whose main function was to preserve existing class structures. Lassalle also rejected the Marxist view that the state was destined to "wither away". Lassalle considered the state to be an entity independent of class allegiances and an instrument of justice that would therefore be essential for achieving socialism. Preceding
9699-802: The Jewish type from Marx himself". Hyndman upset members of the BSP by supporting the United Kingdom's involvement in World War I . The party split in two, with Hyndman forming a new National Socialist Party . Hyndman remained leader of the small party until his death from pneumonia at his home in Well Walk , Hampstead, on 22 November 1921. Socialism Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of
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#17327903086939858-593: The Latin sociare , which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas . This latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen". Initial use of socialism was claimed by Pierre Leroux , who alleged he first used the term in the Parisian journal Le Globe in 1832. Leroux
10017-681: The Railroad Will Bring Us." George argued that the boom in railroad construction would benefit only the lucky few who owned interests in the railroads and other related enterprises, while throwing the greater part of the population into abject poverty. This had led to him earning the enmity of the Central Pacific Railroad 's executives, who helped defeat his bid for election to the California State Assembly . One day in 1871 George went for
10176-878: The SDF and took part in the negotiations to establish the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in 1900. However, the SDF left the LRC when it became clear that it was deviating from the objectives he had set out. In 1911, he set up the British Socialist Party (BSP) when the SDF fused with a number of branches of the Independent Labour Party . Hyndman's thought was influenced by John Stuart Mill and his protégé John Morley as well as Charles Dilke , Henry Fawcett and Giuseppe Mazzini , Karl Marx "erstwhile adversary" at
10335-427: The SDF included William Morris and Karl Marx's daughter Eleanor Marx . However, Friedrich Engels , Marx's long-term collaborator, refused to support Hyndman's venture. Hyndman wrote the first popularisation of the ideas of Karl Marx in the English language with England for All in 1881. The book was extremely successful, a fact that stoked Marx's antipathy, given the fact that he had failed to credit Marx by name in
10494-555: The State and nation and to the United States Senate, and an honor to himself; a man whose heart beats in sympathy with the great body of the people; a man who is eminently like unto that greatest of modern men—Abraham Lincoln; a man who, if the people were to select, would be selected as the champion of their rights; a man—a man who has already gained a national reputation as the ablest political economist of America, standing
10653-581: The UK, Herbert Morrison said that "socialism is what the Labour government does" whereas Aneurin Bevan argued socialism requires that the "main streams of economic activity are brought under public direction", with an economic plan and workers' democracy. Some argued that capitalism had been abolished. Socialist governments established the mixed economy with partial nationalisations and social welfare. By 1968,
10812-509: The United Kingdom and Bernie Sanders in the United States. Few of these radical left parties have won national government in Europe, while some more mainstream socialist parties have managed to, such as Portugal's Socialist Party . Bhaskar Sunkara , the founding editor of the American socialist magazine Jacobin , argued that the appeal of socialism persists due to the inequality and "tremendous suffering" under current global capitalism,
10971-675: The academy without graduating. Instead he convinced his father to hire a tutor and supplemented this with avid reading and attending lectures at the Franklin Institute . His formal education ended at age 14, and he went to sea as a foremast boy at age 15 in April 1855 on the Hindoo , bound for Melbourne and Calcutta . He ended up in the American West in 1858 and briefly considered prospecting for gold but instead started work
11130-453: The accumulation of capital generates waste through externalities that require costly corrective regulatory measures. They also point out that this process generates wasteful industries and practices that exist only to generate sufficient demand for products such as high-pressure advertisement to be sold at a profit, thereby creating rather than satisfying economic demand. Socialists argue that capitalism consists of irrational activity, such as
11289-534: The antisemitic Viennese riots of 1885, arguing that they represented a blow against Jewish finance capital. Hyndman repeatedly denounced what he saw as the overwhelming power of "capitalist Jews on the London Press", believing that the "Semitic lords of the press" had created war in South Africa. Hyndman remained committed to conspiracies concerning Jews, remarking that "unless you said that they [Jews] were
11448-419: The banking system but believed that would actually be an economic boon, since the financial sector, in its existing form, was mostly augmenting rent extraction, as opposed to productive investment. "The curse of credit," George wrote, was "... that it expands when there is a tendency to speculation, and sharply contracts just when most needed to assure confidence and prevent industrial waste." George even said that
