Socialist state
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A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically about communist states that refer to themselves as socialist states. It includes information on liberal democratic states with constitutional references to socialism as well as other state formations that have referred to themselves as socialist.
Overview
[edit]Constitutional references to socialism
[edit]A number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions that are not single-party states embracing Marxism–Leninism and planned economies. In most cases, these are constitutional references to the building of a socialist society and political principles that have little to no bearing on the structure and guidance of these country's machinery of government and economic system. The preamble to the 1976 Constitution of Portugal states that the Portuguese state has, as one of its goals, opening "the way to socialist society".[1] Another broad example is that of Slovenia, which defines itself as a "state governed by the rule of law and a social state".[2] Algeria, the Congo, India, and Sri Lanka have directly used the term socialist in their official constitution and name. Croatia, Hungary, and Poland directly denounce "Communism" in their founding documents in reference to their past regimes.[3][need quotation to verify][4][need quotation to verify][5]
In these cases, the intended meaning of socialism can vary widely and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history. In the case of many Middle Eastern states, the term socialism was often used in reference to an Arab socialist/nationalist philosophy adopted by specific regimes, such as that of Gamal Abdel Nasser and that of the various Ba'ath parties. Examples of countries directly using the term socialist in their names include the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, while a number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions, but not in their names. These include India[6] and Portugal. In addition, countries such as Belarus, Colombia, France, Russia, and Spain use the varied term social state, leaving a more ambiguous meaning. In the constitutions of Croatia, Hungary, and Poland, direct condemnation is made to the respective past socialist regimes.[7] The autonomous region of Rojava, which operates under the principles of democratic confederalism, has been described as a socialist state.[8]
Other uses
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During the post-war consensus, nationalization of large industries was relatively widespread and it was not uncommon for commentators to describe some European countries as democratic socialist states seeking to move their countries toward a socialist economy.[9][10][11][12] In 1956, leading British Labour Party politician and author Anthony Crosland claimed that capitalism had been abolished in Britain, although others such as Welshman Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health in the first post-war Labour government and the architect of the National Health Service, disputed the claim that Britain was a socialist state.[13][14] For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. According to Bevan, Britain had a socialist National Health Service which stood in opposition to the hedonism of Britain's capitalist society, making the following point:
The National Health service and the Welfare State have come to be used as interchangeable terms, and in the mouths of some people, as terms of reproach. Why this is so it is not difficult to understand, if you view everything from the angle of a strictly individualistic competitive society. A free health service is pure Socialism and as such, it is opposed to the hedonism of capitalist society.[15]
Although, as in the rest of Europe, the laws of capitalism still operated fully and private enterprise dominated the economy,[16] some political commentators claimed that during the post-war period, when socialist parties were in power, countries such as Britain and France were democratic socialist states and the same is now applied to the Nordic countries and the Nordic model.[9][10][11][12] In the 1980s, the government of President François Mitterrand aimed to expand dirigisme and attempted to nationalize all French banks, but this attempt faced opposition of the European Economic Community because it demanded a free-market capitalist economy among its members.[17][18] Nevertheless, public ownership in France and the United Kingdom during the height of nationalization in the 1960s and 1970s never accounted for more than 15–20% of capital formation, further dropping to 8% in the 1980s and below 5% in the 1990s after the rise of neoliberalism.[16]
The socialist policies practiced by parties such as the Singaporean People's Action Party (PAP) during its first few decades in power were of a pragmatic kind as characterized by its rejection of nationalization. Despite this, the PAP still claimed to be a socialist party, pointing out its regulation of the private sector, state intervention in the economy, and social policies as evidence of this.[19] The Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew also stated that he has been influenced by the democratic socialist British Labour Party.[20]
Communist states
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Communist states categorised themselves as socialist state after having reached a specific point of social development. But a communist state had myriads of self-designations. Terms used by communist states include national democratic, people's democratic, people's republican, socialist-oriented, and workers' and peasants' states.[21]
A people's republic is a type of communist state with a republican constitution. Although the term initially became associated with populist movements in the 19th century such as the German Völkisch movement and the Narodniks in Russia, it is now associated with Communist Party ruled states. A number of the short-lived communist states which formed during World War I and its aftermath called themselves people's republics. Many of these sprang up in the territory of the former Russian Empire following the October Revolution.[22][23][24][25][26] Additional people's republics emerged following the Allied victory in World War II, mainly within the Eastern Bloc.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33] In Asia, China became a people's republic following the Chinese Communist Revolution[34] and North Korea also became a people's republic.[35] During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term people's republic in their official name, replacing it with the term socialist republic as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added the term socialist republic into its name during this period. It had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name.[36] Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991.[37]
See also
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References
[edit]- ^ The "Preamble to the 1976 Constitution of Portugal" stated: "The Constituent Assembly affirms the Portuguese people's decision to defend their national independence, safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens, establish the basic principles of democracy, secure the primacy of the rule of law in a democratic state, and open the way to socialist society."
