# Socialism Socialism is the political-economic-philosophical framework designating substantial-social-or-collective-ownership-or-control of the means of production within continuing-state political-economic framework, in distinction from both fully-private-property capitalist political-economic systems and from [[Communism]] systems' substantive-abolition-of-private-property political-economic framework. The framework operates across substantially-broad analytical-political range including: (1) **revolutionary socialism** — substantially-Marxist analytical traditions advocating revolutionary transformation toward post-capitalist political-economic system (substantially-overlapping with communism); (2) **democratic socialism** — substantially-distinct analytical framework advocating democratic-political-process implementation of socialist political-economic reforms (see [[Democratic Socialism]]); (3) **social democracy** — substantially-distinct analytical framework advocating substantial-welfare-state political-economic infrastructure within continuing-capitalist political-economic framework (the post-WWII European social-democratic political-tradition); (4) **market socialism** — analytical framework combining substantial-social-or-collective-ownership with substantial-market-mechanism political-economic infrastructure. The entry handles both regime-type definition AND rhetorical-political deployment in unified form, following the established Plutocracy / Oligarchy / Cathedral disposition rule. ## Theoretical-Philosophical Spectrum **Revolutionary socialism / scientific socialism.** Substantially-Marxist analytical traditions advocating revolutionary transformation. The framework substantially-overlaps with [[Communism]] analytical-framework; in actually-existing-communist regime contexts, the distinction is substantially-collapsed. The framework substantially-operates within the broader Marxist theoretical-tradition. **Democratic socialism.** Distinct analytical framework advocating democratic-political-process implementation of socialist political-economic reforms. The framework substantially-rejects revolutionary transformation in favor of substantial-democratic-electoral political-process. The framework operates substantially across multiple substantially-distinct American political-figures including Eugene V. Debs (early-20th-century), Norman Thomas (mid-20th-century), Michael Harrington (mid-late-20th-century), [[Bernie Sanders]] (contemporary), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (contemporary). See [[Democratic Socialism]] entry for analytical-content. **Social democracy.** Substantially-distinct analytical framework advocating substantial-welfare-state political-economic infrastructure within continuing-capitalist political-economic framework. The post-WWII European political-tradition (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany SPD, UK Labour Party, French Socialist Party, and adjacent political-coalition-traditions) substantially-operates within this framework. The framework substantially-distinct from both democratic-socialism (which substantially-advocates substantial-social-ownership) and from revolutionary-socialism (which substantially-advocates revolutionary transformation). **Market socialism.** Analytical framework combining substantial-social-or-collective-ownership of productive assets with substantial-market-mechanism political-economic infrastructure. The framework operates substantially in some Chinese post-Deng-Xiaoping political-economic-reform analytical context, in Yugoslav political-economic system 1948-1991, and in various adjacent contexts. ## Historical Implementations **Actually-existing-socialist regimes.** Substantial 20th-century actually-existing-socialist regimes operated across substantially-distinct political-economic implementation patterns. Major examples: Soviet Union, PRC, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, post-WWII Eastern-European satellite-regimes. Most actually-existing-socialist regimes substantially-claimed-and-operated-within Marxist-Leninist political-philosophical framework substantially-overlapping with communism. **Social-democratic-government regimes.** Substantial post-WWII Western-European social-democratic-government regimes operated across substantially-distinct political-economic implementation patterns. Major examples: Sweden across approximately 1932-1976 and 1982-1991 Social-Democratic-Party government, Norway 1945+ varied Social-Democratic-and-coalition-government infrastructure, Germany SPD periods, UK Labour-Party periods, France Socialist-Party periods. The social-democratic-government regimes substantially-operated within continuing-capitalist political-economic framework with substantial-welfare-state infrastructure-development. **Democratic-socialist-government regimes.** Substantial historical and contemporary democratic-socialist-government regimes operate across substantially-distinct political-economic implementation patterns. Major examples: Chile Salvador-Allende-government 1970-1973 (terminated by CIA-supported Pinochet coup), India various Congress-and-Communist-Party-coalition periods, Bolivia Evo-Morales-government 2006-2019, Venezuela Hugo-Chavez-and-Nicolas-Maduro-government 1999-present. The democratic-socialist-government regimes substantially-operate within democratic-political-process framework with substantial social-ownership-and-redistribution political-economic infrastructure. ## Contemporary American Political-Rhetorical Deployment The contemporary American political-rhetorical-environment substantially-deploys "socialism" across multiple substantively-distinct registers: **Substantively-accurate analytical-historical register.