11607-457: The basis of society. Literature and art will be tuned to a different key. —Trotsky, Literature and Revolution , 1924 In the Leninist conception, the role of the vanguard party was to politically educate the workers and peasants to dispel the societal false consciousness of institutional religion and nationalism that constitute the cultural status quo taught by the bourgeoisie to
11766-413: The belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value of land (including natural resources ) should belong equally to all members of society. George famously argued that a single tax on land values would create a more productive and just society. His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), sold millions of copies worldwide. The treatise investigates
11925-456: The best-argued tract on free trade to this day." Jim Powell said that Protection or Free Trade was probably the best book on trade written by anyone in the Americas, comparing it to Adam Smith 's Wealth of Nations . Milton Friedman said it was the most rhetorically brilliant work ever written on trade. Friedman also paraphrased one of George's arguments in favor of free trade: "It's
12084-539: The bourgeoisie produces above all is its own grave diggers", namely the working class, which must become conscious of the historical objectives set it by society. Revolutionary socialists believe that a social revolution is necessary to effect structural changes to the socioeconomic structure of society. Among revolutionary socialists there are differences in strategy, theory and the definition of revolution . Orthodox Marxists and left communists take an impossibilist stance, believing that revolution should be spontaneous as
12243-904: The campaign precipitated a second stroke, leading to his death four days before the election. An estimated 100,000 people visited Grand Central Palace during the day to see Henry George's face, with an estimated equal number crowding outside, unable to enter, and held back by police. After the Palace doors closed, the Reverend Lyman Abbott , Father Edward McGlynn , Rabbi Gustav Gottheil , R. Heber Newton (Episcopalian), and John Sherwin Crosby delivered addresses. Separate memorial services were held elsewhere. In Chicago, five thousand people lined up to hear memorial addresses by former Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld and John Lancaster Spalding . Mayor Strong broke down and cried at
12402-568: The capture of their resulting land rent uplift, Pigouvian taxation , and public ownership of other natural monopolies. George was a journalist for many years, and the popularity of his writing and speeches brought him to run for election as Mayor of New York City in 1886 . As the United Labor Party nominee in 1886 and in 1897 as the Jefferson Democracy Party nominee, he received 31 percent and 4 percent of
12561-495: The context of a future socialist society would amount to a distortion of these concepts by using them out of context. Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon , Charles Fourier and Robert Owen which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialists. Visions of imaginary ideal societies, which competed with revolutionary social democratic movements, were viewed as not being grounded in
12720-518: The densest ever seen there." There were "thousands on thousands" at City Hall who were so far back that they could not see the funeral procession pass. It was impossible to move on any of the nearby streets. The Times wrote, "Rarely has such an enormous crowd turned out in Brooklyn on any occasion," but that nonetheless, "[t]he slow tolling of the City Hall bell and the regular beating of drums were
12879-506: The direct allocation of resources in terms of physical units as opposed to financial calculation and the economic laws of capitalism (see law of value ), often entailing the end of capitalistic economic categories such as rent , interest, profit and money. In a fully developed socialist economy, production and balancing factor inputs with outputs becomes a technical process to be undertaken by engineers. Market socialism refers to an array of different economic theories and systems that use
13038-751: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Socialists have adopted the causes of other social movements such as environmentalism , feminism and progressivism . In 1990, the São Paulo Forum was launched by the Workers' Party (Brazil) , linking left-wing socialist parties in Latin America. Its members were associated with the Pink tide of left-wing governments on the continent in the early 21st century. Member parties ruling countries included
13197-619: The early 21st century. This phenomenon is known as Pasokification from the Greek party PASOK , which saw a declining share of the vote in national elections—from 43.9% in 2009 to 13.2% in May 2012, to 12.3% in June 2012 and 4.7% in 2015—due to its poor handling of the Greek government-debt crisis and implementation of harsh austerity measures. In Europe, the share of votes for such socialist parties
13356-488: The emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally socialist state led to socialism's widespread association with the Soviet economic model , academics have noted that some Western European countries have been governed by socialist parties or have mixed economies that are sometimes called " democratic socialist ". Following the revolutions of 1989 , many of these countries moved away from socialism as
