Socialism and Communism: From more to Marx

Modern socialism, like classical conservatism, began in part as a critique of the liberalism of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Like the conservatives, socialists objected to the liberal emphasis on self-interest, competition, and individual liberty. For socialists believed then that human beings are by nature social or communal creatures. Socialists have generally argued for either centralized or decentralized control of public property. Like conservatives and liberals, in short, socialists differ among themselves on important issues. But socialists are united in their opposition to unrestricted capitalism, which they believe determines the distribution of power in every society in which it is the dominant form of economic exchange. The socialist view of freedom can be readily understood by referring once again to our triadic model. The first name likely to be associated with the ideology of socialism, or at least with its communist variant, is that of Karl Marx. Yet socialism predated Marx by many centuries.