- ^ "Slovenia 1991 (Rev. 2016) Constitution - Constitute".
- ^ Tschentscher, Axel. "Croatia Constitution". Servat.unibe.ch. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- ^ Tschentscher, Axel. "Hungary Index". Servat.unibe.ch. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- ^ Tschentscher, Axel. "Poland – Constitution". Servat.unibe.ch. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
Article 13: Political parties and other organizations whose programmes are based upon totalitarian methods and the modes of activity of nazism, fascism and communism, as well as those whose programmes or activities sanction racial or national hatred, the application of violence for the purpose of obtaining power or to influence the State policy, or provide for the secrecy of their own structure or membership, shall be forbidden.
- ^ The Preamble of the Constitution of India reads: "We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic [...]". See Preamble to the Constitution of India.
- ^ "Hungary 2011 (Rev. 2016) Constitution - Constitute".
- ^ Wall, Derek (25 August 2014). "Rojava: a beacon of hope fighting Isis". Morning Star. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ^ a b Barrett, William, ed. (1 April 1978). "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: A Symposium". Commentary. Retrieved 14 June 2020. "If we were to extend the definition of socialism to include Labor Britain or socialist Sweden, there would be no difficulty in refuting the connection between capitalism and democracy."
- ^ a b Heilbroner, Robert L. (Winter 1991). "From Sweden to Socialism: A Small Symposium on Big Questions". Dissident. Barkan, Joanne; Brand, Horst; Cohen, Mitchell; Coser, Lewis; Denitch, Bogdan; Fehèr, Ferenc; Heller, Agnès; Horvat, Branko; Tyler, Gus. pp. 96–110. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ a b Kendall, Diana (2011). Sociology in Our Time: The Essentials. Cengage Learning. pp. 125–127. ISBN 9781111305505. "Sweden, Great Britain, and France have mixed economies, sometimes referred to as democratic socialism—an economic and political system that combines private ownership of some of the means of production, governmental distribution of some essential goods and services, and free elections. For example, government ownership in Sweden is limited primarily to railroads, mineral resources, a public bank, and liquor and tobacco operations."
- ^ a b Li, He (2015). Political Thought and China's Transformation: Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China. Springer. pp. 60–69. ISBN 9781137427816. "The scholars in camp of democratic socialism believe that China should draw on the Sweden experience, which is suitable not only for the West but also for China. In the post-Mao China, the Chinese intellectuals are confronted with a variety of models. The liberals favor the American model and share the view that the Soviet model has become archaic and should be totally abandoned. Meanwhile, democratic socialism in Sweden provided an alternative model. Its sustained economic development and extensive welfare programs fascinated many. Numerous scholars within the democratic socialist camp argue that China should model itself politically and economically on Sweden, which is viewed as more genuinely socialist than China. There is a growing consensus among them that in the Nordic countries the welfare state has been extraordinarily successful in eliminating poverty."