13515-598: The endorsement of prominent artists Andre Breton and Diego Rivera . Trotsky's writings on literature such as his 1923 survey which advocated tolerance, limited censorship and respect for literary tradition had strong appeal to the New York Intellectuals . Prior to Stalin's rule, literary, religious and national representatives had some level of autonomy in Soviet Russia throughout the 1920s but these groups were later rigorously repressed during
13674-572: The excommunication of Father Edward McGlynn , and many who disagreed with George's free trade policy. George had particular trouble with Terrence V. Powderly , president of the Knights of Labor , a key member of the United Labor coalition. While initially friendly with Powderly, George vigorously opposed the tariff policies which Powderly and many other labor leaders thought vital to the protection of American workers. George's strident criticism of
13833-528: The existing economic system of capitalism while trying to improve the conditions of capitalism, thereby making it appear more tolerable to society. According to Rosa Luxemburg , capitalism is not overthrown, "but is on the contrary strengthened by the development of social reforms". In a similar vein, Stan Parker of the Socialist Party of Great Britain argues that reforms are a diversion of energy for socialists and are limited because they must adhere to
13992-405: The extension of freedom and equality in society. Many forms of socialist theory hold that human behaviour is largely shaped by the social environment. In particular, socialism holds that social mores , values, cultural traits and economic practices are social creations and not the result of an immutable natural law. The object of their critique is thus not human avarice or human consciousness, but
14151-570: The first well-dressed stranger he saw in the street, George, normally a lawful man, decided to rob him if he was unwilling to help. Fortunately, the man took pity on him and gave him five dollars. George was raised as an Episcopalian, but he believed in "deistic humanitarianism". His wife Annie was Irish Catholic , but Henry George Jr. wrote that the children were mainly influenced by Henry George's deism and humanism . After deciding against gold mining in British Columbia, George
14310-408: The human spirit.", adding that "While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny." Some in the scientific community have suggested that a contemporary radical response to social and ecological problems could be seen in the emergence of movements associated with degrowth , eco-socialism and eco-anarchism . Early socialist thought took influences from
14469-498: The individuals who now hold it still retain, if they want to, possession of what they are pleased to call their land. Let them continue to call it their land. Let them buy and sell, and bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the shell, if we take the kernel. It is not necessary to confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent. George considered businesses relying on exclusive right-of-way land privilege to be "natural" monopolies . Examples of these services included
14628-424: The introduction. The work was followed in 1883 by Socialism Made Plain which expounded the policies of what by then had been renamed as the SDF. They included a demand for universal suffrage and the nationalisation of the means of production and distribution. The SDF also published Justice , edited by the journalist Henry Hyde Champion . Many members of the SDF questioned Hyndman's leadership qualities. He
14787-567: The last third of the 19th century parties dedicated to Democratic socialism arose in Europe, drawing mainly from Marxism . The Australian Labor Party was the first elected socialist party when it formed government in the Colony of Queensland for a week in 1899. In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union and the communist parties of the Third International around the world, came to represent socialism in terms of
14946-655: The leaders of the Italian nationalist movement and was generally sympathetic to their cause. In 1869, Hyndman toured the world, visiting the United States, Australia and several European countries. He continued to write for The Pall Mall Gazette , where he praised the British Empire and criticised those advocating for Irish Home Rule . Hyndman was also very opposed to politics of the United States . Hyndman married Matilda Ware (c. 1846–1913) in 1876 and then Rosalind Travers (c. 1875–1923) in 1914. Hyndman decided on
15105-428: The life of Ferdinand Lassalle . He became fascinated with Lassalle and decided to research this romantic hero who had been killed in a duel in 1864. Discovering that Lassalle had been a socialist, sometimes a friend and sometimes an adversary of Karl Marx , Hyndman read The Communist Manifesto . Although he had doubts about some of Marx's ideas, Hyndman was greatly impressed by his analysis of capitalism. Hyndman
15264-407: The logic of capitalism. French social theorist André Gorz criticized reformism by advocating a third alternative to reformism and social revolution that he called " non-reformist reforms ", specifically focused on structural changes to capitalism as opposed to reforms to improve living conditions within capitalism or to prop it up through economic interventions. Under Socialism, solidarity will be
15423-403: The long run. Marxists argue that the establishment of a socialist mode of production is the only way to overcome these deficiencies. Socialists and specifically Marxian socialists argue that the inherent conflict of interests between the working class and capital prevent optimal use of available human resources and leads to contradictory interest groups (labour and business) striving to influence
