Quote from: JorgeStolfi on January 22, 2016, 05:08:28 AM

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Quote from: CuntChocula on January 22, 2016, 03:38:28 AM

Again, you're dead wrong. cite your sources. I'll cite mine: Socialism is a political ideology and movement[1] which has proposed a set of social and economic measures, policies[2] and systems characterised by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production

That is from the English Wikipedia. Since your quote comes from a bitcoin site, I suppose that both were written by Libertarians, who obviously thought that they knew all about politics and economics. Wink

Until I get around to fixing that Wikipedia article, let me quote another paragraph from it, that is somewhat less wrong:

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The socialist political movement includes a diverse array of political philosophies that originated amid the revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late 1700s out of general concern for the social problems that were associated with capitalism.[10] In addition to the debate over the degree to which to rely on markets versus planning, the varieties of socialism differ in the type of social ownership they advocate, how management is to be organized within productive institutions, and the role of the state in constructing socialism.[4][10]

But the Frenck Wikipedia has a better explanation:

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Le mot socialisme recouvre un ensemble très divers de courants de pensée et de mouvances politiques1, dont le point commun est de rechercher une organisation sociale et économique plus juste. Le but originel du socialisme est d'obtenir l'égalité sociale, ou du moins une réduction des inégalités2. Plus largement, le socialisme peut être défini comme une tendance politique, historiquement marquée à gauche, dont le principe de base est l'aspiration à un monde meilleur, fondé sur une organisation sociale harmonieuse et sur la lutte contre les injustices. Selon les contextes, le mot socialisme ou l'adjectif socialiste peuvent qualifier une idéologie, un parti politique, un régime politique ou une organisation sociale. Le mot socialisme lui-même entre dans le langage courant à partir des années 1820, dans le contexte de la révolution industrielle et de l'urbanisation qui l'accompagne : il désigne alors un ensemble de revendications et d'idées visant à améliorer le sort des ouvriers, et plus largement de la population, via le remplacement du capitalisme par une société supposée plus juste. L'idée socialiste, sous de multiples formes, se développe au long du XIXe siècle et donne naissance dans le monde entier à des partis politiques s'en réclamant sous diverses dénominations (socialiste, mais également social-démocrate, travailliste, etc.)3.

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The word socialism covers a very diverse set of intellectual currents and political movements, whose common point is to seek a more just social and economic organization. The original goal of socialism was to obtain social equality, or at least a reduction of inequalities. More broadly, socialism can be defined as a political tendency, historically labeled leftist, whose basic principle is the desire for a better world, founded on a harmonious social organization and the fight against injustices. Depending on the context, the word socialism or the adjective socialist may designate an ideology, a political party, or a social organization. The word itself became current in the [ French ] language starting in the 1820s, in the context of the industrial revolution and of the urbanization that it entailed: at the time, in signified a collection of revindications and ideas directed towards improving the life of workers, and more broadly of the population, through the replacement of capitalism by a societly supposedly more just. The idea of socialism, in multiple forms, was developed through the 19th century, and gave birth through the world to political parties that claimed to share it under various names (socialist, but also social-democratic, labor, etc.)

By the way, in the English Wikipedia it also says that anarchism and Libertarianism are flavors of Socialism! So Anarchists are in favor of "social democratic ownership and control of the means of production"? Cheesy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism#Anarchism to get you started. Trotsky was too anarchist-flavored.

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Original research: Brought up in USSR. The second S is for "SOCIALIST."

Yes, communism is a sub-species of socialism, like Mussolini's fascism and Hitler's version. But socialism is a much wider term than those cases. Sweden, for example, was widely called a socialist country until some decades ago.

(Another socialist idea that capitalists and neocons hate is the progressive income tax, that in Sweden, IIRC, reched 60% or more for the upper brackets.)

Moreover, just because a country puts "Socialist" in its name, it does not mean that they are really socialist. Ditto for "Democratic", "Free", etc.

So let me get this straight:
English Wikip is wrong,
USSR mistakenly called itself Socialist,
English dictionaries are wrong,
but you, Jorge, while offering no citations, are right?
And you're gonna go and play wikipedo and fix up pages so that they say what you think they should say?
You gonna edit dictionaries, too?

Lawdy, anywhere you step, there's crazy Sad

Merriam-Webster on Socialism:
"a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/socialism on Socialism:
"1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
2. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which the means of production are collectively owned but a completely classless society has not yet been achieved.

At times when reality, shamelessly, lies, I turn to Jorge. For He is definitive.