- ^ "The Managerial Society Part Three — Fabian Version". Socialist Standard (641). Socialist Party of Great Britain. January 1958. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
- ^ Crosland, Anthony (2006) [1952]. The Future of Socialism. Constable. pp. 9, 89. ISBN 978-1845294854.
- ^ Bevan, Aneurin (1952). In Place of Fear. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 106.
- ^ a b Batson, Andrew (March 2017). "The State of the State Sector" (PDF). Gavekal Dragonomics. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
Even in the statist 1960s–70s, SOEs in France and the UK did not account for more than 15–20% of capital formation; in the 1980s the developed-nation average was around 8%, and it dropped below 5% in the 1990s.
- ^ Cobham, David (November 1984). "The Nationalisation of the Banks in Mitterand's France: Rationalisations and Reasons". Journal of Public Policy. 4 (4). JSTOR 3998375.
- ^ Cohen, Paul (Winter 2010). "Lessons from the Nationalization Nation: State-Owned Enterprises in France". Dissident. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ Morley, James W. (1993). Driven by Growth: Political Change in the Asia-Pacific Region. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe.
- ^ Kerr, Roger (9 December 1999). "Optimism for the New Millennium". Rotary Club of Wellington North. Archived from the original on 7 March 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2006.
- ^ Nation, R. Craig (1992). Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917–1991. Cornell University Press. pp. 85–6. ISBN 978-0801480072. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ Åslund, Anders (2009). How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy. Peterson Institute. p. 12. ISBN 9780881325461.
- ^ Minahan, James (2013). Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States. Routledge. p. 296. ISBN 9781135940102.
- ^ Tunçer-Kılavuz, Idil (2014). Power, Networks and Violent Conflict in Central Asia: A Comparison of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Routledge advances in Central Asian studies. Vol. 5. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 9781317805113.
- ^ Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2009). Mongolic Elements in Tuvan. Turcologica Series. Vol. 81. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 21. ISBN 9783447060950.
- ^ Macdonald, Fiona; Stacey, Gillian; Steele, Philip (2004). Peoples of Eastern Asia. Vol. 8: Mongolia–Nepal. Marshall Cavendish. p. 413. ISBN 9780761475477.
- ^ Gjevori, Elvin (2018). Democratisation and Institutional Reform in Albania. Springer. p. 21. ISBN 9783319730714.
- ^ Stankova, Marietta (2014). Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy, 1943–1949. Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Anthem Press. p. 148. ISBN 9781783082353.
- ^ Müller-Rommel, Ferdinand; Mansfeldová, Zdenka (2001). "Chapter 5: Czech Republic". In Blondel, Jean; Müller-Rommel, Ferdinand (eds.). Cabinets in Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 62. doi:10.1057/9781403905215_6. ISBN 978-1-349-41148-1.
- ^ Hajdú, József (2011). Labour Law in Hungary. Kluwer Law International. p. 27. ISBN 9789041137920.
- ^ Frankowski, Stanisław; Stephan, Paul B. (1995). Legal Reform in Post-Communist Europe: The View from Within. Martinus Nijhoff. p. 23. ISBN 9780792332183.
- ^ Paquette, Laure (2001). NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000: Strategic Interactions with Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria. Nova. p. 55. ISBN 9781560729693.
- ^ Lampe, John R. (2000). Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 233. ISBN 9780521774017.
- ^ "The Chinese Revolution of 1949". Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs. United States Department of State.
- ^ Kihl, Young Whan; Kim, Hong Nack (2014). North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival. Routledge. p. 8. ISBN 9781317463764.
- ^ Webb, Adrian (2008). The Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe Since 1919. Routledge Companions to History. Routledge. pp. 80, 88. ISBN 9781134065219.
- ^ Da Graça, John V (2000). Heads of State and Government (2nd ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-56159-269-2.
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