15582-785: The market mechanism to organise production and to allocate factor inputs among socially owned enterprises, with the economic surplus (profits) accruing to society in a social dividend as opposed to private capital owners. Variations of market socialism include libertarian proposals such as mutualism , based on classical economics, and neoclassical economic models such as the Lange model . Some economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz , Mancur Olson , and others not specifically advancing anti-socialists positions have shown that prevailing economic models upon which such democratic or market socialism models might be based have logical flaws or unworkable presuppositions. These criticisms have been incorporated into
15741-448: The masses for raising the standards of education , as well as entry into the cultural sphere, but that the process of artistic creation in terms of language and presentation should be the domain of the practitioner. According to political scientist Baruch Knei-Paz in his book The Social and Political Thought of Leon Trotsky , this represented one of several distinctions between Trotsky's approach on cultural matters and Stalin's policy in
15900-456: The material conditions and man-made social systems (i.e. the economic structure of society) which give rise to observed social problems and inefficiencies. Bertrand Russell , often considered to be the father of analytic philosophy, identified as a socialist. Russell opposed the class struggle aspects of Marxism, viewing socialism solely as an adjustment of economic relations to accommodate modern machine production to benefit all of humanity through
16059-488: The material conditions of society and as reactionary. Although it is technically possible for any set of ideas or any person living at any time in history to be a utopian socialist, the term is most often applied to those socialists who lived in the first quarter of the 19th century who were ascribed the label "utopian" by later socialists as a negative term to imply naivete and dismiss their ideas as fanciful or unrealistic. Religious sects whose members live communally such as
16218-412: The material productive forces (in industry and commerce) brought into existence by capitalism predicated a cooperative society since production had become a mass social, collective activity of the working class to create commodities but with private ownership (the relations of production or property relations). This conflict between collective effort in large factories and private ownership would bring about
16377-415: The means of production by capitalists and consequently, overthrowing the state that upheld this economic order. For Marx and Engels, conditions determine consciousness and ending the role of the capitalist class leads eventually to a classless society in which the state would wither away . Marx and Engels used the terms socialism and communism interchangeably, but many later Marxists defined socialism as
16536-463: The models of market socialism developed by John Roemer and Nicholas Vrousalis . Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era . He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism ,
16695-471: The more conservative New York Sun wrote that, "Since the Civil War, few announcements have been more startling than that of the sudden death of Henry George." Flags were placed at half-staff, even at Tammany Hall, which cancelled its rally for the day. Henry George is best known for his argument that the economic rent of land (location) should be shared by society. The clearest statement of this view
16854-458: The most capable and brilliant people of the earth, you had the whole of their international agencies against you". Such antisemitism disillusioned erstwhile supporters. Eleanor Marx wrote privately to Wilhelm Liebknecht that "Mr Hyndman whenever he could do with impunity has endeavoured to set English workmen against foreigners". Hyndman had previously attacked Eleanor Marx in antisemitic terms, noting that she had "inherited in her nose and mouth
17013-411: The natural and social worlds could be understood through scientific knowledge and be analysed using scientific methods. The fundamental objective of socialism is to attain an advanced level of material production and therefore greater productivity, efficiency and rationality as compared to capitalism and all previous systems, under the view that an expansion of human productive capability is the basis for
17172-418: The old social relations of production of capitalism that would generate contradictions, leading to working-class consciousness. Marx and Engels held the view that the consciousness of those who earn a wage or salary (the working class in the broadest Marxist sense) would be moulded by their conditions of wage slavery , leading to a tendency to seek their freedom or emancipation by overthrowing ownership of
17331-481: The only sounds that broke the stillness. ... Anything more impressive ... could not be imagined." At Court Street, the casket was transferred to a hearse and taken to a private funeral at Fort Hamilton . Commentators disagreed on whether it was the largest funeral in New York history or the largest since the death of Abraham Lincoln . The New York Times reported, "Not even Lincoln had a more glorious death." Even
17490-621: The organisation of society. By contrast, Robert Owen proposed to organise production and ownership via cooperatives . Socialism is also attributed in France to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud while in Britain it is attributed to Owen, who became one of the fathers of the cooperative movement . The definition and usage of socialism settled by the 1860s, with the term socialist replacing associationist , co-operative , mutualist and collectivist , which had been used as synonyms, while