** Some contemporary American political-discourse deploys "socialism" substantively-accurately for the broader analytical-political-framework, for actually-existing-socialist regimes, and for substantively-socialist political-projects. **Right-coded anti-progressive pejorative register.** Substantial contemporary right-coded political-rhetoric deploys "socialism" / "socialist" against mainstream-Democratic political-coalition personnel, against progressive political-coalition personnel, and against substantively-non-socialist progressive political projects (national-healthcare-policy, climate-policy, education-policy, regulatory-policy, and adjacent substantively-non-socialist policy-domains). The deployment substantially-operates as right-coded political-rhetorical-pejorative rather than substantively-analytical claim. The deployment substantially-aligns with the broader [[Cultural Marxism]] conspiratorial-framework and the broader anti-progressive political-rhetorical-infrastructure. **Democratic-socialist self-identification register.** Substantial contemporary American Democratic-political-coalition personnel substantively-self-identify as democratic-socialist (Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and broader Democratic-Socialists-of-America infrastructure). The self-identification substantially-distinct from contemporary right-coded anti-progressive deployment. **Social-democratic register.** Some contemporary American political-discourse deploys "socialism" substantively-accurately for social-democratic political-projects (Scandinavian-welfare-state political-projects, broader European social-democratic political-tradition). The register substantially-academic-and-foreign-policy-analytical. ## Distinct from Adjacent Regime-Types **Distinct from [[Communism]].** Socialism substantially-operates within continuing-state-and-political-process political-economic framework; communism substantially-involves eventual-stateless-classless political-economic endpoint and (in actually-existing forms) single-party political-system. The two are substantially-related but substantively-distinct frameworks. **Distinct from [[Democratic Socialism]].** Democratic Socialism is one of multiple substantially-distinct sub-frameworks within the broader socialism analytical-framework. The broader socialism framework substantially-includes revolutionary-socialism, democratic-socialism, social-democracy, and market-socialism sub-frameworks; democratic-socialism is one of these sub-frameworks. **Distinct from Capitalism.** Capitalism substantially-operates within private-property-of-productive-assets framework; socialism substantially-operates within social-or-collective-ownership-or-control framework. The two are substantively-opposed political-economic frameworks. ## Why It Matters for the KB **Foundational regime-type analytical resource.** Socialism is one of the principal foundational regime-type analytical categories. Tracking the framework is essential to engaging with comparative-political-science analytical-literature. **Contemporary American political-rhetorical-deployment documentary case.** The contemporary American right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "socialism" against mainstream-Democratic and progressive political-coalition personnel is one of the principal contemporary American political-rhetorical-vocabulary items. Tracking the deployment is useful for engaging with broader contemporary American political-rhetorical-infrastructure analytical-literature. **Welfare-state political-economic infrastructure analytical resource.** The framework substantially-provides analytical-context for engaging with the contemporary American social-safety-net political-economic infrastructure ([[The Social Safety Net]], [[New Deal]] historical-political infrastructure). The contemporary contestation over social-safety-net political-economic infrastructure substantially-operates within the broader socialism-vs-capitalism political-economic-philosophical-framework. **Democratic-socialist political-coalition documentary anchor.** The contemporary American democratic-socialist political-coalition (Bernie Sanders, AOC, Democratic-Socialists-of-America infrastructure) is one of the principal contemporary American left-coalition-organizational developments. Tracking the framework is useful for engaging with the broader contemporary American left-political-coalition analytical-literature. ## See Also - [[Venezuela in American Political Rhetoric]] — the most common American invocation of socialism, and what the Venezuelan case actually shows - [[Bolivarianism]] · [[Venezuelan History Hub]] - [[Communism]] — the closely-related regime-type framework - [[Democratic Socialism]] — one of multiple sub-frameworks within the broader socialism analytical-framework - [[The Social Safety Net]] — adjacent American welfare-state political-economic infrastructure - [[New Deal]] — adjacent American historical-political infrastructure - [[Marxism]] — the underlying philosophical-political tradition for revolutionary-socialism sub-framework - [[McCarthyism]] — the principal American historical anti-socialist-and-anti-communist political-rhetorical-environment - [[Cultural Marxism]] — the contemporary conspiratorial-descendant framework - [[Fellow Traveler]] — adjacent Cold-War-era anti-socialist-and-anti-communist political-rhetorical-vocabulary