17649-430: The overall efficiency of the market economy. These corrective policies limit the incentive system of the market by providing things such as minimum wages , unemployment insurance , taxing profits and reducing the reserve army of labour , resulting in reduced incentives for capitalists to invest in more production. In essence, social welfare policies cripple capitalism and its incentive system and are thus unsustainable in
17808-438: The paradox of increasing inequality and poverty amid economic and technological progress, the business cycle with its cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of rent capture such as land value taxation and other anti-monopoly reforms as a remedy for these and other social problems. Other works by George defended free trade , the secret ballot , free (at marginal cost) public utilities/transportation provided by
17967-503: The party line cost him the election, though he still polled the highest of any Democrat in the district. When the California State Legislature convened in 1881 to elect a U.S. Senator , State Senator Warren Chase nominated George. In his nomination speech, Chase eulogized George as follows: He has in knowledge of American and European history no superior in this State. He is a man who can be an honor to
18126-663: The peer of John Stuart Mill, Ricardo and Adam Smith, and all the writers of history on political economy. George only received two votes out of 40 cast in the State Senate ; one from Chase, and the other from fellow Workingmen's Senator Joseph C. Gorman . In 1880, now a popular writer and speaker, George moved to New York City, becoming closely allied with the Irish nationalist community despite being of English ancestry. From there he made several speaking journeys abroad to places such as Ireland and Scotland where access to land
18285-428: The principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution ", while upper stage communism is based on the principle of " from each according to his ability, to each according to his need ", the upper stage becoming possible only after the socialist stage further develops economic efficiency and the automation of production has led to a superabundance of goods and services. Marx argued that
18444-481: The productive forces and technology was the basis for the expansion of human freedom and that socialism, being a system that is consistent with modern developments in technology, would enable the flourishing of "free individualities" through the progressive reduction of necessary labour time. The reduction of necessary labour time to a minimum would grant individuals the opportunity to pursue the development of their true individuality and creativity. Socialists argue that
18603-442: The progressive reduction of necessary work time. Socialists view creativity as an essential aspect of human nature and define freedom as a state of being where individuals are able to express their creativity unhindered by constraints of both material scarcity and coercive social institutions. The socialist concept of individuality is intertwined with the concept of individual creative expression. Karl Marx believed that expansion of
18762-598: The proletariat to facilitate their economic exploitation of peasants and workers. Influenced by Lenin, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party stated that the development of the socialist workers' culture should not be "hamstrung from above" and opposed the Proletkult (1917–1925) organisational control of the national culture. Similarly, Trotsky viewed the party as transmitters of culture to
18921-493: The prolonged Vietnam War gave rise to the New Left , socialists who tended to be critical of the Soviet Union and social democracy . Anarcho-syndicalists and some elements of the New Left and others favoured decentralised collective ownership in the form of cooperatives or workers' councils . In 1989, the Soviet Union saw the end of communism , marked by the Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe , culminating in
19080-420: The public. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or—this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms—with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of
19239-447: The purchasing of commodities only to sell at a later time when their price appreciates, rather than for consumption, even if the commodity cannot be sold at a profit to individuals in need and therefore a crucial criticism often made by socialists is that "making money", or accumulation of capital, does not correspond to the satisfaction of demand (the production of use-values ). The fundamental criterion for economic activity in capitalism
19398-498: The role of the capitalist becomes redundant. With no need for capital accumulation and a class of owners, private property in the means of production is perceived as being an outdated form of economic organisation that should be replaced by a free association of individuals based on public or common ownership of these socialised assets. Private ownership imposes constraints on planning, leading to uncoordinated economic decisions that result in business fluctuations, unemployment and
19557-492: The same year in San Francisco as a type setter . In California, George fell in love with Annie Corsina Fox from Sydney, Australia. They met on her seventeenth birthday on October 12, 1860. She had been orphaned and was living with an uncle. The uncle, a prosperous, strong-minded man, was opposed to his niece's impoverished suitor. But the couple, defying him, eloped and married on December 3, 1861, with Henry dressed in
19716-624: The secret ballot was entitled "Bribery in Elections" and was published in the Overland Review of December 1871. His second article was "Money in Elections," published in the North American Review of March 1883. The first secret ballot reform approved by a state legislature was brought about by reformers who said they were influenced by George. The first state to adopt the secret ballot, also called The Australian Ballot,
19875-456: The social revolution to overthrow the capitalist state and eventually the institution of the state altogether. Revolution is not necessarily defined by revolutionary socialists as violent insurrection, but as a complete dismantling and rapid transformation of all areas of class society led by the majority of the masses: the working class. Reformism is generally associated with social democracy and gradualist democratic socialism . Reformism
20034-749: The socialist movement and eventually state socialism came to be identified with the Soviet economic model . Joseph Schumpeter rejected the association of socialism and social ownership with state ownership over the means of production because the state as it exists in its current form is a product of capitalist society and cannot be transplanted to a different institutional framework. Schumpeter argued that there would be different institutions within socialism than those that exist within modern capitalism, just as feudalism had its own distinct and unique institutional forms. The state, along with concepts like property and taxation, were concepts exclusive to commercial society (capitalism) and attempting to place them within
20193-422: The socialist movement, supporting economic and social interventions to promote social justice . While retaining socialism as a long-term goal, in the post-war period social democracy embraced a mixed economy based on Keynesianism within a predominantly developed capitalist market economy and liberal democratic polity that expands state intervention to include income redistribution , regulation , and
20352-687: The socialist movement, the Progressive Alliance was founded in 2013 by current or former members of the Socialist International . The organisation states the aim of becoming the global network of "the progressive , democratic , social-democratic , socialist and labour movement ". Mainstream social democratic and socialist parties are also networked in Europe in the Party of European Socialists formed in 1992. Many of these parties lost large parts of their electoral base in
20511-463: The standard left-wing ideology in most countries. Types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, and the structure of management in organizations. Socialist systems divide into non-market and market forms. A non-market socialist system seeks to eliminate the perceived inefficiencies, irrationalities, unpredictability , and crises that socialists traditionally associate with capital accumulation and
20670-558: The state should not provide aid to creditors in the form of sheriffs, constables, courts, and prisons to enforce collection on these illegitimate obligations. George did not provide any data to support this view, but in today's developed economies, much of the supply of credit is created to purchase claims on future land rents, rather than to finance the creation of true capital. Michael Hudson and Adair Turner estimate that about 80 percent of credit finances real estate purchases, mostly land. George acknowledged that this policy would limit
20829-402: The state to intervene in the economy in their favour at the expense of overall economic efficiency. Early socialists ( utopian socialists and Ricardian socialists ) criticised capitalism for concentrating power and wealth within a small segment of society. In addition, they complained that capitalism does not use available technology and resources to their maximum potential in the interests of
20988-527: The tariff set him against Powderly and others in the labor movement. In 1897 , George again ran for mayor of New York City. However, he had his fatal stroke during the campaign. During George's life, communities in Delaware and Alabama were developed based on his single tax on land and this legacy continued through applications in a number of areas around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan . George's first stroke occurred in 1890, after
21147-439: The term communism fell out of use during this period. An early distinction between communism and socialism was that the latter aimed to only socialise production while the former aimed to socialise both production and consumption (in the form of free access to final goods). By 1888, Marxists employed socialism in place of communism as the latter had come to be considered an old-fashioned synonym for socialism . It
21306-435: The theme and title for his 1879 book Progress and Poverty , which was a great success, selling over three million copies. In it George made the argument that a sizeable portion of the wealth created by social and technological advances in a free market economy is possessed by land owners and monopolists via economic rents , and that this concentration of unearned wealth is the main cause of poverty. George considered it
21465-483: The time of the First International . According to Hyndman, "Mazzini's greatness ... was obscured for younger socialists by his 'opposition to Marx in the early days of the 'International,' and his vigorous condemnation a little later of the Paris Commune ", insisting that "'Mazzini's conception of the conduct of human life' had been 'a high and noble one'", praising the "No duties without rights" mention in
21624-497: The total cost of those investments . George used the example of urban buildings that provide free vertical transit, paid out of some of the increased value that residents derive from the addition of elevators. George was opposed to or suspicious of all intellectual property privilege, because his classical definition of "land" included "all natural forces and opportunities." Therefore, George proposed to abolish or greatly limit intellectual property privilege. In George's view, owning
21783-714: The transportation of utilities (water, electricity, sewage), information (telecommunications), goods, and travelers. George advocated that these systems of transport along "public ways" should usually be managed as public utilities and provided for free or at marginal cost . In some cases, it might be possible to allow competition between private service providers along public "rights of way," such as parcel shipping companies that operate on public roads, but wherever competition would be impossible, George supported complete municipalization . George said that these services would be provided for free because investments in beneficial public goods always tend to increase land values by more than
21942-610: The unique character of 'the Angloe-Saxon race' with Mazzini's cosmopolitan patriotism, thus constructing a nationalism fully compatible with 'a good internationalism'. In his two volume autobiography, Hyndman spoke at length about Mazzini, even comparing him to Marx. For Vladimir Lenin , "that Hyndman should do so was preposterous; more astonishing still was that Hyndman should admire Mazzini". However, Flaherty writes that "when situated within its proper context, Hyndman's 'intellectual republicanism', so far from being unintelligible,
22101-406: The use of wage labor "which rests on the exploitation and domination of humans by other humans," and ecological crises, such as climate change . In contrast, Mark J. Perry of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) argued that despite socialism's resurgence, it is still "a flawed system based on completely faulty principles that aren't consistent with human behavior and can't nurture
22260-549: The value of all improvements made to that land to remain with investors. George was in a position to discover this pattern, having experienced poverty himself, knowing many different societies from his travels, and living in California at a time of rapid growth. In particular he had noticed that the construction of railroads in California was increasing land values and rents as fast as or faster than wages were rising. George first ran for public office in 1869, when he sought
22419-458: The vote respectively and finished ahead of former New York State Assembly minority leader Theodore Roosevelt in the first race. After his death during the second campaign, his ideas were carried forward by organizations and political leaders through the United States and other Anglophone countries. The mid-20th century labor economist and journalist George Soule wrote that George was by far "the most famous American economic writer" and "author of
22578-491: The whole immense superstructure. —Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that socialism would emerge from historical necessity as capitalism rendered itself obsolete and unsustainable from increasing internal contradictions emerging from the development of the productive forces and technology. It was these advances in the productive forces combined with
22737-531: Was (and still is) a major political issue. In 1886 , George campaigned for mayor of New York City as the candidate of the United Labor Party, the short-lived political society of the United Labor Party . He polled second, more than the Republican candidate Theodore Roosevelt . The election was won by Tammany Hall candidate Abram Stevens Hewitt by what many of George's supporters believed
22896-410: Was Jennie George, (c. 1867–1897), later to become Jennie George Atkinson. George's other daughter was Anna Angela George (1878-1947), who would become mother of both future dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille and future actress Peggy George , who was born Margaret George de Mille. Following the birth of his second child, George had no work and no money and had to beg for food. As he approached
23055-484: Was Massachusetts in 1888 under the leadership of Richard Henry Dana III. By 1891, more than half the states had adopted it too. George supported the use of "debt free" (sovereign money) currency, such as the greenback , which governments would spend into circulation to help finance public spending through the capture of seigniorage rents. He opposed the use of metallic currency, such as gold or silver, and fiat money created by private commercial banks. George advocated
23214-441: Was a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon , one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism . Socialism contrasted with the liberal doctrine of individualism that emphasized the moral worth of the individual while stressing that people act or should act as if they are in isolation from one another. The original utopian socialists condemned this doctrine of individualism for failing to address social concerns during
23373-746: Was a prominent member of the Irish National Land League and the Land League of Great Britain. He took part in the unemployed demonstrations of 1887 and was put on trial for his share in the West End Riots of 1886, but he was acquitted. Hyndman was chairman at the International Socialist Congress held in London in 1896. He was pro- Boer during the second Boer War . Hyndman continued to lead
23532-466: Was also greatly influenced by the book Progress and Poverty and the ideology of Henry George known today as Georgism . Hyndman decided to form Britain's first socialist political party. The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Many socialists were concerned that in the past Hyndman had been opposed to socialist ideas, but Hyndman persuaded many that he had genuinely changed his views and those who eventually joined
23691-668: Was at its 70-year lowest in 2015. For example, the Socialist Party , after winning the 2012 French presidential election , rapidly lost its vote share, the Social Democratic Party of Germany 's fortunes declined rapidly from 2005 to 2019, and outside Europe the Israeli Labor Party fell from being the dominant force in Israeli politics to 4.43% of the vote in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election , and
23850-415: Was concerned, there is nothing in principle in economic theory that precludes an economic order based on socialist policies" and promoted substituting capitalist businesses with worker cooperatives . While democrats looked to the Revolutions of 1848 as a democratic revolution which in the long run ensured liberty, equality, and fraternity , Marxists denounced it as a betrayal of working-class ideals by
24009-446: Was eventually forced to go to the streets to beg. The George family struggled, but George's improving reputation and involvement in the newspaper industry lifted them from poverty. George began as a Lincoln Republican , then eventually became a Democrat . He was a strong critic of railroad and mining interests, corrupt politicians, land speculators, and labor contractors. He first articulated his views in an 1868 article entitled "What
24168-590: Was extremely authoritarian and tried to restrict internal debate about party policy. At an SDF meeting on 27 December 1884, the executive voted by a majority of two (10–8) that it had no confidence in Hyndman. When he refused to resign, some members, including William Morris and Eleanor Marx, left the party, forming the Socialist League . In the 1885 general election , Hyndman and Henry Hyde Champion, without consulting their colleagues, accepted £340 from
24327-426: Was fraud. In the 1887 New York state elections , George came in a distant third in the election for Secretary of State of New York . The United Labor Party was soon weakened by internal divisions: the management was essentially Georgist, but as a party of organized labor it also included some Marxist members who did not want to distinguish between land and capital , many Catholic members who were discouraged by
24486-641: Was generally disliked as an authoritarian who could not unite his party. Nonetheless, Hyndman was the first author to popularise Marx's works in English. The son of a wealthy businessman, Hyndman was born on 7 March 1842 in London. After being educated at home, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge . Hyndman later recalled: I had the ordinary education of a well-to-do boy and young man. I read mathematics hard until I went to Cambridge, where I ought, of course, to have read them harder, and then I gave them up altogether and devoted myself to amusement and general literature. ... Trinity or, for that matter, any other college,
24645-539: Was hired as a printer for the newly created San Francisco Times . He was able to immediately submit editorials for publication, including the popular What the Railroads Will Bring Us (1868), which remained required reading in California schools for decades. George climbed the ranks of the Times , eventually becoming managing editor in the summer of 1867. George's first nationally prominent writing
24804-613: Was his 1869 essay The Chinese in California , in which he wrote that Chinese immigration should be ended before Chinese immigrants overrun the western United States. George worked for several papers, including four years (1871–1875) as editor of his own newspaper, the San Francisco Daily Evening Post , and for a time running the Reporter , a Democratic anti-monopoly publication. George experienced four tough years of trying to keep his newspaper afloat and
24963-667: Was not until after the Bolshevik Revolution that socialism was appropriated by Vladimir Lenin to mean a stage between capitalism and communism. He used it to defend the Bolshevik program from Marxist criticism that Russia's productive forces were not sufficiently developed for communism. The distinction between communism and socialism became salient in 1918 after the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party renamed itself to
25122-674: Was not. The Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves communists . This branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany. British moral philosopher John Stuart Mill discussed a form of economic socialism within free market. In later editions of his Principles of Political Economy (1848), Mill posited that "as far as economic theory
25281-442: Was opposed to tariffs , which were at the time both the major method of protectionist trade policy and an important source of federal revenue, the federal income tax having not yet been introduced. He argued that tariffs kept prices high for consumers, while failing to produce any increase in overall wages. He also believed that tariffs protected monopolistic companies from competition, thus augmenting their power. Free trade became
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